After 2 years of fundraising within the local community and with much effort from many
Basingstoke Canal Society volunteers, we’re excited to announce that we have all the funds
required to proceed with the ordering and production of the Basingstoke Canal Society’s new
electric trip boat.
The last £75,000 investment required came from a successful Your Fund Surrey grant
application. We at the Basingstoke Canal Society are all very appreciative that such a
program exists to support community projects and initiatives.
In total over £165,000 has been raised, and in addition to the Your Fund Surrey grant, we have
achieved this through the generosity of Woking residents and, so a big thank you to everyone
who has contributed.
The Basingstoke Canal Society would also like to thank the many individual contributors who have
made this possible.
The Shanley Foundation and the Syder Foundation awarded grants for our project, and many
locally based business also supported with corporate donations from Waitrose, Lansbury
Estates, AECOM, The Ion Group, Tim and Liz Dodswell and SC Johnson. This is in addition to
generous legacies from the estates of Joyce Keep and Peter Harman.
Many artists also donated paintings for auction as well as the Basingstoke Canal Authority
who donated the remaining paintings of Nancy Larcombe.
Brayzel Narrowboats will be building the new Kitty trip boat, and we hope to have the new
boat in the water by for our Spring/Summer 2024 boat trips.
At the same time as launching our new trip boat, we will install charging points to kick-start
the electrification of the Basingstoke Canal. The work will include installing three charging
points, one of which will be dedicated to Kitty and the other two open for public use. The
Basingstoke Canal is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) so it’s particularly important to
protect its environment with this new ‘greener’ trip boat and charging points for other
boaters too.
The new electric Kitty will also be designed to be better adapted for wheelchair use and have
better facilities for all users.
We will keep you updated on the launch of Kitty II and on trips planned for 2024. We hope
you will come and enjoy this wonderful new way to travel the canal!