Steamboats @ Bristol Harbour Festival 2025
Welcome to the Steamboat element of the Bristol Harbour Festival – we look forward to seeing old hands and new faces. The format will be much the same as previous years – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
After a very successful handover of the organisation of the Harbour Festival in 2025 we look forward to an equally successful event in 2026.
The two major changes this year are a 'Steamboating School' on the preceding Thursday (16th July) - see separate Event entry and a joint operation with the Traction Engine "Steam Apprentices Club" which is being organised by Dot Bullough on the following Monday (20th July)
The 2026 format of the steamboat element of the actual Harbour Festival Event will be much the same as previous years (I hope!) with a couple of variations, however, for those with short memories (like me), and those that didn’t attend last year, this is what to expect:
Friday: Launch (Cottage Pub, Baltic Wharf, Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6XG or ///bets.skips.skirt) anytime from about 12h00 onwards.
We will get together for a communal evening meal event of some kind on Friday evening - details later
Saturday: You are at liberty to steam around the festival site (except as commanded by the Harbour Authorities whilst other ‘spectacles’ take place) plus we will have 1, maybe 2, coordinated ‘Steam Processions’, with live PA commentary, through the day – a great chance to show off, especially our whistles and sirens. These processions are where we earn our keep, so to speak, and, whilst participation is not obligatory, they are both good fun and our way of saying ‘Thank You’ to the Festival for their generous hospitality. The Processions will be ‘topped and tailed’ by Harbour Launches so it is a really easy case of ‘follow the leader’. Would those of you that want to promote your boat let me have some ‘blurb’ for the commentator to use – interesting snippets about the boat over and above the basic length, engine and boiler specs are good. We are, again, promised to be featured in the Harbour Festival Programme and I don’t know how much they will print but I will let them have all that you let me have – info sooner rather than later please.
Saturday evening – Meal - venue yet to be determined. This MUST be pre-booked with us.
Sunday: Lazy steam-up (10h00ish) and one procession through the Festival but, instead of turning around, we will just keep on going up the harbour/canal/river until we reach the pub (actually two pubs side by side through a lock). This will give you a chance to see where the ‘Floating Harbour’ joins the River Avon, observe some of Bristol’s industrial past (and present) as well as having a nice chug through some pleasant countryside. Lunch can be taken at either pub (recommend the Lock and Weir Pub) or a picnic onboard your boat before returning via the reciprocal route either straight to pull-out or to another over-night on your berth.
I will be assisting those going home on Sunday to pull out and suggest that you steam straight to the Cottage Pub slipway and moor up on the dinghy pontoons whilst preparing to pull out. This is when a degree of tact and cooperation is required as there will be a large number of other users all wanting to access the slip at this time. I will try to referee and coordinate with the other ‘team leaders’, but please be patient and cooperative in order to ensure that all goes as smoothly as possible.
I will also be in attendance on Monday morning to assist those of you that are pulling out. In some years we have had more of a ‘traffic jam’ at the slip on Monday than we had on Sunday afternoon, so please note the comments above and I am sure it will all go ‘swimmingly’.
Any queries, please contact me on 01275 331074 or Mobile: 0790 528 6711 or via email Kevin@ManorFarmEngineering.co.UK
or snail mail: Manor Farm, Scot Lane, Chew Stoke, BS40 8UW.
We look forward to seeing you all.
Kevin & Gillie Slater
The Member of the SBA coordinating with the Event Organiser is Kevin Slater.
Event type 2
Key to event types
1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)
2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)
In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance.
3 - private meeting of members with or without boats
4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event
5 - for information only
The Steam Boat Association of Great Britain