More of the same

Here is a picture of the decorous front end of SONFLOWER in bright sunshine.
and here is the back end. She is dressed up for Banbury Canal Day, our annual home waterways festival.

During the Boaters Bash on the Saturday evening, when we enjoyed a beer, food and folk music by Nick Nack Paddy Wack, fresh from their national success at Beale Park, the rain started and it didn't stop until about 3 in the afternoon of the Sunday!

The rigging fell down in the night wind and we lost a bungy in the canal. My sea-searcher was put into employment but passing boats had moved it to a spot unknown or picked it up on the prop! Sorry if it was you who found it through your weed hatch!

We pitched the Boaters Christian Fellowship stall under the Tom Rolt Bridge and kept dry but windblown for most of the day. Appropriately the theme of the day was the Centenary of TCR's birth. The canalside service was held there too.
We had a steady stream of passers by, some of whom stopped to talk or listen to the songs from 1910 which we performed unplugged while children painted roses on paper plates, a skill we had picked up at Little Venice IWA Cavalcade.

Those who braved the weather had a good time. The town council tried hard to put on a good show and we were visited by several notables throughout the day including the Town Mayor, Chair of Cherwell District Council, journalists from national and local press, friends and visitors for all over the country.

Quite a few bloggers made themselves known too. It is good to meet people face to face as well as over the internet.

Ghosts and Ghouls

The theme of The Banbury Canal Day didn't quite fit with our idea of a fun celebratory theme so we dressed the boat up in home made fiery bunting that The Best mate had lovingly stitched, attached doves and attempted to portray The Holy Ghost. Here is a picture of the Best Mate herself next to our cratch with the illuminated Dove of Peace.



The day really was a brilliant time. We were representing the BCF once more and this year we had three of our members who formed a folk trio to attact and entertain the throng that passed by. The weather was kind and people were having a good time everywhere.

To be fair, the theme worked pretty well. Of course there were a few macabre exhibits (among the boaters) and some of the boats were decorated with a lot of imagingation. The Ghostbusters were prominant and on hand complete with a first response boat (a peddalo) that went up and down all afternoon. There was also a headless ghost at the helm of a tiny clinker dinghy who won the prize for the best moving exhibit.

The best charity stall went to nb Mr Badger who came complete with his own graveyard! He worked hard on behalf Dogs for the Disabled a Banbury based charity. His pork rolls also kept us very amply filled with food!

Sadly to say I was too busy all day to get any photos. Without them it is very hard to describe the colour of a very good day.

The Best Bit, the Best Mate says, is meeting with the lovely boaters with their diverse interests from IWA to Ecover, Tom Rolt's centenary to Gardner Engines the conversation was never dull.

Just like the IWA Cavalcade earlier in the year, I felt the festival really showed boaters having fun!

Looking Forward

I am sorry to have been silent for so long.

This has been because of Owl's fall (See 'many a slip.....') and the need to continue life with only half the active crew. Also, because I have been slowed by the slow progress of my knee repair, I am not as fast as I could be. Early nights and early mornings have been the order of the day.

Breakfast, packed lunches, school bags to check, getting the boys to school/college, shopping, cleaning, cooking etc all take up a huge amount of time and energy. I do not want to be a single parent and do not envy those of you who have to take on that role.

Things are getting better. I have an afternoon of quiet as Pooh is out on an accompanied shopping trip and Piglet is playing with friends in Spice Ball Park. Owl is resting/reading in her recliner. I am tapping the keyboard.

What are we looking forward to? Well, in October, there is a great festival here called Banbury Canal Day . Sonflower will be there. We hope to have a great deal of fun and invite people aboard to show them that the inside of a boat isn't all that different to the homes they live in! A little cosier perhaps but most of the necessities are there! One of the main sponsors is Hook Norton Brewery so the ale will be good as well.

The other thing coming up is the Canalside Folk Festival At this wonderful few days of music, dancing and fun we will be doing a craft workshop on the Saturday. In the past we have made mainly little model canal craft but this year the weather has been so wet we are centreing on the most endangered species group on the planet- the frog. The TV mega series, Planet Earth highlighted that hundreds of species of amphibian are endangered. We will celibrate this wonderful little creature in paper and card. There will be origami frogs, dancing frogs, frog mobiles, frog games and a large green talking (croaking/belching) frog may turn up as well. Our motto is 'Frogs are Friends not Food'.

So there you are. We are looking forward to it. I hope you are too.