Canal News – Montgomery Canal & The National Museum at Ellesmere Port

Canal News

Montgomery Canal Restoration Work Party

20 – 21 Jul 2013
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Help the Shropshire Union Canal Society to complete the restoration of a further stretch of the Montgomery Canal.

The Shropshire Union Canal Society holds monthly work parties to return ‘the Monty’ to water.

New volunteers with any level of experience are welcome. The work parties are an opportunity to learn new skills under the guidance of experienced people.

This year the SUCS need a big push to lay blocks in the channel bed, so please come along and help to complete this section of the restoration. Tea and coffee are provided three times per day, just bring your own lunch.

Redwith – February 2007

and October 2012

The Society has been actively engaged in the restoration of the Montgomery Canal since 1968. We restored 10 locks between 1970 and 2006. With all the locks on the canal restored, we became a channel restoration group and moved to the Redwith site in 2008. This stretch will extend the length of the Montgomery linked with the national canal network by 430 metres – towards Crickheath, the next winding hole, and ultimately to Llanymynech, from where the watered but isolated section extends beyond Welshpool.

Can You Help?

Our needs are simple; volunteers, money, cake.

If you are interested in joining the restoration work parties, please contact Mike Friend on Mike@canalcottage.co.uk or 01948 880723 or 07909 912611
New volunteers with any level of experience are welcome, our work parties are an opportunity to learn new skills under the guidance of experienced people. This year we need a big push to lay blocks in the channel bed, so please come along and help us to complete this section of the restoration. Tea and coffee are provided three times per day, just bring your own lunch. And maybe a cake.

As a volunteer group our progress is slow, but we are extremely good value for money so please consider a donation to our restoration fund.
Using commercial contractors is much quicker but much more expensive; we’d like to see Llanymynech connected to Liverpool, Leeds and London in our lifetimes, so if you have a few million to spare, we’d love to hear from you!

Thanks to all the lovely people who have given us cakes. If you are in the area, don’t be shy!

Restoration Work Party Dates for 2013

February 02 + 03
March 16 + 17
April 20 + 21
May 18 + 19
June 15 + 16
July 20 + 21
August 17 + 18
September 21 + 22
October 19 + 20
November 16 + 17

To read this year’s work party reports, please click on the links above

For reports from previous years at Redwith, please see the Redwith Restoration Archive page.

Location

The worksite runs between Bridges 83 and 84 at Redwith. The site entrance is just west of Redwith Bridge, on the B4396 between Knockin and Llynclys, about 300 yards east of Lloyds Animal Feeds.

Map reference SJ 300 240

Lloyds’ Post Code SY10 8BH

Google Maps link

The towpath remains open during restoration work.

Warriors and Washerwomen at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port

The Redcoats are here!

20 – 21 Jul 2013
10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Soldiers, sailors, merchants and housewives from 1000 years of Cheshire history and beyond will be bringing the National Waterways Museum to life at the Warriors and Washerwomen Living History Fair on July 20 and 21.

This colourful weekend will see the museum taken over by re-enactors from many different periods giving a living, walking and talking exhibition of the history of Cheshire.

Visitors are invited to take a walk around the site and meet fearsome Vikings, Medieval artists, English Civil War soldiers, Redcoats and Cavalrymen from the colourful Napoleonic era, American Civil War soldiers to find out about the North-Wests links to that conflict, and even families inhabiting the historic row of cottages in the museum.

” Firing demonstrations, drills and other shows of old skills will be taking place around the museum’s seven acres during the day – visitors should listen out for announcement or just follow their ears to make sure they don’t miss anything. In addition to the historical enactors, there will be children’s activities, trails and boat trips.