“I was a child of the 80s, and like a lot of things at that time, the canals were in a bad state. In my street, there was a disused arm of the Walsall Canal. In summer it had a certain smell; there was always a film of something that looked like oil (or worse) floating on the surface, a shopping trolley or two, and sometimes the odd long gone animal. If you were brave enough to walk up the arm to the main canal, it got slightly better. But only slightly.
Fast forward a few years, and I spotted an advertisement for a job with the Canal & River Trust. I'm ashamed to say that at that point I hadn't been back to any of my local canals since childhood, but I was intrigued about how things might have changed. To prepare for my interview, I visited the Grand Union Canal, near my house. It was within walking distance, but incredibly, I'd never been. Wow, what a place! I was just blown away. In quick succession, I visited the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and the Coventry Canal. I began telling my friends and family, “do you know what's near our houses, have you seen how great these green and blue corridors are?” I wanted that job.
When I joined the team, I quickly learned about our strategy to be a Trust for waterways and wellbeing. I saw first-hand what the local team in the West Midlands were doing, how we had not only created these wonderful spaces but were working with all of the diverse communities around them to ensure they were used. Loved even. This was happening all over the country. I was hooked!
Over the last ten years, our charity has done so much to improve our 2,000-mile network. We see it everywhere, no matter where we live or work. We welcome over 750 million unique visitors each year. People love what we do.
