Life Continues At 40

24 October 2008

On 25 October 1968, a single piece of government legislation transformed the UK’s ailing waterways from an all but abandoned Georgian transport network, into a booming tourism success story now enjoyed by more than 1.5 million people every week.

To mark the 40th anniversary of one of the most important moments in the 200 year history of the UK’s canals, British Waterways (BW) is calling on visitors, old and new, to help celebrate the vibrancy of today’s 2,200 mile waterway network by contributing their holiday memories to a giant virtual scrapbook.

By the 1960s, commercial boat traffic on Britain’s canals had all but collapsed. However, encouraged by waterway enthusiasts and campaigning groups, Harold Wilson’s government recognised for the first time the important role that the waterways had to play in tourism and leisure. The implementation of the 1968 Transport Act, secured the future of this valuable asset for future generations.

Now forty years on, Britain’s love of messing about in boats has led to significant positive effects:

More visitors discovering their local waterway
• Last year, 252 million visits were made to BW’s canals and rivers.
• 95% of visitors to the waterways say they enjoyed their experience.

Healthy local economies
• Every year, visitors to the canals and rivers spend almost £1 billion in local communities.

More active communities
• 62% of canal users say they’re more active as a result of living near a waterway.

More canals and rivers to enjoy
• Since 1968, the canal network has expanded by more than 20 per cent meaning there are even more waterways for visitors to explore.

Boats a boon for even more Brits
• Three times more boats now use the waterways for leisure than in 1968.
• Last year, holiday makers spent 800,000 nights aboard hire boats.
• 4 out of 5 people who took a boating holiday say they would do so again.

Robin Evans, British Waterways’ chief executive says, “Our unswerving love of messing about on the waterways has ensured that the UK’s network of 2,200 miles of canals and rivers remains open to all in 2008.

“Looking at the waterways today, it is perhaps easy to forget that in 1968 many were in near terminal decline. We still have a lot of work to do, but where the waterways were once only loved by just a small handful of enthusiasts; they are now valued and enjoyed by an enormous number of walkers, cyclists, boaters, anglers and visitors from all walks of life.

“Over the past 40 years, the waterways – offering respite from our busy urban centres and unique perspectives on our beautiful countryside - have provided millions of people with wonderful holiday and family memories. We’re calling on people to share their photos, drawings and nostalgic jottings of memorable day trips, holidays and visits to help us capture these moments in a giant waterway scrapbook that will be available for others to see. Photos and memories should be sent to 40yearsofmemories@waterscape.com.”

To take a look at the scrapbook visit www.waterscape.com/40years. Following a vote later in the year, an exhibition of the winning memories will be displayed at The Waterways Trust’s National Waterways Museums.

ENDS

For more press information, interviews and images, please contact Victoria Shooter on 020 7985 7276 / 07796 610427 or at Victoria.shooter@britishwaterways.co.uk

Media materials available:
o B-Roll footage of retro hire boats, holiday makers and day trippers
o Supportive written quotes from well-known waterways fans including actors Kevin Spacey and David Suchet, presenter John Craven, historian Dan Cruickshank and Antiques Roadshow expert Paul Atterbury
o Photos of 1968 holiday makers on Britain’s waterways

Notes to Editors:

40th Anniversary Scrapbook: Written submissions to the 40th anniversary scrapbook should be approximately 100 words in length. Photographs, drawings and other mementos should be scanned and emailed in jpeg format with a short caption explaining what they show or what memory they encapsulate. All submissions should include the senders name, date of memory and waterway location of memory.

• Kevin Spacey, actor: “I recently enjoyed a relaxing trip along the Kennet & Avon canal and it was hard to imagine how bustling the canal network would have been in its industrial heyday. It's great that the UK’s canals are more popular than ever.”

• David Suchet OBE, actor: “The very fact that Birmingham contains more canal miles than Venice is well known, but perhaps not so well known is the fact that the British Isles also contains more canals per square mile than any other European country. A narrowboat on the water enabled me to travel throughout England whilst performing at various repertory theatres at the very start of my career. Since then, I have enjoyed this treasured water facility not only for boating, but for fishing, photography, bird-watching, walking and for simply just gazing and relaxing.

“The fact that so many of our disused waterways are being restored is so encouraging, but the fact that for this special asset less and less money becomes available is very sad. The waterways are one of the brightest jewels in the crown of our heritage and my sincere hope is that they will shine brightly for many, many generations to come.”

• John Craven OBE, presenter: "When those pioneering engineers and their workforce were building Britain's network of canals, they could never have dreamt that more than 200 years later it would be used not for trade but for leisure - by millions of people. The Transport Act of 1968 breathed new life into what was a decaying network which had long outlived its purpose of conveying goods. Now our canals are largely a conduit for pleasure, providing a unique way to enjoy our countryside - and I'm sure they will be around for another 200 years at least."

• Dan Cruickshank, architectural historian and television presenter: “Britain’s waterways remain the nations great - and often little appreciated - secret. Canals, in particular, form a beautiful and historic highway through our countryside and cities – inspiring memories of an earlier and more beneficial industrial age when beauty and utility combined in magical manner to create a wonderful functional style of building and a robust landscape - a world of iron, granite, brick and water working together to create a wondrous world.

“Our urban canals, offering unexpected rural delights in the heart of the city - places of distant prospects, tranquillity and nature - are among the nations greatest and often least appreciated resources. All who work to maintain and secure a future for this great gift from the past are to be congratulated. All we - the public - need to do is enjoy and help safeguard these little pieces of paradise that are so often only a stone’s throw from our door step.”

• Paul Atterbury, historian, author and expert on BBC 1’s Antiques Roadshow: “Canals have been a part of my life since the mid 1960s, well before the passing of the Transport Act in October 1968. Early explorations, usually by car or on foot, revealed a network that seemed to be in terminal decay, despite the valiant efforts by campaigners.

“The achievement of the Act, which was bold and against the thinking of that era, was to give the waterway network a future, by acknowledging for the first time the huge potential it offered for leisure and recreation. In the late 1960s, my enthusiasm turned into something more permanent and professional when I began to work on the new series of Nicholson guides. These took me to every corner of the network and brought home in no uncertain terms its spectacular diversity and extraordinary value.

“Since then, I have enjoyed waterways, fought for waterways by writing about them and celebrated, sometimes with disbelief, restoration projects that had hitherto seemed impossible. Forty years ago the Transport Act gave us something wonderful and we have all been the beneficiaries ever since.”

British Waterways cares for a 2,000-mile network of canals and navigable rivers throughout Britain, working to provide a sustainable future for the inland waterways and generate maximum benefit and enjoyment to all from this unique environmental and leisure resource. We work with a broad range of public, private and voluntary sector partners to unlock the potential of the inland waterways and generate income for reinvestment in the waterways for the benefit of the millions who visit and care for the waterways every year.

Waterscape.com is the comprehensive, easy to use online guide to all Britain’s inland waterways, giving visitors access to the complete waterside experience. Visit www.waterscape.com for a full range of services including:
• Booking waterside cottages, a range of hotel breaks and canal boat holidays
• Recommendations on walking, cycling, jogging and angling beside the water
• Best waterside bars, pubs and restaurants
• Waterway maps and guides with information on visitor attractions, local history and wildlife
• News and events guides and listings

The Waterways Trust is a national charity working to promote greater public enjoyment of the UK’s waterways by raising funds for waterway restoration, conservation, recreation and education. The nationally important Designated inland waterway collection in our three museums at Gloucester, Ellesmere Port and Stoke Bruerne, together with the Waterways Archive, brings the history of the waterways alive for everyone.