Watership Down…..Bright Eyes !…….The song that inspired a generation of love sick teenagers in the `70`s….Visions of playful bunnies going about their business in the grassy banks of the English Countryside, unknowing of the perils and dangers lurking, lurking near the waters edge, in Bath. – to be more precise, the river bank….

Prey, where is yon river bank located? - I hear you ask. For those of us  who were lucky enough to have access to a piece of suitable metal piping, a small quantity of wood, a minuscule amount of explosive material and a suitable selection of spherical projectiles. Combine these aforementioned articles with the enthusiasm & impetuosity of youth, boredom and an aptitude singularly associated with teenage males, and you have the cocktail mix of what I am about to reveal.

Angry men, able bodied, full grown beer swilling men, who shave twice a day – are now intent on waving their arms and various tools of torture at a group of School Children. Children who, having not been born into an era of " Waterhip Down ", are now making plans to retreat from the bank on the opposite side of the river from the Asbestos and Tin buildings which formed part of the industrious establishment know as "Stothert & Pitt".

These wretches of unknown origin, having been recently cast out of an equally productive environment called "Bath Technical School", have been recreating one of the more famous scenes from the Film "El Alamain" - to whit, a small but none the less, devastating example of a Field Artillery Weapon. This beast is being powered by the manufacturers of "Pains " 3d bangers gunpowder, a small piece of blue touch paper, 2 bus tickets as a wadding, topped of with 2 ball bearings for good measure, has managed to achieve what Adolf Hitlers air crews failed to do in the 1942 raids on Bath. …..Halt the workforce of Stotherts Cranes in their tracks.

These men have realised, as did the good people of Bath many years before them, that their resistance to this onslaught is futile & ineffective against such a powerful force. With the odds stacked well in their favour, the motley collection of School Children gather their materials together and disappear into what cover nature has provided in the vicinity of Norfolk Crescent, Bath.

Within a few minutes, calm is restored to the waters, the men go back to their duties, no doubt armed with yet another story to tell their Grandchildren & Wives of how they stood shoulder to shoulder in the face of friendly fire.!! – Wildlife, returns to establish its territory again, fish dart out of the cover afforded temporarily by the, weeds and stone overhangs – a baby rabbit unaware of the dangers of daylight hours or of the ensuing commotion pricks up its ears – listens, and sniffs for predators. The children, wiser beings now, ( aware of the awesome power they now possess ), have taken their very first step on the evolutionary ladder of remote armed combat.

This was but the first of many such happenings reported in the Bath area during the early sixties, many of these incidents are still the matter of police investigation, even until this very day.

Nobody, except you and I, knew the real truth !!

The Beatles were due through any minute, the train that was to carry them onward to their destiny in London was long overdue. From the School yard, the pupils at Brougham Hayes could hear the strains of their new hit song "She Loves You", coming from the back of Tony Wates house at no 2 Stanley Road which is near to the rail bridge at the top of Brougham hayes.

A big old Console Television cabinet full of speakers (which now included a new fangled metal "Trebax" tweeter, no less !) and all of this noise being produced by a 50 watt " Quad " valve amplifier…..was being focused out towards the Railway line….. in respect for their passing…..

A strange warm glow came over the big Wasps face, as he shook hands with the Deputy Head of the Nest that he had just escaped from, ….it had taken four long and horrendously eventful years, but he had succeeded at last !….left long behind now, were the comic heroes of old…...he had met new ones ….and made more Wasp friends than he could ever have dreamed of…...little did he know though that the nest would return to haunt him again……

A few of the older wasps had escaped before he did, and some had lost their way in the world, he, however, was still focussed on what it was that drove him on, the insatiable thirst for knowledge, and cider….the world that awaited him was so new and exciting, much of it had changed while he had been away….gone was the wispy smoke of his youth, replaced by the stench of the black diesel…the solid walls of his world, shattered and torn from the ground, ….ground hallowed for centuries by his forebears……

The old West Gate building, where once he had seated himself and eaten with the rest of the Black & Yellow Brigade, now beckoned to him in a different way, ….far removed from the canteen of old was the first floor above,…which held much material woven in time…Old Ted was there, with the lift, in dispatch, and Harry, the guy in the brown overall with the limp, was the first to interrupt the Wasps investigation of this shiny new world, he spoke with the magical words " Put that microphone back in the mouth piece of the phone in the rest room , Williams "….a most masterly voice, without question, if ever he had heard one before.

It was not long before the Wasp had lost interest in his new " Nest " and had ventured out into pastures new…. On towards Milsom Street at the top of town….."Huntleys, Old Bond Street", surrounded now by " Bushes" and " Murphys " , " Pyes " and " Sobells "…Batteries, Bulbs, Valves and Vans, …Vans for the delivery of all kinds of wonderous electrical items for the modern home….custom legs for Radiograms, Cables for " H " Aerials, 3" Projection T.V. tubes and so much more….Girls, from Cawardines Café next door….this was more like it….just like old " Tommy Bests " in Avon Street this was……But it was not to last…..

The net closed in without warning, there he was, going with the flow, when all of a sudden things took a turn for the worse, he had been seen in the company of other Wasps, in the vicinity of an Educational Establishment which has suffered much devastation, this was not war damage, but something much more recent….the vehicle that contained the Wasp was blue in colour, and made its way without heed from the driver, to a place of security for very naughty Wasps…. Within two weeks it was all over…and so was the tree on Mr. Peglars flowers ! ... (another story, another day)

And so it was, Wasp free again, at last……but free from what?.

Next time we have a bad winter, just keep this picture in mind !

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