Daisy Grace Meningitis Trust Fund raft race, near Lichfield

 
The Jackson Four, on their floating golden casket, approach the finishing line at Whittington, on the Daisy Grace Meningitis Trust Fund raft race.

Yesterday I left Streethay Wharf after my annual servicing and repairs.  Granny Buttons is looking so much nicer.   Didn't get away until 1pm, 3 hours after my planned departure, but heck, what's new about that?

Delayed departures always seem serendipitous to me.  If I'd been on time yesterday I'd have missed the charity raft race, from The Plough at Huddlesford to The Swan at Whittington.

One of the most pleasant parts of the serendipity is wandering through the crowds asking them what the hell's this all about?, who's the organiser?, and then finding out the details - and promptly forgetting them.   My tactic is to ask nosey questions of everyone I can find - without taking notes - and gradually build up the smell and the sound of the crowd, and then latch on to a favourite and follow them as a microcosm of the event.

The picture (right) shows the organiser/s with the landlords of The Plough and The Swan at Whittington, the latter looking very fetching in his 1940s floral print dress.

So, no surprise that I don't remember which team won (sorry!).   As soon as I cast eyes on The Jackson Four, and they told me about their golden casket raft, I knew which team was planning to arrive last. 

They didn't disappoint, entertaining the straggling crowds with a cheerfully incompetent medley of songs in a very unjacksonian key, before all taking a bow (and a dip in the water) to the crowds at the finishing line in the garden of the Swan.  Never mind an entrance, they knew - like the real Jacksons - how to make an exit. 

I've got a video of them on my new iPhone - remind me to youtube it.

The one on the right of the headline picture says he's a twitterer - @jimmyvegasdj - but that his real name is Tito.  Or was it Jermaine.  None of them seemed sure.

One thing that surprised me was the absence of BW lengthsmen at the event, or any sense that they even knew about it.

But I heard from one local canal expert that while the event was regular in the 1990s, it was stopped for a variety of bureaucratic reasons, and this is the first revival of the new century.   I hope it's not the last.  

This long gap was emphasised by the official event guide, which detailed the results of the 1995 race - presumably the previous one - with a winning time of 19:09 (min/secs) and a losing time of  87:29 mins.

One thing I'd like to have seen would have been towpath signs warning boaters of the event and instructing them to keep to the offside of the canals, leaving the towpath side to the rafts.  But I thought it was great that it seemed self-policing.   God save us from the day that BW itself enters a team.

Although, it would be fun to see how they built and crewed a raft.

And finally - no, I can't tell you anything more about the Daisy Grace Meningitis fund, sorry.  There's nothing on the web about it - indeed, my tweets and this post are already the only things I can find.  If you aren't on the web you aren't anywhere. 

Still, they are now on Granny Buttons, which I think is no small tribute.    And probably worth a lot more than the £1 I owe them for the programme they gave me :-)

Comments

[Halfie]

A lot of thought has gone into making sure their beer doesn't spill. And, speaking of beer, and looking at the next photo, isn't it a shame that the trend these days is for lager rather than ale?

What was the time of the losing entrant in 1995?