Long-serving chairman Stuart Sampson and his wife Carole are standing down at the next AGM, leaving NABO with a council of just five from a possible 12.

Vice-chairman Howard Anguish describes this as 'a dangerously low number', and says that NABO needs to take drastic measures to make sure that it can continue to work on behalf of members, appealing to them to give their time towards the running of the association.

This is not an uncommon situation in the waterways movement with a number of societies struggling to find working volunteers, if not members. The difficulty is not confined to waterways and boating alone: other organisations, even those with a large membership base are lucky if they get 10% working as volunteers.