Floating our boat
The Kilsby Co-operative
 

Visit the new Kilsby Web site at www.kilsbytheatreboat.com

Kilsby is a dilapidated narrowboat in sore need of repair. She’s leaking, rotting and uninhabitable - but 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. In the 70s she belonged to Clayton Brothers, who may have installed the wooden cabin.Kilsby came to Oxford in the early 1980s and was part of the struggle for permanent residential moorings. The boat's last owner, Helen McDonald, bought her in 1993 and is donating her to Jericho Living Heritage Trust.

Kilsby’s present
Kilsby's bottom needs replacing and the hull is bulging.The cabin is rotting and she is seriously leaking. She is staying afloat - just - with the aid of pumps.The engine doesn't work.

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.
Kilsby will be used as a performance and exhibition space, to promote the heritage and stories of the Oxford Canal. It will be available for regular short trips and will also be hired out for minibreaks.

Visit the new Kilsby Web site at www.kilsbytheatreboat.com