Dec 2013

Having been turned down by yet another funder I was speaking to Richard, a partner in my failed proposal and organiser of Flotilla 2014. He suggested that I ask to borrow the Queens Barge ‘The Gloriana’ for my project. Feeling fed up I said ‘Why don’t you ask?’ he said
“I’m not Gallus”….. Damn! hoist with my own petard.

So I did some research on Wikipedia and googled Buckingham Palace.
To my surprise, there was a phone number… I rang it.

“Hello, I would like to borrow The Gloriana, who would I speak to about that?”
“Let me transfer you…”

A pleasant young man listened to my proposal and said that he was not sure if The Gloriana was actually owned by the Queen. He would check, and phone me back.

“I am sure you have lots of important people to deal with, how long do you think it will take for you to get back to me?” I asked.

“Madam, everyone is important, I will get back to you today”

As good as his word, he phoned back with the name of the trust that administers the barge for the Queen.

The search was on..