About Us

The Oxford College Barges Preservation Trust (OCBPT) was formed in 1966 to acquire, restore, preserve and maintain the barges as a feature of Oxford in their historical setting on the River Thames

We are proud to continue their work

Current Trustees and Committee members

Trustees:

Chair: Zanna Hoskins

Secretary: Charles Parrack

Treasurer: Pete Austin

Committee: 

James Acworth

Darren Crane

Lexy Tuckwell

Antonia King

David Thomas

Kirsten Thompson

Rumi Thompson

Steve Masters

Charles Parrack (dual role)

Our aims, as stated in the original 1966 Trust Deed

The acquisition of one or more of the river barges now or formerly owned

by colleges in the University of Oxford and used by college boat clubs

The restoration preservation and maintenance of the Barges as a feature of Oxford 

in their historical setting on the river Thames

The management of the barges in such manner as to secure that their architectural and other features 

will be open for inspection and study by members of the general public

A potted history 

• 1956 The Architectural Review published an article by Diana Rowntree about the need to preserve the Oxford college barges

• In 1963 a young art teacher Sarah Hosking, sponsored by the Marc Fitch Fund, made a study of the Oxford College Barges

• In 1965 a group of Oxford undergraduates led by Sarah arranged an exhibition of prints and photographs of the college barges, and issued an urgent appeal to their seniors not to let the barges disappear altogether. At that time the barges were dispersed up and down the Thames, but because of the great expense of repairs and restoration they were doomed to vanish unless a considerable amount of money was collected and a useful purpose planned for them. Some of them were already under water, some beached and a few were still afloat.

• Lady Wheare - wife of the Master of Exeter college - came up with the idea of a Trust to preserve the remaining college barges and to house a museum of rowing and river history on several of the barges

• The Trust was set up in 1966 by a group of interested people. Original trustees and sponsors included the celebrated architect Sir Hugh Casson, Sir John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, and Sir John Summerson.

• The first Chairman of the Trust was Bernard Fagg of the Pitt Rivers Museum

• 1969 Acquisition of the Corpus Christi barge

• In 1971 an OCBPT report states that there were at the time still 13 barges in existence

• Robert Maccoun & others were brought in as Committee members in 1980

• By that time the Trust's focus was on the Univ, Hertford, St John's, and Corpus, considering them the best artitectural examples

• 1985 New steel hull on the Corpus

• 1992-95 Current trustees, Pete Austin & Zanna Hoskins lived on the barge, during which time they repainted the superstructure

• 1997-99 Current trustee, David Thomas was the last Corpus college student to live on the barge

• 2000 New Committee members were offered the opportunity to take over the OCBPT. By then Robert Maccoun had died. 

• Richard Norton, Peter Baker, Derek Conran were the Trustees at the time

• The Trust's aims (see above) have always remained the same

• Our Memorandum of Understanding states that the committee should at all times maintain a balance of skills and experience concerning boats, boat maintenance and financial management, therefore our new Trust consisted of people with those skills.

• The new Trust consisted of:

Trustees: 

1. George Marshall

2. Richard Norton

3. Christine Sankey

Committee:

• • 1. George Marshall

    2. Steve Goodlad

    3. Nicola Hilton

    4. Pete Austin

    5. Zanna Hoskins (then Moore)

• We took on the existing mooring at Meadow Lane in Oxford, on the old Cherwell cut just upriver from Donnington Bridge, renting our mooring from the Oxford Preservation Trust who own the land including the beautiful Aston's Eyot, home of a rare colony of snakeshead fritilleries (native lilies)

• We also took on the original Trust's sensible approach to ensuring security for the barge by maintaining it for residential use. Wooden boats are vulnerable and can be easily vandalised, so having people permanently on board gives security.

• 2001 - 2002 We undertook extensive renovation, including insulating and re-covering the roof, re-fitting the middle bedroom and the bathroom

• In 2010 Steve Goodlad resigned and we brought in new Committee members: 

1. Charles Parrack 

2. Benji Ming 

3. Bruce Heagerty

4. Claire Acworth

• 2010 We renegotiated the mooring lease and established some key roles including Chair, Treasurer and Secretary

• During the process of that re-negotiation of the lease, we were required to establish which of the Trustees from the original 1980 committee were still alive. This was a fascinating process of tracking down some old characters - including the famous architect Sir Hugh Casson - and asking those still alive to resign and sign our new Deed of Trustee Appointment.  

• That year we also began discussions with St John’s Barge Trust

• Our Memorandum of Understanding states that the primary asset of the Trust is the Corpus Christi Barge. 'As long as the Trust is in existence it may not sell or dispose of this asset. Under the circumstances of the Trust needing to be wound up, ownership of the Corpus Christi Barge must be transferred to a non-profit or charitable organisation capable of maintaining it in perpetuity in the spirit of the original Trust Deed.'

• We currently have three Trustees and eight Committee members. We have continued to maintain a balance of skills and experience of boats, boat maintenance and financial management. There must always be one Committee member who is also a Trustee. 

• The Trustees are there to make sure the charity is meeting its charitable goals, acting lawfully and keeping solvent. They also have a responsibility to make sure the Trust’s reputation isn’t at ‘undue risk’. Trustees Indemnity Insurance ensures that individuals aren’t exposed to financial risk. 

• It also states that neither Trustees nor management Committee will be entitled for payment for the time they spend fulfilling their primary responsibilities, although they may be refunded expenses. On occasion individual committee members may be paid for work undertaken as part of the restoration of the barge only if unanimously approved by the committee. In such cases they will receive no more than the reasonable market rate for that work. In order to ensure a clear separation of responsibility, trustees will not be entitled to receive any financial benefit from their involvement. 

• Maintenance has been carried out annually, and we have worked on the principle of major renovations happening around every 15 yrs. We are due for another one.

• 2021 We acquired what is left of the Keble College Barge from the Oxford Museum – one 30ft section of one side and the roof beams – stored in a local storage facility.

• At that time as far as we knew the barges that were left were Queens, New College, Balliol, St Johns, Exeter, Jesus, Teddys, Univ, and Magdalen and the hull of the Hertford College Barge

• 2011 - 2015 Claire Acworth lived on the barge. This was a period during which the barge was regularly open for Oxford Preservation Trust's September Open Doors weekends. See a sample of the visitors' many, and enthusiastic comments. 

• During this time Benji Ming resigned from the Trust.

• 2021 Darren Crane and James Acworth joined the Trust.

• 2024 Claire Acworth, Nicola Hilton and Bruce Heagerty resigned from the Trust and we appointed six new Committee members:  

1. Antonia King

2. Steve Masters

3. David Thomas

4. Lexy Tuckwell

5. Kirsten Thompson

6. Rumi Thompson