We meet at the Red Bull Hotel, Church Lawton, near Kidsgrove. It has a large car park and, as you can see from the photo below, it is alongside lock 43 of our canal. The full address is Congleton Road South, Church Lawton, ST7 3AJ Telephone: (01782) 782600 . See their own website for more details.
See our Diary of Events for meetings and events in the near future. For past events see our archive pages Reports of Talks, Reports of Socials and Reports of AGMs.
This Season
Talks are usually 7:45 for 8 pm start. but please check our Diary of Events for the start time for all events before attending.
October 20th Cabin Cruising the Caledonian Canal |
Neil will be describing two quite different boating experiences. Part 1 will be an illustrated talk about his boating trip from Inverness to Fort William on the famous Caledonian Canal. Part 2 will be a video and narrative of the highly unusual experience of narrow-boating through the centre of Cambridge. |
Neil Barnett |
November 17th Changing Places |
An illustrated talk showing locations on the midland canals which looked different in years gone by. A post-interval item will include random signs and notices to make you smile. | Patrick Marks |
December 1st |
Our Christmas meal at Red Bull | – |
January 19th 2024 Cruising the |
Alan’s film of his journey along the canal. | Alan Chetwyn |
February 2nd 2024 |
Our 50th Anniversary meal at Red Bull | – |
February 16th 2024Ireland (part 1) |
Malcolm will describe exploring the Irish waterways system on Ampère (an all-electric narrowboat), prompted by her getting trapped in Hebden Bridge by the Calderdale floods on Boxing Day, 2015. Having had earlier Irish ambitions thwarted when they were unable to trail their Sea Otter there, Malcolm and Barbara took the opportunity of needing a crane and low-loader to do any boating in 2016 to have Ampère lifted to Ireland, spending a year there during which time they managed to cover almost all the system before the Winter closures. Part 1 of the talk will cover dropping into the Grand Canal about 20 miles West of Dublin and then cruising to Enniskillen via Dublin and then along the Royal Canal. |
Malcolm Bridge |
March 15th 2024 Ireland (part 2) |
Malcolm will continue exploring the Irish waterways system on Ampère (an all-electric narrowboat) in 2016. Part 2 will describe Enniskillen almost to Limerick and almost to Waterford (including the ‘great lakes’) before returning to where they were dropped in. |
Malcolm Bridge |
April 19th 2024 A Celebration |
Steve Guest will talk about the founding of our society and the campaign to re-open Harecastle Tunnel. Roger Evans will talk about our Milepost re-instatement work. After the break, John Tackley will talk about our Anderton Lift re-opening campaign. Finally, John Lawson will talk about our Cheshire Locks working parties. |
Steve Guest Roger Evans John Tackley John Lawson |
May 11th 2024 AGM |
Our AGM will be held this year at Apedale Heritage Centre, Loomer Road, Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. ST5 7LB.
10:30 Arrival + Tea or Coffee with Biscuits Please contact David Clegg to book your place (no charge) for the AGM and lunch, also (optionally) a tour of the mine afterwards at a cost (payable on the day) of £5. Bookings for the mine tour close 2 weeks before the AGM. Bookings for lunch close 1 week before the AGM. See Diary of Events for more details |