 | Centenary Narrowboat Trust |
| This page is part of the archive of community profiles and was written in October 2003. Welcome to the profile for October and welcome to Centenary Narrowboat Trust! Centenary is a 12 berth Narrowboat for youth organizations to hire at affordable rates for weekends or longer periods. It is an invaluable resource for developing teamwork and cooperation in young people.
Originally presented to the young people of Stratford and South Warwickshire in 1984 by the staff of the Stratford branch of Marks and Spencer in the company’s centenary year, it is run by a charitable trust. |
|  Centenary can accommodate up to 12 people and is based on the Stratford Canal, convenient for exploring several midland canals. Leaders need to have undertaken a two day training course on the boat, which covers handling, lockwork and aspects of safety regarding young people.
The Trust chairman is Dusty Miller, a canal artist by profession. A print of one of his paintings hangs in the Centenary. He is very involved with canal boating and has his own boat. It is Dusty who undertakes the training of youth leaders who take their groups on the boat.
Other trustees bring accounting and policy making skills to the venture. The Administrator, Linda Bradley, organises the bookings and liases with the maintaining boatyard on a day to day basis while David Bradley has just been tasked with creating a new website for the Trust |
|  Over the 19 years of its history the boat has been used by numerous youth groups with an estimation of over 250 young people using Centenary each year, equating to nearly 5000 in all.
Some of the user groups are voluntary organisations such as Guides and Scouts; others are professional youth workers. One of the latter has written:-
'The benefits from taking a group of young people away on a narrow boat for a weekend are immense. Given that youth work is about developing young people both personally and socially to increase self-confidence and self esteem, the narrow boat provides a very informal environment for this development work. Taking young people out of their immediate environment and placing them in a confined space ensures that they learn to integrate and socialise with each other in a respectful and sensitive manner.
And of course, there is the independent living aspect of the residential - cooking and cleaning for many are new experiences but are beneficial in that it encourages working as a team. Residential work with young people can foster positive relationships that would normally take workers several months to develop in a youth club setting and therefore is a vital part of
our work.' |
|  The Trust is seeking funding for Centenary's replacement to enable at least 20 more years of operation thereby continuing the unique benefits which about 5000 youngsters have enjoyed during the previous 19 years. Designs have been prepared by volunteers taking into account the results of a survey conducted to find the future needs of many of the user groups
The venture is run almost entirely by voluntary effort and attemps to be self funding. Fees have to be paid by the Trust to a boatyard for fuel, boat maintenance and mooring. Other expenses include paying for the canal licence and insurance.
Donations to support Centenary are welcomed, however small.
Centenary is operated by the St Michael Centenary Narrowboat Trust registered charity number 515828.
For more information you can contact the Trust on 01789 488568 or visit the new website athttp://warkcom.net/centenarynarrowboat |