Setting sail for jubilee celebrations

Brollies and bunting were the order of the day as two Shropshire narrowboats were given a rousing send-off as they set off for London to join the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee flotilla.

The boats, operated by the Lyneal Trust, will represent the country’s largest landlocked county among 1,000 craft on the Thames for the Jubilee river pageant on June 3.

The boats, one with a crew of injured soldiers and the other with three adults with learning disabilities on board, set off from Lyneal Wharf, near Ellesmere, yesterday.

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Brigadier Mark Banham, on behalf of the Personnel Recovery Unit (PRU) at Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury, said: “The guys on that boat will not just be floating down the canal. They don’t take their disability seriously at all, they see it not as a disability but as a minor challenge.”

Among the soldiers who will crew the Shropshire Lad on its way to London will be Rifleman Lee Bagley, 21, from Dudley. He is facing the prospect of having his foot amputated after it was damaged in an attack in Brecon two years ago.

Also on the Shropshire Lad was Corporal Phillip Taber, 32, from Tamworth, who is still recovering after being shot in both legs in Afghanistan.

On the other boat, the Shropshire Lass II, are members of the Sabrina Court day centre for people with learning disabilities in Shrewsbury.

Michael Parry, Tim Worthington and Joanne Rollinson will be accompanied by three members of staff on the first leg.

Follow the boats’ trip at www.lynealtrust.org