The National Lottery Community Fund has given more than £310,000 (US$390,000) to UK charity CanalAbility for a new accessible electric canal boat.
The electric-powered, wide-beam boat will increase the number of trips available, reduce carbon footprint and provide accessible and specialized activities for people with disabilities or serious health conditions. The National Lottery funding will also support CanalAbility in delivering its Going Green project.
CanalAbility operates in Harlow on the River Stort. Its trips travel down to the River Lee and up toward Hertford one way, and down toward London the other way. Launched in 1999, the project was initially focused on taking people with mobility issues out on the boat. However, since 2007 its focus has shifted to supporting people with all types of disability. This includes people with Down Syndrome and their families, those with sight or hearing impairments, and several hospices and special needs schools.
The project has 60-80 trained volunteers, some of whom had originally been guests on previous boat trips. There is also a group of 10-20 volunteers who help maintain the site and the boat.
Geoff Hill, a volunteer member of the electric boat project team, said, “Thanks to National Lottery players, our new fully electric boat will be the first in our area. There are two organizations in the country that have one, and we have worked with them closely to learn from their experiences and make good decisions; for example, the type of batteries we use. Canals are some of the most beautiful places in the country and we don’t want to pollute them with diesel smoke. An electric boat is obviously much more expensive, but the benefits will be huge. We hope to operate throughout most of the summer using solar panels, so you can’t get much greener than that! Also, on the new boats there will be video screens, which we can use to share the green message with all the groups who come aboard.”
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