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A Community Waterways Event was held at Portland Basin, on Sunday 4th March, 2007, as part of the weekend of events nationwide. Portland Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne is 7 miles from Manchester city centre along the Ashton Canal. These gatherings were protesting at the cuts in government funding to British Waterways and the Environment Agency from Defra, (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the impact these cuts may have on the waterway system.

The gathering was organised by the Tudor Cruising Club, affiliated to the Association of Waterway Cruising Clubs (AWCC), with the Manchester Branch of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), the Horseboating Society, and the Wooden Canal Boat Society.

14 narrowboats and their crews braved the elements to make the journey to attend the event, which took place at the junction of the Ashton and Peak Forest Canals, joining 6 boats which were already moored there, at the Portland Basin Museum. The crews were greeted by other waterway users who had turned out to the gathering on a very wet and windy afternoon.

David Heyes, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, not only came to show his support, but steered the horsedrawn boat Maria to Portland Basin from her boatyard at Guide Bridge. David is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Waterways Group. He was accompanied by the National Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association, John Fletcher, who took on the other main crew role on the boat at the towing-mast. On board too was Ben Williams, Vice-President of the Manchester Branch of the IWA.

Photos were taken of the boats, with David Heyes MP and John Fletcher aboard historic horseboat Maria, with Bonny the Boathorse on the towpath below the roving bridge over the Peak Forest Canal. Maria was sunk at Portland Basin in 1960s but restored by local volunteers and run by the Ashton Packet Boat Co. as a horsedrawn passenger boat from 1978-1999, giving thousands of local people the opportunity to sample cruising these canals.

Protestors waved placards for the attending press photographers. Banners hung from the footbridge over the Ashton Canal. Boats displayed campaign posters inside their windows.

Both David Heyes and John Fletcher advised us that our campaigning was producing results and was likely to reap more benefits for the waterways but that they felt there was a long haul ahead over the summer. The message was to keep up the pressure.

The convoy of boats to the gathering included two canoes, one paddled by three young lads, the other by an adult supervising.

A small group of anglers sat out in the pouring rain to demonstrate their enjoyment of the canals in all weathers!

The poor weather of rain and very strong winds meant that boat-trips by the Tameside Canal Trust for the public had to be cancelled.

The Wooden Canal Boat Society had set out early in the day along the Ashton Canal on their monthly recycling trip to Fairfield. As arranged, they hurried back without stopping for lunch, in order to join in the gathering with their pair of historic wooden boats Forget-me-Not and Lilith.

More people arrived by car and dropped in at some time over the afternoon and enjoyed a visit to the museum exhibits or the pleasant cafe there. Local residents who are boaters, canoeists, towpath walkers, joggers, cyclists and anglers were there, along with those who earn their living from activities associated with the waterways, such as the proprietor (Guy Holding) of the nearby Portland Basin Marina, the proprietor (Neil Goodier) of the restaurant trip-boat Staley Rose, and the staff of the waterside museum café.

It was impossible to count numbers of people who attended as people were spread over the site. Some chatted together over cuppas in the shelter and warmth of their boats, while others rushed to the museum for cover. The intrepid anglers sat it out.

The day of the event was wild, wet, and windy, but worthwhile. To quote from the report of another gathering held down south on the Kennet and Avon, "Not as many signatures to the petition as we would have liked, as the ink ran and the paper got very soggy! That people bothered to turn out in such atrocious weather is indicative of the strength of feeling in this area."

The people who attended the event are determined to save our waterways as a wonderful recreational facility and also as a world class heritage site. They are carrying on the work which local campaigners started in 1960s and 70s when they fought for the restoration of these local canals in the Manchester area. Many years of voluntary effort and investment by the government have revitalised the canals. This must not now be jeopardised by unjustified cuts in funding.

Sue Day
co-ordinator of the gathering