Gathering of Historic Boats

There is yet again a record entry for the Gathering of Historic Boats on the canal in Audlem which accompanies the Festival of Transport held on the playing field.

Narrow boats have been mooring up on the canal for the past couple of days and owners are out in the sunshine giving them a final clean and polish in time for the main event on Sunday July 28th.

This year, there will be at least 42 boats on show, seven more than last year. They will stretch all the way from the A525 road bridge to the bottom of the locks, and possibly beyond.

Since it started five years ago, this major local event, organised by Audlem Mill, has grown fast to become one of the largest gatherings of historic canal boats in the country, and many of the boats will have travelled considerable distances to come to Audlem.

Some are coming on from another major event, the Historic Boat Show at Braunston in Northamptonshire a couple of weeks ago, which takes at least 7-8 days boating.

With national promotion in the canal press of both the boat and vehicle events, a large number of people are expected to come to Audlem from all over the Midlands and North.

The boats range in age from around 1880 to 1959, and include "Saturn" (the Shroppie fly-boat), "Gifford" and "Spey" (built to carry tar, and based at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port), "Elizabeth" (which was converted into a sailing holiday narrow boat in the mid 1930s), several former steam powered boats operated by Fellows, Morton & Clayton, and "Pacific", a tug boat operated by Stewarts & Lloyds at their steel tube works in the Black Country.

Watercolour artist Sheila M Webster, who lives in Audlem, will be painting in Audlem Mill, and there will be book signings by both Geoffrey Lewis, the popular canal novelist, and also Peter Silvester of Audlem Mill and David Williams, one of the volunteer lock keepers, who will be signing copies of their new book "Historic Working Narrow Boats Today".

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