• An MP speaks up: Richard Fuller on the Great Ouse at the Bedford River Festival

It’s always encouraging when the message reaches beyond the campaign’s own supporters — and this weekend it reached an MP by the water’s edge.

A message from the riverbank

Richard Fuller MP shared a short video from beside the Great Ouse, wishing everyone “a fabulous time at the River Festival this weekend” and tagging the Great Ouse Boating Association (GOBA) as part of the Bedford River Festival. In the clip he talks about the upkeep the network relies on — “maintenance of things like sluices, and other aspects” — the very issues campaigners raised with him when the Navigating for Change cruise passed through earlier this month. Seeing a local MP take the funding conversation to the riverbank, in his own words, is exactly the kind of engagement the campaign has been working towards.

The video was posted on his public Facebook page, shared via the wider Fund Britain’s Waterways and GOBA community.

See the video here

Why this matters

Fund Britain’s Waterways is a coalition of organisations speaking up for the hundreds of thousands of people who use and love Britain’s canals and rivers. Sluices, locks and embankments only keep working with sustainable, long-term funding — so when MPs start naming those pressures out loud, it’s a sign the campaign’s patient, face-to-face work is landing where it counts.

Keep the momentum going — please sign the petition and share it with #FundBritainsWaterways.

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