From the Chair

I've already apologised, as Editor, for the late arrival of this Newsletter - now, as Chairman, I am grateful for the opportunity which that lateness gives me to comment on recent events.

The first is the opening of the Rochdale Canal. I went along to that event on July 1st, and it was a memorable occasion. We took along our Exhibition to fly the flag for SCARS. Thanks to our early arrival we had a prime spot in the marquee... but it was wet and it was cold, so the pleasure at that coup was soon diminished as the cold seeped into our bones during the long wait for the Official Opening by Fred Dibnah. The anxiety about whether the canal would be open throughout on the due date, which you can read of in Bruce George's IWA feature below, was real - a BW Engineer stood near us out of the rain whilst he phoned colleagues to check that the last section was actually being filled with water ... and that was only an hour or so before the Opening. Still - it happened, and we congratulate all concerned on a good result. We are particularly pleased for Brian Holden of the Rochdale Canal Society. He has been involved from the start, and has been to talk to SCARS about his Society's efforts over the years. Their struggle to overcome difficulties over 25 years is an encouragement to us.

The second is the opening of the Ribble Link on July 12th. Although I couldn't get to that event, I was able to share in the euphoria the same evening, thanks to an extensive series of images posted immediately on their website. Again, congratulations all round.

The third arises from our failure to be included in the next tranche of restorations to be announced by The Waterways Trust and British Waterways in March. We are naturally disappointed at this, but are pleased that our friends in the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Society have achieved that status and are working with BW towards a start on restoration next year. Together with another local project, the Liverpool Link across the Pierhead, and the newly opened Anderton Lift, Ribble Link, Rochdale and Huddersfield, the amount of restoration in this region is phenomenal - and more, including the Runcorn Locks on the Bridgewater, is expected. This can only be good news for our ambitions. All these new cruising opportunities will draw more people onto the Northern Canals, thus increasing the economic benefits to be gained from restoring the Sankey and building a new cut to link it into the rest of the system.

This brings me to my fourth item - our response to the above. Encouraged by the completed projects, and stung by our disappointment at not getting into Tranche 2, we are striving more energetically to make sure that we are at the top of the list for Tranche 3. Moreover, we are working towards completion of the restoration of the Sankey by its 250th Anniversary in 2007. It's the country's first modern canal - what more wonderful way of celebrating the Canal Age could there be than re-opening it.

And finally - our action. In the past year we have had excellent participation on our Executive from the Councillors nominated by our three Boroughs to come to our Meetings - Keith Morley from Halton, Pat Robinson from St Helens, and Jan Davidson from Warrington. We are now able to report that their Councils have nominated Officers whose briefs will include active involvement in the Sankey and its restoration. At the same time the partners we will need in the wider waterways sphere- the Inland Waterways Association, The Waterways Trust, and British Waterways - are encouraging us to make progress. We have already embarked on a series of meetings involving all these partners, and expect to be entering a new phase towards restoration within months.

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