When was the last time you went out on a canal boat? 

For many of our Age Friendly Steering Group members, it had been a while, but they recently got an opportunity thanks to Canal Connections. 

Canal Connections is a social enterprise which has done a lot of work training young people to operate boats and navigate the waterways. This year they are looking to involve older people as well, with the hopes that as many people as possible will take advantage of such a great local resource. 

Though it was a somewhat typical cold and rainy Yorkshire day, we stayed warm with cups of tea in between turns at the helm and helping to operate the locks. 

We gave suggestions for helping cater to older people better on a canal trip, such as ensuring there are handrails along the stairs, providing blankets and seating for the outdoor areas, and ensuring that the guides are knowledgeable about landmarks and local history, as older people are likely to be interested in those details. 

We look forward to keeping in touch with Canal Connections, and some of our groups may even get trained up as first mates.