Towpath Talk - May 2014 - FULL ISSUE

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Issue 103, May 2014

l a i c e p S w o h Crick Boat S

Come to Crick and see what the inland waterways industry has to offer. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Looking forward to the

Crick Boat Show

THE 15th annual Crick Boat Show and Waterways Festival returns to Crick Marina near Daventry for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend May 24-26.

Expected to attract more than 25,000 visitors, it is being organised by Waterways World in partnership with the Canal & River Trust and Crick Marina.

Up to 50 new canal boats will include nine widebeams providing a great opportunity for aspiring boat owners to see a wide choice of styles on a single day. Some of the boats are subject to a booking process – simply because some are now private boats with the owner ‘loaning’ the boat to the exhibitor for the show. To see particular boats, organisers recommend that visitors contact the builder in advance of the show to make sure that they can get a slot.

As well as showcasing the inland waterways’ industry, Crick Boat Show offers fantastic entertainment all weekend with free boat trips along the canal run by the London Narrow Boat Project (places should be booked on the day of the show), live music, a real ale marquee and a large variety of food and drink stalls.

With more than 70 exhibitors in the Kingfisher Boating Marquee and 40 more on the quayside around the marina, every aspect of boating is well covered – from boat brokers selling used boats to insurance, finance, engines, electrical equipment and much more. Plus Midland Chandlers has its own dedicated large marquee next to the Kingfisher Marquee.

The outdoor Show Village is the location for many more exhibitors of boating and more general accessories, from soft furnishing to clothing, and it’s a great opportunity to grab some bargains. And to round it off the craft and food marquee offers a choice of stalls and exhibitors. ● For more information about the show, visit www.crickboatshow.com, call the ticket line on 01283 742950, visit the Crick Facebook page at www.facebook.com/crickboatshow or the Twitter page at http://twitter.com/CrickShow.

Historic boats such as President, in steam in the foreground, always attract visitors’ attention.

PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Sponsored by

Headlining on Saturday night.

Be sure to book a slot if you wish to visit a particular boat. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

A duck’s eye view of the boats on the marina. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON A series of free seminars covering subjects from buying a boat, life afloat, boat maintenance and more will take place across the three show days. There will also be a chance to meet and quiz the directors of the Canal & River Trust. Simon Salem, marketing director, will speak on the Saturday; Vince Moran, operations director, on the Sunday and chief executive Richard Parry on the Monday.

Children’s area

Browsing round the boats on show. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Sponsored by

Children are well catered for at Crick Boat Show.

This year the children’s area will be based on the theme of ‘waterways’ wildlife’ with plenty of hands-on, exciting activities to keep them busy.

Families can pond dip in the purpose-built pond to learn about the various species that live in our inland waterways and make their own dragonfly to take home.

Enjoying their free boat trip are just some of the 1147 passengers carried by the London Narrow Boat Project during last year’s show.

PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Thanks to the Canal & River Trust, children will be able to enjoy hook-a-duck and have a go on a coconut shy. CRT volunteers will be helping children to make paper boats to float on the pond.

There will also be pond dipping trays full of interesting creatures such as dragonfly and damselfly, nymph, water boatmen and freshwater shrimps. Plus, there will be a large fish tank in the CRT marquee containing bream, roach, rudd and perch.

There will be educative colouring-in sheets to enjoy, showing the life cycle of the dragonfly, and also a trust goody bag for every child, containing an explorer’s guide, compass, pencil and notepad.

In addition, the CRT will be giving a demonstration of hedge laying.

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Issue 103, May 2014

116 PAGES YEAR’S FREE WIN AMOORING FOR

YOUR BOAT AT CROPREDY MARINA Worth over £2000 P56

Boat horse Chelsea meets the man from the ministry

REUNION CELEBRATES TITFORD ANNIVERSARY

P4

Defra minister Dan Rogerson with boat horse Chelsea and the Birdswood team. PHOTO: DAVE MILLER THE horse power behind the Cromford Canal trip boat Birdswood, 13-year-old Dales x Clydesdale mare Chelsea, met Defra minister, Dan Rogerson, when he visited the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire recently.

The minister then took a VIP trip on the horse-hauled narrowboat, which is one of only a handful of horse-boats in the UK. Canal restoration charity the Friends of the Cromford Canal (FCC) acquired the historic 75-year-old narrowboat in 2013, with the help of a £27,000 grant from Defra, which is the managing authority for the Rural Development Programme for England, part financed

WHAT ARE THESE VOLUNTEERS RAISING THEIR GLASSES TO? P5 NEW: MEET ONE OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE CUT P12

Sally to retire

HEAD of boating Sally Ash has decided to retire at the end of June, after 38 years of service at the Canal & River Trust and British Waterways combined. To ensure continuity for the work she has been doing, particularly with the towpath moorings management project, CRT will advertise a secondment opportunity from June onwards. The role will be focused on keeping the momentum going as the trust works through the detailed implications of implementing its new strategy.

580 BOATS FOR SALE Starts on

by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas.

Mr Rogerson said: “This trip boat on the Cromford Canal was one of the first RDPE rural economy grants which the Government awarded, and I am delighted to see how this has helped increase visitor numbers.

“We hope this inspires others to look at ways to tap into the 39-million tourist visits to this area every year and contribute to a stronger economy across the Peak District and Derbyshire landscape.”

The horse-boat service, which started at Easter, will be a regular feature of

P15

Town scheme A £25-MILLION regeneration scheme, which will

further expand Kidderminster’s main shopping area, Weavers Wharf, has been approved by Wyre Forest District Council, writes Bob Clarke. It will also see the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal through the town lined with shops, restaurants and cafes with a new canal bridge and the nearby River Stour opened up as a feature. The development will create around 500 full- and part-time jobs and will not be speculative; tenants being signed up before building starts.

More locations, more choice Stourport Marina Tel 01299 827 082

Racecourse Marina, Windsor

Stourport on Severn

Tel 01753 851 717

River Thames, Windsor

Thames & Kennet Marina

Walton Marina

Tel 01932 221 689

Boat sales at seven Marinas with over 150 boats for sale

Visit: www.tingdene.net

Upton Marina

Tel 01684 593 111 Upton upon Severn

Walton on Thames

Brundall Bay Marina

Tel 01189 477 770

River Thames, Caversham

Tel 01603 717 804

Pyrford Marina

Tel 01932 343 275 River Wey, Surrey

Norfolk Broads

Birdswood’s 2014 public cruising programme. It represents an historic continuity as all boat traffic on the 220year-old Cromford Canal was horsedrawn up until the canal’s abandonment as a working waterway in 1944.

Project manager Mike Kelley said: “We now have a viable tourism business that is attracting visitors in growing numbers, and is already making a contribution to the local economy.”

Acquired by Derbyshire County Council (DCC) in 1974, the five-mile stretch of canal between Cromford and Ambergate is managed by DCC in partnership with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England. This entire

section of waterway is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The 1.5-mile northern section between Cromford Wharf and Leawood Pump House was restored to navigation in 2013 after a £350,000 restoration programme financed by DCC. Chelsea’s owners Lance and Corinne Rose of Alderwasley-based Arraslea Shires use their horses for agricultural and forestry work, as well as running a carriage business, but had no previous experience of horse-boating. A series of working trials for horse, handlers and boat masters was carried out successfully before announcing public trips.

Hunger march

GOOD luck to Lockgate cafe proprietor Sandie Coleman who, by the time you see this paper, should be heading to the Himalayas where she is taking part in the second Britain V Cancer Hike from April 24 to May 5. Her target of raising £10,000 in sponsorship for Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People in Leicester has already been pledged. Sandie told Towpath Talk she has had lots of support from her sister-in-law Annette, with whom she runs the cafe at Whilton Marina and all their customers. Follow Sandie on Facebook and Twitter @rainbowstrail

2 NEWS

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WELCOME

WE RECENTLY held our first focus group meeting giving readers the chance to share their views and suggestions about Towpath Talk. Thanks to the members of Strawberry Island Boat Club, Doncaster, for taking part and the club for hosting the meeting.

One of the things the group mentioned that they would like to see in the paper was information about stoppages and restrictions on the system. As some of these are updated by the Canal & River Trust on an almost daily basis, details would be out of date by the time we went to press so unfortunately this is not practicable.

However, we do update this information on the website at www.towpathtalk.co.uk click on stoppages and restrictions and there are also links to the navigation authorities so you can check out their latest alerts.

There were lots of other constructive suggestions which we are working on… watch this space.

As I write Easter is only a few days away and the weather is set fair, we hope, for a great weekend. I have already been with the family on a trip with the Easter Bunny along the Chesterfield Canal from Retford.

We had a great time and thanks to the volunteers of the Chesterfield Canal Trust and all the other canal trusts who give their time to putting on these events which are a great way of engaging young people from an early age.

You will already have seen from the wraparound pages that the boating community is gearing up for the Crick Show and we look forward to seeing you there.

TOWPATH

TALK

Janet

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Regional park authority accused of ‘privatisation by stealth’ in moorings row

By Polly Player

CONTINUOUS cruisers in the London area were shocked and confused to find that ‘Private Moorings’ signs had suddenly been erected along a stretch of towpath on the River Lea. Springfield Marina, itself owned and operated by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, erected the signs along some 220 metres of towpath extending northwards from King’s Head Bridge (Wilton Point footbridge, bridge 19) during March 2014.

Continuous cruisers who were already moored along the stretch and incoming boaters seeking to stop there were issued with letters via the marina stating that they were no longer permitted to use the moorings, and that these would be let privately as long-term leisure moorings via the marina itself.

The Canal & River Trust, managing authority for the River Lea and the Lee Navigation, was unaware of the situation until alerted to it by concerned boaters in the London area. Upon further investigation and consultation with its legal team, the CRT established that the land in question is indeed owned by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA), including the river bed, up to the middle point of the navigation itself.

The trust, therefore, holds no control over the land, waterspace and associated moorings, other than its duty to maintain the navigation itself.

This essentially means that the CRT’s hands are tied, and that the actions of Springfield Marina and the LVRPA were indeed legal, and the CRT has no grounds to contest this sudden privatisation. The trust also indicated that it was not made aware of the proposed and

implemented changes until they were already in place, and that it would not gain any revenue or commercial benefit from the newly privatised moorings.

While the towpath itself along this stretch of the river is currently still open to the public, local residents and the Save Lea Marshes campaign group have expressed concerns that the LVRPA can and may decide to restrict or remove the existing public access to the towpath stretch within its ownership as well.

On top of the controversy and general bad feeling generated by the sudden privatisation of this stretch of the river came the added caveat that Springfield Marina requires any person who might wish to be considered for a paid mooring vacancy on the stretch in question to submit a picture of their boat along with their application.

Understandably, the loss of any casual moorings within the Greater London area is of concern to both boaters and the CRT, given the significant overcrowding and competition for casual moorings already present within London due to the sheer volume of boats regularly cruising within the London area.

The Canal & River Trust’s Sorwar Ahmed, one of the London boater liaison managers, told Towpath Talk: “The Trust is committed to improving mooring capacity, so is looking at areas on the Lee where we can provide new casual mooring (e.g. through installing new mooring rings) or work with third parties, such as social enterprises, to provide more affordable long-term moorings.”

However, in the meantime, yet another precious stretch of casual moorings that were regularly used by both continuous cruisers and visiting leisure boaters has been lost.

Resident boats on the newly privatised Leyton Marsh moorings. Photo courtesy of Katy Andrews, Liberal Democrat candidate for Leabridge Ward, Waltham Forest and founder member of Save Lea Marshes.

A brief history The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority owns and controls the 10,000-acre Lee Valley Regional Park, which was itself created thanks to an Act of Parliament to provide a ‘green lung’ for London, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Historically, this area of London was common land, with local farmers and livestock owners permitted to graze their animals on the land within the park annually after Lammas Day (August 1) as part of the Lammas Day Act. The Lammas Day Act was commuted in 1905, following a meeting of the Leyton Urban District Council.

In 1974, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority was granted a compulsory purchase order for the land in question, the terms of which meant the end of a legal right to free access for the general public to the now privately owned land.

Leyton Marsh land owned by the LVRPA has since been used for many purposes, including the construction of a large riding school and livery yard, sporting venues including the Lee Valley

LeeSan bought by Pump Technology Ltd WARWICKSHIRE based Marine Sanitation Company LeeSan has been bought by water, waste water and sewage pumping station suppliers Pump Technology Ltd of Aldermaston.

Renowned globally as the marine sanitation business for over 50 years, LeeSan

specialises in everything to do with sanitation for boats and marinas.

The company has also developed a large market share in pump-out stations, welfare and hospitality sanitation, providing a perfect ‘crossover’ between the two businesses.

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Jeremy Brownlee, left, owner of Pump Technology Ltd, with Chris Coburn, retiring owner of LeeSan, at the handover ceremony. PHOTO SUPPLIED

LeeSan’s pump-out division will be expanded into many more areas where pump technology already has existing contacts and will be able to call on the expertise, stock buying power and sales contacts that new owner Jeremy Brownlee and his existing team can bring to the new association.

Plans are in place to increase turnover and profile significantly. Jeremy said: “My team work hard and play hard and when it comes to business we are not frightened to invest for the future.

“In the coming months we intend to rationalise prices, significantly develop our service business and provide our customers, both trade and retail, with a one-stop-shop for everything involved with marine sanitation.”

LeeSan, now a Pump Technology Ltd group company, will continue to trade from its Fenny Compton premises and retiring MD Chris Coburn will still be acting as a consultant to the business.

Ice Centre, and the VeloPark, constructed for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Save Lea Marshes group (www.saveleytonmarsh.wordpress.com) is campaigning for the reinstatement of Leyton Marsh and the wider Lee Valley area as green open space for the free use of all, and as a haven for biodiversity and native wildlife. The group broadly protests any further privatisation of historically public land and rights of way within the area, and is opposed to the recent privatisation of the towpath moorings owned by the park, which Katy Andrews, one of the group’s founders, calls ‘privatisation by stealth’.

Save Lea Marshes and London boaters are united in their common cause to have the Leyton Marsh moorings reinstated as casual moorings for the benefit of all, and to lobby against any further loss of casual moorings or public access instigated by the LVRPA in the future.

Tunnelling into Tesco

By Harry Arnold

IN AN area around Manchester with a history of expertise in mining, thieves dug a 50ft-long tunnel from the banks of the Bridgewater Canal to rob a cash machine in the Eccles branch of Tesco Extra.

The tedious techniques of night working and shoring up the bore could have been inherited from the crooks’ forbears who dug the 46 miles of underground mines just up the canal in Worsley; the original purpose of building the waterway and the basis of the Duke of Bridgewater’s later fortune. Obviously lifting an estimated £60,000 in cash was a much easier modern equivalent than digging coal to make money.

Police think that the same gang might have carried out a similar raid some eight miles away in Levenshulme in January 2012 when a 100ft tunnel was dug from a railway embankment and under a car park to reach a cash machine in a branch of Blockbuster.

Detectives have appealed to any members of the public “to recall any encounters with dust-covered individuals trying to look nonchalant near the Bridgewater Canal”, so it is hoped that passing boaters were looking their best during the weeks of the tunnel’s construction.

The digging of the tunnel also coincided with the major anniversary of the famous Second World War Great Escape, so maybe it was also a patriotic gesture?

It is however unlikely that the ‘Tesco Tunnel’ will become an Eccles tourist attraction in future editions of waterway guides to the Bridgewater Canal.

NEWS 3

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New Kennet & Avon mooring plan takes effect from May 1

By Polly Player

THE Canal & River Trust and the Kennet & Avon Waterways Partnership have announced the implementation of a new Towpath Mooring Plan for the Kennet & Avon Canal between Bath and Devizes, to come into effect from May 1.

It is tasked with addressing issues of congestion and non-compliance with the continuous cruising guidelines by a large number of boaters within the local area.

Congestion, complaints about boats without a home mooring remaining static or only traversing a small localised area over long periods of time and concerns about the overall growth in boat numbers along this stretch of the canal led to the trust and the Kennet & Avon Waterways Partnership initiating and developing a localised plan for this area of the canal network.

Historically, previous attempts to negotiate with affected boaters and reach a consensus among all interested parties as to how to deal with the issues at hand have proven unsuccessful, and consequently the ongoing problem has failed to be adequately addressed to date.

Local boaters are being asked to opt into an agreement to follow the proposals, which were formulated after around 3000 boaters and local stakeholders were canvassed and asked to complete a questionnaire covering the relevant issues. The soon-

to-be implemented proposals seek to establish a policy for fair and equitable sharing of the canal within the target area, without attempting to present a formally standardised interpretation of the existing continuous cruising guidelines.

Range of movement

The core basis of the proposals that the trust intends to implement are designed to clarify to boaters without a home mooring what will be deemed as an acceptable cruising pattern in order to comply with the rules governing their continuous cruising declaration, and to outline what will and will not be considered to be a compliant cruising pattern.

The trust and the Kennet & Avon Waterways Partnership agree that continuous cruisers in the area must cover a distance of at least 20km (approximately 12 miles) over the course of their annual licence.

Within this time, boaters must spread their cruising pattern across a range of areas, moving successively from neighbourhood to neighbourhood rather than from a point A to a point B and back in perpetuity.

A cruising pattern of this type between the areas of Bath and Foxhangers will be deemed as compliant, assuming that boaters do not stay longer than 14 days in any given neighbourhood, and spread their cruising pattern across different neighbourhoods evenly over the course of the year.

Key points ● Designated visitor moorings will be restricted to a 48-hour free stay period, after which time a £25 per day extended stay charge will be levied. ● All privately owned boats will be restricted to a total stay time of a maximum of seven days on each individual visitor mooring within any calendar month. ● The trust will not seek to take enforcement action against boaters without a home mooring who move their boat in accordance with the range of movement guidelines outlined above within a 12-month period. ● The CRT also states that it will take into account the need of individuals to stay longer in any given area due to exceptional circumstances or situations outside of their control, in accordance with the trust’s standard practice. ● The full details of the consultation and additional guidelines that will be implemented from May 1 can be found on the ‘completed consultations’ page of the Canal & River Trust’s website at www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

Digging deep for a new excavator FOUR members of staff from the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) head office successfully completed their quadrathlon along the Grand Union Canal raising more than £12,700 towards the cost of a new excavator for IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group (WRG).

Toby Gomm, Stephanie Pay, Jenny Black and Gemma Bolton cycled, worked a boat through Marsworth locks with the support of IWA Chiltern Branch and ran and canoed the 50 mile stretch from Harefield to Wolverton as part of the Acheman Challenge.

Despite some chain problems and running pains, the team successfully completed the challenge in under 11 hours and enjoyed a warm welcome from IWA Milton Keynes Branch at the finish line, along with a free meal and a drink in the Galleon Pub. The team was also presented with a surprise Acheman

Challenge cake by branch chairman, Peter Caswell.

Thanks go to their support crew, especially Stefanie Preston for being the event co-ordinator on the day; David Padfield for cycling alongside the team; Norman Gomm; Lorna Gomm; Rebecca Emerton; Adam Morris; Katharine Thivessen; Rita Pay and Geoffrey Pay. Also everyone who sponsored them and assisted with the logistics, planning and support along the route.

They included: David King; Chris and Judy Clegg for the use of their boat and refreshments; Peter Caswell; IWA Milton Keynes Branch; IWA Chiltern Branch; Canal & River Trust; The Coy Carp in Harefield; The Three Horseshoes in Hemel Hempstead; The Grove The Acheman Challenge team ready for the second lock of Lock in Leighton Buzzard; The Black Horse; Camphill cycling at Marsworth. Pictured from left are: Jenny Black, Café; The New Inn in Milton Keynes; The Galleon Pub Stephanie Pay, Toby Gomm and Gemma Bolton. in Wolverton and Paddlesport Racers Association.

Photo: John Brice

Well-known London coal boater jailed for child’s rape

By Polly Player

THE boating community has been rocked by the news coal boater James Bill, who operated historic narrowboat and butty Ara and Archimedes in the London area, has been jailed for the “predatory” rape of a child.

The attack took place on June 30, 2013, while Bill, 29, was at the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally, and occurred after he befriended a young mother and her daughter who

were spectators at the event. Later, Bill and the child victim, whose precise age is not known but who is known to have been under the age of 13 at the time of the offence, went for a walk in nearby fields, where Bill then raped her.

Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Eley told Northampton Crown Court that the assault came to light after the child confided in one of her school friends in the weeks following the assault, which led to an investigation by

Northamptonshire Police. A DNA analysis on the girl’s clothing resulted in a positive match to Bill, leading to his being charged with Rape of a Child Under 13.

The court was told that during police questioning Bill gave a “no comment” answer to all questions. However, after the case was sent to Northampton Crown Court by Northampton magistrates, Bill pleaded guilty to the offence.

The case was heard by Judge Rupert Mayo on March 21 and Bill was subsequently sentenced to seven years and three months’ imprisonment with an added three years and nine months to possibly be served under licence.

In his closing comments, Judge Mayo told Bill: “This was a gross mistrust against this girl. You are dangerous and pose a significant risk of serious harm to children. I would describe this attack as predatory.”

IN BRIEF New MD for BWML NEW managing director of BWML is

Jeff Whyatt who takes over with effect from April 28. The appointment arises from the imminent retirement of Derek Newton. Jeff joined British Waterways eight years ago as general manager for the South East region and has continued to be involved with the South East throughout. He has also represented CRT on the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities and played a major role in establishing the Navigation Advisory Group. He joined the waterways from Marks & Spencer and previously worked for other blue chip companies.

Too many passengers

A NORTH Yorkshire boat cruising company has been ordered to pay £3600 for exceeding passenger numbers on its trip boats, writes Geoff Wood. During the case brought by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Skipton Magistrates Court heard that Pennine Cruisers of Skipton was spotted on two occasions with an extra passenger on board its 12-person boats. The company was fined £500 for each offence and ordered to pay costs of £2500 and a victim’s surcharge of £100.

Haven award THE Haven Academy Award for 2014

has been awarded to Sail 4 Cancer.

One of three boating projects on the shortlist, the charity that helps children recovering from cancer received 85% of the online public vote.

Sail 4 Cancer will be partnered by boat insurance specialists Haven Knox-Johnston to help its cause throughout the year up to a value of £5000.

Waterside homes

WORK has started on the first phase of new affordable homes on the Chesterfield Waterside development.

The £340 million scheme will create 30,000sq m of commercial space and 1500 homes. Work on the canal link is expected to start in the autumn.

New trust A LINCOLNSHIRE Rivers Trust has

been formed to conserve, protect, rehabilitate and improve the landscape and network of rivers and watercourses in the county. www.lincsrivers.co.uk

Lock reopening

THE Wey & Arun Canal Trust tells us that the opening of Southland Lock is scheduled for Saturday, June 21. The trust is now hard at work raising funds to restore the next lock at Gennets Bridge.

4 NEWS

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Reunion celebrates 40th anniversary of Titford Canal reopening

By Harry Arnold

Coun Linda Horton cuts the anniversary cake.

THE first of this year’s canal restoration anniversary events was held by the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society (BCNS) on Saturday, March 22, to celebrate 40 years since the reopening of the Titford Canal.

It was based at the historic Titford Pump House – now the headquarters of the BCNS – which originally back-pumped water up the six Oldbury Locks to keep the level up in Titford Pools at the head of this short but important branch of the BCN; now spanned on a viaduct by the M5 motorway.

The day commemorated not only the original 1974 reopening rally but also attempts to navigate the Titford Canal in 1971 and 1972 and work

parties on the locks in 1973-74. Many of the 50 invited guests, including myself, were at the original rally and involved in the reopening work.

Restoration was made possible by Warley Council (now Sandwell Council) working with the BCNS and British Waterways (BW). The current Mayor of Sandwell Coun Linda Horton and her consort Coun Roger Horton were the principal guests along with Canal & River Trust (CRT) chief executive Richard Parry, as the present-day successor to David McCance who was BW general manager at the original opening.

Both Coun Horton and Richard Parry congratulated the BCNS on its original efforts to restore the canal and its continuing volunteer work, now in co-operation with CRT, on this canal and the rest of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Coun Horton also cut a specially made 40th anniversary cake.

One of the most interesting features of the day was a presentation of now historic photographs of the restoration work and the 1974 rally.

Those who were there over 40 years ago were able to provide reminiscences, and these also included features of the canal that have since disappeared.

Guests – in two groups – were then taken on a cruise up to Titford Pools on the passenger boat Aaron Manby – now known as the Slow Boat – which is leased as part of a project by the Ikon Youth Project for the next three years.

Altogether a great day, enjoyed by all, and a credit to BCNS and its past and present campaigning.

BCNS chairman Brenda Ward, Richard Parry and the Mayor of Sandwell Coun Linda Horton at the Titford Canal celebration.

One of the 1974 photographs shown to guests which illustrates the cottage and range of buildings which once stood opposite the Pump House.

The Slow Boat Aaron Manby takes guests for a cruise to Titford Pools.

Canal reopening launches bicentenary celebrations THE reopening of the Grand Western Canal following the disastrous breach in 2012 was a fitting launch pad for this year’s bicentenary celebrations.

Around 100 canal supporters, local residents and local primary schoolchildren watched a ribbon cutting ceremony beside Swing

Bridge at the western end of the repaired embankment.

Devon County Council chairman Coun Bernard Hughes cut the ribbon on board 40ft narrowboat Jennifer with its owner, Halberton Parish Council chairman Coun Ken Browse.

Coun Hughes is also a great

waterways enthusiast, owning a 60ft narrowboat Ein Cariad on the Trent & Mersey Canal and having worked on many WRG camps and IWA festivals in the past.

Seven boats and their owners also provided a flotilla which cruised across the repaired section and back.

Devon County Council chairman Coun Bernard Hughes cuts the ribbon with Halberton Parish Council chairman Coun Ken Browse watched by canal The assembled dignitaries including senior Devon supporters and local primary schoolchildren.

County, Mid Devon District and Tiverton Town councillors PHOTOS COURTESY DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL and local MP Neil Parish.

The civic party leads the flotilla along the repaired section of the canal.

NEWS 5

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All of a flutter at Stoke Bruerne

By Steve Dean

A BT Openreach engineer cuts the telephone wire that prevented the mast from being lowered.

PHOTOS: STEVE DEAN

ASK any of the residents of the pretty canalside village of Stoke Bruerne the last time that they can remember seeing a flag flying on the flagpole adjacent to the top lock and you’re likely to be greeted with a shrug of the shoulders.

A little delving into local history would indicate that the last time anything was raised aloft was April 1, 1991. However on that occasion it wasn’t a flag that produced admiring glances but a large pair of ladies bloomers adorned with the letters BW. Long before this time a local resident, the late Colonel Ritchie, took great exception to

Under the supervision of John Highmore, CRT volunteer coordinator, second left, the Stoke Bruerne volunteers prepare to raise aloft the Union Flag.

the BW flag being flown from the mast. He was an IWA member and this was back in the days when the IWA frequently found itself at loggerheads with British Waterways. Also during this period the local lads found it amusing to regularly cut the halyards on the mast.

In the intervening years not only has time moved on but so has technology and the imposition of a telephone cable across the lock prevented the hinged pole from being lowered ever again. The passing of time has also seen the transition of British Waterways into the Canal & River Trust and a new era of volunteering.

The formation in early 2013 of a new volunteer group, led by local historian and writer David Blagrove, started to deal with a myriad of tasks and it wasn’t long before the flagpole became the subject of much discussion.

This coincided with the arrival of a new resident, Kathryn Dodington, at the canalside cottages. Kathryn became a member of the Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership and also joined the volunteer group.

On hearing of an initiative by BT Openreach to provide corporate assistance for small communities, Kathryn made contact to enquire of the possibility of having the offending cable repositioned.

Following many conversations, which included discussions with CRT as relocation of the cable would mean a short restriction on navigation, a date was finally agreed for the work to be carried out on April 2.

Volunteer lock keepers sought for riVerthames

By Harry Arnold

THE Environment Agency (EA) is again recruiting volunteers to help at River Thames locks.

Working as part of a team led by professional lock and weir keepers, volunteers will have the opportunity to spend their days outdoors, helping boaters and gaining real hands-on experience of operating the locks.

EA waterways operations manager Andrew Graham said: “This will be the fourth year we have invited volunteers to help

us manage and operate our locks along the Thames. Last year more than 70 new volunteers joined us taking our total to more than 200 active people. This year we are looking for more to join our team. For some, this will be their fourth year.

“As well as helping boats to pass through the lock, volunteers can use what they know about the Thames and its surroundings to help us to inform visitors. While many of our volunteers live in

communities local to the river, we are happy to accept applications from people who live a little further away.

“Enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and a helpful nature are the main attributes we are looking for in our volunteers.”

Training will be provided for all successful candidates, as well as a selection of branded uniforms. The EA will also provide the best opportunities for volunteers to increase their knowledge of the River Thames.

Biggest online sale of waterways memorabilia

Overnight mooring charge dropped at Reedham Quay

THE Canal & River Trust is teaming up with eBay from May 19 until June 1 for the biggest ever online sale of waterways memorabilia.

More than 100 novel and quirky canal items feature 30 limited edition prints of a 1906 section of the Grand Junction Canal (the motorway of its day and later to become the Grand Union Canal) showing distances of towns and picture postcard canal villages between Nottingham and London.

Other items include redundant British Waterways signs, no swimming signs and signs urging boaters to ‘beware of oncoming traffic’. Each will make an unusual and original gift.

CRT head of heritage Nigel Crowe said: “Each penny the auction raises will be used to support our work to care for and safeguard the nation’s 2000 mile network.”

The memorabilia came to light when a trawl to identify important canal artefacts and documents hidden away in the trust’s yards also turned up items which may be of interest to canal lovers and those with an interest in the nation’s industrial heritage.

The listing will be available at www.ebay.co.uk/CanalSale

PLANS to charge a nominal fee for overnight moorings at Reedham Quay have been dropped by the Broads Authority in response to the concerns of local businesses.

The authority and Broadland District Council, which owns the quay, were planning to introduce a £3 charge for mooring overnight at the quay to help pay for ranger services under the terms of a new lease. Mooring during the day would have remained free.

Local businesses were concerned the fee would deter boaters mooring overnight there. At a recent Broads Authority Parish Forum in the village members and officers listened to the views of residents and in the light of this decided not to go ahead with the proposals.

John Packman, chief executive of the Broads Authority, said: “We are very conscious of how important tourism in the Broads is to the local economy and that the hire boat industry is in a fragile state.

“The financial contribution from the proposed mooring fees to the cost of providing a ranger at this site would have been relatively modest and having heard the views of local residents the authority has decided to retain the existing arrangements at the quay.”

A ranger has been employed at Reedham Quay for 30 years to safeguard boaters mooring at a particularly tidal stretch of river close to the railway swing bridge. A ranger is now on duty for the summer season to welcome boaters, help them moor, and assist with information at the quay.

Stoke Bruerne in all its glory with the museum refurbished and a flag flying once again.

Momentous occasion

At 9am engineers from BT arrived. They were joined by the volunteer group who under the supervision of John Highmore (CRT volunteer coordinator) ensured the safety of boaters, early morning walkers and visitors to this popular location. In the preceding weeks, preparation had ensured that the hinge pin and holding-down bolts were free and a new cleat and halyard had been acquired.

With the task carried out it was time to raise a glass in celebration of this momentous occasion and to raise the first flag in over 20 years. Much banter ensued as to whether it should be a Jolly Roger, a large pair of ladies undergarments or even a CRT flag. As John Highmore eloquently stated, the canal network is an asset to

the community and therefore it is entirely appropriate that it should be the Union Flag that heralds the return to use of this long dormant pole.

He went on to say: “The unique nature of the pole, with its lightweight glass fibre construction and hinged base enabled the work to be carried out with minimal safety implications.

“We are indebted to the volunteer group and assistance of BT Openreach for all their help in bringing this project to a wonderful conclusion”.

Next time you visit or cruise through Stoke Bruerne and there is a flag fluttering from the mast you too may care to raise your own glass (or even a cup of tea) in celebration and acknowledge what can be achieved by a group of volunteers with a little corporate help.

IN BRIEF Sheep rescue

TWO boaters helped firefighters to rescue sheep from the Aire & Calder Navigation, writes Geoff Wood. The animals fell into the water, near Goole, after being frightened by an Alsatian dog.

But Mike Gelson and his dad Brian were soon in action helping to fish them out with Humberside Fire and Rescue.

Mike, 43, from Hull, said: “Two years ago I saved a deer from the canal and before that I helped a man get out safely but it was a struggle with the sheep. They were very heavy and the fire service had to wrap hoses around to get them on to the banking.”

Safety conference

A TOP level conference was convened in York to discuss river safety, writes Geoff Wood.

Statistics have shown that there have been 25 river deaths in the last 15 years and many more incidents on the River Ouse. City council representatives, university officials and delegates from student unions, emergency services and voluntary groups debated the problems. Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Recent tragedies have called the issue into sharp focus.”

Wrong number

THE Middle Level Commissioners have asked us to point out that their telephone number is 01354 653232, not as published in last month’s review of their Navigation Notes. We are happy to set the record straight.

6 NEWS

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Changes to qualifying criteria for 2014 RCR A NEW slipway at Hubberts Bridge on Cruising Challenge trophy the Black Sluice Navigation in south Lincolnshire was due to be

IN BRIEF Sluice slipway

completed in time for the start of the boating season at Easter. The 3.7m slipway will be the first access point for small craft upstream of the Black Sluice lock which allows access into the navigation from the tidal Boston Haven. Access is alongside the Wheatsheaf pub off the B1192 where a coin-operated pump-out facility and waterpoint will be added to the adjacent mooring. This is a further step towards the Fen Waterways Link.

Skipton tops poll

NEATLY painted canal boats and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal running through the town are two of the assets which helped Skipton win the title of the best place to live in Britain, writes Geoff Wood. The North Yorkshire town, according to The Sunday Times survey, also has a flourishing street market, medieval castle, cobbled streets and top schools. Dave Wathen, chairman of the Skipton Business Improvement District said: “To describe Skipton as a hidden gem would not do it justice as thousands of visitors have discovered it already.”

Online vote

IN OUR latest online poll at www.towpathtalk.co.uk we asked readers if the cost of holidays in peak periods would make them consider taking their children out of school in term time. A resounding 75% said they would while a further 4% would consider it. Just 21% said no. This month we are asking if you have or are considering attending a Canal & River Trust open boaters’ meeting.

INTREPID travellers keen to win the 2014 River Canal Rescue Cruising Challenge trophy (recognising the most enterprising non-continuous journey) can log journeys undertaken since the last Inland Waterway Association Festival rather than wait until the usual ‘beginning of year’ qualifying period.

RCR and the IWA have given entrants more time to log journeys to encourage greater exploration of the UK waterway system, particularly useful as participants receive additional points if they visit lesser-used waterways and reach distant end-of-navigations and inland tidal sections.

Anyone attending the Saul Waterways Pageant (August 23-25), and submitting their log in person, with or without boat, is eligible to enter. In the past, only those turning up with their craft could apply.

RCR managing director Stephanie Horton said: “In previous years the timescales have been limited, making the more inaccessible parts of the system difficult to visit.

By extending the qualifying period from last year’s festival to this new event, we’re providing entrants with greater flexibility when it comes to route planning and we’re opening the competition up to a wider audience.”

The only restriction for the RCR Cruising Challenge Trophy is that no section of canal or river may be counted more than once in the same direction in the same calendar month. Entrants are required to supply a full cruising log at the 2014 Waterways Pageant, showing miles and locks, which must be supported with evidence (photographic or otherwise) of reaching key destinations during the cruise.

Judges will consider the log presentation and the overall cruise content, rather than the longest journey.

The qualifying period for the other two RCR-sponsored trophies; the Robert Aickman Challenge (most enterprising journey) and AP Herbert (longest journey) remains around eight weeks before the summer event and boat travel is required when submitting logs. RCR will continue to give away a year’s free gold, silver and bronze memberships to the three trophy winners.

Joint restoration initiative unveiled

By Harry Arnold

THE Junction Inn at Norbury Junction proved a popular venue for the latest Northern Canals Association meeting with no less than 53 delegates attending.

It was also most appropriate, as it is where host society The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust’s (S&NCT) waterway meets the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal.

An interesting presentation by S&NCT opened the proceedings with a tour of places along the canal – a proportion of which is filled in and some features destroyed – where work is going on and real progress is being made; particularly the establishment of a ‘headquarters’ at the Wappenshall Junction warehouse complex and the recent £1 million Heritage Lottery Fund Grant towards this.

The Canal & River Trust’s

(CRT) senior ecologist Stuart Moodie, who has worked for many years on the Montgomery Canal, gave a very good presentation on mitigation and waterway restoration, using that waterway as an example of some of the problems that other groups may have to face: This is a canal and a subject that I am more than a little familiar with and can endorse Stuart’s conclusions.

Perhaps the most informative presentation about the future came from CRT Midlands Enterprise & Restoration Team manager Jason Leach who gave a briefing (only previously given to the waterways press) about how the CRT is going to assist with and help to co-ordinate restoration projects in a joint initiative with the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), which has also been partly funded by the latter.

New staff

● To find out more, contact awards organiser Paul Chilvers on 07774 164413.

Downloadable entry forms are available from the IWA website at www.waterways.org.uk and information on River Canal Rescue is at www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk Meretown Lock after the closure of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal in December 1965.

This will build on the success of existing restoration projects and one of the first steps has been to employ two staff members at CRT Fazeley – restoration coordinator Julia Tinker and restoration assistant Kate Langley – to work with voluntary groups on the scheme. They were at the meeting and were introduced to delegates.

Currently they are gathering information and correct contact details for all the groups involved – something of a task in itself – and a National Canal & River Restoration Group has been set up on the professional networking website Linked-in

Northern Canal delegates are shown recent excavation work by WRG at Meretown Lock.

CRT Restoration co-ordinator Julia Tinker and restoration assistant Kate Langley.

PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES

via which any such group or individual can be represented and in touch. Eventually there will be web pages giving access to things like the Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) technical information and the IWA’s Restoration Handbook.

There will be a first Restoration Workshop in Birmingham on May 10 where new reports by Northampton University on the economic benefits of the reopened Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale canals will be launched. There will also be one on the Cotswold Canals and an updated version of the previous Droitwich Canal economic benefit report. Training days on various aspects of waterway restoration are planned, with the current aim of holding three a year.

Following questions and lunch, delegates were taken on a visit to sites on the lock flight between Norbury Junction and Newport by S&NCT representatives, where their own volunteers were working and there had been recent visiting work parties from WRG such as Forton and Meretown Lock. The filled-in chamber of this lock has been partly excavated. After the site visits, there was a return to Norbury for reports from the various societies.

Once again this Northern Canal Association gathering proved its popularity and its use as a practical forum, a place to network and disseminate information, to make contacts and to meet friends old and new.

A bonus for me was I was able to see at last some progress on the first restoration project in the Midlands that I was involved in during the 1960s and to enjoy again the hospitality of what was for some years my local pub.

Reducing the risk of boat crime in Lincolnshire LINCOLNSHIRE’S canals and rivers should be a safer place thanks to a new Waterway Watch scheme which is being rolled out across the county to replace the former Boat Watch.

Aimed at protecting boat and equipment, providing crime reduction advice and acting upon information received, it also benefits from a two-way messaging system between members and the police.

After consultation with the Environment Agency, Canal & River Trust and Inland Waterways Association, members can now receive a pack which gives information based on using our waterways safely and securely.

This includes a Boat Passport on which to record important details of your boat and equipment, security marker pen and stickers, an A-Z of boat language and IWA route map.

Community safety officer Gill Finn said: “It has been a pleasure to work with related organisations on how we can give the best information to our

members and ensuring that those members can report information easily to their local police.”

The new Waterway Watch incorporates the Lincolnshire Police Op Kraken initiative which looks at security on our waterways and encourages members to report suspicious incidences that may lead to a breach of security or illegal activity.

The message is Think BUOY: Be alert, Understand your environment, Observe what is going on around you and if You see it, please report it.

If you would like to register for alerts and receive an information pack please register your details at www.lincsalert.co.uk or ring the community safety administrator on 101 to request an application form.

If you are an existing Boat Watch member, you do not need to register again for Waterway Watch as your details have been incorporated into the new scheme.

RYA SPOTLIGHT 7

www.towpathtalk.co.uk The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the national body for all forms of boating, including dinghy and yacht racing, motor and sail cruising, RIBs and sports boats, powerboat racing, windsurfing, inland cruising and narrowboats and personal watercraft.

Life jackets on the inland waterways

RYA recommends wearing life jackets during lock and tunnel operations.

Not a common sight on the inland waterways – everyone is wearing a life jacket. PHOTOS: RYA

IF YOU happen to see a Castaway Canal Boats handover taking place on the Kennet & Avon near Bath you will probably notice one thing above all else.

It’s a sight traditionally rarely seen around our inland waterways – everyone will be wearing life jackets.

Unlike in coastal environments, where not seeing a life jacket is highly unusual nowadays, buoyancy aids have never been part of inland waterways culture.

Yet among people who work on our rivers and canals, and at RYA Training Centres where life jackets are now compulsory, buoyancy is slowly creeping into people’s consciousness. Increasing numbers of hire companies, including Castaway, are also cottoning on to the fact that wearing life jackets in certain situations around inland waterways perhaps shouldn’t be as alien a concept as it always has been.

The reasoning for not wearing life jackets on the waterways is well worn – that waterways are generally shallow and someone falling in can either walk or swim to the side, and life jackets are traditionally bulky and unflattering.

However, as Ali Selby-Nicholls, chief instructor at Castaway Canal Boats and RYA Inland Waterways trainer, explains, when people hear the pros to donning buoyancy they often realise the cons are outweighed and reach for a life jacket.

“Popular opinion is that on average canals are about 4ft deep, but often that’s just the shallowest parts, and even then you have no idea about what debris or depth of mud there is that you can get caught up in beneath the surface. We do see that happen. Many children also wouldn’t be able to stand up in 4ft of water.

“At locks there are 40,000 gallons of water gushing through a very small area and it’s an incredibly unstable and risky environment.”

Cold water shock is also a real danger in water below 15°C. The sudden exposure of the head and body to cold water can cause a number of involuntary reactions, such as sudden increase in heart and blood pressure that may result in cardiac arrest, even for people in good health.

Due to an involuntary gasping reflex, cold water shock causes you to inhale as you go under the water; the effects drastically reduce your ability to hold your breath underwater, from a minute or so to less than 10 seconds.

Ali continues: “If a person suffers cold water shock or has sustained a head injury and lost consciousness falling into the water, they aren’t going to be able to swim or walk anywhere. In all these scenarios a life jacket would help someone stay upright, keep their head out of the water and buy some extra time in rescuing them.”

The latest RYA guidelines suggest two situations during which people should certainly consider wearing life jackets: ● Transferring to and from the bank ● During lock and tunnel operations.

The perfect scenario would be for life jackets to become as commonplace as on coastal waters although the RYA concedes that is some way off.

What the RYA is hoping is that as more and more canal and river-based professionals, lockkeepers and hire companies start to recognise the value of wearing life jackets, their increased visibility around the waterways will remove the ‘shock’ factor and life jackets will gradually start to be embraced as the norm.

Couple that with the fact people will start to realise life jackets are no longer the huge, bright orange abominations so readily ridiculed for years – there is actually a wide and diverse range of buoyancy aids that are comfortable, come in many different colours and promote manoeuvrability – and we may slowly start to witness a culture shift.

As Ali concludes: “People don’t need life jackets with lights, whistles, face masks, crotch straps or anything like that, just a simple specification, good quality buoyancy aid that doesn’t have to be expensive. We’re not looking to go offshore racing!

“For me, getting more hire companies on board will be a big step in influencing others to wear life jackets more often. The only way we are going to change a culture is by others leading by example. The early signs have been very encouraging, but there is a lot of work still to be done.”

Want an idea of what life jackets are on the market?

Spinlock Deckvest LITE (RRP £139.94 inc VAT) – an ultra lightweight, low profile design life jacket. It features automatic inflation but easily converts to ‘manual only’ firing with a manual conversion kit. Available in five colours.

Baltic Winner (RRP from £62.95 depending on spec inc VAT) – a comfortable and stylish inflatable life jacket with automatic or manual inflation. It has a longer lasting zip instead of Velcro closure and is available in various colours.

Crewsaver Crewfit 150N (RRP from £99.95 depending on spec inc VAT) – a compact and comfortable everyday use life jacket. Available in red or navy, fitted with UML MK5 standard automatic, Hammar hydrostatic or manual firing mechanisms.

8 NETWORKING

SOCIETY NEWS Ashby anniversary

PLANNING is under way for Ashby Canal Association’s 50th anniversary in 2016. The group was formed in 1966 to try to prevent further canal closures and still aims to ensure that the Ashby Canal is restored to Moira, the stretch from Donisthorpe having closed due to mining subsidence in 1944. UK Coal’s Minorca surface mine was due to make the third of five payments of £250,000 towards the restoration to Leicestershire County Council in April.

Feet of clay A JUMBLE sale raised nearly £400

for the IWA Lichfield branch and the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. Held in March at the Peace Memorial Hall in Penkridge, the event also saw the branch present £500 to L&HCRT from the proceeds of its other fundraising activities. The money will go towards the trust’s Feet of Clay Appeal, which is raising funds to clay line and rewater another section of the Lichfield Canal.

Themed cruises

A VARIETY of themed cruises are planned on board the Basingstoke Canal Society’s trip boat John Pinkerton II this summer. These will include pirate fancy dress, jazz and ale specials, acoustic and ale, cream tea and cruise with the blues, as well as a special cruise to view the Farnborough Air Show flying display from the towpath. Download the brochure from www.basingstokecanal.org.uk/jp (Basingstoke Canal News, Spring 2014)

Jubilee rally

THE Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs, Midlands region, is holding a Golden Jubilee Rally at the Black Buoy Cruising Club, Bridge 69 on the Grand Union Canal at Knowle, from July 11-13.

There will be entertainment, craft stalls and a floating market. For an entry form and further details visit either www.awcc.org.uk or www.blackbuoy.org.uk

Foxton camping

THE Canal & River Trust is seeking planning permission for a campsite close to the Foxton Locks in Leicestershire. If granted, it is hoped that the site just off the Gumley Road will be up and running for the peak summer season. Booking details at www.goleicestershire.com (Plane Informer, Winter 2014)

Digging for stamps

REMEMBER Green Shield stamps?

Forty years ago, the Waterways Recovery Group appealed for 2500 books to buy a Smalley Excavator, later used by the Shropshire Union Canal Society (Shroppie Fly Paper, Spring 2014). Wonder how many books it would have taken to buy the excavator WRG is currently raising funds for.

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Volunteers clean up canal in Retford A LITTER pick with a difference took place recently on the Chesterfield Canal in Retford.

Blessed by warm spring sunshine, some 20 members of the Chesterfield Canal Trust, the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, the Inland Waterways Association and the Canal & River Trust joined forces with Peter Hardy, CCT trustee, leading the assault.

Armed with boat-hooks, scoops, rakes, long-handled grippers and other implements, the enthusiasts stormed into action, the main attack on the litter being mounted from the decks of CCT’s Retford-based tripboat Seth Ellis.

After five hours of hooking and scooping, 47 black bags had been

filled to bursting with vast numbers of plastic bottles and metal cans, all of which had been floating on the margins of the waterway.

A small towpath party meanwhile combed the verges for more litter and collected a further nine bags.

The Canal & River Trust team had provided a disposal facility at Whitsunday Pie lock and it was most gratifying to see the pile of bags as they were stacked for onward transmission to a recycling facility.

Thanks are due to the Hop Pole pub for car parking and toilet facilities and the Canal & River Trust which loaned some of the equipment. Most of all, great credit is due to the volunteers

Part of the litter picking force on board Seth Ellis. PHOTO: CHESTERFIELD CANAL TRUST gave their time. It was good to have such a large team working smoothly together.

This is one of several recent clean ups

on the canal. The Retford Civic Society had held one a couple of weeks before and the Canal & River Trust had one in Worksop recently.

Freight operators support flood appeal THE Commercial Boat Operators Association recently presented Canal & River Trust chief executive Richard Parry with a cheque for £250 towards the trust’s National Flood Appeal.

CBOA chairman David Lowe said the donation recognised the excellent relationship between the trust and the association.

“Although some of the waterways most affected are not used by CBOA members, we recognise that repair work will inevitably draw funding away from work that does affect our members such as vegetation management, dredging, lock repairs etc.”

David said that they were also grateful that stoppages for new lock gates at Sprotbrough and Aldwarke Locks on the South Yorkshire Navigation were

done at the same time and not in different years.

“Disruption to barge traffic is never good news and two years of stoppages would have been bad news. We also recognise progress made towards minimising the effect of stoppages on our retail coal and fuel operator members.”

He also praised the CRT for the swift removal of fallen trees recently and its general tree cutting programme this winter.

“Overhanging vegetation especially impacts on our members operating on the smaller canals of the Midlands where tree obstruction has been getting worse, especially on bends where the length of our members’ boats means they need full width.”

Children explore canals thanks to lottery cash A SUCCESSFUL series of canal-based activities at the Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre recently attracted children from as far away as Swindon and Weston-super-Mare.

The activities were organised by the museum and the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, and were funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund Sharing Heritage grant.

Activities such as making model narrowboats, tying knotted key rings, painting canalware and taking part in a mini archaeological dig were all planned to help children have fun, while learning more about their local heritage, especially the role of Wilts & Berks Canal in Chippenham.

The three days proved incredibly popular, with over 120 children and 75 adults attending the event, organised to commemorate 100 years since the abandonment of the canal.

WBCT volunteer Val Melville said: “We are now looking forward to our Heritage Open Days on June 20 and 21, when local schools and the community are invited to visit Pewsham Locks to experience storytellers in period costumes, traditional music, craft demonstrations and workshops.”

Yvette Askey of J P Marine and branch chairman Brian Phillips in front of one of the windows undergoing repair. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Historic boatyard gets window boost THE Inland Waterways Association (IWA) Chester & Merseyside branch members have donated £1100 for the repair and refurbishment of the old windows in the historic Blacksmith’s Shop at Taylor’s Yard in Chester basin.

Part of the Inland Port of Chester, next to the area known as Tower Wharf, this wharf was the confluence of the Chester Canal and the River Dee which came right up to the wharf at that time.

The canal companies merged in 1845, becoming the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company, and the boat yard was established to service the boats. The yard consisted of a blacksmith’s shop, sawmill, offices, a dry dock and slipways. In the late 1800s these were followed by a travelling crane, flat shed, carpenter’s and painter’s shop and a canopy for the dry dock.

In 1926 J H Taylor leased the slipways and dry dock for his own boat building company and by the 1930s he had taken over all the buildings that are now known as Taylor’s Boatyard. The business continued well into the 1970s.

Following a long period of decline, in 2010 Pete and Yvette Askey of J P Marine leased the yard from the Canal & River Trust and have reinvigorated the boat building and repairs side of the business. They have also taken on the gradual refurbishment of some of the Grade II listed buildings, and the blacksmith’s shop is the latest to benefit.

The fragile windows were carefully removed and taken to a specialist to repair, repaint and reglaze them.

This is the second donation made by IWA Chester & Merseyside Branch, as it also paid for the removal of a large oak tree that had grown up in the centre of the yard and needed specialist removal. The wood was then sawn into planks and will be used in traditional boat repairs.

Charity evening at Bridgewater Motor Boat Club Lots of concentration required to paint a wooden spoon in canalware style.

PHOTO:WBCT

● For further information on the Canal Trust activities, email Kath Hatton at kath.hatton@wbct.org.uk

THE Bridgewater Motor Boat Club recently held a fun charity evening which netted £1000 for the Widnes and Runcorn Cancer Support Centre.

There are various groups working within the centre such as the Bosom Buddies support group, a

Hugs group and a GOG’s Club (Grumpy Old Gentlemen’s Club) as well as a counselling and listening service.

Members raised the money with raffles, games, bingo and by selling refreshments during the evening.

Providing pitstops for thirsty runners BOATERS are being sought to provide a refreshment service for runners in the annual half marathon along the Birmingham Canal Main Line on the first Saturday of July.

This year’s event takes place on July 5 and it is hoped to provide a boat every mile between Wolverhampton and Birmingham to hand out water to runners as they pass. Historic and working boats are especially welcomed.

Water containers and disposable cups

and a bench plus rubbish sacks are provided by arrangement the day before and boats have to be in position from about 10am to 4pm.

A crew of two or more is ideal as it is hectic work for a few hours handing out water or diluted energy drink and collecting up the cups. A fee is paid.

If you might or could be in the area at the time and are interested please contact Stuart Steele of Stuweb Race Timing at stuart@stuweb.co.uk

Eyes down as members help to raise £1000 for charity. PHOTO: FRANK HURST

COMMUNITY BOATING 9

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A bold vision for community boating

In the first of a series of articles about community boating, National Community Boats Association chairman Derek Stansfield tells us what makes the organisation tick THE National Community Boats Association (NCBA) is an umbrella organisation supporting and representing inland waterway community boating organisations.

Its vision is a network of well-resourced, wellmanaged community boating organisations that promote access to UK waterways, as well as promoting the safe use of community boats as a resource for the benefit of disadvantaged and excluded groups in ways that promote social cohesion, protect the environment and support economic regeneration.

Community boating organisations provide access to services on the UK’s waterways for the benefit of their local community. They often work with youth and other community-based groups or individuals and may provide specific services for disabled, disadvantaged or otherwise excluded people in our society, such as those on low incomes or from minority groups.

The NCBA started out as The Community Boats Association, and was formed in 1985 by five small community boating organisations working in the Coventry area. This expanded over time to become a national waterways’ charity comprising a network of member organisations and individuals.

These provide access to the UK and European inland waterways for a wide range of community groups, including schools, hospitals, communitycare centres and homes, youth clubs, hostels and dependency units. It became the NCBA during the period it was seeking National Lottery funding in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

At the time the aim was to promote social inclusion and the use of the inland waterways for those currently excluded. These aims were to be achieved by: ● Bringing disadvantaged people on to the waterways who would not otherwise have access to them. ● Train staff and volunteers to have a better understanding of user needs and expectations. ● Increase the range of educational, cultural and recreational activities both afloat and ashore. ● Improve standards of community boat handling, safety and customer care. ● Bring organisations old and new into contact and partnership with one another for mutual benefit.

These aims have gradually evolved into the current ‘four pillars’ of the NCBA: ● national voice ● training ● quality provision and sustainability ● networking

Standard membership of the NCBA is open to any project or organisation which provides boating experiences for any groups or individuals from the community. This descriptive criterion is deliberately all encompassing so as not to omit any organisation. Members are expected to operate to the MCA Small Passenger Boat Code (SPBC). In addition, projects can become an Accredited Training Centre (ATC), which allows them to deliver any of the suite of qualifications and awards of the NCBA. The flagship award is the Certificate of Community Boat Management (CCBM), which is recognised by the MCA as an appropriate qualification to skipper a community boat of up to 12 passengers.

The NCBA is run by a board of trustees who are elected at the annual general meeting, with each trustee becoming a lead director for a specific area of the NCBA operation. The board sets up sub-committees when and where required, an example being the National Training Committee.

Representatives of the NCBA have been in discussions with the CRT as well as its predecessor British Waterways on a variety of issues, including the hot potato of boat licences, especially for community boats, and continues to debate these issues in a constructive manner as part of the national voice pillar.

Networking is seen as an important element within the NCBA. Annual conferences are held, such as the most recent one at The Forest Arts Centre in Walsall. More recently, the NCBA has embraced social media and has Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as a blog.

A recent survey of members indicated that the main advantages of membership of the NCBA were: ● Access to a progressive quality training and qualifications structure. ● The opportunity to meet other organisations involved with the waterways. ● Access to advice and support on many aspects of community boating. ● A coherent and consistent national voice on behalf of members. ● New members are always welcomed and further information can be obtained from the Administrator, NCBA, Town Hall, Victoria Road, Darlaston, Walsall WS10 8AA. Contact: 08450 510649 mobile: 07789 902956; or email staff@national-cba.co.uk

Skipton & Craven Action for Disability boat Endeavour. PHOTO SUPPLIED

10 VOLUNTEERING

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WORK PARTY ROUNDUP WITH IWA’S STEFANIE PRESTON

IN BRIEF

Mammoth task

FOUR work parties were held by IWA Northampton Branch in February and March amassing a further 130 volunteer hours on the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal. The branch has concentrated on the Far Cotton area of Northampton, litter picking and clearing vegetation. There was so much rubbish from Lock 16 back to Bridge 14 that it took two work parties to complete the task.

Vegetation clearance was also a much bigger job than first thought and included clearance from the narrows back to Lock 17 where the new strimmers bought by the branch were put to good use.

Two-day event clears more than five miles of the Erewash Canal A JOINT effort by IWA Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Branch, Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association (ECP&DA) and the CRT saw more than 50 volunteers carrying out a canal cleanup on the Erewash Canal.

The two-day event left the canal between Cotmanhay and Sandiacre, a length of about 5.5 miles, much improved after litter from the towpath and submerged and floating rubbish from the canal was removed. The CRT supplied a tug and

Service block

MANY volunteer hours have been clocked up by IWA Chester & Merseyside Branch in the Chester Tower Wharf and Dee Branch area to keep it clean and improve facilities for all waterway users.

Tasks included painting lock balance beams and railings at Dee Lock, Graving Lock and Bridge Lock; weeding at Old Port Basin and Bridge Lock, where bulbs were also planted, and clearance of the overgrown area close to Bridge Lock and covering mooring rings at Tower Wharf and Bridge 126. Volunteers also prepared the service block for a new coat of paint which they planned to complete in April.

Volunteers at work on the Erewash Canal. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Tonnes of rubbish cleared from Birmingham canals MORE than 100 volunteers from the Waterway Recovery Group (WRG), IWA, Birmingham Canal Navigations Society, Dudley Canal Trust and the CRT joined forces to carry out a massive canal cleanup on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) over April 5-6.

Using grappling hooks and other tools, volunteers removed more than 40 tonnes from the canal around Ashted Flight, Typhoo Wharf and Camp Hill Locks – filling four skips in the process.

Workboats, provided by the CRT, were also on hand to take away rubbish. It is hoped this annual effort on the BCN will help keep the less well-used parts of the BCN & Black Country network from becoming choked with rubbish and impassable to boats.

The usual assortment of shopping trolleys, bicycles and tyres were pulled out of the canal, along with some more unusual items including three goalposts, a safe and a Lancashire boiler shovel.

Painting progress

AFTER several wet months, dry weather enabled volunteers from IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch to finish painting Lock 63 on the Trent & Mersey Canal. The double locks have a large amount of metal railings so it has taken some time to prepare and paint both the lock gates and all the metalwork. In the afternoon, the volunteers moved on to Lock 64, again a double set, and given the favourable conditions were able to complete the painting of the gates and wooden mooring posts.

New bridge

THE latest development on the River Gipping work parties, run by the River Gipping Trust and supported by IWA Ipswich Branch, is the progress made on the new bridge to go over the bywash at Pipps Ford, which is near completion. It was made from oak grown and cut to size at White House Farm, Great Glemham, where Jason Gathorne-Hardy kindly provided work space.

Rugeley re-badging

SEVENTEEN volunteers replaced British Waterways’ badges with upto-date CRT labels at Leathermill Lane. All the relevant signs and notice boards in Rugeley were cleaned and as many as possible re-badged before the labels ran out.

The volunteers also cleaned round all of the town’s mooring rings and painted out the graffiti at the Brereton end of the Rugeley towpath.

Paving the way

IWA Chelmsford Branch and Essex WRG volunteers completed concreting the path at the south quay at Heybridge Basin, a job that had been started by London WRG in February. Paving slabs were also relaid on the existing pathways around the toilet block as they had subsided over the years.

pan and workboat Bollin to collect rubbish bags left on the towpath by volunteers working up ahead and which enabled volunteers to remove waterborne litter and rubbish from the offside of the canal. As the team passed through each lock, volunteers also cleared debris from the bywashes.

ECP&DA volunteers took the lead on the Friday, when about 30 volunteers, including some IWA members, turned out to clean up between Cotmanhay and Gallows Inn Lock.

On the Friday, a very shiny motorcycle was pulled out of the canal. The police were notified, came to take it away and mentioned that it had been missing for only a week. Also retrieved from the canal was a trophy with the figure of a boxer. A bit of detective work has revealed that it was presented by the Wolverhampton Amateur Boxing Club.

On the Saturday, IWA members formed the majority of the 25 volunteers who turned out for the second day of the cleanup, where the same methods were used to deal with submerged rubbish, waterborne litter and towpath litter between Gallows Inn Lock and Sandiacre Lock.

The usual assortment of shopping trolleys, bicycles and tyres were pulled out of the canal. At one point on the Saturday afternoon, a small group of tenacious volunteers collected some eight bags of rubbish out of just one blocked culvert by Pastures Lock. By the end of Saturday when the rubbish from the workboat had been transferred to the pan, it was pretty much full with all the refuse from the two days’ work.

Rubbish collected on the BCN cleanup. PHOTO:ALISON SMEDLEY

Planting a hedge at Froghall Basin.

PHOTO: BOB LUSCOMBE

Students film volunteers AFTER such a wet winter, volunteers from IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and Caldon & Uttoxeter Canal Trust were greeted with warm sunshine when they returned to Froghall Basin on the Caldon Canal for their annual cleanup of the area.

Media students from Staffordshire University joined the work party to film some of the volunteers at work and to interview them on just what volunteering meant to them and why it is important that volunteers are encouraged to work on the canal network.

Eight volunteers spent the day clearing paths of vegetation along both the towpath and around the basin and cleared a large pile of fly-tipped rubbish. They then turned their hands to hedge planting making the most of the short time left for such activity.

Some 300 hedging plants of various varieties were planted along the towpath from the tunnel entrance back towards the basin itself.

Towpath raised at Hatton Locks with rubble

IWA Warwickshire Branch volunteers at Hatton.

PHOTO: GRETA RUSSELL

WHEN clearing the offside towpath up Hatton Locks, it was noted that one stretch had badly subsided.

So when IWA Warwickshire Branch members took part in a CRT project on Lock 40 on the Wilmcote flight of the southern Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, it became obvious that the large

quantity of rubble accumulated from the dismantling of the side wall could be used to raise the level of the path.

A dozen Warwickshire Branch volunteers met near the Ugly Bridge to unload the hopper containing the rubble. A barrow hoist was erected to aid in raising the rubble from the hold and

FORTHCOMINGWORK PARTY EVENTS Anyone intending to attend one of these events for the first time should contact the organisers beforehand and wear suitable clothing and footwear.

If staying all day take a packed lunch unless other arrangement indicated.

Saturday, May 3

IWA Chester & Merseyside Branch: Monthly work party on the Dee Branch in Chester. 10am to 4pm.

Meet at Telford’s Warehouse car park, Chester CH1 4EZ. Mike Carter 07795 617803, mike.carter@waterways.org.uk IWA West Country Branch: Collecting litter and debris on both sides of the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal starting between Bridges 6 and 7 and working in both directions. Meet at 10am next to Canal Cottage on Old Taunton Road, Bridgwater. Parking on both the Old and New Taunton Road. Mike Slade 07977 263840.

Monday, May 5, and Wednesday, May 7

IWA Warwickshire Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Hatton, Grand Union Canal. Meet at CRT maintenance yard, Hatton Locks, Birmingham Road, Warwick CV35 7JL. 10am to approx 3pm. info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk

Every Wednesday

River Gipping Trust supported by IWA Ipswich Branch: Pipps Ford (Needham Market, Ipswich, Suffolk IP6 8LJ) or Baylham Mill Lock (Mill Lane, Ipswich, Suffolk IP6 8LG) River Gipping. Meet at 9am to continue clearing storm damage to Pipps Ford or carry out maintenance at Baylham Mill Lock, finish at 3.30-4pm. Martin Bird 01394 380765, restoration@rivergippingtrust.org.uk

Thursday, May 8

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Monthly work party on the Caldon Canal at Hazelhurst Locks.

Meet at the far end of the car park at The Hollybush Inn, Denford Road, Denford, near Leek, Staffordshire ST13 7JT. 10am to 3pm. Bob Luscombe on 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

Saturday/Sunday, May 10-11

Worcester Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society supported by IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire Branch: Monthly work party weekend at Tardebigge Lime Kilns. 10am to 3pm each day. Meet at Canal & River Trust depot at Tardebigge, Worcester & Birmingham Canal (New Wharf, Alcester Road, Tardebigge, Bromsgrove B60 1NF). Bill Lambert w.lambert@ntlworld.com

Tuesday, May 13

IWA Northampton Branch: Monthly work party on the Northampton Arm. Geoff Wood, Geoff.wood@waterways.org

Wednesday, May 14

IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire Branch: Monthly work party on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. 10am to 3pm. Meeting place to be confirmed but will be in the Kidderminster area.

David Struckett 07976 746225, david.struckett@waterways.org.uk IWA Shrewsbury & North Wales Branch and IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch: Second of a series of three fortnightly work parties at Wardle Lock, Middlewich, to improve the overall appearance of Wardle Lock and the Wardle Branch Canal. 10am to 4pm. Meet at Wardle Lock. Park in the vicinity of CW10 0JJ. Bob Luscombe 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

rubble was also shovelled over the gunnels into big bags and dragged to where it was needed. It was then spread along the path.

The next stage will be to clear a section of earth embankment, which obstructs the offside lock landing below Lock 31, and use the soil from this embankment to cover the rubble.

Thursday, May 15, and Saturday, May 17

IWA Warwickshire Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Kingswood Junction, Lapworth. Meet at CRT maintenance yard, Brome Hall Lane, Lapworth, Solihull B94 5RB. 10am to approx 3pm. info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk

Saturday, May 17

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and Trent & Mersey Canal Society: Monthly work party on the Cheshire Locks, Trent & Mersey Canal. 10am to 4pm. Meeting point to be confirmed. Bob Luscombe 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

Friday, May 23

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch: First session of what will hopefully become a regular work party working with Canal & River Trust and Congleton Town Council to improve the area of canal towpath near Congleton Railway Station. 10am to noon. Meet between the railway station and the canal in Congleton CW12 3DE. Bob Luscombe 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

Saturday, May 24

IWA Manchester Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Monthly work party, location to be confirmed. 10am to 4pm. Contact 07971 444258, chairman@manchester-iwa.co.uk

Wednesday, May 28

IWA Shrewsbury & North Wales Branch and IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch: Last in series of fortnightly work parties at Wardle Lock, Middlewich, to improve the overall appearance of the Wardle Lock and the Wardle Branch Canal. 10am to 4pm. Meet at Wardle Lock, park in the vicinity of CW10 0JJ. Bob Luscombe 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

For further information on any of these events contact: Alison Smedley, IWA branch campaign officer (07779 090915 or email alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk ) or Stefanie Preston, IWA branch campaign assistant (01494 783453 or email stefanie.preston@waterways.org.uk). Information can also be found on IWA’s website: www.waterways.org.uk

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SUBSCRIPTION 11

12 CHARACTERS

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Modern characters of the cut An occasional series by Peter Underwood Everyone says the old characters of the waterways are slowly disappearing – and so they may be – but the cut is still producing modern characters and interesting people in their own right.

TONY Saunders is one of today’s characters of the cut – an engineer and entrepreneur who ran his own toolmaking business before giving it all up and turning his engineering expertise to the creation of cratch covers and canopies, as well as sets of covers for traditional working boats.

Now he lives on and works from a boat and butty moored on an idyllic wharf on the Shropshire Union – a very different lifestyle from the days when he flew his own light aircraft.

Born 60 years ago in the village of Highley, in the far south-eastern corner of Shropshire, and brought up in nearby Cleobury Mortimer, Tony Saunders has lived through the decline of British manufacturing.

Qualifying as an engineer, he set up a toolmaking business, serving the region’s car industry and exporting successfully to Germany. It brought him all the trappings of a successful business – big cars, a nice house and even a light aircraft, as well as a narrowboat.

It thrived for many years until, around the turn of the millennium, cheap competition from China and eastern Europe finally caught up as it did with so much manufacturing in the Midlands.

Tony and his wife Mary, along with their children Caroline and Terry, had swiftly taken to the waterways lifestyle, and when he decided the time had come to change direction and find something less hectic to provide a simple living, he turned to the canals they had come to love.

“We wanted something that we could do from a boat, that would provide us with enough to live on,” he said.

“My engineering background meant that working out how to cut and sew the right shapes for a cratch cover, and later even complicated pramhoods, was fairly easy for me. It is just geometry really.

“The early ones took a long time as we worked out the techniques – two weeks for the first one – and I even had to go back to my old trade of toolmaking to produce something to bend the frames for a pram-hood, but we slowly began to build up a trade.”

His wife Mary says they took to it like ducks to water and for some time their daughter Caroline worked with them, saved to buy herself a boat and then fitted it out herself.

She has only recently sold the boat to buy a house. Their son Terry is also now living on a boat.

Extra space

Tony leans on the historic crane at Shebdon Wharf where his pair of boats is now based. PHOTOS: PETER UNDERWOOD

Tony bought a butty, Bethsaida, from Wolverhampton Probation Service, and it gave the business its name. For several years they cruised the pair around the system, picking up repair work as well as making new covers and hoods.

Tony explained: “One of the things that inspired us to start the business was how difficult it was to get simple repairs done, most of the big operators didn’t really want to know about replacing zips or patching holes.

“We do lots of repairs and we do them cheaply as it is the best form of advertising. Lots of people pass on our details to others needing repairs and it is surprising how many times someone comes back a year or two later to order a completely new cover from us.”

Spending winters moored at Ellesmere on the Llangollen Canal and cruising the West Midlands canals in the summer months, Tony built up a regular customer base.

When an opportunity came up two years ago to moor at the beautiful

Tony Saunders concentrates on the geometry of his latest cover as it passes through his industrial sewing machine.

Shebdon Wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal they grabbed it with both hands.

The wharf still has its old crane and a former small warehouse building and Tony and Mary can moor their pair of boats, side by side. He still works on the butty, but the old buildings have provided some valuable extra space.

Tony continued: “More and more people know we are here and they know we will repair their canopies when they drop by.

“The business is slowly growing and I do find myself travelling by road across a fairly big area to pattern and fit new cratch covers and hoods.

“One really gratifying recent development has been getting orders for sets of covers from the owners of traditional working boats. I have fitted covers to Ivor Batchelor’s old butty and his new motor and a set for Mal Edwards, a boat-based fender maker. It has been fascinating to make sure they are correct and historically accurate.”

Does he miss his old lifestyle as a highflying businessman?

“Not at all,” he said, “we have a much better lifestyle on the canals where we can relax, work at our own pace and generate our own business.

“If you work with your hands, as I do now, you are never going to be rich – but you can be very happy and comfortable.”

Carole of The Wool Boat gets her 30 seconds of fame /By Colin Wareing

BACK in September 2013, Colin and Carole Wareing were cruising the Llangollen Canal when Carole took a phone call from a television company, Wildfire, which works with Sir Tony Robinson of Time Team and Baldrick (Blackadder) fame.

They were proposing to film an episode of Walking Through History in which Tony would walk from Liverpool

to Wigan along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal explaining its history and meeting present-day canal users on the way.

They had somehow heard about The Wool Boat and the modern Ganseys that Carole knits, and asked if it would be possible for Tony to have a quick word with her about her skills as she sat on the back of the boat.

Having returned home to Burscough a week earlier than planned, they

moved the boat from its moorings to the other side of the village, as requested, and on a cool, late afternoon the advance camera crew turned up to take some footage of the boat, and then the main production crew arrived.

Colin said: “While Carole was getting ‘miked up’, Tony came aboard to get a warm by the stove until they were ready for him to come walking along the towpath, and ‘happen’ across Carole with the knitting needles, working away on a Gansey.

“She explained to Tony the origins of a Gansey and the significance of the patterns on the upper body that signified either the wearer’s home port, canalside village, or family. It took three takes to get it right, with me being told off for taking pictures as the sound of the shutter was being picked up on the microphones!”

Making the cut

Claire Ashworth from Radio Lancashire interviewing Carole about her TV appearance on board Emma Maye in February.

So, it was all over in 30 minutes and the wait was on to see if Carole had made ‘the cut’. The Wareings finally got an email in early February telling them the show was to be broadcast on the following Saturday evening... and Carole was in!

The hour-long programme went out as scheduled on Channel 4 and Carole got her 30 seconds of fame, after Tony had walked from Liverpool explaining how jam was made at Hartley’s jam factory (that used to be alongside), and interviewing George Lawson and

members of his family aboard the Leeds & Liverpool short boat Ribble, some of the last working boatmen on this length of the canal.

Leaving Carole behind, Tony went on to Parbold, where the eminent historian Mike Clarke, of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society, told him how at one time the canal was planned to turn left at that point. Instead, it takes a right-hand turn, which took the walk onto Crooke where one of the last of the coal tipplers loaded boats on the canal to take its cargo to the Tate & Lyle sugar factory in Liverpool.

Tony was then treated to a ride on Ambush, one of the last remaining Leeds & Liverpool long boats that is still on this part of the canal. Tony impressed the present owner of Ambush, Derek Bent, by steering her through the remains of Crooke lock without touching the sides.

The final stretch of the walk was up the 23 locks of the Wigan flight, where he found out that the mountains of slag that border the canal locks came from The Wigan Iron and Coal Company at Kirkless.

Colin added: “It has been interesting to hear the thoughts of people who have seen the programme. The general public seem to think that it showed the canal in great light, while some of the canal enthusiasts views are that various important bits where missed out and some villages thought they deserved more coverage than they got.”

Carole Wareing of The Wool Boat chats to Tony Robinson about knitting Ganseys during filming for an episode of the TV show Walking Through History. This walk was along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal from Liverpool to Wigan in October 2013.

He concluded: “Will the show bring more boats to the lovely Douglas valley, west of Wigan, in the coming months?”

DAVENPORTS 13

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The Queens Room: Relaxed elegance encapsulates the atmosphere of Davenports.

There is always time for tea

The Farm Shop stocks a huge range of mouthwatering items including local Cheshire produce.

Harry Arnold returns to his roots and stops for a welcome cuppa YOU mean you haven’t been to Davenports Tea Rooms and Farm Shop? After I had been asked this rhetorical question by a number of knowledgeable friends, whose opinion I respect, I thought I should seek it out.

I especially wanted to do this as it is located near to where I originally come from just off the main A49 road by Bridge 209 on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Bartington Wharf and also just a few minutes’ walk from Acton Swing Bridge on the River Weaver.

Owners are Ian and Belinda Davenport. Initially growing flowers and vegetables, selling them locally, the family first opened the farm shop at Bridge Farm in 2006, which itself won many awards, and then followed with the tea room in November 2007.

Since then Davenports Tea Room has been recognised by the prestigious Tea Guild as a Best Afternoon Tea in Cheshire after winning its Award of Excellence 2012, followed by winning the guild’s Top Tea Place 2013 as the best in the UK. Later in the year it won Marketing Cheshire’s Taste of Cheshire Award 2013 Belinda has an impressive waterway pedigree; her great uncle was Jonathan Horsefield of Jonathan Horsefield Ltd, the well-known Runcorn-based Bridgewater Canal carriers. Her parents owned Premier Narrowboats at nearby Bartington Wharf (now Black Prince) and also

bought Lapwing Cruises from Peter Froud and registered and ran it under the original Fellows, Morton & Clayton name.

She used canals as a subject when teaching Travel & Tourism at Mid-Cheshire College, including taking students to visits to the Huddersfield Canal. Sustainable Tourism on the Inland Waterways was her assignment for a Masters Degree in Tourism Management.

Belinda is a member of the Canal & River Trust North Wales & Borders Partnership.

Although based next to the Trent & Mersey Canal, it is not in her partnership area but within the Manchester & Pennines one. However, she was very involved in the campaign for the Dutton Breach, getting the first video record shortly after it happened. You may have also seen her ‘starring’ in the opening ceremony when it was transmitted live on BBC TV’s The One Show.

Wonderland theme

Entering through the Farm Shop – with just too large a range of fascinating local and specialist products to describe – the Tea Room occupies four intimate but roomy areas of the historic farmhouse converted in the manner of an old English establishment of this nature, complete with mahogany furniture, antique lace tablecloths and bone china tea services.

Belinda and Ian toast their Tea Guild’s Top Tea Place award – in tea of course! PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES The Queens Room is 1930s style with William Morris Wallpaper but The Alice Room is the really unusual one, themed around the Alice in Wonderland story. Author Lewis Carroll – pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – was born and lived during 11 boyhood years about two miles away where his father was rector at Daresbury Parish Church, the graveyard of which contains some of my family. Well executed and colourful murals depicting the book’s characters, including the famous Mad Hatter and his legendary tea party, provide an appropriate backdrop to your real present day repast.

Davenports’ menu – running through from a simple tea or coffee and a cake right through to light meals – is too extensive to describe, but never was the term mouthwatering more apt. The main speciality has to be over 30 different leaf teas with exotic names like Staunton Earl Grey Green Tea (contains bergamot and a hint of neroli – orange blossom) and Bombay Chai (a vibrant combination black tea infused with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and other spices).

Tantalising tea

A quiet corner to enjoy tea and Towpath Talk.

The Mad Hatter watches over customers having their own tea party in the Alice Room.

Belinda and Ian have an arrangement with old and respected tea merchants The East India Tea Company for the supply of many of these, which are only available from the company itself, Harrods, Fortnum and Mason and now Davenports. Intrigued by its name, we had to try the Kama Sutra Revitalising Tea (a combination of black tea, sensuous blossoms and tantalizing spices). Its deep aroma and strong full body brings romance in every sip. Ask my wife whether it lived up to its claims!

As a menu choice, consider the Afternoon Tea – “Traditionally served on a vintage china tiered cake stand with a choice of finger sandwiches; a delicious choice of varieties of home-made scones – for example lavender, rose, cherry or raisin, plain and cheese – served warm with Cornish clotted cream and locally made jam and a variety of home-made mini cakes, including chocolate eclairs, fruit loaf, meringue nests filled with fresh cream and seasonal fruit, chocolate

Narrowboats owned by Belinda’s great uncle Jonathan Horsefield after their working days at Runcorn in 1963. brownies and macaroons; with a pot of loose leaf tea chosen from Tea Room Blend, Kwazulu, Decaffeinated Ceylon, Earl Grey or Darjeeling BOP. A range of artisan coffees are also available and Davenports is licensed so champagne, wine, locally brewed beer and cider can be served with your meal. Diabetic and gluten free afternoon teas can be supplied, preferably with a week’s notice.

Is it any wonder that it is suggested that tables must be booked at least 24 hours in advance?

However, it is worth calling as they may be able to accommodate your booking with less notice.

We have been back already and when in the area will definitely be visiting again. Oh and there are special events including a real Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, but you really will have to book ahead for that one. ● Opening hours are generally 10am to 6pm but vary slightly at weekends and holidays, with all-day closing on a Tuesday.

Contact Davenports on 01606 853241.

For the full menus and list of teas visit davenportsfarmshop.co.uk

14 WATER & WILDLIFE

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River pollution incident endangers wildlife

By Polly Player

THE Lee Navigation between the Eastern and Western sides of Old Ford Lock was closed recently due to a pollution incident in the local area and the associated clean-up operation.

Rounding up and catching the affected birds.

A large quantity of used cooking oil had deliberately been discharged into the river at Pymms Brook, one of the feeder streams of the River Lea. However, the culprits have not been caught, and the Environment Agency is still pursuing a variety of leads.

The Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency were made aware of the problem on Sunday, March 30 by boaters and local land-based residents of Bream Close in Tottenham. The spillage has had a significant effect on waterfowl in the area around Tottenham Lock and Lea Bridge Weir, and may potentially have repercussions for wildlife in other areas of the navigation too.

Middlesex-based waterfowl charity The Swan Sanctuary has been actively involved in rescuing swans and other birds affected by the incident.

Treating waterfowl after an incident of this nature is both costly and time consuming, involving the removal and clean-up of the birds themselves, and then a period of recuperation to allow the lubricating oils that the birds

produce naturally in order to insulate themselves to regain their natural balance. The entire process can take several weeks to complete, after which the birds are re-released back into their original area.

The impact of this deliberate oil discharge into the river has been significant; The Swan Sanctuary currently has over 60 swans (mainly adults and cygnets from last year) and around 20 other birds including geese, coots and ducks under treatment on their premises, and two adult swans have already died of the effects of exposure to the oil.

Appeal for donations

Stephen Knight, a trustee of The Swan Sanctuary estimates that the total cost of the resources involved in the clean-up and rehabilitation of affected birds will reach well over £5000, and the charity is appealing for donations to assist with the cost of funding the operation.

Mr Knight told Towpath Talk: “This latest incident has placed a significant

A Swan Sanctuary volunteer assessing affected swans. PHOTOS: NICCI ENCHMARCH strain on our already limited resources, but fortunately, we have reasonably large premises that are capable of accommodating all of the birds. The welfare of the birds comes first, and we will continue to do everything that we can to rescue and treat as many birds as possible.”

This is not the first time that this area of the Lee Navigation has been affected by the deliberate illegal discharge of cooking oil. A similar incident was reported in October 2013, and Mr Knight, who has been with The Swan Sanctuary for over 25 years, states that this problem recurs on a

regular basis, and the parties responsible are no closer to being found and held to account.

Any person with information about this incident should contact the Environment Authority on 03708 506506. ● The Swan Sanctuary is actively appealing for donations to help to fund the cost of its work, and donations or enquiries about the Sanctuary’s work can be made on the website, www.theswansanctuary.org.uk or by phone on 01932 240790.

Visitors contribute towards Cotswolds environmental scheme

By Elizabeth Rogers

THE Cotswolds Rivers Trust is one of the first two environmental organisations to benefit from the Cotswolds Conservation Board’s recently introduced Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme.

The scheme, which began in 2014 but has been successful in other Areas of Natural Beauty including the Lake District for many years, invites visitors to make a small voluntary donation added to a payment made during their visit. This is in recognition of the impact of tourism on the environment on which the industry relies. Holiday accommodation agencies and visitor attractions are among those supporting the scheme.

The Cotswolds Rivers Trust has been awarded a grant of £500 and this has enabled it to install flowdeflectors in the River Coln at Winson near Bibury.

This is helping to vary the depth in the river-bed, thus enabling river plants such as the watercrowfoot to thrive and providing habitat for invertebrates and fish including an iconic species of the Cotswold area, the brown trout.

Living ecosystems Trevor Cramphorn, Cotswolds Rivers Trust (left) and Simon Smith, Cotswolds Conservation Board.

Head office staff join work party ahead of Acheman Challenge STAFF from IWA head office joined volunteers from IWA Chiltern Branch and with support from CRT repainted a set of locks at Marsworth on the Grand Union Canal, ahead of April’s Acheman Challenge.

They used wire brushes to remove damaged and cracked paint and then repainted the lock gates and bollards at Lock 43. The task was almost finished by mid-afternoon but, unfortunately, work came to an early end due to rain and the last coat of paint is to be applied at a later date.

Head office staff, Jenny Black and Stefanie Preston, painting at Marsworth. PHOTO: GEMMA BOLTON

The Cotswolds Rivers Trust is an organisation founded in March 2011. A charity run by volunteers, it seeks to ensure that the rivers of the Cotswold area are included fully in the implementation of the European Union’s Water

Framework Directive. This directive requires all rivers in the UK to achieve good ecological status by 2015.

Its income from grants, donations and subscriptions is used to implement physical improvements to the rivers which are its concern, to campaign for improvements such as by the reduction of damaging abstraction, and in educating people about the value of healthy rivers as living ecosystems.

The waterways flowing within its remit are the River Evenlode, its major tributary the River Glyme, the River Windrush, with its three main tributaries the River Dikler, River Eye and the Sherborne Brook, the River Leach, River Coln, River Churn and the Ampney Brook.

The River Churn is a stream that rises at Seven Springs, one of two sites to be described as the source of the River Thames, which it joins at Cricklade. Like many of these rivers it suffers from abstraction, which takes place on its lower reaches; another that suffers is the River Dikler, at a point close to its source.

Wild trout are present throughout the short

At last year’s launch of the scheme, clockwise from back left, are: Nick Holliday, Cotswolds Conservation Board; Chris Grimes, Manor Cottages; Harry Acland, Notgrove Holidays and Susie Hunt, Batsford Arboretum. PHOTOS COURTESY COTSWOLDS

CONSERVATION BOARD

length of the Ampney Brook and also seen in the River Coln. Two rivers, the Coln and Windrush, have populations of grayling.

The other organisation to receive a £500 grant from the Visitor Giving Scheme is the World Land Trust, which is carrying out work on one of its nature reserves in Gloucestershire.

London boaters have fun on voluntary towpath clean-up day

By Polly Player

A GROUP of London boaters recently organised their own towpath tidy up.

The word spread via the London Boaters Facebook page after local boaters Ron Gooding, Ronja Breitzke and London mooring ranger Mikaela Khan decided to take the initiative to tackle the issue of discarded rubbish and other assorted detritus along the towpaths in parts of Hackney Wick, Hertford Junction and the Lee Navigation.

Eighteen boaters turned up bright and early on the day to get to work, using assorted small tenders and Ron Gooding’s NB Daisey to collect and transport the collected rubbish to the nearby Canal & River Trust rubbish disposal facility at Dace Road. The trust was informed of the planned tidy-up prior to the event, and supported the group with the loan of tools and equipment to help them in their endeavour.

The group collected over 20 bin bags of rubbish over the course of the day, as well as other larger items including a full-sized car advertisement billboard!

Passing members of the public responded positively to the group’s efforts, with one person even stopping to help out with the collection efforts.

Ron Gooding told Towpath Talk: “The

Happy London boaters with their haul at the end of the tidy up. PHOTOS: RON GOODING flotsam flotilla has shown that you can have a fun day out and make a difference at the same time. This idea is nothing new, and there are already other groups doing great work like this.

We are hoping to build on the success of this event and work closely with them in the future.”

London boaters or members of the public who are interested in getting involved in local towpath tidy-ups in the London area in the future can contact the event’s organisers via the London Boaters Facebook page, using the Facebook search term ‘London Boaters’.

Sifting through the rubbish.

Towing the tenders to the bins.

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D O O F Canalside pubs & restaurants

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New publicans take the tiller at Stourport hostelry A BREATH of fresh air has blown in at The Bird in Hand near Stourporton-Severn, where Dave and Carol Perry with 15 years’ experience as publicans, take the tiller to steer their new venture in the right direction.

Situated between Bridges 7 and 8 of the Stourport loop on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, The Bird in Hand has a traditionally themed canal boat interior and a wonderful conservatory overlooking the water and outdoor canalside seating for sunnier days.

Open every day at 12 noon to serve real ale, the pub also serves a selection of reasonably priced and delicious fare, including Carol’s

Dave behind the traditional bar at The Bird in Hand where you can also pick up a copy of Towpath Talk.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED

● The Bird in Hand 5 Canal Side, Off Holly Road, Stourport, Worcestershire DY13 9BA Contact: 01299 871515

everything fresh and home-made including Yorkshires and stuffing.

All-in-all this makes The Bird in Hand an

LONG Itchington’s six local pubs will be staging their 6th annual Beer Festival over the early May bank holiday weekend (May 2-5).

Between them they will be featuring up to 150 different real ales from specialist brewers all over the land, none of which will be replicated.

There are no admission charges, visitors simply stroll through this picturesque Warwickshire village. The pubs will be opening from noon each day and taste at your own pace is the mantra.

Once again Daisy Saddler and her magnificent heavy horses will provide carriage rides and on Saturday the Hook Norton dray with its shire horses will be parading in the village.

Festival glassware and T-shirts will be on sale and live music events are planned for each day. There will be balloon art and fantasy make-up for the kids on Monday and at least one magician on hand to astound even the grown-ups.

There is also a constant stream of morris sets, mummers and wandering minstrels.

Food is available throughout the weekend including barbecues, hog roast and buffalo burgers. Afternoon tea will also be served in the church.

The participating pubs are: The Duck on the Pond, The Two Boats Inn, The Buck and Bell, The Green Man, The Harvester and The Cuttle Inn. ● Long Itchington is six miles from Leamington Spa on the Grand Union Canal and by road is reached via the A423 between Southam and Coventry.

Camping and caravan facilities are available but pitches are filling up fast.

For details and beer menus visit www.longitchingtonbeerfestival.co.uk

Outdoor canalside seating for those sunnier days. famous Sunday roast which boasts a choice of two meats and

Village pubs stage annual beer festival

excellent place to recharge your batteries while enjoying the wonders of north Worcestershire.

54 HOLIDAYS

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HO LIDAYS BOATING

Canal breaks and river cruising in the UK, Ireland and Europe

From the Costas to the canals

A total novice, David Sedgwick was convinced that narrowboating was not for him…

Dave and Sharon on their first narrowboat holiday.

Learning the ropes.

Home sweet home.

“RIGHT, over to you. Have a nice holiday.” The words of the instructor rang in my ears as he jumped off the boat on to the towpath.

“And don’t worry, you can’t do much harm… not at 4 miles an hour,” he grinned and with that he was gone. My wife smiled ruefully.

Only half an hour earlier I had taken my first tentative steps into narrowboating: “It’s very er…”

I grasped for the right words to describe the craft in front of me that would be our home for the next two weeks. “Narrow?” offered my wife. “That’s because it’s a narrowboat, darling,” she laughed, hopping aboard a brightly painted black and gold specimen that seemed, from my vantage point, to be of infinite length.

I looked up at the heavens only to find dirty, grey clouds starting to hiss and spit back at me. I shuddered and thought longingly of the golden beaches of Benalmadena. As I gingerly stepped aboard what seemed to me to be nothing more than a floating shed, I also remembered how lovely Barbados could be in spring.

But what a difference a week makes! Cruising along the Shropshire Union Canal at a pace that could only be described as leisurely has been a revelation. Once into the swing of things, life on board becomes an idyllic dream. The waters seduce the narrowboater as you glide seamlessly under bridges and past riverside pubs. Even the living space, at first rather cramped, is slowly but surely adapted to.

Time seems to stand still on the canals. There’s no rush. Not at four miles an hour. People can, and frequently do, walk faster. It’s all out there waiting to be discovered in your own time. Church spires and cottages are spied in the distance as you are drawn closer than ever into the heart of England’s green and pleasant land. Even sleep is better, longer, deeper.

about: letting the river carry you whither it will.

Stopping for a cup of tea and a muffin can be the highlight of the day. It is a revelation to discover sleepy canalside hamlets with names such as Audlem and Church Stretton. The pleasures are simple and numerous.

Even the locks, which to non narrowboaters – may seem daunting, sometimes frightening places are soon assimilated into life on the water. For me they turned out to be a strangely contemplative places affording precious moments of meditation.

The water gushes in while you and your boat magically ascend and descend. Somewhere beyond you know that your wife or girlfriend is grappling with ancient lock mechanisms, for it’s an unwritten lore of the canals that women do the locks and men the steering. It allow the ladies a chance to chew the fat with fellow boaters while swapping stories of canal adventures.

Simpler times

After one day moored near Nantwich we had already bonded with some of the fabled liveaboarders – those sturdy folk who actually live full-time on the canals and are easily distinguishable from the casual boater by the proliferation of house-plants, firewood and bicycles which inevitably crown the roofs of their boats. Jill, a ruddy divorcee in her mid-forties, lived in just such a way, through winter and summer,

Sleepy hamlets

Halfway through our holiday we checked our bearings and got a mighty shock to discover that we had travelled only a matter of a couple of miles, yet we firmly believed we must have been halfway to Aberystwyth. That’s what narrowboating is all

Women do the locks!

HOLIDAYS 55

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The Audlem flight on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Far from the madding crowd somewhere in Middlewich. wind and rain, along the Shropshire union in her 50-footer. “I couldn’t possibly go back to living in a house,” she confided to us as we shared a bottle of wine on the towpath one hazy evening, “not after living on the canals. Absolutely impossible.”

Quietly impressed, we drank a toast to the canals and to the spirit of adventure.

The next day, on turning on to the canal path from Nantwich town laden with shopping bags, we spied a drifting narrowboat unmanned, performing a mid-water pirouette with the grace of a ballet dancer. “That looks like our boat,” I casually remarked to my wife, not believing for one minute that it actually was our boat. It was time for a double-take. It is our boat!” And with that we raced off down the towpath in a great panic.

Although not quite in the league of a burning down house, there is something alarming about watching your transport-cum-home happily heading off in the direction of The Trent & Mersey.

Luckily for us, Jill and friends – seasoned boaters all – had spotted the danger and were in the process of securing her back to the bank. My wife and I arrived panting and very thankful for our neighbours’ kind actions. What, I mused, would our neighbours do back home if our house was burning down? “Warm their hands,” replied my wife. And she was probably right.

Perhaps it’s just a throw-back to simpler times when living was communal, less insular, when neighbour looked after neighbour. On the canals people are bonded through their lifestyle choice: a common love of slow, chugging boats and an appreciation of the equally slow pace of life which has gone on, more or less unchanged, since the 1800s.

Perhaps it’s the daily grapple with chemical toilets and fuzzy tv aerials or just the sheer madcap eccentricity of actually inhabiting a space measuring 60ft by 7ft that draws people together.

As we moored up on our final evening we felt at peace with the world. I was even using the lingo. It had only taken me two weeks, but we were finally ‘mooring’ rather than ‘parking’ the boat. I felt like a true narrowboater. Alone save for a couple of horses who watched us inquisitively from a nearby field, with the kettle whistling merrily away and the sun dipping beyond a distant meadow, the beaches of Benalmadena or even Barbados for that matter, could not have been further from our minds.

Sunset lake cruises on Windermere

By Harry Arnold

FROM mid-May passengers cruising on Windermere aboard the boats of Windermere Lake Cruises can enjoy new evening sailings to coincide with the twilight hours of the setting sun.

The company is launching special Sunset Cruises on the 10.5 miles of England’s longest lake and participants will be able to watch the sun go down and enjoy such features as the silhouettes of the Langdale Pikes and of landmarks like the neo-gothic Wray Castle.

Each ‘sunset cruise’ will last for 75 minutes and sail wherever the sun sets best. In May and June it will be the southern end of the lake then later in the summer the cruises switch to Windermere’s central and northern basins.

They will run throughout the summer months until late August.

Visitors can make the most of the spectacular

colours from the open deck of one of the company’s modern launch-style waterbuses, usually the aptly-named Miss Lakeland. Or if it’s a little cooler, they can enjoy the views from the warmth and comfort of the boat’s cabin, complete with a licensed bar, hot drinks and snacks.

Windermere Lake Cruises hosts around 1.25 million passenger journeys annually, according to official VisitEngland figures. It has 16 trip boats, including three steamers, nine waterbuses and four wooden launches.

Having spent a long time in the Lake District, in very variable weather conditions, I assume that the Sunset Cruises won’t run in the rain? ● Check details of sailing times and fares by telephoning 015394 43360 or on windermere-lakecruises.co.uk

Miss Lakeland will operate Windermere Sunset Cruises. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

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readers the chance to win a year’s FREE mooring – woRth £2065! exceptiOnal services with great custOMer care!

a branD new 249 berth, Off-line, accessible Marina

With first class facilities and excellent customer service,Cropredy Marina is situated on the southern Oxford Canal,five miles from Banbury.The marina offers quality moorings at very affordable and competitive prices,in

beautiful,tranquil landscaped surroundings.It is within walking distance of the attractive village of Cropredy,with its well-stocked general store,two popular pubs,a medical centre,and many other amenities.

✓ Welcoming, helpful, knowledgeable staff ✓ Full length jetties with nonslip surface ✓ Water and electricity to every jetty ✓ Sewage, rubbish, pumpout and recycling facilities ✓ Diesel, solid fuels and Calor gas available ✓ Dry dock (June 2014) ✓ Secure marina (on canal off-side) with full-time harbour master ✓ Unloading bays close to jetties and ample car parking ✓ Washing machine and dryer available (charge applies) ✓ Adjacent to friendly village with a range of services ✓ Pets welcome, dog walking areas ✓ free wi-fi ✓ free ‘take one, leave one’ book and DVD library ✓ free mail and package service

For your chance to win, simply complete the form below and return to: TPT Cropredy Marina Competition, Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs, LN9 6LZ.

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Leicester boat builder closes its doors for the last time

Three Beacon Boats abreast. PHOTO:ALLY MYERS

By Polly Player

THE directors of Beacon Boats Ltd of Burton on the Wolds, Leicestershire, have announced that the company has gone into voluntarily liquidation with immediate effect.

Beacon Boats originally came into being in 2004, when Ally Myers and her then-partner, Andy Price, decided to build a boat to their own specifications after searching without success for the perfect liveaboard boat for their situation.

Ally’s brother-in-law Neil Burrows later got involved in the build, helping with the fit-out and general construction.

From these accidental beginnings, Ally and Neil decided to use their skills to set up a boat building business, Beacon Boats, which became incorporated as a limited company in 2010.

Basing their builds on customformed shells fabricated by XR&D, Neil and Ally worked closely with all of

their clients to complete the design, build and fit-out of all of their boats from start to finish. All work was completed in-house at the company’s Leicestershire workshop, near to where Ally herself still lives aboard one of their own builds.

While Beacon Boats only traded for 10 years, the company and its business ethics certainly made a mark on the narrowboat building and fitting industry during that time, and for all of the right reasons. Beacon completed and launched 18 bespoke new builds during that time, all of which are still in the hands of their original owners, as well as completing a private floating pontoon and several interior refit projects too.

Beacon Boats is now gracefully making its exit from the boatbuilding business due to Neil’s ongoing ill health, leaving only satisfied customers and no outstanding debts.

Any deposits taken for future builds

have been returned in full, and all recently commissioned builds have been completed and launched. Added to this, the company has set up an account in the wake of the wind-down to provide run-off insurance and warranty cover to their existing clients.

Ally Myers, co-director of Beacon Boats told Towpath Talk: “We wish to thank everyone who has supported us over our last 10 years of trading. We are extremely saddened to have to close, especially with forward orders on our books, but hope all of our customers continue to enjoy their boats. It’s been a pleasure to build every boat, as they have all been individual, and our customers have all become our friends.”

While Neil’s ill health is forcing him to take things easy for the time being, Ally is now enjoying a well-earned rest from the rigours of hands-on boat building, but plans to seek future employment within the boating world over the course of the coming year.

P63 P67

River Canal Rescue acquires Key Diesels STAFFORD-based inland waterway breakdown and emergency assistance firm River Canal Rescue has acquired Burton-on-Trent diesel injection system specialist Key Diesels.

River Canal Rescue is recognised as the ‘fourth emergency service’ for UK boaters and provides customers with replacement parts cover meeting the costs of specified parts and labour following an unforeseen breakdown.

Key Diesels is one of the UK’s top repairers and distributors of injection pumps, lift pumps and fuel pipes, and an authorised distributor of Delphi components.

The acquisition of the 20-year-old company Key Diesels illustrates how River Canal Rescue continues to go from strength to strength; the firm’s staff tally is now 27 (having grown from five in 14 years), it has a thriving apprenticeship programme and recently employed three new engineers and two apprentices.

Managing director, Stephanie Horton, says the merging of the two firms is a ‘great strategic fit’. She commented: “By bringing the two firms together, we can address the issues faced by people across the country when diesel systems fail. For example, there’s no price consistency – they differ from £300 to £700 for a BMC injection pump dependent upon location – and if a

River Canal Rescue managing director Stephanie Horton: “A great strategic fit.”

PHOTOS SUPPLIED

Key Diesels’ head engineer Hugh Hudson. repaired or refurbished part fails, although it’s covered under a warranty, the labour costs to remove and refit another one, are not.

“As the engine (which these parts support) charges the boat’s batteries and so supplies the power, a fast turnaround is crucial. A typical wait for repaired or new parts is five to 10 days which is too long for a boat to be left without power. We can now control these issues and deliver a more costeffective service for our customers.”

This single solution approach of stocking and supplying all common marine parts with consistent pricing and a speedy turnaround also meets the needs of marinas and contractors who have pledged to use River Canal Rescue and its new subsidiary for their diesel system requirements. And with expertise and the parts now so easily accessible, River Canal Rescue is currently training all of its engineers in this area.

Four Key Diesel staff: head engineer Hugh Hudson, mechanic Steve Humphreys and apprentices Dave Moore and Shannon Andrea will be based at the existing office in Burtonon-Trent. River Canal Rescue remains at its Stafford offices. ● To

find out more about River Canal Rescue visit www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk

Caen Hill curries hit the right note

Major makeover for New Mills Marina NEW Mills Marina on the Peak Forest Canal will be completely refurbished following the award of a long term lease to Pridewater Estates Ltd which owns and operates a number of marinas on the canal network.

The company won a competitive tender involving a number of interested parties, a condition of which was that they had to fund a major renovation project.

Owned by the Canal & River Trust, the marina has berths for some 38 boats and over the course of the next few months all existing pontoons will be removed and replaced with new piles and non-slip decking, bollards supplying water and metered electricity.

The wharf area will be upgraded with high speed pump out facilities and a diesel pump, a new office and shop stocking marina essentials, new and improved security fencing throughout, free car parking and landscaped open spaces for all to enjoy.

Robert Hutton, co-owner of both Pridewater Estates Ltd and sister company Greenford Ltd said: “We are very proud to have been selected by the CRT to upgrade, lease

What’s on Bits & Bobs

and operate New Mills Marina as we were in competition with a number of leading companies well known in our industry.

“The attractions of this well established site in the attractive town of New Mills are obvious. It is small enough to generate a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, a feature of all our existing marinas, located close to an area of outstanding natural beauty in a traditional market town that is proud of having a marina within its boundaries and is poised to become the finest place to moor a canal boat in the High Peak district and beyond.”

He added: “We are very excited by the potential it offers and look forward to unveiling our newest operation to our customers and the press later this year.”

The company aims to bring New Mills up to the standard of Pridewater Estates’ existing marinas on the Birmingham & Fazeley, Coventry and Grand Union Canals. Greenford Civil Engineers, has many years’ experience in marina design and construction both for Pridewater Estates and for some of the country’s other leading marina operators.

New marina hosts first open day THE new Bosworth Marina on the Ashby Canal, which held its first open day as we went to press, is now taking bookings for moorings.

According to its April newsletter, GJP Marinas were completing the bridge decking which is part of the new towpath and the last concrete pour had taken place on the entrance.

Water has been running into the marina from the canal since mid-March.

Outlook Landscaping and a team from Trivetts have been installing the coir rolls which contain pre-planted aquatic plants around the water-filled basin.

The decking and landscaping continues and the team have been constructing roads, paths and car parking. Bare-rooted trees have been planted along the Wellsborough Road which will provide additional habitat for local wildlife.

It is hoped to start opening up the entrance to the marina from the canal on May 12. ● The Marina is situated off the B585 Wellsborough Road, between Market Bosworth and A444, postcode CV13 6PG. Contact Helen Trivett on 0777 5688552 or email helen@bosworth-marina.co.uk

Moorers at Caen Hill Marina helped to raise £75 towards Morris dancing bells for the children at Rowde Village School at their recent curry night. Everyone brought along a curry and donated towards the appeal. Marina manager Cara HodgsonReed is pictured, second from left, with some of the moorers who enjoyed their supper. PHOTO SUPPLIED

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60 BOAT REVIEW

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A narrowboat to delight your heart and pocket

Sharing the burden of running and maintenance costs could be the way forward for some potential customers.

Harry Arnold looks at a new boat share opportunity.

OVER the last 10 years or so, shared ownership has become the choice of many, either getting on the water for the first time, as an alternative to hiring, or staying on the water when their own boats are sold because of lack of time or running costs no longer justifying continuous use.

Although individual management companies have held – and do hold – open days or shows, it is perhaps an indication of the popularity of shared ownership that the four main ones have now got together to mount their own annual show, recently held at Braunston Marina.

Shared ownership can be complicated as, unlike timeshare holidays, you physically and legally own a share in a vessel; generally as part of what’s termed a syndicate which each owns one-twelth of it. This usually equates to four weeks’ annual use, although you can of course own more shares.

I know of some private syndicates which have apparently operated well over the years, but there are many facets to consider. It’s great if you have a whole group of people within which there is a

good knowledge of factors such as boat engineering and maintenance, accountancy, mooring rates and conditions, organising at least one AGM etc., but syndicates are people and people can disagree.

So that’s why most go for the management company option, which takes care of all this detail while generally overseeing democratic decisions, such as where the boat will be based, and will also handle such factors as the sale and purchase of owners’ shares.

As it is widely known, it would be unfair not to mention that there have been disasters in the industry, involving two major companies going under and criminal proceedings. But this has made everyone else become much more open and efficient in their operations.

Companies offer different financial packages and share option prices in varying styles and ages of boats to suit most pockets.

Some are actual boatbuilders or marina owners, others commission new boats from reputable builders, but all the main companies have considerable experience in this field. There is a wide range of boat layouts and lots of information out there. So study it carefully, including the detail, and if possible get some information on your fellow syndicate members.

Heartsease

A view of the semi-traditional stern.

PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES

One of the shared ownership companies Ownashare Cruising has recently launched Heartsease – a 58ft 4-berth (optional 5-berth) semi-traditional style narrowboat. We had the opportunity to join the crew taking it down the Trent & Mersey Canal to Fradley Junction for its first weekend on public display as a finished boat before going on to the Boat Share Show at Braunston.

Unlike many new steel boats, a distinctive feature of the exterior design is what might be described as a ‘small Grand Union’ profile bow; sturdy and attractive and complete with dummy rivets. Steelwork is the generally familiar 10mm base-plate, 6mm hull sides, 5mm cabin sides and 4mm roof thickness combination, with sprayed insulation.

Silver coloured windows are fitted throughout, plus a pair of side doors, and the livery is a striking dark green relieved by cream panelling and a red coach line.

The boat handles easily and steers comfortably from the counter stern position and the semi-trad arrangement provides companiable seating with the steerer. Beneath this is a 200-litre diesel tank and a Vetus M4.17 42hp driving through a PRM 150 hydraulic gearbox and a Webasto heater. Linked via the engine cooling and a calorifier, it provides a hot water supply and radiator heating throughout the boat.

Entering the roomy open plan saloon and galley from the stern, there is full length stowage on one side with the main electrics – a Victron 2kw combi inverter/charger – concealed opposite.

Other saloon electrics include TV and radio and LED lighting, both down and wall, which – with single and group switching – is fitted throughout.

The saloon has a spacious but warm and comfortable feel, enhanced by the ash with oak trim finish, carpeting, and large windows. Other fittings are simply a solid fuel stove, raised on a plinth and backed with heat-proof tiling, and two large light leather finished armchairs; a roomy living arrangement which is becoming very popular nowadays.

Aft of this to the left is the main dining area, an L-shaped settee with stowage under and table supported on chrome tube legs which all converts into a double berth. The left of centre layout continues with a large U-shaped galley, giving the cook her (or his?) own space without being bumped into.

It is well appointed with – standing at flush surface mounted stainless steel sink and drainer – the Thetford gas hob to the left and the eye level oven and grill mounted above the Shoreline refrigerator to the right. An Igenix microwave oven is tucked neatly away next to this. Good work surfaces have stowage – including a wine rack – below and shelves above. The flooring, like other ‘wet areas’, is imitation wood block tiling.

Continuing the right-hand corridor layout leading to the main bedroom, the bathroom and shower are to the left. The former has a white hand basin, flush mounted in a cupboard unit, adjacent to a heated chrome towel rail, with the Thetford pump-out toilet next to it, and the shower is one of the up-to-date full height quadrant shaped units with waterproof back panelling.

The main bedroom’s feature is a fixed double bed which has a pull-out section over the corridor which converts it to ‘king-size’. A useful feature is an actual footboard protecting the bed from the step up to the doors. To the left of this is a full-height and roomy wardrobe. This bedroom also has the boat’s second TV.

A fixed double in the main bedroom pulls out to ‘king size’.

The shower is of the modern quadrant shower style.

Main saloon with stove and comfortable seating.

The galley is practically shaped and well equipped.

SPEC SHEET Length: Berths: Hull & Cabin: Boatbuilder: Style: Engine: Gearbox: Power: Heating: Calorifier: Fuel tank: Waste tank: Fresh water tank: Insulation: Lining Materials: Flooring: Toilet:

58ft 4/5 Steel 10/6/5/4mm by John Bird Boatbuilding Drayton Boat Services Ltd Semi Trad Vetus M4.17 42hp diesel PRM 150 hydraulic Victron 3kw inverter/charger combi Webasto boiler, radiators plus stove Linked with heating/water system 200 litres 360 litres 200 litres Sprayed Polyurethane Ash with oak trim Tiles and Flotex carpet on timber Thetford pump-out

Double half-glazed doors lead out to a small forward cockpit, with side seats, and the foredeck which houses the 200 litre fresh water tank.

A starter annual cost of £6950 will buy a one-twelth share and four weeks of canal holidaying on Heartsease, with

BOAT SHARING

the day-to-day supervising being taken care of by Ownashare Cruising, working with any decisions made by you and your fellow sharers.

Boat shares can cost much more than this and for this craft it looks like good value for money.

Ownashare Cruising Ltd., 5 Caxton House, Great Cambourne CB23 6JN Tel: 0844 247 3970; email: linda@ownasharecruising.co.uk www.ownasharecruising.co.uk

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Lifejackets recycled to make fashionable accessories Total hydraulic propulsion MARITIME life-saving charity, the RNLI, has launched a new range of fashion bags and travel accessories made exclusively from decommissioned lifejackets.

Named after the number of RNLI lifeboat stations from which the lifejackets originated, the ‘235 Made For Life’ range comprises six items including a wash bag, messenger bag and tablet cover, all handmade in the UK using genuine recycled materials from operational RNLI lifejackets.

Each utterly unique item is made from lifejackets worn by courageous RNLI lifesaving volunteer crew members during real sea rescues; from whistles and toggles to safety webbing and reflective strips.

Crafted by hand using the distinctive bright yellow and red fabric characteristic of the RNLI’s lifesaving kit, 235 Made For Life bags have been sustainably designed to combine rugged, utilitarian coastal looks with practical storage, making a truly authentic accessory and the ultimate statement piece!

With a rustic charm, each item proudly bears the natural marks of its past life while telling its own special story of real sea rescues. The swing tag is signed by the person who made it and some items even display the original hand-written service label that shares its inimitable history.

The range

Messenger Bag (£95) – a roomy lightweight and durable bag with adjustable shoulder strap, handy internal pockets and authentic detailing.

Wash Bag (£45) – perfectly sized, this classic rectangular shaped wash bag is ideal for storing toiletries at home or on the move. Features a contrasting exterior pocket and metal D-ring buckle for easy carry.

Wallet (£35) – a well-designed velcro sports wallet featuring useful storage compartments and inner zip pocket for loose change.

Hip Bag (£45) – with adjustable belt, easy access, wide opening and an integrated whistle, this hip bag is both useful and attention grabbing! Wear around your waist or sling over your shoulder for useful storage on the go.

Tablet Cover (£40) – protective on the outside but soft on the inside, this wallet fits snugly around your tablet (iPad or equivalent) keeping it safe while travelling Mini Tablet Cover (£40) – perfectly sized for your e-reader, this wallet offers sturdy protection for delicate screens. The velcro fastening is easy to open, allowing instant access to your latest read. ● All profits from the sale of 235 Made For Life items are used to help

save lives at sea. The range is available online at RNLIshop.org An additional range of 235 Made for Life bags created from end of life RNLI sea rescue kit is also available at 235MFL.co.uk. 20% of profits from these items benefit the RNLI.

FOR inland waterway use, Hercules Hydraulics believes a good quality, well-designed hydraulic system is far superior to a conventional gearbox transmission system.

Established 10 years ago by a small team of people with a great deal of experience in the hydraulics industry, Hercules Hydraulics has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of hydraulic products and systems in the marine industry and includes Canal & River Trust as a long term customer.

The unique combination of in-house designed and manufactured products with an expertise in hydraulic system design honed from many years’ experience has led to this growth and the firm becoming involved in projects across the world.

“We decided to go down the route of designing our own products so that we could supply exactly what our customers need and integrate those items into our inhouse designed hydraulic systems seamlessly,” said Steve Radford, managing director at Hercules Hydraulics.

The company manufactures its products at its south Devon premises here in the UK and those that it cannot manufacture are all sourced from leading suppliers such as AMCA, Sunfab, Stauff, Desmi, MP Filtri and Logan Clutch.

Hydraulic Propulsion offers very simple installation and gives the freedom to position the engine anywhere within the vessel while allowing the integration of multiple drive systems or ancillary drives. Instant response, maximised propeller efficiency and no

BOOKS,DVDSAND DOWNLOADS Following the twists and turns of the River Cherwell Reviewer: Elizabeth Rogers

THE River Cherwell runs a bending and twisting course, but one deviating little from north to south as it makes its way through 10 miles of Northamptonshire across the county boundary with Oxfordshire and down towards the City of Oxford. There it joins the River Thames close to the picturesque Christ Church Meadow.

Much less feted than its illustrious neighbour as they both flow through parts of the city, it has a history as it makes its way through the north of the county that involves towns, villages and people about which there are many interesting stories to relate.

Jean Stone has found much to interest her readers as they follow her journey from the source of the Cherwell at a spring on Hellidon Hill near the village of Charwelton.

Entering Oxfordshire it reaches the village of Cropredy which was the scene of an important battle in the Civil War. Other bridges along the river were the scenes of

The River Cherwell below Somerton with narrowboats on the Oxford Canal in the background.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

KNOTS are a fascinating subject and a book written especially for canal boaters comes from the pen of an equally interesting author.

Ben Selfe has sailing in his blood and grew up with ropes and has been a knot tyer and fender for many years. His workshop was for many years was his engineless butty, Lyra, c1935, moored at Saul Junction on the Gloucester & Sharpness canal, where he became a local landmark and tourist attraction.

He was keen to commit his knowledge and expertise to paper to help preserve the old skills and traditions and so Knots for the Cut was born.

The book has simple, straightforward language, accompanied by clear drawings by Helen Gee,

PHOTO SUPPLIED

loss of torque are all features that could benefit narrowboat owners.

The integration of a Hercules Hydraulics Drive Pod, recognised as one of the best available, can be the most effective method of overcoming common propulsion system problems on these vessels.

Hercules Hydraulics specialises in designing and installing complete hydraulics systems, which may include other products from Hercules’ wide range. Hydraulic bow thrusters can be incorporated to complete an individual hydraulic system installation and through their partnership with Beta Marine, engines can be supplied to provide a total hydraulic drive system. ● Full

details of Hercules Hydraulics products and services can be found at www.herculeshydraulics.co.uk or by telephoning 01803 66623.

Books, DVDs and other items for possible review should be sent to:

Towpath Talk, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk

From Watery to Harbour Ways

Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

skirmishes, at the time when much of the action between the Royalists and Parliamentarians was taking place north of Oxford.

The author relates a story – possible apocryphal, she points out – of a near accidental encounter by King Charles’ nephew Prince Rupert and the leading Parliamentarian General Fairfax. Both sought accommodation for the night at a monastery at Weston-on-the-Green. The Prince arrived first, and – probably because rooms were scarce – the General was shown to the same room. The Prince recognised him in time, and hid in the fireplace until he could escape while the General slept.

Genuine enough, however, are the relics of much earlier times in Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History are the bones of a Megalosaurus from 150 million years ago found at Ardley Quarry, and those of a Cetiosaurus found near Bletchingdon.

The river has company on its journey, the Oxford Canal which in many places runs close by, the railway, and roads from the first built by the Romans to today’s M40. A picture of the days of highwaymen is a sign outside the Holt Hotel at Steeple Aston showing the notorious Claude Deval, pistol in hand, riding his horse; a reminder of his eventual fate is the gallows behind him.

In Oxford the Cherwell plays its part in university life – not least in the student pastime of punting.

River Cherwell by Jean Stone is published by Amberley Publishing in its Inland Waterways series, price £14.99. ISBN 978-1-4456-3443-2

Reviewer: Alison Alderton

covering everything from the basics of rope maintenance and mooring your boat to making your own fenders and on to more complicated and fancy ropework.

This is a 52 page A4 wirebound book with acetate covers and 24 pages are in full colour.

Knots for the Cut is published by Quicksilver Publications and is distributed by CanalBookShop, priced £21.95.

Available from www.canalbookshop.co.uk (postage extra) or selected marinas and canal shops.

ISBN: 978-0-9557600-2-0

ORIGINALLY from Nantwich, Cheshire lass Nicki Griffin shares 10 years of boating on the Irish waterways in her book entitled, The Skipper & Her Mate. This is the first book from the author who for many years has been a regular contributor of articles and the sub editor of Inland Waterways News, the IWAI’s quarterly publication .

The Skipper & Her Mate is not your usual Irish boating account. For a start, as the title suggests, it is written from a women’s perspective and deals with the struggles of everyday life including the author’s battle with illness as well as trying to fit into a new life in a different country where the sense of being an outsider often seems overwhelming. All of this causes rows and a strained relationship between husband and wife but hiring a boat to explore the Shannon results in many problems drifting away and the desire to become boat owners taking over.

The purchase of a Freeman 23 fulfils this burning ambition but it is not long before the new-to-boating couple hanker after something a little larger. A twin-engine vintage wooden motor cruiser catches their eye and after having it imported to Ireland an in-depth exploration of the Irish waterways quickly begins with Winter Solstice which Nicki describes as: “a classic timber craft with character”.

The Skipper & Her Mate is a personal tale written from the heart, it tells of the people, wildlife and the ever-changing waterways of Ireland. The author’s love of poetry and traditional music comes across well in the text forming many descriptive and lyrically flowing sentences which are a joy to read. Whilst this book will certainly appeal to all the female skippers and crew out there it is also essential reading for anyone thinking of relocating to another country and learning how to boat!

The Skipper & Her Mate priced at €15 + p&p is available from: www.shop.iwai.ie

Knots from a master Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

A Drive Pod from Hercules Hydraulics can maximise propeller efficiency.

A CAPTIVATING tale of the renovation of a Dutch barge in the Netherlands is a great read for waterways lovers.

Harbour Ways is the welcome sequel to the popular Watery Ways, in which author Valerie Poore bought the barge.

Now in this informative, inspiring and humorous but very down-to-earth account of her trials and tribulations, Valerie restores it.

In doing so, she finds that everything about

barges means moving at a snail’s pace, and that’s not just the travelling.

The story of her first two years as a barge owner provide great enjoyment for the reader as she converts the empty hull into a home among the characters of Rotterdam’s Oude Haven where she lives.

Harbour Ways is published by Rivergirl Publishing projects in softback, priced £8.76 or e-book.

ISBN: 978-1-291-71399-2

The story of Sapperton Tunnel PUPILS from a local primary school helped retired teacher Graham Hobbs research a new book telling the story of Sapperton Canal Tunnel.

The 2.17 mile tunnel was hewn by hand from the rock and clay of the Cotswolds between 1783 and 1789.

The author was assisted on this three-year project by the pupils of Sapperton C of E Primary School, their enthusiasm leaping out of the pages.

The geology of the Cotswolds and the surveying techniques and equipment of the 1700s are just some of the matters explained.

Contemporary press reports and hand written documents have been reproduced together with some revelations about the interesting disparity between local marriages and births recorded

during the six years it took to complete the tunnel!

The author’s notes state that the book ‘aims to lead the reader through the story almost as if you were there.’

This aim is certainly achieved and many previously unpublished pictures and documents add to the experience.

An added benefit for the Sapperton School pupils was a visit to the printers to see the results of their teamwork.

Sapperton Canal Tunnel is available online from the Cotswold Canals Trust, priced £6.95 (incl P&P). Code BK027

A woman’s perspective on boating in Ireland

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WHAT’S ON

Compiled by Janet Richardson

Canalway Cavalcade set for Little Venice

ORGANISED entirely by Inland Waterways Association volunteers for over 30 years, the Canalway Cavalcade brings Little Venice to life over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. There will be over 150 boats with bunting in abundance – some having travelled hundreds of miles to be there – processions and pageants, a marvellous variety of music and plenty of kids’ activities including favourites like Punch & Judy and Teddy Bears’ Picnic.

Competitions, trade stalls, a real ale bar, a wide variety of snacks and food and lots more can be found at the event which is one of the biggest waterways festivals in the country.

On the junction of the Grand Union and Regent’s Canals, the Cavalcade extends from Warwick Crescent into the Paddington Stone Wharf and Rembrandt Gardens on one side and from

Delamere Terrace to Paddington Station on the other. The site is accessible for wheelchair users.

About 160 boats are likely to attend and will moor in or adjacent to the Pool of Little Venice in Paddington – down the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal towards Paddington station and along the Regent’s Canal towards Camden.

A wide diversity of boats is always represented, including historic canal working boats, holiday and residential narrowboats and cruisers, with the occasional Dutch barge.

The event is open to the public from 10am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4; 10am to 5pm on Monday, May 5. The raised pavements around the pool make ideal viewing platforms to listen to the music before the procession of illuminated boats at 9pm on the Sunday evening.

Email details of your event to: jrichardson@mortons.co.uk or send details to: What’s on, Towpath Talk, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ

Wilderness boat owners’ anniversary cruise THE Wilderness Boat Owners Club is organising a cruise along the Kennet & Avon Canal over the May Day weekend (May 2-5).

This is to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club, set up by Audrey Baker in 1989, and also to keep alive the memory of the club’s first chairman Keith Hadden, who died in 2010.

Approximately 18 Wilderness boats from as far afield as Norfolk and Devon will be gathering at Pewsey on Friday, May 2.

On the Saturday, the flotilla will cruise to Devizes where participants will enjoy a buffet and will be raising a glass in Keith’s memory in one of his favourite chain pubs. John Parker, the present chairman, stated: “Keith’s sheer enthusiasm for life in general, and for Wilderness boating in particular, will be impossible to match.”

On Sunday there will be a group descent of the Caen Hill Flight, followed by the club’s 25th anniversary meal at the Barge Inn at Seend. Although Audrey Baker and her husband Derek are unfortunately unable to

Wilderness boats on the Royal Canal, Ireland, in August 2011, where the WBOC was supporting the Western Rally of the Royal Canal Amenity Group. On this particular day, the flotilla had stopped at Moss Town Harbour, with the local Royal Canal Amenity Society providing a canalside fair. PHOTO: JOHN BRICE attend the meal, they hope to join the cruise at some point over the weekend.

The cruise will officially end with coffee and cakes on the

Monday lunchtime at Semington Dock, in the new workshop of Wilderness Boats’ original manufacturer, Ian Graham.

Catch up with Kate

The Canalway Cavalcade presents a colourful spectacle. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

WATERWAYS artist and glassware maker Kate Webley has had a busy winter creating new designs on board her floating studio, The Pod. She is now looking forward to showcasing her products to visitors at boating events and markets over the coming months.

Starting off with Malvern Art Market on Saturday, May 3, these include the RHS Malvern Show at the Three Counties Showground from Thursday to Sunday, May 8-11; Crick Boat Show over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, May 2426; Leicester Riverside Festival over the weekend of June 7-8; Middlewich FAB Festival, June 14-15; Braunston Historic Boat Rally, June 28-29; and the Stratford River Festival, July 5-6.

You can also see The Pod at the Black Buoy Boat Rally on the Grand Union Canal near

‘Bikes, boats ‘n’ boots’ returns to the Montgomery Canal FOR the third year, visitors from far and wide will take part in the Montgomery Canal Triathlon on Saturday, May 10, aiming to cycle, canoe and hike the 35mile length of the canal in one day.

Local enthusiasts will also be out in force working locks, marshalling road crossings and providing refreshments for those taking part.

Canoes lined up at the end of the second section at Llanymynech. PHOTO SUPPLIED

At the time of going to press more than 100 entries had been received, from as far afield as Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, Kent and Lancashire.

Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, and Andrew Stumpf, head of Wales, Glandwr Cymru (The Canal & River Trust in Wales), will be among those taking part.

Starting in Newtown, the original destination of the canal, entrants will cycle to Welshpool. The towpath has been resurfaced to a high standard, though the first part of the canal is filled in. Canoes start at Welshpool, with entrants tackling the 11 miles to the Welsh border at Llanymynech.

The last section of triathlon is over the border in Shropshire, from Llanymynech to Welsh Frankton, with the latest departure at 4pm. Walkers start along the short length used by the Duchess Countess Trust which runs the George Watson Buck trip boat, but then the canal is dry through Pant to Crickheath.

Organising committee chairman, Judith Richards said: “The Montgomery Canal Triathlon has become one of the regular events on the canal network of England and Wales, and last year won a Waterways Renaissance Award against stiff competition from across the country.

“This year we will benefit from further improvements to the canal. Towpath improvements between Newtown and Welshpool have been completed and work has started on the next section to Pool Quay, including making sure the

canoe launching pads can be used easily.

More canoe pads will be in place at Aston Locks in Shropshire, provided by the Friends of the Montgomery Canal with donations from the use of their canoes at Canal Central, Maesbury, over the last five years.”

She added: “One of the most exciting features of this year’s event will be the opportunity to see the finished section before Redwith Bridge which was derelict for over 60 years. After six years’ work by volunteers of the Shropshire Union Canal Society, water is to be let into this length soon after our event.”

All entrants who complete a section will receive a commemorative medallion of local slate. There will be medallions printed in gold for those who manage all three sections, in silver for those who complete two sections and bronze where only one section is completed.

The event is again being held in support of the Maesbury Canal Festival on September 6-7, which will be the fourth at Canal Central. Refreshments and toilets will be available at Welshpool Wharf, Burgedin Locks and Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre, with refreshments also at the Weston Arm of the canal below Frankton Locks. ● Details of sponsorship, entry details and bookings for the event can be obtained from Peter and Judith Richards on 01691 831455, peter_richards42@ btinternet.com

Kate Webley on board The Pod. Knowle from July 12-13 and in Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin in late July, early August.

For updates to Kate’s programme, visit www.pod4art.com

Hurricanetovisit cHester’swaterway festival A HISTORIC RAF Hawker Hurricane will be performing a flypast at the Inland Waterways Association’s (IWA) National Campaign Festival in Chester on Saturday, June 7.

This classic fighter plane was designed and built for war and was at the forefront of Britain’s defence in 1940, playing a major part in achieving victory in Europe.

During the Battle of Britain, RAF Fighter Command fielded more Hurricanes than Spitfires with 14,533 of the planes being built.

They served every day during hostilities and were also used in the Far East.

Sadly, there are only 12 Hurricanes still airworthy worldwide – and only six in the UK. The RAF is proud to operate two of these historically important aircraft and festival organisers are thrilled that they will be performing a flypast during the Saturday (operations permitting).

With free boat trips and taster angling sessions, live music including brass bands, entertainment and trade stands as well as over 120 visiting craft – all decorated up for the occasion – the waterways festival will be a great weekend for all the family.

Located around the Tower Wharf

The RAF’s two Hawker Hurricanes in display action. PHOTO SUPPLIED and Chester Basin, at the bottom of the famous Northgate Locks, there will be something for everyone.

There is a serious side to the weekend too, as the organisers hope to impress their VIP guests, including the mayor and the leader of the council, with the need to support waterside regeneration in the area including improving the link from the canals on to the river.

This would create a safer route on to the upper reaches of the river Dee as part of the Chester One City Plan.

● For more information about the festival go to www.waterways.org.uk/chester and click on campaign festival 2014 or contact gillian.bolt@waterways.org.uk

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WHAT’S ON IN MAY May 1

Birmingham Canals Navigations Society: The BCN – a view of the past by Martin O’Keefe.

Titford Pumphouse, Engine Street, Oldbury B69 4NL, 7.30pm. Contact Phil Clayton 01902 780920.

May 2-5

Northampton IWA: Branch Boat Gathering at Nurser’s Dock, Braunston Marina. Attractions include live music, boaters’ games and auction, quizzes, guided walks, barbecue, fish and chip supper and real ale bar. Contact Tony Clarke 07939 977859/01327 857573, tony.clarke@ waterways.org.uk More details: www.waterways.org.uk/ northampton/ braunston_boat_gathering

May 4

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Kensal Green Cemetery – Grand Union – Little Venice.

Starts Kensal Green tube station at 2.30pm.

Costs £9, £7 student/concs. Contact Roger Wilkinson 0208 458 9476.

May 4-5

Leawood Pumping Station: In steam at High Peak Junction, Cromford DE4 5HN. Information: 01629 823204.

May 5

Preston Boat Jumble: Hamilton House Farm, St Michaels on Wyre, Preston PR3 0TB. Open to buyers 10am. All weather indoor/outdoor event.

Adults £3.50, children/parking free. Chaddock & Fox Promotions boatjumbles@yahoo.com 02392 381405/07887 771451, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk

May 6

Worcester, Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society: Update on Cotswold canal restoration by a speaker from the Cotswold Canals Trust.

The Meeting Room, Alvechurch Boat Centre, Scarfield Wharf B48 7SQ, adjacent to The Weighbridge pub.

Information: www.wbdcs.org.uk

May 9

River Foss Society: Foss Walk 3, Yearlsey to Dutch House, Mill Green. Meet at Dutch House 9.30am. Contact Bob Jowett 01904 764702, bobjowett1@btopenworld.com

If you want your event listed in our free monthly What’s On section email your entry to jrichardson@mortons.co.uk or use the events form at www.towpathtalk.co.uk/events. As always please check with organisers on the details of the event before setting out on your journey.

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire: Illustrated talk by Steve Wood on the canals of North Staffordshire and South Cheshire. Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club, Endon Wharf, Post Lane, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 9DT, 7.45 for 8pm. Contact Barbara Wells 01782 533856 or Sarah Honeysett 01782 772295

May 10-11

St Pancras Cruising Club: Olympic Park cruise.

Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633, theoldmainline@fastmail.fm

May 11

Solent Spring Boat Jumble: Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley, Southampton SO31 5GA (Jct 8/M27). Open to buyers 10am. All weather indoor/outdoor event. Adults £4, children/parking free.

Chaddock & Fox Promotions boatjumbles@yahoo.com 02392 381405/07887 771451, www.boat-jumbles.co.uk

May 13

IWA Middlesex Branch: Boat electrics by Tony Brooks. Hillingdon Canal Club, Waterloo Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 2QX. Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm start. Contact Lucy at middlesex.socials@waterways.org.uk IWA Chester and Merseyside: Working Boats and Boat People Remembered by Roger Wickson, former headmaster of King’s School, Chester. Tom Rolt Conference Centre, National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port CH65 4FW. 7.45pm. Bar and coffee-making facilities available.

May 14

IWA Warwickshire: Historic Narrowboats, a boat spotting guide by Alison Smedley. The Sports Connexion Leisure Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore CV8 3FL. 7.30pm.

South London IWA: The Port of London Authority, overview and work of the harbour master by Steve Rushbrook. The Primary Room, The United Reformed Church Hall, Addiscombe Grove, Croydon CR0 5LP. 7.30 for 8pm, all welcome. Contact Alan Smith 02082 551581, 07774 890750 or email alan.smith@waterways.org.uk

May 16

IWA East Yorkshire: The Humber Yawl Club by John Chaney. Methodist Church Hall, Cottingham, East Yorkshire HU16 4BD, 8-10pm. £2 inc. refreshments. Contact roger.bromley@waterways.org.uk 01482 845099.

May 17

St Pancras Cruising Club: Thames Tideway cruise, Limehouse to Teddington/Brentford via Margaret Ness. Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633, theoldmainline@fastmail.fm

May 17-18

Day-Star Theatre: Roses & Castles workshop weekend at Audlem. No experience necessary, 10am-4pm each day. £75 (£25 deposit), materials, lunch and refreshments provided, bring your own item for decoration.

Contact Jane Marshall on 01270 811330, jane@day-star-theatre.co.uk or visit www.daystar-theatre.co.uk River Canal Rescue: Boat and engine maintenance course. Alvechurch Marina near Birmingham. For bookings and information visit www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk call 01785 785680 or email enquiries@rivercanalrescue.co.uk Moira Canal Festival: Moira Furnace Museum, Furnace Lane, Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE12 6AT. Attractions include first unicycle ride over the Ashby Canal, aerobatic display by Pitts Special Biplane (Saturday) and flypast by Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota (Sunday). www.moiracanalfestival.co.uk

May 18

Humberside Spring Boat Jumble: Carlton Towers, Snaith, near Goole DN14 9LZ. Public gate opens 10am. Adults £3, children/parking free. Organised by Compass Events 01803 835915, events@compassmarine.co.uk or visit www.compass-boatjumbles.co.uk IWA Warwickshire Branch: A long and short walk along the Coventry Canal and River Anker.

Meet at 10.30am at Bridge Street car park, Polesworth. Contact 01926 403179.

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: The Olympics, Three Mills and Bow Back Rivers.

Starts Bromley-by-Bow tube station at 2.30pm.

Costs £9, £7 student/concs. Contact Roger Wilkinson 0208 458 9476.

May 19

IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcester: Taking a narrowboat to France by Chris Clegg.

Coombeswood Canal Trust, Hawne Basin, Hereward Rise, Halesowen, West Midlands B62 8AW, 7.15 for 7.30pm. Contact Chris Osborn 01299 832593, jcosborn@btinternet.com

May 20

Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust: The Basingstoke Canal by Dick King. The Royal Oak, Much Marcle, 7.30 for 8pm start. Everyone welcome.

May 22

IWA Chester & Merseyside walk: Bunbury.

From the Nag’s Head, Vicarage Lane, Bunbury, Tarporley CW6 9PB. This walk of about 4.5 miles uses footpaths, lanes and the Shropshire Union Canal towpath. OS Landranger 117. Map Reference 565578. Starts 10.15am, open to nonmembers. Lunch can be booked on morning.

May 23-26

Federation of Bridgewater Cruising Clubs: Annual boat rally at Sale Cruising Club.

Entertainment, stalls and displays. £20 per boat, including brass plaque. Contact 07986 683170, email salecruisingclub@hotmail.com or visit www.tinyurl.com/F-B-C-C-2014

May 24-25

St Pancras Cruising Club: Barking Creek cruise.

Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633, theoldmainline@fastmail.fm

May 25

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Regent’s Canal, Regent’s Park and R. Tyburn – Camden.

Starts Baker Street tube station (Baker St North, Lords exit) at 2.30pm. Costs £9, £7 student/concs. Contact Roger Wilkinson 0208 458 9476.

May 27

Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society: History of the River Trent by Richard Stone. The Wilmot Arms, 49 Derby Road, Borrowash, Derby, 8pm. Admission £2 members, £3 non members.

May 31

St Pancras Cruising Club: Deptford Creek cruise.

Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633, theoldmainline@fastmail.fm

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Lymm plans to repeat successful event THE Lymm Historic Transport Day on the Bridgewater Canal in Cheshire will be back this year on June 29 after the success of the inaugural event in 2013.

Among the highlights of last year’s show was a sailpast of historic boats watched by large crowds on both sides of the canal. In total around 30 historic working boats attended making it possibly the biggest collection seen on this stretch of the canal in living memory. Among the guests were Gifford from the National Waterways Museum and Saturn, the last of the Shroppie flyboats, now converted to provide an education resource for young people.

The museum and Saturn joined forces with the Transport Day team and the Lymm Youth & Community Centre to host two days of canal heritage education for local primary schools in the days leading up the main show. One group of 10 and 11-year-olds were even treated to a short cruise trip aboard trip boat Castlefield to take them from near their school to the education event. Over the two days, nearly 200 local children had the opportunity to try their hand at rag-rug making and (model) bridge building while also learning at first hand what it was like to live as part of a family in the tiny aft cabin of a working boat.

“The education was a fantastic way to kick off what was a memorable weekend,” explained event director Alan Williams. “We felt that so many local children probably just took the canal

The canal runs very near to the centre of this attractive Cheshire village.

IN BRIEF Classic twist

A historic boat at the Black Country Living Museum. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Museum hopes to pull in the crowds Children from Statham Community Primary School on their way to their canal heritage experience aboard Castlefield, which is itself on the historic register of ships having started life in 1906 as a Fellows Morton & Clayton butty. PHOTOS SUPPLIED for granted and had never understood how important it had been to the history of the village as a whole. We had great feedback from all the schools and this year they have all signed up immediately for the opportunity to repeat what one head described as ‘a fantastic experience for the children’. We had letters from the children too, one describing it as his best day ever at school.”

Many of the children brought their parents back on the Sunday for the main event when as well as the boats there were classic cars, vintage bus rides, motorcycles and bicycles, steam rollers and a model railway exhibition. The show attracted over 3000 visitors on a cold and at times difficult windy day. So organisers are gearing up for an even bigger crowd this year when among the new attractions they hope to have a flypast of pre-war biplanes.

Last year’s event was such a success that it even resulted in a book The Wheels and the Water which tells the story of Lymm’s journey through the transport revolution. Part of the profit from the book, which has sold over 600 copies since publication in December, is going toward funding the 2014 event.

All boats, old and new, are welcome for what promises to be a great weekend.

TUG boats are set to pull in the bank holiday crowds at the Black Country Living Museum where the bi-annual Tug Boat event takes place from Saturday to Monday, May 3-5.

Historic canal tugs, some dating back to the late 19th century, will be making a splash over the holidays. Restored to their original splendour, they will capture a long-forgotten way of life on the canals.

The tugs will be put through their paces pulling old cargo boats, known as Joeys, in and out of the canal arm, and the museum’s historic lifting bridge will open and close to let them through.

Each tug is capable of pulling a train of up to six boats, with every boat carrying around 25 tons each. The museum’s wharf crane will transfer cargo from Joey boats on to vintage lorries.

Traditional canal crafts will be demonstrated along the towpath and include fender making, sign writing, rag rug podging and boatmen’s belt making.

Steve Bingham, harbour master at the Black Country Living Museum, said: “This year’s event promises to be even bigger and better with rare tugs boats travelling from all four corners of the UK.”

Free Audlem charity weekend in aid of the RNLI

● For more information about Lymm Historic Transport Day and the book and also to see a video of 2013 go to lymmtransport.org.uk Transport Day is just one part of the 50-event Lymm Festival from June 19June 29 lymmfestival.org.uk

Very Grand Union

A NEW display at the Foxton Canal Museum celebrates the bicentenary of the Old Grand Union Canal from Norton Junction to Foxton Locks.

A Very Grand Union tells the story of the people involved and tall tales from sailing a boat through the tunnel to the one-eyed one-legged lock keeper. The exhibition can be seen from Easter to October at the museum which opens every day from 10am to 5pm. www.fipt.org.uk

Bridgewater boats

THE Federation of Bridgewater Cruising Clubs hosts its annual boat rally this year at Sale Cruising Club over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend from May 23-26. Situated seven miles from Manchester city centre, the event promises entertainment, stalls and displays all weekend. Cost is £20 per boat, including brass plaque. Contact 07986 683170, email salecruising club@hotmail.com or visit www. tinyurl.com/F-B-C-C2014

Wendover open day

The raft race at last year’s festival. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Crowds lined both sides of the canal for a sail-past of historic boats with commentary provided by Ray Butler. Boat owners were thrilled to see so many people turn out on such a difficult day to share their enthusiasm for the canal and its history.

THE Dudley Canal Trust, which is set to embark on a £3 million construction and renovation project this spring, is also building its programme of events to widen its appeal to visitors.

This year the caverns will host a variety of concerts and shows with a more classic twist. The centuryold Cradley Heath Male Voice Choir will kick off with a concert on Saturday, May 17, showcasing their repertoire which includes theatre and film soundtracks, operatic classics, folk songs from around the world and arrangements of more modern tunes.

THE Audlem RNLI Festival returns for another year and promises to be a fun and educational event for the whole family.

Hosted by Overwater Marina, the weekend charity event is being held on the evening of May 31 from 6pm and on the Sunday, June 1, from 10am to 3pm.

The entertainment begins on Saturday evening with an exciting Cowboy Shoot Out by the Lincoln County Regulators who will be returning for more mayhem on the Sunday.

There will be an exciting Irish Dance performance from The Fraser School of Irish Dance, musical entertainment from local up and coming bands and then California Blue will play into the night with their popular mix of retro 60s and 70s hits to dance to.

Sunday will be a fun day for all the family with the return of the ever popular ‘around the island’ raft race, with home-made rafts promising some entertaining competition from local teams.

On the serious side, Cheshire’s

services including fire & rescue, police and police divers will be demonstrating water rescues and promoting water safety.

As well as displays from the historic narrowboat Saturn; Cheshire Cat Narrowboat Hire, Boat Finder Brokerage and BCMB Boat Management will all be available for information on hiring, owning or owning a share in a canal boat.

Linda Andrews of Cheshire Cat Training will be offering impromptu mini-training sessions and advice on boat handling. Hook up with Stapeley Anglers who are offering free coarse fishing classes.

There will be fun activities including farm tractor rides, pony rides, falconry displays, a dog agility show, tug of war, duck racing and hula hooping contests – and it’s not all just for the kids either!

Over the last three years the Audlem Lass Boat Service with the assistance of Overwater Marina have raised over £12,000 for the RNLI and look forward to raising even more at the event.

THERE will be a chance to see volunteers at work at the Wendover Arm Trust’s Restoration Open Day on Sunday, June 8. Open from 12.30-4pm, there will be tours of the restoration site as well as teas and cakes for sale. Admission is free and there is car parking at St Mary’s Church, Drayton Beauchamp HP22 5LS. Donations will be very welcome. Information: 07547 181857 www. wendoverarmtrust.co.uk

Restoration theme

THE theme of this year’s Montgomery Canal Forum will be Restoration from the earliest days to the latest rewatering and beyond.

It will be held at 2.30pm on Monday, June 2, in the historic former Cambrian Railways Works, Gobowen Road, Oswestry SY11 1HS. The Forum will be at Coffee Express which offers lightbite refreshments and coffee. Take care to enter the door to Coffee Express, rather than the children’s Fantastic Funhouse next door.

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BITS & BOBS GREETINGS! In May, I am very busy getting the boat shipshape for our summer cruising. Fine tuning the engine reminds me – where did I put that breakdown service renewal – I think I renewed it – didn’t I? While myself and the engine go into high gear, Rexx goes into her own high revs; re-stocking the staples for our cruising recipes (the ‘two for the price of one’ meals that we rely on out on the cut). I have been banished from the galley while Rexx is reorganising but, before exiting, I volunteered to stuff a chicken and bung it in the oven so, I am allowed occasional visits to fuss with the bird and grab a cuppa.

I have my own version of ‘twofers’. I double up on everything that we might get caught short of on the cut; two sets of cruising lines, two extra containers of diesel, two containers of petrol, two propane tanks in the bow locker, two extra containers of water in the galley, two tubes of degreaser, a couple of extra generator belts, and duplicate packages of paint brushes in case I can get Rexx to help with the cabin top painting.

Time to check the roasting chicken and look for that breakdown paperwork. Once that’s found, like the chicken, looks like we’re about ready to fly.

by Rexx & Phill

May top tip One of my favourite parts of the preparation for summer chugging is the planting of the three flower boxes that sit on our cabin top and the big, round container of flowers that sits on our bow. The boxes seem to defy gravity sometimes, but the trick is to weight them inside with a couple of bricks. After the bricks are in place I place three or four crumpled crushed beer tins along the bottom and surround them with pea gravel. Then, I add compost to fill halfway up. I space out my seedlings and fill the boxes the rest of the way with the compost. My favourite plants are geraniums, begonias, and blue lobelia. I start off with sweet peas for the hanging parts and tuck a few nasturtium seeds in between everything; they will sprout in a week or two and dazzle everyone on the cut as they flourish through the summer. I have a small red bucket that has a spout and spend many happy moments when we are moored, trimming and feeding my summer ‘garden’. I do not poke holes in the boxes for drainage; I don’t want muddy water dribbling all over the sides of the boat. The crumpled tins and gravel provide internal drainage space. We get a lot of pleasant comments on our gravity-defying cruising garden; it lasts well into October.

Phill’s Roasted Chicken with Mother’s Stuffing

Preparation time 15 minutes, roast time 1½ hours, serves 4

● 1.4kg/3lb chicken Stuffing ● 30ml vegetable oil ● 30g butter ● ½ onion, peeled, diced ● 1 stalk celery, diced ● 2 cloves garlic, smash/peel/dice ● 1 tbsp mixed herbs ● 4 slices raisin bread, toasted and sliced into small (1mm) cubes ● 75g chopped hazelnuts ● Salt and pepper to taste ● 1 egg, whisked ● 1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 120ml hot water ● 2 each: bell peppers, onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes

Pan gravy ● 30ml sweet white wine ● 30g butter and 15g flour ● 1 pint of milk ● Salt and pepper to taste Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF) Mark 6. Chop up the vegetables and spread them over the bottom of the roasting tin and set aside. Bring oil and butter up to sizzle temperature in a frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and mixed herbs. Sauté until softened (5 min) add to the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Stuff

Gardening afloat Lee Senior’s topical tips for growing your own fruit and veg in the month of May

MAY is a busy and exciting month in the vegetable garden.

Nowadays there is a superb range of baby veg varieties around that are ideal for confined areas such as boats. To make things even easier, many can often be bought as plug plants too, if you don’t want to germinate the seeds yourself. This is the perfect time of year to have a go.

After hardening off our tender veg such as sweetcorn, runner beans, squash and courgettes during May, we can also prepare tomatoes for life outside at the end of the month. Dwarf bush tomatoes are ideal for pots in a south-facing sheltered location. Do keep your cloches and protective fleece handy just in case the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Baby beetroot is easy to grow in large containers and fairly deep window boxes and will germinate quickly and grow away readily now. The dwarf variety ‘Action’ is ideal, giving tasty golf ball-sized beets.

Continue to directly sow the dwarf broad bean variety ‘The Sutton’ until the end of the month.

Harvesting baby beetroot. PHOTO: LEE SENIOR Finally, remember to cover your cabbages with a fine mesh to stop cabbage white butterflies laying their eggs, thus preventing an infestation of caterpillars.

Sleaford Navigation Trust clears the way

front and back chicken cavities, and sew up with a bit of string. Rub the chicken all over with margarine and place breast down on a bed of the vegetables in the roasting tin.

After half an hour turn heat down to Mark 5 and continue baking (an hour). Baste the bird every half hour; turn the bird over for the last half hour to brown the breast.

When done, remove the chicken to a warming platter, and cover to preserve the heat. Remove the vegetables for use later in the week. Place the roasting tin on the hob, deglaze with the white wine, stir in the butter, sprinkle in the flour and brown, add the milk all in one go and stir until thickened, season to taste. Plate the chicken and stuffing, and drizzle with gravy.

THE Sleaford Navigation Trust has traditionally held a boat gathering in South Kyme over the weekend of the early May bank holiday but last year boats were unable to travel to the village.

A substantial sand and silt bar below Taylors Lock proved to be an impassable barrier and prevented boats from as far away as Stafford travelling the last few miles to South Kyme.

Determined that this year the boat gathering would go ahead, the trust explored the possibility of dredging the river near the lock to clear the obstruction. Thanks to generous donations from the East Anglian Waterways Association, the Lincolnshire Branch of the Inland Waterways Association and an anonymous benefactor, SNT managed to fund the dredging operation and the way is now clear for boats to travel

to South Kyme for this year’s gathering on the weekend of May 3-4.

The Environment Agency worked with the trust to help it acquire the necessary permissions to complete the work and the local landowner kindly allowed the silt to be deposited on his land.

An unprecedented flow of water last year meant that large quantities of sediment were dislodged and then deposited elsewhere on the river bed, so there are still problems in other locations on the navigation and further works may well be needed, particularly in the area of Cobblers Lock.

Nevertheless, reports have already come through of the first boat of the year successfully arriving in South Kyme as part of his travels around the national waterways network.

● Sleaford Navigation Trust 01522 689460 www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk

Rexx’s Chicken Cassoulet

Preparation time 5 minutes, cook time 15 minutes serves 2 Ah, May is the time of year that I change over to our ‘two for one’ meal planning and rediscover my new best friend, Mr Can Opener. For the next few days I will be pulling everything out of the galley storage and restocking for long-term cruising. I’ll use up some of those tins of leftover beans that I’ve inherited from all of the BOGOFs and other products on offer and then I’ll do a big shop to fit even more into the galley and tuck-away places that we all have somewhere on our boats. My ‘go to’ touring fare includes; tinned vegetables and fruits, boxed milk, a variety of pasta, grains and flour, dried pulses, dried fruit, and our favourite herbs and spices. Storage containers and baggies are crucial to my leftover meal planning. Phill’s chicken roasting in the oven inspires me and I know I will be using the leftovers to make a quick cassoulet a day or so from now when I do not want to stop and cook much. I am doubly grateful to him both for dinner tonight and for the fixings for a simple dinner later in this busy week. On ‘cassoulet day’ I’m planning to splurge on one of those store-bought artisan bread loaves since Phill’s too busy for baking. ● 150g cooked chicken, shred ● 240ml leftover gravy ● 240ml leftover dressing ● 1 tin mixed beans ● 1 tin baked beans ● 1 tin black beans ● 2 tbsp tomato sauce ● Bread and butter

Dredging work means the way is now clear for boats to reach the South Kyme gathering.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Parkhead Festivalwill celebrate two milestones

Bring the frying pan up to sizzle temperature. Heat the gravy, add the chicken and dressing; let it simmer to heat through, add the beans, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes until heated through. Stir in a splodge or two of ketchup. We serve this with a loaf of country bread, a knife for slicing, and a crock of butter or marg for spreading. I just plop it all on a cutting board and leave it for slicing, tearing, and coating with butter. Fare well.

BOAT entries are being invited for Dudley Canal Trust’s Parkhead Festival, on September 27-28, which will celebrate two important anniversaries, writes Bob Clarke.

It will be the 50th anniversary of the Trust’s foundation as well as the 80th ‘birthday’ of its tug Bittel which once worked for the Stewarts & Lloyds steelworks in Halesowen.

And the festival – one of the biggest events on the Birmingham Canal Navigations – is being part sponsored by Towpath Talk.

Because of the Trust’s anniversary the event is expected to attract a record number of boats – the last event

attracted well over 100 plus several thousand visitors.

Attractions will include displays of restored working boats and a demonstration of a horse-drawn boat working through the Parkhead locks.

In addition there will be a display of vintage and classic motor vehicles and ‘The Great Dudley Duck Race’ through the lock flight. ● Boat entry forms are available from festival organiser Steve Bingham on ste.bingham@talktalk.net or on 07964 151552.

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15 years’experience,fully qualified, a service you can rely on FEEL FREE TO CALL TO DISCUSS AN Y N EEDS YOU M AY HAVE 0 7 9 6 20 240 9 2

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Bo a tE lectr ica lSer vice N a r ro w Bo a t, W id e Bea m , Ba r g es

New -bu ild s , Sa il-a -w a ys , In verter& Cha rg in g Sys tem s Con trol P a n els , Ig n ition Sys tem s , Re-W ires , Ba ttery M a n a g em en t, Fa u ltFin d in g , (Electrolu x Tra vel P ow er, Service & Repa ir) All Boa t: A/ C & D/ C Sys tem s Covered .

0 795 2 474 226

Em a il: boa ts pa rks @ hotm a il.com

Are a Co ve re d : N o tts ,De rb y,Le ice s te rs hire ,Ru g e le y,Hin ckle y,N u n e ato n , Co ve n try,Ru g b y,Dave n try,N apto n ,N o rth o fM ilto n K e yn e s

MOORINGS

SERVICES

DIPSTOP

Locking cap for all types of fuel tanks.

Telephone John on: 01939 251351 or visit our website at

www.dipstop.co.uk for more information

SERVICES ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS FOR TRADITIONAL PROBLEMS-restoration and marinising, casting, machining and fabrication of one off parts to order. Gardner factory approved. Over 60 years of combined experience. Tel 01788 899123 www.vintagediesels.co.uk VI512670L

MOORINGS

SECURITY/SAFES

Holt Steel & Plastic

FOR YOUR ENTIRE SPECIALIST TANK NEEDS For water, waste, fuel, we fabricate in Stainless Steel, Poly Propylene, Mild Steel and PVC all to your specifications Trade or private also cruisers stainless work ALL HAND MADE Call Steve on 01902 427479 07966 526528

SERVICES

BRONTE BOAT REPAIR SERVICES

From a wiring fault to a full engine/gearbox recondition we have a fully qualified engineer in the respective field.

• Heating systems • Generators • Bow thrusters • Gearboxes (hydraulic/mechanical) • Outboard motors • Wiring faults (including inverters) • Engines (modern/traditional) • Mobile welding services We are based in Hebden Bridge & Todmorden and provide our services around Lancashire Yorkshire and Greater Manchester areas.

Insurance approved (covering all aspects of work)

So if you require any of our services here or just need a little more information on the services we provide, then why not email or give us a call!

01706 815103

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SERVICES

SERVICES

TRANSPORT BY ROAD

TRANSPORT BY WATER

A.B. TUCKEY BOAT TRANSPORT SERVICE A reliable personal service provided by a family business, based on 3 generations of transport experience.

Narrowboats moved up to 70ft in length and 25 tonnes in weight.

Own 35 & 70 tonne crane.

Tel 01926 812134 Fax 01926 810354

Stockton, Warwickshire Website: www.abtuckey.co.uk email: Mark@abtuckey.co.uk

VERSATILE

NON-SLIP PLASTIC FLOORING - 300MM SQUARE - EASY TO CUT AND FIT GREAT RANGE OF COLOURS Buy online at:

www.versatile-flooring.co.uk

Why pay high imported prices when you can buy British made from a british company

Industrial Plastics Supplies Limited 0113 2579000

TRANSPORT Specialists in moving narrowboats up to 70 ft

WINDOWS SIGNWRITING

RELIABLE: if we say we will be there at 4am you can count on it.

No additional charges for weekends Crane also available in Manchester area

FREE QUOTE, CONTACT US TODAY:

Info@SaltransPC.co.uk 07710 444857 • 0161 212 2833

TRANSPORT BY WATER

STORAGE

Lovelyrural setting inthe heartofthe Chilterns O nly ten m inutes fro m m a inline sta tio n a nd the M 1 a nd M 2 5

! M a rin a w ith resid en tia l a n d n on -resid en tia l m oorin g s, la un d ry a n d show erb lock ! Covered d ry d ock f orb oa tsup to 72f tx 14f t ! 40tcra n e perm a n en tly on site cra n in g b oa tsf orsurvey, on oroff tra n sport, f orha rd -sta n d in g a n d repa irs. ! A ll steel w ork un d erta ken -b oa tb uild in g , over-pla tin g , stretchin g , f a b rica tion ! Hull pa in tin g -g ritb la stin g w ith epoxy or sta n d a rd b itum en system ! Superstructure pa in tin g a n d sig n w ritin g ! Da y Boa tHire ! Boa tSa les! Slipw a y ! Cha n d lery ! Pum p-out ! Ga s, Diesel, Solid Fuel ! En g in e Repa irs! W ood w ork ! Plum b in g ! Ga sIn sta lla tion sa n d Repa irs ! Electrica l In sta lla tion sa n d Repa irs

M id d x & H ertsBoa tServices, W in kw ell,Bou rn e En d ,H ertsH P 1 2R Z

01 4 4 2 8729 85

RETIRED BOAT OWNER, RYA Qualifications. offers to move your boat with greatest care.

FREE QUOTATION. BCF member.

Antony100uk@yahoo.co.uk or 07812 183 340 AN513756L

A45 SELF STORAGE 8ft, 10ft and 20ft secure lock up units available for short/long term let

www.A45selfstorage.co.uk Stephenson Close, Daventry NN11 8RF T:01327 877130 E:A45@icmgerson.com

TRANSPORT

CRANE HIRE SOLUTIONS LTD WE OFFER A FRIENDLY PERSONAL SERVICE AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK FULL CRANAGE AND TRANSPORT PACKAGES TO SUIT ALL YOUR NEEDS FROM A FELLOW BOATING ENTHUSIAST WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR BOAT

Ring Keith on 01530 411778 or 07961 324479 (7 days a week) for a free quotation

To advertise call Stuart on 01507 529455

Caldwells Narrowboat windows: See our web page @ www.caldwellswindows.co.uk or call 01942 826406 CA493401L Channelglaze Ltd: See our main advertisement on page 25. Tel: 0121 706 5777 CH509184L

UPHOLSTERY

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Boats for sale

1/12TH SHARE 57ft semi-trad narrowboat, fixed double, dinette, 2 single chair beds.

Isuzu engine, inverter, c/h, 4 weeks per year. Friendly private group, low annual fees. £2995 Tel. 01248 853004 for full info. bradbury_567@hotmail.com Staffs.

38FT NARROWBOAT 2-4 berth, ex BCN riveted (Harris’s) main hull section, welded steel counter stern, fully fitted pine cabin, very clean, full working order, sensible offer secures.

Tel. 01889 270172; 078150 24521. Staffs.

35FT CRUISER Lister SC2 engine, new cooker, new water heater, 1000wt inverter, fully equipped and ready to move aboard, BSC til Oct 2015, Offers near £14,500. Tel. 07583 794372. Macclesfield area.

57FT BOAT 2004, just been newly spray painted with 2k, engine was serviced March 2014, a new heating system with back bolier has just been fitted, unique kitchen with fridge, ideal live aboard, 2 berth, but can fit 3-4 if cruising, £36,500 ono. Tel. 07955 442552. Bucks.

AQUALINE NARROWBOAT 60ft, hardly ever used, well maintained, 2007, absolutely beautiful and perfect in oak, licenced, certified, ready to go.

Secure mooring available. £59,000. Tel. 07881 728622.

Berks.

CHARLIE CRUISER Refurbished new Suzuki engine, electric start, new canopy, sink, hob, fridge, toilet, can email photos, must sell, £3750 ono.

Tel. 07889 943223. Mids.

CRUISER STYLE NARROWBOAT 45ft, 2009, good quality craft, underused, ready for cruising, £38,000. Tel. 01253 810166. Lancs.

BOUDICCA 57ft Inspection launch, a much admired, cosy and different kind of boat, light and airy, Edwardian design,, comfortable for 2 people but can sleep 6. Built 2002, by Stowe Hill Marina, modified to semi-trad by Andicraft 2011, tiller steering or from front wheel-house, bow thruster, solid and veneered-ply ash interior. Shower, basin and new pump-out lavatory fitted 2011, full -size, domestic gas cooker with double oven, under worktop domestic fridge/ freezer, washing machine, tumble drier, Kabola diesel-fired c/h, d/glazed, safety glass, lounge windows renewed 2012, fixed king-size bedroom at stern. £64,000. Tel. 07816 448494 for comprehensive details.

CAT’S WHISKER 56ft cruiser stern narrow boat, rebuilt Lister ST3 air cooled diesel engine, gas free - Dickinson Pacific diesel cook stove - Squirrel multi-fuel stove, £22,000. Tel. 01527 402360. ihunter@ blueyonder. co.uk Worcs.

CRUISER STERN 1984, 30ft, all steel narrowboat, Bukh engine BSC 2015, complete internal professional fit-out, 2 single beds/sofas, new w/tank, fridge, hob, water system, new battery, Paloma water heater, shower room, Thetford cassette toilet, wash basin, Boatmans stove in hearth, laminate floor in saloon, ample storage, LED lights, galvanic isolator, back and front covers, complete with TV, plank, pole etc, lovelys tarter boat, cheap to run and moor. Moored Trent and Mersey. Offers around £15,800 ono. Tel. 01773 744538. Derbys.

DUTCH MOTOR TJALK Beautiful, orig, rebuilt, renovated to high std, good headroom, 65ft x 12.5ft, DAF 475 engine recond, 4 berth, grey, black water tanks 1500lt ea, hull minimum 5mm, £145,000 ono. Tel. 07926 933157. vereric@hotmail.com London.

DRAGONFLY 55FT 1998, Liverpool boat, semi trad, solid oak diagonal tongue and groove to cabin sides, side hatch, Houdini hatch, Squirrel Morso multi-fuel stove, thermostatically controlled c/h, radiators, new waste tank and macerater toilet, sign written by Andy Russell. Tel. Allison 07754 115744. Shrops.

DUTCH BARGE 2009, 58ft, well designed, spacious, fitted out in white oak and trimmed in ash, Barrus Shire 65 engine, bow thruster, £170,000.Tel. 07974 808277.

ERYNNIS 35ft steel cruiser, 2 berth Barrusshire 800 diesel engine, recent hull survey, current BSS vert, s/f stove, calorifier heated by engine, Waeco dual power cool box, £15,000.

Tel. 07855 720193. Staffs.

FREEMAN 22FT Mk 2, narrow beam hard top, new Neptune 4500 cooker, new cushions/ canopy/window rubbers, 1600cc Sea Tiger Ford engine, totally rebuilt, all engine parts brand new, £8000. Tel. 07790 563507. Shrops.

FROBISHER NARROWBOAT licensed as a constant cruiser sorry, no mooring, Lister SR3 engine, BSC 2016, bottom replayed 2001, open to offers for quick sale. Viewing by appointment only. Tel. 07956 243691.

Hebden Bridge, W Yorks.

NORMAN 18 Built 1978, BSC 2017, new canopy 2006, portaloo, 2+2 berth, 1998 Yamaha 99, elec start, 4-stroke, £2250.

Tel. 01483 724169. Surrey.

IDEAL LIVE ABOARD 50ft x 10ft cruiser stern, rear kitchen, lounge, bathroom, bedroom, Squirrel stove with boiler, Isuzu 70, 3400 hours, 1000 litre stainless water tank, €53,000.

Tel. 07933 781683. Warks.

JOHN WHITE 45FT NARROWBOAT built 2004, sleeps 4, Vetus M4.15 engine and gearbox, 12v/240v elecs, diesel c/h plus log burning stove, new full fitted interior, new cratch and cover. Tel. 0750 2032862. christopherjflynn@hotmail.co.uk Staffs.

SHETLAND 2+2 GRP CRUISER on twin axle trailer, 1.5 BMC diesel with full recon engine, pump, injectors, starter, new prop etc, 2 ring burner/grill, 1 fixed double, BSC 2016, £3250. Tel. 07848 986071. W Yorks.

MAREX CONSUL 7.7 28ft Yanmh, 45ft shaft-drive, diesel engine, sleeps 6, BSC 2016, anti-fouled 2014, engine serviced 2013, new canopy 2011, must be seen, £25,500. Tel. 07547 171339. Worcs.

SPRINGER 23 Cruiser stern, year 1990, 3-berth, 10hp Mitsubishi fridge, cooker, toilet, shower, wash basin, water heater, Boat Safety 2016, blacked end 2012, wood burner stove, £12,500 ono. Tel. 07982 399794. Leics.

NUTSHELL 70ft, G&T, 2000 shell, new fit-out, 3.5kw generator, inverter, washer, CofC 2016, 6 berth, wood burner, Webasto c/h system with 5 radiators, excellent live aboard, £42,000 ono. Tel. Ann or Dennis on 0161 4296925; 07866 962228. Stockport.

PARIS NARROWBOAT 62ft semi-trad, Emmeline, 2008, rev layout, bottom blacked Aug 13, BSS Cert til May 16, 4-berth, pump-out toilet, v well maintained, exc cond, suitable live aboard, £62,000. Tel. 07866 133777. Leics.

S.M. HUDSON TUG ‘Raven’, 54ft, 1997, 8ft deck, full recessed panels, high specification, Beta BD3, Blacked, BSC 2017, £56,500 Tel. Jon 07964 320347. Shrops.

SEA MASTER Exc cond, length: 27ft, 1974, 1.8, 4 cyl Thornycroft/ BMC diesel engine, sleeps 4, depth sounder, new canopy 2013, toilet & shower, cooker 2 ring & oven, fridge. Tel. 07967 418591.

Essex.

ATLANTA 24 Yamaha E/S tilt and trim, 4-berth, showerr toilet, fridge, hot water heater, £9500. Tel. 01427 612453.

Lincs.

SPRINGER STERN 40ft, needs tlc, lovely little boat, 2-4 berth, toilet, shower, fridge, cooker, etc, 4 years Safety Certificate, £16,950. Tel. 07538 161398. hazeldine23@mail. com Leics.

VIKING 20 20ft, beam 7ft 4in, 1985, 4 berth, cooker, hob, sink, porta-potty toilet, orig gelcoat not painted, marina 15hp, 4 stroke engine. Mooring may be available, £3960. Tel. 0208 8669581. London.

VIKING 26FT CENTRE COCKPIT 6 berth, brand new Honda outboard, 2013, only 20-30 hrs, £8499 ono. Tel. 077638 32720 for info. Shrops.

40FT NARROW BOAT 2 cylinder Lister air cooled, completely rebuilt, boatman log burner, Maxima gas boiler needs bottom re plating, £ono(Lancashire) £10,000 ono. Tel. 07899 704810. Lancs.

55FT TRAD NARROWBOAT 1991, 4-berth, fitted out in ash with mahogany trims, Squirrel stove and two radiators, Perkins 46hp engine, BSS to 2016, cooker, fridge, £30,000.

Tel. 01652 678501. Lincs.

VIKING 20ft, new marina, 9.9hp, 4-stroke engine, oven/ hob/grill, portaloo £4200 ono.

Tel. 07775 827755. Yorks.

57FT CRUISER STERN 2000, five adult berths, complete, ready to cruise, nearly full tank of fuel, safety certificate till 2016, £35,000 ono. Tel. 07977 374116. Northants.

45FT CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 1999, 4-berth, shower, s/f stove, full cooker, fridge, BSC 2016, full survey 2012, re-blacked 2012, Perkins engine, beautiful condition throughout, £32,000 ono. Tel. 07752 818724. S Yorks.

50FT NARROWBOAT Must be seen! Built 2005 by Keith Wood, only been in water since 2011, 4 berth, mod kit/shower room, needs to be seen. Tel. 07720 889346 for more details.

N Yorks.

65FT NARROW BOAT with bespoke open plan interior, c/w private mooring located on the Ashby Canal being sold fully furnished with all kitchen appliances. Mooring has electricity and water on sight, boat certificate just renewed, £75,000. Tel. 07535 677998. Warks.

BIG NORTHWICH MOTOR 178 Tadworth, requires partial restoration, for pictures see http://s1226.photobucket. com/user/tadworth178/slidesho w/Tadworth £26,000 for a quick sale. Tel. 07890 604121. Herts.

BMC 1.8 good economical runner, regularly professionally serviced and overhauled last year, new mounts, long engine re-con, 6000 hrs, refurbished PRM gearbox last year, double pulleyed, 75amp alternator for quick charging, needs new loom and gauges, all offers considered, available March. central midlands location. Tel. 07740 863532. B'ham.

COLECRAFT TRAD STERN 1991, trad stern, BSS until June 2016, permanent double bed, Lister diesel, serviced by marine engineer, two winter canopies, all excellent condition. £22,500. Tel. 01296 489985. Bucks.

NAUTICUS 27FT inboard engine, Seawolf, refurbished interior, cockpit re-upholstered, new petrol tank, toilet, fridge, cooker, BSC 2018, mooring available, upholstered, curtains new, £7950. Tel. 01564 793818.

Warks.

ESPADA CANOES X2 racing type 16ft 6" length fibreglass, no paddles, external rudders need repair, otherwise good condition, £35 each; may deliver. Tel. 077130 39947. W Mids.

HARBOROUGH MARINE CANAL BOAT 40ft, BSC to 2015, 2+2 berth, shower room, Thetford toilet, full Vanette cooker, gas fridge, Perkins 3 cal engine, Earth 100 gearbox, £15,000 ono. Tel. 07563 779028.

HISTORIC BOAT fully restored, full length, in working trim but suitable for conversion for a nononsense sale. £30,000. Tel. 01564 782516; 07913 761871.

Oxfordshire.

SHARE FOR SALE on 58ft Narrowboat Sandalwood, well maintained, up to 6 berths.

Moored near Audlem, 3 weeks booked in 2014, £2200. Tel. 01327 315786. Northants.

TRAD STERN 50ft, 1999 BSC Jan 2017, river licence Dec 2014, good condition, last blacked Oct 2012, new prop 2 year ago, £30,000. Tel. 07944 815322 for more details. Notts.

Parts and spares

19 X 14 THREE BLADE R/h propeller, for Standard 1 & 1⁄2” shaft, excellent condition, £200. Tel. 07917 114364.

Bucks.

FIVE NARROWBOAT WINDOWS All 73cm high, 2 x 96cm long, missing top opening glass, 1 x 98cm long complete, 1 x 79cm long complete, 1 x 91cm long complete, all top opening in vgc, £95. Tel. 07702 853910. Notts.

FREEMAN BOAT SIDE WINDOWS large, £40; small, good condition, £20. Tel. 01932 707165.

GARDNER 4LK, immaculate, show piece, vintage engine, PRM gearbox, two alternators, all Gardner logos & dials, rebuilt 2010 on engine bearer, history, replacement spares list, £16,000 buyer to collect.

Tel. 07973 460482. Notts.

STANDARD HOPPER WINDOWS Five 36” x 21”, anodised bronze, three 14” portholes same finish, £300 ono. Tel. 07758 634599. Glos.

TWIN LISTER FREEDOM Blackstone gearbox, 2-1 reduction; also various JP parts. £3500 ono. Tel. 07563 188944 for details. Staffs.

4 GOOD PISTONS BMC 1.5 with con rods £25 each (standard size) also other engine parts from £10 (crank chain).

Tel. 07860 688134. Cheshire.

2X BRASS MUSHROOMS 2ft chimney, with hat 1 yr, various.

07599 990402. Cambs.

6 CHANNEL GLAZE WINDOWS 2 x 36 x 18 (non openers), 3 x 36 x 21 (top hoppers), 1 x 30 x 21 half frosted (hopper not frosted, £10 each. Tel. 01926 810757. Warks.

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NationalNarrow boats W anted For C ash

0800 3895325

ANCHOR brand boat fenders, £1. Tel. 01932 707165. Surrey.

ANCHOR 14kg with 8 metres of heavy duty chain,13 metres of white sinking rope including shackles, as new, unused, cost £120, sell for £60. Tel. 01270 368285. Cheshire.

BRITISH SEAGULL outboard engine, long shaft with recoil starter, works fine, £75 ono. Tel. 077130 39947. Walsall, W Mids.

BUBBLE DIESEL STOVE 5kw, c/w flue pipe, chimney collar and manufacturers handbook, good condition, T & M Shardlow, £200 ono. Tel. 07966 670751. Derbys.

CLARKE FG3000 petrol generator, as new only used once, two 230v and one 12v outlets, reason for sale - no room on boat, price was £265 brand new, will accept - £180. no offers and buyer collects. Tel. 0770 3049202. W Mids.

DOUBLE WHITE STRIP LIGHT 14.5" long, 12v, 310; mini dehumidifier, 5A 12v, £20; Grapnell 4 prong anchor and chain, 3.2kg, £20; 14" white steering wheel, £12. Tel. 077910 34695. Cambs.

FIRST MATES GUIDES x 8, £20; Imray guides x 4, £20; Imray Fen guides x 2 with windlass/key, £20; Eco fan 2 blade, £60; large life ring, £25; Hebble spike, £10; knuckle brass tiller bar with ash handle, £70. Tel. 07950 832060. Leics.

FIVE SWITCHED halogen down lights, brass, brand new, boxed, buyer collects, £10.

01926 810757. Warks.

HONDA 2.0I SUITCASE 240/12 generator, professional LPG conversion, very economical! one season's light use so vgc, includes regulator, hoses and 2 13kg cylinders, retail £1400 - selling £875 ono. Tel. 07538 693830. Skipton, Lancs.

LISTER HR2 not marinised, air cooled, good runner, new rings, b/end bearings, good engine, £495. Tel. 01205 480693; 07948 304584. Lincs.

THETFORD PORTAPOTTI 465 toilet with push button flush, used but spotlessly clean, £20 ono. Tel. 01926 810757.

Warks.

MARINE ENGINES Can be heard running, sell for £25. Tel. 07858 889858. Northants.

MORCO D61B water heater including flue kit, new April 2013, hardly used, as new condition, £150. Tel. 07715 581957.

Cheshire.

PAIR NAVIGATION LIGHTS plasitc, red/green, 13 x 6cm, £10; sealed oil syringe with 200mm suction tube, metal, £10; Roberts Elise DAB radio, £30. Tel. 077910 34695.

Cambs.

OUTDRIVE by Sillette Transidrive, c/w propeller, stored 20 years, £350 ovno. Tel. 01706 347880. Lancs.

SHOWER TRAY 30" x 30", concrete base, used but very clean and good condition. Tel. 01926 810757. Warks.

WAECO 12/24v, 80ltr fridge, as new, little used, less than 18 months old, £350 ono. Tel. 07769 321147. Staffs.

YANMAR YSE12 For sale in Staffordshire, complete. Ideal for spares or repair. £300. Tel. Ade 07852 999601. Staffs.

PartsWanted 2-WHEELED TRAILER 23-26ft long, up to 2000kg boat weight, cash waiting.Tel. 01757 707367.

Yorks.

w w w .nationalnarrow boatsforcash.co.uk

STOVE TOP OVEN wanted, to fit Morso Squirrel. Tel. 07814 902484. Bucks.

Equipment

10FT WIDE BEAM CANOPY for sale, front and back, navy blue, frame work included, no tears, nearly new condition. Tel. 01296 433233. Bucks.

BUOYANCY AID as new, £5.

Tel. 01932 707165. Surrey.

DEBLASSI FOLDING BIKES 2, good condition, little used, £50 each. or both for £75; buyer to collect. 07767 472254. Notts.

Wanted BOATER own boat, looking for bi guy to cruise with him this Summer. Tel. 07914 623563.

Staffs.

DESPERATELY SEEKING FREEDOM! Happy couple, both working, two kids two dogs, looking for a liveaboard to rent/buy. West Midlands based, perm mooring available currently living on a houseboat, please phone. Tel. Graham 07903 883971. W Mids.

I'M LOOKING FOR A PROJECT traditional narrowboat either sunk fire damage or unfinished sail way etc, must be cheap as poss. Tel. 07591 535752. Warks.

SOUTHERN MATURE MALE boat owner seeks fit male boating companion. Tel. 07745 479294. Surrey.

Selling your boat is

FREE

CLARKE STRONG ARM engine lift, 1000kg, hardly used, £180. Tel. 07563 188944.

Staffs.

DANFORTH ANCHOR brand new and unused, 8kg with Force swivel connector to prevent chain locking, 3m of galvanised chain and approx 5m of rope, 8kg is large enough to do the job, £55. Tel. 01283 740389. Staffs.

Make

DESMO LEGS 2 x 26” brown, 1 x 28” silver, 2 x 32” brown, two table mount silver sockets, two recessed base silver sockets, 4 recessed base brown sockets, £5 each. Tel. 0121 7842343. W Mids.

DVB POTHOLES x 4 (one smoked), 38cm dia, sliders x 4, 112 x 58cm (smaller one 81 x 58cm), vgc, aluminium and quality single glazed glass, runners and catches gwo, can be viewed, £580 ono. Tel. 07427 665875. Leics.

FREEMAN CHROME ANCHOR TRAP Can be used on other boats, £2. Tel. 01932 707165. Surrey.

Miscellaneous

HAND OPERATED WINCH with reduction gear, full working order, suitable for slip way, £175. 0115 9726855. Notts.

MORRIS CHAINMASTER overhead electric crane, one tonne lift, £500 ovno. Tel. 07563 188944. Staffs.

ECOFAN 800 802 replacement motors, solder terminals. Free post to uk address. Paypal accepted. £14 each, limited stock. Tel. Martin 07894 856275. Derbys.

FRIDGE FREEZER Shoreline Model RT143 12 24v, ht 1160mm, width 480mm, depth 530mm, 89 ltr fridge , a/defrost, 29ltr freezer, rev door. interior light, white, 2.1 amp/hr, 2 yrs old, £400. Tel. 07711 489849. Dorset.

LUCAS BLOCKING DIODE 12v negative earth, £20 ono.

Tel. 01543 503687. Staffs.

HONDA EU10I INVERTER type generator, very quiet, professionally modified to run on petrol or gas, unused as new, cost £865 will sell for £500.

Manuals present. Buyer collects.Tel. 07463 364515. Warks.

Model

ELECTRIC BUCKET washing machine, with two buckets, sell for £25 Tel. 01932 358449.

Northants.

WHALE SHOWER WASTE PUMP new, boxed, 12v or 24v, £40 ovno. Tel. 01932 707165.

Surrey.

Price

HONDA OUTBOARD OWNERS manual, as new condition, £8. Tel. 01932 707165.

Surrey.

COVERED CUSHIONS black leather from sofa bed, 2 no squab, 5 no back, £150; timber frame also available. Tel. 07780 605617 for sizes etc. Staffs.

TWO DOUBLE GLAZED leaded 1 window panels, 19cms x 82 ⁄2cms x 11⁄2cms each, suitable for front doors on canal boat, £200. Tel. 07713 177304.

W Mids.

BOAT COPPER and brassware (15 items some antique).

Collected over 40 years boating and 6 boats! Good stock for boat jumble enthusiast. £50.

Tel. 07877 717305. Leics.

GLEMBRING c/h hot water diesel drip heater, like Reflex, stainless steel body, flue & tanks, 5 as new radiators, £175.

Tel. 07884 480638. Derbys.

HAMLET HARDY 4 multi-fuel stove, brand new, never used, c/w 1 metre of 4" stove pipe, instruction manual and tub of black fire clay. Collection from Shavington. £250. Tel. 07577 387427. Cheshire.

INTERNATIONAL INTERTUF 16 hull blacking, 2 x 5 litre tins, £60 ono. 01977 683643. Yorks.

INTEX AIR BED Queen size, inflates in 3.5 mins, built in high volume, 240v pump, as new, £40. Tel. 01270 524579.

Cheshire.

PORT HOLE BUNGS 2 x hardly used moss green velour with zipped covers, size = 15" dia x 2" thick, excellent condition, £20 pair. Tel. 01354 693579. Cambs.

THETFORD PORTAPOTTI 465 toilet with push button flush, used but spotlessly clean, £20 ono. Tel. 01926 810757; 07986 133122. Warks.

TILLERPIN brass Kingfisher, £12; canal related books, assorted, £2 each; Canal Book of Knots, £3; brass fire trivet, wood handle, £5; dinner plate mats, boat pictures (4), £4 set; brass horse bell on stand, £10; tiller arm knotted tassels, £3 each.

Tel. 01773 744538. Derbys.

WATERWAYS WORLD full collection from first edition 1972, buyer collect - offers? Downsizing so boss says they must go to good home please! Tel. 01323 639525. E Sussex.

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108 ON IRISH WATERS with Alison Alderton

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First Irish-bred white tailed sea eagle found dead

SOS – Save Our Ship

ONE of the first pair of Irish-bred whitetailed sea eagles to fledge from Bushy Island on Lough Derg in July 2013 has been found dead.

Following information from a member of the public a search of lands adjoining the lake by Stefan Jones of the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Golden Eagle Trust (GET) project manager, Dr Allan Mee, were carried out. These resulted in the discovery of the dead bird near Ballinderry on the north-east shore.

A post-mortem and radiographs by pathologists at the Regional Veterinary Laboratory at Knockalisheen, Limerick revealed the eagle had been shot with the body holding 45-50 shotgun pellets.

The impact had broken one of the bird’s legs and wings however, it is believed to have survived for some weeks after the shooting before finally perishing in what has been described by NPWS district conservation officer, Stefan Jones as: “...a drawn out and horrific death”.

The nature of the bird’s death has shocked not just those involved directly in the reintroduction project but also the local community including boaters whose willingness to give Bushy Island a wide berth last year played a vital role in helping the parent birds successfully raise Ireland’s first white-tailed sea eagle chicks in over 100 years.

BUILT in the Liffey Dockyards between 1956 and 1958, the Naomh Éanna is one of the last riveted ships to be constructed in Ireland. For 30 years she plied the most hostile of seas ferrying goods, livestock and passengers between Galway and the Aran Islands during which time she only ever missed seven scheduled sailings.

In August 1958 after just three months of service she assisted in the search for survivors when a KLM Super Constellation airliner crashed into the sea, 65 miles off Slyne Head.

Following retirement in 1989, it was hoped she would become the centrepiece of the Grand Canal Docks containing a museum depicting her working life. However, complications with ownership resulted in her deterioration and after being declared unsafe earlier this year, in danger of floundering at her berth, she was moved

by Waterways Ireland to the graving dock and prepared for scrap.

The Naomh Éanna Trust, established in 2005 with the aim to restore the vessel, has been outraged by these actions. The ship’s plight has sparked worldwide support, the creation of a Facebook page, an online petition and appeal for funds.

In response, Arts & Heritage Minister, Jimmy Deenihan announced a fourweek postponement to give the trust time to refocus efforts on saving the ship.

During this time the trust and the Irish Ship & Barge Fabrication Company, specialists in marine restoration, have drawn up a €1.86 million business plan to include; a boutique hostel, cafe, restaurant, micro-brewery and museum within the restored vessel which they hope will secure its future.

While the minister and senior officials have been impressed with the business plan their main concerns are in

When asked how this bird’s death will affect the project, Dr Allan Mee told Towpath Talk: “The shooting is a setback as are all losses but the loss of one of the first two wild-bred chicks has more than just a numerical effect, it’s a blow to the morale of all those who work to restore these fantastic birds back to their natural environment.

“It also raises a red flag about the ability of future young Irish-bred eagles to survive the many mortality factors that exist such as illegal poising, shooting, collisions with wind turbines and power lines to name but some of the major mortality factors affecting these birds today.”

He continued: “Of course this does cause people to question whether we should persist with a reintroduction in the face of these limiting factors.

However, these mortality factors are not confined to Ireland and are also prevalent in the UK and Europe.

“Despite this, the overall prognosis for Irish white tailed sea eagles is promising as the breeding population continues to grow from one pair in 2010 to some 12 pairs in early 2014 as more birds reach maturity and begin to establish territories across the five counties of Kerry, Cork, Clare, Galway and Tipperary. We anticipate that at least six of these pairs will nest and rear young in 2014.”

Stefan Jones, (NPWS) holding the young white-tailed sea eagle shot dead on the shore of Lough Derg, Tipperary, March 2014. PHOTO:ALLAN

MEE, GOLDEN EAGLE TRUST

● For more information and how the public can help support the GET conservation efforts go to: www.goldeneagle.ie Eagles are protected by law under the Wildlife Act (1976), it is a serious offence to shoot or otherwise harm the species and investigations into this bird’s death are ongoing.

New Shannon class lifeboat begins full-time operational duty THE first of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) new Shannon class lifeboat’s started full-time operational duty from the Dungeness Lifeboat Station in Kent during March.

Despite naming lifeboats after rivers and stretches of water for nearly 50 years this is the first time one has been named after an Irish river. At 240 miles, the Shannon is the longest river in Ireland and is already home to three RNLI lifeboat stations on the lakes of Lough Ree and Lough Derg and on the Shannon Estuary at Kilrush.

The Shannon is the latest class of all-weather lifeboat to join the fleet and the first to be propelled by waterjets instead of traditional propellers. This makes it the most agile and manoeuvrable all weather lifeboat yet. It is designed to be launched and recovered from a beach via a faster and safer launch and recovery system and is capable of 25 knots, 50% faster than the lifeboats it will replace meaning casualties will be reached quicker. Its unique hull designed to minimise slamming of the boat in heavy seas and shockabsorbing seats will also improve the safety and welfare of volunteer crews.

To date a total of 17 lifeboat stations will receive one of these new craft and over the next 10 years over 50 will need to be built in order to gradually replace the already existing

Naomh Éanna at Kilronan Pier Inis Mhor with cattle wranglers C1970.

PHOTO: MARK RADFORD

avoiding any expense and/or responsibility to the State. They have also expressed doubt to the heritage value of the vessel and disappointment that the trust has not carried out a hull survey and secured financial backing.

While deliberations take place the trust is desperately seeking funds for the €15,000 hull survey without which potential investors cannot be approached but with the reprieve officially expired this is now a race against time.

Over the years the Naomh Éanna has become a familiar sight in the Grand Canal Docks. Nestling beside her the former 1930s RNLB Mary Stanford, the only lifeboat to ever receive the gold medal for gallantry after the famous Daunt Lightship rescue, has recently been removed for restoration. It is hoped the former ferry will experience the same happy ending and with Galway Port Company offering a permanent home for the restored Naomh Éanna this is a possibility. ● For more details or to contribute to the appeal please visit the Facebook page: Save our Ship *SOS* Naomh Éanna

The new Shannon class lifeboat arrives at Dungeness.

PHOTO: RNLI

Mersey and Tyne class lifeboats which are now nearing the end of their operational lives.

The Shannon will also be the first class of lifeboat to be built at the new All-weather Lifeboat Centre in Poole, Dorset. ● For more information visit www.rnli.org Naomh Éanna with the Mary Stanford in Grand Canal Docks. PHOTO: JOHN KEARNS

Lough Ree fishing trip ends in tragedy

WaterWays by-laWs becomean election issue

THREE anglers got into difficulty when their boat capsized in windy conditions, north of Hudson Bay on Lough Ree. A member of the public alerted the RNLI after seeing the heavily laden 15ft dory-type boat and crew depart in deteriorating conditions and squalls with westerly winds gusting in the region of force five to six.

The RNLI based at Coosan Point were shortly on the scene and successfully rescued two men from the water, 60year-old John Trimble and 27-year-old David Warnock. They were both transferred by ambulance to hospital where Mr Warnock later died. The search, assisted by the Air Corps, continued for several hours to find the third man, 30-year-old, Daryl Burke

CONTROVERSIAL by-laws proposed by Waterways Ireland are set to be a political hot potato as candidates face local elections this summer.

The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) has gained the interest of local, regional and national politicians on this matter, who on behalf of their constituents, want to develop waterway use.

A three-week public consultation resulted in more than 2000 submissions on the issue and public discussion has included public meetings, questions raised in both houses of the Irish Parliament, TV and radio interviews.

IWAI president Carmel Meegan led a recent delegation to meet the Oireachtas Joint Committee members on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht to express their concerns that the proposals in respect of the Grand and Royal Canals and the River Barrow do not put boaters’ requirements, local communities or tourism at the centre of the regulations.

While the boating community is not averse to appropriate management, facility provision, and access to waterways, the IWAI claims boats are key attractions, as the lifeblood of the navigations, and need to be welcomed.

As reported in our March edition, the by-laws include changes in mooring permits which will see increases in fees and the introduction of a €150 fixed penalty notice for non-compliance and have been described as ‘draconian’

by IWAI.

before being called off in darkness.

Often hampered by bad weather conditions, the resumed search concentrated off Marker One, near Yew Point where a debris trail made up of fishing and camping gear had been found before moving further afield.

After two weeks of continued searching which at one time involved up to 90 divers in the water, a breakthrough came when the submerged boat was discovered in 5m of water in the Ballybay area on Monday, March 31.

The body of Daryl Burke was finally discovered by volunteer divers from Boyne Fishermen’s Rescue & Recovery Service on Saturday, April 5, day 17 of the search close to the north-east shoreline of Whin Island in Ballybay.

Much praise has been given to the agencies, sub aqua clubs and volunteers involved in the massive search operation which included the following: Athlone SAC, Roscommon SAC, Longford Scuba Divers, Mullingar SAC, Lough Ree SAC (Longford), Gráinne Úaile SAC (Mayo), Alpha Divers

Fern, the search dog.

(Meath), Civil Defence Rescue Service Northern Ireland, Mourne Underwater Search Team (MUST) with the wonderful search dog ‘Fern’, Paddy Agnew, Pat McManus, the Garda Water Unit, RNLI, Civil Defence, local fishermen, the Sligo Rescue Helicopter, Inny Kayakers, and volunteer PADI divers from Dublin among others. The local community and Hudson Bay hotel was also praised for providing food and facilities to all concerned.

The anglers, members of the Portadown Pikers fishing club, Armagh in Northern Ireland had been planning a few days of camping and fishing when the disaster struck.

Craft displaying the blue and white Divers Down flag keep watch on the search line.

PHOTOS: DEBORAH RILEY,ASAC

IWAI National Council members on the boardwalk prior to their recent meeting at Tullamore on the Grand Canal. PHOTO: IWAI

ON IRISH WATERS with Alison Alderton 109

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British boaters in Ireland

Andy Rawnsley crossing Lough Ree with The Puzzler.

Len and June Fitch, owners of Polecat.

The Puzzler on Lough Key.

Polecat on a rally in Limerick.

Alison Alderton meets three couples who have moved their boats to Irish waters

Della and Steve Wait with Talitha II.

Talitha II on the Camlin River.

HAVING previously hired boats in Ireland, when an opportunity came to relocate, my husband and I didn’t hesitate, moving boat, dog, and all.

Joining the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) we were quickly immersed into boating life, totally captivated by the beautiful waterways, stunning scenery and warm hospitality. However, it appears we are not alone as more British boaters are heading to the Emerald Isle.

Steve and Della Wait were crossing the Pennines on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal when they decided to make the move to Ireland with their replica Dutch barge Talitha II. Following recommendations from other boaters they started researching the Irish waterways. Having previously enjoyed the wider waters of the Thames and Trent, the Shannon particularly appealed and so they went for it.

Talitha II, based on a 49ft Branson ‘Emily’ design and built by Gem Marine, was transported by low-loader from Liverpool under the supervision of Lakeside Marina, Lough Ree. Steve believes boating in Ireland is bigger and better than the UK. The large lakes seemed a little daunting at first but a Garmin GPS with pre-loaded charts

proved a great addition, however, he considers this a luxury whereas binoculars are a necessity.

Now in their third year as seasonal liveaboards Steve and Della have explored far and wide. Favourite places include the traditional town of Shannonbridge and the picturesque port of Mountshannon on Lough Derg.

Their best adventure has been tackling the Green and Silver Route, coinciding with the IWAI Dublin Rally.

They describe experiencing the Grand and Royal Canals along with sightseeing in Dublin as brilliant, made easy by the helpful IWAI volunteers and Waterways Ireland staff.

New challenges

While replica Dutch barges are ideally suited to and widely seen on Ireland’s waterways it is relatively unusual to see narrowboats. Andy and Sally Rawnsley own The Puzzler, a 58ft traditional narrowboat built by Stenson Boatbuilders.

In 2009, after fully exploring the British waterways, retiring from their wooden jigsaw business and renting out their house they became continuous cruisers looking for new challenges.

With an ageing golden retriever, Europe was out of the question but dog-friendly Ireland without pet passport rules looked ideal.

The Puzzler was lifted at Northwich on the River Weaver and 24 hours later was in the water at Quigleys Marina near Athlone.

Andy and Sally consider Irish waterways more a lake- and riveroriented system with few canals, regarded mainly as a means of transit.

Even in good weather the large lakes demand respect; the couple never hurry, keep an eye on weather forecasts, and have learned to trust The Puzzler in rough conditions but feel narrowboats without a cratch would encounter problems from breaking waves.

They find facilities on the Erne, Shannon and Shannon-Erne Waterway to be vastly superior to those on England’s rivers with most public mooring places having floating pontoons, water and electric. Pumpouts in the Republic are chargeable while in Northern Ireland they are free.

With no current licence or boat registration fee and locks chargeable as used, those considering Ireland can offset transportation costs against the UK’s cruising licence.

Winter months can often be challenging. While private moorings are readily available, choosing to overwinter in the heart of Enniskillen on public moorings allows access into town without transport and being in Northern Ireland, NHS facilities if required.

Unfortunately, the winter-mooring permit available in the Republic, which allows overwintering in public harbours for a nominal fee, is currently not available, which means adhering to 48hour mooring restrictions.

Described as unforgettable, the descent of the Shannon’s 100ft double lock at Ardnacrusha rates as one of Andy and Sally’s best adventures. Other highlights include completing the Green and Silver Route, the unspoilt beauty of the River Barrow, magnificent sunsets over the broad loughs and the feeling of isolation on Lough Allen and the Grand Canal.

Having planned to stay two years; last spring they were just not ready to leave so spent another year revisiting favourite haunts. In 2014 they will finally say farewell to Ireland and the friendships forged as they head for Holland.

not a problem; the channels are wellmarked and certainly improved since they first began cruising.

Describing themselves as periodic boaters active throughout the year memorable events include; the descent of Ardnacrusha and cruising to the 2008 Tullamore Fleadh, the world’s largest traditional Irish music festival, where they met like-minded people and talented musicians.

While boating in Ireland they have discovered many hideaways with good mooring places, ample fishing opportunities and numerous options for dining out or simply enjoying the craic with locals.

If you are considering a move to Ireland for boating purposes the vote seems to be unanimous – what are you waiting for?

Versatile vessels

➔ Usefulinformation

The most widely seen craft in Ireland are glass-fibre or steel cruisers. These versatile vessels provide the best of both worlds, having the ability to handle coastal as well as inland waters.

Len and June Fitch had only experienced boating in their Canadian canoe before they retired and relocated to the Republic. With views of the River Shannon from their new home, the constant flow of cruisers was enough to whet their appetites and encourage them to become part of the action.

Being new to cruising they did not feel experienced enough to buy an older boat to do up so made the brave decision to buy as new as funds would allow. Purchasing an 18-month-old Jeanneau Merry Fisher 805 glass-fibre cruiser from MGM Boats in Dún Laoghaire in 2007, naming her Polecat, they joined the IWAI Cruising Club, becoming familiar faces at events and rallies.

With a top speed of 23 knots, Polecat’s Volvo Penta engine has plenty of power if needed but drawing around one metre can occasionally encounter depth problems on the inland waterways. Navigating the large lakes is

Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks to the above mentioned skippers and their crew for kindly sharing their boating experiences and allowing their photographic images to be used within the article.

Andy and Sally Rawnsley owners of The Puzzler write an informative and light-hearted blog, essential reading for any narrowboater considering a move to Ireland which can be found at: www.nbthepuzzler.blogspot.com Services as mentioned in text: Lakeside Marina www.lakesidemarina.ie Qigleys Marina www.quigleys.com MGM Boats www.mgmboats.com For more information about putting your own boat on Irish waters try: Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) www.iwai.ie Waterways Ireland www.waterwaysireland.org

110 TOWPATH TREASURES

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Wedgwood’s Canal Pots and philanthropy Words: PHILLIPPA GREENWOOD Images: MARTINE O’CALLAGHAN

Boating through the locks at Etruria.

AN AREA called The Potteries garlands its skyline with charismatic bottle ovens and chimneys that once, more than 200 years ago, puffed pots on to the dining tables of the world.

But without the introduction of revolutionary canal routes, mass production would not have been possible in a time before a national transport system. Wedgwood and his factory helped pave the way for that growth in industry as he supported the construction of a canal that was set to deliver to kings and queens, and swamp ordinary households with his innovative hardwearing pots.

Josiah Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, in 1730. His family were potters and he served an apprenticeship with his eldest brother after his father died. As a result of an attack of smallpox as a child, his right leg was weak (which eventually led to a gruesome amputation, without anaesthetic, in 1768) and left Wedgwood less able to perform as a ‘thrower’ in the pottery works, and so he began modelling instead. The new experience led him to explore more possibilities in the craft, and experiment with different processes. Before long he wanted his own pottery. He opened his first factory in 1759 and his now-famous factory in Etruria in 1766.

Wedgwood’s designs were refreshingly simple and durable, attracting royal approval and international popularity. His unglazed blue Jasperware became one of his most recognised designs and his reputation has never faltered since. In 1783, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for his pioneering work and his connections with the construction of the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Before the arrival of canals, Wedgwood’s pots had to be transported in laboriously small quantities by pack

horses, clattering along bumpy tracks (with the added hazard of highwaymen and robbers). Boats would be able to carry large loads of mass-produced pots safely, and swiftly.

James Brindley’s proposed national canal system would mean Wedgwood’s pots could reach ports in Liverpool and Hull, and Wedgwood was keen to support the plan. On June 10, 1766, Wedgwood and Brindley attended a meeting in The Crown, a coaching inn at Stone, near Stoke-on-Trent. They discussed the plan to build the ‘Grand Trunk’ canal (now called the Trent & Mersey) and Wedgwood became treasurer for the project. After the parliamentary bill was presented and authorised, eventually the exciting work could begin.

In his pleasure, in 1766 Wedgwood cut the first sod of earth for the canal and Brindley reputedly carried it away in a barrow. Navvies dug a line out of the earth, 93 miles long, with 76 locks, five tunnels, and a climb of 395ft to its summit at Harecastle Tunnel, where the cut burrowed 2880 yards inside a tunnel. It was an extreme engineering achievement to raise the eyebrows of any doubting Thomas. Celebrations were triggered in the euphoria of every step of the progress in the construction, and a grand opening was held when the lock next to the Star pub in Stone was completed. A cannon was fired, but in a disastrous calamity it damaged the new lock, which (with red faces) had to then be rebuilt.

Wedgwood’s beloved canal was finally opened in 1777. The Trent & Mersey Canal was a triumph, and so was Wedgwood’s factory. When Wedgwood died in 1795, he left his pottery dynasty to his children.

Today the great potter is remembered for his creative genius, and Wedgwood pots are still made in Stoke-on-Trent.

Bottle kilns at Stoke-on-Trent.

He is also respected for his philanthropic work. His mother was a Unitarian minister’s daughter and Wedgwood never detached ethics from business. His factory made pots, but it also laid a template for a benefits scheme for workers. And, as a vociferous political reformer, Wedgwood passionately supported the abolition of slavery. Wedgwood’s life’s work wasn’t restricted to making pots, his vision and drive influenced the social responsibility of a nation as well.

As the Trent & Mersey Canal quietly ambles through The Potteries today, Wedgwood’s life is serenaded in the glorious landscape, and his clay is never far from mind.

TOWPATH TREASURES/ANGLING 111

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The Towpath Angler Our monthly look at the angling scene THE Sharing Towpaths Consultation is, quite rightly, getting the attention it deserves. I mentioned last month that it had been a key topic at the National User Forum and in recent weeks it has had similar ‘billing’ at both Council and Angling Advisory Group meetings.

Without doubt a number of the user groups will have given it some time also. If I have a criticism of the document it is that it was based on research and surveys carried out along London canals which, almost certainly, are not typical of all canals.

It is clear from those meetings that it is only the awkward minority which causes problems, not just for the vast numbers of genuine, caring users but also, it could be argued, for the general waterway habitat. The $64,000 question is how one deals with these people. As I said in March and, indeed, this seems to be the view shared by most of my colleagues at meetings and people I meet socially, the only real solution is control and enforcement. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done.

At the moment only boating and angling are subject to any recourse in the event of a complaint because of their respective licensing arrangements. It is unlikely, in the short term at least, that any form of licensing or regulation will be applied to other users. As a result, therefore, we must all collaborate to try and change the mindset and attitude of this minority. When everything is taken into account it comes down to basic respect. Each user needs to have respect for others. Sadly though, while differentials exist, such as who pays and who does not pay for their enjoyment of our waterways, this particular target will remain elusive.

The Trent & Mersey Canal near the Wedgwood site.

The James Brindley statue at Etruria.

Waterway rangers

Adapted extract from Britain’s Canals, A National Treasure in 100 Must-See Objects by Phillippa Greenwood and Martine O’Callaghan – published by Coolcanals July 2012.

Stoke Flight on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Etruria.

www.coolcanals.com

FACT FILE Wedgwood Factory, Museum and Visitor Centre The Wedgwood Factory, Museum and Visitor Centre are on a huge site covering more than 240 acres, bordering the Trent & Mersey Canal.

The factory moved here in the early 1930s from its site in Stoke-on-Trent where it had been since the 1700s.

The Visitor Centre runs ‘Ceramic Experience Days’ which include the opportunity to throw your own pot or paint a plate.

The Wedgwood Visitor Centre and Museum are open daily. Factory tours Mar-Oct Mon-Thur. Admission charge.

Wedgwood Shop, Museum Shop and Factory Outlet. Cafe and restaurant. Wheelchair access (apart from the factory tour).

Children’s play area.

01782 282986 www.wedgwoodvisitorcentre.com Wedgwood Museum The award-winning Wedgwood Museum has a collection ranging from the mid-1700s to the present day, including some of the world’s finest ceramic examples and Wedgwood’s iconic anti-slavery medallion with its image of an enslaved man, and the inscription “Am I not a Man and a Brother?”

It also houses an archive of more than 80,000 manuscripts (free to access but you must have a valid ‘reader’s card’ – download the application from the website).

01782 371919 www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk Location Stoke-on-Trent OS Grid ref: SJ887397 Canal: Trent & Mersey Canal How to get there By train Nearest train station is Stoke-on-Trent National Rail Enquiries 08457 484950

By bus Traveline 0871 2002233 By car Free car park on the site On foot The towpath through Stoke-on-Trent is part of Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 5 and is now an easy route to cycle and walk.

By boat Nearest boat hire: Black Prince Narrowboat Holidays, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent.

Holiday boat hire.

01527 575115 www.black-prince.com Anglo Welsh Waterway Holidays, Great Haywood. Holiday and dayboat hire. 01173 041122 www.anglowelsh.co.uk Moorings There are plenty of visitor moorings available along the Trent & Mersey Canal near the site.

Local tourist info Stoke-on-Trent Tourist Information Centre Find information about the Ceramics Trail around Stoke-on-Trent www.visitstoke.co.uk Canal & River Trust Use the Canal & River Trust website to find specific local information. www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

It was generally agreed at council that the key user on the towpaths is the pedestrian. It is also a fact that, with the exception of cycling, all other towpath activities involve pedestrians.

Therefore, this must be central in whatever strategy we take forward.

I am not saying there is simply a ‘one-sided’ problem, but more that the route to a solution may be simpler.

Such a solution will be anything but a one-size-fits-all affair either.

Clearly, we need to move away from

David Kent

trying to base any recommendations on anecdotal evidence towards the use of factual evidence.

In order to achieve this I believe that we should extend the Waterway Rangers teams using lots more of our keen volunteers to gather more and better intelligence which, in turn, will enable true hot spots and, possibly, some culprits to be identified. That way the Canal & River Trust will be better placed to make more informed decisions about dedicating any resources on a more local basis.

CRT’s Angling Advisory Group met in mid-March and it became clear that, generally, sport on our canals is still far from good. Wherever you go at the moment water temperatures seem extremely low, despite the mild winter we have had. A fact which, as I said last month, is probably due to the excessive rainfall. That said there are one or two reports creeping in which suggest things are levelling out.

A semi-final of the Angling Trust Winter League was held on the Kennet & Avon Canal, and while weights were down on the norm they were encouraging. That said the skimmer bream and roach which normally comprise 90% of catches on this venue failed to show and it was the resident perch which saved the day. Elsewhere, anglers are putting together small bags of silver fish, but it is hard work.

I have not fished a canal for some time now due mainly to the lack of local canal matches and other commitments. However, in the matches I have been able to fish, my recent run of better form seems to be holding. I have picked up envelopes on my last three outings. Hope I have not spoken to soon! Good luck.

Fish – and chips – at Oldham angling exhibition OUTDOOR enthusiasts hooked on angling may have an interest in a special exhibition currently showing at the Gallery Oldham in Greater Manchester, writes Geoff Wood.

Gone Fishing features displays of fish, vintage fishing rods and paintings of canal and lakeland scenes. Accurate fish models and trophy mounts, donated by Oldham Central AC are also on display.

The exhibition runs until June 14 and also includes some unexpected objects. As Oldham claims to be the birthplace of fish and chips, the 1930s Mallinson’s fish and chip shop range is also included.

Coun Jean Stretton from Oldham Council said: “Many items are being displayed for the first time and some have been conserved specially for this show. So it is a great opportunity to see more of our important natural history collections.” ● Gallery Oldham is situated in the Oldham Cultural Quarter in Greaves Street, Oldham OL1 1AL and opens on Mondays to Saturdays from 10am-5pm (last admission 4.30pm). Admission is free. www.galleryoldham.org.uk

25 new ambassadors marks trust anniversary THE Angling Trust has marked its five-year anniversary by appointing 25 new ambassadors to help promote its work and to encourage more anglers to join its growing membership. They will join the 40 ambassadors appointed in 2012.

Among the new appointees are some keen anglers who are also household names, such as ex-England goalkeeper David Seaman, sports promoter Barry Hearn and recent Environment & Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon MP. Others on board include Ian ‘Chilly’ Chillcott, founder of the English Carp Heritage Organisation; Sarah Collins, chief executive of Get Hooked on Fishing; and disabled angler Andy Beadsley, director of the Wheelyboat Trust.

The Angling Trust works very closely with Sarah, Andy and many other great organisations to increase access to angling for young people and those with disabilities and to promote the many personal and social benefits of going fishing.

112 WET WEB

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The Wet Web Helen Gazeley finds guides to building boats and watching the health of wildlife.

Mark Speakman at the helm of Panache.

The fitted-out interior of Eckington School’s new outdoor classroom.

Pupils at work in the Boat Club at Eckington School.

WHEN, 10 years ago, Mark Speakman bought a 30ft, 35year-old narrowboat with a wooden roof, he landed himself, as one might expect, with a restoration project. What he didn’t have, however, was any background in boats.

Over the following three-andhalf years, he mended the roof leaks and modernised his new home, and then moved on to refit a second boat. A great deal was learned in the time, including the fact that little information was available on matters such as heating, electrical connections, costs and insurance, despite the hours he spent poring over the internet.

Now, he’s the proud owner of Panache, a 69ft widebeam that he designed from scratch. Loath to hoard all his experience to himself, he’s capitalised on his previous experience in marketing and graphic design and has put together The Fit Out Pontoon www.thefitoutpontoon.co.uk a resource aimed at anyone thinking of buying, planning or building a canal boat.

You’ll find a full Build Diary of Panache, with plenty of explanation and photographs, including design analysis, as well as extensive products and services directories and a product/planning guide. With around 200 pdfs for viewers to download, it seems unlikely that Mark’s missed much but, if you think he has, there’s a chance to make suggestions and win a prize in his monthly competition. He’s also at Crick Boat Show for the first time this month, so why not pop by and say hello?

A boat-build of a totally different sort is nearing completion at Eckington School, a co-educational specialist engineering college in Derbyshire. Since ABC Boats in Boston delivered a narrowboat shell to them in October 2011, the school’s Boat

Club has been meeting once a week to fit it out, giving pupils the chance to learn the skills of woodwork, plumbing, wiring and painting, as well as about narrowboat history.

You can follow this very impressive project on the school’s website www.eckington.net/ extracurricular.cfm It’s almost completed and will hit the water at Staveley Basin on the Chesterfield Canal on June 27, after which the boat, whose name has yet to be revealed, will be moored there for use as an outside classroom.

Perhaps while the pupils are on the canal, they can keep an eye open on behalf of the Garden Wildlife Health (GWH) survey. Although its name suggests the need for a garden, the survey welcomes news from any site, so long as you provide a grid reference or postcode.

It’s a collaborative project involving the Zoological Society of London, the British Trust for Ornithology, Froglife, and the RSPB and aims to monitor and identify disease threats to garden birds, amphibians, reptiles and hedgehogs. The GWH contributes to the GB Wildlife Disease Surveillance Partnership, which reports to Defra and the World Organisation for Animal Health, so contributions to the survey play a part in informing policy on wildlife, domestic animal and human health.

On the website www.garden wildlifehealth.org, you’ll find lots of information, including symptom identifiers and disease factsheets, to help you identify afflictions such as amphibian chytridiomycosis, avian pox or lungworm in hedgehogs. You are then invited to send a report of any incidents you’ve come across, and if you need help finding the National Grid Reference for your location, www.gridreferencefinder.com should solve the problem.

A great tit with growth on wing consistent with avian pox.

PHOTO: LIZ CUTTING

An in-the-pink smooth newt.

PHOTO: MIKE TOMS

A healthy grass snake.

PHOTO: PHILIP PARKER ASSOCIATES

➔ Formoreinformation Do you have a favourite website?

Email Helen at helengazeley@aol.com

Shroppie boaters invited to have their say on moorings WITH all the focus on moorings in so-called hotspot areas like London and the Kennet & Avon Canal, one canal business has decided one of England’s most popular holiday canals shouldn’t be left out of the debate.

Simon Jenkins, managing director of Norbury Wharf Ltd on the Shropshire Union Canal said: “We decided it would be interesting to know what boaters locally think about the moorings available on the canal. Are there enough visitor moorings where our customers want to tie their boats? Do they get long enough to explore the local area if they use the many 48hr mooring sites?

He added: “Should the rules change in winter when fewer boats are in pursuit of the same moorings? Is there a need for more seven- or 14day moorings near prime locations.

“In some places, like the Shropshire Union, CRT appears to have handed over responsibility to local

organisations; with the Shropshire Union Canal Society apparently deciding that virtually the whole canal should have only 48-hour visitor moorings in prime spots.”

Simon added: “Most of the discussion about moorings is taking place in London and Bath and we felt it was important that boaters on an important, busy but fairly peaceful canal like the Shropshire Union should be able to have a say.”

Norbury is inviting visiting boaters and its hire-boat customers to let them know their feelings by writing to Moorings, Norbury Wharf Ltd, The Wharf, Norbury Junction, Staffordshire, ST20 0PN or email info@norburywharfltd.co.uk with Moorings as the subject. Alternatively fill in its survey online: www.surveymonkey.com/s/JTTZLK7 Norbury promises to pass comments on to the local waterways’ manager.

Visitor moorings at Norbury on the Shropshire Union. PHOTO SUPPLIED

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TALKBACK

Your chance to write to us on any Towpath topic:

Towpath Talk, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk

A continuous problem?

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Reasons to refuse planning permission, here’s three – but are they valid?

I AM rather puzzled about the reasons for Redhill Marina being refused planning for an extension (News, Issue 102, April).

Reason 1: Unreasonable incursion of green belt land – is this the site where a massive power station is in the background?

Reason 2: No need for any more development of marinas in the area due to oversubscribed berths – I hang around the area and there certainly is a need for extra berths. I think the guess of 98% occupancy

is about right within 30 miles shows there to be a need for many smaller, say, 50-berth marinas. And 745 empty berths – what a joke, I know of marinas with a waiting list.

Seasoned canal users know the reason for half empty marinas. Newcomers only have to seek out website forums connected to the Canal & River Trust issues recently.

Reason 3: On the path of the HS2 development – okay will give them that one!

David Llewellyn Nb Grebe

THE Canal & River Trust needs to rethink the whole question of continuous cruisers and marina-based boaters.

Rather than use increasingly emotive and divisive terms, it should instead consider the two groups first and foremost as two different types of customer, who have differing needs. This would be more sensible and better business, for what businessman would set out to alienate a significant section of customers, as CRT is doing and risk losing them, for no other reason than the customer requiring a free choice?

It is the trust itself that perceives continuous cruisers as the bête noir of the boating world and something it needs to ‘deal with’, mainly in the hope they will take up a mooring and benefit CRT’s coffers. It’s not that simple for the following reasons.

Let us look for a moment at the difference between a continuous cruising customer and one who berths his boat in a marina. The first is probably a free-spirited independent character who is looking forward to an idyllic and stress-free alternate lifestyle. He may be retired after a long and arduous career. The idea of berthing alongside serried rows of narrowboats and cruisers with its attendant hustle and bustle is definitely not for him. The spirit of the open waterway is what he seeks. Little does he know that his enduring vision of this unfettered and blissful existence is about to be rudely shattered courtesy of the Canal & River Trust whch is deeply suspicious of such an individual. Maybe he’s too individual.

The marina type boater is a different fellow altogether.

He values the comradeship and security of having his boat in a well-managed and immaculate marina. He will also not be short of funds because marinas are not cheap. To him the very idea of leaving his gleaming boat on the canal unattended fills him with a deep horror.

The trust loves this guy.

rid of the boat. Net result, CRT would lose money. Again, not good business.

Which brings me again to CRT’s perceived ‘problem’ of CCs. I would be the first to agree that the mooring of CCs permanently on visitor moorings and water points and other sensitive areas is absolutely abhorrent and should not be tolerated by anyone. But I do question the necessity for a boat without a home mooring to be required to pursue a relentless wandering course across England just to be in accord with a basically arbitrary rule formulated in an era when the world was quite a different place. Is it really necessary for a forwardthinking organisation to cling to an outdated rule? The only explanation is the CRT sees it as a route to make more cash. Doesn’t it know times are hard?

It should also forget about faintly sinister monitoring schemes. What’s all this increasing regulation about anyway? Why must every boat’s movements be logged?

If the waterways are seen to be no different from the overregulated life on the land, less people will be inclined to have a boat.

The CRT likes to promote the waterways as a fun place for everyone in order to raise ‘awareness’ and funds. But this sense of jollity must surely have deserted it when it employs people described as ‘enforcement officers’ (too menacing) who have recently, and to the great detriment of CRT’s image, evicted vulnerable and blameless people from their boats, rendering them homeless. Is CRT the only ‘charity’ to have its own private police force who seem accountable only to themselves?

The trust could save many thousands of pounds by concentrating on things like licence evasion and forgetting boat movements, it’s not important. Why alienate and actively discourage the one section of boaters which is showing increasing signs of growing?

It just doesn’t make any sense at all.

Lifestyle choice

Editor’s note: A disabled liveaboard boater called to express his anger at the way he claimed they are treated by the Canal & River Trust which he accused of trying to ‘divide and conquer’ the boating community. He also referred to a towpath tidy up carried out by members of the National Bargee Travellers Association on the Kennet & Avon Canal near Devizes and said they do a huge amount including helping other boaters in trouble.

So, it’s all a matter of lifestyle choice. Not everyone can afford to berth in a marina, but more importantly, many boaters would absolutely never want to do so. If it was a question of being forced to have a home mooring or not be granted a licence, as CRT is threatening (there’s no other word for it) then the boater would not pay for something he doesn’t want and get

Brian Walklet nb Thalia

Give boaters “transparency, equity and liberal heritage” – NBTA

Redhill Marina but, dominated by the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, the view in the other direction is less scenic.

Is the Canal & River Trust really listening?

I READ with interest in a recent edition (News, Issue 101, March) that the Canal & River Trust was now listening to boaters; really?

When was the last time anybody ever heard of a boater asking for the towpaths to be upgraded to race track quality (without pinch bars) for dangerous cyclists?

As a number of readers have already pointed out, I’ve seen boats on the canals but never seen one using the towpath!

If the CRT is of the impression that Joe Public and some mindless cyclists are going to donate for the use of using the towpaths then it is in for a real shock, after speaking to a few walkers on their views on making a donation the reply in most cases was, and I kid you not! “I am already paying for the canals in my water rates.” People think that United Utilities are in charge of all waterways in the country and that they are already paying for them, most of them have never heard of CRT – ask them!

Maybe somebody should do a survey and ask the questions about donations before spending boaters’ licence fees on everything that has nothing to do with what boaters want.

No funds

Some canals are getting in a desperate state of repair, CRT reply: “We have no funds available.” My question is why?

CRT spent millions on the breach at Dutton

and did a fantastic job, back slapping all round but in hindsight would it not have been better to have listened to boaters who were saying that there was a problem there for about two years before the breach happened, the CRT never listened then and, in my opinion, never will. If it had it could have saved millions.

CRTs consensus seems to be, yes we know there is a problem but let’s wait until it gets worse then we can spend a couple of million instead of a couple of thousand and get loads of publicity and our photos in the papers, back slapping all round.

Take down the temporary/permanent orange plastic fencing, repair the embankments, dredge the canals, fix the leaking locks cut down the overhanging foliage and get rid of the licence dodgers.

In short stop looking to get gongs and applause, get respect, do the job you are paid to do, spend the money you receive to repair the canals for the people that are paying for the use of them.

If it was possible for the licence payers to elect the people running CRT, I don’t think we would have any of the people that are there now.

Are they listening? If they reply to this we will probably get all the old stuff they roll out, some of the excuses were old when British Waterways used them.

John Stephenson

By Email

I AM writing in response to Old Bilge Pump’s article ‘Trust the Trust’ (Last Word, Issue 101, March) and was sad to see this recent diatribe in print.

Its writer Mr Scowcroft has since confirmed to the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) that he has ‘never made an official approach to NBTA’ and so we are very concerned that you have published a statement about the NBTA that is so obviously untrue. I would be grateful if you would therefore publish the following corrections: 1. Contrary to his claim in print, Mr Scowcroft has never approached the NBTA or its members to discuss anything.

2. The NBTA does not advocate non-compliance with British Waterways’ bye-laws prohibiting the discharge of sewage into the waterways, nor does it advise boaters against obtaining a Boat Safety Scheme Certificate. However, it does believe that the appearance of a boat is nobody’s business but the boat owner’s.

3. The NBTA does not advocate non-compliance with Section 17 3 c ii of the British Waterways Act 1995, but it does take issue with the Canal & River Trust’s unilateral imposition of ‘rules’ that go a long way beyond what is required by the 1995 Act. Given that the consequence of abiding by the law but not obeying unlawful ‘rules’ is a Section 8 and the seizure

by CRT of your boat, this is patently unjust.

4. A 2011 analysis of BW enforcement statistics by NABO (National Association of Boat Owners) showed that boaters with home moorings were more likely to overstay both at visitor moorings and on the towpath than continuous cruisers.

Mr Scowcroft’s allegations against liveaboard boaters without home moorings follow a well-trodden path of

uninformed prejudice. Accusations of dilapidated homes and insanitary behaviour have been levelled over the centuries at every group that the majority wishes to demonise and marginalise. The fact that Mr Scowcroft has followed this predictable pattern demonstrates his lack of knowledge of the liveaboard community and of the NBTA. I and a great many others disagree heartily that the trust should be trusted. Unlike Mr Scowcroft I am neither fooled nor impressed by a meeting where the host provides a buffet. Rather, give me transparency, equity, and liberal heritage. These, CRT has patently not given its boaters and is doing its utmost to avoid discussing. The trust prefers to change the conversation rather than address the hard issues.

There are a great many boaters who do not share Mr Scowcroft’s view that ‘rules’ (as opposed to law) must be obeyed. Nor do they deem it appropriate that he begins a commentary praising the ‘openness’ and ‘democracy’ of the new trust only in the next breath to condemn that very trust for ‘allowing’ NBTA to attend and ‘speak’ in its own way at that meeting. If you disagree with a pamphlet found on a table you are under no obligation to take that leaflet home with you. CRT, however, is obligated to accept all views and leaflets at its meetings.

Dr H G V Millette Committee member, National Bargee Travellers Association nb Nellie Blue

Editor’s note: As a point of clarification, while Mr Scowcroft confirms he has never made an official approach to NBTA, he states while walking the K&A towpath, he has attempted to discuss “why boaters believe they can live anywhere beside the towpath.”

Wildlife habitat threatened by HS2 ANY boaters who have cruised the southern end of the Grand Union canal will know the beauty of the Denham Country Park and the Mid-Colne Valley. The Colne Valley is a wildlife corridor on the western edge of London renowned for its diversity of breeding wetland and woodland birds and for wintering wildfowl. This area is now threatened by the proposed HS2 rail project.

The public consultation documents reveal that the towpath

by Denham Woods up to the Horse and Barge at south Harefield will be closed to the public (and presumably boaters) for up to four years of construction. Heavy vehicle access will be opened up by felling mature trees, constructing roads, draining at least one lake and rerouting a river. Worse still the Colne Valley will be the transport and dumping ground for thousands of lorry loads of earth from the tunnels either side, under London and the Chilterns.

Who is campaigning to preserve the present rural tranquillity?

Certainly not CRT who has publicly come out as ‘agnostic to HS2’ (Richard Parry Towpath Talk interview). In fact it is hard to find a promotional picture of HS2 without an accompanying canal implying that CRT support the project. I wonder whether other areas of our canal system are facing similar problems.

Crystal Bell By email

114 THE LAST WORD

Old Bilge Pump

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Goosie goosie gander… whither shall we wander

Old Bilge Pump takes a pot shot at these avian aliens

THE Canal & River Trust declares it is concerned with wildlife; its logo displays a swan; its motto reports it connects us with nature but about the biggest danger to wildlife on the inland waterways it says little.

I am writing about the Canada geese whose ancestors were imported in King Charles II’s reign to make private parks more exotic and attractive. These geese have now spread across every stretch of water in the kingdom. From the lonely fields adjacent to the Shropshire Union to Birmingham city centre the Canada goose is ubiquitous.

I am utterly convinced that the majority of wildfowl in the country is made up of Canada geese, and yet they are very rarely mentioned.

I have seen no wildlife programmes concentrating on the goose and they are absent from programmes such as Springwatch, or in newspaper articles.

If a goose can be an elephant then Canada geese are the elephant in the room that no one mentions.

I find them an ugly, noisy bird completely different from our beautiful wild native geese. The goslings, when a day old or so can be cute but they rapidly grow into the most ugly of

The goslings can be cute when they are a day or so old. PHOTOS: DAVID SCOWCROFT

what a super result

CONGRATULATIONS to the IWA members who took part in the 50-mile ‘Quadrathlon’ along part of the Grand Union Canal and raised a magnificent £12,718 towards the cost of a new excavator for the Waterway Recovery Group.

However, the event’s title – The Acheman Challenge – was a bit corny to say the least. I gather it was a play on the name of the IWA co-founder Robert Aickman and was meant to refer to the muscle aches to be endured by the participants in their self-inflicted and voluntary torture.

Maybe I am a little old fashioned but I don’t think Mr Aickman would have appreciated that very much. What was wrong with calling it ‘The Aickman Challenge’? Let’s have no more of this nonsense; the name Aickman has been revered by generations of IWA folk. After all, if it hadn’t been for him and cofounder Tom Rolt we wouldn’t be where we are now.

But back to the financial result. This included a most generous gift of £4000

adolescents. Now I know that as a young man with my spots and greasy hair I was not very attractive but look at a Canada goose before it gets its adult plumage – gosh it is ugly. Not even its mother loves it for she allows it to be subsumed into the large adolescent flocks looked after by the dominant couple in an area.

Not only are the birds ugly and unsightly but they are a dirty bird producing as much faecal matter as a medium-sized dog. The areas in which they nest and group quickly become saturated with the birds’ droppings.

Towpaths become unpleasant and dangerous to walk upon.

Feeding the problem

People do insist on feeding the geese which allows an unnatural number of the birds to exist in a particular area.

There are no predators to cull the numbers and no restriction on numbers by means of available food because people feed them bread. We suffer in Gas Street Basin as a certain cafe refuses to stop feeding their leftovers to the birds. A large honking flock therefore gathers outside the cafe early morning to be fed. I will spare you my description of the geese which come pecking at the

side of my boat each morning, honking together in unison: one low note and one high note.

The birds are particularly brave; they will snatch food from a feeder’s hand and I often worry when young toddlers are given the task of feeding the geese.

You have my sympathy if a nest is built beside your local towpath for the adult birds will be very aggressive towards anyone walking past.

I have seen pathways beside marinas having to be closed because a nesting Canada goose has become dangerous to passers-by.

Breeding strategy

The species have a very clever and successful breeding strategy. The nesting couple normally find somewhere quiet and secluded to nest but once the goslings are hatched families are joined together under a dominant pair. These families are merged together into ever-larger gaggles under the dominant pair assisted by other related geese. Each chick therefore has the advantage of being looked after by the most experienced and forceful adults. It is a very winning strategy which results in

But they grow into the most ugly of adolescents.

from an IWA life member plus other donations which enabled the challenge team to lift their target to £10,000, and this too was then easily surpassed.

himalayan balsam wipe-out campaign

This is something which anyone who cares about the appearance of our canal towpaths should become involved with.

The IWA has begun preparing for the forthcoming balsam season and after successful efforts last year is now appealing to its branches to get involved and set up work parties to eradicate this menace.

Himalayan balsam is one of the most invasive plants and, while its flowers are most attractive – that’s why the Victorians took a shine to it – the plants are so dense they smother and wipe-out many of our native wild plants and flowers. Worse still, when the seed pods open seeds can be hurled several feet. And, being on the waterside, if those seeds fall into the canal they can

be carried long distances and set up new colonies.

What surprises me is that the Canal & River Trust doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered about the problem despite all the fine words emanating from Milton Keynes about smartening up the canal ‘corridors’ and the laughable ‘veg pledge’ made by the former chief executive Robin Evans.

Thank heaven, then, for the dedication of the IWA volunteer army that is still the pace-setter over and above the CRT.

well-deserved honour

Over 20 years an IWA member, currently co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group and former waterways’ minister, Sir Tony Baldry, has received the association’s Parliamentarian of the Year award at the IWA’s award dinner in the House of Commons last month.

Sir Tony was one of the better waterways’ ministers. He got his hands dirty on a Waterway Recovery

many birds being successfully raised each year.

What can be done to stop this menace taking over nesting sites all along the inland waterways? It is not that they attack the other birds but that they take up all the resources in a particular area.

Swans, native geese and the like are therefore pushed out of the area and we lose diversity in that location.

I would love to have a flock of swans in Gas Street Basin, I would even feed them to give encouragement, but before that the Canada geese would have to be got rid of. Shooting is not possible, Gas Street Basin is beside a heavily populated area and while I would not mind the odd noisy drunken reveller being accidentally shot, the council would not be keen. Poison is impossible as it would kill other wildlife; therefore culling the present hordes is not realistically possible. Smashing nests and eggs is a waste of time since the birds merely rebuild and re-lay.

It is possible to restrict breeding if one pricks the eggs while leaving them in situ. The birds thereafter attempt to hatch the dead eggs and miss the breeding season. It is a control strategy that works, but is slow to reduce numbers of geese which are only reduced by means of natural wastage.

The strategy requires careful and detailed planning, the nesting sites need to be identified, with volunteers equipped with safety gear and pricking sticks. Above all, it requires a dedication to solving the problem over a 10-year period; I see no such intention or commitment by the new trust.

British Waterways had the policy of discouraging breeding by Canada geese but I believe very few egg pricking campaigns were conducted.

At the moment the areas surrounding our waterways are covered in flocks of non-native Canada geese. These geese are preventing our native birds from existing and reproducing: if nothing is done, large areas will be denuded, in variety, of native wildlife.

Group ‘dig’ on the Wilts & Berks Canal and I remember him speaking a lot of waterway sense when he opened the 1991 Waterways Festival at Windmill End on the Dudley No.2 canal.

According to reports there was quite a high level of support for the waterways at the dinner with 20 MPs present plus a member of the House of Lords, the latest waterways’ minister Dan Rogerson and four former waterway ministers.

And I sincerely hope that Mr Rogerson meant what he said at the dinner – and I quote – “I value the importance of the waterways.”

If you do Mr Rogerson, then may I suggest you put yourself around the system a little more and not leave the words to your spin specialists?

Do you agree or disagree with Stillwater’s comments? Send your views to Talkback (see previous page)

Canada geese have a very successful breeding strategy.

With a concerted, planned and strategic programme we can reduce, over time, without culling, Canada geese. The trust has an opportunity here to show that they genuinely care about the wildlife of our inland waterways and that they intend to take action.

Over to you trustees let us see that you can take decisive action concerning this honking menace all over our waterways.

TowpaTh TiTTer CONTINUING our light-hearted look at life on the cut with a contribution from Harry Arnold of Waterway Images, and spotted at the Huddlesford Heritage Gathering.

“Can’t understand why CRT is fitting its work boat with GPS? With us as lookouts we can always get a bearing on this boat.”

If you have a suitable photo or anecdote we can share with our readers, please send it to Towpath Talk, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR or email: editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk And don’t forget you can also follow us on Twitter @towpathtalk and on Facebook

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Aspiring boat owners will be able to see a variety of styles. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES The RSPB will be making bird feeders and flying birds with the children, as well as demonstrating owl pellet dissection. Following the theme, children will be able to meet the characters from The Wind in the Willows, as we’re joined by Badger, Mole, Ratty and Toad.

Guaranteed to keep the children entertained is The Animal Roadshow, featuring zoologist and TV presenter James McKay. The roadshow will be with us on all three days of the show, introducing children to animals that live in and around our canals and waterways, such as frogs, toads, owls, mice, rats, polecats, hedgehogs, newts, birds of prey (including buzzards and kestrels) and creepycrawlies such as snails and beetles.

The biggest-ever funfair at Crick will include dodgems, the octopus, tea-cups, trampolines, an inflatable mega-slide, chair-o-planes and a bouncy castle. There will also be traditional treats, with candyfloss and toffee apples.

All these rides and activities are free of charge, providing excellent value for families, and, once again, the London Narrow Boat Project will be offering face painting.

Live entertainment

There’s always plenty to see and do at Crick Boat Show with great entertainment throughout the day

Sponsored by

and also in the evening for exhibitors, campers, moorers and those who want to stay on after a busy day at the show.

There will be a wide range of acts and entertainment to appeal to all visitors.

On Friday night, Crick favourites and local residents Half Cut will be back to entertain visitors with their unique ‘marina rock’ style.

Saturday night sees pop icon and stage and screen actress Toyah Willcox headlining the schedule. Fresh from her diving on ITV’s Splash, Toyah will be performing her Acoustic, Up Close & Personal set.

This lively unplugged/storyteller-style gig will include her loved hit singles and classic songs alongside stories from her colourful, 35-year career. Toyah will be accompanied by fellow musicians Chris Wong and Colin Hinds and will be followed by Irish folk act Murphy’s Marbles.

Sunday night is also set to be unmissable.

The headline act is Big O and the Wilburys Tribute Show who will be entertaining visitors with five fabulous tributes to Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

Featuring Paul Hopkins as Roy Orbison, they’ll be bringing you a great mix of classic songs from 1980s supergroup The Traveling

Visiting narrowboats moored along the Grand Union Canal. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON Wilburys, as well as Pretty Woman, You Got It, Here Comes The Sun and I Drove All Night. The headliners will be followed by blues rock act Bitter Blues.

The daytime at Crick will also be filled with great entertainment, including 60s and acoustic pop, Irish folk, Cajun Zydeco, blues, bluegrass and country rock music.

Visitors with day and weekend tickets get free access to evening entertainment on the days booked but for the first time, evening-only tickets are also available for £6 so that anyone unable to make it in the day can come along and soak up the evening atmosphere.

More than 20 food and drink stalls provide plenty of choice. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Crick Facts & Figures ● 15th Crick Boat Show – first held in 1999 ● Over 25,000 visitors expected to attend ● 250 exhibitors ● 32,000m2 exhibition space ● 20 food stalls and large bar ● Bands and entertainers ● Up to 50 boats exhibited ● Trip boats offering regular trips ● 300 camping pitches Show located at Crick Marina, West Haddon Road, Crick, Northants NN6 7SQ Directions by road: From M1 Junction 18, take the A428 towards West Haddon, bypassing the centre of Crick village.

Showgoers enjoy the spring sunshine. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Staying on site

Visitors can make the most of their trip to the show by staying on site. The marina is close to the village itself with pubs, shops and facilities and there are a number of popular walks nearby, including along the canal.

Those with tents, caravans or motorhomes can book a space on the show’s own camp site, which is available from 10am on Friday, May 23, until 7pm on Monday, May 26. The site has access to water, showers, toilets, sanitary and refuse disposal.

Visitors bringing their boat to the show can book a mooring space along the towpath and this year can choose from three mooring zones, with varying distance to the footbridge. Moorings are

Sponsored by

available from 8am on Friday, May 23, until 7pm on Monday, May 26.

Both camping and mooring spaces are expected to sell out in advance of the show. Campers and moorers have free access to the full evening entertainment schedule and will also receive a free welcome goody bag.

The show is open from 10am until 6pm on Saturday and Sunday and from 10am until 5pm on Monday. Tickets can be bought in advance, saving up to 26% on gate prices. Entry is free for children under five and all children go free on bank holiday Monday. Family tickets now include two adults and up to three children.

Camping, mooring and evening-only tickets are also available.

Opening times: the show is open from 10am till 6pm every day except Monday, May 26, when it closes at 5pm.

For more information visit www.crickboatshow.com or call 01283 742972.

For tickets call 01283 742950.

New shared ownership boat Dawn Mist will be exhibited by BCBM Boat Share Ltd at Crick this year.

PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

● The Towpath Talk team can be found in the Kingfisher Marquee. Come along and say hello and enter our fantastic competition to win a year’s mooring worth more than £2000 for your boat at Cropredy Marina.