Celebrity memories

UK canals more popular than ever

“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.”
Kevin Spacey, actor

The waterways are one of the brightest jewels in the crown of our heritage

“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.”
David Suchet OBE, actor

A unique way to enjoy our countryside

"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."
John Craven OBE, presenter

Little pieces of paradise

“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.”
Dan Cruickshank, architectural historian and television presenter

Spectacular diversity and extraordinary value

“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.”
Paul Atterbury, historian, author and expert on BBC 1’s Antiques Roadshow

See Britain from a different viewpoint

"For thirty years now, my wife and I have been exploring Britain's fascinating inland waterways - seeing the country from a different viewpoint, at a gentle 4 mph, enjoying the wild-life, the canalside community, and the pubs. The work being done in restoration and maintenance of this unique network is of immense value in terms of leisure, tourism and employment."
Timothy West, actor

Last updated: 23/10/2008