I'm hoping for some information on some boats from Grebe Canal Cruises.
My names Mark, and I worked at Grebe for 8 years from the age of 16 to 24. Working there under the management of Nicky and Malcom, It felt like you were part of a family, everyone was helpful and passionately enjoyed working there, and it was great to work along side people who lived on the canals. I have nothing but happy memories of working there.
After finding Rays post from 2015...
...I did some digging and found a photo of Chiltern Countess under renovation from a trip boat to a live-aboard (I believe)
and the website for bridgewater cruises with Princess of the Chilterns, which is now Francis.
I am so happy to see her being loved, looked after and used.
Lastly I found pictures of Kingfisher of Tring, which were from around 2015, in a sorry state at Regents Park, far from home and in bad condition.
Its so upsetting to see her like this. There was so much history with this boat. I first went on this boat when I was little with my nan and grandad before I lived anywhere near there, and years later ended up working on her. I have great memories of this boat as a child and working on her.
Does anyone have any details of what has happened to Kingfisher between then and now. Has she been rescued???
Has anyone seen how Countess is doing under whatever name she now has. She's an Electric wide beam boat with bow thrusters. My brother also had worked at Lee Valley for a while so is going to ask them if they were doing it up, but I'd be interested to find out what has happened to her?
I understand the day boats may have been scrapped which is a shame, but if anyone has seen or knows what happened to Dabchick and Little Grebe, then that'd be awesome! We used to do trips at the Leighton Buzzard canal festival and Tring canal festival with them, and me and my brother did that a few times, and loved those boats, and it was also my job to clean them before they went out on day trips.
Any information would be great!