Category: News
Tree Down
Boat Trips on Saturday 24th May were disrupted by a fallen tree above bridge 163 (the footbridge) in Banbury. The Dancing Duck could not, therefore run on the usual route. Fortunately we were able to run some trips going down through the lock to a turning point adjacent Bankside Park and back. Boat Trips will…
National Historic Ships UK
Delighted to tell you that National Historic Ships UK have awarded us a grant of £500 towards Hardy docking, surveying, mapping the hull planks, prioritising which need replacing first + some caulking and hull work. Docking is booked for April 3rd – 5th: watch out for more details about an open day, new opportunities for…
Unlocked!
Finally, Banbury Lock is open after being closed since the beginning of January. Lock 29 on the Oxford Canal in Banbury has been closed since early January for essential repairs. The Canal & River Trust initiated the closure to address maintenance issues, with the work finishing February 21, 2025. The new lock gate has been…
Jewellery from the Stars
We have been having fun in the forge recently where we have been forging a nickel iron meteorite into jewellery! It fell in Sweden in 1906 but it is actually around 4.2 billion years old and came from a asteroid belt near Jupiter. This is a small part of around 250kg of the material found…
Tim West
We were very sorry to hear of the death of Timothy West, actor and canal champion, on November 13th aged 90. He was working till the last, with his last TV appearance aired on Wednesday Nov 14th – a guest role in soap Doctors in what was its penultimate episode before it finished on the 15th…
Storm Bert Leave its Mark
As with everybody else, we at Tooley’s Boatyard have been suffering with the water levels from “Storm Bert”. On Sunday we came the closest since 2007 to flooding. The towpaths went under water, and the water came through the boatyard and made it to the front doors of the Chandlery. A big thank you to…
Prize Draw Nov 24
Our Hardy prize draw closed this afternoon. We raised £434, 73% of our target of £600. BUT… actually we reached both our target of £600 AND our stretch target of £800 because we have received £70 in cash donations at the boatyard and a very special offer of help worth £375! So, a total of…
Village Butty at Canal Festival
By Village Butty see: https://www.villagebutty.com/ To coincide with Banbury Canal Festival (Oct 5th-6th), we are transforming Britain’s oldest inland waterways dry dock into a truly magical venue for 10 days of music, art, theatre and comedy. With a blend of the very best local, national, and international artistes Tooley’s Arts Festival 24 – supported using…
Fund Britain’s Waterways
Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW) is a coalition of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways. We are campaigning for national and local government to act now and protect the public benefit and natural capital of our waterways. FBW is all about bringing together the widest possible group of organisations and…
Age UK Boat Trip on Dancing Duck
On 27th July 2023 Age UK organised a boat trip on day-boat Dancing Duck skippered by trained volunteers from Tooley’s Boatyard. We have these photos of the event.