campaigning for inland waterways worldwide since 1995

Ronald W. Oakley, a discreet but greatly respected and influential personality on the UK and international waterways scene, died peacefully on April 8, after an illness which he had long succeeded in concealing even from his own family. Messages of sympathy came within days from Australia, Canada, USA, Italy, France and Serbia, as well as from throughout the UK, testifying to his popularity and his role as a natural and ever-serviable leader in the waterways community.

Ron was born in London in 1917, the youngest of five children. He trained as a chef at Westminster College and worked at Claridges Hotel in the mid-1930s. He joined the British Army, served throughout World War II and was evacuated from Dunkirk. His papers suggest admiration of his brother Eric, who died of semi-accidental food-poisoning in 1941 while a prisoner of war in Italy. His aversion to war and to the aberrations of politics doubtless had deep roots. Returning to his catering career, he built up a successful business in Bristol. He married in 1960 and soon adopted two children, Linsey and Gerry. When his wife Fay died of cancer in 1966, he was left to organise a new life as a single father. This he did with the courage, determination and the unique calmness that characterised his approach to everything he tackled. He may have seemed old-fashioned in his manners, but he was also open-minded and way ahead of his times.

He joined the IWA in 1968 after a second canal cruise. He became honorary secretary of the South Western branch, and took a leading role in the successful campaign to prevent closure of the historic Bristol Docks, planned by the corporation at that time. This was followed by the first Bristol waterways festival in 1971. Ron was elected chairman of the SW branch and member of IWA's national council in 1972. During this period he found happiness with Joan, the branch secretary. They married in 1973, and a unique partnership was formed.

They will be remembered fondly by many waterway enthusiasts for the overseas tours they organised for IWA, starting with a visit to Belgiumís historic lifts and the Ronquières inclined plane in 1973, followed by the Arzviller incline and the spectacular works at Gambsheim locks in 1974. Even after Joan died suddenly in 1997, Ron continued to organise at least one tour per year. Destinations covered many countries in Europe, as well as China, USA and Canada, the last being to Italy in July 2003. This was when he announced his intention not to do a tour in 2004, the first sign that something was amiss.

In 1990 he conceived the idea of an international organisation and convened an ad hoc meeting of known interested people. Thus was born the independent International Association of Inland Waterways, later to be renamed Inland Waterways International. He arranged for funds generated from the tours to be made available by IWA Council to the new association, which was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1994. He also founded with Michael Reid the trading company Internat Ltd, to generate additional funds to support IWI.

He was elected chairman by the newly elected IAIW Council at the World Canals Conference at Birmingham in 1996. He stood down and became vice chairman in 1997. In 2000 he was granted honorary life membership of IWA and elected President of SW Region of IWA. In 2001 he was elected by IWI Council to be life vice president.

He was active until the end, pursuing his passion, cruising throughout Europe in "Heritage", the boat he designed and shared with four others, and continually campaigning. He will be remembered for his painstaking efforts, quietly chipping away, sharing and spreading knowledge and awareness of the value of waterways old and new. He bravely took up a new activity as a publisher in 2001, to produce an English edition of Hans-Joachim Uhlemann's book "Canal Lifts and Inclines of the World". In November 2003 he attended a symposium in Belgrade, and wrote a memorandum on how to develop a boating industry on Serbian waterways. No campaign was too remote, no battle to be considered as lost, until his declining health forced him to cease activity, just a few weeks before he died.

IWI would like to see his name associated with the entrance lock from the Parrett estuary to Bridgwater Dock, where he and Joan lived, as the campaign issue he was physically closest to.

© Inland Waterways International - 2004-2006 All Rights Reserved