Show Reports

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Glasgow River Festival

Science Centre, Govan
16^th - 19^th July 2004

by:-   James Moir

Whose idea was it to hold a four day river festival over a holiday weekend in Glasgow? - break out the wellies and the waterproofs !!!!!

Oddly enough the weather held up quite well. It was a little windy on the Friday, it aided the kite flying and almost turned some of the club members into Mary Poppins as we struggled to hold the cover on the gazebo as it tried to take off. The Kite flying club of Scotland almost had a few new members !

I will not go into great detail about the other events at the festival as Hydrozorbs, Zapcats, H.M.S. Blyth and the Whistlebinkies are better described elsewhere on the web (also I did not get to see too much of them over the weekend).

The club were asked to provide the hands-on boats for charity, a static display and warship display, unfortunately the latter was not possible. We were glad to do the hands-on boats, which were busy and raised money for the UK Special Olympics. We were asked to bring a lot of boats for the static display. On the Friday there were 33 on the stand and the Science Centre had to provide more benches. On Saturday the number swelled to 50 and I believe that some had to be turned away. The centre piece of the display was Yogi's working model of the Falkirk Wheel. I tried to explain to two Canadians how it worked but they were not inclined to believe me - perhaps because the "Ragdoll" in front of the model was the length of Yogi's handiwork.

I am not used to being on my feet all day but felt it important to be at the front of the display to answer questions and keep small fingers from the models. Two people on Saturday commented on the Rangitoto, which was of great delight to the builder that his model was recognised and commented upon. Warships always get attention and this display was no exception with comments like "I served on her" and "I built her" banded about. I thought I knew something about warships but based on the technical questions that I was asked I am very much mistaken in that belief.

Two other ships which generated a lot of comments were the steam launch and the P.S. Waverley - mainly because of the aliens on board!

Puffers were aplenty and I spotted the Vital Spark on the water around the IMAX on Sunday. I did not realise at the time that I used to work with the owner of this fine model. Inside the model of the Eilean Eisdeal raised a question about the inclusion of radar - fortunately the original was moored outside so the question could be answered.

Sailing conditions around the IMAX were windy and choppy (hence the reason we moved on Friday) but a number of models were seen there over the weekend; including Jim Mackay's Troon lifeboat, Bill Cowan's USS Cruiser Olympia and the Surfer Dude. I noted that the surfboard had taken some damage but was relieved to find out that was not caused by my exploits at Barshaw.

At some point over the weekend the boats were joined by a DUKW, Tiger I, King Tiger, an M26 Pershing (I believe - not too good on US tanks of that era) and a monster truck. The tanks traversed the grassy knolls next to the Science Centre with ease and led the crowds to use. The monster truck hid under the table and pounced on unsuspecting youngsters, to the amusement of the crowd. I did try my hand with the Tiger I but gave the transmitter back when it headed towards the water at speed and someone stepped in front of me so that I could not see it - tank electronics and water NO NOT MIX I am reliably informed.

Over the four days I was asked twice about r/c models of the R.M.S. Titanic and if I wanted an 8 foot Bismarck hull before the wife "drilled holes in it, put it in the garden and turned it into a planter" - if I had gone home with it my wife would have used my head to make holes in it.

Outside the hands-on boats were quite busy. After the windy exploits on Friday we used the market stall and borrowed some weights from the nearby building site. This was MUCH better. Also, this pond was more sheltered from the wind so conditions were better for the children to sail. When I found out that this was were the children were sailing their paper boats I thought it might lead to problems with wet paper around propellers but that was not the case - they were simply targets for the kids to sink rather than playing 'dodgems'.

The cargo vessel Braehead sank beneath the waves on three occasions and was nicknamed "Titanic" by the helpers and the Louise was retired with a ceased motor. We also discovered that tank electronics are not the only thing that do not mix with water! While outside I was asked if I knew anyone who would like an H.M.S. Bulldog or a tug.

It was good to see so many of the club members there. Two sailed in on Friday and another who said he was "busy and unable to attend" was spotted arriving on a narrow boat. Over the weekend I saw helpers that I have not seen at the club and talked to a few members of other clubs.

In conclusion, they say that many hands make light work - although we had many helpers there was a lot of work to do and it would have been nice if some had managed to help setup and clear away. One again it was the usual suspects at the boat house on Monday evening to empty the trailer.

Addendum to Report

by:-   Eddie Haig

After James' last two reports, some of you might be concerned how the Dude was, fear not he was back in action at the River Festival.

Some of the guy's were sailing on the moat to the left of the entrance to the Science Centre when I decided to "wake the audience up", the Dude sailed round the bend "look at the wee man on the board" someone said, the crowd thought the Dude was funny, then I engaged the "warp engine" WOW, now they payed attention. Mary actually thought he was bending his leg's to make the board "Jump"

The whole event was captured on avi which was played back to some of the members, is the video on fast forward? no that's the speed it goes.

Thanks for all who expressed concern for the Dude after James' shameful behaviour at previous shows. He was not allowed anywhere near this time, in fact I purposely sail him when James' was not about.

This is one event worth attending.