Lymm Heritage Centre to host exhibition on Bridgewater Canal

And now 50 years on, a new exhibition is to launch in the village to recall the remarkable events.

In 1972 a small scale Polaris submarine accompanied by a destroyer were spotted approaching Lymm along the Bridgewater Canal. Like hundreds of other boats they were on their way to the National Rally of Boats being held in Lymm for the first and only time.

Just 12 months earlier the whole future of the Bridgwater Canal had been cast into doubt following a catastrophic breach of the embankment near Dunham. The Ship Canal Company, which owned the canal, expressed real concerns about the cost and viability of making a full repair. With commercial traffic virtually at an end and canal tourism still relatively undeveloped there appeared to be no future for the canal.

The tiny figures in the base of the breach give some idea of the scale of the devastation. The normal canal depth was just four feet Picture: JG Parkinson and Online Transport Archive

But local boat clubs and the Inland Waterways Association sprang into action to raise the profile of this dramatic turn of events. Lymm’s own Cruising club became very involved in the organisation of the rally which attracted around 600 boats from all over the country, some of them carrying good wishes for the future of the canal from local mayors and council leaders.

Momentum had already been growing to create a rescue package for the canal and in the end it seems that while the Ship Canal Company funded the repairs, a new organisation, The Bridgewater Canal Trust, involving local authorities, was formed to take on responsibility for the longer term maintenance of the canal.

The weekend of the rally was a memorable one. Apart from the hundreds of boats including the scale replica submarine and destroyer, manned by RN crews, there were parachute drops and a giant funfair. At least 60,000 visitors were reckoned to have visited the village making it what the papers at the time described as 'The biggest thing to ever hit Lymm'.

An exhibition opens at Lymm Heritage Centre on Thursday this week for six weeks that tells the whole story from the moment of the breach to the final reopening of the canal two years later.

It includes newly discovered photographs of every stage of the story including the rally as well as original film footage.

More information from lymmhic.co.uk.