Any of us that trade on or by the water rely on a canal or river authority to enable us to carry out our business.
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The main authority for England & Wales is Canal & River Trust.
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The Business Boating team and Traders information pages are invaluable when setting up a canal related business.
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Keeping updates with stoppages is vital if you are a floating trader.
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They have a very comprehensive Events Page that may be helpful when looking for trading opportunities if you are a floating trader.
Canal & River Trust Features.
About CRT
A network of over 2,000 miles of stunning canals and rivers runs through our landscapes. From our countryside to our bustling cities, canals are a place for everyone to connect with nature and our past.
However you use them, we all deserve open spaces where we can feel happier and healthier, and where wildlife can thrive. But the future of canals and the habitat they support is threatened by changing temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and the tests of time.
Together, we can make sure they continue to be here for tomorrow and beyond. Join us and let’s #KeepCanalsAlive.
Fall in love with Sheffield's Canal this Valentines weekend
Discover the major new public artwork by British artist Alex Chinneck that celebrates the history of Tinsley, Sheffield’s historic waterways and industrial heritage. The Looping Boat is situated just a few minutes’ walk from Tinsley Marina and takes the form of a 13-metre-long canal boat that performs a gravity-defying loop-the-loop on the water. Arts & crafts activities include creating your own canal scene and making your own duck food, perfect for younger visitors.
Learn what it takes to look after over 200 years of living history and see first-hand our work to repair and restore our canals this winter. Walk to Tinsley Lock 12 (approx. 1.5 miles along the towpath) to see works taking place at the last lock before the canal enters the River Don. Repairs undertaken while the lock chamber is empty of water include replacing both upstream and downstream lock gates, the lock ladders and brickwork repairs to the chamber wall.
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The Looping Boat - Alex Chinneck
Photo Credit Kev Maslin
Annual Easter Gathering of Historic Narrowboats
Easter Gathering at Ellesmere Port
CELEBRITY CHARITY AUCTION AND HORSE-DRAWN BOAT ARE TOP ATTRACTIONS AT NATIONAL WATERWAYS MUSEUM’S EASTER HISTORIC BOAT GATHERING
A celebrity charity auction and horse-drawn boat Saturn, the last-surviving Shropshire Union Flyboat, will be two of the top attractions at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port for the annual Easter Historic Boat Gathering Festival over the bank holiday weekend (18-21 April).
Hosted by the Canal & River Trust charity, the four-day festival offers visitors the opportunity to get up close to fascinating old working boats as well as modern narrowboats and enjoy a fantastic range of waterway-themed activities and music.
On Good Friday, Ellesmere Port Mayor, Councillor Paul Donovan, will be at the museum from 12 noon onwards to greet the arrival of the traditional Easter boat convoy, cruising from Chester to Ellesmere Port along the Shropshire Union Canal, featuring over 40 historic boats, including Saturn pulled by the nine-year-old horse, Flower.
Simon O’Brien, award-winning TV presenter and former Brookside actor, will be the celebrity auctioneer at a special auction of privately donated canal artefacts, organised by the Shropshire Union Fly-boat Restoration Society at 2pm on Easter Sunday to raise money for Saturn and the museum’s rare Clyde puffer boat, Basuto. The Trust will also be launching an emergency crowdfunder appeal to help towards the vital conservation of Basuto, aiming to raise a minimum of £10,000 towards saving a boat which is on the National Historic Ships Fleet Register, of similar importance to the Cutty Sark and HMS Victory.
Over the four-day festival, the National Waterways Museum site, located at the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal, will host a wide range of special attractions, from craft workshops and children’s activities to lock demonstrations and steam engines working in the Power Hall.
On Easter Saturday, entertainment will feature the drumming band Conundrum, Mockbeggar Morris Dancers and the Charwallah band, who will also delight visitors on Sunday and Monday. Public boat trips aboard the Diana Margaret and accessible boat Over the Rainbow, will be run by volunteers from the Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust throughout the weekend.
On Friday and Saturday, there is a chance to learn more about canal artefacts not normally on display when the collections team opens the doors to the museum storerooms in the Island Warehouse. And there will be a spotlight on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, with access to a special exhibition and archivist on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11am-3pm.
Chris Done, visitor services manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “The 2025 Easter Historic Boat Gathering promises to be a fantastic celebration of our wonderful canal heritage. This year we’re delighted to welcome the Ellesmere Port Mayor Councillor Donovan and TV celebrity Simon O’Brien to our special annual gathering of boat enthusiasts. It’s wonderful that the Mayor has chosen the museum to be one of his chosen charities this year. We’re very grateful for his support.
“The mare Flower, who towed the Saturn Flyboat for the first time last year, was a real hit with the crowds and we are thrilled to welcome her back again to give visitors a rare insight into the lost world of horse-drawn canal boating.
“For families, there is a special children’s trail, activities and a boat-themed playground.
We hope this spectacular waterway festival will be the launch of a fabulous summer season for everyone.”
Over the Easter weekend, the museum will be open 10am – 5pm and every day during the school holidays.
From May to September, visitors can enjoy a range of special events, from Old Time Sailors concert on Friday 16 May to themed Sundays featuring Living History and Victorian Canal Town. The Canal & River Trust would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in volunteering at the museum.
For more information about visiting and to book discounted tickets, visit the museum website https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/national-waterways-museum.
Donations to the crowdfunding project to carry out vital preservation work on the rare Clyde puffer boat Basuto can be made at the Trust’s crowdfunder webpage from Good Friday.
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Canal & River Trust announces new chief executive
15 May 2025
The Canal & River Trust is today (15 May 2025) announcing the appointment of Campbell Robb as its new chief executive. Campbell will be joining the charity on 6 October, after six years leading the social justice charity Nacro as its chief executive.
Canal & River Trust is the UK's largest canal charity, caring for a 2,000-mile network of canals and navigable rivers that connect many urban and rural areas. The charity maintains and protects these 250-year-old waterways – the canals, embankments, culverts and reservoirs, as well as their bridges, locks and towpaths, along with their vital ecosystems – against the growing impact of climate change and more extreme weather, providing constant upkeep and investment to ensure they continue to offer an incredible range of benefits.
Before joining Nacro, Campbell was chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, steering the organisation through a significant change programme. Prior to this he spent seven years as chief executive of Shelter, building its ability to support more people than ever before and leading the organisation’s response to some of the biggest changes to housing and welfare policy in generations. Campbell also brings government experience: before joining Shelter, he was the first Director General of the Office of the Third Sector, an adviser to HM Treasury, and was previously Director of Public Policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).
David Orr, chair at Canal & River Trust, comments: “The UK’s canals represent an extraordinary and enduring link to our industrial heritage. Today they play multiple roles, offering communities the chance to engage with nature and boost their mental and physical health, providing essential corridors for wildlife and biodiversity, and even helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. As age, reduced funding, and extreme weather take their toll, our charity’s mission of caring for them has never been more important.
“I am delighted that Campbell will be joining the Canal & River Trust as its new chief executive. He brings a wealth of experience from across the charity sector, including 15 years in similar roles where he has successfully strengthened organisations to respond to challenges and opportunities. I look forward to working with him to secure the longer-term future of our canals.”
Campbell Robb comments, “The role of chief executive of the Canal & River Trust is one of the most exciting roles in the public and voluntary sectors and one I am delighted to take on. To act as a steward for the history and protect the future of these amazing living monuments will be a challenge, but also an opportunity. I am also committed to the importance of community. In everything I do I wish to support, create and be part of communities. The canals and rivers are vital for those who live there, work there and volunteer there, as well as the wildlife they foster and support. To be part of that and to help them all thrive will be a privilege.”
Campbell Robb replaces Richard Parry, who joined the Trust in 2013, a year after its creation, and who has led the Trust through its critical formative years to become an established and well-supported national charity.
David Orr continues: “I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Richard for the outstanding contribution he has made over the past 12 years. Under his leadership, the Trust has grown into a widely respected national charity. He has steered the organisation through both challenges and successes with commitment and clarity, always championing the unique value of our canal network. I wish him well in his future endeavours.”
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Photo Credit Kev Maslin
NATIONAL HERITAGE MEMORIAL FUND AWARDS MAJOR GRANT TO SAVE RARE STEAMBOAT FOR THE UK
The Canal & River Trust charity has received a grant of £234,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) to rescue and preserve a rare Clyde puffer boat, at the Trust’s National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port.
The 66 ft canal boat, whose classification as a ‘puffer’ derives from the puffing sound made by her steam engine, was built in Glasgow in 1902. Named Basuto, the boat is on the National Historic Ships Fleet Register, of similar importance to the Cutty Sark, HMS Victory and SS Great Britain.
Basuto has been moored in one of the museum’s basins for more than 40 years and the Trust has secured the grant to ensure that vital maintenance is undertaken to secure the rare boat for future generations.
The £254,000 project involves carefully craning the boat out of the water onto the museum slipway and her new, permanent home, resting on a metal support frame. The exterior will be carefully cleaned, before the frame, deck, wheelhouse and hold covers are repaired and re-painted to make her watertight against the weather, as part of a long-term conservation plan.
The Trust is hoping to raise the remaining £20,000 of project costs with a special crowdfunding appeal being launched in April.
Steve Bagley, manager of the Trust’s National Collections, said: “We are very grateful to National Heritage Memorial Fund for making this life-saving grant, which will help preserve this important boat for the nation.
“Basuto is the oldest known surviving inland ‘puffer’ and has had a fascinating life, starting out on the Forth & Clyde Canal carrying pig iron, then moving to Ireland, back to Scotland, down to Liverpool, over to Widnes, then Manchester Docks, before travelling to Ellesmere Port in 1981.
“Originally built to ensure canal transport could compete with railways, Basuto has been modified several times, served through two world wars and worked as a valued cargo vessel on many of Britain and Ireland’s larger inland waterways for nearly 80 years. She takes her name from Basutoland in Lesotho, a landlocked country in South Africa, which was once part of the British Empire. She is unique and her personal historical journey gives us a valuable window into our nation’s history – a story which we will be telling the public as part of new interpretation displays to accompany her rescue.”
The National Heritage Memorial Fund was set up in 1980 and supports the acquisition, preservation and maintenance of the UK’s most outstanding heritage.
Simon Thurley, Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund said: “As the oldest known surviving inland ‘puffer’, Basuto’s story takes us on a fascinating 80-year journey on the UK’s waterways. We are delighted that it will find a new home on a slipway at the National Waterways Museum.
“The National Heritage Memorial Fund exists to save the UK's most outstanding heritage and make it publicly accessible, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. We are delighted to count Basuto as part of the growing and timeless collection of UK heritage that belongs to all of us.”
The plan is to lift Basuto out of the water in late spring and complete the repairs, preservation and conservation works by the end of this year, in time for the boat to be the centrepiece of celebrations to mark the museum’s 50th anniversary in 2026.
Known locally as the Boat Museum, the National Waterways Museum site is located at the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal. It displays a fascinating collection of historic boats, waterways artifacts and steam-driven machinery, as well as telling the story of Britain’s canals.
For more information about visiting the museum and the annual Easter Gathering historic boat festival, check out the website https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/national-waterways-museum.