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This video is the remarkable story of the rescue from dereliction of the Lower Avon Navigation between Tewkesbury and Evesham by the Lower Avon Navigation Trust almost 50 years ago and of how the river has developed as a consequence.

It all started when a midlands businessman, Douglas Barwell, attempted to take his family on a boating holiday up the almost derelict River Avon in 1949. Working with the Inland Waterways Association, he formed the Lower Avon Navigation Trust in 1950. He and the Trust worked tirelessly for 12 years, until the Navigation was reopened in 1962. The work of the Trust has continued ever since, with the Trust and its volunteers managing the river, its upkeep, its boats and its ecology.

This video brings together much of the available film footage and still photographs of the Restoration of the Navigation, going right back to 1950. The restoration story is told using first hand accounts of Trust members who were actively involved in that restoration and who knew Barwell personally. We learn of the successes and of the heartbreaking setbacks along the way. This is a real collector's item and a must for all serious devotees of our waterways.