Infill including Dear Deirdre

How to go on a camp if you’re self-employed, whatever happened to the new vans, and Mr Mac delves into the WRG North West archives

Dear Deirdre I desperately want to go on a camp this summer but I’m self-employed and I really can’t afford to take more time off work. Have you any advice? - JK, Wolversbury Deirdre writes For years now I’ve found a way to earn money whilst participating in WRG camps. There are many people in the ‘birding’ community who adore birdwatching but are unfortunately too lazy to actually go out in the wild and look at birds themselves. I offer a simple subscription service where I’ll text updates on all the birdlife I see on the canalside to my followers, and they get to enjoy birdwatching from the comfort of their own living rooms. There’s a huge birdwatching community in the UK so I’m sure you can build your own following and generate an income while you dig. Dear Deirdre What happened to all those new vans I raised all that money for? I was very disappointed to come on my annual camp to find we’re still driving round in the same mud-drenched old bangers we were in 2016. Did head office spank all the money on new pens or something? - NT, Ashton Mandeville Deirdre writes No these actually are the new vans. It only took 5 minutes for WRG volunteers to make them look just as beaten up as the old vans. We’ll be along in a minute asking for funds for the next lot. Thanks for your support!

[The editor would like to point out that the vans are in fact all looking spick & span with new logos]

Do you have a question for Deirdre? Just email it to the editor and we’ll get her reply Once upon at time in the north west...

I am indebted to David ‘Mr Mac’ McCarthy for sending me an extract from the minutes of the WRG North West ‘Ad Hoc’ Committee meeting of 28 February 1985:

WRG Navvies Subscribers List: The person maintaining this is giving up soon. It is a very big job and involves writing out about 400-600 first and second renewal reminders each issue. Also Alan [Jervis, the then WRG Chairman] is fed up with dealing with al the resultant cheques and slips. Edd Leetham offered to do the reminders on his computer and Sue Watts volunteered to deal with all the cheques and received slips, with any problem areas to be sorted out between them. Alan was visibly unimpressed but after the meeting it was agreed that he probably thought they were joking...

...followed by an extract from the minutes of the next ‘Ad Hoc’ on 4 April 1985:

WRG Navvies Subscription Secretary: Sue and Edd’s offer to do this has been taken up after all. Alan has handed over his stuff to Sue. Edd to collect the rest from Christine Martin and John Felix (at a pub in Northampton on Easter Day).

Mr Mac comments: “Such is the way history is made. Sue is therefore the longest serving member of the dedicated Navvies team.”