|
On Friday 24th, Roger Tiffin and ‘Doc’ Wilkins attended the Devon and Cornwall
symposium on Shackleton’s final expedition - the Quest expedition. Here is a
link to the website: It was a cracking day - in particular Kevin Kenny from the Athy Shackleton Society in Ireland gave a fascinating talk on the extra deck cabin made for Shackleton’s Office and other accommodation on the Quest and amazingly still intact and rescued by the society from Norway. On the Saturday, the weather being overcast we foregathered for drinks and a light lunch in the house and then filled the afternoon with chat, walking etc and later on a couple of presentations. ‘Grot’ Soar’s cine film of the voyage down and life on base had been painstakingly edited, spliced by Tiff to make a great movie of life on the ship and base. That man has missed a career in the film industry. Grot could not attend due to carer duties but appeared on facetime and was duly greeted with affection and cordial abuse. Doc, ably assisted by Ceeje Gostick, gave a brief account of a 2015 ‘Voyage to Remember’, undertaken with many families and friends, to pay tribute to those who died on service with BAS - nearly 30, in fact. It was a good opportunity to call to mind the stories of the men (and one woman scientist) and their contributions. The 16 of us sat down to an excellent supper engineered by Sue Wilkins and topped off by a toast to absent friends from a bottle of McKinley’s Shackleton’s whisky kindly donated by ‘Bloke’ Guyatt.
‘Twiggy’ Walker has compiled a very interesting account of the Perla Dan from
construction through to demise and this has been added to Andy Smith’s Base Z
Blog: On the Sunday we assembled and most of us did an almost circumambulation of the nearby Caradon Hill and its copper mines, enlightened along the way by ‘Fin’ Smith on the various minerals and their origins. A reviving pint and Sunday lunch (‘scradge’) at the local pub topped off the weekend and so to home or onward travel. Graunch was applauded for driving down all the way from Scotland. Mutterings about a replay in a couple of years are heard. Here are the players and their other halves:
Here’s to 2023
Cheers,
Tiff, Bob, Fin, Ceeje, Bloke and Doc |
