Welcome to

the River Thames

Boat Project

A much-loved charity, the River Thames Boat Project has been active on and around the Thames in southwest London for over 30 years. We are based in Kingston upon Thames and Teddington.

Using our two accessible riverboats, we provide highly enjoyable full-day and half-day trips on the Thames for a wide range of community groups. Our passengers are often people who are vulnerable, disadvantaged, isolated at home, or living with disabilities. We also offer curriculum-linked interactive river learning experiences for schools, and community groups. Our services are primarily delivered by our dedicated group of trained volunteers. It’s also possible to hire our vessels for private Thames boat trips and events.

The quality of our inclusive river activities is demonstrated by the high level of repeat bookings and recommendations we receive. Over 3,500 people of all ages benefit annually from our services.

Therapeutic Activities

The River Thames Boat Project offers day and half-day therapeutic river cruises on the Thames for those who have little access to the river due to health, disability, isolation or social exclusion. Our cruises provide a safe, secure and caring environment onboard, enabling a tranquil river journey which is very different from a commercial cruise. Being on our boats gives a sense of freedom, a much-needed change of scene and companionship. Our trained volunteer skippers and crew look after passengers during boat trips onboard Thames Discoverer, a purpose-built day cruise riverboat. Our accessible Thames cruises operate from Teddington or Kingston.

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Educational Activities

Outdoor learning activities are positively associated with the development of critical thinking, communication, and conflict-resolution skills among other important transferable skills. River Thames Boat Project is eager to improve access to nature and ensure children have opportunities to learn outdoors, so we’ve developed interactive river learning activities around the River Thames, one of London’s biggest and best natural features. Our converted historic riverboat, Thames Venturer, provides a unique base for these hands-on river education sessions. We deliver two daytime programmes for primary school children: School on the River and Eco Venturers. We also offer bespoke sessions for community groups such as Brownies and Woodcraft Folk.

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Help those who need it most to access the Thames

Operating large cruise boats on the Thames is an expensive undertaking. As a small charity we strive to run ourselves as cost-effectively as possible. We rely on the goodwill of our wonderful volunteers offering their time for free and also on the generosity of our donors, in order to keep our therapeutic cruise and education services afloat (pardon the pun). Please consider donating to us, and if you’re an employee, and your workplace has a ‘charity of the year’ scheme, ask them to consider us!

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Our Story

Our mission is to give people of all ages opportunities to experience river and waterways environments to the benefit of their personal, social and educational development.

We focus especially on children, young people, older people and people with disabilities, including disabled ex-service personnel, from London and the South East. We offer therapeutic cruises and deliver fun and dynamic School on the River activities on the Thames in Southwest London.

Our Story

What our users think…

Those who come on our cruises or attend our primary school and youth group educational sessions regularly give us enthusiastic and positive feedback. Here are some recent examples.

Please pass on our huge thanks to the crew for a very successful boat trip last Friday. The whole group said how much they enjoyed the sights, the commentary and the comfort on board and they all hope we will be able to repeat it soon.

The children all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and children who are normally quiet in the classroom were intrigued and asking questions.

Absolutely fantastic time! The residents and staff had a lovely afternoon. The crew on board were very helpful and interactive with the residents. A quote from one of the residents – ‘No words can describe what a wonderful day I’ve had.’ Thank you.

It was an incredible experience for our families. To have a boat to themselves where they didn’t have to worry about members of the public and accessing the boat in general. The staff made the trip as easy and enjoyable as they could. Everyone had such a great time! Especially when they got to drive the boat!

Absolutely brilliant. The skipper and crew were so welcoming and informative, we couldn’t have asked for more. We had the best day on the river! Thank you

Our residents went on a River Thames boat trip and had a wonderful time. They all came back with happy stories of their day out. It was an opportunity to socialise with each other and meet new people and overall had a very positive effect on all who went.

It was a wonderful, social day out with a great crew who were fun and cheerful as well as helpful and informative. They all made us very welcome.

Welcome to

the River Thames

Boat Project

A much-loved charity, the River Thames Boat Project has been active on and around the Thames in southwest London for over 30 years. We are based in Kingston upon Thames and Teddington.

Therapeutic Activities

Educational Activities

Help those who need it most to access the Thames

Our Story

Our mission is to give people of all ages opportunities to experience river and waterways environments to the benefit of their personal, social and educational development.

What our users think…

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