September 22nd 2018: Our very first gathering
Venue: Narrowboat Farm, Linlithgow, EH49 6QY (Find us on Google Maps) from 10am onwards…
The event
This event is aimed at anyone who enjoys using boats on the canals, or indeed friends/family of those. But specifically this is for fellow boaters to meet up, have a good time and learn some handy skills. Equally if you know people who are tempted by boat life, this could be a nice event to bring them along to.
There will be a BBQ running all day long, simply bring whatever you want to BBQ. And yes, even if it rains (although it doesn’t seem to do that nowadays), we have a big space under cover we can gather in.
The Skills Sessions
Pierre and Chrisy have kindly offered to share their skills for this event. Pierre will be running an engine maintenance skills session on the amazing tug boat ‘LindCrist’ which David has kindly offered up as it has a beautiful engine room to gather in. He’s also offered to let people have a go at the old style engine controls in the afternoon if people are interested.
Chrisy will be running a boat handling techniques Q&A session where you can ask about how to handle your boat with the opportunity for some practical sessions too if people are interested. She has also offered to do rope splicing, so if you have three strand rope (no more or less strands!!!) and would like a loop in the end for mooring cleats, or it ‘backwards spliced’ to give a clean end, bring your rope and Chrissy will help you do that.
The Running Order
The timetable will run something like this (we’ll update this nearer the time with any other additions):
10am onwards: BBQ all day long. Simply bring whatever you wish to BBQ and we will supply the heat
11am – 1pm: Morning skills sessions
1pm – 2pm: Lunchtime chat about the Community Moorings Project
1pm – 3pm: Afternoon skills sessions subject to demand
3pm onwards: BBQ, banter, music, bonfire, good times
Practicalities
Narrowboat Farm is easy to find. It is 2 miles East of Linlithgow, just past the Park Bistro on the off-side. A 30 minute walk or 10 minute cycle from Linlithgow train station. At the Park Bistro, you cross the canal bridge and take a sharp left along the B-road, past two small cottages and into the field with the polytunnel. There is plenty of parking on site, we’ll open up the farm gate and there is hard-standing and overflow on the field.
We’d love to fill the bank with boats for this event. Please get in touch if you’d like to bring your boat along for it so we can arrange which boats are best placed where.
For those wishing to stay on, enjoy some food and drink into the evening, we’ll be having a bonfire and hopefully some musical entertainment (if you have musical talent, please bring it and contribute!)
For those wishing to camp over, that is fine. We’ll have a toilet and shower in operation.