The first Woodbridge Maritime Auction and Boat Jumble held on 18 October was such a success that it is to become an annual event. Almost 1000 people attended, queueing three-deep from the entrance to the Woodbridge Community Hall round to the front of the Deben Swimming Pool to get in.
Once in, they found the Hall and the Deben Annexe filled by 25 stalls, with ten more spilling out into the car park area outside. The auction held in the afternoon and conducted by James Neal of Woodbridge estate agents and auctioneers Neal Sons & Fletcher attracted around 100 would-be buyers.
The sale raised more than £2,000, which will go towards the costs of next year’s Maritime Woodbridge, the festival of traditional sail, which attracted more than 11,000 visitors when it was last staged, in 2008. It will be on Saturday and Sunday 11 and 12 September 2010, to coincide with National Heritage Open Days.
A typical reaction to the sale came from Terry Barrell of Walton-on-the-Naze, who had bought items from the jumble and in the auction. He said, "I’ve been going to boat jumbles in this part of the country for many years, and this is the best I’ve come across. What I particularly liked was that it was not dominated by trade stands. Most of the stalls were set up by genuine boat owners, not commercial businesses."
Maritime Woodbridge President Michael Rines paid tribute to Moray MacPhail, owner of traditional boat fittings supplier Classic Marine, who was largely responsible for running the event. "Moray put in an immense amount of effort, and the fact that our first shot at such an event went off without a hitch is very largely the result of his hard work and organisational skills."