A SMALL piece of history was made today as the first private canal boat took up residence in the regenerated Stroudwater canal for the first time in 65 years.
Intrigue, a 42 foot long narrowboat, was gently lowered into the canal near Dudbridge by a crane this morning with the help of about a dozen volunteers and workmen from the Cotswold Canals Trust.
Owners Polly and Neil Fothergill watched on from the side-lines with a group of excited onlookers as their beloved 40-year-old vessel was transported from the back of a truck into the water.
The symbolic act marked the first narrowboat to take up a permanent residence in Stroud’s five mile stretch of canal in its massive multi-million pound renovation project.
While the canal trust’s working boats have been chugging up the stretch of water for many years, Intrigue is the first private-owned boat to moor up, marking a new era in the canal’s long history.
“I’ve been a member and a director of the Trust for donkey’s years so I’m so passionate about the canal,” said Polly, who is from Cheltenham.
“My husband and I have been planning this for a long time so we had ‘Stroduwater’ painted on it in anticipation three years ago. It came from Sharpness shipyard today where it’s been and preserved and prepared for the water.
“We’ve been up since 5am and here since quarter past seven this morning. But it’s been well worth the wait.
“It’s been exciting to see it lowered in and it was really quite emotional to finally see it in the water.”
Polly said in the future the boat would be moored up in Stonehouse and Ebley and would soon become a regular sight for walkers and people who use the towpath.
“We have bought a bigger boat which we’ll be using in France this summer, so we plan to use this one during the winter months,” she added.
“We thought it would be nice to keep the boat here for family and friends in the Canals Trust to use whenever they want.
“It will be fantastic to have it on the Stroudwater permanently. Plus, hopefully in five years’ time we’ll be able to sail it out the other end to Saul and the larger canal network.
“It’s a great feeling to be the first ones on the canal. Hopefully we’ll be the first of many and in the next decade we’ll see many more boats take to the water and join us.”
To save on money for the thousand-pound crane fee, two other lifts were carried out this morning, one worker boat taken out and another Canal Trust boat put back in. The whole process took around five hours to complete.
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