The IWA National Festival & Boat Show run by the Inland Waterways Association is one of the key annual events on the United Kingdom's inland waterways. Generally referred to as the "National" it serves several functions:
As a publicity vehicle for the IWA and inland waterways in general To raise funds for the IWA As a social gathering for boaters from around the country As a campaigning event
The four functions of the event are to some extent conflicting and in recent years the campaigning aspect has been somewhat separated by the creation of an annual "Campaign Cruise".
Arguably it is as a gathering of like minded people that the National has been most influential. The festival brings together people from all over the country who do not meet in numbers except on the festival site. The original decisions to form both the Waterway Recovery Group and the National Association of Boat Owners both arose out of informal discussions held at the National.
Development The first festival was held in 1950, inspired by car rallies which Tom Rolt, one of the founders of the Inland Waterways Association, had attended prior to the Second World War. It was held at Market Harborough, as the location was not restricted to narrowboats. The rally was called the Market Harborough Festival of Boats and Arts. The arts element of the festival was an addition made by Robert Aickman and was one of the elements that led to the eventual split between Rolt and Aickman. However, the festival was a success, and one of Rolt's innovations was the awarding of trophies for impressive service or performance, a practice that continued. The A. P. Herbert Trophy was awarded to the person who had traveled the furthest to get to the rally, and was won by Stan Offley, who had covered and had passed through 156 locks. His route from Ellesmere Port had used the Manchester Ship Canal, the Bridgewater Canal, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the Aire and Calder Navigation, the River Trent and the Grand Union Canal. The much shorter route using the Trent and Mersey Canal was unavailable to him, as his boat was wide, and the Trent and Mersey locks were only wide.
Like many of the early rallies, that of 1962 was essentially a campaign to highlight the poor state of a particular waterway, in this case, the Stourbridge Canal and its connecting waterways. The decision to hold it at Stourbridge Basin was taken in late 1961, and David Hutchings, by then chairman of the rally committee, approached British Transport Waterways, the operating arm of the British Transport Commission (BTC) to ensure that the Stourbridge Branch would be dredged, to allow the boats to reach the festival site. Faced with a refusal, Hutchings hired a dragline excavator to carry out the work himself. The British Transport Commission threatened legal action against Hutchings, the Inland Waterways Association and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society if he proceeded, but that did not stop him. His actions gained widespread media coverage, which was extremely critical of the BTC. The BTC was abolished later that year, and the rally went ahead, with British Waterways staff assisting boats through the decrepit locks. Just two years later, British Waterways and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society agreed to work on restoring the Stourbridge Canal and the Dudley Canal, and this early example of co-operation resulted in the canals and locks reopening in 1967.
Marple Locks on the Peak Forest Canal was chosen as the site for the 1966 rally, again to highlight their condition. Access had to be along the Macclesfield Canal, as the locks themselves were derelict and could not be used. Cosmetic restoration began the following year, and the canal was reopened in 1974.
1970 was the first occasion on which the national festival was not also a campaign to save a threatened part of the waterways network. It was held at Guildford on the River Wey. Part of the reasoning for this was that the festival was proving to be very popular, and there were a limited number of places that had sufficient display space and water supply for the number of boats wanting to attend. The choice of site was not universally popular, but the rally saw the formal launching of the Waterway Recovery Group, a group of volunteers who traveled the country to carry out restoration tasks on derelict waterways.
Management of the festivals is now handled by a division of Inland Waterways Enterprises Ltd called IWA Festivals. The limited company was set up in 2001 to manage the various trading activities of the Inland Waterways Association.
Festival of Water In 2014 IWA launched a new event, called IWA Festival of Water. The Festival takes places usually over the August bank holiday weekend and is held at a new location each year.https://waterways.org.uk/about-us/national-festival-locations
Sites The statistics below are mainly taken from the IWA website but are incomplete. Some of these were called rallies rather than festivals and not all were national events.
The final column shows the overall membership of the IWA in the year in question.
Year Rally Location Waterway # Boats # Visitors Membership1950 Market Harborough Grand Union Canal, Leicester Branch) 120 50,000+ 8001951 (No festival)due to financial constraints 1,300+ 1952 BreconRallies from 1952 to 1956 were not called "National" rallies Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal 1953 Macclesfield Macclesfield Canal 1954 (None) 1955 Skipton Leeds and Liverpool Canal 1956 Lincoln Fossdyke Navigation 100+ 2,0001957 Coventry Coventry Canal 1958 (None) 1959 Chester Shropshire Union Canal 1960 Stoke on Trent Trent and Mersey Canal 1961 Aylesbury Grand Union Canal 1962 Stourbridge Stourbridge Canal 1963 Little Venice Grand Union Canal, Paddington Branch 1964 Stratford-upon-Avon Upper Avon 1965 Blackburn Leeds and Liverpool Canal 1966 Marple Peak Forest Canal 250 1967 Leicester Grand Union Canal, Leicester Section 350 5,0001968 Liverpool Leeds and Liverpool Canal 170 1969 Birmingham Birmingham Canal Navigations 1970 Guildford River Wey 380 50,000 1971 Northampton River Nene 7,0001972 Lymm Bridgewater Canal 500 9,5001973 Ely Great Ouse, Old West River 255 30,000 1974 Nottingham River Trent 600 12,0001975 York River Ouse 1976 Peterborough River Nene 142 33,000 1977 Reading River Thames 370 1978 Titford Pools Titford Canal 15,0001979 Northwich River Weaver 622 30,000 17,7281980 Lea Valley River Lee 500 25,000 19,2741981 Leeds Aire and Calder Navigation 410 18,8381982 Titford Pools Titford Canal 500 40,000 1983 Wigan Leeds and Liverpool Canal 428 50,000 1984 Hawkesbury Coventry Canal 661 1985 Milton Keynes Grand Union Canal 514 30,000 1986 Brentford Grand Union Canal, Main Line 450 1987 Hawkesbury Coventry Canal 530 50,000 1988 Castlefield Bridgewater Canal 1989 Waltham Abbey River Lee 525 50,000 22,0001990 Gloucester Gloucester and Sharpness Canal 22,268Computerisation of the membership list showed this was an overstatement by about 2000–30001991 Windmill End Dudley Canal Line No. 2 768 385,000this year was an 'open' site with no admission charges, plus being right in the heart of the conurbation there were a LOT of people. 1992 Wakefield Aire and Calder Navigation, Wakefield section 1993 Peterborough River Nene 487 78,000 19,1671994 Waltham Abbey River Lee 17,7301995 Chester Shropshire Union Canal Main Line 1996 Windmill End Dudley Canal Line No. 2 17,5011997 Henley River Thames 558 27,500 1998 Salford Quays Manchester Ship Canal 1999 Worcester River Severn 16,8692000 Waltham Abbey River Lee 16,7392001 Milton Keynes Grand Union Canal 347 25,000 2002 Huddersfield Huddersfield Broad Canal 191 17,5442003 Beale Park River Thames 567 32,000 2004 Burton on Trent Trent and Mersey Canal 24,000 2005 Preston Brook Bridgewater Canal 17,2422006 Beale Park River Thames 600 28,000 2007 St Ives Great Ouse 2008 Autherley Junction Shropshire Union Canal 300 2009 Red Hill River Soar 2010 Beale Park River Thames 2011 Burton on Trent Trent and Mersey Canal 360 25,000 2013 Cassiobury Park Watford Grand Union Canal event believed to have made a large loss 2014 Saul Junctionhttps://waterways.org.uk/about-us/national-festival-locationsfirst event under the smaller 'Festival of Water' format Stroudwater Canal 2015 Northampton River Nene 2016 Pelsall Wyrley and Essington Canal 2017 Ilkeston Erewash Canal 2018 St Neots Great Ouse 2019 Waltham Abbey Lee Navigation 100+ 2020 (None)due to Covid 19 Pandemic 2021 Worcester Worcester and Birmingham Canal 2022 Burton-on-Trent Trent & Mersey Canal 2023 Pelsallhttps://waterways.org.uk/about-us/news/iwa-festival-of-water-delights-crowds-during-august-bank-holiday-weekend Wyrley and Essington Canal 70-80
Bibliography
Notes
See also
List of waterway societies in the United Kingdom
External links Inland Waterways Association