Rocking the Moor with Guest Editor, Doody Blake (and the lovely Carol Kirkwood)


You may recall that we needed someone to cover Rock The Moor - it is after all the biggest thing to happen in Cookham every year and I am too tight and too miserable to go.  Fortunate then that I found a volunteer in the very glamourous shape of Doody Blake – the only woman I know who can manage to rock a blue wig, an orange kagool, and a pair of wellies and still look fabulous.  So please give a warm welcome to Cookham Matters very first “Guest Editor” and her experience of this year’s Rock The Moor.  Let us know how it compares to your own!

Being born in the 60’s I feel very fortunate having an 80’s 'Rock the Moor' concert on my doorstep. Great memorable 80’s bands playing locally on stage, bringing back sentimental memories of my youth. 
This was the ninth ‘Rock the Moor’ in Cookham and attending each year has become a family affair with my brother, my sister, the kids and friends from around the area and sometimes from afar.  The tradition of dressing up is still ongoing and this year the blue and pink wigs came out.  My sister-in-law managed to find some great red tartan trousers, which would have been an easy find in Carnaby Street back in the 80’s.  Once we were dressed up in our 80’s gear along with wellies, waterproofs and a brolly we were ready to go.  Due to rain showers, we didn’t arrive until the afternoon and bobbed in through security to ‘The Beat’.  Fortunately, the field hadn’t turned into a mud bath and we didn’t sink without trace.  The rumour flying around was that ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ were a no show due to missing their plane, being 'a flock of seagulls’, it was sad to hear they couldn’t fly!  Nevertheless, the show carried on with Matt Bianco, Howard Jones (I had found the original singles in the garage the day before), Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Sister Sledge, to name but a few.  Due to spotting some very dark clouds ahead we felt it was timely to head over to the bumper cars, where bumping into my brother and sister and the kids at full throttle felt really good!  Sustenance was provided via a chippy that was selling chips with various sauces and the usual lager and wine on offer, not forgetting to take our bottle of wine back so we could reclaim our £5 back.  
There were some unforgettable outfits on show, great hairstyles, fabulous colours and when we finally came to watch the last act (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), as we have every year before, we ended up with everyone at the front of the stage singing and dancing together as the sun went down.  I recall bumping into Carol Kirkwood the BBC weather presenter at the end and asking her if there was any chance of a prediction for the weather next year, sadly not, but who cares, raining or shining Rock the Moor never disappoints.

 Rock The Moor returns on the 19th May 2018 and you can register here for information as it becomes available.  Special thanks to Doody for staying sober enough to be able to remember what happened and share it with us!

Location: The Moor, Cookham, Berkshire SL6 9SB, UK

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