The 103rd Andale Show needs your help!

ON Saturday, 6 July 2025, residents in Ainsdale and tourists from all over the UK are invited to attuned the 103rd Ainsdale Show. This event is to be held on the Ainsdale Village Green, next to the Village War Memorial, on Liverpool Road. The event will be full of activities to both watch and to participate in, for young to old. Sadly, despite best efforts, the new safety rules means the show will again have to charge a small eatery fee to cover the new costs required for upgraded safety requirements. But, the organisers, the Ainsdale Horticultural Show have been determined to keep the costs as low as possible. Family (2 Adults, 2 Children) will cost just:- £5. Adult tickets (18 and over) will be:- £5, and 17 to 17 year olds, just:- £3.  But, children under 15 are FREE. This means the event is fantastic value for money. The Arena will be hosted by Mighty Radio and will see a wide range of activates taking part within it, like:- a dog handling display, sports demonstrations, dance, music and more... The event will have a fun fair, flower displays and arts and crafts, plus lots of other activities and stalls to look at. Sunday, 6 July will see music, picnics, and a carboot sale...  Something less known though is on Friday, 4 July, as the event is being set up, a Pet Show is taking place. To enter your pet and for more information about this and the rest of the events, visit:- AinsdaleHorticulturalSociety.Org.UK. But this years show needs your help. It is run by volunteers and they still need some more volunteers to help run this historic event. If you can help please contact the Ainsdale Horticultural Society's Chairman:-  Janet Greenwood by calling:-  01704577853 or emailing:-  AinsdaleShow@Gmail.Com. If you can not help with volunteering, please click on the poster or click here, and help spread the word by printing off and showing the  poster where ever you can. Please also spread the word on social media...

127 mile long heritage survey of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

THE waterways charity:- Canal and River Trust, has commenced a heritage survey of the nation's canal network, starting in the North West with the:- 127 mile long the historic and often overlooked:- Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The project will chart how the charity's canals, and the wider canal corridor, have changed over the past 30 years by updating and augmenting a joint British Waterways and Historic England survey of canals completed back in the early 1990s.

Undertaking the volunteer led survey of the Trust's 2,000 mile network of canals and the historic setting around them is expected to take four years. It is being made possible thanks to funds raised by players of Peoples Postcode Lottery.

The previous early 1990s Governmen agency run survey recorded, using pen and paper, the physical engineering feats of the industrial age such as:- the centuries old locks, bridges, aqueducts and tunnels; including:- many of the 10,000 such structures looked after today by the Canal and River Trust.

The new survey will record buildings associated with the:- canal, locks and lock cottages, bridges, aqueducts, tunnels, wharfs, warehouses, and stables. It will also include important detail such as:- mileposts, horse ramps and cobbles that make up the rich fabric of the Britain's unique and much loved canal network. Later features such as:- the World War II pill boxes built along the canal, between:- Wigan and Liverpool in 1940, will also be recorded. The latest study will also include around:- 200 miles of canal restored since the 1st survey was conducted.

A team of 14 volunteers have started the survey on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, between:- Wigan, Leigh and Liverpool, in the North West of England. It will then be rolled out across the Trust's network of canals that span:- England and Wales.

As well as physically surveying and photographing what's present along the ageing canal network, the team will also utilise historical maps, photos and archive text to chart as much as possible about what has been lost or changed since the canal network's use as a freight network hundreds of years ago and since the last survey over 30 years ago.

The study will enhance the existing digital database which can be kept up to date on an iterative basis rather than being a snapshot of a particular moment in time. The records will be instrumental in ensuring the historic integrity of the canal network is protected for future generations. It can also take the opportunity to consider lost or hidden heritage, for example archaeological heritage in the case of known previously demolished canal side buildings, where development is due to take place.

Bill Froggatt, heritage adviser at Canal and River Trust, explains:- "30 years after the 1st survey was completed, our charity has secured the funding to be able to go out and update and add to those original records. Using the support of our wonderful volunteers and embracing modern mobile technology, it will be a project that celebrates this wonderful legacy from our industrial past and helps preserve it for the future. Today the love for canals is burning bright. There are more boats on the network than at the height of the industrial revolution and the towpath is used by millions of people each week to get close to nature and to improve health and wellbeing by spending vital time in quality and much needed green space by water. The new survey will give us important information on how canals have changed over the intervening years. It will also give us the opportunity to survey canals that have been restored since the 1st survey was conducted. Together, the Trust and our volunteers will learn more about the history of the charity's network of canals."

The 1st survey ran from:- 1988 to 1993, and recorded more than:- 12,000 historic structures on the:- 2,000 miles of inland waterways within both:- England and Wales.

Around 30,000 photographs were taken as part of the project and the information and photographs recorded provided an important archive of inland waterway heritage at that time and is still used today.

Bill added:- "The historic structures on our inland waterways come in all shapes and sizes, from the majestic aqueducts such as Pontcysyllte to the humbler humpback bridges, marked by the ropes of thousands of passing boats, to locks and milestones. This heritage gives a location a distinct character and is a lasting legacy of all the people who helped build our canals. Some were designed by our great civil engineers, others built by local crafts people. All conjure up an image of life on the canals 200 years ago. These historic structures are still in use today providing some of the world's finest examples of living industrial heritage and providing much needed outdoor space for 10 million people that visit the canals each year."

Did you know that:- The Canal and River Trust cares for and brings to life:- 2,000 miles of Canals and Rivers across England and across Wales. They believe waterways have the power to make a difference to bringing communities together to make a difference to their local waterway, Today they are creating places and spaces that can be used and enjoyed by everyone, every day. For more information about the charity please visit:- CanalRiverTrust.Org.UK.