On 21st September there were celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Caldon Canal at Stoke on Trent Boat Club, and an opportune moment to reflect on today’s campaign for funding for the waterways and any parallels with 1974.  The event included an exhibition of photos and memories of the work carried out by volunteers leading up to the 1974 restoration of the Canal, as well a Fund Britain’s Waterways stand to promote our current campaign.

Spotted at boat gathering near Bratch Locks on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, over the last weekend in August.

Events at which we can fly the Fund Britain’s Waterways flag tend not to happen at an even rate throughout the year.  So, on some weekends, we have needed multiple banners at multiple different geographical locations, all many miles apart.  The peak time for such events is the spring, and then the diary quietens down when more people go on extended cruises over the summer, and most events have concluded by the end of October, and there a fewer opportunities for the banners to be exhibited over the winter.  So, this autumn, many of our banners risk going into storage until Spring 2025.

However, the need for funding for the waterways is undiminished.  Indeed, the winter period often sees peak expenditure as serious structural maintenance works gets underway, and challenges from the weather, exacerbated by global warming, tend to arrive at an increasingly frequent rate.  And, even if there are fewer boats on the waterways in the winter, there are still many people about on foot and bike, as well as the intrepid all-year-round boaters.  So, we need to keep getting the message across.

So, can you help us solve two problems?  First to keep getting the message out there, and second, to give a banner or two a happy home over the winter, and some relief to our over-crowded storage.  Please contact [email protected] if you can help.

Here, this banner has been given a happy home for the winter by IWA national chair, Mike Wills, at his property on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

If you have a waterside property, or influence at a commercial waterside business, or you know someone who has, please help us out.

Members of the Northern Rivers Sailing Club, which is based on River Bure near Acle in Norfolk, are seen here supporting Fund Britain’s Waterways at their club premises.  Whilst the Norfolk Broads are home waters, club members frequently venture further afield to other waters and rivers along the East Anglia coast.

Left – Leeds and Liverpool Canal short boat Ribble was sporting a Fund Britain’s Waterways banner at Lymm Historic Transport Day on 23rd June.  Photo by David Poole.
Below – this banner was spotted at Braunston Boat Show.  Photo by Les Etheridge.

Over 24 hours finishing on 26th May, the Birmingham Canal Navigations were cruised by many boats promoting the Fund Britain’s Waterways Campaign. The BCN Society’s annual Marathon Challenge aims at ensuring the future of these canals.

Here are boats gathered at Limehouse ready for the Westminster Campaign Cruise, which took place on 8th May and, inset, Rum’a’gin and Purple Emperor having arrived at Canalway Cavalcade, before setting off to Limehouse.

Another photo (left), taken at Fazeley, from Hazel Owen’s scrapbook on her tour to the Thames. Narrowboat Purple Emperor has now caught up with Rum’a’Gin and has been dressed in banners to cruise in convoy to London.

And (below) a flag on the stern of Andy Williams’ boat.

Hazel Owen writes…

“Having not been able to join the November Campaign Cruise on our NB Rum’a’Gin we were determined that we would be on the May Cruise come hell or high water.  The logistics of cruising to the capital in November were just too great, never did we think it would be as difficult to get there for May.

Firstly, Vazon bridge onto the River Trent near Doncaster was closed for repair.  Then the L&L closed due to lock issues.  Fortunately reopened so we could head across the Pennines.  we have now reached Lichfield, but our route is still changing we will be heading from the Coventry Canal onto the Birmingham and Fazeley before hitting the Grand Union.  The usual route would be on the Northern Oxford but that is closed due to a landslip.

Keep up with our progress at https://www.facebook.com/groups/946415890265050

And if you see us on the canal give us a wave or stop for a chat.”

Hazel Owen (AWCC) sent this photo of her boat Rumagin dressed in FBW banners and flags (bow, stern, roof and sides) at Bingley, ready for the 250th anniversary of the Bingley Five Rise Locks on 23rd March.  The photo was taken on the previous day.

Situated on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, the Bingley Five Rise opened on 21 March 1774 due to demand from the industrial hubs in the region. At the time it was a major feat of engineering. The Grade I-listed locks are the steepest flight of locks in the UK, with a gradient of about 1:5 (a rise of 18.03m (59ft 2in) over a distance of 98m (320ft)). When the locks, and hence the canal from Gargrave to Thackley, were opened a crowd of 30,000 people turned out to celebrate and the local militia fired their field guns in salute. The first boat to use the locks took just 28 minutes.

Unlike the competing, and earlier, trans-Pennine waterways (Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale canals), the Leeds & Liverpool has broad locks. This, combined with the heavy industry along its route, ensured that, unlike the other two trans-Pennine canals, it competed successfully with the railways throughout the 19th century and remained open through the 20th century. Ultimately, this means that Bingley Five Rise has continued to serve countless numbers of boats over two and a half centuries.

IWA Lichfield Branch has arranged for this banner to be displayed, until further notice, in a prominent position at Fradley Junction, in time for lots of visitors over Easter and beyond.

[Photo by Neil Barnett]