Saturday's nostalgic river trip was almost blown off course by the great storm of the previous Sunday. It delayed the replacement of a pair of gates on one of the two locks that the Georgina had to navigate on her way from Cambridge - and she only got through thanks to the efforts of the Cam's Conservators and their contractors.
A gang of 13, led by acting engineering control officer Alan Wingfield, worked at Bates Bite Lock at Milton until after midnight on Friday to remove temporary barriers and get new steel downstream gates working well enough to allow vessels through with help.
But it was not until Monday that they were fully operational again - three weeks after work began to replace 25-year-old wooden gates that had rotted above the waterline. Their replacements, weighing several tonnes, were made by Mandall Engineering, of Sheffield.
They should have been delivered on Monday last week but were delayed by the storm until Wednesday while the Conservators' river gang were busy clearing up fallen trees on the towpath.
"We're very grateful to the Conservators for their help," said a relieved Cllr Jack Waterfall, who had drawn up a contingency plan with The King's School's assistant bursar Nigel Clarke to use the Hayward Theatre if the Cambridge Passenger Cruisers' boat had not arrived.
Published in the Ely Standard of November 15, 2002
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