Partners & Artists / Maritime heritage

Raybel Charters

A maritime heritage community company that mixes business, activism and creativity, and the team bringing a 100-year-old Thames sailing barge back to the river.

Partner Thames estuary Sail cargo

Who they are

Heritage, activism and creativity under sail

Raybel Charters was formed in 2018 to restore the Thames sailing barge Raybel, and has grown into a community company working across the Thames estuary, from central London to the Kent coast. It runs arts, education and heritage projects built around water, trade, transport, nature and people.

Their mission is to help create a climate-conscious and socially just way of trading, which is why the barge is being put back to work, not just put on display.

That sits comfortably alongside what we're doing: a station for both banks of the Thames is a natural home for the stories of the people caring for the river.

Visit Raybel Charters
Aerial view of the teal-painted barge Raybel moored beside Lloyd's Wharf, with a dark-roofed building behind her Photo: Raybel Charters
1920
Launched at Milton Creek, Sittingbourne
26 m
Long, with a 6.5 m beam
~25
Thames sailing barges still sailable, from around 2,000 in 1900
2025
Maiden sail after restoration, 25 June

Raybel in pictures

From the 1920 launch to today

Black-and-white photograph of the Thames sailing barge Raybel being launched in 1920, dressed with flags beside a boatyard shed
The launch of Raybel, 1920.
The Thames sailing barge Raybel crossing the grey Thames estuary, with a yellow buoy and the edge of another vessel in the foreground
Raybel crosses the Thames estuary under her own power, October 2019.
Looking along the inside of Raybel's bows during restoration, with timber frames and daylight showing through gaps in the planking
Inside Raybel's bows during restoration.
Aerial view of the teal-painted barge Raybel moored beside Lloyd's Wharf, with a dark-roofed building behind her
Raybel alongside Lloyd's Wharf, Milton Creek.

Photographs courtesy of Raybel Charters (raybelcharters.com).

What they do

More than a boat

Raybel Charters offers experiences and services for communities, schools, artists and other heritage groups. All of it is rooted in the barge and the wharf.

Barge & wharf tours

Guided visits around Lloyd's Wharf and aboard Raybel herself.

Schools & learning

Curriculum-linked activities on board or at school, from primary to university, plus talks on the barge's history and restoration, and reminiscence resources for care homes.

Events, hire & workshops

Raybel can be hired as a venue for exhibitions, performances, film screenings and meetings, with workshops at the wharf and its Sail Loft. The restored dry dock can be hired too.

Sail Cargo

Part of a cross-ocean network moving produce from small-scale community producers in Colombia, the Caribbean, Portugal and France. The final leg to London is by Thames sailing barge, and Raybel is expected to join in.

Volunteering & training

Hands-on volunteering, work experience, and school and college visits.

Community, arts & science

Gardening, oral history, the Estuary 2025 festival, a Lewisham youth theatre production, a public artwork at Milton Creek Country Park and a citizen-science water-quality project on Milton Creek.

Follow Raybel's story

For charters, events, volunteering and the latest news from the wharf, head to Raybel Charters' own website.

Visit raybelcharters.com Volunteer with Raybel

This page is a summary based on raybelcharters.com in October 2026. See their site for current details. ← All partners & artists