No river festival at Stratford

THOUGH the Inland Waterways Association proposed to help with a River Festival for the Avon at Stratford next year, it has been decided there will not be one, but it will support the town's anniversary celebrations instead.

The association had held discussions with Stratford District Council about the celebrations, that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Southern Stratford Canal and the 40th anniversary of the reopening of the Upper Avon Navigation, Roger Fox tells us.

A presence

It was in the light of poor attendance at its 'National' that the IWA decided to pull out of that type of festival for the foreseeable future, but it hopes to have a presence at the anniversary celebrations.

Stratforward Project Director Chris Gregory explained:

"We need to talk to the funding partners that IWA had, Stratford DistrictCouncil and Stratford Town Council to see what funding is still available, so we can still work together in 2014. Although not everything proposed by the IWA came off, Stratforward wants to take the best proposals to put on a spectacular event."