Rivertime soon to be afloat!
6 May 2008
The Trustees of Rivertime Boat Trust are delighted that their launch ‘Rivertime’ is now shaping up well and being built by Alpha Craft of Norfolk’s experts, Dick Darkin and Mike Whitlock.
One of the Trustees, Simon Davis, enthuses ‘We have reached this exciting stage due to the generosity of all our donors. 140 donations have been received ranging from £10 to £15,000. We are really grateful to them all for helping us to make our dream into a reality’.
The boat will have its commissioning trials in Norfolk at the end of May and will be craned into the Thames at Bushnells Boatyard on June 4th. ‘Rivertime’ will be operational from Monday 9th June at its permanent base at the River & Rowing Museum at Henley.
In addition to this good news is the fact that a Senior Skipper has been appointed to take charge of the boat. She is Lucy Herbert, who is the third generation of her family to work on the Thames.
Jonathan Hobbs, another Trustee, expressed his great pleasure on this appointment, ‘Our charity is really fortunate to have Lucy on board, she is a highly experienced skipper and boatmaster who has been with the Environment Agency for many years. I am sure that she and ‘Rivertime’ will form an excellent partnership and bring great happiness to the many disabled and disadvantaged children and adults who will be benefitting from their boating experience.’
The charity is really grateful to Paul Mainds, the Chief Executive of the River & Rowing Museum, who has agreed to take all the bookings for ‘Rivertime’ from those taking advantage of this great new facility.
There is a dedicated telephone number for bookings which will be operational as from 1st May, 01491 415 605 and email bookings@rrm.co.uk.
For bookings contact 01491 415 605 or email bookings@rrm.co.uk.
For general enquiries contact 01628 780700 or email boating@rivertimeboattrust.org.uk.