Can anyone see that music?

The Craic at Henley
By BrianC
August 12 2002

The LISC Craic team headed to the Henley 7's on Saturday 10th August. Goodness knows what Henley made of us, we were a tad noisier than the locals, but here's my account of what we got up to.

Picture this scene. You are by the riverside with a group of your friends, the sun has just come out. You have just eaten a truly superb lunch, there’s a cold drink in your hand. The sound of the Fields is drifting through the air. Quite simply the Craic is ninety. The title of this article comes from some words uttered by MulledWineMarie at just that moment.

When, back in May, I first mooted the idea of an LISC gathering at the Henley 7’s I had envisaged that there may be between 10 and 20 of us; that was with a London Irish team playing. On Saturday 10th of July, with the professional team playing at Sunbury, and no LI presence at any level of the tournament, over sixty of us gathered at Henley. We truly are party animals, goodness knows how many there would have been had we put a team in.

I got to Henley late on Thursday afternoon. One of my tasks was to contact Henley RFC with a view to arranging the location of a table for the sale of JC shirts. It was at this stage that I realised just how pleased the good people of Henley RFC were to see us. ‘Yes certainly’, said Catherine who was organising things, ‘We thought the best place for the table might be next to the Guinness and Pimms bar but we’ll put it somewhere else if you’d prefer’. Later I asked another of the club’s people about the concept of an AG & Pimms bar, something I’d never encountered before. ‘It was going to be just a Pimms bar’, came the answer, ’Then we heard you lot were coming we thought it would be wise to make some changes’. Suffice it to say before during and after the event the people of Henley RFC were truly wonderful.

Friday evening saw the first of several deliveries by Paddy69 and the arrival of Mr & Mrs Goz. We had by this stage secured a prime mooring spot and the rain, which had been pelting down all day, had gone. Four of us had a bbq by the river, knowing it was a long day ahead of us we had an early night. I think I got to bed about midnight.

The day itself came, clouds around, rain threatening but it was, thank goodness, dry. It was wonderful to meet so many of those I’d only ever met either online or briefly before. What was quite simply an awesome catering operation swung into operation. Breakfast was served to about thirty people and the catering team got down to preparing what was a quite stunning lunch. I can only speak personally, quite simply is was the best bbq/picnic food I have had in my life. There are too many people to thank for this mammoth operation to list. My special thanks goes to OxonRob and MWM, they worked their butts off to make this such a special day.

Inside the ground the Fatboy Aid t-shirts were selling like hotcakes. The stall was manned by Reading Fatboy, Eek_the_weeble (Who missed lunch) and others. Not only were all the available shirts sold but posses were sent back to the river to fetch shirts that had already been sold. In effect a number of the shirts were sold twice. The launch of Fatboy Aid was a resounding success, it was also great fun. The shirts, for those of you who haven’t seen them, are superb. I’ll try to get some photos up soon.
We even persuaded one of the refs to wear one during a game, not sure the rugby authorities would approve but what the ‘eck.

Different people spent their day in different ways, some I’m sure didn’t even make it into the rugby. Some I know took in both Henley and Sunbury. A part of mine was taken up with river trips, chewing the cud, watching rugby, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. By the time we’d cleared up after dinner it was 10.15, the music at the club was about to stop. Those of us who were staying, plus H@wasps, made our way to the LI friendly hostelry in town where the London Cornish contingent led by JoeV hosted a great sing song. By my reckoning, on this day, the London Cornish contingent managed a 17 hour drinking session. I got to bed at two, not having the stamina that others have, I left them in the pub. Joe has done a couple of things in the pub which he might come to regret once I’ve told you all about them, but that’s another story.


After what had for me been a stressful week, it was just what the doctor had ordered. The London Irish family is alive and well. For me this was a very special day, thank you all.