Our second event in August this year was a joint venture with Middle Thames Yacht Club, who had kindly invited us to join them for a cruise to West India Dock.
Six boats set out to join the cruise from Albany: Ginista, Enterprise, Laird Tommy, Blue Dimension, Lady Farrington and Manatees of Kent.

The six boats made their own way to the initial gathering point at Teddington Lock on Friday 25th August.  Sadly, Chris and Sue, aboard Manateees of Kent, were unable to continue the trip as they suffered a fuel injector malfunction on one of her engines and had to return to PH.  The remaining five boats from Albany joined up with eight more boats from MTYC.
Most of the crews attended a meeting on Friday evening in the Anglers pub for a meal and briefing, followed by an early night as the start time on Saturday was 0600.

​Saturday dawned fine and the flotilla gathered in Teddington Lock, followed by a leisurely run to Richmond.  We could not take advantage of the free flow window at Richmond as we were booked into W India dock at 10am.  We thus all (bar 1 boat from MTYC) packed into the lock at Richmond (£11 per boat!!)  We were already 40mins behind schedule by the time the lock gates opened to start the cruise proper.  Russ and Mary aboard Blue Dimension were making their first trip onto the tidal Thames, and Nick (who, with Tracie, were guests aboard Ginista) had kindly agreed to crew with them and offer his considerable experience for the trip.  The boats inevitably separated as the cruise progressed, with the faster boats arriving at W India around 1015, only to learn that the lift bridge would not be opened for us.  As we were near HW, this meant the early arriving boats had to wait outside the dock until the tide dropped sufficiently to allow us to enter under the bridge.  It did, however, allow time for the slower boats to arrive and all entered the lock around 1045am, followed by mooring within the (huge!) dock itself.  Moorings are very secure, however, and there are (somewhat basic) toilet and shower facilities available.  The rest of the day was whiled away with socialising.  Crews did their own thing on the Saturday evening, most eating out in the local bars and restaurants.  Tony and Sharon, together with Nick and Tracie and John and Geraldine made their way into town to meet up with Emilia for a meal followed by a theatre visit to see Grease (The Musical) at the Dominion Theatre.  This proved to be quite an eventful experience as two rowdy couples seated immediately behind our group eventually had to be escorted from the theatre under arrest by the police (and as an indirect result of a complaint by John!)  This delayed the second half of the show by half an hour.  The fracas even made it onto Sky news, with showed a video clip in which our group can (just) be made out!

​Sunday was a free day, and crews did their own thing, though most seemed to gravitate to the Trafalgar pub in Greenwich around lunchtime!  We gathered back at the boats in time for a meal out in the nearby Indian restaurant, followed by a “pontoon party” organised by Mandy at which crews from both clubs mingled to enjoy (more!) food and drink.  This finally broke up around midnight.

​The return trip was less constrained by timings (though Chris and Tony pressed for an earlier start than had been in the original passage plan) and proved to be very enjoyable.  The harbour master had booked a bridge-lift for 0930, so exiting the lock was straightforward.  Albany boats led the way in very pleasant weather, with opportunities for photographs as we passed under Tower Bridge and again as we passed by the Houses of Parliament.  With the aid of a 2-3 knot flood tide, we made the trip back to Teddington in very good time.  Enterprise, Blue Dimension and Ginista paused at Teddington for a late lunch (and to allow honorary AMYC member Jasmine, the Italian Greyhound, off for a pee!)  We then completed the journey back to Penton Hook, arriving around 7pm.

​Many thanks are due to MTYC (especially Dennis) for the organisation and the original invitation.
As always, the greatest thanks are due to the members of Albany MYC who attended for their brilliant company.

​Four boats made the trip to Windsor.  Enterprise, Ginista, Laird Tommy and Beatrice Rose. 
Chris and Lin aboard Enterprise had arrived early (as usual!) and greeted us onto a bank mooring on Baths Island.  The weather was balmy, and we enjoyed a casual afternoon of gossip and drinking.

​John had booked us on a tour of the Windsor and Eton Brewery on the Saturday morning, and this turned out to be most entertaining and enjoyable, even for those whose first love is not beer!  “Wildman Willy” gave us the escorted tour, which was interspersed with generous samples of their various brews.  We followed the tour with a delicious lunch in their bar / taproom before adjourning back to the boats for an alcohol induced nap!  

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​ On Sunday morning we were graced with the presence of King Charles and Queen Camilla (aka Chris and Lin) whose somewhat creepy picture can be seen alongside!  We had taken the opportunity of booking a table the previous day to watch the ladies World Cup Final in the Windsor Brewery bar. Sadly, England Ladies could not quite clinch the perfect result, losing 1-0 to Spain, but the atmosphere in the bar was terrific.  Two crews (Chris and Lin and Tony and Sharon) then enjoyed a full Sunday Roast at Browns Restaurant in Windsor.

​Many thanks to John for organising the Brewery trip, and to all who attended for their excellent company.

On a summer’s evening in August, a number of Albany members gathered for a barbecue, at Geraldine’s invitation, at the Penton Hook Marina BBQ area and despite the weather, a good time was had by all.

​The weather was typically British in that sometimes it was dry but mostly not!  However, this did not dampen our spirits as we enjoyed the food that we had each brought with us, cooked on the BBQ by John, together with a tasty range of salads, rolls and some utterly delectable strawberries and cream all of which were organised by Geraldine.  Mandy shared a delicious home-made Lemon Drizzle Cake and Mary shared some very moreish chocolates.  

​All of this contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable and very sociable evening as can be seen from the photos.

​Special thanks must go to Geraldine for both suggesting and organising this enjoyable event and to John for managing the BBQ with good humour despite the constantly changing weather.

Following last year’s successful cruise to Sonning’s Mill Theatre, it had been decided to make this an annual fixture.  So it was that six boats met up at Sonning on Saturday 29th July.
Three boats (Ginista, Zephyr and Beatrice Rose) set out together from PH on Friday 28th July.  The crews had gathered on Ginista the evening before for drinks.  Sally, Geoff and daughter Helen then ate aboard Zephyr, while Tony & Sharon and Robbie and Gill adjourned to PHYC for a pleasant supper meal.  The three boats made a prompt start next morning for the gentle cruise to Bray.  All responded to the VHF “cast off” message, but only Ginista and Zephyr arrived at PH lock.  Where was Beatrice Rose?  Surely Robbie couldn’t get lost already?  He appeared 5 minutes later, rather sheepishly admitting that he had pulled away from the pontoon without disconnecting his shore power (we’ve all done it at some time!)  Cable issue sorted out, the three boats then took it gently to Bray, where moorings had been reserved for us.  Robbie’s usual luck held, as he got a place right outside the Mediterranevm restaurant  After a wash and brush-up the crews gathered for drinks on Zephyr.  Sally produced a strange (but tasty) selection of hors d’oevres, including cheese for Tony (Sharon having forgotten to bring any – arrrgh!)  We then tottered the few steps to the restaurant, where we enjoyed a very good (if expensive) supper.  

​We made another prompt start on Saturday morning for the rather longer leg of the cruise to Sonning.  The three boats became four when we were joined by Blue Dimension (Russ and Mary) at Henley.  For future reference, this leg took approximately seven hours.  Moorings had been reserved at the stretch run by Sonning Boats and Launches. This is on the towpath on the right (upriver) side, below Sonning bridge   We arrived to find that Chris and Lin (aboard Enterprise ) and Terry and Mandy ( aboard Lady Farrington ) had beaten us to it, both having already been up river.  Enterprise and Lady Farrington had found moorings on the opposite bank, outside the Coppas pub.  Ginista, Zephyr and Beatrice Rose moored on the Sonning Boats side (Robbie actually grounded and had to deploy his passarelle to get ashore) while Blue Dimension slotted in behind Lady Farrington.  We thus ended up with half the club boats on one side of the river and half on the other.  Notwithstanding, we met for drinks on Enterprise.  (Lin makes a great Pimm’s, and even had a potted mint plant for that authentic touch!)  We were joined on Enterprise by David and Linda and Les and Margaret who had both made the journey by car.  

​After a break to wash and change, we met up at the bar in the Mill Theatre for drinks, followed by an excellent buffet meal in the restaurant, all included in the ticket price.  We were then treated to a fantastic show, entitled “Dazzling Divas” performed by Issy van Randwyck and her backing musicians.  This relates the lives and legendary music of Billie Holiday, Marilyn Monroe, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Karen Carpenter, Mamma Cass and Dusty Springfield.  Issy van Randwyck was not a name familiar to any of us, but she put on a tour de force performance, seamlessly integrating some of their best-known songs into the (mostly tragic) life stories of these great artistes.  She received a very well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the show.  We returned to our boats and hotel still buzzing with enjoyment.

​The two-way split in the Albany fleet continued next morning as Ginista, Zephyr and Beatrice Rose set off back to PH (not before Robbie had managed to unground) while Lady Farrington and Blue Dimension headed further up river, and Enterprise returned to Henley.  Zephyr moored at Cookham for the night (surprisingly, there were quite a few mooring spots all along the route) while Ginista and Beatrice Rose pushed on to Bray just as the rain started.  Ginista must drop her radar arch for a number of bridges, including that at the entry to Bray Marina.  This involves unzipping the rear canopy – no problem in the dry, but a recipe for a soaking when the rain falls, as it did, just as we were mooring up.  Zips also become stubbornly recalcitrant just when you don’t want them to.  The result was that Sharon looked as if she had fallen in!  We eventually made her (Ginista, that is, not Sharon) watertight and adjourned for a well-earned dink and a meal aboard.
We made our separate ways back to PH on Monday morning.  Ginista had to time her departure to take advantage of a lull in the rain to avoid a further soaking but managed to keep dry throughout the trip.  All was going smoothly until we arrived at Bell Weir lock.  There was much activity as we arrived, with a team of divers setting up their equipment.  We were ushered into the lock but were then told that there would be a delay while the divers went down.  This turned out to be about 40 minutes.  Just as well there was the final day of the Ashes test series on the radio for entertainment. (What a game and what a series!)  The delay allowed Zephyr to catch up and we then cruised on to PH.

​All in all, a very successful cruise, with the high spot, definitely, the great show at the Mill Theatre.  Thank you, Albany, for such a good turnout and for your excellent company.  We will certainly repeat the fixture next season.