Welcome to Sale Cruising Club's website.

Located almost centrally on the Bridgewater Canal in South Manchester, close to Sale town centre, Sale CC is a long established canal cruising club with over 100 members. We hope that this website will be of interest to everyone of the boating community. Please have a look at all the different areas of the site.

There is a large range of information about the club, its history, current events and activities undertaken by members. There is also a range of information concerning boating in the region generally and other clubs on local and more distant canals.The various links on the port (left) side of the site will lead you to the relevant sections as listed.

If you'd like to get in touch regarding the club and its activities, including the content of this website, please click here for details.

New Picture Gallery!
We are proud to tell you that we now have the new Gallery online with already over 700 pictures added so far. You can access the new Gallery by clicking on the link on the left. The main advantage is that, once registered, SCC members are able to add their own pictures directly into the gallery without the time consuming process of emailing them or putting them on a CD and then manually adding them to the website.

Sale Cruising Club members are able to register here.

The Bridgewater Way
The knowledge that Sustrans want to take over part of the Bridgewater Canal towpath for cyclists has raised a storm of protest amongst walkers. This is a towpath that has always been cyclist free, with warning notices well displayed along most of its length, and so has attracted walkers and rambling clubs to its safe environment. But now, news that Sustrans has been given £250,000 to turn part of it into a cycle track has not been well received.

Protestors see this as very much the thin end of the wedge, with Sustrans naming it the Bridgewater Way, which they believe can only mean the paving of its entire length for the use of cyclists. Work is scheduled to begin in 2009, but this is meeting with a great deal of opposition. It was Jennifer Lambley of a local walkers club who reorted: "Our towpath has always been cycle free, which has encouraged many clubs to bring their members to the Bridgewater Canal, but if we are going to get cyclists dashing about, that will come to a stop, for the part they are making for them in right in the middle of the conurbation, so will encourage workers to use it and we all know what that means."

Others too are joining in the protest, with reports of local councils and newspapers inundated by complaints of what many see as the only cyclist free waterway footpath left to them. Of the complaints, here are a few: (We could find none in favour.)

'I've walked my many dogs along the canal for over thirty years and only occasionally had to hastily step aside as an illegal man on a bike comes flying past, often only just missing either me or my dogs, so if it is thrown wide open, it will be too dangerous'.—G.W.Marvin.

'This is the end of a quiet walk along the lovely Bridgewater Canal'.—Anonymous.

'The Bridgewater is our clubs' favourite walk, as we can easily get transport by the side, but how can it accommodate up to 30 people walking with cyclists?'—Jenny McLeod.

'It is marvellous to see the attractive barges floating by, it being so peaceful, but racing bikes will shatter that for I will be forever nervous as I am at other places I have to share with bike riders, as on the whole they have little or no regard for other uses but themselves'.—Julian Trimber.

[We acknowledge Manchester Evening News and Runcorn Weekly News.]

Hall Bank Footbridge and Rail Bridge at Patricroft
Network Rail has advised Peel Holdings that due to delays in their work programme to the above pedestrian and rail bridges over the Bridgewater Canal at Hall Bank (located 600 metres North of Patricroft Bridge) that notified closures and restrictions have been amended. Peel Holding's notice stated that the Bridgewater Canal would be closed at Patricroft on Tuesday 2nd December 2008 and Wednesday 3rd December 2008 inclusive whilst the scaffolding was dismantled, unfortunately due to delays the closure of the canal at this point to enable the scaffold to be removed has been postponed until further notice.

Due to the continued presence of scaffold at the Hall Bank location the following restrictions will remain in place, height above normal water level 2.92 metres (9 foot 6 inches) and 4.57 metres (15 feet) width. All persons in charge of pleasure craft must proceed with caution and are asked to comply with any signs or instructions given by flagmen. On behalf of Network Rail, Peel Holdingsy apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of these delayed works. For more information contact Mike Webb on 0161 6298266 or Email: mwebb@peel.co.uk.

Canal boat project finalists for award
The Canal Boat Project, founded by a group of youngsters in Runcorn, named the 'Nessie Club, has been announced as a finalist for the Philip Lawrence Awards 2008, which celebrates the achievements of young people in communities across the country. The group holds workshops inside a narrowboat on the Bridgewater Canal, which focus on a range of issues, including drug abuse, debt and anger management. The club aims to expand the scheme to national level, working as consultants for other projects and carrying out international volunteer work. The members have paid visits to the House of Commons and hold canal boat-based European youth exchanges.

The Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal
On 19th September, the completion of the first restored section of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal at Middlewood, Salford, was celebrated. The opening of this section of waterway is considered to be the most challenging phase in the restoration of the whole 15.2-mile long canal, which was once important to the transportation of coal and cotton in the Manchester area during the Industrial Revolution. This part of the canal was filled in during the 1960s, but now the canal through Middlewood represents the focal point for £600 million of urban regeneration that will comprise of a mixed use development.

One of the last major waterways in Greater Manchester to be restored, restoration works have included the creation of a tunnel under the Salford Inner relief road which then extends under the Manchester/Wigan Rail Viaduct. This new tunnel has been named the Margaret Fletcher Tunnel, dedicated to the late and much respected former chairman of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society and former IWA trustee.

Engineering works undertaken during the restoration also included: the excavation of 80,000 tonnes of rubble and material; the widening of East Ordsall Lane road bridge; the creation of two small circular basins; the restoration of the original Lock 3 and the construction of a new seven-metre deep lock which will be the third deepest lock within British Waterways’ 2,200-mile network. Although the first section to be reopened is just 437 metres long, its reconnects the canal to the rest of the UK’s inland waterway network via the river Irwell and opens up potential for the restoration of the canal to its terminuses at both Bolton and Bury.

The £5.9 million project, delivered by contractors Volker Stevin and led by British Waterways was funded by Northwest European Regional Development Fund (through Manchester Enterprises), Salford City Council, North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and Valley & Vale Properties Ltd. Amongst those present at the re-opening was Derek Cochrane, former BW regeneration director who was responsible for putting the redevelopment package together. The next stage in restoring the wider Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal could be achieved within five to ten years subject to funding.