Wow, there is lots going on along the canal – and a lot planned!
It’s has been great to see lots of activity on the canal recently. Over the Bank Holiday weekend we had a group of 10 boats some up (the crews all socially distanced of course!), with several going all the way up to King John’s Castle. And in mid-May we had 30 celebrities paddle-boarding the length of the canal. The celebrities included Damon Hill, adventurer Charley Boorman, and rugby star James Haskell, with the paddle being in aid of mental health charity Movember.
Needless to say this is on top of the thousands of people who walk, cycles, canoe, etc along the canal every day enjoying and appreciating this wonderful local asset
This is great as this activity as this very much supports our strapline of ‘Keeping the Canal Alive and Vibrant’
Indeed the Society is now also able to get back to planning external events along the canal where we hope that many of you will attend (plus we need some help in running the events please).
Our trip boats :
Firstly we have our trip boat operations at Odiham and Woking starting this month with John Pinkerton at Odiham and Kitty in Woking. There are mix of trips available from public to theme trips, or perhaps you want to charter one of the boats for a special occasion. So have you booked your trip yet? – just go onto our website to find out more by clicking here.
Additionally you can get trips on Rosebud at the Mytchett Canal Centre and hire boats at both the Canal Centre and Galleon Marine. Quite simply it’s fun being out on the water
Events planned:
The Events Team is planning to attend/organise the following events to promote the canal and increase our membership. Regular updates on our events will be on both our website and on our Facebook page
- Sat 26 June: ‘Thornycroft Day’, Brookvale Village Hall
- Sun 27 June: Membership recruitment stand on canal towpath, Mytchett Canal Centre
- Sat 17 July: Dogmersfield Show
- Sat 14 Aug: Mikron Theatre performance (evening), the Waterwitch, Odiham
- August: Opening of the Holland Wharf
- Sat 21 or Sat 28 Aug: Fleet Pond Wildlife Day
- Sun 5 Sept: Odiham Raft Race
HELP NEEDED PLEASE : all of our work is done by volunteers and we need help please in both manning these stands and perhaps joining the Events Team to help with planning and organisation.
The Events Team meets once a month in the daytime (currently by Zoom). If you are helping on a stand you just need to be around on the day. So if you have some spare time and are interested in getting involved in this aspect of things, please let us know (events@basingstoke-canal.org.uk). We would particularly welcome anyone with experience of organising public-facing events who would be willing to take a lead in organising our 31st Anniversary party in May 2022.
(Needless to say, all of these events are subject to the government’s roadmap out of lockdown going as planned, and are subject to change at any time)