Brilliant news…
October 2025
The Jericho Living Heritage Trust’s Kilsby Project has been awarded £210,728 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore and relaunch our Kilsby narrowboat as an accessible floating heritage hub for arts, leisure and community activity on the Oxford Canal!
Announcing the award, Stuart McLeod, Director of England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“We’re proud to support the restoration of Kilsby, a remarkable piece of Oxford’s canal heritage. Thanks to National Lottery players, this project will not only preserve an important historic vessel but also create a hub for the community to connect with the local heritage on their doorstep.”
Getting to this point has been a great collective effort. Volunteers, individual donors, local businesses, civic leaders, and charities have made generous and ongoing contributions in cash and kind since 2019 when the boat was donated to the Trust in a salvageable but uninhabitable condition. Since then also, the vision for Kilsby’s future has been shaped by the project’s steering group and other volunteers in the community and now, finally, we are within sight of re-creating this living heritage asset for Oxford.
This Heritage Fund award and our match income will enable Kilsby’s urgent repair and restoration works to forge ahead (pun intended, there will be a lot of steel involved!) in 2026; it will also support adjacent activities, consultation and piloting of Kilsby’s programme.
Our bid was up against stiff competition and we thank the Heritage Fund for this significant support and recognition. We also thank all of YOU who have supported and continue to support the project - be it with financial contributions, your time, encouragement … or even just taking the time to read these newsletters! We are grateful to the other community-led projects that inspired us and shared their expertise - Birdswood trip boat and the Friends of the Cromford canal, for example.
Evidence of this helped us secure the Lottery investment and will remain pivotal for the project’s onward success.
So… Thank you...
What will the award fund?
The Heritage Fund grant, together with our match funds and volunteer input, underpins a 2.5 year phase of the Kilsby Project - 2025-2028.
Around 60% of the funding is allocated to the capital works — including the stern restoration and the installation of a new electric motor. A hydraulic lift will increase access to this lovely old vessel, and a faithfully restored boatman’s cabin will create an immersive space in which to bring the stories of families living on board back to life.
The remainder will support a pilot project where we will be able to test our operational model and explore how Kilsby, now powered and afloat, can best serve as a community asset, trialing music events, schools activities, talks, story-telling, and themed trips.
Do we have everything we need?
Despite this generous award, we do still have a further £20,000 to raise to meet budget and the Heritage Fund match funding requirements for the project.
Meanwhile, fundraising for the ongoing creation of innovative and accessible experiences to be offered both onboard and off shore will be a continuing endeavor.
So, ever grateful to all you who have already donated, we must continue our appeals for support and warmly welcome all contributions.
The overarching aim of the award is to help us achieve the ambitions of the project;
To restore a rare historic boat so that it may serve as a community asset, readily accessed by people from all walks of life.
To learn and demonstrate ways in which heritage vessels can be rebuilt to operate functionally and sustainably.
To inspire wonder and connection to local waterways heritage through the arts.
To do all of the above in a manner that is shaped by volunteers involved in leadership, communications, research and hands-on learning.
Speaking of volunteers…
We have some money, we have a plan, now all we need is YOU!
CLICK HERE to register your interest in volunteering.
We are looking to form a network of Kilsby guardians, connected by a communal effort to sustain and enjoy the boat, each other, and our waterways heritage.
Upcoming volunteering opportunities include, but are not limited to
Joining Kilsby’s relocation cruise - from Banbury to Aynho along the Oxford Canal. We’ll need people to open and close locks, take photos, and bring flasks of tea.
Helping to organise a project launch event in January 2026. Drinks, nibbles and a bit of music to get us geared up together for this next phase.
Stewarding at events - eg Jericho Singers concerts.
Local fundraising activities.
Social media - do you have a passion for creating meaningful content? We are looking for someone who has an idea for how this project should blossom and bloom into the social media sphere! Short films? Songs? Animations? Blog posts? If you are feeling inspired, please get in touch.
We are always keen to hear from people with professional skills - legal.
In the slightly longer term we will be seeking volunteers to undertake Skipper training courses and Disability Awareness Training, please feel free to look at the bigger picture when considering how you want to get involved.
Thank you!
