Billie Box is kindly sponsoring our Safety boat named: Carl Giles.
Carl Giles OBE, was the world famous Cartoonist! Giles as he was commonly known was the President of the Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club (FFSC) from 1984 – 1995. FFSC own a number of Giles’ cartoons and many of his cartoon characters were members of the FFSC. The largest collection is owned by the Daily Express, which is the newspaper Giles used to work for. You will find one of Carl Giles characters (Grandma) bronze statue in between Princes Street and Queens Street, Ipswich near to Barclays Bank.
Billie Box sells and rents 20ft and 40ft steel shipping containers for storage with delivery to your door. They also sell Secure Chemical stores and Portable Offices again with delivery to your door.
Jane Billing owner of Billie Box has been a member of FFSC since 1966, she was actually born in Deben Week (1 week’s sailing on the River Deben with other clubs on the river, which unfortunately no longer runs). Jane’s father sailed with the White family in Firefly dinghies during the 1960’s and Jane followed in her father’s footsteps and started sailing Mirror dinghies in the 1970’s.
Jane, with her father crewing, won the ‘Ladies cup’ at Felixstowe in 1978 and that same year won the ‘Ladies cup’ at Waldringfield with Andrew Johnson crewing. In the early 1990’s, Jane became social secretary of FFSC and successfully raised funds for FFSC through various social events. Jane was sailing Lark dinghies with Andrew Johnson then.
In 1994 Jane, on behalf of FFSC, fundraised for the Harwich RNLI with the East Suffolk Waterski Club. They raised £1,700 for the RNLI. That event brought a Red Arrows flypast, visits from Warren Mitchell (friend of Giles) and Griff Rhys Jones. FFSC have supported the RNLI over many years.
The last 53 years Jane has been part of the FFSC and has many family and friends there.
Today, Jane helps out in the Crow’s nest on Wednesday night sailing. The crow’s nest is where races are started and finished using flags and horns. Jane also helps with various sailing events such as “Push the Boat out” and RYA initiative to get people sailing, Open meetings, National and World championships that FFSC host.
When Jane was asked to sponsor the FFSC Safety boat; Carl Giles, it was a no-brainer.
Jane said; “Here at Billie Box we are proud to support the FFSC with their sailing and social events, and hope to be able to continue our support in the future.”
About Jane Billing & Billie Box
Jane Billing has over 30 years in shipping container supply. During that time Jane has earned a very broad knowledge of the whole shipping container industry. From construction, to shipping, to adaption and conversions, if you have a question about any aspect of the shipping container industry Jane will likely have the answer for you. After many years working for some of the biggest names in the shipping container industry Jane set up her own company, Billie Box Ltd in 2012. Since launching in 2012 Billie Box Ltd has sold well over 1500 new and used containers.
FFSC is based at Felixstowe Ferry, Suffolk, at the mouth of the River Deben. The racing is very challenging both in the river and out at sea. Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club has a large Youth sailing section (10-18 year olds) that sail on Saturday mornings. The club also offers RYA sailing training. The club racing turns out a good sized fleet. There is a yacht cruising section and many social events on offer. The FFSC also hosts many sailing Open meetings, National championships and even the occasional World championships.
If you would like to know more about FFSC and find out how to get involved, then please drop in and have a chat with one of the committee members or visit their website here. The club is open Wednesday & Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays from Midday to 5pm.
Thanks to Ben Hawkes for this photo