Malcolm Dark
Malcolm was born in Wolverhampton in 1935, and from 1947 to 1954 he attended the Technical High School. Here he built his first canoe, being the initial member of the Boating Club based in an old stabling barn at Autherley Junction, on the Shropshire Union and Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canals. Some years later, as a qualified teacher in a residential school near Lichfield, Malcolm constructed several canoes plus a sailing dinghy or all the pupils to use on the adjacent canal.
His career took him to the Isle of Wight, Reigate in Surrey and eventually Wandsworth as headteacher. There, after participating in the London and other Marathons, came a renewed interest in canals, leading to purchasing a Springer narrowboat to be based in Barrow on Soar.
When circumstances changed the family moved to Leicestershire in 1990. After making fruitless enquiries about the River Soar which flows by the front of is property, Malcolm researched its history from close to Leicester to Trent Lock and wrote a series of nine books.
He has appeared on local TV and radio, with his research reported in the Loughborough Echo. Malcolm enjoys a busy life supply teaching, but no longer referees Junior League Football or participates in marathons.
Reprint publish the following books by Malcolm Dark.
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A Brief History of the Windlass
Price: £4.50
A study of the boatman's implement to operate lock mechanisms. Incorporated are stories of its other "uses", particularly as a weapon in the murder of Black Jake at Cassiobury Lock.
Reference is … [more]
Price: £3.50
A most in depth account of this little known event in the village church yard some of the villagers today are decendents of those people who took part in this riot.
Boyhood to Boathood: A journey by water related stories
Price: £8.99
An autobiography of water related experiences from early canal visits, an alarming park lake minor injury which almost led to the loss of a leg, building a school based canoe and then college years in … [more]
Loughborough Lock to Bishop Meadow Lock
Price: £4.50
This presentation is a sequel to "Loughborough Wharf and Charlie Lewis, a BWB employee 1956-1994", which briefly describes a history of the original terminus to the Loughborough Canal (built some … [more]
Price: £6.00
A short history about the building of the wharf and an account relating the work of Charlie Lewis who was based there for almost forty years.
Contributions from Ray Fletcher who was born in a … [more]
Murder, Mystery and Mayhem 1971
Price: £3.50
All accounts relate to Barrow-on-Soar
1. Murder of Thomas Raven
2. The Great Pike Story
3. The Weir Bridge Collapses
The Blackbrook Dam Disaster, Charnwood, Leicestershire,1799
Price: £6.00
Leicestershire's greatest flooding catastrophe. The narrative covers the building of the earthworks dam to supply water for the ill-fated Charnwood Forest Canal and its collapse in February 1799, plus … [more]
The Civil War at Cotes Mill and other stories about the River Soar
Price: £4.50
Cotes Mill stands on the outskirts of Loughborough, beyond the railway station, on the road to Nottingham. Opposing forces met there and for two days endeavoured to gain control over the extensive … [more]
The Navigation Pub and the Canal to Barrow Deep Lock. Barrow upon Soar. A History from 1794
Price: £6.00
A history of how and why the canal was built to avoid the weir beyond the site of Barrow Mill and make the River Soar navigable from Loughborough to Leicester.
The canal cutting required a deep … [more]
Price: £4.50
Probably the only existing ferry of its type, with the chain lying on the bed of the River Soar to allow the passage long ago of commercial narrow boats and of present day cruisers.
A rowing ferry … [more]
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