Appeal for boat to boost town’s new festival plan

Sleaford Festival, or SleaFest (working title) has been proposed by The Hub and ArtsNK who held an open meeting in November to gauge interest when more than 50 people came forward. The provisional date is around the weekend of March 19.

The project is being funded as part of the post-Covid recovery grant awarded by the Government and the EU to North Kesteven District Council to boost visitors and trade within the town centre and as such the money has to be accounted for by the end of March.

The event may feature performances, lights, heritage and arts activities to encourage residents and visitors, while bringing the community together, possibly with pre-event workshops to prepare for the main festival.

Sleaford Navigation Trust, which is working to restore the old canal into Sleaford, wants to be involved and the river featured highly on the list of suitable event locations, with the suggestion of boat trips, canoes and environmental workshops to raise the profile of the river.

Debbie Scott from the Trust said: “We are looking for anyone with a suitable boat that could be brought by trailer and launched from the slipway. “When we opened the lifting bridge at New Street we had a small narrow boat brought by trailer and it would be great to get in contact with anyone with something like that. We could maybe raise the water level to help with the draught of the boat.”

Further meetings and working groups are being planned to develop the ideas. .

If you’d like to be involved contact Debbie at [email protected], or Lucy Lumb, visual arts development coordinator at artsNK, email [email protected]