The floating markets for 2015 are available to book here: http://www.rcta.org.uk/markets2015.html

There are limited spaces at Stourport market. Merry Hill had sold out but due to its popularity we have now managed to extend this & increase the number of boats we can take.  Birmingham has a few £10 spaces availability & Ellesmere has good availability.

We are also experimenting with a new format for the Merry Hill market of opening later on the Friday & running it as an evening market. We’re hoping boaters attending will decorate their boats with lights so we can have illuminated market. We are planning a big switch on with a tooting of horns too. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some good press coverage around this. We can still squeeze a few more traders in if anyone fancies joining in the fun. 

On Thursday 2nd July, Alison Tuck, Jennie Howland and myself ( Paul Howland) met with Mike Grimes the new head of the Business Boating team. We had a very informative meeting, being able to discuss the needs of roving traders and found him to be open to all comments. Plus he came up with some very good points for a closer working relationship for the future. He has promised to arrange another meeting with us, after finding out the answers to a couple of important matters. He has also asked that we show a little patience as he attempts to redefine the Boating Business team to be more customer focused. Phil Spencer has now retired and the RCTA wish him a very happy retirement.

Mike confirmed that the RCTA has over 50%of all licensed roving traders as members now.
 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALISON TUCK

Alison Tuck has been selected to join the Licensing & Moorings sub group of the Navigation Advisory Group.

The Navigation Advisory Group comprises boaters with a variety of backgrounds to bring as broad a range of perspectives as possible to decision making. Maintaining canal and river navigations for use by boats is at the core of what the Trust does. We want to ensure that our managers’ decisions are well informed by those who navigate the waterways regularly

Each edition we will feature one of our traders. If you’d like to take part in this please email Sandra. This month I didn’t have any volunteers for the spotlight so I’ve done myself!!

This edition we feature Sandra Willis of Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts

Sandra has been trading as Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts for just over a year. She started continuous cruising the year prior & once the savings got thin on the ground realised she didn’t want to leave this lifestyle behind so the thinking cap was put on & roving trading was the answer. Sandra loves dogs & boats & cruises alongside her 2 golden retrievers Cosmo & Daquiri who many of you will have seen (normally sprinting on an escape mission up the towpath at the markets).

Over the winter of 2013 Sandra with the help of RCTA sorted her trading license & insurance & dabbled in a few small Xmas markets on land with selling doggie treats & gifts. Just before the season began in 2014 a visit was made to Crufts & with the help of that & contacts mainly made through twitter Sandra soon had a fully stocked floating doggie shop. Sandra buys all her products in & resells them. As well as lots of doggie treats including unusual ones such as doggie popcorn & herbal teas Sandra sells doggie bandanas. Leads, collars & toys for dogs. There is also a good demand though for doggie themed gifts with one of the best sellers being the 3D doggie breed picture which as Sandra says cause people to instantly go into the 3D dance where they stand in front of the pictures & rock from side to side!

Sandra spent the earlier part of her first year around the Midlands doing many of the floating markets. Then over winter she cruised to London & back doing a great trade in the more rural spots down the Grand Union & running her floating Santa Paws Grotto for doggies to visit before Xmas around Rickmansworth & Cassiobury Park. This year she’s returned back to the Midlands & is taking part in 13 floating markets & events as these work best for her. She has introduced a pic n mix range to her doggie treats & seems to be doing a roaring trade in getting all the doggies along the canal wearing bandanas. At some venues she is also running doggie treasure hunts where doggies have to sniff out various jars of doggie goodies. Plans for the future include having side hatches fitted to the boat so she can trade easier in wet weather & she plans to introduce at that point breed menu cards listing all the products available by breed.

Sandra & Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts will be at Kings Norton festival, Digbeth open day, Bentley Bridge pop up market, Merry Hill floating market, Black Country Boating Festival, Stourport floating market, Tipton festival & Birmingham floating market.

Her Facebook page always is updated with her location: https://www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyzDoggieGifts & Sandra also runs the Facebook group Dogs on the Cut   : http://on.fb.me/1en6gx8  Cosmo & Daquiri also have their own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cosmo-Daquiri/608969362500202

All three of them look forward to meeting lots of fur pals & their owners & friends along their way.

Periodically we will introduce our new members to you so that you can keep an eye out for them on the cut & give them a warm welcome. This newsletter we welcome Louise Yeoman aboard The Therapy Boat

THE THERAPY BOAT BY LOUISE YEOMAN

I am a Neuro-linguistic programming certified practitioner, with a keen interest in health and well being.  I have been a qualified Nurse since 1997, my speciality being primary health care prevention.  I have studied a range of complementary therapies from reflexology to nutritional health, but it was NLP that really inspired me to further my studies and offer this wonderful therapy to clients from home, narrowboat Dreckly.   NLP can help you overcome phobias, enhance your creativity, boost your confidence and assist you to let go of negative beliefs that may be holding you back.  It works on using positive past experiences and intensifying them to remind yourself that you can be confident, motivated and determined in reaching your life's goals to lead a happy, contented and peaceful life.   I was cured of awful hay fever in 2008 by the NLP fast allergy relief process and have developed this technique to offer to clients, its uses your active visual creative imagination to remind your immune system that it has made a mistake in reacting to pollen like it is harmful to the body and uses a counter example where your body knows how to respond perfectly normally with a healthy functioning immune system, too learn it can also do this with pollen. The therapyboat cruise's mainly on the South East waterways and will be at Linslade canal festival and Cropredy folk festival this summer.  I offer the specialised Hay fever relief treatment and NLP discovery sessions, on the therapy boat, online and via the telephone.  My website is http://www.thetherapyboat.com  and http://www.facebook.com/therapyboat   Looking forward to meeting you out and about on our travels.

AN UPDATE FROM HERE BE DRAGONS BY KIT ACOTT

It's all about sustainability aboard Kit Acott and Mike Poole's boat Here Be Dragons. 
A couple of patients collect their herb teas in their own jars, whilst having a cup of tea next door at Cake on the Cut to revive them before they walk back to their boat.
Kits next herb walk is at Atherstone on the 25th July. 
A gentle walk followed by a demonstration of how to prepare teas, tinctures and topical remedies.

OBLIVIOUS GNOME CREATIONS

Julia Francis has launched her new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ObliviousGnomeCreations   

Oblivious Gnome Creations is a craft business producing beautiful hand made wood carvings from reclaimed wood also one of a kind hand felted hats. Julia will be attending some of the next floating markets so do watch out for her & her partner Roger. Check out their super new logo too.

The wooden egg boat on the left featured in George Clarks Amazing spaces and gave Piers the idea.

He wants the caravan to look similar to this one on the right which is an airstream.

I’ve been designing the outside side skin for him using CAD program  (computer aided Design) and have produced a 3D printed model for him on my 3D printer. The next step is to design the internal structure so he can form the skin for the Caravan. Really pleased with the way it’s turned out and Piers has offered to let me come down to his workshop and give him a hand when he starts building; He’s a  talented carpenter so I’ll be learning new woodworking skills at the same time.

GIVING ROVING TRADERS A VOICE ON THE C&RT COUNCIL BY ANDY TIDY
In November / December the C&RT will be holding an election to select 9 Council members out of a total of 40 seats, and two of these seats are for Boating Businesses.
Since the last election the Trust has created the Roving Trader license class which has increased the number of boat based businesses, and today there are several hundred boating orientated businesses which depend on Canal and River Trust for their continued existence. This collection boating businesses support the infrastructure of the canal system and bring life and vitality to the network.
It is important that the needs of boating businesses are heard at the highest level of the Trust and it would be good to see a Roving Trader on the Council.
I have spent my entire professional career working with small businesses and for the last three years have, along with my wife Helen, been a Roving Trader selling preserves on a part time basis from The Jam Butty. In 2016 we will be concentrating on the preserve business and I would like to use the combination of my business background and Roving Trader experience to serve on the Council – but only with your support!
About Andy Tidy
You could say that I have canal water in my blood, having been boating pretty much continuously since I was seven, nearly 50 years ago. I am passionate about the inland waterways, owing a boat and butty pair which are moored on the northern reaches of the BCN. Not content with boating and foraging for our preserve business, you will often find me writing up accounts of my exploration of the lost canals for one of the main Waterways magazines.
I think it’s fair to say that my operating style is collective rather than confrontational, taking into account the needs of the various groups with an interest in the future of the canals. The world of canals has changed immensely over the last few decades and we need to be engaged in the process to ensure the commercial side of boating is catered for and developed appropriately alongside the needs of the other user groups.

What can you do to help?
 

• First and foremost, please vote for me in the November election
• Also please spread the word among the Roving Trader community during the summer / autumn gatherings. We are a spread out community and if we wait till the official campaign launch on the 23^rd October most of us will have shut up shop for the winter.
• If you want to contact me my e-mail address is Andrew.tidy@sky.com

Let’s all pull together and give the Roving Traders a voice on the C&RT Council.
 
TRADERS BLOGS
Many of the traders write blogs so I’ve featured some of them below so you can follow their fun & adventures along the way.
Flavours Afloat : http://islonian.blogspot.co.uk/ They feature  links to any interesting places we have visited and also photos of our travels
Wildside Preserves: http://captainahabswaterytales.blogspot.co.uk/  Andy blogs about many things but generally all with a watery theme and inevitably they take in our journeys and our trading experiences. His June 9th post is all about the C&RT election.
 The Herb Boat: http://www.theherbboat.co.uk/blog/  The Herb Boat blog features recipe ideas, new stock items, news on where The Herb Boat is trading and all manner of interesting herb and spice related information along with Bunny's pontifications on the state of the world 
Nb Mr David : http://nbmrdavid.blogspot.com   It is a sort of cruising log and a showcase for my cards.
The Home Brew Boat: http://nbareandare.com/  our blog began in April 2009 after we first bought a narrowboat. The intention was to keep family and friends informed if our six month canal and river journey. Also to showcase Barry's amazing photography, and give me writing practice! We kept it going when we returned to NZ as we planned to do another six months. Following that, we made a longer term plan to return 'indefinitely', which took us two and a half years! In April 2013 we came back to England from NZ to live and work on the Inland Waterways. So the blog became a marketing tool as well as a way of keeping our growing number of international followers up to date with our lives living in a parallel universe. We started on blog spot, and still have that one www.nbnorthernpride.blogspot.co.uk. I moved us to WordPress in April 2014 when we began trading as Google like it better so I believe we get more 'reach'. We can also post notable dates on the homepage of upcoming festivals.

This month we were featured in the Market Drayton advertiser & we had a photographer come down to Market Drayton from The Shropshire Star

We also had a gentleman take this wonderful video at Market Drayton floating market: http://bit.ly/1JCNPzq

Barry from The Home Brew Boat who is also a fabulous photographer got one of his photos featured on the Front cover of Waterways World:

I am also in talks with the makers of John Sargent’s canal programme about getting the floating markets & roving traders featured. Can’t promise but I’ll be doing my best.

AND FINALLY.....

Those doggie bandanas really do get everywhere look who is the latest celebrity spotted wearing one.............. it’s only Fender Fred!!!