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Genesis
The idea of providing specially adapted boats to allow disabled people of all ages, especially children, to enjoy British canals was a product of the mid 1970s. So far as I know there were two early initiatives, one in England and one in Wales, which were the immediate antecedents of the formation of the Seagull Trust. The one in England was set up by Claire Hanmer in memory of her brother and it ran a converted narrow boat on the Midland Canals. In Wales, the Heulwen (Sunshine) boat was placed on the Montgomery Canal under the auspices of the Princes Trust set up by the Prince of Wales.
The Rev. P. Hugh R. Mackay, MBE, Ph.D, an active canal enthusiast from these days and as Minister of the parish of Ratho on the Union Canal, became aware of Claire Hanmer's work. At about the same time Charles Quant, who was active in the Heulwen initiative, drew attention of the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council (IWAAC) to that project which was on a 'remainder' waterway. British Waterways had no obligation to maintain 'remainder' canals in navigable condition and the Heulwen project had the dual role of providing a valued service to disabled people and demonstrating to a wider public the attractions of canal travel.
It seemed to Hugh Mackay and myself, as a member of IWAAC, that the idea of canal cruising for disabled people could be implemented in Scotland. Accordingly a meeting was held, addressed by Claire Hanmer, to canvas support for a Scottish project. The result was the formation of what became known as the Seagull Trust.
The name 'Seagull' was devised by Major Simon Campbell who at the time ran the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in Edinburgh. The name came from the idea of freedom from physical constraint that canal cruising gives and the seagull seemed a suitable maritime symbol of freedom.
Development
The embryonic Trust, formed on 21st November 1978, had no money and no boat or place to keep one. However, Hugh Mackay was, through his period at Ratho, Chaplain to the Order of St John in Scotland and approached the Order for the £10,000 necessary to buy a boat and meet its running costs. This he was generously given, one of the prime movers in the Order being Ronnie Williamson, a former Commando and still a warm supporter of the Trust's activities.
The boat purchased was Claire Hanmer's original craft and was appropriately named the St. John Crusader. The ceremony in 1979 was performed by the Duke of Hamilton and took place on a very wet day at Wester Hailes. The sight of members of the Order in their full regalia processing through the mist and rain was entirely memorable!
The problem of where to keep the boat was very generously resolved by Ronnie Rusack, landlord of the Bridge Inn at Ratho, who took the boat under his wing and provided a booking service.
Hugh Mackay was anxious that the Trust should have its own premises and acquired a partly built canal-side facility at Wester Hailes. The ownership of that piece of property was an important counter to the proposal to cut the canal when the Edinburgh City bypass was being projected. In the event, after much debate, an aqueduct crossing was provided.
The Wider Role
Hugh Mackay and some at least of the founders of the Trust had very firmly in mind the value of its activities in demonstrating the worth of the Lowland Scottish Canals as a complement to its primary purpose of providing free canal cruising in Scotland for disabled people. The bypass aqueduct was an early demonstration of this and others followed including the dredging of the Union Canal at Falkirk. The Glasgow Canal Project - reopening most of the Forth & Clyde Canal between Kirkintilloch and Port Dundas - was also stimulated by the presence of a Seagull Trust boat at Kirkintilloch.
By the end of the 1980s there were bases at Ratho, Falkirk and Kirkintilloch providing regular cruises as a significant part of the traffic on the Lowland Canals. When the Millennium Link was first discussed the Trust's activities were not the least significant part of the arguments put forward for the worth of the project and the availability of our boats and bases allowed the canals to be shown to potential funders and supporters. The community support which had to be demonstrated to secure Millennium funding was generated in large measure by the activities of the Trust.
Objects Realised
So as the Trust enters the Millennium, we can look back on objectives realised and being realised that seemed, to say the least, impossible in the late 1970s. Had anyone said to the founding Trustees that 21 years later the Trust would be operating from four bases, including one at Inverness on the Caledonian Canal, and the Lowland Canals would be well on the way to full restoration to navigation, it would have been taken with a pinch of salt. But all has been or is being accomplished. Facts and figures are, however, the least of what the Trust is about. It has provided a focus for an enormous amount of caring concern, it has given pleasure to tens of thousands of people whose lives are restricted in different ways, and it has become part of the Scottish life in a manner far beyond the expectations of the pioneers.
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