Goodbye Miss Bond!
Tim Coghlan pays tribute to the late Sue Bond – one of Braunston Marina’s longest serving moorers
SUE Bond, who died earlier this year, had been mooring in the marina for close to 30 years. During this time she had four narrowboats and was never ‘boatless in Braunston’.
The first she bought through our brokerage in 1992, which came with the name of Fluke. It was fitted out somewhere in Lancashire to what was then called ‘budget standard’. It was only two years old and very clean inside, although already showing rust marks. But it got Sue afloat, and she loved it. It also gave her a base in Northamptonshire to visit her brother and sister and family, where they were all born.
Sue had joined the Northamptonshire Police at the age of 18, and in 1964, she saw an internal staff ad to join the Jersey Police, which she applied for and was accepted. It transpired that she was the first WPC in that force – she was proud of her collar badge WPC1.
Later she became a sergeant, and it was in Jersey that she completed her time in the police force, which covered the whole of the filming of the 87 murderous episodes of John Nettles’ detective TV series Bergerac, which was largely filmed there.
“It was never like that,” said Sue. “Not on a small island just nine miles by five and a law- abiding population of under 100,000.” Her greatest excitement as a sergeant was providing the security for Prince Philip on a royal visit to Jersey. A photograph survives of her on the case.
In retirement, Sue continued living in Jersey, and coming over to stay on her boat. Then the best flat came up in Brindley Court on the top floor overlooking the marina and she bought it, moving back to the UK in about the early 2000s. Before that she had come across from Jersey by ferry with her series of sporty 4x4 cars and as she came into the shop to report her arrival, she was normally met by the twangy-guitar James Bond theme from the staff and me announcing: “We’ve been expecting you Miss Bond!”
Her first Fluke was not kept for long before Sue spotted a very much nicer Colecraft, which she renamed Fluke 2. Then in about 2012, she spotted Keswick, which we had for sale. It was a very traditional Steve Hudson with a boatman’s cabin, vintage engine in its own mid-ships room, and saloon conversion, but no fixed double.
I and others strongly advised her against it, but she wanted a challenge – a canal version of a sports car. With hints of Toad of Toad Hall, only months later it was on sale again, after she had spotted Hey Jude, a 60ft Colecraft hull, with a high quality DB Boats fit out, complete with a fine fixed double. This she bought, and in 2016, had it repainted by Dave Bishop and renamed Fluke 3. With four boats purchased and sold, Sue must have been pretty close to the best brokerage customer we ever had!
Sue was a great ‘joiner-inner’ and in particular was always happy to assist in pulling pints in the beer tent – the Dry Dock Inn – at the Braunston Boat Shows which ran until 1999. At that last show, we also hosted the BBC’s Songs of Praise. Sue had a number of her family over for the filming of the service, which was actually held on the Sunday following the Boat Show, with lots of ‘background’ filming including interviews with David Suchet, who had opened the boat show, and others including myself during the Boat Show itself.
The service filming included close-up shots of the audience merrily signing along. One of the hymns was The Day Thou Gave Us Lord Is Ended in which a cherub-faced singing-along Sue and her family featured prominently in what was finally put together. I noted at her funeral that she had included that hymn in the service, which may not have been pure coincidence. I was told by the Songs of Praise producer that the programme was broadcast to 31 million people worldwide, so Sue had her 10 seconds of fame.
Fluke 3 saw Sue through to her last illness – a return of her cancer after 20 years, which came suddenly late last October. This was shortly after her 80th birthday, which she was able to enjoy, and then did its damnedest very quickly. Before that, she had made several canal journeys, in company with friends on their boats, and sometime on her own.
She was adventurous to the end, and loved the waterways and was quite content with her own company ‘boating in small doses’ – as she put it.