Canal- and Waterway-Related Organisations

Lists only the most important organisations. For the UK, more complete listings are found in the annual Canalmanac publication of Waterways World magazine.

International

• Inland Waterways International
• International Institute of Marine Surveyors
• World Canals Conference - next conference in Rochester, NY, USA on 19-24 September 2010

• Government Agencies - National
• Government Agencies - Local
• Commercial Organizations
• Societies - National
• Societies - Local
• Societies - Specific Types of Boats and Specific Historic Boats
• Societies providing boat holidays for the disabled and youth organisations

• Voies Navigables de France - French waterways' authority - VNF. Site in French and English
• Inland Waterways Association of Ireland
• Royal Canal Amenity Group (Ireland)

• American Canal Society
• Canadian Canal Society/Société des Canaux du Canada
• See also the North American Canals page

• Australian Canal Society

Government - UK - National

• British Waterways (BW) - maintains most of the canal system in the U.K. To report emergencies on their waterways, call 0800 47 999 47. BW also reports stoppage information.
• The Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA)
• Broads Authority
• Environment Agency - in charge of inland rivers, estuaries and harbours in England and Wales
• Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council

Government - UK - Local

• Avon Navigation Trust - "statutory navigational authority for the river avon"
• Basingstoke Canal Authority
• Conservators of the River Cam
• Gloucester Harbour Trustees
• Middle Level Commissioners - "The Middle Level is the central and largest section of the Great Level of the Fens ..."
• Port of London Authority

Commercial - UK

• Anglia Boatbuilders Association - industry group for boat builders of Norfolk & Suffolk

• Association of Boat Safety Examiners

• Association of Pleasure Craft Operators (APCO)

• British Marine Federation

• Canal Boatbuilders Association

• Commercial Boat Operators Association

• Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association

• Yacht Brokers, Designers and Surveyors Association

Societies - UK - National

• The Inland Waterways Association (IWA)
  
  • IWA - Cambridge Branch

  • IWA - Chiltern Branch

  • IWA - North & East London Branch

  • IWA - Ipswich Branch

  • IWA - Milton Keynes Branch

  • IWA - Northampton Branch

  • IWA - Peterborough Branch

  • Official Waterway Recovery Group page

  • Waterway Recovery Group Forestry Team

  • Waterway Recovery Group - Navvies Anonymous

  • Waterway Recovery Group NorthWest

• Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs

• Boating Association - focused on river cruising

• Boaters Christian Fellowship

• Boat Jumble Association

• Canal Card Collectors Circle - "British Canals and Inland Navigations through picture postcards old and new"

• Inland Waterways Protection Society Ltd. - Bugsworth Basin Restoration and Museum Project

• Kent and East Sussex Canal Restoration Group (KESCRG)

• Narrow Boat Trust - charity for restoring and preserving narrowboats

• National Association of Boat Owners (NABO)

• National Community Boats Association - "... encourage and support community boating organisations within the UK ..."

• NWPG (Canal Restoration Group)

• Railway & Canal Historical Society

• Residential Boat Owners Association

• Save Our Waterways

• Scottish Inland Waterways Association - closed down

• Seagull Trust - free canal cruising in Scotland for disabled people and helping revitalise the decaying Lowland Waterways

• Towpath Action Group

• Waterways Liaison Service - helps UK waterway-related organisations to avoid event scheduling conflicts

• Waterways Science Group - interdisciplinary academic organisation, interested in inland-waterway related industrial archaeology & heritage, civil engineering, architecture & planning, ecology, zoology, and environmental science.

Societies - UK - Local

• Airedale Boat Club (on L&L)

• Ashby Canal Trust - "promote the restoration of the Ashby Canal from Snarestone to Moira"

• Ashby Canal Association

• Aylesbury Canal Society

• Barnsley, Dearne and Dove Canals Trust

• Basingstoke Canal Angling Association

• Basingstoke Canal Boating Club

• Basingstoke Canal - see Surrey And Hampshire Canal Society

• Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust - an entirely new waterway!

• Beverley Beck Boating Association

• Birmingham Canal Navigations Society

• Blisworth Canal Partnership - Blisworth Arm & Junction

• Bridge 19-40 Canal Society - covers the Union Canal (Scotland) between Bridges 19 and 40

• Broads Society

• Broxbourne Cruising Club - R. Lee

• Burslem Port Project - restoration of the Burslem Branch Canal (a 3/8 mile arm of the Trent and Mersey Canal in Stoke-on-Trent)

• Byfleet Boat Club - on R. Wey in W. Byfleet, Surrey

• Buckingham Canal Society

• Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust

• Camboaters - "formed ... to represent the rights of residential boaters on the River Cam"

• Cambridge Motor Boat Club

• Friends of the Chelmer Canal Trust

• Cheshire Locks Project - project concerns "increasing use of this famous flight" on the T&M

• Chesterfield Canal Trust

• Cotswolds Canals Partnership

• Cotswold Canals Trust

• Coventry Canal Society

• Friends of the Cromford Canal

• Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society

• Docklands Canal Boat Trust

• Driffield Navigation Amenities Association

• Droitwich Canals Trust

• Dudley Canal Trust

• East Anglian Waterways Association - "campaigning for the preservation, restoration and good management of all inland and tidal waterways in East Anglia"

• Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association

• Forth & Clyde Canal Society

• FOXcan - "Friends of Oxford Canal and Basin"; campaign for restoration of the Oxford Canal Basin

• Foxton Inclined Plane Trust

• River Gipping Trust - "preserving the historic heritage of the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation"

• Specialist Lodges: Masonry on the canal - the Grand Junction Lodge

• Great Ouse Boating Association of England

• Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust

• Hollinwood Canal Society

• Huddersfield Canal Society

• Islwyn Canal Association - preservation and restoration of the Crumlin Arm of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal

• Kennet and Avon Canal Trust

• Lancaster Canal Trust

• Lapal Canal Trust

• Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society

• Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust

• Lincoln Boat Club

• Linlithgow Union Canal Society Scotland

• Longwood Boat Club - on Birmingham Canal Navigations

• Louth Navigation Trust

• Macclesfield Canal Society

• Maidenhead Waterways Restoration Group - restoring the old Thames channel through Maidenhead

• Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society

• Manchester & Stockport Canal Society

• Marple Locks Heritage Society

• Melton & Oakham Waterways Society

• Mersey Motor Boat Club (on Leeds and Liverpool Canal)

• Friends of the Montgomery Canal

• Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canal Trust

• Neath and Tennant Canals Trust (S. Wales)

• Association of Nene River Clubs

• Norbury Cruising Club

• North Cheshire Cruising Club

• Northern Reaches Restoration Group - "Restoring the Lancaster Canal to Kendal"

• North Walsham & Dilham Canal Society - Norfolk

• Old Union Canals Society - (GU, Leicester section); consolidated into Foxton Inclined Plane Trust

• Oundle Cruising Club (Peterborough)

• Peterborough Yacht Club

• Pocklington Canal Amenity Society

• Rammey Marsh Cruising Club

• Retford and Worksop Boat Club - (on Chesterfield Canal)

• Ribble Link Trust

• Rickmansworth Waterways Trust

• Ripon Motor Boat Club - Littlethorpe, North Yorkshire, on Ripon Canal

• River Foss Society - (flows through York)

• Rotherham & Sheffield Canal Association

• Runcorn Locks Restoration Society

• Sale Cruising Club - nr. Manchester

• Saltisford Canal Trust

• Saul Junction Boat Owners Club

• Sankey Canal Restoration Society

• Severn Navigation Restoration Trust

• Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust

• Shropshire Union Canal Society Ltd

• Sleaford Navigation Trust

• Soar Boating Club

• Somersetshire Coal Canal (Society)

• Southampton Canal Society

• Stafford Boat Club

• Stover Canal Society - (Devon)

• Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society

• Stratford and Warwick Waterways Trust - "... towards ... the extension of navigation on the River Avon from Stratford-upon-Avon to beyond Warwick, to join the Grand Union canal". [Would provide a much-needed connection for broad-beam boats.]

• Stratford upon Avon Canal Society

• Strawberry Island Boat Club - on The Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation

• River Stour Trust

• Stourport Yacht Club

• St Pancras Cruising Club - "situated in the heart of London"

• Surrey And Hampshire Canal Society - Basingstoke Canal

• Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust

• Tamworth Cruising Club

• River Thames Society

• Thames Motor Yacht Club

• Middle Thames Motor Yacht Club

• Association of Thames Yacht Clubs

• Thames and Medway Canal Association

• Trent and Mersey Canal Society  Link not working

• Tuesday Night Club - Middlesex

• Watch House Cruising Club (Manchester)

• River Weaver Navigation Society

• Well Creek Trust - in the Middle Levels

• Wendover Arm Trust

• West London Motor Cruising Club

• Wey and Arun Canal Trust

• Weyfarers Rowing Club - R. Wey

• Wheelton Boat Club (on L&L, nr. Chorley, Lancs.)

• Whilton and Buckby Locks Association - promotion and protection of the Whilton and Buckby flight of locks on the Grand Union

• Whitchurch Waterway Trust - restoration of the Whitchurch Arm of the Llangollen Canal

• Wilts and Berks Canal Trust

• Worcester and Birmingham Canal Society

Societies - UK - Specific Types of Boats and Specific Historic Boats

• The Barge Association - "For all those interested in ex-commercial barges or any other type of broad-beam inland waterways craft"

• Beverley Barge Preservation Society

• British Canoe Union

• UK Canoe Club Directory (from the Rapid Runners Canoe Club)

• Daniel Adamson Preservation Society - "Restoring the last surviving British steam tug-tender"

• Dawncraft Owners Club

• D & J Narrowboats Owner's Club

• Duchess Countess Trust - "recreate the famous canal packet-boat 'Duchess Countess' as a full-scale working replica"

• Electric Boat Association

• Freeman Cruiser Fan Club

• Friends of President - "President, the preserved steam narrowboat, is owned by the Black Country Living Museum at Dudley."

• Friends of Raymond - Society has restored the wooden butty "Raymond", and is now working on "Nutfield", the boat that used to tow Raymond

• Historic Narrow Boat Owners Club

• The Horseboating Society - horsedrawn boating

• Steve Hudson Narrowboat Owners Club (Unofficial) - Yahoo group

• Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society

• Irish Canoe Union

• Narrowboat Lucy - "brief history of a famous wooden narrowboat and the plans to preserve her" [not actually a society, but appropriate here near other boat restorations]

• Norfolk Wherry Trust - Society interested in the restoration of the Norfolk wherry "Albion"

• Piper Owners Club - for owners or past-owners of boats built by David or Simon Piper

• Friends of Purton - investigation of the remains of the Purton Hulks, beached in 1909 on the Gloucestershire bank of the R. Severn

• Save the Royal Iris Petition - derelict Mersey ferry

• Sea Otter Owners Club

• Shropshire Union Fly Boat Restoration Society

• Steam Boat Association

• Thames Traditional Boat Society

• Thames Vintage Boat Club

• Thames Sailing Barge Trust

• Viking Owners Club

• Wherry Yacht Charter Charitable Trust - protecting, restoring and sailing three historic wherries (Norfolk Broads)

• Wilderness Boat Owners Club

• Wilson Tyler Narrowboat Owners Club

• Wooden Canal Boat Society