Here’s a use for a boat you may not have thought of!
This is the Green Man arriving in central London for Twelfth Night. I meant to get some photos of this event yesterday afternoon but failed to do so because the weather in London was so grey and wet, so this one from a previous year will have to suffice. I hope my friend Tim, who was involved in the show and was completely sodden, dried out without catching anything unpleasant.
Anyway, to read about the Twelfth Night celebrations that take place by the Thames each year on January 6th, this is the place to go:
http://www.thelionspart.co.uk/twelfthnight/index.html
Dear Gav, The Lions all know that you are a mate and I'm sure they will be very happy to see that you have put us up on your site. There is something incredibly special about seeing the "Master Shipbroker" plying up the Thames with its extraordinary cargo on Twelfth Night. I had to miss it this year due to being ill but however many times I see it, it gives me the strangest feeling of delight, especially as I can feel the crowd responding in the same way. BTW, Tim didn't come down with anything! Rosalind xx
Hi Gavin,
this is a copy of my thank you letter to Phillip Wake and the Crew of the Master Shipbroker following our Twelfth Night Festival in 2007. Conditions this year were far from ideal but we saw it through to the soggy end
Hi Phillip,
once again we are indebted for the fantastic effort of you and the crew of the Master Shipbroker on Saturday. What an absolute stoic effort by all and thanks for our safe deliverance through what seemed to be pretty heavy swells.
It is amazing seeing the boat coming up the river, seemingly so vulnerable yet steadfast and sure in its aim. It is the stuff that legends are made of. Our audience go away from these events with an enduring memory of that boat all garbed in greenery, the Greenman's staff at its prow, the pitching and bobbing, the rolling and weaving, the sea breaching the gunwales, the Piper playing and the Greenman standing tall as if master of the very waves. Meanwhile below the hand bilge pumps are frantically pumping, the oars are strongly plied, the prow digs deep into another mighty swell and she ships another bucket full of water but still she cuts a passage through the rains and tempestuous Thames.
I felt greatly for you all as the boat departed, our play half run and you setting off in what had now turned from rain into stair rods. Are audience thinned out slightly as the rain came down harder and Sonia contemplated that we should maybe cut things short and abandon any further joviality. My feeling, knowing the task you and the crew had to endure to get the Master Shipbroker safely home, was No! we see it through. So we did the play continued, King Bean and Queen Pea were crowned, a great procession set off through the streets of Southwark, and the George Inn welcomed us all with Mulled wine and minced pies. We were all so soaked as if we might just as well have fallen in to the Thames, players and audience, yet it seemed not to matter.
Once again Thank you all
David Risley (The Greenman)