....and they are off!

What a great day for the duck race. Woke up to pleasant autumn sunshine and gentle winds, but most importantly - the marquee still standing! The morning was spent firing up the BBQs (4 old oil drums welded together!), preparing the food and setting up the children's games.

By the time the doors opened at one o'clock the sky was blue and the burgers and clams were sizzling on the BBQ. For the next hour it was shear madness as I frantically tried to keep two pans of fried onions and a grill of clams going for our hungry customers. There must have been close on 200 of them. Before I knew it the piper was playing - the signal for the race to begin. A quick dash to the house to get into my waders and grab a fishing net for my next task - recovering the 340 ducks that were about to be launched in the river. Made it just in time to catch a few shots including this one of the ducks swimming sedately down the river as their sponsors cheer them on. There were rapids ahead so I had to quickly make my way to the finishing line to start recovering the ducks. They were all counted out but I am not so sure they were all counted back in. We will look for any stragglers tomorrow and hope not to have lost too many.

Bad news for family and friends who bought a duck from us is that nobody won. Never mind there is always next year! Good news is that over £5000 was raised for the church through this wonderful community event.

By four o'clock the BBQ was being cleared and the marquee dismantled. By half four the garden was clear and we were all sitting having a quick drink and debrief. The clouds were gathering and the rain came on. How fortunate we were!