Lichfield Branch

Sunday 6th August 2023—Lockwind

We will be holding a fund raising lockwind at Barton Turn lock starting at 10am and finishing about 4pm followed by a barbecue for the participants. We make money from donations but mostly from the sale of cakes, so if you can bake a couple of cakes (not too big) please contact Helen on helen.whitehouse@waterways.org.uk or 01543 491161.

Saturday/Sunday/Monday 26th-28th

August 2023—IWA Festival of Water

After a great event at Burton-upon-Trent last year the August Bank Holiday weekend again sees the IWA Festival of Water in our area, this time at Pelsall Junction on the Wyrley & Essington Canal. (see article Page 8) There will be lots of boats, lots of stalls and musical entertainment, and hopefully the weather will be good to us!

Recent Activities

Wednesday 18th January 2023—Meeting—Lichfield Canal Restoration— Engineering, Progress and Plans

Our first meeting of 2023 saw Bob Williams of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust give us an update on the success stories and challenges of restoring the Lichfield Canal. They have made great strides in 2022 and the plans going forward look to be both ambitious and practical. As always funding is the main issue and after the talk the Branch donated £500 towards their efforts.

Wednesday 15th February 2023—Meeting—”Coal from Cannock”

Andy Tidy gave us a fascinating talk on the route taken by coal boats from the Cannock coalfield into eastern Birmingham. He showed us many old photos of buildings and waterways, some of which no longer exist and some of which now run through the skyscrapers and posh buildings of Birmingham. He also had excellent jams and chutneys for sale from the “Jam Butty”.