Communications Update
11th March 2016
News Round up
It's that time again - catch up herewith the week's waterway related newsPage Content
· Volunteer development coordinator Tom Freeland was interviewed on BBC Radio Leicester (1/3/16) at the Mountsorrel open day. It’s a lovely ten-minute piece with the presenter and his son going along as visitor.
· The People (6/3/16) says ‘Britain’s waterways are a fast track to relaxation’ and includes the Stratford Canal, Mon & Brec, Kennet & Avon, Lancaster Canal, Stourport Ring and Cheshire Ring in its featured routes
· Chief executive Richard Parry was interviewed live on BBC Breakfast (4/3/16) as a Clean for the Queen event took place canalside in Birmingham
· The BBC website (3/3/16) reports the repairs to the towpath at Caen Hill on the Kennet & Avon Canal
· Caroline Robson and Tony Sims were interviewed on BBC Wiltshire’s drivetime show about the repairs to the towpath on the Caen Hill lock flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal.
· BBC Radio Nottingham (9/3/16) featured volunteer lock keeping in three segments throughout the show. Together those interviewed from the Trust made it sound so interesting and enjoyable that the presenter now wants to volunteer (as does another presenter’s mum!)
· There has been further coverage, including in the Evening Standard, and BBC London TV news (8/3/16) of a spate of attacks in London which has seen cyclists pushed into the canal
· Senior project manager Richard Spencer gave an excellent interview to BBC Radio Leeds (9/3/16) from the Rochdale Canal towpath where a major dredging project is under way to reopen the canal to navigation following the floods.
In social media:
· Fall Ings Lock open day last weekend was promoted across Facebook and Twitter. We set up a Facebook event page for the open day which performed particularly well – the event page reached 20,000 people and had 555 views
· On Tuesday it was International Women’s Day and on Facebook and Twitter we shared articles about women who work at the Trust. In total the posts reached 12,405 people with 185 engagements
· Yesterday we live tweeted from London’s Docklands for our first ever ‘virtual open day’ #lockgatelive
And coming up next week:
· From Monday we’ll begin the media sell-in of this year’s duck campaign. The story will focus on new figures which show fewer loaves of bread are being thrown into our waterways since our awareness campaign last spring
· Some of the archetypal metal canal bridges in Birmingham are being restored and we’ll be hosting a media day
· Also in Birmingham, we’ll be issuing a story about a £250k upgrade to the lighting along the canals
· The Oxford Towpath taskforce will be out on the canal on the 19th and we’ll be inviting the media along the come and speak to the volunteers
· We’ll be telling media about the work of an adoption group from Westminster Academy
· The London waterway team is holding a towpath event, in partnership with the police, in the wake of the attacks on cyclists
· There is a big three day film shoot at Anderton Boat Lift for a new ITV drama called ‘Paranoid’, they will be filming a stunt at the top of the lift
· Lion TV is filming a new series about Victorian Steam Railways, in a similar vein to the successful living history series 'Victorian Farm', 'Edwardian Farm', 'Wartime Farm' and 'Tudor Farm'. They will be filming horse boating on the Peak Forest Canal and Ashton Canal
· The Vale Royal Swing Bridge lift is undergoing repair and we’ll update the media with a post event press release and photos
· A press release about a community payback initiative on the Montgomery Canal is being prepared for issue early next week
· A group of students in Staffordshire will be helping us to create an otter holt and repair dry stone walls as part of a project to bring STEM subjects to life
· We’ll be publicising works to improve a section of the Grantham Canal towpath
· We’re expecting an announcement from HLF on a funding bid which, if successful, could see £500,000 invested in protecting the Pocklington Canal’s delicate ecology and historical features
· We’re pitching the Rochdale dredging story to BBC Look North regional TV
Events
· The Chase Walk at Cannock Chase
The Chase Walk is a 38.2 mile competitive walk over and around Cannock Chase.
19th March 2016
9:00am - 9:00pmAddress
Beaudesert Scout Campsite,
Cannock Chase,
Staffordshire
Fancy a challenge.
Starting and finishing at Beaudesert Scout Campsite in Staffordshire, the walk is for teams of four to seven people, and takes place annually in March. It is organised by members of the Nationwide Scout Communications Team and friends originally from Sutton Coldfield District Scouts.
For more information visit http://www.chasewalk.org/or http://chasewalk.org/documents/Chase%20Walk%20Poster%202016.pdf
Need to walk off those Easter eggs? Here’s a couple of nice walks taking place on Easter Sunday
· Discovering the Regent's Canal
Enjoy a guided walk along the lovely Regent's Canal.
Sunday 27 March
10:00am - 12:30pm
Join us for a guided walk exploring the history of the Regent's Canal between Islington and Camden.
Meet at 10:00 at Angel Station. The event is free of charge, but donations to the Canal & River Trust are welcome. The walk will finish at approximately 12:30 at Camden Market.
To book your space email
· IWA towpath walks: King's Cross to Camden
The Regent’s Canal is one of London’s best-kept secrets. Get your walking boots on and join us on a journey to lively Camden. Event details
27th March 2016
2:30pm - 4:30pm
Meet us at King's Cross taxi rank on the 27 March at 2:30pm for a group walk, from King’s Crossto Camden.
Remember to wear suitable clothes and footwear.
Normal charge: £10
Concessionary and Studentrate: £8
No prior booking necessary.
· Waterway Restoration Workshop 2016
Bookings are open for the Waterway Restoration Workshop 2016, which will take place on Saturday the 23rd of April.
Austin Court
Birmingham,
West Midlands
B1 2NP
This year the event will be held at Austin Court, once a metal and nail merchants, now an impressive venue in central Birmingham in the Brindley place development.
The theme of this year’s workshop is 'Why the blue and the green matter'.
The workshop will look at the following topics:
Where does water come from - and linking to the main system.
Environmental issues.
State of the Nation Report.
Forecasting the benefits of your canal restoration project.
Writing a restoration strategy.
Fundraising for your restoration project.
Using social media to get the word out.
We will use the same format as previous workshops - large group sessions, with breakout seminars.
Bring a friend! We are keen to encourage new faces into the canal restoration movement. An additional space is available to each canal restoration trust/society so they can bring along a new volunteer from their group who is interested in getting more involved.
Book a place here
2016 Living Waterway Awards
1 month to go!! Time is running out to enter your group or organistation for this year’s awards
The 2016 Living Waterways Awards are here and we're calling for waterway organisations and groups across the UK to put forward their engaging, innovative and inspirational projects. With seven awards up for grabs be sure to apply before 16 March.
Led by an independent panel of experts from the voluntary, environmental, arts, heritage, engineering and architecture sectors, the Living Waterways Awards celebrate the fantastic work done by individuals, communities and organisations to improve their canals, rivers, lochs and lakes making them exciting places to live, learn and spend time.
Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, explains:“We are delighted to open the 2016 awards for entries and we look forward to finding out about and recognising the most inspiring and exciting waterway-based projects across the UK.
“We are searching for those people and projects that have done the most to make a difference to the nation’s canals and rivers - transforming the places they pass through, and enriching the lives of all who use them.”
Christopher Rodrigues CBE, chairman of VisitBritain and chair of the awards’ independent panel of experts, adds: “It is thanks to the dedication and hard work of communities and organisations, both large and small, across the nation, that our waterways are the wonderful destinations they are today."
Award categories and awards timeline can been seen on the 2016 Living Waterways Award page on the website