APPRENTICES at the Mini plant in Swindon have helped ensure a local canal boat is wheelchair friendly.

The Wilts and Berks Canal Trust trip boat Dragonfly has been fitted with a lift enabling wheelchair access, thanks to the support of funders and the skills of the apprentices. For the past two years Dragonfly has been operating on the restored stretch of canal at Kingshill Swindon but people in wheelchairs were unable to get aboard. Funds for the lift were raised from three charities – the Bruce Wake Charitable Trust, The Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust and The Medlock Charitable Trust – with the assistance of The Community Foundation of Wiltshire and Swindon.

The installation would have doubled the overall cost but apprentices at the Mini plant fitted the lift as one of their training projects.

Kath Hatton, the acting chairman of of the canal trust, said: “The trust is most grateful to Mini Plant Swindon for their generous support in fitting the wheelchair lift.

“The apprentices have done a brilliant job; the installation of the lift will enable us to extend the boat trips to wheelchair users, something we have wanted to do right from the start of our plans to operate the boat on the canal.”