19th August 2023:
KC Fund Raising Cruise

19th August 2023:
KC Fund Raising Cruise
KC loading at Dartmouth 6pm Saturday 19th August.

KC set off for her fund raising evening cruise shortly after that first sailing down to the castles at the entrance to the river and then up to White Rock just beyond Stoke Gabriel before returning to the Dartmouth pontoon as dusk started to fall.

All Aboard. The lady in the white top is Niki Kirkwood, Chairman of the Dartmouth Museum, lending her support to the event.
KC slowly filling up.
Passengers enjoying the cruise under the new awning and sitting on nicely varnished seats on the new deck with in the background the coach roof aft newly built in the railway carriage workshop at Paignton to replicate the old one which sadly was starting to rot and needed replacing.
Malcolm Pope KC’s Captain for the cruise.
Chris Warren, Chris Phillips, Barry Packman & Steve Pooley.
One nice doggie. Two nice cups of tea.
When dusk her purple veil had softly spread……… goodness how the nights are starting to draw in.

There were around 120 passengers aboard so a big thank you to Chris Warren, Chairman of the Wessex Branch, for his support for this event and to Chris Phillips and Barry Packman for all the leg work selling the tickets, collecting the money and doubtless much else. Also a big thank you to all who so generously bought tickets for this event.

The trip raised around £1,700. There were no operating costs for the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust as they were all borne by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company. So all of the ticket money goes straight to the KC Rebuild Appeal.

Thank you.

Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.

John Megoran

John Megoran