Real canal stories from around 1960 & before

Book - Narrow Boat Ref: 401
by L.T.C. Rolt.

First published in 1944 and now re-issued with a new section of black and white plates, this book has become a classic on the subject, and may be said to have started a revival of interest in the English waterways.

It was in 1939 that L.T.C. Rolt first stepped aboard Cressy, and this book tells the engaging story of how he and his wife adapted and fitted out the boat as a home and recreates the journey of some 400 miles that they made along the waterways of the Midlands.

Hard back, 212 pages, 6½" x 9½".

Normal retail price £16.99
Price: £12.75

Book - Amateur Boatwomen Ref: 412
by Eily Gayford.

Eily Gayford started boating during the Second World War, and went on to become the only trainer of the wartime all-women crews to write her memoirs. First published in 1973, this is the first paperback edition and it contains extra text and illustrations.

Soft back, 160 pages, 5½" x 8¼" approx, 44 illustrations.

Currently out of print, sorry.
Price: £7.35

Book - Idle Women Ref: 480
by Susan Woolfitt.

This book describes in unadorned detail the life of a 'trainee' working on canal boats during the Second World War.

Softback. 224 pages. 5¼" x 8¼" approx. 18 black and white photographs.

Sorry, currently out of print.
Price: £7.75

Book - Maidens' Trip Ref: 419
by Emma Smith.

She describes her experiences of the war-time scheme under which women were recuited 'off the land' to crew canal boats. Only a teenager at the time, she captures how it felt to be young and working on the boats, sometimes with more enthusiasm than efficiency.

Soft back, 208 pages, 5¼" x 8¼" approx.

Sorry, currently out of print, but will be re-printed.
Price: £6.80

Book - Troubled Waters Ref: 410
by Margaret Cornish.

First published over 40 years after the war, it provides a balanced account of the war-time canal scheme, tackling aspects which no-one else raised. Predictably, those who volunteered were by no means run-of-the-mill; faint hearts were unlikely to apply, and certainly could not stick the privation and physical demands of the job.

Soft back, 208 pages, 5½" x 8¼" approx, 17 photos.
Price: £7.75

Book - Hold On A Minute Ref: 474
by Tim Wilkinson.

Re-published in the 'Working Waterways' series by M & M Baldwin, this book tells how the author and his wife hired a pair of boats from the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive in 1948, and spent a memorable year carrying cargoes on England's canals.

Soft back. 192 pages. 5¼" x 8¼" approx. 16 b/w photographs.
Price: £7.75

Book - Anderton For Orders Ref: 413
by Tom Foxon.

This book describes the exciting and colourful life of a teenager who gave up office work in 1950 to crew a canal boat. His fascination with every aspect of life on the canals makes this a wonderfully evocative book, full of authentic detail about narrow-boat carrying.

Soft back, 168 pages, 5½" x 8¼" approx, 10 illustrations.
Price: £7.75

Book - Windlass in my Belt Ref: 619
by John Thorpe.

An autobiographical and evocative tale of a young boy's journey into manhood set against the background of the Midland canal system in the 1950s and '60s

It tells of his acceptance into the canal community and gives a vivid account of life on, and journeys in, a working boat.

Soft back. 290 pages. 6" x 9¾" approx.
Price: £14.50

Book - Bread Upon The Waters Ref: 411
by David Blagrove.

This book covers the late 1950s and early 60s. David Blagrove, after crewing a passenger boat on the Kennet, was employed by Willow Wren, carrying timber, hardboard, coal and cocoa residue. He was afloat when the great freeze of 1962/3 stopped the boats and virtually wiped out long-distance narrow boat traffic.. This book records in great detail life on the cut 35 years ago, and is a classic account of what the work was actually like.

Soft back, 224 pages, 5½" x 8¼" approx, 21 photos.
Price: £7.75

Book - Quiet Waters By Ref: 414
by David Blagrove.

This book describes the colourful experiences of a young man who worked as a Thames lock-keeper, while also running a narrow-boat carrying company. His recollections of the Thames Conservancy, Salters' Steamers, and taking the Skinners to the re-opening of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal vividly recapture the waterway scene in the early 1960s.

Soft back, 248 pages, 5½" x 8¼" approx, 19 photos.
Price: £7.75

Book - Breeze For A Bargeman Ref: 1687
by Bob Roberts.

Bob Roberts gives a vivid picture of the trials and tribulations of carrying cargo under sail in Thames sailing barges. He was also part owner of the last vessel to fish out of Ramsgate under sail, which was then sailed to Rio de Janeiro.

Bob returned to England to the life of a bargeman trading under sail. He was to become Britain's last commercial sailing skipper.

Paperback. 176 pages. 5¼" x 8½" approx. Illustrated with black & white photos.
Price: £9.95