Characters of the cut

CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Deaine Duffy

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November 12, 2025

A CHILDHOOD love of Rosie & Jim sowed an early seed of life on the water in the heart of Deaine Duffy, who now lives aboard her narrowboat, Norton, with Frances the cat and boat bunny Henry. However, it took a life-changing accident to finally see that childhood dream come true. Alice Elgie reports… Deaine…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Just Us Wandering

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September 16, 2025

A FAMILY of five who were looking to buy a house in 2019 unexpectedly had their heads turned by a fellow boat blogger and never looked back. Alice Elgie reports Mum Annabel told me: “We fell in love with the tiny lifestyle, slower pace of life, more freedom and closer connection to nature, all of…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Paul Lowry, The Leather Boat

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June 13, 2025

PAUL Lowry has always enjoyed messing about on boats so when he decided to leave his career in print and graphic design to develop his burgeoning leatherwork business, the freedom of living and working from a narrowboat became an obvious choice. Alice Elgie caught up with Paul… Paul explained: “Print was becoming digitised, I could…
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CHARACTERS of the Cut: Christine Wood, Traditional Canalware

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May 13, 2025

Alice Elgie reports… IT SEEMS like Christine Wood was blessed with the right name for her trade, busy as she is painting not only traditional canalware but also restoring interesting, unusual and antique pieces of furniture. She shared with me: “When I was 14 I saved my pocket money and bought a wood turning lathe…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Marcelo Duarte – from Sao Paulo to the Kennet & Avon

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April 25, 2025

Alice Elgie reports… WHEN Marcelo Duarte moved to the UK from Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, where he had been born and raised alongside more than 22 million people, he had no idea he was heading towards an entirely new – and somewhat quieter – life, living on the canals of England. He explained: “My…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Paddy Screech

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December 6, 2024

Paddy Screech – Word on the Water, The London Bookbarge By Alice Elgie WHEN Paddy Screech and his friend, Jon Privett, were moored together in Springfield Park, Hackney back in 2010, they found themselves discussing ways to ensure they would never have to leave the canal again. “It’s not enough to just live on a…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Sally & Stephen, Narrowboat Bears

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November 11, 2024

Alice Elgie reports… FOR English teachers Sally and Stephen Underwood and their companion, a knitted travelling frog called Mathew, holidays seem to be the catalyst for new lifestyle adventures and this is one family certainly not afraid to take that leap. In 2003 they leapt to the Canary Islands and then in 2022, back to…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Ken Norman, Flock Comedy

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October 18, 2024

Alice Elgie reports… IT WAS a school narrowboat trip back in 1977 that first piqued cartoonist Ken Norman’s interest in living aboard. He was then aged just 15, and along with his now wife, Kate, it turned out to be just the beginning of their adventures together on the water. Fast-forward 44 years, and taking…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: A narrowboat family

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September 11, 2024

Alice Elgie reports… WHEN Dawn Rooney and Ben Pearson’s first child, Willow, was born, the family were living happily in Cornwall with dreams of eventually owning their own smallholding. However, with the steep increase in rural house prices and the arrival of their second child, Harley, the desire to be closer to extended family strengthened.…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Stuart Fenwick

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August 3, 2024

Alice Elgie caught up with Stuart aboard The Briarose… AFTER sofa surfing for a number of years, florist and fiddle player Stuart Fenwick was finally introduced to the idea of a narrowboat named The Briarose by a work colleague. A 42ft semi-trad built in 1984 as a holiday boat, for the past seven years she…
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CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Paul & Anthony Smith-Storey

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July 24, 2024

Alice Elgie caught up with Paul & Anthony… AFTER 13 years of hiring a small day boat from Ellerbeck Narrowboats in Chorley, and multiple walks along the towpath with their dog Dexter, it was a chance meeting that finally propelled Paul and Anthony Smith-Storey towards living aboard. Paul explained: “We bumped into a lady who…
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Characters of the Cut: Mark Ellis Bowes – narrowboat Ellis

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January 9, 2024

Alice Elgie reports… IT WAS 2007 when Mark Ellis Bowes first had an epiphany about how to release himself from the rat race and an employer who was running him into the ground. Embarking on a first boating holiday as crew for his partner Andy’s retired parents, a seed was planted that there might be…
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Characters of the Cut: RiverMouse – Laura Lee Tanner

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November 14, 2023

Alice Griffin reports… IT WAS a bright November Sunday in 2021 when singer-songwriter Laura Lee Tanner would embark on her first step in the creation of the folk quartet, RiverMouse, that she now fronts. Strolling past The Fox & Hounds pub in Stony Stratford, close to where her narrowboat was moored on the Grand Union…
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Characters of the Cut: Lazydays – Colicia Summers

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October 16, 2023

Alice Griffin reports… FOR actress and photographer Colicia Summers, canals and water have always been part of her life. As a teenager she performed in a narrowboat musical at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and her all-time favourite job was a 2019 feature film shot in Switzerland on Isole Di Brissago, Lake Maggiore. Not only that but…
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