On Sunday 3^rd August, a flotilla of boats travelled in convoy up the River Cam and assembled at Baits Bite Lock, to meet Charlotte Cane MP and draw attention to the threats facing Britain’s canals and navigable rivers as a result of inadequate funding. 15 narrowboats and cruisers, dressed with Fund Britain’s Waterways banners, made the journey from Bottisham Lock and were joined en route by a steam launch, a rowing boat and a kayak. They passed moored boats also dressed with banners and were applauded by supporters on the bank. A large group gathered at Baits Bite Lock including Cambridge city and county councillors and representatives of businesses and other organisations, united in their support for inland waterways and their call for investment to ensure their survival.

Baits Bite Lock is one of two locks on the River Cam which have had to be closed because of structural and safety issues. Additionally, an ageing, and failing, fleet of work vessels means that even routine operational work on maintaining the navigation, banks, and towpath is very difficult. By agreeing to liquidate their investments, the Conservators of the River Cam can just about afford to do the stabilisation work at Baits Bite, and work was scheduled to begin on 4^th August. There is no possibility of stabilising Jesus Green Lock without external funding or investment, and the risk of structural failure remains a threat to river users and the environment, economy, and safety of the city of Cambridge, highlighting the urgent need for meaningful investment in Britain’s waterways. The situation is a specific example of the vulnerability of the entire inland waterway network.

The campaign cruise was covered by That’s TV Cambridgeshire in two interviews, with the Chair of the Conservators of the River Cam and with Charlotte Cane MP.

(All photos in this section by Kev Maslin, Chasing the Boats, unless otherwise credited).

The photo, right, shows guests and participants at Baits Bite Lock, as follows (left to right): Charlotte Cane, MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire; Simon Judge, Conservator of the River Cam; David Goode, Chair of the Conservators of the River Cam; Sue O’Hare, IWA Deputy National Chair; Foxy, mascot of Fox Narrowboats Ltd; Ivan Cane, Wilderness Boat Owners’ Club and Chair of the Northern Canals Association; Councillor Anna Bradnam, Cambridgeshire County Council and Conservator of the River Cam, and; Paula Syred, British Marine Inland Committee Member and Director of Fox Narrowboats Ltd.

The photo below shows canoeists with a Fund Britain’s Waterways banner

The Wash crossing took place on Wednesday 25 June.  The journey was about 20 miles from Boston to a sandbank, Thief Sand, on an outgoing tide and then 19 miles from the sandbank on an incoming tide to Wisbech.  One boat broke down when trying to leave the sandbank and had to be towed to Wisbech, demonstrating the wisdom of travelling in company, so all the boats made it safely.  There is BBC Look East coverage here.

Photos by Hazel Owen, Shirley Sefton, Andrew Phasey and Ian Marr

Right – Supporters outside Tooley’s Boatyard, showing the FBW boaters Van Hinchcliffe and Shirley Sefton with Matt Armitage and staff and volunteers from Tooley’s, plus Verna Smith (former IWA South East Region Chair and Trustee of Tooley’s Historic Boatyard Trust) and Sue O’Hare (IWA Deputy Chair and FBW steering group member).  Below – Sue O’Hare, Shirley Sefton and Van Hinchliffe from nb September Sapphire in the FBW flotilla, and Verna Smith.

[Photos by Phil Marsh]

Right – Culham Lock.  Below – Sandford Lock.  [All three photos by George Seward]

The flotilla of 26 boats assembled in Limehouse Basin on Tuesday 6^th May, including a pair of working fuel boats, a historic narrowboat, a Dutch barge and privately owned narrowboats from across the country. On the morning of Wednesday 7^th May the boats locked down onto the Thames in groups and cruised upriver to the Palace of Westminster. Once the whole flotilla was reassembled and the Parliamentary viewers and FBW representatives were in place on the terrace just before 11am, the boats sounded their horns to cheers from supporters on Westminster Bridge, making their message audible inside Westminster as well as outside.

The boats then headed downriver past Limehouse to West India Docks, where they moored for the night. A hot debrief was held aboard the ship belonging to new FBW member Theatreship before the boaters had some well-earned rest. On Thursday 8^th May the flotilla divided between different routes north, with one group going up the Thames and the Oxford Canal and the other back up the Grand Union canal for the next event at Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs member Lionhearts Cruising Club on 17^th May.

[Photo: Flotilla outside the Houses of Parliament – by Liz Rayner]

There is a full photo report here.

Owing to damage to City Road Lock, the flotilla split up after leaving IWA’s Canalway Cavalcade on 5th May. Some went along the Regent’s Canal through the lock and moored at Hackney overnight, and some went to Brentford via the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal ready to go down the tidal Thames to Limehouse on 6th May where they all planned to meet up in readiness for the cruise to the House of Parliament on 7th May.  Right, boats at Brentford [by Hazel Owen].  Below, boats at Hackney [by Ian Marr].

Right: FBW project manager Stephen Busby with a banner at Paddington Basin, and below, campaigners at Paddington Basin [both photos by Allyson Marr]

Right – FBW campaign flotilla boat coming through Bridge 200B on the Grand Union Canal [by Claudia Jacklin].  Below – Four FBW campaign flotilla boats moored in Hayes on 29th April [by Jo-Sharples]

[Photos right and below by Brian Sharples, and boats moored at The Globe, just north of Leighton Buzzard, by Hazel Owen]

Right – boat under Bridge 53 [by Jo Sharples].  Below – this boat passed an IWA Chiltern Branch trip boat outing on 14th April [by Paula Smith]

Right – Boaters being welcomed by Canal & River Trust volunteers at Kilby Bridge on the Soar Navigation – by Hazel Owen.  Below, Banner at Kings Lock, Soar Navigation on 6th April – by Herbert Eppel, and below that, Canal & River Trust removing old lock gates at Birstall Lock on 7th April – by Claudia Jacklin

Right – heading up Foxton Locks on 9th April.  Below – awaiting to head up the locks.  Both photos by Hazel Owen.

Right – boats in Hazelford Lock.  Above – boats travelling through Gainsborough.  Below – boats on the river.  And underneath that a video by Narrowboat Super ‘B’ of the combined flotilla cruising through Gainsborough on 1^st April

Also, see the photo report on Chesterfield Canals Trust’s website.

Right and below, the flotilla coming through Vazon Sliding Bridge on 31^st March.  Sheffield University broadcast journalism student, Josh Herman, filming the flotilla on 31^st March, with video underneath.  And below that, a video by Lincolnshire Explored & Exposed of the flotilla arriving at Keadby Lock on 31^st March.

Swarkestone Boat Club’s campaign cruise to Shobnall Fields on the Trent & Mersey Canal made clear their campaign message, with boats appropriately dressed. This event almost had to be cancelled owing to damage to Barrow Bridge 16 on the Canal resulting from a serious vehicle strike, but Canal & River Trust managed to reopen the canal in time for the cruise to go ahead.

IWA’s stand at the Electrika Boat Show – promoting the environmentally friendly options for boating – also had a clear campaign message.

Fund Britain’s Waterways was the theme for this year’s Canalway Cavalcade, with boats travelling from across the country, and some went on to participate in the Campaign Cruise past the Houses of Westminster.

At one of the northernmost outposts of the connected waterway system, members of Ripon Motor Boat Club gathered in the City’s canal basin to inform passers-by of their concerns and to gather support.