Heritage at work

摘要

"We're not a museum," says Matt Armitage, director of Tooley's Boatyard. You could havernfooled me. We're surrounded by ancient buildings, the oldest dry-dock on the network, a steam-chest for bending planks for wooden boats, and all the paraphernalia of a boatyard that's been in existence since before the canal was even completed. Not only that, but public tours of this historic site are run every Saturday in summer - which is why I'm there.rnEven so, this is still a working boatyard providing all the usual modern-day services: repairs, servicing, hull welding, painting, a resident gas fitter and a chandlery. It's also one with a town-centre site which means it's easily accessible by the public, but doesn't have the space for large numbers of moorings to support it.rnSo, taking all these factors together, Matt has added some extras to supportrnthe boatyard operations. These include maintaining Tooley's tradition of 'roses and castles decoration' (George Tooley painted the roses for Tom Rolt's boat Cressy) by offering courses in narrowboat decoration and other traditional waterways skills, operating trip-boats andrnboat handling courses, and, of course, the Saturday tours.