May Day Bank Holiday weekend (4th to 6th May 2024) saw a range of events to highlight the impact of insufficient funding for Britain’s 5,000 miles of inland waterways.

Events for the weekend of action took place across the country on waterways managed by different inland navigation authorities. It coincided with IWA’s annual Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice in London, which this year was themed on Fund Britain’s Waterways.

Events included:

3^rd to 4^th May Ripon Motor Boat Club – Campaign Cruise to Ripon

3^rd to 4^th May, Electrika at Brinklow Marina

4th May, Gazebo and stall besides Johnsons Hillock locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

4th May, Swarkestone Boat Club cruise to Shobnall Fields, Burton upon Trent.

4^th May, Fradley Junction, outside the Laughing Duck café (IWA Lichfield Branch to have an FBW stall)

4^th to 6^th May, IWA Canalway Cavalcade

4^th to 6^th May, Norbury Canal Festival

5^th May, Anglo-Welsh Open Day at Great Haywood (IWA Lichfield Branch to have a Branch/FBW stall)

5th May, Broads Society rally at Acle Bridge, to support sustainable funding for the Broads, since Defra’s core grant provides nothing for the navigation function.  See Press Release issued by the Broads Society on 1st May.

See the full photo report here.

[The photo shows IWA Lancashire & Cumbria Branch’s stall on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, where passers by were lobbied for their support]

See the Report from IWA Chiltern Branch

See the video report from Ros Daniels of Canal & River Trust

.

Birmingham Canal Navigations Society’s working boats Atlas and Malus undertook a ‘Fund Britain’s Waterways on tour’ trip around the Birmingham Canal Navigations. The boats started at the Fund Britain’s Waterways Campaign Cruise, which took place outside the Mailbox in Birmingham on 13th August.

It was here that Atlas and Malus joined approximately 50 other boats to stage a demonstration in support of the FBW campaign which calls upon national and local government to act now and protect the public benefit and natural capital of our waterways.

The next stop for Atlas and Malus was the Brownhills Canal Festival which took place from 19th – 20th August. The event, which is organised by Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, took place on the Wyrley & Essington Canal at Brownhills in the Black Country. For Atlas and Malus, the next step of the journey involved cruising on the Birmingham Canal Navigations from Birmingham city centre to Brownhills. They stopped at Titford Pumphouse and also moored overnight in Wolverhampton on their way to Brownhills Canal Festival.

Following Brownhills, Atlas and Malus continued onwards IWA’s Festival of Water 2023 which was held in Pelsall over the August Bank Holiday weekend. While moored at the event on the Wyrley & Essington Canal, Atlas and Malus received a great deal of interest from festival goers who stopped by to admire these impressive boats and to learn more about the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign. They also welcomed members of the public aboard to have a look inside the traditional working boats.

The end of August didn’t mean the end of the voyage for these two working boats however, as they continued the tour by attending the Black Country Boating Festival which took place in early September. It is an annual event which takes place at the Bumble Hole Nature Reserve on the Dudley No2 Canal. Throughout the duration of their voyage, Atlas and Malus sported the distinctive FBW boat banners and helped to raise awareness about the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign – not only at the events but also while en-route to each location! We thank the BCN Society for their support of the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign and for allowing Atlas and Malus to take #FBWonTour. Thank you also to the crew members that took part including: Steve King (Skipper), Mike Rolfe, Steve Melia and John Holian on Atlas and Mike Paine, Ann Wild and Phillip Wild on Malus.