Rediscovering the Kelly Kettle

I find another long-lost friend in my study. It's Mrs Kelly Kettle. I had a lot of fun with this baby, so decide to give her a clean out. Or rather a de-coke, as the chimney's got half an inch of soot encrusted on it.

When I used it all the time, it gave fishing a certain wilderness feel. A je ne sais quoi quality of man versus the big outdoors, as the pall of smoke rose into the air and sometimes gave the game away as I gave it a squirt of WD to get the reeds or whatever fuel I'd scavenged alight.

The best think about the KK was it would burn just about anything and boil enough water for a round of teas and a couple of pot noodles in five or ten minutes. I only used the cook set you can buy as an accessory once.

I left some scran frying as I hopped down the bank to nail a run and when I turned around the whole lot had gone up in a great whoosh of flame. Not even the dog would eat the aftermath.

I also nearly set the then PAC chairman alight with it a few years ago. "Whatch'a tryin' ter do again Bish," he said, non-plussed by the plume of sparks licking around his brolley. "Smoke 'em out..?"