Historic Narrow Boat Hardy - 1940

18/11/2024

It's the final week of the Hardy prize draw crowdfunder! Your last chance to win one of the great prizes and support the restoration of Historic Narrow Boat Hardy. A mere £3 will secure your entry (but we don't mind a little more!).
Entries are open till 3.20pm on the 22nd (Friday) and we'll be announcing the winners on Saturday afternoon.

10/11/2024

This week's exciting news is that we've reached the half way mark with our crowdfunding prize draw to support the restoration of Hardy. In fact we're a bit ahead of that at 60% as we have had some cash donations from visitors to Hardy and the boatyard.

However... Crowdfunder is predicting we'll only reach about £500 if entries and donations continue at the current rate, so we need a bit of a burst to reach that £600 (or even better £800)!

So if you haven't already taken a punt on winning one of our great prizes then now is the moment - we welcome anything from £3, less than a coffee in Castle Quay these days!

And to cheer you on, here is a short video made for us by the talented Ollie of Banbury BID with incidental music by Dom Prag

05/11/2024

Well, our exciting news is that we are a third of the way to our target of £600 in just over a week! Which also means we still need another two thirds!!

And it would be a shame not to share the love of old boats and the chance of winning one of our great prizes with as many people as possible.

So, do please share our crowdfunder prize draw with all your friends, neighbours and significant others - and, of course, we'd love you to enter as well :-)

We’re restoring an historic wooden canal boat: we have wood but need tools for our volunteer team to return Hardy to her former glory

02/11/2024

Leaks were found and mostly stopped so a very satisfactory work session. Huge thank you to the Hardy restoration team: Craig, Brian and Richard led by Jacob Beak

02/11/2024

The team hunting down a possibly leak: we're really looking forward to buying those power tools and being able to start replacing planks! And we might need a few more brooms as well..

So, , please take a look at our prize draw fundraiser, enter to win a forge experience and share the Hardy love (and possibly the mud)

29/10/2024

Like to win a two hour forge experience with Ems, the talented blacksmith at Tooleys Boatyard Forge? And help Hardy at the same time?

We have the perfect opportunity for you! The Hardy Christmas Draw. As well as the forge experience, there are other lovely prizes: an exclusive trip on the Dancing Duck with delicious refreshments for you and your party, tickets to the family Christmas show at the Mill, the Gruffalo or a posh tea at the museum cafe. All for a mere £3.

We now have a good collection of wood donations: planks to replace damaged ones in the hull, softer wood for lining the hull and timber to rebuild the bow. We are using traditional tools (well, except for Ian Staples famous alternative caulking hammer!), some of which date back a century to the days of Old George Tooley but a few with a bit of modern oomph wouldn't go amiss!

So the prize draw is aiming to raise £600 to buy a powerful saw and a planer plus some smaller tools and items like protective wear. And if we can stretch it a bit further we will add a power drill to help with both removing screws and then adding new ones.

You can buy one entry or 20, every one will give you a chance at a prize and every one will help us to continues working on Hardy, preserving not just the boat but the skills to work on wooden boats.

So, get your entry in for a chance at a prize and please share this with your friends and neighbours if you can.

We’re restoring an historic wooden canal boat: we have wood but need tools for our volunteer team to return Hardy to her former glory

24/10/2024

Rounding off our videos of hemp rolling and caulking at canal weekend - Nathan and Jacob weighing with the (yes we know it's not a caulking...) hammer and caulking iron!

And heads up - we'll be launching a fundraising prize draw at the weekend with some very nice prizes aiming to raise funds towards increasing our stock of both traditional and modern tools.

12/10/2024

Here's a bit more of last weekend's canal festival and the demonstrations of caulking: Jacob learning how to tease out and roll hemp ready to pleat and then hammer it into the gaps between the planks of Hardy's hull. With some sage advice on had from Ian Staples!

08/10/2024

A busy festival weekend in Banbury with all sorts going on including boat trips, a floating market, live music and more (not that yours truly got out of the dock to see any of it, but it was all there). Our wooden boat expert, Ian Staples was demonstrating caulking on Hardy. Here's how it's done...

30/09/2024

Coming up! Banbury Canal Festival this weekend (Oct 5th/6th). We'll be working on Hardy with demonstrations of caulking between 12 noon and 3.30 each day.

Come and watch or have a go - you probably won't be filling a hole quite as big as Jamie worked on in the early days but you can still help Hardy's restoration journey!

07/09/2024

Today's work on Hardy:

A messy session lead by Ian Staples: heated up the Charlie that we made a few weeks ago. Mixed it with Oakham and filled a troublesome hole up from the inside and outside of the boat. Found a galvanised steel plate on Hardy, drilled holes around the perimeter and coated the back of the plate with Charlie, put a strip of Oakham on and nailed around the steel plate so it was central over the hole.
Each section of the boat between the pairs of knees is called a room. We worked on one room, stripped off the shearing to one side of that room and prepared the inside for further work.
All in all a very satisfying day.

27/07/2024

Coming up this afternoon... preparation for learning about Charlie making...

05/07/2024

WIN A BOAT TRIP! For four people.

Please like and share this post, and we will enter you in to a draw at the enter of the month. 🦆

We still have spaces available on our boat trips for this Saturday. You can pop in to the boatyard to book your tickets or book online https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/.../banbury/tooleys-boatyard

Castle Quay, Banbury Banbury BID Banburyshire Info

22/06/2024

A combination of drier weather and last week's jaunt has caused Hardy to spring a few small leaks. Here's Craig, one of the team, at work with some hemp and a caulking tool...

12/06/2024

Have you got your Father's Day present yet? A forge experience voucher makes a great gift!
Order your voucher here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/tooleys-forge/t-nogajko Tooleys Boatyard ForgeTooley's Boatyard Trust

09/06/2024

We're mostly moving wood about at the moment so, for something a little different here is John Carey, Tooley's volunteer archivist and curator who has been researching Hardy's history as well as Tooley's, with a short summary of Hardy' history.

19/05/2024

Now we've got the new planks, we need your help - we've set up a Ko-fi fundraising page to top up the donations we have already received, to start making a real difference to Hardy.

We're hoping you would all like to buy Hardy a coffee - £3 - except she'll get it as 10cm of lovely green oak! We'll even add your name to a plank... it will eventually disappear under a coat of bitumen but we're planning other ways to say thank you to everyone who helps Hardy towards a new future.

Here's the link. Feel free to share it. https://ko-fi.com/historicnarrowboathardy

And if you would like to support Hardy as a volunteer, sponsor or to make a larger donation (as a charity we can claim GiftAid) please get in touch via messenger, email [email protected], phone 01295 272917 or pop into Tooley's 10-1 Tues - Sat.

Support Historic Narrow Boat Hardy On Ko-fi. Ko-fi lets you support the people and causes you love with small donations