Raft Race at Etherow Park

[admin]

The raft race is a great event and we'd be happy to include photos and a report as we used to do. The reason we stopped at 2003 was that when Chris ran it he set up a web site of his own with pictures and reports and we just had to provide a link to it. Unfortunately, as you say, the Round Table sank and the website disappeared soon after, leaving us with a big gap. If you can provide pictures we'll be pleased to display them on the site - we'd probably use the Virtual Tour in the same way that we started last year with the Carnival, so ideally we'd need a title and caption to go with each picture - say between 12 and 24 good ones? They don't all need to be from the same source.

[beerhippy]

Thanks for the details. The Raft Race is my favourite event of the Carnival weekend. A few years ago, when it was run by the Round Table, there were more races and more teams taking part - but it's still a lot of fun for a good cause. I strongly recommend it.

It's a great pity it doesn't get more publicity over a wider area, particularly as it's a charity fundraising event. Better advance publicity would help to get more participants involved as well as more spectators. I live the other side of Stockport (oops, that's a confession) and it's sometimes not been easy to find out if the Raft Race is on. Of course I now know to look at the marple-uk website's Events diary.

When I last looked, the Raft Race page on the website still hadn't been updated since 2003 - this doesn't give a good impression of an ongoing annual event. It ought to give the contact details of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, who took over the running of the event in 2006 when Marple Round Table ran into problems. (What happened, did the table sink?) The page wants an annual update with a brief text report and some new photographs added each year, as Chris Bowler used to do. I have lots of digital photos from 2004 onwards, some of which might be useful for updates well before next year's event? Perhaps I could help?

Anyway, I hope to be watching (and donating) this year, even if the weather gets everyone as wet as if we'd all jumped in the lake! 

[admin]

The 2008 Raft Race at Etherow Park will take place on Sunday 22nd June, kicking off at 1pm. This is perfect timing to attend the Iron Bridge Opening Ceremony in Brabyns Park and then take in an afternoon's fun in Etherow Park.

This year the organisers are planning to have 3 races, a junior race with 'Pirates of the Carribean' fancy dress theme, a senior race for the voluntary sector and a third race for local businesses or "any one else who can be roped in!"