June has been a busy month for the Horseboating Society with a number of events taking place.
Horseboat Maria and boathorse Bonny were at Marple on Saturday 17th June for some television filming. Filming went well although it was very hot weather! Bonny was filmed towing Maria over the Grade II aqueduct. The programme “A Floating History of Britain” will be shown in September/October.
6 Horseboating Society members acted as crew and/or helpers. Bonny is now aged 25, like being 75 as a human. She enjoyed pulling the boat, showing us how she can still help us out! However, she would not have wanted to pull from Ashton, nearly 10 miles and several hours work.
On Sunday 18th June 18 Bonny had the day off and Toy Bonny went to the Middlewich FAB Festival on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Sue Day gave a talk about the boathorse hames (that go around the horse’s collar) which were given to her in Middlewich in 1986. This was when she was on board Maria, horseboating around the Cheshire Ring with the Ashton Packet Boat Co with their horse Sonny Jim. The same hames have had many adventures since then. Bonny wore them from Manchester to London in 2000, and they were used for passenger carrying trips with Sarah Siddons on the Rochdale Canal.
Then on Wednesday 21st June Toy Bonny went to the Royal Cheshire Show where CRT (Manchester Pennine and Potteries) had a large stand. Toy Bonny was on display and was a subject of much discussion for visitors.
Then Horseboat Elland was taken from her mooring at Thwaite Mills Museum to Leeds by motor tow in readiness for the Leeds Waterfront Festival.