The Hammerman Tour

The Hammerman Tour

And so to this year's Wold Tour.

It has been described by some as "A glorified pub tour interspersed with exercise and culture by means of walks and readings from the works of Alfred Williams, The Hammerman Poet", and they would be bang on the money.

The plan is to start in the Heritage Quarter of Swindon near STEAM then go visiting villages of the Upper Thames with connections with local hero Alfred as the basis for the itinerary.

Along the way there will be much singing, a pie, a spot of lunch, maybe the odd tipple, rounded off by a half decent supper and maybe a bit more of a sing, all intermingled with readings from the Hammerman Poet himself.  It promises to be a day full of surprises and a good deal of culture as we explore the rich industrial history of Swindon's Railway Heritage Quarter and the outlying villages.

Another Magnificent Day out.

Timings merely for guidance and will need adjusting if anyone dawdles. 

Time	What & Where	What we will do
1015 1025	Coach leaves AK Pickup in Cricklade	Opposite Town Hall as usual
1045 1100	Arrive at STEAM, Swindon	Intro to AW.  Sing. Time for short tour. Reading 1.
1200 1215	Walk to Gluepot Inn Railway Village, Swindon. Gather at pub.	Sing in underpass tunnel. Pint and pie at pub.
1245	Pick up coach. Drive to Liddington Hill.	Walk up hill. Sing. Take in Vale of White Horse and Upper Thames views. Reading 2.
1345	Drive to South Marston.	Visit AW Cottage(s) and grave. Sing + reading 3.
1430	Carpenters Arms, South Marston.	Late lunch, sing.
1530	Drive to Coleshill, drop off at start of walk.	Coleshill round walk. Reading 4.
1630-1645	St Andrew’s church, Coleshill.	Sing Georgian pieces.
1715	Radnor Arms, Coleshill	Pint and sing in forge.
1800	Drive to Buscot	Thames path walk to Trout Inn, weather permitting
1900	Trout Inn	Reading 5. Sing.  Food.  Bigger sing.
2100	Leave Trout Inn Coach to Swindon Train Station + Cricklade Town Hall + AK	Drop off those who need to return via train at Swindon Train Station 2120/2130, blocking the road for all others… thence to Cricklade 2150/2200 then AK Arrive AK 2215 ish Non-AK residents will need alternative transport home – taxi? Or beds to fall into

There are still a couple of place left if you fancy coming along, just email us at our email address themagnificentak47@gmail.com and we will see what we can do.

What a Magnificent Tool!

 

Everyone who knows anything about the blokes of The Magnificent AK47 knows they LOVE a good bit of hardware, and here we can see a particularly Magnificent specimen of top quality toolage, and even more special than that, it is monogrammed with the name of a very special person within our ranks.

And what is so extra special about this tool, we hear you ask?  (We are talking of the spanner not the bloke at this point you understand . . . ).  It is not only a wonderful piece of industrial heritage in pristine working order, having been specially lubricated for the occasion, but it is a potent symbol of immense esteem, it is token for the very first Edwin Beard Budding Unsung Hero Award, which has been dreamt up to be, er, awarded to recognize an Unsung Hero who makes "stuff happen" for all concerned in the group and beyond. And the inaugural winner at this year's Pow Wow is none other than former Chief Instigator, the infamous Neil B, the  typist behind the majority of the mistyfyingling vast number of emails that whistle round the planet to help make all the Magnficence happen.  As you can see from the photo he is a practical sort of chap using a pair of pliers to try to lever off the top of the whisky box to try to get into the bottle stuck underneath!

Either way, a very well deserved prize and here's to the next winner at some point.

Thanks as ever to Bill H for such a lovely snap of Neil in action.

Pow and Wow!

The Magnificent AK47 clambered back into action last Sunday, reaching unprecedented heights of activity, quite literally. . . from the top of a Windmill!

The blokes kicked off their new season seranading Wilton Windmill at one of their occasional open days, close by to this year's BlokeFest.  Luckily for the somewhat startled throng that was gathered abouts, most of their performance at the bottom of the windmill rather than the rather cramped upper rooms.  

And after wowwing the audience with their first couple of songs, receiveing a rapturous reception from the cake and tea swilling mob, as well as demands from elderly ladies to photograph blokes in their finery of their Magnificent T-Shirt, "because you are great", it nearly went to the blokes' head.  However, luckily they were brought down to earth by not quite remembering their new pieces and having to nip round the back and have a quick impromptu rehearsal, reviving cuppa, then to storm back into give a rousing rendition for the second half.

To be fair to them, they had only started learning the pieces earlier that week so it was quite an achievement to even half remember them!  And this and other progress was bourne out by some of the comments from our belovéd ChoirMeister during review of the year made as part of the Pow Wow that followed our windmill experience.

The Pow Wow (AGM to more conventional types) took place in the darkened drinking den that is The Bruce Arms, which was the actual location for BlokeFest.  It was extremely well attended and covered some healthy and hearty discussions about activities in the past year and plans for the coming months and into the next year and even a little beyond.  There was much passing of motions (in an administrative, procedural sense you understand) and proposing and seconding of blokes for posts to help with the orderly running of the machine behind the music.

All in all another Magnificent day out, soon to be followed by many more adventures around these parts, so keep tuned in for more news of serious silliness to come.

Pow Wow plus Wind Mill = Another Magnificent Day Out

Tis the time of year when many of us start a pondering "when can I start larking about and singing with all those top blokes I'm fortunate enough to know?"  And the answer is THIS Wednesday onwards!

There is much girding of vocal loins, lubricating of larynxes after the long summer recess and re-unlocking of the inner minstrel as the Magnificent Multi-hatted singing machine cranks itself back into action.

And what an Autumn / pre-Yuletide season we have planned!  Adventures start from the very beginning with a return to the School Hall where it all started some six years ago and continue with a combined "sonic / cultural experience" and Pow Wow (AGM in slightly more conventional speak) this coming Sunday 14th September.  There may also be talk of C.AM.E.L.s (Collectives [not committees] Acting with More or less Executive Level powers) and much more besides.  So come along and hear all about it if you are interested.

We will be making the trip to close by to where BlokeFest 2014 took place, very near to the Crofton Beam Engine and will be visiting the historical Wilton Windmill.  The blokes will be wandering around on a semi-organized guided tour at around 13:00 and doing a bit of singing to anyone within earshot, thence at around 14:00 to The Bruce Arms, scene of the highly successful BlokeFest 2014 where the lads

FoBaFoBs (Family of Blokes and Friends of Blokes) all very welcome to come along to visit the Windmill, hear the singing, see the highly tuned democratic process that is a Pow Wow in action and maybe have a bite to eat and something to drink.

For more information about other forthcoming adventures, such as Wold Tour, singing in a Convent etc, check out all the dates on the er, Dates page on themagnificentak47.com/, up a bit, right a bit, fire!

P.S.  Thanks to Bill H for yet another fabulous poster - he is a clever chap!