Historic Narrow Boat Hardy - 1940

01/03/2025

Delighted to tell you that National Historic Ships UK have awarded us a grant of £500 towards docking, surveying, mapping the hull planks, prioritising which need replacing first + some caulking and hull work.

Docking is booked for April 3rd - 5th: watch out for more details about an open day, new opportunities for volunteers etc.

But first, like all grants we need to raise some match funding! I this video Jacob explains what we're going to do and where we're going to do it.

To help out...

Go to: https://ko-fi.com/historicnarrowboathardy

Where you can pop a bit of loose change into the virtual piggy bank, about the equivalent of a cup of coffee would be just perfect!

If you’d like to make a donation of more than £20 and you are a UK taxpayer, please message or email us as we can claim gift aid which will increase your donation by 20%. Email [email protected]

01/02/2025

We covered Hardy's cabin some time ago and, to be honest, it's been looking rather untidy for a while. So today is Makeover Day.

19/01/2025

2025 has started for Hardy with some work on plates to make keeping her dry (I think I've got that right, I don't understand half the technical stuff that goes on!) and discovering the bilge pump battery is a bit poorly...

23/12/2024

Hardy's final check up before Christmas. Craig checking the pump supervised by Chloe (out of shot).

Happy Christmas to all our supporters. Look forward to seeing you in the new year.

03/12/2024

Now that winter is upon us we have a weekly checklist to keep Hardy safe and well till spring. Bilge pumps and mud were the key topic on Saturday! Here's one of our volunteers, Chloie Green, who has a lot of boat working experience running through the workings of the main pump and why we need to keep it clear of mud.
And apologies - bit of a noisy background that afternoon :-)

23/11/2024

Our great news is that we achieved our goal of raising £800 to buy some essential power tools to help in the restoration of Hardy. The planer and drill we will buy with the donations to our prize draw crowdfunder and we're very very thrilled to announce that the saw has been donated by Andrew Rabett in memory of his father Michael who bought Hardy in the early 1970s, took her on a quite perilous journey to Suffolk via the Grand Union, the Nene, the Wash and the River Lark! Where he worked on the hull and added a cabin before making the same quite perilous journey back so that they could enjoy family holidays on the canal system. Without Michael's work we probably wouldn't have Hardy.

Here's our wooden boat building mentor, Ian Staples with apprentice boat builder Jacob Beak admiring our new acquisition

23/11/2024

23/11/2024

Getting ready for the draw, our special news and a cream tea! Join us at 2pm for the draw.

22/11/2024

Our Hardy prize draw closed this afternoon. We raised £434, 73% of our target of £600.
BUT… actually we reached both our target of £600 AND our stretch target of £800 because we have received £70 in cash donations at the boatyard and a very special offer of help worth £375! So, a total of £881.65 after fees and VAT deducted.
Exactly what that very special offer is you will have to wait till tomorrow to find out.
We will livestream the draw and the unveiling at 2pm

Photo of Hardy at Tooley's in the 1950s - sharing this one because you can just make out the fore cabin, and that is something we have decided to reinstate as we know of no other historic boats still around with one.

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

I think I might be posting this twice...

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 h**p 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.