The Kennet Project

Kennet is owned by the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society and has a permanent mooring at Greenberfield Top Lock, in Lancashire close to the border with Yorkshire and is on the National Register of Historic Vessels.
The boat is a river class, cargo carrying Leeds &Liverpool Canal Short Boat which was built for Canal Transport Limited in 1947 by Yarwoods of Northwich.

Short boats were built specifically for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at the maximum dimensions for traversing the whole canal. The dimensions of the Kennet are;

The project’s purpose is to create an Interactive Museum using the Heritage Short Boat Kennet to travel the 127 miles of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, taking heritage and learning to local communities in the same way as the cargoes of old enabled industry to develop these communities. The public engagement would be achieved through story telling, drama, heritage skills training and multi media linked to the communities the canal passes through. This enables Kennet to be used as a learning resource for schools and organisations that are local to the canal. In order to achieve this we need to safeguard the future of the heritage short boat ‘Kennet’ through a sympathetic programme of preservation, conservation and maintenance works.

The overall estimated cost of the project is £70k supported by at least 1700 man days of volunteer’s time over the next 3 years. The Society has already invested some £5000 and 1260 man hours in Kennet to establish the short term integrity of the hull and general maintenance in order for Kennet to stay afloat.

An application has been made to the Heritage Lottery Fund to part finance a major refurbishment of Kennet both inside and out along with a learning programme aimed at schools, organisations and the general public. Alongside this we need to fund the ongoing annual running and maintenance which equates to approx £100 per week or £260 each day Kennet is open to the public.

The manning and maintenance is undertaken by volunteers of the Society, supported by the Friends of Kennet whose aim is to raise awareness and funds for the project. If you are interested in supporting the project either as a volunteer or by donating please contact us – Contact Information

We are also seeking Sponsors who would like to be associated with the project in a mutually beneficial way – click here for more information.

The Projects Aims

1. To use the boat as a learning resource to take the heritage of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, boats and its people to the varied local communities along its total length. We will look towards a more creative approach to learning in the form of writing, storytelling, drama, canal based skills and interpretation flip charts involving and reflecting the local communities. This will be implemented through the learning plan that has been designed in conjunction with British Waterways and The Waterways Trust through their Wild over Waterways (WoW) programme. Additional training programmes will be created for teaching traditional crafts and skills to encourage a broad spectrum of organisations in the many local canal communities adjacent to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. This will include rope work, Brightwork and boatmanship.

2. To save the heritage short boat ‘Kennet’ through a sympathetic programme of preservation and conservation works and establish an ongoing maintenance programme while introducing new skills to a wide cross section of volunteers.

3. To encourage volunteers to become involved not only in the conservation works, but also the on-going maintenance of the boat. Once our works programme is complete, we will use a team of trained Society volunteers to move the boat to events, festivals, schools and colleges along the canal from Liverpool to Leeds creating opportunities for local communities/organisations to be involved.

Project Working Group

The Project is being managed by a Working Group supported by specialists, working together through the Project Co-ordinator. The Working Group is answerable to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society Committee. We will also actively look to involve new members and associates in order to bring freshness and ongoing sustainability for the Project. click here for more information.

Timeline

A 7 year plan for Kennet is outlined below including 3 years of potential HLF funding.

in Partnership with