IWA board visits Bedford water park

AN OVERVIEW of the proposed waterway park was presented to IWA board members and regional chairpeople during a recent visit to Bedford.

A meeting was held at Box End Water Park where Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust joined the IWA team for lunch. The proposed 26km park will link the river Great Ouse in Bedford to the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes.

The group was also joined by John Hodgson and his wife Enid – John is secretary of IWA’s Great Ouse Branch and was one of the founder members of the B&MK Waterway Trust back in 1996. He brought with him a lot of history about the proposed waterway park.

After lunch the IWA board and the trust were joined by the MP for Bedford, Mohammed Yasin, and took the opportunity to enjoy some early spring sunshine on the John Bunyan community boat to see Bedford’s Embankment from the river and understand the challenges the river poses.

After disembarking, the group went on to visit the new landing stage where they were joined by Coun James Valentine from Kempston. He and Tom Tagg from the trust talked the IWA team through the construction of a new landing stage at Kempston Mill, including the difficulties of undertaking such a project at the start of the winter in pouring rain and a lot of mud! IWA has designated Kempston Mill as a ‘Silver Propeller’ destination for IWA members.

Jane Hamilton, chairperson of the BMK Waterway Trust said: “IWA brings a great deal of experience in regenerating waterways, working with volunteers and pulling in a wide range of funding for projects. We certainly hope to see a lot more of them as we take steps to secure large scale investment in the B&MK Waterway Park.”

Everyone agreed it had been a thoroughly worthwhile day!