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'Storm-battered' canals need more volunteers

Mark AnsellYorkshire, Sheffield
News imageMark Ansell / BBC Four volunteers leading a history walk at Victoria Quays surrounded by people with jackets on and hoods up because it's rainingMark Ansell / BBC
Free history walks take place three times a month from Victoria Quays in Sheffield

More volunteers are needed to protect the canal network which has been "battered" by storms and floods, a charity has said.

The Canal & River Trust has about 750 volunteers across the Yorkshire and North East region – but said it wanted more people to come forward in the new year.

The trust said more than one million people in Yorkshire lived within a 10-minute walk of its waterways.

However, it added that many did not realise the locks, bridges, aqueducts and towpaths were looked after by the charity.

Christine Mellor, head of volunteering at Canal & River Trust, said: "While volunteering on the canals is thriving, the task of keeping our navigable 250-year-old network open and alive is mounting.

"Battered by storms and floods and eroded over time, our canals are in great need of support.

"With volunteers' support, donating their time, knowledge, and skills, we are better able to turn the tide and keep our canals available for local communities and for wildlife."

Volunteers at the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal have recently been recognised at the charity's regional awards.

The Volunteer Team of the Year was won by a group who take members of the public on free historic canal walks from Victoria Quays in Sheffield.

News imageMark Ansell / BBC Canal & River Trust Historic volunteer walk leader Kate Faulkes in her narrowboatMark Ansell / BBC
Kate Faulkes combines volunteering with studying a PhD in 19th Century populations of Sheffield

Walk leader Kate Faulkes, who is studying a PhD on the 19th Century populations of Sheffield, said it tied in well with her volunteering.

"The population of Sheffield trebled between 1800 and 1850 and it couldn't have done that without the canal bringing in the food to feed the people, but also to bring in the raw materials for the work that people did as cutlers as toolmakers, as steel makers," she said.

"It literally transformed Sheffield from a small place that made a few knives into an industrial powerhouse for steel and cutlery."

News imageMark Ansell / BBC Naomi Roberts from the Canal & River Trust smiling at the camera on the cobbled towpath next to Sheffield and Tinsley Canal. She has blonde tied-back hair and is wearing glasses and a black waterproof coat and carrying a blue and white umbrella. In the background are two narrowboats moored alongside the path.Mark Ansell / BBC
Naomi Roberts from the Canal & River Trust is full of praise for the volunteers who run the history walks along the Sheffield and Tinsley canal
News imageMark Ansell / BBC Four walk volunteers with blue vests high visibility vests on and several members of the public who've attended the walks at Victoria Quays in Sheffield.Mark Ansell / BBC
The Volunteer Team of the Year was won by the volunteers who take people on the canal walks

Ms Faulkes is so passionate about the canal, she lives on a narrowboat.

She said: "I love turning people's eyes and minds onto the heritage of their city.

"We walk past hundreds and hundreds of old buildings every day and most of us don't give a thought as to what they were for and that's particularly true of the canal.

"It's another way of making people feel proud of Sheffield."

To join a walk from Victoria Quays, you can sign up online.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-walk-historic-canal-walk-tickets-841375917017

You can find out about local volunteering opportunities on The Canal & River Trust website:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteer/welcome-sessions

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