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New canal attraction is tested

30th October 2010 @ 7:07am – by Audlem Webteam
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A new attraction linking Audlem, the Overwater marina, the Secret Bunker and Nantwich is being planned and will, hopefully, be launched in the Spring.

Sea trials of the 16ft long whaler, equipped with a 15hp engine are already underway with coxswain Rod Cottrell who hopes to acquire the boat permanently. Rod is photographed with Janet Maughan of Overwater Marina.

A competition will be run on Audlem Online to find a suitable name for the new craft – more details soon but get your thinking caps on. A team of volunteers may well be recruited to help operate the attraction and the proceeds will be in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.

Discussions with the local tourist organisations are already underway and it is hoped that some funding can be arranged which will ensure the service is underway by Spring 2011. This will enable the boat to be run with a more environmentally-friendly electric engine using the 'green' energy already being produced at the marina.

The boat, once adapted, will accommodate twelve passengers and it is thought this will be a major boost to local tourism.

One downside of the waterborne attraction is that the sea plane service from the marina to Audlem, announced on 1st April on Audlem Online, will be ditched. We are told that a good number of parties visited the area in the hope of using the service – or at least meeting the pilot, the legendary Avril Foulière!

The funding bid may well be linked with a new interactive computer programme that's proposed in the 2010 Audlem Parish Plan. Touch screen equipment will be installed in the Mill Shop and at the Overwater marina and will show information about the canal, Thomas Telford and all his engineering works, and life on the canals in narrow boats. The computer programme will be designed in Audlem if funding can be found.

The new boat and the computer programme will, it's thought, attract school visits throughout the year as well as appealing to other visitors to the area. More on this exciting development as news arrives.


This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.

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