The final post: why we won't be back

Site knock down has gone really well this year, helped by the continuing fine weather, so that there's no mud to slow you down, or rain to send you diving for shelter. Another powerful factor has been the wrg leader, Al Moore; her campers have clearly been inspired and motivated by her.

The very limited distribution spoof issue duly went out yesterday morning. Much of its silliness was appreciated, but a piece in which I attempted to mimic the contrarian style of Steve Haywood's column in Canal Boat misfired badly in some quarters. In it, I challenged the purpose of the whole exercise, and this was taken by just a few people in senior positions, it seems, to be a criticism of the substantial effort that goes into mounting the show.

As a result, we had to sit with gritted teeth during the congratulatory speechifying last night as Ian West described it as "ill judged", so that we were  the only part of the whole operation not to be told how well we'd done. That's all right, it was only most of four weeks work designing, editing, printing and distributing the thing, not to mention this blog.

Just for the record, no one could doubt the incredible achievement that is the Festival, a huge weekend show mounted by volunteers, with the only professional input coming from the parts that absolutely have to be professional, like the marquee erection, the power supplies to the traders, the security cover and the like.

I have nothing but admiration for the way the volunteers throw themselves into the tasks and work amazingly hard for no return other than a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

But... with no Festival next year, IWA is quite rightly taking the opportunity to have a policy review of the aims and purposes of the event. I shall be seeking to make my own input to that, so do feel free to email me or to comment on this blog with any thoughts you may have.

• Should the Festival carry on as it does at the moment?
• Should it be focussed more tightly on one or other of its aims?
• Should it happen at all?

Next year there will still be the Canalway Cavalcade in London, the trail boat rally and the campaign rally, so there will be plenty of IWA events to attend.

This has been our eighth National Festival, and before we got here, we had decided that enough was enough for the time being. Recent events have done nothing to change our minds, so we won't be going to the 2013 Festival in Newbury or wherever else it happens, assuming it happens.

We do plan to attend Cavalcade, though, at the beginning of May, so if you are about the Paddington Basin and Little Venice area that weekend, do look in to see us!

For now though, it's goodbye from here. Tomorrow's post will be over on Living in Sanity Again, probably posted in the late afternoon as usual.

Day 17, almost over

It always feels very strange, how quickly an event that's been the focus of everyone's efforts for so long is so soon done with. It's even more so this year, of course, as the show was a half day shorter. This is my penultimate post here; tomorrow's will be the last.

Good stuff about this year:

• The site was an easy one to work, being flat and of a regular shape.
• The weather was great, though it made things hard for the wrgies slogging in the sun
• For the third year running, no child was lost for long enough to require a sweep of the site to find it.
• Lots of people came; we're waiting to hear the final figures

and for us personally:

• We won the Calor Rose Bowl for the best galley on a private boat in the show.

Amazing; we've never won anything like that before – thank you Braidbar! The prize included a compact gas barbecue, which we're currently scratching our heads over, not having a lot of space on a liveaboard for such items.

Less good:

• That car park, of course. Saturday's gate was probably reduced by the need to turn cars away from the free parking, though on Sunday another car park was identified, and things were easier.
• There was a degree of confusion over timings for things like the Opening Ceremony and the finish yesterday. I've no idea what went wrong there; usually the team gets that exactly right.

Some final pictures:

Guy the Arena manager getting out of a classic dray

The Park and Ride shuttle from Burton Town Centre

A weary wrgie

The car park in use

Remains of the heap

So, nearly over. I plan to help the fencing team today, then there's the end of the event party tonight.

Day 16 and lots of visitors

There was a lot of sun too, enough to become uncomfortable by mid afternoon. It made it very tough for wrg, slogging in the sun, especially in the car park. The main car park was full by 11, and all of them by lunchtime. Cars had to be advised to park in the Town Hall car park and use the shuttle bus.

Despite this, I understand that there was a good gate, and there were certainly a lot of folk around everytime we went on site.

The last offical issue of the Shoveler was printed and published; just the unofficial spoof issue to go. This is the one that allows the newsletter team to have some fun at the expense of their co-workers and (possibly former) friends. It's only given to the three week workers and the wrgies, needless to say.

Just a few photos today:

Climbing Everest

 Staffs Fire and Rescue did a sponsored Everest climb up a ladder and down a pole for their own charity and local charities. 20 guys went up and down to climb a total of 8848 metres, the height of Everest.

Smallest entry

 This amazing scale model of an FMC josher has been going up and down the cut. It has an MP3 player inside producing the sound of a Bolinder, and is controlled by its constructor being towed behind it in a canoe. The power source is an electric engine of the type used in mobility scooters.

Speechifying

This is the pic that broke my resolve yesterday when Blogger was playing up; it shows the opening speeches on Friday lunchtime.

We're nearly there; see you tomorrow.

Day 15 and getting weary

The hard work is beginning to get to me; it was the Illuminated Boat Parade last night, so we weren't in bed until midnight. It hadn't been dark enough until half ten, and the parade went very slowly as a result of them working up Dallow Lane Lock on their way.

There was the usual range of effort, from basic to spectacular. It's a shame it's really not possible to do justice to them in photos, so I'm not going to try. You had to be there.

Earlier in the day, we'd had the Opening Ceremony go off OK, although tere was some confusion about timings.

I'll let the pictures tell the story, too tired for too much creativity!

The local schools ahd been much involved, with teh kids making "Art from Rubbish" on a canal theme

The VIPs were brought by dray from Burton Town Hall

Ready to go

Setting off

The AD1000 re-enactment group Regia Anglorum escorted the dray in

and the Mayor cut the ribbon

Blogger is now giving me grief, so I'm going to have to leave it at that for now – sorry.

Day 14 and the pace hots up.

The traders poured onto site all day yesterday, and we stayed well out of the way of the throng. Much of the morning was spent tidying up the Friday edition, and when we did go on site,we spent a bit of time talking to Festivals Chairman Ian West, who has oversight of what we do.

It's a situation which could become quite fraught – what journalist ever appreciated proprietorial input? – but Ian's tact and diplomacy makes it much less irritating than it might be.

The Lavender Boat began its service, collecting rubbish and, err, stuff from the moored boats:

Here it comes

It takes the form of a push towed pan and tug on loan from BW.

The Bantam tug

Hurricane Bob Metcalfe is in there somewhere, cursing the wheel steering, so much less direct than the tiller on his boat Glenfield.

Happy in her work

 Elaine Scott has been doing this job for 20 years. There's no accounting for taste (sorry).

Elsewhere on site, lunches were made and the Advance Ticket office personned:

Ladies who make lunch

 A team of blue shirt ladies come into the wrg compound every day to make the sandwich lunches for the wrgies and any blue shirt who chooses to buy it.

Waiting for trade

Edwina told us it was very quiet, but she was selling the occasional advance ticket.

We went and had a last look at the car park. Wrg have achieved a quite amazing amount, but I'm afraid it won't look very impressive to fresh eyes, and I suspect the car park team will have to take some heavy abuse from drivers worried about their undersides:

Remains of the first heap

Second heap untouched

Still slogging on

Pedestrian exit

Driver's eye view of the entrance.

 With the show due to open at lunchtime today, a last big effort is to be made. A heavy roller will spend the morning consolidating the spread hard core, and it may be possible to clean up the entrance area.

A reminder again that this is a personal blog, not an official IWA one, which allows me to express my own opinions. Frankly, this situation could be seen emerging for six months, and Festivals Team has, or should have, some hard questions to answer about how matters were allowed to get to this pitch.

Over the years, wrg has pulled the Festival out of some pretty deep holes, but this one was just too much even for them. Instead of relying on local Council reassurances, Festivals should have either:

• Identified a proper parking site for themselves
• or, if this location had to be used, diverted a wrg camp to it to prepare it
• or, if all else failed, hired in a contractor to prepare it.

Rant over, back to the good stuff:

Help!

Sharks were seen lurking at the stern of the LNBP boat.

Former FMC steamer President and butty Kildare arrived:

Threading her way through

Skilfull steering

They brought the pair through with barely a touch to any of the moored boats. A bit later, the converted to steam BCNS ice breaker Laplander showed up:

Sean Neill's pride and joy

Her tall funnel makes for interesting boating:

Too tall to pass?

Which is why it hinges:

Neat, huh?

That's it for today – I've got to go and take photos of the VIP guests being loaded onto a brewery dray at the Town Hall.

Day 13 and the first issue

The continuing fine weather makes things so much easier, even if the ground is hard under foot. It makes this sort of job comparatively straightforward:

Marquee walking

One or two of the marquees ended up in the wrong place, and had to be moved. As long as they are not too large, the easiest way is just to pick them up. Here a blue shirt team is doing just that; my thanks to Chris Sheppard for the photo.

On our way into site yesterday, we collected our boater's pack of various leaflets and stuff, and this year's plaque.

Waterspace reception

There are now lots of wrg volunteers about, and at least one seems to have been taken in hand by Martin the American:

A well deserved rest

Here are a selection of photos from around site yesterday morning:

Site 3 demonstrating his marquee movement directing skills

Rigging the IWA marquee

 Shell stands have to be assembled in a giant 3D jigsaw.

RCR delivering Tony Brooks's engines

 River Canal Rescue sponsors well known boat engineering expert Tony Brooks to give a series of mini workshops, one of the best deals in the show. They are free, you don't have to book, and Tony really knows his stuff about engines, stern glands, electrics, you name it.

The Fun Fair

 Kids under 16 with an accompanying adult come into the event free, but they do have to pay to go on the Fun Fair rides.

Guy and Connie

Guy is looking after the Arena PA system this year, and here he is bustling about with his partner Connie.

On the canal, the boats pack closer and closer, and even seasoned boaters like the National Chairman can find it a bit of a challenge:

Clive Henderson arrives

Watching the fun was one of our ECOs, Mitch Gozna:

Strangely not distracting Clive at all

ECO stands for Emergency Control Officer. We have two, so that one is on watch all the time, ready to take over if there's any kind of emergency, from a lost child to a serious injury to a bomb scare. As a serving police officer, Mitch is well qualified to fulfill the role.

The Shunt

 One of the more unusual boats on display is this extension to a 56 footer. Her owner had had his original boat stretched once already at Streethay Wharf, and wanted more room yet. He didn't want to lose cruising grounds by going over 58', so designed and built this little push tow, the stern of which wraps around the bow of the main boat. If you come to the show, don't miss it.

We printed nearly 1000 copies of the first issue of The Shobnall Shoveler. Here's the team folding them ready for distribution:

The SS team

After the copies had been folded and sorted, the team set out in all directions taking them to the boaters, campers, traders and everyone else we can think of.

Finally, last night we went to the traditional Wednesday evening Chinese meal for the workers. It was very good, one of the best we can remember. After the meal, the Festivals Chairman, Ian West, gave his usual speech of appreciation for all the hard work. He also announced that the 2013 Festival will probably be at Newbury, on the K&A, subject to final negotiations.

Day 12: Craning day

Yesterday was craning day, when the show boats are lifted into the water, and in some cases out of it. Meanwhile, on the field, things got busier and busier. As a result, I've got lots of photos, out of the 171 Sheila and I took between us.

There was a fair amount of boat shuffling going on, and Bungle volunteered to move one of the workers' boats to its proper location. This involved a long reverse, and of course, since there was an audience, it didn't go all that well...

Big prop, shallow water, never a good combo

 Approaching boats had to be warned about the organised (?) chaos ahead:

After you

 which task was undertaken by those most useful of persons, the Americans:

Ready for action

The actual craning was from a corner of the car park next to the canal, and made for some interesting sights:

Up she comes

Round she goes

and down she goes

Mind the edge!

Touching the water

and afloat

After putting one in, one needed to come out, to form part of the land based boats:

Slinging

Positioning the slings is always trickier when the boat is floating:

Wrong!

If you don't get it right, the boat doesn't sit level and risks slipping out when in mid air. This is not a good idea.

Right

 After several trial lifts and some testy exchanges, they got it right at last, and away it went:

Swinging along.

Meanwhile, Bungle's reversing had gone much better once out of sight of the crowds, and he celebrated with an ice lolly:

Happy, happy Bungle

Just to finish with the craning, later in the day, one of the other exhibition boats was being moved under its own power, when the need to hold back led to a complete loss of drive. Investigation showed that all was well with the engine and drive train, but opening the weed hatch found the problem.

The prop had fallen off.

Not a good day for Aintree Boats, who seemingly don't know what a split pin is for.

Wrg came to the rescue, and Gary and Lucas turned out to do things the trad way:

What's Gary doing, children?

 (apart from scaring you senseless, that is)

He's towing a boat!

Though not all by himself:

On its way.

On the main field, matters carried on, with some selected traders arriving early, because their displays need tricky manoeuvring:

Multicell coming in

 In the Bar Tent, the team was setting up:

Assembling the bar

Ready for action.

Perhaps inspired by this, Site 2 was seen practising his imitation of the famous moment in Only Fools and Horses when Del Boy falls backwards through the bar:

David Jason he's not, but it's a good try.

and finally, I can't go without mentioning the car park:

All hands...

It looks like one of the piles will be cleared, but I have my doubts about the other one.

Today, we print the first issue of the newsletter, The Shobnall Shoveler.