A MURAL has been given some much-needed TLC.
Award-winning waterways and landscape artist Diana Bernice Tackley has been restoring some of the paintwork on the mural at Anderton Boat Lift.
The mural, titled ‘The People Who Made It Happen’, portrays the three engineers responsible for the lift.
Since being commissioned by the Anderton Boat Lift Trust 13 years ago it has begun to fade, prompting the creator, 78-year-old Bernice, to get her brushes back out.
She said: “For those thirteen years it has stood the test of time - and a mighty test it has proved to be.
“It faces south and has had to endure the rigours of severe weather and sunlight and it had lost some of its original glory, on particular the red had faded so much that the lettering was very faint and the loss of pink tones in the portraits had made the three engineers look rather jaundiced!
“Luckily, prior to the final close down of the Trust, the Trent and Mersey Canal Society was charged with the responsibility of continuing to oversee the wellbeing of the lift, and as I was the original artist they contacted me and asked me to rejuvenate this epic mural.”
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The idea of Anderton Boat Lift was conceived by Sir Edward Leader Williams, who layer became the designer and chief engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal.
Civil engineer Edwin Clarke designed the lift which was built in 1875.
At the start of the 20th century the lift was converted to electric operation thanks to the Weaver Navigation Trustees’ chief engineer, Colonel J.A. Saner.
It was then closed down in 1983 due to corrosion before plans to restore it emerged in the 1990s.
The restoration took many years and required support from many local businesses and organisations such as the Trent and Mersey Canal Society and the Inland Waterways Association.
Anderton Boat Lift was reopened in 2002.
A few years later the Trust decided to rubber stamp the restoration by commissioning the 8.5m x 2.5m mural, which was unveiled on March 26, 2010, with hundreds of guests in attendance.
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