Well what can you say about the meet other than it was a bloody great weekend all round!
I’ve simply had to saviour this one for a few days as it
was one of the very best we’ve had.
Day 1
In this post I’ll review Day 1 and then come to Day 2 very soon but we had a great build up to the Sunday with the Saturday crawl in Hammersmith and Chiswick which has some brillaint riverside pubs and bars to enjoy a relaxed drink with. Being with Gene, Del and Steed we landed in Chiswick at lunch and after a brisk walk the first stop of the day was The Dove on the Upper Mall.
I managed to blag a table on the terrace, not easy with this being a
VERY popular pub on the riverside we settled in with some good Guinness and good company and we were shortly joined by The Saint and greeted with a bit of sun too which was in a bit of short supply that weekend. After a jar or three we got joined by Vienna and Gerry Burtonshaw and Charles Bronson a little later too. The Dove is one of those pubs you could simply settle in for the afternoon in a lovely location like Hammersmith riverside more so if the weather is great, although it does get rammed there.
You can’t stay in one place all day so after a couple of hours at The Dove we headed off to iconic Minder location The Blue Anchor further along Lower Mall. A bit busier than The Dove was when we started off we still managed to get a good spot in the pub which seemed busier with the Thameside rower set (or maybe the won the boats on Bullseye
) around there that afternoon along with semi-regulars too. With it’s Minder and to a lesser extent Pro’s links it’s a pub that has to be done and had some of their beers on tap rather than the Liffey Water this time.
A walk up and down the Mall’s in Hammersmith and Chiswick, taking in discretely some locations from flim/TV too we landed at The Black Lion who’s beer garden was very nice in the low spring sun. Again another great pub to recommend in that area and all in the afternoon was a great ice breaker and allowed us to catch up with each other and have a bit of banter before we turned our attention to the evening.
Back to Chiswick and the Premier Inn for a wash and brush up and it was off again to the Euston manor for a curry at Haweli, a few of us turned in for the night but some of us stayed out and headed to The Swan right in the heart of Hammersmith an met up with Carter and Windy in there. A few of jars later and after a
great Day 1 very similar to London version of the Newcastle meets we've had it was time to head back and turn in for the main event on Sunday.
In anticipation of the Sunday it would give us
no indication of the treats which await us and these will be in my Day 2 review, all I can say is big, big thanks to Gene (thanks mate) and all for putting in the work for this in addition to the actual meet and locations too.
What a brilliant day all around last Saturday!
Day 2
As promised here’s my review of the main event Day 2 as I’ve usually done in the past I’ve not really looked at the other posts yet as I like to make it my own thoughts on what was a brilliant, brilliant meet this time around.
Something of a ritual is the morning breakfast at Wetherspoons,
William Morris in Hammersmith and walking up there with Gene gave no indication of the
special guests we were going to see that morning.
Meeting up with Sam (thanks for the brekkie too mate
), Three Litre, Brown Granada and Steve Austin we chewed the fat (at the bacon) of what we’ve been up to since the last meet and what we’re looking forward too on this one. All fuelled up it was off to Colet Gardens to meet up with Mickyosan and a new face who wasn’t so unfamiliar but very, very welcome all the same our guest
Dawn Perllmann.
It was only fitting that as we were mainly covering ‘Messenger of the Gods’ that Dawn (Linda Rix) would be our special guest for the day to take in many of the locations and for Dawn to have some personal reminisces of the episode, show and period too. Dawn was brilliant with us all too almost as if she had been on our meets with us before and was very chatty and open with us about her career which took in many things including other Euston Films things I’ve liked like Out and Prospects too.
This wasn’t the end our guests this time around as after a good 10-15 minutes in we are greeted by sight in the distance of a Ford saloon, a bronzed (gold) Ford saloon which was none other than the iconic Consul NHK295M which Mr Shifter kindly made available to us and recreated the famous opening scene of the first three series too.
Thanks again to Mr Shifter for making NHK available to us and to Gene in making the arrangements with him to make this happen. It’s such a precious motor and it’s restoration is brilliant and very, very original too. I can’t believe I’ve been in the motor the lads have been in too, dead chuffed.
After enjoying a bit of time with our guests it was time to head off to the locations and the first of these was Uverdale Road in Chelsea Harbour (or Chelsea Docks in old money) the scene where Jack and George confront Alby Spooner (Derek Martin) at his yard and chase and lose him around that manor. That area has seen heaps of change over the last 30 odd years which has intensified in the last 10-15 years or so but fortunately both the yard and Uverdale Road generally hasn’t changed that much too. Del even recreated Alby’s run along Uverdale too although I think George (Dennis) might not have lost him this time around!
Next up was off to Shepherds Bush and Latimer Road to check out Lukey’s Gaff and the Wilsham Street housing estate near Latimer Road that Rudd (Michael Melia) is hunting Lukey down in too. There’s been a bit of change on the estate since 1977 some good/some bad and the steel bins are still there too!
Thirsty work these locations so we’re off to an old haunt the nearby Brook Green Hotel, for our lunch stop and this was a great opportunity to chat and mingle with each other and Dawn who mixed very, very well with all of us too. As I said earlier on it was almost as if Dawn had been to a few of our meets in the past and was for me chatting like one of us during this stop and the day as a whole. Great Guinness in the Brook Green too.
It’s back on the plot again this time to Mrs Rix house in Shepherds Bush which was the scene of Linda’s bathroom escape and the rescue capers of Jack and George too. Sadly despite best efforts we couldn’t get into the house this time around. The nearby roundabout where Lukey thumbs his lift is more or less unchanged too, in an area of
great change with Westfield and other developments and it set us up nicely to go to the church where they were meant to tie the knot in too again thanks to Gene for making the arrangements with the relevant people for us to have it too ourselves on a Sunday afternoon too.
Alby’s wall jump and a brief walk we were back in Brook Green when Jack and George confront Rudd and his cronies who are out to hurt Lukey before he skips with his ‘friend’ in the Mercedes. All of these locations were a lovely trip down memory lane for Dawn and I’m glad she enjoyed them as much as we do too.
Sadly Dawn couldn’t make the evening meal with us at The Queens Head, however you were
brilliant throughout the day and I’m very proud to have chatted and spent time with you on this meet.
All the very best Dawn and thanks again for giving us your time and insights into your career before and after The Sweeney too.
So then late afternoon and it’s off to The Queens Head a very nice pub in that area and was nice to be back in after a fair while of doing meets outside Sweeneyland and outside of London too.
Some of our lads had to leave during the course of the evening but for us staying over we were in and drinking up until at least 9:30ish before heading back to Chiswick. We didn’t turn in mind you there is still one more for the road and this was in the Fullers pub The George and Devonshire where Gene, Del, Carter, Windy and Steed all banged the world the rights and sunk a few jars until closing time and the end of the weekend all round.
Back to reality and Monday morning and after breakfast it was time to say goodbye to the remaining lads and back to (ugh) work but this was simply
one of the best meets we’ve had over the years and we’ve had so many brilliant meets over time too.
First of all
big, big thanks to Gene for sorting this out and making sure that the whole thing went off like clockwork from the second we landed in Chiswick to the Sunday evening. You work so hard on these and it’s very much appreciated by me and I know like all of us we have many things outside of all of this which can (sometimes does) take priority over this. The time, effort and experience you put into this is immense and I’m so glad to have been a part of this one and enjoyed it so, so much too. More so than this you’re a good personal friend and I appreciate that too mate!
Big thanks to Saint for being my driver on the Sunday too alongside Del and Dawn too, thanks again for doing this.
Again
thanks to Sam for the Sunday brekkie and for being a good mate too and to Del for being a good roommate and sorting the arrangements at the Premier Inn too,
thanks lads.
Finally
thanks to everyone for being great and bring a little bit of each other and something too the meets too. I won’t lie recently had a bit of a torrid time these last couple of months which has limited my time on the forum and outside interests recently but there was no way I would want to miss this meet even without our special guests for the fact you’ve all been a great bunch of lads over the years and for a weekend at least I could put all these things to one side and just enjoy the locations, beers and laughs with you all as we have always done over the years. Thanks again lads!
Well how do we follow this meet up? I’m sure Gene has got something good up his sleeve for the next one and I can’t wait for that and to be a part of that. For now at least lets look back on a bloody great weekend!
Take care lads and all the very best. DE!