News

GROUNDING advice from RCR

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July 16, 2025

River Canal Rescue (RCR) is warning boaters about the risks of grounding after receiving 40+ calls in a six-week period, prompting a higher-than-usual number of call-outs. From 1 June to 11 July, rescue co-ordinators have been giving on the phone assistance to one/two people a day, and while many callers are then able to move…
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SAVING ENERGY on boat heating

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July 15, 2025

IT IS usually said that a typical narrowboat needs about 2kW to keep it comfortable in cold weather, although more is obviously needed to heat it initially. Energy (and therefore cost) can be saved by reducing losses, utilising waste heat and/or installing a more efficient system. Malcolm Bridge, IWA Sustainable Boating Group, gives us more…
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SWAPPING real waves for the airwaves

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July 14, 2025

TIM and Tracey Clarke, co-founders of the Accessible Waterways Association, have published their podcast on streaming platform Spotify so their work can reach a wider audience. As reported, the association aims to raise awareness of the fact that there are people aboard boats on inland waterways with a variety of accessibility needs. Its members come…
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MUSICAL CELEBRATION on the Leeds & Liverpool

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July 12, 2025

A musical celebration on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was part of Bradford being feted as the UK’s City of Culture this year. Sally Clifford beat a path to the West Yorkshire market town of Bingley… MELODIC electronic beats play out from the lock chamber. The creator of this gentle yet funky compilation sits at…
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CELEBRATING Ireland’s High King

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July 11, 2025

THE annual festival celebrating Ireland’s greatest king took place this year from Wednesday, July 2 to Sunday, July 6. Brian Boru, Ireland’s High King from 1002 to 1014, broke with tradition, choosing to build a fortress away from the Hill of Tara, the established residence for Ireland’s kings. Instead, he selected a site about a…
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BRIDGEWATER CANAL closed until December 2026

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July 10, 2025

THE COMPANY that runs the Bridgewater Canal has confirmed it won’t reopen to navigation until December 2026. A catastrophic flood occurred at Little Bollington, near Dunham Massey, on New Year’s Day following heavy rainfall. It left farmland under water and drained a 1.9-mile section of the canal. Emergency stoplogs were put in to stop further…
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LIFE SAVED thanks to Lock Keeper

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July 9, 2025

QUICK-thinking volunteers and staff from the Canal & River Trust sprang into action to help save the life of a canal cyclist who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest near the historic Bingley Five Rise Locks in West Yorkshire. The incident occurred on May 2, when 61-year-old Bingley-born resident Joost Smeele collapsed on Beck Lane, near…
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MUSEUM FOCUS: Gem on the Kennet & Avon

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July 8, 2025

Nicola Lisle discovers a small but delightful visitor centre in the heart of the Berkshire countryside. ALDERMASTON Wharf today is a peaceful, idyllic spot, perfect for simply relaxing and enjoying the local amenities or using as a base to start exploring the 300-year-old Kennet & Avon Canal. Never one of the most commercially successful canals,…
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WATERWAY RESTORATION conference a success

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July 7, 2025

THE Annual Waterway Restoration Conference at the National Waterways Museum was jointly organised by IWA and Canal & River Trust. IWA’s Amy Tillson reports… A packed audience attended this event, held at the historic venue at Ellesmere Port on April 26. Special thanks go to the excellent speakers and compere who made the conference inspiring…
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CANALSIDE GEM in the heart of Stourport-on-Severn

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July 5, 2025

NESTLED in a peaceful, traffic-free corner of historic Stourport-on-Severn, The Boat House, Parkes Quay is a beautiful Grade-II Listed canalside cottage. With its charming reverse-level layout, vaulted ceilings and cast-iron windows overlooking the tranquil Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, this unique property is now available for the first time since its sensitive conversion in 1998 following…
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BIG RIVER WATCH reveals water health picture

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July 4, 2025

Thousands of people around the UK and Ireland joined forces and became springtime citizen scientists for The River Trust’s biannual citizen science event, the Big River Watch. Lucy Wood tells us what we need to know: THE River Trust has since been busy combing through the data and has now shared the results of the…
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WILDERNESS BOATS on the Ahby Canal

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July 3, 2025

SPECTATORS at the Moira Canal Festival were delighted to witness a convoy of wilderness boats at the annual event – and the boaters showed their support for the Ashby Canal restoration. Lucy Wood brings us up to speed… Wilderness boats are trailboats which can be easily loaded on to a trailer and towed to get to…
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CRT: New Chief Executive

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July 2, 2025

Lucy Wood reports… WATERWAYS charity the Canal & River Trust has announced the appointment of Campbell Robb as its new chief executive. Mr Robb will join the charity on October 6, after six years leading the social justice charity Nacro as its chief executive. He is replacing Richard Parry, who joined the trust in 2013,…
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NEXT STEP: Reaching the Shropshire Gap

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July 1, 2025

WORK being carried out by the Shropshire Union Canal Society to restore part of the Montgomery Canal continues apace. Lucy Wood brings us up to speed The society’s regular working parties are currently focused on the Crickheath South project to restore the dry channel between Crickheath Bridge (bridge 85) at Crickheath Basin and Schoolhouse Bridge…
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