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REPORT ON LEICESTER COMMUNITY WATERWAYS PROTEST

The rain started as I loaded the banners, placards, petition forms etc into my car at 10.30 a.m. and it has not ceased since then as I write this at 4.30 p.m. Nevertheless, despite the atrocious conditions, it was considered to have been relatively successful – or will be if the TV, radio and press, all of whom were well represented, do their stuff.

The programme started at 12 Noon at Castle Gardens, where a crowd of about 25 intrepid supporters of the IWA Leicestershire Branch, topped up by the Region Chairman, Notts & Derbys Branch members and one lady wearing a canalwoman’s bonnet who had traveled from Sheffield, heard short addresses from Sir Peter Soulsby and David Taylor, the local MPs. Just one boat had managed to overcome the fast flowing waters but the cause was well advertised by IWA and SOW banners and placards held aloft by the crowd. Reporters and photographers recorded the scene and interviews were given by the MPs.

After a much needed break in a local café, the entourage moved to the Clock Tower in the centre of Leicester, where we were joined by two rather special boats on trailers, one a veteran of Dunkirk and the other a splendid small steamboat. They provided an excellent backdrop for this phase and were well adorned with the IWA and SOW banners. Sir Peter, a boater himself, was much taken by the steam boat but we eventually dragged him on to the ladder to go aboard Chumleigh ex Dunkirk, to join David Taylor. They then addressed the ‘crowd’, a few local shoppers willing to stop for a few moments in the torrential rain as well as the IWA stalwarts. Both MPs strongly stressed the effect of the cuts on the non-boater users of the waterways and stated that they would continue to press in Parliament for the cuts to be rescinded, especially now that the Contingency Fund had been called upon to bail DEFRA out of its mainly self-inflicted financial chaos.

Our supporters gained a few signatories for the petitions but conditions made writing in biro on sodden paper extremely difficult. Nevertheless they did their best and all who braved the storm deserve our grateful thanks. Finally, led by ‘Chumleigh’ and brought up by the steamer, the by now diminishing ‘crowd’ ‘marched’ along High Street towards the river, before disbanding above Castle Gardens, duly sent on their way with the rain-soaked thanks of the organizers, who were left wondering why they had chosen Sunday rather than the previous day!

David Stevenson,
IWA Leicestershire and Save Our Waterways