2017 indoor meetings

All meetings are held on the second Thursdays in their respective months.

Inside meetings (September to May) are held at the Silk Trader Inn, Brook Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7AD unless otherwise stated, starting at 7.45pm. Everyone is welcome at all meetings, entry is free, including non-members.

6th April CRT Speaker Ecology on the canal: A CRT Perspective 11th May Paul Hindle Canal du Midi June - August No meetings. But please see HALOUS below. Thursday 14th September Dr Kate Ridding The River Dee Thursday 12th October Helen Gardener Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) Thursday 9th November Dave Kitching Quarries, Mines and the Macclesfield Canal Thursday 14th December 2017 Annual General Meeting - Members' presentations and Social Evening.

HALOUS - Have A Lock On US!

Every Late Summer Bank Holiday finds us manning the locks at Bosley! This is our main fund raiser each year when we man as many locks as we can - it all depends on how many volunteers turn up each day - and assist boats through the flight as efficiently as we can.

In 2017 HALOUS will be held on Saturday, Sunday 26th - 27th August.

Event HQ is at lock 5, next to the A54 Buxton/Congleton road at its junction with Station Road.

Annual Dinner

Was held on Thursday 16th February 2017 at the Railway Inn, Congleton.

Working parties

Cheshire Towpath Taskforce

C&RT Cheshire Towpath Taskforce are holding regular working parties on the Macclesfield Canal generally on the Third Thursday of odd numbered months, approx 10am - 4pm. The work is being managed by the local CRT ‘Towpath Taskforce’ Volunteer Bob Luscombe.

Exact locations and tasks are advertised on the Cheshire Towpath Taskforce web page.

Stout shoes and - if you have them - work gloves, are recommended (some gloves are available for loan) and bringing a snack and a thermos of hot drinks would be a good idea too.

The Macclesfield Adoption Group has been established in May 2016 and will meet on the first Wednesday of each month.

We urge all members to support these work parties, and tell your friends too! Support can obviously be by turning up on the day, but also by suggesting things that need doing that are within the capacity of volunteers.

To join in the work parties, please email the workparty organiser.

Other Towpath Groups

The society actively supports several other groups who freely give of their time to maintaining the towpaths in their areas, including:

• Bramhall Rotary Club, looking after the towpath between bridges 14 and 16; (sorry, no contact provided);
• Friends of Bollington Towpath, have adopted the length between bridges 26 and 29 on 2nd Sundays (Ian & Mandi, 01625-260159, 07710 240669);
• Hurdsfield towpath adoption group, maintaining the area around bridge 34;
  1st Saturday in the month (Kevin Norgrove, 07530 905824);
• Lyme Green & Sutton Footpath Group, working on the length from Gurnett to Oakgrove between bridges 43 and 49; on Thursdays and evenings (Mark Atkins, 01260-252474, 07768 078373);
• Bosley adoption group, bridges 53 to 57, which includes the lock flight; 2nd Wednesday in the month (Alan Hurst, 01625-531091 / 07542 938228);
• Macclesfield Victoria Angling Club, have adopted the paths around Sutton reservoir; (sorry, no contact provided);
• Congleton Sustainability Group, looking after the length from bridge 67 to 77; last Friday in the month (Bob Luscombe, 07710 054848).

To join in any of these work parties, please phone the relevant organiser named above.
 

Walks programme

These walks are generally of a more substantial nature, requiring appropriate clothing and footwear. They are normally held on the second Sunday after the second Thursday of the months September to April inclusive. We generally meet at 10:00 for a prompt start and end in mid afternoon. Where possible a lunch stop is made at a suitable hostelry but this is not always practical. Just occasionally weekend walks are arranged with an overnight stop at a B&B.

Details of each walk will be announced at the preceding monthly meeting, or email or call Cliff Miller, 01625-439230.