The Metropolis

"For £30 they've destroyed three years work." Thieves devastate Clapton canal boat which runs trips for disabled children

Mike Pollitt | Thursday 8 November, 2012 16:34

Just an awful story coming out of Clapton last week.

On the canal at Lea Bridge, just near Hackney Marshes, is moored a handsome green canal boat called the MV Challenge. This is a charity boat, it runs trips for disabled people up and down the waterways. The charity has a blog, which over the last few months has been chronicling the refurbishment of the boat through a lottery grant. Friday’s entry begins:

“Over the past three years the volunteers at Docklands Canal Boat Trust, who all have disabilities, have worked all hours to modernise our community boat. Over the past few weeks we have shed blood to put in a place an energy management project which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund.”

But then, on sometime on bonfire night, thieves got in. The sinks were ripped out, as was the boiler, the newly laid cables and the copper pipes.

I spoke to Brian Devlin, the chairman of the Docklands Canal Boat Trust who own the MV Challenge.

“At a scrap yard, they’ll probably get £30-40,” Brian says.

The damage to the boat runs into thousands of pounds. The charity is insured, but months of work, just finished, will have to be re-done.

“It’s very sad. It’s put us back. The sad thing is that for three years the volunteers who put the work in are all disabled…we offer them volunteering opportunities on the boat, and [they] get the feel for working with people…we’ve worked so hard on that boat…it’s put us back for months. For about £30 [they have] destroyed three years work undertaken by disabled volunteers”

It’s hard to think of a less deserving target.

“Our main aim is to provide day trips and holidays for disabled people. Some of those are quite severely disabled. We take groups out and teach them about the river and environment.”

There’s no great moral to this tale, no bigger picture to draw. It’s a random crime. It happens all the time.

Brian and his team just have to deal with it. Their latest blog post, somehow, ends on the up. You sense that this is one challenge that is going to be met, whatever it takes.

“Our boat was named Challenge because it was a major challenge to raise the funds and get the boat built in the first place. This is just another challenge in our long history and we will WIN…”

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