Tuel Lane lock keepers win national award
THE team which operates Britain’s deepest lock have won the annual British Marine Lock Keeper of the Year Award.
A presentation took place recently at the Tuel Lane Lock, at Sowerby Bridge on the Rochdale Canal, to the team who work and volunteer for the Canal & River Trust.
This annual award is open not only to lock keepers, but to all waterways staff who have offered outstanding assistance to waterways users and is voted for by members of leisure marine trade association, British Marine Inland Boating.
It was presented by BMIB members Susan and Nigel Stevens of Shire Cruisers which operates 20 holiday hire boats across Yorkshire’s waterways.
Director Nigel Stevens said: “With more people than ever choosing staycations this year, we’re having a bumper season. Boating is such a fantastic way to see Yorkshire – not only all the different places, but also from a different angle.”
CRT Yorkshire & North East regional director Sean McGinley added: “Lock keepers, many of whom are volunteers, are the ‘face of the canals’ and play a vital and iconic role within our charity. We are hugely proud of the team and to be able to bring this award home to Yorkshire is even better!”
Lead volunteer Ian Kelshaw, who is part of the winning team, said: “I didn’t have any connection to canals before I started volunteering at the trust over five years ago and now I’m part of a brilliant team of lock keepers doing something I thoroughly enjoy.
“It’s a really interesting role, where no two days are the same. Helping look after Britain’s deepest lock, it captures your imagination and attracts lots of boats and visitors just coming to have a look and see what it’s all about – it’s great!”
Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, is one of the trust’s most remarkable locks, lowering and raising boats almost 20ft (6m) as they make their journeys over the Pennines.
Unusually, because of the depth of the Tuel Lane Lock and its proximity to a canal tunnel, members of the public are not permitted to operate the lock mechanisms themselves. Instead, the award-winning lock keepers help crews to negotiate the gates.
The lock is so deep because it does the work of two. Built in 1996 during restoration of the Rochdale Canal, it replaced a pair of earlier locks to enable the canal to tunnel under a road built on its original level and provide a more efficient route.