Flotilla recreates 200-year-old moment

3 hours ago

Jake Zuckerman,in Gooleand

Emma Petrie,East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

News image — David Scrimgeour, from Yorkshire Waterways Heritage Society

A flotilla of vessels have recreated a 200-year-old journey as part of a town's bicentenary celebrations.

The opening of the port and town of Goole in 1826 was marked by the arrival of 50 vessels. In a nod to that, a fleet navigated the canal once more.

David Scrimgeour, from Yorkshire Waterways Heritage Society, said the town and its waterways were "worth celebrating".

Goole turns 200 on Monday and the anniversary is being marked with a series of events and activities over the weekend.

A boat with Aire and Calder Navigation on it is in the middle of the waterway. It has two flags on masts. Another barge with Hull written on it is behind it. — The Aire and Calder Navigation Company linked Leeds to the Humber ports

The town was established after the Aire and Calder Navigation Company extended its canal from Leeds to Goole in the early 1820s so coal could be exported from the West Riding of Yorkshire to Europe.

Scrimgeour, who helped organise Saturday's event, said: "What drove the development of the canal system and the docks and the town was Aire and Calder Navigation Company's desire to bypass Selby in terms of being able to get goods manufactured in the West Riding to their markets using ships.

"The Aire and Calder Navigation [Company] decided to extend their existing waterways by building the link between Knottingley and Gould, which is about 17 miles of man-made canal."

Brian wears a blue flat cap, striped top and a pair of glasses. He stands at the side of the water and a red barge is behind him. — Brian Sheppard attended the event so that he could walk in the footsteps of his ancestors

Brian Sheppard went along to watch so he could walk in the footsteps of his ancestors, who he says would have been at the ceremony 200 years ago.

"I have members of my family who were captains of boats who sailed from Goole to London with the coal," he said.

The boat is brightly coloured and has plant pots on it. Other tugs are in the background. John stands at the side of the boat smiling with his hands in his pockets and his sunglasses on his head. — John Hayden, captain of Pauline, which was built in Goole in 1869

Pauline, a fly-boat that carried cargo, was built in Goole by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company in 1869.

She would originally have been horse drawn, but was motorised around 1950.

John Hayden, who now captains the boat, said: "It's nice for Goole to have an event like this, and for people to acknowledge the labour of the past and to keep that going."

Scrimgeour said before the town was established the area was used as farmland, with a small hamlet across the other side of the Dutch River.

"I think Goole folk need to be very proud of what they've got.

"The heritage of this this town and the waterways and what it has achieved is worth celebrating," he said.

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