THERE’S a new talking point for diners at The Boat House in Stratford.
A second wooden craft belonging to Stratford Boat Club has retired to the rafters of the riverside restaurant.
When the boat club decided to remodel its club room recently, it was decided to ‘retire’ the elegant wooden single that hung from the roof.
A call went out to local restaurants and pubs for a new home for the single whose sculling days were over. It was beyond repair after 40 to 50 years of use by the previous owner, who donated it to Stratford Boat Club, but was thought too beautiful to simply demolish.
After many offers to re-home the single, her ‘retirement’ home was found just a few metres away from Stratford Boat Club at The Boat House restaurant.
Employees from The Boat House joined with the boat repair crew at Stratford Boat Club to plan the operation.
Having carried out a similar ‘rehoming’ in January 2023, with a double called ‘Audrey’, Stratford Boat Club checked the logistics and the move went into action.
Phil Marshall, Stratford Boat Club’s boatman, said, “And that’s when the fun began – moving a nearly six metre single down the path from the boat club to The Boat House restaurant, through a window 15 metres above the river and then onto the rafters in the restaurant.
“High level boat manoeuvring is not usually in the required skill set for chefs and boatmen but after much head-scratching and possibly the occasional expletive, the move was completed and the wooden single settled into her new home in the rafters.”
