Spending 28 years restoring a boat may not be everyone’s sense of fun, but for James Muggoch it’s a totally different story, especially when the boat in question is the last surviving first world war tug-boat.
The film, which is part of the Londoners on the Thames series in conjunction with Totally Thames, takes place on James’s tug-boat which is situated in Brentford and is known as the ‘Cob’.
From rigging the deck to testing the boat’s engine we get to see the inner workings of the boat which has become life-changing for James and his family. So much so that his youngest daughter had part of her wedding ceremony on the tug-boat. James who has lived on the Thames for most of his life also reflects on the changes within the boating community.
1000 LONDONERS
This film is part of 1000 Londoners, a five-year digital project which aims to create a digital portrait of a city through 1000 of the people who identify themselves with it. The profile contains a 3 minute film that gives an insight into the life of the Londoner, as well as their personal photos of London and some answers to crucial questions about their views on London life. Over the course of the project we aim to reveal as many facets of the capital as possible, seeing city life from 1000 points of view.
www.1000londoners.com
www.youtube.com/1000londoners
www.facebook.com/1000londoners
Twitter: @1000_londoners
1000 Londoners is produced by South London based film production company and social enterprise, Chocolate Films. The filmmakers from Chocolate Films will be both producing the films and providing opportunities to young people and community groups to make their own short documentaries, which will contribute to the 1000 films. Visit www.chocolatefilms.com
TRANSCRIPT:
The whole thing about the boat is that you get it to a point where the maintenance becomes easier.
It’s a matter of getting the guys together, getting on board and doing some work. I mean I’m looking now at something that needs to be painted which I hadn’t noticed. So that’s something else that we’ve got to get on to.
It’s just part of my life I suppose, part of my family’s life. We’ve had holidays on board. Recently because of the interest in the first world war, that fact that she’s probably the sole surviving royal naval vessel from the first world war period which can actually still go to sea it’s certainly something that I think is very interesting.
We’ve worked hard over the years to get it up to a reasonable condition. Now I suppose I do it, aged 65, for my family for the kids and because it’s part of my world, part of my life. We now own some moorings down in Kew Bridge, which we only got because we had the cob. It’s changed my family’s fortunes.
That’s enough of that.
People who lived on boats tended to be gregarious, and help each other and get stuck in. But then of course, as with everything else, boats became expensive. Now you’ve got boats worth a million pounds down in Canary Wharf.
It’s changed possibly for the worst, certainly not for the better. I think there’s more community spirit in the boating world than maybe in a row of terraced houses, but I’m pleased to say I don’t live in a terraced house anymore so I don’t know.
I’ve got three daughters, and Natalie is the youngest and the last of them to get married. So the emotion of seeing a daughter get married is something that I’m used to. The thing of actually holding it here on the boat, the family home, is an absolute tremendous feeling.
What we did was a pseudo blessing if you like. They actually got married in Sydney and the next week flew across here then we did a blessing here with 100 people in my role as sort of sea captain, which isn’t strictly true. But we did just a blessing, then I shot up with a couple of the lads and we brought the cob down.
The cob being here, and Natalie wanting to get on the cob for the wedding is a natural progression. Where is goes from here….I think they’ll probably drop me overboard in the fullness of time.
