4 minute read
saving susan
Celebrating 75 years of iwa
Paul Rodgers, IWA National Chair
This year, is a very special year for the Inland Waterways Association, marking 75 years of campaigns to save, restore and protect our canals and rivers. It is through the vision and determination of our early volunteers that we have this wonderful network of blue-green spaces to explore and enjoy.
Our Association was formed in 1946 at a time when many waterways were neglected, closed, built over and filled in, and a new waterway revolution was born. Since then, over 500 miles of waterways have been restored to navigation and many more have been saved.
As we look forward to the next 75 years, we are reminded of how easily our heritage can be lost, and the importance of keeping the waterways front of mind for local and national decision makers.
This photographic journey is a celebration of the work of volunteers and campaigners across the country who saved the waterways and helped to make them what they are today. In achieving this great milestone, our members can look back with pride having supported IWA over the past 75 years.
Sourcing images and researching the stories for this project has been a fascinating experience for me. I’ve learned more about the ways in which the Association has helped to save and restore our waterways. Where possible, images have been chosen that haven’t been published before.
I am fortunate to have had my first boating experience on the Staffs & Worcester Canal in 1958 on a holiday with my parents and my love of the waterways grew from there. I went on my first canal working party in 1963 on the Stratford Canal – one of the earliest canals to have restoration work carried out by volunteers. I have also worked with IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group on several restoration projects.
I have seen IWA reach many of these milestones and am proud to have supported our campaigns over the years as a member. So, I was delighted to have been involved with this project to recognise what has been achieved to date. I’d like to thank Neil Edwards, Audrey Smith OBE and Alison Smedley MBE for their help with writing copy, fact-checking, and sourcing images.
Chris Clegg, IWA Volunteer Archivist
© John Gagg
Cyril Smith, President of Worcester & Birmingham Canal Society, speaking at the unveiling ceremony of a plaque to commemorate the occasion in 1982
Robert Aickman
© John Gagg
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1945 - It all began at Tardebigge
It all began at Tardebigge on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in August 1945. After reading Tom Rolt’s book Narrow Boat, Robert Aickman, a London literary agent, wrote to Rolt, and a meeting between them took place on Cressy, Rolt’s boat. During the visit, the seed of an idea to campaign for preserving and improving the country’s waterways was firmly planted. After much correspondence between the two men, an inaugural meeting for a waterways association was arranged for early in 1946.
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1946 - First official meeting
IWA’s first official meeting was held at Robert Aickman’s flat in Gower Street, London, in February 1946. Six people attended, and key roles were assigned to Robert Aickman, Chairman; Charles Hadfield, ViceChairman; Tom Rolt, Hon Secretary; and Frank Eyre, Treasurer. A few particularly at-risk waterways were identified; Robert Aickman took on the Kennet & Avon Canal, and Tom Rolt the Stratford Canal and Warwickshire Avon. Saving these waterways, was a big focus of IWA’s campaigns over the ensuing decades.
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When Robert Aickman planned a fact-finding tour of the northern waterways in the summer of 1948, the route included Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Permission was given to traverse the canal despite it having been officially closed in 1944. It was to be more than 50 years before the canal reopened, and the through trip became possible again. The boat for the trip, Ailsa Craig, had been hired from The Canal Cruising Company at Stone. Similar fact-finding tours became a feature in IWA’s calendar for many subsequent years.
