Hotting up on day 9

The pace is beginning to hot up. Sheila and I had a chance to meet Karen (hi Karen) who's been doing a brilliant job of the PR for the Festival. A good example of that is a broadcast by Radio Derby, featuring Harry Arnold, the event chairman, and Jenny off Tom Tug, the boat behind us. You can hear the broadcast here; fast forward to the two hour mark. Part two is on Monday.

Karen was around to meet up with Harry and arrange a group photo. Harry is a long time waterway restorer, hire yard operator and most especially waterway photographer, trading as Waterway Images. Here's the photo he took, but note well that he retains the copyright for it, not I:

Many of the volunteers

Elsewhere, things got busier and busier, as the wrg camp gets into full swing and the opening day draws closer.

Checking kit

 As each wrg kit trailer arrives, it is entirely unloaded and the kit checked off against a list, so that any losses can be attributed to the right camp.

Wrg1/Site1 conference

Meanwhile, Al the wrg leader had a planning meeting with Moose, Site Director, well away from the hurly burly. Later in the day, these picnic tables were repainted by a Community Payback team.

Signs at work

 The vinyl for the signs is cut in the cabin I showed yesterday, but the actual assembly takes place in a corner of the wrg marquee.

Entry to the wrg compound

 And here's one they made earlier.

Forks training

Elsewhere in the wrg compound, Digger, who is a professional plant handler, did a training session on the use of the telehandler. Anyone who wants to use a piece of wrg plant, whether owned or hired in, has to have been trained and issued with a Driver Authorisation ticket.

And if this doesn't work, I'll fetch a bigger hammer...

 It's usually  the red shirts who find themselves having to redo a piece of work because Site 1's changed his mind, but this time the waterspace team caught themselves out. Repositioning some of the workers' boats meant that the landing stages were in the wrong place, and had to be extracted and reinstalled. (My thanks to Martin the American for the photo.)

For removal

Strimming continued in the car park and, later in the afternoon, this fence panel was removed to allow the forks in to start moving those heaps of hardcore. Digger got stuck in with enthusiasm, and had to be persuaded to give it up in time to take part in the Race Night. This was an event to raise money for the Inglesham Lock Appeal. We didn't make it ourselves, Race Nights not being our scene, but hopefully I'll get a report on it from others today.