letters to the Editor Camp reports: do you “love to read the different styles, banter and injokes” or do we sound like “a cliquey bunch who all get rat-arsed”? The letter and editorial comment in issue 289 about camp reports prompted some replies... Dear Martin, Fortunately we live in a free country, have our own views and are free to express them. I read the letter from John Felix (Navvies no 289) on canal camp reports. I am in my 80s and have been an armchair subscriber to Navvies for decades. I make sure to send my subscription, and a decent donation by return partly to thank all the team for their dedication and hard work producing such a varied and informative magazine. Also to ensure I don’t miss an edition as I particularly look forward to reading the canal reports together with the fact files which put them into context for me. I love to read the different styles, the banter, and the “in jokes” which I mostly don’t understand, but have fun trying to work out. They make me wish I were young enough to join in, but they are the next best thing. I can’t wait to get issue no 290, with lots of canal camp reports hopefully. Thank you Martin and all the team for regularly producing such an informative and amusing magazine, I don’t take all the hard work for granted. Keep up the good work. Derek Horsnell Martin I can see John Felix getting his head bitten off but personally I’m with him. The camp reports are the worst bit of Navvies for me and I never do more than skim over them and look at the photos, for all the reasons stated by John. However, I do read those which have not been written in a student rag week style, such as the Lancaster report in the latest issue. That’s what a report should read like in my view. I do wonder whether the other kind of camp report is counterproductive. I wonder how representative they are of the camps themselves and worry that they are. I’ve never been on a camp, despite being an armchair supporter of WRG for many years, and the reason for that is entirely down to the impression the camp reports have given me. From reading them I expect to encounter a cliquey group of regulars who all get rat-arsed down the pub every evening and if you don’t want to try and break into that circle over a number of camps you’ll feel rather awkward. Now I accept that may well be totally and utterly not what WRGies are like in reality but that’s the impression that comes across to me in Navvies and I’m not particularly keen to book myself into a week of confirmation of my fears. So I’m probably far more likely to dig with one of the canal societies who submit reports and who give off a more inclusive feeling through their more factual style. Sorry, this probably won’t be received well but I’m just telling you the truth from my point of view. Regards Andy Overton Hi Martin I thought I would just respond to your editorial on camp reports in Issue 289. The fact file part is interesting but I must admit that I really enjoy reading the entertaining part of them (even when I don’t know the people involved) and even more so when I do! It would be great if these could continue and I hope you receive lots this year. Regards Sue Jones
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