Safety fears sink Canalival: plug pulled on floating festival
An empty stretch of Regent's Canal that was due to host the Canalival event tomorrow (Saturday). Photograph: George Steptoe.
It was billed by promoters as the “Atilla the Hun of flotillas” and – somewhat ominously – a “caravan of calamity”.
Canalival, a huge canal-based party in which buoyed-up revelers would clown about on dinghies, lilos and other inflatable vessels, was due to set sail tomorrow (Saturday).
But now the floating festival has dramatically run aground at the eleventh hour, leaving punters high and dry.
The festival, publicised via social media, was due to drift down Regent’s Canal from Gainsborough Studios to Broadway Market tomorrow (Saturday) featuring DJs, performers and art boats.
But late last night the loosely organised group behind the party warned of potential safety risks due to unprecedented crowds expected to turn up.
A message on the Canalival’s Facebook page stated: “Without stewards and lifeguards, having thousands of people on boats and on the towpath could create a genuinely dangerous situation.”
And today the Canal and River Trust torpedoed the event, saying it had made clear to promoters its “serious concerns”, adding that the combination of alcohol and a high number of revellers on the waterway was “a recipe for disaster”.
According to the Spacehive crowdfunding website where over £3000 was pledged to stage the event, Canalival was organised by a group called Animal Control which also stages flashmobs.
A spokesman for the festival told the Hackney Citizen “key stakeholders” were no longer endorsing the event but that the “authorities” had been positive about Canalival.
He would not elaborate further, saying: “We can no longer speak to media about this.”
All donations made via Spacehive are expected to be refunded.
The canalival Facebook page said organisers had now disavowed themselves of all responsibility for the event and accepts no liability in relation to it.
Despite the Canalival’s Facebook warnings about “waterborne pathogens” and “concealed sharp objects” many partygoers are understood to be determined to hoist anchor regardless after having splashed out on expensive dinghies.
The cancellation has drawn ridicule on Facebook, with people lamenting the lack of foresight and planning, and bemused as to why the potential risks had not been previously considered.
Alistair Tait wrote on Facebook: “Why have you spent the last three months promoting the hell out of this event (which was almost at capacity last year with almost no promotion) only to pull it at the last minute??? Didn’t you see this problem coming?
“We all did. People have now spent lots of time and money getting ready for this and you have to imagine the vast majority are still going to turn up tomorrow.”
Haggerston resident Max Thurlow, 27, is resolute about making good on his investment.
He said: “I’ve spent £230 on an 8 man rubber dinghy. There’s no way I’m not going to head down anyway. I suspect that the organisers are trying to wash their hands of any responsibility in case anything goes wrong, but it’s a fantastic idea and it’ll be a great day out all the same. I can’t wait”
Rose from Peckham who has spent £45 on an inflatable rubber boat was equally outraged.
She said: “The organisers keep telling everyone not to come on Facebook but this just has the effect of a parent telling a rebellious teen not to do something – it’s made me and my friends want to go even more! I’ll be there with my dinghy. I didn’t pay £45 for nothing!”
The Canal and River Trust said: “While we love people coming and having a good time on our waterways, and host hundreds of events every year, we cannot authorise or support ‘Canalival.’
“We, the police and Hackney Council met with the event promoters this week and explained our very serious concerns about the inadequate planning that has gone in to organising such a high-risk, unsafe and unlicensed event.
“Drinking alcohol while using an inflatable boat is never clever. Having hundreds of people doing this on a canal, without adequate safeguards, is a recipe for disaster.
“The event organisers accepted that they had been unable to put in adequate safeguards for the numbers of people expected to attend and have cancelled the event.”
The Canal and River Trust said it had discussed the event with promoters together with Hackney Council and the police.
Revellers still arrived and made a chaotic scene. Our building was urinated on and trashed. Many revellers pulled themselves up in an unsafe area not meant for pedestrians and now we have to employ a cleaner and involve a building safety inspector to see what damage has been done and if water from the canal is leaking under our building. The police, Hackney council waterways trust knew about this event and so they are liable for not making an attempt in terms of public safety by stopping it from going ahead. This is unacceptable. The organisers have not checked before making the event public. Who can we send our bill to?
Totally shambolic horrendous irresponsible. We came across the event while we were walking along the canal. Lots of drunken abusive people and lots of them urinating onto buildings and everywhere! Broken vodka bottles and other alcoholic bottles left around on towpath which was very dangerous. This makes us angry. We love London and this irresponsible people is destroying London for everyone! Organiser should be held responsible!
So nice to see people having fun on our waterways. Events like this is what makes this city. John Nash would be proud, I’m proud and I’m sure Boris loves it. We don’t live on a beach, this is the next best thing. Roll on next year.
A man was throwing bottles into people’s properties. Was it you Stuart? I see that you had fun.
There are always a few bad eggs. I was just getting home, a passer by. I think in general its a good thing.
Sadly as always the actions of a few (and I mean a small proportion of all the people who took part) will only be spoken about. I went today and it was brilliant. Good natured, friendly and fun. 1000s of people took part. Health and Safety rules are pathetic in the country. People understand the risks. Let them deal with the consequences.
A few bad eggs? The canal and towpath tonight reeks of beer, piss, food, clothes, shoes and deflated dinghies. No revellers was cleaning up. Residents have to deal with the mess while you go home to Peckham or whatever, and claim how much fun it was. Pathetic.
You had your little fun, it is us locals who has to deal with the consequences.
A few bad eggs? The canal and towpath tonight reeks of beer, piss, food, clothes, shoes and deflated dinghies. No revellers was cleaning up. Residents have to deal with the mess while you go home to Peckham or whatever, and claim how much fun it was.
You had your little fun, it is us locals who has to deal with the consequences.
Brilliant fun, I loved it, almost all good natured and just out to have a good time. However I must say after a few drinks (perhaps even without) people dont give a toss about littering/urinating – the majority dropping cans/bottles and just leaving boats in the water. These people’s actions will probably have jeopardised another year of this.
Philippa (first comment), please explain what you mean by people trashing your building and paying to have someone inspect it to see if canal water is leaking under your building!!! Really! I’m sure there is a lot of rubbish around which I hope will be cleaned up but as for any damage, seriously why don’t you try claims direct also, as i am sure you must have at some point injured yourself at work, so you can claim for both at the same time.
I love this canal, its my garden. In four days the canal will be back to normal, we pay for it and I’m happy with that. The important thing here is a new event that makes a lot of people happy.
As ever, the main protagonists were not local residents. All those from Orpington and Peckham, keep your “fun” at home. Allow the residents of dalston and Hagerston t have pride in their community and keep on keeping it the wonderful place it is.
What an awful evening, this area by broadway market trashed, three police cars and a fire engine.
The area now covered in litter and loads of old plastic inflatable boats just left on the canal to be a safety hazard and kill wildlife.
Why did the police let this go ahead? I love summer out door events but this was total hell for residents by the canal at E8/E2 and people just wanting to enjoy the market.
Keep the whole thing up at regents park next year.
People urinating everywhere and throwing rubbish in the canal and the streets. What a disgrace.
Ultimately, when you attract that number of people, you are going to attract a certain number of brainless idiots who think its fine to urinate into peoples gardens, leave rubbish everywhere and damage property. The scenes were pretty disgusting in the end and the atmosphere around the whole area was quite unpleasant. I just hope the council/police put a stop to it ever happening again.
LIke many of the residents along the canal I found the conduct by most of the dinghy revellers appalling. It was a fun spectacle and most of it was good natured but clearly most people didn’t bother to do any cleaning up and simply dropped their cans and bottles when they were finished with them. There were quite literally thousands of cans and broken bottles strewn along the towpath and dumped into the canal. We watched people chasing wildlife, clambering up the sides of the wharf buildings and pissing in people’s doorways. Completely disgraceful. Next time trash your own neigbourhood
I work for the Hackney Citizen and would be keen to hear from anyone who saw examples of antisocial behaviour at this event and is willing to go on the record with their full name and describe what happened for inclusion in a larger article in our print issue (currently going to press).
This morning I was down at the canal, where volunteers are taking part in a heroic clean-up, and took some pictures of the rubbish and discarded dinghies. I also heard vague rumours of broken windows, bottles being thrown and other worrying incidents, but unless I can get quotes from people who witnessed this or confirmation from police I can’t set too much store by it.
Anyone who witnessed anything and wants to tell the paper about it please email me at josh.loeb@hackneycitizen.co.uk with your number so I can get back to you. Thanks
The devastation along the canal is heart-breaking. A few have turned up to clear up, but it’s a safe bet they weren’t the ones who caused the mess.
My friend had people literally using her doorstep as a toilet, there were cans, bottles and abandoned boats strewn everywhere.
I for one will do everything in my power to stop this event ever happening again.
Yes, please feel free to call me a killjoy.
Here’s a video Canalival. Very festive!
I hope that you lot had fun because the carnage that you left in your wake was absolutely shocking. Community gardens wrecked and used and toilets. The towpath and the canal used as a bin. Delicate wildlife habitat destroyed. Druken aggro and an attitude of “I’ll do whatever I bloody well like”. And no one around this morning to clean up except for local residents and Hackney Council. Disgusting.
The organisers should be charged and given a few hundred hours of community service. I’m sorry but cancelling your event at the 11th hour is not an excuse. You promoted this event and so now have a responsibility to deal with the fallout.
Stuar Woolsey
Back to normal? You are the sort of guy who just cant see the consequences of your actions. Where do you think these rubbish will go? The rubbish in the river will continue flowing downstream affecting the wildlife.
Maybe we can organise a piss up at your home where everyone drinks and urinate all over your living room and kitchen. After all it’s all just fun and it will be normal in four days.
The whole of the area was trashed last night, not just the canal area. Broadway Market and its surrounding streets became a war-zone. Bottles, cans, debris strewn across streets, in gardens and even in London Fields primary school. I’ve lost count of the number of people I saw pissing in the streets in the late evening. Swathes of people were roaming around, drinking and shouting into the night. This will be the end of this particular event – it is doomed because it is hugely inappropriate for the area. We residents must never allow it to happen again.
How about it Stuart Woolsey? Will you give us your address so we can come and urinate on your bed. I assure you our pee will dry in four days and more importantly it will make us happy.
Friends visiting were shocked to see Londoners purposely destroying one of the last few public places. Where they come from, they respect their canals and rivers as a public outdoor space everyone, humans and wildlife alike. The organisers and those who decided to turn up and join the ‘party’ should be ashamed of their behaviour. They should not be allowed to call themselves Londoners.
CCTV footages should be examined and everyone caught urinating on private property should be charged with criminal tresspass. Everyone involved, including the organisers and revellers, should be fined and made to do serve community hours and pay the clean up bills.
Local residents need to get organised after this and prevent this irresponsible event from ever taking place again on the canal. The organisers at no stage had permission from the Canal and River Trust to hold the event and did not liaise with the authorities despite being urged to do so. They are now trying to shift the blame onto the police for the event being cancelled and the resultant damage and rubbish that was left. Even if it had not been cancelled, the result would have been the same as they had not budgeted for nor organised adequate facilities. The organisers did not have the courtesy to engage with local residents either. It is awful to hear about the repugnant behaviour last night, including urinating and defecating outside people’s homes, damaging property and terrorising wildlife. Who are Canalival anyway? This isn’t a community organisation or an event that seeks participation and involvement from the community.
WHY is Peckham getting such a bad name on this thread? ‘All those from Orpington and Peckham, keep your “fun” at home.’ Erm, ok. What’s Canalival got to do with Peckham? Are you perhaps feeling a little threatened that we’re the new cool area and Hackney is getting a bit old and tired…? (Did love the canal though. And yes I was drunk off my face on a boat and it was AMAZING.)
Go eat your mung beans in your £500,000 canalside flat and shut up.
WE WILL BE BACK 😉
p.s., FYI, i tidied up, went home at 5pm and didn’t urinate ANYWHERE apart from in the local pub!
Are you a typical Peckhamite? Threatening and name-calling? Hackney is perfectly happy being ‘old and tired’ …and hates being invaded by people who trash our area then leave thinking they have seen a bit of the ‘Old East End’ and think it’s OK to trash it because that is what it’s always been like.
I hate mung beans and I’ve lived in a rented house for 11 years.
I agree that residents need to get organised – unfortunately Hackney Council’s Noise Pollution team have turned a blind eye to the increasing noise issues along the canal and the Canal & River Trust say they are powerless to do anything even though they issue barges with licences. Last night, I witnessed damage to people’s homes, countless people urinating in our communal space, drunken revellers stamping on a family of moorhens, people breaking into a downstairs’ neighbours gardens… not to mention the ear-splitting noise. I’m also very surprised that no-one drowned considering the hundreds of drunken people in the water. There seems to be a very real disregard for the local community from those in any positions in authority.
Damages were done not just to posh canal side flats. I’ve seen idiots urinating on houses sitting far away from the canal, most likely inhabited by local residents who has lived in Hackney way before you classless middle class hipsters arrive to ruin the East End.
What does this have to do with class? An event was shoddily organised, pulled at the last moment, and a lot of people went and got off their faces and acted in a spectacularly antisocial way with no respect for anyone that lives in the area (of whatever class), never mind the natural wildlife of the canal, and left huge amounts of litter and broken bottles after them. Some of them are still going now. The police were there and did nothing. Hackney Council and the Warerways Trust seem powerless to do anything that happens on the canal/barges.
Bill – I didn’t threaten anything.
Would you like to explain to me what a ‘typical’ Peckham person is?
And I tidied up, and left 5pm. I didn’t trash the canal one bit.
You really are a dull individual. Take a chill pill!
Peckhamite:
Threatening: WE WILL BE BACK in full capital letters
Name-calling: a mung bean-eater, and now “a dull individual”
Typical is as typical suggests.
Does ‘take a chill pill’ indicate that you think that a drug will stop the anger of the residents who suffered a day and night and a following day of complete wreckage of one of this area’s most cherished resources?
Seriously people need to calm down this thing happens every year in a certain part of west London .. Urine goes away rubbish gets cleared up its all forgotten within a week … If your local and you chose Hackney do your home work we have parties hard for many many years … It might be getting posh and all that but don’t be fooled we will party hard for many more . big love to local crew who helped clear up x
Some lovely anecdotes from the night: watching a group of drunk adults with 2 toddlers present in a large dinghy while the adults passed round lines of coke. Watching a young woman kick duck’s nests out of the way so she could get to my next-door neighbours garden to take a piss. Getting up at at 5 in the morning to find people still screeching on barges and playing amplified music metres away from flats belonging to my neighbours who include a family with very young kids and a couple in their 80’s. Watching a guy pissing off the side of a barge while sticking his finger up at the residents opposite. Watching the drunk owners of a barge try and turn their boat round in the canal but repeatedly colliding with the house on the canal opposite (because there was nowhere to safely turn as the barges were all triple parked and canal full of dinghies) despite the owner hanging out of the window trying to stop them (I believe this may be Phillipa, the first commenter).
There are areas of the canal that are not residential. Please f**k off and have your ‘fun’ there. Why can’t the police do anything about this?
They are still playing amplified music now at 10.30 on Sun night. It hasn’t stopped all weekend…
It’s nothing to do with the ‘area becoming posh’. I’ve lived here on the canal for 15 years and in this area all my life. I am not posh. Many of my neighbours have been in this block since it was built in the early 90’s. We’re happy and used to a bit of noise and realised when we moved onto the canal that that’s what we were ‘signing up for’. However, recently things have changed. The barges selling alcohol, playing loud amplified music all day and into the night simply have no sense of community or respect for the other people in this area.
As someone else has said, it has nothing to do with class. There is a healthy mix of people from all backgrounds living in this area and it’s always been like that. But anti-social behaviour is anti-social behaviour. And the culprits are not even from this area. The two ‘noise-barges’ are the Floating Book Barge – owned by a middle-class guy from Nottingham and one populated by a large group of Polish self styled ‘anarchists’, who call themselves Pirate Barge and sell from a menu of ‘Coctails’ (sic.) and cider from the off-ie. The clientele they attract are primarily West London trustafarians having a jolly old piss up in East End’s trendy Broadway Market. It’s basically ‘spring break’.
it was a great party! everyone needs to chill out.
Peckhamite, I’m presuming you don’t live here so you’re not qualified to ask local Hackney residents to ‘chill out’. We do live here and have done for years and know and love the area well. There was a lot of good natured partying yesterday and there was a lot of anti-social behaviour which is actually an ongoing issue on the canal near Broadway Market for the last few months. This is the Hackney Citizen. Surely as citizens of Hackney we are more qualified than you to comment on this?! We are allowed to voice our concerns in our local media.
This whole canal debacle seems to be a watershed moment (no pun intended). sanachie82 is so right in his comments. Witness the noisy drunken mess of Dalston nowadays on weekends (with police watchtowers on the street – Welcome to Hackney?). Witness the impossibility of a peaceful stroll down Broadway Market on any day for a quiet sociable drink without being bombarded by screaming and shouting and weaving in between groups of ‘revellers’. Witness late night venues being set up at the ends of residential roads, encouraged by liberally given late night drinking licences.
I sense a sort of uprising of the quiet majority, who, in recent years, have put up with the crap that was shown this weekend. Having lived in south Hackney since 1994 I have seen a definite change in the character of the area for the worse – starting about four years ago. We tolerate a lot, we accept a lot, we love the vibrancy and the social mixing. We moved here because of all this. We became the community and we mixed well with those already here. We knew that we would not be living in a sleepy suburb. This was all fine with us. But what happened this weekend pissed off so many people that there seems to be a realisation that there are limits. The question now seems to be how these limits will be respected.
Time to put pressure on the council, the police, the residents’ associations. Time for a quiet revolution of residential involvement – and we all need to to complain more. We are all getting pissed off at being ignored.
…and we need to make sure that our local councillors also know about the crap we witnessed this weekend – they are paid to represent the concerns in our area, after all.
Someone here compared this event to Notting Hill which is inappropriate comparison mainly because the Carnival is sanctioned as has stewarts and sponsors who has safety measures in place, as well as a clean up policy. Instead here we have revellers purposely damaging private property, destroying wildlife habitat and treating the river as one giant bin. Would you like if we head to Bellenden Road to trash it? We love Hackney and we are sick of day trippers coming here and destroying our home.
There WOULD have been stewards and cleaning up, until the organisers cancelled it due to lack of funds.
We’ll make sure to raise enough money next time. I can’t wait! Maybe you can join me on a boat, Bill? Might help shake off some of those cobwebs.
Don’t worry, I’m sure next year Canalival will be back WITH stewards 😉 Then we can ALL get drunk and silly, without all this moaning after.
p.s. if Bellenden Road had a canal, I’d welcome a festival, and I’d clean up too (AS I DID AT CANALIVAL)! unfortunately we don’t have a canal.
over in south London, we do, however, have to deal with hoards of east Londoners descending to Franks and Bussey Building each weekend – and Rye Lane is always a tip afterwards. but we button our lips, it gets cleaned up, and we stop whinging. maybe it’s a ‘Hackney thing’ to whine so?
It was a great day! Sorry about the mess, but it is unfortunately collateral damage which will be cleaned up very soon.
And i wouldnt get too many big ideas Bill, we will be back next year and it will probably be bigger, and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. You need to learn to tolerate things such as this, or maybe get involved yourself, you might even have a bit of fun!
BillE8,We tried to involve our councillors regarding the festival in shoreditch park held last year.We havent seen them since.Our compaints then are the same as yours now,noise,anti social behaviour etc.The council promised that because of the damage done to the parks grass and our complaints no more such festivals would be held.Surprise, the council have already accepted more money from someone to hold another one.Dont forget that the council say that hackney is a borough with youth in mind.The park was out of use for 10 days last year so we atre waiting to see what happens this time.
This was an absolutely stupid idea from someone with no knowledge of the canals. I really hope this is never allowed to happen again.
1. The canal contains rats urine. Expose cuts or broken skin to canal water and you have a risk of Leptospirosis, a flu-like virus that can turn into Weils disease and is a killer. Most boaters, kayakers and rowers know this and take precautions, I expect the revellers did not. I really truly hope that no one suffers this because of this stupid ‘party’.
2. Ok. you cleaned the bankside – but what about the actual canal? It is probably still full of cr*p. What about when all that rubbish gets wrapped around boat propellers or eaten by wildlife? The only way to clean the canal properly is to drain it.
3. Dinghies and fleshy occupants and propellers don’t mix, a few people a year get killed by being hit by a propeller.
More stupid comments by people like Jim who just do not understand the consequences of their actions. Your party has left a long term effect on the canal. Yes you had your fun, but the canal is now polluted with even more of your human crap which will affect the wildlife. I guess you are the type of person who believes in if you can’t see it, then there is no problem. People like you make me sick.
So you had your fun, why don’t you help clean up? Start by diving down into the canal and removing all the filth you threw in Jim.
And Peckhamite. Did you clean up, did you really? Because the canal is still a huge mess this morning. Grabbing one bottle doesn’t equal a clean up. The only way to make sure the canal is truly clean from your fun party would be to drain it. And I know Bellenden Road doesn’t have a canal, which is why a party there would be easier to clean up than a canal.
Hackney Resident.
When I passed the party it was in the afternoon I didn’t get to see the worst of it, judging by these posts. Yes I worry about the shit you cant see. Please dont piss on my bed, I live on Kingsland Rd and my building is pissed on all year round so I have more than my share already. I don’t have a solution but the council and the C&RT will have to get busy because these things tend to grow.
Peckhamite
So knowing that there would be no stewarts and no organisers to help with the clean up, you still came and purposely made mess, and are still encouraging people to come and make a mess.
My, your parents would have been so proud of you.
The revellers have no idea and knowledge of the canal. I live on a boat, and know how dangerous it is to come close to a propeller. It can kill you. Also people in dinghies are not aware that we cannot stop suddenly just like a car. My boat is 15 tons of steel, and when it moves forward, it takes time to stop it. The canal water contain water borne pathogens, and is dangerous to bathe in. The rubbish left and the general disregard shown for wildlife, locals and bothers who live on and love the canal is staggering. One young woman stepped in a duck’s nest to get into someones garden and urinate. this whole spectacle gives boaters and canal users a bad name, and should never be allowed again! oh, it was in fact not allowed this time either. well. next time it should be stopped!
stop lying, no waterfowl died. Even it they had it still would of been worth it because it was a cracking party
I fear jim’s comment about “a cracking party” will come back and haunt him for a very long time. This is public access blog I believe?
Half of the problem with this event was not the fact it happened, it was the fact that all support was pulled from the event.
for all the people complaining of rubbish, if the support wasn’t pulled this wouldn’t of been much of a problem.
it’s these type of events that make london great, whil i understand you can be annoyed at the few, a lot of us were actively helping to do our bit at the end.
As for the canal being a state, i went down the next day and pretty much all the rubbish was gone. while it may of been the wrong people that removed the rubbish, it’s still mainly gone and by today it looks like it never happened mostly. people will ahve fun and there will be a few irresponsible, but i for one had one of my best days in london at it.
The issue Andrew, is that London is not some massive playground for you to run around. It’s home to millions of people who should exercise some respect and consideration when sharing public space. What exactly was respectful about Saturday?
The reason the mess was made is not the lack of police/authorities (do you always need the police to be present to behave yourself?) but the fact that the people who attended have no respect for anyone or anything.
How would you feel if you woke up one Saturday and the poster above who lives on a canal boat was sitting in a paddling pool in your soiled garden off their faces on ketamine, playing some atrocious electro music? Not too please, I imagine!
I wonder how much of the £3,500 raised went towards the clean up or the business along that stretch of the canal who rely on takings from sunny Saturday afternoons? None, it was all refunded.
I get the impression that the organisers and attendees are not too familiar with facing the consequences of their actions.