Royal Approval For New Stockton Inland Waterways Centre 

HRH The Princess Royal opens new Willow Wren Training centre in Warwickshire

Stockton-based Willow Wren Training received the Royal Seal of approval as Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opened its new state-of-the-art training centre on Thursday 18 September.

Family-owned Willow Wren, at Nelson’s Wharf, is one of the UK’s busiest inland waterways training centres, teaching hundreds of people from all over Britain to safely handle narrowboats and navigate the nation’s waterways every year.

And Her Royal Highness, President of the RYA, met the centre's staff and volunteers plus people who have honed their skills at the centre, before taking to the helm of one of Willow Wren’s training boats, Peggy, herself and showing delighted guests exactly how it should be done!

Situated on the Grand Union Canal at the heart of the Midlands’ World famous inland waterways network, Willow Wren Training’s impressive new facilities will play a pivotal role in educating both locals and experienced inland helms alike as to the accessibility and benefits of getting training. 

More than 200 people have already taken advantage of courses at the new centre since it started operating in April.

Steve Vaughan, Willow Wren Training Centre Principal and Chief Instructor, explains: "Steering a narrowboat on a canal is not difficult, and if you make a mistake, they’re made of steel and are pretty resilient. But, if you want to do it right every single time and not end up in embarrassing situations where you’re hitting something, that’s where the training works. 

"It’s lovely to see people’s faces when we show them how something should be done and it clicks and, for example, they don’t take four attempts to come into moor, they do it first time every time no matter how windy or shallow it is. Whatever the conditions they can do it every time.

"We’re serious about training and we want to make ‘training' a good word for the inland waterways. Now we’re on the main canal, people can see us and hopefully realise training can help in a lot of ways while boating.

"It’s phenomenal having Her Royal Highness opening the centre, the hairs on the back of my neck have been standing up. With HRH coming here it gives it all credibility and says ‘Look training is ok’."

Work on the centre started on 1 October last year with the clearance of many square metres of waist high brambles and nettles. The building was in place with the roof on and watertight by Christmas and finished by end of March. 

The inside of the building gives Willow Wren three times the floor space as its previous building while they now run three training boats as opposed to just the one. 

As an recognised RYA Training Centre, meaning it conforms to the highest standards of quality and safety, Willow Wren’s five instructors teach both recreational and commercial users for 52 weeks a year. 

Rachel Andrews, RYA Chief Instructor Motor Cruising and Power, was one of the guests. She said: “The Midlands is the capital for inland waterways, everything meets here and there’s such a rich heritage with access to the network from so many doorsteps. 

"It’s great to have canal frontage the general public can walk past and see there is not only an exciting new building gone up but also that there is lots of activity happening around the boats.  

“One of the freedoms around the UK is that you can just take out a boat for pleasure, but once people take some training, or see other people doing things a different way, they want to know more. It also spreads important messages of confidence and safety.

“If you’re thinking of hiring a boat to go on holiday, just doing two days' training gives you so much confidence in terms of how are you going to approach locks, what the protocols around the locks are, how you pass other vessels for example and it makes things a whole lot safer and more enjoyable." 

During her visit Her Royal Highness also unveiled a commemorative plaque, being presented with a posy of flowers by three-year-old Southam girl Alexandra Mackay, while children from Stockton Primary School enthusiastically greeted her and waved flags. 

Amongst the centre’s most popular courses is the RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman Course as well as more advanced and supplementary courses including diesel engine maintenance, Marine Radio VHF SRC and First Aid. 

For more information about Willow Wren Training visit www.willowwrentraining.co.uk or to discover how you can make use of the inland waterways across the UK visit www.rya.org.uk