Wednesday 4 February 2026

10:00

Masonic Hall

British Canals and Their History

Speaker: Dr Dick Paden

The talk will be a short history of “canal mania” and what remains of it. A story of boom, bust and renaissance!

Dick’s background is that he has been holidaying for more than 25 years on the English canals and for much of that time has been (and still is) the part owner of a 45 foot narrow boat named OMEGA. He has cruised much of the narrow canal system of the Midlands over that time.

Dick and his late wife got hooked when they had the use of a cousin's narrow boat during the time that their children were still at school in the 80's. The bug bit, as is so often the case, and now he is a single octogenarian boater with just his collie for company!

The talk is not intended to be a definitive canal history - plenty of books for that - but pictures and observations made over many years of a leisure activity which replaced the hard working canal boaters of previous centuries.