10 Year Anniversary
Way back in 2013 a group of old work colleague’s from Charles F Thackray, decided to embark on a series of walking journeys, a couple of the group had previous undergone such adventures,so were able to come up with a few ideas.They were mainly canal side walks and visiting historical buildings etc with a pub meal thrown in.
It was on a certain visit to the railway museum at York, the so called Great Gathering, an occasion where Locomotives of a certain A 4 Class build were on show, namely the Mallard, Union of South Africa, Dwight D Eisenhower , Bittern , Sir Nigel Gresley and Dominion of Canada. It was also a great gathering of these ex employees of Charles Thackray as well.
At this point in time a more consistent approach was made to their adventures with a possible trek out once a month and more distant venues being considered to explore. As the months and years progressed the list of places visited also grew, a few non work colleagues joined this group, the self acclaimed Thackray’s Intrepid Traveler’s Society, Tits for short!
Visits to cities such as London, Liverpool , Lincoln , Sheffield, Bradford and York have been undertaken along with a regular adventure to Scarborough, a favourite haunt for these traveler’s. Other coastal locations have been included in their wonderings, Blackpool, Morecambe , Southport and Lytham along with Llandudno on the West coast. Bridlington , Filey, Cleethorpes , Hull and Hornsea on the East coast and many,many others have welcomed these so called Lads who have enjoyed every moment spent in the company of each other over the years.
A log of all these adventures as been kept, along with the names of those taking part.
Obviously things haven’t always run smoothly, but with the various skills and ingenuity that the group possess they have turned disappointments and mishaps into successful experiences , along with their odd bursts in to song have amused their fellow travelers , being it on railway journeys or just a simple bus ride.
Over the last few years they have changed their title to the Midweek Marauders and a blog is now written about each adventure along with photographs from these exploits. The adventure log now comes in the form of a spreadsheet and is readily available to browse.
A few small books containing photos have been printed along with a couple of posters which have brought much joy to the lads.
As you can imagine their spirits are still willing to adventure on to pastures new, but alas their bodies lack the stamina to go those extra miles whilst out walking now, so a much more leisurely approach as been adopted with the average walk of 4 to 5 miles now considered the order of the day, gone are the 9 to 12 mile hikes sadly. Nevertheless I am sure that they will continue for many more years to come ,the enthusiasm is still there and there are lots of different places to explore and visit. So best foot forward and carry on trekking Lads.
Never in a million years at the beginning of all this did they ever expect or imagine , what vast amounts of adventures they would pursue and accomplish , all with good hearted fun and enjoyment to say the least. More than 250 under their belts since they started way back in July 2013, a great testimony to their true
Friendships and beliefs.
Prominent members of this group over the years have been :-
John Hey. Chief Coordinator and Logistics
Eddie Hampshire. Enthusiastic Supporter
Steve. Middleton. Early Guidance Support
Colin Hendrick Ward. Communications Expert
Derek Lee. Food Organiser
John Howarth. Enthusiastic Support
Les. Watson. “ “
Jeff. Dugan. “ “
Keith Bland. “ “
Kevin. Shaw. “. “
Malcolm Barker. “ “
Brian. Pickles. “ “
Dave. Dean. Photographer and Blog Writer
Alan. Johnson. Enthusiastic Support
Glenn. Walton. New Enthusiastic Support
Russ. Parkinson. New Occasional Support
No comments:
Post a Comment