Friend of Cambria and barge and sailing book author, Nick Ardley emails with a tip off about a symposium being held by the Docklands History Group, called
“There She Blows!
Aspects of the London Whaling Trade”
This is an early warning and a date for your diary really, as it’s not till March 2013, but if you are interested then the link here should steer you home.
http://www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk/events.html
“It’ll not be specifically about barges/their trade on Thames”, says Nick, “but barges surely carried whale oil products so it might be of interest to web readers”.
Those who know, or know of, Nick and his books will also know of his Mother, Gwen who features strongly (obviously) in “A Barging Childhood” but is now hanging up her shore-living, view-of-barge-out-of-the-window sea boots. As Nick puts it,
“My mother departed the Medway’s shores last week to begin a new life at a warden flat in Devizes, Wiltshire. It was a sad event really: she has spent her entire life on and around the Thames and Medway, which included 30 years on the May Flower…