About Us
Our story
Raybel Charters is a maritime heritage community company – part business, part campaign, part arts project – born from a desire to inspire and create change towards a climate conscious and socially just system of trade.
Our work is based around the themes of water, trade, transport, nature, heritage and people. We aim to work collaboratively, inclusively and creatively, on a global and a local scale.
Our home is the Thames estuary, from central London to the coast of Kent – but from here we extend out, from estuary to ocean, from creek to canal.
From the local…
Restoring Raybel
Raybel Charters was originally formed in 2018 with the single aim of restoring a 100 year old Thames Sailing Barge, the Raybel. We received funding for the restoration in 2019 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council, the Transport Trust and a host of individual crowdfund supporters. The work has taken place at Lloyd’s Wharf, Milton Creek, Sittingbourne – just a few hundred yards from where Raybel was built and launched in 1920.
Read about our Restoration journey.
Training, skills and creativity
We provide training, work experience and hands-on volunteering, and run a diverse range of community arts and heritage events and activities – barge tours, wharf maintenance and gardening days, oral history recording, print making, ecology surveys, archive research, puppetry, photography and more. We can host schools and college visits for all age groups and are always keen to hear from training providers who would like to link with us.
Wharfside regeneration
at Lloyd’s Wharf we have brought together local residents, artists, designers and architects to create a new cultural heritage hub for Sittingbourne. We employ a community gardener and an artist-in-residence, and host regular events and open days.
Read more about the regeneration of Lloyds Wharf.
Maritime heritage, nature and arts
Our other community projects have included a youth theatre production for Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022, exploring the maritime heritage of Deptford from the 16th to 18th centuries, and culminating in a performance staged on the Cutty Sark and at the Master Shipwright’s House.
We curated the community commissioning and designing of a new public artwork in Milton Creek Country Park, working with families and children , and drawing inspiration from local history and wildlife.
And we are running a Citizen Science project investigating water quality of Milton Creek, and planning ways to bring back more nature.
Read more about the ‘Exploring Deptford's Maritime Heritage’ project.
to the global…
Sail cargo
On the global scale, we are part of a cross-ocean network, bringing back the ethos and wonder of transporting cargo by the power of wind and tide alone. We import produce to London and Kent, from small-scale community producers and family farms in Colombia, the Caribbean, Portugal and France. The cargo is sailed from overseas Ramsgate, with the onward journey to London made by Thames sailing barge. Soon we will bring Raybel into this growing sail shipping network.
Discover more about Sail Cargo.
Our future plans
Developing the sail cargo network in London and Kent, through links to food growers who want to move their produce in a climate conscious way.
Bringing sail cargo produce into more markets and shops in London, Kent and Essex.
Extending the sail cargo network up the east coast of England, and cross channel to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Extending sail cargo on to the inland waterways network, in London, Manchester and Liverpool.
Connecting with regenerative aquaculture, such as seaweed restoration schemes and sustainable fishery projects.
Further wharf-side community regeneration projects, on creeks, harbours and inland waterways.
Read our latest evaluation report
Get Involved
We are always delighted to hear from individuals and organisations who would like to join us on any of these projects, or new ones.
Get in touch:
info@raybelcharters.com
@raybelcharters
Have a project?
We can provide help, advice and assistance on business planning and funding to other barge and maritime organisations who share our vision and values. We have worked extensively with other community groups in the barge world, including the Bread and Roses barge, the Dawn Sailing Barge Trust, the Sea Change Sailing Trust and Tiller & Wheel.