--- In [email protected], Bob Adams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> What is the reason for this years 'national' being at Beale again so
> soon after the last time it was held there? I seem to recall that
> 'nationals' were held at sites 'under threat' in some way - but the
> upper Thames?
I'm not privvy to the thinking of the people who make the decisions
about the location of Nationals, but it's a long time since "sites
under threat" has been part of the equation. That aspect has now
been taken over by the National Campaign Rally, which this year was
at Brookwood on the Basingstoke Canal, where the threat is very real.
What the relevant people are looking for as a site for the National
is somewhere that a large gathering of boats can be accommodated next
to a large land site (so why have they chosen St Ives for 2007?
Don't ask me!). The National now is about the other kind of
campaigning - persuasion of the public (i.e. the taxpayers) that
waterways are a good thing. And, of course, about trying to make a
good profit, which past experience shows works best on the Thames.
Having said that, there were campaigning reasons for choosing the
Thames for 2006. Boating activity on the Thames, especially hire-
boating, has been in decline for a number of years. And when the
ddecision was made, over a year ago, it was felt that there was an
under-funding problem for the Thames, and indeed with navigation
generally within the EA. (This was long before the present situation
about BW funding).
Another factor that I think may be taken into account in choosing the
location of the National is the closeness of the site to current
restoration projects, in this case the Wilts & Berks Canal. That,of
course, paid off unexpectedly when they were able to follow up the
Festival with the opening of the new junction between the Wilts &
Barks and the Thames.
Mike Stevens
nb Felis Catus III at Beale Park
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