Alan's artful way to help bring canals heritage back to life
A series of posters depicting evocative scenes from Shropshire's canals heritage has been produced to raise cash towards an appeal which aims to bring back to life a historic canal wharf just north of Telford.
The scheme to restore Wappenshall Junction for use as a visitor centre and community hub is a stepping stone to a much more ambitious vision by Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust, which plans to restore a 25-mile waterway across the heart of the county.
The revived canal would run from the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal at Norbury Junction to the Buttermarket in Shrewsbury, passing through Newport, over the famous iron aqueduct at Longdon-on-Tern, and by the Flax Mill at Ditherington on the way.
The trust has now reached an important stage in what back in 2000 was a dream of a few canal boat enthusiasts. It is now moving forward with a £1.5 million community project which it says will bring the prospect of jobs and tourist income to the county.
It has secured a £1 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant for its Wappenshall Junction plans. Preliminary site investigation, survey and design work has already been completed and the trust has set up an appeal to raise the balance of the funding required to complete the project during 2015. Pledges from members and supporters have so far brought in £100,000 of the £500,000 target.
As part of the fundraising effort, Claverley civil engineer Alan Reade, a canal enthusiast, has used his painting talents to produce the posters, which are being sold to help raise cash.
There are seven designs depicting different Shrewsbury and Newport Canal scenes. Prints of the posters are available in various sizes from £8 each, plus postage if sent by post, from Smith York Fine Arts Publishers in the Fusion Building at the Jackfield Tile Museum, Ironbridge TF8 7AP, or telephone 01952 883461. At least £5 from the sale of each print will be donated to the appeal.
"There has been a tremendous response to the appeal and I have received donations from as far afield as New Zealand from supporters of our efforts to bring these iconic buildings back into productive use for the local community" said Bernie Jones, trust chairman.
"And I am particularly delighted that Alan, an enthusiastic life-member of the trust, has gifted his wonderful watercolour painting skills to produce a set of posters which bring the canals back to life."
Alan has long been interested in canals and as a teenager took photographs while riding his bike along Midlands' canal tow-paths in the 1950s when commercial narrowboats plied up and down the waterways, with families apparently happily living in the cramped cabins on pairs of working boats.
He surveyed the derelict Hadley Park locks on the Shrewsbury Canal for the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1979 with seven-year-old son Tom, and one of his photos shows Tom inspecting the overgrown lock at Wheat Leasowes. Tom now works on road maintenance and traffic management projects from the Highways Agency's Telford depot.
The trust says benefits of restoring the canal include creating a safe "green corridor" for communities to use for walking, cycling, fishing, wildlife watching, and painting, as well as celebrating an important part of Shropshire's heritage which played a major part in the Industrial Revolution in Shropshire.
