COMMUNITY AWARD FOR BOB
AN OXFORD Canal Festival restoration project is aiming to save a dilapidated narrowboat for the community.
The Oxford Canal Festival was revived in 2016 with the aims of raising awareness of “one of Oxford’s best-kept watery secrets”, and raising money to purchase and restore a special narrowboat for everyone to enjoy.
Organisers began searching for a run-down narrowboat for use as a performance and exhibition space, to promote the heritage and stories of the Oxford Canal, as well as for short trips.
When nearby waterways resident Helen McGregor donated 107-year-old Kilsby to Jericho Living Heritage Trust, things began to get moving.
“The boat was really in a sorry state and Helen could no longer live on her,” said festival co-director Steph Pirrie.
“She loved the boat and its history and wanted to find a way of it surviving – it was a happy marriage; we had the opportunity to save a wonderful boat and it means we can get lots of volunteers and the community involved in the restoration.”
Kilsby’s bottom needs replacing and the hull is bulging, the cabin is rotting and she is seriously leaking. She is staying afloat with the aid of pumps, and the engine doesn’t work.
This deteriorating condition meant there was no time to lose and £5000 raised at the last Oxford Canal Festival meant immediate action could be taken to get her into dry dock.
Tooley’s Boatyard, one of the oldest working dry docks on the inland waterways, located in Banbury on the South Oxford Canal, was chosen to carry out the work – but first Kilsby needed to get there.
An enormous tarpaulin was wrapped under the hull and around all of the boat then painstakingly laced up and made watertight.
And on her first trip in years, Kilsby was slowly towed by Helen’s new boat (Kilsby 2) up the canal, past Jericho and Wolvercote to King’s Bridge and onwards.
Despite some nightmare moments the journey was completed in four days.
A survey will now be carried out and a draft schedule of works drawn up before the restoration programme can begin.
Steph said it would be really nice to complete the whole project in two years but continued: “It’s as much about the journey and getting people involved as it is about the outcomes.”
She said: “We need around £60,000 to restore and re-purpose Kilsby and return her to the Oxford Canal (around £8000 of this has been raised so far). We are talking to Canal & River Trust, who are behind the project. We’re hoping to secure a significant capital investment grant from Heritage Lottery or other community foundations. The rest we aim to raise from the Canal Festival and other events, crowdfunding and private donations.
“Operating costs are estimated at £3000 a year. We will cover this by running trips in the summer and hiring the boat to members and to theatre groups/performers. We hope Kilsby will eventually take pride of place at Jericho Wharf.”
The back of the boat will be a performance space so that people can sit on the banks and watch, and it is hoped that Helen, a writer and actress, will be the first to take to the stage.
The Oxford Canal Festival is a biennial event and the next one takes place September 11 and 12 this year.