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The charity making life better by water

Meet Sarah

Lady working in marina

"I only got about three hours sleep last night! I manage around 238 boats moored in the marina here, and I'm a farmer's wife too! This morning I started work at 4.00am because we're lambing 1,000 sheep and I raise all the young stock. So after my day's work in the marina, I'm going back to the farm to mark all the sheep that have lambed today, inject them all and feed them. Lambing is a really busy time... my house is completely out of control! My mum is great and she usually helps out at home in the kitchen when it's lambing time, but she's in Japan at the moment so I'm quite missing her! As well as the lambs we milk 150 cows and finish 600 fat cattle. It's hard work, but we survive and I've been doing it ok for 28 years.

Both my sons are grown up and work away from home now. One of them helps out after work when we're lambing, but the other one went to New Zealand for a while. He was due to come back home next week to help with the lambing, but he got a job on a 40,000 acre farm in Australia and he's staying there a few months. He says after that he wants to go back to Australia again to do combining but I'm hoping he'll be back home for Christmas. I don't even want to think about, 'what if he decided to stay in Australia?'

I'm not a boater, but I've learned a lot about the boating community through my time at the marina. I've worked here since the marina first opened and it was empty. By talking to boaters I've got to know which people want to be quiet and solitary and which prefer to be close together to enjoy the community and amenities here.

I've always had a job and a life outside the farm because I think it's important. My husband and I work together while we're lambing because we have to, but after a month we're quite ready to get away from each other! It's a great way of life and it's different being a farmer's wife to looking after all the moorings in the marina. The two jobs fit well, and I'm always outside which suits me. The marina is owned by a farming family too, so it really does help all round that I understand both the life of a marina and a farm."

Sarah, Droitwich Marina, Droitwich Canal

photo of a location on the canals
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