Towpath Talk - August 2013 - FULL ISSUE

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Towpath Talk picks up the baton for 2014 Braunston rally

WE TALK TO THE CANAL & RIVER TRUST’S NEW CHIEF

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WINDOWS OR PORTHOLES?

Issue 94, August 2013

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Ex-Fellows Morton & Clayton ‘steamer’ Marquis in the parade of boats at the 2013 Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally. More on P4. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

By Bob Clarke

TITANIC FROM THE TOWPATH P103 BOAT SAFETY SCHEME DELIVERS BBQ WARNING

NOW acknowledged to be the widest read inland waterways publication in the UK with a proven pick-up rate of over 31,500 copies per month, Towpath Talk will be co-sponsoring next year’s Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally and Canal Festival.

The first rally was held in 2003 – three years after the Braunston Boat Show moved to Crick Marina.

The organiser is Braunston Marina

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450 BOATS FOR SALE Starts on

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managing director Tim Coghlan who commented that the rally has always benefited from the support of formerly British Waterways and now the Canal & River Trust in also allowing the festival the use of the towpath moorings outside the marina.

The event now regularly attracts up to 8000 people.

He added: “The popularity of this now well established festival has never ceased to amaze me. It was first organised with the intention of being a

More canal quiet zones

Engraved plaques stolen

THE cost of repairing a lock virtually destroyed by vandals on the 21 lock flight down from Wolverhampton to the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at Aldersley Junction has been estimated by the Canal & River Trust (West Midlands) at £80,000, writes Bob Clarke. It is expected that the flight will remain closed until the week starting August 12 – right at the peak of the boating season.

THE Canal & River Trust is considering further ‘quiet zones’ along the Kennet & Avon Canal following the success of a pilot scheme.

The first zone covering some 150m of the canal between Honeystreet Bridge and the Barge Inn, near Pewsey in Wiltshire, was introduced last November

by CRT and Alton Parish Council.

Signs welcoming boaters to enjoy the area also ask that they avoid running generators and playing loud music, as well as being considerate to neighbours.

THIEVES have stolen five commemorative brass plaques from benches on the Wendover Arm near Tring.

It is believed there were taken overnight between July 9 and 10, police have been informed and scrapyards have been alerted.

Families paid more than £400 each for the engraved plaques before the trust installed them at various points along the towpath. The Wendover Arm Trust is discussing how to replace the plaques to prevent this happening again.

Stourport Marina Tel 01299 827 082 Stourport on Severn

Tel 01753 851 717

River Thames, Windsor

Thames & Kennet Marina

Walton Marina

Tel 01932 221 689

Visit:

www.tingdene.net

Upton Marina

Tel 01684 593 111 Upton upon Severn

Walton on Thames

Brundall Bay Marina

Tel 01189 477 770

River Thames, Caversham

Boat sales at seven Marinas with over 150 boats for sale

from strength to strength. In 2011 we exceeded 100 boats which was almost too much. But the rally has inspired many other canal rallies elsewhere.

“This year 87 historic boats attended which was far more manageable – especially with a number of measures we have recently taken like cutting back the canalside vegetation in the winter months and with the co-operation of the Boat House Inn closing its online moorings for the duration of the rally. ● Full rally report on P4

Repair to cost £80,000

More locations, more choice Racecourse Marina, Windsor

one-off to celebrate the relaunch of the steam narrowboat President which had been out of action for some time while undergoing major repair.

“We billed the event as a Fellows, Morton and Clayton (FMC) Rally after the great canal carrying company of that name whose fleet once included President and its butty Kildare. And to make up the number any other historic narrowboat was invited to take part.

“But everyone wanted to do it again and again and each year it has gone

Tel 01603 717 804

Pyrford Marina

Tel 01932 343 275 River Wey, Surrey

Norfolk Broads

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‘We must all shout with one voice’ - CRT chief

By Geoff Courtney

THE seat in which his predecessor sat may still be warm and he has been in the role since only July 8, but Richard Parry, the new chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, is under no illusions of his task ahead.

Speaking to Towpath Talk in one of his first interviews to the canals and waterways press, 46-year-old Richard is fully aware that the eyes of the movement, from boaters to commercial organisations and anglers to trust employees, will be focussed laser-sharp on his actions, decisions and performance.

He comes to his new role after more than 20 years in the rail transport industry, with London Underground, Transport for London and latterly FirstGroup, for whom he headed last year’s highly controversial and ill-fated bid for the West Coast Main Line franchise.

Some may regard such a background as a solid base for taking over the helm of a trust that has an annual turnover of £160 million and is responsible for a 2000 mile network of canals and rivers in England and Wales, 72 reservoirs, 1500 employees, an army of dedicated volunteers, and a £460 million property portfolio that includes 2700 listed buildings and structures, making it the country’s third largest owner of such buildings.

To others, however, it is a CV which makes Richard poorly equipped for the position. There’s no waterways background or knowledge of how such a trust should operate, the critics cry, and – perhaps the most heinous sin of all – he doesn’t even own a boat.

Sitting in the trust’s unassuming offices overlooking Little Venice close to London’s Paddington railway terminus, Richard neither looks nor sounds like a man concerned that his £175,000-ayear appointment has been met with doubt in some quarters. Rather, he seems comfortable with the direction his career has taken, appears to be relishing the challenges ahead, and portrays a quiet determination to bring the critics onside.

“I have a big learning curve, but I don’t regard that as a disadvantage, and in the next couple of months I will be learning about the job by consulting and talking to everybody.” In a nod towards the corporate speak which is so much the hallmark of today’s executive, Richard added: “By September I expect to add value to the trust.”

He is particularly bullish about the sea-change that took place exactly a

year ago, when British Waterways became a charitable organisation and was renamed the Canal & River Trust.

“When you are a government organisation there is a lot of ‘them and us’, and you suffer from being a part of government. There are no ambiguities now, and we have a level of engagement that is a transformation from what was there before.

“We are not serving the need of the Government, and it will enable waterways to move on dramatically. We can reach out single-mindedly, creating new relationships with people.”

New attitude

At this juncture Joe Coggins, the trust’s national press officer who sat in on the interview, concurred with his new boss: “The way a charity is structured is completely different. We can fund-raise in a way that we could not before.”

Richard nodded. “We now have the opportunity to become an organisation that everyone can be a part of, involving all participants working together on the same side of the table with a whole new attitude. Our volunteers are being transformed and becoming increasingly mobilised, working with our employees.”

He conceded that there would be problems. “Boaters, anglers, walkers, cyclists, conservationists and freighters all have their opinions, and there will always be issues that need to be resolved as positively as possible. But all have a common passion for the waterways, and that is the thing we have to tap into. My goal is to bring that group together. It is not a competition.”

Asked how he planned to take the trust forward and shed the old British Waterways’ image, he replied: “With great care. We must acknowledge the various issues and recognise points of conflict. Boaters are at the heart of it, and it is about recognising their huge potential as we move forward. We must bring them in.

“People can make a difference, and there is a latent goodwill factor around waterways. I am confident the trust will go from strength to strength.”

One area of conflict that is beyond the reach of even the most dedicated volunteer and boater is HS2, the Government’s flagship high-speed rail project that will blight certain canal restoration schemes, in particular that of the Chesterfield Canal Trust. A report on the effect the proposed line would have on this restoration warns of the planned route ‘slicing’ through banks and the canal and even burying part of the canal under an embankment approaching Killamarsh.

Richard Parry, the newly arrived chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, beside London’s Little Venice. PHOTO:

GEOFF COURTNEY

As a former professional railwayman, what is Richard’s view of how areas of waterways could be devastated by the project? “The trust is agnostic on HS2.

We must protect our waterways as best we can, especially with regard to the impact high-speed trains would have on our old structures. Chesterfield would be part of phase two of the project, and we must currently focus on the issues we have with phase one, and we are in consultation with HS2.”

One of the concerns of some sections of the boating community is that Richard has no waterways background either professionally or personally, but in keeping with his appearance of calm confidence in his future role, the trust’s new chief executive is unfazed by such talk.

Although he has no plans to become a narrowboat owner, he said: “I am aware actions speak louder than words, and my credibility depends on me showing that my commitment is genuine and that I come at this wholeheartedly.”

He said that the job was not something he had planned in his career path – although he shies away from saying he was headhunted for the position – and admitted to ‘surprise’ that he was in the role. “I come here with real enthusiasm, and feel privileged at the opportunity I have been given. Look at the history and heritage of the 250 years that has gone into our waterways.”

Almost as a rallying call that could become his anthem, Richard said: “The Canal & River Trust is a fantastic organisation, but is only what people want to make it. Its integrity is essential, and we must all shout with one voice.”

Turf cutting marks start of Grand Western Canal repairs REPAIR work has started on the Grand Western Canal at Halberton, Devon, following an official turf cutting ceremony on July 8.

It is estimated that more than 16 million litres of water flowed through the 23m wide breach on to neighbouring farmland last November. Emergency services spent days pumping water away from the area to make it safe.

Since then, Devon County Council and its partners have been developing plans to reinstate the failed section of the canal and to introduce measures to reduce the likelihood of a similar occurrence.

Further works will include inspections of all infrastructure along the canal, the installation of a water level monitoring alarm system, as well as additional and improved stop boards. Over the next few years, water management and associated infrastructure will also be improved along the whole canal.

The progress of the work will be dependent on site conditions and weather but the current programme is to initially establish a works compound and construct a temporary access track before the main repairs to the breached section of the canal embankment start in August. The embankment will be rebuilt within its existing footprint, but it will be slightly higher in order to provide protection against future overtopping.

This will be followed by the installation of the new canal lining during November and December. The canal will be lined over the length of the embankment with an impervious material. This material will be covered and hidden and the repairs will eventually blend in with the existing canal.

Much of the material that was washed out during the breach will be strengthened and reused in order to limit the amount of material that needs to be brought to the site by road. The speed of water flowing through the canal and discharging at the breach also caused significant erosion of the canal bed either side of the fault. This will also need to be repaired.

The reinstatement of the towpath and refilling of the canal is then scheduled to be completed in early 2014.

Since the breach, half a mile of canal channel has been closed between Greenway Bridge and Rock Bridge, with a half-mile long towpath diversion in place between Swing Bridge and Watton Bridge.

Coun Des Hannon, chairman of the canal’s joint advisory committee and county councillor for Tiverton East, said: “This is a proper milestone in the Grand Western’s long history. It seems an age since the great breach of November 2012, but as public projects go this has been lightning fast.

“Now we can look forward to completion in the winter and a huge 200th birthday party for our canal in spring 2014. Meanwhile our horseboat and canalside businesses are all working as usual. Come and enjoy the Grand Western Canal right now.”

The scheme, which will be carried out by contractor South West Highways Ltd, is likely to last for around six months so that the canal can reopen in early 2014, which will be in time for its 200th anniversary.

This special occasion will be celebrated when the canal hosts the IWA National Trailboat Festival over the bank holiday weekend from Saturday, May 24, to Monday, May 26, next year.

There will be a big public festival day held at the Mid Devon Showground on Saturday, May 24, 2014, with smaller events happening at locations along the canal over the remainder of the weekend, including an illuminated night time parade in Tiverton and a fun day in Sampford Peverell.

Cutting the turf are Couns Des Hannon, Kevin Wilson, Ken Browse, Ray Radford and Jerry Brookner of South West Highways. PHOTO SUPPLIED

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New award and plaque dedicated to Braunston boatbuilding family

By Harry Arnold

Timothy West, aboard President, officially opens the event.

Prunella Scales follows aboard Kildare.

FELLOWS, Morton & Clayton boats were to the fore in the 11th Historic Narrowboat Rally & Canal Festival, hosted by Tim Coghlan at Braunston Marina over the weekend of June 29-30.

It was FMC’s turn in the rotation of fleets with Braunston associations: Samuel Barlows, Blue Line, Nursers, Willow Wren and the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company.

So appropriately Saturday’s opening ceremony was performed by actors and waterway enthusiasts Tim West and Prunella Scales aboard the Black Country Living Museum’s restored FMC Steamer President and its butty Kildare. A pair of boats – crewed by the Friends of President – which are regulars at Braunston Among the VIPs aboard President were regular supporter of the event Tony Hales, chairman of the Canal & River Trust, and Chris HeatonHarris. The opening ceremony was again accompanied by the stirring music of the local Salvation Army band.

The predicted vagaries of last year’s weather which caused entries to drop to 62 (from a record 113 in 2011) was not a problem this year

Presentation of the new Nurser award to Pelican owner Martin Wood,centre with, left, Timothy West and Prunella Scales and on right, Tim Coghlan and Graham Nurser. PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES and the sun shone continuously on no fewer than 87 boats.

This was quite sufficient to keep both the organising team busy and provide a spectacle for the visiting public, both moored and during both day’s boat parades.

Despite the FMC theme, boatbuilding at Braunston was highlighted by the unveiling of a plaque – by Tim and Prunella – dedicated to the famous Nurser family, who owned the boatyard and built wooden boats in the docks for many years, until the sale to Samuel Barlow.

Present at the unveiling were no fewer than 35 Nurser descendents, some of whom still live in Braunston.

Spokesman Graham Nurser gave a fascinating history of the boatbuilding family and some examples of their renowned traditional painting were on display. Graham has set up a website dedicated to Nurser history (www.nurser.co.uk)

Fellows Morton & Clayton boats dominate the busy scene by the arm.

and is keen to hear from anyone who has any other information.

The family name is again commemorated in the introduction this year of an annual ‘Nurser Award’ for the best boat at the event – voted for by all the boat crews. There was a tie for first place and the boat Pelican – owned by Martin Wood – was chosen by Tim Coghlan because it was a wooden boat in the Nurser tradition. Also for the amount of work done on it and the owner’s regular attendance at the event. Martin received the painted water can trophy from Graham Nurser.

Members of the Guild of Waterway Artists always make this event one of their display venues and the waterway society stands and a number of land and modern water based trade exhibits – such as boats from Rose Narrowboats and BCBM Boat Share – made this much more than just a narrowboat rally.

There was free musical entertainment in various styles, from ceilidh to soul, for boaters and visitors all weekend, much of it in the beer tent; which, as always, was the place to be for the real ale, gossip, and sometimes tall tales about boating. One regular attendee said this year’s rally had a ‘nice vibe’.

The results of sponsorship by Braunston Marina enabled donations of many thousands of pounds to be made to the waterway and boat preservation societies who attended.

This year’s biggest recipient was the Friends of President which received £2000.

The local Friends of Raymond also received a donation of £1000 from Andrew Barton of BCBM Boat Share in recognition of Tim Coghlan allowing the company the use of Braunston Marina to host its annual Boat Share Show.

Next year’s Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally will be on the weekend of June 28-29, 2014.

Access for all at the Chesterfield Canal Festival THE Chesterfield Canal styles itself as A Waterway for All, so the Chesterfield Canal Trust was determined to make this year’s festival as wheelchair friendly as possible. The result was a bumper turnout of people whose access to waterways facilities can often be limited.

The whole site at Staveley Town Basin is accessible. Two of the Chesterfield Canal Trust’s tripboats have lifts which were in frequent use. The trust had borrowed some wheelchairs to lend out, the Derbyshire Countryside Service had a mobility scooter for hire and the free connecting bus service to Barrow Hill Roundhouse included a minibus with a tail lift.

However, the trump card was the Wheelyboat Trust. The trust brought its Mark lll version and gave free trips along the canal. This was hugely popular because wheelchairs can roll straight on and off.

The organisers were delighted to find that Richard Parry, the new chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, had come to look round. He seemed impressed at the ambitious scale of the event and was interested in the future restoration plans.

There was a wide variety of activities on offer including entertainment both inside and outside provided by seven bands, four dance groups and a choir plus a clown and

street theatre. Dr Geraint Coles, the Chesterfield Canal development manager, held two very enlightening question and answer sessions. On the Saturday night there was a major concert featuring the very popular Swing Commanders. The entertainment was sponsored by Markham Vale.

On the water, the trust ran all three of its tripboats, two of which were brought by road from the eastern end of the canal – Staveley Town Basin is on the isolated western stretch; the trust is campaigning for the remaining eight-mile gap to be closed.

There was a trip every 15 minutes over the two days and all were full.

Wheelyboat Sir Charles Morrison passes tripboat John Varley.

PHOTOS: CHESTERFIELD CANAL TRUST

Black Pig Border Morris entertain festival visitors.

Work party volunteers lay blocks in the new Staveley Town Lock while the festival goes on above.

Pleasley Vale Canoe Club again came up trumps with canoes of various kinds plus the ever popular zorbs. On the Sunday afternoon the DCC Fire & Rescue Service Water Rescue Unit came to do a display buzzing round the basin with an inflatable craft; first scattering officers into the water and then rescuing them!

Of course there was plenty more going on including the Raptor Foundation displaying and flying its birds, lots of rides for children including a miniature train ride, veteran sports cars and a fun dog show, run by A&S Dog Training,

that proved a fabulous success.

Add in dozens of stalls, eight catering units and a real ale bar and you begin to get a picture of a wide ranging event. In total there were nearly 90 different attractions.

This could only happen because over 100 trust members volunteered to help, including the work party whose members were laying blocks in the new Staveley Town Lock. This quote probably sums up the feeling; “What an absolute pleasure it is to work with such a fantastic group of volunteers. We all play a little part… but together we are unbeatable.”

NEWS 5

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The Burscough Heritage Group team with nb Aquarius.

PHOTO: COLIN WAREING

Burscough heritage week brings area’s history alive The National Waterways Museum’s Mendip and Gifford pass Saturn to join in the boat parade. PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES

Historic transport day adds great finale to Lymm festival

By Harry Arnold

centre by local amateur artists for the festival, depicts the official opening of the canal in Lymm. The much used centre is under threat of redevelopment and the mural is part of the local campaign to keep it open.

With the Trent & Mersey Canal reopened following the Dutton Breach, more boats could get to Lymm from the south and by coincidence the event coincided with the 40th anniversary of a probably more spectacular breach just along the Bridgewater at Dunham. For those of us who were involved at the time, this one took much longer and more campaigning to get repaired.

Despite the very mixed windy weather – which almost caused the cancellation of the closing boat parade – the waterway side of the transport day along with the festival itself was a great success and a credit to organiser Ray Butler.

Visiting boaters enjoyed Lymm’s friendly environment and being part of the festival, and the public, particularly the families with children, were delighted with the spectacle of the boats. The question is: Will the Historic Transport Day become a regular feature of the Lymm Festival and an annual date in the waterways’ calendar?

HISTORIC Cheshire village Lymm, on the Bridgewater Canal, has acquired a reputation for the success of its annual food festival. For the first time, this year’s weeklong event concluded on Sunday, June 23, with a Lymm Historic Transport Day. Along with hundreds of historic vehicles, miniature and model railways at nearby locations, the canal hosted about 25 historic boats; not only narrowboats but also two barges – one the Humber Keel Pauline – and a small sea-going style tug.

Boat trips were run by the passenger boat Castlefield, itself an ex-working boat.

The Shropshire Union fly-boat Saturn arrived earlier in the week to host planned educational visits during which over 200 children (184 in one day) visited the boat to learn about fly-boats and waterways.

Lymm – the next village to where I originally come from – is unusual in that the Duke of Bridgewater drove his canal right through the village square and some of the houses next to the bridge pre-date the building of the waterway.

The attractive white house in this bridgeside complex, seen on many pictures, now belongs to Mathew Corbett, son of ‘Harry H’ of Sooty fame, but has happy memories for at least two of the visiting boat crews who both lived in it and visited regularly in past years.

A very colourful mural, painted on one of Visiting boats line both sides of the Bridgewater Canal in the centre of Lymm at the Historic the interior walls of the canalside community Transport Day.

FOR the third year running, the Burscough Heritage Group brought the history and heritage of Burscough and its place on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal alive for a week in June.

Between June 17-21 more than 350 local primary school children visited Burscough Wharf and were treated to a request from ‘Ma Lawson and Ma Wareing’, two boatmen’s wives from the 1800s who were fretting over lack of boat crew for their husbands’ boats that were carrying coal and grain along the canal.

They were lucky enough to be able to select a boy and a girl from each class and tried to persuade them to come and work on the boats, looking after Blackie the horse and helping with the loading and unloading. What seemed to swing it most times were the children being told that because they would be working away from home for weeks at a time they wouldn’t be able to attend school!

A goodly number of the children had made a grand effort to get dressed up as Victorian boat children, though not many came complete with clogs and a gansey, though they certainly knew about them by the end of their visit, along with learning all about ‘bucket and chuck it’.

They also learnt the skills of crafts for making rag rugs and rope fenders for their boats, how to decorate their processions by painting in the canal art style, and for a bit of fun, making peg dolls.

Sid Callderbank and Mark Dowding from The Lancashire Society regaled an audience with traditional songs and monologues telling the story of the cotton famine of the 1800s when the great mills of Lancashire fell silent and workers had to beg on the streets.

Burscough parish councillor Allen Bullen made the presentation to Lathom Park school for being the overall best school of the week, while Shaun Johnson took the best image in the school’s photographic competition. Despite the rather unseasonal weather, the wharf resounded to the sound of clogs and bells, as morris teams from Newburgh and St Helens added to the fun with the Ukulele Orchestra of Wigan on hand to provide a backdrop of music to accompany the craft stalls, historical displays and guided walks on the history of the village and canal.

Lots of ‘new’ photographs from the old days appeared for the first time, including a view of the old dry dock at the top of The Rufford branch of the canal when it was working, with the carpenter’s workshop in place that is now long gone, this image coming from a person in New Zealand.

The usual local old and modern boats lined the banks of the canal for inspection by the public, with the normal moorers cooperating by moving their boats further along the canal. During the week a full length narrowboat and its butty called in on a return trip from Liverpool.

Plans are already being made to build on the week for next year.

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IN BRIEF

Boaters fined

FOUR boaters were recently ordered to pay a total of £4208 at Cheltenham Magistrates Court for keeping their vessels on the River Thames near Lechlade without valid registrations.

The boats were spotted by Environment Agency officers last October at Lechlade Marina and Round House Moorings, Lechlade, without valid registration plates displayed.

Three of the men admitted the charge and the fourth was found guilty in his absence.

Arson attack

DETECTIVES are investigating an arson attack which caused severe damage to a historic tug boat, writes Geoff Wood.

Firefighters were called to the 1950s ice-breaker moored on the Calder & Hebble Navigation off North Cut at Brighouse.

The interior and wooden wheelhouse was gutted. The boat had only recently been returned to the UK from France and was awaiting minor repairs. A police helicopter came across the fire after attending reports of intruders nearby.

Charity partners

THE PSP Southampton Boat Show has announced its official 2013 charity partners are local charity Teenage Cancer Trust, maritime charity The Rona Sailing Project and national charity Macmillan Cancer Support.

The show will take place from September 13-22.

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Hike in Liverpool dock exit fees

By Harry Arnold

THE cost of exiting Liverpool’s southern dock complex in to the tidal Mersey Estuary via Brunswick Lock in Liverpool has more than doubled from last year’s £15 to £33.60, even when boats are part of a convoy.

This is a popular access to and from the Liverpool Link waterway and the Albert Docks World Heritage complex for visiting craft to the city; particularly those travelling in convoys for the Mersey crossing to and from the Eastham Locks entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Brunswick Lock is leased by the adjacent Liverpool Marina but is owned by the Canal & River Trust and the charge is

payable to the marina. Use of the lock remains free for marina moorers.

Charges for use of the Manchester Ship Canal – often used by pleasure craft particularly in transit to and from the Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere Port and the Weaver Navigation at Weston Point – have also increased.

The Inland Waterways Association’s Mike Carter, the North West Region’s representative, has negotiated a 10% discount for convoys of at least 10 boats using the Manchester Ship Canal and paying with one cheque. He is in the process of trying to arrange something similar with Liverpool Marina for Brunswick Lock.

Entering Liverpool’s Brunswick Lock to access the Mersey Estuary. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Water all the way to Wallbridge

Homes plan go-ahead boosts museum hopes

A WATER feeder channel has been created between the new channel at Capels Mill and Wallbridge Lock pound on the Stroudwater Navigation.

The channel was created using a Swedish designed and built amphibious excavator known as a Truxor from the fleet of dredging specialist company Land and Water.

It was fitted with a hydraulic excavation bucket used to create the water feeder channel through a 30-year build-up of silt, reeds and rubble.

By Bob Clarke

WITH the granting of planning consent for 48 homes on the site of an old glass making factory alongside the Stourbridge Canal at Wordsley, a proposal to build a state-of-the-art national glass museum also on the canal side moved a step closer to become reality.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough

Council gave planning consent last month despite objections from a number of residents and English Heritage which expressed concerns “that poor apartment design would overwhelm the real historic buildings on site”.

Ian Harrabin, managing director of Complex Development Projects Ltd, said approval would allow the company to proceed with the rest

of the scheme, including the canalside museum proposal.

He said: “We’re still working with Dudley Council on that and are awaiting a decision on various grants that we’re applying for.

“We’ve had stage one approval for funding from the European Regional Development Fund and we are now awaiting notification of stage two.”

River bed gets concrete ‘mattress’ The caterpillar-tracked Truxor in action. PHOTO: MIKE GALLAGHER

By Elizabeth Rogers

WORK has now been completed on a ‘repair’ of the river bed on a stretch of the River Thames at Tadpole Bridge, Buckland Marsh near Faringdon, Oxfordshire.

There was a diversion of the Thames Path at this point for a period of 11 weeks during which the work, initially delayed due to weather conditions, was taking place.

An Environment Agency spokesman explained that the strong stream at this point had deepened the river bed and that this in consequence could affect the bridge itself.

Extensive repairs to the historic structure were carried out only last year by Oxfordshire County Council.

The Environment Agency Thames riverbed restoration work at Tadpole Bridge, Buckland Marsh, Oxfordshire. PHOTO: ENVIRONMENT AGENCY During the first two weeks of the work divers laid a ‘concrete mattress’ in the river bed.

Following this contractors working for the Environment Agency and Oxfordshire

County Council were employed to restore the effects of the work on the bank from which the heavy machinery, including a crane, had been operating.

Mini crane cruisesthrough Buscot lock project

The mini crane arrives on its purpose-built pontoon.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED

Lifting one of the lock gates out for maintenance work.

A UNIC mini spider crane on hire from GGR Group took to the water recently to assist with essential repair work on Buscot Weir lock, Oxfordshire.

One of the UK’s leading engineering firms were commissioned to repair two 2.5 tonne lock gates, each measuring 4m high by 2.5m wide, which needed to be lifted out of the lock for critical maintenance work. Built in 1790, the 33.47m long lock is the smallest on the River Thames and is now a National Trust place of beauty.

Surrounding access to Buscot’s lock gates was impossible, resulting in a more unusual lifting solution using one of GGR’s six tonne capacity UNIC URW-706 mini cranes. Weighing in at 7.9 tonnes itself, the UNIC spider crane was lightweight enough to be floated on top of a

purpose-built pontoon and towed 550m along the water by a motor boat.

The pontoon was 4.5m wide, 10m long, 1m deep and capable of carrying 12 tonnes.

Once in position, the UNIC URW-706 mini spider crane could easily straddle the 5m wide gap over the lock to remove each 2.5 tonne gate.

UNIC mini cranes are a popular choice for working on Britain’s waterways as they can easily navigate down winding paths and under bridges when road access is limited, and they have configurable outriggers for working on uneven surfaces and around obstacles. ● To find out more about GGR Group’s mini cranes and other lifting solutions visit www.ggrgroup.com

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.

Going inland with RYA sailability SPENDING time afloat on narrowboats or canal cruisers on the inland waterways is about slowing down your pace of life and relaxing, a pleasure which is open to everyone, regardless of ability.

RYA Sailability supports opportunities for people with a disability to get out on the water and there are a number of recognised RYA Sailability sites across the country, on the inland waterways, that cater for people with disabilities.

Here we hear from just two of those sites…

Rose of Parbold, Lancashire

The Rose of Parbold is a registered charity based in Parbold, West Lancashire, on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

The 60ft barge provides facilities for groups of disabled people as well as those with special needs.

“The Rose of Parbold is completely accessible. Access on to and off the boat is by ramp with hand rails which enable people to get on to the

boat without any steps,” explained Denise Price, Rose of Parbold chairman.

“A further ramp provides access inside the boat where the main saloon area is completely open plan. We have a fully equipped galley so groups can self-cater if they want, bring a lunch or cook a meal. Quite a lot of our visitors like to stop for a canalside pub lunch,” said Denise.

From April to September the Rose of Parbold runs six days a week and runs solely by volunteers. Customers are able to hire the boat for the day which includes the fully trained crew who are also volunteers.

Marie Brown, who brings groups of people from Browns Short Break Respite, said: “We absolutely love it. I’ve been all over the country and always come back to the barge because it’s so chilled and relaxed. You can just enjoy the nature.

Everyone gets something different from the experience.”

Denise concluded: “It’s an opportunity to get out into some very lovely countryside

IN BRIEF

Show offer

MEMBERS of the RYA can buy tickets to the PSP Southampton Boat Show from September 13-22 at a special price of £11. On stand EO37, the RYA will be giving some top tips in its special show workshops as well as information and advice on finding a club, training centre or course and details on how to get started to improving your skills.

Bike and beer EIGHT friends from West

The Rose of Parbold taking a party of disabled passengers through lovely countryside they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. PHOTO: RYA and for people to see and experience something that otherwise would probably be completely inaccessible to them. There’s a lot of fun on the boat and it’s also an opportunity to relax and see some lovely countryside cruising along in a very relaxed environment.”

Pirate Prince, Camden

It’s hard to imagine that just two miles from the bustling West End in Central London runs a tranquil picturesque canal that can now be enjoyed by anyone thanks to a fully accessible narrowboat that was launched in June 2011.

The Pirate Prince is based at the Pirate Castle charity on the Regents Canal in Camden. “We believe that everybody should

be able to enjoy the waterways of London,” explains Charles Brock, manager of The Pirate Castle. “The boat was a culmination of three years of fundraising and was designed exclusively with the needs of the disabled in mind.

“The first thing is it’s a wide boat so we can’t call it a narrowboat of course. It’s a widebeam and is shorter than a traditional narrowboat. There’s plenty of room for people in wheelchairs to move around and also groups so you wouldn’t suffer from claustrophobia,” said Charles.

The Pirate Prince boasts a

fully accessible wet room as well as wheelchair lift to the deck. There’s also a state-ofthe-art disabled steering system and throttle control which means the boat’s goal of not just inclusion for all but participation for all, is fully achievable.

RYA Sailability was one of over 20 different trusts and foundations who raised over £130,000 to cover the cost of the boat. “It’s already proving its worth. When we see the groups on board, the reactions and feedback that we’ve had has been fantastic,” Charles concluded.

● For more information about RYA Sailability visit www.rya.org.uk/sailability

Yorkshire were ‘ale’ and hearty after completing a bike ride along the length of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, writes Geoff Wood. The team of charity cyclists fuelled up on beer and chips courtesy of fellow rider Andy Langley who runs a pub and a fish and chip outlet on a final stretch at Wilsden near Bradford. They have been raising cash for Macmillan Cancer Support to pay for a paediatric nurse who helps children with cancer and their families.

Show postponed

ORGANISERS have announced the postponement of the Waterways World Outdoor Leisure Show due to take place at the River Lee Country Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Audio trail A DIGITAL audio trail on the

history of the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal is being offered to mobile phone users, writes Geoff Wood.

Local voices and musicians tell stories of the rich social and industrial past of the waterway.

8 NETWORKING

SOCIETY NEWS Foxton trust options

AFTER agreement could not be reached on the future direction of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust at its recent AGM, it is planned to hold an extraordinary general meeting in the autumn. Proposals for an enhanced digital display as opposed to a partial reinstatement using one selfpropelled tank will be discussed.

(Plane Informer, Summer 2013)

Fundraising products

WOODEN stepping stones and DIY willow obelisk kits have been made by volunteers at Over during the winter to sell at events attended by the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust’s sales and promotions team. Forthcoming events are the Herefordshire Country Fair on August 4 and Over Canal Festival on August 31 to September 1. (The Wharfinger, Summer 2013)

Anniversary special

FROM a determined group of liveaboards on a Thames island to the national organisation it is today, the Residential Boat Owners Association has grown steadily over the years, chairman Alan Wildman writes in the 50th anniversary special edition, which has a collection of articles from its foundation in 1963 to the present day. (Soundings July/August 2013)

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Severn Navigation presentation to IWA at Shrewsbury pirate river festival

FORMER directors of the Severn Navigation Restoration Trust made a presentation to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) following the winding-up of the trust last year.

The presentation was made at the Shrewsbury River Festival in June in the presence of the Mayor of Shrewsbury Coun Jon Tandy and Mayoress Mrs Diane Tandy.

Severn Navigation Restoration Trust had campaigned to restore navigation to the River Severn above Stourport, the end of the locked section operated

by Canal & River Trust. Resources, archives and remaining funds of more than £3000 were handed to IWA national chairman Les Etheridge by final trust chairman David Struckett

accompanied by former directors Christine Wilkinson, Arthur Pagett and Susan Wilding.

David Struckett summarised the 30year long campaign to restore navigation to the River Severn as being thwarted by difficulties. But, he said: “Although the trust had not built a navigation, it had learnt a lot about river conditions during everincreasing abstraction rates, changing river authorities and changes in emphasis regarding the requirements of fish, controlling water-levels in all conditions from flood to low-flow and hydro generation.”

He added: “The archives we have built up show how we can do things in an environmentally sensitive manner. We

WINNER of this year’s BCN 24-hour marathon challenge was Richard Powell and his team on nb Tawny Owl. The annual event, organised

by Roy Kenn and John Carrington of the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society, attracted 23 entries and finished this year at Longwood.

Runners-up were Tom Murkin, nb Diesel and Dust and Sarah Edgson, nb Canis Major. (Boundary Post)

Giving them a leg up

Canal ale launched

BUCKINGHAM Canal Society is marketing its own brand of beer to raise its profile and help attract new members. Buckingham Canal Water was due to be launched at the Cosgrove Lock Ransom event.

The Buckingham Navigator, Summer 2013)

Wendover website

THE Wendover Arm Trust has launched a new website at www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk and hopes to introduce online shopping for trust merchandise. (Wendover Arm News, Spring 2013)

PHOTO:ALAN WILDING.

believe in solving all the problems preferably without having to limit the benefits. What we have learnt has been passed to IWA so that other rivers can benefit as well as the River Severn.”

Mr Struckett handed a cheque for £3142.30 to the Mayor of Shrewsbury who, in turn, presented it to IWA national chairman Les Etheridge.

The Shrewsbury River Festival, with a pirate theme this year, was staged by

Shrewsbury and Shropshire Waterways & Leisure Group in the Quarry park and on the River Severn town loop.

Dozens of children flocked to the IWA Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch stand for the chance to make foghorns and pirate headbands while adults took the opportunity to watch canal videos and talk to experienced waterway users about holidays, day trips and restoration work camps.

Book profits boost for Shroppie

Challenge winner

VOLUNTEERS are being sought by the Horseboating Society to try their hand at legging a wooden boat through the three-mile Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal between Diggle, Greater Manchester, and Marsden, West Yorkshire, writes Geoff Wood. Enquiries to Sue Day, chairman of the Horseboating Society on 01457 834863.

IWA national chairman Les Etheridge, left, receives the cheque from Mayor of Shrewsbury Coun Jon Tandy watched by Mayoress Mrs Diane Tandy, SNRT final chairman David Struckett and former directors Christine Wilkinson and Arthur Pagett.

Ready to serve ice cream to passing boaters on the River Ouse. PHOTO:ALICE GOSTLING

Keeping ice cool on the River Ouse

AUDLEM Mill Canal Shop recently presented £160 to the Shropshire Union Canal Society from the profits of a book of coloured pen and ink sketches by local artist Sheila M Webster.

Her sketches of each of the 35 historic canal boats that attended the Audlem Festival of Transport in July 2012 appeared in A Sketch of Time, the first book published by Canal Book Shop, based at Audlem Mill, alongside the Shropshire Union Canal.

A second book, Historic Working Narrow Boats Today, has recently been published. It includes nearly 600 colour photographs of 465 of these boats, which date from the 1830s to the 1950s.

The Shropshire Union Canal Society is active in restoring the Montgomery Canal and improving

Receiving the donations are, from left: Anne Lindop, vice-chairman of the Shropshire Union Canal Society, artist Sheila M Webster, SUCS chairman Pat Wilson and Peter Silvester of Audlem Mill.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

and enhancing the Shropshire Union and Llangollen Canals. The donation will go into one of its canal improvement programmes,

By Geoff Wood

FLOATING ice cream parlour Two Hoots has become one of York’s new attractions.

Summer visitors are making a beeline for the gaily painted parlour which cruises along the River Ouse providing ices for customers on the banks and on the river.

Businessman Steve Blakeman built the vessel from a tugboat from Hebden Bridge and an ice cream van at Robin Hood’s Bay. The boat has a serving hatch on both sides for ease of water-borne serving.

Customers have so far given the facility a warm welcome.

Working boaters love moving on

By Les Heath

A HUSBAND and wife team are making their mark on the waterways after giving up their jobs to move boats around the network for a living.

Joanna and Stuart Wooldridge have created WeMoveAnyNarrowboat.com to realise a dream based on Jo’s family background in boating.

The couple live on their own narrowboat, Norma Jean, but spend more time on other people’s boats as their business expands.

The name Norma Jean is as a result of Jo’s passionate interest in the iconic Marilyn Monroe – and giant pictures of the icon are fixed in the boat’s windows.

Jo, who was a hairdresser, and Stuart a driver, started the business in February but already have had numerous longdistance boat movements including a recent one from Rugeley, on the Trent & Mersey, to Harlow.

Pirates for the day: Heron School pupils on board Waterwitch. PHOTO:

LANCASTER

Flying the Jolly Roger on Waterwitch

Jo and Stuart by their own boat Norma Jean. PHOTO: LES HEATH The couple are paid half at the start of the journey and the remainder on delivery. They admit to enjoying hard work and long hours on the cut – a lifestyle which would undoubtedly have received a nod of approval from the working boatmen of yesteryear.

FLYING the Jolly Roger, a coach party of 55 children from Heron Hill School, Kendal, enjoyed trips on Lancaster Canal in the narrowboat Waterwitch from Crooklands Bridge landing stage.

Trips were well organised by the school and split into groups of 11 children and one teacher/assistant to accommodate all would-be buccaneers.

While waiting to board Waterwitch the shore party groups took part in nature walks and talks by the Lancaster Canal Trust volunteers about the canal.

The crew of Waterwitch gave a commentary along the way. Talks on the wildlife, beauty, and history of the canal are a feature of these trips.

Also nearby is Wakefield Wharf where gunpowder from the several gunpowder works in the area was transhipped to Lancaster, Glasson and Preston then abroad.

The Lancaster canal earned its name ‘Black and White’ by carrying coal from Wigan coal fields and Limestone from Kendal quarries. www.lancastercanaltrust.org.uk

NETWORKING 9

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Volunteers join dog fouling campaign A CRACKDOWN on dog fouling has gained extra support from local volunteers in Stone.

Volunteer lock keepers for the Canal and River Trust will be handing out dog waste bags to residents walking their dogs along the canal in a bid to clamp down on the environmental crime.

Stafford Borough Council has also provided the volunteers with banners and ‘A’ boards to put up to warn dog owners they will be fined for not cleaning up after their pet.

Over the summer months a number of residents often volunteer to help look after the locks along the canals and offer information to tourists.

But now they have joined forces with the borough council to help prevent dog mess along the canal routes.

And the volunteers will be helped by the Stone Chandlery Shop which will be displaying posters and will have free dog waste bags available.

The council launched a crackdown on irresponsible dog owners earlier this year which has led to two people being fined for dog fouling offences. An appeal for information has also proved successful – with residents alerting the council to hotspots and giving details of offenders.

Volunteers Ernie Nevin and Robin Daniels who will be handing out dog waste bags. PHOTO: STAFFORD

BOROUGH COUNCIL

You can now email dogs@staffordbc.gov.uk to give information in confidence about people who do not clean up after their dogs or call 01785 619000. Further details can be found at www.staffordbc.gov.uk/dogs

The Braunston Scouts who have been working at Braunston Stop House. PHOTO: CHRIS BURTON

Scouts do a good turn at Braunston Stop House BRAUNSTON Canal Society was very lucky to have the assistance of the 2nd Braunston Scout Group over three evenings recently.

It was their Community Week and all four sections of the group aged from six up to 18 spent some time working alongside members. This meant that more than 70 volunteers contributed over 140 hours working at Braunston Stop House carrying out gardening and painting work.

Any fears the society may have had about ability or discipline were quickly quashed. The scouts were, without exception, polite, attentive to

instruction and industrious. It was a pleasure to work with them and their leaders, they went home tired and a little mucky but they should all be proud of what they achieved.

Founder member Chris Burton said: “We found it encouraging how the younger generation responded to us and their desire to get on with the work. It gives us much encouragement, we desperately need to involve this age group in the canals, they proved to us that they were just as keen to join us.” www.braunstoncanalsociety.org.uk

Community spirit at Caen Hill MOORERS at Caen Hill Marina have had a busy time recently with visits by the RNLI and the local scouts as well as paella and quiz nights.

The RNLI presentation held by John Box and John Maciver of the Devizes and Marlborough branch was a great success raising money for the lifeboat charity.

The 6th Devizes Scout group, led by Scott Coleman and Richard Sandiland, walked down the Caen Hill flight and then watched a presentation and toured the marina followed by a picnic lunch on the grass. They all received a Hikes Away badge for the visit which was also enjoyed by the parents who came along.

Some of the contestants at the quiz night.

Moorers enjoying the paella day with entertainment by the Flower Power Band with lead singer Andy Buchanan. Catering was by the Greyhound pub in Bromham. PHOTOS: CAEN HILL MARINA

10 VOLUNTEERING

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WORK PARTY ROUNDUP WITH IWA’S ALISON SMEDLEY

Old tank discovered by workers

First evening work party in Leeds

MEMBERS of IWA Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire Branch recently spent a productive day pulling up Himalayan Balsam growing in the vicinity of Falling Sands Bridge on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. As well as the branch members who turned out to lend a hand, two passers-by were interested enough to join in for an hour or two, and everyone’s help was much appreciated.

The area had been identified last year as having a particularly extensive spread of Himalayan Balsam, and the massive quantity of plants pulled up during the work party should allow native plants to thrive again in this area. Some of the plants were over 9ft tall and the thickness of some of the stems was several inches in diameter,

THE first of a series of evening work parties organised by IWA West Riding Branch took place in Leeds. The idea was to encourage people to get a bit of fresh air and exercise after a hard week in the office, while doing something worthwhile improving the city’s canalside environment.

Unfortunately rain meant that the planned repainting of the mileposts couldn’t take place, but litter picking was carried out along the first mile of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and some vegetation clearance took place.

Weeds were removed from cobbles and mooring rings, including the area around Milepost 1 where the plaque on the wall records past work by IWA volunteers in replacing and painting the mileposts back in 1997. Some of the volunteers have subsequently

showing just how aggressively this plant can grow in the right conditions.

The work was carried out in brilliant sunshine and the volunteers enjoyed the sight of the steam trains passing by on the nearby Severn Valley Railway viaduct. While clearing the Himalayan Balsam on the area of ground between the canal and the river, volunteers were interested to discover an old tank with some form of water pump, possibly used in days gone by for pumping water from the river into the canal. The tank had been completely surrounded by Himalayan Balsam but is now more visible to passers-by.

Branch members have also been clearing the Himalayan Balsam growing around Mitton Chapel Bridge in Stourport. The branch intends to repeat

Himalayan Balsam pulling stops to watch the train go by. PHOTO:ALISON SMEDLEY the exercise at Falling Sands for the next two years, as the seeds can live in the ground for two or three years, as well as extending the area covered down to Falling Sands Lock, where there is much more of this invasive plant growing between the canal and the River Stour and on the offside of the lock.

Bank repairs and balsam bashing on the Caldon Canal

Pulling Himalayan Balsam from boat and land on the Caldon. PHOTO:ALISON SMEDLEY

Soft bank repairs in Cheddleton.

PHOTO:ALISON SMEDLEY

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch volunteers have been working on the Caldon Canal carrying out soft bank repairs following completion of a Canal & River Trust project for a new section of towpath as part of the Churnet Valley Living Landscape.

A number of areas where the bank had been washed away had been identified

by CRT and the group inserted timber shuttering in six areas identified in the immediate area of Basford Bridge Lane.

The first of a series of four Himalayan Balsam work parties on the Caldon Canal took place in late June, when volunteers from IWA, Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust and the Churnet Valley Railway met at Consall Station in the Churnet Valley. They were supported by the Canal & River Trust in the form of volunteer leader, Stuart Collins, and his aluminium trailable boat. Among the volunteers were three local high school students who had recently finished their GCSE exams and were happy to have something to do at the start of their long summer holidays.

One team set off in the boat to pull out

all the Himalayan Balsam that was growing out of the bank of the canal downstream of Consall Station all the way to Flint Mill Lock, while the rest of the volunteers tackled the balsam that was growing out of the thin strip of land between the canal and the railway between those two points.

The first (upstream) stretch had only small outcrops of Himalayan Balsam, so this was all pulled up and removed from those areas, filling five black sacks.

Further downstream the balsam was so extensive that the volunteers progressed to slashing it. By the end of the day most of the balsam between Consall Station and Flint Mill Lock had been dealt with, although a return visit later in the summer may be necessary to deal with any that was missed along with the smaller plants that are lurking beneath the canopy of other plants ready to spring up over the coming weeks. It was noted that the plants were not as well advanced as they were on the first work party last year, at the same time of year, perhaps because of the cold weather in the spring.

Clean up day at Wheelock Wharf A WARM and sunny day greeted regular IWA Cheshire Lock volunteers, supplemented by a number of new volunteers, when they arrived at Wheelock Wharf on the Trent & Mersey Canal.

During the ‘clean up’ work party in advance of the planned Wheelock Community Day, organised by the local IWA North Staffordshire and South

Work at Lock 51 on the Cheshire Locks June 2013. PHOTO: BOB LUSCOMBE

Cheshire Branch, vegetation work around the former stables and in the wharf area uncovered the former wharf crane area and wharf moorings.

Volunteers also painted the stable doors, and other doors and woodwork around the wharf area.

Volunteers from IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and the Trent & Mersey Canal Society, along with a number of newcomers, also returned to Lawton Locks on the Cheshire Lock flight of the Trent & Mersey canal for the monthly work party.

This work party saw the group undertaking vegetation work and painting the lock gates and railings at Lock 51, which is one of the few locks on the flight which no longer has its duplicate lock chamber. After a good deal of hard work and effort, the end result showed a much smarter set of locks with the cobbles on the towpath once again fully displayed.

Cubs and beavers help to tidy up Ware IWA Lee & Stort Branch had a ‘Tidy Up Ware’ day in preparation for the Ware Festival on the first weekend in July. The branch was joined by the Cubs and Beavers of the 5th Ware Scout Group.

A good contingent arrived along with their respective leaders, and a few parents. They all worked relentlessly, trimming back the vegetation, pulling up weeds, raking and barrowing the debris, in return for unlimited Penguins and orange squash. Ware towpath is now a lot more spacious and comfortable to walk along.

Volunteers including Cubs and Beavers clearing the towpath in Ware. Photo: Les Hunt

Volunteers on an evening work party in Leeds. PHOTO: PETER SCOTT returned to paint the first milepost.

Further evening work parties in Leeds are planned for Friday, July 26 and Friday, August 9. Contact elaine.scott@waterways.org.uk for further details.

Weather doesn’t deter Rugeley volunteers DESPITE atrocious weather with persistent rain all day, seven hardy souls from IWA Lichfield Branch turned out to cut the grass, carry out some more work on the historic tramway and remove Himalayan Balsam around Brindley Bank in Rugeley.

This is the second year that the

balsam in this area has been tackled, and as a result there was visibly less of it. As this year it was all pulled up before it had flowered, the volunteers hope that there should be very little to deal with in 2014. Everyone was soaked to the skin by the end of the morning, but went home feeling it was a job well done!

FORTHCOMINGWORK PARTY EVENTS Thursday, August 1

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Himalayan Balsam pulling work party on the Caldon Canal, 10am to 3pm. Please wear stout shoes and long sleeves and trousers (to avoid nettle stings) and bring waterproofs and a packed lunch if staying all day.

Meet at Basford Bridge, Cheddleton to work in both directions. For further information or to let us know that you are going to join us, please contact Alison Smedley on 01538 385388 or email alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk

Saturday, August 3

IWA Lancashire & Cumbria Branch: Himalayan Balsam pulling work party at the Lune Aqueduct, Lancaster. 10am to 4pm. Meet on the river path (Millennium Cycle Way) under the Lune Aqueduct. Parking is available in CRT car park

by Bulk Road Aqueduct, off Caton Road. Clothing/lunch as above. Contact Tony Dunning 07730 113894 or email lancsandcumbria@waterways.org.uk for further information.

Friday, August 9 (evening)

IWA West Riding Branch: Milepost painting and litter picking in Leeds city centre along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. 6pm to 9pm. Meet at Office Lock, Leeds. For further details contact Elaine Scott, IWA West Riding Branch Chairman on 07980 953880 or email elaine.scott@waterways.org.uk

Sunday, August 11

The tidy towpath near Lumb Lane after the clean up. PHOTO: STEVE CONNOLLY

IWA Manchester members support Towpath Taskforce IWA Manchester Branch members have been continuing to support CRT’s Towpath Taskforce with their monthly work parties in the Greater Manchester area. In May they met at Droylsden Top Lock (the top lock of the flight of 18 Ashton locks) where litter picking and painting were carried out.

The following month the focus moved to the Lumb Lane area on the Ashton Canal where there was a choice of tasks, some cleaned the moss-covered and potentially slippery copings, while others concentrated on a leaking drain, litter picking, and vegetation clearing on an overgrown embankment fronted by a reasonable attractive stone wall.

Some 10 bags of rubbish were carted to a collection point, while the cut vegetation was conveniently stacked among vegetation further back. At close of day another section of canal once more looked as if someone really did care!

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Himalayan Balsam pulling work party on the Caldon Canal. Clothing/lunch as above. 10am to 3pm. Meet at Consall Lime Kilns.

Nearest parking is at Consall Visitor Centre, Consall Nature Park, Consall Forge, Wetley Rocks, Staffordshire ST9 0AF. Contact Bob Luscombe on 07710 054848 or email bobluscombe@btinternet.com

Thursday, August 15 & Saturday, August 17

IWA Warwickshire Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Lapworth, tasks include lock painting, litter picking, veg clearance and path work. Meet at Kingswood Lock, Lapworth, Solihull B94 5RB. 10am to about 3pm. Brian Bayston by phoning 01926 831508 or emailing info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk

Saturday, August 17

IWA North & East London Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: City Road Basin, clean up and litter picking in preparation for the Angel Canal Festival. 10am-12.30pm or 1.30pm-4pm. Come for the morning or afternoon or bring a packed lunch and stay all day. Contact Becky Williams.

Email rebecca.williams@canalrivertrust.org.uk or phone 07799 436816.

Tuesday, August 20

IWA Middlesex Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Slough Arm prep for Slough Canal Festival. 10am-3.30pm. Contact Becky Williams. Email rebecca.williams@canalrivertrust.org.uk or phone 07799 436816.

IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch and Trent & Mersey Canal Society: Cheshire Locks, Trent & Mersey Canal. Painting and vegetation clearance at Church Lawton, Cheshire. 10am to 4pm. Contact Bob Luscombe on 07710 054848 or email bobluscombe@btinternet.com

Saturday, August 24

IWA Manchester Branch supporting Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce: Location varies in the Greater Manchester area. 10am to 4pm. Tasks include painting, vegetation clearance, pulling rubbish out of the canal and litter picking.

Contact Ian Price chairman@manchester-iwa.co.uk or phone 07971 444258.

Contact Alison Smedley, IWA Branch Campaign Officer, for further information on any of these events. Telephone: 01538 385388/07779 090915 or email alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk Information can also be found on IWA’s website: www.waterways.org.uk

11

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Pioneering project on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

By Geoff Wood

THE house market has been on the move in Blackburn, Lancashire – right up the middle of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

A wooden house called The Ark complete with moss and grass roof, has been floated down the waterway on a Canal & River Trust boat, displaying films giving a slice of life in the communities it passes through.

But animals were not going two by two on this pioneering arts project supported by the Arts Council and local authorities. Neither is Noah anywhere in sight.

Certainly the Ark was a real eye catcher for narrowboat enthusiasts. And

many more canal lovers can expect much more art in their local canal.

It has just been announced that the Arts council has allocated £2 million for canal and arts projects with the Leeds & Liverpool as the centrepiece.

Arts Council spokeswoman Deborah Best said: “We hope that the money we are giving over a three-year period will help connect with local communities.”

CRT manager Steve Higham said they were delighted to lend the organisers a boat for the duration of the project.

He added: “Many people see us as engineering based but this house project will show that we want to engage much more in helping communities.”

The Ark is the creation of artist Beth Derbyshire. In 2012 she created

The Ark at Slaters Terrace, Burnley. PHOTO: CAROLINE ECCLES

a sculpture called The Rootless Forest – a boat decked with trees – and floated it down Birmingham canals.

Speaking at the launch of the project at Eanam Wharf, Beth Derbyshire said: “Water seemed an appropriate theme for the house project since every time I come to Lancashire it seems to be raining – but I hope it is well received.”

The Ark moved off from Blackburn to travel on its narrowboat during a twoweek journey from Blackburn to Brierfield, stopping at towns along the way.

At Blackburn and Burnley The Ark was taken off the boat temporarily and displayed to shoppers and workers in the town centres.

Built into the wooden structure are

Creator Beth Derbyshire.

The intricate wood carvings inspired by the Asian immigrants who came to work in the area in the 1960s and 70s. PHOTO: BETH DERBYSHIRE intricate wood carvings inspired by the arrival of Asian immigrants who came to the area to work in the 1960s and 1970s.

On board, films were being shown

The Ark – complete with moss and grass roof.

Canal artist and book signings at Audlem Festival of Transport ACCLAIMED canal watercolourist Sheila M Webster is painting at Audlem Mill on the Shropshire Union Canal on July 27 and 28, during the gathering of historic boats which is part of the Audlem Festival of Transport.

Many of her paintings are on display, and she will be signing copies of her book A Sketch of Time – Historic Narrow Boats, One Day in July. This contains the 34 coloured pen and ink drawings she drew just after last year’s event – one for each boat there.

On the Sunday afternoon, July 28, novelist Geoffrey Lewis will be signing copies of his popular canal novels.

Besides working boats, Geoffrey has a passion for older American cars, and his own car will be on show with nearly 300 other historic vehicles on the playing field just above the canal.

Also on Sunday, local CRT lock volunteer David Williams and Peter Silvester of Audlem Mill will be signing copies of their new book Historic Working Narrow Boats Today, which contains nearly 600 colour photographs of 465 historic boats as they are today.

Theatre in the garden at Shugborough THE gardens of Shugborough Estate, near the Trent & Mersey Canal in Staffordshire, are being transformed ‘for dramatic effect’ this summer.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet will be taking the stage at the estate for summer evening performances in August.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is scheduled for Wednesday, August 14 (gates opening at 6pm for a 7pm start) and Alice – An Extraordinary Adventure will be performed on Friday, August 30 with gates that night opening at 5pm for a 6pm start.

No seating is provided at the performances, and while audience members are encouraged to bring their own picnics, blankets and deckchairs, no gazebos or tented structures are allowed. ● Parking is free, and located a short distance from the performance site. Ticket prices for all performances are £11.50 in advance for adults (£14.50 on the night) and £7.50 for children (£9.50 on the night).

For further details, visit www. shugborough.org.uk/Events/Events.aspx

depicting the activities of fell runners, a former mill worker, a park officer and heritage enthusiasts.

Organisers said The Ark would be providing a programme of educational activities for all ages.

A spokesman for Creativity Works, representing local councils, said this was one of a number of unusual water borne projects which would be sponsored.

She said: “A lot of people do not realise that canals are quite close to town centres – so we will be making that point. We want to draw more attention to the canal network and we believe this is one very good way of doing it.”

John Lennon once sang about four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. Today it is the revitalisation of the canals rather than the state of the town’s roads which could be making music of the future.

Scientific artwork at London Canal Museum

Sheila M Webster’s watercolour of Darley at last year’s Audlem Festival of Transport. PHOTO SUPPLIED A record 40 boats are booked in, making this probably now the largest working boat gathering in the north of England.

The boats will be at Audlem on both days, but the cars only on Sunday afternoon. The whole event is free to attend.

GUIDED tours will take visitors into London Canal Museum’s underground ice well to see a massive ‘particle detector’ art installation.

These will take place on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from August 24 to October 20 for fit and appropriately shod visitors, who are able to descend a ladder into the cool depths of the Victorian ice well.

Constructed from nearly a mile of brass rods, hundreds of acrylic discs, over 28,000 glass beads and 36,000 twinkling diamantes, the massive hand-made Superposition installation has taken months to build.

It will be magically lit with floodlighting, to offer a fascinating insight into what particle detectors look like and the complex process of gathering and deciphering particle research data. The installation within

Beyond the Veil starts summer run

By Geoff Wood

IT IS summer time and things are buzzing down at the allotment.

There is some arguing about saving the plots from development. But wait there is more.

For somewhere in the shrubbery amid the flowers and the bees – the body of a woman, a fellow allotment holder, is found.

So what seemed to be a merry little scene turns out to be the scene of a full scale murder hunt.

But as the plot thickens, it transpires that the action is a hive of mirth as well as mystery, There is some dressing for beekeeping – hence the title Beyond the Veil.

When the second play served up for audiences this year goes on tour it should be universally welcomed wherever the cast roam.

Pubs and halls in Britain’s byways are accessed by Mikron Theatre’s travelling canal boat Tyseley – although Marsden, West Yorkshire, is the headquarters.

Stars are Ruth Cataroche, Robert

Nicholas Coutu-Langmead, Rob Took, Caroline Hallam, Ruth Cataroche in a scene from Beyond the Veil. PHOTO:

CHRIS TURNER AT ENJOY PHOTOGRAPHY

Took, Nicholas Coutu-Langmead and Caroline Hallam in a production written by Deborah McAndrew and directed by Adam Sunderland.

Comedy and tragedy are mixed in for this highly entertaining production centred around allotments, beekeeping and murder. And in the end there was a sting in the tale. ● For the full list of tour dates visit www.mikron.org.uk

the huge ice well replicates how particle detectors are sited under the ground, sea or ice to shield them from particles that constantly bombard Earth from space.

Suitable for fit and appropriately shod visitors, who are able to descend a ladder into the cool depths of the ice well. ● The normal admission price of £4 applies. Guided tours must be pre-booked and paid for in advance.

London Canal Museum at New Wharf Road N1 9R, is a few hundred yards from King’s Cross station, and an easy walk from St Pancras International. www.canalmuseum.org.uk

Floating cinema returns to London’s waterways

FOLLOWING its success in 2011, the new Floating Cinema launching on July 27, is navigating the breadth of London’s canals with a 10 week programme of ‘Extra-Ordinary’ events.

The Floating Cinema 2013 Extra-Ordinary events programme, devised by Hackneybased artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie (Somewhere.org.uk), spotlights the overlooked and ordinary in everyday life and brings to the fore the brilliance to be found on our doorstep.

With a 10-week programme of over 20 free and ticketed events, the Floating Cinema will host a variety of intimate on board screenings, large scale outdoor films for canalside audiences; plus floating tours of the waterways, talks, and an education project working with local communities.

The new Floating Cinema is supported by The Legacy List and corporate partner Bloomberg as

part of Bloomberg East in partnership with Canal & River Trust.

Designed by Duggan Morris Architects as a collection of ‘extraordinary cargoes’ placed atop a traditional, industrial canal barge, the new vessel has been built by a team of boat builders at Turks Boatyard in Chatham, Kent.

With environmental sustainability in mind, a unique hybrid engine system has been developed by Hybrid Marine, to provide boat propulsion and power for the A/V kit which will run on biofuel. ● The events listings and full details of the project are available on the new website floatingcinema.info.

All on board events and performances will be streamed live to audiences from the website.

ARTS/EVENTS 13

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Raft race fun at Overwater RNLI Festival

By Harry Arnold

AWARD-winning Overwater Marina, located below the bottom of Audlem Locks on the Shropshire Union Canal, staged its second Audlem RNLI Festival to raise funds for the lifeboat service over the weekend of June 1-2.

Watched by Janet Maughan, prizes are presented to the winning teams by Richard Maughan.

There were many attractions, varying from dog shows, local police displays, birds of prey, fishing demonstrations, fire and rescue, pony rides, children’s entertainment, to a series of talks by experts on boating and waterway history. There was also a good selection of food and drink and musical entertainment by swing and brass bands.

Passenger boat Audlem Lass – whose regular operation continuously raises funds for RNLI – ferried visitors from the town of Audlem to the marina.

The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly Sunday’s raft race. A hotly contested paddle by teams propelling what you might definitely describe as an ‘unusual’ variety of home-built craft; with some degree of skill, but mostly just grit and determination with an element of cheating.

Winners of this inaugural race were PRG Trailers, with the best dressed raft trophy going to the team from Audlem Fire Station called ‘Hawaii Fire O’ whose paddling performance was somewhat

Grit and determination shows on the faces of the paddlers in the raft race. PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES hampered by a large inflatable palm tree sprouting from the bow.

A stewards’ enquiry was called for by the Overwater Engineers team, to investigate claims that the Canal Cops tried to take down their details by hanging on to their flag and having an illegal tow. As the youngest team, Audlem Scouts made a crowdpleasing effort.

Prizes were sponsored by major donations to RNLI funds by NatWest and Swanley Marina and – along with marina manager Janet Maughan – were presented to the teams by Richard Maughan, the head of the family which owns Overwater Marina.

All the Cheshire Police team needed was a blue light.

Raising funds for RNLI, Audlem Lass carried visitors to the event.

Hawaii Fire O – with a large inflatable palm tree sprouting from the bow.

Strictly come winding contest tests boaters’ skills at 20th Etruria event

By Harry Arnold

UNLIKE the damp conditions of last year’s Diamond Jubilee weekend, the 2013 Etruria Canals Festival – the 20th in the series – held on June 1-2 at the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Caldon canals in Stoke-on-Trent had two days of glorious sunshine.

Campaigning for its full reopening, traditional boats were moored adjacent to the Etruria Museum along the Caldon Canal.

PHOTOS:WATERWAY IMAGES

Nearly 7000 visitors enjoyed the good weather and the colourful sights and sounds of historic narrowboats from many different waterways, with dancers and music alongside local crafts, food and stands; including campaigning displays from the local Inland Waterways Association branch, the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust and the Canal & River Trust.

It was notable for the number of historic narrowboats visiting from all over the region. The 16 were Alton, Badger, Brighton, Buckden, Darley, Dove, Elizabeth, Ibex, Keppel, Lindsay, Marcellus, Nuneaton, Owl, Saturn, Sweden and Thea. Some 15 other boats were moored along the Trent & Mersey summit level, as well as the hotel pair, Rose & Karnataka.

The beer was even delivered by narrowboat from The Holy Inadequate, Stoke’s Pub of the Year, further up the cut by Festival Park, providing a special attraction for real-ale enthusiasts with more than 10 different brews to choose from.

A historic boat parade was held on the Saturday, with boats heading towards Burslem, and a ‘Strictly Come Winding’ competition – to turn a full-length boat in the small basin at the start of the Caldon Canal – caused great amusement. The judge’s points, awarded for skill and panache, were greeted with clapping and boos by the spectators.

One of the aims of the event was to campaign for the full reopening of the Etruria Canal Museum and the future of the historic boats Lindsay& Keppel which are based there. The museum building was open for the weekend and its main attraction, the Shirley’s Bone Mill engine, was in steam.

Start them young. Little Eliza – with her parents Rebekah and Matt – enjoys the festival on the Fuller family boat Ibex.

Andrew Watts, one of the event organisers, said: “It is great to see the weather and the crowds back at Etruria for another fantastic canals festival. Everyone has had a wonderful time and more people have discovered the waterways and their heritage of this canal centre of the Potteries.”

14 ANNIVERSARY

IN BRIEF

Aylesbury update

WORKS to build a new concrete lock wall at Buckland Lock on the Aylesbury Arm will start in the next few weeks according to the Canal & River Trust. It is expected the canal will reopen around the end of October. Following the lock wall collapse before Easter, a number of boats were stranded in the Aylesbury Basin and had to be craned out. With the new Circus Fields Marina due to open in the next few weeks there are plans to crane boats, with moorings already booked, back into the canal.

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Festival to celebrate Mercia Marina’s fifth anniversary

Towpath reopens A RESTORED towpath along a

1.2km stretch of the Caldon Canal has been reopened by Central Shires Waterway Partnership chairman, Charlotte Atkins.

It connects two of the area’s most popular attractions, Churnet Valley Railway Station and Cheddleton Flint Mill. Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership (CVLLP) received £1.89 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the work which is part of a near £2 million project. A wheelchairfriendly boat access point at the Flint Mill has also been created, designed with The Beatrice Charity, which runs boat trips for the disabled.

Men arrested

TWO men were arrested after a woman was sexually assaulted on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal towpath in Kidderminster, writes Bob Clarke. The men, both in their late teens, were arrested in connection with the assault which took place shortly before 3am on Saturday, July 6 near the Tesco store.

Police were called to the store after staff reported that a 19-year-old woman had been assaulted.

Community boat BEDFORD’S own community boat

John Bunyan has been launched by the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust (B&MK) at the Priority Marina. The naming ceremony was conducted by Basil Hubbard, a Bedfordian now living in Norfolk. The new, purpose-built 72ft river boat will accommodate up to 70 passengers and will ply the River Great Ouse from Bedford to Kempston and eastwards to Great Barford.

Ticket winners

TEN lucky readers each won a pair of tickets to the IWA Festival in our online giveaway. They are: Simon Barber of Codicote, Hertfordshire; Alan Hockley of Crickhowell, Powys; Phillip Lewis of Accrington, Lancashire; William Major of Oxford; Pam Milton of Densole, Kent; Carole Hearmon of Harpenden, Hertfordshire; Gill Sims of Chesterfield, Derbyshire; Debbie McGill of Enfield, Middlesex, Sharon Highway of Radway, Warwickshire and Keith Renicor of Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The 600 berth Mercia Marina, close to the Derbyshire Dales, Peak District and National Forest, is 90% full. This year’s festival will mark the marina’s fifth birthday.

THIS year’s annual festival over the weekend of September 7-8 will mark a special milestone for Mercia Marina as it celebrates its fifth year in operation.

The marina opened in September 2008 in the 24-acre Willington Lake, in South Derbyshire, which is surrounded by another 50 acres of countryside for dog-walking fields, a wildlife lake and holiday home development.

Twelve islands or promontories were added to the natural contours of the lake thus creating a green oasis for people and wildlife alike and resembling a series of small marinas joined by wide expanses of open water.

A key feature of the development was the £100,000 planting scheme, featuring wildflower banks, reed beds, semi-mature trees and native plants.

Although Mercia Marina’s opening coincided with the start of the recession, five years later the 600-plus berth marina is about 90% full. “There has not been a single day when we have been quiet,” Tony Preston, the sales and marketing manager, commented. “Once people learnt of our location next to the Trent & Mersey Canal between Trent Lock and Fradley Junction and heard about the excellent infrastructure and services available, there was a fast uptake of berths.

“The area is popular due to the close vicinity of the Derbyshire Dales, Peak District and National Forest.”

The Midland Chandlers flagship store at Mercia opened in May 2010 and plans have been

approved for a £1.8 million pub and retail development in the public space.

A development of holiday lodges has also taken off, with only four spaces left out of a possible 18.

These are privately owned but can be used as holiday lets as well as holiday homes.

Although tourism has been hit quite badly in recent summers, the lodges have done well and have proved a good investment for their owners.

There is a large New & Used brokerage and two companies run hire boats on site: Avante – boat share – and Aqua Narrowboats – five-star luxury hire as well as bespoke boat building and workshop services. There is also a dry dock for DIY or service use. A tearoom and general store also trade well.

The marina also prides itself on its environmental work and earned a conservation award from David Bellamy in 2011, going on to achieve gold again The lodges can also be rented out for holiday lets. with an improved position for 2012/13. The very active volunteer group has adopted a local stretch of the canal and adjoining woods, for the benefit of boaters, walkers and wildlife.

The festival will be a way of saying thank you to all Mercia’s moorers and visitors and showcasing what the marina has to offer. “Everybody has worked incredibly hard and pulled out all the stops. We have definitely done something right to get where we have and that right thing is probably just listening to the people who matter, our customers,” Tony added.

With free entry, it will be a family fun day out with quality food stalls, crafts, live music and a firework display.

The tearoom and outside seating area. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Stove success CONGRATULATIONS to the winner

of the Hobbit boat stove, courtesy of Salamander Stoves in our recent competition. First out of the hat was the entry from Kelly Dawe of Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, who correctly answered that the Hobbit has a 4kw heat output.

Tablet talk

YOU can now read Towpath Talk on all computer and mobile devices such as iPads on our new web based reader. Simply visit www.towpathtalk.co.uk and click on the Read online button.

An open weekend at Mercia Marina. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

Visitors enjoy the sunshine outside the tearoom.

PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

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60 BOATYARD & MARINA NEWS

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Holiday Offers Getting Afloat Bits & Bobs

Narrowboat Rochdale lovingly restored to its former glory

By Geoff Wood

IT WAS the sort of loving care that a vintage Rolls Royce might expect to have heaped upon it.

But here the recipient was a canal boat with a very northern name restored to the highest standard and all in memory of its former owner, a Leeds businessman.

The £75,000 luxury restoration of the narrowboat Rochdale has been completed by Dean Armitage and his team at Mirfield Boat Company on the Calder & Hebble Navigation at Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

The boat is 40 years old and was owned by businessman and philanthropist Arnold Ziff, who died in July 2004, aged 77. Mr Ziff’s company, Town Centre Securities, built the Merrion Centre in Leeds.

Back on the water, narrowboat Rochdale following restoration by the Mirfield Boat Company. PHOTOS COURTESY DEAN ARMITAGE

Ready for corporate entertaining, the refurbished interior.

His boat was originally a company asset being used for entertaining. But it had fallen into a bad state of repair.

Then the family rallied round.

Restoration work at Mirfield, which started after a three-year postponement, took two years to complete.

Restorer Dean Armitage said: “This has been a particularly painstaking restoration. We have removed every piece of rotten timber, all the wood has

Changes at Venetian Marina THIS year has seen a long list of improvements coming to fruition at the Venetian Marina on the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.

Following the purchase of the Cheshire marina by the owners of Whilton, they set about promoting the sustainable development of interdependent businesses at the marina and also put in place a comprehensive works programme to replace and rebuild the old pontoons and facilities.

The new look marina was opened formally by the mayor of Cheshire East in April and the new businesses have been working hard to grow following a period of decline over previous years.

One of these is a chandlery and hire boat operation set up by Phil and Maxine Roberts who have been dabbling in canals for the past 10 years or so. After years of long days and lost weekends in the aircraft industry, Phil took up the task of negotiating a long lease on part of the marina and the refurbishment of a small fleet of

ex-Canaltime boats.

They buy retired timeshare boats and immediately take them out of the water for an underside overhaul, followed by an interior refurbishment, including new appliances and memory foam mattresses, as well as installing Travelsat TV and new reclining armchairs.

Following a repaint, the boats are then kitted out with Egyptian cotton bed linen, fluffy white towels and a few other extras, such as a ‘get you in pack’ prior to being released into service.

Phil and Maxine are also promoting ‘no surcharges’. Their attitude is one of frustration when limitless surcharges have been levied on them in the past and so they are determined to prevent it in their business. Phil commented that they always go ‘all inclusive’ on holiday because they detest the practice of loading prices with extras.

So far, and despite being ‘the new kids on the block’, they are reporting good sales for July and August and hope to be able to increase the size of the fleet during the winter.

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Kings Orchard Marina up and running!

THE hectic rush to get the site of Pridewater Estates’ new marina on the Coventry Canal ready for visitors on May 17 and 18 paid off as half the visiting boat owners signed up for berths on the spot with more in the following days.

Just over three weeks later, the day after the final cut through to the canal, the first boats moved on to the marina, led by The Cat’s Whiskers.

Early arrivals on berths complete with water and electricity hook ups know that the many other facilities planned for this marina will come on stream gradually over the summer months as the contractors, Greenford, complete phase 1 of the construction providing moorings for some 45 boats. So although facilities at the outset are limited, there is a timetable for completion and everyone is aware of this before they move on to the marina.

Martin Lewis is the marina caretaker, seeing new moorers on to their berths and meeting the many new prospects who call or drop by, attracted by the buzz about this new venture. Working from a temporary office, Martin is excited about the potential at Kings Orchard.

“We are in a beautiful, quiet, peaceful location and with some 10

Leading the first boats to arrive is The Cat’s Whiskers, pictured as it comes in under the bridge that carries the towpath. PHOTOS SUPPLIED acres of land there is more space for relaxation than most marinas and this as much as anything is bringing in the customers. When all the planned facilities are up and running there will be very few places to rival Kings Orchard Marina anywhere on the canal system,” he said.

While Martin may be biased, there is no doubt that this new marina is being built to a very high standard on an unusually spacious site in the middle of unspoilt farmland yet close to historic Lichfield. In a busy market, Kings Orchard is attempting to stand out from the crowd and it will be interesting to see if it succeeds.

been sanded and varnished and a new engine has been fitted along with a new steel bottom plate.”

When the smaller finishing touches are completed, the boat, still owned by the businessman’s family, will be giving others the Rolls Royce treatment.

It will go on permanent mooring at the Clarence Dock in Leeds and will be used regularly for corporate entertaining, its original role in yesteryear.

Lowestoft Marina is awarded three YHA Gold Anchors CLOSE to where the Broads meet the sea, Lowestoft Marina has recently been assessed under The Yacht Harbour Association’s Gold Anchor Scheme and has been awarded three Gold Anchors.

Although not a fully serviced marina, all the points raised in the action plan of the assessment report were completed to a three Gold Anchor standard.

Marina manager Tony Must said: “It gives formal recognition to seven years of hard work as the marina manager. In that time, we have made a large number of improvements to the marina.

Now we have won the award, we will not rest on our laurels. We will continue to improve and expand Lowestoft Marina over the coming years.”

● For further information visit www.lowestoftmarina.net

The new arrivals in their moorings at Kings Orchard Marina.

New lease of life for West Yorkshire marina

By Geoff Wood

PLANNERS at Calderdale Council have just announced that they have approved a scheme to revamp part of the Brighouse Marina on the Calder & Hebble Navigation.

Developer Graeme Henderson intends to site a restaurant, apartment with 13 smaller units, offices or space for a gallery at the site next to the local Sainsbury’s supermarket.

It is believed that dozens of new

jobs could be created through the scheme.

Originally the site around the old boathouse was designated for light engineering.

But most commercial traffic on the canal ceased in 1955, although coal continued to be carried to Thornhill power station until 1981.

There has been interest locally in the new scheme for the marina and the Canal & River Trust indicated they were in favour.

Yacht Harbour Association launches new Code of Practice for improving marinas THE Yacht Harbour Association’s (TYHA) 7th Edition Code of Practice which has been 18 months in the making was launched at a recent marina conference.

Drafted and endorsed by a range of experts in their own fields to offer a guide to best practice for any marina designer, developer or operator, it takes into consideration

the needs of TYHA’s expanding international membership, new industry guidelines and with an increased emphasis on the operation of marinas.

This seventh edition contains over 4000 technical updates which have been independently reviewed by legal, health and safety experts and in conjunction with a specialist marina

consultancy, Marina Projects.

Gareth Turnbull, general manager of TYHA, said: “The Code draws on the best regarded practices in the industry, making it essential reading for avoiding serious risks and implementing the most proven solutions to technical issues.”

All TYHA members will receive a free copy of the Code of Practice.

Brighouse Marina could be revamped as part of a new development.

PHOTO: GEOFF WOOD

61

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BITS & BOBS GREETINGS! We moored at the foot of a farmer’s field and later had a short chat with the young man who stopped by that evening. He had his new baby son in a carrier strapped to his chest and proudly told us about the work he had put into growing his herd of cattle. When he lost most of his herd to mad cow disease, he had to start over and had hit upon the idea of putting in the mooring sections to raise

by Rexx & Phill

money from boaters to help support his farm. “I want to have something to leave my son,” he said. We were happy to do our bit with the £3. We also feel like we’re doing our bit when we buy British beef which we love anyway. When these little steaks go on sale (BOGOF), we buy four, grill them all in one go, eat two the first night; save the second two for Beef Yogurnoff later in the week.

August top tip

Phill, our designated baker suggests that you double bag your bread for storage; it keeps longer.

Rexx’s Steak, Chips, and Corn Relish

Marinate overnight in HP sauce and oil/vinegar salad dressing Prep time 10 minutes, cook time 20 minutes, serves 2+2

● 4 breakfast steaks ● 1 cup vinegar and oil salad dressing and 2 tbsp HP sauce mixed together for marinade ● 1 tbsp oil ● 2 tbsp butter ● 3 tbsp margarine ● 4 potatoes, peeled and quartered Corn Relish ● 1 tbsp oil ● 1 tbsp margarine ● 1 tin corn ● 1 medium onion, minced ● 1 red/green bell pepper, diced Bring the water up to the boil, salt, and add potatoes. Parboil (5 min) or until just beginning to soften. Meanwhile, bring a frying pan up to sizzle temperature; add the oil and butter.

Tip in the relish ingredients. Fry until the mixture begins to caramelise. Meanwhile, put the grill pan on heat. Drain the potatoes in a mesh strainer, then shake them vigorously to

rough them up. Remove the steaks from the marinade, pat dry, brush with oil, and place on one end of the grill. Fill the rest of the grill pan with the chips. Fry steaks (3-5 min per side) while turning the chips frequently to brown on all sides. Remove the chips to some kitchen towel and salt thoroughly while they are still hot. When the steaks are grilled to your taste, plate one each with a nice heap of chips and a mound of the relish. The two remaining steaks are bagged and tucked in the freezer to slice (the freezing makes it easier to slice them) and use later in the week for Beef Yogurnoff.

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

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The Bald Explorer visits An Abandoned Canal Reviewer: Janet Richardson

ORIGINALLY broadcast in March on the Community Channel, An Abandoned Canal is an hour-long documentary featuring the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals by ‘The Bald Explorer’ Richard Vobes.

He has also produced a DVD which been made exclusively available to members of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust to help spread the word about the trust’s determination to restore the Shrewsbury Canal and the Newport Arm of the Shropshire Union Canal and recruit more members.

Recalling a childhood holiday on the canals in the 1970s, we see Richard at the tiller of day boat Victory from Norbury Wharf.

As well as giving a potted history of canals such as the Bridgewater from the time of the Industrial Revolution, he presents a fascinating look at life on the cut today, interviewing a liveaboard boater, a retired lengthsman, the owner of the Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct and Canal & River Trust staff.

Shrewsbury & Newports Canals Trust chairman Bernie Jones talks to Richard about the trust’s aspirations. A restored canal would not only bring benefits to the Shropshire county town of Shrewsbury where it first arrived in 1796 but also the lifeblood of the villages along its 24-mile length, shown with the help of computer graphics.

Richard traces the canal’s route including the site of an inclined plane and the remains of a guillotine lock and the Berwick Tunnel, which when built was the longest in the country, He also visits the Newport arm, some of which is still in water, which linked the Shrewsbury Canal to the Shropshire Union at Norbury Junction and even takes to the water in a coracle.

An Abandoned Canal is only available to SNCT members; to join costs £8.50 for an individual and £10 for a family annually. To download a form visit www.sncanal.org.uk/intro.htm (under membership).

The Thames in my Pocket

Phill’s Beef Yogurnoff

Reviewer: Elizabeth Rogers

Prep time 10 minutes, cook time 20 minutes, serves 2 + 2

My kind of cooking; this dish is a quick fix and goes down well with a pint. We substitute yogurt to reduce the calories of sour cream, then, when Rexx’s back is turned I add butter to the noodles to put them back again. ● 2 cooked, frozen breakfast steaks, sliced into strips ● Dried tagliatelle for two ● Salt for the pasta water ● 3 tbsp oil (2+1) ● 3 tbsp butter (2+1) ● 1 onion, diced ● 225g/8oz mushrooms, sliced ● 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce ● 1 tbsp English mustard ● 250g/1⁄2 cup Greek yogurt ● Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste ● 1 tsp lemon juice ● 1 knob of butter Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the pasta, salt the water and simmer (20 mins). Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Add the onions and mushrooms

to fry until they soften; remove from the frying pan to a bowl. Heat the remaining oil and butter. Add the beef strips and fry until just on the edge of crispy. Add back the onion/mushroom mixture along with the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Fold in the yogurt; add the salt and pepper; sprinkle with lemon juice. Cover and turn off the heat. Drain the pasta, return to the pot, stir in a knob of butter, then add the noodles to the frying pan mixture. With my fancy new tongs, I lift the pasta and fold it into the yogurt to coat the noodles. Plate in mounds. Fare well.

Some useful tips on insuring your boat SPECIALIST boat insurer, Towergate Insurance has put together some useful tips on buying cover, not only for first-time boat owners but for those also looking to renew a policy.

1. Be prepared: If towing your boat to its mooring location, insure before you go.

2. Which type of policy: Ensure you cover your boat in the event of fire, theft, vandalism and accidental damage. If your boat or equipment is damaged, you’ll be offered a replacement equal to the current market value. It also covers legal liability for third party claims.

3. Sailing limits: If planning to sail to sunnier climes, know your policy’s cruising range. Standard cover is inland and coastal waters of the United Kingdom, so if you’re sailing outside this area, you’ll need to extend your limits.

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4. Seasonal cover: Some policies only provide cover for certain times and stipulate your boat should be secured ashore for the rest of the year. Check policy limitations – as if you’re at sea when you should be ashore you might not be covered.

5. Boat management: Most policies offer flexibility, allowing anyone to sail your boat with your permission.

However, some stipulate cover is void if chartered, so if you’re planning to do this, find out what’s acceptable.

6. Making a claim: A hassle-free claims process is crucial, so find out how you would have to submit a claim; online, over the phone or via the post? Ask how long it takes to process claims and if it’s a UK-based in-house team or contracted out to a third-party? Is

there one point of contact and are inspections required before claims are paid?

7. Be in the know: If you’re a new boat owner, you’ll need training.

Reputable insurers expect you to show you’ve reached a certain level of competence, either gained through years of experience or following completion of a RYA course.

8. Location and equipment: If, after you’ve bought your policy, you change the mooring location or buy more equipment, let your insurer know – otherwise it could affect any claim you make. ● For insurance information visit www.towergateinsurance.co.uk /boat or call 0800 515629 or 01743 284664

PRISCILLA Frost found that her photographic travels from west to east to compile the pictures for her excellently illustrated book following the River Thames from its source to the North Sea, involved her in more than 40 journeys.

It must also have involved her in a great deal of research. For each of 85 locations she provides information about the origin of the place name and, in many cases, historical information too.

For nearly all, she has illustrated the pages with two monochrome photographs, one setting the scene accompanied by another showing a feature of particular interest or an atmospheric shot.

We learn that Radcot, where the Thames has entered Oxfordshire, is a name derived from ‘red’ or ‘reed cottage’, referring to a house with a roof thatched with reeds and that it was the monks who built the 13th century Newbridge, a few miles on, on the orders of King John and a bridge later the site of a Civil War battle in 1644.

She notes that King’s Lock at Wolvercote, just outside Oxford, is the northernmost point of the river. Further downstream an illustration is of the Coade stone sculpture of Father Thames.

Along the final points of her journey are the town pier at Gravesend, the oldest cast-iron pier in the world and Coalhouse Fort in Essex, built by General Gordon of Khartoum in the 1860s as part of the coastal defence network.

For each location there is also a map. The format is a neatly pocket-sized book that makes a good companion for any riverside journey beside the Thames.

The River’s name, she explains, may come from the Celtic ‘tam’, meaning dark or pre-celtic ‘ta’, to melt or flow turbidly.

The Thames in My Pocket by Priscilla Frost is published by Three Score Publishing, price £9.99.

ISBN 978-0-9564029-8-1

Raising the profile of the Cotswold Canals Reviewer: Gay Armstrong

A NEW book packed with information and colour photographs of the Cotswold Canals which will raise funds for restoration has been produced by volunteers of the Cotswolds Canals Trust.

Cotswold Canals – full title An introduction to the Cotswolds Canals, The Stroudwater Navigation and Thames and Severn Canal – follows a long tradition of in-house publications.

It is the latest version of the Cotswold Canals Trust standard book published for the last 15 years and now with a complete overhaul and a new format.

Most photos have never been published before, as there has been so much progress on restoration since the last book was published, bringing the book bang up to date.

It is a mine of information for those new to the Cotswold Canals and fascinating for the more knowledgeable too.

Cotswold Canals is compiled by David Jowett and published by the Cotswold Canals Trust, in softback, priced £4.95 (£6.95 by mail order including p&p), cheques payable to: ‘CCT Trading Ltd’ from Cotswold Canals Trust, Bell House, Wallbridge Lock, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 3JS. ISBN: 978-0-9561743-3-8

62 GETTING AFLOAT

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Boat design – in the eye of the beholder

The interior layout of a boat is vitally important if you are going to be spending a lot of time boating. Portholes or windows, reverse layout, solid fuel or diesel heating, traditional, semi-traditional or cruiser stern? In the sixth of his series looking at what turns ordinary people into boaters, Peter Underwood looks at the options.

“WHAT’S the best sort of boat to have?” Every boater gets asked this question at some time and there’s only one answer – one that suits you and your needs.

Let’s assume you have made the major decisions – inland waterways rather than coastal, wide beam or narrow, metal or GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) – and now you have to decide what the inside should feature.

This is only partly down to the boat, although length, width and materials used will clearly impose some restrictions, it is primarily about you and your family.

How do you plan to use the boat? If it is the floating equivalent of a weekend cottage in the country and you will spend much of your time on it at a mooring, hooked up to electricity, near a water tap, then you may want a vessel that offers all the comforts of home.

If you are not going to cut the umbilical cords tying you to the marina then it is perfectly reasonable to plan for a lounge area big enough for a large-screen TV, a large power-shower or even a bath in a nice big bathroom, a fixed bedroom with plenty of wardrobe space for the essential outings to local restaurants and a big back deck with space for comfy chairs to enjoy the days when the sun shines. In fact, you will probably be best suited by a wide-beam boat, despite the travel limitations.

At the other end of the scale, if you have a tiny budget and can only afford a GRP cruiser or a small steel runabout, you will probably be happy with a lounge that doubles up as a bedroom, a small shower, enough kitchen space to feed yourselves

Portholes or windows?

when travelling and a radio that doesn’t eat your battery power.

The point is that we tend to fit the boat to ourselves and our circumstances – and subsequently rationalise our choices as the only possible ones.

So let’s deal with some of the key issues:

Wide or narrow?

The major arguments for wide-beams are that they are more spacious, more comfortable and more at home on rivers – all true – and that some designs can actually be used in coastal waters, as Timothy and Shane Spall demonstrated on our TV screens.

On the negative side there are large sections of our canals they cannot use and they cannot travel from the wide southern canals to the wide northern ones without venturing out to sea. They are also slow and ponderous on some of the wide canals, requiring bigger engines and struggling at times with water depth.

Narrow vessels can reach all parts of the connected British waterways if they are less than 60ft long but there are considerable restrictions posed by what is, essentially, a box just over 6ft wide and 6ft high, when it comes to what can be fitted inside. There are adjustments to be made if you spend any length of time living in such a space – and the most important one is probably keeping everything in its place – if you don’t you find yourself falling over things that are just an inch or two away from where you expect them to be.

Long or short?

Simple, this one. As long as you can afford. You can always use the extra space and longer boats are no more difficult to handle. The downside is higher licence and mooring fees as these are worked out on length and more of a problem finding a mooring spot you can get into at busy times.

Traditional, semi-traditional or cruiser stern?

The choice is seen as crucial by some boaters – but it’s all a matter of taste.

Traditionalists, especially those whose ideal boat is a converted (or even unconverted) former working boat, will often opt for portholes on the basis that they were the normal design in such boats. They give more interior wall space, lose less heat and are a better protection in open water.

If you are living in a tiny back cabin as a family and need every inch of space then I can see that portholes make sense.

I can also see the point of portholes in bedrooms where light is not at a premium and sleeping by a large window in winter will see cold air cascading down on to the bed from an expanse of glass, You will see a number of boats with portholes for the sleeping section and windows in the living section – probably a sensible compromise for an all-season boat.

You will also see many hire boats with the biggest possible windows, some even going for a lowered gunwale to get deep windows.

Holidaymakers don’t want to spend their time in a long dark box, illuminated only by small round portholes and an open hatch.

If you are spending long periods on your boat, especially out of season, you will not only have more lights on longer with portholes you will also not be able to see much of what is going on around your boat.

Traditionalists will turn their noses up at anything other than the narrow counter of the old working boats – and it is true that such a design maximises interior space – although a whole section then has to be given over to the engine room. In fact, that may be the best way of looking at the debate – if you want a traditional style engine and want to show it off you need an engine room and that means a trad stern.

If you join the majority and are content with something Far Eastern whirring away beneath your feet, it doesn’t really matter and you and your crew can have a more comfortable life on the back or your boat – although you won’t have the comfort of a back-cabin stove by your feet in winter.

A semi-traditional stern is really just a design conceit to make a boat look more like the old working boats while giving space for more people to enjoy sitting outside as you travel.

A traditional stern narrowboat with its short back deck.

It may be heretical but, along with windows, I have always liked cruiser sterns. It’s easier to get at the engine, there’s plenty of space to enjoy the open air when moored and a pram-hood turns it into a sort of conservatory and means you can enjoy being outside even when it is a bit wet.

Metal or GRP boat?

Fixed or make-up beds?

It is a matter of size and convenience. Some smaller boats simply cannot accommodate a fixed double bed without an unacceptable limitation on living, cooking and washing. You get used to having to make up beds daily, just as caravan owners do, and it’s not the end of the world.

If you have the space on your boat, however, fixed beds are a blessing and leave more time to do the important things, like go to the pub, when you stop for the day.

Reverse layout or bow living space?

How the key spaces on a boat are arranged seems to be a question of fashion. Most would regard the ‘traditional’ layout to be living space with TV etc. at the bow, then the galley, then the bathroom and the bedroom at the stern. If you have an open deck at the bow, and glass doors it means you can sit and look out down the canal.

More recently the reverse layout has changed that around completely, although the latest trend is to put the kitchen at the stern, then the living area, bathroom and bedroom at the bow.

This makes a real difference to how you use the boat with those with a bow living area more likely to use the bow as the prime point of access onto the boat while a reverse layout makes it less likely you will get on and off at the bow as it means trekking through the bedroom, often with muddy shoes.

It is a matter of taste but I would say a reverse layout works better with a cruiser or semitrad stern.

Solid fuel or diesel heating?

You will notice I haven’t even included gas among the options, but by all means opt for it if money is no object. The price of propane gas and the amount used by gas central heating systems in the winter will price it out for most people.

Once I would have opted for diesel as a heat source and we have a Webasto system on our boat – a replacement for the gas boiler.

It is simple and efficient but it costs about £1 an hour to run, given the current cost of diesel. Above all it is clean and doesn’t cause too much dust.

Despite that we use the solid fuel stove almost all the time, reserving the diesel for those chilly spring and autumn nights when we have not lit the fire.

The fire heats the whole of our 60ft boat in the deepest winter. If we are burning wood we have

Wide-beams are more spacious but more at home on rivers.

GRP boats are often more fun and very much holiday boats.

I have owned both – a GRP Viking 32ft and several steel boats – and much depends on usage. If I were to plan a long time on my boat, travelling for weeks or months it would be steel every time but a week cruising down the Avon or a weekend journey to the local town is more fun in a GRP which somehow feels more of a holiday vessel. They are also considerably cheaper per foot and marvellous starter boats for that reason.

On the downside many are a little too flighty in bad weather and I well remember my Viking scraping the massive concrete wall under the bypass at Skipton, held there by strong side winds. I was always more nervous of damaging the Viking than later, steel boats. GRP vessels are also more difficult to keep warm in winter and don’t make good all-season boats. collected from the bank it is free to use. If we use coal it can keep us warm for hours and hours.

It is much more work, it is dirtier and it causes lots of dust. You have to saw the wood or heave the coal sacks, you will get black hands when you sweep the flue on a regular basis.

But it is cosy and comfortable and we wouldn’t be without it.

So is the right boat a narrow, steel vessel with windows, a cruiser stern and a coal fire?

Well it is for me but it may well not be for you. I can offer my experience but if your wife hates the dirt and mess of a solid fuel stove don’t have one, if you want a traditional stern, then go for it.

That’s the joy of boats – they can be all about what you want and need at the time. ● Next month: Do’s and don’ts of buying a new boat.

The narrowboat in the foreground has a semi-traditional stern.

WHAT’S ON 63

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WHAT’S ON

Compiled by Janet Richardson

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

Fun and folk on the border

The colourful spectacle on the Grand Union Canal at Blisworth. PHOTO SUPPLIED

TWO cultures come together for the first Llanymynech Folk Weekend taking place in the ‘International Village’ from August 16-18.

Aimed at promoting Welsh and Shropshire folk traditions, it opens on the Friday evening with top Welsh fiddle group Triawd and Shropshire songs and music from Neilson, Lawes and Soinne. A variety of musicians will be playing in the local pubs throughout the weekend.

There will be music, dance and children’s puppet workshops on the Saturday, including Welsh clog dancing, followed in the evening by a twmpath (barn dance) in the village hall with the Tanat Valley Dancers.

Sunday is a family fun day with a procession up the border, which runs up the village’s main street, a family service, fete and carnival with dance and music, arts and crafts. There will also be activities for younger visitors and trips on the George Watson Buck on the Montgomery Canal from the Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre on the Sunday with folk music accompaniment. ● For full details and tickets visit www.llany mynechfolk.org.uk also available from the Llanymynech shop and village hall.

For more about Llanymynech, turn to page 103.

Bringing the crowds to Blisworth Heritage weekend planned BLISWORTH Canal Partnership will be hosting its annual festival in the Northamptonshire village famed for its tunnel over the weekend of August 10-11.

Having grown in popularity with about 18,000 visitors last year, the event helped to earn the partnership a Canal & River Trust recognition award for an outstanding contribution

to volunteering in the SE Region.

The festival will once again spread up from the Grand Union Canal waterfront to seven village venues, all just a few minutes’ walk away. These will be full of traders and attractions

including pony rides, rural craft demonstrations, two trip boats, a laser arena, children’s fairground and much more.

Open from 11am-5pm each day, there will also be walks and live music with entry, mooring and parking all free.

● For further information visit www.blisworthcanalfestival.co.uk

Family flag flying fun LEARN how to write a coded message using signal flags and design your own flag during family fun weekends on August 3-4 and 27-28 on the Cutty Sark. Drop-in workshops suitable for all ages will take place from 11.30am-1.30pm and from 2-4pm at the Sammy Ofer Gallery. Activities are free but admission charges apply (£12 adults, £9.50 concessions, £6.50 children 5-15, family tickets £20 (1+2) £29 (2+2). www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark

Boat rally invite

STRAWBERRY Island Boat Club at Doncaster will be holding its rally of boats over the weekend of September 13-15.

Visiting boaters are offered one week’s free mooring before and after subject to availability. Contact rally harbourmaster johnwmills2313@yahoo.co.uk and for further information visit: www.strawberryislandboatclub.co.uk

Watermen to hold 50th anniversary bash

THE Middle Level Watermen’s Club celebrates its 50th anniversary over the late summer bank holiday weekend from August 23-26.

Taking place at ‘Skoulding’s Rest’ – West End, March, Cambridgeshire PE15 8DL, the

event will be open on Friday (August 23) from 5pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11am and on Monday from 10am.

There will be music all day on the Saturday with dancing in the evening and open microphone on Sunday. Other attractions

include water activities, boat jumble (Monday), decorated boats, stalls, real ale bar, hot and cold food and a barbecue.

For moorings or caravan parking contact Jeff 07785 787875 or Lynda and Bill 01354 657779.

Boat show and open day at Red Hill Marina THERE will be plenty to see and do at the Red Hill Marina Boat Show and Open Day over the August 24-26 bank holiday weekend – and entry is free.

The weekend is a great opportunity to take a look at all aspects of boats on the water. Come and tour superb new and used canal and riverboats, or enquire about sail-aways and fit outs, with all available boats open for viewing.

Information and demonstrations are available on how to get involved in various water based activities. Clubs showing activities are Devil Elbows Rowing Club and Trent Valley Sailing Club. Or for a more relaxing way to view the river, enjoy a boat trip or walk the numerous towpaths in beautiful surroundings by the River Soar.

Alongside the water-based activities there is also entertainment for all the family. Taking part over the weekend will be Kegworth vintage tractors and the local scouts. There will also be remote control model boat displays, a beer tent with free entertainment on Saturday evening, hot and cold food and barbecue available plus an Indian cuisine evening on the Saturday. Also for the children there will be face painting and a free colouring table.

Boat jumble and trailerable boat sales pitches are available and can be booked at only £5 each. Tent and caravan pitches are free with pre-booking (see contact details below).

Entry is free and there will be a charity prize draw for the local air ambulance on the Bank Holiday Monday.

Red Hill Marina, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottingham NG11 0EB Contact: 01509 672770 Road: Off junction 24 of the M1, take the A453 to Nottingham and the marina is next to Ratcliffe Power Station.

Rail: East Midlands Parkway Railway Station, Ratcliffe on Soar, Nottingham, next to the marina and the power station.

River: Five minutes up the River Soar, just off junction where the River Soar, River Trent and Erewash Canal meet at Trent Lock.

On-site companies: Avante Boat Sales Standard Narrowboats Soar Valley Steel Boats Tristar Boats Waterside Cafe

at Huddlesford Junction

HISTORIC narrowboats and classic cars will be among the attractions at the Huddlesford Heritage Gathering on September 21-22.

Other attractions at the event taking place at Lichfield Cruising Club, Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal, will include boat trips, children’s rides, trade and craft stalls, the Pinxton Puppets, Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry, an all-day barbecue and real ale from Blythe Brewery.

There will also be live entertainment on the Saturday night with Meet on the Ledge. Open to the public from 10am-5pm, admission is £3, children go free. There is plenty of free on-site car parking. Boaters are welcome, call Sue Williams on 01543 671427 or email info@lhcrt.org.uk

Family fun on the Ashby Canal THE Ashby Canal Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital will benefit from an ‘On the Water’ event on Saturday, August 10.

Organised by the British Marine Federation Midlands in association with Trinity Marinas and PTP, it will take place at Hinckley Marina on the Ashby Canal.

The day will kick off at 10am and will be packed with family entertainment. On offer will be the chance to try your hand at canoeing, or the drier option of a relaxing boat trip on board a traditional narrowboat.

Alongside the water based activities will be plenty of entertainment for the whole family, including a funfair, performance race car displays, plus car clubs and a barbecue.

There will also be plenty to tempt you with stalls selling cakes, jewellery, gifts and food as well as free craft and circus activities for the children.

Entry is free and everybody is welcome. All boats will be available for viewing along with Trinity Marinas’ own 50ft sailaway. ● Trinity Marina, Wharf Farm, Coventry Road, Hinckley LE10 0NF, please call ahead for any mooring reservations on 01455 896820.

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Yorkshire Day: Canal basin, Skipton, North Yorkshire. Beach theme with Punch and Judy, donkey rides, deckchairs and lifeguards.

August 3

Open day at Roydon Marina Village, Roydon, Essex CM19 5EJ. www.roydonmarinavillage.co.uk

August 3-30

Artist of the month: by Michele Field. Seasons Cafe at Rowan Garden Centre, Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire HP8 4AB. Open 9am-5pm daily. www.saa.co.uk/art/michele

August 4

St Richard’s Hospice Waterways Walk: Starting from Droitwich Spa Marina following 21-mile Mid-Worcestershire Ring or shorter option (10 miles) from Diglis (Worcester) to Droitwich. www.strichards.org.uk/waterwayswalk Chesterfield Canal Trust: Pirate trips on board Seth Ellis from Hop Pole, Welham Road, Retford DN22 6UG. 30 minutes trip on the hour from 10am to 4pm, £6 per passenger. Children will get treat from Dead Man’s Chest, refreshments for adults.

Information and bookings, contact 07925 851569.

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Regents Canal: Mile End to Limehouse. Starts Mile End at 2.30pm. Costs £9, £7 student/concs. Contact Roger Wilkinson 02084 589476.

August 8

River Foss Society: Walk from Mill Green to Oulston, 10am followed by lunch at Dutch House. Contact Bob Jowett 01904 764702, bobjowett1@btopenworld.com

August 10

BMF Midlands and Trinity Marinas: On the Water event at Hinckley Marina, raising money for Ashby Canal Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital. From 10am, water based activities boat trips, performance car displays, funfair, children’s activities.

Free entry. Contact 01455 896820 for mooring reservations.

August 10-11

Blisworth Canal Festival: Plenty to do and see for all the family at Blisworth, Northamptonshire, with walks and live music, 11am-5pm. Parking, mooring and entry all free. www.blisworthcanalfestival.co.uk

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 organisers on the details of the event before setting out ondetails your journey.

Email details of check yourwith event to: dsharp@mortons.co.uk or send to:

What’s on, Towpath

Chesterfield Canal Trust: Boat trips (2.5hrs) from Drakeholes DN10 5DF to Shaw Lock (Gringley) going through tunnel and one lock. Departing 10am, 1pm and 4pm, £11 per passenger.

Information and bookings contact 07925 851569.

St Pancras Cruising Club: Olympic Park cruise and gathering.

Details TBC with IWA and LLDC. Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633 email: theoldmainline @fastmail.fm

August 13

River Foss Society: Visit to Sheriff Hutton Church with Roy Thompson 6pm followed by meal at Highwayman. Contact June Card on 01904 766196, junecard700@gmail.com

August 16-18

Llanymynech Folk Weekend: Music and dance entertainment and workshops, boat trips, carnival and children’s activities. www.llanymynech folk.org.uk

August 17-18

Chesterfield Canal Trust tripboat Seth Ellis at Retford.

August 24-26

IWA Chiltern: Lock Ransom at Marsworth Bottom Lock.

Fundraising event. Contact John Brice 07740 733241, john.brice@waterways.org.uk

Standard Narrowboats: Open day and boat show at Redhill Marina, Ratcliffe-on-Soar NG11 0EB. www.standardnarrow boats.co.uk

August 18

Chesterfield Canal Trust: Boat trips (2hrs) from the Chequers, Ranby DN22 8HT through Forest Top Lock. Departing 10am, 12.30pm and 3pm, £8.50 per passenger. Information and bookings contact 07925 851569.

IWA Warwickshire: Lichfield & Hatherton restoration. Meet at 10.30am at the lay-by on Tamworth Road. Contact 01926 422764.

Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association: Sandiacre Lock Cottages, Lock Lane (off Longmoor Lane) open from 2.30-5pm. Admission free but donations appreciated.

IWA Towpath Walks Society, London: Regents 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 02084 589476.

August 20

Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust: Natter and a noggin. Royal Oak, Much Marcle, 7.30pm prompt, everyone welcome.

August 23-26

Middle Level Watermen’s Club: 50 anniversary event at ‘Skoulding’s Rest’ – West End, March, Cambridgeshire PE15 8DL, the event will be open on Friday (23) from 5pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11am and on Monday from 10am. Live music, decorated boats, stalls, boat jumble (Monday 26) real ale bar and refreshments. For moorings or caravan parking contact Jeff 07785 787875, Lynda /Bill 01354 657779. th

St Pancras Cruising Club: ATYC annual rally weekend in West India Dock. Narrowboats welcome, details TBC with ATYC. Contact cruise co-ordinator Andrew Phasey on 07850 753633 email: theoldmainline@fastmail.fm

August 25

Portsmouth Boat Jumble: Fort Purbrook, Portsdown Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth PO6 1BJ. Opens 10am; admission £3.50, accompanied children/car park free. Contact Chaddock & Fox Promotions 01329 661896 or 07771 962495, www.boatjumbles.co.uk

August 31

Miles for Macmillan: walking event in Regent’s Park (NW1 4RU).

To register call 0300 100 0200 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk/walk

August 31-September 1

Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust: canal festival plus beer, cider and perry festival. Over Basin near Gloucester 11am5pm. Heritage boat processions, horse-drawn boat, craft and produce stalls, food and entertainment.

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Shropshire Star is heir to a long tradition THE arrival of the newly named Shropshire Star trip boat at Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal revives a 50-year-old tradition on one of the country’s most attractive and popular canals.

And in another link with tradition, the man to steer the boat on its first outing from its Norbury base was Mal Edwards, who steered the first ever trip boat to operate from there – a converted wooden working boat called Iona, which was horse-drawn between the 1960s and 1980s.

The Shropshire Star is following in the wake not only of the wooden Iona trip boat but also another Iona, originally a working narrowboat called the Bellerophon, which was renamed the Iona and worked from Norbury. It now operates on the River Wey. However, the 70ft Shropshire Star is no stranger to the people of the West Midlands. It was built in 1969 as a trip boat by Les Allen, a Black Country boat builder, and has operated from Oxley Moor on the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal until last year; firstly as the Compton Queen and later as the Stafford.

Since acquiring the vessel earlier this year, Norbury Wharf Ltd, which also operates a fleet of holiday boats for hire and day boats, has been using its skilled staff to begin a refurbishment programme.

Manager David Ray said: “We have stripped out the interior fittings and either renewed or refurbished everything from the carpet upwards.

Although we have not had time to completely repaint the exterior – that’s a job for next winter – we have smartened it up and changed the name.”

The Shropshire Star is named in honour of both the canal which will be its new home and the local newspaper.

David added: “We already cater for people who want to hire a boat for the day or the week and we

Mal Edwards and his then wife harnessing the horse when he operated the Iona on the Shropshire Union Canal. PHOTOS SUPPLIED sell boats to those who have fallen in love with the canals. This is a way of allowing everyone, from small children through to people old enough to remember the working boats on the canals, to get a taste of one of our great national assets.

“The canals are unique and have become a place to see history in action, as well as enjoy some of the best countryside in the UK and even observe some wonderful wildlife; and our new trip boat will allow even more people to get out on the water and enjoy all that without having to do any of the work of operating a boat themselves.”

The Shropshire Star will operate as a public trip boat at weekends from May till November, with plans for Christmas trips being formulated.

It will also be available for charter during the week with a wide variety of trips planned to appeal to everyone from schoolchildren wanting to learn something of the history of the canals through to youth organisations, charities and special interest groups.

The Shropshire Star emerges from the short remains of the Newport and Shrewsbury canal at Norbury Junction.

Online videos give holidaymakers inside look at boats before their first time out take the plunge EVERY boat in the Norbury Wharf hire fleet now has its own online video telling potential hirers what to expect.

A month-long project at the growing hireboat business not only filmed inside each boat but also produced a short five-minute film looking at the basics of boating, from which side to pass oncoming boats to a Benny Hill style sequence on operating a lock.

Managing director Simon Jenkins said: “We want to give potential hirers a clear picture of what they will be getting, especially as more and more now book online.

“They will be able to click on a link from our website booking pages which will take them to our YouTube channel and the video for that particular boat.”

He continued: “The videos give all the basic information about operating the boat, from where to put the water to operating the central heating, and they also give people a look inside the boat they may be thinking of hiring.

“We believe people will arrive to start their holiday with much more confidence about

managing their boat, especially if they are first time hirers. They will also have been able to link to our boating basics video online and it aims to give them much of the basic information they need for their canal holiday.”

Simon emphasises that, even though the videos are also being placed in the on-board boat DVD players and will be running when hirers first arrive, they are not intended to replace the first-hand introduction to the boat given by experienced staff.

“The personal touch and actually being shown the real thing can’t be replaced by these videos but they will mean our hirers will be more knowledgeable and confident than some to be found trying to get to grips with their hire boats first time out.”

at out them ● Check www.norburywharfltd.co.uk Go to the boat hire pages and click on the links next to each boat.

Take your teddy to Foxton TEDDY bears – and their owners – are invited to enjoy a fun day out at Foxton Locks on the Grand Union Canal over the August Bank Holiday weekend from August 24-26.

As well as a teddy bear’s picnic and lots more, they can follow the teddy trail to the museum which has a BOGOF (buy one, get one free) offer which applies to any adults who are accompanied by a child with a teddy or similar cuddly toy.

There will also be a free boat trip on Vagabond for one teddy and child when accompanied by a fee paying adult. Any child with a teddy can also enjoy a halfprice soft scoop ice cream at the coffee shop and a free oft drink when an accompanying adult buys a drink or a meal at the Foxton Locks Inn. On Monday, August 26, the Canal Explorers will also be on site to make your child’s visit even more fun and informative.

it’stimeto partyat Gloucester museum GLOUCESTER Waterways Museum is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its opening by Prince Charles this month.

The party will take place on Sunday, August 4, from 10.30am to 5pm when there will be performances of traditional waterways music, craft demonstrations, activities for children, boat trips and more.

The museum’s famous steam dredger will be in operation and visitors will be asked to share their favourite memories of the museum in Llanthony Warehouse over the years.

New Windermere ‘Bike Boat’ will provide daily service for school summer holidays A NEWLY launched ‘Bike Boat’, providing a special ferry service for cyclists across England’s longest lake, will go daily for the school summer holidays.

Windermere Lake Cruises has specially adapted a traditional wooden vessel, Sunflower, to carry up to 12 bikes and passengers across the lake and back. Running approximately every 20 minutes, it will act as a ferry service for cyclists travelling between Brockhole, the Lake District Visitor Centre on the eastern side of the lake, and Wray ,on Windermere’s tranquil western shore.

The Bike Boat links in with the 800 Bike Bus service, run by Stagecoach, which runs the full length of Windermere and has also been converted to carry up to 12 bikes.

After initially launching a weekend service in May, the Bike Boat will now run daily from Saturday, July 20, to Saturday, August 31 (and then every weekend until the end of September).

The Bike Boat’s first crossing from Brockhole to Wray gets under way at 10.20am, with the final service of the day returning from Wray to Brockhole at 5.15pm. Tickets include one passenger and one bike, with single fares starting at £1.80 for children and £3 for adults. Return and family tickets (2 adults and up to 3 children) are also available.

For the Bike Boat’s full timetable, visit: www.windermerebikeboat.co.uk To find out more about the Bike Bus, visit: www.golakes.co.uk/travel/New-Bike-Bus.aspx

The new bike boat on Lake Windermere.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

66 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

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Keep dry or cool with a ShipShade umbrella THE ShipShade umbrella simply screws on to a traditional, semitraditional or cruiser style narrowboat.

Attach the handle and umbrella; adjust the angle and height of the canopy with the easy to use head tilt and pole clamp system. Then run a light line from the top of the umbrella and loop through the fitting to secure

the umbrella when it is windy. Finally shorten the pole, if necessary, to suit different mounting positions.

The umbrella lifts off and can be folded in seconds when approaching bridges, tunnels or low trees. The price including umbrella, handle, deck fitting and cover, direct from Lansdown Marine Products is £69, plus p&p, VAT inclusive.

Edwardian Bedding partner David Taylor at Crick Boat Show with the Akwamat which can be provided to suit the customer’s needs.

Akwamat putting an end to misery of a damp mattress DAMP mattresses can be a thing of the past thanks to a new product which was launched by Edwardian Bedding at the Crick Boat Show.

The average person loses around half a litre of perspiration per night, and in a domestic bed this isn’t a problem as it is absorbed by the mattress and ventilated away through vent holes present in the boxspring, spiral or lath bottom beds.

But this sort of luxury isn’t available in boats, caravans or campers as bunk cushions and mattresses lie directly on benches, and wood, steel and plastics

are practically impenetrable, so all the moisture accumulates under or in the mattress itself.

Akwamat is a new product on the market, aimed at tackling those problems. The Akwamat is made up of natural coconut fibres and pure latex rubber and measures 15mm thick, it is designed to be an under-mattress carpet and due to its open structure it creates the right conditions in which moisture can be drawn from the mattress while offering significantly improved ventilation.

For the Akwamat to work efficiently there will need to be ventilation holes in the mattress bottom and or alternatively in the side support.

With the product’s elastic texture there is also the benefit of extra comfort while you sleep.

Formoreinformation ➔ Please contact Edwardian Bedding on 01709 589673

Clean fuel helps prevent breakdowns FUEL treatment specialist Tankbusters enjoyed a successful time at the Crick Boat Show.

The company found that boaters showed a better understanding of fuel contamination and what needs to be done to minimise breakdowns that can cause not only inconvenience but often expensive damage to engines.

An increasing number of agents around the country are reporting back that customers have seen a significant improvement in not only engine performance but also from oil-fired heaters. Sales of Tankbusters equipment are exceeding expectations and boaters are taking preventive

steps in having their tanks cleaned.

But a word of advice from Tankbusters: Did you know that unless your fuel is cleaned at below 10 microns, you are wasting your money in having your tank cleaned?

At above 10 microns you will still have minute particles of rust in your fuel causing damage to your engine as well as the water and the decomposing element of the diesel bug. Not forgetting the live diesel bug breeding all over again at 260,000 times every six hours and dying in 48 hours.

It is said that Formula One Racing filters to five microns, but they are burning fuel at a far higher rate

than us boaters. The Mini Tankbuster range of equipment filters to 2.8 Microns with other equipment for larger tanks filtering to one Micron (a millionth of a metre).

Tankbusters has the benefit of years of experience and well proven equipment from a manufacturer that also supplies the MoD, the NHS, the fuel industry and many other larger users of diesel and other fuels.

WITH many leading boat builders now increasingly aware of the benefits of remote battery control, the new AX500 Series of remote battery switches from Axon Components is providing a solution that is effective, reliable and affordable too.

The AX500 Series is designed to switch batteries, or other heavy loads of up to 500 amps, with an activation current of just three amps.

Simply put, this means that the battery can be switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ by a standard rocker or key switch from anywhere on the boat via only a lightweight cable.

Other power-hungry components, such as bow thrusters, can be controlled in the same way, saving weight and providing ease of use for the boat owner.

By incorporating a magnetically latching solenoid the AX500 Series consumes no current once activated and is capable of carrying as much as 2500 amps for up to 10 seconds at engine start. Simple to install, and with a robust design featuring tinned connections and a manual over-ride switch, the AX500 is available as a 12 or 24 volt device with continuous ratings of 250, 300 and 500 amps.

Formoreinformation ➔ Axon Components Ltd specialises in the design and manufacture of control panels, distribution systems and remote battery switches with over 30 years of experience in the marine industry.

Contact 01977 686550; www.axoncomponents.com

➔ Formoreinformation Tel: 07974 808277 www.tankbusters.co.uk See main ad on page 37

A cleaning fluid for all seasons A NEW boat cleaning product from Chemicals Direct comes in a handy container complete with drum tap and detachable sprayer.

Narrowboat Cleaner and Degreaser is a concentrated, five litre, multipurpose, biodegradable cleaning solution which removes grease and grime, oil, bird droppings, exhaust smoke stains, dirt and algae.

It is ideal for use in many areas, such as gunwale tops, gritted cabin tops and as a chimney stain remover. Use it for removing oil spills and black streaks. It is safe to use on most surfaces including, glass fibre,

Axon is making light work of remote battery control

paintwork, stainless steel, plastic, vinyl, and glass.

The cleaner has no abrasive properties, is non-corrosive and nonflammable but always test dilution on an inconspicuous area before use. It may be diluted up to 150-1 with hot or cold water.

Use the drum tap to dispense the solution into the detachable sprayer and dilute the concentrated cleaner as required. The container is neat and compact for easy storage and access.

Narrowboat Cleaner is available from Midland Chandlers.

Hempel’s products shine at show!

THE Hempel stand was a veritable hive of activity during the recent Crick Boat Show.

UK sales manager Darren Gittins said: “We had an overwhelming number of enquiries during the event and these have continued since the show has closed. Our Hempel Inland Waterways Paint Manual appears to have become a ‘must have’ for all boaters!”

He added: “Epoxy systems are at last being talked about positively with owners becoming more aware of the advantages that lie with the application of two pack systems.

Giving the customer a hard and tough coating with good abrasion, resistance to impact and an increased lifespan of the products is obviously beneficial.”

➔ Formoreinformation The 2013 version of the Hempel Commercial Marine Product List including information on blacking, epoxies and anti-fouling as well as the ‘top coat multi-tint’ system has been updated and is available on request from head office via the www.hempel.co.uk website.

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OWPATH

To book your advertising call Richard on 01507 529549

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Dream Narrowboats Distinctive bespoke live-aboard specialist

It’s our business to make you a narrowboat to be proud of...

Our standard spec for every narrowboat...

s Vetus 4.17 engine with 3.5kw travel power s Victron 3000 inverter/charger s Vetus flush toilet with 215l waste tank s Vetus accumulator tank/ water pump s Morso Squirrel multi fuel stove s Full size washer/dryer s 12v fridge and 12v freezer s Full size shower s Solid ash (20mm) above gunnels & ceiling s Solid oak (18mm) floor throughout

Please contact us for a viewing, brochure or any query you may have tel Pauline on 01270 501047/07817 935639 email: dream_narrowboats@hotmail.co.uk Based in Middlewich Please call for directions

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Boats for sale

ALL STEEL NARROWBOAT 70ft, currently cruising the Thames/Kennet & Avon, Gold license until end of 2013, ideal live aboard or for long term cruising, reliable and economical (I fill up twice a year), may be able to deliver, Tel. 07870 676090.

35fT NARROWBOAT DAISY 1989, Venus diesel engine, total refit and rewiring, full shower and electric wc, f/fitted galley, Eberspacher and oil stove, BSS Cert til Oct 16, £17,000 ono Tel. 01283 701030. Staffs.

37fT NARROWBOAT Lister 3 cylinder, 27hp Canal Star, 4 berth, in 2 cabins, permanent made up bed in rear cabin, 2/2 settee berths, make second double, microwave, fridge, full cooker, s/fuel stove, VHF, £23,950 Tel. 01482 812816. W Yorks.

42fT NARROWBOAT Attractive 4 berth, built 1991 by Stanilands, continuously maintained and refurbished, full cruising equipment, manuals etc, ideal liveaboard or extended cruising. £29500 Tel. 07941 228767 for full details and photos. Warks.

50fT NARROWBOAT Distinctive and very trad, gas free, Dickinson diesel cookstove + electric appliances (via inverter), licensed to 30/11/13 BSC June 17. Tel. 07866 544677. jackdaw@kenw.me.uk

50fT STERN CRUISER Built in 2007 by Liverpool boats fully fitted and ready to sail Isuzu 35 engine, 500 hrs from new, moored at Reedley Marina Burnley £39,950 ono.

Tel. 07712 245395. Lancs.

55fT SEMI TRAD Reverse layout, licence July, blacked 2012 full safety Lister 1750, 3 pot engine, Newidge gearbox, builder French and Peel, self fit-out, can deliver anywhere £27,500 ono. Tel. 0759 1002911. W Mids.

55ft CRUISER 1997, liveaboard, Beta marine engine fitted 2002 approx 2400 hrs, cooker/fridge, shower room, £40,000 ono. Tel. 07712 227513. Wilts.

57fT CRUISER STERN Reverse layout, built 2011, re-blacked 2013, Staffordshire boats hull, Cain narrowboats fit-out, Isuzu 35 engine, less than 1000 hours, gas c/h + Morso stove with back-boiler, blue & pale purple with yellow coachlines. Tel. Martyn 07904 399579, Jain 07984 146151. W Mids.

57fT NARROWBOAT reverse layout, with some modern touches, just blacked & ultrasonic survey available.

Full details http://tinyurl.com/ b5pzpn8 £59,950 ono. Tel. 0798 8009755.

B’ham.

60fT LIVE ABOARD Professionally fitted out, 2.2 Barras engine-serviced Jul 12, loads of storage, prof repainted & blacked Oct 12, BSS cert to Aug16. Residential mooring available £59,950 ovno. Tel. 07932 458951. Leics.

70fT TUG STYLE TRAD Lister JP3, port-holed, Colecraft/S. M Hudson built, trad back cabin/engine room, modern bathroom, galley, dinette and lounge, residential mooring paid till Nov, £68,000. Tel. 07749 460548. Leics.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 40ft, used cond, built 1994, 6ft 10in beam, 2 berth, Beta marine BD1005 diesel 25hp engine, 40 ltrs fuel capacity approx, blacked, BSC, £27,000 ono. Tel. 07598 929701. Derbys.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 50ft, built 2006, Barras shire engine, rear canopy front crach cover, c/heating plus log burner, s/steel shower, cassette toilet, 4 berth, lots of extras, £43,000 ono. Tel. 0151 2268072. Merseyside.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 50ft, unfinished project, recent complete Lister ST2 rebuild, new BSS Certificate, taxed till end of Oct. 0794 1034288 eves. Staffs.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 30ft, good condition, recently had a full survey and has a BSC valid until 4th Jun 17, separate sleeping area, shower/toilet and a kitchen/galley area, all fitted out with attractive timber cladding. Tel. 07767 202940.

ENSIGN CRUISER 1983, 25ft, 4 berth, Ford 1600 crossflow engine licence May 2014, shower, cooker, fridge, toilet, hot/cold water, Safety Certificate, viewing welcomed.

Tel. 07503 583525.

GREAT PROJECT BOAT 50ft, on hard stand in the Tarleton area, manufactured 1989 by Calcutta, 1.5 BMC diesel engine, good working order. Ready for re-fit, new ply lined floor, ballast, bottom blacked, solar panels and generator. £14,995. Tel. 07917 248758. brian@bcelectricaluk.com Lancs.

HIGHBRIDGE CRUSADER 1985, 32ft, 6 berth, BSC, licence Apr 14.

Mercury petrol outboard 9.9hp, Propex heating, Morco hot water, shower, 68w flexible solar panel on roof, new canopy, £16,000 ono. Tel. 07949 321573. Cheshire.

HOPPER BARGE 70ft x 6ft 10” for sale. Good condition. Ex British waterways. £2000 ono. Tel. Terry 0121 7645000. W Mids.

AQUALINE MANHATTAN 60ft cruiser stern, top build quality, under 300 hrs from new, Isuzu 42hp, fantastic condition throughout, any inspection invited, 2005 layout Tel. 07974 567443. Derbys.

CRUISER STYLE NARROWBOAT 45ft built by Deeside narrowboats in 2000 with four berths, current Boat Safety until Sep 2013, fully repainted in Feb 2009, hull blacked Jul 07, survey Sep 2004 and cratch covers front and back 2006, £25000 Tel. 01772 681920.

IRON WORKING BOAT 1909, riveted, new bottom and footings 2005, counter rebuilt 2011, Dorman 2DWD engine, Epping range, 2 x 600 gallon diesel tanks and pump in hold, Hull survey 2010, £37.000 ono. Tel. 07913 761871. Oxon.

CANAL BOAT PROJECT 70ft, spray foam insulation, all new oak interior, stove, engine, 30k spent, replated, repainted, and much time and love spent on it, toilet, kitchen area, etc. Tel. 07757 360905.

Bucks.

DOERAK DUTCH STEEL CRUISER 24ft, beam 8ft, Yanmar diesel inboard engine, BSC til 19/02/15, please note this boat is not fibreglass, £12,500. Tel. 07764 578200. River Lea, Herts.

KAGNAAR DUTCH BARGE 14.5 steel houseboat, 2.85 wide, bath sleeping cabin, kit with hob and fridge freezer, Mercedes diesel engine, large back deck, £25,000. Tel. 07806 686997. Herts.

COSY NARROWBOAT 50ft, 1990, Lister SR3 engine, recent shower, kitchen, charger, fixed double bed, extra single, ideal live aboard, £31,000 ono. Tel. 07581 393136.

Lancs.

23ft VIKING 4-berth, vgc, Honda 20, still under warranty, full s/h, full cooker, mains 12v fridge, wardrobe, cassette loo, + WHB light oak woodwork, 13 years old with mooring on Lancaster canal, very modern boat, £17795 ono. Tel. 0777 9776508; 01422 342128.

DUTCH BARGE luxury spacious live aboard boat offers style and comfort, trad Dutch barge style exterior with mod open plan fit-out, a unique opportunity. Tel. 07967 543382. W Yorks.

ALUMINIUM NARROWBOAT drop back hopper windows for sale clean condition, 22 1/4" 22 1/4" x 2, 31 1/4" x 22 1/4" x 9, 21" x 16" x 2 this item free price, £65. ono; buyer collects Tel. 0115 976 2675 after 6pm please. Notts.

LOOKING fOR A LIVE ABOARD? Want to try before you buy? Cecil 2 is for sale at £25,000 but I am relaxed about how this may be achieved. Want to know more about my ideas? then email me now. Tel. 07876 728955. Email: kalegu@hotmail.com London.

40ft NARROWBOAT Launched 1994, Safety Cert 2015, licensed to 31 Aug 2013, blacked 03 2013, Beta engine, Alde c/h, £22995. Tel. 01630 698772. Shrops.

LUCY 70fT LIVEABOARD BCN built 1909 - 1912, Joey Hull, bottomed 1998, Lister HA2, PRM gearbox, 1500 Pure Sinewave inverter, full charging system, bronze opening portholes, s/fuel stove, £50,000. Tel. 07961 579243. Oxon.

NARROWBOAT all in good order and ready to cruise, 38ft long, blacked and repainted on regular basis, E.A licence, boat safety (2016), £18,500 ono. Tel. 07595 629829. Cambs.

OGDENS’ NUTGONE fLAKE 93 70ft narrowboat, built Pinder 93, 2 beds, walkthrough bathroom - full size bath, Grohe shower, Morso w/boiler + Epping range, Victron inv & bats, £46,000. Tel. 07868 730589.

London.

PIPER TRAD NARROWBOAT 2008, 62ft, built 2008, Beta 43 engine, Victron 3kw inverter, 4 Leisure batteries, starter, bow water tank, front deck gas locker, £40000 ono Tel. 07411 488395.

POTOMAC CANADIAN CANOE 14.5 ft used once, £650 new. Offers. Tel. 0740 0272121. W Yorks.

PRINCESS 25 Vgc, full service history and well maintained, BSC 2015 berthed Buckden, Cambs £12995 Tel. 07775 768813. Cambs.

RIVETED IRON WORKING BOAT 1909, new bottom and footings 2005, counter rebuilt 2010, Dorman 2DWD engine, Epping range, 2 x 600 gallon diesel tanks and pump in hold, hull survey 2010, £37000 ono Tel. 07913 761871. Oxon.

BIRCHWOOD 33 CLASSIC Twin Perkins diesels, rear double bed, ensuite, two toilets, shower, cooker, fridge, GPS radio, c/heating, antiouled 2012, auto steer, £23000. ono. Tel. 0114 2510098; 07574 751145. S Yorks.

SEA OTTER 31ft aluminium narrowboat, 3 berth, 2002 includes cratch cover and equipment, £34,000 ono Tel. 0115 9733853.

Notts.

SEMI TRADITIONAL NARROWBOAT Beautiful 55ft, 2006, moored with garden Leicester marina, lady owner, £57,500 for quick sale. Tel. 07894 125036. Leics.

STEEL NARROWBOAT 40ft, newly fitted out, BMC 1.5, newly painted, fixed double, new kit, bathroom, open plan lounge, rewired, blacked 2012, mooring possible with negotiation, £24000 ono Tel. Nik on 07866 486 659 or 01244 371159.

Cheshire.

TRAD BOAT 1989, 60ft, built by Les Allen, distinctive lines, updated 18 mths ago inc new dinette, oak cratch and cover, oak flooring, steel hearth, new deck boards, £31,800.

Tel. 07922 163072.

TRAD NARROWBOAT 38ft, a comfortable, well equipped boat, new Beta 38 engine and gearbox, multi-fuel stove, recently refitted kit and bath. Option to take over current farm mooring, £24,000 ono.

Tel. Alison on 07773 874547.

Staffs.

TRAD STYLE NARROWBOAT 57ft, much admired, one owner, self fit-out by cabinet maker, 1993 launch, blacked, well insulated, 4/5 berth, raised dining area, invertor, £36,500.

07867 757254.

Northants.

TRAD STYLE NARROWBOAT Evans & Son, 50ft, bottom backed 2013, Beta 38 engine, approx 500 hrs running, full cooker, new gas fridge, fixed double shower room, Thetford flush toilet, £30,000 ono Tel. 07787 336285. Cambs.

ATLANTA 24, cooker, shower, hot and cold system, standing headroom, Yamaha E/S and electric t&t, 100 hrs only, laid Torksey Lock, £10,500. Tel. 01427 612453. Lincs.

TRADER 41 1989, twin caterpillar 260hp, aft deck controls, aft canopy, fully equipped, Avon RIB, 15hp outboard, berthed Turkey.

Usual value £120,000, bargain at £60,000. Tel. 01405 869542. E Yorks.

TRADITIONAL NARROWBOAT 50ft, 1991, Roger Fuller build, Nanni engine, hyd drive & bow thruster, elecs 240v/24v/12v power, c/h, galley c/w gas hob, grille and oven, gas/elec f/freezer. £36,500.

Tel. John 07707905250. W Mids.

TRADITIONAL NARROWBOAT 1986, 40ft, ideal starter boat, Safety Cert till 2016, blacked spring 2012, all paintwork completed June 2013, cabin has wood burner and comfortable bamboo sofa and arm chair, 3000 watt inverter gives you 240v for all your TV/DVD etc, £19,750. Tel. 07806 638160.

TRADITIONAL THAMES DOCK TUG Fully restored and in working condition, road transportable with lots of character. Tel. 07917 816005. London.

TRISTAR 24 built in 1991, 4 berths, cooker, fridge, toilet, shower, hot & cold water, standing head room, 12 & 240v electric, Yamaha 9.9hp 4 stroke outboard, BSC and licensed, £9995. Tel. 07850 760202 for details. Derbys.

EXCEL SD230 Inflatable and mariner outboard, features V-Keal & Airdeck, c/w everything, no repairs.

Mariner 6HP outboard, recently serviced, c/w tiller extension. Tel. 07960 887472. Notts.

TWO ONE TENTH SHARES in friendly private boat share syndicate, well maintained 54ft R&D 6 berth built 1986, BMC 1.8, £2500 per share; bought own boat hence sale. Tel. 07971 7138196. richard@ tyto.me.uk NORMAN CRUISER 23ft long, BSS Sept 13/2013, 10hp engine/outboard, new cover refurbished, £4000. Tel. 079638 870128.

Acton Bridge.

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WIDEBEAM LIVE ABOARD 67ft, 3 bedrooms, family boat we’ve lived on for 8 years, ill health forces sale, £75,000 ono. Tel. 07799 450713.

Wilts.

WORKING BOAT Star Class small Woolwich butty, new back cabin, new bottom, good boat for enthusiast, £17,000 ono. Tel. 07956 703368. W Mids.

BOAT PROJECT Europa, mid steering twin cabin, 7m epoxied hull. canopy, windscreen, new windows, dolly not trailer, no engine etc. £395. ono Tel. 01507 533455.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 46ft, brand new fit out, full repaint, BSC 2015 and full licence till Jan 2014, BMC 1.5, full running order, hull survey done 2011, all good, £23,500 ono. Tel. 07930 274044.

Leics.

CRUISER STERN NARROWBOAT 55ft, 2001, Pinder built, Barrus shire engine, stove, solar power calorifier, BSC 2015, full size cooker/fridge/ shower, £29,000. Tel. 07803 304690. Cheshire.

DORMAN 20 1940, runs fine, over fuels, white smoke inc Kingfisher gearbox, available end August in Braunston area, can be seen running, bargain!! £2500 ono. Tel. 07958 001902. W Yorks.

FABULOUS FLOATING APARTMENT bright, light, elegant and stylish - pristine throughout, as new condition, built 2012, all mod cons - 57 x 12 wide - beam see apollo duck 254879 for photos £99,500.

Tel. 07736 774496. Liverpool marina Merseyside.

FAIRLINE MIRAGE 29ft, Volvo diesel, rear cockpit, 4 year BSC, sleeps 5, cooker, fridge, shower, original gel coat, good standing height, bathing platform, dinghy, £1,000. ono Tel. 07574 751145. S Yorks.

HOME-MADE STEEL 33ft, all steel narrowboat, cruiser style, engine parking, needs looking at, not running yet, just don't have the time to finish her, just wants finishing inside, 3 berth, £5000. Tel. 01925 234560. Cheshire.

FLOATING HOME 2001, 50ft x 10ft, wide beam, diesel fire, cooker, fridge, bath, shower, blacked, £52000. Tel. 07956 581069. Essex.

LUXURY CRUISER NARROWBOAT 44ft, an immaculately presented narrowboat, 3 years old, fully c/h, luxury fitted bathroom and other lovely features such as granite kitchen, work surface, seating that converts into beds, boat can accommodate 4 adults and 2 children. Tel. 07989 057726. .

MIDLAND CANAL CENTRE 31ft, 1992 cruiser style narrow boat, BSS 2015, hull survey Nov 2012, blacked March 2013, four new anodes, full marine service, Lister engine, three berths, lovely boat. £15000.

Tel. 07932 815874.

Bucks.

MAYLAND CRUISER 1990, 22ft licensed Dec 13, Safety Cert Jan 2014, sleeps 5, 6ft 10 beam, engine mariner 15hp petrol, cooker, fridge, toilet, shower, moored Nantwich, £7900 ono. 01782 636862. Staffs.

NARROWBOAT BETA 40ft marine engine and gears, Keel cooled, hull and external cond, engine vgc, c/w hot water, shower, full working elecs, 2 brand new 110v batteries, good to go! £19995. Tel. 07920 524051.

NAUTICUS 27ft cabin cruiser, original as ascertained, Ford Watermotor engine, good runner, Shore Power, new water tank, hob and oven. Two Leisure batteries, BSS 2016, River Licence - 2014, selling due to ill health, £5950 oro; view by appointment. Tel. 01536 725439.

Northants.

NORTHERN SOUL 60ft Probuild/ Dean Wherry narrowboat, ideal live aboard, recent CoC, 3.5 travel pack, 1800w inverter, battery charger, exc elecs, w/machine, £47500. ono Tel. 01327 871215 eves. Warks.

Parts for sale PORT HOLES solid marine grade brass, high quality craftsman made, brass screws/nuts, Neoprene gaskets (non-staining) secure laminated glass, 5 1/2in dia, set 4 (pigeon box), £80; 6 1/2in dis, set 2, £40; 9 1/2-in dia, set 2, £55; new/unused. Tel. 01252 713054.

W Surrey.

TRAD PORT HOLES 57ft, cratch cover, fixed double + 2 fridge/freezer, 2.5kw invertor, Beta 38 crowther prop, oak/ash lined out, long term cruise liveaboard, BSC 2017, £69,500. 07787 308788. Cheshire.

ROWING DINGHY Very sound fibreglass hull, upper needs renovation with electric outboard, battery oars and trailer, may swap old toys, £250. Tel. 01296 668339. Beds.

w w w .nationalnarrow boatsforcash.co.uk

PRM 120 GEARBOX technodrive gearbox, fenders front or back (BIS), Tel. 0777 3502529 for details. Cheshire.

THREE CHROME PORTHOLES two with glass, brand new, size 14 1/4in, £60. buyer collects Tel. 07527 746530. Notts.

TOP BOX 3ft x 4ft x 10in deep, £150. Tel. 079080 88414. Staffs.

Equipment

AUTOMATIC SATELLITE DISH (Travelsat), perfect working order, £350. Tel. 07766 590383. Cheshire.

SDMO PETROL GENERATOR never used, new 450, will accept £300. Tel. 07766 106889. Notts.

OLD ENGLISH diesel stove, £50.

Tel. 07879 867723. Warks.

SIX MUSHROOM VENTS chromed brass, came fitted to our new narrowboat sail-away, we removed them and fitted a different type, original cost £150, £75 ono; buyer collects. £17.99 for next day mainland delivery. Tel. 077100 38072. E Yorks.

STERLING PRO-SWITCH 32 brand new, never used in box, remote control, 3 way power selector switch, £120. Tel. 07711 991600.

S Yorks.

TWO CALDWELL HOPPER WINDOWS (used), 42”w x 21”h, black frame, clear glass, 10 years old, good condition, buyer collects.

Kennet & Avon near Reading, £20 the pair. Tel. 07848 026360. Berks.

WHALE SHOWER PUMP never used. £35. 01932 707165. Surrey.

WINDLASS X TWO new navigation light (white), Armco mooring hooks x two, tiller pin and bits, £20. Tel. Dave 01246 201322. Derbys.

Mooring wanted DANFORTH ANCHOR 20kg, length 1025mm, width 670mm, fin length 560mm, chain 10mtr x 10mm, warp 20mtr x 16mm (warp has hard splice at 13mt), inc warp trug bucket, £100 Tel. 02380 404541; 07812 398142. S’oton.

ANCHOR 14kg Danforth, with chain and shackles, £35. Tel. 07867 526322. Staffs.

AQUAJET WOS 3.4 freshwater pump, 12v, automatic, £35. plus transport Tel. 01767 640938. Beds.

ARDIC DIESEL air and water heater, removed from my boat, complete but sold for spares, only £50. Tel. 0113 2250760; 07974 652040. Leeds.

CANOPY to fit Seamaster 30, requires new rear window, very useable condition, £30.

Tel. 0113 2250760; 07974 652040. Leeds.

CHILD'S LIFE JACKET marine pool, fit child 20-30kg, never worn, still in original pack, £10 plus post.

Tel. 01767 640938. Northants.

COMPLETE PUMP OUT SYSTEM stainless steel tank 95 x 75 x 40cm, Macerator - whale gulper 220, white push-button toilet, all hoses, £400. ono Tel. 07752 246854.

MASTER VOLT 80 amp battery charger, working order, buyer collects, £70; heavy duty pump out (manual), buyer collects, £110 ono.

Tel. 077960 15458. Herts.

MOORING WANTED For 55-60ft narrowboat to purchase, all areas considered. Tel. 07900 316253 for details. Derbys.

Engines

GARDNER 3LW ENGINE needs tidying, can be seen running also includes Newich PRM gearbox, needs adapter plate to fit engine, would make good tug engine, £2900 ono Tel. 07966 450432.

Worcs.

BMC 1500 ENGINE complete with Hurth 125 gearbox, £750.

Tel. 0777 5745187. Bucks.

OUTBOARD NARROWBOAT ENGINE Petter B2 no 10678B2 16BHP 1300 rev/min, in storage, starter motor inc. £550 ono. Tel. 0115 9818721. Notts.

LISTER DIESEL ENGINE and gearbox, twin cylinder, working when lifted out of my Rugby built narrowboat, now surplus to requirements, Offers Tel. 0115 9762675.

Notts.

Parts wanted WANTED BOAT PROPELLER Size required 15" dia x 9" pitch to fit a 1 1 ⁄2" shaft. Tel. 07503 757318.

Cheshire.

Wanted THE BOAT SHOP UK Leighton Buzzard. We buy boats in any condition, boats needing welding work, or refitting, cash available for the right boats. Tel. 07971 305880; 07742 260961. (T)

CHEAP TRAD NARROWBOAT wanted, fire damaged, sunk etc, in need of work, must be cheap, Tel. 07591 535752. Warks.

EXCHANGE - LARGE SPANISH FINCA in the Murcia region for narrowboat, we need to come back to the UK due to health issues, preferably in the Midlands area. Contact . There will of course be the purchasing legal costs and notary fees.

Tel. 07445 936950 for photos and full details. Staffs.

EXPERIENCED LADY SKIPPER seeks male or female boating companion, for Thames cruises, Tel. 07522 544416. London.

HOUSE: COSTA DEL SOL swap house in Costa del Sol for boat in UK to the value £75000. Tel. Paul 07789 224748 for more details.

Cambs.

LOOKING TO HIRE a narrowboat long term 3 to 4 years, boat around 50-60ft. Email: greeny_d@yahoo. com USA. MALE BOAT OWNER 60, southern based, seeks straight fit and enthusiastic male boating buddy, Tel. 07745 479294. Surrey.

MARINA WANTED a small marina or boat yard wanted, Midlands or East Coats Area, anything considered. Tel. 01507 363323 (please leave message). Lincs.

LADY BOAT OWNER blonde, 51, medium build, new to narrowboats, looking for a male experienced boater to assist and help her learn the ropes! Maybe leading to a relationship! Tel. 07818 133552. Kennet and Avon Canal/Devizes area.

NARROWBOAT PROJECT WANTED I am still looking to buy a narrowboat ready to use or needing work must be all steel I have funds in place and am keen to buy one although I live in Norfolk, I'm prepared to travel, Tel. 0790 6019299.

Norfolk.

MALE BOATER 60s own boat, seeks male CD boating buddy to cruise with him. Tel. 07914 623563.

Midlands.

NARROWBOAT WANTED to rent or rent to buy. We are a family of 4 with lots of experience and we would like to rent for a minimum of 6 months or rent to buy on the Peak Forest/Macclesfield canals. I have stated £500 but would be willing to pay more for the right boat. Tel. 07980 325622.

RETIRED GENT Mid 60s narrow boat owner requires lady to cruise with this summer. Tel. 07979 102927. W Yorks.

WANTED SINGLE HANDED BOAT OWNER seeks help to crew narrowboat, East Mids. Tel. 07710 281938 any age/any male or female. Lancs.

Miscellaneous

DAY TANK 28 gallon, in steel with baffles and sight glass, professionally made by Kendal firm, always kept inside for diesel, gravity or pump feed. Tel. 01282 771874 or 07711 100702.

OWNERS SERVICE MANUAL Honda 9.9 or 15hp outboard owners service manual, as new, £8. Tel. 01932 707165. Surrey.

VILLAGER C-DUO Multi-fuel stove, wood/solid fuel, new and unused, £550 ono. Tel. 01780 470599 answer phone. Northants.

CHAR-BROIL GAS BARBECUE with side burner, excellent condition, £55. Tel. 07950 047489; 01282 453549. E Lancs.

6 PORTHOLE LINERS 6 (brand new in box and cellophane) spun brass 11"/280mm porthole liners, 2.5"/ 65mm depth, cost £147 (can show receipt), £120. Tel. 07824 446259. Lancs.

GRAND JUNCTION CANAL - authentic original company Windlass, forged steel, stamped GJCCo, superb condition, v rare, £85; Birmingham Canal Navigations - original cast iron bridge plate, notice giving local traffic weight restrictions 34in x 19in, heavy! £250. Tel. 01252 713054. W Surrey.

CHROME TAPS suitable for caravan or boat, new £4 each. Tel. 01932 707165. Surrey.

KABOLA old Dutch diesel stove, chimney and flue and new spare Mica window included, £250. ono Tel. 07726 941191. Merseyside.

FOLDING ANCHOR WARP 16kg and chain, as new condition, in bag, £90. Tel. 07795 842008. London.

LARGE COLLECTION (thirty plus) lace edged plates, all pre-war, no moderns, £75 lot. 01252 713054. W Surrey.

NARROWBOAT MAGAZINE No 1 Spring 2006- Summer 2012, 26 copies, 1 binder. £20. Tel. 07870 757409. Derbys.

NATURAL FIBRE ROPE 1” thick, made some time ago and was left in storage, 20m, £20; 36m, £36. Tel. Mark 07988 097 869. W Yorks.

PAIR WILSON CHAIR BEDS Good condition, storage inside, c/w footstool, over £500 each new, £100. collected from Peterborough - delivery possible 0777 9619828.

Cambs.

PETROL PUMP COLLECTOR looking for a forecourt pump in any condition. Text/tel. Andy 07814 475350 evenings please. W Mids.

THORNYCROFT SERVICE MANUAL Inboard engine service manual, as new, £10. 01932 707165.

Surrey.

TWO QUICK FIT 150N automatic adult life jackets, worn once, as new, £15 each plus post. Tel. 01767 640938.

TWO SLEEPING BAGS make a double, one brown, one navy blue, £3.50 each; buyer collect from Coventry or pay post. Tel. 02476 440623. W Mids.

WILSON CHAIRBEDS pair, good cond, storage inside, complete with footstool, over £500 each new, £100 collected from Peterborough. delivery possible. 07779 619828.

Cambs.

WOODEN LODGE on the edge of the Yorkshire National Park 5m from Scarborough, 2 beds, large lounge with log style gas fire, American kitchen with cooker and f/freezer. Valued at £24,950 to swap for a narrow boat of similar value. Tel. 07925 126649. N Yorks.

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The Boat Shop UK Leighton Buzzard. We buy boats in any condition, boats needing welding work, or refitting, cash available for the right boats. Ring 07971305880 / 07742260961 BO491733L

Canvasman - see some examples of our work on our main advert page 55 01943 851444 www.canvasman.co.uk CA490998L

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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 AU490668L

O rd erw ith c o nfid enc e, s a m e a d d res s fo ro ver3 0 yea rs •CRATCH COVERS •CRATCH BOA RD S •TONNEAU COVERS •FULL CA NOPIES •FRA M EW ORK & FITTINGS •PATTERNED & FITTED IN S ITU •5 Y EA R W A RRA NTY

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East of the border

Janet Richardson visits a village where two countries meet across the street ALTHOUGH its name sounds very Welsh, Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre actually sits on the Shropshire side of the bridge which marks the border between England and Wales.

In fact the village is described as an ‘international parish’ and the wharf was an important transhipment point where coal was brought in to fire the limekilns and for domestic use while limestone and farm products were exported via the Montgomery Canal.

The Llanymynech Wharf Visitor Centre occupies the restored stables of

The 40m chimney is still intact.

the former Sun Inn and includes a range of displays and exhibitions with canal and local themes. I was met there by centre manager Liz Amys who is also treasurer and membership secretary of the Packet-boat Duchess Countess Trust and secretary Brian Lawson.

Formed with a long-term objective of recreating the packet-boat Duchess Countess, the trust manages the visitor centre and trip boat on behalf of the Canal & River Trust with the Friends of Montgomery Canal and the Llanymynech Heritage Focus Group.

The centre opens on Sunday afternoons from 1.30-4.30pm and bank holidays from Easter to the end of September.

Brian also showed me the trip boat, the George Watson Buck, named after the engineer responsible for the lock gear, which can only be found on the Montgomery Canal and is operated by a paddle in the canal floor. The boat was gifted to the community of Llanymynech, Pant and Carreghofa and travels a specially restored 600m stretch of the canal.

With seating for 12 people, the boat operates from Easter to the end of September for public trips most weekends as well as being available for private hire and as a ‘floating classroom’ for school trips. Liz added that they are the only people in the area who do Santa cruises and canal-based Halloween events.

The wharf is surrounded by a heritage area, run by the Shropshire Countryside

Photography: JANET RICHARDSON

Centre manager Liz Amys who is also treasurer and membership secretary of the Packet-boat Duchess Countess Trust and secretary Brian Lawson.

Service, with a network of footpaths, the remains of incline tramways and the magnificent Hoffman limekiln, one of only three remaining in the UK. Brian told me that the German designed kiln was built in 1899 but by that time the industry was already in decline and it only ran for about 20 years.

At the top of the inclines are the old quarries, now a local Wildlife Trust reserve, with views over the surrounding English and Welsh countryside. The site also has links with the old Cambrian Railways and is situated on the Offa’s Dyke Trail.

The bridge which marks the border between England and Wales.

The limeworks stables.

The shop inside the visitor centre.

Inside the Hoffman kilns.

The George Watson Buck trip boat.

Cutting edge Canaltransport The Duchess Countess was a fast passenger packet-boat built for the Bridgewater Canal around 1830. It was originally 72ft long because there are no locks on that canal. Pulled by one or sometimes two trotting horses at 8-10mph, the packet-boats ran to very tight timetables.

The last horse-drawn packetboat in regular service on Britain’s canals, the Duchess Countess spent her last few years around the Mongomery and Llangollen Canals and was the last boat up the Frankton Flight in 1945 before its closure the following year.

Accurate drawings were made of the boat before she was broken up in the mid-1950s and it is the trust’s long term aim to make a full-scale working replica using traditional skills and materials. www.duchess-countess.org.uk

A display by the Duchess Countess Trust featuring the replica bow knife created by a Whitchurch blacksmith, Chris Stokes, for mounting on the bow of the boat, when recreated. Its purpose was to cut the towlines of any oncoming boat. The original, which was rescued from the boat, is now on display at the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum.

Stan’s recreated all the glamour of the Titanic but at one tenth of the original’s scale Story & Photography: HUGH DOUGHERTY

IT’S not every day you expect to be confronted by RMS Titanic, smoke issuing from three of its four funnels, by the banks of the Caledonian Canal in Inverness. But it’s only when you take a second look, that you realise you’re looking at a one-tenth scale model of the famous liner, centrepiece of the slightly eccentric but highly imaginative Inverness Titanic Museum, the brainchild of local enthusiast Stan Fraser.

The liner replica, built from Harland and Wolff plans on the basis of two hidden caravans and a garden shed, is the centre-piece of the museum which Stan has put together as a labour of love over the last 12 years.

“It all started with making a porthole-type door for our house and then a model boat for the kids to play in. It took off from there when Titanic became well-known again through the release of the 1997 film and I built it, as accurately as possible, from wood, metal and plastic, over several years,” said electrician Stan.

The scale model is a remarkable replica of the real thing and is entered after a tour of artefacts in the museum building, part of a historic road toll house that’s the Fraser family home. There’s everything Titanic on display, from a scale model of the Arrol gantry under which the ship was built, to a replica life jacket, with pictures, plans and reconstructions in plenty.

But it’s the ship itself which impresses most.

Blowers and coloured plastic sheet create the illusion of fire in the boilers, while there’s a door into one of the caravans under the structure leading to a palm court lounge and a replica of the bridge and radio room. Disco-style smoke units allow three funnels to issue smoke- “the fourth was for ventilation and appearance only,” said Sam, who’s researched the real thing inside out and who has visited its birthplace in Belfast, as well as its tender ship, SS Nomadic. “Titanic has universal fascination,” he said.

The model of the famous liner is supported by full-sized boats, with Star Gazer, the last wooden fishing boat to be built at the Inverness Thornbush

shipyard. It’s on show, along with a 1932-built Watson Class lifeboat, which originally operated out of Donaghadee as Civil Service No 5, the bridge and cabins from a North Sea trawler, several bouys, and a replica model of the Nautile, the submarine used by Robert Ballard to discover the wreck of Titanic in 1985.

The Inverness Titanic Museum has now opened its doors daily for 2013 and visitors are welcome.

As a charity, it is not allowed to charge an admission fee, and Stan passes on all donations from visitors to the RNLI. “I decided to open daily for 2013 after the interest shown,” said Stan. “We have had to deal with some planning issues over the years, but these have been resolved and I believe that we make a contribution Titanic from the towpath. Stan Fraser welcomes you to maritime history and to the tourist attractions to his maritime museum by the Caledonian Canal. around Inverness. I’m often asked if we have plans to PHOTO: HUGH DOUGHERTY sail Titanic on the Caledonian Canal. But, no, it was never made to float, and Canals Scotland wouldn’t ● Full details of the Inverness Titanic be amused if we recreated the events of April 14, Museum are at www.titanicinverness.com 1912, on its water! So it’ll stay where it is, below the canal embankment and firmly on dry ground.”

104 BOAT SAFETY

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Staying safe on your boat This month Clive Penny of the Association of Boat Safety Examiners looks at the remainder of Part 7 of the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) Examination Checking Procedures (ECPs) for privately owned and privately managed boats.

PART 7 is all about Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) systems and is one of the largest sections of the checking procedures. We’ll start with LPG pipework and joints.

LPG pipework must be made of a suitable material, either seamless copper tube, or stainless steel tube, or copper nickel alloy. LPG pipes must not move under light manual force, and must be free of kinks, restrictions, abrasion damage, or other deterioration. An LPG pipe must be protected where it passes through metal bulkheads or decks with the use of sleeves, grommets or bulkhead fittings.

All LPG pipe joints must be accessible for inspection and must be compression fittings on copper pipe, or compression or screwed fittings on stainless steel or copper nickel alloy. These joints must have fixing clips no more than 150mm on each side and must not move under light manual force, they must also be free of signs of damage or deterioration or missing components. All LPG joints must be free of any signs of cracks and must also be made with the minimum number of individual components (usually interpreted as two). Any unused appliance spurs must be capped with a ‘tools to remove’ cap or plug.

LPG pipes running through petrol engine spaces or electrical equipment spaces must be jointless and in gasproof conduit which must also be jointless, with its end outside the affected space, and this must be complete and free of signs of damage or deterioration. LPG pipes must be at least 75mm from any exhaust system or flue components.

Low pressure LPG hoses and hose connections

All LPG hoses must be accessible for inspection along their entire length.

They must be marked to BS3212 type 2 or equivalent and must be free of leaks, flaws, brittleness, cracking, abrasion, kinking, soft spots or joins. LPG hoses

Fixing each side of each joint, an isolation valve, and a proprietary test point.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

must be protected against damage where they pass through bulkheads, decks, or partitions. LPG hoses must also be at least 75mm from any exhaust system and flue components.

LPG hoses must only be used to connect regulators and appliances to the LPG pipework and must be no longer than 1m.

Portable appliances

All portable appliance connection points must be fitted with an isolation valve. Hose connections to the isolation valves must be made with a bayonet, plug-in or screwed fitting and all unused screwed appliance connection points must be closed with a ‘tools to remove’ proprietary cap or plug.

Appliance isolation valves

Appliances connected by hose must be provided with an individual isolation valve. For an installation with a single appliance, the cylinder valve may be considered to be the isolation valve. Also, a hob/oven arrangement may be deemed to be one appliance for the purposes of this check. Isolation valves, or the means to operate them, must be readily accessible.

Finally, the examiner has to test the LPG system to make sure the system is gas tight, (no leaks). To do this, the

system must contain either a bubble tester located within the gas locker, or a readily accessible proprietary test point for the connection of a manometer.

All low pressure LPG hose connections:

● Must be accessible for inspection ● Must be part of pre-made hose assemblies of suitable proprietary manufacture or use suitable nozzles secured by crimped or worm-drive clips ● Must not be made using hose clamps fixed by spring tension ● Must be free of any missing components, cracks, burrs or rough edges or signs of other damage or deterioration ● Must not be so narrow as to cut into the hose ● Where made with crimped or worm-drive clamps, the clamps must be suitably sized, that is, not so oversized that the band forms an elliptical shape, or so undersized that inadequate compression is achieved ● Be appropriately tight, that is, not so loose that the hose can be pulled forward or back under light manual force nor so tight that the hose is excessively pinched.

● The information in this article forms only an overview; for the full list of all the checks, with the actions an examiner will take, visit the BSS website at www.boatsafetyscheme.org 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.

Don’t barbecue on your boat, advises BSS AS THE barbecue summer finally arrives, the Boat Safety Scheme has a simple request: “If you see or hear of it happening, please advise your fellow boaters to never use a barbecue on board a boat – take it ashore, enjoy it safely and avoid the twin risks of fire and carbon monoxide.”

The BSS is calling upon boaters to spread the safety messages by conversation on the mooring, or by phone, Facebook, tweeting or other social media – take that barbecue ashore.

Graham Watts, BSS manager said: “With the barbecue off the boat there’s no threat of decks or on-board combustible materials being set alight by the heat from the red hot charcoal or loose embers.

“Even on land be careful not to place a disposable barbecue where it could set alight wooden jetties, boardwalks, or dry grass and vegetation.”

Barbecues need to be far enough away from the boat so that any hot embers blowing in the wind can’t reach boat furnishings, or anything else that can burn, like newspapers or clothes. The carbon monoxide (CO) risk is real and immediate. In the last 18 months, seven campers have died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by bringing disposable barbecues into, or near small and confined spaces of tents and awnings.

The lessons from camping that boaters need to take on board is that hot or warm charcoal produces dangerous amounts of the highly toxic gas, and continues to do so for hours after the cooking is over.

This means it is never safe to have a lit or cooling barbecue in a cabin or covered cockpit area. The only safe charcoal is that which is absolutely stone-cold.

Warning to check your water pump for leaks RIVER Canal Rescue is urging boat owners to check their water pumps and act upon any leaks, no matter how small, after responding to seven times more call-outs in May and June.

The inland waterway assistance firm receives three calls per month for broken water pumps on average, yet in the last two months it attended 21. The first week in July alone saw six calls.

Managing director Stephanie Horton said: “In many cases it’s where people neglect to put right a small leak so it develops into something more serious or they fail to replace their impeller, which only has a one year warranty and should be changed every year.”

The symptoms of a broken pump, which is typically caused by a faulty impeller or seal, are a water leak, the pump not working at all or the engine over-heating.

Stephanie added: “It’s important to get leaks sorted as soon as possible, as the loss of water from the cooling system due to pump failure can result in engine damage if overheating is not picked up, and this can occur within 15 minutes in severe cases.” ● Visit River Canal Rescue at www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk or check out Facebook.

Warning to commercial boat operators on Loch Lomond

A WARNING has been issued to commercial boat operators on Scotland’s largest inland waterway to comply with safety regulations after a report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) slammed the operators of a ferry which sank on Loch Lomond on September 19 last year.

The 21ft Vixen sank with one crew member and six passengers on board as it made its way from Ardlui to Ardleish, a half-mile sail, across the head of the loch, after corrosion of its steel hull allowed water to swamp the boat. No one drowned in the incident but one passenger, who was not given a lifejacket, and the skipper, had to be rescued from the water by a nearby boat.

MAIB investigators listed operational failings including the skipper’s lack of a commercial use endorsement for his RYA National Powerboat Certificate Level 2 certificate. There was no specific limit on the maximum number of passengers which could be carried safely, while some lifejackets were not accessible and none had the recommended minimum buoyancy level.

The investigators also revealed that the boat was not licensed by the appropriate local authorities, Argyll and Bute Council and the Loch Lomond Park Authority because of a failure to apply the Inland Waterways Small Passenger Boat Code requirements.

The ferry operator has now bought a replacement boat, is applying for a licence to operate and is ensuring only qualified skippers are employed.

The MAIB report concluded: “This accident demonstrates that effective oversight of commercially operated passenger vessels on Loch Lomond is needed.”

Both Argyll and Bute Council and the Park Authority said that they were studying the report conclusions with a view to improving their practices.

Digging into the Forth & Clyde’s yesteryear SCOTTISH Canals is to appoint a community archaeologist for 12 months to bring the history of the canal to life between Glasgow, Falkirk and Grangemouth for 16 to 25-year-olds.

The Scottish Waterways Trust and Falkirk Community Trust have chipped in to make the Heritage Lottery Fundsupported post a reality and the successful applicant will get down to work in September.

The successful applicant will work with Dr Sabina Strachan, Scottish Canals senior heritage advisor, Geoff Bailey of Falkirk Community Trust and Scottish Waterways Trust canals and green space development officer, Steve Cole. Given

the canal’s proximity to the World Heritage Site Antonine Wall, the post holder is likely to concentrate on the heritage shared with the Roman period, but surveying the Great Canal Brewery site on the canal’s Glasgow branch will also be included in the remit as will working with the Canal College project.

Sabina Strachan said: “We’ve taken this project from the germ of an idea just six months ago to the post being created and I couldn’t be more thrilled. The community archaeologist will help deliver the aims laid out in our recentlylaunched Heritage Strategy and will foster engagement with the rich history of Scotland’s waterways.”

Local heroes recalled on towpath revamp A BENCH recalling local heroes has been incorporated in a £100,000 towpath upgrade on the Forth & Clyde Canal near Falkirk’s Rosebank Distillery.

The portrait bench at Lock 15 features Robert Barr, founder of Barr’s Soft Drinks, maker of Scotland’s famed IrnBru; Dr Harold Lyon, founder of Strathcarron Hospice and Reg Adams MBE, a former coach of Grangemouth Amateur Swimming Club.

The trio was nominated by local people using a shortlist compiled by pupils at Bainsford Primary School and St Mungo’s High Schools as part of the Sustrans, Scottish Canals, Falkirk Council and Big Lottery Fund project which includes a revamped section of towpath between locks 10 and 16.

Whim bushes have been swept aside to provide a safe route to school for pupils and full use by canal users on and off the water. The section is part of a £1 million drive to improve towpaths all the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh.

Richard Millar, Scottish Canals head of

Falkirk Provost Pat Reid joined pupils from Bainsford Primary and St Mungo’s High Schools at the launch of the local heroes signature bench at Lock 15 on the Forth & Clyde Canal. PHOTO: FALKIRK COUNCIL enterprise said: “The towpaths of the Forth & Clyde play a vital role in the communities they run through and that couldn’t be truer in this case where the path offers a safe route for local pupils to get to school. We are also thrilled to feature one of the first portrait benches in Scotland on our towpath.”

Scottish Canals canine clean-up call DOG owners exercising their pets on towpaths are being reminded to clean up after them.

The canine clean-up call comes as better weather increases the number of towpath users, including cyclists, walkers, runners and boaters walking alongside their craft or using locks.

And Scottish Canals is reminding dog owners that they carry sole responsibility for keeping the towpath clean for everyone, including canal staff and volunteers, although the body is stressing that the vast majority of dog owners are responsible and clean up after their pets.

A Scottish Canals spokesperson said: “The majority of pet owners take responsibility for their animals and bag and bin their pet’s waste. But there is

still a small number failing to do so.

“Dog fouling is not only unpleasant; it is dangerous. A variety of parasites exists within dog faeces and can cause significant health issues if they pass into the body. Irresponsible pet owners put the health of our employees, contractors and volunteers, as well as other towpath users, at risk.”

All Scottish councils with canals in their area operate community warden schemes. Wardens have the power to issue £40 fixed penalty fines to dog owners caught allowing their pets to foul towpaths and failing to clear the mess. The councils are warning dog owners that their wardens patrol canals areas used by dog walkers frequently and have and will issue fixed penalty notices to offenders.

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Digging a canal 21st century style Earlier this year Towpath Talk’s Scottish correspondent, Hugh Dougherty, became the first journalist to be given an on-site tour of the works to construct the new canal link at the Helix Project in Falkirk. Here’s what he found.

THE 900 metre canal, linking the Forth & Clyde with the sea at Grangemouth, is appearing from the ground.

It’s the £13.42 million pride and joy of Helix project director Mike King and contractor Balfour Beatty’s project manager, Alan Brisbane.

They’re in charge of making sure that

The new lock joining the existing Forth & Clyde with the new canal’s turning basin under construction.

PHOTOS: HUGH DOUGHERTY

The turning basin takes shape.

the canal, its massive Kelpie statues, locks, a turning basin, a link to the Forth & Clyde, a lift road lift bridge and a tunnel under the busy M80 Motorway, all come together for 2014, when the first boats will use the waterway.

Alan says it will all come together and that the water will stay in the

Tunnelling under the motorway with traffic flowing above.

canal. Pointing to very wet ground conditions he said: “Our problem at the moment is keeping the water out of the canal. We’re also moving dozens of service pipes, carrying water, waste water and even chemicals serving the nearby Grangemouth refinery complex.

“If you asked me what’s different about the way we build a canal today, compared with the 18th century, I’d say that we have machinery. But the advantage they had over us was starting with green field sites. We’re having to move a great deal and consult widely to dig the canal’s path.”

The works are impressive, with squads of men and heavy plant everywhere. There’s piling in place along the course of the canal, and Balfour Beatty engineers are tunnelling under the motorway, closing one carriageway while keeping the other open.

And it’s there that the massive Kelpie statues will look down on passing road and canal traffic.

“No one on the motorway will be able to miss the canal,” smiled Mike King. “The statues will put it and the Helix landscaping and our information

Canal builders 21st century style.

Alan Brisbane of Balfour Beatty, left, and Helix’s Mike King, stand on the course of the new canal which is being excavated. centre on the map. They’ll be quite a sight for drivers.”

And quite a ‘site’, too, is the spot where the Forth & Clyde and the new canal will meet. Piling is in place along the original waterway’s edge.

“All we’ll need to do is take it away, the water will flow, and we’ll be joined up,” said Alan. “Easy!”

Work continues throughout the year on this impressive project, Scotland’s first 21st century canal.

Cutting edge project set to revolutionise dredging

A PARTNERSHIP between Scottish Canals and the University of Strathclyde is set to revolutionise dredging and could see sediment used in everything from creating construction materials to the production of biogas.

The two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership, supported by the Scottish Environmental Technology Network (SETN), will see Scottish Canals use the experience and expertise of the university to clean up contaminated sediments, minimise costs, and develop innovative new uses for the waste materials generated by dredging.

Sediment pulled out of Scotland’s canals is often sent to landfill but this cutting-edge project aims to identify a more economical and environmentally friendly alternative.

The partnership will forge relationships with potential supply chain partners and could see dredged material used in everything from creating building materials, reclaiming brownfield sites, or even as feedstock for producing biogas.

It is estimated that, without the benefit of the KTP project, the cost of managing the sediment levels of Scotland’s canals will rise significantly in coming years. The partnership has called on any organisations who feel they could offer innovative and sustainable solutions to get in touch.

The project will also see Scottish Canals take on a recent graduate in a two-year KTP Associate post, partfunded by the Technology Strategy Board, in order to work on the project.

David Lamont, director of change and innovation at Scottish Canals, said: “This project will develop some innovative new solutions to dealing with the by-products of dredging and it could generate substantial savings by recycling waste that currently clogs up landfill sites and turning it into usable products.”

Dr Richard Lord, director of knowledge exchange for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, said: “One challenge is the sheer logistics of recovering and processing useable material from remote locations on the Crinan or Caledonian Canals.

Sediments from former industrial areas on the Union or Forth and Clyde Canals may require further treatment to convert them to suitable products.

“Dredging of the canal network will benefit recreational users and tourism and has the potential to stimulate regeneration and provide low-carbon transport options.”

£1m ploughed into Scottish towpath revamp scheme SCOTTISH Canals has joined forces with a variety of partners to plough £1 million into towpaths around the country in a push to offer users safe and attractive, all-weather surfaces in place of dust paths.

Revamped sections include 4.5km on the Forth & Clyde between Kirkintilloch, and Possil Marsh; 1.2km between Cairnbann and Dunardry on the Crinan: 850m at Falkirk on the Forth & Clyde and a 100m path near the remaining section of the Monkland Canal at Summerlee Industrial Museum in Coatbridge.

Project partners include Sustrans, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, East Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute and North Lanarkshire Councils.

Richard Millar, Scottish Canals head of enterprise said: “The towpaths along Scotland’s canals are busier than ever and play a vital role in the communities they run through. We are opening up access to them by providing a safe, all-weather surface for everyone from cyclists and walkers to wheelchair users.”

Show boat Blue Hue at Spiers Wharf. PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

Living on Water comes to Glasgow SCOTTISH Canals has brought its successful Living on Water campaign into the heart of Glasgow with the launch of an initial five moorings at Speirs Wharf on the Forth & Clyde Canal.

The wharf joins already-launched berths at Leamington Wharf on the Union Canal and at Inverness of the Caledonian.

The organisation also revealed it is to encourage new-start businesses to

consider locating to or starting up on Scottish canals, but the initial pitch for the five berths is at first-time house buyers, retired professionals, artists and musicians, all of whom would appreciate the canal and the comfort levels of the boats of today.

The berths will be auctioned for an initial three-year lease by estate agent Rettie. Anyone interested should visit www.livingonwater.co.uk or phone Rettie on 0845 220 2727.

AnniversAry events win renAissAnce AwArd

The Crinan Canal at Cairnbaan, where 1.2km of towpath is to be upgraded as part of the £1m scheme. PHOTO: HUGH DOUGHERTY

THREE events marking a decade since the Lowland Canals re-opened fought off stiff competition to win a prestigious UK-wide environment and sustainability award.

In a joint submission between Scottish Canals and the Lowland Canals Volunteer Group, a trilogy of volunteer-led events celebrating the 10th anniversary of the reopening of the Lowland Canals won the Partnership category at the recent awards ceremony in Birmingham.

The major flotilla-based events took place on the Union Canal in September 2010 (Union 10), September 2011 (Forth & Clyde 10) and the finale – a royal visit with HRH The Princess Royal, a gathering of the canal fleet, followed by concert and fireworks – at The Falkirk Wheel in July 2012 (Wheel 10).

The three events attracted 39,000 visitors, hundreds of boaters from Scotland and England, hundreds of local school children and performers. A host of key influencers including Scottish Ministers, MSPs, provosts and councillors from seven local authorities were also involved.

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Stourport Basins A unique canal town

Words: PHILLIPPA GREENWOOD Photography: MARTINE O’CALLAGHAN

STOURPORT-on-Severn is the only town in Britain that was built solely for the canals. It has evolved into a unique location today, embodying a distinct travelling ethos.

The town was born out of James Brindley’s fantastic idea of creating a ‘Grand Cross’ through a network of canals that would link the rivers Mersey, Trent, Severn and Thames. The River Severn was England’s busiest river, transporting cargo from Bristol to the Midlands. Its furthest navigable point was Bewdley, where goods had to be unloaded from boats onto tiny horse-

The barge lock through to the upper basin.

pulled carts that clopped to landlocked destinations beyond. The Industrial Revolution’s lust for speed was champing at the bit for Brindley’s plan.

Following permissions granted in the Parliamentary Act of 1766, Brindley started building the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal to link the River Severn to the Trent. But Brindley didn’t choose Bewdley to be his port from the River Severn. To keep construction costs tight, he cunningly hitchhiked the less hilly route where the River Stour had already carved its way into the Severn.

The nearby hamlet of Lower Mitton was

The barge lock from the lower basin.

destined to be swamped by the new canal development and the pitiless growth of an important and affluent canal town. Stourport became the busiest inland port in the Midlands after Birmingham.

To allow river boats to turn off the Severn and then load and unload their cargoes onto canal boats, Brindley built a series of locks and basins. The upper and lower basins were linked by a wide barge lock (gobbling 95,000 gallons of water each time it’s used) and another barge lock met the Severn. As trade increased, more basins were added, along with two sets of two-rise staircase locks. At Stourport’s peak of activity, there were five basins in operation, with warehouses and homes for the workers built around the basins. By 1795 around 1300 people lived in the town. A ferocious hub of development spread with brass and iron foundries, vinegar works, tan yards, worsted spinning mills, carpet manufacturers, boat building yards, wharfs, shops and inns.

At the same time as building the canal, in 1773 an inn was conveniently positioned on the waterside at the basins. The inn became the Tontine Hotel, used by the canal company as its unofficial business centre. In its grandeur, it offered merchants, highclass employees and passengers plush accommodation and entertainment, including a ballroom and all the fine trimmings of pomposity, all safely away from the haulage trade’s swearing boats and uncouth everyday business.

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.

Georgian townhouses line the basins.

The basins busy during a festival.

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The Towpath Angler

Our monthly look at the angling scene

The entrance to Mart Lane and the basins.

The Anchor pub overlooks the River Severn.

The Tontine is still impressive today, but it is the late 18th century Clock Warehouse that elegantly dominates the basins. The original warehouse didn’t have a clock, and the clock (made

by Samuel Thorpe of Abberley) that chimes ceremoniously on the hour, every hour, today was only added by public subscription in 1812. Time has watched over the basins for two centuries, and no tourist who arrives with a camera leaves without a photo of the Clock Warehouse.

Brindley’s basins have survived the ups and downs of the canal’s fortunes and in 2006 the Heritage Lottery Fund, along with British Waterways (now the Canal & River Trust) and other funders facilitated the recent restoration of the basins. But not everything has survived the dynamics of change. The old Engine House has gone and instead, a retro fairground squeals with joy on the site that once laboured to hurl water from the river to feed the basins. Boulton & Watt’s steam engine was the old beating heart of the basins – tackling 100,000 gallons of water that were lost from the basins every time a canal boat moved to

or from the river. Sadly, this masterpiece of engineering was a victim of the First World War when it was removed for scrap iron.

The traffic of the Industrial Revolution has gone but in this millennium Stourport sits on one of the busiest cruising rings in Britain (aptly known as the Stourport Ring) and holiday boats keep the basins alive. The basins are home to around 100 narrowboats and yachts, and Stourport is famed for prolific gongoozling. A boater’s journey from the river twists through impossibly angled basins, forcing formidable manoeuvres under the gauntlet of gongoozlers.

Stourport-on-Severn is a Georgian town with a population of around 20,000 people, but it is bulked by the hordes who travel here every summer to eat fish and chips, stroll along the river banks, shriek down the helter-skelter and endlessly gongoozle. The town’s adjacent shopping street and the basins don’t easily tally together, and we have a hunch that if Mr Brindley could have his say, he’d claim the real treasure of Stourport still lies firmly in its water.

The view from the staircase locks to the former Tontine Hotel.

FACT FILE Stourport Basins Stourport Basins are where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal meets the river Severn. The Basins are open all day every day.

FREE admission.

Stourport Basins, locks and wharfs and many of the cottages are Grade II-listed. The former stables for the Tontine Hotel (now private apartments) are also Grade II-listed, and now house the Tontine Stable Heritage Room where you can pick up the Discovery Trail leaflet.

Follow the Discovery Trail to find out more about the Basins, their heritage and their regeneration.

The Basins have also been awarded the Transport Trust Red Wheel Plaque. www.transporttrust.com www.transportheritage.com www.stourporttown.co.uk Location Stourport-on-Severn OS Grid ref: OS SO810710 Canal: Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal

How to get there By train Nearest train station is Kidderminster National Rail Enquiries 08457 484950 By bus Traveline 0871 200 2233 By car Roadside or public car parks.

On foot The Severn Way runs all the way along the river Severn from its source in Wales to the sea at Bristol. The canal towpath forms part of a longdistance route to Great Haywood in Staffordshire, where it meets the Trent & Mersey Canal. Sustrans National Cycle Route 54 follows the canal towpath from Stourport to Kidderminster.

By boat Nearest boat hire: Anglo Welsh Waterway Holidays, Great Haywood. Holiday & day boat hire. 0117 304 1122 www.anglowelsh.co.uk

UK Boat Hire, Worcester. Holiday hire.

0330 333 0590 www.ukboathire.com Stourport Steamer Company, Stourport-on-Severn.

Self-drive day boat hire on the river Severn. 07860 468792 www.riverboathire.co.uk Boat Trips: Stourport Steamer Company, Stourport-on-Severn. Regular 40minute cruises along the river Severn.

Private charter also available. 01299 871177 www.riverboathire.co.uk Moorings There are visitor moorings available both in the Basins and along the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal through Stourport.

Local Tourist info Stourport Town website www.stourporttown.co.uk Canal & River Trust Use the Canal & River Trust website to find specific local information. www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

LAST month I made reference to a meeting where officers of the Canal & River Trust and the Angling Trust discussed partnership working opportunities. It is clear this has now very much become ‘work in progress’ and I am quite excited about what the two organisations can jointly achieve for angling.

An early example is the CRT’s Angling Strategy where interviews of internal candidates for the manager post have already taken place. Greater collaboration on ecological issues and hydropower is imminent. Others will undoubtedly follow.

The Moorings Group on the Kennet & Avon submitted its initial report and recommendations earlier this year. At the centre of this is a proposed initiative which will certainly allow the controlling angling clubs to ‘regain’ some of the bank space for which they pay significant sums and also provide for much better definition of the types of mooring areas which should assist all boaters. It is hoped this may well evolve into a pilot project which, if successful, could in turn be rolled out across the country particularly in mooring ‘hot spot’ areas.

The National Angling Advisory Group met in mid-June. One of the key items was a presentation by a CRT ecologist on the proposed otter project in the West Midlands. Unfortunately, because the proposal and the potential impacts on the whole waterway community had not, perhaps, been fully researched and provided for there was, not surprisingly, a very strong reaction both locally and nationally. However now all of this is better understood by both sides it looks as though there could be some collaborative working here also.

Locally the partnership boards are functioning very well and it is clear that angling issues are, at last, getting serious consideration especially where there is someone with an angling background on board. I am about to help find suitable volunteers within the angling fraternity for the other partnerships. Clearly selection to the boards needs, quite rightly, to be based on skills, experience and, of course, time availability and not just on activity representation. All in all I truly think the future is looking pretty good.

Angling Trust held its AGM a couple of weeks ago so now it is back to business as usual. Over the past year AT has been developing a voluntary bailiffs scheme and it is clear this is now taking off big time. The clubbased pilot schemes have been very successful and we are now seeing the massive demand across the country.

This alongside the CRT’s Waterway

David Kent

Ranger initiative could well be yet another source of collaboration between CRT and AT.

‘Big one’ approaching

On the freshwater side, AT is well and truly into the National Championship season now with the ‘big one’ the Division 1 just a couple of months away. The Trent & Mersey from Rugeley down to Stretton will see 550 of the country’s top anglers competing.

Logistically such large events are always difficult and this is particularly the case on canals where there are very few access points. This is an issue which has to be addressed very soon as these events are not only good for a canal’s profile but are a proven boost to the local economy.

The restocking of my local Erewash Canal after last September’s pollution goes on. However it is still some way from being the fishery it was 10 months ago. I have seen a few anglers trying it in recent weeks but apart from a few small fish very little has been caught. A further meeting of all interested parties is scheduled for late July but it looks as though it could be at least another year before fishing becomes viable once more.

Reports from other canals are very mixed. Having spoken to a friend from the West Midlands last week it seems his club had a decent contest on the Grand Union where the top weight was 12lb of bream. Similarly I understand the bigger waterways in South Yorkshire are doing pretty well. If the recent spell of seasonal weather remains then sport everywhere should improve. On the busier waterways the quieter evenings will probably be the most productive for all species.

Finally, my personal results of late have been a little better with a win, a second, two thirds and a lake win.

Therefore a much needed boost to my confidence and, hopefully, proof that I must be doing some things right. Let us hope this better run continues.

Wherever you fish this month, enjoy it and be safe.

Fishing season projects bringing new benefits for Broads anglers ANGLERS taking to the Broads this season can benefit from a range of partnership projects intended to improve angling.

The initiative has been spearheaded by the Broads Angling Strategy Group (BASG), an initiative made up of local angling representatives working in partnership with the Environment Agency, the Broads Authority and the Angling Trust.

The group has created a new strategy to sustain and grow fishing that promotes three core themes of ‘communication and education’, ‘environments for fish’ and ‘access to angling’. Members have also volunteered their time to create a free magazine, Broads Angle, which includes a wide range of articles written by experts including television presenter John Bailey.

Alongside the new strategy, the Environment Agency has delivered a scheme to improve angling access on its banks at Upton, on the River Bure.

Rod licence funding has been used to install eight new timber angling platforms, boardwalks and two angling pads, providing local and visiting anglers alike with a chance to try fishing one of the area’s fantastic tidal river fisheries.

With BASG linking directly to angling governance at a regional and national level through the Angling Trust East of England Forum, the new arrangements also form a clear pathway to ensure national Fishing for Life strategy objectives can be delivered on the ground in the Broads area.

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The Wet Web Helen Gazeley’s online findings this month range from a boating book and blog to a webcam and windlass.

Dan Brown on Tilly.

BOATS come to the rescue in more ways than one. In his newly published book, The Narrowboat Lad, Dan Brown (no, not that one) relates how, in his midtwenties and foreseeing a future he didn’t want, he found an answer.

“Everywhere I turned,” he says, “I saw people struggling their lives away… working every hour they could to sustain a standard of life that was no more than acceptable and yet never having time to enjoy it.

“I saw people who worked their entire lives to retire with something in the bank only to have a blow dealt to them by fate that would stop them from ever reaping the rewards of a life spent working, worse still I saw how close I was to entering this 40-year cycle.”

Then a jokey remark from a friend turned his thoughts to boats and, working short hours on the minimum wage at a supermarket (you can still say ‘hi’ in the Oswestry Sainsbury’s), Dan saved enough to buy a 30ft Springer narrowboat.

The Narrowboat Lad relates his experiences on the tiny Tilly as he approaches his first full year aboard.

It could do with a spot of copy-editing (Dan, full-stops aren’t rationed!) but is an engaging, honest account that will make you admire his courage in assessing the life he wants and taking the courage to pursue it. The book is available for Kindle for £1.53 and you

John Halford has a 1⁄20 share of Shadow for sale. can read the introduction on Amazon.co.uk Dan also produces regular chatty, increasingly popular videos on narrowboat life at www.boyonaboat.com and will no doubt be recounting his experiences as he begins a stint of mooring at Chirk Marina.

Producing videos of a totally different kind is www.narrowboatinfo.co.uk which offers an informal guide to UK Canals and Rivers and a quick reference map of the canal system. Here you’ll find dreamy, annotated footage of various locations playing against a gentle soundtrack, including the Marsworth Flight to Bulbourne, as well as information that the less experienced narrowboater will find interesting. How Fast Can a Narrowboat Go explains the calculation of adding miles to travel to number of locks to pass through, and dividing by four to reach the number of hours a journey will take.

John Halford is a narrowboater who likes gadgets, is a good customer of Maplins for electronic components, and has some useful ideas on his blog

http://halfie.blogspot.co.uk including how to make a combined long and short-throw windlass. With one gadget, his time-lapse camera, he’s produced around 50 videos, taking you in minutes along stretches such as Kingston-uponThames to Bull’s Bridge, and Queen’s Head to Bettisfield on the Montgomery and Llangollen canals.

Incidentally, John is currently selling a 20th share in narrowboat Shadow, an unusually small share that means, as he points out, unusually small bills.

Offering video of a different sort, webcams offer a way to sit at your desk, pretending you’re somewhere else.

Norfolk Live has a range of views, including of Wroxham Bridge, where you can sign in to control the camera. For a good list of webcams, or to add another, visit www.canals.com/webcams.htm Combining a long- and shortFormoreinformation throw windlass means that you Do you have a favourite website? have all positions Email Helen at helengazeley@aol.com covered. PHOTO:

➔

JOHN HALFORD

Canal watch scheme aims to cut K&A thefts

By Bob Naylor

A CANAL Watch scheme has been set up on the Kennet & Avon Canal following a spate of thefts from boats in recent months.

As well as thefts of bicycles, gas bottles and diesel fuel, boats have been broken into and valuables, food and money have been taken.

The scheme is being co-ordinated by WPC Teresa Herbert who is the community beat manager based in Pewsey. She is asking boaters to register so that they can be kept up to date and alerted with text messages.

To register, boaters should send their details to: Teresa.Herbert@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk Police have increased their presence on the canal with foot and bicycle patrols during the day and plain clothes officers patrolling the canal at night.

K&A Canal Watch co-ordinator WPC Teresa Herbert of Wiltshire Police. PHOTO: BOB NAYLOR:

WATERMARX©

Police are searching for Allan Campbell, 39, in connection with the boat burglaries and although they believe he has left the area there have been more thefts from boats recently and police are asking canal users to remain vigilant. If Campbell is sighted DC Nick Mackian should be contacted at Wiltshire Police on 101. Or you can report suspicious behaviour to the police anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Police are now patrolling the canal by bicycle.

PHOTO: BOB NAYLOR:WATERMARX©

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The Stratford Canal – A pleasant and safe environment to cruise on

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Thanks to so many Good Samaritans I DID a rather dumb thing recently while mopping the back end of our stern cruiser NB Jam Pudd; I rather stupidly forgot that I’d lifted one of the engine cover boards and stepped backwards into the void! Not a smart thing to do at the best of times but not at the beginning of a four-week sojourn on the river Avon and while moored in the middle of nowhere.

Cutting the full story short (if that’s possible for me!)... seven weeks later and out of plaster and back in the basin at Stratford-upon-Avon I’m reflecting just how fortunate I’ve really been. Not to have caused myself more injury than a double fractured ankle is a blessing – it could have been a broken back falling on the engine as I did or a fractured skull as I clouted my head going down!

No, our lasting memory of these past weeks is of the endless help and kindness shown to me and Pam by friends but mostly by complete strangers who came to our rescue as we struggled to deal with a raft of issues only we boaters encounter in emergencies.

They are Will and Virginia Ward of NB Wilver who pulled me out of the engine bay and remained on their mooring for

five days keeping Pam company while I was in hospital; friends, Malcolm and Anne Blundell, NB Wicked Game, travelled up from their Kingsground base at Enslow to spend two days moving us down river to a safe mooring at Tewkesbury marina. Here manager, Simon Amos could not have been more helpful, placing us in a very convenient mooring for access but one he would never normally allow a 60ft steel narrowboat – to the consternation of fragile moored cruiser boat owners!

Throughout our five-week stay his team were extremely attentive to our special needs. Then last but not least a special thanks goes to, Ben Willson, fellow boater, who helped in so many ways from the moment we docked and finally crewing us 42 miles back to Stratford-upon-Avon!

We extend grateful thanks to all who came to the rescue in our time of need. So many good Samaritans – faith in our fellow man is fully restored. Now it’s our turn to reciprocate when called upon.

Bob and Pam Ellison NB Jam Pudd

PS: Even the Avon Navigation Trust helped by extending our temporary licence.

WHILE skipping through the Towpath Talk today, I came across a section on the stop lock at Kings Norton on the Stratford Canal (News, Issue 92, June). It explained that, as we know, a lot of money has been spent on repairing it in recent months and there was a grand reopening to celebrate it.

I was horrified to read on that we must all be careful not to travel through it on a warm sunny day as we are likely to get trouble from the local kids.

We own Lyons Boatyard on the North Stratford Canal at Bridge 3 approximately 40 minutes cruising

time from there. We live on a boat ourselves and run a very successful day trip boat from our yard. I would like to tell you that neither we, nor our customers have ever experienced this kind of behaviour from people at this location.

We travel the network on our narrowboat for eight months of the year and we see all kinds of things on our travels, it is the nature of English canals to come across different walks of life, industry, countryside, graffiti, broken locks, happy boaters, grumpy boaters, dead animals in the water and many more things. It’s part of the experience.

Life on the cut – before gentrification

WE ARE continuous cruisers at the moment on the Kennet & Avon Canal which is not known for having very good visitor moorings.

Yesterday evening we were trying to moor the boat, the canal was very shallow and the towpath very overgrown.

We were having to beat down the nettles and weeds to put our spikes in. Suddenly we heard the words “look out we are coming through” and there were two speeding cyclists. I said: “No you are not, we are struggling to moor the boat.” They then spotted my husband and one of the guys braked so hard his cycle left skid marks.

We then got a tirade from them saying that the towpath is a designated cycle route and they have right of way. I have no problem with them using the towpaths but what I do object to is the speed which is out of all proportion to other towpath users. Is it going to take a serious accident to get them to slow down?

What would slow them down and possibly deter them from using the towpaths is if like us boaters they had to pay £850 per year licence fee.

WHEN I started boating some years ago (40!) I was a continuous cruiser. There were lots of us – there were virtually no moorings so it was that or nothing. Boating was fun, chemical bucket toilets, gas fridges… ah the joys we were young and foolish, well, young.

Now boats are locked into massive ‘marinas’, or more correctly parking lots for mobile floating homes.

And when reading Towpath Talk here in France, I am deeply saddened that all that has gone and has been replaced by a camping car attitude. Oh you lot can’t imagine it, it was such fun primitive and lovely, no mobile phones, no washing machines, no television, BUT a lot of freedom, sadly all gone. I remember – a fellow boater’s girlfriend used to visit him on Saturdays and they invariably had sex on his boat’s roof. I casually asked why they didn’t do it inside and ‘Taff’s’ reply was “She’s too tall and the bed’s too short” – there you go, quite logical.

Can’t quite imagine that now, might write my memoirs, Life on the Cut Before Gentrification. Forward continuous boaters, ‘march on’.

Elisabeth Leigh By email

Festive season dictates winter stoppage programme CAN someone tell me why the Canal & River Trust is carrying on the British Waterways tradition of planning its work programme by the Christian calendar? Why not use Diwali instead as its main day this year is in November. The CRT could get the festive break out of the way at the end of what it perceives to be the boating season (which let’s be honest, is only dictated by the hireboat industry).

In the unlikely event that the CRT workforce are all such devout Christians that they refuse to work through the enforced Christmas holiday, surely in this day and age CRT is willing to employ workers of other religions, or whose only belief is in getting a good job done, and who would be pleased to carry on, especially if they had already enjoyed their own religious Festival.

Boat did not need licence

Fantastic service

Not the spirit of the canals

IN 2008 I bought a galvanic isolator from Vic Wilkinson at Safeshore Marine and a few weeks ago I discovered that the remote indicator box was full of water from rain seeping through a seam in my coachroof and the circuitry was thoroughly corroded.

I managed to bodge a repair with a spare LED indicator but in phoning Vic to check that the system was indeed still serviceable he offered to send me a new replacement unit free of charge, which he duly did.

Two and a half years out of warranty and damaged by external forces in no way whatsoever related to the product! I’m almost speechless by such fantastic service. Thanks again Vic.

I AM writing in response to James Moore’s letter (Talkback, Issue 92, June). I witnessed this incident while locking through Middlewich and Mr Moore was aggressive, abusive and swore at the Canal & River Trust men tidying and working on the locks. It is not the first time I have come across this gentleman and really hope CRT take him to task.

Surely this is not the spirit of the canals? If he didn’t want help he could have been polite. It costs nothing to be nice to people and I am sure they were only doing their job.

I certainly cannot condone this behaviour which is why I am writing!

I will be writing to CRT also on this matter.

John Main Westhill, Aberdeen

CB c/o Preston Brook Marina

Sarah Brittle Lyons Boatyard

Cyclists taking over towpaths

Ian Lauder By email

A helping hand for Bob Ellison following his accident. PHOTO SUPPLIED

We like to know that our business thrives on reputation, we work very hard to promote it! Therefore, when we read such negative writings about our immediate stretch of canal, it only makes us realise how detrimental this kind of publicity is to our business.

It is also worth mentioning that due to the ongoing improvements that British Waterways and Canal & River Trust are continually striving to achieve, we have a much more pleasant and safe environment to cruise in.

WITH reference to Mr Mcenhill’s letter in respect of the Enforcement boat Yorkshire Ranger (Talkback, Issue 93, July), quite simply the boat is an asset of the Canal & River Trust and does not require a licence. However, due to complaints received in the past, a dummy licence was issued to the boat as are dummy excise licences issued to police vehicles.

The fault lies squarely with the area supervision in that, since the officer responsible for its upkeep left last year, nobody seems responsible for an expensive asset that seems to be going to rack and ruin because no one cares enough to do something about it.

Mark Hall By email

Singing worker gave us a lift CAN I please say the following about my recent trips via your fantastic paper. I would like to thank Dave, Richard and all the staff at the Anderton Boat Lift along with all the lock keepers, all so helpful. Dave made our holiday with his singing as we were lowered to the river below.

Also another point, while cruising from Devizes to Cheshire, we were amazed at the amount of boats with no licence. Only last week I was up the Macclesfield Canal and saw so many unlicensed boats. Some not on moorings.

Why? When so much can be repaid to waterways when so much is needed these days; I, like many others, have to pay up.

Tony Eden Nb Tulip

Alexander Telford Author of ‘Twaddle’ By email

Too many boats spoil the basin I LOVE your paper, but the pictures you put in of Trevor do not reflect the basin of today (Treasures, Issue 93, July). We went to Trevor a week ago and it is chock full of hire boats, day boats, adventure boats etc; we tried to moor on the right and was told by the boatyard operator that his day boats go there, his boats are three deep on the offside of the canal and he ties his day boats with 20ft gaps in between. We asked him to move them up but he refused so your comment ‘enjoy the sunshine in Trevor Basin’ is an impossibility; a lovely basin has been spoilt by an overload of hire and day boats, people will read your article and make plans to stop there and it’s chaos.

Pamela Mitchell By email

An accident waiting to happen I READ with great interest your report on the Liverpool ‘Yellow Duck’ incident in the July ‘Towpath Talk’ (News, Issue 93).

I visited Salthouse Dock with my narrowboat for a week’s stay some four years ago. Unfortunately, the harbour master allocated to me a berth which was parallel to the ‘Yellow Duck’ launching ramp. This resulted in my boat being violently moved every time the large wave resulting from the DUKW launching struck. This was hazardous to those within my boat, and occurred several times throughout the day as the ‘Yellow Duck’ customers enjoyed their adrenalin rush.

I complained in the strongest terms to British Waterways local management at the time, and it is now clear that nothing has been done to stop the reckless launching of these amphibious vehicles – it was an accident waiting to happen.

I only trust that at long last action will be taken by the authorities to stop this dangerous practice.

Ron Elder By email

Distinguishing between engineers and builders I NOTED the piece on Pontcysyllte (Treasures, Issue 93, July); with my books I try to be careful to distinguish between the engineers and the contractors. The engineers like Jessop and Telford were those who planned and designed it, those who built it included the masons and ironworkers.

Ray Shill By email

110 THE LAST WORD

A Canal & River Trust collection tin for the 21st century

Swanning off to design a concept for today’s waterways users IN A recent press release, the Canal & River Trust sent out a challenge to design a modern classic collection tin. The trust reports: “A good collection box attracts attention and finds its way into people’s hearts and minds.

“From spiral wishing wells to the WWF’s pandas, everyone has a memory of their favourite, and putting in their pennies and pounds accordingly. In recent years, however, collection tins have fallen out of fashion in favour of online donations and the soulless bucket.”

Perhaps I can help with design. It is generally accepted that a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.

Therefore you would think that the new concept for a CRT collection tin should be in the shape of boat.

The Canal & River Trust wants to replace ‘the soulless bucket’ with a collecting tin for the 21st century. PHOTO:WATERWAY IMAGES

So a boat design but which sort of boat? Perhaps one of those trophy working boats that one meets on the water nowadays.

Immaculately painted, not a mark upon it, loathed to move in case it gets scratched, and refusing to share a lock for fear of paint removal.

As a collection tin it would not be much good as it would have to be kept under a glass dome.

It could be a historic boat design but as such boats are often crewed by volunteers who don’t always have a lot of experience, the tin would have to have lots of bumps and bashes upon it. Should my good friends on steam boat President win the design competition the tin would have to have steam coming out of the top and a sooty chap grinning out of the side hatch.

A hire boat illustration could be used but some boats I have seen are fairly rough with plenty of water in the rear bilges and we would not want water dripping on those rattling the tin. Don’t shout at me hire firms it is not your boats I am thinking of, it is the others – those with scruffy boats, not your superbly painted and appointed boats with the welltrained crew who don’t bump into my boat. You would not want the tin to be a copy of my boat despite being a pretty blue, the boat costs a fortune to maintain and would cost more to keep than could be collected.

Of course it could be one of

Defra delay does not help the waterway cause

WATERWAYS Minister Richard Benyon thus far seems to have had a successful tenure at Defra particularly during the transition period as British Waterways entered the charity sector. But by apparently not saying anything in opposition to the Government’s decision to delay the transfer of the Environment Agency navigations (at least if he did, he did so quietly) he has done the inland waterways cause no favours at all.

He claimed the postponement was due to the continuing cutback in Government expenditure. This means it could be several years before those navigations become part of the Canal & River Trust; the one saving grace is that the proposal remains on the table.

I totally agree with CRT chairman Tony Hales’s comment that this was “a missed opportunity” and I like even more the Inland Waterways no-nonsense response that the Government’s (Defra) decision was “short sighted”. Three years ago when the move to the charity sector gained momentum, the UK’s finances were in dire trouble. But in the 12 months since CRT was founded, the economy is showing signs of improving so why didn’t the Whitehall mandarins carry on with the transfer of the EA navigations by 2015?

What I am now willing to wager on is when (or if) the transfer is reactivated – possibly at the next Spending Review – the transfer will be substantially more expensive than if it had been done as originally planned and obtaining realistic funding for the transfer will be much more difficult.

And, of course, if in five years’ time national finances are still problematic it could be at least a decade before the agency navigations join the CRT. And by that time many of those navigations could be in a far more perilous state – just as the BW canals were in the 1960s and 70s.

No, Mr Benyon you have done us no favours at all…

This is nothing more than greed

It is a well-known fact that many of today’s boaters had their first experience of inland waterways cruising by

those new CRT boats, the new modern working boats that British Waterways found money to purchase. The ones we often see directors and trustees posing upon prior to getting their train back to that well-known boating location – Milton Keynes.

The representation of the trust boat would have to have two workers sat in the cabin having tea. Not that I’m getting at the bankside workers they are superb, it’s just that whenever I pass a trust working boat it is either abandoned or it is tea time. I have just been unlucky catching them drinking tea.

The boat would have to be designed to be moored on a lock landing tied to a bollard with a bit of blue string.

Should the tin be required to be stationary rather like those Guide Dogs’ life-size Labrador collection posts one saw outside shops, before our criminal class decide to pinch them all. A static trust collection tin that never moves could be in the shape of a ‘continuous cruiser without a home mooring’. Not sure what we are supposed to call them now without causing offence. I did call them ‘lingerlongers’ which I thought pleasant but that was not taken up. It would need a few logs on top, a wheelbarrow and the odd empty bottle. A nice touch would be a licence square positioned so that it

could not quite be read for the damp.

It could be one of the sunken boats one sees abandoned, populated with ducks; for special colourful effect it could be wrapped in ‘BW Aware’ black and yellow tape.

However being a modern tin it would have to be manufactured in plastic and the obvious thing would be for the tin to depict a river cruiser. Not that I am suggesting that river cruisers are made from or should be referred to as ‘plastics’. All we narrowboat owners know that such boats are made of high-quality glass fibre resin or hand-crafted wood. The boat would have to be sat on skyblue water depicting the good weather boater with a huge bow wave and lumpy waves streaming out behind. I have in mind the river cruiser which came roaring round a creek bend on seeing my steel boat screamed to a multiple-swerve halt. The driver then leant over and shouted ‘Will you ******* slow down!’ However this design may be too fast to allow time for money to be placed in the tin.

The press release states that this is a collection tin for the 21st century. Perhaps it should be in the form of one of those contemporary art installations that the trust arts development manager wishes to place along the canals. Now, stop giggling at the back, not one of those wooden statues that the vandals set fire to but a complicated steel

either taking a trip on a day hire boat or a week on a hire cruiser. Either way they brought new business onto the cut.

But regrettably that could change if the CRT goes ahead with what I can only describe as a rather harebrained proposal – happily it is still under consultation – to impose a whopping 40% increase on day hire boat river licences with commensurate increases on canal licences and combined canal and river licences for day hire boats.

In its defence, CRT says that an anomaly has been found in the system where a day boat licence for river use can be cheaper than a licence for a standard privately owned boat. As day boats have been around for ages why is it only now that CRT has clocked the ‘anomaly’? The CRT now wants, in addition to the increased licence charge, to charge boats by the number of seats they have and not on the vessel’s length. The CRT does have a point but the fact remains that whoever decided on the original pricing structure did not seem to have much of a business brain.

However, I know of at least two day hire boat operators who will reduce their fleet by at least one boat particularly as on river navigations occasionally high water levels reduce the amount of usage and a 40% price hike will just make the operation financially unsustainable. I hope the consultation process produces a more sensible figure.

Teach staff about waterway heritage

There have been a couple of events recently on the Birmingham Canal Navigations which, in my opinion, should become commonplace and involve as many CRT staff as possible – particularly newcomers. And it is something I have long tried to promote within the old BW set-up – but which was steadfastly ignored.

Thank heaven, therefore, for veteran boater, canal historian and inland waterway DVD programme producer, Laurence Hogg. Twice in recent weeks he has taken senior CRT staff on his ex-Grand Unions Canal Carrying Company working boat Barnet on extended cruises on the BCN – and on both occasions his passengers said they had learnt a lot about the canals and their industrial heritage.

TowpATh TiTTeR

CONTINUING our light-hearted look at life on the cut with a contribution this month from Eddie Barford of Mersey Motor Boat Club.

A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.

Odds on that the tin will be in the shape of a swan. affair that modern artists get paid a fortune to produce. They spend more time explaining the inspiration behind the installation than they spent constructing the thing. Time is also spent discussing when a graffiti wall becomes an art installation and wall mural.

On consideration perhaps the tin should not be a boat but a depiction of my good self.

Having in this article insulted and upset historic boat owners, volunteers on museum boats, ‘continuous cruisers without a home mooring’ (have I got that right?), river cruiser owners and bankside workers perhaps the prize money for a winning design could go to help with my hospital bills.

Well, silly me, a boat? The tin will be in the shape of a swan!

In his latest outing staff from CRT’S Milton Keynes headquarters spent a number of hours cruising from Wolverhampton to Tipton and back. One of the passengers, Odette Myall, a CRT web content editor, wrote a blog on her trip and said that although she had worked for BW/CRT for three years she had never been on a canal boat trip.

That is something the trust should really look at.

What’s the point of having staff who have never been taught about the product they are supposed to be looking after? The induction courses for all new staff (including existing staff if they are really interested) should include a boat trip. That would be the most effective way of teaching them the industrial heritage of the canals and how the CRT has to care for so many historic structures – as well as paying their wages!

With all employees having a working knowledge of ‘the product’ (canals) we probably wouldn’t be in the ridiculous situation that arose a few years ago when an intense young health and safety lady spoke to the organiser of a major boat gathering and asked him if there was anything she should know about.

But when the organiser said a horse boat and horse would be in attendance, H&S lady nearly exploded: “I don’t think these towpaths were meant for horses.”

That is perfectly true… I was there when it was said.

And there’s another one. On the Trent & Mersey Canal a village had provided a bench to be used by canal walkers and one of the villagers, a true canal veteran, had met up with a BW (then) engineer to decide where the seat should be sited. The engineer was moaning like the clappers about a problem he had further down the canal. “That’s all right,” said the veteran “you often get that with a Brindley canal.” To which the engineer then asked: “What do you mean by a Brindley canal?”

And there was the case where a BW waterway manager went out in an inspection boat and had to be shown by a 12-year-old girl how staircase locks worked.

Mind you I was once told that if an applicant for a BW job mentioned in his CV that he had boated and belonged to a canal society then he wouldn’t get a job.

Probably because he may know a little more than his gaffer.

It’s a Tea Set Titter this month with a Shroppie boater at Market Drayton getting the message to slow down over in their own way.

If you have a suitable photo or anecdote we can share with our readers, please send it to Towpath Talk, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR or email: editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk And don’t forget you can also follow us on Twitter @towpathtalk and on Facebook

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