A crazy day out at the Thames Pageant

An EFOG day out in London to see the Queen's Jubilee flotilla on the Thames - with over a million others!  It's the sort of thing us EFOGgers take in our stride!!  Well, we are an Outdoor Group, and it was all outdoors - in the rain!  We met at Stratford Station - 10 brave souls!  We were originally going to Hammersmith to see the boats lining up for the procession, but the royal party was not joining it until Battersea, so we would not have seen them.  Ten Group members brave the rain and crowds for the Thames PageantChange of plan - we thought we would try the Embankment to see how crowded it was, so we could see the flotilla actually going past, complete with the Queen!  When we arrived, it wasn't too bad.  Seven of us decided to wait it out - after all, it was only light drizzle, and we only had 4 or 5 hours to wait!  Three others decided to go to the National Art Gallery.  I sat on some steps, and made friends with a couple of families with children over the course of the wait (and an 87 year-old lady).  One boy was playing games on some gadget or other!  They are so realistic now, but I hadn't a clue what he was doing!  There were big screens up, and if I stood up and peered round a tree and a lamp-post, I could see bits of film of the Royal Family in their younger days.  Then the flotilla started off, and the screens went to film of the procession.  That's when a large man in a huge blue cape decided to stand in front of me to watch it!!  I managed to see bits round him!  No sign of Gill (Light), Ken or Julie returning - apparently they were stopping people going through by the time they tried to get back to us!
 
Then the flotilla came into view.  I was standing on the steps, so I could see most of it.  Somehow, Fozi had managed to get to the front!  Boats, boats, and more boats!!  A thousand of them.  The sea-cadets flying Commonwealth flagsThe small rowing boats were first.  The rain had thankfully eased off for a while.  The royal barge appeared - the "Spirit of Chartwell" - beautifully decorated in red, gold and thousands of flowers.  There was the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, with the rest of the royal family standing behind them.  Flags were being waved everywhere.  More boats followed, but unfortunately the rain started to fall quite heavily by then.  We went into the road to see the royal barge go through the open Tower Bridge on the large screen, and decided to leave as we were all soaked by that time.  Jill V. left us at that point, and as everywhere was so crowded with people, we decided to walk to Tottenham Court Road Station (after all, we are a walking group!).  There were only 6 of us by then, but with all the people, it was difficult keeping an eye to make sure no-one lost us.  I was just grateful there weren't 20 of us!!  I made sure we didn't lose Sharon - a new member who had only been to the Group once.  It doesn't look good if you lose a new member on their first outing with us!!  The new royal barge "Gloriana"En route we found a small cafe which was not full!!  Tea, coffee and cakes - lovely (and in the warm and dry!).  However, we couldn't stay there forever!  Gill (Light) was supposed to be taking us to West India Docks when the procession had finished, to see the boat she helps with.  Where was Gill?  We hadn't seen her since the 3 of them disappeared in the morning, and we had missed 'phone calls to each other.  Eventually we made contact, and arranged to meet her at South Quay station (she was in Piccadilly by that time).  When she arrived, she didn't know where the boat was being moored, so she rang someone to find out.  They were stuck in a boat-jam!!  It was going to be 2 hours before they got there!  We abandoned that idea, went to Canary Wharf, and had a meal in "All Bar One", which made a nice finish to the day.
 
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so glad we went - despite the weather!
 

Maz, 4th June 2012

A more comfortable view of proceedings from another EFOG member

The thought of braving public transport into and out of London on such a day was enough to deter me from joining the other members of the Group hoping to experience the Thames pageant. I had an idea: my sister has an apartment overlooking the Thames at Battersea, and maybe she wouldn't be using it.

Phillip pointing out that we are trying to take a pictureI quickly found that she would be, and indeed friends from the far east (Lowestoft) would be staying overnight from the day before - so that precluded any chance of me sleeping there. Nevertheless, she duly invited me to come on the day. She had to, really, because she'd also invited every other member of the immediate family - my niece, nephew and assorted great nieces and nephews and their respective mum and dad.

The journey - which involved complex public transport avoidant and bridge-closure planning - necessitated getting up at 5am and driving through some unsavoury parts of south London. Anyway - I arrived as planned at 8am, and as the others arrived we began the anticipation for all that was going on. Wearing appropriate face-masks, the children and I (whose mask had particularly prominent ears) managed to get a wave from the BBC cameraman on his platform above Battersea Church. I aimed my camera at him, but he didn't reciprocate. Later, though, the camera on the Chelsea bank had a TV shot of our apartment, so we got on TV. Our waves didn't show up well, though.

A nice close-up of some family peopleWell, we watched some Royal people get out of their taxis and make their way to a launch moored at Chelsea Pier. This was just opposite us, so we saw Charles and Camilla and then Elizabeth and Phillip board and then wave to us as they went past. Shortly afterwards the for-rowers of the flotilla appeared and shortly after that the rain started and was followed by nearly two hours-worth of various craft. It was quite nice to be able to watch on the television what was about to pass us and then to go outside to watch from our 6th-floor patio, or alternatively, to watch from the patio and then view on the television what we had just seen. Much of this was accompanied by food and drink, so that was alright.

The Cornish lugger 'Barnabas'My thoughts did turn to the other members of the Group, wherever they may have been (I envisaged them upstream, but they were in fact a bit downstream so experienced everything a bit later that we did), and I did feel a bit sorry for them and all the others in the rain. I managed to pick out the boat Gill works on (Red Watch), but for me the little steam tug Barking, the St. Ives lugger Barnabas - proudly flying an outsize Cornish Flag - and the Shree Muktajeevan Pipe Band & Dhol Ensemble playing as they went past were particularly memorable. The barge carrying the London Philharmonic Orchestra - which was the last in the procession - had been moored just below us for much of the time, so we were treated to some excellent live music even before the procession came.

It would have been nice to have been with other EFOG members, and I'm sure that as usual they had a grand time, but I feel that I may have had a slightly more comfortable day. What a grand day everyone had!

Paul Ferris, 5th June 2012