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Tuesday 4 December

Today's news from the web

  • Weak Bridge Closes For Refurbishment blackburncitizen.co.uk

    Work on the new Moorgate Street canal bridge crossing the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Mill Hill, Blackburn, is due to start in January. ...

  • Carols On The Canal wiltshiretimes.co.uk

    Crowds defied the wet weather to turn out in force for the 10th annual canal carol service at Dundas Wharf near Bradford on Avon on Saturday....

  • Date set for Waterfront expressandstar.com

    The multi-million pound transformation of 17 acres of derelict wasteland alongside a Walsall canal into a thriving leisure, retail and business complex, creating hundreds of jobs, will officially begin next spring. ...

  • Towpath Gets Dog Waste Bins thetelegraphandargus.co.uk

    Ten dog waste bins have been installed along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath, thanks to £10,000 from British Waterways. ...


Monday 3 December

Today's news from the web

  • Get on your bike and support bid rochdaleobserver.co.uk

    Every vote counts - that’s the message as Rochdale bids for a slice of lottery funding to transform cycle paths across the town. If successful, Rochdale will receive £500,000 and the money will be used to open paths and build new crossings to connect all the four townships based around the Rochdale Canal. ...

  • Doughnut Day hits Manchester manchesterconfidential.co.uk

    Doughnut madness kicked off at 12.30pm last Friday. A narrow-boat travelled slowly up the Rochdale Canal laden with a cargo of five hundred boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It moored in the Village, close to Spirit Bar and the New Union....

  • Historic puffer returns to canal news.bbc.co.uk

    One of the last remaining Clyde puffers will return to its birthplace later to mark the 150th anniversary of the iconic vessel. The Vital Spark - one of only five remaining puffers in Scotland - will moor on the Forth and Clyde canal. ...


Sunday 2 December

The Earls Court Boat Show - should you go?

This weekend has seen the start of the week-long Earls Court Boat Show, an all-new event which conveniently reprises the venue once home to the London Boat Show - itself now departed for the ExCeL centre and the windswept Docklands. The London Boat Show proper has a very mixed record in catering for the inland waterways. Does this one fare any better?

WW went along this weekend to find out. It's certainly an improvement over the dismal inland display at last year's "official" LBS. There's a modest selection of narrowboats, including some very interesting craft - notably Simpsons' tug & butty concept, where the cruiser stern can be detached from the 'unpowered' rest of the boat, and Maestermyn's novel 'love boat', designed for hirers seeking a romantic getaway!

The riverboat display also impresses more with its variety than its quantity. Alongside old favourites such as the Shetland Family Four (still only £9,999) and the Viking range are the elegant Interboat launches from Holland, rope edging and all, and some delightful Thames slipper launches. You can't help but contrast the fairly popular inland area with the coastal powerboat section, which is full of boats - notwithstanding the absence of big guys like Sunseeker and Fairline, whose dominance at ExCeL is rumoured to be one of the reasons for setting up this new show - but almost bereft of visitors.

The organisers say they are aiming to put the "show" back into boat shows, implicitly contrasting with the warehouse-like feel of ExCeL. Here they have succeeded. Features like a gallery of maritime art, a row of stands purporting to be Cowes High Street, and Royal Marines abseiling from the roof, give the show a sense of occasion. Sadly few of these are linked to the inland waterways, though there is the obligatory lock 'sculpture' that every show seems to have dragged out at one point, and the Guinness Bar is just across the way.

Should you go? With hand on heart, WW can't recommend that Midlands boaters make the trek down to see a small selection of inland boats. But if you're in London anyway, do pop in, maybe taking advantage of the reduced entry after 4pm. Attendance on Saturday was low, but had picked up on Sunday, and next weekend can be expected to be busier.

All in all, a respectable start - let's hope it encourages the organisers of the other London show to buck their ideas up.

Richard Fairhurst  | 8.43pm | add a comment


Friday 30 November

Today's news from the web

  • Businesses back £50m bid expressandstar.com

    Hotels, shops, schools and even buses are backing the bid to bring £50million to the Black Country. Plans include the unveiling of forgotten caverns beneath Dudley, a 12-mile “green bridge” park linking Walsall and West Bromwich and regeneration of Wolverhampton’s canal network. ...

  • Inspector scraps canalside house plans 24dash.com

    A “monstrous” scheme to build almost 1,000 flats on a canalside site in west London has been scrapped by a Government planning inspector. The scheme by [BW-backed] ISIS Waterside Regeneration would have seen 992 flats of an extremely high density built on a site earmarked for employment, next to the Grand Union Canal. ...

  • Moove Along Please thisislocallondon.co.uk

    Two large cows were found languishing in the Grand Union Canal, in Hunton Bridge, after they had escaped from a neighbouring field and went wading into the murky waters. ...

  • What became of the monkey...? newburytoday.co.uk

    Shrouded in mystery, the Monkey Bridge in Northcroft looks set to disappear once the new bridge is installed without anyone having known how or why its quirky moniker originated. ...

  • Winter maintenance works on the Stort waterscape.com

    Hunsdon Mill Lock on the River Stort in Roydon is being repaired as part of a £10million canal and river maintenance programme being carried out by British Waterways in the London area this year. ...

  • Famous Puffer Set For Return To Clyde eveningtimes.co.uk

    The iconic Clyde puffer the Vital Spark is to return to the river next week to mark the 150th anniversary of the vessels. It is to make a special trip to the Forth and Clyde Canal, where hundreds of puffers were built during the 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

  • Help bring Big Lottery Funding to Banbury waterscape.com

    The first opportunity to help bring a slice of a £50 million Big Lottery Fund grant to Banbury starts this week - so everyone is encouraged to get online to support Sustrans’ Connect2, and transform walking and cycling in the south east. ...

  • Improvements to River Lee towpath waterscape.com

    British Waterways has started the second phase of improvement works on the River Lee Navigation in Hertfordshire. ...

  • Accessible future for Welsh waterways waterscape.com

    A promotional DVD, visitor leaflets and walking routes designed to help individuals of every age and mobility range access and enjoy Wales’ canals were launched at the National Assembly’s All Party Group on Waterways (APGW) on Tuesday 27 November 2007. ...


Thursday 29 November

Today's news from the web

  • Couple face battle to save their rare animal business kenilworthweeklynews.co.uk

    An Offchurch couple have taken the fight to save their alpaca and rare breed pig business to the government. Alan and Christine Lorentzen have appealed against a Warwick District Council ruling that they must remove the mooring for their houseboat, an area of raised decking and two caravans on a site they rent at Fosse Wharf....

  • Proposed Canal Will Just Be Dead Water swindonadvertiser.co.uk

    A new canal through the centre of Swindon would be £60m of "dead water" believes a long-serving councillor. ...

  • Swan Success For Yoker Firm eveningtimes.co.uk

    A firm has won the contract to create a "swan" bridge over the Forth & Clyde Canal at Clydebank shopping centre. The bridge will resemble a swan in flight....


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