We were greeted on a brisk but sunny autumn morning at Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts by four upturned and very mucky boats, which needed some TLC before they could be put to bed for the winter. No amount of scrubs would be enough as we set about getting these boats ship-shape.

We donned our Marigolds and had a stern word with ourselves before plunging into the icy waters containing the brushes and suds we needed to get the job done. Bowing to pressure (washer), we decided hose turn it was to use the more powerful equipment to jetsam more silt off the boats.

We soon saw a familiar shape on the horizon, shipmate Sam lived up to his ‘Captain Casual’ reputation by joining the task shortly after finishing The Cabbage Patch 10 in a mere 68 minutes.

Buoy, did the extra pair of hands make a difference, we flotsam good shine on those hulls and weighed anchor to warm these brass monkeys back up.

Although this one shivered our timbers, we’d never jib at helping out such a fantastic organisation. We’ll be back on 5 November to help restore the scorched grass after the Scouts’ annual bonfire night celebrations.