Are we nearly there yet?
The restoration of Kilsby is underway, read on to find out about our timeline for the project…
Floating our boat
Kilsby was dilapidated and in sore need of repair. She was leaking, rotting and uninhabitable - but certainly not beyond hope.. Kilsby has a history (she's more than a century old) and with your help, a future. We want to save Kilsby for the community.
Here's how...
Kilsby’s past
Built in 1912, in Birmingham, Kilsby was an original mudboat, working widely on the canal system. Here she is, back in the day, nestled next to her partner boat, Japan.
In the 1970s she belonged to Clayton Brothers, who may have installed the residential wooden cabin. Kilsby came to Oxford in the early 1980s, and was part of the reknown struggle for permanent residential moorings on the Town Centre ‘arm’. The boat's last owner, Helen McGregor, bought her in 1993 and enjoyed almost three decades on her beloved Kilsby. Helen is an actor, writer and Kilsby’s biggest fan; she will be actively involved in her re-invention as a theatre.
Helen, who kindly donated Kilsby to the Jericho Living Heritge Trust in 2019.
Kilsby’s present
Kilsby has been made watertight and the cabin stripped bare, with the hard work of the Kilsby volunteer team and Matt and the gang at Tooley’s historic boatyard in Banbury. Her beautiful hull is ready and waiting for a new lease of life.
Kilsby’s future
Oxford Canal Festival wants to rescue and restore Kilsby for the community. We want to involve local people in the project - from making it watertight, to rebuilding and repurposing the boat. The Covid-19 crisis certainly slowed down proceedings, but we have not stopped the journey. We have been busy harvesting ideas, concerns and enthusiastic suggestions from those who will use the boat, building a vision for how she will operate. This wishlist of ideas will inform the next stage, design, costing and drafting a schedule of works. The winter of 2020 will see a trio of virtual activities to inspire more people to join the Kilsby community. Carol singing, crafting and maybe a little dance down the towpath.
After the restoration Kilsby will be used as a performance and exhibition space, to promote the heritage and stories of the Oxford Canal.
How can we make it happen?
… by collecting a bounty of great volunteers. We want to involve as many volunteers from the local community as we can. The journey towards the end goal is as important as the finished product. We want to get people together to build a place that is meaningful to the community.
But we do need a bit of cash too..
We need around £60,000 to restore and re-purpose Kilsby and return her to the Oxford Canal. The Oxford Canal Festival raises money for the restoration, and we are always developing strategies for fundraising and keeping our eyes open for funding opportunities.
Click below to donate and keep our project chugging along!