CHIPPING NORTON, OXFORDSHIRE 1985
Upon reference to the Pikes Archive the following snippet was attached with the invitation:-
THE PIKEHAND MEET 1985
OFFICIAL BULLETIN NUMBER ONE
Will it be the Falklands, or the Chequers, or the Pevrill of the Peak? Will the Prince of Wales be in attendance, even the Duke of York?
How will you travel? Bus...Train...Plane...to somewhere betwix Sark and Mull.
But first the date:- 12.13.14 of April 1985, that is Friday night to Sunday afternoon.
Once more accommodated in bricks a mortar at Pete's house. Pete and Alan were organisers. Also attending were Bob, Bryan, Graham, Jeff, Neil (a new PIKEHAND) and Ray. Sally and the girls had kindly vacated their house exclusively for us apart from the resident, "Willy," a feisty Jack Russell Terrier. Our Friday evening activity was ---- MISSION PIKEHAND ---- Assembling at the Evenload Pub, Eynsham between 7.00 and 7.30pm. We were to leave the Evenload at 7.45pm sharp and not return. We were not permitted to consume more than two pints before departure. does anyone recall what we did then??? Our weekend objectives were then explained:- (1) Have a drink in every pub in Chipping Norton (twelve), (2) Have a drink in several pubs beyond Chipping Norton (millions) (3) Win the treasure hunt competition. (Points awarded will be on individual and team basis). Treasure hunt requirements were:- (a) an object you acquire must be the most difficult to obtain, (b) another object would be the most obscene, (c) another the most useless. Object exclusions were nothing belonging to you or another Pike or from the accomodation. Judgement would be on Sunday morning.
Over night each team had to decide on a team name. Team names were to be revealed on Saturday morning. At that time there was a popular television programme called, "The A Team," regularly broadcast. Each team presented themselves bearing that name along with the musical chant that accompanied it. The name has stuck through the years no matter how many teams we have. Well, organisers should not always have easy judgement tasks. The A Team were Bryan, Ray, Neil and invisible Paul who nobody knew, also The A Team were Graham, Bob, Jeff and Arthur. Well known, always there but never seen or heard.
Our first Saturday treasure hunt was the, "Three Counties Tour." Pikes followed a map to pubs, defined by cryptic clues, in different counties where boundaries coincided. Was there some significance as Wally knew exactly where to go and Pete had the dog lead? We had pints of Hook Norton close to the brewery before our onward journeys. At one point we climbed a style into a field at the far end of which was a herd of young cows. The inquisitive creatures decided to investigate us and approached at the run. Lightning fast the PikeHerd ran away towards the far style. It was a mad scramble to get out of the field before the cows arrived. Well, we were out numbered. Only Wally was up to the challenge. He was very disappointed with us. Soon we were at a navigational conundrum and Byan was more than a little agitated at the prospect of reaching the pub by the race course after closing time. He was fully justified and we all shared his thirst frustration. Eventually we found our way back to the digs where we held our annual conference.
Then out for our second treasure hunt experience of the day, "Know your Beer." Cryptic clues again for a pub name that a Pike had to lead us to. Minus points for starting off in the wrong direction. He had to order the round for the rest of us. Each drink had to begin with the first letter of each Pike's name. The same drink for those with the same letter had to be different. If the round had an error there were no points. First direction choice and confidence were required. There were twelve pubs in Chipping so each Pikes had several goes. These were dismal economic times and most that we visited had none or very few clientele so our band were a welcome boost. Pete had a, cryptic, favourite pub and of course we went there and played in an alley Horseshoe Pitching. Pete told a story that the landlord was fed up with regularly cleaning the graffiti from the men's loo. His solution was to re-paint the loo, have a small notice created with the words, "NO GRAFFITI, LADS, PLEASE!" and fix it to the loo wall. However, it soon had written below, "OK Landlord." At one of Graham's guidance turns he thought he'd located his nominated pub when he discovered a road sign with the same name. So, triumphant with a smug countenance, he leaned on the sign with outstretched arms. It should have been the pub not the sign he was meant to guide us to. So, no points. We had our Pikehand Dinner at one of these pubs. does anyone have the photo of Graham and the sign??? Graham's Sign
Sunday the final day and final treasure hunt, "The Town Trail." Pikes were no better at solving the cryptic clues or taking our Pike party to the venue. However the trail was completed and we returned to the digs. There had been some speculation during the weekend that we were to undertake parachute training. Whilst we were relaxing after the trail Pete's door bell rang. Suddenly all Pikes froze with fear. However it was a mate inviting Pete to a volley ball match.
Whenever we were at the house Graham continuously harried Wally by constantly calling his name. We were getting pretty fed up and so was Wally. More than once we warned Graham that he could come to grief. "I'm too quick for him!" was his response. Around about the door bell incident Wally had discovered and exploited Graham's weaknesses. Then it was time for our team declaritions. Some of the worst objects were very bad and not for these pages. The most useless object was a broken egg shell. --- BUT THE BEST AND: ---
