THIS motor launch from Windermere was a familiar sight on the local stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal during the Great War, when it was used by sick and wounded soldiers from the Keighley War Hospital at Morton Banks, the grounds of which adjoined the canal.
Dr William Scatterty, war hospital administrator, penned a poignant description of carrying or wheeling “from the various wards on to the cushioned launch those poor lads who, unable to walk, could still joke about their voyage on the briny deep”.
Rowing boats from Whitby were also put on the canal for the use of convalescent patients, who considered rowing as sport. In reality, “that most healthy exercise” was prescribed as treatment for “flabby muscles and stiffened joints”.
The War Hospital even held an annual regatta, “when the banks of the canal were gay with red, white and blue, the water sparkling with craft and the air resounding with laughter, joke and song”.
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