Archive for March, 2013

Boaters, use your vote in 2013 (and afterwards)

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

Something that us boaters may or may not be aware of is that we still have the right to vote even though we don’t have a fixed address. There will be local elections for Wiltshire Council (and other Councils) on May 2nd this year, and our votes could make the difference between continuing Wiltshire’s support for liveaboard boaters or not. If you fill in and send back the electoral registration form before April 17th 2013, you will be added to the electoral roll in time to vote. Here is the form boater_electoral_registration

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BaNES Council want to hear from liveaboard boaters

Monday, March 4th, 2013

Bath and NE Somerset Council want to hear from liveaboard boaters on the Kennet and Avon Canal and the River Avon. If you live on your boat without a home mooring, and spend some of your time between Dundas and Hanham, or if you live on a mooring in this area, the Council wants you to tell them about your needs and requirements. Please email scrutiny@bathnes.gov.uk by March 28th 2013.

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K&A boaters action group next meeting 11th March, Devizes

Monday, March 4th, 2013

The next meeting of the K&A boaters action group will be next Monday 11th March at 7.30pm in Devizes. Please contact info@boatingcommunity.org.uk or 07928 078208 if you want to come. Lifts may be available.

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The Seagull Challenge – Press statement

Friday, March 1st, 2013

A statement from our intrepid crew

Ahoy there

The Wiltshire Air Ambulance requires £6,850 per day to stay in the Air

We are the Kennet and Avon Seagull Appreciation Society, otherwise known as Iolo, Toby and Ted. we were reading about the British Seagull engine and discovered that during the 2nd world war the Admiralty required an outboard motor that would require virtually no maintenance, could be sunk and still run when raised back out, and would run non stop for 24 hours.

Well, we know many who have tried the first two intentionaly or not, but to our knowledge no one has tried to achieve the last, ie run it non stop for 24 hours.

So this is our challenge.

We will be using a 12 foot dinghy with a Silver Century; 102cc, 3hp, clutched, 55 year old British Seagull. though they are reputedly reliable and bomb proof, there are many who disrgard them and think of them as a heap of junk that takes more time to fix than you will ever have them running for. We disagree!! and we are out to prove them wrong, try running any other 50- 60 year old engine non stop under load for 24 hours!

Our plan is to start in reading at 12 noon on Friday the 8th of March, traveling the entire 86 miles and 106 locks or the Kennet and Avon Canal, that normally takes a week to cruise. in a nearly impossible 24 hours! are we mad ? Yes i think so. we will be aiming to arrive in Bath at noon on Saturday the 9th. to a huge cheering crowd going wild, throwing money into our collection buckets, and squirting us with champagne. Hurrah!!

We aim to raise £6,850 by noon on Saturday the 9th. this is the amount it costs the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Service per day!!! So, with our 24 hours of endurance, we aim to be able to support them for 24 hours. After all they save lives and wouldn’t you be just a bit annoyed if you needed them to airlift you to hospital one day but they didn’t have enough money to keep their helicopter in the air.

Time trials at Cow Bridge, Claverton on Saturday 4th March at 10am

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