Rochdale Canal 200 – Water Festival

Canal boat passes through a lock on the Rochdale Canal

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The 200 birthday of Rochdale Canal was celebrated with various events round Castleton and Slattocks on Saturday 18 September.

The Water Festival was organised by Rochdale Council, Rochdale Countryside Services, Rochdale Canal Society, British Waterways, the Environment Agency and the National Federation of Anglers.

Castleton Water Activity Centre had a number of open events, with free 1-hour sports sessions including canoeing tasters and the opportunity to try your hand at rock climbing. Many local children filled in the application form to come and have a go at canoeing along the Castleton canal, hosted by the Water Activity Centre manager, Ben Gooding. Eleven year old Sean from Heywood, was just one of the children present who took part in the canoe session he said, “I really enjoyed canoeing, it was great fun”.

Also sailing through the canal were narrow boats, including The Swallow, which came through Castleton and headed into Rochdale.

Available on the side on the canal were tombolas, a bouncy castle, and even activities, so that the children of Rochdale could come along and have fun with activities that aren’t usually on offer. On offer as part of the Rochdale Canal Water Festival were free-swimming lessons for all at Castleton Swimming baths.

Just across the road from the Castleton Water Activity Centre was an open day at St Edwards Primary School, with even more activity. At the school was the Lancashire Canal Organisation, helping the children to make attractive bats, butterflies and painting jugs with the children.

An unusual but fascinating indoor pond-dipping event was also inside the school hall, where children took samples from a pond and examined the contents under a microscope. Additionally, as part of Hollingworth Lake 200th Birthday Celebrations, which will be celebrated on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 October, St Edwards School had a lantern-making project; the lanterns will be used at Hollingworth Lake’s lantern walk and 'Reflections' of the lake to celebrate the bicentenary.

Slattocks fun day was also part of the Rochdale Canal 200 - Water Festival. This included guided walks, with history on the move as you could explore the towpath with Rochdale Canal Society. From Castleton to Slattocks, there was a boat trip between locks 53 near The George & Dragon, up to The Ship Inn at lock 55. If this wasn’t enough, there was even a free of charge bus service from Slattocks to St. Edwards School, making sure that nobody missed out on the fun!

Despite the disappointing start to the day with the rainy weather, the day soon brightened up in time for the Rochdale Canal 200 – Water Festival and the School Open Day that children of the Rochdale thoroughly enjoyed.