Reverie

As some of you know we started trading 12months ago making and selling bespoke soya wax candles and gifts from our narrowboat Mr Jingles! Our gifts are all made aboard and mainly from metal! As you can imagine working and living in the same 60ft of space was starting to become challenging especially for growing our metal craft and even for candle demand! We decided we needed to invest everything and make it work! ‘Go hard or go home’ I suppose, although that home would likely no more be on the canal to continue to live the lifestyle we have chosen and to continuously cruise we have to make it work! So please step forward butty Lyra!
Lyra is a 1935 Northwich Star Class Butty, Built by W.J.Yarwoods and Sons. A yard I am sure many of you have passed tucked away on the River Weaver in Northwich!
History of Lyra as we know so far is as follows, I am sure we will find out lots more as we go!
● 1935 Built by Yarwoods for G.U.C.C and paired Enceladus.
● 20/09/1935 Registered with fleet number 306.
● 1948 Lyra entered the BWB fleet, at nationalisation.
● 1968 Lyra was sold by BWB to Barry Lycett.
● 1970s not sure on dates here but at some point in the 70s it was owned by Pete Fincher.
● 1973 Lyra was working for TandA Collier Brothers carrying coal etc. and was paired with Elstree. At this point Lyra was also used by the scouts to camping trips! (Did they all have black faces after camping?)
● We then come to a gap until 2007!
● 2007 Lyra was owned by Ben Selfe and used as his work shop down at Saul Junction for his business Knot Krazy fender making/rope work!
● Around the 2010 time R.W Davis purchased Lyra from Ben due to personal circumstance and completed necessary works.
● 2015 We purchased Lyra from R.W Davis and Sons and for the first time in a long time she is back on the narrow canals ready to work again.
● If anyone can add to or correct us on any errors please email: sales@candlesonthecut.co.uk
Our Journey with Lyra started a fair few months ago when we went to see her down in Gloucester at R.W Davis Ltd. In fact it started a long time before that when we would look longingly at her advert on the Internet. Anyway opportunity arose and we placed a deposit but we’re unable to collect until Sept.
We went down to Gloucester with two weeks to spare until our next event at Huddlesford our first long trip on a river too! Mr Jingles our motor boat was flawless for the whole trip.
It was the first time in many, many years that Lyra had been on the narrow canals. Our initial plan was to come off at Worcester and up Tardibigge, a mean feat I know but we had hired in help for the trip up!
However we didn’t make it far enough to need the help, well we did end up needing help but of a different kind! We got 5 locks up from Worcester and it was going ok, we got to lock 6 and stopped dead! Lyra had become wedged in the lock entrance, after much flushing and pulling either direction, rather tired and fed up we gave in and contacted CaRT who then came at 9pm with a winch to pull us back out of the lock! We had only been in there 5 hours, to the dismay of the hire boats who had just started their holidays queuing behind! It seemed the lock entrance has slipped over time, making it narrower than it once was!
The next morning we decided to take the motor up the next lock turn round and take Lyra backwards for a couple of miles till we could turn her and head back out to the Severn to go up to Stourport and hopefully have better luck!
I was glad we were at least moving in a forwards direction, albeit very worried that we stood no chance of making Huddlesford after wasting a Day or more going in a direction it ended up we couldn’t go in!
We came through Stourport, up through Kinver along the Staffs and Worcs (where it did get a little tight in one lock, but a good snatch with the motor saw us in) to Tixall via Penkridge (which is known for being a bit tight lock wise, however we fitted fine) onwards to the TandM to Fradley onto the Cov and to Huddlesford Friday morning! It was nice to stop for a weekend after some very long days and to catch up with some familiar faces! Lyra also got to attend her first event in many years! The first of many more to come as Oooo I dunno Reverie Canal Trading Company……
I’m sure there will be many, many more challenges ahead or life would be rather dull! Our metal will be tested (that goes for us and the boats) but it makes an interesting story to tell!
Next year things will be different and Lyra needs to earn her keep, after all she is a Historic WORKING boat part of a modern working pair!
Keri-Leigh and Daniel. Reverie
Candlesonthecut.co.uk