Barge society to run 'magical' trips for open days

Syntan was the first barge the society acquired and turns 75 this year

People are being offered the opportunity to travel on former working barges in East Yorkshire as part of heritage open days.

Visitors will be able to learn about the vessels in a floating museum and take a trip along Beverley Beck.

Syntan, Sun and Mermaid have each been restored by the Beverley Barge Preservation Society's volunteers over a number of years.

Organisers said there was nothing quite like travelling by boat and were looking forward to offering people the experience.

"It's a chance for people to see a bit of Beverley that they don't see that often," said Iain Campbell, 68, who is a trustee for the society.

He explained that Syntan would be open as an interactive museum for people to have a "poke around".

Displaying donated artefacts and old photos, it aims to offer an insight into the history of the barges and Beckside area of Beverley.

"Lots of people who live in the town don't even appreciate that the beck is here," he said.

Mr Campbell said he most looks forward to meeting the "vast array of people" who come to the open days

Sun was the second vessel the society acquired and would also be moored up for people to explore.

Initially, bringing the former maintenance boat back into use looked unlikely as the group struggled to raise money for repairs.

"We were beginning to lose any faith that we were ever going to be able to do anything with it," Mr Campbell explained.

However, thanks to donations they were ultimately able to "fit her out" as a trip boat.

Sun's chairs came from East Yorkshire Motor Services and her tables came from Northern Rail

The third boat for people to visit would be Mermaid, offering "taster" trips for groups of up to 10 on the beck.

Mr Campbell said the trips were "very popular” and that people come back “buzzing” from the experience.

"If you've survived a trip on Mermaid, you may want to do a trip on the bigger Sun or on the few trips we take Syntan downstream into Hull or beyond," he said.

“There is something magical about travelling on a boat.”

The open days will be running on 6 September and 8 September from 11:00 BST to 15:00 on Beverley Beck.

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