The Pirate Castle in Camden Town

A POPULAR community boating project that is a special place for children across Camden is launching a new fight for survival.

The Pirate Castle, in Gilbey’s Wharf, Oval Road, says it is “treading water” in a “perfect storm” of its own soaring bills and a squeeze on the community’s disposable income due to the cost of living crisis.

“Every doubloon and piece of eight” will make a difference to the boating charity, according to its fundraiser.

Development manager Kai Webb said: “Together with our utility bills trebling over the past 18 months, costs for running and maintaining our venue and boat fleet and delivering our projects continue to surge, making it harder to keep The Pirate Castle afloat and do more to support our communities when they need us most.”

The Pirate Castle has been running activities and training from its Camden base since 1966.

Pretty much every child in the borough would have taken to the canal at some point.

New Journal readers are being urged to help by using the venue, its canal boating and paddlesport services and spreading the word about the Castle’s fundraising campaign across family, friends and networks.

The “float our boats” fundraiser can be found at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/float-our-boats