Celebrities do not get paid

JOHN Howard asks if the Canal & River Trust pay celebrities. I can assure him that Penny Smith and Brian Blessed were paid precisely nothing for their help, Caroline Killeavy from the Trust tells us.

Both gave their time and supported the waterways purely out of the goodness of their hearts. We're extremely grateful that they volunteered—lending their profile to get more people involved in the waterways.

Coming back this year

When we recently asked them 95% of our volunteer lock keepers who supported the Trust last year said that they would be coming back this year. To quote just one, who volunteered on the Grand Union Canal last summer, it was the best thing he'd ever done and he's really looking forward to coming back this year.

The recruitment drive for volunteer lock keepers this year is because, in nearly all instances, the support and enthusiasm last year was so infectious, that we're planning to have more volunteer lock keepers at more locations this summer.

Not made redundant

We know that people who volunteer for the Trust don't want to do so at the expense of someone's job. And categorically, no paid permanent lock keepers have been made redundant because they were to be replaced by volunteers. People (celebrities or otherwise) volunteer because they have an affinity with the waterways, because they realise how precious they are and because they want to give something back. Thank you to all the Trust's volunteers. You are all very special.