KENNET and Avon Canal officials had a private audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace last week to hand over a Declaration of Gratitude for her support during the canal's restoration.
The canal was threatened with closure in 1956 and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust took over the restoration.
Prince Charles visited the canal at Bradford on Avon in May to mark the completion of the latest five-year programme of structural work.
Chairman of the Reading branch of the Trust Peter Crawford said: "We all shook hands with the Queen and it was nice because she knew the canal well and was very interested in it and kept asking us about what plans we had for the future.
"It seals the fact that through all the work we have done the Kennet and Avon is fit for another 200 years."
The leather-bound declaration was signed by 2,500 people as it travelled by boat along the canal.
Trust chairman Brian Poulton said: "We still have a major role to play in the protection, enhancement and promotion of the canal we all love."
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