South Staffordshire Narrowboat Co Ltd
Operating the Ernest Thomas II Narrowboat
Providing day trips for the elderly, disabled & youth groups
Bookings: 01902 658286
© South Staffordshire Narrowboat Co Ltd 2019 Registered Charity No 1000868
Supported by voluntary contributions
Member of the National Community Boats Association
Volunteers
The South Staffordshire Narrowboat Company Ltd is run entirely by volunteers who
freely give of their time to provide day trips on the canal, which we believe benefits
our passengers. Some of the volunteers operate the boat, and may take out a dozen
or more trips a year, whilst others are involved in the general maintenance, painting,
etcetera and rarely, if ever, steer the boat. Without them the cost of running trips
could be prohibitive to some of the groups that we take out.
Our volunteers come in
all shapes and sizes. The majority are male and over fifty, but there are several
ladies who are actively involved. Many of the team have been, or still are, boat
owners, with many years of experience on the canals. Frequently they are retired
and can therefore give lots of time to the boat, but others have full time jobs,
which means that they can only be actively involved at weekends.
They come from all
spheres of society. We have engineers, doctors, accountants, landscape gardeners,
electricians, builders, retired and the unemployed.
The boat is always operated by
at least two crew members, one of whom is designated to be the skipper. All of them
have received training in how to operate the boat in a safe manner and are familiar
with all emergency procedures. Some of them are holders of a Boatmaster’s Licence
and others hold the Certificate in Community Boat Management, a qualification required
by the Marine and Coastguard Agency. As an Accredited Training Centre we are able
to train any new volunteers up to the required standard.