Birmingham Canal Navigations Society

05/10/2026

On Friday and Sunday BCNS volunteers have been out on our workboat Phoenix, cutting back overgrown trees and fishing out the odd shopping trolley 🛒.
Brades Hall Junction and the narrows at Tividale Stop are now more passable by boats.

On Friday we also towed 1935 butty Malus down to the Black Country Living Museum for a Historic Narrow Boat Club gathering.

Time was called mostly because we'd run out of space on the boat.

Most of the crew Sunday predictably ended up in the pub.

We were glad to welcome a couple of new volunteers and more are always welcome - please message us or email [email protected]

Photos 2 and 3 by Steve Melia

13/09/2026

BCNS work party crew were out yesterday at the Smethwick Coal Chutes. The before and after photos speak for themselves.

The next planned work party is Saturday 10th October to do some pruning and cleaning around Stourbridge in advance of their rally. We also have a number of boat movements and other volunteer activities going on; please message if you're interested.

07/09/2026

On Saturday 19th September we will be operating FREE public boat trips from Smethwick Galton Valley Pumphouse.

Our historic canal boat Malus will also be there and open to visitors, and the museum in the pumphouse is open with some form of art exhibition.

Book your tickets on Eventbrite (separate events because some trips were added later):
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-boat-trips-smethwick-tickets-2000007538386 (xx:30)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-boat-trips-smethwick-tickets-1999706620332 (xx:00)

Our experience is that not all ticket holders show up, so we may have seats available for people turning up on the day.

Thanks to the Canal & River Trust for organizing this event and sponsoring the trips.
https://www.facebook.com/canalrivertrust

More details of the art event are available here
https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-event/galton-valley-pumping-station-open-day-2.html

11/08/2026

Time is flying by and the Society has been planning the social meetings for the 2026/27 season. All our meeting take place at Titford Pumphouse, Engine Street, Oldbury, B69 4NL at 7.30pm on the first Thursday of the month. All are welcome.
Inevitably there are occasions when we have to change a speaker or topic and we'll do our best to notify everyone about this in good time.

3 Sept 26 Richard Perrin. The River runs through me - The River Severn

1 October 26 Keith Hodgins Round Oaks Steel Works

5 November 26 Kev Maslin Chasing the Boats - The Coal Man Cometh

7th Jan 27 Ray Shill Silent Highway

4th Feb 27 Julian Souter Building the Staffs and Worcester Canal

4th March 27 Phil Wild Views from the archives - details to follow

1st April 27 Martin O’Keefe The BCN's railway interchange basins

31/07/2026

First public boat trip leaving the Navigation Inn, Langley around Titford Pools.

Enjoy the lovely weather by water!
Operating Friday 4-7pm and Saturday 2-5pm.
Adults £2, children £1.

26/07/2026

Next Friday and Saturday we are happy to be offering boat trips around the Titford Pools in conjunction with this event at the Navigation Inn in Langley.

Boarding outside the Navvy, tickets on the day at £2, children £1.
Friday 31st July 4pm-7pm
Saturday 1st August 2pm-5pm
Trips on the hour, or half hourly if enough people show up!

We hope to see you there!

25/07/2026

The Stourbridge Open weekend has been a great venue for raising funds for our Society for many years. Our sales do particularly well here and it is always well supported.
It’s also a great event to attend by boat with a wonderful rally camaraderie. Please do support, book your boat in and come along.

04/07/2026

Saturday saw the return of the Birmingham Black Country Half(ish) Marathon, which runs almost entirely along the BCN main lines from Wolverhampton to Old Turn.

As usual the four water stations were provided from boats, including our workboat Phoenix, crewed mostly by BCNS members and friends - also some from Coombeswood Canal Trust and the mid-way base provided by Caggy's Boatyard.

Phoenix's crew at Smethwick passed out more than 1700 cups of water to over 1400 runners, and the other stations will have had similar numbers.

We're glad to support this regular event that encourages so many people onto the BCN towpath. Bookings are already open for next year!

Thank You... To everybody that attended today, our marshals, vendors but most importantly all the participants that raced today and we hope you all got back home safely.



RTC Medical Solutions Ltd
The Malt House
Livewell Health
OTE Sports
Race Rewards
BSS Pix Event Photography
Carvers Building Supplies

22/06/2026

After carrying many happy passengers at Coombeswood Canal Trust's open weekend, our workboat Phoenix has returned to her normal role with a couple of work parties cutting back fallen offside trees on the Dudley No. 2 and Titford Canals.

At this time of year we have to check carefully for nesting birds, and some trees will have to be left until the autumn to avoid disturbing nests.

All our work is done by volunteers and we are always looking for more people to join us!

Photos by Francis Herne (1), Ian Holmes (2-4)

28/05/2026

If you missed out on a boat trip at our gathering last weekend, we’ll be running more boat trips in association with Coombeswood Canal Trust at Hawne Basin, top of Hereward Rise in Halesowen. B62 8AW. There will be 2 boats doing trips so hopefully plenty of room for all. Saturday and Sunday 6th and 7th June.