HBS had a quiet horseboating year in 2015, due to me (Sue Day) having to attend to family matters as a priority. I spent much of last summer and nearly all this winter with my mother in Suffolk.
In 2015, we fulfilled various requests:
• horseboat Maria attended on the Lower Peak Forest Canal at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the railway in Marple, Cheshire. CRT chief executive Richard Parry steered Maria over the Marple Aqueduct and up some of the lock flight.
• horseboat Vixen took part in the annual Rochdale Canal Festival giving passenger rides.
• Horses at Work event day at the National Waterways Museum – harnessing demos and horseboating demos with horseboat Gifford
• various boathorse harnessing demos at waterway events
However the major project of horseboat Elland going around the South Pennine Ring had to be cancelled as it would have been very time consuming.
In 2016, I suspect HBS will be limited with our activities again. I am committed to helping my mother who has lost much of her eyesight due to age related macular degeneration. She is 94 in April and lives alone unless I join her. However there will be a few horseboating activities by others – like the Saturn Group and our Midlands HBS rep.
I hope HBS will be able to be involved with horseboat Elland in some of the 2016 celebrations of the bi-centenary of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Watch the HBS website and HBS emails for dates for any activities.