Just to let you all know that we now offer a full brokerage service here at Stephen Goldsbrough boats which includes magazine and online advertising, as well as other advantages. Full details can be viewed by clicking the Brokerage button on the navigation bar at the top of this page.

The club was founded as the result of a conversation between Christine Potter and Peter Sterry (ex Fox No. 4), whilst standing on the towing path at Brentford just after Polly Otter (No 6) had won both the Marion Monk Award for the best narrowbeam pleasure craft and the Calor Gas Trophy for the best galley at the Inland Waterways Association National Rally in 1986.

These, and other national awards subsequently won by Stephen Goldsbrough Boats, highlighted Stephen’s ability as a craftsman of high quality and have been instrumental in shaping his boatbuilding career. During the intervening years SGB has won many accolades both at Crick and the National Waterways Festivals.

The Club Members meet, officially, only once a year - usually in March/April for a Dinner in the Midlands. However, there are many informal gatherings of boat owners throughout the year spanning almost every waterway in the country. Several articles have been published in the waterways press about the various and varied activities of the Club over the past 20 years.

At the annual Dinner there is a presentation of Membership Certificates by the Commodore, to new boat owners and also to those new owners of ‘previously owned ’ boats. We honour the owners of boats which have changed hands during the year to encourage them to feel equal members of the Club.

 At the annual Dinner there is a short but formal Annual General Meeting which addresses the business of the Club.

In addition to the Annual Dinner we have enjoyed a number of special events which usually cover a long weekend. Our Millennium celebration included a formal Dinner in the magnificent First Class Dining Room aboard SS Great Britain in Bristol Dock.

In the wonderful Summer of July 2003, we celebrated by mooring 28 Goldsbrough boats in St Katherine’s Dock on the River Thames in London prior to a formal Dinner for 126 members and guests in the ‘atmospheric’ Ships Company Dining Room aboard HMS Belfast. The next day the whole flotilla cruised the tidal River Thames downstream through the Thames Barrier and upstream to the limit of tidal navigation at Teddington.

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Club in the glorious Summer of 2006, 37 boats enjoyed a memorable cruise to York (12 via Trent Falls) and over 100 members and guests dined in style at the National Railway Museum. 

Currently we are planning a long weekend in July 2009 to Chester and Ellesmere Port with a Dinner in Chester, a cruise on the Manchester Ship Canal and a whole day outing to an interesting location. In addition, there will be an opportunity to cruise the River Weaver and experience the Anderton Lift.

On the 25th Anniversary of the Club in March 2011 we expect to organise a suitable long weekend Celebration in Portsmouth Dockyard and it’s environs.

The Club has its own logo displayed on a number of articles of merchandise. Also, a GBOC plaque is placed aboard each new boat by Andrew and Alison Wright, the owners of Stephen Goldsbrough Boats. The Club window stickers aid easy recognition when boats pass unexpectedly on the Inland Waterways.

Gangplank, our twice yearly newsletter, keeps members up to date with news, views, articles, photographs etc. and is eagerly awaited as quality bedtime reading in Spring and Autumn!

The annual subscription has remained at £5 since the inception of the Club in 1986 but the joining fee is rather more costly!

Christine Potter