| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 2022 | Sue | Kevin |
No Mills and Boon this time around, like Mike’s last mag, I’m more of a murder mystery and thriller writer and with the passing of Jessica Fletcher (the great Angela Lansbury) in the past week I was hoping to find a thread on today’s hash that would fit that genre that I could include in my mag. Unfortunately no murders were committed during our hash and I can’t think of anything that would be thrilling or a mystery, or could I? I’ll let you decide?
KVH3 hashers have been blessed of late as the weather on our hashes has been on excellent form and today was no exception with a blue skies and warm autumnal sunshine greeting us as we arrived at The Harvey for Sue’s hash. There were 20 of us who eventually turned out for today’s hash. I say eventually as there were three late comers; Hilary who missed the group photo but arrived as Sue gave her briefing, Ainslie with Kiri and Soma who arrived sometime after the briefing but went out and did the short hash. I gathered the hashers together for the usual group photo. I did not ask for a volunteer to write the mag as I was going to write the mag myself. I wondered if anybody noticed or they thought if they kept quiet I would not spot an opportunity to select someone to write the mag?
Sue our hare for the day is our go to hare for urban hashes especially from West Swindon where Sue has great knowledge of the local area. Sue hosted a hash from The Harvey a year ago and this was our second hash from this venue and we could guarantee that we would be following a new trail to the one laid by Sue a year ago. Sue gave her briefing advising the hashers that the long was just over five miles long, the short just over three miles and the long/short divide was approximately at two miles. The terrain would be mainly flat and the only hazard we should look out for was traffic when crossing the road at several points along the trail. On, On was just on the other side of The Harvey.
On, On we went, five runners (Jeremy, Viv, John, Dannie and Des) disappeared into the distance before the rest (walkers) turned the corner. Most walkers decided on taking the short trail my BH, myself and Lily decided to do the long trail. And what an interesting trail it was taking us through the woodland, parks and urban estates of West Swindon. As we left the West Swindon Centre to the north we followed the trail through some woodland that took us through to Grange Park and a path between Lydiard Park Academy (Greendown School as I remember it) and the perimeter of Lydiard Park where we would come out by a western entrance to Lydiard Park. The trail turned back on itself through Lydiard Park along the lawns between the lakes and Lydiard House. The trail brought us out to The Prinnels where we would follow the trail through Shaw, past Brookfield School, up Old Shaw Lane, through the Bamptons and back through Middleleaze following the brook towards the West Swindon Centre.
My BH, myself and Lily returned to The Harvey at 12:40pm. I went straight into The Harvey to get my BH her usual refreshment (a cup of tea) and myself a pint (it was a Guinness as the there were no ales available). I bumped into John in The Harvey and I mentioned that I thought the long trail seemed at least 6 miles long, John confirmed 5.9 miles. I thought that I was one of the last back for the apres but it turned out not to be that case as the last hasher starting out this morning, Soma, was also the last to return back for the apres. I gave my speech thanking Sue for a wonderful, interesting, well thought out and marked trail (three bags of flour apparently) which was completely different to the trail Sue laid last year and Sue received a very rapturous round of applause form all. Well done Sue!
And so to the prize giving. Dannie was awarded the bags two hashes ago for being a FRB (Front Running B******d) and he had the opportunity to hand the bags on to someone more deserving but he felt guilty that he had himself did something unthinkable in hashing law and asked Jeremy to explain. Jeremy announced “that Dannie was not only an FRB but was also a SCB (Short Cutting B******d) for taking too many short cuts on this hash”. Dannie therefore decided it was only appropriate to award the bags to himself. Is his honesty the best policy? It was great spectacle to see Dannie take the bags off and put them straight back on again!
It was Dannie’s lucky day as Des brought along the pink horn that he was awarded some hashes ago and awarded the horn to Dannie for being an SCB! However, after receiving the horn Dannie left the horn on the pub bench when he left the apres. Is this a tactic for the future? Fortunately I noticed the horn had been abandoned by Dannie and I recovered it to pass on to him at a future hash.
Time to leave and Ainslie gathered her belongings and noticed her car keys were missing from her coat pocket and surmised the keys may have fallen out while taking her coat off along the trail, could this be a potential disaster? Time for Ainslie to don the beanstalker and set off with Kiri to follow the short trail again in hope of finding her car keys. And, to Ainslie’s surprise and relief she found the keys near to the entrance to Lydiard Park. Great detective work Ainslie and Kiri!
PS. Mike mentioned the 25th anniversary hash taking place on 5th March 2023 from the Bell@Ramsbury and asked all hashers to put the date in their diaries.