Gallery 9 – To the Bridgewater Hall and back

In October 2006, Maria was horseboated down the Ashton Canal and Rochdale Nine to the Bridgewater Hall Basin, on the stub of the former Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, to help celebrate the hall’s 10th anniversary.

The journey developed into a “protest cruise” to help raise awareness of the funding cuts facing British Waterways. The journey and the cutbacks attracted media interest.

On the return journey, we were joined by Ashton MP David Heyes and his wife. David is very intetrested in canals and talked in depth with the crew to learn as much as he could of the effects of the funding cuts. He then tried his hand at the tiller, steering Maria along part of the Ashton Canal.