As part of his celebration of this milestone Alan was treated by the company to a flying and track driving day at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.  This included a flight in a Dragon Rapide, a Tank Driving experience and time in the Spitfire simulator as well as a tour of the American Museum, the Battle of Britain Museum, and the Land Warfare Museum.  Later Alan will return to Duxford for a flight in a Tiger Moth.

Tracey Baxter, Finance Director at Fox Narrowboats said “we are delighted to recognise Alan’s long service with the company.  Over his time here he has become a good colleague and friend. The company has seen many changes since Alan joined as we have grown and developed over the years and Alan is always keen to see progression and what we may be doing in the future.”

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Staff present cheque to Rob Skoulding

Defibrillators in March are located in the following places

This is the 6th year the company has selected a charity of the year and since the inception has raised a total of over £12,225 for good causes.  In 2019 the company will be supporting  The Ladybird Boat Trust.

The Ladybird Boat Trust  (LBT) was set up in 2013 and is based at Hartford Marina near Huntingdon. The vessel Ladybird is wheelchair accessible and accommodates up to 20 passengers in a large heated cabin complete with kitchen and wheelchair accessible toilet facilities. The open foredeck area enables passengers to enjoy to the full the magnificent scenery and wildlife on the river. The service operates from mid April to early October and is crewed by a Boatmaster and trained crew, all of whom are volunteers who give up their time and skills to run over 100 trips each year. A typical trip is between 10am and 3pm, and is either upstream towards Godmanchester and Brampton, or down to the Hemingfords and St Ives.  Trips are open to groups of the disadvantaged or disabled, young or elderly (and their carers) based within reasonable road travel distance from their base on the Great Ouse near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.  Many groups return year after year and the annual boat trip is a highlight in their year.

Events for 2019 will again included boat trips at the March Town St Georges Fayre.

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Staff at Fox Narrowboats were delighted to hand over a cheque to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Cambridgeshire fundraising manager Karen Newton on Friday as the companies fundraising for the year draws to a close.  The cheque was for a grand total of £2126.24. The money has been raised by running skippered boat trips at the March town St Georges Fayre, holding a book stall in the office throughout the year and finishing with Christmas tombola. 

Fox Narrowboats Finance Director Tracey Baxter said, “I am delighted with the amount raised for EACH this year.  I would like to thank all of our customers and supporters that have enabled us to raise such a large amount of money.”

Karen Newton, EACH Cambridgeshire Fundraising Manager, said: “We’re delighted to have the support of Fox Boats and are incredibly impressed with the generous sum of £2,126.24 which was raised for EACH thanks to a Charity of the Year Partnership. These funds will ensure we can provide vital care and support to local life-threatened children, young people and their families.”

St Georges Fayre 2015

In 2016 Fox Narrowboats will be partnering with MAGPAS Helimedix one of the first events for the charity will again be the popular boat trips at the St Georges Fayre.

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Gerald and Paula visited The Ship Inn at Brandon Creek on 11^th April.  They sat at a table looking down The Great Ouse river towards Denver and watched the early evening boats travel down stream towards Denver Lock. For starters they tried the Baked Wild Mushrooms in a cream sauce on homemade bread (£6), for mains Paula chose the Rosemary & Garlic Lamb Rump (£16) and Gerald opted for the 8oz Dry Aged Rib-eyed Steak (£17). They finished their meal with a Norfolk Cheese Board (£9) and can recommend the delicious Mrs Temples Binham Blue cheese.  The Ship Inn has moorings for patrons and the waiting staff were very helpful. The food arrived promptly and the chips were delicious.  Will they be going back?  It’s a definite YES!

Rosemary & Garlic Lamb Rump.   Rib-eyed Steak.

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The impressive six-phase scheme will create about 50 miles of new navigations and will allow boats to use an additional 145 miles of waterways, linking the cathedral cities of Lincoln, Peterborough and Ely with the market towns of Boston, Spalding, Crowland and Ramsey. (Ely is currently the top destination for our hire boat customers.)

The project involves canals being cut, drains being made navigable and new locks being built. This venture, organised by the Environment Agency and funded by the Regional Development Agency, will create a new circular navigable route.

You may also have heard of the planned Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway which will open up a route for broader beam boats between The Fens and the rest of Britain’s canal network.

Two schemes were originally proposed back in 1809 to link the waterways, although that intended route was slightly different. The two ideas were put before Parliament in 1811, but were unsuccessful. The proposal was raised again in 1815 and 1828, but the link was still not built.

However, Phase 1 was eventually completed in March 2009 and was celebrated with the official opening of Boston Lock, connecting the Haven at Boston with the South Forty-Foot Drain.

Phases 2 and 3 of the plan will link the South Forty-Foot Drain with the River Glen at Guthrams Gowt, and with the Glen above Surfleet Seas End Sluice along Vernatt’s Drain. Full details of all of the proposed works are available at www.fenswaterways.com.

The new navigations will offer plenty more opportunities for adventure for boaters beginning a holiday from our hire boat base in March. Until the work is complete, check out the existing routes that can be explored with Fox Narrowboats: River Ouse, Nene and Middle Level.

Image credit: Thanks to Old Moonraker for making this map available under a Creative Commons licence.

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