Duck race invaded by Pirates!

HUNDREDS of local people took advantage of the unexpected good weather for this year’s Thame Duck Race, after a torrential day at Thame Carnival the day before.

Lining the riverbank, they watched as around 2000 rubber ducks were launched from Thame Bridge to start the race. They were then able to follow the ducks down river to the finish, where duck numbers 447, 1327 and 101 were the first three across the line.

Captain Duck oversaw proceedings with his floating tribute to pallets, whilst Pirate Peter rigged beer barrels to a tin bath to try and stay dry – both failed to avoid the perils of the deep! The pirates helped the ducks along their way and entertained the crowd with a mixture of terrible jokes and collapsing watercraft!

Tim Lancaster, Chairman of Thame Round Table, commented: “The Duck Race is always a highlight of the year for our members to run. Numerous local groups sell the tickets and then receive proceeds to benefit their group or charity – over £3600 was raised this year.

“We nominated SeeSaw, a local charity which provides grief support to young people, to benefit from sales made by our members and on the race weekend, and are delighted to have passed them a donation of over £900. We owe them our thanks too, for the support they are giving the family of one of our members whose daughter Megan died this year – Megan was always in the centre of everything we did and we dedicated this year’s race to her and her family.

“We would also like to thank all the friends of Thame Round Table, including the Fire Service, Peach Pubs and Helpful Hirings, who helped us to stage this event.”