| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 2026 | Kevin & Julie (& Simon) | Jeremy |
Having been awarded both the shorts and the hash horn earlier this year, together with the express instruction that I take them both with me for the London Marathon, I did as demanded.
I could I suppose have dressed as the horn and carried the shorts, but I instead opted for the easier solution – wearing the shorts and carrying the horn on my backpack. I had been concerned that after a few hours of the bells ringing in my ears I might have ended up with tinnitus, but in reality there was so much loud support all along the route that I hardly ever heard them.
In total I raised over £1600 for Marie Curie (as well as the additional 25% Gift Aid uplift), so a big THANK YOU for all contributions.
We have hashed ten times before in and around Highworth and amazingly Mike has always been the hare on these occasions, so it was appropriate and fitting that he let others now have an attempt. Kevin and Julie stepped up and gave it their all, and did indeed lay a wonderful runners’ route, including a field full of large young heifers for added excitement, but they totally overlooked that we also have a multitude of walkers to accommodate. Better luck next time guys and thank you to Simon for coming to the rescue.
Mike was a walker today, still recovering from his recent 85th birthday celebrations down in Dartmouth with his family. Whilst there they had a guided tour of Britannia Royal Naval College, where he was stationed for 5 years in the early 1960s, and again later in his naval career as a staff officer.
We had Greg’s family join us today, and Paul who came with Soma – on time for once! Hopefully we’ll see them again from time to time. Kevin gave a very long introductory talk about the runners route, mentioning a golf course (no longer there), a solar farm with a spring, South Marston (he meant Stanton Fitzwarren), Bellingham Farm (go left, then right), Sevenhampton, a cricket pavilion (go behind it) and another golf course. There was no information for the walkers but they did stand and listen dutifully with only some muttering from time to time.
I’ve no idea what happened with the walkers on their route so it’s best you look at their pictures and create your own personal impression.
As for the runners, there were 3 of us, and we did indeed run from time to time. The route was as explained. Viv didn’t particularly like the damp patch in the solar farm, and took her time to clamber along the fence – whilst I sat amongst the poppies. We didn’t go to South Marston thankfully, but we eventually came to the field of cattle, and it was here that Viv was keenest to be in the lead. We had to convince her to walk, so as not to disturb the herd as if you run they’ll think there must be some danger to avoid so they all run in the same direction as you.
Traversal of Wrag Barn golf course required use of the Ordnance Survey app to locate the public footpaths, and eventually we arrived back at the start, with the walkers all sat in the pub garden. Without the photographic evidence we might have assumed they’d been there all the time.
After reflections of the day it was soon time to depart, but not before Keith stepped up to thank Kevin and Julie for a great hash course, and I handed on the hash horn to Mike as a belated birthday present from us all (we want it back Mike!), and Kevin and Julie were awarded the shorts.
Some questions arose towards the end which remain unanswered:
– when did we first acquire a hash horn?
– who donated it?
– where will it go next (having also been to Everest Base camp)?