Festival fun on restored canal

A WEEK of waterside fun has begun to celebrate the Rochdale Canal Festival in Oldham.

This year is the third festival and attractions include free boat trips, bouncy castles, face painting, art and craft stalls, live music workshops, a guided canalside walk and cycle rides, and angling taster sessions.

The festival finale on Sunday, July 19, sees the Mayor and Mayoress, councillors Jim McArdle and Kay Knox, arrive at the event by boat.

The canal, restored with the help of £3 million Millennium Lottery funding, reopened in 2002.

Councillor Mohib Uddin, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “We are delighted to see how much the festival has grown in popularity.

“The events programme is packed with an exciting range of hands-on activities to really show off the canal. It is the perfect opportunity for people living in Oldham to discover all that the restored waterway has to offer.”

The award-winning festival aims to promote and celebrate the canal, through a programme of events designed to encourage people to spend their leisure time making the most of the canal and all it has to offer, from boating and walking to relaxing and enjoying the wildlife.

More festival information and a full listing of all the free events can be downloaded from www.oldham.gov.uk/rochdale-canal-festival-2009.

Activities being held in Oldham along the Rochdale Canal over the Festival period are:

Saturday, July 11

Angling taster sessions, 10am-4pm, By the Rose of Lancaster, Chadderton (booking required, tel Mike 07745- 130337).

Waterway Walk and Wonder, 12.30-2pm, Rochdale Canal Basin, Failsworth (booking required, Katy 0161- 655 7850).


Sunday, July 12

Family canal walk and picnic, 1.30-3pm, Rochdale Canal Basin, Failsworth (booking required, Louise 0161-621 7152).


Tuesday, July 14

The Wild Side of Water, 10am-3pm, Rochdale Canal Basin, Failsworth (booking required, Simon 0161- 7705163).


Wednesday, July 15
Canal and country park cycle, 10.30am-noon, Rochdale Canal Basin, Failsworth (booking required, Louise 0161-621 7152).


Thursday, July 16

Nature and Nurture, 10.30am-noon and 1.30- 3pm, by the Canal, off Marlborough Drive, Failsworth.

Evening canal walk 6.30-8pm, meet at Mills Hill Station (booking required, Lucy 0161- 242 8216).


Friday, July 17

Towpath tidy, 11am-3pm, Behind Morrisons, South Chadderton.


Saturday, July 18

Canal boat trips, from noon, by the Rose of Lancaster, Chadderton.

Dr Bike Workshop, noon- 2pm, canal basin, Failsworth.

Failsworth Carnival.


Sunday July 19

Rochdale Canal Festival finale, 11am-4pm, Rochdale Canal basin, Failsworth.

Family canalside walk and picnic, 1.30-3pm, Health Centre adjacent to Rochdale Canal Basin, Failsworth (booking required, Louise 0161-621 7152)

Family bike trail, 1-3pm, canal basin, Failsworth.