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Woodbridge Regatta

"We have two special guests for the rowing race," said the voice over the tannoy. Who could they be? Surely not celebrities; Brian Eno lives here, but that'd be asking too much. It seemed equally unlikely that the Regatta Committee would fork out even for D-list celebs. Maybe the town Mayor, or the M.P.

All such guesses were way off the mark. The guests - "guest passengers", one per boat - were vicars of two of the town's churches: St Mary's and St Thomas'. The teams from the rowing club took their passengers up river, then raced back to the start. "Congratulations to St Mary's;" I heard later, "hard luck to Father Raphael - you'll have to come back next year."