ACT Location Walk, Canterbury, 28th August 2016
There had been a bridge collapse on the motorway that I usually use so I went there by train instead. I hadn't realised that the train went through Otford which is where Geoffrey's father had travelled from in the film. It also went through Chilham.
When I got to Canterbury West there were some people already gathered there. We waited a while and some more people joined us, some old friends, some new. There were about 20-30 of us so I gave a general greeting to everyone and we set off.
Pausing by the Falstaff hotel (where Geoffrey's father was staying) then on to the Westgate for our first playlets (Colpeper's farewell and Peter's query to the police inspector).
A slow saunter up the high street, pausing at the Marlowe Theatre (which used to be Friars cinema, where the film had its world première), the Beaney Institute (Micky's library) and a few other places of interest.
Then down Mercery Lane towards the Cathedral, and that's where we ran into some trouble. The Cathedral charges £10 per head for admissions before 2pm on Sunday's (which is too much for many people), we thought that there might be enough time to look around from 2 to 2:30 when they start to clear people out for the evensong service. But when they let us in to the Cathedral grounds free of charge we found that the Cathedral itself was closed to visitors. So we were stymied. We walked round to the cloisters where some of the group went in through Becket's martyrdom to get a quick peek at the staircase leading to the "organ loft"
By that time my tired old man's legs were beginning to fade. So after a quick look at King's school we went and had a cup of tea and a much needed sit-down & a rest.
We then went back to the site of the Cathedral tea rooms, now totally gone, replaced by work on their new "user friendly" entrance. But we did the playlet for Micky Roczinsky & Bob when they meet up outside the Cathedral.
Up the hill a short way to Rose Lane, site of the long dismantled garage where Alison kept her caravan. A chance for the last two playlets (Alison asking the WVS lady the way and Alison in the garage) and then we said our farewells for another year.
But unless the Cathedral gets better organised we might have to think about crossing Canterbury off the tour - which would be a terrible shame
Still, Fordwich next year?
Steve
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