A TRUST will be able to continue hiring out its narrowboat to youth groups after securing a grant to make essential repairs.

Bromley Youth Trust applied for £1,520 from the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of the company which owns News Shopper.

The successful bid will pay for eight windows to be replaced which had begun to let rainwater into the boat.

Trust chairman Les Dobbs said: “It’s a weight off our minds to hear the news because we were quite concerned about how to raise these funds.

“We just want to keep the boat going- this will enable us to do it and make it user-friendly.

“No-one wants water dripping on them, it would have got to the point where no one wanted to use it.”

In 1986, a campaign began to raise money to build a boat that young people in the borough could use.

The Bromley Youth Trust was set up to manage the narrowboat which has a kitchen, beds, toilets and a shower.

Since 1989, a number of youth groups including scouts and guides have had the opportunity to take a trip in it, taking up to 13 people at a time.

Around 200 young people benefit each year, travelling along the Grand Canal from Leighton Buzzard where the boat is moored.

Groups use it for up to a week or just a weekend.

Each year, Scout leader Chris Elmer takes a group from the 5th Beckenham South scouts out on it.

He said: “It’s cheaper than commercial boats which makes it accessible to us. It offers single beds so we can take groups of children away.

“It’s different- most these kids would never normally get to go narrowboating.

“We are very lucky in Bromley to have it.”

The trust also has a minibus which it also hires out to youth groups at preferential rates.

To contact the trust email byt@dobbsfam.demon.co.uk