After the wettest season I can remember the stall has finished officially for the winter although stock has come in at such an alarming rate these last two weeks that we are thinking of some possible indoor venues for next month. In June continuing to follow the Mersey Basin Ring Cruise, the IWA Manchester Branch event at Salford Quays gave us a superb site alongside the boats in the dock and an evening opportunity to look round part of the Lowry Centre. I won a microwave in the raffle - very good weekend! Chester Branch rally at Norton Priory on the Bridgewater Canal started off very wet but people came to spend their money and as the sun shone on Sunday the crowds gathered and we had a successful time.

July saw us back in Halton for the annual Show, the weather was hot and sunny and Phil Hurst and his family provided some much needed back up for the stall and the boat trips (more about those elsewhere). St Helens MBC hosted the stall at the end of the month during the three days of the St Helens Show. Takings at this event were amazingly high due possibly to the smaller number of stalls attending but also of course to the excellent variety and value of our merchandise (courtesy of members, thanks to everyone who has donated their cast offs this year). The Trading Standards Officer came to inspect the stall one day and seemed quite impressed. Thanks to Peter, John and Ian and his family for their help.

The Rural Craft Fair at Rainford and the Castlefield Carnival were both excellent venues as usual. The stall was moved onto the path between the two canal arms at Castlefield to make room for the reverse bungee jumping event which took place all weekend in the Kenworthy area. We had a good view of this massive attraction particularly on Friday evening while setting up and it was fun watching the reactions of the participants. Blandishments to take part were easily resisted as we pleaded old age and poverty! Having said that, our daughter professed to be really interested in going on but she didn't seem to be finding the £15.

At the beginning of September the Rochdale Canal Society held their Millennium Festival at Hebden Bridge and we went up to join that, again in the pouring rain but it got better. The weekend was good, but poorly attended by local people who seemed bemused to find something had been going on which they didn't know about. It's ten years since we first had the stall up there then it was for a trail boat rally and definitely the best one we have ever been to. Travelling up this time brought back memories of 1990. We had borrowed a caravan and as Colin was working on the Saturday and I had no towbar on my car, Steve Freeman, SCARS Secretary at the time, kindly offered to take the caravan up and I was to follow with the two girls then aged 12 and 5. That was fine except that Steve got through the traffic lights at the end of our road and we didn't so that was the last we saw of him. My car wasn't too happy with the climbing as we got nearer to Hebden Bridge and finally gave up on the motorway when the radiator erupted. We fled up the bank and after a while when it became obvious that it was steam not smoke coming from under the bonnet we collected our valuables (my bag, their teddies) and started to walk to the emergency telephone. After a minute or so someone pulled up alongside and offered us a lift. I don't know what went through my mind but I can see myself now giving him a look as if he was a white slaver and saying terribly politely, "no thank you, we're only going to the phone".

The RAC eventually came to the rescue and we got to Hebden Bridge meeting up with Steve as he was on his way back after leaving the caravan. The campsite officer obviously being warned of our late arrival was very kind and made a fuss of us for 10 minutes, filling a kettle because there was no water on site until morning and offering help to set up the awning if we could manage for the night. We did, the three of us slept in the two berths and the space in between. The following morning two young men set the awning up in no time, the sun shone, we had water and the site was buzzing. By the time Colin arrived in the afternoon everything was OK and the weekend was wonderful. Thankfully nothing disastrous happened this time and it was wonderful to see the lines of narrow boats and cruisers on the restored canal in place of the trail boats which were the only craft able to gain access to the water 10 years ago.