Victory Cruise

A Memory of Manchester Ship Canal.

I lived in Eastham, and I was about 10 years old when the war ended and a cruise up the Manchester Ship Canal was organised, possibly on board the "Royal Daffodil" which I see is still doing the cruises. Could it be the same ship I wonder? I think we boarded at a place called "Job's Ferry" in Eastham, and sailed along towards Manchester, and a popular song at the time was "Cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon, with one you love, the sun above, waiting for the moon. The birds above all sing of love, the old accordion playing a sentimental tune, cruising down the river, on a Sunday afternoon". That's not word-perfect, but all I can remember these days. We caught up with a freighter (Spanish I think) which had a load of onions on board, and the crew were raiding us with onions, and we returned fire when we managed to retrieve some. After the grim war years it was light relief.

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