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,

Gwen Ardley sailing Whimbrel

Gwen Ardley sailing Whimbrel; picture by Nick Ardley

“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

My mother had a sail on Edith May shortly after rigging out back in May … and aptly … her last meal before the move was aboard that lovely barge. It was a glorious day and the sun sparkled. Evocatively, the barge’s reflections were mirrored on the calm spring tide that filled the dock, reminding her of days long gone…
Jane and Geoff Gransden, according to my youngest brother, Andrew, made a real fuss of her and they all enjoyed a bargeman’s stew. My mother is going to miss the dock and the barge… Bless her.
It is the end of an era, and sadly, for me, I really have left my ‘childhood home…’ It is a place I have visited so often, by land and water since growing up. Of course, I’ll still be sailing into the dock, that’s for sure, roll on 2013!”
Thanks for that, Nick, and I am sure everyone here with Cambria and all our readers will wish Gwen all the best in her land-locked future.