Skipton Waterway Festival

THIS Saturday will see the start of the big Bank Holiday weekend’s Skipton Waterway Festival.

This will be its 17th such festival, and this year will mark the 50th anniversary of Pennine Cruisers, that organises the event, Alan Tilbury reports.

Decorated narrowboats

Leanne Kendall, of Pennine Cruisers, tells they had set a celebratory theme of decorated narrowboats for those attending the festival, and expect boaters to come up with some imaginative decorations, she suggesting:

“Its going to be a celebratory festival. Boaters might be celebrating wedding anniversaries, or the Royal Wedding, or the birth of the Royal baby, its always exciting to see what they come up with.”

There will also be the illuminated boat cruise on Sunday evening with the decorated boats passing through the festival site around 9.30pm.

Entertainment

The festival will include boat trips, live entertainment, from a variety of bands and singers, and performances from local musicians. There will also be vintage engines, birds of prey and children’s activities, including a treasure hunt. And of course lots of variety of food.

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society will be present with its old working boat, Kennet, that was built in 1947 for canal transport, and will be giving demonstrations of its workings.

The festival will be in and centred around the canal basin and in the streets of Skipton.