Audlem Lass Easter boat service

A week today, the new boat service between Audlem Lock 15 and Overwater Marina will start to operate.

Audlem Lass can seat 12 passengers and will be crewed by a team of volunteer coxswains led by Rod Cottrell. There will be a scheduled service between Lock 15 and the Marina at weekends and bookings will be taken for trips during the week. These could include longer trips to Hack Green (for the Secret Bunker) and to Nantwich.

All profits from the service will be donated to the RNLI, the lifeboat charity that Rod Cottrell has supported for many years.

Rod first purchased the hull, a 16'6" whaler and the boat has now been fitted out with the benefit of grants with new seating, a new engine, weather proofing and other equipment. Funding for the lifejackets was by the Inland Waterways Association using funds kindly donated by Miss Jean Evans.

PontoonWhen the boat was first tested, Rod decided the step down on to Audlem Lass from the proposed quayside at the marina was just a little too steep for some passengers. So, within hours, he had located a new pontoon and, with the help of a trailer supplied by Tern Hill Trailers, was off to collect his find.

The pontoon had to be dismantled to be transported and will be reassembled at Overwater Marina with new decking. Our photos show it arriving at Overwater and being unloaded after its eight hour journey to the marina from Scotland.

Over the Easter weekend, the normal £1 fare (50p for children) a trip will be waived and replaced with a donation to to the RNLI, the lifeboat charity. The money from Audlem will, the RNLI say, be going towards a new lifeboat at New Brighton on the Wirral.

Weekend services on Audlem Lass will start at 9.30am from Overwater Marina and 9.45am from Lock 15 at the bottom of the Audlem Locks, about half a mile from the village centre. Services will then be on the half and the hour from the marina and the quarter and three quarter hours from Lock 15.

BookingsIf you are interested in booking a special trip – the scheduled service will not involve bookings – please call Rod on 01270 811454.

The fit out of Audlem Lass has been part financed by the Overwater Marina and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas.

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