8 minute read
New "Restore the Montgomery!" Appeal
The official opening at Crickheath also saw the launch of a new Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal for the next stages of restoration.
With a target of £250,000 the appeal is again supported by TV canal stars Timothy West and Prunella Scales who said,
“Volunteers working on the very special Montgomery Canal have successfully restored the canal to Crickheath – on time and on budget. Generous supporters’ donations have funded the reconstruction of Schoolhouse Bridge, the last highway blockage in Shropshire.
With just two miles derelict in England can you now help the volunteers to reopen more of the canal towards the Welsh border?"
The new Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal is not as ambitious as the Schoolhouse Bridge appeal but it is just as important as there is no obvious source of funding which could match what is available for restoration in Powys. After months of hard work with two work parties a month, the Shropshire Union Canal Society now have to economise with the cost of materials and plant hire so are only on site once a month.
The new appeal has a target of £250,000, and £50,000 has been found already. That target will help volunteers on the way to Llanymynech but it won’t get them there. As well as the Shroppie Fly Paper, you will see the appeal in other waterway journals. If you live in Oswestry it will come through your letterbox as part of Oswestry Life.
We have great hope that supporters across the country – who have helped the Montgomery Canal so far – will help again. As the leaflet says, “without further funds the volunteers will have to slow or stop”.
Another successful Montgomery Canal Triathlon
It would appear that the canal gods smiled on the Triathlon this year. It was originally planned for 6th May but that then clashed with King Charles' coronation. It rained on 6th May but the new date (20th May) was a gorgeous sunny day!
On the day about 190 people came to midWales for the annual Montgomery Triathlon. While many were from Powys and Shropshire, others had come many miles to join the event, including one over 80 year old accompanied by his son and grandson from the south of France.
This year ' s event involved
◊ 12mile cycle ride from Newtown to Belan, south of Welshpool
◊ 5.5 miles by canoe through the centre of Welshpool
◊ 11 miles on foot to Morton, south of Oswestry.
For the start 170 cyclists gathered at Hafan yr Afon, Open Newtown’s new centre by the River Severn to be started by the town’s Mayor Cllr John Byrne assisted by the Montgomery Town Crier Sue Blower.
It was only just over 3¼ hours later that the first entrant ran across the finish line at Morton – others were arriving up to 5 hours later.
Christine Palin, Chair of the Friends of the Montgomery Canal said, "The Triathlon is very popular with families and the more seriously competitive and we are always delighted that so many come from far and wide to take part, often bringing friends to join in for the first time."
"It is a big effort by the Friends of the Montgomery Canal, both the organising team and over a hundred volunteers who help on the day with transport and managing locks and road crossings. Due to their efforts, we hope we will be able to make another contribution towards the restoration from this year ' s event to add to the over £30,000 that the Friends have contributed over the years. "
"This year there was a new bridge at the finish, a lift bridge for a farm crossing, which was across the canal to allow our finishers to check in. Proceedings were interrupted when a narrowboat came round the corner after visiting the new basin at Crickheath and had to open the bridge to go through. As we record how long entrants take at each stage, our timekeepers had to record the time of arrival at the bridge rather than the time of crossing it."
"The route along the canal showed participants sections of the canal that have been restored and are open for use and others still to be restored. There are a number of road crossings, blocked in the years of dereliction, which are quite difficult to manage: it will be really great when the bridges are rebuilt and boaters, ramblers and anglers can cross under the road in safety."
SNCT Update
We are grateful to Bernie Jones for this update on the continuing excellent work by the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust.
The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust’s flagship project at Wappenshall Wharf has moved on at pace over the past 12 months with the East basin completed and filled with water for the first time in nearly 70 years.
Also, the smaller of the two Grade II listed warehouses is nearing completion as a quality café, which the Trust’s volunteers hope to have open by the end of this year.
Bernie Jones
Highwaymen
In the 1970s the widespread IWA branch in the NorthWest changed to a region with branches. Our new branch got involved in events across the area, meeting members, promoting the Association and supporting restoration.
In 1980 the branch liaised with the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) to challenge the demolition of Williams Bridge, soon to be reversed.
The Dinghy Dawdles a few years after were probably the biggest events the branch had been involved in, working with SUCS to highlight other highway obstructions to the canal.
The first was in 1985 at Buttington where the canal through Welshpool was cut off from the Prince of Wales’ section by the blocked Gallowstree Bridge. In those days the police came to stop traffic so portable craft could exercise their ‘right of navigation’ across the main road at the bridge site and we were able to hand a bilingual flyer to stationary motorists (I don’t think the ‘highwaymen’ conceit worked in Welsh!). For a long time I thought the flyer was lost but recently I was pleased to find what must be my only copy.
Michael Limbrey
PS The little cottage by Buttington Wharf will soon be improved into a drivethru refreshment pod, which is the way any market town now advertises its attractions to visitors.
Gathering of Historic Boats, Audlem July 2930, 2023
Among the 30 or so narrowboats dating from about 1900 to 1962 which are expected to gather in Audlem at the end of July you will see Saturn, a 1906 Shropshire Union Canal fly boat, which often worked from Audlem, carrying cheeses and other goods loaded from the canal warehouse (now the Shroppie Fly pub).
The event is free for both spectators and participating boats.
Please do not try to park at the canal wharf, as there is no public parking, but park in Turnpike Field by the canal bridge, just by the A529 turn to Market Drayton. Parking is free!
Further information available at: http://www.audlemmill.co.uk/audlemmillgatheringofhistoric boats.html
A challenge to IWA
The Montgomery Canal in Powys is a Special Area of Conservation, that’s the highest level of designation under the European Habitats Directive. The designation is specifically for Floating Water Plantain (also found on the Rochdale and Yorkshire waterways). The canal is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Councillors in Powys have declared a "nature emergency " .
The Conservation Management Strategy was developed to balance the interests of navigation, walkers and other towpath users, the historic built heritage, and the interests of local communities, especially for the economic and tourism potential. Despite the fact that millions of pounds and thousands of hours of volunteer time have been spent on the strength of the Strategy, conservationists have in the past claimed that agreements should be disregarded and more recent voices have challenged the LevellingUp programme.
The reason for the Strategy and its solution of offline reserves was the effect that propellerdriven boats have in the slowmoving waters of a canal. This is the criticism that has been heard more recently. Slowmoving boats can minimise that disturbance – and that criticism – but not remove it completely.
So can the IWA or its members
◊ boat slowly on the Montgomery Canal?
◊ design a way that would minimise the propeller’s effect?
Michael Limbrey
2024 IWA Branch Calendars Now on Sale
We’re delighted to announce that our 2024 calendars have arrived and are on sale at events, by mail order and at various canalside outlets in our area. Our next events are
◊ our lock wind at Cholmondeston Lock
45 August,
◊ the Whitchurch Canal Festival
23 September,
◊ canal & railway exhibition at Shrewsbury’s Abbey Station 23 September.
Do come and visit our stand at any (or all) of these events and support the branch. We look forward to seeing you.
Another way to get your copies of the calendar, which look great in the home or on a boat and make super gifts, is direct from the branch by mail order. Despite the cost of postage increasing by almost 12 percent since last year, we ’ re holding prices at the same level.
We have three easy ways for you to get your copies of our 2024 calendar by mail order at just £10 per calendar, including p&p...
Pay by credit/debit card
Pay securely via SumUp. Email your order details to michael.haig@waterways.org.uk. We will reply with a payment link, unique to you. After opening the link to the SumUp payment site, you simply need to enter your card details and click "Pay" to complete the payment.
Pay by PayPal
If you have a PayPal account you can pay direct to our branch chair on 07801 415573 or open this link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/mikeh7be, sign in to your PayPal account and complete the secure payment form.
Pay by cheque
Send your cheque made payable to The Inland Waterways Association to SDNW Calendars, 7 Barnton Edge, Stone ST15 8ZR.
In all cases, please remember to include the postal address for despatch of the calendars.
We will send them by 2nd class post.
You’ll also find our calendars at the following outlets:
ABC Blackwater Meadow ABC Whitchurch ABC Wrenbury Mill
Aqueduct Marina
Audlem Mill
OverWater Marina Swanley Bridge Marina
Norbury Wharf
And from October at the popup charity card shops at St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury, and at St Oswald’s Church, Oswestry.
With thanks to our generous calendar sponsors:
ABC Leisure Group Knights Narrowboats
Aqueduct Marina M&L Canal Services
Kings Lock Chandlery Morris Lubricants
Cheshire Cat Moors Farm B&B
Narrowboats
OverWater Marina
Swanley Bridge Marina
Venetian Marina
Talbot Wharf
Exhibition at Abbey Station, Shrewsbury 23 Sept 2023.
There will be a Local Canals Exhibition at the Abbey Station in Shrewsbury, SY2 6AH (opposite the Abbey Church) on Saturday, 23rd September 2023 hosted by the Inland Waterways Association and including three canal groups, Shropshire Union Canal Society, Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust and the Friends of the Montgomery Canal.
Shrewsbury is within 20 miles of many canal towns and villages, including Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Newport, Queens Head and Welshpool with access to the Llangollen, Shropshire Union, Montgomery and the unrestored Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. Most of these canals are in regular leisure use and, recently, more navigable miles have been added to the Montgomery while the east basin at Wappenshall on the Shrewsbury & Newport has been rewatered.
The exhibition provides an opportunity to meet people who are currently enjoying these waterways and to discover how to get involved. It’s a great chance to find out about the many miles already in regular use and what’s being done to restore more.
There is free entry to the Abbey Station which has been made available once again by kind invitation of Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust and it will be open from 10.30 until 3.30pm. There’s a large public car park next to the station.
Whitchurch Canal Festival 23 Sept 2023
The branch will have a stall again at the 2023 Whitchurch Canal Festival.
We will also be running the trip boat as we did last year. These popular, free trips raised a substantial amount from donations last year and we hope they will do so again.
As various branch members will be busy throughout the festival driving the trip boat, we could really do with more helpers to staff our stall.
If you can spare a few (or more) hours to help, please contact us using the address details on the inside front cover.
