What a delightful name for a slipper stern launch and one which this boat has had since leaving the yard in 1962 behind the Andrews family tractor which was taking Windflower to the station to board a freight train heading eventually for Windermere where it had been ordered by a Cumbrian resident with the intention of enjoying the lake. There she was kept in a covered boathouse before returning south to the Thames a couple of decades later.

A couple on Temple island then bought the boat and renamed it Scheherazade. It was then in the early nineties that the present owner spotted the boat in an advert in the Maidenhead Advertiser on a trailer in a garden close to Temple Lock. He was smitten and has owned her until now. Thirty years on he decided that she needed to be completely overhauled and one plank led to another with a 3 year restoration (works delayed by the sale of the boatyard and by the pandemic) being completed last year by Stanley & Thomas of Old Windsor.

The rebuild included a new hull, most of the deck, some of which had been replaced by Freebody in the eighties so mahogany was sourced to ensure a good colour match, the windscreen surround, most of the bearers and several hull frames were replaced, the forward deck and all the fittings were removed and polished. The hull is finished in lashings of varnish rather than paint. The seating features two wooden seats with cushions rather than the thirties lloyd loom chairs.

Under the foredeck sits the original engine from the sixties, petrol of course, now renovated, repainted and with electronic ignition fitted. Needless to say the bearings, rudder, fuel tank etc were also replaced and the BSSC is current.

When afloat she has been moored at the bottom of the owner's garden in Cookham. While the boat was away he purchased a year round classic so once the rebuild was finished it was decreed that Windflower should be sold as she was now surplus to requirements. Viewing on the trailer is available by appointment at the Beale Park boat store.