Canal society pushes the boat out on 40th

HUNDREDS of supporters have gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Huddersfield Canal Society.

Some who attended the inaugural meeting on April 19, 1974, returned for the anniversary celebrations at Marsden Mechanics Hall.

Chairman Alan Stopher said: “The aim of the event was to look back and look forward. The society has reinvented itself since the canal reopened, and aims to be around for many years to come promoting the Huddersfield canals, pushing for improvements and ensuring that the canal is well maintained.”

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is 20 miles long and runs from Ashton to Huddersfield, connecting the Ashton and Manchester Canal in the west to the Huddersfield Broad in the east.

The canal opened on April 4, 1811 and features Standedge Tunnel - the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in Britain.

After years of neglect the canal was formally reopened by the Prince of Wales in September 2001.

Since the canal’s re-opening, the society has continued to work to ensure the viability of the Huddersfield Broad and Narrow canals as navigable waterways.

It runs the Marsden Shuttle linking Marsden Railway Station with the Standedge Visitor Centre at weekends during the summer and a recent initiative has been to establish a team of observers to log conditions along the entire length of the canals and feed back their observations to the Canal & River Trust, which has superceded British Waterways.