Boats.

why Catflap?

What else would you call a boat when you had five cats and three dogs?

The boat was originally built by WARBLE NARROWBOATS in Macclesfield in 1998/9 and finished to be exhibited at the Braunston Show in May 1999.

Probably because she was finished in a hurry to be exhibited at Braunston, we had constant problems with the paint which we subsequently learned had been sprayed as a single coat. After less than 3 years and many arguments with the builder, we cut our losses and took her to Phil Speight (now OBE for services to canal boat painting) who stripped her back to bare metal and hand painted her.

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Catflap - newly repainted by Phil Speight, moored on an island somewhere on the Thames

When the boat was first built she was moored in Braunston Marina, but in 2003 soon after she had been repainted by Phil, we apent the summer moored on a friend's mooring at Worsfold Gates on the River Wey. Having travelled down the Grand Union to get to the Wey, we travelled up the Thames on our return to Braunston. We happened on a little island which was totally uninhabited and found a landing place just big enough to accept Catflap.

From the front, the dogs are, Pandy, Gina, and Fly.

Bilster.

A friend whom we met when he was section leader of the Diesel Heavy Haulage section of Great Dorset Steam Fair (where he exhibited his Thorneycroft Antar) had earned his living in the 1970s by working this narrow boat with his brother.

'Bilster' is a 'Town' class boat built by Harland & Wolff in 1936.

Raymond

Built by Nursers in Braunston in 1958.

Originally built for Samual Barlow Coal Carriers, RAYMOND became part of Blue Line Carriers of Braunston in 1962 and remained part of that fleet until 1970 when she was worked by Arthur and Rose Bray until 1981 when she passed into the ownership of Jim and Doris Collins until 1992 or 1993 when she was given to the Wooden Canal Craft Trust who had hoped to restore her. In 1996 a group of enthusiasts (discovering she had never been restored) set up a charitable fund under the name THE FRIENDS OF RAYMOND to raise the cash to restore her. The story can be followed HERE.

Swallow

Built by Yarwoods 1934; photographed at the vintage boat show formerly held at Braunston Marina where we moored from 1999.

According to the records of the Historic boat club, the original engine was a Gardner which was removed in 1946 after which she was used (apparently unsuccessfully) as a butty before being sold to the Manchester Ship Canal where she became MSC Bank Boat No 3. Sold to private owners in 1982 she was renamed SWALLOW and had a National 2DM engine installed in 1987.

Stewart & Lloyds Tug.

One of three former Stewarts and Lloyds Tugs I know of on the cut.

From completely unreliable memory this is 'Tug No 2' (They all had numbers, not names).

Cactus

Built by Yarwood in 1935

Engine: Bolinder 15hp (Again photographed in Braunston),