Adventures on the waterways

Waterways enthusiast, poet and student, Georgia Howe is excited to be IWA’s Marketing & Communications Officer, doing a job she loves

“I’m excited to be working for IWA and to be helping make its vision for the waterways a reality,” says Georgia, who became an association member after attending the IWA Festival of Water in 2021.

She explains how she and her partner were living on a narrowboat and cruising through Worcester at the time so figured it simply made sense to go to the festival to see what it was all about. Georgia adds that she learned so much about IWA at the event, although it was just the “tip of the iceberg at that point” – and not realising at the time that the experience would eventually lead her to a new role with the association.

Georgia and her partner Dan live on Torestyn with their daughter and were continuous cruisers from 2019 until April 2022. Georgia says that, as they moved on the boat just before the pandemic and its lockdowns, everything was a “bit of a learning curve”. She adds that, when cruising in the West Midlands, their home was often referred to as a ‘Peaky Blinder’ boat after the television series: “We’ve got

‘By order of the Peaky Blinders’ written just below the swan’s neck on the bands of paint at the stern.”

However, the couple has now got a mooring on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, although Georgia admits that getting used to being stationary took a while and they had some initial reservations.

“We had our doubts and there were a few things we weren’t looking forward to such as being side by side with other boats, and not having as much freedom or seeing as much of the network. But my partner started working for a hire-boat company and, since our daughter turned six, she’s shown a strong preference for wanting to go to school and be with other children rather than moving around and being home schooled.”

Georgia adds that, although being moored now works well for the family, they enjoyed continuously cruising and she mentions the Birmingham Canal Navigations as a favourite route.

“We had fun exploring the whole canal from the Wast Hills tunnel end of

Birmingham through to Netherton tunnel and beyond. I’m from Hemel Hempstead originally but my partner is from Herefordshire, and we lived there for many years. Although the local canal is being restored, there isn’t an active canal system and nor is the river navigable. So, coming from such a rural county and one without active waterways meant we loved exploring the canal running through Birmingham and seeing how boaters and other people enjoy the waterways in such a large city.”

The couple’s choice to live on a narrowboat was influenced by Georgia’s father, who had moved onto the waterways in the early 2010s. “It had been a lifelong dream for him,” she says. “We visited my dad quite often and my daughter would spend many weekends and holidays with him on the boat. It was an important part of her early years and upbringing, and we saw a lot of potential in narrowboat life.”

However, when the time came for the couple to consider buying a home, and Georgia’s father suggested they consider buying a narrowboat, it was initially rejected as “a bit of a ridiculous idea”. As Georgia explains, at that stage, they were unaware of just how many people live on boats with families and children.

Then she adds: “Although we thought it was a bit crazy to begin with, I’ve always been adventurous. My dad instilled a sense of adventure in me from a very early age. We lived abroad during parts of my childhood, which inspired me to travel. And we’d always be out walking, hiking, exploring the woodlands or taking part in activities such as canoeing, climbing and skiing.”

“So, as we’re always looking for new adventures and something to bring us out of our comfort zone, we soon came to the realisation that living on a narrowboat would in fact be a great adventure! We were also drawn to it because living on a boat can be quite environmentally friendly in comparison to living in a large house. This is something that I’m passionate about so the idea of living more sustainably really appealed to me.”

That passion for the environment is also one of the things that drew Georgia to IWA. She is keenly aware of the association’s involvement in sustainability, the future of the canals and greener boating. She adds that the restoration aspect of IWA’s work is also an important factor, and that was something she learned more about at the first IWA festival.

“Coming from Hereford before moving on the boat, that restoration aspect appealed to us because we realised that if the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal could be restored, we could travel on the waterways to see friends and family. Wouldn’t it be incredible if the canal could be restored in our lifetime? With all the good work IWA and WRG do in terms of canal restoration, I have hope that we will one day be able to explore newly restored waterways, providing adventures for years to come on an even bigger network.”

When Georgia saw the new IWA role advertised, she was drawn to the idea of working in such an environment and making use of her extensive marketing and communications background. She was previously employed by a web design and marketing agency in Hereford but

A Winter’s Morning

Frosty mornings huddled up… worked remotely from the narrowboat: “The job could be done completely remotely as long as I had an internet connection, which we somehow managed even as continuous cruisers. We just always made sure that we stopped in places where I had at least a couple of bars of signal to continue work.”

There’s no more wood, we’re out of luck!

Grab the axe and wear a coat, it won’t take long to warm this boat. A blanket of snow beneath your feet, morning breath turns to steam. Chop the wood and gather sticks, very soon they will be lit. Now the fire’s warming up, take off your hat, scarf and gloves.

You start to make a cup of tea until it dawns on you: the tank’s empty. So off you trudge back through the snow wondering how your water got so low. The towpath basks in morning light, the canal it seems so still and quiet. The murky water full of life now lies motionless, trapped in ice. Gazing across the frosty surface, you think moving the boat probably isn’t worth it.

With that strong background in marketing and technical skills, Georgia felt she ticked the boxes for the IWA role, and the role also ticked the box for her. “Plus, I’m already a boater and we love the waterways so I thought, well, it’s the perfect role and I’d be foolish not to go for it. So, I sent in my CV and just crossed my fingers and hoped to hear back.”

In whatever spare time she has, Georgia likes to keep busy, which includes studying for a BSc in mathematics. “I study part-time and take a module or two per year,” she explains. “Of course, I have to fit it around my career and family, while living on the boat. Maths is a subject that I was always very good at in school but it’s also related to my work, especially in search engine optimisation (SEO), which is very datadriven. That kind of logical thinking comes in useful when you’re presented with lots of data and you have to think about how best to utilise it. It all ties in nicely.”

And in an opposite direction from the logic of mathematics, Georgia is also a keen poet. She has written more than 20 poems and was recently inspired to write a short book of poetry about the waterways. It’s now in the publishing stage and is expected to be available in 2023. “I really wanted to put a poetry book together,” she explains. “I had a poem published when I was still in school so was inspired from an early age. I’ve enjoyed creating poems ever since, especially on themes such as the waterways. So, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to share them in a book.”

The couple also has a YouTube channel (m.youtube.com/c/TheLiveaboardFamily/), which they initially started to share their adventures with friends and family. Then they realised the channel also had the potential to inspire other younger boaters like themselves who might be thinking about moving onto boats or simply enjoying local waterways. Georgia is also a keen paddleboarder and enjoys seeing the waterways from a different perspective.

She adds, “It’s important to inspire children and get them more involved in the waterways in the hope that they will one day share the appreciation that we’ve got for them. And the best bit of working with IWA is not only being in a career that I love but also making an impact for the waterways that mean so much to me.”