A little prelude
As a prelude for my journey, which will start on Wed 10th May, I went to see the "Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways" show by Alarum Theatre in Horsenden Farm in Perivale this week. The day was cold and rainy and the show was supposed to be outdoors. Fortunately at the last minute a great indoors venue was found in the hayloft. The room was full and the audience enthusiastic (especially in the singing at the end). The home-made ginger beer laced with rum might have helped, too.
The show deals with the stories of the young women, who were recruited to work the canal boats during WWII, while many of the men were off to war. The work must have been extremely hard and also dangerous, but judging from the show those who lasted through the training (some fled immediately when they saw the cramped living conditions and lack of plumbing on the boats!) took great pride in their work. For middle class women in the 1940s it must have been a hugely empowering feeling to manoeuvre 50 tons of cargo around the waterways all on their own.
The programme is composed of two solo parts, the first part a play by Kate Saffin in which she plays one of the trainee women and all the characters she meets on her journey.
The second part is performed by Heather Wastie and consists of poems and songs based on the words of the trainee women. Both Kate and Heather really brought the stories and experiences of these women to life.
The evening was hugely entertaining and inspirational. It is definitely worth seeing if you are anywhere near the Grand Union Canal, Birmingham or Coventry during the summer. Have a look at the dates on the website. Throughout the summer Kate and Heather are recreating the journey of the women for the 75th anniversary. The tour will go up the Grand Union Canal into Birmingham, on to Coventry, and back down to London.
They are accompanied on their tour by the 1930's workboat Tench, which is of the same type the trainees would have steered at the time. I had the great privilege to meet the team and to crew for a day on Tench a few weeks ago, when the boat was brought down to London for the beginning of the tour. As I am doing the same route as the tour schedule in a similar timeframe up to Birmingham I am hoping to meet them again in a few weeks' time and have another go at getting Tench in an out of a lock safely. And see the show again as they promised to include local details along the way.
Tench coming out of a lock somewhere near Hemel Hampstead. You can hear the fabulous sound of the traditional engine:
The show deals with the stories of the young women, who were recruited to work the canal boats during WWII, while many of the men were off to war. The work must have been extremely hard and also dangerous, but judging from the show those who lasted through the training (some fled immediately when they saw the cramped living conditions and lack of plumbing on the boats!) took great pride in their work. For middle class women in the 1940s it must have been a hugely empowering feeling to manoeuvre 50 tons of cargo around the waterways all on their own.
The programme is composed of two solo parts, the first part a play by Kate Saffin in which she plays one of the trainee women and all the characters she meets on her journey.
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| Kate being "stemmed up" |
The second part is performed by Heather Wastie and consists of poems and songs based on the words of the trainee women. Both Kate and Heather really brought the stories and experiences of these women to life.
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| Audience participation |
The evening was hugely entertaining and inspirational. It is definitely worth seeing if you are anywhere near the Grand Union Canal, Birmingham or Coventry during the summer. Have a look at the dates on the website. Throughout the summer Kate and Heather are recreating the journey of the women for the 75th anniversary. The tour will go up the Grand Union Canal into Birmingham, on to Coventry, and back down to London.
They are accompanied on their tour by the 1930's workboat Tench, which is of the same type the trainees would have steered at the time. I had the great privilege to meet the team and to crew for a day on Tench a few weeks ago, when the boat was brought down to London for the beginning of the tour. As I am doing the same route as the tour schedule in a similar timeframe up to Birmingham I am hoping to meet them again in a few weeks' time and have another go at getting Tench in an out of a lock safely. And see the show again as they promised to include local details along the way.
Tench coming out of a lock somewhere near Hemel Hampstead. You can hear the fabulous sound of the traditional engine:
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