MICHAEL FABRICANT TO OPEN HUDDLESFORD GATHERING OF NARROW BOATS FROM AROUND THE WEST MIDLANDS AND BEYOND AT HUDDLESFORD, NEAR LICHFIELD ON SATURDAY 23rd AND SUNDAY 24th SEPTEMBER
Michael Fabricant will open the Huddlesford Gathering near Lichfield at around 11.45am on Saturday 23rd September – and the ‘Gathering’ will last until late on Sunday 24th.
Michael says: “This event is fast becoming a Lichfield tradition! It is now the 7th occasion for this water based weekend family fun day. There will be scores of narrow boats from all over the region and beyond, classic vehicles, children’s activities, demonstrations ranging from rescue dogs to spinning, you can have a go at digger driving, there will be a duck hunt, and – of course –loads of food and drink available.
“The event is being organised jointly by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust and the Lichfield Cruising Club and I will be taken to open the event by ‘Royal Launch’, well, the Canal and River Trust official narrowboat.
I’ll be accompanied by Richard Parry, Chief Executive of the Canal & River Trust; David Hancock, Commodore of the Lichfield Cruising Club; and Christine Bull, Chairman of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust.
“I will also highlight the urgent need to raise £1m for Tunnel Vision: funds to allow the restored Lichfield Canal to go under the mainline railway on the southern edge of Falkland Road in Lichfield. This is for when Staffordshire County Council Highways Department extend the road around 2020. If the work is not done at the time of the road construction, the canal tunnel will cost many times more.”
Michael is a keen narrowboater and Patron of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust.