Maureen Readle was among the volunteers getting stuck in to help to clear tonnes of leaves from the bottom of the partially drained 20ft-deep lock chamber which have accumulated over winter.
Giving back to the canals
She explained: “I've enjoyed lots and lots of canal boating holidays with my husband, we wanted to help give back to the canals by volunteering when we retired. We get involved in all sorts of activities around Todmorden, litter picking, painting locks, and managing vegetation. I have also adopted a stretch of the canal too, which my husband and I look after.
The great thing about volunteering with us is having the opportunity chance to do all sorts of things and spend time outdoors by the water. I've never worn a pair of waders before, and I've been waist-high in water, helping to look after the UK's deepest lock!”
We recently launched our biggest ever volunteering campaign to ask the nation for help in protecting its precious 250-year-old network of waterways and historic structures by spending some time by water and making a difference.
Tuel Lane Lock
Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, is one of our most remarkable locks, lowering and raising boats almost 20ft (6m) as they make their journeys over the Pennines. For comparison, a typical double-decker bus is 4.4m.
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 the 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.
Britain's canals are more popular than ever before, with more boats using them than at the height of the Industrial Revolution and new research shows that spending time on the water can be a perfect prescription to improve health and wellbeing.
