By 
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal Society, the group that helped save the southern Stratford Canal from closure in the 1950s, turns 70 on Tuesday 17 November, and it is inviting visitors as well as members to a lunchtime celebration with archive film of the canal’s restoration. The anniversary event runs from 12 noon to 3pm at Amie’s Tearoom, Castle Nurseries, Birmingham Road, Mappleborough Green, near Studley (B80 7DF), the society’s usual meeting place, according to its meetings page.
What’s on and how to book
Tickets are £10 each, which covers a buffet lunch and a raffle entry. Doors open at noon, with a formal welcome at 12.30pm, presentations at 12.45pm and 2pm, and the buffet from 1pm. The society describes it as an informal event, with time for members and visitors to talk, footage of the restoration and other archive material. To go, email the society with your details using the booking address on its meetings page.
The Stratford Herald reports that the guests will include John Pinder, one of the two canoeists whose 1950s trip along the canal helped stop it being closed, and Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust.
Why the society matters to Stratford
The society says it was formed in 1956 to secure the future of the southern section of the canal, from Lapworth to Stratford, by restoring it for boats, and calls itself arguably the oldest canal restoration society in the UK. With help from other groups, the work was finished in 1964, when the Queen Mother reopened the section to navigation. Without it, there would be no narrowboats coming down the locks into Bancroft Basin today.
Since then, the society has kept watch over the whole canal from Kings Norton to Stratford and helped with projects from hedge trimming to building weirs, and it installed new mileposts along the towpath in 2000. Its chair, Steve Hayes, told the Herald he hopes the anniversary will bring new members, as many of today’s nearly 100 members are in their late 70s and 80s.
Joining and later meetings
The society usually meets on the third Thursday of the month from October to March, with lunch from about noon and a talk at 2pm. Next up is its Christmas meal on Thursday 17 December. Membership details are on its Join Us page. For a winter stroll along the towpath, see our winter walks around Stratford.
Know more about this, or got another story? Send us a story, a photo or a press release. We read everything.See more of our stories in Google: add us as a preferred source.
Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
