Another account of the Glen Usk showboat incident.
Sabrina’s curves graced bridge of channel showboat
By "SOUTH WALES ARGUS” REPORTER GEOFF CARROLL
Will you remember your Easter Sunday? I will! I
went cruising with Sabrina. A handful of spectators waved us "Bon voyage” from Cardiff. They gave us a rousing welcome at Penarth. They missed us at Barry because we were having lunch. But at Ilfracombe we were mobbed.
I was not alone with the TV glamour girl. There were other show people, including Susan Irvin, West End starlet from the “Pajama Game,
and some 600 passengers from Newport, Cardiff and other parts of South Wales, on Campbell’s first showboat of the season.
The day began inausptciously. The boat was late arriving at Cardiff from Bristol, the skies were overcast, there was a chill wind blowing and everyone was telling us how rough a passage to “combe" could be. The omens were false. The sun shone warmly, the sea was calm, bringing back memories of last year’s glorious summer and promising well for the summer yet to come.
Freshly painted, the Glen Usk was a trim sight, but, let us face it, she was not the attraction. It was mainly Sabrina who attracted three times more passengers than ever before at Easter.
The people lined the pier at Penarth cheering Sabrina as she stood waving and smiling on the bridge They cheered even more when she deftly slipped off her check lumber jacket and posed for them in her clinging turquoise sweater and jeans and they cried "shame" when she donned her lumber jacket again.
The people of Barry did not see her, but after lunch she returned to the bridge and disappeared again only when the boat was nearing Ilfracombe.
We cruised in with loudspeakers blaring “Zambesi" and other popular tunes, the sun sparkled on the blue-grey sea, and the hazy Devon coastline was a picture postcard view which attracted everyone’s attention — until Sabrina appeared again. This time she wore a tight-fitting black suit, trimmed with black velvet and beading and a black picture hat decorated with large pink flowers. Her silky platinum blonde hair was no longer blown about carelessly by the breeze, but hanging down over her shoulders.
She minced her way back to the bridge with a style which even Marilyn Monroe, would have approved and the hundreds of people waiting on Ilfracombe pier cheered and sang "Why are we waiting"
as the boat drew alongside.
They had to wait longer as Sabrina, with Susan, went below to the engine-room to meet the engineer, Mr. Alec Campbell, a son of
the line's founder and to pose for the photographers.
With a mink wrap around her shoulders she went ashore to be given a civic reception bv the first woman chairman of Ilfracombe council. Mrs. Cicely Norman.
Sabrina was told: “You are a free agent for 25 minutes" — until the boat sailed — but the mob followed her down the pier clamouring for autographs. They followed her down the street, laughing and cheering.
Some voung blades climbed lamp-posts to get a better view, and when Sabrina went to the chairman's home they climbed up on each other's shoulders to the first floor window through which she scattered autographed pictures
Thev yelled and shouted, dogs ran around frantically barking, and traffic was jammed. The police had to be called to escort Sabrina back to the boat.
They lined the pier again when the Glen Usk drew out and cheered us on our way. Then came the cabaret, with Sabrina putting in a token appearance, and other entertainment by Susan, Eva Beynon, Shelagh Williams, Sidney Burchall,
Ron Clarke, Arthur Uppington, and John Roberts with the White Funnel Players.
But there was no doubt about it. It was Sabrina’s day They are planning something similar for Whitsuntide. Whose triumph will that be? It is not arranged yet, but they are thinking of asking Diana Dors along.
