SAILBOAT owner Rob Boden is among the extras to make a fleeting appearance on screen in Swallows and Amazons.

Retired councillor Rob, 63, of Kendal, responded to an appeal by the film's makers for traditional wooden clinker-built craft, and his 1950's boat fitted the bill perfectly.

Rob donned old-fashioned plimsolls, fawn trousers and blue woollen top for his brief appearance in scenes shot at Derwentwater jetties - Rio Bay - with his son. Alasdair, 29, attended Queen Katherine School and now runs a sailing holiday business on the Isle of Wight.

Rob joined the red-carpet crowd at Sunday's premiere in Keswick and was delighted that the glittering event took place in the Lake District.

"The actors were really friendly and I think that's the point about having the premiere up here," he said. "Everyone is more relaxed, happy and chatty and so on, and it was really informal. I definitely recommend that people go and see the film."

Rob, who worked for children's charity Barnado's and is the chair of Kendal's Hallgarth Community Centre, bought his 1952 clinker-built boat ten years ago and named her Titty Walker of Rio Bay, after the young character and fictional location in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons.

Headlines were made last year when the film's makers decided to update Titty's name to Tatty, for modern-day audiences. "I'm quite at ease about the name change. If they felt they had to do that, well fine, they are the experts," said Rob. "There was a Titty in the film but it's not the character, it's a boat."

Describing the film as "an exciting interpretation" of the 1930s children's classic, Rob added: "It will probably will appeal to modern-day youth in a way perhaps more so than the book and the first film did. It should be successful."

Also an extra was Rob's friend Ian Edmondson Noble, of Low Bentham, who agreed to have his beard shaved off for the first time in 25 years to fit the 1935 look.