A bit of history.............
What are you doing at 9pm on a night !
How about a trip to the above co-ordinates, and don’t worry there
is a pub within 30 feet ! The above co-ordinates are for the
obelisk in the centre of Ripon Market Square.
At 9pm every evening a ‘wakeman’ or ‘hornblower’ appears and makes
four blasts on his horn at the four corners of the obelisk to ‘set
the watch’ for the night….He then proceeds to the mayors house and
plays three blasts.
This tradition dates back to 886 when Ripon was granted its charter
as a city. Yes I did say over 1100 years !
The previous hornblower Alan Oliver was in office since 1 November
1983 until 31st May 2004, after 21 years of service !!! WELL DONE
ALAN, thats a lot of 9pm's !!
Every night without fail the hornblower performs the above task.I
am not intending to give much more of the story or tradition as he
gives a great speech after the performance.
This cache is obviously time related and you need to be there at
9pm on a night.
This event is only going to last as long as the Speach provided by
the hornblower which is normally around 3/4 hour.. It is suitable
for kids if you can keep them awake !
As this is also a general public event there will be no other
activities going on, but we may go to the pub (30 feet away)
afterwards
This event has been placed as part of the Mega Event
weekend.
Those who are observant will notice there is also a virtual
cache at the same location, and a traditional 96 feet away... so
three finds in one !
The Hornblower also hands out wooden coins to all attendees so
please make a note in your log how many people are coming so I can
pre-warn him to bring some more supplies !