Tag: SB Repertor

Floating Films – SB Repertor

January 15, 2013 /

Floating Films advert from SB Repertor; screen grab from The Barge Blog (SSBR) by Matt Care

Tonight an un-ashamed “borrow” from ‘The Barge Blog’, Tricia Gurnett’s diary from the SSBR (Thank you Trish!) covering a nice and very new idea from SB Repertor, now a St Katharine Dock resident having given up on Faversham’s moorings.

“Interesting new idea from SB Repertor”, says Tricia, ” At her base in St Katharine Dock, London, she will be offering a Cinema Club.

This is something new, so the website doesn’t have a lot of content at the moment – no programme or gallery yet – but it does explain what it is all about. Called Floating Films and run by volunteers, it will show a wide selection of films, including features and documentaries, as well as special screenings with live music accompaniment and talks with key industry guests.

As a not-for-profit film club there will be a suggested donation of £5, and up to 40 people can be accommodated. So with limited space it will be necessary to book in advance. The bar will be open, and guests are invited to stay on after the screening for discussion or just to enjoy the atmosphere.

The club hopes to raise the profile of the survival of the barge fleet and this forgotten part of London history, whilst providing a unique arts venue for independent film events”.

Good luck with that, the Team on Repertor!

Sad Tale

September 5, 2012 / / 1 Comment

Repertor manages a 180 degree turn in Faversham Creek following dredging works. Picture by Mike Maloney on Faversham Creek Trust’s website.

Faversham Creek Trust carry a rather sad tale in their report on http://favershamcreektrust.com/author/favershamcreektrust/ for September 4th, that of SB Repertor leaving the Creek for good after 40 years of having Faversham as it’s home moorings, pushed out, says owner David Pollock, by two whopping mooring rate increases. Repertor has moored there for 26 years under David’s ownership and for 14 years prior to that, and was a regular there all the time we were rebuilding the Cambria under our polytunnel. We have frequently been moored next to Repertor since. Dave Pollock says, in the Creek Trust Article that his mooring rates were increased by landlord Michael White by 70% since last year and that this had already gone up by 40% since the year before. In the interest of fairness I must say that Michael White has stated that rates have not changed since June of last year but that early payers get a discount and (Repertor) may have got this discount. I’m steering clear of that argument so I’ll let you read the article and you can pick the bones out of that yourself. It is unarguably a shame for the Creek, however that Repertor is moving to London and must be galling for the Creek Trust who featured Repertor turning round in the newly widened and dredged creek only recently and are making such good progress on the Purifier Building and the Sluices and Swing Bridge.

Meanwhile in a much happier mood, Sea Change Sailing Trust have produced a lovely long article on their website detailing the season they have had with Cambria, on http://www.seachangesailingtrust.org.uk/?p=2541 . This covers all the stuff around the Thames Match and then carrying the cargoes of beer and of the cement products. Do read it and tell them how much you have enjoyed it.

Nick Ardley’s Swale

August 12, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Barge and sailing book author and friend of the Cambria, Nick Ardley is first off the marks this time with his report and some superb pictures of the Swale Match yesterday. I publish here a love photo of Repertor and the newly restored barge Niagara crossing the line, borrowed from Nicks’s lovely website http://www.nickardley.com/ but I’ll leave it to you to nip across there and ‘read all about it’ and look through the excellent pictures. Nick generally takes his own sloop, Whimbrel out to go look at these matches, so he can position himself exactly where he wants and can get pictures you would never get from shore-based viewpoints. Nick grew up on the barge May Flower and has a life long love for and interest in all things barge and Suffolk/Essex/Kent sailing (he refers to it rather tongue-in-cheek, as ‘mud-larking’ and ‘ditch-crawling’) and if you’ve not yet caught up with his various books, they are well worth hunting down. Start your hunt on the website above.

Repertor and Niagara cross the line in the Swale Match 2012, picture from Nick Ardley’s website.

Meanwhile, Nick also chips in on the subject of the ‘stone heaps’ with a comment “The barge anchorage was not over the shingle spit running out from Shotley, but further into the Orwell close into the Shotley shore – almost opposite the Fagbury buoy. Unfortunately since the extension to the huge port on the Felixstowe shore the ‘mud’ has gone or been diminished by the channel running harder into what was a fine anchorage. I have seen barges using the ‘dead’ gound upstream of the port…
Th spit is not the Stone Heaps as far as I am aware, it is a natural geographical feature due to the run of two rivers. The name did refer to areas where ballast was dumped though – however ballast was mostly, latterly, landed ashore for re-use before ships had ballast water tanks…” Thanks for that clarification, Nick.