Exhibition Preparations Are Almost Complete!

Swansea Canal Society volunteers have been very busy this week with preparations for the canal’s 225th anniversary exhibition at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. They, and museum staff, have been assembling and setting out the displays and exhibits ready for the exhibition to open in SA1 from 1st April.

Display panels with the end-to-end story of the waterway have been mounted on mobile pods, and a map showing the entire length of the original canal route now sits on a low plinth in centre of the main hall. Banners have been hung from the upstairs balustrade and a lovely silhouette of a horse and his master now grace the colonnade window. Video screens and interactive audio panels will add another dimension to the printed material.

A full scale replica of the front end of a Swansea boat has been created and now sits, along with a full-length 21 metre silhouette of the rest of the vessel, down the centre of the colonnade. Other exhibits are almost complete and these will be added to the display as soon as they are available.

These photos show just some of the work we’ve been carrying out, from arranging the display pods in the Weston Hall, sewing hessian sacks to hold sample cargoes, loading up the boat prow with coal, and much more.

Come along to the museum before the end of September and learn about the origins and life of the Swansea canal, its later decline, the work that’s been done to preserve and regenerate what’s left, and the exciting new developments now underway to enhance the canal experience for the future.

Keep checking our ‘225 in 2023’ web pages for more updates.