Dewsbury Canal Festival set to pull in the crowds
20 July 2010
For the families of Dewsbury there’s a date not to be missed as the traditional Dewsbury Canal Festival returns on Sunday 25 July at Savile Town Wharf along the Calder & Hebble navigation.
The event, organised and hosted by Calder Valley Marine will include attractions including arts and crafts stalls, fairground rides, a bouncy castle, face-painting and free boat trips provided by the Mirfield-based charity Safe Anchor Trust.
The climax to the festival is the also the canal festival’s traditional ‘boat-pull’ competition where teams try to pull a canal boat over a measured distance in the shortest possible time with the winners walking away with a barrel of beer, donated by the award winning Leggers Inn.
Local artist, Ged Walker of Ged Walker Designs will also running an exciting art project along the canal, replacing a graffitti riddled wall with an old school advert depicting some local waterway history.
Huddersfield and Dewsbury will be sending their town criers and there will also be demonstrations from the Pennine Canoe Club and the Fire Brigade.
Rebecca Dent, regeneration project officer for British Waterways North East comments: “We’re working hard to improve the appeal of Dewsbury’s local waterside environment and encourage the local community to embrace what’s on their doorstep as well as drawing in people from around the region. There’s more to do than people might think with popular activities including walking, cycling, running, canoeing, boating and angling so there’s really something for everyone. We also see this as a great way to connect Dewsbury to its waterways, which are an important part of the town’s heritage.“
More…/
Gordon Lambert, festival organiser and managing director of Calder Valley Marine said: “The festival is a hugely enjoyable event for all the family. Children love the funfair and face painting and for adults there's beer to be won in the boat pull which is always great entertainment. We hope that the local community are able to come down and see their local waterway environment in a different light.”
The event has been kindly supported by local businesses including Dewsbury-based consultancy Rushfirth Creative who provided the branding, posters and flyers for the festival.
The event will run between 10am – 3:30pm. For more information call Rebecca Dent on 07717 618850.
ENDS
For further media information please contact
Simon Henry, Marketing & Communications Executive, British Waterways North
Tel: 0113 281 6822 / 07789 178506 or email simon.henry@britishwaterways.co.uk
Notes to editors
British Waterways cares for a 2,000-mile network of canals and navigable rivers throughout Britain, working to provide a sustainable future for the inland waterways and generate maximum benefit and enjoyment to all from this unique environmental and leisure resource. We work with a broad range of public, private and voluntary sector partners to unlock the potential of the inland waterways and generate income for reinvestment in the waterways for the benefit of the millions who visit and care for the waterways every year.