Bedford/Spain

Bedford and Spain came into the BW North West fleet when the remnant of the Anderton/Mersey Weaver fleet was purchased by BW on 1/2/1958.

Spain was re-registered at Northwich in October 1958, implying that it was still in the active fleet, whereas Bedford was not. It is possible that the original Bedford was sold or scrapped during 1958. 

The current Bedford is a boat that Ian Riley rebuilt at Runcorn and was launched in July 2001. The identity is very doubtful, it may well have been Spain originally.  HNBC Archive lists it as Spain, as did Ian Riley himself in a letter in August 2001, but admitted the identity was very doubtful. It has been licensed as Bedford for some years.