David Harrison and Linda Varney awarded Chairman’s letter of commendation
Following the satisfactory conclusion of the Southampton International Boat Show, 2023, the BOC Committee unanimously agreed to the award of a Chairman’s Letter of Commendation to both David Harrison and Linda Varney, in recognition of all the hard work, dedication and ingenuity they put into ensuring that the Club was represented at the Show.
Linda persevered with the organisers, who appeared to be not so very organised, and in the end secured us a top prize in a competition run by SIBS where we were offered a mooring spot to display a Broom boat for the length of the show, a site for a stand and a cash prize of £500.
We were unable to take up the mooring offer, but we decided to take up the free site and that’s where David’s ingenuity and skills came to the fore. He designed and built the Stand around a 3mX3m waterproof gazebo, with an internal, lockable cupboard which also served to store our display equipment both during and after the event.The strength and stability of David’s design proved its worth, as the Stand remained secure and stable throughout the show, despite some pretty fierce attempts by nature and inclement weather to close us down.
We received a good few visitors and potentially some new members at the show and the Stand was much admired. David and Linda’s efforts before, during and after the show were a fine demonstration of what makes the BOC such a good club, and the award of the Commendation is a well deserved recognition of their efforts to ensure that the Stand and the Club’s presence at the show were the successes that they were.