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Boating festival pioneer Terry dies
A Preston "pioneer" who helped create the Ribble Link and the city's huge Riversway Festival has died.
Tributes have been paid to Terry Tomlinson, who died aged 76 after a long battle with cancer.
Mr Tomlinson was well known across the county's waterways and in 1984 was involved in setting up the Ribble Link Trust, which paved the way for the creation of the Link.
He also helped organise the Ribble Link Campaign Cruise, which was later to become the Preston Maritime Festival and then the Riversway Festival.
Preston Council leader Ken Hudson, himself a keen boater, led the tributes to Terry.
He said: "He was a one-off, a real hard-working gentleman.
"I came across him through the Ribble Link. He was a campaigner, a real waterway campaigner. In 1984 the Ribble Link Trust was formed and they had the first real campaign cruise to Preston Dock.
"He worked very closely with George Hoare, who was manager of Preston Docks at that time, to show that the River Douglas and the River Ribble provided a safe route for canal boats. They had to prove to people it was safe.
"He was a pioneer."
A carpenter by trade and at one time chairman of the Ribble Link Trust, Terry, from Wythenshaw, Greater Manchester, regularly attended meetings at an Adlington pub where the trust met.
And he organised the attendance of canal boats at the inaugural Ribble Link Campaign Cruise, from which the city's landmark Riversway Festival grew.
Tributes have also been posted on the website of the Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs, of which he was a member.
One message from AWCC vice chairman Howard Smith and his wife Sheila said: "We first met Terry at the skippers' meeting at Tarleton when we went on the Ribble Link Cruise in 1995.
"We had no idea what we had let ourselves in for, but knew we were in safe hands. It was a rough ride but a memorable occasion."
Another described him as a "real national stalwart in every sense."
Terry's funeral was held at Altrincham Crematorium on Monday.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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