Meet the team who will be talking with Canal and River Trust's Trustees about the Boaters’ Manifesto
on December 20th
Peter Underwood
Peter has worked in newspapers, television and public relations all his
adult life. He has won awards for investigative journalism, been a political
specialist and an editor. For several years he owned and ran specialist crisis
PR firms before returning to journalism following a heart attack.
He has owned boats for 18 years and lived on board Blackberry Way for
the past eight years, moving around the system, sometimes mooring in marinas or
boatyards and at others travelling around covering canal events for the waterways press.
He is also the author of a 12-part series of articles on living afloat.
He is an RBOA member, although he has allowed his IWA membership to lapse.
Tom McManus
Tom grew up around the Grand Union Canal in Harefield in the 1950’s and 60’s.
With his wife he has owned boats and lived on the canals for about ten years,
trading for most of those years.
For the last five years, since taking early retirement from the motor trade, they have been
continuous cruisers and have travelled extensively, from the River Lee to the Lancaster,
trading along the way.
He says: “I feel very passionate about the need for the right type of change, as do most of the
people I meet on the canals. After all, as I see it, this is my home and I have a duty to help to look after it.”
Jon Ody
Jon is a self-employed mobile marine engineer operating on the River Thames and Oxford Canal.
He served in the Royal Navy, trained as a Marine Engineering Artificer, and holds an
Engineering (Honours) degree in Robotics and Automation.
In his role as a mobile engineer Jon operates a Workshop Boat, 'Permanent Revolution' for which
he is a British Waterways Trading License holder and is also listed with the Environment Agency
on the Thames Tugboat Register. He is an IWA member.
Jon is an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, which he uses to connect with other waterways users and
local businesses, as well as his own friends and customers.
As part of his online activities, Jon aims to provide a number of online services for the benefit of
boat-users, both locally and nationally.
Peter MacDonald
Peter moved to the UK in 1999 from Nova Scotia, Canada, to work for
L'Arche, an international charity dedicated to the support of people with
learning disabilities, as a support worker, manager, and senior manager.
As Day Provision Coordinator, he coordinated the day support of 30
adults with learning disabilities, recruiting and supervising support staff, and
managing the service's budget.
He left L'Arche to join Barclays for a short time, returning to the
third sector part time to enable him to support his partner as an administrator
for his company. Peter and his partner bought their Narrowboat in 2009, and since then, they have
mostly cruised the southern waterways, as well as visiting the Coventry, North Oxford, and Ashby canals.
Michael Clark
Michael was a Production Line Manager for a chemical company before becoming a youth leader.
Thirty years ago when he was running two youth clubs he began some of the youngsters out on narrowboats.
He was also a volunteer for the Harlow Boat project in Hertfordshire and Essex.
Nearly a decade ago Michael and his wife brought their own narrowboat, Illusions,
and have been living aboard as continuous cruisers ever since.
Michael has also worked for a boat moving company and for the past few years has been an active IWA member, working on the
committee of the Lee & Stort Branch.Over the year he has also taken an interest in BW user group meetings,
representing two cruising clubs on the River Lee and Stort, and helped set up a Neighborhood Watch for boaters on the Lea and Stort.
Pete Gray
Pete has had a varied career. After 15 years as a Royal Navy officer and seven years in the electronics industry he and
his wife started their own company working within the charity/social enterprise sector.
Pete's work has focussed on the financial sustainability of organisations with annual turnovers ranging
from a few hundred to a few million pounds.
He has created financial planning tools where the emphasis has been on sustainability through full cost recovery.
Pete has also been involved in assessing grant applications.
He is a member and past board member of the Oxford Credit Union where he was founding
chair of the credit committee. He lives onboard an ex-hire narrowboat and is a
volunteer lock-keeper at Foxton, Hillmorton and Buckby. He is also a member of
the RBOA, IWA, Cutweb, Saltisford Canal Trust and the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust.
Peter has worked in newspapers, television and public relations all his
adult life. He has won awards for investigative journalism, been a political
specialist and an editor. For several years he owned and ran specialist crisis
PR firms before returning to journalism following a heart attack.
He has owned boats for 18 years and lived on board Blackberry Way for
the past eight years, moving around the system, sometimes mooring in marinas or
boatyards and at others travelling around covering canal events for the waterways press.
He is also the author of a 12-part series of articles on living afloat.
He is an RBOA member, although he has allowed his IWA membership to lapse.
Tom McManus
Tom grew up around the Grand Union Canal in Harefield in the 1950’s and 60’s.
With his wife he has owned boats and lived on the canals for about ten years,
trading for most of those years.
For the last five years, since taking early retirement from the motor trade, they have been
continuous cruisers and have travelled extensively, from the River Lee to the Lancaster,
trading along the way.
He says: “I feel very passionate about the need for the right type of change, as do most of the
people I meet on the canals. After all, as I see it, this is my home and I have a duty to help to look after it.”
Jon Ody
Jon is a self-employed mobile marine engineer operating on the River Thames and Oxford Canal.
He served in the Royal Navy, trained as a Marine Engineering Artificer, and holds an
Engineering (Honours) degree in Robotics and Automation.
In his role as a mobile engineer Jon operates a Workshop Boat, 'Permanent Revolution' for which
he is a British Waterways Trading License holder and is also listed with the Environment Agency
on the Thames Tugboat Register. He is an IWA member.
Jon is an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, which he uses to connect with other waterways users and
local businesses, as well as his own friends and customers.
As part of his online activities, Jon aims to provide a number of online services for the benefit of
boat-users, both locally and nationally.
Peter MacDonald
Peter moved to the UK in 1999 from Nova Scotia, Canada, to work for
L'Arche, an international charity dedicated to the support of people with
learning disabilities, as a support worker, manager, and senior manager.
As Day Provision Coordinator, he coordinated the day support of 30
adults with learning disabilities, recruiting and supervising support staff, and
managing the service's budget.
He left L'Arche to join Barclays for a short time, returning to the
third sector part time to enable him to support his partner as an administrator
for his company. Peter and his partner bought their Narrowboat in 2009, and since then, they have
mostly cruised the southern waterways, as well as visiting the Coventry, North Oxford, and Ashby canals.
Michael Clark
Michael was a Production Line Manager for a chemical company before becoming a youth leader.
Thirty years ago when he was running two youth clubs he began some of the youngsters out on narrowboats.
He was also a volunteer for the Harlow Boat project in Hertfordshire and Essex.
Nearly a decade ago Michael and his wife brought their own narrowboat, Illusions,
and have been living aboard as continuous cruisers ever since.
Michael has also worked for a boat moving company and for the past few years has been an active IWA member, working on the
committee of the Lee & Stort Branch.Over the year he has also taken an interest in BW user group meetings,
representing two cruising clubs on the River Lee and Stort, and helped set up a Neighborhood Watch for boaters on the Lea and Stort.
Pete Gray
Pete has had a varied career. After 15 years as a Royal Navy officer and seven years in the electronics industry he and
his wife started their own company working within the charity/social enterprise sector.
Pete's work has focussed on the financial sustainability of organisations with annual turnovers ranging
from a few hundred to a few million pounds.
He has created financial planning tools where the emphasis has been on sustainability through full cost recovery.
Pete has also been involved in assessing grant applications.
He is a member and past board member of the Oxford Credit Union where he was founding
chair of the credit committee. He lives onboard an ex-hire narrowboat and is a
volunteer lock-keeper at Foxton, Hillmorton and Buckby. He is also a member of
the RBOA, IWA, Cutweb, Saltisford Canal Trust and the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust.
