A vital cog in canal restoration
TRIBUTE has been paid to canal stalwart John Sully, who died in May at the age of 81.
David Sumner, Keith Gibson and Keith Noble of Huddersfield Canal Society described him as a vital cog in the machinery to restore the Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals.
They wrote: “In the 1970s John was an elected member of West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council (WYMCC). By 1981 he had become chairman of the Recreation and Arts Committee, and in this role managed to persuade opposition members of the value of canals.
“It wasn’t long before he championed the cause for full restoration after reading Huddersfield Canal Society’s report on restoring the Marsden to Slaithwaite section using the Job Creation Programme.”
Not long after, John cycled along both derelict canals and it was on one of his trips that then chairman of Huddersfield Canal Society, David Sumner, met him at Marsden with the society’s publicity officer.
John’s enthusiasm was infectious. He had a lot of contacts in the media and he was frequently interviewed on Yorkshire TV.
In the spring of 1986 he was present at the reopening of the Marsden flight with Coun George Speight from Kirklees Council.
John also became a regular contributor to Waterways World. In the same year WYMCC was abolished, along with Greater Manchester Council, but a dowry promoted by John enabled the reopening of the canal under Wakefield Road, Huddersfield.
As a county councillor John attended Huddersfield Canal Society’s Council meetings by invitation as an observer. He wasn’t known for his reticence so after a short while, following contributions as an enthusiastic observer, he was voted on to the Council of Management as society treasurer. He helped to husband resources through the significant early stages of restoration so that by completion to through navigation the society still had a healthy bank balance. This was a factor in establishing the charity’s place in the Joint Committee of all five (later three) councils plus British Waterways Board and the healthy balance also underpinned many bids for funding.
John also attended meetings of the Northern Canals Association and the Calder Navigation Society. He continued campaigning, losing no opportunity to inform and be supportive of the Huddersfield Canal Society.
With his late wife Cynthia he cruised the canal network extensively but not before he appropriately hired a boat to be the first to navigate the eastern side of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal upon its opening in 2001, a cruise which included passing under the Wakefield Road bridge which he had promoted. Cynthia died in 2016 and John is survived by his two daughters.