TPT April 2025

NAVIGATION DREAM edges closer with £20,000 boost

by

Web Editor

–

April 26, 2025

A RESEARCH project which aims to uncover the history of the Melton and Oakham waterways – and ultimately reopen it to boats – can continue its work thanks to a £20,000 grant from the National Lottery. The Melton & Oakham Waterways Society (MOWS) will use the money to finance an 18-month project for further research…
Continue reading »
CHARACTERS OF THE CUT: Marcelo Duarte – from Sao Paulo to the Kennet & Avon

by

Web Editor

–

April 25, 2025

Alice Elgie reports… WHEN Marcelo Duarte moved to the UK from Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, where he had been born and raised alongside more than 22 million people, he had no idea he was heading towards an entirely new – and somewhat quieter – life, living on the canals of England. He explained: “My…
Continue reading »
FREE CAKE for volunteers

by

Web Editor

–

April 24, 2025

SHROPSHIRE Union Canal Society is on the lookout for new volunteers to help members keep up their relentless pursuit of closing the Shropshire Gap. The society has been restoring the Montgomery for many years and has recently hit major milestones with Crickheath basin being opened for navigation in 2023 and Crickheath Tramway Wharf being restored…
Continue reading »
FREIGHT on the waterways update

by

Web Editor

–

April 23, 2025

Jonathan Mosse’s monthly look at freight development on the inland waterways.BLEATING away on a monthly basis in a waterways magazine about the discrepancies in recognition of modal freight paths in the UK might, on the face of it, appear to be a fairly fruitless and therefore soul-destroying occupation. But is it? Let’s start by saying…
Continue reading »
HELP COMPILE a national picture of waterways heritage

by

Web Editor

–

April 21, 2025

IWA’s Amy Tillson reports… IWA’s Heritage Advisory Panel aims to safeguard and publicise the extraordinary national heritage asset that our waterways network represents. To aid public and governmental awareness of this, the group is compiling a ‘risk list’ of significant waterways heritage items that are endangered for whatever reason – for instance neglect, dereliction, insensitive…
Continue reading »
PUBLIC ASKED to share memories of West Midlands canals

by

Web Editor

–

April 19, 2025

A PLEA has gone out for the public to share their memories and experiences of West Midlands canals to keep the history alive. The Canal & River Trust is launching a new heritage project, funded by the National Lottery, in the West Midlands and is calling on people to help make it happen. The trust…
Continue reading »
LOUTH CANAL: Vegetation cut back

by

Web Editor

–

April 16, 2025

Lucy Wood investigates… THE Environment Agency has been clearing overgrown vegetation along Louth Canal, in Lincolnshire, to mitigate flood risk. Teams have also been coppicing willows and cutting grass throughout February and March in advance of the bird nesting season. As previously reported in Towpath Talk, advisory signs were erected along the path of the…
Continue reading »
BUCKET LIST TRIP: UK’s longest, deepest, highest canal tunnel

by

Web Editor

–

April 12, 2025

INTREPID explorers will be able to tick off a bucket list trip through the UK’s longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel this spring. Visitors can either canoe or relax and be chauffeured through the 3.5-mile Standedge Tunnel, which runs under the Pennines between Marsden, near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, and Diggle in Lancashire. The experience…
Continue reading »
SUPERBUGS spread from swans?

by

Web Editor

–

April 11, 2025

A STUDY by university scientists has shown that swans living in urban waterways could host deadly bacteria that could be harmful to humans. The study by the University of Galway revealed swans in Dublin and Co Kildare frequently carry antimicrobial resistant bacteria in their guts similar to those that cause difficult-to-treat infections in humans. The…
Continue reading »
ON TOUR: The River Project

by

Web Editor

–

April 10, 2025

Lucy Wood reports… FALLING Stars Theatre has created an immersive, interactive theatre performance for primary school-aged children based on the banks of the River Aire. Supported by The Aire Rivers Trust, The Wild Trout Trust and the Salmon and Trout Conservation, The River Project imagines a host of memorable characters on the banks of the…
Continue reading »
FLOATING MUSUEM gets TV spot

by

Web Editor

–

April 9, 2025

The restoration of a 1923-built keel into a piece of living history has been featured on primetime TV. THE Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society’s (HKSPS) ongoing work on Comrade was featured on the March 2 episode of the BBC’s flagship Sunday teatime programme Countryfile. The episode focused on the Humber Estuary, and how nature…
Continue reading »
HARNESSING the power of our rivers

by

Web Editor

–

April 8, 2025

Sports personality and presenter Clare Balding is fronting a new series about Britain’s most iconic rivers. FROM the wildlife that call it home, the folk who live and work on riverbanks, to the many day trippers and pleasure seekers who visit, Tales From The Riverbank is showcasing the sights and sounds of the country’s rivers…
Continue reading »
CELEBRATING River Welland

by

Web Editor

–

April 7, 2025

Lucy Wood reports ARTISTS, volunteers and the community came together to create beautiful willow sculptures, nature-inspired waymarkers and a community banner inspired by the riverside heritage of a market town. Over a three-year period Spalding, in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, was revitalised with a creative and artistic show of strength. Twisting eels and…
Continue reading »
BOAT VANDALISM: Worst case ever seen

by

Web Editor

–

April 4, 2025

A NARROWBOAT that was broken into, vandalised and scuppered – blocking boats cruising the Hawkesbury junction area of the Coventry canal – was the worst case of wanton destruction River Canal Rescue’s teams had ever seen. The distraught owner visited narrowboat Rosie the week before it was vandalised, and on the weekend of February 15/16…
Continue reading »