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28
Aug
Pollution scuppers Boroughbridge duck race – but 'Dolly-oke' is still on
This year’s Boroughbridge charity duck race has had to be cancelled due to worries that the River Tutt is too polluted to hold it safely, organisers have announced.
The event, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday (August 30), sees 1,000 ducks – each one ‘bought’ by a spectator – released into the river, where they float downstream for 100 metres. The ‘owner’ of the first duck to cross the finish line wins a prize.
The family event usually brings out crowds of spectators – there's even a road closed off – and selling the ducks raises thousands for charity, but organiser Simon Wade told the Stray Ferret that evidence of raw sewage in the river has made it too risky.
The duck race attracts hundreds of spectators.
He told us:
When we contacted local residents to let them know as a courtesy that it was happening, one of them told us that Yorkshire Water had been visiting houses and putting dye down their toilets to see where in the river it came out – but apparently, they couldn’t find it.
We went down to have a look and found an area of the riverbank that was sandbagged off, where there were signs of sewage.
The problem is that the problem hasn’t been resolved, and we just can’t take the risk of volunteers getting ill. It’s a real shame.
A race marshal watches the ducks' progress closely.
Misconnection
When the Stray Ferret contacted Yorkshire Water this morning for more information, a spokesperson told us:
We have been supporting an ongoing investigation into a potential private misconnection in the Boroughbridge area, following reports from the Environment Agency about a pollution in the River Tutt.
The spokesperson said that Yorkshire Water had checked all its assets – in other words, pipework and drains – and found the pollution was not coming from its network.
They said its investigations indicated a misconnection from a private property. This happens when a home's foulwater drain is wrongly connected to the surface water sewage network, causing waste from showers, sinks and toilets to go straight into the river.
Once Yorkshire has identified which property is misconnected, it lets the homeowner know that they need to arrange for it to be rectified.
'It's something we're proud to do'
Mr Wade is a well-known publican in the area, and owns the Grantham Arms in Boroughbridge and the Fox and Hounds at Langthorpe, as well as the Blue Bell at Arkendale and the Punch Bowl Inn at Marton-cum-Grafton.
He first organised the duck race in 2018, buying all the ducks, inflatables, banners and bunting himself. He said:
When I looked at Boroughbridge, I saw that there was nothing going on over the bank holiday weekend. Other towns have events, but Boroughbridge had nothing.
But we’ve got a river, and we’ve got a bridge, so I thought, ‘why not have a duck race?’.
It’s something we’re proud to do, and people come to the town specially to watch it.
The organisers of the 2023 Boroughbridge charity duck race, including Simon Wade, third from right.
Each year, the event raises between £2,500 and £3,000 for charity. Last year, the money went to Jennyruth Workshops, and this year, it was due to go to Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Boroughbridge Lions Club, which provides stewards for the race.
Dolly Parton tribute and karaoke
But Mr Wade said the duck race was only one part of the weekend’s plans, and the other events are still scheduled to go ahead.
From 11am to 1pm onSunday, there will be arts and crafts stalls and a tombola at the Grantham Arms, and in the afternoon there will be a family fun day at the Fox & Hounds, where children can hunt for hidden ducks and win prizes.
In the evening, there will be live music, with a Dolly Parton tribute act, followed by ‘Dolly-oke’ – karaoke to Dolly Parton favourites.
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