AVAILABLE ON BBC iPLAYER – Open Country, broadcast 3pm Thursday 12th Dec.
Click here to watch
=========================================================================
As part of their work with the Waterways Trust, the Wirral Autistic Society narrow boat group have adopted a stretch of canal and tow path in the Tattenhall area, on the Shropshire Union Canal. This involves the group completing community projects along the tow path, working in conjunction with the Trust to complete essential maintenance work along the canal.
In October this year, the Waterways Trust celebrated their first anniversary and they have marked the occasion by showcasing their work with the Wirral Autistic Society narrow boat group as a positive example of how their Adoption Scheme should work.
The narrow boat group have been featured in press releases in the local Cheshire newspapers and four service users have gained a voluntary recognition certificate from the Canal and River Trust for their work with the group.
On the 18th October 2013, BBC Radio 4 joined the group and recorded the service users and staff talking about their experiences on the narrow boat and working on the Adoption Scheme, with one of our service users, Mr Alex Hardy, taking a starring role and being recorded by the shows production team. Alex chatted to the team while steering the narrow boat up the canal and turning around at the turning point, offering his views on the scheme and talking about his experiences as part of the narrow boat crew. At the end of the recording session, Alex told staff that the whole experience had been a real highlight for him.
Ken dodging the showers to chat with the crew on the tow path
During other parts of the recording, two more service users, Mr Ken Scott and Mr Stephen Hyde, were interviewed by the team on the canal tow path. They had planned to record Ken and Stephen completing tasks on the banks of the canal, but in typical British fashion, this had to be cut a little short, due to very heavy rain.
Alex multi-tasks, proving he can still be a star and steer the boat at the same time!
The programme is scheduled to be broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 show Open Country at 3.00pm on Thursday 12th December 2013. We eagerly await final confirmation of this date and time from the producers of the show.
