At 8.30 a.m. on Saturday morning, 7 people from St.
John’s
On arrival,
the bus had to queue to get to a point where we could disembark and then drive
away. The car park was packed! It transpired that Howarth was celebrating
its “1940s Weekend” which was obviously extremely popular!
As we left
the coach about half of the group walked directly into Howarth whereas about
half of us set off on our “walk” following our leader, Janet, However, the walk began with a descent into
and through Howarth and so, it was a slow start because there were so many
people piling off coaches and pouring out of cars.
As we made our way down Main Street
We
stopped, as we cut off to descend Butt
Lane
We had to wait quite a
while but finally Brian was located!
Moving on
down through Central Park a number of people
disappeared into the Portaloos. However,
waiting in the park was not a problem as we ere entertained by the singing and
dancing of “Paul Harper’s ENSA Show”!
Finally we
were under way! We walked down past
Howarth Station and out onto the “The Railway Children route”.
The ground was very muddy and there were some
big puddles but it was nice to be out in the open.
Before we knew it we were going down the road
to Oakworth station (The one used in the film of E. Nesbit’s “The Railway Children”).
We were
greeted at the crossing by a train just leaving the station.
By this
time, even though it was not very warm, the rain had just stopped. It was 12.30 and the Station Master very
kindly allowed us to eat our lunch in the station. (This was particularly kind because at Howarth
station they were charging 75p for platform tickets!)
Some ladies ate their lunch round the open
fire in the anteroom to the Ladies’ toilets, some of us sat in the waiting room
and others on the platform.
After lunch
the people doing the two mile walk made their way directly back to Howarth.
The rest of us carried on along “The Railway Children” walk. From time to time we saw trains, or at least
trails of steam, as we continued on our way.
We passed through lovely, if very wet, countryside and eventually found
ourselves climbing up to, over and above the Railway line.
We climbed
the hill that the children are seen running down and waving to the train in the
film! We hoped they did not have to do
too many “takes” as it was quite a haul to the top!
We got back
into Howarth in time to spend about an hour and a half in the village before
having to return to our coach at 5.00 p.m.
We were
able to soak up the atmosphere of the “1940s weekend” ...
....and watch “The Land Army
Girls & Re-enactors Parade” as it made its way down Main Street
The only
downside of the day was the 40 minute, rather chilly, wait we had for our coach
to get to the front of the queue back at the car park. But overall it was an excellent day!
