Canal Events & Festivals 2015 - 2016

Burnley Canal Festival. Join us in Burnley, east Lancashire for a celebration of canal heritage, and town heritage. Free events, canoe taster sessions, best decorated boat competition, canal film festival, family fun, and much more. Everyone welcome. We'll see you there!

Come and join a week of FREE fun packed activities and discover the Rochdale Canal. Activities include guided walks, bike rides, canoe and angling taster sessions, boat rides, wildlife workshops, art and photographic competitions, fun days and much more

Fireworks on the night of the 1st. Real ale bar, barbecue, bonfire and live music as well. Come by boat, (Engine Arm Junction on the BCN Old Main Line, just above Smethwick Locks), by train (two hundred yards from Smethwick Rolfe Street Station, or by car to Smethwick Enterprise Centre, Rolfe Street, Smethwick B66 2AR.

As in previous years there will be various sorts of entertainment through out each of the days to keep you entertained and a wide range of stalls to keep you busy. There will also be various activities for children and their families. Coach Street Car park, Canal basin and Promenade. BD23 1LH

Canalway Cavalcade is a major event organised by IWA each year since 1983. It takes place over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, and combines a boat rally with a trade show and a wide range of activities and entertainments, and claims the title of London's premier waterway event.

Titford Pumphouse Rally 2015 May 15 to 17 2015. The BCN Society summer rally Real ale, music and entertainment.

The Rickmansworth Festival takes place on the third weekend of May every year and celebrates canals, the community and the environment. The 22nd Festival, the highlight of the town’s annual calendar and the finale of Rickmansworth Week, will be held on the 16th and 17th May 2015. The top attraction for many is the wonderful array of canal boats from across the country - a terrific spectacle, with at least 100 craft of many types and histories moored along the towpath up to four deep. But there are things to do, see and enjoy whatever your interests, and whatever your age.

If you are interested in attending the Crick Boat Show as a trader please call Exhibition Sales Manager Ian Sharpe on 01283 742977 or email ian.sharpe@wwonline.co.uk. For any other queries, please speak to Rachael Maher on 01283 742962 or email r.maher@wwonline.co.uk

This year’s festival will continue the traditions of the annual community event which is one of the largest free events in Stoke-on-Trent, regularly attracting thousands of visitors to the junction of the Trent and Mersey and Caldon canals in the middle of Etruria. The free festival will bring the canals of Stoke-on-Trent alive with a historic boat parade along the Trent and Mersey canal from Etruria towards Burslem. Music and dance will complement colourful historic canal boats moored along the towpaths of Etruria. Lots of activities for children and adults will be on site and a good time is guaranteed for all. Princess, the historic beam engine in Jesse Shirley’s Bone and Flint Mill will be ‘in steam’ and other attractions are in planning.

IWA's 2015 National Trailboat Festival will take place at the Westmorland Show Ground, Crooklands, Cumbria, on the northern reaches of the Lancaster Canal over the weekend 30th - 31st May.

Beale Park, The Lake, Lower Basildon, Reading, West Berkshire RG8 9NW A lively three days of boating & fun! Wooden boat builders . New boats for sale . Traditional boats . Try a boat . Auction . Camp site . Free parking . Model Boats . Cooking at Sea . The Lake Arena . Maritime crafts . Adventure Island . Thames moorings . Boat jumble . Arts & crafts . Classic cars . Great food & beer . Wacky entertainers and much more!

Leicester Riverside Festival is a lively weekend of activities for the whole family at Castle Gardens, Bede Park, Mile Straight & Western Boulevard. Sponsored by local housing provider Riverside, and supported by Westcotes Ward Community Meeting, this popular festival offers boat trips, live music, a variety of food stalls from around the world, displays and an exciting choice of activities for all ages, making it a fun packed weekend!

Stoke Bruerne Family Festival Weekend, Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire Celebrating our Canal Heritage - a weekend festival on and off the water for all the family with theatre, live music, dance, children's activities, bar, trade show, boat trips, water pageant, canal crafts show and much more.

From 19th – 21st June 2015, the market town of Middlewich will be celebrating the special 25th Anniversary of the Folk & Boat Festival! As in previous years, we will be offering an inviting selection of Main stage and Fringe music in various venues around the town, backed up by the colourful array of Narrow Boats along the canal. We are also proud to continue our tradition of Morris Dancing displays, a Celidh night, stalls, workshops and celebration of the rich heritage of Middlewich.

Folk on the Water - the RECIPE: take one medley of musicians and place into a large 8-berth boat. Add organic food, a glass of wine, assorted instruments and move gently along the Warwickshire canal. Position under a warm English fortnight and allow to occasionally settle in pub gardens. Serve with a mixture of canal side communities and add applause to taste.

This Festival is organised entirely by volunteers from Foxton Inclined Plane Trust (www.fipt.org.uk) who regularly give their time for free. By visiting our Festival you will be supporting them and most importantly helping them raise the £11m necessary to restore the historic Inclined Plane. There will be a real ale bar as well as a wide cross section of music from some of the best bands in the area.

We will be holding our Festival at Staveley Town Basin, S43 3XZ We will have all three of our trip boats and lots of entertainment, attractions and caterers. Further details will be put on this page over the coming months. Email festival@chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk or ring 01246 477569 for further information or if you would like to have a stall or bring a boat.

This is the 13th of our hugely popular working narrowboats rally - the UK's largest! Well over 80 historic boats gather and take part in parades with commentary - stirring stuff! There is a real ale beer tent, exhibitors, traders & waterways artists, an open air Songs of Praise church service on Sunday, live music from bands & groups, Morris dancing, fast food, boat horse demonstrations, a theatrical presentation Admittance is free but if you bring your car there is a parking fee of £10.

Leeds Waterfront Festival is set to be bigger and better than ever by the return of the Leeds Community Foundation Dragon Boat Spectacle! in addition to the new IWA Boat Gathering at Thwaite Mills Museum! The Leeds Waterfront Festival features live music, local bands, arts and dance, on the water fun, canal boats, boat trips and much more, all at the coolest waterfront venues in Granary Wharf, Brewery Wharf, Clarence Dock and Thwaite Mills Watermill. There is something for everyone to enjoy!

Welcome to the 2015 Stratford River Festival. For a weekend in the summer, come and enjoy free family fun in Stratford-upon-Avon with music, narrow boats on the River Avon, craft and food stalls, family zone, charity stalls, illuminated boat parade and spectacular fireworks...

Workman Gardens will see the return of the Evesham River Festival on the weekend of 11th & 12th of July 2015. This year’s event was again a big success and yet again we cannot wait to begin preparations for next year’s festival. The 2014 programme of activities included fly pasts by a Dakota, illuminated boat parade, live music, morris dancing, boat demonstrations, boating competitions and much more. The festival is famous for its fancy dress, both for people and the boats. With fairground rides and activities like bouncy castles, there was plenty of extra things for the children to do. Also found were a range of stalls which includes a beer tent, various food outlets and crafts.

Bristol Harbour Festival will take place on 17 -19 July 2015. If you are a fan of arts, circus, dance, music, boats, nautical capers, good food and drink and general enjoyment - make sure you put that weekend in your diary. The Harbour Festival is one of the UK's largest public events and a chance for the city to showcase its rich musical and performance roots. Over 250,000 festival fans head down to the historic waterfront to party, dance and relax.

Blackburn’s Third ever canal festival which boasts to be bigger and better, will be held at Eanam Wharf on Saturday and Sunday 18th - 19th July 2015. The family fun weekend celebrating the history of the Leeds Liverpool Canal and the importance that Eanam Wharf played in the development of Blackburn will be packed with; tradition and modern dance, live and recorded music, drama performances, face painting, bouncy castle, stalls selling cakes sweets etc.

Located in one of the town’s picturesque green spaces with easy access to the Grand Union Canal, this popular event is themed around the arts & craft industry showcasing traditional rural craft skills, handmade crafts and local arts & crafts as well as promoting life on the canal, heritage of the town, local conservation and rejuvenation of disused sand quarries. The ever popular rural crafters will be demonstrating traditional skills from love spoons, trugs, bee skeps and baskets offering visitors an insight into their history and how these specialist skills are being kept alive.

In addition to Open Mic music featuring musicians from Staffordshire, we hope to feature traditional jazz and canal folk music – more on that as the programme develops. The bar in the main marquee will feature real ales from Burton Bridge Brewery at competitive prices.

Blisworth’s waterfront will be full of trade boats and stalls selling everything from cheese to boat oil with 2 trip boats operating both days. The Playboat ‘Funion Bargee’ will also be moored and providing free play sessions. *FREE MOORING *FREE PARKING *FREE ENTRY *FREE WALKS & TALKS

15th August 2015 9am to 11pm Family Fun Day at Hillmorton, Rugby, to mark 175th Anniversry of The Duplicate Locks opening and 225 years of the Oxford Canal. Historic Boats, steam power, canal skill displays, music through the decades, Real Ale, great food plus a whole range of canal activities that the public can join in on.

TBA

August 20th - 23rd 2015

IWA is holding a major waterways event on the river Nene over the August Bank Holiday Weekend in 2015. The event, will be centred around the waterfront at Becket’s Park and will have an array of attractions on and off the water providing a fun day out for all the family! Up to 200 boats, including leisure, trade, heritage and working narrowboats, are expected in the marina and along the river front as well as a wealth of smaller craft such as canoes, rowing boats, sailboats, windsurfers and ribs. There will also be opportunities for visitors to get afloat on board trip boats and water taxis.

Heritage Boat Processions, Fun on the water, Good Food, Crafts and Produce Stalls, Music and lots more

A canal village goes back to the 1940s with Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly-past, living history groups, tanks and vintage military vehicles, fashion parade, food rationing, black market traders, live music, village hall tea dances, vintage boats, fire power demonstrations, air raid experiences, drumhead service with Royal British Legion and much more. Admission £6 (children under 16 Free)