THE chairman of a trust that provide boat trips and holidays to vulnerable and disabled people was the latest speaker at Borderland Rotary Club.

The club Chris Symes, chairman of Lyneal Trust in Ellesmere, last week where he gave a very engaging talk about this canal-based charity which has been on the water since 1985 and helped more than 20,000 people with special needs, enjoy holidays and trips on their narrowboats.

A Borderland Rotary Club said Chris gave a comprehensive breakdown of what the Trust offers and thanked him for his time.

They said: "Chris explained that the charity, based between Ellesmere and Whitchurch on the Llangollen Canal, has two boats geared for weekly hire and one for day hire.

"All are purpose build to cater for people with special needs, disabled or wheelchair bound.

"The guests board the boats via a ramp and onto a lift which safely lowers, even larger wheel chairs, onto the cabin deck where everything is at hand.

"More recently, the trust developed the 19th century Wharf Cottage into accessible holiday accommodation so that even more people can enjoy the wonderful Shropshire countryside."

Chris thanked the Club for wanting to hear about the Trust.

He said: “All the narrowboat crewing, the meet and greet and the general running of the trust is done by volunteers, like myself with only specialist tasks, for example, boat maintenance being done by specialist contractors.

"I’ve loved my time with the trust and am so pleased that Borderland Rotary is now supporting us.”

If you’d like more info about the work of Borderland Rotary go to www.borderlandrotary.org

For more about the Lyneal Trust, head to https://www.lyneal-trust.org.uk/