The Electra story

The Electra story

2019 – How it all started

The idea for a Milton Keynes Community Boat that offered waterway experiences for all  was born out of discussions in early 2019 between three organisations:

– Crest Nicholson, who wanted a community trip boat to animate their new development at Campbell Wharf.
– The Parks Trust who wanted to encourage people to explore all the parkland that runs alongside the canal.
– Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust, where volunteers wanted to raise support for the Trust, and the proposed Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Park, by demonstrating the value of offering enjoyable waterway experiences for everyone.

The Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes offers a wonderful 11-mile stretch of lock-free cruising that gives a totally different view of Milton Keynes. Spending a couple of hours meandering through it on a canal boat, with crew to take care of everything, is a quick way to relax and unwind.

So the three organisations formed a Project Team and settled on a 12-guest boat as being the most simple to operate, and of a size that would work well on the busy waterway through MK. We looked first for an accessible second-hand trip boat.

There were none to be had. Then we looked for a boat to convert. None to be found at a price that made conversion worth it.

Becoming electric

Discussion turned to specifying a new boat. In a time of climate crisis, diesel seemed out of the question for a boat that will have at least a 50-year life. We explored diesel-hybrid solutions but decided to pin our colours to our mast and go wholly green, not just for propulsion but in the way we run cruises. So out went single use items, in came reusables, recycling, and working with local suppliers.

From a tendering exercise we chose Colecraft Engineering Ltd as our preferred contractor and negotiated a unique specification developed with Fischer Panda, which will support up to 10 hours cruising in a day.

Alongside the specification activity Trust volunteers ran five public meetings from July 2019 to March 2020, building up contacts with potential volunteers and supportive local organisations. The Milton Keynes Canalside Forum, which brings together businesses, canal users, and the 11 Parish/Town Councils through which the Grand Union Canal flows, also backed the project.

2020 – raising the funds to commission the boat

Fundraising began with a trust contribution, an appeal to trust members, and a bid to Milton Keynes Community Foundation for support to make the boat electric and wheelchair-accessible.

Milton Keynes Council then allocated Section 106 development funding from Campbell Wharf to the pot, and we had the necessary £140K in place by September 2020 to commission the build from October 2020.

During this time Trust volunteers had also developed a business plan and started all the work needed to obtain an Operating Licence from the Canal & River Trust.

2021 – volunteering through Covid

At the start of 2021 the Covid pandemic had been in full flow for nine months. Meetings were virtual, recruiting and training stopped, and the build was slowed by supply chain issues.

Trust volunteers were still busy fundraising – this time for the £25K needed to fully equip the boat and its crew – and, thanks to local Parish/Town Councils, MK Councillors, local Rotary Clubs and the national Postcode Community Trust, had raised this by the time the boat arrived and was craned in at Willowbridge Marina early in May 2021 and formally launched later that month.

On shore, volunteers set to and created a cruise programme, marketing materials, and most important of all, started building a social media presence for Electra on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

By late July we were ready to start cruising, with 25 boat crew and a further 6 volunteers working on shore. Although Covid restrictions had just been reduced, we decided to run with a maximum of 8 guests on board and put in place a set of ‘Covid practices’ for the whole season. This included keeping the bow windows open in winter – but guests have wrapped up warm and enjoyed the great outdoors from on board Electra.

From late July to mid-December Trust volunteers ran a total of 189 cruises, carrying 1,250 guests, extremely positive feedback, all from our Marina base and layby mooring at Campbell Wharf, kindly provided by The Parks Trust and Crest Nicholson.

We spent the winter recruiting and training more volunteer crew so that we could expand operations in 2022.

2022 – our second season

Our season started well in April and we ran 264 cruises, with over 2,600 guest on board, including new cruises from Great Linford Manor Park visitor mooring kindly provided by The Parks Trust. Guests enjoyed sailing over the Iron Trunk Aqueduct and tranquil cruises to New Bradwell, as well as new food cruises from Campbell Wharf – curry cruises in partnership with Namji and fish & chip lunches in partnership with Moores’ Fish & Chips in Oxley Park.  We introduced our Schools Learning Partnership Programme and ran several sponsored cruises thanks to generous support from Ward Councillors and John Lewis and Waitrose.

Sadly, during October 2022 our batteries became unreliable and after extensive investigations and research we concluded that Electra would have to come out of the water to have the batteries renewed. We took advantage of the break to have vital upgrade work done inside and out, and to implement new training and management regimes to preserve the new batteries.

2023 – our third season

Back on the water in June 2023, we made up for lost time with 200 cruises running right up to Christmas. That’s another 2,000 people on the water in MK, most of them for the first time. A trip on Electra gives a whole new view of the city, its wildlife and green spaces, and its little known canal heritage.

New public cruises that have proved popular are Sunday morning Chill-out Cruises, Ploughman’s Lunch cruises on Sundays, and half-day cruises to Fenny Stratford as well as Cosgrove. We worked with three primary schools this year, delivering learning on board for pupils, and ran nine sponsored cruises for community groups of various kinds.

Guests on board generously donated over £2,000 to our Family Specials Fund which will enable us to run multiple cruises in 2024 for organisations working families in need of an outing and a break.

Our volunteers take a much-deserved winter, before getting ready for next season … apart that is from getting the Electra Welcome Centre ready to open at Campbell Wharf for 2024, and supporting Canal & River Trust in cutting back overgrown vegetation on the canal in MK. We like to be busy!

Find out more

You can follow Electra across social media, just seach for: @ElectraBoatMK

If you have questions, comments or suggestions about ‘what next’ for Electra, please do get in touch at electra@bmkwaterway.org  Our volunteers are happy to share our experience so far and work with you to improve what Electra can offer in the future.