A CAMPAIGN to raise awareness of canal life has got a £3,000 boost.

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal and Huddersfield Canal Society have been awarded Heritage Lottery Fund support for its audio landscape project.

The project will raise awareness of the history and heritage of the canals.

Welcoming the Heritage Lottery funding, Society chairman Alan Stopher said: “As a Society we are committed to promoting the history and heritage of our own canal and of waterways in general.

“The support we are receiving from HLF will enable us to do this in an innovative and informative way.”

In 2011 the Huddersfield Canal Society celebrated the bicentenary of the opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal for through navigation.

The centrepiece of the celebrations was the performance by Oldham Theatre Workshop of a specially commissioned outdoor, interactive theatre production entitled Reflections of the Past.

Now the theatre group and canal society are aiming to bring the production to life once more as an illustrated audio trail, which can be accessed on the society’s website.

It is timed to coincide with the launch of the Canal and Rivers Trust and it is the Society’s contribution to the Trust’s aim of promoting waterways as an invaluable heritage asset.

Sara Hilton, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund North West, said: “We at HLF are delighted to support this project and its innovative approach to increasing understanding and appreciation of the canal and its heritage.”

The Huddersfield Canal Society aims to promote the Huddersfield Narrow and Broad canals for the enjoyment of all.

It is 20 miles long and runs from Ashton-under-Lyne to Huddersfield connecting the Ashton and Manchester Canal in the west to the Huddersfield Broad, Sir John Ramsden’s Canal, in the east.

Work to build the canal started in 1794 and took five years, although the construction of 3.1 miles of Standedge Tunnel took a further 11 years.

The Tunnel is the longest, highest above sea level and deepest canal tunnel in Britain.

It was officially opened for through navigation in April 1811 and operated for 140 years before being abandoned in 1944.

In 1974 the Huddersfield Canal Society was formed with the ambitious aim of restoring the Canal to through navigation and they teamed up with British Waterways, Kirklees, Oldham and Tameside councils. In 2001 Prince Charles officially re-opened it.