#Courtyard Canoers Conquer the River Wye!

Last week seven members of staff took on the arm-aching challenge of canoeing 100 miles down the River Wye in just four days; they were joined by a further four members of staff who jumped on board for a day each. This was the first time this stretch of River had been conquered in such a short space of time, with the recommended time being 7 days!

The Courtyard Canoers were raising money to support our wonderful and unique centre for the arts; we are due to lose all of our funding from Herefordshire Council in 2016, which helps to cover our running costs of £19,000 a week. Therefore, in order to keep our venue open, and our arts delivery and growing community work thriving, particularly with older and young people around the county, we need all the help we can get! We had a target of £2000 and we can confirm that we smashed it, so a huge thank you to all who donated!

You can catch up on their voyage via Twitter, using #CourtyardCanoers. But here are some of the photo highlights…

DAY ONE – The Courtyard Canoers are ready to roll in their Beauty & The Beast Panto t-shirts!

There may have been a little accident… What’s canoeing without capsizing?

DAY TWO – The weather is gorgeous and our Courtyard Canoers are cruising along the River Wye…

Beautiful weather means happy #CourtyardCanoers!

DAY THREE – A little tired and slightly achey, but pushing through…

DAY FOUR – It’s the final day and the weather gods aren’t so nice, but that didn’t stop them! 

Welcome home! We welcomed home the committed team with a delicious buffet and a stiff drink in our Cafe Bar…

Thank you so much to everyone who donated or supported us!

A special thank you to Hereford Canoe Hire for the canoes and to Tesco Hereford for supplies of sun-cream, water and food!