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NEWS FROM THE SWINGBRIDGE COMMUNITY BOAT
- February 2007
 Swingbridge welcomes a royal visitor.
HRH The Duke of Gloucester was welcomed aboard the Swingbridge Community Boat, a canal barge run by the Surrey-wide charity, The Surrey Care Trust.
On a visit to the town of Woking, His Royal Highness discovered that the boat makes an invaluable contribution to community well being, to the benefit of both people and the environment.
In the winter, Swingbridge is the base for environmental work along the Basingstoke Canal in and around Woking and also along the River Wey in Guildford. It provides placements for offenders who have been sentenced to do unpaid work and they work alongside Surrey Care Trust volunteers clearing rubbish, weeds and overgrown vegetation. Their endeavours play a substantial part in maintaining local waterways as much-valued public open space.
In the summer, the boat, which is equipped with a wheelchair lift making it accessible to everyone, gives trips to hundreds of people from local community groups… more than 1,000 in 2006 alone.
The Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Mrs Sarah Goad, who is a patron of The Surrey Care Trust, greeted the Duke of Gloucester in Woking.
 The boat was moored on the canal at Town Quay, where His Royal Highness talked to some of the 40 volunteers who help the Swingbridge manager in both winter and summer. The Duke also met Surrey Care Trust staff and trustees and representatives from the organisations which work in partnership with the charity.
“We were delighted that the Duke was so interested in the work we do with Swingbridge,” said Surrey Care Trust Chief Executive Mrs Elaine Tisdall.
“Our remit as a charity is to tackle disadvantage by creating new opportunities and much of our work today is helping people through training and education. Swingbridge offers offenders the chance to develop new skills and, perhaps most importantly, the experience of working as part of a team, doing something which is greatly valued by local people.”
 Ian Brown, director of the Basingstoke Canal Authority explained that with funds in short supply, the work that the Swingbridge teams carry out, rubbish and weed clearing, cutting back overgrown vegetation and keeping the towpath clear is hugely valuable to the public.
Ian said: "Rubbish and weeds do have a serious impact on the conservation value of the canal. The work of clearing them would eventually get done but, without the involvement of Swingbridge, it would take much, much longer and the canal would be less attractive."
Press contact: Jennifer Britt, 01483 42600, Jennifer@surreycaretrust.co.uk,
www.surreycaretrust.co.uk, registered charity number 285543
ABOUT SWINGBRIDGE
The Swingbridge Community Boat was the brainchild of Surrey Care Trust Trustee and local magistrate Mrs Lesley Myles JP DL, who had been impressed with the benefits of a similar programme elsewhere.
Thanks to her determination, Swingbridge took shape with the hull being donated by Thames Water Authority in January 2002. It was kitted out by the offenders and volunteers in 2002.
Swingbridge works in partnership with the Surrey Probation Service to provide work placements, giving offenders the opportunity to develop skills and work as part of a team alongside the volunteers.
On a scale from 1 to 10, Surrey Area Probation rates Swingbridge as a 10 in its placement quality standards because it is such constructive work, where offenders can clearly see the benefit of how they are spending their time
In the summer Swingbridge runs trips for local community groups on the canal in Woking and on the River Wey in Guildford. More than 4000 people have already benefited from these trips over the last five years. The trips run from April to the end of September. We do not charge for the trips but welcome donations towards the running costs.
There are now over 40 volunteers on board without whom we could not manage the programme and between them, they donate more than 3,800 hours per year….which is an incredible feat. Seventeen of the volunteers have been on a CCBM (Course on Community Boat Management) course, which enables them to skipper the boat and take out community groups.
A new development will be to offer offenders the opportunity to gain nationally accredited qualifications, Open College Network certificates in Environmental Work. Following a successful small pilot scheme, we plan to introduce those later this year.
Over the years we have received funding from many generous sponsors including Thames Water, Woking Council, The Onyx Environmental Trust, JAS Worldwide, Air Products, Toshiba Products, The Wates Foundation, M & S, The Coleman Trust, SITA and Nationwide.
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