River Highway - Great Ouse Restoration Film from the 1950s

[davidm]

Back in the 1950s, the River Great Ouse between Bedford and Tempsford was in a state of neglect, unnavigable with the locks completely derelict. This film from the East Anglian Film Archives records the early work of the Great Ouse Restoration Society. Once, the restoration of the Great Ouse navigation from Bedford to the sea had been only a dream but after twenty-seven years of tireless campaigning, fund-raising and practical effort by the GORS, aided by Bedford Corporation and a newly enlightened Great Ouse River Authority, the aspiration finally came true in 1978 with the opening of the last new lock at Castle Mills.

The Great Ouse was open once again with a public right of navigation from Bedford to the sea at Kings Lynn.

The film is a fitting tribute to the work of the Great Ouse Restoration Society and a reminder of just how much can be achieved, even against the odds, with determination and effort.


River Highway - from the East Anglian Film Archive