Edinburgh Union Canal Society
The Edinburgh Union Canal Society is a
The society was founded in 1985 and is a founder member of the Scottish Inland Waterways Association.
In partnership with the Forth Canoe Club, the Linlithgow Union Canal Society, the Bridge 19-40 Canal Society, the Seagull Trust and other canal societies on the Scottish Lowland Canals, Edinburgh Canal Society campaigned for many years to have the Union Canal rebuilt, refurbished and re-opened.
The culmination of the campaign was the joining of the Union Canal and the
Boats and boathouse
The society owns a wooden historical launch with
A replica launch was built to meet the demand for more boat trips in both directions of the Union Canal, but this has been disposed of. The society also owns a fleet of wooden rowing boats for hire or charter.
The society's boathouse is one of a large range of iconic buildings and structures on the Scottish Lowland Canals. It was sited originally where the University Rowing Club's boathouse is at present. In 1987 the boathouse was dismantled and rebuilt in modified form at its present site, and it is constantly being refurbished, to the delight of amateur and professional photographers.
In 2008, the Boathouse and one of the rowing boats were a filming location for a creative documentary, commissioned in Ireland and named An Paísti Beo Bocht, about the life of Patrick MacGill, the Irish journalist, author and poet, nicknamed "The Navvy Poet" due to his earlier occupation as navvy on the canals.
In 2009, members of the Society and others were involved in the setting up of the first Edinburgh Canal Festival between
In July 2015 the Society had to cease hiring out rowing boats when its boathouse was declared unsafe, pending major repairs.
Journeys and rallies
- 17 May 2001 Kelvin's first trip beneath Forth Bridge from Port Edgar
- 24 May 2001 Port Edgar to Forth & Clyde Canal
- 25 May 2001 CarronSea Lock to Lock 15
- 26 May 2001 Camelon to Auchinstarry Basin
- 27 May 2001 Auchinstarry to Temple (Lock 27)
- 28 May 2001 Temple to Bowling Basin
- 25 August 2001 Wester Hailes to Leamington Bridge; Formal Opening of Wester Hailes section of Union Canal
- 20 May 2002 Harrison Park to Falkirk Wheel for Official Opening by HM The Queen on 20 May 2002.
- 2 October 2002 Wester Hailes Gala Day
- 28 March Formal opening of Speir's Wharf
- 1 and 2 April 2003 Glasgow to Falkirk Wheel to Linlithgow
- 17 to 23 April 2003 Leamington Bridge via Falkirk Wheel, Glasgow (Speir's Wharf), Bowling Basin, River Clyde, Carron Sea Lock, to Port Edgar via Inverkeithing.
- 23 May and 13 August 2003 Harrison Park to FalkirkTop Lock
- 25 Sept. 2003 World Canals Conference, Wester Hailes
- 23 March 2004 Falkirk Wheel Lower Basin to Carron Sea Lock
- 4–6 April 2004 to Carron Sea Lock
- 16 April 2004 Falkirk to Ratho, Edinburgh
- 1 May 2004 Kelvin TWO launched at MacLean's Yard, Renfrew
- 18 to 30 May 2004 .
- 28–30 May 2004 Trent & Mersey Canal
- 15 June 2004 Ratho
- 9 Aug 2004 Kelvin 1 and Kelvin 2 at Winchburgh
- 22 March 2005 Edinburgh QuayOfficial Opening
- 22 May 2006 Falkirk Top Lock to Harrison Park
- Start of regular Sunday Shuttles from ECS Edinburgh Quayand return
References
"Adrift in Caledonia", by Nick Thorpe; publ. Little, Brown,