The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1946 to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations. Notable founding members included L. T. C. Rolt and Robert Aickman. History Early years In 1944, Tom Rolt published his book Narrow Boat, which reflected on his journey around the canals in 1939 in his boat Cressy. The book was popular and Rolt received a number of letters following its publication. This included a letter from Robert Aickman, a literary agent and aspiring author, who made the suggestion that a society to campaign for the regeneration of canals should be formed. Tom Rolt supported this idea and on Saturday 11 August 1945, he Robert and their wives, Angela and Ray, met for the first time aboard Cressy at Tardebigge on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The couples developed a good working relationship with the inaugural meeting of The Inland Waterways Association taking place on 15 February 1946 London at Aickman’s flat in Gower Street, London. Robert Aickman was appointed chairman, Charles Hadfield, vice-chairman, Tom Rolt honorary secretary and Frank Eyre treasurer. A pamphlet called "The Future of the Waterways" was produced by Rolt and the first action took place in 1947 when the Rolts aboard Cressy challenged the Great Western Railway who owned the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and had replaced the Lifford drawbridge at Kings Norton Junction with a "temporary" fixed bridge that prevented navigation. After a question in Parliament by Lord Methuen, the bridge was raised to allow Cressy to pass. An Inland Waterways Exhibition was organised at Heal's Mansard Gallery in London which was so successful that it was taken on a one month's tour of provincial art galleries. By now IWA had attracted a range of talent, including as president, the writer and parliamentarian Sir A.P. Herbert, and as vice-president the naturalist Peter Scott. Scott's wife Elizabeth Jane Howard was part-time secretary, working in the Aickmans' flat in Gower Street. The council included Lord Bingham. In the year 1948 that the canal system was nationalised, a more extensive campaign took place, in August, when the Ailsa Craig was hired for a six-week cruise of the northern canals, which included probably the last crossing of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal before its restoration in 2001. The first boat rally and festival was organized at Market