Narrowboat Chip is off to join the circus
LEISURE narrowboats have become increasingly popular as cheap alternative housing, but until now not as an alternative to the traditional showman’s caravan that goes with the circus fraternity.
That was until Finley Guy, 23, had the idea of acquiring one after her uncle and aunt had moved on to a narrowboat on the Ashby Canal and she realised that canals for the most part were within easy cycling range of wherever her summer employer, Giffords Circus, was performing.
Pre-Covid, Finley had worked for them in the Cotswolds and the London area as a jill-of-all-trades – front of house, singer, dancer, clown and more – and was living in a shared caravan.
Optimistically looking ahead, she has just bought her dreamboat Chip from narrowboat brokers, Braunston Marina. It is an elderly 1980 40ft narrowboat that had been well maintained, including a major makeover to the hull in 2017. The boat was being marketed at £23,500.
Hopefully Finley will be back working in the Big Top when summers return to normal, and she can take her home with her, though nothing is as yet firmed up for this summer.
Chip was Braunston Marina’s first completed sale of 2022, in a period of great activity that has seen seven other boats going under offer since January 1. To celebrate this, Finley was presented with a bottle of Prosecco by narrowboat sales manager Victoria Garfield, after she had handed over the keys.
Finley is now working her way northwards assisted by a friend who is teaching her the ropes, so in due course she can work Chip singlehanded. First port of call will be the same marina where her aunt and uncle moor. Later Finley will be moving on to Stockport where she will be in the Easter panto of Mother Goose at the Plaza Theatre.
In the autumn she will be back in Stoke-on-Trent, for her fourth season of pantos at the Regent Theatre. Chip will be moored in a secure mooring in the city’s centre for the duration.
Finley has been walking the boards since she was 16, when she completed her education in music and theatre at Wilkes Academy of Performing Arts in Swindon. She also sings with various bands, and we are looking at her coming with one of them to perform at the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally in June, when a mooring in the marina could be provided for Chip.
And if Finley gets that desired summer circus work, then maybe Chip should be renamed ‘Chip-per-field’!