Regional Rove 2005
On May 2005
I have only been in Mensa for a couple of months but I imagine that the "Regional Rove" was one of the most ambitious events put on for the East Midlands region for some time. It consisted of a tour of the whole region going from north to south starting in Nottinghamshire and finishing in St Albans. Nearly 60 people took part in one or more event.
The rove kicked off with an Italian theme party at Maxine's house in Langley Mill. Those of us relying on public transport to get us to Langley Mill had to reckon with "industrial action" on the part of Midland Mainline trains, which meant that I personally almost didn't make it. There was plenty of food and drink and the weather smiled on us as well. Some also chose to sample Maxine's hot tub in the garden, something for me to try another time! I may be wrong about this but I believe the Mensa Connections boardgame didn't make an appearance, a rare thing at East Midlands events! For me it was an opportunity to meet and talk with Mensans who I hadn't come across so far.
On Saturday night we all descended on Milton Keynes and enjoyed party number two. Jo and Chris hosted the event and I also got to meet a couple of people who up until then had only been names on an email group. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to chill out after the narrowboat event and there was a fairly relaxed and laid back feel to things, apart from some lighthearted pushing on some people's part for a Milton Keynes weekend gathering in 2007!
On Sunday some of the group stopped off to see the (in)famous concrete cows before arriving at Bletchley Park. For me personally this was one of the highlights of the rove. We had a well-informed and highly enthusiastic speaker who told us all about the history of the buildings there which goes much further back than the war; in fact it was as much by luck as anything else that the government acquired the buildings for the codebreaking work that went on there. We were asked to guess what one part of the building was, and I'm afraid even the Mensans in the party couldn't recognise a meat safe.
We were given a potted history of the enigma machine and then started walking round the various buildings where the codebreakers, administrators and the operators of Alan Turing's code-breaking bomb machine worked. After Turing's initial breakthrough in 1940 things were going well till the German navy introduced a new advanced version of the enigma, the practical upshot of which was that the German u-boats could pick off convoy shipping more or less at will and at one point we were within two months of total starvation. However, once Bletchley had cracked even this new enigma they eventually got to a point where they were deciphering 50 different codes from as many different areas per day.
Bletchley as a tourist project is still being developed. They are planning to build a replica of Turing's bombe machine and actually put a demonstration of it into the talk you get with a guided tour. It would have been nice to have had more objects outside of glass cases for the visually impaired to feel, but my final thoughts on the whole experience were ones of admiration for the intelligence and the dedication that those codebreakers demonstrated in cracking the enigma. I couldn't help thinking that although to get into Mensa you have to demonstrate an IQ in the top two percent, there is a different and much higher level of intelligence altogether, and I certainly don't have it!
After our visit to Bletchley park we went to Richard's for a garden party. He had been making pessimistic remarks about bank holiday weather but as it turned out the sun continued to shine and Rosie brought some garden flares which gave things a nice touch. Turn out was higher than expected and some Mensans who had not been active for a while turned up which was nice to see.
On Monday those of us who had stayed at Richard's house got what for us (or me at least) was a rare treat, breakfast al fresco in glorious sunshine. Although a thundery shower descended on us as we hit St Albans, it quickly disappeared and some of us even had a BBQ lunch at a pub after our visit to the Roman museum and amphitheatre. The amphitheatre was particularly worth seeing, despite it's somewhat melancholy history of gladiatorial contests and bear-baiting. The museum had some wonderful very large frescoes and there was plenty to touch as well as look at, reasonably good value for the modest entry fee. In the afternoon a few went on a visit to the cathedral while others with further to travel started home early.
To finish with I'd like to express special thanks to those who organised things and who made their houses available for events; personally I haven't enjoyed a bank holiday weekend so much in a long time!
Guy Whitehouse
A full house of 12 Mensans turned up at Union Wharf in Market Harborough to go narrowboating. After some instruction on how to manoeuvre the boat, turn it and work the oven (!), it was all aboard. The weather was very nearly on our side, just a bit windy, which made sure that whoever was at the helm had a job on their hands. Under the careful and calming guidance of new member Peter, everyone who wished to had a turn at the tiller, steering the nine ton narrowboat past moored craft, under bridges, through trees and into the bank. We didn't ground the boat at any time but we did have a number of skirmishes with willows, ducks and really massive beetles. We did tackle a swing bridge on the way, and it was here that two boats overtook us. Was this canal rage?! No, hardly, it would be very hard to get any rage at all when pootling along at 3.5 miles an hour.
After about 2.5 hours, we reached our destination, Foxton Locks. We visited a lovely pub called the Shoulder of Mutton for lunch. Great food and conversation ensued. After lunch we explored the famed Foxton Locks, a flight of 14 locks, some only single berth. Despite the beautiful weather there were few boats out and the locks weren't in use by anyone. Some people had an ice-cream then we set about turning round. A sense of urgency was instilled in the crew as they realised that a wide boat taking people on a trip was coming the opposite way and we were at this point at right angles to the towpath, totally adrift in the canal. Tense moments of crazed throttle waggling ensued, but thanks to a group effort the boat was turned round and moored up. At this point, it was obvious that the other boat had misjudged their angle coming towards us, either that or they actually just aimed straight at us. They hit us, they lost a fender, and we laughed heartily. So onwards we went, casting off again for the return leg. On the journey back an obligatory game of Mensa Connections was played!
We arrived back in Market Harborough five minutes before we had to, which was either excellent judgement or total luck. You decide. We thanked the boat owner then it was off to the pub for dinner before setting sail sans bateau to Milton Keynes. Will we be doing this boating business again? Aye Aye, Skipper! A good time was had by all.
Jackie Goss