As part of their two hundredth birthday celebrations loads and loads of lifeboats came to Poole this weekend and held a sail past on the Sunday. It was too busy for someone with an impaired immune system to go, but we went down on Friday when they were all arriving and practising which was fun in an entirely different sort of way, so here are some pictures, along with a link to the BBC coverage of the event https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgeeyy9yywxo
My favourite was the rowing and sailing boat because back at the beginning our lifeboatmen gathered at a pub and were taken by horse and cart to the launch point before rowing out to the ship in distress. We get some rough seas around here, and there are a lot of wrecks and seeing this boat gave me an idea of the sheer physical and mental courage and heroism of those unpaid volunteers. Yes… that hits me too. Unpaid volunteers. On call at any time and in any weather conditions. Have a look art this from the archives - https://lifeboatmagazinearchive.rnli.org/volume/50/498/none-1?searchterm=Yacht+Gan&page=1785
Think of what it must have been like. And not one of them had to be there risking their lives so of course I write about heroes of the quiet matter of fact variety because I’m privileged enough to have met them. Have a look at this, set into the harbour wall. He was the same age my daughter is now and should have been two years older than I am
So that’s the serious bit. I enjoyed watching portaloos popping up all over the place, because they were expecting good crowds and I do love watching all the behind the scenes work that you never notice is there if they’ve got it right. Fencing was going up, and people were laughing and chatting as they got ready for the party and we had our own mini parade as the lifeboats headed out to check the route because it would be ever so slightly embarrassing if they ran aground and needed rescuing, wouldn’t it?
Lifeboats from all over the world came to join in, so to all of them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and all the money I made from my books on Sunday (£43.72) will be donated to them. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/24330289.rnli-celebrates-200th-anniversary-poole-lifeboat-festival/
And speaking of books, there’s a bumper bundle on 99p UK and 99c US special offer this week. If you can’t buy them then put ‘Tia Brown- Anthology’ into your Amazon search bar and you’ll find your way to sets of 3 books for £2.99, which is actually slightly less and always available.
This week we have 2 books under my Eleanor Neville pen name from my Shadows series. These are Guardian Angel, which is about a widow who finds that her husband was a spy and people think she has one of his secrets and are willing to hurt her daughter to get it. She needs a hero, but the one she gets is the man who’s always driven her nuts! There’s also Daymare, which started from me wondering what would happen if I could read my husband’s mind and ended up with me very relieved that I can’t
There are also two books from the Oldcastle series. The Wrong Twin and Kings of the Castle. These are gentler, softer, sweet romances, often featuring children but are standalone books, ideal for summer’s reading or curling up in the warm and dreaming of summer.
Finally, there are the first four Amy Hammond books. Wasted on the Young,
Up the Garden path, A stitch in time and Prodigal Daughter. Amy always wanted to have adventures but never expected to find a dead body as part of the guided tour she was giving of her local stately home. After getting involved in trying to find the killer before they kill again she swore to stay out of trouble, but somehow it doesn’t work like that. Worse still, when she’s not terrified, she enjoys it.
So there we are till we meet again on Sunday. Take care and have a great week.
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