Britishwaterway news

British Waterways handed over two of its historic heritage working boats
Filed under: Britishwaterway News — Tags: Boating, waterway, waterways — Boats To Go @ 12:13 pm
Historic Working Boats

On 5th December, British Waterways handed over two of its historic heritage working boats, ‘Atlas’ and ‘Malus’ to the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society and Coombeswood Canal Trust. The two societies have jointly leased the boats from BW with the aim of using them for the future promotion of the waterways. The boats formed part of the British Waterways ‘Heritage Working Boats Project’, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project began in 1999 with a fleet of 10 boats that were restored to their original appearance. With the agreement of the Heritage Lottery Fund, BW recently decided to rationalise the fleet of boats to ensure the project’s future sustainability, and consequently ‘Atlas’ and ‘Malus’ were offered to waterway-related organisations who could continue to care and use the boats in a similar fashion. The societies are to maintain both the engine-powered ‘Atlas’ and the butty boat ‘Malus’ at Coombeswood Canal Trust’s base at Hawne Basin, Halesowen.