Sonia Rolt
Tom and Sonia, with their sons Tim and Richard, c 1957
In 1945 Tom Rolt met Sonia South at a screening of the Ealing film Painted Boats. Sonia, who had been a trainee boatman on the canals, had by now become increasingly politically active on behalf of the boating community. After this first meeting Tom and Sonia found themselves frequently sharing political platforms.
Tom and Sonia went on to marry and have two sons, and in 1953 they all moved to Tom's family home in Stanley Pontlarge.
Sonia Rolt was an author and canal expert in her own right, and a separate section of this website is dedicated to her (see the Sonia Rolt pages) where you can read about the book, A Canal People - The Photographs of Robert Longden.
Two of the many recent magazine articles coinciding with Tom's centenary focus as much on Sonia as Tom:
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Cornerstone - Water and Earth, but above all, Fire (4 page PDF file, 350K)
Canals Rivers and Boats - Celebrating Tom Rolt, Narrow Boat Man (6 page PDF file, 1MB)
