Moorcroft vase awarded at Etruria
By: Harry Arnold
ONE of the major features of this year’s 18th Etruria Canal Festival – held at the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Caldon canals around the Etruria Industrial Museum the heart of the city of Stoke-on-Trent over the weekend of June 4/5 – was a stunning prize for the best turned out traditional working narrowboat.
The world-renowned Stoke-on-Trent art pottery Moorcroft donated a limited edition vase, designed by Kerry Goodwin and entitled ‘Brindley’s Canal’, valued at more than £1200. Judges Chris Skelhorne and Harry Arnold of IWA Stoke-on-Trent Branch chose Teresa and Roger Fuller’s Ibex from the ten eligible boats and the prize was presented to the Fullers by local MP Tristram Hunt when he officially opened the festival.
The presentation of the Moorcroft Vase Award aboard Ibex and Sweden. (l to r) Roger Fuller, Andrew Watts, Teresa Fuller, Tristram Hunt MP, Harry Arnold and Chris Skelhorne. PHOTO: WATERWAY IMAGES
This is an extremely popular annual event among the local residents of Stoke, who have become regular attenders; because apart from the museum, the visiting boats, stands, entertainment, and the mill engine, the junction at Etruria is a hub of waterway activity, alive with boats continuously passing up and down the locks and along the Caldon Canal.
The 2011 festival was no exception and two days of generally fine weather brought in around 10,000 visitors. Twelve Wild Over Waterways (WoW) activities were organised by volunteers of the IWA Stoke-on-Trent Branch. The Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust and those from the museum and the city with 528 WoW passports being issued - a total that would be the envy of many national waterway events. The activities gave many children had a great time, with sneaking help from equally interested and happy parents.
The popularity of the festival focussed attention on the future of the Industrial Museum and its unique working steam engine driving the adjacent bone mill. With the transition from being a local authority funded and operated establishment to one run by a voluntary trust, the weekend demonstrated what a valuable asset to the city and the waterways the Etruria site is and provided a fertile recruiting ground for willing local volunteers to help with its upkeep and future.
Current Issue: May 2012
• HISTORIC BOATS AT DROITWICH
Events
• LOOKING AHEAD TO CRICK BOAT SHOW
Crick show preview
• REHEARSING FOR THE BIG DAY
Thames pageant preview
• WIN A BOATING HOLIDAY WITH UK BOAT HIRE
Trader
• TRADER
375 Boats for sale
PLUS:
• Next issue on sale: 24 May 2012
