On Saturday 18 July, a flotilla of over thirty waterways’ vessels will navigate around Goole Docks, emulating what happened two hundred years earlier in 1826 at the opening of the Knottingley to Goole canal and the port and town of Goole. There will be a variety of craft in the flotilla – narrow boats, Dutch barges, cruisers, tugs, launches, commercial barges and RIBs – and we expect much waving of flags and sounding of horns to mark this historic occasion.

The public will be able to watch the flotilla from a number of locations around the docks and we hope that together we will create a memorable event which may never be seen again for another hundred years, if ever.

The Yorkshire Waterways Heritage Society (YWHS) collects and publishes historic photographs of what took place in Goole’s canal and docks when the waterways industry was thriving. Today there is only a fraction of the traffic that once plied up and down the canal but our docks, managed by ABP, remain a very important part of Yorkshire’s economy. We believe that the flotilla event will one day be regarded as an important piece of the history of Goole and we need your help to record in photographs and video what you saw happening on 17 – 18 July 2026. Our objective is to collect and publish online as much material as possible so that in the future, anyone will be able to look back at a vast collection of photographs and recordings to see who was there, what they saw and what they heard. Imagine in fifty years’ time showing your grandchildren a reel with you and your mates waving and cheering as the flotilla goes by in Goole docks.

Prizes

To make this challenge even more interesting we are going to award prizes for the very best entries submitted to YWHS. We have received donations from individuals and businesses who want to encourage Goole’s young folk to take an interest in the history of Goole, a very special town with a very special history. Your competition entries will provide the evidence of that which we will share with the world.

Our judges will have the unenviable task of picking the best entries and the very, very best entry will receive the top prize of £250 of Amazon vouchers. There will also be a number of further prizes for second and third places also in Amazon vouchers.

Tips

Your entries should have been taken on the 17 or 18 July 2026, so we will hope to see your photographs taken while the preparations for the flotilla are taking place as well as from the day of the flotilla event.

We would rather not see heavily edited material.