Where It All Began...
Every year we have taken the Old Goats Grumble to a different level in relation to bands, facilities, bar, and catering. This is only possible, because of all the wonderful and extremely generous donations we receive from local businesses and friends. On that note we would like to say a particular thank you to Carl Tidy and Total Hire for their awesome support with infrastructure and advice on the build up to the event and also Kev Bingley. Kev was responsible for the awesome stage we introduced a few years ago and has now been pivotal in the production and build of a new bar which is getting bigger and better each year
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This year we have sought the support from volunteers for all types of work and as usual this brought a rush of willing friends and family to help us stage the event. A massive thank you to all of these. You know who you are. Our volunteers are on site from the Monday before the Grumble and until the gates close and all kit removed. Their enthusiasm and moaning is boundless. We owe them so much.
You either love festivals or hate them and Lauren was definitely a festival girl, we all know that. With a love for life, music, dancing, cocktails, cider and being surrounded by like minded people, family and friends, festivals put her right in the middle of where she wanted to be. Some of us tend to stick with the music we like, Lauren didn’t care, she would go anywhere. Every year it would be Download, Rock and Blues at Pentrich, or Ynot, but her favourites were without doubt the Old Goats Grumble and the Bearded Theory Spring Gathering.
We remember one early morning on the way to Download with Lee and Katey, when Lauren cracked open a cider in the car. It was only about 8am, but Lauren laughed and said the reason she loves festivals is because you can drink alcohol early in the morning and nobody looks at you strange. I’m sure there are a few people sat in their tents on Saturday morning doing just the same. Lauren was the heart and soul of the Grumble, being there right from the humble beginnings in a cow shed at Shottle.
Surprise surprise Lauren always wanted to work the bar and she was the girl that brought the cocktail and shot bar to the Grumble. People will remember going to the cocktail bar knowing that Lauren and her two lifelong buddies Jo and Rachel didn’t have a clue or actually care about measures. The amount of times we had to tell them to stop pouring so much into people drinks. Lauren would spend hours, normally during long periods of treatment in hospital devising new cocktail recipes including her own variation of the Black Jack. This has been the demise of many people at the last few Grumbles.
This will be our fifth Grumble without Lauren and no doubt is going to be extremely difficult for all the family, friends and club.
It will never be the same without her laughing and smiling behind the bar, but it will go on in her memory. It will continue to reflect everything that Lauren stood for, so please folks have a great time, respect others and raise a LOZ Bomb to our girl. And remember, spillage is lickage xxxxxxx
