There will be some fun laid on and you will need to get out
and
about to take part, so keep watching for updates.
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 are now 232 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.