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THE IWA NATIONAL TRAILBOAT FESTIVAL 2008- A Grand Western Weekend
IWA's National Trailboat Festival 2008 will be held on the Grand Western Canal in Devon over the late Spring Bank Holiday weekend, 24th – 25th May.
The Grand Western Canal is a beautiful, rural canal, running from Tiverton in the west through the villages of Halberton, Sampford Peverell and Burlescombe to the (present) eastern end of the navigation at Waytown Tunnel. The canal has recently benefited from an extensive dredging programme and a new slipway and plans are well under way for a slightly different festival. Organisers expect visiting boats will enjoy the full extent of the 11 miles of water that are currently navigable and to that end have devised a programme that will include events in the villages of Sampford Peverell and Burlescombe, as well as the main Festival site near Halberton.
Beyond Burlescombe is more than a mile of newly opened waterway where a series of fascinating historic structures, including limekilns and wharves have been uncovered and restored by IWA's Waterway Recovery Group, the Grand Western Canal Trust and the Grand Western Canal Ranger Service. Boaters will also be encouraged to cruise to Tiverton during the first part of the weekend.
All the usual boaters' competitions will continue through the weekend, and there will also be an opportunity for a guided visit to the remains of the Nynehead Boat Lift near Wellington in Somerset and Lowdwells Lock, the only lock on the canal, which we hope will soon be restored.
The Festival, ‘A Grand Western Weekend’ will be open to the public on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May at the canalside festival site near Halberton. There are plans for a number of events in the main ring, stalls of local produce and crafts and the like together with a variety of musical offerings.
The Grand Western Canal in Devon is owned by Devon County Council and jointly funded by DCC and Mid Devon District Council. A British Waterways licence is not required but motorised boats wishing to visit for the Festival will require a valid Boat Safety Certificate (where appropriate) and Third Party insurance cover of £1,000,000.
IWA is delighted to be working with Devon County Council’s Canal Ranger Service, which, in partnership with various interested organisations and individuals, will be planning and managing the event on this beautiful waterway. IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group has undertaken several Canal Camps working on both the navigable and derelict sections of this canal in recent years. The Festival will be a fitting celebration of all the work by many people to improve the canal for all waterway users.
The event will offer several thousand local people the opportunity of a great day out enjoying a wide range of stalls and entertainments, whilst learning more about the canal. Waterways in the south west are currently experiencing a renaissance with regeneration schemes planned or underway at a number of canals and rivers. This event should attract more visitors to these waterways, thereby benefiting the local economy, and help to inspire more local people to consider boating and canoeing as a pastime.
For more information about the festival and to download trailboat, camping and caravan entry forms, click on the Festival pages on Devon County Council's webiste . Contact details for enquiries from trade exhibitors are also to be found on this website.
Entry forms are also available from:
The Festival Entries Officer, Hurleston, Burrow Corner, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 4PW.
Tel: 01884 855402, e-mail: tabra99@aol.com.
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