August 2022 ‘Canal Town’ Sundays at the National Waterways Museum
SIGHTS and sounds of a bygone age are coming alive at Ellesmere Port’s award-winning National Waterways Museum every Sunday this summer as the Cheshire visitor attraction is transformed into a living historic Canal Town.
Costumed characters, working heritage boats, demonstrations of a blacksmith forge and steam engine power hall, plus a programme of themed events all help to give visitors a fascinating glimpse into our rich maritime and canal past.
Cared for by the Canal & River Trust, the large museum site has been used as a location for the TV drama Peaky Blinders and recently won a Tripadvisor 2022 Travellers’ Choice Award.
Its unique setting, at the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal, offers stunning views across the River Mersey and provides the perfect location for visitors to enjoy an interactive window into life at the historic port, explore former cargo boats, and the domestic challenges of dock workers living in the Porters Row cottages, furnished in typical style from 1830, 1900, 1936 and 1952.
Supported by players of the Postcode Lottery, the weekly Canal Town programme has cruised into the summer calendar with a host of special themed Sundays, continuing with the First World War (July 31) to 1920s Afternoon Tea (August 14) and Astounding Inventions (September 11 and 18).
Dogs are welcome on site and get their own special event with a Village Fete and Dog Show on August 28, plus a Peaky Pooches competition, with the winner taking home a doggy hamper and pet portrait.
Families return again and again as children can try their hand at traditional games like skittles, hoopla and hook-aduck, as well as the chance to become a captain on their own boat in the new playground.
Chris Done, visitor services manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “We want to embrace the town’s rich history and replicate how it felt to live here when the port was a buzzing hive of activity. This was the thinking behind the Canal Town idea – to get dressed up, go traditional, create some theatre and bring the site to life by getting our historic boats moving up and down the locks.
“We want our visitors to step through our doors and get the feeling that they have been transported into another world.”
For more information, visit the museum website https:// canalrivertrust. org. uk/ places- to- visit/ national- waterwaysmuseum. Adult tickets cost £ 9.75, concessions £8.50, children £6, and families £25. Tickets give free admission for a year.