What would Tom Rolt think?

Leisure on the Waterways: NarrowBoat, Summer 2024

David Cheetham ponders what the celebrated waterways writer and campaigner would make of the contemporary canal and river scene

A young Tom Rolt in a railway carriage. I once heard a story about celebrated canal restorer Sir David Hutchings who, having accomplished what many thought would be an impossible task in returning the southern Stratford Canal to navigation, one day returned to the scene of his accomplishment. While proudly looking out over the water, he noticed a tired pleasure-cruiser pootling along the canal and its helmsman wearing a pirate’s hat and swigging from a can of lager. He was left questioning, out loud, if his efforts had been worth it. While that tale may be apocryphal, it says something about canal restoration in the 20th century. It was very easy to know what you were saving canals from – abandonment, dereliction, obliteration – and not quite so easy to know what you were saving them for. May 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the passing of pioneering canal campaigner and author, Tom Rolt. As something of a fan of his canal-related works, I have often wondered…