Festival fun all done as Ricky 2009 comes to an end

So another Rickmansworth Festival comes to an end, with a fantastic weekend enjoyed by all – despite high winds at times meaning no Spitfire flypast as originally planned.

More than 20 bands were again heard and this year, both old and new. And there was a record number of narrowboats on display too, around 120, admired by the thousands who came by.

Martin on Quisisana, the historic cruiser which took part in the 1940 retreat of troops from Dunkirk, was definitely kept busy with so many people wanting to know the story of the boat.

This vintage bus on Sunday also proved popular, with several hundred people enjoying their free ride on board a Routemaster bus from the station to Batchworth – all thanks to our friends from the London Transport Museum.

Regulars returned as always – environment fair, Sovereign the Shire horse and the medieval cooking and living history display. And former working boat Roger, on display at Batchworth Lock, got his regular share of visitors.

Our two trip boats, "Pride of Batchworth" and "Lovely Job", did their usual job showing visitors the pleasure of a canal trip between locks. And the boater's Tug of War was its usual mayhem and mischievousness!

It was a great success overall, with thousands raised to support Rickmansworth Waterways Trusts "Learning at the Lock" schools education programme – helped by a big display next to festival control.

As always there are many to thank – including entertainment organisers Clive and Sue and their team of assistants, Fabian for keeping it together at Batchworth Lock and so many volunteers who helped in every way.

As always, a word from Festival Director David Montague: "My heartfelt thanks go out to the dedicated team of volunteers who worked all year and for such long hours over the weekend to make this possible. "I can now hopefully now look forward to a few more restful nights' sleep before we start the whole cycle again for 2010!"

And here are the details of the competition winners!

• Boaters Tug of War – Clover (Saturday) and Kestrel (Sunday)
• Longest direct journey – Flint, 140 miles and 139 locks from Alverston in Derbyshire along the Trent and Mersey Canal to River Trent and River Soar, then onto Grand Union Leicester section and finally main line to Rickmansworth.
• Best dressed pleasure boat – Cherie, owned by Eric and Sally Naylor
• Best dressed working boat – joint winners Pacific owned by John Pattle and Fazeley owned by Mike Pinnock.
• Most Meritorious Award, for something truly exceptional in restoration, goes to Lucy – a restored wooden butty boat built by Samuel Barlow in 1952.