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Oxfordshire Heritage Boat Journeys
Event Info
19th - 20th June 2004
21st - 23rd June 2004
24th - 26th June 2004
Finale performances and Boat Procession
Photo Library from the boat journeys week
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19th - 20th June 2004
Location: Oxfordshire
Saturday 19th June
The Oxfordshire Heritage Boat journeys launched.
The day started with a beautiful but chilly dawn over Port Meadow in Oxford for the formal opening ceremony of the Journeys and of the Oxford Open Water Festival of which they are part.
At 9am the Lord Lieutenant and High sheriff of Oxfordshire boarded The Royal Thamesis (see below for further details) at The Trout Inn at Wolvercote with the local press and the video archivists in attendance.
The boat is a reconstruction of Queen Mary’s Royal Barge from 1689. The boat was then rowed along The Thames through Port Meadow, past Osney Lock, past Christ Church Meadow to Iffley Lock and then returned to near the City Centre along the Cherwell.
 The boat was rowed by members of City Barge and the City of Oxford rowing club dressed splendidly in white with red tabards and black peaked caps. Around a thousand people turned out at various points along the journey to wave, admire and cheer the boat on its way.
Following the opening ceremony the two Journeys across oxfordshire were launched at Cropredy, in the north of the county, on the Oxford Canal, and at Henley in the south east of the county along the River Thames.
At Cropredy the Winding Hole was crossed with school children, musicians and storytellers ready to do their bit to send the boats Mountbatten and Jellicoe, and their accompanying ‘fleet’ on its way. At 11.55 the shone and all looked bright for the voyage. But at noon when the launch was due to happen the heavens opened so between downpours and brighter moments this boats were sent on their way with a performance relating to the history of the canal from pupils of Cropredy school, tales of the waterways from boater Kate Saffin, and canal resident performances from Tim Christian, Jane Rouse and Benji and Giles Shearing.
In Banbury the evening performance next to the canal in the town centre attracted a good audience for The Gekos, dub poet Natty Mark, canal residents Benji and Giles and the pupils of The Grange Primary School
At Henley the weather was kinder and the launch took place in a chill breeze but pleasant sunshine. The boat was launched with music from Dissy, Mark Handley, storyteller Jack Kinobe and drummers from Henley. The boat Plover B built in the 1950’s then went on its way – a longish haul up to Goring. The weather may have been better than the canal but the technology wasn’t. The engine was overheating so Plover B had to stop at Mapledurham for an engineer to check it out. The performance at Goring gathered at the riverside and as rain threatened retreated to the local pub to continue. Saturday evening performers came for Goring Unplugged with two storytelling sections by African storyteller Jack Kinobe.
Sunday 20th June
 The performers reached Wallingford on Sunday evening along the Thames with only a canoe in attendance – Plover B still stuck at Mapledurham for repairs much to everyone’s frustration. But it didn’t stop the enthusiasm of St John’s School Attack of the Deadly Jellyfish’ and in a bit of a different vein, the Eastern European folk music of Tandara Mandara. Wallingford’s very own dub poet joined in. The children also loved playing in the newly mown grass by the river. Sustainable Wallingford also came along. Many thanks to the Thameside Mansions, not least for mowing the lawn.
On the canal the boats reached Aynho Wharf without drama or setback during the voyage. All very orderly. Mountbatten and Jellicoe are displaying a wide range of canal painted ware – and the festival’s very own 4 foot frog. It was canal history night with The Tale of the Stolen Duck ( a short history of the Beasleys and Bossums boatbuilders and their clans) and the History of the Canal rap from Benji and Giles, and Kate Saffin’s Tale of Ramblin Rose. Chris Parke joined the boats with his coracle for the evening.
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