Canal festival carries on after cyanide spill nearby

About 5,000 took to the towpaths to celebrate Brownhills Canal Festival

About 5,000 people turned out for a festival celebrating canal boat life just days after sodium cyanide spilled into the network a few miles away.

Thousands of litres of the toxic chemical were released into Walsall Canal in error on Monday, leading to the closure of miles of waterway to allow for testing, although a cordon was later reduced to a 0.62-mile (1km) stretch between Darlaston and Walsall.

But it did not interrupt Sunday's Brownhills Canal Festival, an annual event in Walsall borough that takes place on the nearby Wyrley and Essington Canal.

Festival organiser Christine Howles said of the spill: "It's an awful thing to have happened but luckily for us it didn't have any impact."

Ms Howles, from Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, explained that only one historic boat had been unable to make it.

"All of our traders were already en route so they didn't get stuck," she said.

The festival is organised by Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust of which Christine Howles is a member

The Environment Agency confirmed on Friday the majority of previously closed sections of canal had reopened after testing.

But elevated levels of sodium and zinc cyanide between Bentley Mill Way, Darlaston and Rollingmill Street, Walsall, meant the zone would remain restricted until further notice, the EA added.

Helen Tidy was selling a Mirabelle plum jam from fruit picked 10 days previously at Bloxwich

The Brownhills celebration of canal boat heritage and culture began at 10:00 BST, with traders and performers gathering by Silver Street, more than six miles from the affected area.

Alan Buckle from Star Crafts was one of about 50 traders on site, selling items from a coal barge.

"We've got a good bunch of friends that are both private boaters and traders and we all meet up all around the system and trade everywhere we go," he said.

Helen Tidy from The Jam Butty, was selling preserves made from fruit gathered on towpaths.

"The Canal and River Trust have given me permission to forage on their land," she said.

"[It's] picked, prepped, made all very rapidly."

The event, in its fourth year, raises funds for a project to restore miles of disused canal between Walsall and Lichfield.

The annual festival, now in its fourth year, takes place on the Wyrley and Essington Canal at Silver Street