Canal Boat – July 2018

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat July 2018 3

WELCOME

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Tony

Brooks

What he doesn’t

know about

canal boats

just isn’t worth

knowing

Terry

Robertson

TR Training’s man

really knows how

to handle a boat

Martin

Ludgate

Our Deputy Ed

is a guru on all

things to do with

canals

Victoria

Holtam

A working mum

of two and keen

home cook with

a passion for

seasonal food

Andy

Summers

Our Canal Boat

designer has 30

years’ experience

in publishing

design

Phil

Speight

The country’s

leading canal

painter and an

expert on paint

processes as well

Christopher

McGine

A journalist for 35

years, he fell in love

with the waterways

after living near the

Canal du Midi

Meet the Canal Boat team

C

ongratulations to the Cotswold

Canals Trust whose commitment

and determination have paid off,

landing a fantastic £10m funding

package from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Working in partnership with Stroud

District Council, the trust’s ambitious £23m

restoration project will see boats from the

national network returning to a ten-mile

stretch of the Stroudwater Navigation and

Thames & Severn Canal.

Almost six miles of the canals have

already been restored and given the aims

of the Lottery Fund, there cannot be a

more appropriate destination for heritage

spending. Admittedly the cash is not in

the bag yet as this is the first stage of the

approval process. But there is £842,000 of

funding available and the full £10m has

been earmarked for the transformation.

And while the engineering challenges

ahead are immense – a four-mile stretch

including the M5 motorway, a busy A road

and a railway line – and then in the longer

term, a collapsed two-mile tunnel and

several missing lengths of waterway on the

other 26 miles – there’s no doubt that the

driving force behind the Cotswold Canal

Trust will succeed.

Waterways north of the border are not

enjoying the same spirit of renaissance,

sadly, amid fears over the future of the

Union and Forth & Clyde (which less than

20 years ago were the subject of an equally-

visionary restoration) with a £70m backlog

of repair and maintenance. Such a decline

can only damage local economies and the

canal restoration cause if not stopped.

July 2018

Canal Boat