We are looking for new members for the Fulbourne owners group.
Fulbourne is an ex working narrow boat, built in 1937, which has been restored back close to its original condition. It has a traditional back cabin, separate engine room (housing the National 2DM engine), with camping accommodation provided in the former cargo hold. The accommodation and facilities are basic. A new steel bottom was fitted in 2021-2.
A share in Fulbourne entitles you to boat at any time, and you will often be boating with some of the other owners. Subject to overall numbers, owners can bring guests boating with them, and we also have arrangements for exclusive use by one owner and his/her family and friends. Unlike most other share boats you are not buying specific weeks.
Fulbourne does not usually return to its home mooring between successive users. This enables us to travel much further from the home mooring and visit places which we wouldn't otherwise be able to reach, either leaving the boat moored up to the towpath or handing over directly to the next users.
Most of the maintenance work to the boat is done by the owners, mainly at our Aylesbury home mooring during the winter months, with only a few of the larger jobs carried out by boatyards.
Owners pay a monthly sum, currently £60, to cover all the running costs of the boat. There is also a small charge for using the boat, measured in "Fulbourne Boating Units" (FBUs), and FBU credit is given for time spent working on the boat.
We usually try to fix a broad itinerary each spring, based around attendance at rallies and events that owners wish to attend, or places we want to visit. Fixed points are normally attendance at Canalway Cavalcade (early May) and the IWA Festival of Water (late August), and we have often also joined the Braunston Historic Boat Gathering (late June). The itinerary then tends to evolve through the year. We often don't get back to the home mooring until November/December (and occasionally January), and are then off again before the May Bank Holiday, so we don't spend a lot of time at Aylesbury.
The Fulbourne owners group was set up in 1985 by a group of friends with the aim of buying a working boat to restore and go boating on. Fulbourne was acquired in 1986, and over the next few years was put back into more or less its original condition.
A formal agreement sets out how the group operates. We meet regularly to discuss boat matters. These days most meetings are held on Zoom, but we meet in person for our Annual General Meeting. We also have our own email group where boat matters are discussed, together with an Online Log where boating and work done and the names of those present are recorded.
At present we have 11 shareholders together with a couple of "other halves" who don't own shares but are active participants in group activities. 2 shares are currently for sale. Originally all London based, the shareholders are now spread between London, Yorkshire and Suffolk, with two living overseas. 3 of the current shareholders have been involved since 1986. Shareholders ages range from their 40s to 70s, but we would like to gain some younger shareholders.
The group makes a daily charge for each day's boating use. Days spent at rallies and similar occasions do not attract a FBU charge. FBUs are currently charged at £7/day for shareholders and £12/day for non-shareholders.
The monthly contribution, together with the FBU income, covers all the group's outgoings - CRT and other waterway licences, moorings, insurance, diesel, gas, other consumables, repairs and maintenance, rally entry fees etc.
If you would like to know more, please contact Fulbourne-Shares@Fulbourne.uk