Hope for Burslem Branch

OVER the week-end members of the Waterway Recovery Group and other volunteers have been investigating the possibility of restoring the canal  into Burslem Port at Stoke on Trent, off the Trent & Mersey Canal.

The branch was subject to breaches, and was closed after the latest one in the 60's. The photograph (by permission of Burslem Port) shows a boat abandoned in an earlier breach,  which it is believed is still there.

Considerable step forward

Malcolm Turner, Chairman of the Trent & Mersey Canal Society (T&MCS), explains:

"The project to bring boats back to Burslem made a considerable step forward recently with completion of the ground clearance of the canal line by 'Future Jobs Fund' young trainees.

"We are delighted that WRG can follow on so quickly with this specialist investigative dig, which will reveal the condition of the old canal and confirm the presence of a working narrow boat, buried by the breach that closed the branch.

"WRG's findings will be invaluable as the Burslem Port Project team work with neighbourhood regeneration partnership RENEW North Staffordshire and navigation authority British Waterways to specify the technical restoration of the Burslem Branch Canal and to create a waterway haven for the local community and visitors to the city of Stoke-on-Trent.