There are over 3,000 miles of canals in England and Wales. Many of them are over 200 years old. I am currently based at Norton Junction, which connects the Grand Union Canal between London and Birmingham and the Grand Union’s Leicester Line, which connects Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham.
The canal is used by a variety of narrowboats. Wide beam boats, historic boats, working boats, paddle boards, canoes, river cruisers and more. There are sailors who conduct business on their boats, those who live on their boats, those who vacation on the canals, and those who rent boats for vacations and day trips. Some boaters have moorings, while others, known as “serial cruisers”, do not have moorings and are often the most vulnerable.
Waterway pastors are volunteers from local churches. Do you have a license or are you a regular person? We visit waterways to provide assistance, interaction and listening to individuals and businesses. There are three paid staff members, including National Chaplain Chris Upton, all of whom are affiliated with the Church Army and drawn from all denominations.
A few years ago, while vacationing on my first boat, My husband and I collapsed on a steep section of the South Oxford Canal. We alerted a gentleman on a work boat who towed us to safety. He refused to pay, but said, “If you see people on other boats in trouble, please help them as I helped you.” One day I saw a waterway minister helping a sailor whose house was set on fire, and God did the rest.
We are God’s hands and feet on the towpath. We can listen to and support bereavement stories, including providing food parcels through our members at River and Canal Rescue, the canal AA, and helping with boat repairs and breakdowns. , we can also provide practical assistance.
One boater found my jacket and told me my food had been cut off the boat. That conversation led to many stories, and he eventually licensed the boat through Universal Credit. A church off the coast of the Kennet and Avon Canal is opening its shower facilities to sailors like him who live on small river cruisers without shower facilities.
My husband and I both work part-time. I live with my two dogs in a narrow boat that is less than 2 years old. We are in a very lucky position. If the grass grows too long or your neighbors don’t like it, just move on, he says. We bought our first boat as a memory for my mother-in-law, who had a shop by the canal. We loved it and we had a home, but the more we were on the ship, the happier and more comfortable we became.
I spent most of my active career as a trainer. We then ran a guest house and pub in Devon. Very few pub landlords are licensed lay ministers. In my early 40s, I felt so strongly that God was calling me into ministry that I became an LLM. I then applied for a job as an administrator within the Diocese of Oxford, worked as a PA under two archdeacons, and also gained a qualification in human resources. Currently, I am a safeguarding trainer and my husband is the director of operations for a charity for children in care. Two days a week, our dinette becomes her office.
There are some places along the canal that cannot be reached by car. There is beauty and wildlife and a true appreciation for God’s creation, small moments that will never be repeated. . . Last spring, as we passed a field with sheep, we heard a distressed lamb bleating and running across the field to the lamb calling for its mother. There were many sermon themes from what we saw on the canal.
We have a friendly, resilient community and an improved pace of life. When I travel around the city, I see people walking while looking at their cell phones. But once you leave the city, people are friendly and talk to each other. sunday morning live BBC1 recently interviewed a boater I worked with. The person was talking about the people who came to walk their dog or go shopping when they were sick.
Yes, we are fleeting, but we will meet. We also have social media networks and look out for each other. Winter is even more difficult because people tend to hunker down and stay indoors. Most of us have a wood burner or some kind of multi-fuel burner, but the cost of coal has doubled in the last two years and some people don’t qualify for the £600 fuel allowance. It also took the government a long time to realize that some people didn’t have a postcode. Their payments are now complete, but if they are not authorized by the Canal and River Trust; [CRT], it’s even harder. I work closely with her CRT staff to support the most vulnerable boaters, many of whom are elderly men with mental and physical health issues and financial challenges.
I work remotely, so I have internet. Although it is possible to communicate via 4G in some places, it is patchy across the country, with no wired network and limited to what people can afford.
Not having a postal code is one of the biggest challenges. A woman needed a doctor, but she had to register online, and her postal code was a required field. I finally took her to her surgery and was allowed to fill out her forms with her pen. But many vulnerable people with mental health and anxiety issues don’t have the confidence to continue. We’re working with local groups and her CRT to create a pop-up food and clothing bank that doesn’t ask users to enter their postcode.
I am helping an elderly gentleman with poor eyesight apply for housing benefits. — 20+ pages of paper — because case law states that boat license and mooring fees can be paid with Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. He is older and cannot manage the boat in the winter, so it is now important for him to moor it at home. If the canals freeze, we can’t get water, and because we don’t have cars, we can’t get coal.
It has been at anchor, but is now on an eight-month voyage. we are enjoying it very much. So let’s do it while we can. They will then spend the winter in areas closer to their families and church communities.
I still keep in touch with my church community through Zoom and email. Being connected to my home church means that I know that waterway pastors are being prayed for and that many other pastors are receiving support from their home church congregations. means. We are also members of Boaters Christian Fellowship and attend a church near the canal.
My childhood was spent in Northern Ireland. I went to school with Catholic and Protestant kids, and this had a huge impact on me growing up in the midst of upheaval. It shows us that we are all children of God. To Jesus, it doesn’t matter who you are. That’s how I approach people.
I have been playing the flute since I can remember. My first experience of God was singing in the choir of my grandmother’s church in Devon. I am a traditional rural Anglican, but music allows me to worship in many different ways and settings. I became a Christian in my mid-teens, belonged to a Christian youth group, and studied theology.
I’m angry that people on boats can’t access services Because decision makers don’t understand the culture.
I’m happiest when I’m out on the canal. Enjoy God’s creation and His amazing love aboard our boat.
We have an electric boat. So, for me, the best sound is the sound of water gently lapping while walking.
The fact that we can make the world a better place gives me hope. Being able to make a difference in someone’s life is my measure of success.
My walk on the towpath is a prayer walk. I pray for those I meet or pass by and that God will lead me to reveal His love to them. In the meantime, we dedicate all the work we do to God.
I choose to be locked up in the church with Peter, Because he reminds us of our humanity: we all make mistakes.
Helen Walker was talking to Terence Handley McMath.
Waterwayschaplaincy.org.uk