Busy, busy, busy

You'd normally expect January to be a pretty quiet time of year for a marina, but not for us! Where can I start? Well first we headed off to the London Boat Show to pick up the Runner Up prize in the Marina of the Year Awards in a very hotly contested Inland category. I can't believe we've now been in the top two for fours years in a row. This year the boat show sported a new five day format and even had it's own narrowboat corner with a model lock and canalside pub. Hopefully it's part of the show which will now continue to grow. Mid January I attended the local RNLI group committee meeting to introduce this year's festival (8th and 9th September) and put out a plea for help. This was closely followed by a trip to Ayslebury to watch daughter No. 2 take part in the British Shooting Schools National Pistol Championships. I'd never appreciated how exciting a shooting competition can be – the targets were electronic so each shooter's shot was displayed on a big screen. Not only did our team win but one of the team of 3 also won overall in the final shoot out! This led me to two conclusions, 1) all three of them are exceptionally good shots and 2) I probably don't want to argue with her when she has a gun in her hand...
Towards the end of January I had a trip to Harper Adams University in Shropshire to give a presentation about the marina to a group of students. They were a lovely bunch and I really enjoyed going back to something I used to enjoy and do as a profession. We also had the pleasure of attending the Wheelyboat Services open evening to introduce the concept of the Wheelybus – Rodney is fundraising to buy a wheelchair adapted mini bus so people can come and use the wheelyboat – and he's looking for volunteers! If you'd like to get involved call him on 01280 811454. After all that I'm quite looking forward to a quiet February...which is already starting to look busy with a visit from the film crew for the High Sheriff of Chester Business awards for which we're a finalist in the family business category. So I'll be brushing up on my lines, dabbing on a bit of make up and praying it doesn't rain!