Waterway Recovery Group

The Waterway Recovery Group (WRG), founded in 1970, is the national co-ordinating body for voluntary labour on the inland waterways of the United Kingdom.

The formation of the Waterway Recovery Group was a logical progression from events which had happened over the previous eight years. Mr T. Dodwell had been responsible for organising volunteers who had cleared part of the Basingstoke Canal in order to facilitate a boat rally at Woking, which was held in 1962. With this experience in mind, he suggested that the London and Home Counties Branch of the Inland Waterways Association should set up a Working Party Group, whose members would be available to travel around the country, giving help to local restoration schemes as it was required. The idea was well-received, and working parties on the Kennet and Avon Canal, the Stourbridge Canal and the River Wey were organised and run during the next few months. Just over a year later, the first edition of Navvies Notebook was published. It listed sites where restoration was occurring, so that members could be informed and volunteer as they saw fit.

Navvies Notebook was the idea of Mr G. Palmer, at the time the secretary of the London and Home Counties Branch. Although its primary function was to outline the work programme of his local group, and report on its achievements, he informed IWA members that any restoration work could be included in it. Working parties planned at Brantham Lock on the River Stour, the River Wey and the Kennet and Avon were announced in the first edition, and there was a report on the progress that had been made at the 16 locks on the Stourbridge Canal. The publication enabled a network of working party organisers to develop. By the end of 1967, 350 copies were being produced each time it was printed. Notable successes included a party of 45 who had worked on the Stourbridge Canal for a weekend, and a party to clear a section of the Kennet and Avon Canal in Reading which had been attended by 97 volunteers.

Another major step forwards was taken in 1968, as part of a renovation scheme around the Ashton Canal, which was semi-derelict at the time. The scheme was called "Operation Spring Clean", and Palmer set about mustering support for "Operation Ashton" through Navvies Notebook. The idea was to demonstrate that a large co-ordinated working party could be organised, and that such a party could achieve much more than a small group of professionals could in a similar time. The working party was held on 21 and 22 September 1968, when over 600 volunteers turned up and demonstrated the value of such an exercise. It attracted considerable publicity, which the IWA recognised as being almost as valuable as the actual work done.

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