Thames River Pageant..

[matty40s]

Well I havent see the bbc coverage BUT I was proud and felt very privileged to be part of it

 

There will always be people who have to have a knock at everything

 

Chris-B

 

Chris, people are not knocking the pageant itself, and we would have loved to have been down there, even more to have taken part.

The comments near the start of this thread highlight the views of those forum members who were trying to watch it as it degenerated.

the knocking was for the BBC coverage which was of infantile quality and content. We saw little or nothing of any boats after the rowers and sea cadets with the flags as the cameras kept jumping to clueless b celebs and ignorant presenters who just seemed to beliee that shouting at the camera was the way forward.

[Guest]

Well I havent see the bbc coverage BUT I was proud and felt very privileged to be part of it

 

There will always be people who have to have a knock at everything

 

Chris-B

 

Chris - nobody here is knocking the event or the fact that it took place, my comments and I suspect the comments of others are actually because the effort and pride the BBC put into covering it did not reflect in any way the obvious effort that the participants and organisers put in nor the evident pride they had in taking part.

 

They dumbed it down and I can't recall when they have been so widely condemned for such poor coverage - if you can bear it buy the DVD and watch it and you will see what the vast majority are banging on about....(You won't get past the first 15 minutes)

 

 

 

ed for poor spelllingg

Edited June 7, 2012 by MJG

[Tam & Di]

Well I havent see the bbc coverage BUT I was proud and felt very privileged to be part of it

 

There will always be people who have to have a knock at everything

 

Chris-B

 

 

That's as may be, but if you had seen the BBC coverage I suspect you would also be saying how abysmal it was. At a horse racing event they tell you who owns what, what their form is, what they've won. For an athletics meeting you get told about the competitors. So why had they not done any basic research on the craft taking part and cut to people who could say something useful rather than some celeb and building the highest cake possible. What did stuff loke that have to do with the event. The event itself was stupendous, which only makes BBC's appalling showing more offensive.

 

I'm sure there are lots of mums who enjoyed the show. They saw the Queen and other royals - always good for the ratings. Would they have turned off if someone had talked informatively from time to time? It did not need to be a history lesson - just to show a bit of respect for all the effort going into it.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Tam & Di

[Chris-B]

@ Matty and MGJ

 

Thanks for that . I have not had much time to get near a pc since the event and after scrolling through some of the comments that was the impression I got

I just felt I would state on record how Lise and I felt about it

 

From other forums/FB etc and my aged Mum the comments I have briefly seen it looks like the Beeb cocked it up, but very few positive comments about the PLA/EA/RNLI/Police etc who worked bloody hard to make it all happen

when we turned at Greenwich Yacht Club we made a point of saying "Thank You" to the PLA boat stationed there .sadly many didn't !

and one or two boaters who I have talked to just moaned about the organisation of it

 

The bottom line imo was We were part of history..never in my life did I ever imagine that I would be part of something like that and the memories will be treasured forever

 

Chris-B

[Tam & Di]

That's as may be, but if you had seen the BBC coverage I suspect you would also be saying how abysmal it was. At a horse racing event they tell you who owns what, what their form is, what they've won. For an athletics meeting you get told about the competitors. So why had they not done any basic research on the craft taking part and cut to people who could say something useful rather than some celeb and building the highest cake possible.

 

 

Looking slightly into the future will we see in coverage of the Olympics:

 

"....... and here they come, into the last bend, and .... Oh, and for all the mums in the land we're now going to Spottingford, where the ladies of the WI are holding a speed scarf knitting competition - the beautiful Julie-Anne is there, Julie-Anne, over to you".

[matty40s]

Looking slightly into the future will we see in coverage of the Olympics:

 

"....... and here they come, into the last bend, and .... Oh, and for all the mums in the land we're now going to Spottingford, where the ladies of the WI are holding a speed scarf knitting competition - the beautiful Julie-Anne is there, Julie-Anne, over to you".

 

.......and theyre on the blocks for the mens 100M final........BANG...Alan, in 10 seconds, tell us what this means for the athletes taking part......

[Jo_]

.......and theyre on the blocks for the mens 100M final........BANG...Alan, in 10 seconds, tell us what this means for the athletes taking part......

 

That's Alan Titmarsh I presume?

[LEO]

Hi,

 

We had our own pageant at the Cowroast this morning as several really interesting boats came through, 'Marylebone Light', 'Gort', 'Fulbourne' and 'President and Kildare' to name but a few.

 

Found a wonderful way to wind the boatmen owners up - say 'is that the boat which was built in 1950 and converted to carry passengers, cos I saw you on the telly and that's what they said' - after the crews had ground up 50 odd locks from London and the rain was (once again) beginning to bucket down one got some interesting answers and the Beeb was not universally popular.......

 

Leo.

[lydfordcastle]

..... the music barge had little coverage except at the end.....

You wouldn't have known it from the BBC coverage, but there were actually ten music boats. One held a large band made up of children aged 10 to 15, some from inner city deprived areas with others from music schools and conservatoires, who had been practising together for over six months and who were told by the BBC to 'play their hearts out' all the way down the pageant course, as the transmission would feature them for about one minute. This they duly did getting soaked to the skin for their pains. They were never once mentioned by the BBC.

[richardf]

You wouldn't have known it from the BBC coverage, but there were actually ten music boats. One held a large band made up of children aged 10 to 15, some from inner city deprived areas with others from music schools and conservatoires, who had been practising together for over six months and who were told by the BBC to 'play their hearts out' all the way down the pageant course, as the transmission would feature them for about one minute. This they duly did getting soaked to the skin for their pains. They were never once mentioned by the BBC.

 

 

Disgusting

[RichardN]

You wouldn't have known it from the BBC coverage, but there were actually ten music boats. One held a large band made up of children aged 10 to 15, some from inner city deprived areas with others from music schools and conservatoires, who had been practising together for over six months and who were told by the BBC to 'play their hearts out' all the way down the pageant course, as the transmission would feature them for about one minute. This they duly did getting soaked to the skin for their pains. They were never once mentioned by the BBC.

 

As the boats went up river the bands were playing eg this lot in the rain . We must have been 400m behind a music boat as we went down and could hear them really going for it, fantastic.

[Sue1946]

vertie to lydford castle as I catch up - well done to those totally alone, isolated and unmentioned yougsters. And the dragon boat which featured on local news with the oddly named Cool Runnings. I did see the Cornish rowers who were featured on a pre-programme... yep the boat was shown!

Am catching up still........ will be back in a mo cos QT is driving mea bit cross!

Edited June 7, 2012 by Sue1946

[Sue1946]

Big breaths taken and I so hope I'm way

I've got Question Time on TV at present and it occured to me 'what a wonderful opportunity for BBC to BURY news'.

This programme is from Scotland and quite naturally the main topic is Scottish independence.

Did the beeb really anticipate x? many weeks in advance that THIS prog was going to be the first QT after the pageant?

 

'So let's site it as far away from London as is poss and fool the divvys'?!!

 

ed typpngs

Edited June 7, 2012 by Sue1946

[George94]

Big breaths taken and I so hope I'm way

I've got Question Time on TV at present and it occured to me 'what a wonderful opportunity for BBC to BURY news'.

This programme is from Scotland and quite naturally the main topic is Scottish independence.

Did the beeb really anticipate x? many weeks in advance that THIS prog was going to be the first QT after the pageant?

 

'So let's site it as far away from London as is poss and fool the divvys'?!!

 

ed typpngs

 

I think Mr Dimbleby would have agreed with everything that has been said - except by the two trash-lovers.

 

Why he wasn't presenting it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

[cotswoldsman]

I think Mr Dimbleby would have agreed with everything that has been said - except by the two trash-lovers.

 

Why he wasn't presenting it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

 

Maybe because he has said he no longer wishes to do these type of gigs, you might remember that he was overlooked for the wedding last year.

[George94]

Maybe because he has said he no longer wishes to do these type of gigs, you might remember that he was overlooked for the wedding last year.

 

Was he overlooked, or did he say he didn't want to do it? These are very different things.

[Timleech]

There was a Sky TV crew on the boat directly in front of us, so Sky watchers apparently saw quite a lot of us. Did the Beeb have any crew on any of the moving boats? I've not seen any coverage myself yet, only just arrived home last night, but we've been emailed this screen shot.

 

 

Hopefully the Dirty Digger won't have me sent to the Tower for posting this

 

 

Tim

[ditchcrawler]

Well I havent see the bbc coverage BUT I was proud and felt very privileged to be part of it

 

There will always be people who have to have a knock at everything

 

Chris-B

I think the pageant was great, there is some footage on utube . The organisers did a far better job than I expected and from what I saw it all went very well. I would love to have seen more of it. I just felt the BBC failed in a big way.

Edited June 9, 2012 by ditchcrawler

[Guest]

There was a Sky TV crew on the boat directly in front of us, so Sky watchers apparently saw quite a lot of us. Did the Beeb have any crew on any of the moving boats? I've not seen any coverage myself yet, only just arrived home last night, but we've been emailed this screen shot.

 

 

Hopefully the Dirty Digger won't have me sent to the Tower for posting this

 

 

Tim

 

The BBC had Clare Balding on the Gloriana and a couple of remote cameras on moving boats including The Royal barge. Also some guy who's name escapes me was in a boat moving amongst the flotilla.

 

I was wondering if Kennet was there (good to see it was) but I didn't see you guys once on the BBC coverage.

[ditchcrawler]

[stagedamager]

It's a real shame there were no butties there, after being such a significant part of canal history and in one form or another being around for much longer than the majority of boats featured.

Dan

[mrsmelly]

It's a real shame there were no butties there, after being such a significant part of canal history and in one form or another being around for much longer than the majority of boats featured.

Dan

 

Have to agree with this comment. Make mine a bacon and egg yummie yummie

 

Tim

[Theo]

Do I take it that nobody will be interesting in purchasing a copy of the BBC commemorative DVD?

 

Only if it has a sensible commentary voiced over it.

 

N

[David Mack]

It's a real shame there were no butties there, after being such a significant part of canal history and in one form or another being around for much longer than the majority of boats featured.

Dan

Apparently President was not allowed to take Kildare in the Pageant, so it stayed in West India Dock. But the following day the pair went upriver and in at Brentford.

[fuzzyduck]

I was wondering if Kennet was there (good to see it was) but I didn't see you guys once on the BBC coverage.

 

yes she did appear on the beeb, I was playing nerdy boat spotter, and said "there's that lovely tug I wanted to buy, but some git beat me to it."

Edited June 9, 2012 by fuzzyduck