Top attractions at National Waterways Museum's Easter Historic Boat Gathering

The festival

The four-day festival will take place over the bank holiday weekend (18-21 April) and offers visitors the opportunity to get up close to fascinating old working boats as well as modern narrowboats and enjoy a fantastic range of waterway-themed activities and music.

On Good Friday, Ellesmere Port Mayor, Councillor Paul Donovan, will be at the museum from 12 noon onwards to greet the arrival of the traditional Easter boat convoy, cruising from Chester to Ellesmere Port along the Shropshire Union Canal, featuring over 40 historic boats, including Saturn pulled by the nine-year-old horse, Flower.

Simon O’Brien, award-winning TV presenter and former Brookside actor, will be the celebrity auctioneer at a special auction of privately donated canal artefacts, organised by the Shropshire Union Fly-boat Restoration Society at 2pm on Easter Sunday to raise money for Saturn and the museum’s rare Clyde puffer boat, Basuto. The Trust will also be launching an emergency crowdfunder appeal to help towards the vital conservation of Basuto, aiming to raise a minimum of £10,000 towards saving a boat which is on the National Historic Ships Fleet Register, of similar importance to the Cutty Sark and HMS Victory.

Over the four-day festival, the National Waterways Museum site, located at the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal, will host a wide range of special attractions, from craft workshops and children’s activities to lock demonstrations and steam engines working in the Power Hall.

On Easter Saturday, entertainment will feature the drumming band Conundrum, Mockbeggar Morris Dancers and the Charwallah band, who will also delight visitors on Sunday and Monday.  Public boat trips aboard the Diana Margaret and accessible boat Over the Rainbow, will be run by volunteers from the Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust throughout the weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, there is a chance to learn more about canal artefacts not normally on display when the collections team opens the doors to the museum storerooms in the Island Warehouse. And there will be a spotlight on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, with access to a special exhibition and archivist on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11am-3pm.

A fantastic celebration

Chris Done, our visitor services manager, said: “The 2025 Easter Historic Boat Gathering promises to be a fantastic celebration of our wonderful canal heritage. This year we’re delighted to welcome the Ellesmere Port Mayor Councillor Donovan and TV celebrity Simon O’Brien to our special annual gathering of boat enthusiasts. It’s wonderful that the Mayor has chosen the museum to be one of his chosen charities this year. We’re very grateful for his support.

“The mare Flower, who towed the Saturn Flyboat for the first time last year, was a real hit with the crowds and we are thrilled to welcome her back again to give visitors a rare insight into the lost world of horse-drawn canal boating.

“For families, there is a special children’s trail, activities and a boat-themed playground.

We hope this spectacular waterway festival will be the launch of a fabulous summer season for everyone.”

Over the Easter weekend, the museum will be open 10am – 5pm and every day during the school holidays.

From May to September, visitors can enjoy a range of special events, from Old Time Sailors concert on Friday 16 May to themed Sundays featuring Living History and Victorian Canal Town. The Canal & River Trust would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in volunteering at the museum.

Donations to the crowdfunding project to carry out vital preservation work on the rare Clyde puffer boat Basuto can be made at the Trust’s crowdfunder webpage from Good Friday.