The broadcast actually mentioned the trip boat for the disabled 'Pride of Sefton'. For my sins I was at one time on the committee that built it. It was made at Cammell Lairds as part of their apprentice programme with a base plate that was one inch thick, given that it was 12'6" wide and 55' long it weighed in the region of 25 tons. Imagine the faces on one of the test runs when winding at the Scarisbrick Bridge winding hole where someone had left a plastic boat in the winding hole. Unfortunately at a critical moment a pin dropped out of the transmission linkage and when the steerer went for reverse all he got was a lot of revving. Opinions on liability for the results ? John
