Easter Historic Boat Gathering heralds Golden Anniversary Year at National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port

Organised by us, the popular annual event (3-6 April 2026) will this year welcome around 40 colourful narrowboats and barges from across the country to the Cheshire museum, which is home to the nation’s largest collection of historic boats.

Gifford, a former horse-drawn tar boat, will be one of the stars of the show as it celebrates its own 100th birthday with a fresh coat of paint by expert canal boat artist Phil Speight, who was awarded an MBE in 2024 for services to heritage crafts. 

One of the highlights of the weekend will be a chance to pick up expert tips and techniques from Phil at ‘Roses and Castles’ canal art painting demonstrations on Easter Saturday and Sunday.

The Easter Gathering

The Easter Gathering weekend starts at 11am on Good Friday, with the arrival of a spectacular historic boat flotilla along the Shropshire Union Canal. Visitors can then enjoy four days of fun boat trips, horse boating, harnessing and lock demonstrations, live music, craft workshops, stalls and family activities.

Later in the year, special events will include a fabulous, quirky Steampunk Weekend (18 & 19 April), special Golden Anniversary celebrations (12-14 June), a Vintage Vehicle Weekend (27 & 28 June) and World Chocolate Day (Sunday 5 July), as well as costumed characters bringing the old docks to life on several Canal Town Sundays through July and August.

On offer will be new exhibitions, a family-friendly trail and tours of the museum, which has been used as a location for TV blockbusters such as ‘Peaky Blinders’ and the new Netflix ‘House of Guinness’ series.

The anniversary is also being marked by several restoration projects, including a Historic England-funded renovation of the site’s Grade II Listed Pumphouse, which houses an impressive Victorian steam engine that once powered dock machinery for nearly a century. 

Preservation work will also be taking place on two important National Historic Fleet registered boats – Gifford and ‘Basuto’, the oldest surviving Forth and Clyde puffer boat (named due to the puffing sound of her steam engine).

Preserving our history

Our North West director, Jon Horsfall, said: “The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port plays an important role in preserving some of our nation’s key historic boats and explaining the important story of how our canals made a vital contribution to Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

“We owe an immense debt of gratitude to those early volunteers in the 1970s, whose inspired determination to preserve the past resulted in the restoration of some of the wonderful port buildings and canal features we enjoy today. 

“Now in 2026, volunteers still make a valuable contribution to the running of the seven-acre site, working alongside our staff to welcome more than 20,000 visitors a year. During our special anniversary it would be great to see even more people enjoying a fantastic visit to our superb waterside museum.”

Launching the museum

The idea for a new waterways museum was first floated in September 1970 at a meeting of passionate canal enthusiasts. The ‘North Western Museum of Inland Navigation’ society was launched a year later. Volunteer work parties began to restore the site at the junction of the Shropshire Union Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal/River Mersey, and in June 1976, the new ‘Boat Museum’ was officially opened to the public by canal campaigner and author, Sonia Rolt.

Since then, the museum has hosted over a million visitors and highlights have included a visit by HM Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1979, and a ‘Museum of the Year’ award from the Council of Europe in 1984.

In 1999, The Waterways Trust, a charitable arm of British Waterways, was invited to step in to manage the museum, linking it with similar museums at Gloucester Docks and Stoke Bruerne to become a new ‘National Waterways Museum’. In 2012 we took over responsibility for the museum, along with 2,000 miles of inland waterways in England and Wales.

Remarkably still volunteering half a century on are Hoylake couple Mike and Cath Turpin, who regularly devote two or three days a week to the museum.

Being part of something special

Former teacher, Cath said: “I’ve been proud to be part of something very special that continues to have relevance. Our early tasks included securing the decaying buildings against vandalism and looking after the increasing number of boats being acquired by the museum. We also got involved in fundraising. It was the industrial heritage that drew us in. This museum tells the stories of working boats and people that so often go unmentioned.

“I am still involved in the hands-on work and Mike volunteers with the collections and archive team, and on boat and lock demonstration activities. I volunteer in the archive and engage with visitors providing boat commentaries, talks and guided tours. There’s always something to do!”

We would be delighted to hear from anyone wishing to support us by donating or joining the enthusiastic volunteering team at the museum.

Museum History and Key Dates