2002 Jag Day
Mild morning, with sunny periods.
Collected for Coronary Rehabilitation Interest Group (C.R.I.G.) £170
Mini Bus hired from Ready Rent a Van, Normanby Road Scunthorpe -£41.13
Diesel £10.00
Cost of Minibus hire and fuel deducted from the combined income from 12.January 2002 and 18 December 2001. Making a total donation to C.R.I.G. of £220
Start at Steve Hindley’s
Gainsborough
Xtra Breakfast
Gainsborough Market Place 11.30 Ploughjag
White Horse Closed – Boarded up
Lords 12.00 Ploughjag & songs and tunes
Messingham The Horn Inn 14.15 Ploughjag, & songs
Ashby Malt Shovel 15.30 Ploughjag & songs
Broughton Red Lion 17.45 Ploughjag, songs, and tea
Gainsthorpe The Shires 19.30 Ploughjag & few songs
Scotton The Three Horseshoes 20.30 Ploughjag, songs
Winterton The Lion’s Head 22.00 Ploughjag, songs and tunes
Characters
Rag Fool Eamon Greene s
Recruiting Sergeant Geoff Convery s
The Lady Gordon Griffin s
The Horse Jim Hancock
Joe Straw Steve Hindley m
Flash Hatman Keith Brown
Beelzebub Dave Barlow s
The Doctor Geoff Miller s
Dame Jane Bob Schild s
Besom Betty Geoff Turner
Hatman Dot Griffin
Hatman Vicky D.
Musician/Marine Sergeant Major Kate Bilmore Gainsborough and evening
from Shires
Musician/ St George Peter Barnard Gainsborough and evening
from Shires
Musician Jerry Oakes Gainsborough only
Musician Bob Cleveland Gainsborough and evening
from Shires
This year’s Jag Day was influenced by other bookings arranged on 5th January by Jim Hancock and also the Stubblejumpers. The route was organised by Rob Whitfield, who had written to all the 2001 venues (except Gainsborough). The sequence of visits was influenced by the new management at the Shires Pub (ex Perry’s) at Gainsthorpe, and the management at the Red Lion at Broughton, who wished us to try their food at tea time. The route was just 100 miles including diversion to Ashby en route from the Three Horse Shoes to the Lion’s Head, for fuel.
Bit of late start. Xtra overwhelmed by number of breakfasts required, and took quite a while to serve. This put us a bit behind our schedule. Market place performance was very well received, probably the crowd was attracted by the number of performers and family from Gringley, who came with Nick Pal to see us this year. Good weather also helped. (Photos by Steve Hindley, and Nick Pal)
The White Horse was closed and boarded up. This was felt by many to be probably the result of the opening of a ‘Wetherspoon’s’ pub across the road The Swain Forkbeard.
Anyway, this allowed us to go to ‘Lords’ on schedule. The Jag and songs and tunes were well received. Jim Hancock and Geoff Convery (Currently appearing at folk clubs and festivals as ‘Clarty Sough’ (pronounced ‘suff’)) brought out their award winning song ‘Jag Day’ to great acclaim. This song won the 2001 Radio Lincolnshire ‘Write a Lincolnshire folk song competition’. Another of Jim’s songs ‘ The traction engine driver’s song’, which had received third prize in the same competition in 2000, clearly won the hearts of the locals, not least because it features Dolly, a Marshall traction engine. Marshals having been the major industrial employer in Gainsborough for most of the last 150 years, and their traction engines, boilers, and tractors being famous worldwide. (Some paddle steamers still operating on the Murray River in Australia are powered by Marshall steam engines)
At Messingham, group photos were taken by Rob Whitfield, who turned had up at Gainsborough with a friend and was now arriving with more friends who wanted to see the Plough Jag. Immediately dubbed as Rob’s Plough Jag Tours the numbers increased gradually for the rest of the venues of the afternoon but they all stayed at the Shires, where they attended a ‘House Warming’. In the Horn Inn we were a bit late for the lunchtime diners, but had an appreciative audience, enhanced, of course, by Rob’s Tours.
The Malt Shovel, at Ashby was again a good receptive venue, (Eric Stones only came in as we were leaving.)
The Red Lion at Broughton was providing food for the Jag this year, but there was a bit of misunderstanding which meant that they didn’t start cooking until late thus making us late again. Unfortunately Dave Barlow was the last to be served, after being the last at Xtra in the morning too. “Infamy” he claimed. The Devil, they had! Good food though for £1.99.each.
Rumour had it that the landlady at the Shires had posted flyers about the Jag to the whole of Gainsthorpe village and part of Kirton in Lindsey. Unfortunately, either few were interested, or the rumour was false, for the numbers of viewers were mainly on Rob’s Tours. Allison’s Tours began where Rob’s Tours ended, as Allison Gennery raced off, after the Red Lion, to collect Bob Cleveland and deliver him to the Shires. Another welcome visitor at the Shires was Mrs Lynda Convery, thankfully recovering well from a recent painful spell in hospital.
John and Denise Butler again welcomed us to the Three Horseshoes at Scotton, but the singing was a bit sparse and subdued, as the Jaggers were obviously missing the teatime snooze. (Only Bob Schilds is under 50 now!) Also the pub was full and very hot.
Fortunately, the team perked up on the trip to Winterton, and an excellent performance of the Jag, and songs and tunes followed. Sandwiches were provided by the landlady, together with a hearty invitation to return, again, next year. The landlady actually said that it was a pity the Plough Jag wasn’t done more than once a year as the massed singing and good humour was sorely missed in pubs these days, and invited singers and musicians to go to play an any Saturday night.
Photos – Rob Whitfield, Steve Hindley, Vicky D, Nick Powell.
Nick Powell and his colleagues performed their play on Sunday 13 January 2002, and according to Nick were greatly influenced by the professionalism of the Coleby Plough Jaggers as observed in Gainsborough on the previous day. Nick was invited to submit a report on the Coleby jag for inclusion in this publication.