Canal fundraisers collect more than £100,000

2 January 2026

Kate Baldockand

Andy Giddings,West Midlands

News image — Two boats were left at the bottom of a deep trench, with a third hanging over the edge

PA Media A photo showing the canal breach with one boat at the bottom of the sinkhole and another teetering on the edge. — Two boats were left at the bottom of a deep trench, with a third hanging over the edge

More than £100,000 has been raised for boat owners affected by a canal breach just before Christmas.

YouTuber Paul Smith-Storey set up an online fundraising page to help them and said he expected to raise £3,000 at most.

He said he had been "blown away" by people's generosity and the money would "make life a little easier for the three boaters involved in the breach".

One side of the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch, Shropshire, broke on 22 December, creating a hole which swallowed up two boats and left a third hanging over the edge.

The emergency services declared a major incident after gallons of water escaped into a nearby field, leaving a gaping trench in the canal bed.

The Canal and River Trust said it had since been able to refill parts of the canal on either side, allowing other stranded boats to be refloated.

It has also been looking into the cause of the breach and once that had been established, engineers would prepare a plan for the "huge and likely lengthy task of rebuilding and then reopening the canal".

Mr Smith-Storey said: "When there is a tragedy like this and people can see how it has touched people's lives and they have lost their homes, the response from all over the world has been incredible."

Paul Smith-Storey Three smiling men in a street at night, one has grey hair and a blue jacket and is pointing upwards, another is shorter, with a black jacket and dark hair and the third has a grey beard and grey hat and is wearing a grey and black coat — Paul Smith-Storey (left) said the £100,000 total was "staggering"

Mr Smith-Storey recalled speaking to one of the boat owners, Paul Stowe, on his boat the Pacemaker.

He said: "I was listening to him saying he only had the clothes he was wearing and that was it. He did not have any bank cards, any cash, any clothes.

"We just thought if we could raise two or three thousand pounds, it would be nice for Christmas."

He added that the proceeds would go solely to the owners of the three boats most-affected by the breach.

A man with long swept back grey hair and grey facial hair, wearing a grey knit jumper and a red waterproof coat. He is standing in front of a dried out section of canal and there is a black and red canal boat behind him called the Pacemaker — Paul Stowe's boat was towed to safety before Christmas

Paul Stowe escaped from his boat with his wife, son and two cats, and has since been staying on a narrowboat in Staffordshire.

His boat was teetering on the edge of the hole, but was winched several feet backwards to safety before Christmas.

"Over Christmas the main thing that we are amazed at, is the amount of support from the local community, local businesses," he said.

"People offering everything from holiday villas in Italy, toys for the cats, people bringing hampers to us… we've been amazed by the support that we've got from the community in Whitchurch, but also other boaters as well.

"The future, we're not sure about."

On Friday, Julie Sharman, chief operating officer for the Canal and River Trust, said: "It's going to cost several million pounds to reinstate the canal."

Andy Kelvin/PA A canal boat in a large hole — Bob Wood's boat in the collapsed part of the waterway

"A lot of people have been thanking us and saying it's an amazing thing that we've done, but we feel like it was the least we could do," Mr Smith-Storey told the BBC.

"We spoke to one of the boaters yesterday… Bob, who was the first to lose his boat, and people's kindness had touched him and he was moved to tears."

He said people's generosity had gone beyond the fundraiser as well.

"It's just incredible... people that have reached out to us offering help with accommodation, transport, food, offering the boaters most affected holidays in the spring in their homes abroad," he said.

"It's just really touched us, and I think it brings out the best in people and restores your faith in human nature."

Four men in orange coats and white helmets standing on blue and white-covered ground, looking at an area of water — The Canal and River Trust expects the repairs to take months and cost millions of pounds

Following the canal burst, Mr Smith-Storey said many narrowboat owners had been left with no way of moving their boats elsewhere.

"They are being told it could be six to nine months that they are trapped on that section of canal," he said.

"There is no other way for them to get off, unless you start paying to crane boats off."

He believes up to 50 boats are stuck on the canal and said: "A lot of people come onto this canal in the winter because it has got the flow that feeds the reservoir and it tends not to freeze over, and obviously it is a really lovely place to cruise as well."