Talk at the Newark Heritage Barge

Last Saturday it was my pleasure to give a presentation to a meeting of the Friends of Newark Heritage Barge aboard their floating meeting place, the Leicester Trader. The content was derived from research material recently gleaned from the National Waterways Archive at Ellesmere Port.

What excites me about these meetings is that the expertise of those in attendance – many of whom have spent their professional and personal lives on the river – tease out an extra-dimension in the material. On this occasion it was a diary of a voyage of a steam launch across the canal network in the 1890s that nearly attracted as much attention as the fine lunch provided.

As I have been travelling widely around the country this winter, it was impossible to ignore the flooding. The level of water against the Leicester Trader certainly appeared higher than normal as I stood with a few others to be photographed for an article due to appear in the Newark Advertiser.