IWA Rally Milton Keynes 1985

I rarely discover collectible waterways books on eBay, probably because the ones that I wish to own are now more rare. That is probably why leaflets and brochures related to boating sometimes catch my eye. The other day I saw a souvenir brochure from the 1985 IWA National Rally for sale. The rally was held during the August Bank Holiday on the Grand Union close to the centre of Milton Keynes.

IWA National Rally Brochure 1985 Milton Keynes

Location of the photograph is Waterside, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes

Living close to Milton Keynes, and remembering that we visited the rally, I couldn't resist purchasing it. In those days we weren't boat owners but we were interested in canals; living close to the Grand Union we had visited Stoke Bruerne a few times. I must admit I cannot remember much about our visit to the Rally, but I did remember the approximate location of the site and viewing the boats moored up. We were certainly not intending to buy either a holiday or a boat, they were both well out of our league, but we did have a good day out.

The National Rally at Milton Keynes was held at a time when the New City was expanding rapidly and Blisworth Tunnnel had just been reopened after it rebuilding. There are many references in the brochure to the relining of the tunnel. It was therefore a time of modest optimism. The brochure includes an interesting section reflecting on the famous/infamous first IWA Rally at Market Harborough in 1950 where divisions in the newly-formed IWA came to the fore.

Lord Lucan and John Knill judging the best decorated working boat at Market Harborough in 1950

Commercial input into the 1985 rally was significant. The trade show directory featured eighteen boat builders including well known names such as Peter Nicholls, Calcutt, Colecraft and Springer. Of particular interest to me is the advert from K E Jones Steam Cruising. Keith displayed his steam boat Firefly and around nine years later he was responsible for the installation of the Ruston engine in Albert.

South Midland Water Transport, were based locally, obviously brought their wooden working boat Hesperus to the rally. It was formerly owned by Lord Lucan (father of the infamous holder of the title), who took her to the 1950 rally (above). For many years we saw her around our local waters - slowly deteriorating.

The site of the 1985 rally is also interesting. It is just north of Bridge 82 and near Campbell Park. This is close to the designated connection to the proposed Bedford to Milton Keynes Link and just north of the new marina that is being constructed close to the city centre. The maps below are from the rally brochure and from Google where I outline in red the location. Today the rally site is mostly occupied by the Gulliver's Land attraction.

Rally Site Location as shown in the brochure (1985) and Google Streetview (2019)

The "Events Bowl" shown on the right of the brochure site plan is still a noticeable feature - you can see it well on Google Street View. The circular area near Willen Lake hosted a Barron Knights concert on the Saturday evening. We didn't attend, so I can't report on how well attended it was, but it was a modest venue. This is unlike the National Bowl in Milton Keynes where earlier in the year U2 performed in front of 50,000 and they were supported by REM, Billy Bragg and The Ramones (what a line-up!).

Whilst discussing numbers, the attendance at the rally was nearly 30,000 people with 514 boats present.

I leave you with this thought; next year it will be 70 years since the first rally at Market Harborough and the 35 years since the Milton Keynes Rally. I think the changes in such boat gatherings in the last thirty-five years have probably been greater that in the first.