Three historic working canal boats come together in Northamptonshire to receive £1,000 donations

Three historic working canal boats came together in Northamptonshire to receive donations of £1,000 each from Braunston Marina.

Sculptor, Nutfield and Brighton lined up at Stoke Bruerne last week to accept the support, which usually comes from the annual Historic Narrowboat Rally and Canal Festival.

Despite this year's event being cancelled because of coronavirus, Tim Coghlan from the marina insisted on still making the donations to the Narrow Boat Trust, the Friends of Raymond and the Friends of the Canal Museum, which look after the boats.

”Braunston Marina is proud to give its support to preserving these ‘precious cargoes’ of former working narrowboats and to supporting the good people who volunteer their services to do so, especially in these difficult times," he said.

Kirk Martin and Alison Cannon from the Narrow Boat Trust arrived with its boat, Brighton, while on their way back to Braunston from a trip to Reading, Newbury and London.

Friends of Raymond's boat, Nutfield, is on loan to the Narrow Boat Trust while their own motor, Nuneaton, was undergoing extensive repairs and Nick Lake, from the group, joined the pair at Stoke Bruerne.

Friends of The Canal Museum chairman Lynda Payton said: “We have been totally in awe of Tim's continued generosity to the Friends and Sculptor over the entire life of our charity, but we are especially thankful this year when our own fundraising has been halted by the virus."

Tim was a founder member of The Friends of Raymond in 1996 and heavily involved in the effort to save Raymond, the last wooden working boat, and have her rebuilt in 2000.

Nick said: "Tim remains our patron, and without his ongoing support in both cash and kind over the years, it is unlikely that the charity would have survived.

"In a year in which our income has been severely reduced, this donation will go a long way towards helping us continue the never-ending work of keeping both Nutfield and Raymond afloat and we are indebted to him for his generosity.”

Kirk said the donation is much-needed as they are currently completing major hull work on Nuneaton and may have work to do on Brighton in the near future.

"As far as we know we are the only charity which allows anyone joining us to learn the skill of working loaded narrowboats along the waterways of Britain," he added.