Tony Conder has been   involved with inland waterways since his parents first took him for walks   beside the Wey Navigation.  For   twenty-five years he was Curator of the British Waterways Collection.  Initially he was based at Stoke Bruerne,   from where he collected objects from all over the canal system.  In 1988 he opened the National Waterways   Museum at Gloucester and in 1999 became Curator to the Waterways Trust,   taking the collection to national designated status.