Tag: St Kats

Back to Work

September 21, 2014 /

Barnet Hill Lifeboat Crew

Well, our brief and lovely ‘holiday’ in St Kat’s Marina is all over, and the barge locked out on Wednesday morning early, got tugged down to below the barrier, and set sail in a favourable wind (Skipper Ian Ruffles had said “I don’t mind a bit of North but I don’t want anything with an ‘E’ on the front of it!”) for Gravesend Pier which they tell me they were able to get alongside under sail power for the first time. Normally they’d get close and then warp in, though Hilary Halajko of the ‘Sea Change’ team tells me that they have managed the sail-in a couple of times in the past. Cambria will by now have picked up her next Rotary Club charter which, as well as having a lovely time, move her down to Gillingham Pier, so she’s back to real work for a small while, till the end of the season.

Boat Owners’ Prize Giving

Dave Brooks asked me to Thank the Management of St Katharine Docks via this blog, for the superb time we all had during our stay and to thank the 15 volunteers who all helped us to achieve the overwhelming success we had there. This both in terms of visitors seen come through the barge, but also in record money raised in donations, in shop sales and in the raffle for the Jeroboam of red wine with the hand-painted (Cambria picture) on the bottle. I would also like to thank the shanty singers, the Barnet Hill Lifeboat Crew (pictured). These guys volunteered to sing their shanties all around the Marina while dragging behind them one of our deck-sluicing buckets on a rope to raise money for us. On the Saturday afternoon they then came aboard and did us an impromptu concert from our wheel house even though one of them was running a bit tight for time on his train journey up to Barnsley. They were excellent, and raised for us a brilliant and very welsome £161.97. Good job lads!

More from them on http://barnet-hill-lifeboat-crew.weebly.com/

Locking Out

September 17, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Locking out of St Kat’s at the end of the Classic Boat Festival

Cambria’s 8 days in St Kat’s is now over and Maggs Casey Kelly sends us this very nice picture of ‘us’ in the locking out. Maggs tells me she is sorry to see us go and we have certainly enjoyed ourselves, feeling well looked after and getting the chance to show Cambria off to way more people than would normally see her. I was there for the first weekend, of course, but Boss of Volunteers, Basil has now caught me up on the further adventures.

The remaining days of our stay were a bit quieter than the first mad weekend, with a footfall of around 60 on the weekdays and then some busy weekend days, when 700 souls came round each day, so that we estimate that well over 3000 people were shown around during the stay.

On the Tuesday our hold played host to the premiere of the latest Simon North (barge) film “Noble Life” which saw another 30-40 aboard and where plenty of copies of the film were sold. I have asked for one for myself and I will review that for you when I get my copy. Being the biggest vessel in the Festival and that having the biggest possible meeting-space, we also played host to a drinks party for all the boat owners in the Festival, apparently attended by 50-odd folk. I bet that was a bit crammed below decks but I understand they all had a good time and enjoyed their chatting and yarning.

Now it is all over and Ian Ruffles (Skipper) and the crew have sailed Cambria down to Gravesend Pier where they had the usual fun and games getting the anchor to ‘stick’ while they sorted out lines and came alongside. There is no bite on the river bed there and we end up paying out yards and yards of chain to try to create some friction while the barge drifts downstream on tide or wind, threatening to mix it with the mooring buoys. I gather we have 130 yards of dolly line and we needed most of that length this time to get a line ashore so that we could dolly-winch ourselves back upstream to the pier. The joys of engine-less barging. Fair play to Ian for knowing what to do!

As Iconic as you Like

September 16, 2013 / / 4 Comments

Tower Bridge in the background as Cambria locks out of St Kat’s

Thank you very much Maggs Casey Kelly who looked after us so well while we were at St Kat’s and now provides these lovely images of Cambria locking out of the basin. I don’t think it comes more iconic than this!

Tom Browning (Apprentice Part 3)

September 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Tom Browning, Shipwright Apprentice, photographer unknown.

As the barge comes to the end of her stay in St Kat’s and tonight, locks out bound back to Gillingham Pier and her duties as charter-vessel for the Rotary Club sponsored Respite for Young Carers, a nice email has come my way from Faversham Creek Trust. Faversham Creek Trust, you will know, are setting up a new Apprentice Training Workshop in the former (gas) Purifyer Building on Faversham Creek, in the back of the Morrison’s Carpark.

Their website at http://favershamcreektrust.com/ has news that “Sailing Barge Centaur, owned and managed by the Thames Sailing Barge Trust will benefit from a £100,000 Lottery Heritage Funded refit in Tim Goldsack’s dry dock at Oare Creek. She will be worked on over the next few months by a team of local craftsmen which includes the Faversham Creek Trust’s first apprentice, Tom Browning.

Tom, achieved his level 2 apprenticeship with Simon Grillet, during the Cambria restoration at Standard Quay, in 2011. He will commence his level three training through work experience on the Centaur, combined with technical training at the Purifier Building.

The Trust are delighted to support the Thames Barge Sailing Trust in their restoration and outreach programmes, that do so much to keep alive our local maritime traditions, and this is exactly the type of job that we want apprentices to be involved with”.

Nice one, FCT and it is brilliant to know that ‘our’ Tom is carrying on with you guys and on the barges. One of my favourite pics of the Cambria restoration is the one which has been used in brochures etc, of Tim Goldsack and Tom sighting down the port wale of the part-built Cambria – it just says it all to me about the training up of young lads, keeping these old traditional skills alive down the generations as well as the amount of ship-wright-ery which is ‘by eye’. Unfortunately I cannot now find a copy of that pic (which was not one of mine, I should add) so this rather poor one of Tom will have to suffice. Simon Grillet, I know, at the time was hard at work on the Morayshire, and I would love to know whether that panned out OK.

All the best Tom, Tim, Simon and the Faversham Creek Trust.

Sea Change’s Last 2013 Cambria Outing

September 3, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Cambria under Full Sail in the 2013 Southend Match, picture taken from, we think, Pudge

We were passed this superb picture of Cambria going like a train with all sails beautifully set by Richard, Hilary, Stretch and the Sea Change Crew. The picture is taken from, we believe, SB Pudge and comes from the Thames Sailing Barge Trust. Hilary tells us that they had a bit of fun but didn’t do so well this time. Posting on the 27th, she said, “Currently anchored at West Mersea. Had a blast at the Southend match and a very creditable 3rd place in the bowsprit class as no other coasting barges present. Underway yesterday at 5pm tacking all the way to the Spitway and anchored in the fog here at 2 am! 3 handed was fun apart from winding up 2 shackles of chain against the wind and tide! Up to Maldon today possibly a visit to the Queens Head our HQ this evening!”

All good things must come to an end, and Sea Change are now on their final 2013 charter on Cambria, though they stress that Sea Change carries on on the SB Reminder all through September and October and into early November. Hilary again. “Last Cambria trip of the year for Sea Change. Maldon to St Kats. A fair wind away from the quay so no towing charges today! beautiful sunshine, I feel a BBQ coming on and maybe a bit of swimming?”

Thank you so much to the Sea Change team for looking after and using our old girl. We are proud to be part of your good works. It is brilliant that this vessel is used to do so much good. I thank Hilary too for all the Cambria Watch write-ups.

Dave Brooks reminds us all that, “The Cambria Trust are excited to announce that Cambria will be attending the Classic Boat Festival at St Katharine’s Dock London. She will be open to the public and trust members will be on hand to guide and answer your questions. Dates 7th to the 15th Sept.”

The early part of that includes me, your blogger, so that this may be the final post from me till I get back to Ireland. Maybe I will see you on board?