A major boat rally to celebrate the reopening in 2009

The Blue Links partners have been setting the decor for a major event to celebrate the reopening of the canal in 2009.

Boaters from near and far are expected to take part, and we will publish the exact dates at the latest in October 2008, to give all prospective participants enough time to make their plans.

This lobster boat originally from Maine, now in Quebec, plans to be there.

Lobster boat from Quebec

So does well-known French canal expert Charles Berg, in his former Canal du Berry barge M.S. Blue Berry.

M.S. Blue Berry

The Blue Links partners were hoping to reopen the canal in 2008, as the name of the site suggests, but completion is delayed by the impact of a major road tunnel being built under the canal at the Pont des Couteaux in Roubaix. This meant draining the canal completely in this section. Rewatering the canal is scheduled to take place in June 2009.

Join in the celebration of the reopening of the Deûle-Escaut Canal in 2009!

Scotland enjoyed a similar event in 2002

Re-opening in 2002 of the Forth-and-Clyde Canal, crossing the Scottish Lowlands between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Inspired by groups of enthusiasts wishing to preserve the heritage of canals abandoned during the 20th century, more than 500km of canals have been restored in Great Britain since the beginning of the movement in 1946.

Schools support canal events

So as to make schoolteachers and their pupils aware of the waterway's educational potential, the Blue Links project team prepared a programme which was greeted with enthusiasm by the education board of the département Nord.

The project "there was a way ... a canal" had four objectives:

- to encourage intergenerational exchanges, meeting witnesses to the history of the area in order to discover together "the treasures of the canal" throughout the 11 communes crossed.

- improve all-round knowledge using the canal theme to make children aware of its value, its history and its current perspectives.

- to make young people aware of what is happening on the canal today, including the huge changes currently in process.

- to publish and exhibit the many designs and creations produced by children within an educational framework.

Research into the history and future of the canal, editorial, artistic and cultural output... The beauty of this project is that it can approach such a wide variety of subjects, making this a genuine educational project involving French, History, Geography, Civic Instruction and Natural Sciences.

In March 2007, the schools participating in the project received a trunk which they were asked to fill with treasure. From mid-May these trunks circulated from one school to another so that each discovered the others' treasures. In September 2007 the objects were part of a central exhibition at the event "canal en fête".

Several tools were made available to the teachers who agreed to take part: a touring exhibition, environmental education kits, an electronic newsletter and an internet site rich in information which lends itself to collaborative projects.

A major boat rally to celebrate the reopening in 2009

Schools support canal events

Credits