The Lapworths

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Summer 2020

My uncle John Saxon has confirmed that one of the photos in the ‘Carrying in ’50s London’ article (NB Spring 2020) shows boats Alton and Cheam, which were operated by my grandfather and grandmother, Henry and Margaret Lapworth. After unloading at one of Dickinson’s paper mills, they would be heading for the main depot at Bulls Bridge, where they would receive further orders to go to Brentford or the docks to load. Margaret can be seen steering the boats into the lock. Margaret was the daughter of Alf and Francis Best, who were featured in the British Transport film, There Go the Boats. In one scene Margaret can be seen in the layby mopping the boat off and calling her dad, Alf Best, out of the butty’s cabin, as he has just been summoned on the tannoy system to go to the office for orders. They can then be seen leaving the layby and heading to Brentford to load. Henry and Margaret had two children when this photo was taken: my mother Gloria and her older …