Seagull Trust Cruises offers free canal trips from Kirkintilloch

On the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, a team of volunteers is making sure everyone can enjoy a day on the water. Seagull Trust Cruises provides free canal cruises for people with additional needs and older people, and it describes itself as having the largest canal charity fleet in the UK.

The Kirkintilloch branch is based at Southbank Marina, close to the town centre. It has two boats, the Yarrow Seagull and the Marjorie Seagull, both fully accessible with lifts for people with mobility problems or who use wheelchairs, as well as wheelchair-friendly toilets and galleys. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided.

Cruises run for groups of up to 12 people per boat, including helpers, with up to four wheelchair users on each. A typical sailing heads west towards Bishopbriggs and lasts around two hours, and the boats can be booked from the first week of April until the second week of October. In late November and early December, festive cruises welcome a visit from Santa with his sack of gifts.

Weekday sailings leave at 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm, with an extra 6pm cruise in June, July and August, and more flexible cruises can be arranged at weekends.

The charity is funded solely by donations and grants and is wholly run by unpaid volunteers, who crew the barges after training.

The Seagull Trust was formed on 21 November 1978, inspired by schemes in England and Wales that used adapted boats to help disabled people, especially children, enjoy canals. Its founders, including the Reverend Hugh Mackay and Professor John Hume, also championed the restoration of Scotland's Lowland canals.

By the end of the 1980s the trust had bases at Ratho, Falkirk, Kirkintilloch and Inverness, providing regular cruises on the Union, Forth and Clyde and Caledonian canals, and today it still operates from four bases across Scotland.

For families, care homes and community groups, a gentle cruise along the canal is a wonderful way to enjoy the outdoors together.

Seagull Trust Cruises Kirkintilloch is at Southbank Marina, 100 Southbank Road, Kirkintilloch, G66 1XU. Booking details are at seagulltrust.org.uk.