The Moonrakers The Moonrakers legend can be
interpreted two ways and it takes on several forms as to time and
place.
One version is that a traveller came upon drunken Wiltshire yokels
trying to rake a reflection of the full moon in a village pond
convinced it was a cheese. This one conveys the notion that
Wiltshire men were drunk and stupid.
However, another (true?) version says the legend shows these yokels
to be very clever and that they originated back in the 17th century
in Devizes. A group of smugglers were forced to hide their loot in
a pond, the Crammer, when they were tipped off that the Revenue men
were waiting in ambush. They returned on the night of a full moon
to the Crammer with rakes. This again attracted the attention of
the Revenue men. When asked what they were about they pretended
that they were raking a cheese, the moons reflection, from the
water. No doubt the Revenue men walked away shaking their heads at
the stupidity of the ‘simple’ Wiltshire folk leaving
them to recover their contraband at their leisure.
This legend has become firmly embedded in the folklore of Wiltshire
and the natives of Wiltshire were known. The name has spread
throughout Wiltshire with pubs, clubs, hotels and even learned
societies named after them.
I recollect hearing of a local after-hours Wiltshire drinking den
being renamed the lofty title The Moonrakers Literary Society to
get around the antiquated English licensing laws of that time. Thus
members could quite legally be served liquor beyond the 2230hr
deadline of those days. I believe that the local police were
forever encountering drunks after a late night at the Literary
Society. A modern take on an old legend shows us again how our
‘simple’ Wiltshire man once again has the last laugh.
The Venue 
The Moonrakers is run by Russell and his family and they serve
high quality meals every day from 1200 till 2100, there is a nice
beer garden where we can meet if the weather is ok, the pub is dog,
children and cacher friendly. There are wheelchair ramps into the
lounge, parking in the pub car park and if the car park if full
there is plenty of street parking.
The Event
The event will start around 1pm until late, this will give
cachers a wider time bracket so they can try and fit it in their
busy caching programs, so come along and swap stories, travel bugs
and have a good time.
If you have not cached in this area before then you are in for a
treat as there are214 caches within a 4 mile radius of the pub,
should keep you going for an hour or so.
If you have never been to an event before don’t be shy, this
little event is just the job for a first time meet, add this
listing to your watch list so you will know about any updates. Hope
to see you soon.
Stan.
Congratulations goes to Maggie (Warminster Wanderers) for
winning the Mapamundi geocoin in my puzzle competition
We have got some nice raffle prizes to be won again, see photos,
there will be a Map Skills Quiz, it will have 20 questions and each
question has 4 possible answers, you just have to add your name and
tick the right answer, all the cachers who have 20 correct answers
will be put into a draw to win an extra large Mapamundi Geocoin
(see photo), this is a quick quiz this time to give you all more
time to swap stories, tips, and make plans for future caching
trips, so, come along and have a good time.