Fun at last year’s Angel Canal Festival which attracts thousands of visitors

THE fight to save Islington’s beloved boat club will begin this weekend as thousands flock to the Angel Canal Festival.

Born out of a radical campaign to save the City Road Basin, Islington Boat Club (IBC) – which stands closed amid safety surveys – is kickstarting a fundraising push to secure its future this Sunday.

The festival has long been a celebration of Crystal Hale’s successful campaign to save the basin in the late 1960s, when the journalist took on the British Waterways Board, which had earmarked it to become a car park.

Ms Hale then set the boat club up in 1970 and established the Angel Canal Festival five years later. Her vision was to transform the basin from an under-used former industrial site into a children’s adventure paradise.

Fittingly, the campaign to protect Ms Hale’s legacy will begin in earnest at this year’s event, organisers said this week. The club closed abruptly in May after safety inspectors declared the building too dangerous to stay open.

But IBC manager Sarah-Jane Elvin said the organisation has been left with a variety of bills to pay. “We’ve got to continue paying our rent for the lease of the basin [and] wages,” she said.

“Although we’re shut, we’ve still got the standing charges on gas and electric – because we were shut so suddenly we’ve still got all our contracts.”

The club, a valued resource through which generations of Islington children have passed, needs support “to help us get through if we’re not going to open until April”, Ms Elvin said, adding: “It’s a very rough date, but if we don’t open beyond April we will struggle to survive.”

She is confident the club can reach its target of roughly £35,000, adding: “It isn’t that much, in the grand scheme of things. If we get a lot of support and enough range from people and businesses, it’s not so bad.”

The National Lottery Reaching Communities fund allows the club to continue some off-site activities, but the building itself is closed for the foreseeable future.

“From our beginning in 1970, the Islington Boat Club has been devoted to giving the young people of Islington access to nature and water sports,” Ms Elvin said.

In July, Cllr Martin Klute told the Tribune a project to demolish and rebuild the club was one option being considered by the council.

But the Town Hall is also “work­ing very hard” to gather information on alter­natives, Ms Elvin said, adding.“They’ve done all sorts of surveys… we’re hoping that all of that together [will show]: is it saveable as is? Is it only a redevelopment option? As soon as we have this information, we can start actually making some plans.”

Each year the Angel Canal Festival attracts thousands of visitors to the City Road Basin, where people can try their hand at kayaking, canoe­ing and paddle­boarding or browse the stalls.

Anyone interested in helping fundraise for the club can visit IBC’s stall on the day.

IBC’s board is also currently on the hunt for more trustees.

The festival takes place 11am-5pm on Sunday.