MORE than 200 Skipton schoolchildren joined the Mayor, Cllr Martin Emmerson, to welcome a flotilla of boats to the town's canal basin to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Leeds-Liverpool waterway.

Skies were a leaden grey and there was more than a hint of drizzle in the air as the 'short boat ' Kennet lead a dozen gaily decorated vessels into Skipton on Monday morning.

But the weather couldn't curb the enthusiasm of the pupils - from Ings, Christ Church and Water Street primary schools - who cheered wildly as the boats, which had left Leeds on Saturday at the start of their 127-mile sedate procession to Liverpool, made their way into the basin under Belmont Bridge.

And the children were joined by around 200 canal enthusiasts, including founder and president of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society Mike Clarke, who had come to see the celebration, organised by the Canal and River Trust to mark the bicentenary of the first ceremonial sailing of the entire length of the navigation in 1816.

That first sailing took five days, but the current flotilla is making its stately progress over nine to give as many people as possible along the route to the chance to see it during the hours of daylight. Individual vessels are sailing with the Kennet, a former working boat, for a time along the route and being replaced by others as the journey progresses.

Canal and River Trust waterway manager Chantelle Seaborn said: "It's great that so many people have come along to join the celebrations, and it's especially great that there are so many schoolchildren here and that they are enjoying the day so much. We have had a fantastic welcome everywhere we have been along the route so far.

"It's important that our young people understand the industrial origins of the canal. Nowadays the Leeds and Liverpool is much-loved for the leisure opportunities it provides, but our children need to know that it wasn't always like this. The canal was in at the birth of the industrial revolution and is a very important part of our heritage.

"It's great to see how much pride there is in the waterway and how many people want to be a part of what is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration."

The waterway was originally conceived as a way for Bradford merchants to reach the rapidly expanding port of Liverpool. Work began in 1770 but was halted several times when the money run out, and it was finally completed a full 46 years later. Though the canal played a very important part in the burgeoning industrial revolution, and many thousands of tons of freight were transported along it, by the middle of the 19th century it had largely been superseded as a transport highway by the railways.