'A part of village life': Hundreds attend Hurley Regatta

Bathtubs, dinghies and homemade rafts returned to the River Thames on Saturday at the Hurley Regatta.

After last year’s event was cancelled due to low entry numbers, this year’s regatta and fun day was moved to a new spot further up the river in Hurley Riverside Park.

Hundreds flocked to the event to take part in novelty races on the river as well as land events including raft building, bale rolling, a dog show, egg-throwing and welly-wanging.

A total of 78 races took place on the water, including paddleboards, canoes, katakanus, dinghies and even bathtubs.

Competitors and spectators also enjoyed funfair rides and live entertainment from musician Steve Carroll.

Founded in 1973, this year marked the regatta’s 52nd anniversary and saw funds raised for Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service.

Chief marshal Kirsteen Redmile said she was pleased to be back at a new and ‘better’ location. Ms Redmile said: “It’s much better upstream.

“We’re on a new site with a bigger space and dogs are allowed — which is a big thing for people.

“I’ve been coming to the regatta every year for the last 20 years. It’s a wonderful event with a lovely atmosphere.

“The racing on the water has been great but I do love the land events as well.

“There are never any issues, everyone is just here for a laugh and you see the same people every year who are all still here. It’s the relationships you build.”

Ms Redmile’s father, Martin Fry, stood in as chairman of this year’s regatta, having held the role for many years previously.

Mr Fry, who lives in Hurley High Street, said: “It’s all going so well today with all these lovely people, that’s the important thing.”

A staple of the regatta is the bathtub race, where competitors race in one or more bathtubs joined together and attempt to paddle to the finish line without sinking.

One heat was won by Hurley teenagers Tom Gear, Joshua Keane and twins Henry and Noah Drew. The team managed to stay afloat and cross the finish line before they capsized and swam to the riverbank.

Henry and Noah Drew’s mother Tessa is a past competitor of the regatta, having previously entered in the bath and relay races as well as the raft building competition.

Mrs Drew, who lives in Shepherd’s Close, said: “I was in my early twenties when I first started coming.

“It’s just a part of village life. It feels like passing on the baton.”

Russell Duley and Terry Smith have travelled to the regatta from Essex for more than 25 years with their group of around 100 friends and family members.

Mr Smith said: “It’s great fun to get together with lots of people you don’t get to see all the time. We’ve been coming for 25 to 30 years and have even won a couple of races before. We just love the area.”

Father and daughter duo Paul and Isobel Burfitt
competed in a heat of the
novelty dinghy race, which involved fishing inflatable dolphins and playing
hoopla with car tyres on the river.

Mr Burfitt, whose father David helped to set up the regatta in the Seventies, said: “We do lots of races and they change this one every year. ‘Novelty’ means making it up as you go along, basically.

“It’s just a fun, non-serious regatta, and it’s nice to be on the river as well.”

Miss Burfitt, who later competed in a bathtub race, said the addition of the inflatable dolphins to this year’s novelty dinghy race was ‘pretty bizarre’.

She added: “Because I’ve been coming here since I was little it’s the nostalgia of it all, and it’s lots of fun.”