Towpath Talk - October 2014 - FULL ISSUE

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Issue 108, October 2014

Historic boats gather at Alvecote

LIFEBOATS PARADE AT SAUL IWA PAGEANT P5

TRIP BOATS RETURN TO OLYMPIC WATERWAY P14

Seen from the Samuel Barlow pub, historic narrowboats pack Alvecote Marina for the 2014 Annual Gathering. Report on page 4. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

HAVE A GO AT STEERING A 70FT NARROWBOAT P62

Towpath Talk tops the poll in Canal & River Trust’s boater survey

NEW SERIES

By Janet Richardson

THE first results of the Canal & River Trust’s new BOAT (Boat Owners Attitude Tracker) survey are in and Towpath Talk was found to be boaters’ favourite read.

BOAT, which started in June, aims to keep the trust up-to-date with boaters’ thoughts and feelings three times a year.

Views of around 1000 randomly selected boaters will be gathered each

Restoration raffle’s £5000

P110

THE IWA’s Waterways Restoration Raffle has raised more than £5000 since it was launched in August. It aims to raise at least £10,000, with 100% of the profits going towards supporting restoration projects run by IWA corporate members, and a volunteer-led moorings improvement project on the Cheshire Ring.

Proceeds have so far exceeded £5000 due to a combination of over 2000 ticket sales and some generous donations. The raffle will be drawn on January 16, 2015, at IWA’s Head Office in Chesham.

Visit www.waterways.org.uk/raffle

520 BOATS FOR SALE Starts on

time, with invitations sent out by independent research agency BDRC Continental, which is conducting the survey on behalf of CRT. Over the next two years, it is expected that all boaters who have registered their email address with the boat licensing office will have been invited to take part.

In his September waterways press briefing, chief executive Richard Parry reported the results of a survey

P15

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into the most read waterway related publication.

In answer to the question: “Which, if any, of the following waterway (paper) publications do you read?” 70% of responders named Towpath Talk. Other publications listed were: Waterways World 45%, Canal Boat 34%, Waterways (IWA) 24%, Waterfront (CRT) 11%, other 11%, None of these 15%. Figures for online waterways forums showed visits by 27% of responders with the

Trust’s planning ahead

THE Canal & River Trust has launched a consultation about how it plans to manage essential water resources over the next 35 years.

It is keen to hear from people and businesses that enjoy the waterways to help provide guidance and practical advice on the strategy.

The deadline for people to give their views is November 4, 2014, and the full consultation including the survey and a summary, can be found at www.canalrivertrust.org.uk – click on ‘consultations’. See story on P103.

Canal World Discussion Forum heading the table with 11%.

Giving an update on CRT’s progress this year, Mr Parry reported a strong start to 2014-15 with projected expenditure of £90 million, up £7 million from 2013-14. Additional customer service works of £1.4 million have also been detailed. “We are looking to see if we can do even more,” he added.

• Continued on page 3

Riverbed is investigated

GROUND investigations have started on the Haven riverbed at Boston to determine the design of defence walls as part of the proposed £90.2 million flood barrier which will be situated downsteam of the Black Sluice Lock.

As well as reducing the risk of tidal flooding, during the boating season it will also manage water levels to create a safe and reliable inland navigation link between the Grand Sluice and Black Sluice Locks. Construction is expected to begin in 2017.

2 NEWS

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WELCOME

FINDINGS from the Canal & River Trust’s first BOAT (Boater Owner Attitude Tracker) survey were indeed good news for Towpath Talk as reported on the front page.

This is very heartening for us as we strive to produce a publication which serves and reflects the views of the whole waterway community and this does not just include boaters but supporters of the myriad canal and river societies and other towpath users throughout the British Isles.

As I write, the Scottish referendum is just one day away and we will know the outcome by the time this paper reaches you.

We go north of the border to find this month’s Towpath Treasure – the Falkirk Wheel – which had a record number of visitors in July, see pages 104 and 106.

And our Scottish correspondent Hugh Dougherty visits a ‘half-scale canal’ with all the characteristics of a full size version on page 105.

Although space prevents us from including all the event reports we have received in this edition, we have reports on pages 4 and 5 from the Alvecote Gathering and the IWA Saul Waterway Pageant and the Redhill Boat Show on page 58.

Peter Underwood had hoped to report on his return Ribble crossing but was stranded by a stoppage due to low water levels; read his report on page 103. I return to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to witness the transformation that has taken place since London 2012, see page 14, and Helen Gazeley forages online for ways to deal with a glut of blackberries – I can certainly endorse that having just made my umpteenth crumble of the season!

TOWPATH

TALK

Janet

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River police evict 17 boats in joint operation

By Polly Player

EVICTION notices were served on 17 boats moored alongside the Thames Water site on Lower Sunbury Road, Hampton (London, TW12) recently as part of a joint operation between the Met’s Marine Policing Unit and enforcement officers from Thames Water.

The bankside along that part of the Thames is owned by Thames Water, with the navigation itself managed by the Environment Agency. Unlike the vast majority of Canal & River Trust waterways where mooring is permitted along any stretch of towpath unless otherwise indicated, most of the bankside along the Thames is owned privately by the respective landowners whose properties back on to the river, accompanied by associated bank ownership or riparian rights to the land itself.

The 17 boats in question, which had been illegally moored next to the Thames Water site for some months, had as a group been the subject of numerous complaints by local residents as well as the landowners themselves, with issues such as fly tipping, noise pollution and antisocial behaviour documented since the community began to use the moorings without permission.

Local residents had complained to both the police and the local council about feeling intimidated when walking along that stretch of the river, as well as the condition and state of repair of the boats themselves, which one local resident described as “dreadful and unsightly”.

The eviction notice, which was served on the boaters by the Marine Policing Unit and local officers from Hampton’s policing team, required the boats to move on from that stretch of the river on or before Tuesday, August 19, a demand that was ultimately complied with.

Acting Sergeant Michael Somers of Hampton police team said: “This is part of an ongoing operation where the Metropolitan Police Service is assisting land owners to remove boats moored without permission. We have previously worked with councils and the Environment Agency, however, in this case, we have partnered with Thames Water.”

Coun Pamela Fleming, cabinet member for the environment at London Borough of Richmond upon Thames said: “The council supports this co-ordinated approach which should bring about the removal of illegally moored vessels on the Thames in Hampton.”

Richmond council also states that the eviction of illegally moored boats along other stretches of the river in the area is also a priority, particularly when it comes accompanied by antisocial behaviour from the residents of the boats in question.

None of the boats’ residents themselves wished to comment on the circumstances surrounding their eviction, and the 17 boats in question have all moved on to other areas of the river in smaller groups.

The late Dudley Matthews, tug driving on the Lower Avon.

PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Celebrating the life of ‘Mr Avon’ with new guide

THE man affectionately dubbed ‘Mr Avon’ – the late Dudley C B Matthews MBE – would have been delighted that his memorial event is being used to launch his beloved Avon Navigation Trust’s new guide. In fact he planned it.

The lifelong promoter and protector of the river left strict instructions to his son, ANT general manager Clive Matthews, to make sure the celebration of his life would also embrace the new River Avon Navigation & Visitor Guide, which helps raise muchneeded funds for the trust’s work.

‘Dud’ knew what he was doing. Clive has already had more than 100 – and rising – requests to attend the event.

The lengthening list includes ANT patron Timothy West, river users who are grateful for the work he did and representatives from national organisations including the Inland Waterways Association and the Canal & River Trust.

“It is a great comfort to know that my father was so well thought of and that his work and reputation reached so far,” says Clive, whose father passed away peacefully on August 12, aged 95.

Champion

Long-time volunteer Dud and his late wife Enid were also behind the original Trust Guides. This year’s, which includes the new feature Avon Canoe Trails, was the first he’d not been involved with.

Ever since he helped a friend build the 24ft motor cruiser Gauntlet in the 1940s, Dud had been a champion of the waterways.

He joined the IWA and the Lower Avon Navigation Trust in the 1950s and became involved in the restoration of the Lower Avon and then the Upper Avon.

Dud’s long list of achievements include being the ANT’s founder member, director, president emeritus and chairman of Reach Masters & Associates.

Tony Hales, chairman of the CRT, commented: “Dudley Matthews was a giant figure in the movement for saving our waterways for future generations. The people around the Avon owe Dudley a particular debt. His influence lives on through his work and his family. We are all thankful for, and celebrate the life of, a great and loved man.”

The October 3 Memorial and Celebration event will be held at the Wyre Mill Club, which he helped to found and where his boats were moored.

The River Avon Navigation & Visitor Guide, which includes a foreword by canal laureate Jo Bell, is available from the ANT (email office@avonnavigationtrust.org) plus local bookshops and visitor centres.

See obituary on page eight.

Inland waterways loses one of its most ferocious champions

By Bob Clarke

The late Vic Smallshire.

ONE of the most colourful characters and ferocious champions of the inland waterways, Vic Smallshire, founder and long-time chairman of the Dudley Canal Trust, died on Sunday September 14 after a long illness.

He was 69.

It was down to his drive and initiative that the former British Transport Commission’s plans to

close Dudley Tunnel and adjoining waterways were thwarted with the foundation of Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society – soon to become the Dudley Canal Trust.

Under his chairmanship over many years, the trust reopened the tunnel and its associated limestone mines and caverns and created what was to become one of the Black Country’s leading industrial tourism spots with upwards of 80,000 visitors a year.

He was also closely involved with the restoration of the Welsh Highland narrow gauge railway line between Caernarfon and Porthmadog, where he made use of his skills as a surveyor on many sections of the line.

A full obituary of the activities of this remarkable man to whom the inland waterways owe so much will appear in the November edition of Towpath Talk.

Eye-catching mural grabs the attention of boaters Boaters passing through the village of Alrewas on the Trent & Mersey Canal – particularly those mooring above Bagnall Lock – have a new attraction. The towpath side abutment of the A513 (Alrewas bypass) has been decorated with a second graffiti mural as part of the village’s recent biennial arts festival.

Painting was done by village children supervised by a professional graffiti artist.

The offside was decorated two years ago with an Olympic theme.

Alrewas Arts Festival also has other canal components such as traditional painting and waterway photographic courses.

PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

NEWS 3

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Manchester crime wave prompts new security measures

By Geoff Wood

THE regenerated area between the Ashton and Rochdale canals in Manchester has degenerated into a crime alley say narrowboaters who moor at the New Islington Marina at Ancoats, with boat owners warning visitors along the waterways to stay away.

The following recent incidents have alarmed boat owners: A gang of 10 teenage thugs ran amok in the marina area armed with a handgun.

The windows of one narrowboat were smashed by the gang and a man and a woman were attacked and had their mobile phones stolen.

Soon afterwards, a security man had his keys and tablet computer stolen.

By the end of one week, five bikes had been stolen and three boats had been broken into and vandalised.

Narrowboat owner Steven Gould said: “There has been a lot of anti-social behaviour at the marina and people have started calling it the Bronx. There has been verbal and physical abuse to boaters and among the gangs there has been excessive drinking and drug taking.

“As well as this, three cygnets and a male swan have been killed on the canal. The police are trying their best but they are understaffed.”

Mr Gould and other boaters are urging people not to moor up at the marina overnight as they believe it is

not safe. On his 45ft narrowboat Duchess, he told me: “We have decided to stay because this is convenient for the work my partner Fiona and myself have in Manchester. But for anyone who is moving along the canal – I would advise them to go elsewhere.”

An emergency public meeting was called by local councillor Rosa Battle following muggings and attacks on residents in the New Islington area.

She said: “For a while there has been a sense of uneasiness. We have had quite a few muggings and people hanging around in gangs.

“I have had residents getting in touch with me saying they feel intimidated.”

“In response to that we have increased patrols to ensure that we have a visible presence in the area.”

Recently a small canal boat moored at New Islington was gutted by suspected arsonists. Now Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell is seeking a meeting with senior police officers and fire chiefs after the spate of incidents around the marina.

She said: “I have been contacted by a number of residents at the marina who have been concerned about crime and anti-social behaviour. This is a shame as this is usually a peaceful place to live.”

Marina owner Urban Splash declined to comment on the recent troubles.

New hope

Historic route

There could be new hope for New Islington and its marina, however, as additional security measures are to be discussed by the council and the police following the emergency meeting with residents.

Inspector Alan Kelly of Greater Manchester Police said: “The recent incident on the New Islington Marina was an exceptional and isolated occurrence that we are treating very seriously.”

“We have a team of officers carrying out a substantial investigation. In reality though, we are actually seeing a reduction of crime and incidents on the marina year on year, with some being anti-social behaviour carried out by youths.

• Continued from page 1

Towpath Talk tops the poll in Canal & River Trust survey

Meanwhile there is controversy over plans to gate off a section of the Rochdale Canal underneath the streets of Manchester a mile away from New Islington. This area further south of Ancoats has, over a period of time, seen a spate of muggings and complaints from barge owners about lewd acts.

But there is opposition from the Open Spaces Society and the Ramblers Association. Don Lee from the OSS said: “It is a 200-year-old route that people come from miles around to walk through the centre of Manchester.

“You cannot just close it off. If there has been a spate of muggings, then surely it is down to the police to step up patrols not close it off.”

MPs told moving HS2 could save bridges

There will be a planned spend of £45 million on the winter stoppage programme with 175 projects scheduled including: Chirk Tunnel on the Llangollen Canal which will be drained for brickwork repairs; replacement of lock gates at Lime Kiln Lock on the Grand Union Canal at Leicester and at City Road Lock on the Regent’s Canal; repair works to Marple Aqueduct and replacement lock gates to Lock 2 on the Peak Forest Canal.

Following successful summer open days at the Docklands Impounding Station, Tees Barrage and Newark Dry Dock, with Sutton Weaver Bridge due to take place after we went to press, the winter programme is being put together and could include Chirk Tunnel.

Although the last year had been difficult for fund raising, CRT had grown its new in-house team which is working well, according to Mr Parry. Latest figures showed 7000 friends at August 31, up 1500 since April 1. On the volunteering front there were 61 community adoptions at August 31; an estimated 150 ‘explorers’ have worked with around 25,000 children so far this year; there are over 400 volunteer lock keepers and new welcome stations are in place at 20 key locks.

More than 2000 people responded to the Sharing Towpaths Consultation during May and recommendations for a towpath policy will be announced this autumn.

IN BRIEF All party report

THE All Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways (APPG) has published its second report looking at the progress made by the Canal & River Trust since its creation in 2012, highlighting its achievements and recommending opportunities for the future. The report covered a range of issues, from the Government’s proposed transfer of the Environment Agency’s navigations to funding, volunteering and moorings.

The full report can be viewed at www.waterways.org.uk

Licence holders BREAKDOWN and emergency

assistance firm River Canal Rescue is continuing its support for the Canal & River Trust by producing 10,000 boat licence holders. The RCR-branded holders are issued to boaters throughout the year.

RCR MD Stephanie Horton said: “We’re keen to help waterways charities and businesses develop and grow so will contribute where we can. ” To find out more about River Canal Rescue visit www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk

Engineering contract

THE Canal & River Trust has awarded its National Engineering & Construction Contract (NECC) to Kier MG Ltd. Starting on April 1, 2015, the six-year contract, with options to extend to a maximum of 10 years, will see around £25 million of construction works annually comprising around 100 major construction projects and more than 200 minor repair projects.

Online vote results IN OUR latest online poll at

www.towpathtalk.co.uk we asked readers whether they have noticed more boat traffic this summer.

More than half of those who responded said they hadn’t with a quarter voting yes; 15% thought it was about the same. This month we are asking for your views on the badger cull.

Bridge work delays

The draining of Chirk Tunnel for brickwork repairs will be a major project during the winter stoppage programme and could be the venue for an open day. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

The MPs of the HS2 parliamentary committee at Wood End Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal above Fradley Junction – one of their last stops of a day of visiting sites affected by the building of the new railway line. They were spoken to by Canal & River Trust engineers and officers of the local IWA Lichfield Branch about their joint submission to move the line at this point slightly westward which will avoid three major bridges across the canal, which it is also claimed, will save money. Earlier the MPs met members of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust and local authority officers at Cappers Lane where the line will cross the Lichfield Canal restoration and the premises of Lichfield Cruising Club. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

WORK on refurbishing the swing bridge over the River Ouse at Selby forced the cancellation of some rail services to and from Hull and delays in voyages by cargo vessels, writes Geoff Wood. The latest hold ups during the £8 million project were caused when new operating systems for the bridge were being commissioned. Engineers are hoping the work will put an end to a series of problems with the bridge.

4 NEWS

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A real boating atmosphere for the crews and visitors

By Harry Arnold

NOW in its fourth year, the Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering demonstrated its continuing and growing popularity with 59 historic narrowboats packing this Coventry Canal marina venue over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Birchills and Dane added to those afloat, being rebuilt at the marina’s A.P.Boatbuilding which provided an interesting insight into traditional wooden boatbuilding for both enthusiasts and the public. For the first time – in a move away from Ellesmere – the restored Shropshire Union fly-boat Saturn will have its two-yearly docking at Alvecote in October.

One of the longest travelled boats, the Chesterfield Canal Trust’s Python, which does such excellent work promoting the restoration of this waterway, arrived with a leaking hull and – after advice and help from the considerable expertise of the boaters on site – was towed to the nearby dry dock.

But that’s canal boating, and it all added to the interest of a good weekend. The sun shone until the Monday when the weather unfortunately kept the visitors away and drove the boaters back into the Samuel Barlow pub (again!) for more music, this time a jam session.

The pub is central to the gathering; running a beer festival and providing food and music

The Les Lapworth Award-winning Cassiopeia, judged best turned out boat among the main line-up.

PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES

throughout the weekend, including a somewhat overpowering DJ Pete spinning the ‘wheels of steel’ from the outside balcony.

Daily boat parades are a feature of the event and the afternoon ones again included the now very popular ‘winding’ competition where crews demonstrate their ability, or otherwise, in turning by the pub, to the praise (or sometimes laughter) of their fellows. The programme rather

As always, the Samuel Barlow was the social centre of the event.

ominously stated “Damages must be paid for”. Paul Barber won this on his boat Whitby.

Saturday night’s illuminated boat parade award was won by Richard Jackson with his boat decorated as an Alice in Wonderland fantasy.

The prestigious Les Lapworth Award for the best turned out boat was

deservedly won by Mick Poyser with the immaculate Cassiopeia.

A difficult choice among many fascinating historic craft at another great gathering which, like those at Ellesmere Port, Braunston and Audlem, continues to showcase to the public the real boating heritage of our waterways.

A long-distance traveller was the Chesterfield Canal Trust’s promotional boat Python.

Another great year for the Folk on the Water festival CANAL music festival, Folk on the Water, closed with a final gig at The Old Lion, Harborough Magna, having been on the water for two weeks.

The festival played gigs at canal side pubs in Warwick, Leamington Spa, Long Itchington, Stockton, Napton on the Hill, Braunston and finally Harborough Magna.

Each year the tour raises awareness and funds for local charities.

This year’s Folk on the Water was again supporting Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice, Coventry, and another local charity – Ollie’s Yard Equine Sanctuary (OYES).

Over 100 artists took part in the 15-day festival. They included well established national acts and an international act as well as providing valuable ‘first festival’ opportunities for artists who are just starting out on their careers.

One of the highlights this year was hit songwriter Fiona Bevan (One Direction) who, as well as performing, held a Songwriting for Girls workshop aboard the festival boat supplied by Kate Boats, the Samuel James.

TV presenter and concert host Laura Alexandra, Ollie’s Yard organiser Helen Walker and her daughter Sarah with two Shetland ponies and festival organiser, Dutch Van Spall. PHOTO SUPPLIED

New craft fair a success as the Cosgrove Canal Festival grows BUCKINGHAM Canal Society (BCS) recently held its largest canal festival to date in Cosgrove village.

The increasingly popular annual event, which included Cosgrove Village Hall craft fair for the first time, raises funds to aid in the restoration of the Buckingham Canal.

Cosgrove Canal Festival & Craft Fair, as it is now known, is a fun packed family event that attracts trade and historical boats alongside a diverse variety of craft, game and catering stalls. This year, the society was able to secure the village hall for the dedicated craft fair as well as its extra parking. A short walk from the original main attraction at Cosgrove Lock, the hall proved to be a very popular venue.

Up on the canal, the society’s infamous Lock Ransom ran the whole weekend, including during Friday’s festival set-up.

Boaters are encouraged to support the society while being assisted by trained volunteers through the lock.

“This was the first year that we have also had the village hall booked, as an experiment,” said BCS trustee and festival committee member Athina Beckett. “We have managed to raise somewhere in the region of £1800 before costs for BCS.” Although a little quieter than last year, thought to be mainly due to the threat of the forecast thunderstorms that never really happened, there were plenty of positive comments from traders and public alike. Congratulations for a very successful weekend were very welcome from John Highmore of the Canal & River Trust, and BCS would like to thank all those involved in the festival for making this year one of the most successful ever.

Something special at the Brighouse festival

By Geoff Wood

‘Elvis’ belts out the hits.

A NEW canal festival at Brighouse, West Yorkshire, was on song from the start.

There were not only canal boats, a stall and a tent selling real ale, but also folk and a little rock music from ‘The King’.

But that was only the start of the attractions which stretched from one end of the market car park to the other.

Traders sold a variety of wares, classic Morgan cars were lined up to view and a steam engine huffed and puffed.

Most people in the afternoon though seemed to be rather taken by the Elvis impersonator dressed in a hallmark white suite belting out the hits. And there was no room in the stalls.

An estimated 20 narrowboats turned up for the first ever Brighouse Canal, Folk and Real Ale Festival. And boat trips along the Calder & Hebble Navigation proved very popular and were booked up for most of the day.

Festival chairman Lesley Adams said: “Brighouse is really busy these days. And the new business that has been attracted to the town has caught people’s attention.”

Once known outside the area mostly for its prize-winning Brighouse and Rastrick Band, Brighouse appeared to be on the up. On Saturday, crowds streamed down the hill from car parks to the town centre and the festival. Among the folk arriving there seemed to be a spirit of optimism and expectation.

The Calder Navigation Club organised the water-borne activities at the festival. Spokesman Mike Fretwell said: “We are doing a lot of trips. But as a club this is just one of the activities we have been involved with since starting in 1969.”

Back amid the hustle and bustle of the stalls, Elvis on stage sang: I can’t help falling in love with you. And it seemed that Brighouse canal festival did have something special.

Visiting narrowboats line the towpath. PHOTOS: Geoff Wood

NEWS 5

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Historic lifeboats parade at Saul pageant

The procession of lifeboats passes Fretherne on the way from Sharpness. PHOTO: DR LIZ LANE

A PARADE of historic RNLI lifeboats was one of the highlights of the Inland Waterways Association’s Saul Waterways Pageant over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Despite the variable weather, around 2500 visitors enjoyed the event at Saul Junction with a variety of boats displayed at their best and events and entertainment enjoyed by the public.

Attractions included live music, markets, refreshments, a real ale bar and a daily lucky programme prize draw. A diversity of interests on and around the waterways were showcased including activities such as walking, fishing and cycling as well as demonstrations and water-based competitions.

Historic lifeboat The Chieftain parades through Saul Junction. PHOTO: STEVE O’HARA

River Canal Rescue award winners THREE sets of intrepid travellers received their River Canal Rescuesponsored annual Cruising Challenge, Robert Aickman and AP Herbert Challenge Awards at Saul.

The Cruising Challenge trophy – recognising the most enterprising 12 month noncontinuous journey undertaken since last year’s Watfordbased IWA Festival and culminating at the Saul event – was given to Mike and Jenny Moorse on nb Guelrose. The continuous cruisers live on their boat and covered 2358 lock miles.

Mike and Jenny cruised 18 different canal navigations and four rivers and their journey included being part of the first convoy to cruise the waterways of the Olympic Park in London before going out on to the tidal Thames through central London.

The Robert Aickman Challenge trophy – for the

most meritorious and enterprising journey undertaken from May 1 to the pageant date – was given to Bob and Lynn Hallam on nb Cormorant II. Their 1258 lock mile journey started around the corner from the event site, at their Saul Marina home mooring and included crossings of the tidal River Mersey estuary and the Wash.

Their well-illustrated logbook submitted for the competition scored extra bonus points for what the judges described as ‘the superb quality of its presentation.

AP Herbert trophy winners – Di and Reece Jones on nb Wandering Whimbell – recorded the longest continuous journey attempted from May 1 to the Pageant.

The liveaboards and continuous cruisers covered 616 lock miles.

Their journey took in the Grand Union Canal, the River Soar, part of the River Trent, the Trent & Mersey Canal, the

Cruising challenge winners Jenny and Mike Moorse receive their award from IWA awards officer Paul Chilvers.

Bob and Lynn Hallam completed two crossings of tidal estuaries on their way to the Saul and the Robert Aickman Trophy.

PHOTOS: RIVER CANAL RESCUE

AP Herbert trophy winners Di and Reece Jones completed a continuous journey over more than 616 lock miles.

Midlands, Birmingham, the River Severn and the Gloucester & Sharpness before reaching Saul.

IWA Awards Officer Paul Chilvers comments: “The quality of entries this year was outstanding. We received 21 entries, which represents 36% of the 58 boats attending Saul.

Given the late confirmation of the Pageant this is very promising. Interest is already high in next year’s August bank holiday event on the River Nene in Northampton, so we’re expecting many more entries.”

Echoing these sentiments, RCR managing director Stephanie Horton said: “These Awards continue to go from strength to strength.

It’s always fascinating to read the logbooks of the participants and I’m delighted to be able to support our boating community in this way.”

The trophy winners also received a year’s free RCR membership. To find out more about the emergency breakdown and assistance firm, visit www.rivercanal rescue.co.uk

Among the lifeboats spanning 60 years was the Mary Irene Millar. PHOTO: STEVE O’HARA Crowds gathered in the afternoon to watch the boat handling competition and the illuminated boat parade later in the evening.

The historic lifeboats, spanning the last 60 years, were brought to Saul by lifeboat enthusiast Phil Trotter of R W Davis & Sons, the well-known Saul Junction boat builders. The lifeboats paraded daily and were moored on site all weekend.

Two old steam launches and a steam traction engine joined the pageant on Saturday and Sunday.

There was also an unexpected attraction of the occasional stately passage of tall ships returning from filming in Gloucester Docks. Over 50 other visiting boats lined the canal for a considerable distance.

Cotswold Canals Trust, located next to the pageant site, was also busy providing trip boats for the public.

The Saul Waterways Pageant celebrated the restoration work taking place on the Cotswold Canals. During the pageant, IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) worked with the trust, to restore the canal at Bowbridge Locks near Stroud. Members of the public were invited to go along and see WRG in action.

One of the visiting tall ships was the historic Lowestoft fishing smack Excelsior LT472. PHOTO: DR LIZ LANE

6 NEWS

IN BRIEF

Canal cycle raises funds for Bliss

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Winter mooring pilot scheme to continue

Boater fined for creating wash

FOLLOWING a positive response to last year’s trial changes to the winter moorings system, the Canal & River Trust (CRT) has decided to offer a continuation of that pilot, with a few additional features.

It is now offering winter mooring permits of one, two, three, four or five months’ duration, starting on the first day of the month. There are unlimited numbers of general towpath permits available.

Boaters can choose: • General towpath permits: cheaper and more flexible, allowing mooring anywhere on the towpath for a month or more, with a few exceptions • Selected visitor moorings: a selection of the most popular sites offered for winter moorings in previous years

Well done to our Mega winners

New trailboat slipway opens on the Fenland Link

WORKMATES from James Briggs Ltd, Royton, near Oldham, cycled 127 miles down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to raise money for the premature baby charity Bliss, writes Geoff Wood.

They were led by Geoff Stocks whose nephew Thomas was born nine weeks prematurely but was given special attention following the birth.

BOAT owner Paul Maxwell was fined £500 by Redhill Magistrates’ Court for creating a wash causing danger to other vessels and property on the River Thames. He admitted failing to navigate his boat United at a safe speed and with due care and caution at Garrick’s Ait in Hampton when red boards were displayed in late December 2013. Following the prosecution brought by the Environment Agency, Mr Maxwell, of Croydon, was also ordered to pay a Victim Surcharge of £50 and costs of £60.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the following winners of Mega Pegs in our July competition: Rebecca Shelton, Ellesmere; Helen Aiken, Ballater; Steve Swider, Dudley; Gill Colling, Southampton; Mrs M Briggs, Golcar; Susan Murray, Gretna; Peter Gilby, Gravesend; Andrew Westerman, Harrogate; Claire Woods, Norwich; Ron Johnson, Old Felixstowe; Tony Duke, Great Totham; Jill Best, Edgbaston; Tim Bain, Preston; Barbara Hewitt, Stevenage; Laura Clarke, Pontefract; Emma Steigmann, Sittingbourne; Faye Waring, Retford; Shirley Berry, Louth; Rebecca King, Carrickfergus; Mike Ward, Welwyn Garden City; Dawn Totton, Newcastle; Simon Barber, Hitchin; Keith Banham, High Wycombe; Amy Parry-Jones, Congresbury; Terence Ferguson, Normanton; Stephanie Whitehouse, Norfolk; Jill Nicholls, Edinburgh; Irene Julian, Nottingham; Gayle McFedries, Paisley; Vickie Hennie, Warrington; Alan Middleton, Cheltenham; Annabel Mitchell, Ketton; David Beech, Pelsall; Jill Webb, Essex; Samantha Price, Huddersfield; Ann Banham, Ipswich; Anthea Holloway, Dorset; Kathleen Alman, Wigan; Joy Lawson, Cleethorpes; Emer Fogarty, Orpington; Marilyn Winstone, Newport; Mr D Vidler, Coventry; Paul Kay, Portsmouth, Ian Ryder, Leeds; Amantha Hoyland, Abingdon; Helen Marshall, Hazel Grove; Sheila Shepheard, Hove; Graham Ross, Witham; Katie Harmer, Tunbridge Wells; Tony Higgins, Stockton-on-Tees; Kat Lucas, Wigan; Jo Richardson, Evesham; Josh Cook, Ilkeston; Emma Lycett, Walsall; Rachel Craig, Greenock; Adrienne Tonner, Glasgow; Stephen Mare, Dumbarton; Roger Owen, Bedford; Alison Booth, Banff and Karen Colbeck, Halifax.

LINCOLNSHIRE Waterways Partnership has opened a trailboat slipway at Hubberts Bridge on the Fenland Link.

• Central London winter mooring sites: four locations (West, Central, East 1 & East 2) Continuous cruisers will be able to book general mooring permits on Wednesday, October 1. For continuous cruisers seeking to book selected visitor moorings or central London winter moorings, four and five month permits will be available on October 1, with two and three month permits on sale on October 14 and one month permits bookable from November 1. Other boaters will be able to secure winter moorings at selected visitor sites from November 1.

In April 2015, the trust will be asking boaters for their views about winter moorings and how they could be improved for the following winter.

Next to the Wheatsheaf pub near the junction of the B1192 and A52, this is the first access point upstream of

Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue demonstrates the use of the new slipway.

PHOTO: DAVE CARNELL

Dean Davies, interim head of customer services at the CRT, said: “While many boaters enjoy winter cruising, every year hundreds of boaters decide they want to settle in one place as the weather turns harsher or because it’s harder to get around because of stoppages. We want to make it as easy as possible for boaters without a home mooring to make the choices that work best for them.” ● From October 1, winter mooring permits will be available from: www.crtmoorings.com For more information, including prices, please visit: http://canal rivertrust.org.uk/boating/mooring/ winter-moorings

the tidal Black Sluice Lock in Boston. The site also offers pontoon moorings for larger craft with water point and pump out facilities.

EA navigation keys to access the slipway and the coin operated pump out are available from the Black Sluice lock keeper and the Wheatsheaf on a deposit of £10. Navigation fees for this isolated stretch are under review.

Lincolnshire county councillor Colin Davies said: “Tourism is a key factor for this part of the county and we want to make the waterways as attractive to visitors as possible.

“This is an important step in providing a link between the cathedral cities of Lincoln, Peterborough and Ely, incorporating the market towns of Boston, Spalding, Crowland and Ramsey.”

Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue

then demonstrated the use of the slipway and its expertise in waterway rescue methods.

Later this year the Black Sluice Multi-User Trail for walkers and cyclists along the south side of the drain will be created from Hubberts Bridge to Wyberton High Bridge. This is part of the Lincolnshire Waterways; Routes not Barriers project which has attracted £1 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

Consultations with landowners to determine extending the navigable route for a connection with the River Glen continues with Option 11, widening the South Forty Foot Drain (Fenland Link) from Donington to Surfleet, a new lock around Black Hole Drove Pumping Station into a new channel to the A151 with a lock into the River Glen seeming most likely.

Repairs to river beds to protect bridge structures

By Elizabeth Rogers

OXFORDSHIRE County Council is carrying out work on the river bed beneath the bridges on four of the waterways in the county, necessary to ensure the stability of the bridge structures.

A county council spokesman said that the work is an infilling of sections of the river bed to repair scouring which has resulted from episodes of flooding. The fast-moving water has eroded the river bed, and the holes it has made need infilling to ensure that there is no risk to the structures of the bridges above, which could otherwise be undermined.

Twelve bridges are the subject of the present operations including three which are on the River Windrush, those at Minster Lovell, Asthall and Widford. The other rivers where similar work

The bridge over the River Windrush at Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

is taking place are the Thames, Cherwell and Evenlode.

Last year the county council imposed a temporary weight

limit on the road over the bridge at Minster Lovell because of the need for remedial work to protect it.

Take the boat to work plan

The Leeds water taxi. PHOTO SUPPLIED

COMMUTERS in Leeds could soon be able to catch a boat to work now that a free river taxi scheme has become permanent, writes Geoff Wood.

The service, styled on boats operating in Amsterdam, takes passengers from Leeds Dock to Granary Wharf and back. Currently it operates on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, but the taxis could become a daily feature running between 7am and 7pm.

Simon Tipple, who drives one of the boats which takes seven minutes to cover the route, said: “The south entrance to Leeds Station is opening soon. You will be able to get off a train and on to a water taxi.”

The boats carry up to 11 passengers and are paid for by Allied London, the company which owns Leeds Dock. Bosses hope the taxis will raise the profile of that part of the city.

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.

Two years on – the challenges facing the Canal & River Trust

RYA’s head of legal and government affairs, Gus Lewis, calls for navigation to be given a higher profile.

THIS summer has seen another inquiry into the Canal & River Trust (CRT) this time looking at the trust’s first two years and the potential for it to take on the Environment Agency’s navigations.

The inquiry has been conducted by the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group (APPWG) which heard evidence session on July 21 and reviewed written submissions from various bodies including the RYA. The huge task of transitioning British Waterways’ undertakings to the trust was achieved effectively and with minimal disruption, for which the staff at CRT are to be applauded.

It has made significant progress in reshaping the organisational culture and governance away from British Waterways into a dynamic independent charity, something which the RYA was keen to see happen as soon as possible.

Feedback from our members indicates that the relationships with the wider community appear to be satisfactory. Although there is some concern that the CRT’s specialist advisory groups do not seem to be distributing information about their activities and recommendations as well as they might and so improvements could be made.

We hope that the chief executive’s meetings around the country continue as they have provided many groups with the opportunity to comment directly to the executive level of the trust.

This is all to the good; these are important achievements for the trust. But what remains of concern for the RYA is that navigation does not seem to be given as high a profile in the trust’s activities as we would like.

This is apparent when you take a tour through the trust’s website and is reflected in the fact that few of the ‘Explore’ features relate to recreational boating. This may be because, as an independent charity, the trust needs to focus on reaching out to a wider community and building a base of goodwill in order to raise funds. If so, we would certainly understand the need for this approach. But it should not happen at the expense of navigation, and with that navigational safety.

Emotive issue

Licence evasion on the waterways continues to be a problem and one which the trust needs to get a handle on. Recent feedback from our members suggests that up to one third of boats are unlicensed in areas of concentration – particularly in London.

In addition, there remains a host of issues surrounding the availability of moorings on which more work needs to be done by the trust. A recent petition, signed by more than 5000 people and presented to the trust’s annual meeting, called on the trust not to evict vulnerable people. This demonstrates how emotive the issue is and the strong feelings that action can provoke. This is a real challenge for the trust; nevertheless, it is clear that the trust is trying to find the correct balance with enforcement action.

Overstaying remains a problem in some areas, though this is a clear area of focus for the trust.

The situation in London, with the recent intervention of the London Assembly, will need to be particularly sensitively handled and a balance found between the interests of local residents and those of boaters.

Increased facilities (waste disposal, pump out, water, electric points etc) would ease the overall situation should reduce the concentration of boats at existing facility points.

The use of ‘parking tickets’ (i.e. machines dispensing tickets to show when the boat arrived, and when it should leave) have been suggested and the RYA would

Gus Lewis: Navigation must lie at the heart of CRT’s activities. support such initiatives if implemented appropriately.

Looking to the future, it is of course critical to the ongoing success of the trust that it has the financial resources to enable it to discharge its responsibilities.

If the current financial situation is such that Defra is unlikely to be in a position to be able to provide sufficient financial support to the trust to enable it to take on the EA’s navigations in 2015/2016 then the RYA agrees that the decision should be postponed until such time as the necessary financial support is available.

The trust has an important role to play in the future of our waterways and the RYA will continue to work with and support the trust but we will continue to press it to recognise that navigation must lie at the heart of its activities.

Boaters have their say in biennial RYA survey AFTER three months of surveying members, lapsedmembers and non-members the results of the biennial RYA membership survey are now in.

“The membership survey provides us with a crucial insight into what the boating community feels about RYA membership, members’ attitudes towards membership and potential ideas for the future, all of which contribute towards shaping the RYA membership offer and help us develop plans for membership growth,” explained Conor Swift, RYA membership development manager.

Of the thousands of survey respondents 41% stated the main reason they joined the RYA was due to the its globally recognised training, certification, personal and professional qualifications, followed by almost a quarter (24%) stating they joined to add their voice to the existing 102,000 members to ensure legislators, regulators and other authorities understand, and take account of, recreational boating activity.

When asked if the RYA could do one big thing to help your boating what would it be? the results were extremely varied and interesting, from just keep doing what you’re doing to controlling the weather.

Other responses included offering more support and easier access to funding for clubs, provide somewhere for beginners to ask ‘stupid questions’, as well as more services available via mobile apps, keeping legislation to a minimum and more opportunities to meet RYA staff.

Everyone who took part in the RYA Membership Survey 2014 was also automatically entered in to a free prize draw to win an iPad Air. From the thousands of survey participants Richard Longbone from Hull was picked as the winner. ● To find out more about RYA membership visit www.rya.org.uk

RYA members taking part in the survey. PHOTO SUPPLIED

8 NETWORKING

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Lock wind boosts canal restoration funds

SOCIETY NEWS Sumba in action

MOST of us have heard of Zumba but what about SUMBA? The Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch Adopters began in April and has been giving priority to painting picnic benches, seats and totem posts and replacing damaged information signs as their condition is prominent in the public’s eye. Regular litter picks have also been held and an environmental project to plant historic Cheshire apple trees and other plants alongside and within the hedgerows is gathering strength. Suitable locations are being chosen for an initial planting project this autumn.

(Cuttings, Autumn 2014)

Showcase example

HERITAGE narrowboat Birdswood’s acquisition, refurbishment and operation has been described as a ‘showcase example’ of RDPE funding helping local businesses

by Defra minister Dan Rogerson in a letter to the Friends of Cromford Canal. It is published in full in the Friends’ new-look full colour newsletter. There is still time to see Birdswood horse-drawn this year over the weekends of October 4-5 and November 1-2. (The Portal, Summer 2014)

Lock wind

THE annual Marsworth Lock Wind proved to be a successful fundraising and publicity event again with IWA Chiltern Branch volunteers raising about £425 from helping boaters through the lock and enrolling six new IWA members. (IWA Chiltern eNews, September 2014)

Longwood gathering

FOLLOWING the announcement that the Pelsall Canal Festival would not take place next year Longwood Boat Club has decided to organise something on the corresponding weekend – June 14-15, 2015. The club, which is situated at the top of the Rushall Locks at the end of the Daw End Branch, is seeking expressions of interest so it can gauge the likely size of the event. (Boundary Post, August 2014)

Autumn cruise

BOATERS will be welcome to join the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society’s autumn cruise over the weekend of October 4-5.

The venue will be Brockmoor Junction on the Stourbridge Fens Branch and it is hoped the event will raise the profile of this quite large area of disused waterway, to make sure that we do not lose it.

It may also be a good ‘staging point’ for some on their way to the Stourbridge Open Weekend.

(Boundary Post, August 2014)

Historic working boat Plover followed by Saturn being bowhauled through the flight.

PHOTO: SNCT

THE Inland Waterways Association’s Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch held another very successful annual lock wind at Hurleston Locks in August, raising several hundred pounds towards the major canal restoration projects in the branch’s area.

Over 20 volunteers, including some members of neighbouring IWA branches and some non-members, helped almost 85 boats to transit the locks at the junction of the Llangollen and Shropshire Union canals.

A highlight of the weekend was the passage of the 108-year-old restored Shroppie fly-boat Saturn, bow hauled through the flight and preceded by her

motor, the historic working boat Plover.

Although boat movements were less than at last year’s event, perhaps due to heavy rain on the Saturday, boaters again contributed generously and both donations and sales of produce, books and the branch’s 2015 pictorial calendars raised more funds than in previous years.

“This was another great result for the canal restorations on the Montgomery and Shrewsbury & Newport canals,” said branch chairman Michael Limbrey. “We are very grateful to all who supported us so generously, and also to our enthusiastic team of volunteers, who kept smiling through rain and shine and made the whole weekend possible.”

Canal Rangers are ready to help

Renowned canalside potter mourned

THE Bridgwater & Taunton Canal Association has now launched a new ‘Rangers’ scheme to promote and improve the whole length of the canal.

Chairman, Chris Whitcombe explained: “We want to encourage visitors to the B&T to take an interest in this lovely area; our ‘volunteer rangers’ will be recognisable by displaying our logo and will be happy to answer questions about the canal.”

Supported by Canal & River Trust, the rangers will help to monitor the condition of the canal, its towpath, hedges, car parks, as well as looking out for and recording wildlife sightings.

Chris added: “Along the way they ensure litter is picked up, overhanging brambles clipped back, as well as many other smaller jobs that will keep this canal a pleasant place to visit.”

Covering the whole 14-mile length, some rangers already have their particular patch where they regularly cycle or walk the dog. So, if you would like to be involved in this venture, please contact the volunteer co-ordinator on 01278 663449 or email batca@maunsellock.co.uk

A SELF-taught ceramic artist who achieved world fame, Peter Ilsley of Whilton Locks Pottery, near Daventry, died in hospital on August 25 after a short illness, writes Tom Price.

He was 81 and leaves two sons, Jason and Mark – Mark is also a potter and lives and works on a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal.

Coventry-born Peter became a fulltime potter in the late 60s, when he established the Draycote Pottery near Rugby, making a wide range of domestic and artistic pottery. He was also an actor and played minor roles in TV series including Philip Marlowe Private Eye, Dr Who, Basil Brush and Z-Cars.

He moved to the bottom lock at Whilton Locks in 1986 and soon became a leading figure in the community as founder chairman of the Whilton and Buckby Locks Association.

He was also chairman of the Midland Potters Association.

A proud follower of the arts and crafts movement inspired by John Ruskin and William Morris, he specialised in handthrown vases and bowls in earthenware, stoneware and porcelain.

In the 1990s he began experimenting with crystalline glazes, a long-lost technique which originated in ancient China. After hundreds of experiments he established a ground-breaking series of spectacular glazes.

His book, “Macro-Crystalline Glazes: The Challenge of Crystals,” soon become the definitive reference for crystalline potters all over the world. Its publication in 1999 led to him being in demand for exhibitions, lectures and workshops in America, Canada, Australia and throughout Europe.

The Chinese government invited him to demonstrate to a huge audience of ceramicists at Beijing University. One of his overseas pupils, Vinod Daroz, who spent several months with him at Whilton Locks, is now a leading ceramic sculptor in India.

In recent years Peter, a charismatic and convivial character who enjoyed a pint at the nearby Norton village pub, spent the winters in southern Spain, where he continued to throw and fire pots to bring in his car when he drove back to Whilton Locks.

Beside the community noticeboard supplied by the Canal & River Trust and put in place by BATCA volunteers are, from left: Max Ward (CRT) and BATCA volunteer rangers Chris Whitcombe, Sue Horrill, Pat McKeown and Steve Horne. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Tributes paid to ‘Mr Avon’ Dudley Matthews WHEN Dudley CB Matthews MBE passed away peacefully at the age of 95, tributes flooded in for the man who did so much for the Avon, its riverusers and its local communities.

‘Dud’ had dedicated over 61 years to restoring, protecting, promoting and keeping everything running smoothly in a wonderfully wide variety of ways, from getting down and dirty on repairs to marshalling the army of volunteers who are the life blood of the system.

He retired from the civil service in 1983, but would often work 40 hour weeks in just one of his volunteer roles, as tugmaster, for the Lower Avon Navigation Trust.

He received his MBE in 1998 for his services to the inland waterways cause, which never wavered. He went to to be a powerful force in new developments, including the amalgamation of the Upper and Lower Avon Navigation Trust into the Avon Navigation Trust, of which he was founder member, director and which honoured him in 2014 as President Emeritus.

Born in Stechford, Birmingham, Dud was about to start a career as a management trainee when he was called up in 1939.

He fought at Dunkirk, in the Western Desert, North Africa and Italy. He was mentioned in despatches twice, and received six campaign medals.

He met his wife Enid, who he married in 1953, while he was training to be a senior tax inspector, and she proved to be the catalyst in their immersion in the waterways world, as well as his anchor.

Dud’s family had moved to the canalside village of Penkridge and his stepfather George Matthews was also a fan of the Avon. However, the defining moment was when Dud crossed the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal on the way to see his wife to be.

He saw, to his horror, that it was dry and wrote to the Inland Waterways Association to find out why. A natural doer, he joined the IWA and then LANT, and so it began.

Dud and close friend Ron Burrowes had built the 24ft cruiser Gauntlet and converted a 38ft former RNLI lifeboat Daphne.

They became proactive members of the Severn Motor Yacht Club, and attracted the attention of Douglas Barwell. Douglas had launched his crusade to reopen the Avon between Tewkesbury and Evesham, and wondered whether Dud and his friend would like to help working on some locks.

Actually Dud’s first job as a ‘Barwell Boy’ was to repair the lock to the ladies’ loos, but he went on to put in countless hours to help restore navigation to the lovely stretch of river.

Founder member The late Dudley Matthews in his Reach Masters uniform. PHOTO SUPPLIED

When LANT was considering moving on to the restoration to Stratford, Dud powered on. He is a cast iron link between all the river’s major milestones.

He was a founder member of the

UANT that pressed on with the restoration and had already started the Wyre Mill Club with Douglas Barwell.

The club honoured its director and harbour master with the title Commodore Emeritus.

Dud and Enid managed to get some leisure time on the river, on their boats Dalreh and then Gloster Rose, which were moored at the club. But a great swathe of time was spent for the river, including the couple’s work in the Trust guides.

Dudley helped with the first production of Gateway to the Avon in 1966 and by 1971 he took over as editor, helped by Enid.

It is almost impossible to find the space to list all the good that Dud did.

As well as tugmaster and harbour master, he gathered and ran the volunteers to man the newly opened locks and he took over the chairmanship, from Douglas, of the volunteer Reach Masters, who are crucial in maintaining the river as a thoroughfare.

Dud will be sorely missed. He was a much-loved husband, father, friend and colleague. He was also a man who was dedicated to championing the cause of the Avon.

Canal & River Trust chairman Tony Hales paid this tribute: “Dudley Matthews was a giant figure in the movement for saving our waterways for future generations. The people around the Avon owe Dudley a particular debt. His influence lives on through his work and his family. We are all thankful for and celebrate the life of a great and loved man.”

The picture accompanying this obituary sums him up: a happy man in his Reach Masters uniform, with a glass of cheer outside the Wyre club he helped to found, and that ever-present mobile in his pocket, because he was always on call.

It’s a portrait that celebrates all that’s glorious about Dud and all volunteers and the enormous difference they make.

The late Peter Ilsley at his wheel.

NETWORKING 9

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Trip boat Charlie with Mike Partridge on the tiller emerges from the southern portal of Blisworth Tunnel with the guests on board. PHOTOS: STEVE DEAN

Red Wheel for Blisworth Tunnel

By Steve Dean

THIRTY years to the day since the re-opening of Blisworth Tunnel on August 22, 1984, the Transport Trust has placed a Red Wheel adjacent to the southern portal of the tunnel at Stoke Bruerne.

The tunnel was opened by the Grand Junction Canal Company in 1805 and at 2812m (3076yds or 13⁄4 miles) is the longest navigable tunnel in the UK through which narrowboats can pass.

In 1793 navvies began to dig the tunnel on its original alignment but work was abandoned in 1796 after geological problems. Earthworks can still be detected to the east of the present tunnel. In the autumn of 1979 structural faults were detected which ultimately led to the tunnel being closed in 1980 for major relining work to be carried out.

The Transport Trust is the only national charity established to promote and encourage the preservation and restoration of Britain’s unique transport heritage in all its forms. The trust’s Red Wheel scheme commemorates our rich and important legacy in the development of transport and drawing on advice from historians, industrial archaeologists and other experts the trust determines should be nationally recognised.

VIPs and invited guests were asked to arrive at the Blisworth end of the tunnel to be transported through the tunnel on trip boat Charlie, which is captained by Mike Partridge and operates daily at Stoke Bruerne. Moored at the southern portal was CRT’s historic former working boat and museum exhibit Sculptor which is operated by volunteers, and Bob Nightingale the resident blacksmith was operational in the forge.

Master blacksmith Bob Nightingale has operated the forge alongside the tunnel portal for the past three years.

The Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, David Laing and Sir William McAlpine reveal the plaque.

Canal & River Trust enterprise manager James Clifton welcomed everyone and introduced Sir William and Lady McAlpine; David Laing, the Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire; Stuart Wilkinson, Transport Trust chairman, and Dr Nigel Crowe, CRT head of heritage.

Moving tributes

The speeches contained a wonderful blend of historical information, moving tributes and moments of humour. At one point David Laing asked everyone to close their eyes and imagine what it must have been like for the men who dug the tunnel more than 200 years ago and envisage the damp and cold with just candlelight to guide them.

Three men who stated they had a wonderful day out were tunnel engineers John Woods, Roy Slocombe and Colin Mackenzie who were involved in the 1980s re-lining project. They came equipped with torches so they could examine how their work looked 30 years after completion.

Thankfully they all looked happy.

Following the formalities everyone walked along the towpath to the museum green for refreshments and for the ceremonial cutting of a celebration cake. The cake was made by Sharon Getter of the neighbouring village of Yardley Gobion and depicted a Red Wheel in icing.

No visit to Stoke Bruerne is complete without a visit to the acclaimed museum, a walk along the towpath or a trip boat ride to the tunnel portal and a visit to the blacksmith’s workshop. It is well worth taking in the woodland walk and looking out for the wire animal sculptures, and now you can also view the Transport Trust’s Red Wheel.

Reliving memories of 30 years ago are tunnel engineers John Woods, Roy Slocombe and Colin Mackenzie.

10 VOLUNTEERING

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WORK PARTY ROUNDUP WITH IWA’S STEFANIE PRESTON

Party prepares for 40th anniversary

Busy summer for Wednesday evening task force THE monthly Towpath Task Force which meets every Saturday to tidy up the canal at Audlem has been boosted over the summer by volunteers meeting on Wednesday evenings.

Canal & River Trust volunteer task leader Dek Smith said that the original group was formed at the end of last year of like-minded volunteers wishing to make a positive difference to the stewardship and environment of

Volunteers at work on one of the locks.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED

Preparing for the Caldon 40th anniversary weekend.

PHOTO: JULIE ARNOLD,WATERWAY IMAGES

VOLUNTEERS from IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch joined forces with the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust again for their monthly joint work party on the Caldon Canal.

After an intensive two months of Himalayan Balsam pulling, they were happy to turn their hands to painting for a change, along with some vegetation clearance, at Cheddleton Top Lock.

The location was chosen so that the area can be spruced up ahead of the Caldon 40 weekend at the end of September. Vegetation around the lockside was cleared back, ready for a ceremony on Sunday, September 28, the 40th anniversary of the reopening of the Caldon Canal, and handrails and lock furniture were prepared for painting.

Busy summer for River Gipping Trust

The Audlem flight of locks painted over the summer.

the canal and had spent the winter months planting literally thousands of bulbs and clearing mud from the towpath surface.

He explained: “We began the year with the constant battle of clearing surface mud from the towpath and as the weather improved, set about the task of painting all the locks and canal infrastructure on the whole flight of 15 locks.

“As progress was slow due to weather and traffic disruption when we met on the monthly Task Force Saturday, the midweek evening Task Force was born. Since the end of May the volunteers met on no less than 11 Wednesdays to undertake the painting project.”

Dek said the mid-week evening task force had been hugely successful, recruiting new volunteers and completing the painting project. The general consensus among the volunteers is that the Wednesday meetings have also been enjoyable and will be missed over the winter months and they are looking forward to continuing their work next year.

Task force tally

10 Wednesday evenings and one midweek day worked with Network Rail volunteers 47 volunteer attended days 203 hours worked 15 locks painted, 45 lock gates painted 165 bollard pins painted 2 mile-posts painted 2 access point gates painted 2 access stiles and fences painted 2 footpath signposts painted 9 safety fences painted, the equivalent of 250m of 3-pale fence 4 bridge rope guards painted Lock 13 (Ticket-House) lock cottage fence painted Bin compound gates painted Service station handrails painted 2 signs painted Filled in potholes on the access road to the Mill/Shroppie Fly 5 canalside benches painted

Work party makes final effort for Britain in Bloom judging THE Macclesfield Canal at Congleton is now one of the new IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch’s key projects, its work parties having enjoyed continued support from local residents and regular volunteers.

Work on the canal near the station and towards Bridge 76 has included litter picking, cutting back vegetation and clearing cobble setts. A number of passing boaters remarked about the improvement to the general area.

One of the initial reasons for

starting work here was that Congleton has been selected as one of 10 UK finalist’s for Britain in Bloom in the large town category.

The work party has shown the benefit of different groups working together, including local residents, volunteers from other work parties in Cheshire, Congleton Town Council, Congleton Sustainability Group, Northern Rail, one of whose staff volunteered to do some strimming for us during his lunch break from painting the station, and Sustrans, the National

Cycle Network. The results at the end of the day really showed that the team was having a very positive impact.

The team decided to hold two further interim work parties prior to the judging in August and again there was good support for both these ‘final tidy up’ parties. It was clearly worth these extra efforts as the judges made specific comment about how good it was to see the results and in particular praised the community spirit that had been a feature of the work to date.

Working besides the Macclesfield Canal at Congleton. PHOTO: BOB LUSCOMBE

FORTHCOMINGWORK PARTY EVENTS The new bridge over the bywash and weir at Pipps Ford. PHOTO: RIVER GIPPING TRUST THE River Gipping Trust, supported by IWA Ipswich Branch, has been hard at work over the summer and completed the new bridge base and abutments over the by-wash and weir at Pipps Ford.

A new timber bridge, constructed by volunteers, was then transported and put into place, but this is not the end of the work. Further plans are being developed subject to formal consents being given so keep an eye out for updates.

Working weekend on the Chelmer & Blackwater

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.

Wednesday, October 1 and Monday 6

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

Saturday, October 4

IWA Leicestershire Branch: Canal clean-up through Leicester City Centre in partnership with Leicester City Council and Canal & River Trust. Meet at Lime Kiln Lock LE4 5AQ, parking available on Abbey Park Road. Contact Alison Smedley, IWA branch campaign officer on 07779 090915, alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk IWA Chester & Merseyside Branch: Monthly work parties at various locations alongside the Shropshire Union Canal in the Chester area. 10am4pm. Work will include painting and vegetation clearance. Contact Mike Carter 07795 617803 mike.carter@waterways.org.uk

Saturday, October 4 and 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

Saturday and Sunday, October 4-5

The new Avant machine at work on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation. PHOTO: ROY SUTTON IWA Chelmsford Branch and IWA’s Essex WRG joined forces over a weekend to complete a whole host of tasks at Hoe Mill on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation.

With the help of staff from Essex Waterways Ltd (the Chelmer & Blackwater’s navigation authority and a subsidiary of IWA), volunteers laid eight tonnes of Type 1 surfacing; created a new rainwater soakaway; built, fitted and painted new eaves, fascias and cladding to the store building; installed new gutters and downpipes on the store building and gave them a good tidy inside.

IWA Manchester Branch: Operation Manchester, work will involve pulling rubbish out of the canal and litter picking along the Ashton and Rochdale Canals from Ducie St Junction. 10am to 4pm each day.

Overnight accommodation available for those travelling from a distance can be booked via the Waterway Recovery Group website at www.waterways.org.uk/wrg/canal_camps Contact Alison Smedley, IWA branch campaign officer on 07779 090915, alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk

Wednesday, October 8

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

Thursday, October 9

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Monthly work party on the Caldon Canal, location and task to be confirmed. 10am-3pm. Contact Alison Smedley, 07779 090915, email alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk

Sunday, October 12

IWA Northampton Branch: Monthly work party on the Northampton Arm. Contact Geoff Wood by email Geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk

Thursday, October 16 and Saturday 18

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 and Sunday, October 18-19

IWA Milton Keynes Branch: Bi-annual canal clean-up on the Grand Union Canal. Contact the branch at miltonkeynes@waterways.org.uk

Tuesday, October 21

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, October 24

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch: Work party in Congleton as part of the Congleton Station project. Meet at the Queen’s Head Pub, Park Lane, Congleton CW12 3DE. 10am to approximately 12.30pm. Bob Luscombe 07710 054848, bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk

Sunday, October 26

IWA South Yorkshire & Dukeries Branch: Canal Clean Up at Tinsley, Sheffield. Meet at Tinsley Marina, 10am to 1pm. Work party will be followed by pie and peas for those who order in advance. Details from Mavis Paul 07725 464611, mavis.paul@waterways.org.uk

Tuesday, October 28

IWA Northampton Branch: Monthly work party on the Northampton Arm. Contact Geoff Wood by email Geoff.wood@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

VOLUNTEERING 11

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Grand Union team celebrate adoption VOLUNTEERS from the Whilton and Buckby Locks Association (WBLA) have been officially ‘adopted’ by the Canal & River Trust (CRT).

Miriam Tedder, from the CRT volunteer team, presented the certificate to a group of dedicated members of the local canal volunteer group on the Grand Union Canal near Daventry in Northamptonshire.

Adoption enables the WBLA to organise working parties to maintain and improve the environment along the flight including lock painting, gardening and the upkeep of a nature reserve.

The WBLA is keen to recruit new volunteers from the local community who have an interest in the waterways and from boaters at nearby marinas.

The WBLA volunteers with their adoption certificate.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

● Visit the WBLA website which includes, among other items, details of local walks, calendar of events, news and a photo gallery. To offer your support please use the Contact Us page at www.wbla.org.uk

Big dig makes re-watering at Cosgrove a reality VOLUNTEERS from Home Retail Group and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) were on hand to help Buckingham Canal Society (BCS) volunteers continue the restoration of the Buckingham Canal at the Cosgrove site, making significant progress over two days of work.

The aim was to construct a bund across the canal bed to prepare it for re-watering at a later date and thus return it to its former navigable state.

Home Retail Group, based in Milton Keynes, supplied 16 volunteers on day one, all in high spirits and prepared for some fun but hard work. The following day saw PwC take part in an international volunteer event for its company, returning for the

BCS volunteers Pete Carr (closest), with Kim Notridge (mid centre with wheelbarrow), and volunteers from Home Retail Group. PHOTOS: IAN MATSON

The entire group of 39 volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers, with one from BCS. second year running to help BCS, with a record breaking total for the society of 39 volunteers.

Similar to the way in which the workmen of 1801 first built the canal with no machinery to help, the volunteers from both companies were provided with spades and hard hats to get the job done!

From 1800-1801 it took 500 men nine months to dig the 10.75 miles of Buckingham Canal, and the work completed by the end of our two days could

be judged as no less impressive.

The progress made was sufficient to begin siphoning water from the Cosgrove Lock side of Bridge No1 to the barren remainder of this Old Stratford Cut on the opposite side.

It went so well that a depth of approximately 2ft of water was obtained in under 36 hours. This was made possible by using two 30m, 3in pipes passed through protective ducts laid in a backfilled trench across the top of the bridge.

● Buckingham Canal Society hopes to attract more volunteers, either as groups or individuals, to continue helping with its restoration projects.

Work parties are held every other Thursday and the second Sunday of each month and are always friendly, welcoming and very rewarding.

For further details visit the work parties page in the events and news section at www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk

Painting project at Bridgwater Docks

IWA West Country Branch continued work to paint the large amount of metal machinery, bollards and rings at Bridgwater Docks on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal.

Eleven volunteers collectively gave 50 hours, getting the task of painting over 50 objects off to a good start.

The group plan to continue the work, weather permitting, over the next few months and once finished will have given everything from bollards and rings to winches and sluice paddles a new lick of paint.

The volunteers are also working hard to develop their skills and work towards gaining CRT accreditation, 10 recently attending a training day where CRT employee Ian Powdrill introduced them to the safety measures behind working with various tools and let them begin practice working with these.

Painting at Bridgwater Docks. PHOTO: BOB ABBOTT

Kind cyclist joins the Kidderminster team

SEVEN volunteers from the IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire Branch were helped by a passing cyclist at Caldwell Lock on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Kidderminster. They had gathered to litter pick and paint lock beams and a non-slip surface on the bridge.

Northampton branch at the halfway mark AFTER taking a well-earned summer break from its fortnightly work parties in August, IWA Northampton Branch was back in action on the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal in September. The volunteers tidied up around the sanitation station, where the weeds had once again appeared, before they finished painting the hut at Lock 1. Work parties will continue through the autumn with the focus on continuing to paint the locks. Volunteers have so far painted just over half of the locks along the arm and are hoping to finish the rest as soon as possible.

12 COMMUNITY BOATING

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Keys will help unlock enjoyment on canals THE Bruce Trust has been given two LockMaster ratchet windlasses and carrying holsters for its disadvantaged, disabled and elderly guests and volunteers to use on the canal network.

Its four purpose-built, widebeam boats are moored on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Great Bedwyn Wharf, Wiltshire, where the presentation took place.

In constant use, the boats provide week-long holidays or day trips to people with special requirements along with their families, friends and carers.

The LockMaster windlass (or lock key), with its extendable arm and ratchet head, will help those aboard to open stiff lock paddles with far less effort, enabling some guests, who otherwise would not have been able, to experience opening a canal lock for themselves.

Ringmain Technology Limited, a family company based in Hampshire that makes the LockMaster, donated the windlasses after hearing thirdhand that a charity was struggling with the locks. It tracked down the name of the charity and made the offer.

“Donating our LockMaster windlasses was the right thing to do,” said Ursula Errington, who manages the company. “The Bruce Trust does fantastic work enabling people, whatever their circumstances, to enjoy the beauty and fun canal boating has to offer.

One of Hillingdon Narrowboats Association’s five boats. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Ursula Errington and Dave Dressler present the LockMaster windlasses to Rebecca Bruce. PHOTOS SUPPLIED “The majority of LockMaster windlass customers are people who don’t have the necessary upper body strength to crack open a sluice gate with the pressure of a wall of water behind it, or who are worried about hurting themselves while opening locks. I hope our windlasses will make canal boating more enjoyable for The Bruce Trust.”

Rebecca Bruce from The Bruce Trust said the ratchet windlasses might even encourage more essential volunteers to come forward: “We really need more people to help us crew our day trips, as well as willing hands to clean and maintain the boats ready to go out at the weekends.

“The LockMaster windlasses will make life easier for our fantastic crew members and guests, so we are really grateful

Rebecca models one of the holsters customised for the Bruce Trust by Dave Dressler.

for this donation and we are so touched that the holsters have been personalised.”

The two carrying holsters have been donated by leather artisan, Dave Dressler, who makes them specifically for the LockMaster windlass. They enable users to carry the tool comfortably across their body, leaving their hands free as they move around the locks.

Dave customised the two holsters with the charity name tooled into the leather. “Making the holsters for the Bruce Trust was thoroughly enjoyable,” he said. “Anything that allows more people to enjoy the canals and rivers has to be a good thing and if this donation helps more disadvantaged, disabled and elderly people to do that, then we have achieved something.”

Community boat volunteers in training FOLLOWING a recent appeal for volunteers, B&MK Waterway (Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust) recruited 20 new volunteer crew, all of whom attended their first free training session aboard the John Bunyan Community Boat.

Graham Mabbutt, joint chairman of the B&MK Waterway Trust which owns the John Bunyan Boat, said: “The John Bunyan Community Boat has been a tremendous success in its first year of operation – people love being on the river in Bedford and hearing more about the Waterway project. Our cruises are filling up rapidly and we could run many more cruises to meet the public demand if we had even more volunteers.

“As well as crew on the boat, we need volunteers ashore, helping to promote the boat, schedule our cruises and keep the John Bunyan in great condition. In particular, we are looking for volunteers with the skills to help with our website, leaflet and poster design, marketing events and phone booking line, crew scheduling and bookkeeping, maintenance and cleaning. There’s a lot goes on behind the scenes to enable us to cruise the Ouse so calmly.”

Grabbing the opportunity with both hands This month National Community Boats Association chairman Derek Stansfield features the Hillingdon Narrowboats Association.

PAUL Boakes stumbled into community boating around three years ago when his oldest son and his beaver scout group were taking a trip on a narrowboat one evening, with Hillingdon Narrowboats Association, based at Coppermill Lock in Harefield on the Grand Union.

Having seen his son safely life jacketed up and on his way, he got into conversation with the project manager of the association. “Have you got any spare time?” he asked.

And that’s how it all started for Paul...

Hillingdon Narrowboats has been around for years, originally as part of Hillingdon Council’s Youth Project and, more recently, a fully fledged charity in its own right.

Operating five boats, one of which is fully accessible for wheelchairs, the association works with many scout groups and schools in and around West London.

But it’s not just young people; it works with local care homes as well to give their residents a day out with a difference. And the association has started working with other vulnerable groups as well: young

Some of the team. offenders (as well as their parents), children leaving care, and a project with the The Prince’s Trust.

HNA has a steady stream of volunteers and, as any boater knows, there’s always something to be done on a boat. When you’ve got five of them, plus a boathouse and admin office to look after, the length of the ‘things to do’ list sometimes seems endless.

Whether it’s reblacking the hull, repairing a leaking water tank, disappearing for a week steering a school summer

Changes to NCBA fees BMK volunteers at their first training session.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

● The B&MK Trust would like to hear from anyone who is interested in joining Team JB. Free training is given for all roles and the opportunity of cruising on the Great Ouse is part of any role. Enquiries by email to: info@b-mkwaterway.org.uk

After many years of maintaining NCBA fees for membership and certification at the same level, the NCBA has decided to make a small increase to some of its fees while retaining some at the current level.

The new fee structure comes into force on October 1 and is as follows: NCBA membership £100 pa ATC status £60 pa CCC Certification £20 Boat Handling Certificate £35 CCBM Certificate £60 CCBM Renewal £20 Trainer Course £325 Trainers Certificate Renewal £30 Trainer Refresher Update £75

Just a reminder that the benefits for members include ● 10 free DBs checks for volunteers per year (value £100) ● DBS checks for employees and further volunteers ● Opportunity to reduce insurance ● A national voice ● Access to approved training ● Network opportunities ● Opportunity to become a recognised training centre ● Annual Meeting for members ● Instant credibility in being part of a national organisation ● Website profile of your project with own access to update ● Support network

AGM date

The AGM of the NCBA will once again be at Darlaston on Thursday, March 19, 2015.

camp, replacing damaged ropes, answering emails or even just washing up a mountain of coffee cups, community boating has something for everyone. If you want to make a difference in about a million different ways, this is the place to be.

Over the last three years, Paul has reinvigorated HNA’s NCBA training. He has coordinated the various emails, made sure that people get regular updates about forthcoming training weekends and that they’ve paid, and ensures there is enough tea and coffee on the boats for them. In return, HNA put him through the NCBA Trainer’s Course, sent him on a VHF Radio course – some of HNA’s trips use the Thames – and gives him a lot of latitude to bring in new ideas from the bigger corporate world.

Talking of training, the association has already run three CCBM courses this year on a four day trip from Harefield into Paddington, round to Limehouse, up the tideway to Brentford and back to Harefield via the Hanwell Flight (always a good place to test out the teamwork). Ages range from 18-80 and experience goes from first timer right up to exboatmasters. And it helps that real boaters are involved, so it’s more than just theory and practice; it’s history and experience that trainees hear about too. By doing this, boating is opened to the young showing that canals, even with their history, have a place in the future.

Community boating is simply what it says. And if you ever get the chance to get involved, grab it with both hands.

● For further details about Hillingdon Narrowboats Association contact Lorraine Grainger by tel: 01895 823582 or 078608 57877; email: hna_uk@yahoo.co.uk or visit the website at www.hna.org.uk

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SUBSCRIPTIONS 13

14 OLYMPIC LEGACY

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Chariots for hire Janet Richardson returns to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where three trip boats are now part of the London 2012 legacy.

THREE of the trip boats commissioned to transport visitors during London 2012 have returned to waterways action.

After being awarded the contract by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) for its community boat scheme last year, the Lee & Stort Boat Co Ltd started operating two passenger boats along the Waterworks River in August and recently carried its 6000th passenger.

The third boat arrived in the park in early September and will be used as an event boat which will be available for private hire.

Skipper Richard Arundel at the helm.

Originally operated by Water Chariots, they are licensed by the MCA (Maritime & Coastguard Agency) to carry 68 passengers on this Category A water. Built

by Colecraft of Southam, they are described by Lee & Stort MD Mark Sillitoe as “fantastically well crafted”.

Tidal effect

He told me that it is the first time since the games that the public have been able to experience this part of the network and see the Olympic park from this perspective. “We have been working with LLDC and the Canal & River Trust to make sure that everything is safe and right for visitors.”

He explained that the waterway is affected by the tide although it is only tidal up to Three Mills Lock. “When we have a high tide at Bow Creek, the fish belly gates come up and water levels on this part of the river will rise at high tide.”

The service runs seven days a week from its embarkation point close to the London Aquatics Centre subject to river conditions. “We are not taking any pre-bookings for the daily tours,” Mark said. “You can just come and obtain your tickets on the day.”

The Waterworks River extends to the junction with the Old River Lee at Carpenter’s Road Lock which has not been in use for many years. He hopes it will ultimately be restored opening

Tour guide Josephine Roberts is an East Ender with a lifelong experience of the area. She worked at the top of the ArcelorMittal Orbit during the games. up the route to the Bow Back Rivers and enabling a complete loop around the Stadium Island.

Wildlife habitats

Mark pointed out that the waterway has undergone a huge transformation in recent years from a heavily industrialised and polluted area – including the ‘fridge mountain’ where the Velo Park is now situated – to natural wildlife habitats where passengers are regularly treated to sightings of kingfishers and cormorants.

“We are certainly assisting where we can to create some awareness there.”

The south side of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has been open to the public since April

The boarding stage near the London Aquatics Centre. The massive ‘crayons’ are steles created by Keith Wilson as part of an art initiative but with a practical use – they are made of the same material as navigational buoys and chart the river’s journey through the park. and the park is predicted to attract over nine million visitors a year by 2016. The Olympic stadium will host the Rugby World Cup next year (2015) and the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2017. It will reopen to the public in 2016 when it will become the new home of West Ham United FC and the National Competition Centre for UK athletics as well as a major live music venue.

A new cultural and educational hub – Olympicopolis – will also be created in the park featuring developments from the Victoria & Albert Museum and University College London.

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Canary Wharf skyline beyond from the viewing area on the top floor of the John Lewis store in the Westfield shopping centre. In the foreground is the Secret Cinema ‘Back to the Future’ film set.

The pool at the London Aquatics Centre is now open to the public.

These bridges are part of the Velo Park.

Skipper Ken Arundel shares a joke with the passengers. ● The Lee & Stort Boat Co Ltd, which has its headquarters at Roydon Marina Village, also operates trips between Ware and Hertford and from Bishop’s Stortford. Boats are available for private hire, kids’ parties, school and community tours. www.leeandstortboats.co.uk ● The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is served by nine tube and train links, numerous bus routes and is 30 minutes from the M25.

I travelled on the Southeastern high speed train service which takes you from St Pancras International to Stratford International in just seven minutes. http://queenelizabeth olympicpark.co.uk/

The ArcelorMittal Orbit stands 114.5m high and is open as a visitor attraction.

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54 BOAT REVIEW

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A new home in the capital

The ability to move seamlessly from one lifestyle to another appealed to the owners of Segue, reviewed for us by Phil Pickin.

LIVING afloat is the dream of many people although few of us manage to achieve it; but for one couple who recently returned to the UK after working abroad, this dream has become a reality.

Lauren and Simon, both specialist consultants in project management and control for major projects in Europe, Middle East and Africa, wanted to live close to London and felt their best option was to live afloat.

In their words: “After spending several years lugging our household to various work locations, we were looking for a small footprint that could be home for a number of years and perhaps a London base if we choose to live abroad again. The narrowboat represents a style of living that does not encourage you to accumulate and we were tired of shipping costs. Add to that the opportunity to cruise the canals and enjoy a more outdoor lifestyle than an apartment affords, despite being in the capital, and the boat becomes a ‘segue’ on many fronts”.

It transpires that it was Lauren who

insisted on a Colecraft boat because her first experience of a narrowboat was aboard a Colecraft sailaway that had been fitted out by another company and she was impressed by the comments on the quality of the hull build. She added: “This, coupled with a tour of the works, gave us the confidence that it would be a professional and top quality build.

Colecraft builds a significant number of boats and that has allowed it to develop a very experienced team – and it showed.”

Unsurprisingly, with Segue to become the couple’s home, their attention to detail was evident, but so too was their enthusiasm for the project, something Colecraft says it was only too pleased to see and to accommodate during the build of the 68ft boat.

Segue is a cruiser stern narrowboat built on a Brumagen square hull to provide extra head height within the cabin, and throughout the boat, ash has been used to line almost every wall. We say ‘almost’ because one wall in the washroom has been mirrored. As a contrast to the ash, sapele has been used,

not only on inserts such as those in the table top, but also in the parquet flooring beneath which is Airflex insulation.

As a result, the interior has interesting details, light from the pale ash and richness and contrast from the sapele.

These colours are complemented by the bright gold anodised finish on the Flushline windows and the equally complementary curtains used.

The colours used throughout make the boat feel warm, and to ensure it remains warm, a 5kW Eberspacher heating system has been fitted together with a solid fuel Squirrel stove. Although solid fuel can sometimes be seen as messy, I think it not only keeps a link with tradition but it also provides an opportunity to burn other fuels while providing a focal point within the cabin.

A Beta Marine 43bhp engine and Electrolux Travel Power provides power together with a Vetus Combi Gama inverter charger; and with this being a 68ft boat, it’s not surprising to find that it’s fitted with a Vetus 75KGF bow thruster and the lighting is LED throughout. In the washroom, a

Sapele has also been used in the parquet flooring.

The colours used throughout make the boat feel warm.

The collapsible ash table with matching diamond sapele insets and surround.

Galley worktops and splash backs are finished in slate.

The vanity unit is fitted with a Toba counter top basin on slate surface and splash back.

The interior has interesting details, light from the pale ash and richness and contrast from the sapele

The boat is built on a Brumagen square hull to provide extra head height within the cabin.

Saniflow toilet has been fitted and a mirrored bulkhead with hinged doors provides access to a cupboard with adjustable shelving. The vanity unit is fitted with a Toba counter top basin on slate surface and splash back.

As with many homes, Segue has an office which doubles as a spare room.

This provides opportunity for spare bed as well as desk, thus maximising the use of the space on offer.

Galley worktops and splash backs finished in slate are provided by Cwt y Bugail Slate Worktops company in Gwynedd, below which is fitted a Miele dishwasher and a wine cooler along with the more unusual items such as a Vitrifrigo Larder fridge, oven and storage space. In addition there is a Waeco 12v pull-out freezer. Seating in the main cabin is freestanding and meals can be eaten on the collapsible ash table with matching diamond sapele insets and surround.

The new owners said: “We cannot believe the attention to detail of the Colecraft team. During the build process they made some fantastic suggestions to improve our design and the fit-out set the highest standards. The staff addressed details we wouldn’t have thought of and their patience and quiet enthusiasm for some personalised features were always apparent. We were encouraged to be involved throughout the creation of Segue and warmly welcomed during visits or calls. We could not be happier with our lovely new home.”

Segue was launched at Napton Marine and will be moored on the outskirts of London.

SPEC SHEET Hull: Brumagen square Windows: Channel Glaze – Flushline bright gold anodized Engine: Beta Marine 43bhp with Electrolux Travel Power Bow Thruster: Vetus 75KGF Insulation: Airflex Cabin lined in ash and sapele.

Feature sapele diamond insets in doors with sapele surrounds.

Flooring: Sapele parquet.

Lighting: LED Heating: Eberspacher 5kW central heating. Solid fuel Squirrel Stove.

Power: Vetus Combi Gama inverter charger. 3 x 110 amp/hr leisure batteries + 1x 110 amp/hr starter battery.

Bedroom: Cross over double bed Washroom: Saniflow toilet, Toba counter top basin, slate surface and splash back.

Galley: Worktops and splash backs in slate. Miele dishwasher.

Final cost approx £2370 per foot including all features, delivery, boat licence and VAT. ●

Builder

Colecraft Ltd, Colecraft Building, Southam Road, Southam CV47 9QL Phone 01926 814081 Email: sales@colecraft.co.uk www.colecraft.co.uk

BOATYARD & MARINA NEWS 55

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insider

Planners give new White Mills Marina green light NORTHAMPTONSHIRE planners have given a county marina the official seal of approval.

Permission has been granted to John and Debbie Skinner of Pastures Farm, Grendon, to construct a marina attached to the River Nene, which will provide enough moorings for 141 offline berths for narrowboats and cruisers.

To be open all year round, the marina, which is to be known as White Mills Marina, is situated, along Station Road in Earls Barton, within easy access of the A45.

A modern, purpose-built building with luxury toilets and showers and communal lounge and cafe for exclusive use by boaters will be among the facilities. State of the art security systems will ensure berths are secure and wi-fi internet will be available throughout the marina.

The news has been welcomed by councillors from both Earls Barton Parish Council and the Borough Council of Wellingborough, who approved the plans.

Chairman of Earls Barton Parish Council, Martin Cahill, said: “In February 2014, Earls Barton Parish Council resolved by a majority vote to support the application to build a marina in Earls Barton. We believe that this

will bring increased levels of business and tourism to the area, which can only benefit our village. We wish Mr and Mrs Skinner well with their scheme.”

Chairman of Wellingborough council’s planning committee, Coun Malcolm Ward, said: “We welcome this facility. Back in March we unanimously offered no objection to the proposal, and indeed we informed the county council that we fully supported it and congratulated the applicant on such an exciting project. We hope that the venture will bring new business and people to the borough.”

Commenting on the development, farmer John Skinner said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been given the go ahead to develop White Mills Marina. The plans really do look terrific and once the marina is up and running it will only enhance the local surroundings. Exciting times are ahead and we are now looking forward to seeing the plans become a reality.”

Work is anticipated to start on the development in 2015; bookings are expected to be in high demand so initial enquiries can be made via the website www.whitemillsmarina.co.uk

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Food & drink What’s on Bits & Bobs

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Royal recognition for the Audlem Lass NOW in its fourth year of operation, the Audlem Lass team was proud to receive royal recognition for its creative fundraising activities which include developing the water taxi service that operates at weekends from Overwater Marina to the local canalside village of Audlem, Cheshire.

Rodney and Christine Cottrell, the driving force behind the Audlem Lass, were delighted to be

invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace hosted by the RNLI president, Prince Michael, Duke of Kent. The event was held to show recognition of the continued support and level of commitment shown by the RNLI fundraising teams all over the country.

At a further prestigious RNLI ceremony held at York Racecourse, Crewe & Nantwich Branch committee members Philip and

The Audlem Lass team with the certificate at Overwater Marina.

Rodney and Christine Cottrell at Buckingham Palace. PHOTOS SUPPLIED Penny Everall were very honoured to receive an award that highlights the appreciation for the branch’s unsurpassed fundraising efforts to help save lives at sea. These awards are only given in truly deserving cases and reflect the dedication of past and present members and volunteers who continue to pledge their support.

Following the third extremely successful Audlem RNLI Festival and attracting 1500 people and achieving £4000 for this event alone, the Audlem Lass team is extremely proud of this recognition and its certificate is now on display at Overwater Marina.

Caen Hill moorers in festive mode Marina managers Rob and Cara Hodgson-Reed with Paul Sheppard and warden John Tidy.

The site of the new White Mills Marina alongside the River Nene. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Moorers enjoying the entertainment at the Caen Hill Beer and Cider Festival. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

CAEN Hill Marina enjoyed fine weather for its beer and cider festival over the last weekend of August.

Moorers old and new got together to enjoy the beer and live entertainment from local young singers and musicians.

The beer and cider was sourced from all over the country and there was also a burger van and ice cream boat.

New venture and historic dry dock restoration a real labour of love A UNIQUE piece of Burnley’s waterway history will once again be used for painting and repairing canal boats.

The project to restore what was once an important working dock at the heart of the North West canal network to its former glory has been a real labour of love by two couples who’ve had a passion for canal boats and the canal for many years.

Semi-retired couples Les and Angela White and Brian Denison and Jane Garnett, who have a wonderful knowledge of Burnley’s working canal history, approached the council, which

owns the land, with their ideas to bring the derelict site back to life as a working dry dock for canal boat painting and repair.

Following several discussions and the development of a business plan for the new venture, the council agreed to lease the site and then the hard work began.

Also known as Birley’s Dock, the Bank Hall Dry Dock sits on the edge of the former Bank Hall Coal Pit and hadn’t been used in over 50 years. It will once again become a hub of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal system under

the business name for the new venture of Feather & Gaskell.

Les White, joint partner, Feather & Gaskell, said: “The dry dock at Bank Hall had been in a very sad state and had declined into serious disrepair over many years. The dock was actually being used as a dumping ground and was full of rubbish; you wouldn’t really have known it was there.

“After months of blood, sweat and tears, and personal financial investment, we have lovingly restored the dry dock brick by brick, cobble by cobble. We recycled cobbles and bricks from the local area, including some of the bricks from the former Barden Mill.

“We’ve had support and advice on restoring the dock from the engineers at the Canal & River Trust, who are delighted with our restoration works.

Wonderful sight

The Bank Hall Dry Dock in 1931. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

“It has been a real labour of love.

We’ve all had a passion for canal boats for many years and have our own boats. It was a wonderful sight to fill the dock for the first time and to steer in a barge to repair for the first time.”

Joint partner Brian Denison added: “With the expanding Reedley Marina close by and the rise in popularity of canal leisure boating, we saw a real opportunity. The nearest dry docks for the paint and repair of barges are a four-day sail away in either direction, Skipton and Wigan, so it would take almost two weeks to get a boat serviced.

The Feather & Gaskell team of Les and Angela White, Brian Denison and Jane Garnett inside the restored dock.

“Now we can serve the local marina and east Lancashire area in a much shorter time. We’ve already got a list of boats waiting to be serviced and painted.

“We are really proud of our achievement and feel we have created a legacy for future boat users and for Burnley.

“More work to complete the cover for all weather works and to clean up the yard area is in the pipeline as the business grows. We are now open for

business and will be looking to officially launch the site in the autumn.”

Carl West, technical manager from the Canal & River Trust, said: “The trust is delighted to see the restoration of the dry dock completed to such a high standard of workmanship. The waterways contain many gems and it is extremely satisfying to work with private investors in realising their potential. We look forward to working with Feather & Gaskell in developing the wider site to support the dry dock operations.”

56 TOWPATH TRADER

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58 SHOW REPORT

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Show sets the stage for future development ORGANISERS of the Redhill Boat Show are hoping to build on the success of this year’s event held over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Although the number of visitors was lower than hoped for, they represented quality rather than quantity with exhibitors commenting that a higher number of people were seriously interested in boats and boating products.

Many of the traders who attended have said they will be back again next year so it is hoped the show, which was supported by Towpath Talk, will develop into a serious contender in every boater’s calendar.

Held at Redhill Marina at Ratcliffe-onSoar near Nottingham, the venue is situated at the heart of the East Midland’s waterways network on the River Soar, just around the corner from Trent Lock via the river, close to the M1 at junction 24, as well as East Midlands Parkway Railway Station just up the road.

The marina holds a local open weekend annually, but this year it developed into the Redhill Boat Show with an increased number of boat traders exhibiting. It was aimed at promoting the inland waterways, boating and boating products at a reasonable price for traders and the public alike to enjoy.

During the weekend there were narrowboats, wide-beam barges and cruisers to view, boat products and

Tankbusters attracts interest from passing boaters.

jumble, food stands, a Real Ale beer tent, free stage entertainment and art and craft stalls and a classic corner to view all manners of transport on and off the water.

Anyone who bought tickets for the weekend also had their camping fees included and a chance to win a prize draw which took place on the Monday afternoon. The top prize from the draw, of a week’s cruising holiday courtesy of Avante Boating Holidays, was won with ticket no 2997 by S. Dutton, thanks to everyone who took part.

At the exit gate an unofficial poll was taken of those leaving who were asked if they got what they came for, where the majority said they had. It was gratifying to see that the show achieved its main objective of exhibiting to the public boat-related products and knowledge, while at the same time, allowing many of the boat traders to gain valuable contacts.

Over the weekend the show also supported two main charities, which were The Air Ambulance Service and RNLI. Special collections, raffles and face tattoos based on the characters from children’s story books, Tales from Tuggyland (www.tuggyland.co.uk), helped to raise more than £350 for both these worthwhile causes. Plus in the evening the beer tent and some of the food outlets remained open to allow those camping to relax and enjoy some free entertainment on the stage.

Boats on show at Redhill included narrowboats and wide-beams.

Towpath Talk’s Jason Carpenter chats to Colin Paillin East Midlands Boat Handling Centre on board Anya. PHOTOS:

One of the exhibitors, Dave Woodvine, owner of Soar Valley Steel Boats Ltd.

JANET RICHARDSON/JASON CARPENTER UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED

A wide-beam exhibited by the New & Used Boat Co.

The distinctive tiller on narrowboat Ichthus built by Tristar Boats.

Galatea’s owners Andrew and Shirley Daubney with their terrier can usually be seen cruising the River Witham and the East Midlands waterways.

Traders’ comments:

“A show that attracted serious boat owners and prospective owners alike with generous pitch space and on-site facilities as well as a good marketing programme from the organisers. Well worth our attendance which has led to a number of positive leads. No doubt this boat show will grow and we look forward to seeing it becoming a main event on the boating calendar. See you there in 2015,” Mark and Julie Bestford, Boatwork Ltd. “The organisers could not have been more helpful. They made the weekend a great experience. Such a great venue with perfect access to the motorway.

We had a very successful show with lots of interest from the people who attended. We will definitely attend next year,” Tracy and Phill Dennison, Renewable Motion.

“As a new business venture we were more than pleasantly surprised regarding the interest in our stand… the number of leads/enquiries was fantastic. What a wow of an opening day for us, we could not have wished for more,” Dave and Wendy Gibson, Sean and June Green, Gibson & Green.

“Being at the show was most enjoyable and one of our best,” Jeane Bellamy-Harris, Forever Living Products.

Early visitors at the Gibson & Green stand.

One of the shows organisers, Jeanette Robinson of Standard Narrowboats (Nottingham Boat Co), prepares to draw the raffle. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Our thanks to the two Johns, volunteers from the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, who collected £80 over the weekend and looked after our supply of Towpath Talks.

Redhill Marina on the River Soar. ● For more information on the show or how to exhibit in 2015, please contact info@redhill-marina.co.uk

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HO LIDAYS BOATING

Backtothetop of holidayagendas

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

A day trip on the Llangollen Canal

Don’t look down! There’s a 126ft drop to the River Dee. PHOTOS: ROGER WHISTON

Roger Whiston takes a trip over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct THE first part of our trip from Trevor Basin was along a very narrow cutting as the canal is cut into a cliff side, its main purpose being as a water supply from the River Dee to supply Liverpool and the Merseyside towns.

As time went by, limestone was mined in the hills so the canal came into its own taking the limestone on to the steel works.

Parts of the canal are very narrow where it has been cut out of a rock side and there are steps to enable animals to climb out of the water if they become stranded.

Halfway through the trip the canal enters more flat land with just grass banks with some cottages for the canal linesmen and a lift bridge made of steel not of wood as it would have been.

In one place there is a s-bend which was put in to straighten the road and just before you go over the aqueduct there is a boatyard which was recently brought back into use.

It is a sharp turn to go on to the aqueduct, a major feat of

One of the narrow cuttings along the canal.

The lift bridge.

engineering by its designer Thomas Telford and William Jessop and now a Grade I listed building and Unesco World Heritage Site.

Opened in 1805, it is virtually a cast iron trough 11ft wide, 1007ft long and 5.25ft deep with a towpath on one side.

It is supported on 19 stone piers 126ft above the River Dee. Our trip finished at the Aqueduct Inn from where we took the bus back to Llangollen after an enjoyable couple of hours.

One of the boats recently painted in Norbury’s dock. PHOTO SUPPLIED CANAL holidays and boat trips are back on top of many people’s lists of favourite holidays, according to one of the leading small hire companies.

Norbury Wharf, based on the Shropshire Union canal, says its figures for holiday boats hired for a week or two, or a short break, are well up on 2013; and so is the number of times its small fleet of day boats is being hired out.

Manager David Ray said: “We have been going through the numbers and it is clear they are well up on last year.

“There is no doubt that holidaymakers still want value and quality but they have been willing to book well ahead to get the summer weeks they want.

“The trade in last minute bookings has also increased, especially for short breaks. We are delighted as our conviction in the inherent strength of the waterways as a holiday destination and our investment in expanding our fleet during the difficult years has paid off.”

Norbury has also seen growing interest in the canals from local people and groups hiring day boats to explore the rural Shropshire Union Canal along the 17-mile pound with half a dozen pubs available to day-boaters.

“Day boats, along with our trip boat are an ideal introduction to boating on the canals and we know people go on to hire a bigger boat for a holiday or even buy their own,” David added.

At the same time boat owners are spending more on their vessels. Norbury has gained a reputation for the work that comes out of its paint dock and – if you are thinking about a new paint job for your boat – it pays to plan well ahead.

“We are now taking bookings for 2016,” said David and the prime slots are filling steadily.

“Word seems to have got around and we get a regular flow of enquiries, almost every week.

Having a proper paint dock, with all the facilities, means we can produce first class work, and boaters seem to appreciate a proper job done by skilled and experienced people.”

60 REVIEWS & SERVICES

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Fix that thing with Sugru

Reviewer: Janet Richardson

A NEW product for fixing almost anything is great for outdoor use and as it’s completely waterproof, it’s ideal for being on the water too.

Sugru started as a cult brand online but is now used by people in more than 150 countries and is stocked at B&Q and Blacks to name just a few retailers (from £6.99).

Inventor and chief executive officer Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh is on a mission to bring back a culture of fixing and improving things and self-setting Sugru could be a solution.

Available in red, yellow, blue, black and white, it resembles Playdough both in looks and texture. The colours can be blended to match the item you are fixing.

Simply roll Sugru round in your hand to soften it, then shape it and apply to whatever you are fixing. Overnight it will transform into a tough and flexible rubber.

It will stay fresh in its pack for 13 months, but this can be tripled if placed in the fridge. I used Sugru to make a comfy heelpad in a pair of loafers, patched a leak in my husband’s trainers and gave it the test of

BOOKS,DVDS AND DOWNLOADS

Commercial workboats are used for civil engineering work. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

My egg poaching pan with its new knob. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON water and heat by repairing the knob on my egg poaching pan; after a few weeks it is happily sticking to the task.

Other applications include adding protective bumpers to

your mobile phone, custom grips to ski poles, reattaching car aerials, customising goggles to fit and making devices kid-proof. http://sugru.com

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

Wit and whimsy from the waterways Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

THERE’S a three-in-one treat for waterways lovers from journalist-turned-liveaboard Ian Birks.

Following on from the success of his e-books published on Amazon for Kindle, this print version packages three books into one as The Nobby Chronicles (his narrowboat is called Nobby).

The books, Shuffling Along A Ditch, Whatever Floats Our Boat and Oi Nobby, featuring the Alternative Boaters’ A to Z have been written as Ian and ‘the long suffering Mrs

B’ have travelled the canals of England and Wales on their narrowboat home.

The book does not set out to tell the story of the building of the boat or its geographical journeying, but offers light-hearted musings on a way of life and a flavour of the waterways and life afloat.

Witty and philosophical, it’s an excellent book for dipping in and out of or reading through from beginning to end.

The Nobby Chronicles by Ian Birks is in softback and is available from Amazon priced £9.02. ISBN: 9781499292800

Solitude and self-discovery

Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

AN INTRIGUING first novel by Val Manning is proving very popular with boaters, not only for its evocative descriptions of life on the water but also for its human stories of self-discovery.

Three very different women embark on their journeys on the waterways, each coping with loneliness and loss and facing an uncertain future.

Zena is married to the wealthy but domineering Rob and looking for escape; Jessica is running away from a disastrous start to her teaching career; and Gloria, a young girl

working in a munitions factory in the 1940s, writes a series of love letters that portray the guilty pleasures of a secret relationship and the pain of separation during the Second World War. The well-written and great storytelling against the beautiful backdrop of the English rivers and canals makes this an excellent read for canal enthusiasts or those who just enjoy a good book.

The Other Side of Solitude by Val Manning is available from Amazon on Kindle or in softback priced £5.30.

ISBN: 9781497344907

Short stories from the cut

Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

FAST becoming a favourite storyteller among canal lovers is author Rupert Ashby, who brings us his latest book – four short stories which include the great themes of romance, murder and mystery.

The Lure of the Cut, which follows on from his first book, Izzie, a Child of the Cut, presents a quartet of absorbing and heart-warming tales against the authentic backdrop of canal life.

They are described as stories of love, intrigue, perseverance and serendipity,

and mirror the author’s love of life on the waterways.

Rupert Ashby is the nom de plume of Derek Harris who has been performing canal-themed one-man shows in and around his home city of Peterborough for more than a decade.

The author is, as before, donating 50% of the profits from the sales of this book to Foxton Inclined Plane Trust.

The Lure of the Cut by Rupert Ashby is published in softback by Paper Cut Books (part of Half Cut Theatre).

Details: www.halfcuttheatre.com ISBN: 978-0-9575135-1-8

A tale of derring-do Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

ONE of many diverse books with a waterways theme, To Die in a Distant Land is a historical novel with several characters inspired by people of the 19th century.

A first novel from Robert Davies, it covers a wide spectrum historically and geographically and is basically a very human story of hardship, derring-do and also romance.

The hero is raised as a boatman on the

canals of the industrial Black Country during the middle of the 19th century – an occupation that was not for the fainthearted.

To get himself started in business he goes into the brutal world of bare-knuckle boxing and there follows tragedy, action and adventure before our hero finds love and peace.

To Die in a Distant Land by Robert Howard is priced at £7.99 and published on publishing site Lulu.

ISBN: 978-1-291-96202-4

Busy year for Mids Marine BIRMINGHAM & Midland Marine Services based in Cannock, Staffordshire, is owned and operated by Richard Gray, a boatman whose family dates back seven generations to River Tyne watermen and Aberdeenshire fishermen prior to that.

B&MMS as the company is abbreviated to, or Mids Marine, is a small but multi-faceted firm that has three main business interests.

First and foremost, commercial workboats are utilised for civil engineering work such as bridge repairs and surveys, often with scaffold towers aboard. The company has access to a wide range of craft due to its connection with London-based specialist in water transport, Wood, Hall & Heward Limited, with B&MMS as agent for the midlands region.

The company also supplies safety and rescue services to the commercial sector in the construction and events sector.

These services range from life jacket hire and training to rescue boat charter Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Technicians for boat, bank and first aid cover.

As a qualified search technician with the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue or ALSAR, and Defra qualified as a Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Technician and rescue boat operator, MCA Boatmaster and RYA Safety Boat coxswain, the company has a professional outlook when it comes to making sure that waterside activities are undertaken and corners are not cut.

“Correct training and continued practise in the skills that will be utilised on the water, on site or during an event, are essential to ensure that the job is done in a safe and controlled manner,” Richard explained. “Being able to foresee problems before they occur only comes with training and practise.

Being able to deal with an emergency means practising to deal with one on a regular basis and that’s where we come into our own.”

As a rescue boat operator and Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Technician, Richard trains regularly on and in the water with the search and rescue team. Additionally, specialist water training is available to clients via the training centre that forms yet another aspect of Birmingham & Midland Marine Services.

Water safety

For the last six months, B&MMS has worked in conjunction with a specialist water rescue training company offering training from basic life jacket users’ and water awareness courses for contractors and events staff right through to

Swiftwater rescue training.

Specialist water training is available to the crews of rescue boats.

Defra Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Boat operators’ courses for ‘blue light’ agencies such as the police and fire service and Civil Contingencies Units (CCUs).

This is in addition to the wide range of training courses offered at its centre based near Cannock, Staffordshire.

Richard said: “In addition to water safety training, we run courses for people wanting to enter the industry on our canals and rivers, and also for those with experience to improve their skills and levels of qualifications.”

These courses include Maritime & Coastguard Agency boatmaster training; B&MMS is an approved training provider. Also available are a range of Royal Yachting Association (RYA) courses; training centre status was granted earlier in 2014.

It has been a busy year, with Mids Marine also becoming an approved training provider and external CAATS assessors for the Canal & River Trust and approved training providers for LANTRA. “We are currently working on a workboat operator’s course that goes into depth about the practical and theoretical aspects of working afloat, based on best practice and current legislation, safety management being of utmost importance.”

B&MMS has had input from both the CRT, the Commercial Boat Operators Association and large commercial operators to make the course content relevant for today’s commercial inland marine environment and hope to be able to roll out this new, LANTRAaccredited course early in 2015. ● Birmingham

& Midland Marine Services can be contacted for information and advice via the website www.midlandmarine.co.uk or Richard Gray, operations manager and training centre principal, can be found at midsmarine@gmail.com or on 07527 727169.

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D O O F Canalside pubs & restaurants

& DRINK

to satisfy all tastes...

Cheers to Saltaire Brewery’s new Brewery Tap AWARD winning canalside craft brewery Saltaire is to expand its brewing interests with the creation of a new bar.

The Brewery Tap is a unique venue with room for 60 to 70 people and is based at the brewery on Shipley’s Dockfield Road which fronts onto the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

“We already sell our own beers and UK craft ales but this will be a new bar where people can get a drink in the early evenings and at weekends,” said the company’s managing director, Tony Gartland.

“The Brewery Tap will serve a wide variety of beers – not just our

own Saltaire ales, but we will be using our industry connections to bring in a range of keg and cask beers from across the country, so perfect for those who are passionate about great ale.”

Saltaire hopes that the Brewery Tap will become a welcome addition to the current real ale trail in the area as well as a boost for canal users who can moor up outside the brewery and call in for a pint or buy ale supplies to take back to their canal boat. It’s also the perfect stop off for cyclists using the Bingley to Leeds cycle path who are in need of refreshment on their journey.

Saltaire beers will be available in a variety of bottle, fresh beer in a box, mini keg and gift pack formats. The aim of the venture is to build on the success of the current brewery shop – in particular customer demand for fresh beer in a box and mini kegs.

The new bar and extended shop offering are all part of the brewery’s plans for development, not only in growing the reputation of Saltaire Brewery as a centre of brewing excellence, but also for the Brewery Tap and shop to be a destination for visitors to West Yorkshire.

Customers rally round threatened coffee boat MESSAGES of support have been arriving in Towpath Talk’s inbox from customers of a coffee boat which is threatened with closure.

The cafe is operated on the Stainforth & Keadby Canal at Kirk Bramwith near Doncaster

by Michael and Donna Milsom, who were told by local planners and the Canal & River Trust they must move after replacing their narrowboat and butty with a wide-beam barge.

There have been calls for a public meeting and in a letter to CRT chief executive Richard Parry, customer Darrell Priestley stated: “The business currently in question gives pleasure, both to me and to

many other people, and its loss would be a great wrong.”

Donna told Towpath Talk that although out of some 30 neighbouring boaters there are four opposed to her venture, more than 70 canal users have written letters of support to the local council and the Canal & River Trust. She has appealed against an enforcement notice served by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council.

In an email, CRT property director Stuart Mills offered the lease of an alternative site at Barnby Dun where there are parking facilities and gave the Milsons a deadline of September 8 for agreeing to the move otherwise they

would be subject to enforcement procedure.

A CRT statement dated September 1 concluded: “We’ve made a final offer to help relocate the business and we genuinely hope that the operators accept our support, and work with us to achieve this so that their business can continue to operate from a more suitable location.”

But Donna maintained at the time of going to press that there had been no formal offer or site yet identified to her and she is unwilling to enter any agreement which would first be subject to her ceasing trading and taking out a licence for private use.

The Brewery Tap and shop at Saltaire on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

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WHAT’S ON IN BRIEF

Entertaining evening

THERE’S a chance to enjoy an evening of entertainment with artist, composer and pianist Paul James, whose CD was reviewed in Towpath Talk last month, in Milton Keynes on Friday, October 10. It will incorporate captivating piano playing with an eclectic mix of styles from classical to rock together with informative and sometimes amusing anecdotes.

Venue is the Stables Theatre, Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes MK17 8LU, doors open at 8.30pm for 8.45pm start.

Advance tickets £10, £12 on the door. Box Office 01908 280800, boxoffice@stables.org

Boatyard history THE Manchester, Bolton and

Bury Canal Society will host its AGM and monthly open meeting on Tuesday, October 7.

Following the business there will be a talk on ‘200 years of boat building’ by Geoff Taylor, whose family own Taylor’s boatyard in Chester, followed by an update on current society activities. Meetings are held at the Garrick Theatre, Bank Street, Whitefield, Manchester (off Church Lane behind the Porada restaurant). They start at 7.30pm and all members of the public are welcome. http://www.mbbcs.org.uk

Spooky trips

PREPARE to be scared on Thursday, October 30, when children’s Halloween boat trips travel into the underground caverns in Dudley to meet the Groovy UV Entertainment Company and their puppetry characters. Great for the whole family, these set off at half an hour intervals from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, cost £7.80 per person. Tickets are available online at www.dudleycanaltrust.org.uk or from the ticket hotline on 0121 557 6265.

Have a go at steering a 70ft narrowboat

EVER wanted to have a go at steering a narrowboat or getting to know how to work locks but lacked the confidence or the means to do so?

Well now there is an opportunity to do both under the watchful eye of a qualified community boat skipper, with trained crew on hand to help where necessary.

The Friends of the Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust is organising a Have-a-Go day cruise aboard its 70ft residential boat A J Felgate on Saturday, October 25.

Starting from the trust’s boat base at Calf Heath, near Cannock in Staffordshire, the boat will cruise to Penkridge and back, a distance of over 10 miles with 14 locks – plenty of chances to steer and work locks.

The cost is a very reasonable £15 per person (£12 for members of ‘Friends’) and the cruise will start at about 9am and finish about 5pm. The boat base is easily reached, being close to the M6 Junction 12 with the A5.

Anyone interested should contact organiser Keith Eley on 0121 777 7737 or email: keith@truman-enterprise.org.uk for details and booking. Places are limited to 10, canalbeginners welcome, so early booking is advisable.

COWBOYS and Indians will take to the water on Sunday, October 5, for the annual Banbury Canal Day. Taking place from 10.30am to 5.30pm, this popular event has grown to attract boaters, crafters, traders and visitors from all over the country.

The canal is the focus of attention with lots of boats to see and water taxis to move

● The Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust (TENT) aims to provide affordable residential cruises and day trips for community, family and youth groups, including scouts, guides, churches, care homes and canal-based groups. The first boat started in 1969 and the operation has continued for over 45 years.

TENT now operates two fulllength narrowboats from its base on the Hatherton Branch

visitors around the site.

A day of entertainment, food and drink will be hosted by the Mill Arts Centre while General Foods Garden will stage a free folk concert next to the towpath.

Boat rides will be available from Sovereign Wharf with barrel organs providing entertainment for visitors waiting to board.

Tooley’s historic boatyard will display engines and boats with a chance to watch a blacksmith at work.

Hook Norton Brewery will keep the ale rolling and there will be plenty of food outlets and lots to see and do during the day.

For more information see the advertisement on the next page.

of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal near Cannock. For larger day trip parties of up to 24 people, both boats can be booked together, subject to availability.

Both boats come with a skipper and crew member trained and qualified to the exacting standards of the National Community Boats Association.

The trust is run entirely by volunteers – operating staff,

administration, publicity and trustees. Boat crews are trained to NCBA standards and qualifications and the trust is an accredited NCBA Training Centre.

The Friends of TENT, a part of the trust, works to support its aims through its membership, publicity and fundraising events and also runs cruises.

Members receive quarterly newsletters, as well as frequent updates of events.

Discovery Day down on the Grantham

Tales from the towpath at festival FOUR award-winning writers are getting together to present tales from the towpath at this year’s Manchester Literature Festival.

by boat into the Dudley tunnels and caverns on Friday, October 31. This paranormal experience will see mediums from Mystique Promotions trying to contact the spirit world deep below Dudley. Boats depart from 6.30-9pm, cost £10.80 per head.

For bookings visit www.dudleycanaltrust.org.uk or ring 0121 557 6265.

AN EXHIBITION of 35 waterways images by the Bromoil Circle of Great Britain is on show at the Gloucester Waterways Museum.

The display is on the third floor of the museum, situated at Gloucester Docks and runs until October 31, open from 10.30am to 5pm each day.

Bromoil printing is a photographic process dating back to the 1900s and involves bleaching photographs and replacing the silver on a bromide print with an ink image. The circle is a small group of 20 members, many based in Gloucestershire, who keep the art of bromoil painting alive for future generations. Entry is included as part of the museum’s normal admission price.

The Truman trust’s 70ft narrowboat A J Felgate. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Western theme at Banbury Canal Day

Ghost hunt DARE you join the ghost hunt

Bromoil exhibition

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

Compiled by Janet Richardson

Michelle Green and Maya Chowdhry will be presenting a story workshop during the festival.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

The story-trail exploring Manchester’s waterways is set to include a treasure hunt adventure using locational apps, an origami narrowboat, a micro-projection and live performances.

It is available free of charge for 14 days from October 6-19 from 10am for self-guided tours by the public.

Events during the festival include a ‘Writing immersive stories’ workshop on October 11 with Maya Chowdhry and Michelle Green at the YHA Manchester Conference Centre, Potato Wharf, Manchester M3 4NB from 11am-5pm, price £10/£8 concs.

Performers including Maya Chowdhry, Michelle Green, Sarah Hymas and Helen Varley Jamieson will give performances at the Bridgewater Heritage Boat Company narrowboat, Castlefield Basin, Liverpool Road, Manchester M3 4JR on October 17 from 5.30-6.10pm, 7.30-8.10pm and 9.3010.10pm, price £6/£4.

A story workshop will be led by Sarah Hymas and Helen Varley Jamieson on October 18 at the People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester M3 3ER from 11am5pm, price: £10/£8.

● For tickets contact 0843 208 0500 or online at www.manchesterliterature festival.co.uk and click on the date of the event.

Go behind the scenes on boat lift tour EVER wanted to get up close and personal to the Anderton Boat Lift between the River Weaver and Trent & Mersey Canal near Northwich?

Well now is your chance to view the lift from a unique perspective on a unique walking tour that goes behind the scenes.

You must be able to walk at height, unaided and a minimum age policy applies. Places are limited and booking in advance is highly recommended.

Tickets are £10 per person and tours depart at 11am, 12.15pm and 1.45pm on Tuesday October 7 and at

11am, 12.15pm, 1.45pm and 3pm on Saturday, October 25.

Top of the World Tours can also be combined with other lift & river trips.

Contact the bookings team on 01606 786777 for further information or to book a tour.

The ducks make their way down the course. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON ORGANISERS of the Grantham Canal Society’s annual Discovery Day on Sunday, October 12, are again hoping lots of visitors will enjoy this year’s event to which admission is free.

The wacky Dirty Duck Race, sponsored this year by Towpath Talk, will be part of the fun, when course designer ‘Ay Up Me Duck’ (aka Anthony Jackson) will endeavour to impede the ducks in their dash for the finishing line.

There will be children’s activities throughout the day as well as storytelling, heritage and ecology stands. Roses & Castles painting will be demonstrated and there will also be craft stalls, refreshments and lots more.

Narrowboat trips along the Grantham Canal are sure to be very popular, so arrive early to book your place. ● The Discovery Day takes place at the Carpenter’s Shop Canal Depot, beyond The Dirty Duck pub at Woolsthorpe

by Belvoir NG32 1NY from 10am-5pm. More information at www.granthamcanal.org or contact Anthony Jackson 01476 567477, email: anthonykjackson@btopenworld.com

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WHAT’S ON IN OCTOBER

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.

October 2

Birmingham Canal Navigations Society: Beers and brewers of the Black Country by Keith Hodgkins. Titford Pumphouse, Engine Street, Oldbury B69 4NL, 7.30pm. Contact Phil Clayton 01902 780920.

October 3

Southampton Canal Society: Geoff Watts presents Memories of the Great War. Chilworth Parish Hall, Chilworth, Southampton SO16 7JZ, 7.45pm. Visitors welcome.

October 4-5

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

Leigh Arms: Annual steam party with steam engines, vintage vehicles and boats on the River Weaver. Little Leigh near Acton Bridge.

October 5

Solent Boat Jumble: Royal Victoria County Park, Netley, Southampton SO31 5GA (Jct 8, M27). Open to buyers 10am. Adults £4, children/parking free. Chaddock & Fox Promotions boatjumbles@yahoo.com 02392 381405/07887 771451, www.boatjumbles.co.uk IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Regent’s Canal: King’s Cross – Granary Building – Hitchcock’s Hackney. Starts King’s Cross taxi rank at 2.30pm. Costs £9, £7 student/concs. Contact Roger Wilkinson 0208 458 9476.

October 7

Worcester, Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society: The work of the Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust by Dick Skeet. The Meeting Room, Alvechurch Boat Centre, Scarfield Wharf B48 7SQ, adjacent to The Weighbridge pub.

Information: www.wbdcs.org.uk

October 8

IWA Warwickshire: The future of angling on canals by John Cheyne of the Angling Trust.

The Sports Connexion Leisure Centre, Rytonon-Dunsmore CV8 3FL. 7.30pm.

October 9

River Foss Society: Foss Walk 8, Mill Green Circular. Contact Bob Jowett 01904 764702, bobjowett1@btopenworld.com IWA Avon & Wiltshire: The Severn Bridge Disaster; illustrated talk by Paul Barnet.

The Crown, Saltford BS31 3HJ, 7.30pm IWA Leicester: Historic Narrowboats by Alison Smedley of the Historic Boat Club. The Gate Hangs Well, Syston, Leicester, 7.30pm.

Non-members welcome. Contact Andrew Shephard 07710 362952, andrewshephard@ madasafish.com Macclesfield Canal Society: Runcorn Locks preservation and the new Mersey crossing by Graeme Bridges. Macclesfield Liberal Club, Boden Street, Macclesfield SK11 6LL, 7.30 for 7.45pm. www.macclesfieldcanal.org.uk

October 11-12

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

October 12

Kent Boat Jumble: The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Kent TN12 6PY (Jct 4, M20 and Jct 5 M25). Open to buyers 10am. Adults £4, children/parking free. Chaddock & Fox Promotions boatjumbles@yahoo.com 02392 381405/07887 771451, www.boatjumbles.co.uk

October 13

Ashby Canal Association: Canals in wartime; illustrated talk by Dr Wendy Freer on the way the canals functioned and how they aided the war effort. At MIRA on the A5, north-west of Hinckley CV10 0TU, 7.30pm. www.ashbycanal.org.uk

October 14

IWA Chester and Merseyside: An evening with Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust. Tom Rolt Conference Centre, National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port CH65 4FW. 7.45pm. Bar and coffee-making facilities available.

IWA Middlesex: Haunted canals by Alan Scott-Davies (based on his book Shadow on the Waters). Hillingdon Canal Club, Waterloo Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 2QX. Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm start.

Contact Lucy at middlesex.socials@waterways.org.uk

October 17

IWA Notts & Derby: IWA national chairman Les Etheridge on Taking IWA Forward.

Rushcliffe Arena, Rugby Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7HY, 7.45pm, non-members welcome. nottsandderbys@ waterways.org.uk Trent & Mersey Canal Society: The history and restoration of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, illustrated talk by Paul Hindle.

The Big Lock, Webbs Lane, Middlewich, Cheshire CW10 9DN, 7.45 for 8pm.

IWA East Yorkshire: Becks, Banks, Drains & Brains; by Colin Walker. Methodist Church Hall, Cottingham, East Yorkshire HU16 4BD, 8-10pm. £2 inc. refreshments. Contact roger.bromley@waterways.org.uk 01482 845099.

October 19

IWA Warwickshire walks: Braunston.

Meet 10.30am at Admiral Nelson pub car park, Dark Lane, Braunston. Contact 01788 891545.

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Regent’s Canal: Little Venice – Camden. Starts Warwick Avenue tube station at 2.30pm.

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

October 20

IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcester: Shrewsbury & Newport Canal Restoration by Brian Nelson, vice-chairman of SNCT. 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 Friends of Cromford Canal: William Jessop: The Man; by Martin Taylor-Cockayne. Ironville Church Hall, 7.30pm. Bar and raffle.

Admission £2, non-members welcome.

October 22

IWA Chiltern: An evening with Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust.

Little Chalfont Village Hall, Cokes Lane, Little Chalfont, Bucks HP8 4UD. 8pm. All welcome to attend. Contact 01932 248178.

October 23

IWA Chester & Merseyside waterway walks: Higher Walton. From the Walton Arms Hotel WA4 6TJ, on A56 2.5 miles south-west of Warrington town centre. This walk of about 3.7 miles follows the towpath of the Bridgewater Canal before turning on to higher ground to follow the Delamere Way. OS Explorer 276. Map reference 597851. Starts 10.15am, open to non-members. Lunch can be booked on morning.

October 25-26

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

October 27

IWA Milton Keynes: The Lost Canal; by Derrick Hunt. Milton Keynes Village Pavilion, Worrelle Avenue, Middleton, Milton Keynes MK10 9AD (accessed off Tongwell Street V11), 7.45pm.

October 28

Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society: AGM. The Wilmot Arms, 49 Derby Road, Borrowash, Derby, 8pm. Admission £2 members, £3 nonmembers.

October 31

Old Union Canals Society: ‘Canals in the 1920s and 1930s’ by canal historian Tony Conder. Great Bowden Village Hall, Great Bowden, Market Harborough, 7.30pm.

Visitors welcome. Contact Mary Matts 01162 792285

October 31-November 1

Birmingham Canal Navigations Society: Bonfire rally at Galton Valley (AGM on Friday evening). Contact barryjohnson7@tiscali.co.uk

The Shakespeare Express on its final working for the season, seen crossing the Stratford Canal at Lapworth on Sunday, September 7. PHOTO: RALPH WARD

Canal and railway research THE Railway & Canal Historical Society is holding a Research Workshop at the Copthorne Hotel in central Birmingham on Saturday, October 25, from 10am to 4.30pm.

This will provide an introduction for those who like to know how to get into research, with three experienced research members giving some grounding into source materials

such as archives as well as practical advice on turning research into writing.

They will also teach in small groups on bibliographies, archives and the society’s database on subjects of the participants’ choice or suggested by themselves. It is also expected that access will be gained to the archives in the Library of Birmingham which is close to the hotel.

Participants will be required to bring their own computers, preferably charged, although there are sockets for power leads.

The charge for the day is £28 which includes lunch and refreshments.

For more information and a booking form contact Christopher Dick on cpdick@o2.co.uk or 01865 726017.

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BITS & BOBS GREETINGS! In the middle of the Nantwich Farmers’ Market my trolley of 10 years died. She busted a gusset and exhaled all of the wonderful produce that we had collected from market stalls and adjoining shops.

We decided while we redistributed our morning shopping into spare backpacks that, in honour of Halloween, the Lipman trolley ‘had finally given up the ghost’. I had over-packed her one time too many, but who can resist with all of the wonderful autumn harvest that the Midlands lays out right in front of us? We dedicate this column to the equipment that endures the rigours of haulage without a squeaky wheel of complaint.

The following recipes celebrate the autumn bounty of vegetables that go from trolley to tummy in such a fulfilling way. Leftover ratatouille often winds up in Phill’s minestrone.

by Rexx & Phill

October top tip More than once we’ve had to stretch out a meal aboard the Jenny Wren. We have a lot of thickeners to bulk out our soup. Our favourite soup thickeners are leftover mashed potato or instant potato flakes, saltine crackers, bread ends, breadcrumbs, corn starch, flour, or mashed, cooked beans. Vanilla wafers work well for a sweet soup that

contains sweet potatoes and apple pie spice flavouring.

We also add the broken bits of the pasta that we save from the bottom of the bags.

Oatmeal, corn meal, pasta sauce, creamed corn, and creamed soups that we buy on offer, are great. We often add leftover gravy or cheese rinds as well. Somehow, when we are wet and hungry, it all proves tasty.

Rexx’s ratatouille

Prep time 10 minutes, cook time 20 minutes, serves 6-8 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

2 tbsp olive oil + 4 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp butter 1 large onion, sliced 1 medium aubergine, peel/cube 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning 1 each red/yellow bell peppers seeded and sliced into strips 2 small courgettes, sliced into coins 1 tsp spicy mustard 2 tbsp tomato paste 1 large tin chopped tomatoes 1 tbsp granulated sugar 1½ tsp salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp shredded, fresh basil (optional)

Saute the onion and aubergine in the oil and butter until soft (7-8 min). Sprinkle with minced garlic and Italian seasoning. Drop in bell peppers and courgettes and saute until soft (8 min). Stir in the mustard and tomato paste.

Add chopped tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper; simmer (5 min). Sprinkle with fresh basil to serve.

We eat this dish as a main meal accompanied by a loaf of crusty, cottage bread, but it is also a good topping over pasta, or a large, baked potato which has been split and

SWEDES take up little space and are very hardy, tolerating the worst that winter can throw at them and remaining in season from now right up until March.

They really are unsurpassed at this time of year as a reliable staple for the darker nights. In the kitchen, swedes are delicious, as part of an easy to make mash, combined with home-grown potatoes and carrots.

When picking apples, try to grade them according to the condition they are in. Any windfalls or slightly blemished ones can be eaten straight away before they start to rot. Goodlooking specimens can be stored for use during winter.

Now is the ideal time to cut down autumn-fruiting raspberries down to the ground after cropping has finished in preparation for next year.

Stake your Brussels sprout and broccoli plants and firm them in with your foot, to try to minimise wind damage from autumn gales.

By Elizabeth Rogers

pressed open to receive the ratatouille. Scoop out a couple of tablespoons of potato and mix it into the ratatouille to thicken before plating.

For summer hikes, we scoop out the centres of mini baguettes, fill them with the ratatouille, press the sides together and cook them under a panini press or a foilwrapped brick. Slice the baguettes in halves and wrap in cling film. The juices soak into the bread and by the time the rambler stops for lunch the flavour is great.

Prep time 15 minutes, cook time 45 minutes, serves 6-8

We are turning on the heater at night and changing to ‘soup and stew’ mode as testified by the abundance of fresh vegetables doing a back stroke in our stew kettle.

Autumn is such a beautiful season we want to stretch out our passage through it. However, frosty nights and crispy mornings remind us that winter is just around the bend so we’ve prudently turned towards home.

The River Trent, the front and back door to our permanent moorings, can quickly become a ‘fairweather friend’ this time of year; when she gets all full of herself she’s likely to remove her welcome mat. Pressed for time we pull over less and less for lunch stops. To save the lives of our china dishes when we need to chug and eat at the same time, Rexx serves the soup on the cabin top in bread ‘bowls’. If they fall overboard, we calculate that our feathered friends will use them to make their own duck soup. If the bowls survive Rexx shreds them and uses them to thicken our leftover soup for another day’s meal. Either way it protects our crockery and feeds the interested parties. To the ‘soup base’ we add a variety of galley stores and farmers’ market produce from ‘optional ingredients’; it all depends on what is available on the day.

Optional ingredients ● 2 courgettes sliced into coins ● 1 sweet potato, diced ● 140g cauliflower florets picked apart to make very tiny buds

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

Hardy swedes take up little space.

PHOTO: LEE SENIOR

Sow hardy broad beans at the end of the month for overwintering for an earlier crop next year.

With Halloween upon us at the end of the month, the pumpkin variety ‘Jack o’ Lantern’ remains one of the best to grow for carving into a lantern for the kids.

Museum role for the Sack House

Phill’s minestrone

Soup base ● 1 bread bowl per person, hollowed out with the innards used in the soup ● 2 tbsp olive oil ● 2 tbsp butter ● 1 medium yellow onion, diced ● 2 cloves garlic, smash/mince ● ¼ tsp spicy paprika ● 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning ● 2 stalks celery, diced ● 2 carrots, diced ● 1 large tin cooked, chopped tomatoes ● 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar ● 1 tbsp soy sauce ● 1 tsp brown sugar ● 2 pints chicken stock

Gardening afloat

AFTER two years of preparatory work by members of the East Vale branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, the Sack House at Wantage Wharf was officially opened earlier this year as a museum.

It shows some history of the canal through this part of Oxfordshire, or Berkshire as it was in the canal’s heyday.

Mayor of Wantage, Fiona Roper, unveiled a plaque at a gathering of guests which included members of the trust and vice-chairman Chris Coyle.

Grove, the village adjoining Wantage through which a large section of the canal route runs, was represented by the parish council chairman, Frank Parnell, and the Vale of White Horse District Council by local members Couns Jenny Hannaby and Zoe Patrick with music by Wantage Silver Band.

The building was acquired by the trust for a nominal sum from the builders of the adjoining new housing development, Barratt Homes. Its actual age is not known, but Brian Stovold, chairman of the East Vale branch, has carried out research which suggests that

it was built between the completion of the canal to Challow, a couple of miles to the west of Wantage, in 1806 and the canal reaching Abingdon in 1810.

The Sack House was the office of the West of England Sack Company and its business would have included despatches of grain to destinations along the waterway and the import of materials such as coal.

To convert it into a museum trust volunteers carried out the refurbishment which included the strengthening of a partition wall, the installation of a loft ladder, which had been donated, the provision of light and power supplies and redecoration.

The displays include a series of backlit posters, artefacts including material from original lock gates and a TV set on which a selection of slides can be shown. The history of the adjoining flour mill is also pictured and that of Wantage Tramway.

During the Wantage Summer Festival, members of the East Vale branch led walks along the canal, explaining its history and showing work they had carried out.

● The museum opens on the first Wednesday and Saturday of each month from 10am-2pm; admission is free. www.wbct.org.uk

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

1 cup fresh or tinned green beans 1 tin kidney beans 2 pints chicken stock 6 small new potatoes, quartered 65g mini pasta (ditalini or mini macaroni) 125g peas (fresh or frozen) Salt and pepper to taste Leftover ratatouille 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)

In a stew kettle bring the oil and butter up to sizzle temp; add onion and saute until softened (5 min). Stir in the spices and garlic; add the celery and carrots. Simmer until soft (10 min). Add the tomatoes and the remaining soup base ingredients. Add as many of the optional ingredients as suits your fancy or your larder. Bring the soup to a boil for two minutes then, reduce to a simmer and add the pasta. Simmer until the macaroni is done to your liking and the cabin smells good (30 min). Slice the top off of the ‘bread bowls’, hollow out the centres and add the shreds to the soup to thicken before filling the bowls. Fare well.

Wantage mayor, Fiona Roper, opens the Sack House museum. PHOTO SUPPLIED

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BOOKS CANAL BOOKS, GUIDES AND MAPS. Probably the best selection. www.canalbookshop.co.uk or visit Audlem Mill on the Shropshire Canal. Tel: 01270 811059 AU471593L AU524294L

AUTO ELECTRIC SUPPLIES

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

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Boats for sale

ADRASTEA 60ft trad narrowboat, Kelvin J2 engine, 4 berth, £49,950 Tel. Mark on 07960 147722. Wilts.

AQUAHOLIC Semi trad 50ft, 2002,sleeps 4, Isuzi engine, diesel heating, cooker, fridge, shower, cassette toilet, recently repainted and blacked, new anodes, exc condition, many extras, much loved boat for sale as we are upsizing photos on request. £42,500 Tel. 07990 651896. Cheshire.

BALLADORE 20ft unique all steel narrowboat, Kingfisher 6hp single cyl engine, BSC 2018, built 1976 Pete Brown, Banbury, 3 berth – cooker - cassette toilet – fully replated 1993 – new weed hatch and further re-plating - new cooling system - hull survey - anodes and blackening 2012 – full history.

Ideal holiday boat or cheap live aboard. £10,000 ono. Tel. 07929 994379. Moored Coventry Canal, Nr Fradley jct.

JOSHER-STYLE NARROWBOAT traditional, 62ft, very reluctant sale, lovely condition and good-looker, built WFBCo 1998, New Safety Certificate.Viewing essential but no time wasters please. £70,000 ovno. Tel. 01926 289489.

Warks.

BCN TUG STYLE BOAT 57ft, with cratch cover, built 2000, rebuilt Perkins engine an new PRM gearbox, unfinished project, a lot of materials to do the job included, 3 year vert, licensed until May 2015, £25,000. Tel. 07909 725742.

Shrops.

BUCKINGHAM 25ft, Honda 9.9 HD outboard, BSC 2018, 4-berth, hot/cold water, shower, moored Lyme View Marina, Macclesfield canal, fees paid Dec, Canal licence end Sept. £6950 ono. Tel. 01942 894326. Man.

BURLAND CRUISER 27ft, 6ft 10” beam, blue/white, full BSC, licences, HD TV, stereo/CD, new foam mattress, fridge, new bilge and water pump, new cooker, 240 sockets, 240 hook up, 9.9hp Mercury 4 stroke engine, well worth viewing, genuine sale, £5995 ono.

Tel. 07982 818063 anytime.

07982 818063.

NAUTICUS 27ft, 5-berth inboard engine, new, washroom, curtains, upholstery, complete refurb, BSC 2018, navigation licence, antifouled ready to go. Moored River Avon, £6950 ono. Tel. 01564 793818. Warks.

SUNSPORT 260 mariner, 2.5hp, 4-stroke, as new, £450; with road trailer, £350. Tel. 01977 559130. W Yorks.

Land for Sale Land for sale, 250 x 300 ft, 1.7 acre, between Shropshire Union Canal (Llangollen branch) and Nantwich Rd. Wrenbury area.

Non towpath side. Private gate. Tel: 07896 618551

CABIN CRUISER 27ft x 9ft , Fjord 1991, inboard 3 cylinder diesel, 5 berth, good runner, safety to 2016, canal tax April 2015, moored Doncaster, £4250 Tel. 07456 213196.

S Yorks.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 59ft, 1995, new kitchen, appliances and upholstery, new professional 2k paintwork and Hull blacked 2014, new BSC, £35,000 Tel. Danny 07713 465791. Cambs.

DAWNCRAFT 22ft river and canal cruiser, 4 berth, very good condition, BSS Jun 2017, new curtains, cushions and upholstered seats, Honda outboard 7.5hp, new anodes, serviced yearly, hard standing from winter season, oven, grill, hob, sink, toilet compartmentm full canopy, exc cond, £4999. Tel. Mark 07934 418022. Warks.

HARBOROUGH NARROWBOAT 33ft, a lovely little boat which would make a great live aboard or leisure craft for one or even two people, beautifully fitted out, recent Boat Safety, blacked and plated 4 years ago, moored Cowley, Middx. £13,995 Tel. 07787 108238; 01753 884924. Bucks.

Upholstery

HISTORIC NARROWBOAT 70ft BCN, restored to high standard, Lister Ha2, less than 100 hours running, solid oak floor, open plan, double bed, bath, plus trad backcabi, 11ft cratch, Squirrel stove and classic range, beautiful boat, £40,000 for quick sale Tel. 07961 579243 or 01773 822205. karenvanwoerden@hotmail.co.uk Oxon.

MALLARD NARROWBOAT Fibreglass, 23ft, trailable, water ballistic, 8hp Honda, 3+1 berths, 3 burner hob and grill, s/s sink, Rinnai hot and cold shower, Shoreline fridge, porta potty trailer inc, £11,950. Tel. 01663 732989; 07773 910622. Derbys.

NARROW BOAT 57ft, 2004, stainless steel water tank, Rockwood insulation, new fire fitted with radiator and back boiler, sandbasted and 2k paint sprayed Aug 2013, Mitshubishi engine, licence till Oct 2014, BSC 2017, 24 berth, cassette toilet and separate shower. For more images look on facebook. Tel. 07955 442552. Beds.

NARROW BOAT CRUISER STERN 35ft, built in 1976 by Faulkner Bros, 4 berth, BSC 2018, hull surveyed 2014, licensed May 2015, Engine: Lombardini, bottom re plated, moored at Tamworth, Staffs. Further photos and info at www.tamworthcrusingclub.org.uk £17,950 ono. Tel. 07811 605608.

Staffs.

NARROWBOAT 42ft, BSC 2017, new kitchen, new showerroom with flushing toilet, brand new cooker and fridge, never been used wood burner, BMC engine 1.8, oak flooring, 4ft fitted bed with storage underneath and new mattress, never used, moored near Leeds 10 mins from city centre. £23,000. Tel. 07443 474107. W Yorks.

NARROWBOAT 62ft, built 2008, semi-trad reverse layout, light oak wood fit-out, granite worktops, full shower, pump-out toilet, 4 berth, two private cabins, good storage, beautiful condition throughout, exc live-aboard or pleasure cruising, 40hp, 3000 watt inverter, bottom blacked Mar 2014, £57,000.

Tel. Gill 07830755716. Leics.

NORFOLK LASS COLES MORTON 45ft trad, needs a bit of decorating, been refitting, private mooring available at Shardlow. £20,000 ono. Tel. Shaun on 07454155971 for more details.

Derbys.

NORMAN 20 Original gel coat, Honda 15hp outboard, recent service, new anti-fouling BSS, new rear seat covers, porta potty, £2950. 077910 34695. Cambs.

NORMAN CABIN CRUISER 25ft, moored on Lake Windermere, live aboard, sleeps 3, cooker with oven, heater, fridge and toilet, ready now, £5999 Tel. 075140 64583. Cumbria.

PIPER NARROWBOAT ‘Piper’ 40ft narrowboat, 2009, semi-trad, beautifully fitted out, reverse layout, many quality extras, owned from new, ill health forces reluctant sale, £45,000 Tel. 07772 783527 .

Lying Nantwich.

SEMI TRADITIONAL NARROWBOAT all mod cons including c/heating, 9 years old includes a secure mooring, 4.2 Vetus engine negotiable, £39,000. Tel. 07867 847989. Lancs.

SHARE FOR SALE in 2003 Dutch barge, 17m x 4m, Private Owners Association, 3 weeks cruising per year, moored in Auxerre, France, fully equipped to cater for 6, £8500. Tel. 07773 636219. York.

STOKE-ON-TRENT 60ft trad, Joshua bow and recessed panels, fitted out in ash wood, sophisticated electrics, full specification on application, price has been greatly reduced! £86,000. Tel. Roger 07855 255389. Cheshire.

WAVY RIDER CRUISER. 24ft, 6ft 10” beam, 20ho outboard, roomy, clean, tidy interior, £4950. Tel. 07943 753914. Lincs.

WIDEBEAM New, 11 ft by 57 ft, immaculate, red and cream coachwork, 2 separate bedrooms, secure mooring available at Reading, £89,500 ovno Tel. Brian 07881728622 or see emex.co.uk.

Berks.

WILDERNESS BEAVER DL Lovely condition, 4 berth, full headroom and fully upholstered heating, hot & cold water, fridge, twin batteries and 2 solar panels, 9.9 Yamaha outboard, canopies front and rear, £12,500 ono. Tel. 01443 438673. Powys.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 45ft, over plated/rebottom, new Beta 38 etc, genuine reason for reluctant sale - ill health etc, wonderful condition. Tel. 07923 606564. Bucks.

NAUTICUS 27ft, complete refurb, BSC 2018, navigation licence, new curtains, washroom, toilet, upholstery, petrol tank, engine, electrics, serviced, batteries, professionally upgraded mooring, £7500. Tel. 01564 793818. Warks.

TEAL 610 CLIPPER very rare, 2 berth cabin cruiser, completely refitted inside, gel coated outboard, 4-stroke, 7.5 Honda, stainless steel sink and cooker, BSC 2017, with licence till Sept, £2000 ono.

Tel. 01663 762935. Cheshire.

Parts and spares NARROWBOAT 56ft narrowboat, built 1989 by Eastwood Engineers, Beta 43 diesel engine fitted 2008, 5kv Lister generator, solid fuel stove with back boiler, Reflex fridge, cooker, twin coil calorifier immersion heater, dry docked and blacked yearly, BSS 2017, great live aboard, Tel. 07881 658008. W Yorks.

NARROWBOAT 57ft, perfect liveaboard, Isuzu engine, inverter 2000, diesel heating, Morso Squirrel stove, full size shower, Thetford cassette toilet, fixed double dinette, dbl gas hob and oven, 12v fridge and freezer, fit-out in oak completed 2006, bottom blacked 2012, moored Barnoldswick, £50,000. Tel. 0792 9002563.

Lancs.

HISTORIC BUTTY BOAT Forget me not for sale or exchange considered. Please contact me through my email myrtle74@ icloud.com or txt 07462 568364 as I am out of country. Tel. 07462 568364. Warks.

OCEAN 30 5 berth, 1.8BMC, twin alternators, shower, toilet, hot/cold water, 3kw generator, cash e/way, £17,995 would consider p/x for narrowboat. Tel. 07887 754861.

Cambs.

TIM TYLER BUILT SHELL and a 2013 fit-out by Cherilton Narrowboats, Shardlow Marina, 4 berth, 900mm carpeted and tiled flooring in shower, c/h, Webasto heating, blue with a hint of purple and cream coach lines, Beta 38 and only 99 hrs. Tel. 07967 635665.

Derbys.

PICKLEWIDGE CRUISER 40 ft stern narrowboat, steel hull, fibreglass top, surveyed and £3500 welding done 2012, BSC to 2017, basic and comfortable, fixed double, sofa converts to single, wood burner, no gas, DIY shower, cassette toilet, 12v elec, £11,500 ono.

Tel. 07463 799546. Beds.

TRADITIONAL NARROWBOAT 57ft, 2004, just been newly sandblasted and 2k paint sprayed, BSC 2017, 2-4 berth, ideal liveaboard or cruiser, newly fitted stove with back boiler and radiators, hull blacked and new anodes August 2013, cassette toilet and separate shower. Tel. 07955 442552. Bucks.

NORMAN CRUISER 28ft centre cockpit, 4 berth, hot and cold water heater, 15hp motor, 2 burner cooker, grill and oven, 12v/240v elecs, BSC until 2018, dining table drops to double bed, forward seating/double bed, moored Fettlers Wharf, Rufford, £10,500. ono Tel. 01942 574019. Lancs.

QUARTER SHARE OF NARROW BOAT For sale (not time share) gives 12 weeks holidays per year on rotating basis, 6 berth traditional boat, £6000 ono. Tel. 01527 457666; 07882 946598.

Worcs.

2 X 5 LITRE TINS International Intertuf 16, hull blacking, £50 ono.

Tel. 01977 683643.Yorks.

28 GAL DAY TANK in steel with baffles and sight glass, gravity or pump outlet being 56” long x 20” tall x 8” wide, £100. Tel. 01282 771874 (eves). Lancs.

BRAND NEW FENDERS: 6 x rubber side - and 2 x rope mooring for sale, £70 Tel. Ron on 07711 475264. W Mids.

3 BLADE PROPELLER 19 x 14 , 11⁄2" shaft, standard taper, good condition. I can send via courier at cost. £200. Tel. 07890 604121.

Bucks.

BOAT SLINGS with sleeves, 20 ton, good condition, not tested, £250. Tel. 07901 617200. Staffs.

FRANCIS FIREMANS SEARCHLIGHT brassed, includes stand, 3 spare bulbs, mounting bracket, vgc, £250. Tel. 07971 694114.

Cambs.

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GLASS UPLIFTERS with solid beech final by ring x3, brand new, still in box, 240v, £30; electric blanket, 12v still in packet, never used, 4ft bed, £20.Tel. 0777 9776508.W Yorks.

LISTER ST3 Lister 3 cyl ST3 electric start, runs, excellent, low hours, not marinised, £680. Tel. 01205 480693; 07948 304584.

Lincs.

MLS FUEL PURIFINER new, in box, £75; Max view Omnimax aerial withl magnetic base, £40; Binatone 2-way speakers with chargers, model 950, £25; selling due to ill health. 0151 6480153.

Cheshire.

NEW PRM 120D2 GEARBOX 2.04:1 ratio, wrong box bought, £450. Tel. 07845 772136. Essex.

NEWAGE ENGINEERING COVENTRY 3:1 ratio, centre drop gearbox, less than 500 hours use, £450 ono; buyer collects. Tel. 07981 393834. W Berks.

ROCKER ARM SHAFT SUPPORT I am looking for a for a KD 26 Kingfisher will take whole rocker set, Tel. 07818 446284.

Worcs.

RUTLAND 910 WIND GENERATOR genuine reason for sale, £100. ono Tel. Julie 07933 637239. W Mids.

RUTLAND 913 TURBINE inc regulator, mast & straps, good condition, £220 ovno. Tel. 07967 563214. Northants.

SEAGULL OUTBOARD MOTOR good starter/runner, £90; 16 x 9 brass prop, 1.5" shaft, £55; inverter 700w, used twice, £15. Tel. 07970 483622. View Mansfield or Shardlow, Notts.

WINDOWS FOR NARROWBOAT 5 rectangular, 36" x 21"; 4 x portholes 17 3⁄4" dia; 2 side hatch units 271⁄2" x 61⁄2", gold finish, good cond, £250. Tel. 07735 292590. Worcs.

Engines

MARINISED GARDNER 5LW ENGINE with gearbox, ratio 2:1, came out of a 75ft barge, also c/w a prop and propshaft, engine ran well and sounded beautiful. Tel. 07512 845353. E Yorks.

DORMAN 4DSM Classic and rare engine, 20hp 1 Dorman gearbox, plenty of power for 60ft narrowboat, Classic tug sound, sold with many spares to include spare heads, crankshafts, piston and rods, injector pump, injectors, gearbox spares. Out of boat but can be seen running, £3500 Tel. 0121 7454266. W Mids.

BRIT MARINE two cylinder petrol engine, not run for a few years, requires recommissioning, ideal for classic/vintage boat or display, £220. Tel. Peter 0117 9867518. S West.

FORD WATERMOTH 1300cc, inboard petrol engine, not used for approx 5 years, £100 ono. Tel. 02476 341880 or 07860 682225.

Warks.

ROYAL CAMPING TOILET 1 pump, 15L waste and fresh water tank, not used, still boxed, £35.Tel. 07775 586313. Worcs.

TYPHOON auto-inflation jackets, three never worn, two slightly used, one spare cartridge, £150. ono Tel. 07955 429483. W Yorks.

THETFORD 365 porta potti, excellent clean condition, £45; Collection from Sheffield, North Anston or West Stockwith. Tel. 01909 550859. S Yorks.

Canalia

TWO DOLLY TUB PLANTERS painted, together with two painted mop buckets, £35 for all four items; also one large life ring, £10.

Tel. 07950 832060. Leics.

Equipment

Wanted

STERLING PRO BUDGET digital automatic battery charger, 12v, 10 amp, £20 Tel. 01217 842343. W Mids.

VICTRON INVERTER 24V/240V 1200VA modified sine wave with original instruction manual, perfect condition, just replaced by a more powerful unit to run the washing m/c. Make me a reasonable offer.

Tel. 07475 725978. Northants.

WAECO COOLMATIC Compressor, top loader fridge or freezer, portable if needed, mains/12v 35 litre, 23" long, 14W/15h, extremely low power consumption, 1amp per hour, like new, cost £520, will accept £250. Tel. 01422 342128; 0777 9776508. W Yorks.

Selling your boat is

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SELL OR SWOP my 61 x 6, 10 narrowboat bath shower, 7 berth, full cooker, c/h x stove, I want a wide beam? Tel. 07806 802246.

Bucks.

ANYBODY WILLING TO RENT OUT a narrow boat for a couple of months Jan/Feb 2015 in the Nottingham area, due to selling house and looking to buy our own boat would also need to allow a cat and a dog on board. Tel. 07922 116941. Notts.

I AM LOOKING TO RENT a canal boat over the next few months if anyone can help would be very grateful. 07588 964404.

W Mids.

LOOKING FOR A BOAT suitable for two people to live aboard with an option of rent to buy. We currently live close to the Shropshire Union near Nantwich but anything considered anywhere. Tel. Barrie North 07779 112207. Crewe.

Make

LOOKING FOR A live aboard narrowboat, it must be built after 1995, be at least 40ft long and have a headroom of 6ft 3in, a 1500W inverter and a pump-out toilet would be very much appreciated, ultimate treat: a washing machine, £23,000 max. Tel. 07934 840885. London.

LOOKING FOR A BOAT suitable for two people to liveaboard with an option of rent to buy. We currently live close to the Shropshire Unionnear Nantwich but anything considered anywhere. Tel. Barrie North 07779 112207.

RECENTLY RETIRED professional couple are seeking a live aboard boat with mooring in the Oxford area for a 6 to 9 month period starting autumn 2014. Tel. 0779 8037699. Oxon.

OLDER COUPLE would like to live on house boat for 12 months, need to be near Chorley, Lancs ( Leeds Liverpool canal) due to work commitments. Any chance please? Tel. Kate 01204 699984.

Gtr Man. PROJECT NARROWBOAT WANTED needing a refit or tlc etc, 40ft upwards length. Tel. 0790 6019299. Norfolk.

LOOKING TO HIRE A BOAT for a while, not sure how long as I am looking to buy a live aboard next year and want to try it first. Tel. 07809 241531. N Yorks.

LOOKING FOR A NARROW BOAT TO RENT I'm at a home for the next 6-12 months at least. Tel. Tel. 07593 265233. B'ham.

RETIRED NATURE LOVING GENTLEMAN owns canal cruiser, would like to meet a hippy style lady, nationality and age unimportant. Tel. Tony 07717 257867. Lincs.

REVERSE LAYOUT 55ft to 59ft contemporary styled semi-trad narrowboat required, bow thrusters, diesel c/h and raised dinette preferred, up to £60,000. cash Tel. 07801 019888. .

WANTED: 9" opening port hole, 079030 10642. Stoke-on-Trent.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR a 50/57ft cruiser, reverse layout, with a crossover bathroom, ideally with bow thruster if 57ft. No more than 5 years old, good price paid, we have just sold our boat. Tel. 07766 590383. Cheshire.

ORIGINAL CHROME HAND PUMP wanted from Freeman 22, Mk 1, 1962. Tel. 01969 622778. N Yorks.

KABOLA DIESEL STOVE with coal effect, vgc, £750 ono; buyer collects. Tel. 07981 393834. W Berks.

30+ CANAL ACTS LAW BOOK dated with drawings by Thomas Telford, Liverpool Grand Union, Birmingham, Warwick etc, dated mid 1700/mid 1800s, offers please. Tel. 0781 3018056. W Mids.

LOCKGATE DIESEL STOVE just taken out of 2007 boat, very good condition, c/w flue roof collar and 3 part chimney, bargain, £250 Tel. 0751 804071. Derbys.

BRASS BELL 7” dia, wall mounted, very loud, in good solid condition, Tel. 07702 853910 (no texts please). Notts.

BUBBLE DIESEL STOVE with back boiler, two, regularly serviced, £200 ono; buyer collects.Tel. 07710 133293. Northants.

BUBBLE DIESEL STOVE 5kw, gwo, £200; buyer collects. Tel. 07443 461607. Essex.

CHEST FREEZER 12v, used for 1 week only, perfect condition, like new, sorry no photo, cost £410 will sell for £250 we couldn't return it because it was past the 28 day limit which I didn't read. No offers please it's like new. Tel. 07943 500745. Notts.

COMPASS COMPACT II life jacket, auto inflation, new, unused, £30. Tel. 07971 694114. Herts.

HONDA CB 750cc, various spares for K1/K2;Velocette engine 250cc, history; Vincent items, various bits, Hiller ammeter £20; Triumph panel lamp, £50; Triumph speedo, 12mph, £150; Lucas mag dyne, 1940s, £120. Tel. 0208 8944704. Middx.

ISOTHERM CR100 brand new with receipt and full warranty 12/24v integrated fridge with integral freezer, light grey colour, very genuine reason for sale. Contact me RRP £1089, bargain, only £850 ono. Tel. 07739 334568 for more info & fotos. Cheshire.

FOLDING BICYCLE Raleigh Evo 7-so, virtually brand new, 20” wheels, 7 speed twist grip gears, with luggage rack fitted and carry bag included, £175 Tel. 07811 314112. Staffs.

Miscellaneous 3 BLADE PROPELLER 19 x 14 , 11⁄2" shaft, good condition. Tel. 07890 604121. Bucks.

Model

FRANCIS SEARCH LIGHT 9”, been restored, all brass, £600 ono. Tel. 07958 207675. W Mids.

Price

ANCHOR 1 x 10kg, 2 life jackets, 1 dehumidifier and 2 folding bikes for sale, buyer collects. Tel. 07754 756152. S Yorks.

EPOXY 2 PACK for sale, surplus to requirements, top quality 4 x 4 ltr tins plus hardener, £47. per tin ono; possible delivery Midlands area Tel. 07580 117598. Staffs.

Choose a section ■ For sale ■ Wanted ■ Miscellaneous

for private readers

INDESIT WASHER/DRYER in black, 2 years old, exc cond, does 7kg wash, 5kg dry, £90.Tel. 07507 196658. E Lancs.

MOTORBIKE HELMET £20, black full-face 58/60cm motorbike/ scooter cruiser style helmet by Act, tan leather, 58/60cm, brand new, cost £100, accept £50. Tel. 0777 9776508. W Yorks.

JOHN PLAYER CIGARETTE CARDS collectable, in original albums, x 3 1) 1839-1939 Cycling; 2) 1930s Annual Of Countryside; 3) Kings & Queens of England W D & H O Wills, Our King & Queen of 1937, £3000. each; could post, postage extra. Tel. 01422 342128.

W Yorks.

PHILLIPS MIDI HI-FI SYSTEM black, 2 speakers, twin speed turn table, twin deck tape, 3CD player, AM/FM radio, manual or remote control, instruction book, many more features, excellent order, cost £300, will accept £100. Tel. 01422 342128. W Yorks.

PRIVATE MOORINGS AVAILABLE on the beautiful Macclesfield Canal. For more details tel.

01782 785695. Cheshire.

ROLLER BLIND 48" wide, never used, lilac/blue, £10; upholstery material h/duty dragon, patterned but shades of beige/cream, 54" x 78", £10; blown vinyl wallpaper, 3 rolls, half price £15. Tel. 0777 9776508. W Yorks.

SOLAR PANEL 50 watt, plus cables, regulator, also folding electric bicycle, c/w front basket and rear panniers, travels 20 miles on charge, ideal boating, caravanning, priced to sell. Tel. 07873 269671 after 6pm. Shrops.

THETFORD PORTA POTTI Brand new "Cube", £35; two framed prints Black Country Canal route and Avon ring, £10 each.Tel. Liz 07920 148354. W Mids.

TUNISIAN HANDMADE RUGS 1) 75 x 31", blue/cream/white; 2) 74 x 38", cherry red/black, vgc, £50. each Tel. 0777 9776508. W Yorks.

UNDER WORKTOP FREEZER for sale 12/24 volt, very clean, cost new £500, sell for £200; remote control bluetooth CD MP3 car/boat radio, suitable for 4 speakers, not supplied, £40; 22" HD Freeview CD/DVD television, with wall mounted bracket, £80. Tel. John 07831 500797. W Sussex.

VIDEO: WALLACE & GROMIT boxed, Limited Edition video, Grand Day Out, never used, £10; camera Praktica Z60 zoom, 35mm, not digital, brand new, still in box, never used, with free films, £30. Tel. 0777 9776508. W Yorks.

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Weed closes the Ribble Link

Waiting for water: Blackberry Way on a picturesque spot on the Lancaster Canal after the Ribble crossing was postponed. PHOTO: PETER UNDERWOOD

Peter Underwood planned to report on his return journey this month but, as deadline approached, was left high and dry by the closure of the link.

DRAMATIC falls in water levels on the Lancaster Canal have left boats unable to move off moorings or pass shallow spots and eventually led to the closure of the Ribble Link, with more than 20 boats unable to reach the main system.

As the canal dropped by three or 4in in late July and then steadily fell further, losing around 9in by the end of August, local and visiting boaters attempted to discover what was wrong.

Water supplies come from Killington Reservoir, through a feeder into single open pound Crooklands on the abandoned northern reaches, from where they should pass through the

canal, which is culverted in several places where it was cut by the M6 motorway, to the head of the navigable canal at Tewitfield.

Boaters were initially told by the Canal & River Trust the low levels were normal, but discovered that, while the Crooklands pound was overflowing, the main canal just kept falling. Eventually, by the end of the first week in September, CRT closed Glasson locks and cancelled Ribble Link crossings, blaming a weed blockage on the northern reaches.

Disgruntled boaters wanted to know why the problem wasn’t spotted and

dealt with earlier and those with a Ribble Crossing booked (including ourselves) couldn’t see what difference a dozen lockfuls of water – sufficient to lower the canal about half an inch – would make.

The answers go a long way to illustrate the complex nature of water supplies to the canals – a topic CRT is about to consult boaters about.

High demand

Neil D’Arcy, interim principal waterway engineer (north west), produced the explanations.

He said yearly growth of Canadian Pond Weed on the northern reaches is managed through vegetation contractor Fountains, which sub-contracts the work to specialists.

The specialists are in high demand and CRT had booked weed cutting early. The work was done in early July.

Neil said: “There is always a risk that further cutting is required later in the year subject to weather conditions and growing rates.”

That happened last year but not the two years before that – and it happened again this year.

“Given the limited funds available to CRT, I’m sure you appreciate committing to spend when works are not required is inefficient.” He argues that booking two cuts a year would be wasted money if the second wasn’t needed.

Instead, Neil explained, as soon as they saw the weed returning CRT used its own staff to try to remove it manually while simultaneously discussing another cut by specialists.

The overflowing pound at Crooklands, was an attempt to force more water through the weed blockages.

“We know that this method is inefficient and can lead to issues of over-

Canal & River Trust launches water resources consultation THE Canal & River Trust has launched a consultation about how it plans to manage essential water resources over the next 35 years.

It is has published a document entitled: ‘Putting the water into waterways’ and is keen to hear from people and businesses that enjoy the waterways to help provide guidance and practical advice on the strategy. The deadline for people to give their views is November 4, 2014.

CRT national hydrology manager Adam Comerford said: “Water is the lifeblood of the network. It may sound obvious but water is so important to us; it brings life and colour and without it our network would have no boats, less wildlife and fewer people.

“Many people don’t realise the careful management that goes into making sure that we have water where and when we need it and this strategy is all about

how we do that over the next 35 years and beyond.”

He told a recent press briefing that effective water resource management is key if the trust is to achieve its mission.

Responses to the eight-week consultation will help to shape the trust’s Water Resources Strategy published later this year.

The strategy will then be reviewed every five years to take account of any changes that may affect either the supply or demand for water.

Adam concluded: “We have a team of experts that care for our water resources but we want to hear what the people that use and rely on the waterways on a daily basis think. We want to be sure we’ve considered the right issues and that our proposals give confidence of a reliable water supply into the future. The best way of achieving this is by including those that know the waterways well and I’d urge people to get involved and help shape our plans.”

topping and/or wastage, however it does ensure some water gets to the mainline rather than no water,” said Neil.

He said he regrets boaters didn’t get a clearer response when complaining to CRT about low levels on Twitter and suggested they email or phone the north west area office directly instead.

But why cancel the Ribble Link Passages?

That, he said because the dry period meant natural flows in Savick Brook were low and CRT’s normal practice would be to top it up using water from the main Lancaster canal. “However with the level in the main line of the canal being so low, we currently do not have enough water to facilitate this.”

In fact, estimated Neil, it would probably take three or four times the dozen lockfuls of water apparently needed to move 24 boats down the link, dropping the main canal even further.

Weed‘epidemic’ on Yorkshire canals

Rudyard Lake – one of CRT’s major reservoirs feeding the Caldon Canal.

PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Issues include:

● Reliability of water supply and the trust’s approach of managing water so that drought closures are implemented, on average, less than once every 20 years. ● Potential costs of changing this approach to achieve even greater reliability. ● The possible impact of future pressures such as climate change, funding and changing boating patterns.

● Assessing the water resource requirements of restoration schemes and new canals. ● Proposals for managing dredging, side ponds and dealing with lock leakage.

The full consultation including the survey and a summary, can be found at www.canalrivertrust .org.uk/consultations

PROLIFIC weed growth has also affected Yorkshire waterways during recent months prompting discussions between the IWA North Riding branch and the Canal & River Trust in the North East.

In a letter to the branch, Will Arthur of CRT said that growth of duckweed had reached epidemic proportions on the Selby and Stainforth & Keadby canals with growth also being reported on the Aire & Calder Navigations.

Weed boats had been booked earlier in the year for the Selby and Stainforth & Keadby based on experience from previous years – two boats to spend a week on each canal.

But he explained: “What we couldn’t have anticipated was the prolific growth rates. When conditions are ideal, in terms of water temperature, pH, incident light and nutrient concentrations as they have been this season duckweed can double its biomass within 16 hours and two days.

“An idea of their rapid growth is illustrated by the calculation that shows that if duckweed growth is unrestricted and therefore exponential that a biomass of duckweed covering 10cm2 may increase to cover 1 hectare (100 million cm2) in under 50 days.”

It was hoped that further money would be made available to tackle this problem.

104 SAFETY/TECHNICAL TIPS/ON SCOTTISH WATERS with Hugh Dougherty

Staying safe on your boat

Clive Penny of the Association of Boat Safety Examiners continues his look at the top 10 non-compliances found by examiners during the last 12 months with numbers 5-10.

5

Are battery terminals correctly insulated or protected?

All metal parts of battery terminals or connections must be insulated or protected by battery covers or terminal covers.

All battery covers or terminal covers: ● must be made of insulating material; and, ● must not allow any metal part of the terminal or connection to be exposed; and, ● must be free of signs of damage.

Deck boards, locker lids, etc, made from or lined with insulating material may only be considered as battery covers where they will not be removed for any purpose other than gaining access to the batteries.

6

Is the LPG pipework made of suitable material, adequately secure and free from damage?

LPG pipework must be made of either seamless copper tube, or stainless steel tube, or copper nickel alloy.

LPG pipes must not move under light manual force.

LPG pipes must be free of kinks, restrictions, abrasion damage or other deterioration.

A little movement at the final connection to an appliance is acceptable but any such unsecured pipe should be kept to a minimum and should generally not be more than 500mm in length.

Particular attention will be paid to the potential for abrasion damage on pipes passing through bulkheads.

7/8

The location of fuel cocks and battery isolators must be in open view or their location clearly marked.

Fuel shut-off valves or cocks, or the means to operate them and battery isolators, or the means to operate them, must ● be in open view with all removable lids, deck boards, curtains, doors etc. in place; or ● have their location clearly marked in open view.

9

Are all electrical cables supported in a safe position?

All electrical cables must be: ● located where they will not be susceptible to impact or abrasion damage; or,

● supported away from any structure or item of

equipment likely to cause impact or abrasion damage; or, ● contained in a conduit or cable tray supported away from it.

Cables passing through bulkheads or structural members must be protected against chafing damage by the use of grommets, sleeves or sealant used effectively.

Cable conduit or cable trays must be free of signs of overheating or damage.

This applies to both AC and DC cables and for cables confirmed as double-insulated cables.

Where such cables pass through bulkheads and other structural members, the outer insulation (sheathing) should be considered as adequate protection, providing the insulation is in good condition.

10

Are all fuel feed, return and on-engine hoses suitable for the fuel used and fire resistant?

Fuel feed, return and on-engine hoses must be marked, to denote both suitability for the fuel used and fire resistance, to BS EN ISO 7840 or an equivalent standard.

Hoses marked to SAE J 1527, DIN 4798 or RINA DIP/66/96 are acceptable.

The presence of armoured or other external braiding is not evidence of hose suitability or fire resistance. Such hoses must be marked as above.

Where a hose is not marked to an accepted standard but the boat owner claims suitability the examiner will need contact the BSS Office.

Fuel-hose suitability may be supported by a written declaration from the hose manufacturer or supplier or, if appropriate, from the engine manufacturer/supplier or mariniser. ● More information can be found on my website: www.canalelectrics.com or you can email me directly: clivepenny@canalelectrics.com Your local member of the Association of Boat Safety Examiners can be found at www.abse.org.uk and will be happy to answer any questions you may have and assist in any way they can.

Technical tips to keep your boat ticking along AT Towpath Talk we’re always keen to help our readers in whatever way we can, so in response to requests for more technical information and maintenance tips, we’ve teamed up with breakdown and assistance firm River Canal Rescue.

We hope each month’s advisory pieces will help reduce the likelihood of a malfunction and keep your boats ticking along nicely. And if there’s a particular topic you’d like to see published, let us know and we’ll ensure it’s covered.

Check your alternator belt

Pinch the belt between your finger and thumb and push against it to check its tightness. PHOTO: RCR

An alternator drive belt (also known as a fan belt) should be checked and replaced regularly. It has two distinct shapes; a V-belt has small ridge-like teeth and usually drives the starting system, alternator and water pump, a flat belt is flat with a number of grooves encompassing it and drives the domestic alternator.

To check your belt’s tightness, pinch it between finger and thumb (approximately halfway up the longest point between the pulleys) and push against it. There should be about half an inch of play. Adjust via the tensioner bracket if too much or too little movement.

To check the condition, belt removal isn’t necessary, however it will make the task easier. If checking in situ, pinch the belt between finger and thumb and twist 90º until you can see the inside wall of the belt. If it’s shiny, cracked or has a groove, it’s ready for replacement.

The belt size is usually printed on its top side where you should also find its dimensions. A sequence of numbers such as 10x1025, 10x900, 11.5x1000, 13x1200, 1100A, 950B, 1350C, relate to width and length. For example 10x1025, 10=width in mm and 1025=length in mm. The letters A, B and C relate to width, A=10mm B=11.5mm C=13mm.

Once you’ve been shown how, it’s easy to replace a belt.

If you get the chance, ask an engineer or sign-up for one of RCRs engine maintenance courses held monthly at Alvechurch.

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Champagne launch for replica Vulcan by builder’s descendants THERE was a champagne launch for the refurbished replica of Vulcan, the world’s first ironhulled boat.

Tony and Hilary Howatt, the great-great-great grandchildren of designer and builder Thomas Wilson, sprayed it with fizz to mark its new life as a canal heritage exhibition centre and classroom at Summerlee Heritage Museum, Coatbridge.

The original iron-hulled, horse-drawn barge, built in 1819, was used to transport passengers on the Monkland Canal between Coatbridge and Glasgow, and changed the face of shipbuilding by proving that an iron-hulled vessel could stay afloat.

Vulcan was scrapped in 1873, but the replica was built in 1988 by Govan Shipbuilders and was exhibited at the Glasgow Garden Festival before coming to Summerlee. Where it was restored and craned into its present position on the museum’s section of the Monkland Canal in March 2014 to allow internal fitting out to take place.

The £300,000 restoration project involved Scottish Canals, Scottish Waterways Trust, North Lanarkshire Council, Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Sustrans and Calderbank Conservation Society.

Hilary Howatt said: “Both Tony and I were very proud to have been invited to launch the refurbished barge, the original of which changed the face of shipbuilding worldwide. Our greatgreat-great grandfather, Thomas Wilson, would have been proud to have been here, especially as

Hilary and Tony Howatt meet an appropriately dressed Pat McMahon of the Summerlee staff.

PHOTO: HUGH DOUGHERTY

Thomas Wilson’s descendants Tony and Hilary Howatt and David Wilson on board Vulcan.

PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

so many people told him that iron could never float!

He proved them wrong and the replica boat will keep his memory alive.”

The launch of the replica came on the same day that Historic Scotland announced the scheduling of the remaining sections of the Monkland Canal as a historic monument.

The interior has been fitted out as a canal heritage centre and classroom. PHOTO: HUGH DOUGHERTY

Historic lighthouse tender ship joins Britannia as ‘boatique’ hotel A FORMER lighthouse tender vessel is to be berthed alongside the Royal Yacht Britannia at Leith and converted into what the Britannia Trust describes as the UK’s first ‘boatique’ hotel in a £1 million project due for completion in 2016.

MV Windsor Castle, launched in 1963 as the last ship to be built at the Glasgow Blythswood yard, served with the Northern Lighthouse Board for 36 years as the Fingal, working out of Oban until 1993, and finishing its career with the board, servicing lighthouses and bouys, at Stromness.

It has been bought by the Britannia Trust from current owner, Tamahine Shipping, and brought to Leith from a berth on Cornwall’s River Fal, before being converted into a 25 bedroom floating hotel, and docked permanently beside the Royal Yacht.

MV Windsor Castle waiting to be moved from its berth on the River Fal for Leith. PHOTO COURTESY BRITANNIA TRUST Britannia Trust chief executive Bob Downie said: “We are delighted to have been able to acquire and conserve this historic and iconic ship. It will

enhance what we offer at Leith and I am particularly happy as, growing up in Oban, I would often see MV Fingal leaving there on lighthouse duties.”

Best ever July for Falkirk Wheel THE Falkirk Wheel broke its visitor numbers records in July, with 90,000 enjoying the world’s only rotating boat lift.

This raised the total visitor numbers since the attraction was opened in 2002 by The Queen to a staggering 5.5 million.

July’s totals were up 30% on the same month in 2013 and bosses say the opening of the nearby Kelpie giant horse head structures has helped bring visitors to the wheel as they enjoy a combined, canal day out in the Falkirk area.

A £200,000 boost for the towpath linking the structures with an improved, all-weather surface was launched at the end of July, making reaching the attractions by bike or on foot even easier. ● Towpath Treasure, P106

ON SCOTTISH WATERS with Hugh Dougherty 105

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Greenock waterway is a cut above

Water weekend for Kirkie Canal Festival AN ESTIMATED 30,000 people enjoyed the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival, which ran in ‘Scotland’s Canal Capital’ from August 18-24.

It was the biggest festival to take place in, on and around the Forth & Clyde Canal.

Boat trips were provided by the Forth & Clyde Canal Society and the Seagull Trust, while street theatre, WaterRollerz, food and drink, Zumba, Sixties bands and a funfair added to the atmosphere.

East Dunbartonshire Council leader Rhondda Geekie said: “This year’s

Living up to the title of Scotland’s Canal Capital as crowds throng Kirkintilloch.

PHOTOS: EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL AND KIRKINTILLOCH & DISTRICT CLASSIC VEHICLE CLUB

The Forth & Clyde Canal Society’s Janet Telford provided trips on the canal.

Kirkintilloch Canal Festival was bigger and better than ever and I was delighted that so many people flocked to the town centre to take part.”

Katie Hughes, Scottish Canals director of estates, added: “It went fantastically well and the ‘Canal Capital of Scotland’ is a key location in the redevelopment of the lowlands network. We recently completed eight new residential moorings at the Kirkintilloch marina, and one mooring was sold during the festival.”

Organisers say next year’s festival is already being planned, with an even bigger and better event promised under a drive for year-on-year improvement.

Commonwealth flotilla makes maritime history The cut on its way along the hillside, showing half-size ‘towpath’ and water channel. PHOTOS: HUGH DOUGHERTY

Hugh Dougherty visits a monument to waterway engineering with the characteristics of a canal.

YOU could mistake the five-and-a-halfmile waterway which runs high above the Clyde estuary linking Loch Thom with Greenock as a half-scale canal.

It comes complete with bridges, towpaths, cuttings and even water wasters, the ingenious devices which maintained canal water levels, so visitors can be forgiven for mistaking the Greenock Cut – to give this fine example of Victorian engineering its proper name – for a canal.

But this is a specialised waterway, built between 1825 and 1827 by Scots engineer, Robert Thom, using the best canal building techniques of the day, to bring fresh water to the people of growing Greenock, as well as water power for its sugar mills.

The cut was built for just over £90,000 in the money of the day. Wild, Irish canal navvies, camped up on the hills,

toiling with pickaxe and shovels, built it.

It was not built primarily for navigation but did carry dignitaries on its opening day by boat along its length. And, throughout its time as Greenock’s principal water supply, until it was replaced by a tunnel in 1971, its channel was used to transport men and materials keeping the waterway watertight.

A listed monument, the cut’s full story is told in the Clyde Muirshiel Park Greenock Cut Visitor Centre, close to Loch Thom. Displays include a bust of Robert Thom, who gave his name to the artificial loch built as a reservoir, the history of the waterway, and a plaque presented by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2012.

Breathtaking views

Today, the cut is a popular walking and cycling route, offering breathtaking views north to Ben Lomond and Ailsa Craig to the south. Despite being close to bustling Greenock, the capital of Inverclyde, the cut snakes its way on embankments and through cuttings high in the hills, giving the illusion of being remote, and it’s not hard to imagine the navvies battling the elements as much as rocks and bog land to build the perfectly engineered survivor.

You can see the remains of small lodges with fireplaces, built to house workers in the severest weather. They lit fires and broke the ice to ensure that Greenock’s water supply didn’t freeze up. Like the water waster and bridges built to allow farmers access to mountain grazing, the lodges are built in neat stone, quarried locally, and all to the cut’s ‘house style’, insisted on by

The water waster building, built in the house style of the waterway.

Masts, masts and more masts, as the flotilla nears the Riverside Museum.

PHOTO: HUGH DOUGHERTY

Inside the water waster, excess water flows from the channel via the pipes into the bucket. When the bucket fills, it pulls a plug out of the channel wall, seen to the rear, and releases the excess water, keeping the level safe. engineer Thom to show that his work was made to last.

The Greenock Cut shouldn’t be missed if you’re in the area. It’s a wonderful example of Victorian waterway engineering at its best. And it’s like a scale-model canal, showing just how proficient waterway engineers and navvies alike had become by 1825, the very year that the first train ran from Stockton to Darlington.

That sounded the beginning of the end of the first canal age, but the Greenock Cut is still there, water running and waiting to be discovered.

Don’t miss it.

Walkers on the cut, with the Highland hills in the distance.

THE largest flotilla on the Clyde made maritime history when 250 vessels of all sizes, vintage and modern, working and leisure, made their way from Greenock to Glasgow’s Pacific Quay, as part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations.

Led by CalMac’s latest vessel – the 2013-launched, Clyde-built and diesel-electric hybrid car ferry, Lochinvar – the flotilla was organised by RYA Scotland, which pulled together the 250 craft and organised berthing facilities at Pacific Quay.

Crowds lined the banks of the river to cheer the ships, with a special salvo on their horns as the flotilla passed Glasgow’s Tall Ship, Glenlee, moored at the city’s Riverside Museum, where crowds had gathered to greet the vessels.

Investment brings home comforts to the Crinan Canal Boaters visiting the Crinan Canal, “Britain’s most beautiful shortcut”, can now enjoy all the comforts of home alongside its breathtaking scenery after the official opening of a new facilities building.

The modern, environmentally friendly block at Crinan Basin features toilets, showers, a laundry room and an outside terrace... all with full disabled access. The opening of the block marks a significant upgrade to boaters’ facilities on the popular waterway.

The £360,000 project, undertaken

by Scottish Canals and partly funded by the European Union, is an

Looking across to the sea lock from above the new facilities at Crinan.

PHOTOS: SCOTTISH CANALS

Crinan Canal waterway manager Joe Murphy, David Adams McGilp of Visit Scotland, Garry Martin and Joy Harron of Sail West – MalinWaters, and Alec Howie of Scottish Canals officially open the new facilities block. outcome of the Sail West – MalinWaters marine tourism initiative, which is designed to promote the west coast of Scotland, Northern Ireland and North West Ireland as a worldclass sailing destination.

Joe Murphy, Crinan Canal waterway manager at Scottish Canals, said: “The new facilities block is a fantastic addition to the area that will have a positive impact on both the local economy and the comfort of those who visit the waterway.”

The new block has been specifically designed to fit with the picturesque beauty of the surrounding woodlands and waterway using an innovative Sedum living roof system and Scottish larch panelling, as well as a range of low and zero carbon technologies such as LED lighting, warmth recovery systems and under floor heating.

106 TOWPATH TREASURES

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Falkirk Wheel

The 8th wonder of the waterways

Words: PHILLIPPA GREENWOOD Images: MARTINE O’CALLAGHAN

FALKIRK did the impossible when it grabbed an old cliché and really did ‘reinvent the wheel’.

This unassuming patch in Scotland gave the globe a wheel of monumental structure – a masterpiece to commemorate the modernity of Britain’s canals in this millennium. When the Queen opened the Falkirk Wheel in 2002, she unveiled the world’s first rotating boat lift.

No one knows exactly when mankind first invented the wheel, but it was unarguably one of the most vital human discoveries. Ancient history tells us potters were using wheels by 3500BC and Sumeria used wheeled vehicles soon after. The wheel became the basis of travel – and today, at Falkirk, even a boat needs a wheel if it is to venture the impossible 115ft gap between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal.

One of the trip boats can be seen at the top of the wheel.

The two canals were once linked by a flight of 11 locks at Falkirk, but these were closed and dismantled in 1933. From then on, boats were left to simply ‘mind the gap’. That was until the ambitious plan by British Waterways (now Scottish Canals in Scotland, Canal & River Trust in England and Wales) to rebuild a link unbridled the passions of designers and architects.

A mad melting pot of ferocious fundraising, art and invention led to the phenomenal success of the Falkirk Wheel. The project cost £17.5 million and it took more than 1000 craftsmen and over 1200 tons of steel to build the wheel. The structure was first assembled at Butterley Engineering’s steelworks. Then it was dismantled and taken by a fleet of 35 lorries to Falkirk to be built on site. After 14,000 bolts had been tightened by hand, the

Trip boat Antonine approaching the wheel from the Union Canal.

wheel was ready to go to work.

How the wheel works is mysteriously simple. There are two gondolas full of water – one at the upper level and one at the lower level – and when a canal boat enters the upper gondola to be lowered to the basin below, the lower gondola simultaneously rises.

The elementary physics of the process echos Archimedes’ ‘principle of displacement’. When a boat enters a gondola that is full of water, it spills water and the remaining total mass of the gondola and the boat always balances the same weight. Cogs and wheels give the gondolas a smooth ride up and down. The giant wheel stands 115ft tall and yet uses a mouse-sized 1.5kWh of energy to turn. Ten hydraulic motors in the central spine of the wheel provide the electricity needed to turn the wheel.

Cogs and wheels give the gondolas a smooth ride up and down.

The lift takes 15 minutes to rise, and travellers then follow a route through the 590ft Rough Castle Tunnel under the historic Antonine Wall. After a descent on the wheel, there’s a visitor centre in the basin where you can take as much time as you like exploring.

Scotland’s heritage is riddled with tartan bravery, and this wheel holds echoes of wild cries and a gutsy landscape. It’s become a top tourist attraction with more than half a million people making the pilgrimage each year to witness the meeting of two canals in the hands of this millennium’s marvel.

TOWPATH TREASURES/ANGLING 107

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The Towpath Angler

Our monthly look at the angling scene

The Falkirk Wheel and visitor centre.

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.

www.coolcanals.com

The wheel in motion.

THE family holiday season has once again ensured that fewer meetings are arranged in that period than is usually the case. At least it provides a useful window to get on with other things. My wife is certainly a bit happier to see that one or two longstanding jobs have been done so I have notched up some Brownie points.

I have attended a couple of local meetings in recent weeks and certain individuals, interestingly not involved with any recreational activities along our waterways, raised the issue about conflict between users and, at one of these meetings, this led to a pretty heated debate.

It became obvious to me quite quickly that the person raising the issue clearly never sets foot on a towpath or takes a boat along the canal. Much of what was said was based on hearsay.

The reality is, of course, that there is minimal conflict these days. Generally most users are mindful that the space is there to be shared and so respect others. Sadly, every group has a few participants who believe they have a divine right to do exactly as they want irrespective of its impact on the rest of us.

I guess each sector of the user community needs to identify its ‘rogue element’ and bring pressure to bear on them to either change their ways or go elsewhere. I know I have made the point before but remain adamant that the Canal & River Trust itself has a major part to play in the elimination of conflict.

One of the key ways is to ensure that bankside vegetation is regularly maintained. This enables good visibility along the waterway so everyone can see each other in reasonable time. Good, clear signage would also be a great help.

Right priorities

On the Forth & Clyde Canal approaching the Falkirk Wheel.

FACT FILE Falkirk Wheel One of the modern wonders of the waterways. Open daily. Entry free to visitor centre, grounds, cafe and gift shop. Charge for boat trips.

Wheelchair access. Water Activity Zone beneath the wheel, children’s play park and nature trail, woodland walks and cycle hire.

08700 500208 www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk

from Bowling Basin to the Falkirk Wheel, and then takes the Union Canal towpath from the Falkirk Wheel to Edinburgh Quay. Sustrans National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 754 follows the Forth & Clyde Canal towpath all the way from Clydebank through to Falkirk, and then takes the Union Canal towpath from Falkirk through to Slateford Aqueduct before joining Route 75.

Location Falkirk OS Grid ref: NS852801 Canal: Forth & Clyde / Union Canals

By boat Nearest boat hire: ABC Boat Hire, Falkirk. Holiday boat hire: 0330 333 0590 www.abcboathire.com Black Prince Narrowboat Holidays, Falkirk. Holiday boat hire: 01527 575115 www.black-prince.com Capercaillie Cruisers, Falkirk.

How to get there By train Nearest railway stations are Falkirk Grahamston and Falkirk High National Rail Enquiries: 08457 484950 Scotrail: 0330 303 0111 www.scotrail.com By bus Traveline Scotland: 0871 2002233 By car Large car park (charge) On foot or bicycle The Forth to Firth Canal Pathway (total trail 66 miles) follows the Forth & Clyde Canal towpath all the way

Holiday boat hire: 01324 627212 www.capercailliecruisers.co.uk Marine Cruises, Falkirk. Holiday boat hire: 01244 373911 www.marinecruises.co.uk Charter Hotel Boat Willow, Falkirk.

Private charter boat: 07702 242100 www.hotelnarrowboat.com Boat Trip: The Falkirk Wheel makes enough of a statement from the ground, but take a one-hour boat trip and get a boat’s eye view from inside the wheel. Two glass-topped trip boats, Antonine and Archimedes, take you on the journey between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal above.

Moorings There are plenty of visitor moorings available along the Forth & Clyde Canal Local Tourist info Falkirk Information Centre (at the Falkirk Wheel) www.visitscotland.com Scottish Canals Visit the Scottish Canals website to find specific local information about the canals. www.scottishcanals.co.uk

Last month I spoke about the development of Angling and Fisheries action plans as a natural follow-up to the survey of CRT’s angling club customers. Clearly it will not be a onesize-fits-all situation as priorities will vary across the waterways. However, the development and implementation will require co-ordination by the CRT angling and fisheries professionals to ensure that the right priorities

David Kent

are identified, that there is proper technical input and finally that there is consistency.

In addition there is a strong argument for the formation of a small group of angling practitioners in each waterway to ensure that consultation is thorough and so help identify the real priorities and the potential impact of any works.

It may also be useful to include ideas for conflict minimisation in the plans.

The National Championship season is almost done for this year and the 2014 AT CRT Stillwater Championship is drawing to a close with, at the time of writing, the grand final just a few weeks away. With regard to fishing generally around our canals I seem, so often, to say how much the weather is influencing sport. Sadly nothing changes.

The unseasonal weather we experienced at the back end of August has certainly taken its toll. Those ridiculously cold nights coupled with the rain have caused water temperatures to plummet. It is by no means time for winter tactics but a bit more caution than would otherwise be required at this time of year is the order of the day. That said when you can find a few fish it can be very enjoyable.

On a personal note I have had a couple of ‘brown envelopes’ since writing my last article but it is too soon to say that I am into a purple patch. September is often a good time for me but I am definitely not holding my breath.

Tight lines.

Angling on school curriculum

PUPILS who have been taught fishing as part of the school curriculum should be heading out on to the North West’s canals quite soon, writes Geoff Wood.

Youngsters at Smithills School at Bolton in Greater Manchester have so far been practising on the school’s own lake, fishing for roach and perch.

Their angling has so far been under the supervision of seven members of

staff who are qualified fishing tutors.

And 31 youngsters were recently introduced to angling on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal on Merseyside.

Four qualified coaches from SAFE Productions of Bootle – a social enterprise company – were on hand to give expert tuition.

Signs at the end of the session were that all the youngsters had an enjoyable time.

Rising to the cormorant challenge NEW cormorant controls were set to start in September as the Avon Roach Project urged anglers to rise to the challenge.

Angling clubs and fishery owners are being encouraged through an Hugh Miles’ film to seize the opportunity to better protect their waters from the ravages of unsustainable predation.

The film features Trevor Harrop and Budgie Price from the award-winning Avon Roach Project in Hampshire encouraging anglers to spend less time moaning about cormorant problems and to engage fully with the new system which can deliver more control licences for more birds over a wider area.

Trevor and Budgie were an integral part of the Angling Trust campaign to get changes made to the cormorant licensing system and secured nearly 20,000 signatures on a national petition that was presented to the-then fisheries minister Richard Benyon. The trust has now been funded to employ three fulltime Fisheries Management Advisors (FMAs) to help clubs and fishery owners implement the new area based cormorant management system.

The FMAs have been out and about over the summer, at meetings with fishery managers and at Angling Trust regional forums, explaining how the new system will work.

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The Wet Web Helen Gazeley finds some tips for making the most of nature’s harvest

IT’S official. This year is very good for blackberries.

Such is their abundance that they even made it on to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, though inspiration in the kitchen has given out for a lot of us – blackberry and apple crumble, blackberry jam, bramble jelly, blackberry vinegar, blackberry vodka, err…what else? If you need more ideas, Creature Comforts (creaturecomforts blog.com) offers The Ultimate Blackberry Recipe Round-up, connecting 75 recipes from around the blogosphere, as well as offering a few of her own.

Out on the towpaths nature’s abundance is obvious, if only one has the knowledge to take advantage of it. Have you, for example, ever thought of using blackberry leaves? Not suitable at this time of year, in spring they make a slightly fruity tea with health-giving properties – a fact courtesy of Down To Earth Bushcraft (www.downtoearthbushcraft.com), the website of professional bushcraft instructor Will Newitt, who runs foraging courses in Dorset. The Wild Food Diary part of his website will keep you up to date with what to look out for in the hedgerows from month to month.

The Forager’s Year from Taste the Wild offers 12 recipes for foraged ingredients.

In Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, Chris and Rose Bax have run Taste the Wild (www.tastethewild.co.uk 07914 290083) since 2008, within reach of the Ripon Canal. Their blog (http://tastethewildblog.co.uk) offers plenty of simple recipes, many for highly recognisable plants. They also offer a set of 12 recipe cards to take you through the year, using ingredients such as meadowsweet, hawthorn, rose petals and rosebay willowherb.

For a trip combining foraging and narrowboating, Float by Boat (floatby boat.co.uk), run by Victoria Johnson and Kev Argent, is offering a short break in June next year, with the tutelage of John Rensten along the Shropshire Union between Audlem and Market Drayton.

John lives in London and is well known for his very popular foraging walks around London parks.

On his website (www.foragelondon.co.uk) he offers tips on sensible foraging, teaches you 50 plants in 10 minutes, and his monthly newsletter gives info on what to pick and where.

Also in London, Burgess Park is a continuously evolving space, named in 1973, but beginning its life just after the war, when a large area in the borough of Southwark was cleared of buildings and grassed over. It incorporates the route of the Grand Surrey Canal, which was finally drained in the 1970s and now offers the Wild and Edible Tree Walk from Peckham, under two canal bridges to Glengall Wharf. Visitors are positively encouraged to forage, armed with a downloadable map that marks the relevant trees, which is available from The Friends of Burgess Park (www.friendsof burgesspark.org.uk/wildlife/wild-edible).

Of course, it goes without saying that it’s possible to get things wrong, as Mark on Canal Junction’s liveaboard blog relates (www.canaljunction.com search for ‘towpath foraging’). His absolute conviction that he was picking Good King Henry crumbled completely when his mouth felt as if it

Victoria Johnson, left, will be hosting a foraging break on her narrowboat Spirited Away in 2015.

Chris and Rose Bax of Taste the Wild run courses in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. had been set on fire: a salutary reminder to get to know your plants really well before throwing them in the pot.

Meanwhile the Canal & River Trust is hoping that you’ll send in your own favourite recipe for foraged ingredients so it can be added to the CRT site.

Email feedback@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Will Newitt of Down to Earth Bushcraft introduces groups to foraged foods in Dorset.

➔

For more information Do you have a favourite website?

Email Helen at helengazeley@aol.com

TALKBACK A boater’s nightmare on the Gloucester & Sharpness I WOULD be interested to find out from your readers if they are experiencing problems mooring on other Canal & River Trust canals as we are on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. Since changing to a trust, our canal towpaths have gone from what used to be a reasonable 16 miles of waterways to what is now for boaters a nightmare.

This Saturday we left our moorings at Sharpness to find a mooring for two narrowboats and for oneand-a-half hours (six miles) we could not find anywhere to moor. As expected in the afternoon the visitor moorings were all taken but other than these moorings we were faced with overgrown banks 6ft high with reeds and weeds.

After changing to a trust we had this problem the first year when it sold off all the BWB (British Waterways Board) equipment and contracted out.

I contacted Nick Worthington and he said at the time the trust aimed to cut the visitor moorings 12

times each year and the rest of the banks six times each year. This is not being done in respect of the rest of the 16 miles of waterways; when we did eventually moor we were faced with a very narrow footpath which made visibility poor for people sitting beside the towpath. It was dangerous when bike riders came racing along the towpath narrowly missing moored boaters and walkers.

Also in the interest of health and safety, if we did have to moor in an emergency it would have been difficult finding a bank to moor to in among the reeds.

It does seem that the CRT is in some areas repairing towpaths for walkers and cyclists; what about doing something for the boater? We pay a considerable amount of licence fee each year and get little for it.

Overstaying at Skipton I HAVE been following the debates regarding overstaying at moorings. I visit Skipton a lot and therefore notice the boats that are regularly moored up on the towpath for weeks and sometimes months at a time.

They often only move 100 metres and ‘set up camp’ again. This means it can take them six months or more to move the one mile through Skipton before they return to start the process off once again. I have been monitoring one of these boats and it has been moored up on the ‘three-day visitor’ mooring at Gallows Bridge for 29 days/nights at the time of writing this email.

A few days’ overstaying can be overlooked but to stay at least a month and still counting is way past a joke.

Skipton is a very popular area for regular boaters and hire boaters; many of these visiting the area cannot get a mooring.

So when you’re paying your permanent mooring fee, think about those that get the benefits that you have in a popular area but pay nothing for the privilege.

Tony Yorke By email

Paul Cantillion By email

A good thing for the whole canal environment

I FEEL I should defend the Canal and River Trust, which seems to be coming in for a lot of criticism, mostly I suspect from those who are trying to live outside the law on our canals and resent the new mooring restrictions that are being enforced.

I love the fact, for example, that the top end of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal at Great Haywood junction is now free of the ‘residential boating community’ which made the place so disgusting for so long.

One can now walk along the towpath without having to contend with smoke from boats, bonfires, barbecues, and ‘recreational drugs’; dog mess and free roaming dogs; a towpath littered with old bits of wood and other boat junk. The towpath is now a delight all along this stretch and if this happens all over our network, it will be a very good thing for the whole canal environment for boaters and walkers alike.

David Ernest By email

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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

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Have you seen a star-nosed mole?

Memories of the Lancaster Canal

I THINK you may find this of interest, it almost certainly is a first for boaters. About five years ago we were doing the Four Counties Ring when, one morning on the Shroppie near Brewood, I rescued a star-nosed mole which was swimming in the opposite direction. The mole was safely put ashore on the non-towpath bank.

I was able to identify the species as I had seen photographs of them when I was a child. I did comment at the time that it was the first one I had seen ‘in the flesh’.

I have just discovered that these moles are, in fact, native to Canada and North America and, according to The British Molecatcher’s Society, there is no record of any previous sightings in this country.

I WAS interested to read the letter by Ken Walsh about the Ribble Link (Talkback, Issue 107, September).

However, I do feel that the “sense of purpose” goes back further then Ken indicates.

In 1983 on May 29 we made the journey from Tarlton via the tidal rivers Douglas and Ribble to the Aquaganza at Preston Docks (marina).

We ‘buddied’ up with the late Terry Tomlinson from Lymm, who had a wider beam GRP boat; our boat Woodstock is a 40ft narrowboat The purpose of ‘buddying’ was in case either craft had a breakdown. Terry was a regular enthusiast for the journey. I think we were the only steel boat.

In 1992, on July 10, along with about 30 other craft, mainly steel boats, we were craned out at Botany Bay, Chorley, on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Lea Kiln Bridge to support the Preston Guilds Rally and again to ‘broadcast’ the link.

As the rally was scheduled for early August at Haslam Park, we cruised the Lancaster Canal up to Tewitfield and Glasson Dock, having a most enjoyable time on that beautiful waterway.

On August 16, we were craned out at Lea Kiln Bridge and dropped into Preston Docks. Subsequently we cruised down the Ribble and up the Douglas and came back to our own moorings at Worsley Cruising Club.

Karim Beecham Tamworth

A jewel in the crown

WE HAVE just travelled back down the Northampton Arm to the River Nene after our summer cruise.

We have never looked forward to this transit but it’s not a matter of choice if you want to venture out on to the system when you are moored at Peterborough. We were therefore not looking forward to it to say the least.

So imagine our surprise when we found that, after years of neglect and in the two months that we had been away, a transformation had taken place. Gone was all the weed (well nearly) and the rushes had been cut back. The water levels were up and a lot of the rubbish has been removed. This made the transit so much more pleasurable than we have ever known it to be in the past.

The graffiti plague had been tackled, although in doing this a

blank canvas has been left and it is already being used.

So a big thank you to the Canal & River Trust and its workers/volunteers for giving the arm some long overdue maintenance. The first 12 locks are a jewel in the crown of the system and the view from the top is breathtaking, so please keep on top of this as it will open up the glorious River Nene, the mysterious Middle Levels and the grand Great Ouse and its tributaries to all those who have been put off by this transit in the past.

Tom Bennett nb Lottie

Editor’s note: The IWA Northampton branch also holds fortnightly work parties during which volunteers have been painting the locks as well as carrying out other tasks. See P11.

Ben Williams Bolton

A star-nosed mole – have any other boaters spotted this or any other unusual creatures in or near the waterways at any time?

Sanitary station next to kitchen I RECENTLY paid a visit to York and found there have been some changes to the sanitary station since I was last there.

The old facilities have been demolished and replaced by a swanky new restaurant; the new facilities are around the back of the restaurant right beside the kitchen. Although the door has a Watermate lock fitted, the door is left open with a sign saying ‘public toilets’.

On entering, there are two disabled facilities, with toilet, wash hand basin and soap dispenser but not a hand dryer or paper towel in sight.

Going past the toilets there is a sluice area (where, when I was there, a wheelie bin and kitchen racks were stored); the sluice is literally just a hole in the floor. It is made up of paving slabs stood upright and a concrete floor with a drain hole; there is no means of flushing the waste away.

I have no idea how this has been passed on health and safety grounds, especially being next to a restaurant kitchen and the door left open.

When I was passing through Leeds, I did go into the Canal & River Trust offices to report this and after taking all the details I was told that somebody would contact me, but that was five weeks ago and I have still not heard (at the time of writing).

Deck solution surfaced in garden centre I HAVE for some time been looking at ways of getting some fresh air into the boat while still remaining secure, then I came up with this idea of sandwiching some netting between two pieces of ply, and a photo is attached.

I have also over the last few years been looking at ways of covering the metal decking boards on the back of my boat; then one day while in a garden centre it hit me and there it was – Astroturf. It’s nice on your feet, has built-in drainage and muffles the sound of the engine. Thought it may be of some use to other boaters out there.

Rory White nb Unique

Jon Reynolds By email

A smokescreen to create the illusion of action?

The Northampton Arm – now a freeway to the River Nene and Great Ouse.

(PHOTO:TOM BENNETT)

Macclesfield Canal – many years of neglect I HAVE just returned from a trip along the Macclesfield Canal and upper Peak Forest Canal (last week in July) from Kidsgrove to Whalley Bridge and what I saw was a canal that has not had any repairs or maintenance in many decades.

On approaching the stop lock at Hall Green, you have to hold the boat in mid-channel if another boat is coming out of the lock as you can’t moor up on the bollards as the canal bank has collapsed into the canal leaving you unable to get within two metres of the bank. It is the same situation at some of the moorings at the Bosley lock flight.

The reeds on the towpath side are that overgrown they come out halfway across the canal, with large clumps of reeds floating loose ready to foul your propeller, leaving you stranded in midchannel trying to clear the weed from the weed hatch.

On the offside, the trees and bushes again come halfway across the canal, on a canal that should be wide enough for three boats to pass comfortably but

is reduced to single file in many places.

The canal narrowboat had a draft of two feet, but as the water level was down by 15cm (6in) along most of the canal, the going was very slow as we were dragging along the canal bottom.

Going through the canal bridges was very time-consuming as the low water level combined with the drag and suction of the narrowing in bridges slowed the boat to almost a stop.

The dangerous practice of not cutting grass and weeds on the canal bank leaves weeds over 2m high, making it very dangerous for crew members to jump from the boat to a towpath that can’t be seen and is very uneven and falling away into the canal.

After many decades of neglect, this canal is in very serious need of dredging along its entire length and the removal of the overgrown reeds and tree branches before it becomes impassable in the not-too-distant future.

Graham Harding By email

I HAVE just read with dismay an article about how the Canal & River Trust plans to address the mooring situation in London (News, Issue 105, July).

As far as I can see, it totally fails to consider the primary cause of the problems – complete failure to enforce current rules and guidelines. Thank goodness the proposal to reward the abusers by offering them a licence to continue the abuse has been abandoned.

I have been in a marina in the London area for the past six years but am now leaving. The reasons are several, but the primary one is that cruising in London is now a nightmare, entirely thanks to the fact that the CRT has completely lost control. Admittedly, I really only know the Little Venice and Paddington Arm areas well, where visitors are positively discouraged. The CRT has allowed the Little Venice area to deteriorate to a state where it now resembles a scrapyard with the entire visitor mooring occupied by boats that are clearly not visitors.

Let’s consider some of the key points in the CRT’s proposals: ● New visitor moorings at Broadway Market and Rembrandt Gardens.

This just means more choice for the ‘continuous moorers’. Since they coordinate their movements, this just helps them. Without enforcement it will not help visitors at all. ● Advance booking facility at Little Venice. If all the space is taken by overstayers who are not moved, how does this help anything? Why just two

boat lengths and not all the visitor moorings? ● Recognising that 14-day moorings do not meet the needs of visiting boaters.

What does this mean? I suspect the CRT’s definition of visitors is very different from mine. Is a boat that moves up and down the Paddinton Arm for months a visitor? Reducing stays to seven days will be far worse for visitors but ignores the fact that the vast majority of visitor mooring are not occupied by visitors. Boats that fail to move after 14 days are unlikely to move after seven.

Caretakers to welcome boats. What use is that when there is nowhere for them to stop. Just a polite way to tell them to go away I suppose.

Relations with the local land-based community is an interesting one. There is a problem with battery charging and generators but this is caused by people who are not on their boats to run engines or generators at civilised hours. True visitors do not cause problems and will comply with the terms of their licences.

I also note that double banking is allowed in part of Paddington Basin. Is this to fall in line with the fact that triple banking now seems to be accepted on the Little Venice visitor mooring or to compensate for the loss of moorings on the Arm which are now occupied by bookshop and coffee shop boats?

There are two major omissions from all the CRT’s wonderful (and useless) consultations; namely, how does it

propose to enforce the current rules and guidelines and how will it discourage those who believe a boat can be “the first step on the housing ladder” from abusing the waterways.

Current consultation seems to me just a smokescreen to create the illusion of action. Is this what to expect now the organisation has made great efforts to move anyone with responsibility for boats or dealing with the general public away from the waterside by moving off its boat, which is now rarely used and occupies valuable space on the Paddington Arm, and populating the prime waterside office at Little Venice with accountants and financiers.

I have some strong advice for any boater considering a visit to London – don’t. You will be extremely lucky to find even an overnight mooring, will be abused by those who have occupied visitor mooring for months and, should you stray anywhere near the limits of the guidelines, will be hounded by the CRT because you are an easy target (I was once told to move in the middle of January surrounded by two inches of ice). On a more positive note, I suggest you carry a big sign that says either that your boat is for sale or that you are waiting for a mechanic. This seems to allow you to occupy a visitor mooring for ever.

It really is time that the CRT in London took its collective head out of the sand and addressed the real issues.

Mike Garland By email

110 THE LAST WORD

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TowpaTH TiTTeR

CONTINUING our light-hearted look at life on the cut

Just as important as the National Railway Museum

WHILE I don’t doubt the efforts the Canal & River Trust trustees have put into the trust’s formation, I am nonetheless somewhat surprised that it has seemingly ignored the fact that the National Waterways Museum – unlike the Railways Museum – remains something of a Cinderella.

I recall writing an article when The Waterways Trust was formed several years ago suggesting that the time was right for efforts to bring the Waterways Museum on to the same footing as other national museums.

But despite many fine words from The Waterways Trust – and indeed British Waterways which set it up with the blessing of the then environment secretary and deputy prime minister John Prescott – absolutely nothing was done. It was for all the world as if the trust’s senior management team was terrified of upsetting the civil service mandarins and their sidekicks by maintaining the claim that the nation’s waterways heritage was important enough to become a major governmentbacked museum.

The formation of The Waterways Trust was championed by BW’s chief executive David Fletcher and when he retired BW was in a far better financial position than when he joined – for instance the backlog of safety related maintenance work had been eliminated.

But with the arrival of the CRT there seems to be a change of emphasis in many basic areas. Boaters - whose licences form a major segment of the trust’s finances – appear to

be of less importance than, for example, towpath user groups and are frequently referred to in less than complimentary terms by senior CRT staff. I have heard more than one manager refer to boaters as “whingers”.

That change includes the fact that the museum seems to be stuttering; it certainly does not have a head of steam and within it I gather there are several factions who seem to be at loggerheads.

I would like to think that chief executive Richard Parry will pick up on this and reinvigorate the museum’s place in prime minister David Cameron’s much vaunted ‘Big Society’.

The trust seems to have forgotten that the waterways kick-started the Industrial Revolution and created the world’s first integrated bulk transport system.

And with the CRT now a charity, surely there are other funding sources available – at least that was what we were told. And even the Government said that the museum’s collection of boats and other artefacts is of national importance.

Towpath vegetation is now rampant – and seeding well

According to regular local boaters as well as visitors, the standards of maintenance on both the Staffordshire & Worcestershire and Stourbridge Canals are worse than for many years.

And I have news for the CRT’s Richard Parry... he is a VIP visitor to the Stourbridge Canal Trust’s Open Weekend on October 1819 and he could be met by some very

annoyed officials of both the trust and the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society over what they describe as the “appalling condition” of both canals.

The condition of the towpaths is such that on several bends it is impossible to see oncoming boats because of excessive weed growth, and the trust’s trip boat skipper is afraid he will meet another boat head-on.

Incredibly the CRT blames its contractors for the breakdown in the mowing programme. Just like the old days when it was everyone else’s fault except BW. Sorry CRT! If you’ve got supervisors who cannot manage contractors they should not be in their job. In fact I would award them the DCM – Don’t Come Monday!

And someone has said towpath mowing should not reach the water’s edge which is not much help to boaters or other towpath users.

AUTUMN brings with it the promise of beautiful hues of red and orange trees, the first whiff of wood smoke from a squirrel (the stove, not the furry creature clutching a cigar), and the smell of peaches.

Smugly waving his arms like a windmill, dad recently set to

work polishing one side of our new fat boat, covering it in thick, peach-smelling polish (yum) and taking half an inch of paint off at the same time. Apparently polishing is supposed to protect the outside of the boat for winter, yet somehow, it seems to have defeated the object. By 2016 we’ll have a fashionable red oxide

Another contribution from Harry Arnold of Waterway Images.

They never told me what a mucky job it would be when I volunteered to be a figurehead on a Birmingham Canal Navigation Society workboat.

Still, mustn’t grumble, I could have been thrown out with the other rubbish!

And an unusual notice spotted

by Brian Jarrett on lock beams on the South Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

I’d recommend steering well clear when the rubber gloves come out – even the ducks in the marina swim away at this point.

Thankfully, all this furious scrubbing hasn’t bought the ceiling down again (don’t decide to remove your kitchen wall cupboards single-handed without making sure how the ceiling is actually held up). Our friend, engineer Dave, kindly stuck it back up for us with a strategically placed lump of wood. Next time he’ll be coming with his nail gun to add the gunnel trims. Dad’s still concerned that the nails will be too long and we’ll be able to see daylight through the sides of the boat like some archaic punch hole knitting pattern.

Fisherman’s rib would look interesting.

Soon, we’ll be waving goodbye to the cracked granite worktops in the kitchen, as Dave has his beady eyes firmly fixed on them.

He’s coming back shortly, hopefully armed with several buddies with muscles like tree trunks and exemplary ballet skills to remove them with care from our girl. What he’s going to use the tops for, I daren’t ask.

Granite can be deadly in the wrong hands, especially his.

Weighing down a boat is a dark art, and any removal of heavy

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

Do you agree or disagree with Stillwater’s comments? Send your views to Talkback (see previous page)

colour rather than blue. Still, anything’s better than pink.

Inside, I’ve discovered just how dangerous mum is with a bucket of water and diluted soap. I double-checked with the manufacturer and told them that they’ve neglected to write this under ‘health and safety’ on the sugar soap technical data sheet.

Cruising into autumn with the canalside trees taking on red and orange hues. PHOTO:AMY WHITEWICK

Is there a boat under there?

Farewell to one of the old brigade

I was deeply saddened by the news that one of the founders of the Avon Navigation Trust, Dudley Matthews, who I had known for many years, has died at the ripe old age of 95.

A veteran of Dunkirk and Normandy, he was a director of the trust, president emeritus. He was also a founder of the Wyre Mill Club and served as director, commodore emeritus and harbour master.

In a new series, former narrowboater Amy Whitewick shares extracts from her online blog charting the renovation of her newly purchased wide-beam boat.

How the other half live

This fantastic floral display was spotted by Les Heath on the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal at Kensall Green.

objects (particularly in the kitchen) requires precision, thought and forward thinking, hence we have been inviting everyone within earshot to use the bathroom as soon as they feel an urge coming on. Filling up the toilet tank is one way to achieve the perfect balance.

Until you empty it and everyone falls out of bed at night and the kitchen drawers refuse to shut, of course.

Cafe society

As part research, part break from work, dad and I recently stopped off for a visit to a fat boat cafe at Bathampton. I daren’t tell our girl that this one had a bigger bow – she might get upset, especially with all the oversized jokes, owners of skinny boats throw in her direction lately. She’s a bit sensitive in that department.

The cakes in this floating cafe were enormous, coming in at a close second to the height of Caen Hill Flight. While I tackled a chocolate one with glee, I listened in on a marvellous conversation about how the torso and legs of Lycra-clad muscled men look yummy framed in the boat’s doorway (you can’t see their heads as they have to duck down first). Someone behind me piped up: ‘You can’t really describe these men as mammals

really, can you?’ Someone else cried: ‘Wouldn’t you class them as gods?’

I snorted into my ginger beer, blowing bubbles and feeling rather like a common mammal.

The ducks in the canal behind me thought it was hilarious.

Apparently the cafe was once subject to a hen party drifting by on a hire boat with ‘butlers in the buff’ on board, and there was a mass rush as the customers raced to look out of the port side, treading in ham paninis and almost tipping the boat over in the process.

In the marina where our girl is moored, the nearest we get to nudity is our neighbours taking their shoes off to go inside their boat. I don’t think I could handle anything more exciting than this. Perhaps the closest we’ll ever get is the marina manager not wearing his luminous blue braces, as he never goes anywhere without them.

I sighed into my glass of ginger beer, thinking longingly of our boat at home and looking down into the cafe interior at the Dutch barge-sized baguettes.

My, how the other half live. ● Follow Amy’s blog at http://weboughtafatboat .blogspot.com

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