Ted Keaveney memorial event

Two new fingerposts were erected, one at each end of the Macclesfield Canal. The one at Marple junction was dedicated to the memory of our late President, Ted Keaveney.

A plaque was attached to record Ted's dedication to the restoration of the Marple lock flight, the lower Peak Forest Canal and the Ashton Canal in order to re-open the Cheshire Ring of canals to boating.

The fingerposts and plaque were subscribed to by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), The Macclesfield Canal Society (MCS) and British Waterways (BW). The plaque was unveiled on Good Friday, 9th April 2004, by Andrew Stunell MP (left) after an introduction from John Fletcher, chairman of IWA, appreciations from Tim Dawson, chairman of MCS, Adrian Sains, Manager Northwest Waterway Unit, BW, and reminiscence from Bob Keaveney, Ted's son.

The event was attended by about 200 people including many canal enthusiasts and, in particular (above), a large group of Ted's colleagues from the restoration days including Martin Grundy, Hugh Potter and Harry Arnold. Rest your mouse over the faces to see who they are. If a single letter shows then I don't know who this is - if you know please send me a message!

Marple hasn't seen so many boats since the rallies in the old days!

The canal restorations celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2004 and this was just one of a number of events that took place in the area to celebrate a variety of key anniversaries. Bugsworth basins opened again after 30 years of restoration. Marple celebrated the 200th anniversary of the opening of Marple locks with a weekend event in July, and the horse boat Maria celebrated its 150th anniversary by being de-converted and looking like the pristine horse boat she once was, pulled this year by boat horse Bonnie led by Sue Day (above).