Steve Reynolds

Where / when was that??

Wow, small world! Great times indeed, sadly my Mum is largely wheelchair bound these days, so messing about in boats is no longer possible for her, but both of them are otherwise in good health and spirits! Wasn't the Whalley Bridge move the one where the engine failed in Harecastle, and had to be legged for most of it?

Some old pics from BP boats, Harpoon at Chirk with my parents and grandparents; October 1984. Second is a blurry shot of my parents moving the boats for turnaround at Whixall marina. No idea which boat they're on.

New to this site, as was googling BP. I worked part time at Whixall in the early / mid 80s at the weekends when I was at school and then a couple of summers when home from Uni. Back then a guy called Arthur Rudland ran the base, other names I recall were Adam ?, Pauline Stokes. My parents used to help move the boats from the moorings to the turnaround moorings for pump out, diesel, gas etc etc. I did a few boat moves too as "free holidays" as Arthur used to call them. Some boat names that I recall included Calder, Harpoon (that was a new boat the year I started working there, my parents had it on hire for a weeks holiday), Red Star, Wellington, Nelson, Baldiwn, Walpole, Gladstone, Hamilton Saracen, Trident, and Tempest. Latter lived up to its name as I recall, it was over-propped and was a bit of a handful. My Dad managed to crash it into the front landing one Saturday morning as it was so quick. Some of those boats were absolute sheds, and I felt sorry for some of the hirers. I'm presuming that BP have different owners, back then it was owned by an American guy called Ed, who remember had a black TransAm, I remember having a ride in it once. I've just spent a week doing the 4 counties with my wife who is a total novice, so she's pleased and I'm impressed how well she coped, there is a reason why Heartbreak Hill is named just that. Back to BP, I'd be interested if any other members are familiar with the company from that era, the boats were painted a very garish blue and yellow!