Held over the late May/Whitsun bank holiday weekend this year of Saturday 23rd to Monday 25th May 2026, The Crick Boat Show is the UK’s leading inland waterways festival, bringing together narrowboats, marine exhibitors, live entertainment, boating seminars and family attractions.

And here’s are just a few good reasons why you should stop by and see the team from LNBP over ‘the three-days of Crick’.

1. Book your ticket and join us on the Crick Boat Show trip boats

We will once again be operating the hugely-popular Trips Boats for visitors to the Show who can enjoy a short boat trip with us from the Marina and along the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal aboard canal boats which are once again run by our volunteer team of skippers.

The half-hour trips are run and provided free, but we welcome donations in lieu, and will run every 10 minutes from 10.10am each day of the show.

As these trips always prove very popular year-on-year, our advice is to book with us once you arrive at the Show to avoid disappointment.

You will find us at Stand Q50 by the quayside where you can up pick your tickets from our team who can tell you more about we can do and offer.

2. Donate to support us and benefit others

As mentioned above, the boat trips we run on behalf of the Crick Boat Show are provided to the Show’s visitors FREE of charge.

However LNBP do accept donations in lieu.

This is enable us as a non-proft volunteer-led charity to continue our work in the community and provide opportunities for those less than fortunate to enjoy a trip on our boats on the canals and inland waterway networks of central England

You can make donations either by cash in the collection buckets that will be on the boats and by our Booking Tent, by card via our card payment terminal, or scan the QR code on the posters on the trip boats or at the Booking Tent to make a donation payment  via our website (which you can also do here)

3. Find out more about short break residential trips for your community group or organisation

Members of our team will be on hand throughout the weekend to tell you more about the opportunities we can provide to community groups and organisations on our boats. 

Whether it be short break residential of two or more nights at weekends or during the week, or a day trip as part of the limited number of inexpensive day trips we also provide from Braunston, talk to us about your group and how we can help create memories and an experience that will stay with your group members for years to come.

Why not even make an enquiry for your community group or organisation for 2027 or 2028?

4. Ask about volunteering with us

LNBP Community Boating is reliant on the efforts of volunteers who give their time to ensure the smooth running of the organisation and the canal boat experiences we provide.

And we are always keen to welcome new volunteers to our organisation, so if you are 16 years old and over, why not consider getting involved?

There are many ways you can get involved, and many benefits for individuals who volunteer with us, so talk to a member of our team (themselves, all volunteers) on how you can get involved; even if it is just for an hour or two here and there.

You can also find out more here

5. Find out and register for CCBM training

We are also also an accredited Training Centre for the Certificate in Community Boat Management (CCBM) and run several training weeks a year.

Administered by the National Community Boats Association (NCBA) of which LNBP Community Boating is a member, the CCBM course is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of people operating boats carrying groups of twelve passengers or less. It is

It is aimed at boat users in the voluntary or public sectors, but the scheme is also open to all group leaders using commercial hirecraft. Many organisations require the CCBM as a prerequisite for group leaders who are planning to self-steer.

For more information, talk to a member of our team and our Project Skippers who will be at the Show and running the trip boats. Why not even register your interest for our next CCBM Training event too.

As always,  we welcome any enquiries from all Show Visitors and are only too happy to answer any questions you may have.

So please don’t be afraid to pop by our Stand or ask a member of our team on the trip boats. You won’t miss us – we will have our distinctive blue polo shirts and sweat shirts on (and hopefully won’t need raincoats and umbrellas).

We look forward to seeing and meeting you at Crick.

The post Great reasons to see LNBP Community Boating at the 2026 Crick Boat Show appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

The Whitsun half-term school holidays at the end of May just after our involvement at the Crick Boat Show presented the ideal opportunity to run the second of our Pirate Days themed trips.

This year The LNBP Purple Pirate (Denise) and her Skipper (Paul) were pleased to welcome two local community groups – one based in Braunston Village and one from nearby Daventry – for two separate days of fun and activities on Lancelot.

Ahoy, matey! Keep calm and hoist the Jolly Roger.

After meeting our motley crews with and providing a short safety brief, the fun began with Lancelot setting off from our mooring at Bottom Lock at Braunston cruising past the Marina and Stop House before heading up the Grand Union to just before Napton.

On board The Purple Pirate had been hard at work creating a super array of activities for the crew to enjoy below deck, in addition to the crew taking in the sounds and sights of the countryside  and spotting wildlife of the boat trip. There was even friendly waves and hellos from other fellow boats too (no doubt wary not to get on the wrong side of the Purple Pirate and her crew!

Wherever there’s treasure, there’s a pirate not far behind

Why be a landlubber when ye can be a legend?

Our thanks to both groups for coming along to our Pirate Days and for getting involved and into the spirit of what we hoped the days are meant to be (and for being so well-behaved). We hope you enjoyed yourselves (it certainly looked like you did) and we thoroughly enjoyed having you.

And our thanks to Denise and Paul for their time and effort in running another highly successful few days (and coming so soon after Crick too!)

• Dates for our 2026 Pirate Days will be announced later in the year.

• If you are involved or organise a children’s or youth community group or youth club in the local area and would be interested to join us for one of our Pirate Days themed trips, why not get in touch. To register your interest, email us at marketing@lnbp.co.uk and we will be in touch shortly.

The post In pictures – Pirate Days 2025 appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

The notable absentee will be one of our two full-size canal boats, Guinevere, which in previous years is normally moored on the quayside for Show visitors to view. However, she has been booked and will be busy in service this Whitsun weekend as part of a client group booking, but there is still so much LNBP has to offer over the three-days of Crick.

1. Book your ticket and join us on the Crick Boat Show trip boats

We will once again be operating the hugely-popular Trips Boats for visitors to the Show who can enjoy a short boat trip with us from the Marina and along the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal aboard canal boats which are once again run by our volunteer team of skippers.

The half-hour trips are free, but we welcome donations in lieu, and will run every 10 minutes from 10.10am each day of the show.

As these trips always prove very popular, our advice is to book with us once you arrive at the Show. You will find us at Stand F0 by the quayside where you can up your tickets from our team who can tell you more about we can do and offer.

2. Donate to support us and benefit others

As mentioned, the boat trips we run on behalf of the Crick Boat Show are provided to Show visitors ree of charge, however we do accept donations in lieu.

This is enable us as a non-proft volunteer-led charity to continue our work in the community and provide opportunities for those less than fortunate to enjoy a trip on our boats on the canals of central England

You can make donations either by cash in the collection buckets that will be on the boats and by our Booking Tent, by card via our card payment terminal, or scan the QR code on the posters on the trip boats or at the Booking Tent to make a donation payment  via our website (which you can also do here)

3. Find out more about short break residential trips for your community group or organisation

Members of our team will be on hand throughout the weekend to tell you more about the opportunities we can provide to community groups and organisations on our boats. 

Whether it be short break residential of two or more nights at weekends or during the week, or a day trip as part of the limited number of inexpensive day trips we also provide from Braunston, talk to us about your group and how we can help create memories and an experience that will stay with your group members for years to come.

Why not even make an enquiry for 2026 or 2027?

4. Ask about volunteering with us

LNBP Community Boating is reliant on the efforts of volunteers who give their time to ensure the smooth running of the organisation and the canal boat experiences we provide.

And we are always keen to welcome new volunteers to our organisation, so if you are 16 years old and over, why not consider getting involved?

There are many ways you can get involved, and many benefits for individuals who volunteer with us, so talk to a member of our team (themselves, all volunteers) on how you can get involved; even if it is just for an hour or two here and there.

You can also find out more here

5. Find out and register for CCBM training

We are also also an accredited Training Centre for the Certificate in Community Boat Management (CCBM) and run several training weeks a year.

Administered by the National Community Boats Association (NCBA) of which LNBP Community Boating is a member, the CCBM course is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of people operating boats carrying groups of twelve passengers or less. It is

It is aimed at boat users in the voluntary or public sectors, but the scheme is also open to all group leaders using commercial hirecraft. Many organisations require the CCBM as a prerequisite for group leaders who are planning to self-steer.

For more information, talk to a member of our team and our Project Skippers who will be at the Show and running the trip boats. Why not even register your interest for our next CCBM Training event too.

As always,  we welcome any enquiries from all Show Visitors and are only too happy to answer any questions you may have. So please don’t be afraid to pop by our Stand or ask a member of our team on the trip boats. You won’t miss us – we will have our distinctive blue polo shirts and sweat shirts on (and hopefully won’t need raincoats and umbrellas).

We look forward to seeing and meeting you at Crick.

The post 5 reasons to see LNBP Community Boating at the 2025 Crick Boat Show appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

Following the success of last year’s first such venture, we are pleased to announce details of our Pirate Days for 2025 with plans to run two consecutive days on Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th May 2025.

Leaving from Braunston Bottom Lock, Braunston (postcode NN11 7HJ) at 10:00am and returning approximately 4:30pm, the fun-packed days are ideal for Beavers, Cubs, Rainbows, Brownies, Church and Youth Groups, with a maximum 10 young Pirates + two accompanied adult leaders. LNBP will provide the captain and boat crew.

Come dressed as your favourite Pirate and join in the fun for the day with Pirate crafts, games, treasure hunt and a trip on the canal including how boats go ‘up and down hill’ through canal locks. Buoyancy aids will be provided for everyone for use outside the boat.

Tea, coffee and squash will be provided but Pirates will need to bring a packed lunch.

Interested in coming aboard and joining the LNBP Pirate Crew?

Contact the Purple Pirate Captain  Denise for enquiries and to make a booking by emailing denise_w909@hotmail.com or  marketing@lnbp.co.uk

(Please note: these days and bookings are aimed at and designed for an organised group + leaders/supervisors, as opposed to individual children being dropped off)

The post Pirates Wanted – LNBP’s 2025 Pirate Activity Days appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

Crick Boat Show is the largest inland waterway festival in Britain, organised by Waterways World. This year’s dates were Saturday 25th to Monday 27th May 2024 with a Trade and Preview day on Friday 24th May. LNBP has supported Crick Boat Show for many years and we continue to have good working relationship with the organisers.

LNBP took Guinevere as a show boat to encourage people aboard and to explain how the Project provides canal experiences for Community Groups in terms of weekend, midweek and longer residential breaks and holidays.

In essence, LNBP at Crick was all about the following

1. Attendance and support of the largest inland waterway festival in Britain
2. Publicise the new lifejackets and support of Midland Chandlers, Crewsavers and The Rugby
   Benevolent Fund
3. Show Guinevere to promote LNBP and to encourage future bookings
4. Fundraise via bucket collection, mainly from the trip boats
5. Provide a venue and refreshments for the annual AGM

It all started on the Wednesday with moving Guinevere (and ‘cargo’ for the Show i.e. tents, marketing materials etc) from Braunston to Crick. This was done in two stages with going from Braunston – including through the locks network and tunnel – to Norton Junction, mooring overnight at the latter before resuming the second leg via Watford Locks into Crick Marina on the Thursday.

As mentioned above, Friday’s dedicated Trade and Preview day of the Show provided us with the perfect opportunity to bring various parties together to celebrate and announce the recent sponsorship initiative and life jackets donation from Midland Chandlers and Crewsaver; details of which you can read more of below.

As part of this we were also pleased to welcome representatives from the Rugby Group Benevolent Fund whose generous funding also contributed towards his initiative; details of which you can also read below.

Trip boats at your service

As part of LNBP’s involvement at Crick, we also run the Show’s day boat trip service, a 30-minute trip down the Leicester Line of the Grand Canal from Crick and back, including providing a timed ticketing service.

LNBP successfully ran the trip boat booking tent (thanks to Julie and Linda) and provided a good shuttle service with the three trip boats provided. We also collected and returned the trip boats from Foxton and Braunston on the Friday before and Tuesday after the Show.

In total we offered 86 boat trips and took 858 passengers plus 53 dogs. Excluding the dogs, this represents 99.7% capacity which was more than last year. Unfortunately, due to a boat breakdown on Saturday, we were unable to provide 9 boat trips and were potentially 90 passengers short. LNBP provided a team of 27 including 15 skippers. We also had 16 camping over the weekend on the Show Campsite. This included a mixture of older and newer members and the social value shouldn’t be underestimated. Specific thanks to Sharren for organising the catering and John Driver for
arranging tentage and tables.

Showcasing Guinevere

Guinevere was given a prime location for the 2024 Boat Show and was regularly visited by a variety of “customers”. Nigel and John Tobin were the primary recruiters. Guinevere and her crew left Braunston on Wednesday and returned on Sunday night to allow cleaning etc. before a 10 day hiring
on the following Tuesday.

There was some genuine interest in Community boating, there was some family groups interested on getting on a boat without having to book with the boatbuilders and there was some interest from others keen to gain boat layout ideas. Community groups often need to plan activities over 12 months in advance so we were able to introduce Nigel as a real live Booking Officer (rather than a chatbot) and we have had bookings from previous shows.

Funds raised

With bucket collections plus an additional monies generated from card reader donations, LNBP benefited from donations
totalling nearly £1100.00; this reversing a previous declining trend. So thank you to everyone who contributed during the course of the weekend.

AGM

We are required to hold an AGM each year and Crick provides the opportunity to hold this
given the number of people already on site; and avoids having to arrange a separate venue, travel
and catering.

A healthy attendance and constructive AGM was held with a successful review of the past year conveyed and no major changes in personnel for the coming year to report.  Current Chairperson John Tobin has indicated his desire to step down from his role in May 2025.

Here’s to Crick 2025..

In summary, another successful Crick Show was enjoyed with thanks to everyone who contributed in whatever shape, form or level of commitment they provided.

Plans are already afoot for the same time next year, so watch this space.

The post LNBP enjoy another productive Crick Boat Show appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

A huge thank you to Julie Unwin for sendng these through – you could call it ‘The View from the Booking Tent’ and in many ways it also captures the varying weather conditions which Crick delivered this year.  Wasn’t it Crowded House who sang Four Seasons in One Day?

The post In pictures – LNBP at Crick Boat Show 2024: Part 2 – ‘The View from the Booking Tent’ appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

Our Pirate Days are a new event by LNBP Community Boating with plans to run two consecutive days either side of the Easter school holidays as follows:-

• Tuesday 26, Wednesday 27^th or Thursday 28^th March 2024.

and/or

• Tuesday 2^nd, Wednesday 3^rd or Thursday 4^th April 2024

Leaving from Braunston Bottom Lock, Braunston (postcode NN11 7HJ) at 10:00am and returning approximately 4:30pm, the fun-packed days are ideal for Beavers, Cubs, Rainbows, Brownies, Church and Youth Groups, with a maximum 10 young Pirates + two accompanied adult leaders. LNBP will provide the captain and boat crew.

Come dressed as your favourite Pirate and join in the fun for the day with Pirate crafts, games, treasure hunt and a trip on the canal including how boats go up and down hill. Buoyancy aids will be provided for everyone for use outside the boat.

Tea, coffee and squash will be provided but Pirates will need to bring a packed lunch.

Interested in coming aboard and joining the LNBP Pirate Crew?

Contact the Purple Pirate Captain  Denise for enquiries and to make a booking by emailing denise_w909@hotmail.com or  marketing@lnbp.co.uk

(Please note: these days and bookings are aimed at and designed for an organised group + leaders/supervisors, as opposed to individual children being dropped off)

The post Pirates Wanted – LNBP’s Easter 2024 Pirate Activity Days appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

Did you know LNBP Community Boating has its own YouTube channel?

The post LNBP on YouTube appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

If you are in and around Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday (6th), here is something that may well interest you.

The post Coffee Morning talk with Nigel appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.

Our Pirate Days are a new event by LNBP Community Boating with two days on Thursday 1^st June and Friday 2^nd June 2023.

Leaving from Braunston Bottom Lock, Braunston (postcode NN11 7HJ) at 10:00am and returning approximately 4:30pm, the fun-packed days are ideal for Beavers, Cubs, Rainbows, Brownies, Church and Youth Groups, with a maximum nine young Pirates + two accompanied adult leaders. LNBP will provide the captain and boat crew.

Come dressed as your favourite Pirate and join in the fun for the day with Pirate crafts, games, treasure hunt and a trip on the canal including how boats go up and down hill. Buoyancy aids will be provided for everyone for use outside the boat.

Tea, coffee and squash will be provided but Pirates will need to bring a packed lunch.

The cost is great value too at just £5.00 per person.

Interested in coming aboard and joining the LNBP Pirate Crew?

Contact the Purple Pirate Captain  Denise for enquiries and to make a booking by emailing denise_w909@hotmail.com.

The post LNBP Pirate Activity Days – June 2023 appeared first on LNBP Community Boating.