lookingback Stratford Blitz The Stratford Canal is part of the Canal & River Trust’s network. But 40 years ago WRG was helping the National Trust keep it open on limited resources. Canal created the popular Avon Ring – makRecollections of ‘The Stratford Blitz’ and afterwards ing the Stratford Canal even more popular.
With this increase in use there were continuing problems in the day to day running of the canal. These were largely because of the difficulty for the NT with its limited resources in committing sufficient funding for the level of maintenance it really needed despite the best efforts of the small permanent staff; the fact that the restoration had (of necessity, in that era) been done on a shoestring budget; a very persistent water supply problem; and leakages, particularly on the Wilmcote Flight of locks. The Blitz is launched: The decision was made to involve WRG in bringing in additional volunteer labour to help try to go some way to eliminate these problems. In 1975 articles started to appear in Navvies referring to the condition of the canal and WRG’s intended plans. This then became known as ‘The Stratford Blitz’ and would be a joint effort running all through the winter season from early November 1975 to the end of March 1976 with WRG, The National Trust, many other canal societies and Maurice Frost who was the organiser for
Chris Griffiths
The background: During the 1940s and 1950s the southern section of the Stratfordupon-Avon Canal had slowly become unnavigable, although legally it should still have been maintained as fit for purpose. In 1958 Warwickshire County Council had applied for a ‘Legal Abandonment’. They wanted to demolish a bridge over the canal and rebuild it but with insufficient headroom for boats to pass underneath. Around May 1959, because of the Councils application a campaign was started to try to stop this application from succeeding. After many long and detailed discussions with the British Transport Commission (and crucially the production of a ticket showing that a campaign cruise by canoe had used the canal) it was agreed that from September 1960 the canal would be taken over, restored and run by The National Trust. During the ensuing years the canal was restored and put back into use under the leadership of David Hutchings. Many different methods were used to accomplish this, including the use of prisoners from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham. The canal was eventually reopened by the Queen Mother in July 1964. The problem: The canal soon became very popular with boaters because they could now travel from the Northern Stratford, down the newly opened Southern Stratford and then out onto the River Avon. Ten years after the Stratford opened, the Upper Avon was also reopened (also masterminded by Hutchings) through from Evesham to Stratford, which together with the River Severn Building and Worcester & Birmingham
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a new open channel bywash at Wilmcote
