WELCOME

IT’S hard to believe that by the time you read this, we will have been in lockdown for more than three months.

I finished off the April edition before starting to work from home in mid-March, since when I have worked on three more issues from the ‘isolation’ of our spare bedroom.

As I write, everyone is pinning their hopes on Saturday, July 4 being an ‘independence day’ with a difference – opening the gates to waterway holidays and canalside pubs and restaurants.

We are still seeing the postponement of events planned up to the end of August but there may still be an opportunity for some to take place during the autumn, meaning that a whole season would not be lost.

One of the plus sides of the lockdown for many has been the glorious spring weather enabling people to make the most of being outdoors but this has also caused its own problems. Who would have thought after storms Ciara and Dennis and the flooding they brought in some parts of the country that we would now be facing water shortages?

It’s heartening to see that support is coming from the National Lottery and the Canal & River Trust for the charitable trusts and societies which play such an important part in canal restoration and the communities which they serve.

For everyone trying to keep businesses going it has been very difficult and I would like to thank our readers for their support and especially to those who contacted us to say how much they had enjoyed reading these issues.

The Towpath Talk sales team would also like to join me in saying a very big thank you to our advertisers for their continued support in these troubled times.

Keep smiling