PRESS RELEASE
Making Waves on the Montgomery Canal in 2015
Events from March to July
The programme is announced for Making Waves, an ambitious series of events next year
to bring life to the Montgomery Canal in Wales.
From March to July Making Waves events will highlight aspects of the canal, with
activities on the canal, on the towpath, and alongside the canal, culminating in
a festival weekend on 4th and 5th July, the Welsh Waterways Festival.
Events will be organised by the Friends of the Montgomery Canal, the Montgomery Waterway
Restoration Trust, the Heulwen Trust, the Llimeys (the Friends of Llanymynech Limeworks)
and Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre.
For the first time 2015 will see the boats of the Heulwen Trust run regular public
trips, with joint ticketing giving discounted admission to Powis Castle and the Welshpool
& Llanfair Railway.
Special weekends will be given over to canoes and coracles, including relay races
in coracles.
The Welsh Waterway Festival weekend will see visiting boats of different shapes and
sizes coming to the canal, powered by outboard motor, steam or electricity.
Michael Limbrey, chairman of Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust said: “Making
Waves has been put together by a team of local canal supporters with the help of
Welshpool Town Council and the Canal & River Trust.
“The Montgomery Canal is a unique part of our national waterway network. Developed
200 years ago to benefit the borders of Montgomeryshire and Shropshire, the canal
helped the agricultural and industrial development of Welshpool and Newtown, surviving
as 'a branch line' until the 1930s.
“The twelve-mile section of the canal centred on Welshpool is open to navigation
and the Canal & River Trust have been helping us to ensure that it is in a good state
for visiting boats next year. Our festival on 4th and 5th July will be at the wharf
in the centre of town opened by the Prince of Wales some years ago. This will be
an ideal place to show the town a canal alive with boats, celebrating its heritage,
as a foretaste of what will come when mid-Wales is linked to canal towns across England
and Wales.”
Making Waves is supported by the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, the Friends
of the Montgomery Canal, and the Inland Waterways Association’s Shrewsbury, District
& North Wales branch.
Details of Making Waves events will be announced on the website MakingWaves2015.co.uk,
and can be followed on Twitter @MakingWaves2015.
ENDS
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