grain, which was supplied to textile and flour mills, and stone, but by this time traffic volumes were small. On 29 February 1912, the canal burst its banks at Kerridge, flooding several nearby streets. The cause was the failure of a culvert that carried Tinkers Brook under the canal embankment, at about 1:00 am. By the time the bridges could be stopped with stop planks, most of the upper pound above Bosley locks had drained away. It took three weeks to repair the breach, and around 100 men were employed to fill the gap with 160 boat loads of clay puddle and other materials. Leisure age Commercial carrying on the canal ended in 1954, when the carriage of coal between Stoke and Marple ceased. There had been some leisure use of the canal since the end of the First World War, with the High Lane Arm acting as a base, where a number of boathouses were built. In 1937, the local authority decided that such buildings should incur rates, and a group of boaters joined together to challenge this. They were unsuccessful, although they did prevent the rates from being backdated for six years, and in 1943, a more formal organisation was formed. The chairman, Harry Downs, who had had many dealings with the North Cheshire Water Board, suggested that it should be called the North Cheshire Cruising Club, and this was agreed. They subsequently rented part of the arm from the LNER. The club is acknowledged to be the first such cruising club to be formed in Britain. With the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, responsibility for the canal passed to the British Transport Commission. In 1955, a Board of Survey carried out an assessment of the canals, and many in the fledgling waterways movement, including the Inland Waterways Association, expected that the British Transport Commission annual bill for that year would include powers to close many of the canals rated as Class 3 by the Board of Survey. However, with growing public unease at the perceived fate of the canals, no such powers were included in the bill. The canal was visited by Sir Reginald Kerr, the head of British Transport Waterways, and other dignitaries on 27 February 1958, and again by boat on 21 May 1958, when he expressed his intent to ensure that the canals were used by private boaters. There was a risk that