The Chairman's Report
Reading back through the Society's Annual Reports of 1997 is a painful experience.
2007, the year when we would be celebrating the opening of the Sankey 250 years before in 1757, after just two years of construction work, then looked a reasonable target year for the canal's re-opening to navigation.
It seemed, with the favourable Atkins Report having received a positive response from our partner Local Authorities who commissioned it, that it was not unrealistic to hope that we would continue to work together to achieve our ambition over the next decade.
The decade has passed… and we are not much further on than we were at its start.
Whatever the reasons for this lack of progress so far, we must reluctantly accept that for the immediate future large-scale funding of the order required for full restoration (say about £50m at today's costs) is unlikely.
But that is a long way from saying nothing can be done, or that the Sankey will never be restored.
Our aim as a Society remains the same, and we will continue to push for full restoration of the canal, and its linking to the rest of the country's system by a new cut to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
However, we recognise that this will be achieved by gradual progression, with a number of smaller strategic projects being targeted - until what is now termed the tipping point is reached, when joining up the separate restored sections, and building the new link, seems the natural, and affordable, next step.
Keeping our profile high is an important part of this strategy, and we are using this 250th Anniversary Year to gain as much publicity and support for the Society as possible. Part of our Programme is featured below. We hope our Members will join in as many activities as possible, and will encourage others to join them. Without public support the Sankey's restoration will be even longer in coming.
Finally, in August of 2006 the Society lost its oldest partner organisation, the St. Helens Groundwork Trust. Its founder, Dr. John Handley, was our first Secretary and a co-founder of the Society. We benefited greatly from the Trust's support ever since, and will miss the network of contacts which our partnership brought to us.
David Long
"SANKEY 250 Guided Walks"
The first two of a series of Sunday Walks which will cover the length of the Canal.
April 15th: "Canal Beginnings"
The Blackbrook Area at the original terminus of the Sankey
Meet at the Ship Inn, Blackbrook at 1.15pm
May 13th: "Green Fingers"
The Sankey at Bewsey, Winwick and Callens
Meet at Bewsey Hall Bridge (or The Maltings pub if wet) at 1.15pm
July 7th and 8th: The St. Helens Festival in Sherdley Park
SCARS will stage an exhibition in the Heritage Network's marquee
September 17th: Public Lecture at St. Helens College
Presented by the St. Helens Historical Society. The Lecture will be delivered by Joseph Boughey, Canal Historian and biographer of Charles Hadfield (1909 - 1996), the world's leading waterways historian. The meeting will be chaired by Sir John Johnson, SCARS' President, a local man, who was Chairman of the Countryside Commission, and is presently Chairman of the Chilterns Conservation Board.
More Events will be listed in the next CANAL CUTTINGS newsletter.
Index for this issue Home Page
Site design and content © 2002 - 2009 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Annual Report Editor: David Long Site design: Phil D.Long |
