To the rescue! Again.......

For quite a while, I have pondered the fate of what may well be the last of the Lowestoft ice-boats, 'Jester'.

(Ice-boat is my term, by the way, and may be inaccurate: but I have heard tell her original use and purpose was to ferry blocks of ice to the sea-going trawlers of that port to preserve their catch. (She wasn't an ice-breaker!)

Here are some pictures of 'Jester', currently moored at The Cam Conservancy's 'Naughty Mooring' at Clayhithe, near Waterbeach.

Some two or three years ago, Jester was towed there, I believe, as an 'abandoned boat', to be sold by The Conservancy to recoup unpaid river licence fees.

No buyer has been found.

This is hardly a surprise, as wooden boats in such an advanced state of decay as this are well known in boaty circles as "holes in the water into which rich men shovel money until it runs out or their hearts break"...........

I had thought to watch poor 'Jester' moulder slowly away to wrack and ruin.

But, a while ago, we holidayed in North Norfolk.........

The B&B we stayed at was awash with various fliers for local attractions, charities and fun stuff to do.

These included, strangely, (or, perhaps, serendipidously) a flyer for an organisation called Rescue Wooden Boats.

Their web address is www.rescuewoodenboats.com

So, today, I fired off an email to them to see if they might be interested in taking on the poor old 'Jester'.

I await any reply with interest.

But they'd better be quick.

The poor old barky's not going to swim for much longer!