Canal Society Pledges Free Boat Trips

A local canal society has pledged to offer a weekend of free boat trips when the current stay at home restrictions are lifted.

Volunteers at the Bridge 19-40 Union Canal Society, like boaters across the country, had been looking forward to the start of the main boating season which normally runs from April to October.

Particularly disappointing was the cancellation of the annual Easter Bunny boat trips, which should have taken place on Easter Saturday.  In the past, families have enjoyed these short boat rides on the canal, before disembarking to meet the Easter Bunny and go on an Easter egg hunt.

The society’s vice chair, Sue Bedford-Visser, said that the trips had been fully booked in advance and that everyone had been refunded, but that they wanted to find a way to give people something to look forward to.

She added: “The Easter Bunny and all of our volunteer helmsmen, crew and support team were so disappointed. These annual trips on our narrowboat Bluebell are normally one the highlights of our year on the canal. It’s a really happy occasion and we love meeting all the children and their families”.

“Sadly, national advice is also currently urging people not to use the canal towpaths for their daily exercise at this time as they are not wide enough to practice safe social distancing”.

“Like everyone else we’ve also had to put everything on hold,” she continued, “but in these uncertain times we wanted to do something positive and would ask people to follow our facebook page for more information when boat trips become possible once again”.

The Bridge 19-40 Union Canal Society is a registered charity which offers public boat trips along the Union Canal. The society takes its name from the section of the canal in West Lothian upon which it operates, between Bridge 19, the first bridge in West Lothian, just east of the M8 after Linn’s Mill Aqueduct, and Bridge 40, just west of Philpstoun.

You can find Bridge 19-40 Union Canal Society on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bridge1940canalsociety/