The Vale of Llangollen Canal Boat Trust was formed in 1983 to raise money to build a narrowboat to provide day trips and holidays for disabled and disadvantaged people of all ages. Over the years we have operated three boats, 'Myfanwy', 'Glas y Dorlan' and 'Millie', however, due to the economic situation and rising costs, we now have only our day-trip boat, 'Glas y Dorlan' and regret we can no longer offer holidays (see below). The Trust is run on a voluntary basis.

• We were delighted to receive a donation of £400 from Mrs Betty Thelwell's whist group who meet at the Froncysyllte Community Centre. The cheque was presented at the volunteers' get-together in December, by her husband Terry, who is also one of our volunteer skippers and spends a great deal of time looking after Glas y Dorlan. 

• We are pleased to report that Ladbrokes, Llangollen have donated £1,000 to the Trust. We are very grateful to Ladbrokes for including us in their charity donations (see Fund Raising).  

• One of our trustees, Dave Mason, has very generously made a donation of £1,000 to the Trust, as part of his Charity Fund when he was President of the Rotary Club of Wrexham, earlier this year (see Fund Raising).

• Richard Jones has raised £560.00 riding in the Etape Cymru on the 9th October 2011 (see Fund Raising).

• We were delighted to receive a cheque for £2,693.74 from the Vale of Llangollen Golf Club Captains' Charity Day (see Fund Raising).

• Rotary Club, Llangollen recently held a fundraising event at Geufron Hall, Llangollen, courtesy of Drs. Roger and Jane Williams, at which the magnificent sum of just over £1,000 was raised. We are very grateful to the members of Rotary for their efforts on our behalf and value greatly the support we receive from the local community.

We are pleased to announce the relaunch of Glas y Dorlan on 3rd May 2011 at Trevor Basin. The ceremony was performed by the High Sheriff of Clwyd, E.F. Lloyd FitzHugh O.B.E., D.L., J.P., followed by a blessing by his chaplain, the Rev. Gary Windon.

The Trust has found the last few years very difficult from a financial point of view, and expenses (licences, insurances, fuel and repairs) have continued to exceed fund raising and donations for the past 3 years.

Our operating funds had reduced to the stage, where the future of the Trust was being put into question and this, coupled with the tightening of budgets by many of our users as well as the reduction of resources, has meant that our holiday boat Millie has been under utilised.

With the demand for day trips on Glas y Dorlan continuing to be high the Trustees needed to take action to secure the future of the Trust and to make sure that we could continue to provide day trips for our many users for years to come.

The Trust's committee decided that, at the end of the 2010 operating season, our 2 boats would be put up for sale on the basis that, when one was sold, this would enable the Trust to (a) convert Millie to a day boat or (b) totally refurbish Glas y Dorlan. This meant that the Trust would be running only one boat in the future instead of two as in previous years, giving us savings in running costs, licences and repairs.

I'm pleased to say that Millie, our holiday boat, has been sold and a full and extensive programme of refurbishing of Glas y Dorlan, both inside and out, will commence in January 2011. This will give the Trust a day-trip boat finished to the highest level of comfort and décor for both our passengers and crew for future years. We are now confident that we will be able to continue our valuable service to our many users as a result of the actions we have taken.

Colin Burman

Chairman

Photos of HRH Prince Charles’ visit to the Canal Boat Trust at Froncysyllte on 2nd March 2009 are available here.

We’ve uploaded a few images of the Aqueduct and a watercolour Glas y Dorlan here.