Last week was eventful! Last Tuesday morning, Kilsby set off from Banbury with skippers Jacob and Richard from tooley’s boatyard at the tiller, volunteers Marta and Jack cycling down a sometimes precarious towpath to prepare the locks, and with Kate Saffin sending them on their way with a smile and a big bag of Greggs cookies.
With no propulsion system of her own, Kilsby was pushed all the way down the canal to Aynho by pushtug Lion, a historic boat in its own right (built in 1943, it is one of twenty ice breakers commissioned by HM Government to keep the canal traffic moving during WW2).
Then on Friday Kilsby was craned out of the canal at Aynho and waved off by a jolly choir of her supporters, who were kept warm on this cold morning by delicious hot drinks, fresh sausage rolls and tasty cakes from Brew Box coffee uk. After, she was moved by lorry to a historic yard in Netherton and from there towed to David Kemp Boatbuilding boatyard in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where those dreamy lines and designs of 1912 are going to be lovingly restored. The future’s looking bright!
Kilsby’s been floating on the inland waterways for 114 years. The last 6 of those have been up in Banbury, where she’s been safeguarded and maintained by Matt and the Tooley’s Boatyard team while funds were raised and expertise gathered to secure the next stage of her watery adventures, her revival as a community asset. Huge thanks to the whole amazing team at Tooley’s!
Thank you to The #NationalLottery #HeritageFund @HeritageFundUK and the players for making this possible.
The Kilsby Boat Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to secure the rebuild and restoration of this historic boat, engaging volunteers comprehensively in the process of repurposing Kilsby for sustainable and accessible community use.
The departure of Kilsby can be seen in this video https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtqKzljaXC
This article is from an instagram post by KilsbyBoatProject