Content © Staffordshire &

Worcestershire Canal Society

1959-2010.

Map © Sparrow Publishing.

Welcome to the Education & Resources section of our website which is in turn cross-referenced with Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopaedia. Perhaps this is how you found www.swcs.org or maybe you happened across us via another route - we would love to know; why not tell us via our Message Board facility? It’s easy to use, open to anyone and completely free.

This section is aimed particularly at schools, colleges and educational facilities but will also prove helpful to anyone wishing to pursue their interest in waterways beyond the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal (SWC) and its eponymous Society (SWCS).

 

At Education & Resources you will find various items including an overview of the inland waterways of Great Britain, plus a history of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal and its Society.

The first is an extract from Lost Lines & Neglected Navigations that was serialised throughout 2007 in Broadsheet, the in-house magazine of SWCS. The second, which appeared in The Blackcountryman magazine of Summer 2007,  

is an extension of smaller items found elsewhere on the website but which contains much more information and is specifically intended for those seeking greater detail. Read in conjunction these two items alone offer an easily assimilated summation of Britain’s waterways in general and the role of SWC within them in particular.   

To complete the picture a glossary of commonly used waterways terms, a selection of FAQs and a few fascinating facts about the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal are included. Safety issues for enthusiasts working in the field are addressed by advice on the water-borne Weil’s Disease and links to water-safety sites. The links section also contains a listing of informative texts together with reference to related websites. In this way you can follow the trail of information along just about any avenue you wish to go, from simple techniques of operating a lock right through to the lives of the great waterways engineers. However, don’t forget that www.swcs.org.uk itself is a comprehensive resource containing numerous images, detailed maps and its own archive of the highly respected and influential Broadsheet magazine.

But being passionate about waterways is not just about studying texts, maps and computer screens. Our greatest resource is our membership and SWCS, which is far more than just a boating organisation, is proud of its breadth of support. Members from all walks of life and professions share their common love for canals through our ranks and we cater for all interests from wildlife photography and naturalism to restoration and development plus much, much more. We even have former working boatmen amongst our number, and what a tale or two they can tell! Several of our members are accomplished speakers who regularly offer talks and presentations. We can also lay claim to British Waterways employees past and present, qualified boat Captains and commercial operators, vintage vessel enthusiasts, eminent historians and numerous others with specialist knowledge. So, if you have a particular query then contact us at info@swcs.org.uk or via our Message Board and we may just be able to offer you an answer from someone having direct first-hand experience.

We trust you find Education & Resources to be entertaining and informative. Your comments and feedback would be welcomed, as would your constructive suggestions on enhancing and further developing the facility for the benefit of others.

For their invaluable collaboration and assistance in the compilation of this section of www.swcs.org.uk I am in particular most grateful to Carol Aldridge (incumbent President SWCS), Ian Cowdale (past Chairman and incumbent Broadsheet Editor) and Andy Walder (Webmaster). Also Dave Hart, for his support with matters-web in general. Thank you all.

Graham Fisher MBE
Chairman SWCS
January 2008  

 

 

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Carol Aldrige

Graham Fisher MBE