Little Venice Cavalcade

Sat 4th May

Moored in the Pool at Little Venice Cavalcade

So here we are once again at Little Venice Cavalcade. The theme this year was "Celebrating our volunteers. We had collected our plaque which reflects this idea.

Cavalcade plaque 2019

It was cold and windy this morning. Lorraine arrived with our new BCF polo shirts which had been sent to her to pass on to us.

The next boat but one to ours on one side was Cherie with Eric and Sally Naylor. On the other side was Nimrod which was the commentary boat, with Mike Phillips on board.

Cherie departing for boat handling

We put up our Boaters Christian Fellowship banner and displayed some leaflets at the stern. Due to the wind we couldn’t put them out on a table.  Peter and Valerie Hodges came on board for coffee – it was good to see them again. Their boat is up for sale.

Peter and Valerie

The view from the boat

We had a very tasty Indian lunch from a stall, and listened to a band called Mandolin Monday, featuring our friend Paul from Tafelberg. They were very good. We were joined by Ray from Stronghold.

We went to buy a coffee from a small red caravan, and were surprised to find Ed Boden serving us. He is our boat engineer. His wife runs this coffee business at various festivals.

We went to see Phil Underwood performing on the amphitheatre stage, and we spotted BCF friend and saw player Caroline Watsham and family. It started to rain, so we lent one of our brollies to them.

James bought sausages and fudge, and Hazel bought a scarf

In the evening we took our instruments to the beer tent for the open mic event, and we sang “Long way down” and “London Rain”. We enjoyed meeting some people called Carolyn and Wills, who came to sit at our table.

Eric at the open mic singing his “Grumpy Boater” song

Phil Underwood and Caroline Riches

Sun 5^th May

We went to the short informal service run by Graham Nunn of the Church Army. He has done this now for 30 years, as well as organising events on the site for kids, like teddy bears picnics.

Graham Nunn

Sunday best

Libby

Mike Moore

Most of the festival was similar to yesterday – meeting people, visiting stalls, eating, listening to music, watching the boat handling. We met a guy called Fred Plumb who had a bric-a-brac stall. He spotted James’ BCF shirt, and told us how he had been a violent gangster in his youth, and how he had left all that to follow Christ. His story is here.

Fred Plumb

Boat handling with Ray on Stronghold

Waterways Chaplain Steve Jenkins came on board

Blessing of the boats

Carolyn and Wills came on board for a chat in the afternoon.

We joined Lorraine and Mike on the boat Annie and Walt for the illuminated boat procession, which was great fun.

Lined up in the Pool

Painted jam jars on Annie and Walt

Illuminated

Kayaks

Paddington Basin

No boating today

Mon 6^th May

We had more time wandering round and chatting today. We met Eric Naylor, and also Ray, testing the products in the beer tent.

Carolyn and Wills spotted us at our table, and came and joined us.

Carolyn and Wills

Steve on Gentle Breeze

Some boats had to leave in the afternoon, and those that were left closed up the gaps and moved further down the Pool towards the Waterside Café. We ended up moored alongside

Cherie (Eric and Sally Naylor) and Pippin.  We still managed to give out some leaflets to passers-by.

The remnant in the Pool

No significant boating today

Next: A search for a mooring, and a few days in London, before cruising to Bulls Bridge.