Meet the Trustees

The Queensbury Tunnel Society is driven by a small team of people whose vision is to see a derelict Victorian engineering feat restored for public good. As part of an ambitious cycle path network, it would deliver social, economic and tourism benefits as welcome investment is brought to the communities along three corridors - to Bradford, Halifax and Keighley.

This is who we are.
Norah McWilliam - Leader

There is much to be wondered at in Bradford, West Yorkshire. We have a vibrant mix of people with many talents, languages and creative energies. In our landscape we have grand old gritstone cliffs, rolling moors, tumbling becks and meandering canals. Our city centre is the tie that binds a collection of towns and villages into a fascinating network of communities, pockets of rural landscape and bustling business.

I grew up in the shadow of Manningham Mills, walked to school with the smell of lanolin and coal smoke thickening the air, played on cobbled streets and cycled fearlessly on heavy, cranky bikes. Queensbury was far beyond my horizons. Halifax, a name on toffee wrappers. Decades later, I found myself working at Bradford College and later on the University campus, lifted each day by the vitality and determination of young people, drawn to Bradford from all corners of the world (think of it!) for cutting edge stuff happening here - in life sciences, engineering, enterprise and sustainability.

Children of Bradford need to feel they belong in their locality and have a say in the shape of the city landscape. Queensbury Tunnel and an extended cycle/walkway will protect their heritage and open up innovation. We cannot allow Westminster to snatch it from them.

Helen Simpson - Treasurer

I support the preservation and, of course, the reopening of the tunnel. I walk and cycle on the Trail as it is now and it would be great to be able to go further afield; the tunnel would enable this as a great connector towards Halifax.

I love cycling and to have youngsters and adults be able to enjoy the outdoors - traffic free - and gain confidence on their bikes is wonderful. I've been a kids cycle coach at a club for a many years and more recently been involved with Cycle Queensbury, a local group that has campaigned and been involved in cycle events in the area I do cycle on roads and I teach BikeAbility to youngsters (that is how to cycle safely on roads).

I am a member of the local cycling group, Queensbury Queens of the Mountain, and many of the ladies have built up their cycling confidence on traffic-free areas and I have seen the pleasure youngsters and adults get from cycling.
Graeme Bickerdike - Engineering Co-ordinator

If we can celebrate and protect a pile of stones that used to be a castle, why are we content to turn our backs on great civil engineering feats and allow dereliction to take hold? And why, when money is occasionally spent on them, do we not ensure that the public derives maximum value and benefit from that investment?

Queensbury Tunnel is an asset, not a liability. It could and should serve a future purpose as a transport link, echoing its intended role. Let's find a way to save the tunnel so it can socially and economically uplift both to district and wider Yorkshire region.

Please lend your support to the campaign.
Mark Chenery

Opportunity and vision. That’s why the tunnel was originally built. To seize economic and travel opportunities, to open up networks and possibilities. It took immense vision, innovative engineering and considerable investment, and the result was awe-inspiring.

I’m supporting this campaign because I believe the tunnel can bring many more years of benefit to the area. By connecting up cycling networks and exhibiting Victorian engineering, a landmark attraction could be created bringing economic and health benefits. The allocated money should not be spent to condemn our history, rather it should be invested in innovative engineering to seize the opportunity of the future vision.
Mark Neale

I was born in Shipley in 1953 and after spending two family holidays entirely watching trains, a lifelong love affair with railways began. I became a volunteer of the embryonic Worth Valley Railway prior to its reopening in 1968 and then a committee member of the Bradford Railway Circle, acting as its librarian and magazine editor.

In more recent years I have volunteered at the National Railway Museum and now work regularly for West Coast Railways and Railway Touring Company, and can often be found assisting with the operation of steam locomotives on the main line.

I also helped Richard Kunz in the early days of the development of the Great Northern Trail and have completed one book Along Familiar Lines, with another in the pipeline.

My motivation with Q-CHAP is to ensure that the Queensbury lines' unique history survives for our children and grandchildren.
Barry Firth

Latest

Minister blames landowner for tunnel difficulties

Thursday 28 March 2024