Darlington Paddler Day 2010

The morning of Sunday 19th September dawned to the sound of steady rain which kept up until early afternoon. Inevitably this had some effect on attendance and entries at this fourth annual event held by Darlington & District MBC at The Waterpark, Middleton-St-George, Near Darlington, England. Nevertheless, twenty one models were counted in and most of these sailed during the more pleasant afternoon session. Our usual three visitors from Switzerland were sadly absent, but were replaced by a couple from even further afield! Stuart and Ros Badger who live on the Greek island of Naxos had come to pass on his magnificent paddle steamer Connaught to its new owner. A four funnelled Irish Sea ferry, she was quite the biggest working model paddle steamer model I have ever seen at just under ten feet long and matched only by the size of its purpose built transport case which seemed to completely fill our clubroom. It was without doubt the finest model I have seen outside of a museum and realistically crewed and with passengers it looked so realistic. Needless to say, Stuart was presented with a certificate and Waverley mementoes for having the best model on the water.