Early Summer News

follow us on facebook

Early Summer News

Summer is nearly here, in fact as you will know the summer weather has been with us for some time, despite the rain on the musuem window as I type this!

Don't miss our festival! click here for more information

find the festival on Facebook

There are lots of wonderful things happening during the year please go to  next blog for the full programme.


This week at the FIPT AGM the members voted to accept our new constitution which can be viewed at http://www.fipt.org.uk/pdf/FIPT%20Constitution%202014.pdf. The new constitution allows us to widen the scope of our activities and do more site interpretation. However it also allows us not to pursue our original aim of full restoration of the Inclined Plane Boat lift. There are many reasons for this but the top 2 are: we don't have the £11m or so to pay for the work and Heritage lottery are not willing to support the project at this time. This is partly due to the fact that if the lift existed the cables would need replacing every 3 possibly only 2 years at a cost of £90,000 on top of all other maintenance and running costs. This money would be impossible to find. Should things change, such as a footballer offering to pay then we will look at restoration again.

The good news

is that the site has been awarded a grant of a total of £190,000 by Arts council UK for a new project to improve interpretation. This money is being managed by Leicestershire Promotions. The biggest part of this will be a very high tech animated film of the lift in operation. You will also be able to access more information on wifi out on site. This would be a compare and contrast idea, what did the lock or lift look like 100 years ago. This is a wonderful opportunity and in a years time the site and the museum will look different. We hope you will visit this year to see what it is like now.

Wildlife 

on site has been exceptional this year. This family of grey wagtails was nesting in a lock wall and providing the visitors stood well back you could see the chicks being fed. The swan is on its nest, a nest that has been in use for at least 30 years. The waterlilies are blooming and the flag iris is out. The trees are full of twittering birds, it is a real treat especially early in the morning.

At Easter we had the Historic Narrowboat Owners Association staying at Foxton it was fantastic to see and hear these wonderful old boats. 

Come and say hello next time you visit, Mike Beech Museum keeper.

Whats on at Foxton

Whats on at Foxton

Folk in the Museum

 first Sunday of every month  from 7.30pm – , Free event – take part or just enjoy.

FESTIVAL OF

LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND ARCHAEOLOGY

Part of THE CBA FESTIVAL OF BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY

Saturday 12^th – Sunday 27^th July 2014

for more information follow this link

The Festival of British Archaeology is one of the biggest archaeological events in the world – and Leicestershire and Rutland have more events than any other area of Britain!

Discover the rich heritage of Leicestershire and Rutland during this fortnight with a fascinating range of events, talks and guided tours from some of the county's archaeological experts.

HIDDEN FOXTON

Tuesday 15^th July: 2pm – 4pm, Saturday 19^th  July: 2pm – 4pm  

Foxton Canal Museum, Middle Lock, Gumley Road, Foxton, LE1 7RA.

Enjoy a site and museum tour with our expert Mike Beech to celebrate the bicentenary of the canal. Discussing what is hidden under the ground and how it has been investigated to bring the site alive.

Suitable for people of all ages, these will be small parties and all questions can be answered. Not suitable for those with mobility problems. 

FREE  0116 279 2657

lots more events under this banner 

GU Grand Opening

August 9^th – 10^th   

GU Grand Opening – a parade of boats along the canal with events along the way. Particularly at Crick where the festivities will start on the 8^th. Details to follow.  

Other events are in the planning stage for the rest of the year.

Highly Commended -Leicester Heritage Awards

Foxton wins  Highly Commended  in the Working with children category for its  work with partners,  http://www.wow4water.com/  and folk group Box a Holicks. the full story can be found at http://www.goleicestershire.com/see-and-do/leicestershire-heritage-forum-awards2012.aspx the competition was of a very high standard this year, in fact it gets better every year. we were very happy to be beaten by Ashby de la Zouch Museum - Kids' History Club, it is an excellent inshative. 

At Foxton WoW volunteers prepare the ground and take children round the site, undertaking various activities including visiting a working boat, wildlife, and how the locks work.  In the museum The Folk group perform 3 songs to help children remember the canals history and then the children look at the museum, it works very well and will get better every year.

Acredited Museum

We have just heard that Foxton Canal museum is now officially an accredited museum with the Arts Council.   http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/supporting-museums/accreditation-scheme/ The accreditation scheme ensures that museums work to high standards and can be relied upon to take care of artefacts archives and information are cared for and properly documented. Foxton is a volunteer run museum, but it complies to the latest museum standards in the same way that national museums operate.

We are very pleased to have past  this test and proud of the achievements of our volunteers and staff.  particularly pleased that the arts council accreditation committee told us that they were very impressed by the high standard of our application.

Foxton Inclined Plane Trust, the owner of the Museum is keen to keep the standards high, and the museum is a big help in informing the public about the boat lift which the trust wish to see restored, and it is vital to research the lifts history.

Torch Comes to Foxton

The torch arrived held high by  Robert Gomez

On the July the second the Olympic Torch came to Foxton, it  was wet, a wild and windy day but we still had a large number of people who came to see it, from as far away as Derby. The torch arrived held high by  Robert Gomez who ran to the upper  middle lock of the 10 lock flight and boarded historic narrowboat Swift where the torches 'kissed' and David Willson took over. the crowd who had waited for as long as two hours to see it in the terrible weather all cheered and waved as the boat descended until only the flame could be seen. David ducked to get under the bridge as the boat sailed across the passing pond and into the next lock where it was met by Tony Hales the Chairman of The newly formed Canal And River Trust. The ownership of the canals had changed at midnight from British Waterways, to the new charity C&RT. the torch then moved on by land to go to Foxton village and then to Leicester. 

David Willson ducks under the bridge as they leave the lock

Tony Hales the Chairman of The newly formed Canal And River Trust greets  Robert Gomez and the Torch


For More info go to www.fipt.org.uk

This is a first for Foxton that all of those present will never forget. the large amount of security men and policemen took a back seat as volunteers from C&RT and Foxton Inclined Plane Trust helped with the cheerful crowds.