About Us
Derek Booker: Operations Manager
Phillip O'Connor: Crew
John Stewart: Crew
Alan Gilfillan: Crew
Sarah Booker: Administration
Core business:
The Lagan Boat Company N.I. Ltd was inspired by our Operations Manager's lifelong interest in boats and all things nautical, interest in local history and heritage, social and environmental issues and the observation that the River Lagan was, and still is, a beautiful, valuable and vastly underused resource. The idea for boat trips on the Lagan was received with great enthusiasm and support from Laganside Corporation, Belfast City Council, The Tourist Board and many local businesses and local communities.
Education: "Learning Ahoy!"
In recent years we have catered for an ever increasing number of school and college field trips. Our tours have now been developed and refined to meet higher and more specific standards in line with the new curriculum review and with funding from DCAL and support and advice from CCEA we have also developed an online educational resource for teachers relative to our boat tours. This website is now online at www.learning-ahoy.com
History & Heritage:
In 2001 a large and important archive of engineering drawings was salvaged by Lagan Boat Company (N.I.) Ltd. during demolition work at the shipyards of Harland & Wolff. In appreciation of the safe return of this important archive to its rightful owners, Harland & Wolff have endorsed The Lagan Boat Company N.I. Ltd as official agents for the sale and distribution of its Titanic memorabilia.
An exhibition of the salvaged engineering drawings generated an enormous amount of interest from local people. This, in turn, inspired the idea of an oral history and heritage project which is managed by a local charity called "Lagan Legacy" a non-profit sister company of Lagan Boat Company. Lagan Legacy collects, preserves and makes available to future generations, important collections of documents, photographs, artefacts and, above all, oral reminiscences of the men and women who once worked in this most famous of all shipyards and its associated industries in and around the Port of Belfast.
Lagan Legacy website at www.laganlegacy.com is constantly being developed to provide a comprehensive database.
Environment & Conservation:
Lagan Boat Company N.I. Ltd are very conscious of environmental and conservation issues on the River Lagan and Belfast Lough. To this end we have initiated several projects which aim to improve, preserve and protect the natural habitat and indigenous wildlife (insect, birds, plants, fish and mammals). One such project, " A Greener, Cleaner Lagan" is aimed at cleaning the river banks and recycling waste materials through a partnership with local charity Bryson House. Initially funded by Better Belfast and Laganside Corporation, the project continues to be funded by Lagan Boat Company.
