Beating the Bounds of Hayling
Island 2008
It was the
first Beating the Bounds by boating around Hayling for 3 years.
The previous two occasions were cancelled due to seriously
adverse weather conditions. In contrast Rogation Sunday the 27th
April 2008 was a quiet, if somewhat grey day.
The team at the
RNLI Station welcomed us generously. The lifeboat crew made no remarks when they were looking for a great fleet of Mengeham boats, to find that one dinghy and one single scull
were all there was.
The Rev David
Jones kindly officiated, his first Bounds of Hayling. In fact,
he did so at all four stopping points, a very generous gesture
on his one Sunday off. On this occasion he did not wear a life
jacket, and contained himself to shore-based duties.
The “fleet”
left the Station ringing with enthusiastic singing, and
proceeded to Beachlands, for a picnic and a few prayers before
setting off to the Ferry. There we decided the small turnout and
easy weather allowed us to continue on our journey as fast as we
liked. We got to the Bridge ¾ hr early, and set off after
prayers and a hymn, to get back home to Mengeham before 6 pm,
about an hour ahead of schedule.
As David said,
“three are a congregation”, and we felt Hayling can be assured
for another year that its boundaries and people are cared for.
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