TWENTY five years ago a small group of people interested in reopening derelict canals met for the first time at Swindon.

The meeting resulted in the formation of the Wilts and Berks Canal Amenity Group and signalled the start of restoration work on the canal.

Today, the now renamed Wilts and Berks Canal Trust has a membership of 1,407 and sections of the canal have already been restored to their former glory.

The original meeting was held in the Long Room at the Swindon Arts Centre in Devizes Road, on Satur-day October 8 1977.

Now, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that date, a special anniversary dinner is being organised by the Trust which is hoping that some of the people who attended the first meeting will be able to attend. Philip Mellor, one of the Trust's directors, has asked the Evening Advertiser to try and track down original members.

He said: "Even after 25 years, 29 of the 96 founder members are still members, and we have written to these people to ask them to attend the anniversary dinner. We are also very keen to find out if they, and of course anyone else, actually attended the inaugural meeting."

The dinner will take place at the Marsh Farm Hotel in Wootton Bassett on Friday October 4 when the guest speaker will be Roger Hanbury, the Chief Executive of the Waterways Trust.

Among the guests of honour will be Neil Rumbol, a vice-president of the Trust and the man who actually organised the inaugural meeting, who now works in Kent.

The aim of the Trust is to protect, conserve and improve the route of the Wilts and Berks and North Wilts Canals, with the ultimate aim of restoring a continuous navigable waterway linking the Kennet and Avon Canal, the River Thames and the Thames and Severn Canal.

Mr Mellor said there was now a lot of interest and support to get local canal networks re-opened. The Trust is confident it will meet its goal so confident it has set dates for completing the work.

Mr Mellor said: "The target date for opening the north-south link between Semington on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and Latton on the Cotswold Canal, which will includes the old North Wilts Canal is July 31 2014. This date will mark 100 years since the canal was officially closed.

"Our second target date, for opening the west-east route linking Swindon with the Thames at Abingdon, is April 2 2019, 200 years after the opening of the North Wilts Canal."

The Trust's plans were now entering a critical stage. Over the next 12 months or so local structure plans are to be adopted for Melksham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Crick-lade and Abingdon five towns where part of the original line of the canal has been built over.

These plans will contain planning guide-lines and targets for the next ten years, and the Trust says it is crucial that the route of the Wilts and Berks Canal is protected to prevent further building over the canal.

In order to get the route written into the structure plans, five special engineering studies are being commissioned which Mr Mellor says will cost a total of £120,000. Some £76,000 has already been promised, and now Trust members are being asked to help find the rest.

"Being included in the structure plans is the key to the project because it will open the door to getting British Waterways involved," said Mr Mellor.

If readers attended the inaugural meeting 25 years ago, or know anyone who did, they are asked to contact Mr Mellor on Swindon 613416 as soon as possible.