K&A Floating Winter Fayre, Bradford on Avon, 25th and 26th November

November 21st, 2023

The Kennet and Avon Floating Winter Fayre is this weekend, Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th November 2023. Open 10am to 5pm below the lock at Bradford on Avon. Loads of beautiful art, traditional and new crafts, gifts, jewellery, food, drink, sweets, clothes, live music and much more. Get all your Christmas presents! Shop local and support canal traders!

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Have your say about parking in Wilcot on 27th November!

November 6th, 2023

Wiltshire Council is holding a Highways Matters Event hosted by Pewsey Area Board in Pewsey on Monday 27th November 2023. This is an ideal opportunity for boaters to demand that the Council takes action over the recent obstruction of parking in Wilcot.

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Licence Surcharge Protest at CRT offices, Birmingham, 25th November – bus from Pewsey and BoA

November 5th, 2023

CRT is planning to levy a ‘surcharge’ on boats licensed without a home mooring, which will start at 5% of the licence fee in April 2024 and increase to 25% by 2028. This could price us off the waterways and eliminate our nomadic way of life. There will be a national protest march on CRT Chief Executive Richard Parry’s office at Cambrian Wharf in central Birmingham to oppose the surcharge on our community. The march is organised by the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA).

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Wilcot parking trashed

November 1st, 2023

The lane where boaters park their vehicles in Wilcot has been ‘landscaped’ to make parking impossible, according to boaters who are moored there. On 24th October, rubble and earth was piled up along the whole length of the lane on both sides, making a steep bank as shown in the photographs below. This was done even though there were some boaters’ cars parked in the lane at the time.

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Health and Wellbeing events for boaters on nb Litania

November 1st, 2023

Julian House Travelling Communities  Support Service will be visiting Bradford Lock on 7th November 2023 and Caen Hill Marina on 14th November 2023 with nb Litania at 11am to 4.30pm. They will be providing Covid 19 and Flu vaccinations to boaters who are in the eligible groups: age 65 and over and other people who are eligible due to specific health conditions etc. There will also be support and information on welfare; other health matters, and free Boat Fire Safety packs and first aid kits.

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BaNES Council Better Moorings Project job vacancy

November 1st, 2023

BaNES Council is recruiting for a project manager with knowledge of boating to lead its Better Moorings Project. The closing date for applications is 5th November. See https://jobsandcareers.bathnes.gov.uk/ and search for Better Moorings Project Manager.

BaNES Council says that the Better Moorings Project is:

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Public Health Wiltshire Boaters’ Survey – respond by 27th October

October 17th, 2023

Public Health Wiltshire is running a boaters’ survey to find out about the health and other needs of liveaboard boaters who live or travel in Wiltshire. The purpose of the survey is to determine what boaters’needs are and how they can be met. The more boaters who complete the survey, the more evidence there is for extending or setting up services such as Julian House Travelling Communities Support into Wiltshire and the K&A canal.

You can complete the survey online here

https://surveys.wiltshire.gov.uk/s/boaters

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Boaters’ meeting to discuss licence fee surcharge, 15th October, Bradford on Avon

October 11th, 2023

There will be a boaters’ meeting to discuss the CRT surcharges for boats without a home mooring; lack of facilities; lack of waterway maintenance and other issues that affect the community of liveaboard boaters on the K&A, and what we can do to protect our way of life.

The meeting will take place at 5pm on Sunday 15th October 2023 at the Wallington Hall, Church St, Bradford on Avon BA15 1LN. Church St is opposite the Dandy Lion pub; the hall used to be called the Masonic Hall or the Church Hall.

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CRT impose surcharge on boat licences without a home mooring

October 11th, 2023

Following the CRT consultation on licence fees in March this year, CRT announced on 5th October 2023 that it would impose a surcharge on licences without a home mooring, making these licences more expensive than licences for boats with a home mooring. We oppose this discriminatory and unfair move, which is the biggest attack on the community of liveaboard boaters without a home mooring since CRT’s 2015 enforcement policy for boats without a home mooring.

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Boaters invited to anti-poverty meeting with MP to raise exclusion from energy bill support

October 5th, 2023

Liveaboard boaters are invited to an event in Pewsey tomorrow, Friday 6th October, where Danny Kruger, the MP for Devizes, Marlborough and Pewsey will be attending. The event is organised by Devizes and District Food Bank, which has supported boaters in our struggle to receive the energy bill support that the Government promised to ‘every household’. Many liveaboard boaters are still excluded, despite the Government decision to pay the grant to boaters licensed by CRT without a home mooring.

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