Locals step in at Christmas after Whitchurch canal collapse

Just three days before Christmas, the unthinkable happened to several families living on narrowboats in Shropshire.

In the early hours of Monday morning, a section of the Llangollen Canal collapsed, leaving a giant hole and gallons of water running into a nearby field.

As the earth gave way, it took two boats down with it and left one hanging over the hole’s edge. Nobody was on board the vessels at the time.

However, at a time when people were left with little more than the clothes on their backs, days before a time of celebration for many, local people stepped up to help – including Linda Edwards from Cheshire Cat Narrowboat Holidays.

“We had a call probably about four o’clock on the day that the breach happened, asking if we could house people – so we had to drop everything and go and get boats ready to receive them,” she told the BBC.

“[We had to] put bedding on, make sure the heating was on, make sure everything was ready to welcome them… and we had the boats ready for half past six.”

The company’s fleet is based at the Overwater Marina in Audlem, Cheshire, and they now have two families on their boats.

“The two couples that we’ve got on board, it’s their home, and they did have to leave in a hurry – they’ve just left with what they stood up in,” she said.

“[They are] a bit traumatised but coming to terms with it, and beginning to look forward.”

Water was lost from about 1 mile (1.6km) of the canal between Whitchurch and Grindley Brook, according to the Canal and River Trust.

On Wednesday, Shropshire Council said water had begun to be pumped back into the canal into newly-dammed sections, with some stranded boats beginning to re-float.

A boat that was left hanging over the edge of the large hole was pulled to safety on Tuesday night.

“The boats are available until Easter basically, because it is our closed season, and hopefully by then something will have been sorted for them,” said Ms Edwards.

“For the time being, it’s not a problem for us to have them on the boats up until Easter.”

The company’s boats have central heating, flush toilets, and hot and cold running water, as well as hobs, grills, ovens and fridges.

“Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters’ immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach,” said Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal and River Trust, on Tuesday.

“This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored.”

He said the trust would be providing regular updates and assurance to the local community and boating community in the coming weeks.

“Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they’re expensive and complicated to fix,” he said.

The trust previously told the BBC that repairs could take months.

David Ray from Norbury Wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal near Newport has also offered to help anyone who needs somewhere to stay in the aftermath.

“These aren’t just boats, they’re homes to many people, and it’s a way of life for many people,” he said.

His company has a fleet of nine hire boats, with six available.

“I felt that we could just offer those empty boats to the people that need accommodation especially over the Christmas period,” he said.

“We’ve had an amazing response from the general public, just thanking us for our support to these boaters that have lost their homes.

“The canal system… is more of a family.”

A fundraiser set up to help the families whose boats went into the hole surpassed its original target of £16,000, before heading towards £50,000 within days of it being set up.

“So sorry to see your hardship, especially at this time of year. We are thinking of you and hope you are able to get back to normality as soon as possible,” one comment said.

Another added: “I hope this helps to improve your Christmas just a little.”

The collapse also meant that boaters moored further up the stretch of canal were stranded too.

“On this particular canal there isn’t another route, if you’re on the wrong side of it, you’re stuck,” Ms Edwards explained.

Many had to abandon their Christmas plans, like Phil Johnson, who is originally from East Yorkshire.

He was offered a place to stay in Whitchurch by friends, and will have somewhere to spend Christmas Day, instead of going “home” like planned.

“I don’t want to leave it,” he said of his boat, which was one of the vessels left listing because of the drop in water levels.

“Basically all my personal belongings are on that boat – everything that I own is on that boat.”