Sunbeam Narrowboat
Sunbeam is our fully accessible narrowboat used exclusively by disabled people and groups.
Our qualified volunteer skippers and crew members accompany all trips to enable you to enjoy a narrowboat experience. The boat can take up to 12 passengers with a maximum of 4 people who have to travel in a wheelchair. The usual day on sunbeam starts at 10am with a return by 4pm. A stop on the way for lunch (usually a pub lunch) is an enjoyable part of the trip. There are 4 trip options from Wanlip where our boat is moored.
Please download our brochure for more information (Please note that this is a large file and may take a while to download)
The history of Sunbeam
‘Sunbeam’ came into our possession in 1978. She was then lengthened, and an electric lift and ramps were installed to enable disabled people to get aboard. We run day trips from April to October along the river Soar in Leicester, starting and finishing at a pub called the Hope & Anchor. In the 2009 season we celebrated our 40,000th passenger since the project began, in fact during the 2009 season itself, ‘Sunbeam’ went out 117 times carrying approximately 1,714 passengers, the majority of whom were disabled. It is important to know that while mosaic manage the boat it is entirely run by Volunteers who Skipper and Crew ‘Sunbeam’. We have 40 Volunteers who are involved with ‘Sunbeam’ and the time and energy they give is absolutely amazing.
I would particularly like to acknowledge what has been done by our Volunteers over this winter period while ‘Sunbeam’ has been out of commission. Due to the popularity of ‘Sunbeam’ she has been worked particularly hard over the last few years and as a result has taken a few knocks and was looking very tired and ‘battle weary’ (that’s a polite way of putting what she really looked like!). Sadly, around this time, one of our Volunteer Skippers passed away and the family very kindly asked that donations from the funeral be given to ‘Sunbeam’. This was the start of what has become a somewhat major project.
As a charity, mosaic was not fortunate enough to have enough money to put together with the money from the funeral to have ‘Sunbeam’ repainted and a new more suitable toilet fitted; these were the main things that needed urgent attention, so we set about trying to attract some funding. This then led to us, myself and some of the Volunteers, having a meeting and making a ‘wish list’, just in case we had some money left over (ever hopeful!). The estimate for our original wish list came to almost £11,000! So, the Volunteers went on a mission! They slowly but surely persuaded several people to either part with money or give us a discount on things we needed, such as paint. The next problem we had, as so often happens in these cases, is that as we started having the work done, more problems came to light. We have ended up having to replace all the windows and radiators, amongst other things, that hadn’t featured on our original wish list. Consequently the Volunteers have met with the challenge and persuaded yet more people to part with their money – and in this economic climate, that’s no mean feat! So far over £13,000 has been raised, and spent (with still more to go)!
But it doesn’t stop there! Not only have the Volunteers raised this money, and persuaded people to give us discounts, they have also been very ‘hands-on’. While Sileby Mill Boatyard have done the outside things and more specialised work, the Volunteers have stripped, tiled, varnished, cleaned, painted and any number of other things on the inside. They truly are remarkable!
We take great pride in ‘Sunbeam’ and she gives so much pleasure to so many people with disabilities, but she is nothing without the dedication of our fantastic Volunteers. In these times of difficulties and uncertainty there are wonderful people out there who willingly give one of their most valuable assets – their time, for the benefit of other people. This should really be celebrated.
You can download our brochure here (Please note that this is a large file and may take a while to download)
You can download our booking form here
Updated on 5 September, 2011