Sankey Land Boat Race, August 1981

Today’s blog entry is short and sweet. Usually I would tell you a little bit about an image or document in our collections and then ask you to tell us anything you know about it.

This time I know nothing about the event mentioned other than what is written on the poster. So I am completely reliant upon you out there to tell me about the event. What was a ‘Dry Land Boat Race’? Who took part? What was the event in aid of? And why is there an Australian theme?

I also have to ask if any of you know what “GB4 SVP” stands for? It seems like it should be obvious, but I can’t bring to mind anything that fits (if it’s something rude then best to leave me in the dark).

The poster forms part of our extensive ephemera collection, some of which goes back hundreds of years and some of which, like this poster, is very recent. We are still collecting all the time and always on the look-out for an item which will tell future generations something about daily life in Warrington.

The key thing with any item of ephemera is to know its context, which is where I’m struggling with this one. But, being so comparatively recent an event, hopefully lots of you out there went along and can tell me about it.

Does anybody have a photograph of the event? I would love to see what the competitors looked like. Help us to fill another gap in the Museum’s knowledge by getting in touch and sharing what you know.

You can contact me at [email protected] or you can leave a message on our facebook page.

This article was originally posted on Friday, May 12th, 2017.