Chesterfield Canal Trust
The Chesterfield Canal Trust is a charitable company run entirely by volunteers.
The aims of the Trust are to promote the full restoration and appropriate development of the Chesterfield Canal, and to campaign for the construction of the Rother Valley Link, a navigable waterway to join the Chesterfield Canal to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. It is currently campaigning to complete the restoration by 2027, the 250th Anniversary of the canal’s opening.
In Chesterfield, the Trust runs two tripboats – ‘John Varley’ which runs from Tapton Lock and the ‘Madeline’ that runs from Hollingwood Hub. The Trust’s volunteer Work Party has restored four locks in Chesterfield and built two more from scratch. Its base is the restored and extended Hollingwood Lock House – now called Hollingwood Hub – complete with a coffee shop, the capacity to host events and an Information Centre and shop. It holds regular festivals which attract many thousands of visitors to the town.
Trust secretary, Rod Auton, said: “Becoming Chesterfield Champions was an obvious step for the Trust because we promote Chesterfield with our publicity trailer all over the region; our Visitor Guide, of which we distribute 25,000 copies per year, lists 20 Chesterfield businesses and we have hosted several Champions events at Hollingwood Hub. In return we get an opportunity to project the Trust and its activities to a wider constituency and meet with other businesses at Champions events.”
The Trust currently has over 2000 members, but is always looking to recruit more.
