ALL the boat traffic on the Avon at Startford-on-Avon came to a halt this week as the procession of the man who championed the re-opening of the waterway to navigation was laid to rest.
John Macartney-Filgate (75) spent his life in restoring and promoting the river, with the Avon Navigation Trust (ANT) and local boat operators pulling out all the stops for a moving Stratford-upon-Avon tribute to a local man who did so much.
River traffic stopped
All other river traffic stopped as a mark of respect on Monday as Bancroft Cruisers' John Macartney-Filgate—named after John—passed by on his final Avon trip to the Holy Trinity Church for the celebration of his life organised by his business partner Fiona Rae with the support of the Avon Navigation Trust, with Fiona exclaiming:
"I knew John was popular, but I was stunned by the turnout. He would have been very moved, and tickled pink, to see how many people have such respect for what he did on the river and the canal."
Carried the coffin
John's body and members of his family were carried on board The Rita Ellen, the wide-beam cruiser he had built and named in memory of his long-time partner, who died ten years ago.
The boat was turned to point at the Bancroft Gardens' memorial bench in her name, before wending its way to the church, with the ANT tug Eric leading the way and tug City behind.
Local operators joined the procession in tribute, and boatmen lowered their boat-hooks and gave a mournful blast of their horns as John left the river for the last time at the mooring by the church, where ANT directors lined up in two columns at the entrance and over 200 people, handed bunches of rosemary to place on the coffin in remembrance, waited inside.
First to introduce narrowboat hire
Birmingham born, and Solihull raised, the engineer, became passionate about the Avon when he moved to Stratford in the 1970s and opened a marine engine business, and went on to run many more businesses.
He was the first to introduce narrowboat hire and continue the tradition of river trips on pleasure boats on the Stratford Avon reach. He worked as a volunteer alongside David Hutchings MBE to reopen the Southern Stratford Canal with the National Trust. This was followed by his involvement with the restoration of the Avon as a volunteer of the Upper Avon Navigation Trust (UANT).