Welcome to the official home of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society

Treasurer's News

The Society recently received its biggest ever donation from Miss Jean Singer who has sent us a cheque for £42,000. She made the decision to donate a sum of money to the Society but wanted it to pay for a specific restoration project. After John had a chat with Jean, I then wrote to her to let her have some idea of costs. She decided that the money should be used to pay for two pairs of lock gates, possibly for Lock 6.

Obviously we need to be aware of other possible projects which may come sooner. In that case we would consult with Jean to use the money elsewhere, possibly for the tunnel under the Salford to Bolton railway line.

Jean has been interested in canals for over 50 years and has also a considerable interest in steam engines. This is not surprising as she has engineering in her family history, even becoming a flight mechanic in the RAF. She is a life member of MBBCS; her next targets are a boat ride on the restored section of our canal and a visit to a canal rally.

Graham Fielding (1 Nov 2009)

Other updates this month are available from the Chairman and Regeneration Manager

The official opening of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal has happened!

Here you can see the first boat entering the new deep lock.

For full details on the opening of the canal, click here.

For photos of the event, click here

For the video of the event, click here

OBE

We are extremely pleased that our Chairman, John Fletcher, has been recognised with an OBE for services to the inland waterways.

John was a founder member of the Society in August 1987, and has been on the Council for a majority of the past 22 years. He was for some years our Company Secretary, and he took on the Chairmanship following the death of the former Chairman, his late wife Margaret, in May 2006. The recent restoration of the Middlewood section of our canal is very much due to the tenancy and long hours of lobbying for the necessary funding by both John and Margaret.

In addition he has provided outstanding service to the Inland Waterways Association, particularly during his six years as National Chairman. He advanced the cause of the inland waterways in securing and encouraging funding for canals and river navigations. He has travelled the length and breadth of the country to promote inland waterways, and was a great modernising chairman of the Association, helping to revitalise its campaigns and funding, and streamlining its organisational arrangements. Thus his work is widely recognised and appreciated, not only in the MB&BCS, but throughout the waterway network

Towpath Guide

Immediately after we had sent out the Towpath Guide we noticed that some copies had pages 47/48 reversed; if your copy has this fault we apologise. The faulty copies are complete, just with two pages out of order. All our remaining copies have been inspected, and those with the fault reprinted and corrected. Any members who would like to have a correct copy - the simplest solution is to swap copies at an Open Meeting. You can also swap by post, but it is expensive (76p each way!); return copies to Paul Hindle and we ask that you consider enclosing a 76p stamp.

As with all guides they rapidly go out of date! There are a few alterations:

Page 18: The towpath from Park House Bridge to Agecroft Road Bridge is now passable.
Page 23: End of 2nd paragraph: should read 'Giant's Seat Locks.' (my mistake - but they are in Ringley !)
Page 45: The pub has changed its name back to the Royal Oak.
Page 47: Milestone 11¾ may still be visible (in winter at least).