Incredible donation from Haskins Garden Centre

Haskins Garden Centre was invited to the "Dotting of the Eye" ceremony and guest paddle of the new 12-man boat purchased with their donation to the Bournem Water Dragons, an all cancer dragon boating team.

Wow - what a wonderful paddle we had last night. Earlier in the year, Haskins Garden Centre provided us with an amazing donation of £10,694. In August, we invited them to the "Dotting of the Eye ceremony" (a traditional Chinese blessing of the boat) to thank them and to show off the lovely 12-man boat we purchased with their donation. At the ceremony, we offered them the chance to come down to the River Stour and join us for a paddle. We wanted to show them how much we appreciated their kind donation and what it means to us as cancer survivors to enjoy paddling on the River Stour at Iford.

The previous day's weather was horrendous and pretty dire all day, but we held out and decided to paddle despite a light rain forecast. Luckily, it turned out to be the right decision! The rain held off, and it was a beautiful evening paddle on a very tranquil river. After a safety briefing and a quick tuition session for the Haskins staff, we took our larger boat and the new smaller boat out on the river. It was an impressive sight for sure and looked majestic as we proudly paddled into Christchurch Harbour. We're rarely presented with the opportunity to take both boats out, but seeing a mirror image of ourselves from our boat was uplifting. We have to say that our Haskins guests were amazing as first-time paddlers; their timing and techniques looked professional. The team didn't get the usual soaking as we do with some beginners, so - well done, Haskins!

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Well, I'm sure you want to know what the result of the little competitive race at the end of the session - of course, the new boat "Coleman's Dragon Fly" won but it was a very close shout!

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After all that exertion, it was time to return for tea, coffee, cakes and sausage rolls. The team all remarked on what a wonderful paddle it was and how nice it was to have Haskins there, too. Haskins left delighted and said they had all had a fantastic evening. It was nice to share the paddle with them and show our sincere appreciation. We will certainly invite them back in the spring for another paddle and continue building on our excellent relationship.