Sonia Rolt OBE passed away at the age of 94 on Wednesday 22 October.<\/p>\n
Widow of the author L.T.C. (Tom) Rolt – author of the iconic book \u2018Narrow Boat\u2019 and other transport works and one of the founders of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) \u2013 Sonia was however famous in her own right as one of the most outstanding women of the waterway world.<\/p>\n
Sonia South originally trained as an actress then with the outbreak of the war, she worked for a while in the Hoover factory at Greenford on military aircraft.<\/p>\n
Shortly after this she volunteered as a trainee boatwoman on the canals, becoming one of the now almost legendary \u2018Idle Women; a name coined from the IW badge they wore.\u00a0 Later, she met and married a working boatman George Smith.<\/p>\n
She became active in working for better conditions for the boat people then met Tom Rolt at a screening of the film \u2018Painted Boats\u2019 in 1945.\u00a0 Sonia worked with Tom in the early days of IWA campaigning.<\/p>\n
She married Tom and they had two sons, moving to his family home at Stanley Pontlarge, the house where she lived until her death.<\/p>\n
Although often pressed to write her own life story, Sonia remained a fierce guardian of Tom\u2019s works and wrote several new introductions and in 1997 she wrote \u2018A Canal People, The Photographs of Robert Longden\u2019.<\/p>\n
A love of historic buildings led to her work for the Landmark Trust and later, the National Trust, and active membership of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.\u00a0 She was a vice-president of IWA.<\/p>\n
In 2010 Sonia was appointed OBE for services to industrial archaeology and heritage.<\/p>\n
Those of us who were lucky enough to know her well \u2013 her knowledge and indefatigable enthusiasm for waterways, wit and always good company – will miss her greatly.<\/p>\n