The Wet Web
Helen Gazeley hears how a fun story helped to provide a welcome return to normality for a community narrowboat project.
“THE key to a good April Fool is to make it almost believable, but with just a seed of doubt,” explained Gerry Mulvaney, director of the Nottingham Narrow Boat Project, which runs two community boats in the city.
It’s something on which he’s become a bit of an expert, having this year collaborated with Nottingham City Transport ( NCT) over the ‘ launch’ of the Water Environment Transport – or WET Service – on the Nottingham & Beeston Canal.
“WET uses state-of-the-art narrowboat buses on two routes,” read the press release, “providing relaxing travel for commuters, shoppers, sports fans and visitors to the Crown Court.”
“We thought about it a couple of years ago,” said Gerry, “and resurrected it this year. NCT are known for their April Fools and we thought it was a fun one for them.” It all turned out much slicker than expected. “My original idea was a phone video and pictures of the bus stops,” added Gerry.
Anthony Carver-Smith, head of marketing at Nottingham City Transport, had an altogether more sophisticated approach, resulting in two days of filming, with props provided.
“We had a card reader for reading bus passes,” said Gerry, “a couple of straps that passengers could hang from, a bell on a pole.” On top of this, NCT sent a uniform for one of the skippers to wear.
“We’ve always done an April Fool video before Covid,” said Anthony. “But we’ve not done anything to this level for the last couple of years. It’s been nice to bounce back.” It went so well that it was picked out as one of the top three April Fools by transport companies around the country in Coach and Bus Week.
All the good fun has had a very gratifying effect. Anthony released a second video giving information about the Nottingham Narrow Boat Project (bit.ly/3whpv4V). “We had a big influx of bookings as a result, to kick off the 2022 season,” said Gerry. This is a welcome return to normality. “We’ve been closed down for the last two years, with just very short bursts of activity in 2020 and 2021. This is the first time we’re really able to get back to the roots of what we normally do.”
The lockdown restrictions brought a surge of volunteers. Of those previously involved, many have not taken a boat out for two years, so a fair amount of time this year has been spent in training and refresher courses. Clients enjoying the opportunities presented by the two boats – Megan and Tinkers Leen – have expanded.
“We’ve not previously worked with a local group helping homeless and people with drug and alcohol dependency,” explained Gerry. The project is involved in the CRT’s Waterways and Wellbeing initiative, which has been particularly active in the East Midlands.
This is Gerry’s fourth year as a trustee. Nottingham Narrow Boat Project is a charity which he helped set up in 2018, after the city council, which then owned the boats, wanted to close it in a cost-cutting measure. Since then, with the help of an initial grant purposed to create a sustainable charity, they’ve grown to a board of seven with talents covering a range of fields. There’s room for more.
“Finding trustees isn’t easy,” he said. “And we’re always interested in support from the boating community. It’s their enthusiasm that keeps the charity alive and provides the services for people who otherwise wouldn’t see the canal.”
If you’re interested in offering your skills either as a volunteer on the boats or trustee – or both – Gerry would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch via the website (nottinghamnarrowboatproject.org.uk).