Fund Britain’s Waterways announces weekend of action
Campaign group Fund Britain’s Waterways has announced a weekend of action over the UK’s May Day holiday weekend, from 4-6 May 2024. The weekend aims to raise awareness of the challenges facing Britain’s canals and rivers.
The group, which launched in June 2023, has created a coalition of over 100 member organisations, representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways. A public petition has attracted close to 50,000 signatures.
The group has organised three campaign cruises, with these taking place in Birmingham, Gloucester, and past the Palace of Westminster on the Thames.
Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW) says the weekend of action and protest will ‘highlight the impact of insufficient funding’ for Britain’s 5,000 miles of inland waterways.
The action is planned to take place across the country on waterways managed by different inland navigation authorities. It will coincide with IWA’s annual Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice in London, which will be themed on Fund Britain’s Waterways this year.
FBW says boaters attending Cavalcade are invited to join a campaign cruise past the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 8 May 2024, as the culmination of the weekend of action.
In a statement, the group adds: ‘Parliamentarians will be encouraged to view the event and express their support for the continued maintenance of the waterways to enable them to keep on delivering economic, health, environmental and well-being benefits.’
FBW is looking for local groups to organise events during the ‘weekend of action’, inviting interested parties to contact Hazel Owen for more information.
