Montgomery Canal
Montgomery Canal Forum meeting
A public meeting is being held in Oswestry to look at plans for the future of the Montgomery Canal restoration.
The event, to be opened by Steve Charmley, Deputy Leader of Shropshire Council, will look at:
• progress of the Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal (supported by Timothy West and Prunella Scales) – more information is available at www.RestoreTheMontgomeryCanal.uk
• the new Waterways in Progress report (introduced by David Suchet) which highlights the economic, social and environmental benefits achieved while restoration is still continuing
• progress of the National Lottery Heritage Fund works on the Montgomery Canal including the new nature reserves at Aston Locks
• plans for the future.
The meeting will take place a couple of days after the popular Montgomery Canal Triathlon on Saturday 18 May, which sees participants walking along the towpath through Pant and Llanymynech, as well as completing sections by bike and canoe.
There will be an opportunity to discuss any issues concerning the future of the Montgomery Canal and what it can contribute to the area.
Currently, plans are being drawn up for Schoolhouse Bridge between Pant and Crickheath, and Shropshire Council is being very supportive. Funds are being collected and organisers say that the bridge could be replaced in a year or two, which would be a fantastic step forward, and could be the best news for the restoration in twenty years.
The Forum is a public meeting, open to anyone interested in the restoration and development of the Montgomery Canal for present and future generations, so all are welcome.
The Montgomery Canal Forum meeting takes place on Tuesday 21st May 2019 and will be held in Oswestry Memorial Hall, Smithfield St, Oswestry, SY11 2EG at 2.30pm. Parking is available in the Central Car Park opposite – easiest access into town is from Mile End A5/A483 roundabout.
The Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust/Ymddiriedolaeth Adfer Camlas Maldwyn is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee and registered charity.
Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre needs you!
Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre will be opening for the 2019 season on Easter Sunday, 21 April and is looking to recruit new volunteers to help out at this popular local tourist attraction.
Llanymynech Wharf Visitors Centre 
The George Watson Buck 
Llanymynech Wharf pre-1914
Visitors to the centre can look forward to half-hour boat trips along a beautiful stretch of the Montgomery Canal on a 12-seater trip boat, the ‘George Watson Buck’. (The boat is named after the engineer who rescued and repaired the Vyrnwy aqueduct after it was threatened with collapse in the early 1800s). The boat is accessible to people who use wheelchairs. In the Visitor Centre light refreshments are served and there are canal-related gifts and books for sale as well as a selection of plants.
The centre will be open every Sunday and Bank Holiday until the end of September from 1.30 to 4.30. During August the centre will also be open at the same times each Friday. Children go free on the boat on Bank Holidays and on August Fridays. The Centre and the boat are all run by a team of volunteers.
“We always welcome new volunteers,” says Joan Zorn from the centre. “We would like to see more local people getting involved with the centre and if you would like to help, come and talk to us one Sunday afternoon or contact Liz on 01691 828165. You’d only have to commit to one or two Sunday afternoons as a minimum. We do have a lot of fun!”
During the year, there are a number of special events which take place on Bank Holidays such as Strawberry Cream Teas in August. Keep an eye on Pant.Today for information about other events.
The Visitor Centre is housed in the former stables of the Sun Inn which once stood just to the North of the canal bridge carrying the A483. The stables were restored by British Waterways (now Canal & River Trust) around 2003/4. This was at the same time as the 600m stretch of canal in Llanymynech was cleared, restored and reopened.
For further information, why not visit www.llanylime.co.uk
Enter your Montgomery Canal photo
2019 MONTGOMERY CANAL PHOTOGRAPHY CALL
Following the successful growth of this exhibition, local people are being invited to submit two photographs (in electronic JPEG format) showing the range of built heritage, wildlife, scenery and recreation on the Montgomery canal.
Amateur, professional, in fact people of all ages and abilities can submit a photograph.
Be as creative as you can, swans are lovely, but an exhibition of standard swan and duck photographs is a bit limiting! Photos will be then be chosen from the entries submitted for a travelling exhibition. The Canal and River Trust cannot guarantee to exhibit all photographs due to the number of entries, but will aim to choose an interesting variety which represents the huge range of the canal’s heritage, wildlife, and fun/sporting activities.
All photographs must be submitted by the end of July 2019 to steve@nearlywild.org.
Please note, only good quality photographs e.g. 1 MB, in .jpeg format, with the name of the photographer, and ideally the location, can be accepted.
This exhibition is being organised by the Canal and River Trust for members of the public to enjoy. The last two years, the exhibition has been immensely popular, and the press coverage has helped raise the awareness of the wider restoration effort of this beautiful canal, especially the section which includes the section in Pant that needs reopening.
The exhibition is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the restoration of the Montgomery canal in Shropshire.
Please note: by entering, you are aware that there are no prizes or payment, and you are agreeing to the photographs you submit being used by Canal and River Trust for both the exhibition, merchandise to support the wider restoration effort, and publicity as appropriate.
Full credit will be given to the photographer where possible.
Enjoy a walk from Pant to Llanymynech
In the first of what we hope will be a series of articles about walks in and around the village, we have put together a walk from Pant to Llanymynech, taking in Llanymynech Rocks and other local places of interest.
As all of us who live here know, this is a lovely part of the country with lots of great options for walking routes. The walk we have prepared takes in two countries, four pubs, Offa’s Dyke Way and the Montgomery Canal!
This walk is a superb way of exploring the Parish of Llanymynech and Pant whilst at the same time seeing some of the natural beauty of the area, its industrial heritage and local amenities. The walk starts at The Cross Guns Inn in Pant and is a distance of about three to five miles, depending on detours. As with all walks, please ensure you are fully equipped before you set off, as this is a guide only and some sections are off the footpath.
Click here to see the walk in full.
We hope to add more walks to the Pant Today website over the coming months and we would really welcome any suggestions. If you have an idea for a walk you would like us to try, or if you have put together your own route, please do contact us. We can’t guarantee that all walks will make it onto the website, but we will do our best to include as many as possible.
Season’s Greetings 2018
The year is drawing to its close and we would like to wish all residents and visitors to Pant a very festive Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope 2018 has been kind to you and your family and friends and that you have enjoyed support from fellow villagers.
We know of a number of people who are no longer with us in our community and others have moved away. We’d like to welcome all the new people who are now part of the village.
There have been big changes at Pant Memorial Hall, with the entrance hall having been refurbished, resulting in a robust and cleaner looking entrance to this village institution. The Hall has invested in other improvements in this year, which saw the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
As the year draws to its end, the Hall committee is waiting to hear if it will be able to start work on a new sculpture outside the hall. We will keep you posted.
Talking about the hall. Pant Autumn Bazaar was back in October, which everyone agrees saw an increase in visitors as well as more money being raised for the vital upkeep of the hall. Keep up to date with the hall at www.pantmemorialhall.org.uk.
As we noted last year, work is ongoing to reopen the Montgomery Canal through Pant to join up with the water at Llanymynech. If you have been to Crickheath recently, you will have no doubt seen the massive effort that has taken place there to recreate Crickheath Wharf. An important milestone in the efforts to extend the navigable section of the canal, in that it will provide a turning area for boats. More information and ways to help are here – www.restorethemontgomerycanal.uk.
Pant.Today aims to enable communication between local people and we have continued to list local events on the website to help encourage attendance. We continue to offer a platform for people to list items for sale and to promote their business to local people. More details are available here.
May we wish you a Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and Season’s Greetings to all!
New film showcases Montgomery Canal restoration
After months of filming on the Montgomery Canal, Canal and River Trust are delighted to release “Life on the Monty”, a short film that celebrates the heritage, wildlife and people who make this beautiful canal so special.
The Montgomery Canal still needs restoration, this water is only from the rain.
The film also includes archive footage of the original restoration from 1969, to celebrate the role of volunteers in its resurrection, and a chance to see The Prince of Wales re-opening the canal at Welshpool.
Sylvia Edwards, Montgomery Canal Community Development Officer, says: “The making of the film brought together various generations who wanted to tell the wider world how special this canal is: its unique environment, the amazing work done by past and current volunteers, the fun that it provides to young people and their families, and how everyone can enjoy its beautiful and peaceful surroundings.
“You can watch the Life on the Monty trailer at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/montgomery, where you will also find a link to the film itself. Feel free to click on the heart-shape button, top right hand side, to “ like it”, and don’t forget to share it with your networks.”
Life on the Monty was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the restoration of the Montgomery canal in Shropshire.
If you would like to support the wider restoration effort of the Montgomery canal, go to http://restorethemontgomerycanal.uk.
Montgomery Canal Photography – call for entries
Montgomery Canal Photography – Call for entries
Open now until 15 August 2018
Following on from the huge success of last year’s exhibition, the Canal and River Trust are inviting you to enter your most interesting shots of the Montgomery canal, its wildlife and heritage.
This call for entries is open to everyone, and will help Canal & River trust create a touring exhibition, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will go on display this Autumn/ Winter in the main towns along the canal.
At the launch event, which will be advertised from early September on https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/events, visitors will be invited to select their favourite photographs. These will be used to create merchandise which will be sold by The Friends of the Montgomery Canal to help with the wider restoration effort.
Please submit your two best/ most interesting photographs of this wonderful canal to Steve@nearlywild.org by 15th August 2018. Only send good resolution photographs. No hard copy accepted.
Please note, by entering, you are aware that there are no prizes or payment, and you are agreeing to the photographs you submit being used by Canal and River Trust for both the exhibition and to promote the restoration work of the Montgomery canal.
Welshpool event focuses on Montgomery Canal
The Canal & River Trust charity is organising a weekend of fun waterway activities at Welshpool Wharf, as part of the Welshpool Transport Festival on 23-24 June.
Although taking place in Welshpool, the event is open to all and is taking place alongside a music festival – Music for the Monty – which is seeking to raise funds for and publicity about the restoration of the section of canal through Pant to Llanymynech.
Free canoeing and coracle taster sessions will be on offer on the Saturday (10am-5pm) and paddle boarding taster sessions on the Sunday (10am-2pm). Narrowboat trips, also free courtesy of the Heulwen Trust, will be available throughout the weekend.
These activities and other community events are being promoted by the Canal & River Trust, which manages 2,000 miles of the nation’s waterways, as part of the Heritage Lottery-funded project to restore the Montgomery Canal.
Music will keep everything swinging along throughout the weekend and a special charity concert, in aid of the Montgomery Canal restoration, will be held on Saturday night in the Assembly Room at Welshpool Town Hall. Advance tickets at the special price of £8.00 each are available through the website http://restorethemontgomerycanal.uk/tickets.html or £10 on the door.
Also, on both days will be a rare opportunity to enjoy a horse-drawn boat trip along this section of the Montgomery Canal. For the first time in years, this unique mode of transport will take visitors along the Welsh stretch of the waterway. Trips are heavily subsidised and cost only £2 per person. Tickets are available on the day from the bottom of Church Street Car Park near the canalside – postcode SY21 7DD.
Sylvia Edwards, Montgomery Canal community development officer with the Trust, explained: “This special weekend offers visitors a marvellous chance to try out a range of exciting activities on water. Research proves people feel happier and healthier by water so it’s a great event for introducing visitors and local residents to opportunities for enjoying leisure time on the beautiful waterway.
“For people with a more competitive streak, we are hosting a coracle relay race at 2pm on the Saturday. This is free to enter. No previous experience is necessary as participants will have chance to practise in the morning up to midday. We hope lots of supporters will come down for the race to cheer on the competitors.”
Teams of four need to have registered their coracle race entry by 21 June by emailing Sylvia.Edwards@canalrivertrust.org.uk or calling 07787 508 635.
This weekend of community activities are part of a much larger HLF-funded £4 million project which involves the creation of a new three-hectare wildlife habitat within Aston Locks Nature Reserve and navigation restored to 1¼ miles of the canal, from Maesbury to Crickheath.
A dedicated turning point for narrowboats, known as a ‘winding hole’, is also being created, enabling boats to return to the area for the first time since 1936 when the canal was closed. The project includes access improvements to the canal and nearly five miles of towpath upgraded. The Canal & River Trust works with 15 partner organisations which make up the Montgomery Canal Partnership. The Partnership aims to restore the canal fully within the next decade as a haven for people and nature.
For more information about the Montgomery Canal restoration why not visit www.restorethemontgomerycanal.uk.
Photo credit: Cracker photo by Dave Barker at Bywater Cruises.
New Year walking in Pant
The New Year is often a time when we decide to make resolutions about our health – especially after the eating and drinking that some of us rather overindulge in over the Christmas period.
But for those of us lucky enough to live in or near Pant, help is at hand with an outdoor gym that is totally free to access. But for visitors or those new to the area, we hope this article will encourage you to pull on your walking shoes or boots and get walking in Pant and explore the area.
There’s always a temptation to put off a walk in the countryside until the summer ‘when the weather is fine’, but there’s a lot to be said for taking a walk on a crisp winter’s day. Cold weather needs a few extra layers, but the clear air means you can get some spectacular views. Walking in Pant can be a joy whatever the weather.
Looking down on Pant, Shropshire from Llanymynech Hill
We have listed some of the things to do in Pant elsewhere on this website and a number of them include a walk onto Llanymynech Rocks.
The rocks are a popular haunt for dog walkers, climbers and bird watchers and they offer walks to suit a variety of abilities.
There are footpaths and bridleways crisscrossing the rocks and if you start from Llanymynech Wharf Heritage Centre you can pass under the busy A483 by way of a pedestrian stone tunnel and then ascend the English Incline to the top. This is a fairly steep ascent, while an easier ascent can be made by starting in the car park in Underhill Lane in Pant and following the signs.
Even gentler walks can be had along the towpath of the Montgomery Canal.
The Montgomery Canal still needs restoration, this water is only from the rain
At this time of year, it can be muddy and in places there are stiles to navigate, if you join the canal towpath at the Penygarreg Lane end and walk towards Llanymynech there are stiles to navigate but the walk is well worth it.
In the other direction, a walk starting at School Lane Bridge will take you along the towpath in the direction of Crickheath and Maesbury. The School Lane bridge, by the way, is the last bridge in England to pose an obstacle to the reopening of the Montgomery Canal and plans are being advanced to rebuild the bridge in the near future – take a look at this link to find out more. Again there are stiles on the sections nearest to Pant.
We would really like to feature some detailed walks – as well as other outdoor pursuits – on pant.today, so if you would be willing to write one up and send it to us along with photos, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Season’s greetings from Pant
Another year is drawing to its close and we would like to wish all residents and visitors to Pant and its surrounding area a very festive Christmas and a Happy New Year.
None of us know what 2018 will bring for us and the village, but it’s likely to include some changes, as is inevitable in all communities. People move away, and new people come to join the community.
Recent news reports have highlighted the issue of loneliness and we hope that anyone in Pant who feels lonely is able to reach out to their fellow villagers for support and a chat.
At this time of the year, it’s customary to think about the homeless, those less fortunate or lonely, but these issues affect communities at all times of the year. Luckily, Pant is a fairly tight knit community and we hope that anyone who needs that extra bit of support would come forward and ask for it. But we all know pride can stop that, so if anyone wants help, they can do so anonymously by getting in touch with Pant.Today and we will do our best to help.
Pant Memorial Hall offers one place where villagers and strangers alike can meet up. Pant Autumn Bazaar back in October, which was put on by the Hall committee, saw around 200 visitors come along for a browse, a chat and some refreshments. 2018 sees the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and, as Pant Memorial Institute was set up as a memorial to the ‘Great War’, plans are afoot to involve the whole community in activity to mark this.
Plans are also just starting for a monthly gathering in the village open to all, details to follow.
A great deal of community spirit is also being expended on the ongoing work to reopen the Montgomery Canal through Pant to join up with the water at Llanymynech. Works to improve the towpath in the village took place in the summer and villagers can help support the appeal to raise funds by visiting www.restorethemontgomerycanal.uk.
If you have details of any community initiatives that we should report on during 2018, don’t forget to get in touch.
Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and Season’s Greetings to all!
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