Bosco, Alberto, Theo and Finn at last year’s festival

THE organiser of a community canal festival in Angel is appealing to businesses to get in touch if they want a presence at this year’s event.

Sasha Keir, who used to run the Angel Canal Festival until her co-organiser Beryl Windsor died in 2020, took over again this year after the Canal and River Trust (CRT) announced in March it had run out of funds to stage the ever-popular event.

The veteran organiser said there were a number of hitches in retaking the reins this year: one of which is their old website address is no longer working.

Having reached out to local businesses back in the spring through business forum Angel London, which works with 550 business in the area, she said she is concerned none have come back to her, with just a month to go until the big event on September 3.

She said: “Get involved if you want to! Because it was always a fantastic family day out. I’ve organised entertainment, we’ve got Punch and Judy, we’ve got boat trips. We’ve got a regatta going on at Islington Boat Club.”

She added: “We’ve got all of these things, all the things we used to have at the old festival are pretty much in place. But there seems to be a dearth of local businesses wanting to get involved, and there also seems to be a communications gap, which is my fault entirely as to how people might get in contact with me.”

Beryl Windsor

She has asked the Tribune to post her email to make it easier for those interested in running a stall or hosting an activity on the day to get in touch.

The festival, held at City Road Basin, is one of Islington’s largest outdoor family-friendly events and was started in 1986 by the late Crystal Hale.

It commemorates a successful campaign to save the City Road Basin and has helped to sustain the use of the basin by thousands of young people for boating activities. When Ms Hale died in 1996, Ms Keir and Ms Windsor stepped in to ensure the festival’s survival.

This year, she did it again, but without the help of Ms Windsor.

Ms Keir said: “Beryl and I did it for 21 years. Beryl died three years ago and I want this year’s event – which is like a kind of scratch event just to desperately try and keep the continuity going, keep the festival going – I want it to be in memory of Beryl.

“She and I really worked like Trojans every year to get the festival on as unpaid, unremunerated volunteers. I don’t want all of her hard work to disappear down the pan.”

Ms Keir is campaigning to have a plaque dedicated to Ms Windsor’s tireless community work.

Describing the importance of the event for local people, she added: “We need to get together as a community.

“We need to have that ability to sit down no matter what class, ethnicity, background or wealth to all watch the same Punch and Judy show.

“And the more we bring our kids together – which is what the festival does, because it’s very, very much family oriented, with lots of free activities for the kids – the more you bring your kids together, the better for our society in general.”

Organisers are looking at launching the festival as a charity next year.

Email Ms Keir at: sasha.keir@btinternet.com