HISTORIC BOAT SHOW CELEBRATES 20TH YEAR
A historic canal show which is regularly attended by celebrity boaters will be staged for the twentieth time this weekend.
The Braunston Historic Narrowboat Show at Braunston Marina in Northamptonshire is one of the biggest events of its kind in the country.
It attracts people like Poirot actor Sir David Suchet and the acting couple Timothy West and Prunella Scales.
The show traditionally begins with a boat parade which includes some of the oldest surviving working craft still in existence.
Sir David, best known for his interpretation of Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot, is an enthusiastic boater.
He has opened the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally twice and was also filmed at Braunston Marina for an edition of Songs of Praise in 1999.
Sir David was due to open this year's event, but a last-minute change to a filming schedule forced him to pull out.
His wife, Lady Sheila Suchet, has stepped into the breech and will lead the boat parade aboard Diana the Dredger.
Diana was an old British Waterways dredger which was given to Buckingham Canal Society by Tim Coghlan, the owner of Braunston Marina.
Sir David performed the handover of the vessel.
Mr Coghlan said he was looking forward to the 20th narrowboat rally: "We have already received an encouraging number of early bookings, and they just keep coming in.
"This could well be a vintage year.
"These leviathans of our canal-carrying past are the making of the rally, which, as for some years now, will probably be the largest gathering of them anywhere on the waterways."
The show also includes live music and a performance by Alarum Theatre, a touring company which celebrates the women of the canal.
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2024-06-29T05:44:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd