Hectic Weekend

Saturday/Sunday

26th and 27th June 2010

Still at Braunston

Saturday started sunny and blisteringly hot. The Friends of Raymond fundraising stall was set up with all the goodies.

Fundraising Stall

Nutfield and Raymond were readied for the opening of the show, as they were to lead the opening parade carrying the VIPs, including an MP, an MEP and the Chairman of British Waterways.
I was crewing on the Butty during the parade which did a loop through Braunston Marina and back up the canal to the Marina entrance to drop the visitors off.

Thats me on the rope

The afternoon was quite busy with people around, looking at all the attractions in the various marquees and all the working boats.

Queenie was there to pull Narrowboat Angel, for the Horse Boating Society.

Queenie having a break

Travelling along the canal with the Historic Boats came a Punt from Cambridge, they were punting from Cambridge to Oxford raising money for Help The Heroes.

Cambridge Students

We decided not go out for meal but attend the entertainment in the Beer Tent, this certainly proved to be the right choice. I took my own beer as I did not like the stuff they were selling, I also took a proper glass, plastic glasses are not the best for drinking beer. We also took a couple of rounds of  bread and butter to eat with the chips we were having from the catering caravan, these proved to be 'spot on', especially when we heard that the people who had gone to the The Admiral Nelson Pub for a meal, were told that there would be an hours wait for food!!!
We were entertained by a band called The Fabulous Ya Ya's (Contact Steve 07887766839) they started about 8.45 with the words 'Do you like Country and Western Music? at which point I was ready to leave, but then they said Bad Luck, we don't play it, we knew it was going to be a good night when they kicked off with 'Make me Smile' by Cockney Rebel. Everyone had a really good night. 

 

The Fabulous Ya Ya's

Sunday, it was even hotter, not so many people around but the parade of the Historic Boats continues with one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The England/Germany football match was shown in the Beer Tent, afterwards the lager was reduced to half price to either get rid of it or to cheer up the England fans, but lager even at half price still would not tempt proper boaters.

It all wound up about 5.30/6pm with Steve,Richard,Roger and myself  taking Nutfield and Raymond back over to the far end of Marina to their moorings
.

Tonight we revisited The Boat House and had a leisurely meal, in the air conditioned section.