LNBP Community Boating has a new Chairman, with Paul Iverson officially taking over the reins from John Tobin at the recent Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 24th May 2025 at Crick Marina. 

Below is a message from our new Chairman.

Like a lot of people, I found LNBP by accident. An invitation to Scout Leaders to come and have a go, led to some boat bookings, CCBM qualification, more bookings and then the invitation to become a “project skipper”

25 years on, the time has come for a new challenge, although I hope to remain active on the water for a few years yet. I’m a firm believer of the inverted pyramid management model where the most important people are the customers. After all, we exist to provide canal boat opportunities to community groups and we should never take our customers for granted.

At the recent AGM I explained that I am proud to represent LNBP for three reasons:

·       We have a good business model which has seen us provide canal boat opportunities for over 40 years. There is clearly a need for Community Boating and we are good at what we do.

·       We have good assets. Lancelot and Guinevere were specifically designed for Community Boating and give us great booking flexibility from our base at Braunston where we can offer a variety of cruises appropriate to our hirers. With the new engines, mattresses/curtains and upcoming re-painting we will maintain our quality proposition.

·       We have a good team of dedicated volunteers who make everything happen from initial enquiry, booking, payment, hiring, re-hiring, boat maintenance, book-keeping, governance etc. etc.

That said, we cannot afford to be complacent and I’m keen to see how we can build on this successful model for a long term, sustainable future in an ever-changing canal environment.

Thanks for your continued support.

Paul Iverson