"Water way to spend the weekend !"
"Was the event designed to celebrate the record amount of
rainfall this month and probably the wettest bank holiday for
a long time ?"
"We know Bank Holiday Mondays are notorious for heavy rain
but this is ridiculous!"
A few of the many comments we received over the weekend - but the organisers of the Sleaford Water Weekend are pleased to be able to say that the weather did not win - despite 25.4mm rain on the Saturday and 25.0mm on the Sunday, not to mention the downpours in the preceding week !
The sun shone for the opening ceremony, conducted by John Kyte (Chairman of the Water Weekend Committee), Cllr Dickinson of North Kesteven District Council, and The Mayor of Sleaford, Cllr Jarleth McGagh.
Crowds still flocked to the event and nearly everything planned went ahead. The Fun Run on Monday had unfortunately to be cancelled for safety reasons - the course was far too slippery - and some of the music had to be rescheduled but only a little was lost.
In the worst downpours the marquees provided welcome shelter and enabled the Sleaford Art Group Art Exhibition (Saturday) and Impulse Fairs Craft Fair (Sunday and Monday) and live music, organised by Vi Hill of Music Plus (01529 305040 ) and Adrian Snookes of PA Entertainment (01529 300336) to continue over the whole weekend.For more details of the Craft Fair, contact Impulse Fairs on 01673 860433.
Sleaford Concert Band gave another brilliant
concert on Friday evening to get the weekend started - if you
missed them here, catch them at the Rugby Club on July 15th. Higgledy
Piggledy played to an enthusiastic group of ceilidh dancers on
Saturday evening.The music over the weekend was linked to the
BBC Music Live promotion.
Over the weekend, the Duck Races drew large crowds of spectators, as did the Raft Races - all the participants expected a soaking anyway and the rain did absolutely nothing to deter them!
(photographs on this page by Windham Hime and D Scott)
Canoeing sessions run by local canoe clubs were enjoyed by all ages.
Competitors in the It's a Knockout competitions in the swimming Pool at Sleaford Leisure Centre threw themselves into the event (literally) with great enthusiasm!
A climbing wall and archery featured for the first time.
An additional feature this year was the River Bus plying between Cogglesford and Eastgate Carpark carrying passengers along the River - a popular alternative to walking in the rain - even carrying musical accompaniment at times, courtesy of sousaphone player, Mike Lock, and colleagues from the Sleaford Concert Band. For more info on the band http://www.sleaford-professionals.co.uk
The Horncastle Youth Club Hovercraft gave a couple of short demonstrations on Monday afternoon on the River, near Sleaford Leisure Centre, to the amazement of the watching crowd.
Staff and Volunteers at Cogglesford provided regular milling demonstrations on all three days and BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) led pond-dipping sessions in Lollycocks Field on Monday.
Results of the competitions are as follows
:
Ambucopter Duck Races
- prizes donated by RLB Toys, and presented by the Chairman of
the Sleaford Branch of The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air
Ambulance
Saturday - winner - Mr Brierley, Sleaford
Sunday - winner - Henry Packham, Sleaford. Is baby Henry the youngest
duck race winner ever ? - he was only a week old !
It's a Knockout - sponsored by The Solo Club, Sleaford
Teenagers Competition - winners - Sleaford ATC - Tim, Paul, Gareth
and James
Senior Competition - winners - The WBs - Dave Hards, Neil Smith,
Steve Wilson
Rotary Club of Sleaford Duck Race -
1st prize - £100 - Christine Glenn
2nd prize - £50 - Stewart Elliot
3rd prize - £25 - Geoff Hazlewood
Raft Races
Junior - sponsored by Sleaford Carpet Centre
fastest - Joel & Milly Barlow
best dressed crew - Sleaford Concert Band
Intermediates - sponsored by Roberts Tyres
fastest - ATC - Tristan, Liam, Anthony & Tom
best dressed crew - Cormannook - Becky & Carly Jo
Senior - sponsored by Rainbow Crafts
fastest - Wacky Racers - Colin & Bo Bellamy
best dressed crew - Oh What a Circus!
Songwriting Competition
sponsored by Music Plus
was won by Rob Law, Chris Holmes & Dan Smith, with 'Reflections
of Life'
Poetry Competition
sponsored by Walkers Bookshop & Colin Clingan
was won by Sue Keetley with 'Water for Life'
Talent Competition - sponsored by B&D Insurance &
Colin Clingan
The Senior competition was won by Alexandra
The Junior competition was won by Nicola Keetley
The organisers would like to thank all the sponsors and especially Sleaford Pride, Andrew Walsh Accident Repair Centre and all those businesses, organisations and individuals whose work resulted in the weekend being such a success despite the rain.