The Waterways Festival - 29 to 31 July
The central trade boat area at the Burton 2004 festival – photo: Waterway Images
INLAND WATERWAYS: With both a changed name and date the IWA National – as it is universally known – is back in the Staffordshire brewery town of Burton upon Trent this year, writes Harry Arnold.
Now marketed as The Waterways Festival, the timing has been moved forward from its usual August Bank holiday slot to the weekend of Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July 2011.
The last time it was held in Burton in 2004 it was a very successful event and the same site of Shobnall Fields – on the Trent & Mersey Canal and quite close to the centre of the town – will again be used to stage it. Some 300 boats are expected, with possibly more caravans and campers and visitor numbers are estimated at around 30,000.
Unlike the Crick Boat Show the 61 year old annual Inland Waterway Association (IWA) event is more of a campaign for, and a celebration of, Britain’s waterways and a big weekend of entertainment for all the family, particularly the youngsters with many Wild Over Waterways (WoW) activities in which they can take part.
The big colourful arena event this year is the Vikings, who will not only have a period encampment but will bash each other about in mock pitched battles. Perhaps very appropriate for Burton as there are historical records of their ships navigating the River Trent as far as the town and beyond, doing what they were well known for to the locals.
Having said that, the festival has a huge trade show element, with many boats and boat bits and marine services on display, plus a whole range of other products and crafts, making up around 250 exhibitors. One marine trade exhibitor, Tangent Engineering, is even travelling from Northern Ireland where - backed by Invest Northern Ireland and other funders – the company started up business renovating small historic Gardner engines for use in narrowboats.
The IWA has announced it will not to hold a National Festival in 2012. The reasons given are an already busy programme of events including Canalway Cavalcade, a Trailboat festival on the Cotswold Canals over the extended Spring Bank Holiday for the Queen's Jubilee, and a national campaign festival at Preston over the August Bank Holiday.
Also it is likely that the IWA Festival's team will be busy helping to organise moorings for boaters visiting the Olympic Games. A policy paper is being prepared for IWA trustees to consider plans for festivals for 2013 onwards.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
