Hello Discosteve, I went to school with someone very actively involved in the local canal restoration at that time and he even roped me in once to his group of "navvies" doing the restoration work (just the once!). He kept up his interest in the canals as far as I am aware so could have some useful info for you. If you google in Tim Noakes canals or similar you should find him (he is on LinkedIn I believe). Hope this helps.