Back with a Bang! – Bodging at the Bodger’s Ball (Part 2)

Howdy all, and welcome to the second part of the Bodger’s Ball weekend! Running a bit behind still as the Ball was a few weeks back but I’m sure we (i.e. me) will get there eventually. Despite my worries about entry on the day, even with my little silver disc to prove entry (still on my key ring!) I waltzed straight in without being checked. Of course it was fine for those that camped over the night before, all snuggled up in their little tents, drinking beer and having a merry time. Actually that does sound like a good idea!

Shouldn't the sheep be round the fire pit?

That's better!

After gaining forced entry to said site and seeing absolutely no-one I recognised (not a good start), I decided the first order of business was being fed. Having set up the eatery the day before I knew which direction to head. One bacon and egg roll later and I was raring to go, although go where I still wasn’t too sure.

Fortunately Paul staggered up behind me soon after and after a brief discussion over his merriment the night before we wandered around, then began unloading the charcoal kiln…though now I think about it Paul and I got our breakfast after we met up! I suppose that’s what I get for writing this a few weeks after the event, curse my memory!

Mind you I’m writing this blog post on a piece of spare paper in front of the TV while watching the bonus disc of ‘Goblet of Fire’, so quite contrary to my usual writing style. Of course now I’m typing this up a day later I can edit things a bit. And also wondering why I left this paragraph in instead of leaving it out and moving on! Still wonders never cease, bit like the way I waffle on! Mmmmm, waffles…

Pole-Lathing... without the pole!

After that tangent, where was I? Oh yeah, breakfast! So just to clarify, if you weren’t that confused already, I was munching my breakfast biscuits when Paul walked up. Not sure what to do next then we walked over and got ourselves a bacon and egg roll. Free too as we’d been helping set up the Ball over the last week. Winner!

Aside from the vast array of Bodgers and pole-lathers (who I think are known as Bodgers!), there were those with other country crafts; more charcoal makers, timber beam crafting, our very own ‘Have a go pole-lathe area, wool working and most importantly the beer tent! Some of us were a bit shocked (mentioning no names!) to find out that the beer tent wasn’t open until 5 in the evening. Happily though the other bar run by Justin, Jess and Olga was open during the day!

As it happened Paul and I didn’t get much charcoaling done that day. We started off with good intentions, quickly realised that masks and goggles were kinda important so took a break while retrieving the necessary items. What usually happens when you pop off to grab something? Yep, you walk into more problems that you need to straighten out and it takes you forever to get back to your original task.

Lamb burger anyone?

Plus, was it raining? Oh yeah, it was raining too. One thing you can’t do when the weather decides to rain on your parade (literally) is dig out charcoal to put in bags! Though to be fair it didn’t start raining until after lunch. Which brings us up to lunch! We had a good lunch, provided by chef extraordinaire Justin!

Yes you guessed it the Trust eatery and bar were all in the same place, works for me! I have to say they did a mean lamb and mint burger, I even got a spare egg left over from the end of the breakfast service that Olga dropped into my open bun! Even better than extra food in my roll (well apart from the cost) was Graham brought Paul and I a beer to go with our burger! Incidentally that’s Graham I know from the wool working, not Simon’s father.

With the weather clouding over during lunch and the subsequent heavy rain after, we decided to shelter in the marquee set up for the wool working (Jean and Graham) and our own Debbie who was hard at work doing corn dollies.

What did we do while we were waiting for the rain to stop? Make a corn dolly of course! Encouraged by Debs, Paul and I got stuck in with a simple design of dolly. It’s not often I’ve said I’ve played with dollies!

My first corn dolly

Anyhoo, although it looks quite complicated it was actually easier than I expected. There are more difficult designs you can do but for complete beginners this one suited us just fine. I could be that we also had a good teacher helping us though,but I was quite proud when I ended up with my first ever corn dolly. Course, Paul’s was bigger than mine but as they say size isn’t everything!

Speaking of making things (no I didn’t carve another spoon, I’m saving that for the scything weekend in a few weeks), Shane was in the marquee with the charcoal bags making purse nets. The nets are used by us in the winter months when the ground is more open and we set about catching those Wascally Wabbits!

I think after the dollying and the rain we had intended to go back to the charcoaling but Paul disappeared to get a beer and I didn’t realise how long he’d been gone until quite a bit later! By then it was fast approaching the time when I had to disappear myself and by the time I found him it was a quick goodbye and I was heading for the gate.

From what I heard afterwards the event was a big success, everyone had a good time and many people had a bit too much Saturday evening! I should also mention Peter as he also helped out a lot over the Bodger’s Ball event. Even better I’ll include a photo of him and Debs chilling out in the marquee! Is that a roll I see you munching there Peter?

To wrap things up I’ll end with a final gathering round the evening campfire. Not sure if this was on the Friday or Saturday night but you get the idea. Pictures are courtesy of our sister site (you know the address by now!) since I’m still sans-camera man, or woman!

Enjoy and see you next time!