The South Staffordshire Narrowboat Company Ltd is run entirely by volunteers who freely give of their time to provide canal trips which we believe benefits the people who use the boat. Some of the volunteers operate the boat, and may take out a dozen or more trips a year, whilst others are involved in the general maintenance, painting, etcetera and rarely, if ever, steer the boat. Without them the cost of running trips could be prohibitive to some of the groups that we take out.

Our volunteers come in all shapes and sizes. The majority are male and over fifty, but there are several ladies who are actively involved. Many of them have been, or still are, boat owners with many years of experience on the canals. Frequently they are retired and can therefore give lots of time to the boat, but others have full time jobs, which means that can only be actively involved at weekends.

They come from all spheres of society. We have engineers, doctors, accountants, landscape gardeners, electricians, builders and the unemployed.

The boat is always operated by at least two crew members, one of whom is designated to be the skipper. All of them have received training in how to operate the boat in a safe manner and are familiar with all emergency procedures. Some of them are holders of a Boatmaster’s Licence and we are now a training establishment for the Certificate in Community Boat Management, a qualification recommended by the Marine and Coastguard Agency.