Archives.
In 1977 Neil Rumbol, who had recently “discovered” the remains of the Wilts & Berks Canal, called a meeting, via a letter to Waterways World, of persons who were interested in preserving the remains of the canal. From this meeting the Wilts and Berks Canal Amenity Group (W&BCAG) was formed. At that time the Group’s aims were simply to try to record and preserve what remained of the canal, and to develop isolated parts of it as amenities for the local population. In this they were successful and several stretches of canal were cleared and rewatered.
By 1987, when it was apparent that there was great public support for canal restoration, the aim of the Group changed to one of full restoration of the canal using as much of the original line and infrastructure as possible. Although it was realised that there would be a need for diversions around the urban sprawl that had occurred since the canal was officially abandoned in 1914 there were no insurmountable problems (not even passing under the M4 motorway). Fortunately the rural nature of the canal meant that the majority of the canal was still visible and that a substantial amount was still in water. For another ten years the Group pressed ahead restoring more sections of the canal as well as rebuilding some locks and bridges.
The (first) Wilts & Berks Canal Trust (W&BCT) was formed in 1997. W&BCAG was a founder member of the Trust together with North Wilts District Council, West Wilts District Council, Swindon Borough Council, Vale of the White Horse District Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Wiltshire County Council. Since the reorganisation of the county boundaries carried out in 1974 the W&B canal no longer passes through Berkshire! One of the first actions of the Trust was to commission a feasibility study, the results of which were made public in March 1998. The positive results of this study has led to a Strategic Study being commissioned which has since been published and is now being implemented.
It was soon realised that the structure of the Trust made it impossible to compete for some of the available funds and grants that were available for canal restoration. During 2001 the existing Trust was wound up and re-emerged as the Wilts & Berks Canal Partnership based on existing successful partnerships such as the Kennet and Avon Canal Partnership. The new Wilts & Berks Canal Partnership attracted many new members and will enable the restoration to proceed.
At the 2001 Annual General Meeting of the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group members voted to adopt the now available name of Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, this being thought to be more in line with the current aims of the Group. It was stressed at the meeting that this would only be a change of name and that the aims and structure of the new Trust remained exactly the same as the Amenity Group.
In 2002 David Fletcher CBE (Commander of the order of the British Empire ), the retiring chief executive of British Waterways, accepted the offer to become President of the Trust.
The Trusts archives are managed by Doug Small who is always pleased to accept new material. In addition, we have electronic material in the following areas: