A former teacher and volunteer who devoted 50 years of her life to helping others was given a maritime send-off.
Diana Skilbeck was born in Heswall in November 1942, and attended Wirral Grammar School for Girls, before training as a teacher in London. She then returned to the Wirral to teach geography and history, later becoming deputy head at West Kirby Grammar School.
Diana, known as Di, had been volunteering at the the National Waterways Museum since the 1970s, and was one of the volunteers who helped transform Ellesmere Port into an integral part of the waterways system.
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Diana became involved in the Boat Museum, now the National Waterways Museum, in 1974, when she and her students joined the first working party to restore the site and then became regular Sunday helpers.
She once recalled: “I was horrified by the dilapidated state of the once thriving Ellesmere Port site. Desperate to do something, I offered to help the restoration work and enlisted my students in the massive and muddy project. We pulled so much from the mud in the upper basin – a scooter, car doors, tyres, cans of oil – the site had become a dumping ground.”
In 1981, she took on the role of working party organiser and in 1985 chair and 1995 president of the Boat Museum Society, which established the museum in the 1970s. She personally led the major restoration of two historic boats – the tar boat Gifford and Box boat 337.
Diana was given a highly appropriate send-off on April 3 at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, when her coffin was transported on a historic working boat, Gifford, which she had once helped to save and restore.
In recognition of her 50-year contribution, HM King Charles sent a letter of condolence from Buckingham Palace to say he was sorry to hear of the death of Diana Skilbeck MBE and offered his sincere sympathy and very best wishes to the National Waterways Museum. He described her role as an early volunteer at the Boat Museum as “inspirational”.
The Canal & River Trust charity, which runs the National Waterways Museum, will be hosting a special memorial service celebrating her life on Saturday 8 April, 9am, as part of the Easter Boat Gathering Festival over the bank holiday weekend.
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