shouts of “Order” Order!”. There was lots
of good-natured banter with the other
floats as we headed out and quite a bit
of splashing. To our umbrage, one team
thought that we had come dressed as
nuns so they got an extra soaking!
An attempt to all stand up on the float
ended in disaster when Laurence slipped
and fell in the water. As we headed
back to the beach I jumped in too and,
forgetting how steep the beach is,
disappeared completely under the water!
Despite our bedraggled appearance, we
valiantly pulled the raft up the beach and
posed for photographs, before heading
back to the marquee stopping en route
to ask an exhibitor if we might warm up
in one of his hot tubs (the answer, sadly,
was no).
22
Having dried off in the emerging sunshine
and congratulated ourselves on a job
well done, we got down to the serious
business of shaking charity buckets.
As the temperatures soared during the
afternoon, passers-by were happy to
discover that the MWB team were giving
away free ice-lollies, wine and Harveys
beer which was much appreciated and
we had lots of people stopping in for
a chat.
We all had an amazing day and were very
proud to have raised £795 over the course
of the weekend for Paddle’s chosen
charities – Brighton Surf Life Saving Club,
the RNLI and the Rockinghorse Appeal.
By Gail Waller