We are gathered here...

For the Annual General Meeting of the Historic Narrow Boat Club, held at Napton Village Hall (a rather good venue, with plenty of space, a committee room, kitchen, conservatory for the  shop, and car parking - the only drawback being lack of public transport links).

The spring AGM is one to two big HNBC gatherings held each year - the other being the 'November Social'. At each of these meetings, there is a guest speaker, tea and cake, and the opportunity to catch up with fellow lunatics historic boat owners. But the spring meeting has added AGM! Which as you can see is always very exciting.

This includes the presentation of the Keay and Hemelryk awards for the most improved wooden and metal boats of the year respectively. This year the winner of the Keay award was Hazel, and the Hemelryk Admiral. Interestingly, the Hemelryk trophy is mostly wooden, while the Keay trophy, a somewhat battered rosebowl, contains no wood at all.

This year's speaker was Tony Stammers, CRT's Head of Health and Safety. I've written a long article about his talk for the HNBC newsletter, so I don't want to scoop myself here, but maybe I will whet your appetite by saying that he won a lot of people over by appearing to talk a great deal of good sense and showing a real understanding of our concerns.

Then of course (talking of the control of substances hazardous to health), there is the Tea. In previous years this has been of a legendary awfulness, being that worst possible combination of weak and stewed. This year I have to say that, while it wouldn't win any prizes, it was recognisably tea, and that is an achievement worthy of recognition, so a vote of thanks to Annie, Ros et al. The fruit cake was very nice too.