Following a week of car related traumas in the Squire household I was very glad to finally arrive at Fort Pitt, albeit it a little later than usual - special thanks to Jacquie and Martyn. The last of the stragglers arrived shortly after I did and, once we had wrestled with Jacquie and Martyn's tent by torchlight, several of us settled down to enjoy a couple of drinks before turning in.
Saturday morning started almost as cold as Friday night had ended. However, by the time we were heading into town the sun was definitely starting to warm up. First spot of the day was shared with Wild Hunt and East Kent. We kicked off with a massed Salmon Slapping which saw no less than four new members make their Rochester debut's; although Roz had also danced at Whittlesey in January.
After getting a few dances under our belts it was time to launch Manic Miner on an unsuspecting public. There was some trepidation as we had rather muddled through this on Thursday night. However, we pulled it off admirably. Those members of the side who weren't in the set said it looked very good. Kenny, who hadn't seen it before, was very impressed.
Moving on to our next dance spot we joined Mythago, and Wolfshead and Vixen. Here we pulled off another Manic Miner to prove that it hadn't been a luke. We also repeated our joint Grim Reaper / Foul Mouthed Cat with Mythago Morris.
After lunch we danced with Black Pig Border, Phoenix Morris, Customs and Exiles and Boxhill Bedlam. It was particularly pleasing to be told by members of Black Pig that they really enjoyed dancing with us as we are 'such a vibrant side' and we clearly 'have so much fun dancing'. In fact several people over the weekend commented on how well our younger dancers performed. Finally the day's dancing came to an end, but not before several members of the side insisted that we do one more dance - which turned out to be two sets up for Bedlam!
It was really great to see Kenny rejoin us for the weekend. Even though he hasn't been practising with us he could still remember the dances just as well as when he was squire! Of course his services as head barbecue chef were also greatly appreciated.
On Sunday morning we started dancing earlier than on the official schedule - almost certainly a first for Pretty Grim! It was particularly good to catch up with Westrefelda, before retiring to the Gordon for a spot of lunch while we watched and danced to the Bounty Hounds.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and promises to mark the start of a wonderful Pretty Grim summer.