View Event2023-08-09T11:51:27+01:00

Swan Upping - Reading

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Thursday 17 July 10:00 - 13:00

From £37.50

Overview

I have never seen this event despite living in Reading for 25+ years! So this is a new thing for me, I hope a few of you will join me on this unique experience.

Boarding will commence at 10.00 at Caversham Pier, from here we will slip lines and proceed to follow the skiffs of the swan uppers and offer a great raised viewing platform so you can see the full tagging process.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served on arrival with a full bar onboard with alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks available to purchase throughout the cruise. We expect to return alongside the pier at 1300.

Includes

3 hour cruise on the Thames
Tea & Biscuits on arrival
Reserved table at nearby Toby Carvery for lunch
Spice Host

Extras

Drinks on board the boat (after the welcome tea & biscuits)
Lunch at Toby Carvery

Watch the century old tradition of Swan Upping

A flotilla of traditional Thames rowing skiffs, manned by Swan Uppers in scarlet rowing shirts and headed by The King’s Swan Marker, wearing a hat with a white swan’s feather, row their way steadily up the Thames. ‘All up!’ they cry as a family of swans and cygnets is spotted, and the Swan Uppers carefully position their boats around the swans, lift them from the water and check their health. The Swan Marker’s iconic five-day journey upriver has been an annual ceremony for hundreds of years, and today it has two clear goals; conservation and education.

As the five day journey of the swan uppers passes through Reading we will join the rowing skiffs and watch on as this years signets are both documented and tagged being part of a tradition that goes back centuries. Three skiffs carrying the King's Swan Marker (for the crown) and the companies of the Vintners' and Dyers' will take it turns to 'claim' the signets. In a process largely unchanged for generations.