onionbagblog

To Broad Lane early on Friday evening, to tag along on the coat tails of the Royal Wedding bunting with a beer festival.

Blimey.

Actually, that’s not quite accurate. The Station was in our sights first, with a nuptial themed tea party / booze up taking place. The splendid Judith Chalmers popular local beat combo were playing their stuff, with a suitably wedding-tastic version of the Dark Side of the Moon adding to the happy happy joy joy sound upon our arrival.

A quick pint down at the bottom of the town, and then to the good fortune of @AnnaJCowen and I, a Broad Lane (ish) 61 bus rolled up for our convenience. It wasn’t quite the carriage of choice that the happy Establishment couple had boarded earlier in the day, but then Buckingham Palace wasn’t hosting a beer festival.

We were warmed along the route to encounter the good Mr Mayor elect hosting a garden tea party. An outrageously patriotic shirt, both equally splendid and intoxicating to the eye, was the order of the day. I’ve always said that the Town Council chamber needs livening up. Expect strobe lights ahead of the first meeting of the new administration.

A short walk along Elmstead Road, and then it was all about Broad Lane and booze. The biggest crowd of the season has assembled at the football club for the community day. We missed out on the main activity of the community football match, but soon made up for it at the bar.

Eight local Essex real ales were on offer; it would have been poor etiquette to the local economy not to sample each one. I became slightly tired and emotional after pint number three. My fourth trip to the bar led to my mental note of “hamster cage beer” to best describe the beautiful wooden aroma.

The live music was a mixed bag - lively, and both generational and genre crossing. A blues band was jamming when we arrived. This soon gave way to local Wivenhoe sensation Lou Terry - an outrageously talented local lad who was well supported by a group of yoof. A more traditional folk band brought us back down to earth. Or maybe it was the hamster cage beer?

Keeping with the Royal pageant theme, the dancing queen for the evening was a young princess wearing a tiara. Her partner was a young chap, dressed splendidly as, um, Superman. It sure beats all the Establishment costume twaddle of earlier in the day.

Another charming chat with the good Mr Chairman, and it seems that the Broad Lane vision of being opened up for all in the community to use is already being but into fruition. The Society for Children Affected with Neurological Symptoms are now using the clubhouse during the week as a social base in which to meet. Fantastic work for all involved, and hopefully the facilities can now start to expand.

And so twelve hours later after the happy Establishment couple had said “I do” in front of a worldwide audience of two billion, I repeated the same words to @AnnaJCowen in front of a Wivenhoe folk band.

“Do you want to wobble back to base?”

“Um, I do…”

Chin chin.