Society Matters

We Welcome the following New Members :-

Anthony Leather - St Helens
Carol Laidlaw - Liverpool
Baz Slowen - Rugby

Sales Stall Report - by Cynthia Greenall

Our summer travels have just finished and as I think back over the season I realise the sun has shone on all of the events, most of the time. Carolina Street in Bootle at the Spring Bank Holiday was our first outing this year. IWA Merseyside Branch held a celebration of the work being done in Sefton. It was a good start, small and friendly. Several useful one-day events have been held in St Helens this year and we enjoyed visits to the Blackbrook Bonanza, the Model Boat Rally held in Taylor Park and the ever-successful Rural Craft Fair at Siding Lane. Crowds turned out to support all the events, there was a lot of interest in the stall and sales were very good.

Strong winds at Spike Island threatened to blow the stall into the Mersey as we set up for the Boat Jumble in June, but a rearrangement of the heavier items of sales stock kept us on dry land until the wind changed. We went back in July for the Halton Show and are grateful to Halton BC for continuing to encourage SCARS to take part in its events.

Two new venues for this year were the Disability Awareness Day in Warrington at Walton Hall Gardens, and the Leigh Carnival. The DAD event was incredibly hot and crowded but the stall attracted quite a lot of interest, being slightly different from the rest, and Colin was given a useful 10 minute slot on the local hospital radio. The Leigh Carnival, held in conjunction with IWA Manchester Branch, was the first for 18 years and the organisers had pulled out all the stops to make it a great success. Situated alongside the Leeds/Liverpool Canal, the visiting boats added to a very colorful and lively weekend, well worth another visit.

The highlight of August was the IWA's National Waterways Festival, at Beale Park on the Thames at Pangbourne. Normally we would not have travelled so far with the stall, but the Executive decided that in view of the heightened interest in the Sankey recently that we too should be on view at this major event. Also, there was the added incentive that David Long, SCARS' Chairman, would be there with his family on Sunday and Monday, and we couldn't leave him there on his own.

Coming from the dull and damp north, the hot, dry conditions there were something of a shock. The journey down on Wednesday was made in good time, but then disaster struck as Colin tried to position the caravan on the campsite and the Land Rover would not go into gear. Luckily, friends from IWA North Lancs & Cumbria Branch were camped nearby, and they helped us push and tow the vehicles into position, and ferried the stand and stock onto the showground next morning. By Thursday afternoon the Land Rover had been visited by the RAC, recovered to a garage in Reading and brought back again because nothing could be done in the time available and then finally we had an assurance that everything would be taken back to St Helens on Tuesday morning. Time to get on with the Festival!

Every day was hot and sunny and with over 500 boats and 400 caravans and tents plus crowds at the gates, the whole weekend was very busy. The sales team consisted of Colin and myself on Friday, with Dave Smallshaw joining us in his tiny tent that evening, and giving us a hand on Saturday and Sunday, and David Long and his family arrived on Sunday, and David did a turn on the Monday. We were glad of their help, Saturday and Sunday were the busiest days with stock vanishing fast. We had doubts about some of the bric-a-brac before we went, but they were soon dispelled. We didn't sell many of our Sankey Canal guides, but people asked questions, and word of the proposed link to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal had obviously got round, because we were answering questions about that all weekend. Even George Greener, Chairman of BW, was using the map on the stand to explain to his wife about it!

On Monday afternoon we took the opportunity to present a cheque for £250 to the Waterway Recovery Group for their "Right Tools for the Job" appeal. John Craven accepted the cheque on their behalf. As we all wanted to be on the photo, Jim and Liz Lamen from WRG kindly looked after the stall for a while. Closing down was accomplished fairly quickly especially as Pam Chester-Browne brought along her packing skills and Keith Midgley lent his Shogun - and it was a relief to be able to walk away from the marquee without having to dismantle that as well.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with the stall this year, and to all those who have supplied bric-a-brac. The stock has been really good this season. So good in fact that I'm going to have some of it valued by a dealer. Some things we haven't been able to sell from the new book stock include two copies of "Lancashire Canal Carriers J Monk & Sons" published by Foxline. They are available at £7.50 each (post paid) if anyone is interested.

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