FREE boat trips along the canals are being offered when Droitwich Canals Trust holds an open day on the restored lock flight at Hanbury Wharf.

Visitors will be able to learn about the work of the trust and the canals restoration project from 11am until 4pm on Sunday.

The Canals Trust, which was formed in 1973, has undertaken to make the town's locks available for navigation at least once a year, until the whole length of the Droitwich canals are restored.

If funding is confirmed, this full restoration should be completed by 2009.

Margaret Rowley, chairman of Droitwich Canals Trust, said: "We hope that people will take advantage of the opportunity to take a trip in one of the boats we will be running and find out more about the canal restoration project.

"The open day was very popular last year, and this year, we also have the trip boat Pamela May available, which can take people in wheelchairs down the locks.

"The Hanbury locks are of particular historic interest as they exhibit the operation of a sophisticated water conservation system that was developed towards the end of the canal age.

The restoration has retained the locks' historic features, providing replica fittings where the originals have been lost."

Hanbury Wharf is at the meeting of the Droitwich Junction canal with the Worcester & Birmingham canal, on the B4090 Hanbury Road out of Droitwich, near the Eagle and Sun public house and opposite Droitwich Boat Centre.