One zoom. Many ideas.

'Are you drinking tea, or whiskey?' Steph asked, as it dawned on us what a meaty conversation this was....

On the 29th April 2021 we held a virtual meeting.

We asked all attendees to respond to a list of requirements for the rebuild of Kilsby. The list has been evolving since our first requirements workshop held in July 2020, answering the question 'what do we require Kilsby to be able to do?'

We grappled with the bigger picture concepts - are we breathing new life into a historic boat, or breathing new life into the community surrounding the canal?

We grappled with the details - might we use a composting toilet?

Half an hour in, and some of us were grappling with a bottle of wine.

Jokes aside, it was a dynamic meeting that generated a wealth of delicious conundrums, ideas and opinions, click here to read the requirements on the Kilsby website, or just have a gloss over a summary of the big picture takeaways here;

• Kilsby shall use modern innovations and simultaneously preserve heritage, resulting in a community asset that operates sustainably and increases access to heritage activities.

• Kilsby is a BOAT (a special boat at that). We need to harness the qualities that are unique to Kilsby as a performance venue, rather than try to meet requirements generated by attempting to creating a 'floating auditorium'.

• With caution, ambition and enthusiasm, the desire to rebuild Kilsby so that it may carry passengers and host performances is still present among the project team and volunteers.

• We have requirements that contradict each other, which is OK because this a result of us simply saying what we want, but we need to start sketching designs now so we can find out what is simply not possible, and start prioritising our hopes and dreams!

• and lastly we need a BILGE PUMP!!!

- a critical feature of any boat (it stops the boat from sinking if things get a bit watery in the bilge), that had somehow not made it onto the list yet... awkward.

Thanks for reading.
Thanks to everyone who joined in the meeting.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas so far.
Thank goodness for wine.