Shrewsbury's Sabrina pleasure boat is ship-shape after clean - with pictures

From breakfast time yesterday a team of men were hard at work making sure the 28-tonne Sabrina boat was ship shape.

Lifted clear of the River Severn by a huge crane which came especially from Wrexham, the boat was carefully placed on supports in Frankwell Car Park.

Donning overalls and wielding wire brushes, scrapers and pressure washers the men scrubbed at the hull of the boat giving it its biennial clean.

The clean-up coincides with an inspection by the Maritime Coastguard Agency which comes to check over the hull, propellers and propeller shaft.

Using ultrasound they check there is no deterioration in the fabric of the vessel.

Dilwyn Jones, owner of the Sabrina Boat, said that he was delighted the weather had been kind and allowed for the clean up to take place in readiness for the first sailing today.

It had originally been planned for the end of January by rising river levels put paid to that.

And he put a call-out on social media for workers willing to come along and clean - more than 170 applied and this was whittled down through a series of interviews to just 13.

"It is really hard work and not particularly fun so I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that," said Mr Jones.

"But it is very important that it is done," he said. "The boat is now 45 years old and this is our 10th season, so everything has to be right. We put a new engine in last year as well as electrics, and a brand new generator.

"I am really looking forward to the season. Bookings are looking really strong. We already have 230 coach tours booked. Our themed nights are also doing brilliantly. We run 80s, 90s, Mamma Mia, Motown nights and these always sell out in days."

It wasn't just the Sabrina that was getting a brush up - the picnic boat - Little Rea - was also having a deep clean in readiness for the season.

The boats were back in the water by dusk and will be running tours up and down the river until October.