40 years of Waterway Recovery

THE Waterway Recovery Group is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2010. It is a time to reflect on what has been achieved, and in these uncertain times, an opportune time to look forward and perhaps imagine what might be achieved in the next 40 years…

The WRG’s origins of course go back much further; canal restoration did not suddenly start in 1970 and some of the people still involved now were already up to their knees in such projects in the 1960s.

The WRG is now part of the Inland Waterways Association – the national campaigning body for British canals – formed in 1946, at a time when Britain's waterways were perceived as derelict, dirty ditches. An ever-decreasing number of working boats struggled in dreadful conditions to maintain the carrying trade – and anyone who navigated canals for pleasure was considered quite eccentric.

It was Tom Rolt, the centenary of whose birth is also being celebrated this year, who, together with Robert Aickman, founded the IWA in 1946. Robert had read Tom’s book Narrow Boat, published in 1944, which had generated tremendous interest in the country's much neglected canal network; and wrote a letter to him suggesting the formation of a society to campaign for a new waterways world.

After the formation of the IWA, quickly followed of course by nationalisation of the canals, attitudes started to change, but certainly not overnight. It took many, many years of campaigning to convince government, local authorities and the public that canals had any sort of future; “fill 'em in” was the usual response.

Today, waterways are seen as a valuable part of Britain's landscape. They are appreciated for their industrial heritage, for their contribution to urban landscapes and for their atmosphere of peace in a busy world. Their leisure value is accepted and there is increasing interest in the potential of some waterways for the development of water-borne freight carrying.

But by the 1940s, most of the trade had gone, hundreds of miles of canal had fallen into ruin and the future for the rest looked bleak. Fortunately though, people were beginning to realise the value of the canals for leisure – boating, fishing and walking for example – and for their historic interest as a transport system that had hardly changed in 100 years. Soon, the closures came to an end as the canals found themselves a new purpose.

But this was too late for the canals that had already closed down. Their locks and bridges were collapsing, their channels had run dry and they were threatened with obliteration by new housing and road-building. There were canals ignored or sometimes deliberately sabotaged by various authorities who had been entrusted with their care, lingering on in a sort of twilight existence, mouldering gently, carrying only a small percentage of the traffic they carried in their great days, largely unimproved since the 1830s.

But in the 1940s and 50s, just as the canals looked set to become a part of history, a few visionaries realised that they had a future – for pleasure boating – and quite soon the boom got under way. Not only that, but all over the country, canal societies were formed to stop the decay and bring the old canals back into use.

Formed in 1970, Waterway Recovery Group has been a co-ordinating force for these various societies, helping local canal restoration schemes, providing equipment, expertise, publicity and labour and considerable knowledge of restoration methods; and a large pool of plant and equipment has been amassed.

The concept of voluntary work on the inland waterways, which was born in the early 1960s, has grown steadily. From the early days when a mere handful of volunteers worked on projects such as the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals near Manchester, the River Avon in Worcestershire and the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in Warwickshire, the position has changed out of all recognition.

Hundreds of miles of canal have been saved from dereliction and are enjoyed by thousands of people. And hundreds more miles are gradually being brought back to life, thanks to over 50 voluntary groups spread all over the country, with a combined workforce of thousands.

From the Forth & Clyde Canal in Scotland to the Chichester Canal in the South, the Bude Canal in Cornwall to the Stowmarket Navigation in Suffolk, voluntary working parties are run by local canal societies, branches of the Inland Waterways Association and regional WRG Groups. Some work regularly on a project in their area; some work as a mobile task force, travelling long distances to boost local efforts where their help is most needed.

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