Highlights from 2007 - A Summary
Thanks to the kind and generous support of
our donors and volunteers 2007 was another successful and
busy year for the River Thames Boat Project. In preparation
for the cruising season the Richmond Venturer came
out of the water for two weeks in March for a survey and our
volunteers painted the hull and topsides. We then ran eight
crew training workshops for 65 volunteers and were very
pleased to achieve Investors’ in People for the second time.
Following the very heavy rain in July and
strong river flows that followed, we had to cancel nine
bookings in July and August. Our clients were very
understanding and we were able to reschedule seven of these
bookings. Despite this setback, we took 93 bookings from
schools, day care centres, self help groups and residential
homes and received 2,150 clients and visitors on board the
Venturer during the season. We know from the feedback
we receive from both clients and volunteers that the trips
are very enjoyable and therapeutic.
In addition to running the trips and
schools’ activities we held three open days on board the
Venturer. We participated in Get Afloat organised
by Thames Ahead, the Teddington River Festival and the Barge
Association (DBA) 15th anniversary. We also
took our stand to the St Margarets’ Fair. Our annual
Friends event, on board the Venturer in Richmond on
Great River Race day, provided us with an opportunity to
thank our supporters and volunteers and to give them the
chance to watch the race from the boat.
Client Quotes:
“The peace and calm of the day was very
beneficial and the weather was perfect. The crew were
friendly and professional and those [clients] that steered
the boat thoroughly enjoyed it. Having the binoculars
available was good. Thank you for a
wonderful day and we can’t wait to
go again.”
“It was a wonderful
day giving the young carers lots of fun.”
“As always, we had two wonderful days
experiencing our Teddington Adventure! Our sincere thanks
to everyone aboard the Richmond Venturer for making our
visit so enjoyable. The children thoroughly enjoyed their
first trip in year 5.”
“I have asked everyone who attended their
thoughts: all had a really lovely positive day. Thank you
very much.”
The Big Ideas workshop at our 2006 AGM
highlighted a strong desire to help isolated individuals and
families (until then we had only worked with organised
groups). Acting on this aspiration and an increasing number
of enquires from individuals we developed and ran a
successful pilot programme in 2007. We hope to run more of
these trips next year and increase take up of our existing
programmes for schools and young carers’ support groups.
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