Maesbury Canal Festival

A GOOD selection of trading boats as well as historic and decorated boats will be on show at Maesbury Canal Festival on the Montgomery Canal.

Held on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of September the festival will boast a huge variety of things to see, with stalls, demonstrations, sideshows and rides, food and live entertainment, with a variety of crafts, some from a gipsy caravan.

Lots for children

There will be lots for children to do: with an activity passport for just £1 they will be able to have a go at making a fog-horn, weaving, blacksmithing, peg-looming, building a model bridge, decorating a cup cake in a traditional style, and creating a paper ‘lace' plate—the real ones were a typical feature of the boatman's cabin.

Though admission is free there will be a charge for Saturday evening's entertainment from local ensemble Percussion Unlimited and The Boreatton Drum Corps. Saturday evening sees a special evening of Supper and Songs, with entertainment from local singer Libby Gliksman. Tickets are still available, at £12.50 from Canal Central, Maesbury, and Oswestry Ticket Office at Rowanthorn, Old Chapel Court, Oswestry.

On the Sunday The Street Band from Oswestry will play music from the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa, and there will be a fun dog show and the All England Inland Waterways Gurning Competition.

Celebrate the Montgomery Canal

Speaking for the organising committee chairman Judith Richards explained:

"It takes us a year to prepare for our festival. Everyone has told us how much they have enjoyed previous festivals, so last September we started to make the arrangements for this year.

"Our festivals celebrate the Montgomery Canal. The canal was abandoned as a branch of the national canal system in the 1930s, and the project to reopen it has involved many volunteers as well as contributions from local councils and even Europe, with the latest section only being reopened in July. The Montgomery Canal is part of the network of canals through Shropshire and the borders which bring many visitors to our area; one day it will be open through Llanymynech and boats will be able to reach Welshpool again."

A special feature of the festival will be a trip along the newly restored stretch of canal by the horse-drawn boat Countess. We are told that Canal & River Trust Chief Executive, Richard Parry will be present.