Belarus children come over to play

MKPA were proud to be asked to provide a play session aboard Funion Bargee for eight children from Belarus. Every year children are flown over to England to stay with families all over the country. They come from poor families who may also have health problems due to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles in to the atmosphere. To this day the disaster is still effecting a large number of people: health problems, contamination of land and the initial evacuation from homes. Although the disaster happened in another country, Belarus was one of the hardest hit areas.

Belarus children's visit to Funion Bargee

 

The children had a fantastic time being on a narrowboat for the first time and their enthusiasm was astounding. They enjoyed boat making and then floating them in the canal, net fishing, spray art, circus skills, rope swings and, surprisingly, word searches! None of them could speak English but enjoyed looking for the words.  Not one of them moaned or was bored and hearing their laughter was a great sound.

We hope to be able to offer the same opportunities to the visiting children next year.

Blisworth Canal Festival a big success

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The festival was bigger and better than last year and the weather didn’t seem to put anyone off.  Funion Bargee saw 100 children over the two days join in with dragonfly making, big art, pirate hats, telescopes and colouring. There was some fantastic feedback from the children and adults alike. All in all the weekend was a great success and we can’t wait to be part of the festival next year.

Blisworth canal festival this weekend

Funion Bargee will be at the Blisworth Canal Festival on 6th & 7th August, 11- 3pm both days. Other attractions include: boat trips, historic boats, 1000 ft of canal traders (including the cheese boat, fudge boat and cookie boat), children’s fun fair, open gardens (sunday only) and much more. Entry is free for this family festival, except for a small fee for the open gardens. The playboat will be moored opposite the mill off of the High Street. Loads of fun activities for all ages to enjoy, so why not come and say hello and see what we’re up to. Take a peek at their website to find out more about whats going on over the weekend.

http://blisworthcanalfestival.co.uk/

BUCKINGHAM CANAL SOCIETY FESTIVAL

Funion Bargee will be at the festival in Cosgrove this weekend, 23rd & 24th July. We will be moored at the bottom of the garden at the Barley Mow pub and will be open 11-3 both days, so why not pop along for some fun and games. Please see the link to find out what else is going on.  Lets hope the sun shines for us!

http://www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk/

£60,000 FOR IRON TRUNK AQUEDUCT RESTORATION

The Iron Trunk Aqueduct, Wolverton won the ITV Peoples Millions vote, thank you to everyone who did vote for this project. This means means the project is now £60,000 better off and will be using the money to help with the 200th birthday restoration project which will take the aqueduct back to its former glory. The work will hopefully start in September and will cause little disruption to navigation. Why not pop down and see the works in progress.

IRON TRUNK AQUEDUCT & PEOPLES MILLIONS GRANT

 Most of you won’t be aware that the Iron Trunk aqueduct, Old Wolverton, Grand Union Canal, Milton Keynes, has got to the finals for a Peoples Millions grant of £60,000 to restore it back to its former glory, it also celebrates its 200^th birthday this year. It was a feat of engineering for its time and is one of Milton Keynes’ famous landmarks on the canal. The quote below has come from the Peoples Millions website (link below) and this project is up against one other to compete for the grant money, have a look at the website to find out more.

 ‘The Iron Trunk Aqueduct on the Grand Union Canal has made it through to the final six in the Anglia TV region. It will feature on ITV’s People’s Millions on Monday 27 June from 6pm, in the Anglia Tonight news program.’

 http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk/2011-finalists/anglia

This link will tell you more about the history of the aqueduct.  http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/newsroom/all-press-releases/display/id/3109

 Also, Anglia TV have made a short film, about 2 minutes long, to promote the bid. Funion Bargee was involved with this along with British Waterways, Wolverton & Greenleys Town Council, Slated Row school, Cosgrove school and Radcliffe school. The film will be shown on Anglia Tonight (Monday 27^th June) from 6pm.

 Now this is the really important bit. This project needs your vote, you can only vote TODAY, 27^th June, by telephone and if you feel the need you can vote up to 10 times from each telephone number. The number is on the webpage but here is it.

0871 626 88 05

 Thank you for your support

 

 

Funion Bargee at Great Linford Waterside Festival

The annual Waterside Festival at Great Linford Manor Park is on this weekend, Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June and Funion Bargee will be there with lots of free fun activities for the children. The playboat will be open from 12 till 4 both days. There will also be much more going on throughout the Manor grounds with something for everyone from live music to charity stalls. Check out the website for more information. The playboat team hope to see you there.

www.watersidefestival.co.uk

Funion Bargee gets a new look!

The Funion Bargee has been given a new look thanks to some of the children and young people who have visited it on play sessions recently. We asked them to produce pictures which we could then put on the side of the boat to make is look more playful. They came up with loads of ideas and we held a competition to choose the ones which would finally be added to the boat. Mandy, one of the boat rangers, has a background in community art and led the project. She also worked with SignaRama  in Milton Keynes to transform the children’s pictures into transfers which could then be applied to the boat’s superstructure. Now nobody can mistake the Funion Bargee as it travels down the Grand Union for anything other than a playboat.

Amy and Olivia, two of the competition winners, helping Mandy to position one of their pictures.

 

 

Another of our winners, India (right) with her cousin Mia standing between India's pictures which are of them both.

Easter Fun’ion Bargee

The sun was out and so were many people who attended both the Easter time events we attended.
MK Marina open day on Easter Bank holiday Monday saw 150 children join in with pirate activities. Click on the links below to see a write-up of the day and the article in MK Citizen

http://www.mkmarina.co.uk/News/2011/05/GREAT-SUCCESS-2nd-Milton-Keynes-Marina-Open-Day/

http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/community/water_fans_set_their_sails_for_marina_open_day_1_2648187

30th April saw Funion Bargee at MK Parks Trusts May Day celebrations at Campbell Park. Over 400 children came by the boat to join in the activities on board and outside.

The staff who worked on both days very much enjoyed themselves which means the children had a great time too.

Summer 2010 picture competition

During last summers sessions we asked the children to draw pictures for us that could be used to decorate Funion Bargee. 60 pictures were drawn and the staff at MKPA were asked to choose their top 10 out of the 60. There were 10 clear winners and the next task was to get them printed up. Mandy, one of our boat rangers has worked hard in getting the pictures printed and getting them on to the boat, what a jolly good job she has done.

We would like to thank all the children who did pictures for us and congratulations to those who had their pictures chosen.

This activity has allowed the play boat to become more appealing to children and has allowed them to put their own mark on their playspace.