Canal boating can be used as therapy!

It’s weird but I lived on a boat for absolutely years without knowing anything about the National Community Boats Association or what they do. I like to keep in touch with boating news through the Canal and River Trust, Towpath Talk, Facebook groups and Twitter.

I now enjoy writing a blog for the NCBA and am planning to get their news out to a wider audience. Because they are nationwide their news is happening all over the country, and so are their training courses. They support and represent inland waterways community boating organisations. As well as boating skills and safety knowledge their courses also include leadership, and management skills that will benefit individuals and their communities.

When is a boat not a boat?

The boating organisations that make up the membership are on canals all over the country. They often own more than one boat which are used within their local communities in a wide variety of ways. For example: A floating classroom, a floating children’s home, and a wooden boat restoration project. Boats can also be used for rehabilitation, therapy, day trips for youth groups and wheel chair accessible holidays among other things!  

Sail4Cancer

Sail4Cancer raise money to provide respite for children, young people and families living with cancer. They approached the NCBA last year for help in finding community boats to

provide inland boating trips for young people affected by cancer. In the past they have sent people sailing, but the minimum age for sailing is 14. Using canal boats they were able to provide a boating experience for the 11 to 14 year age range.

Gutless Kayaker

More recently the NCBA have arranged to provide a support boat for Justin Hansen, “the gutless kayaker”.  Justin has had his intestines removed due to Crohn’s disease. In just a few weeks he will be kayaking 420 miles from Skipton in North Yorkshire to Bristol in the south west to raise funds for bowel cancer research. (He needs another support boat if you have one available?!)

So, now you know, there is a lot more going on around the waterways than you might have imagined! I love the way that the NCBA promote the idea of “access for all”. Canal boating should not be restricted just to those who can afford to own their own boat.

Sharing

On the blog I share boating news, charity news, community news and inspiring stories of what people are getting up to around the canal network. But today I’m really going for increasing our profile on Facebook. Please give us a like, share our status updates with your friends and show your support for community boating. 

Thanks!

Peggy

A Cry For Help: Please Read!

Sorry for the dramatic headline; but I just want to draw your attention to my new blog, which is about a different kind of boating: community boating.

The canals and waterways are the love of my life; I’m passionate about the idea that they should be accessible for all, regardless of ability or personal finances.So I've started working with the National Community Boating Association to publicise news from their members, based right across the UK. 


I've started a new blog over at http://national-cba.com/ and I'd really appreciate it if you'd pop over and read my first post, which explains what we do. If you don't really know anything about community boating this blog will keep you updated with the variety of people that can get now get access to the waterways. Imagine if you lived right beside a canal all of your life but because of some disadvantage (perhaps financial or physical) you had never dreamed that you could actually go on a boat trip one day yourself. 


If you love boating and you think others should get the chance to love it too, read this. 


Thanks.


Peggy

Community Boat Wins Queen's Award

As part of my work for the NCBA I wanted to share this press release, which highlights the work of a local community boating project.

Rivertime Boat Trust wins The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2012

The Rivertime Boat Trust has won The Queens Award for Voluntary Service 2012. The award recognises volunteering work that is a social, economic or environmental service to the local community.

Rivertime, is a 12-seater day boat based in Henley for use by disabled and disadvantaged children and adults, for the summer season. The boat was launched in 2008 by David Suchet for the Rivertime Boat Trust  to operate on the Middle Thames between Windsor and Oxford. .  The objectives of the charity are to provide and maintain a specially constructed boat and other facilities for the disabled and disadvantaged, to work with other charities that have similar objectives and to organize boat trips on the Middle Thames for these groups.  From  March to October 2011 Rivertime undertook 200 bookings. Rivertime already has 156 bookings which will keep Lucy Herbert, her senior Skipper and crew very busy.  Since it was launched the boat has completed over 500 trips and taken out more than 6000 people with disabilities.

Speaking at a party to celebrate the award at Dorney Lake, Trustee and Founder of the charity Simon Davis said “We are thrilled to receive this award. It is recognition for the large number of volunteer skippers, crew and others who give so generously of their time and also help to raise much needed funds. We are now working with many local groups and charities providing the pleasure of boating for many people who would not otherwise be able to experience it.”

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The National Community Boats Association (NCBA) is an umbrella organisation supporting & representing inland waterway community boating organisations. We’ve seen an amazing few decades of canal restoration, but it would be great to also see the canal used a bit more for social regeneration. The NCBA has a vision of making the waterways more accessible to all. 

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word about the valuable work done by community boating projects.

Introducing: Community Boats in the Jubilee Pageant!

Lyneal Trust pageant rehearsal.

There’ll be more than one thousand boats parading down the River Thames this Sunday 3rd June: Fireboats, sail boats, motor boats, historic boats, manpowered boats, kayaks, working boats, passenger boats, barges and narrowboats are all preparing for Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant. With three boats applying for every place it’s good to see a selection of community canal boats are going to be part of the event. 

The National Community Boats Association (NCBA) supports and represents community boating organisations on the inland waterways. If you live near a canal there may even be a project near you  using the waterways for socially inclusive activities. They work both with individuals and community based groups providing access to the waterways for disabled, disadvantaged or excluded people in our society. Projects may focus on education, rehabilitation (health or offending) and building, connecting or strengthening communities. 

Shropshire Lad

The Lyneal Trust are sending two boats on a 220 mile journey to London to join the flotilla: The Shropshire Lass and The Shropshire Lad. The boats’ crews will include army servicemen and women wounded in action. This charity provides holidays for people with disabilities and is located near Ellesmere on the Llangollen canal. 

Wheldale

Wheldale, from The Yorkshire Waterways Museum has also been invited to join Her Majesty’s Pageant in the National Historic Ships section. Although Wheldale has been a Goole based tug all of her working life, she was built in 1959 by EC Jones Boat Builders at Brentford , which is only a few miles from the Pageant mustering point. The crew are excited to be taking Wheldale on a return journey ‘home’ for the first time in 53 years. 

Wheldale: Pageant Crew: Museum volunteers Ernie Sherburn and Steve Gardham,
Museum Engineer Chris Sherburn & Museum Manager Rachel Walker

Although Tarporley at 75 years old, is also on the register of National Historic Ships she will be included in the narrowboat and barge section of the river pageant. She is owned by the charity Camden Canals and Narrowboat Association (CCNA) and crewed by volunteers.

Tarporley

John Sheridan, Chair of CCNA, said: “it is a great honour and a privilege for our boat Tarporley to have been accepted as a participant in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant. On this very special occasion, we will be carrying CCNA Trustees and Directors and other volunteers – Tarporley will be decked out with red white and blue bunting and flags, before travelling to the mustering point on the Thames, on the day preceding the Pageant.”

Tarporley takes a wide variety of groups on local trips on the Regent’s Canal, and can provide residential accommodation for longer trips. CCNA particularly welcomes bookings from officially established community groups and organisations to allow people to enjoy cruising on a historic narrowboat who might otherwise not have such an opportunity.  

The Pirate Prince

The Pirate Prince is also based on the Regents Canal at The Pirate Castle in Camden.

The centre was founded 40 years ago to provide water based activities, but staff and volunteers now provide a range of training and community activities on water and ashore. They welcome people of all ages and walks of life.

Red Watch, The Canal  Boat  Project  provides accessible hire boats for disabled groups and community groups, for either day trips or longer holiday excursions. 

Swingbridge 2

Swingbridge 2 is the smallest of the narrowboats, at 32 feet long. She is a purpose built work-boat allowing access to the banks for volunteers to undertake clearance and conservation work. She is owned and managed by  a skills and educational charity, The  Surrey  Care  Trust 

Having so many representatives in the pageant is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the work that community boating projects do nationwide. Many people in our local communities are unable to access the waterways because of a lack of finances. The need to physically regenerate the inland waterways is a popular and ongoing current focus. However, our society is currently losing the opportunity for social regeneration; while communities are living so close to canals and navigations that they cannot use.

I am proud to welcome the NCBA as my newest client and look forward to setting up their blog soon.

If you’d like to find out more about the NCBA you can visit http://www.national-cba.co.uk/  I've also set up a shiny new Twitter account @CommunityBoats so you can keep in touch with what the NCBA are up to.

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post as my first assignment in my work to raise awareness of the NCBA. But I have really enjoyed finding out all of this information and I hope you did too! :-) 

If you're going to her Majesty's Pageant give the community boats a wave!