Sixty years after a last-ditch meeting in a Newport hotel, the Shropshire Union Canal Society is still fighting for the waterways of the historic Shropshire Union network – turning threatened closures into volunteer-powered restorations and keeping up the pressure to bridge the final ‘Shropshire Gap.’
THE Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) began life on Wednesday, November 9, 1966, at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Newport. The gathering had been called to wind up the original Shrewsbury and Newport Canal Association, formed only a year earlier – but campaigners were not ready to accept defeat. When efforts to stop the British Waterways Board selling off the Newport-Shrewsbury line failed, members opted for a new name and a wider remit: protect and enhance the canals of the historic Shropshire Union network in England and Wales.
The late 1960s were a moment when Britain started looking again at canals – their character, their wildlife, and a fast-disappearing way of life built around water. SUCS barely had time to settle before a major test arrived on the Montgomery Canal, which had been breached in 1936 near its junction with the Llangollen Canal and then effectively abandoned. In 1968, the Welsh Office proposed using the canal’s route through Welshpool for a bypass.
Determined not to lose another waterway, SUCS joined forces with other groups and, during one October weekend in 1969, volunteers restored three-quarters of a mile through the town. The Welshpool Big Dig generated the publicity and goodwill that helped persuade officials to choose an alternative route and sparked fresh ambition to restore the canal all the way to Newtown.
A royal visit or two
From 1970 to 2006, the society kept returning to the Montgomery Canal, extending restoration work north and south of Welshpool. Ten locks were brought back into use, and the canal’s profile rose high enough to attract more than one visit from the then Prince of Wales – support that campaigners said helped to secure the future of the waterway north of the town.
Restoration did not mean one project at a time. From 1992, SUCS also began a rolling programme of improvements on the wider Shropshire Union network – towpath upgrades, moorings, benches and picnic tables – work that has since been revived again from 2023.
In 2008, attention turned to extending the navigable Montgomery Canal on the English side of the border. Major schemes have since brought water back to stretches left dry after the 1936 breach, backed by a substantial Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The work has not been simple: each phase has had to balance heavy engineering with ecology – proof that saving a canal in the 21st century is as much about habitats as it is about heritage.
Now, the focus is on the last stubborn missing link: the ‘Shropshire Gap,’ a two-mile length of dry canal between Crickheath in Shropshire and Llanymynech in Wales. Lose that gap, and the restored Welsh section of the Monty can once again connect to England by water.
Dinghies over roads
Campaigning has never been only about committee meetings. In 1985, SUCS launched the Montgomery Meander and Dinghy Dawdle to highlight a practical problem: ‘dropped’ (lowered) bridges that block through-navigation. Press photographs of people carrying dinghies, canoes and kayaks across roads made the point with memorable simplicity.
Over time, the need to supervise road crossings pushed the route away from the worst pinch-points and the dawdle became more of a social fixture. The final dawdle took place in 2011; since 2012, the Friends of the Montgomery Canal have continued the tradition with a triathlon of bikes, boats and boots along the canal’s full length.
Boat rallies also helped keep the waterways in the public eye, first at Whitchurch and Norbury and later at Ellesmere. For fundraising (and plenty of publicity), the society organised lock winds too, with the last held in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic halted events.
Still making the case
Six decades on, SUCS remains a familiar sight on the Shropshire Union network, turning up at meetings, exhibitions and community events with its fundraising and publicity stall, leading walks along different stretches, and giving talks to any group keen to hear how a threatened canal can be brought back to life. Its quarterly magazine, Cuttings, continues to chart progress and setbacks, alongside regular updates via the society’s website and social media channels.
As reported in last month’s Towpath Talk, a full calendar of walks, boat gatherings and heritage activities is taking place throughout 2026 as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations. A Gathering of Boats takes place in Welshpool on June 27/28, followed by a Celebration Cruise on the Montgomery Canal on July 25/26 between Lyneal Wharf, near Ellesmere, and Crickheath. Heritage Open Days include restoration walks on September 12 (Schoolhouse Bridge to Waen Wen Basin) and September 20 (Llanymynech to the Vyrnwy Aqueduct and back), supported by Oswestry Museum. The anniversary year ends on Friday, November 6 with a working-party demonstration and celebrations at the Dolphin Inn in Llanymynech.
The society will also offer free membership until July 2027 for those receiving Cuttings electronically, launch new clothing, and tour a travelling exhibition to local libraries before it moves to Oswestry Museum.
For SUCS members, it has been a long, sometimes bumpy journey, but at 60, the message is simple: the waterways are still worth fighting for, and the work is far from finished.
