Volunteers take on big clean of charity boat

The Maid goes into dry dock every two years

Charity volunteers have clubbed together to carry out maintenance on one of their boats, which is used to take people with disabilities on canal trips and holidays.

The Lyneal Trust offers wheelchair-accessible day trips or full week holidays on their boats to cater for people with disabilities, and others.

To ensure the narrowboats are kept in ship-shape condition, each boat is taken into dry dock every two years for work which includes pressure washing the boat to remove algae and dirt, and treating the hull to protect it from corrosion.

The Maid was brought into Ellesmere Yard on Thursday morning with six of the charity's volunteers taking part in the cleaning.

New volunteer Dave Davies pressure washes the boat as part of its big biennial clean in dry dock

Volunteer Pete Fox, who is one of the skippers for the charity, said the boatyard was a fantastic place to go and the trust was a fun place to help out.

Mr Fox said: "It's a lovely chance to spend time on the canal talking to people who have got some fantastic personal stories about how they've managed to [overcome] adversity and have got to a place where they can come out on the canal and enjoy it with us."

Volunteer Nicky Fox said it was nice to "give something back" by helping the charity.

She said: "It's quite humbling sometimes to see what [people] manage to get through with their disabilities or situations.

"It's just watching the joy on their faces when they do things they never thought they'd do, like getting to steer the boats - when they're in a wheelchair, it's things they never imagined they'd be doing."