Rally report from Welcome Deaf Campers (WDC) – June 2022
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The Thames Head Inn
On Friday 17th June we all congregated at Thames Head Inn
in Cirencester for our second WDC rally of 2022.
Greetings
We started arriving at around 11am, and
the weather was record breaking hot and sunny!
It was really lovely to see old friends!
We started chatting about everything we missed about each other – what’s
gone on in our lives (some of us hadn’t seen each other since before the pandemic!),
the weather, our friends, and generally having a good catch up!
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Fish & Chips Supper!
Eventually we decided it was time for supper, and
Derek went to fetch us some fish and chips.
Relaxing after yummy!
We sat around like it was old times, really feeling that Friday Feeling, and ate our food.
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Socialising at the Campsite Pub
After a while, we decided it was getting late,
so we all migrated to the pub for the rest of the evening.
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Saturday 18th June 2022
Saturday dawned lovely and… cloudy!
No problem for us though, we set out to find the Source of the River Thames.
The guide said it was only about 15mins away, which some of us were doubting,
but we decided to trust the guide. We all set off together, feeling like a herd of sheep,
across fields and farms and walking through tall grass, when SUDDENLY
a train whooshed past us! We should have Stopped, Listened, and Watched!
Stopped, Looked, Listen Watched!
Some of us flew in a panic, but it passed, and we carried on to look
for the source of the river Thames.
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Thames Head, the Source of the River Thames
We eventually found it, and learned that the Thames Head is a spring that flows up
from under the ground only once a year, in wintertime, to feed the Thames.
Above a postcard – Wintertime
This postcard was captured on 1st January 2000,
where you will see the bubbles coming up the springs from underground.
Memorial Stone
A stones marks the site of the spring and there is a memorial stone
with an inscription just behind the spring.
The stone’s very worn inscription reads;
The Conservators of the River Thames
1857 – 1974
This stone was placed here to mark the
Source of the River Thames
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Facts about Thames Head
The Thames Head is in a field known as Trewsbury Mead,
about 1.5 miles north of Kemble village.
The spring is 360 feet / 110 metres above the sea level.
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Admired the stone
It was a beautiful sight, and we all admired the stone, learned about the story,
looked towards the sea where the Thames would end, and took lots of photos.
What was initially a 15 minutes walk took nearly two hours
as we stopped and chatted along the way!
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Just in time!
As we arrived back we suddenly felt some big fat raindrops on our faces.
We rushed to get our brollies, and as soon as we got them up, the heavens opened on us,
and it POURED!
We all thanked our lucky stars that we finished our walk just in time!
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Dinnertime!
Derek had our previous ordered food and booked a table for lunch beforehand,
so the food arrived quickly. We ate, and chatted, and ate, and laughed,
and by the time we were done, it was 4:30pm.
Enough time for an afternoon doze, before we all met back up again at 7pm for games!
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Cirencester
Cirencester (often referred to as the Capital of the Cotswolds)
was the second largest town in Britain during Roman times.
Tetbury
After Cirencester, some of them went to a Cotswold town of
great architectural interest in Tetbury.
It remains substantially the same as it was in the 16th and 17th centuries
when it reached the height of its prosperity as a wool town.
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Women v Men
At 7pm, we started with some Jenga.
It was pretty casual at first, but people became very competitive very fast!
The Jenga was managed to get a new DCCCuk record of 32 high!
We decided to pitch the men against the women!
We played a few rounds and at the end the….. MEN won!
Playing Skittles
After Jenga we decided to get out the skittles.
The competitiveness continued with more men vs women teams.
The first round had the men’s team absolutely obliterate the women’s team.
After a few games, the score ended very close with 5 to 4.
That was the end of most people’s energy, and we all headed off to bed after midnight.
Sunday 19th June 2022
Sunday came bright and sunny again!
But unfortunately, it was the last day, and we all had to say goodbye.
We took lots of group photos and said goodbye.
A lot of feedback came in too, which was mostly all positive,
but had some things we will work on to improve in future.
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And thank you…
for those visitors joining with us.
William Rowley, Frank Rowley, Robert Rowley,
Michael & Patti Down, and Linda Day.
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And thank you the staffs at The Thames Head Inn
They were putting us first to convenience our weekend.
We were much so grateful.
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Derek Rowley
We thank you to Derek, who organised the site and previous ordered food
and booked a table for lunch beforehand.
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Next One!
Here’s looking forward to our WDC Rally No. 03 at Fenstanton!
To book: WDC Rally No.03 – Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire
Weekend: Friday 16th September till Sunday 18th September 2022
Site: Crystal Lakes Leisure / Closing date: Sunday 31st July 2022
More photos
Click here to browse more photos of
2022 WDC Rally No.02 – Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Reported by
WDC Marshal,
Sylvia Simmonds
Back to Rally Reports / Photos page.