ABC Leisure has also made an offer to members of a new syndicate to honour the payments already made and construct the - as yet - unbuilt boat, despite the fact that the company has no legal obligation to do so.

Another gesture has been made to hirers who had booked holidays with the Challenger Stealth fleet, honouring deposits as payment towards a holiday on an ABC Leisure fleet boat.

Meanwhile, a new company called BC Boat Management has been formed by members of the old Challenger operations team – Andrew Burton, John Cunliffe and Lynne Wagstaffe. BCBM has taken over the lease of the existing Challenger base (at Betton Mill, Market Drayton, on the Shropshire Union Canal), and has already signed up 16 of the narrowboat syndicates plus those groups owning boats based on the Broads, in France and in the Mediterranean.

We understand that both companies have only signed 12-monthly agreements with the syndicates to allow each group of owners to consider any future management proposals at their annual general meeting. Original agreements with Challenger Syndicateships were on a longer term basis.