All aboard the electric canal boat! Harlow charity scoops £310,000 National Lottery funding

The future is green for Harlow charity CanalAbility, after it received more than £310,000 for a new accessible electric canal boat. This vital funding comes from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.

The National Lottery funding will support CanalAbility to deliver its Going Green project with a new fully accessible, electric powered, wide beam boat. The boat will increase the number of trips available, reduce carbon footprint and provide accessible and specialised activities for people with disabilities or serious health conditions.

Geoff Hill, volunteer member of 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 organisations in the country who 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.”

CanalAbility operates in Harlow on the River Stort. Its trips can travel down to the River Lee and up towards Hertford one way, and down towards London the other way. Launched in 1999, the project was initially focussed on taking people with mobility issues out on the boat. But since 2007, its focus has shifted to support 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 proven benefits of being around water are well documented. Geoff explains: “Half an hour to an hour after getting on the boat, you can see people visibility start to relax and take an interest in their surroundings and start to socialise.

“We had one young girl who had severe mental disabilities. She was a wheelchair user, and she didn’t want to move or talk. At the end of the trip, she was sat up looking around and her carer told me the only time she sits up in her wheelchair is on Christmas Day. We’ve also had a 102-year-old lady with mobility issues who was up on the tiller steering the boat, which really made her day!

“On all the trips people are encouraged to lend a hand where they can, but only if they want to. However, if people just want to sit and watch the world go by that’s fine too.”

The project has a dedicated band of 60-80 trained volunteers, some of whom had originally been guests on previous boat trips. There is also a maintenance group of 10-20 volunteers who help maintain the site and the boat.

The funding announcement follows recent news that The National Lottery Community Fund has doubled the amount and duration of grants grassroots communities can apply for through its flagship funding programme, National Lottery Awards for All.

With a new maximum award of £20,000 and two-year grant term, this significant change supports the funder’s ambition to invest most in places, people and communities experiencing poverty, disadvantage and discrimination. Read its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, to find out more.

Almost 1,000 charities and community groups across the East of England have been awarded over £52 million of National Lottery funding in the last year. The region isn’t alone in benefiting from National Lottery funding. Today it was announced that almost £580 million has been distributed to over 11,500 community organisations across England in the past year*.

Helen Bushell, Head of Regional Funding for London, the South East and East of England at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We’re delighted to be able to award funding to such an impressive range of local groups and projects, like CanalAbility, which are all seeking to support their community and meet local needs. Their passion, creativity and commitment make a real difference and they should be proud that their efforts will help to improve local people’s lives.

“Going forward, we are doubling the amount of funding grassroots groups can apply for through our National Lottery Awards for All programme, helping them to make an even bigger impact for their communities.”

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Date published: 12 December, 2023
Region: England (East of England, South East, London)

Notes to Editors

Notes to Editors:

* These figures are for funding awarded from 26th November 2022 and 25th November 2023.

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together

2. Be environmentally sustainable

3. Help children and young people thrive

4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4bn of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.

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