Boat comes in for charity as historic barge is saved from watery grave

A barge that was left to rot for 20 years is enjoying a new lease of life as a floating venue and pleasure boat to boost the coffers of an East Yorkshire charity.

Beverley Barge Preservation Society, which was set up in 2000 to provide visitors with a memorable experience on the water, has painstakingly restored the MV Syntan.

She was once a workhorse of Richard Hodgson's tannery, carrying hides and other tanning materials from Hull docks to Beverley Beck.

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The barge was built in 1949 and became part of a fleet of 16 which shipped raw materials used for tanning from India, South Africa and Paraguay and carried grain, flour, paper and nuts to South and West Yorkshire.

In the 1970s the Hodgson fleet was sold. Syntan was laid up for almost 20 years at Doncaster Power Station where she was vandalised and stripped for parts. In 2001 the society discovered her remains and returned them to Beverley for restoration.

There was no wheelhouse and all the external fittings had gone apart from the winch. Three years of hard work included finding mast lights, engine room vents and the wheelhouse top or arranging for them to be made to their original pattern.

Now the boat acts as a museum and community resource in addition to taking charters down the River Hull to the estuary.