Career
At the beginning of World World War II she volunteered to work on the canals. After the war she became active on the council of the new Inland Waterways Association campaigning for the retention of the canals. Born Sonia South in New York to British parents, she trained as an actress at London Theatre Studio.
During the Second World War she volunteered to work on the canals and joined the tough life of the boatmen, mainly carrying coal and steel between Midlands factories and coal pits.
Because of the "IW" badge the women who worked on the canals wore, they were named the Idle Women by the canal men, an insult they adopted with pride. In 1950 she worked with Tom Rolt on a report on the working conditions of boatmen but this was not a priority for the International Water Association which was mainly concerned with the leisure use of the canals, and indirectly led to her exclusion from the organisation together with Rolt.
After Tom"s death in 1974, the breach with the International Water Association was gradually healed by her being given an honorary membership in 1983 and her appointment as a vice president in 1993. She edited Tom"s autobiographical trilogy, The Landscape Trilogy and published A Canal People, The Photographs of Robert Longden in 1997.
She also worked with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, National Trust and advised on the restoration of old ships.
