Today (26th May 2019) was the real public baptism of our three new fibre glass coracles, but the day began with foreboding. It had rained heavily for 24 hours and the forecast was very poor. When we arrived the mill pond was higher than we had ever seen it and our ‘jetty’ was afloat. Everywhere was sodden and it just felt miserable.

Our first step was to build a tarpaulin bivouac between the birch trees and then wait for the rain to stop. Oh joy, it did – for a while! We had the coracles on the water for a quick paddle before the rain resumed or any visitors came and then we waited. By lunchtime we had seen just a handful of people but then the weather cheered up and so did we.

Eventually, in a much more pleasant afternoon, we had 97 people on the water, only two less than during the whole day last year. The new coracles were wonderful and together with two of our own we had loads of space for fun. The pond area was almost double that on Vintage Day last year which was very hot and very dry. We are so grateful to the Society and Dave Purvis for these new coracles and hope the rest of the season goes as well, with, hopefully, better weather.

Raymond Green