The life of Bob Roberts – a short article written for EDS magazine

Bob Roberts article

Here’s a piece I recently wrote for the folkies’ magazine English Dance and Song about the legendary and sometimes controversial barge skipper Bob Roberts, who was also a celebrated singer and melodeon player. Click on the image above to download a pdf file…

Old Bob’s barge Cambria has been brought back to life thanks to a Lottery grant and the hard work of volunteers – read all about it at the Cambria Trust website. (I included this link in the story but it had to be edited out!)

The photos below show Cambria leaving Faversham Creek on a high tide on the 29th March.

Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 1 Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 2 Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 3

Thames Sailing Barge Match, Saturday 13th July – renamed in honour of Mark Boyle

2013-thames-match-poster

 

The annual race is renamed for its 150th anniversary year in honour of Mark Boyle, who revived the event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day in 1995.

Mark went on to be the match’s driving force and his sudden death just before Christmas at the age of 55 was a blow to the sailing barge community.

Read more at the Barge Blog.

National Historic Ships Photo Competition 2013 opens on 1 April

National Historic Ships photo competition

National Historic Ships has fired the starting gun on its fourth photo competition aimed at photographers of all ages and dedicated to encouraging everyone to engage with historic vessels or maritime themes in their local area – but the organisers are particularly keen to interest the young.

There are prizes, including an overall prize of £1,000 to be awarded on a theme or activity involving a vessel from the National Register of Historic Vessels – good themes might include, restoration and repair, sailing, racing, coming into a mooring, or generally working around or enjoying the vessel.

Competition entries will be accepted online from 1 April to 31 August 2013.

For the first time, the competition this year includes a new category, ‘Faces of the sea’ in which the public will vote online.

Entrants also stand to win a small prize if their image is selected as one of a series of favourite images.

The competition’s ‘Young photographer’ category is supported by downloads aimed at younger children, including a whale-based wordsearch and a printable colouring page featuring classic sailing craft, both provided by the well known illustrator Claudia Myatt, who is also a competition sponsor. (See an earlier post about Claudia’s tips for drawing boats here.)

Schools and teachers are invited to get involved with the aim of inspiring children and families to find out more about maritime history. Posters for schools can be obtained from National Historic Ships via email at info@nationalhisotircships.org.uk or by phone 020 8312 8558.