The Barge
The Arts Barge Project rescued Selby Tony in 2013. She was one of a small fleet belonging to BOCM factory in Selby and used to work on the River Ouse transporting animal feed, newsprint and other goods between Selby, York, Goole and Hull.
Since 2013 she has undergone remedial steel works in Waddington’s Boat Yard in Swinton and passed a full survey. She has undergone steel conversion works by Hirst Boatbuilders in Knottingley, to Architects specifications by DSP Architects.
To come into York, the barge was ballasted down with 45 tons of water and sand to get under the bridge at Great Heck. Acaster Water Transport did an amazing job with their tug Little Shuva. See a video of this extraordinary feat below!
The Arts Barge made its debut season as a temporary festival venue in the summer of 2019. Funds for the project are raised through arts events, regular donations, crowd funding, grants and private investment. The project started in 2009 and we continue to fundraise to finish the job!
Selby Tony is now in Foss Basin, where internal fit-out and installation of a proper deck-house will take place. The Arts Barge has permission to moor permanently alongside Tower Gardens when an appropriate mains connected rise and fall mooring can be installed.
Latest Update: May 23
After a long, enforced hiatus due to you know what, Arts Barge returned for a short second season of events in 2022. Alongside these, a fantastic community effort via an Aviva Crowd Funder smashed the target amount of £13,600 - enough to fully insulate the barge. Volunteers really pulled out all the stops to help with the enormous task of installing internal woodwork in preparation for the insulation before the weather got too cold and damp. We were just in time - the insulation was completed in the Autumn - and we bought some portholes!
Brewers Decorator Centre generously donated ALL the paint to get Selby Tony repainted and restored to her original colours. This will take place by community volunteers in summer / early Autumn 2023.
The next big job is building a deckhouse to make the barge fully weatherproof and give us an inside upstairs complete with fully accessible loo and lift!
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