Joanne caught the 0810 from New Street back to Bristol. At 0930 I was able to welcome my old school chum Stephen Owen and his wife Bernadette on board with a bacon and fried eg sandwich. Soon after we were on our way heading out into the Saturday morning drizzle. We are going to see the band "The Blues Band" this evening at Bromsgrove and Tardebigge, about a mile and a half away, will be the closest we can get. So we headed off. No locks, surprisingly in this tumbling countryside, but 4 tunnels. Edgbaston, Wast Hill, Shortwood and Tardebigge. Of these four Wast Hill is by far the longest at just shy of two miles. It has no towpath and this morning, due to some clinging mist in the tunnel, it was not possible to see either the portal where we had entered or the portal we were aiming for. Totally black behind us, about 25 yards in front where our single lamp illuminated the way was visable, then black in front beyond this.
Today being Saturday I was concerned about hire boaters who had just picked up up their boats for the first time being confused in the darkness about which side they were supposed to pass on in the tunnel leading to a collision. So Steve went up front to shout at any boats loomng out of the dark towards us to "steer to the right, pass on the left" In the event it wasnt necessary as we passed no boats in the tunnel today. Presently, and surprisingly, the west portal of the tunnel loomed out of the dark and we were in the clear. About 1500 we tied up at Tardebigge. Bernadette went for a walk by Tardebigge church and started a watercolour of the scene outside the front of the boat (Bernadette is an excellent artist) Meanwhile we cooked Joannes Cottage pie, ate it, set up the beds and waited for a taxi to take us over to Atrix Bromsgove.
At the venue we met some more of Steve and Bernadettes friends and settled down to the concert. The Blues Band are great live. Paul Jones is the most famous member (Manfred Mann lead singer for a while n the 60s) but the other members of the band are all virtuos's in their own right. Tom McGuness may be remembered by some of a certain age as leader of early 70s band "McGuiness Flint" and guitarist Dave Kelly has played with many of the great blues names and is also a brilliant blues singer. Paul Jones is great at getting the audience joining in so all in all a very good nights entertainment.
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| Gas Street Basin Birmingham city centre |
At the venue we met some more of Steve and Bernadettes friends and settled down to the concert. The Blues Band are great live. Paul Jones is the most famous member (Manfred Mann lead singer for a while n the 60s) but the other members of the band are all virtuos's in their own right. Tom McGuness may be remembered by some of a certain age as leader of early 70s band "McGuiness Flint" and guitarist Dave Kelly has played with many of the great blues names and is also a brilliant blues singer. Paul Jones is great at getting the audience joining in so all in all a very good nights entertainment.
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