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New Year Honours for waterway personalities

1st Jan 2004

Well-known waterway personalities have been rewarded for their contributions to British life in 2004's New Year Honours.

No fewer than seven people active in the world of rivers, lakes and canals were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the list - including one of the team behind Waterscape.com.

Timothy Appleton, manager of the Rutland Water Nature Reserve, receives an MBE for services to wildlife and nature conservation. Tim, who has been at the reserve since Britain's largest reservoir was created in the 1970s, is a key figure behind the successful project to introduce ospreys to Rutland Water.

John Cooper, lately chairman of the Chichester Canal Society (now the Chichester Canal Trust), receives his MBE for services to restoration of the Chichester Canal. The Society has now restored most of the historic ship canal, and hundreds of people every year enjoy boat trips and other activities from the city basin.

Peter Deeks, manager and principal officer of the Woolwich Free Ferry, gets an MBE for services to transport in London. The ferry, which has run since 1889, carries cars and lorries across the tidal Thames between Woolwich and North Woolwich.

Fred Dibnah, TV presenter, receives an MBE for services to heritage and broadcasting. Fred is President of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society, and declared the Rochdale Canal open at a packed ceremony in 2002. His TV programmes have done much to popularise industrial archaeology and canal history in particular.

Dr David Hilling, chairman of the Inland Waterways Association's freight group, receives an MBE for services to inland waterways. David is a keen advocate of carrying freight by water and a member of the Government's Waterway Freight Forum Board.

Mary Spence, waterway cartographer, receives an MBE for services to cartographic design. As our mapping and waterway content consultant, Mary was one of the key figures in the launch of Waterscape.com. She also developed the award-winning series of GEOprojects waterway maps, which led to her being named as one of Britain's Top 10 Cartographers by the Independent on Sunday.

David Sumner, lately chairman of the Huddersfield Canal Society, receives an MBE for services to canal restoration. David chaired the society for 22 years, stepping down in June after the canal - once viewed as "the impossible restoration" - had been successfully reopened.

Last updated: 22/10/2008