Sankey Canal Restoration Society



Volume 6, Number 1 - Autumn 2005

Norman with his award at our stall at the Festival

Society Matters

We welcome new Members :-

Lesley & Chris Lowe, Coppull
Anthony Dooley, Penketh Warrington
Arthur Brookes, St Helens
Barbara & Colin Barber, Gt Sankey Warrington

And bid Goodbye to:

Dale Heighway - moved to France
Kath and Phil Unsworth – moved to Tenerife

Congratulations to boating Members, Norman & Pat Bate, whose boat Ellie-May won the Calor Gas Rose Bowl for the best galley at the National Waterways Festival.

Sales Stall

After months of attending planning meetings both for SCARS and the festival team, August Bank Holiday finally arrived and with it the National Festival at Preston Brook. Planning for our part in the Halton Waterways exhibition took up most of the summer and then we had a couple of weeks to get the sales and publicity stall ready with Colin putting in a lot of work to re-vamp the display boards.

On Monday before the show 900 sets of Sankey Canal Towpath Trail leaflets and Halton Waterways leaflets were delivered to the site to go in the goody bags for boaters and campers. We arrived at the campsite on Wednesday and had three attempts at fitting the awning as the wind blew one end off as fast as we secured the other. The weather was wet on Thursday and Friday as we set out the stall in the hired marquee and we lay awake one night listening to rain dripping through the caravan roof! A quiet drink on Friday evening was interrupted by a phone call from No 2 daughter, "Don't panic, Mum, but I'm on my way to A & E at Warrington!". (More of that is in Valerie's account of the Festival on pages 18-19.)

Our Stall at the National Waterways Festival

The weather was fine on Saturday and Sunday, trade was good and we were pleased with the interest shown in the display. Monday morning was wet and ground conditions slippery but although the sun shone in the afternoon we saw very few people all day. We enjoyed our week there, as always, but it is disappointing for everyone when the visitor numbers drop. Suggestions of a reduced entrance fee on Monday were floating, perhaps also going back to a 4-day event would give officials an excuse to enjoy Friday out of the office.

A couple of weeks later we attended the rural craft fair at Rainford, which was excellent as usual. Heavy rain prior to the show meant the ground was very soft both the Land Rover and caravan sank in so we had to set up where we stuck and be pulled out at the end.

Our final outing of the season was a weekend in Widnes at the Fair Organ & Vintage Rally. Crowds come to this one and spend their money and the atmosphere is very good. Visitors to the stall cleared all our newsletters and leaflets well before the end of the show.

Thank you to all the Executive members and Anthony and Steve who have helped us out this year and to everyone else who donated books and bric-a-brac to keep the stall well stocked.

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