News

A horse hauled Shroppie fly-boat!

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July 25, 2023

THE Shropshire Union Main Line near Norbury recently saw a Shropshire Union Fly-boat hauled by a horse, perhaps the first time here for a hundred years! This rare and wonderful sight was the well-known Saturn, hauled by Flower, an eight-year-old mare. David Ray of Norbury Wharf Ltd said: “Flower did really well. She is usually ridden…
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Green Flags for Almost 600 Miles of Waterways!

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July 25, 2023

The Canal & River Trust is announcing that Keep Britain Tidy has awarded 50* of its canal and river navigations with prestigious Green Flag status. The nation’s canal charity has secured a further 53.5 miles of Green Flag waterways across England and Wales, with 592* miles now holding the international quality mark for parks and…
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Canal Charity Announces Programme of Work to Help Protect Nation’s Historic Waterways

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July 24, 2023

The Canal & River Trust has announced an £89m programme of engineering work, illustrating the scale of the resource required to protect and preserve the nation’s 250-year-old canal network. Against a backdrop of the government announced sweeping cuts to the future funding of canals, in the current financial year, the Trust will complete more than…
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Canal Stalwart and Local Historian has taken his Last Journey Afloat

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July 22, 2023

William Walker, a long-serving and devoted, retired employee of British Waterways (now Canal & River Trust) was given a most fitting send-off when he made his last waterborne journey aboard the Phoenix narrowboat on Friday 21st July 2023. Departing from Whaley Bridge at 10am, William’s coffin was transported on a last trip afloat, in traditional style,…
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Hazlehurst Bridge restoration complete

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July 21, 2023

Canal & River Trust, the national canal charity, has completed the project to rebuild the Grade II Listed Hazlehurst Bridge on the Caldon Canal near Endon in Staffordshire. The 12-month project, costing £2 million, was enabled by an award from the Postcode Earth Trust, thanks to funds raised by People’s Postcode Lottery players. It has…
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Irelands Inland Waterways celebrated in photographs

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July 19, 2023

Our Irish Waters correspondent Alison Alderton reports on a wonderful photo exhibition: The Goodly Barrow museum and café, situated in the former warehouse buildings at Goresbridge on the banks of the River Barrow, has long associations with the navigation and former working barges which once plied these waters. Throughout July and August, these bygone days…
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Latest Stoppage on the Leeds & Liverpool

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Colin Wareing

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July 18, 2023

A leak had been detected either from damage to a culvert that carries a field drainage ditch under the canal or the canal wash wall with the canal flowing into an adjacent farm field. Attempts were made to stop the water flowing through the wash wall with a plastic fibre sheet, but this didn’t stem…
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Organise a National Trailboat Festival

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Mark Lancaster

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July 18, 2023

FESTIVALS are very useful for drawing attention locally and nationally to the restoration or improvement project your team is working on. A greater awareness of your need for more support is generated as a result of that attention. Festivals are encouraged and promoted by the IWA to highlight your restoration project. You will draw local…
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IWA publishes new guide to Denver crossing

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July 17, 2023

LIKE most rivers, the River Great Ouse flows into the sea. The main boundary between the non-tidal river and estuary is at Denver Sluice. The Middle Level is a series of drainage channels. To get from the non-tidal waters of the River Great Ouse to the Middle Level requires a short estuary crossing between Denver…
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Boats and beer celebration

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July 15, 2023

THE final chapter of the latest restoration project on the Montgomery Canal south of Crickheath Bridge near Oswestry was enacted on Saturday, June 2. Another 700m has now been restored, to advance the restoration towards Llanymynech, including a Winding Hole at Crickheath which enables boats to turn round there. This section is now in water…
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Characters of the Cut!

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July 14, 2023

Morgan, Sue and Min – wild wood and wild swimming By Alice Griffin WHEN Morgan, Sue and their much-loved dog, Min, were looking for a different pace of life and deeper engagement with nature, it was having a 58ft cruiser stern narrowboat named Sunbeam built by J D Narrowboats at Shardlow that held the answers.…
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Have your say on canal charity’s proposals for new fishing platforms

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Web Editor

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July 13, 2023

Public Consultation: 7 July – 3 August 2023 Canal & River Trust, the waterways charity that looks after Harthill Reservoir, is inviting people to have their say on proposals for new fishing platforms as part of the Trust’s upgrade project. The Trust is planning to replace the existing fishing platforms, which are no longer fit…
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Government funding cuts put future of nation’s historic canals at risk

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Mark Lancaster

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July 12, 2023

Following today’s announcement from the Government, Canal & River Trust is issuing a stark warning that a reduction in grant funding of over £300 million in real terms will threaten the future of the nation’s historic canals, leading to their decline and to the eventual closure of some parts of the network. The reduced grant…
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More good news for the Monty Canal

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Phil Pickin

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July 11, 2023

Association of Industrial Archaeology awards grant for tramway wharf restoration The Shropshire Union Canal Society gratefully acknowledges the support of a £14,600 restoration grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology towards the cost of restoring the historic tramway wharf on the canal at Crickheath. The canal wharf was the terminal of a 2½ mile horse-drawn…
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