Striving to make our waterways better for all
Striving to make our waterways better for all
Bruce Boats, part of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, has four wheelchair-accessible widebeam canal boats available for self-drive holiday hire or crewed day trips from its base at Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire. Ali Cannon has been their Chair for just over a year. She explains how she first got involved:
Accessible Mooring Bollard – the next stage! On Monday, 19 November 2024, the Accessible Waterways Association (AWA) attended the unveiling of the pre-production Accessible Mooring Bollard. The Accessible Waterways Association has been working closely with the Canal & River Trust (CRT) on this project, which has now moved on to the next phase.
‘Diamond’ Birmingham man up for national award after years of providing free canal boat adventures to disabled people AWA is delighted to share this report, which highlights the wellbeing benefits of our inland waterway and the need to make them more accessible. We wish Hugh well at the forthcoming awards ceremony.
Accessible Waterways Day London 2024 Following the success of our first ‘Accessible Waterways Day’ in Birmingham last year, we were pleased to host the 2024 follow-up at UCL East on 5 October. University College London’s new campus in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is next to the River Lea and home to many boaters. The area is heavily used by …
AWA meets EA Thursday 8 August 2024 Denver Complex, Norfolk What a refreshing experience! We (Tim and Tracey) were invited along to the impressive Denver Complex on the River Great Ouse Relief Channel, near Downham Market in Norfolk. This was to meet with several key personnel from the Environment Agency, who are invested in developing the accessibility of EA moorings …
AWA Meet with Policy Connect about Health APPG On 29 May 2024, the Accessible Waterways Association met with representatives of Policy Connect, a cross-party think tank which provides the secretariat for All-Party Parliamentary Group on Health (APHG), supporting the group’s activities. All-Party Parliamentary groups are informal cross-party groups that bring together members of both Houses of Parliament who have shared …
Guess the Ducks 2024 We had a bowl full of ducks at the Crick Boat Show and ran a competition to guess the number of ducks! This was a fantastic fund raiser and a lot of people took part.
AWA urge Erewash Borough Council to reconsider canal access for people with disabilities. People with disabilities, additional needs, and families with pushchairs, are joining forces to campaign for greater consideration in the plans for the new bridge across the Erewash Canal in Long Eaton. Whilst most of the design is fully accessible, the new link to the canal is a …
The AWA Logo – why a duck? Our logo was designed by our dear friend and artist Simon Wallis, (Red One Creative Solutions).
Accessible Mooring Bollards At the Towards Accessible Waterways Day in December, Dick Vincent of Canal and River Trust introduced a prototype of the new accessible mooring bollards. This has been created in response to discussions on the Disabled Boaters’ Forum over many months. Whilst it is acknowledged that there is no “one size fits all”, this bollard addresses most of …