On Saturday 15th May we held a now annual litter pick at the trust. We hosted 34 young people and families out on the water and landside on the tow path collecting an interesting mixture of rubbish including a tv, lots of bottles and cans, a lampshade and the usual shopping trolley pulled from the water! We were fortunate to have the Canal and River Trust loan us some canoes for the pick with their instructor Andy Oughton, and we look forward to having them with us again. Read more
Things are certainly moving apace. The shower room and bedroom are taking shape as are all the internal fittings. As well as moving out of the wet dock, we can also announce that she has been given the most timely name - Jubilee! More updates to follow in the near future. Read more
Last week, we held our Introduction to Crewing course aimed at 14-16 year olds and hosted 7 young men out on the boats for two days. Their training included steering the boat, learning emergency procedures, using firefighting equipment and rope work mooring the boats. We were blessed with wonderful weather for both days and will be hosting this course again in October, with full crew training for 16-25 year olds in August. Read more
We had a fantastic sunny day on Saturday 26th March hosting our first fishing event here at the Trust. Coaches from the Canal and River Trust were on hand to for one-to-one help training families the basics of fishing using a pole, net and bait. They also learned how to look after the fish in a humane and appropriate manner returning all fish back to the canal. The biggest fish caught was a 1lb 8 1/2oz perch, but everyone caught at least one fish on the day. Read more
And we're back! The first trip of the season was a great success - even the sun came out! Our thanks to our wonderful passengers and volunteers for making the day so lovely. If you'd like to enjoy a day out on the water, please contact one of our team for available dates. We look forward to welcoming you on board soon. Read more
We are delighted to be offering a series of new activities for our young peoples project! We will be having a new Saturday activity each month for you to come down and enjoy. We have a packed Summer of free activities and courses made available with help from The National Lottery. Read more
We're delighted to let you all know we've received funding to have a new self-hire holiday narrow boat built for the Trust to replace our old boat, Melody. It's being especially built to accommodate accessible living and promises to be a beautiful addition to our fleet. It will be ready for late summer bookings, and we'll keep you updated with its build progress via social media and our website. Read more
We hope you all had a peaceful and healthy start to the new year. We're starting to take bookings for our 2022 day trips. The cost per person is £12 this year with a maximum of 20 passengers per boat trip. Our seasonal & well-being trips will also be running. All details will be posted on our website and social media so please do keep checking back. Read more
🎄 Our last Santa Sleighboat trip has left the base and we’re celebrating with the Trust’s Elves Days of Christmas! 🎄 We’ve had a wonderful time meeting all our passengers throughout the year and would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a peaceful and safe Christmas. We look forward to welcoming you back aboard in 2022. Best wishes, The Peter Le Marchant Team Read more
The safety of our volunteers and passengers is paramount to our Trust. In light of this evening’s announcement by the government with regard to Covid-19 guidelines, we wish to take steps to reassure our passengers who will be visiting us throughout the remainder of this year. We continue to adhere to Visit Britain’s ‘We’re Good to Go’ guidelines. Read more
As our programme of events expand for our Young People's Project, so do our range of boats! We're delighted that two of our volunteers, Richard Payne and Chris Wakefield, have built a brilliant kayak and boat store for us at the Trust. We're so grateful for their hard work. Read more
We are very pleased that two of our team, Melissa and Angie, recently attended the Adult MHFA Course. The course teaches in depth skills for providing first aid to people who may be experiencing mental health issues such a depression, anxiety and psychosis and are now both Mental Health First Aiders. A very positive asset to our Trust. Read more
Continuing our Trust and volunteers' commitment to our passengers' safety; we are delighted to welcome our newest skipper, Ali Clowes. The Trust offers our congratulations on passing her Boatmasters Licence from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency yesterday. Well done, Ali! Read more
🍁🍂 This year’s All Aboard this Autumn trips finished this afternoon and we’d like to thank all our passengers for coming aboard.🍁🍂 It was wonderful to see all our budding creatives taking part in the crafts and enjoying the on-board packs, not to mention appreciating the beautiful countryside we’re treated to this time of year. Read more
We’ve been busy decorating the boat ready for our new 4-hour Community trips which commence tomorrow. If you’re booked on one of these trips; please don’t forget to bring your lunch to enjoy as we travel along the waterways! Complimentary hot drinks – tea and coffee, will be available and there will be cupcakes on board to purchase, if you wish. We look forward to welcoming our passengers aboard! Read more
Why not join us on the canal for a day learning how use and be out in a canoe? We are holding a day in conjunction with the Canal and River Trust for any young people aged 14-19 to have a go, Running Tuesday 19th October 10am - 2pm Read more
We are excited to be able to offer a new 2 day 'Introduction To Crewing' course at our base for 14-16 year olds. It will be held during half term on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 22nd October from 10-3. The course will include understanding our boats, using the canals and welcoming our customers as well as learning how to be a perfect crew member on our boats. Read more
Well that's been an amazing 5 weeks! We've had 84 15-18 year olds all spend a week volunteering at the trust. We've had some cracking young people come to see us and they've all got soooo much out of being by and on the water. We've even managed to get some to stay with us on the crew. #youngpeoplematter Read more
Meet Kayley! She's one of our newest recruits who recently completed our week long Young Peoples Crew Training Week to become a fully trained crew member for our trust. Kayley has already been out on a couple of trips and loves to steer the boat too. Welcome to the trust Kayley! Read more
☠ The pirates have now left the Trust! But don't worry - they'll be back again next year! ☠ ⚓We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our passengers and visitors for joining in with the fun this week. We look forward to welcoming you back on board again soon.⚓ Read more
⚓Day 3 of our pirate trips - another great day with lots of passengers. The NCS were also busy with their stalls and car washing to help make the day special for everyone. We look forward to another sold out day tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for supporting our work. ☠️🐦 Read more
☠️ Day 2 of our pirate trips and another fun day had by all. Many thanks for all those who visited and took part. ☠️⚓ Read more
☠️ We had a brilliant start to our pirate trips today! ☠️ Both trips were sold out and everyone entered into the spirit of the event! Thank you to all who attended and thanks also to the NCS for their help setting everything up. We look forward to welcoming more pirate passengers aboard throughout the week. ⚓️ Read more
Young Peoples Project Update: We are delighted to say that we have had our first week with the National Citizen Service (NCS) young people at the trust and they have created a fantastic mental health and sensory garden. Read more