171 Summer 2005

N K& from ews A th Ca e na l

No. 171 Summer 2005 ÂŁ2.00

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Butty The magazine for the Kennet & Avon Canal

Walking near Bradford on Avon

Otters returning to our waterways

The history of the Newbury Barge

Working to protect, to enhance and to promote The Kennet & Avon Canal

Newbury Boat Company Moorings Permanent non-residential and temporary cruising moorings with good security at three sites in Newbury all within walking distance of the town.

Resident staff at all sites.

Tel: 01635 42884 email: sue@newburyboatco.com The river at Lock Cottage moorings

All-Aboard Marine Services Dry Dock/Repairs and Maintenance for hull blacking, welding, anode replacement, surveys and hull maintenance.

Also available for DIY All types of boat repairs and maintenance including Boat Safety Examinations

Tel: Paul Hutley — 01635 37606 email: paul@aamarine.co.uk Ham Manor Basin from the river

Greenham Canal Services At Greenham Island

Between Greenham Lock and Newbury Lock Boat Services/Chandlery, Diesel, Pumpout, Calor Gas, Coal etc.

Souvenirs and ice cream

Tel: Val or Peter Taylor — 01635 37672 email: val@canal-services.com Greenham Island

Newbury Boat Company Greenham Lock Cottage, Ampere Road, Newbury, RG14 5SN 2

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Butty The magazine for the Kennet & Avon Canal

Cover photograph: Robert Francis on Poshratz nearing Devizes Wharf

Picture by Bob Naylor

No. 171 Summer 2005

The Trust and its aims The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust has three separate but complementary objectives: • To protect the newly restored Canal from neglect, abuse and inappropriate developments.

• To enhance the Canal, either by the direct application of Trust funds or, more likely, to unlock larger amounts through matched funding.

• To promote the Canal as a magnificent national amenity that is freely available for the enjoyment of all.

It was The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust (through its predecessor organisations) that fought successfully to save the Canal from formal abandonment in the mid1950s. Through physical effort, innovative fund-raising and persistent political pressure, the Trust led the campaign that resulted in the Canal’s re-opening for through navigation in 1990 and the subsequent £30 million restoration project from 1996 to 2003. The Canal’s infrastructure is now in a condition that will support sustained operations for many decades ahead.

The Trust’s membership reflects the wide range of leisure activities – boating, walking, cycling, fishing, pursuit of wildlife and heritage interests – that the public can enjoy along the length of the 87 miles of Canal. Together, we are “The Friends of the Kennet and Avon”.

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Devizes Wharf Couch Lane Devizes Wiltshire SN10 1EB. 01380 721279 01380 727870 (fax) www.katrust.org President Sir Anthony Durant Vice Presidents Sir William Benyon Peter Collins Donald Collinson Michael Corfield The Rt. Hon. The Earl Jellicoe Michael Goodenough David Lamb Admiral Sir William O'Brien Philip Ogden Brian Oram Sir Frank Price Prunella Scales Sir John Smith Timothy West Chairman Brian Poulton Company Secretary Fleur de Rhé-Philipe Administrator Helen Brooks e-mail: administrator@katrust.co.uk Hon. Treasurer John Heffer Hon. Civil Engineer Michael Lee Museum Curator Warren Berry

contents

Trust Council David Copley Michael Davis Fleur de Rhé-Philipe Graeme Dewhirst Peter Dunn Jane Elwell Bill Fisher John Forbes Malcolm Grubb Clive Hackford John Heffer Roger Hollands John Kirby Ray Knowles Michael Lee John Maciver Brian Poulton Editor Di Harris Pear Tree Studio High Street Urchfont Devizes SN10 4QH 01380 840584 01380 840954 (fax) 07711 367124 mail@diharris.co.uk Editorial design & layout Bob Naylor 07788 134901 butty@bobnaylor.co.uk Advertising Contact Di Harris or Bob Naylor Printers BAS Printers 115 Tollgate Rd Salisbury Wilts SP1 2JG 01722 411711

Contributions Articles and photographs are welcome. Please contact the Editor to discuss your ideas before submitting them. Whilst every care is taken with all material submitted, neither the Editor nor the publisher can take responsibility for loss or damage.

Disclaimer Views expressed in The Butty are not necessarily those of the Editor nor of the Trust.

Registered Charity The Trust is a registered charity (No. CC209206) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England (No. 726331) at the above address. The Butty is published by The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust of the same address.

Data Protection Act The Trust is registered under the Data Protection Act 1984, reference SO46307X. Subject access requests should be directed to the Trust office in Devizes.

Copy deadline for The Butty No 172, Autumn 2005 Tuesday 19th July

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Cotswold Canal report

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Wilts & Berks Canal

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Mon & Brec

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Restoring the wharf

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Canoeing on the K&A

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Otters return to our waterways Avoncliff and Bradford on Avon walk

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Building an eco-friendly Kennet barge

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Canal clean-up

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Warren Berry on the Newbury Barge

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A page for younger users of the canal

Plus regular features and news

4 Chairman’s report, 5 News, 11 Marketing and Membership, 12 Enterprise report, 13 Canal engineering report, 14 Museum news, 15 BW update with Eliza Botham, 19 Mon & Brec Canal, 30 Branch reports, 35 Letters to the Editor, 36 Book Reviews, 38 What’s on, 39 Crossword, 39 Unclassified ads 3

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Butty

No. 171 Summer 2005

Chairman’s Report

Cruiseway Canals

Brian Poulton

What are they?

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y the time you get to read this second edition of the new-style Butty, the Spring will have merged into Summer, and the Canal will be looking superb. I hope you will get the chance this Summer to visit the Kennet & Avon and to enjoy this wonderful amenity.

Cruiseway Status is in sight Great news! We have recently heard from BW that the Kennet & Avon Canal will almost certainly be up-graded from ‘Remainder’ waterway to ‘Cruiseway’ status in the coming Autumn. The former ‘Waterways’ Minister – Alan Michaels – has given broad agreement that ‘Cruiseway’ status can be conferred on recently-restored canals such as the K&A through a Ministerial Order rather than through a formal Act of Parliament. The necessary review of the K&A has been conducted by DEFRA and the way is now clear for this long-awaited recognition that the restoration of the K&A has been successfully achieved.

Thousands of people have dreamt of seeing a fully restored Kennet & Avon Canal and have worked tirelessly towards that goal. To them, the achievement of ‘Cruiseway’ status is that dream come true. We’ve done it!

It was 50 years ago this coming November that a public protest meeting was held in Reading, from which evolved the Reading Branch of the Kennet & Avon Canal Association. Our current Reading Branch is already considering a celebration of that pivotal meeting, but what a celebration could we have if we also marked the granting of ‘Cruiseway’ status. Watch this space!

Thank you, Helen!

Helen Brooks, the Trust’s Administrator, retires shortly after a busy but very successful 4 years in the office in Devizes.

She readily embraced the ‘jackof-all-trades’ nature of the job, and has provided a reliable and efficient service to me, the members of Council, the Branches and the public. We will miss her ‘can-do’ attitude and her

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friendly, cheerful manner. Thank you, Helen, for running the Trust’s administration so smoothly and effectively over the past 4 years. Enjoy the extra time with the family but do keep in touch!

Plaudits for the new Butty I have heard nothing but congratulations and commendations for the new-style Butty. With its new layout, refreshed content and increased use of colour, the magazine must be a contender for ‘Canal Trust Magazine of the Year’. Our new Editor – Di Harris – is too modest to print the letters of congratulation so let me say “Well done, Di (and Bob), and thank you”.

AGM headlines Thank you to the good crowd who turned out for the AGM on 23rd April. Not surprisingly, as a structure for my Chairman’s Report I used the Trust’s new objectives: to protect, to enhance and to promote our lovely canal. I was, however, able to report progress under all three headings. We have built a new team to carry the Trust into its new roles and we are confident that, when we spend your money, it supports one of the three objectives. Trust membership is now building rather than shrinking and we have a sound income stream that will permit us to protect and enhance the Canal in years ahead. It has been a highly satisfactory 12 months for the Trust. My thanks to all the members, the volunteers, the Branch Committees and Trust Council members who have helped make all this happen!

Whether you are a boater, angler, cyclist, jogger, hiker or rambler, or riparian resident, the Canal is there for you all to enjoy.

Have a good season!

he origin of the terms ‘Remainder’ and ‘Cruiseway’ lies in the post-war nationalisation of the waterways. Navigable and operationally sustainable canals and rivers were categorised as either ‘Commercial’ or ‘Cruiseway’.

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Remainder waterways The remainder of the waterways network that had not been formally abandoned but which were not in use were defined as ‘Remainder’ waterways.

Legal duty Under the Transport Act 1968, British Waterways is under a statutory obligation to ensure that ‘Commercial’ and ‘Cruiseway’ waterways are ‘generally available’ to the public for navigation. These statutory obligations to

maintain the navigations are even more important in the light of the Water Act 2003, which allows other bodies such as the Environment Agency to regulate the use of national water resources, even canals’ waters. Without the protection of navigation rights enshrined in ‘Cruiseway’ status, ‘Remainder’ canals would be at risk from excessive water extraction.

BW assurances British Waterways have assured us that the condition of the Kennet & Avon Canal will be better than that demanded by the 1968 Transport Act. Our canal will be maintained to what are known as ‘Sims Standards’, which define, amongst other parameters, the depth and width of the channel and the condition of the canal’s infrastructure.

New Staff come on board B on A Manager Jill Lewis, right, is the new Trust shop and tea room manager on Bradford on Avon Wharf.

Trust Administrator The new Trust Administrator, Maureen Crossley will take over from Helen Brooks on June 16th.

Enterprise We have a vacancy for the important position of Retail Director responsible for directing and controlling our profitable retail operations.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced person to make a real difference and work with an enthusiastic team to improve business performance.

For further details and a job description please contact Malcolm Grubb, Managing Director, on 01380-721279.

Brian Poulton, Chairman

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Butty NEWS

No. 171 Summer

Bradford on Avon Wharf gets new look

New Chairman for British Waterways After 6 years at the helm George Greener retires ritish Waterways chairman, Dr George Greener retires in July and Tony Hales, currently chairman of Workspace Group plc, a provider of small business space in London and the South East, will take over the role from 10th July 2005, for three years.

He was previously chief executive of Allied Domecq and a non-executive director of HSBC Bank plc and Welsh Water plc.

He regularly walks the Stratford-on-Avon and Grand Union Canals, and has enjoyed the delights of narrowboating, most recently last year on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal in Wales.

He said, “I am delighted to have this opportunity to be part of the further development of British Waterways. The waterways form a wonderful part of our heritage, an environmental asset important to the work and pleasure of so many people and home to so much wildlife and a continuing catalyst for sustainable social and economic regeneration.”

Announcing the appointment, Alun Michael, the then Minister for Inland Waterways, said, “I am delighted Tony Hales has

B Picture by Bob Naylor

he repaving of the areas around Bradford on Avon Lock and the wharf-side surface in front of the Trust’s Shop and Tea Rooms was completed by Easter and the whole area is now looking magnificent.

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The work was funded through BW’s ‘Make a Difference’ fund, established to encourage projects that bring better water-side facilities to the public at large, rather than specific user groups.

£28,000 from Trust The Trust donated £28,000 in matched funding towards BW’s allocation of £280,000 for the project.

Now the track in front of the Trust Shop is paved in high quality stones, the wooden fence beside the lock has been

replaced by elegant pillars, and the muddy lock-side area is transformed by level paving slabs.

The project also included a paved path to run from the public car park at Bailey’s Barn to the back gate of the garden of our Trust Shop in the Wharf Cottage.

Tea garden The garden serves as a delightful extension of the Tea Rooms and, now that it has easy access from the car park, it will attract even more visitors seeking refreshments in an idyllic setting.

Tony Hales the new Chairman of British Waterways who takes over the post in July

accepted the role. His considerable experience in property, pub and leisure markets combined with his strong sense of customer focus will make him an asset to British Waterways.” He went on to say, “The British Waterways team should feel proud of the improvements achieved in recent years in restoring, enhancing and widening the infrastructure and in increasing its accessibility and usage.”

He paid tribute to George Greener’s commitment and enthusiasm during his six years in the post and the contribution to British Waterways’ success in turning its waterways into a thriving and successful catalyst for regeneration and promoting British Waterways’ aim of becoming largely self-sufficient.

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r d o n Av o n W h o f & ar ad r Dry Dock B

200 years of tradition returns to Bradford Wharf For Marine Engineering Services & Dry Dock Bookings Covering all aspects of boat repairs, maintenance & improvements

Call Richard Burchell on 01225 868 668 or 07971 103436

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Butty NEWS

No. 171 Summer

Remembering the people’s war s part of a major BBC history initiative, the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust is on the look out for stories, recollections and memories of the canal during World War II. The BBC’s People’s War project is collecting thousands of stories from people who remember living through the years of the Second World War, whether they found themselves fighting the enemy or left to ‘do their bit’ on the home front.

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Everyday wartime memories As well as stories from those on active service, every aspect of life in Britain during those years is being collected and archived.

Memories of powdered egg, rationing and wartime recipes, and stories of how people coped with the blackout, the cold nights spent in air raid shelters and the misery of not knowing what lay in store for the future, are just some of the stories already saved for the future.

The K&A in wartime To support the project, the Trust is keen to remember stories of the Kennet & Avon Canal’s wartime role.

Structures such as pill boxes continue to remind us of the canal’s strategic position as one of the first lines of defence across southern England.

There are also the everyday memories of the canal in wartime. For example, does anyone recall the Americans who, close to the Bridge Inn at Horton, near Devizes, made use of the canal’s water supply to wash down their tanks?

Whatever you can remember, however small the recollection, the Trust would like you to get in touch and share your stories as part of the BBC’s People’s War project.

News in Brief

about the canal in wartime in the Museum, so if you have any pictures or other articles, please get in touch.

You can send your stories to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, (Canal at War project). Please include your name and address and a contact number (or email) and tell us if you have any photographs or items of memorabilia from the time that could help add to the story of the canal’s wartime past.

To find out more about the BBC’s People’s War project, visit www.bbc.co.uk/ww2

Mooring abuse No boats have been craned out of the Kennet & Avon Canal due to difficulties with towpath assessments, but BW are pressing on and hoping to crane out a number of boats soon.

Some boats due to receive a Section 8 notice have now obtained moorings.

Incident Report Form The problem with the website that stopped the forms for reporting slips, trips, falls and other incidents from downloading has now been fixed and they are now available at: www.britishwaterways.co.uk /incidents

Devizes Wharf pump-out repair

K&A during World War II exhibition

Thames River Rescue Trust

Devizes Wharf pump-out, which has been closed since March, should re-open before June following agreement between BW and Kennet District Council to share the cost of repairing the sewer.

New trust set to improve River Kennet's ecology

Litter picking

s a result of an initiative by the Environment Agency, a new Trust has been formed to improve the waters and thus the ecology of the various rivers that feed into the River Thames. The Thames Salmon Trust, which has successfully re-introduced salmon back to the Thames over the past 20 years, has been re-formed as the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust and a new body of Trustees met for the first time at the end of April.

The objectives of the new trust are, firstly, to conserve, protect and rehabilitate the habitat and waters that constitute the River Thames catchment for the benefit of all indigenous species. Secondly,

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And if you have any artefact from the time we’d love to see them. The Trust is planning to stage a special exhibition

the Trust aims to advance the education of the public in the understanding of river environments on watercourses throughout the River Thames catchment.

K&A Trust Chairman, Brian Poulton, has been appointed one of the trustees of the TRRT. One of the first projects that the TRRT will tackle is the River Kennet. The Kennet Chalkstream Restoration Project aims to restore the Kennet to good health by improving water quality, flows and habitat diversity. The Project Team will identify and implement work that will restore the characteristic habitats, plants and animals of the River Kennet and address some of the reasons for the

Picture by Bob Naylor

A pillbox in the Pewsey Vale is a reminder of the canal in wartime.

high level of turbidity in certain seasons.

The K&A Trust is represented on the Kennet Chalkstream Restoration Project Team by Trust Council member, Bill Fisher. Bill, who owns the Newbury Boat Company, has perhaps an unsurpassable knowledge of the River Kennet.

Brian Poulton said, “ Bill's input to the Project is invaluable. He has lived with the River Kennet for many decades and his expertise has already been used to good effect in getting the relevant agencies talking about reducing flooding risks at Newbury. We welcome the fact that he will be helping us to improve the quality of the water and thus the ecology of the river”.

Picture by Robert Coles

Out on litter patrol near Hilperton are, from left to right, BW South West General Manager Ian Jarvis, John Kirby, K&A Trust Director of Membership and Marketing and Trust Chairman, Brian Poulton.

Full report of canal clean-up activities on page 27

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Butty

NEWS

No. 171 Summer 2005

Mural depicts canal’s importance in Newbury’s history

Pictures by Allan Mercardo

Mrs Wyn Gould, widow of canal campaigner, John Gould, who celebrates her 90th birthday on 27th July, with mosaic artist Paul Forsey as she puts the last piece into the canal section of the timeline history of Newbury.

timeline series of mosaic panels depicting the history of Newbury commissioned by Newbury Mayor, Mike Rodger, is now complete and includes a panel about the importance the K&A Canal had in the town’s history.

The mosaic is now in place

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outside the Library on the wharf.

The Mayor who runs Desmoulin Gallery on Newbury Wharf saw it as a project to involve the whole town and most children in the town have fitted pieces into the mosaic.

Artist and mosaic designer

Paul Forsey used stalwart campaigner and founder member of the K&A Trust, John Gould, as his inspiration for the canal panel, which pictures John and his goat Lucy along with his widow Wyn’s boat, Iris.

News in Brief Trust helps school project Fire at Broad Chalk Primary School near Salisbury in February gutted classrooms and destroyed all the resources used for Year 1 teacher Judy Cooper’s canal project and along with it most of the the display work produced by the 5 and 6 year olds.

After a call to the Canal Centre in Devizes more resource material was sent and the Year 1 have now completed the project that included a trip on the horse-drawn barge from Kintbury. See their reactions to the trip on page on page 37.

Trussed Chairman

Public inconvenience ublic toilets along the Kennet & Avon Canal are to be closed by local authorities determined to save money.

Two public loos under threat near the canal in Bath have now been closed. Toilets on the Devizes Wharf and the

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Green are both threatened with closure by Kennet District Council. Pewsey Wharf has already lost the public toilets and the nearest, a mile away in the village, are now under threat. Local people are campaigning to keep them open.

Picture by Graham Sleeman

Trust Chairman Brian Poulton captured at a first aid course in Newbury for Trust volunteers.

Dog poo patrol BW has appointed a fulltime dog poo warden.

Kevin Randall started work in May. Kevin previously worked for BW in the Newbury and Crofton section before moving to this job.

He will introduce new dog bins and re-site others where necessary. Time permitting, his role will also include notice board cleaning, updating customer information and sanitary station inspections.

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Butty NEWS

No. 171 Summer

News in Brief

K&A sustainability monitoring

by Terry Kemp, BW South West Economic and Social Development Manager hat seems like a lifetime ago we were compiling the business plan that supported the successful Heritage Lottery Fund application for the grant that would give the K&A a sustainable future. In the early days of planning the lottery project, there was a huge amount of debate about what the sustainability plan should be. Happily, we ended up with a waterway Conservation Plan that provides important management guidance.

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Protests from Devizes Town Council, boaters and local residents seems to have saved the public telephone on Devizes Wharf which has now been repaired and refurbished and looks as good as new.

Witches' knickers on the River Avon The River Avon rises considerably after heavy rainfall and debris in the water is 'caught' or 'screened' by riverside trees and vegetation. This debris – plastic bags, paper and so forth – known locally as witches' knickers, is left hanging in the trees when the water level subsides. Much of this debris comes from storm-water overflows on combined sewerage systems. To reduce this environmental problem Wessex Water has undertaken a multimillion pound project to intercept outfalls in Bath and lay a pipeline to convey storm water to the sewage works at Saltford, where large retaining tanks have been constructed. Plastic, paper and general litter will unfortunately remain a problem until people stop depositing litter either directly into the river or leaving it on the banks so that it is picked up in times of flood.

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Conflicts in use Our canal runs through, or is close to, centres of population.

It is now extremely busy, nearing capacity in terms of the demand for boat moorings, and is very popular with walkers and cyclists. We also know it is well used by local communities and has had a very positive effect on the local economy of the areas it passes through. However, its popularity inevitably creates

conflicts in use and management.

BW is undertaking the longterm monitoring programme that will measure progress towards sustainable management of the canal. The challenge is to seek to integrate the environmental, economic and community aspects of sustainable development and to guide the canal’s long-term management.

What monitoring will

achieve Lessons learnt about the sustainability of previous work undertaken on the canal, particularly through the canal restoration, will inform future projects.

Any deterioration in the environment or socio-economic value will be identified so that remedial action can be taken to prevent progressive deterioration of value or irreversible loss, and opportunities for enhancement will also be identified.

We will develop a greater

understanding of how robust the waterway environment is to visitor pressure and change, its response to different management regimes and the interrelationship of various aspects of the environment.

Finally, the Partnership’s performance in conserving the built and natural heritage, the value of the waterway to the local communities and as a visitor attraction will be assessed.

BW will publish the full research and recommendations during 2005.

New number for BW help To contact the BW duty manager at weekends call 07710 175 117.

The emergency number at all times is 0800 4799947.

Caen Hill café and information centre Free buns for boaters

Picture by Robert Coles

Susie Mercer, centre left and Shop Manager Angela Cave, centre right offer Hot Cross Buns to passing boaters

Rennie returns

he K&A Trust Canal Adoption Scheme run by Peter Lindley-Jones contributed £26,000 to the improvements to the Caen Hill Café and Information Centre .

A fit of generosity overcame BW when they celebrated its reopening on Good Friday when they gave away free Hot Cross Buns! This was much to the surprise of passing Easter boaters who were presented with a plateful of buns by Shop Managers Angela Cave and Kathy Guest.

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Caen Hill Flight Certificates

Picture by Robert Coles

Peter Lindley-Jones, left, and Terry Kemp with John Rennie (Andrew Ashmore, from from Ashmore Acts)

The public office in the maintenance yard is now closed and phone calls are now diverted to the Gloucester office. Navigation and other boating information will be available from the Café, where

boaters will also be able to get their ‘I’ve done the Caen Hill Flight’ certificates.

John Rennie The official opening was on Friday 29th April, when a delighted crowd was enthralled to hear John Rennie himself congratulate BW and the K&A Canal Trust for restoring his flight to such a high standard that it is as good as new.

He was most impressed that the old lock keeper’s cottage was now providing such pleasing refreshments – just what weary boaters and other canal users will want by the time they get there.

John Rennie (Andrew Ashmore, of Ashmore Acts) arrived at Devizes in the afternoon having previously been sent Rennie's biography.

He wrote his script himself and, he was fantastic.

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Butty NEWS

No. 171 Summer

£260,000 for K&A lock paddle gear Bob Naylor asked boaters on the Caen Hill Flight their views on the change “I think they are easy to handle”, said Harry Edmonds, 14 of Bradford on Avon, a member of the crew of the K&A Trust trip boat Barbara McLellan.

ew lock gearing fitted on locks over the Winter by British Waterways with £260,000 from the MAD ‘Make a Difference’ scheme as a response to complaints about difficulty working locks on the K&A has received a mixed reception from boaters — the ground paddles are thought to be OK but the gate paddles are disliked by almost everyone who has used them.

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Some boaters have had problems with the ground paddles on locks on the K&A and the fact that long handled windlasses are on sale and carried on many boats on this canal

supports that. However, most people were taken by surprise when the new gearing fitted to the gate paddles take 60 turns to operate each way – that’s 240 turns for each lock. Add to that the 11 turns each for the ground paddles and a total of almost 7,500 turns are now needed to navigate the Caen Hill Flight.

Safety fears Sam Weller of Devizes — “Its MAD money and mad the way they’ve spent it.”

Experienced boaters Sam Weller and Harry Garlick of Devizes feel that the inability to

reverse lock operations quickly if a boat gets into difficulty in a lock could be very dangerous and they fear a repeat of the tragedy on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal that cost the lives of 4 people when a holiday boat sank in Gargrave Lock near Skipton in North Yorkshire in 1998.

Others have had problems with the windlass slipping off the short, square spindle on the new lock gate paddle gear resulting in skinned knuckles,

bruising and other minor injuries and one holidaymaker broke her wrist.

Harry Garlick of Devizes is concerned about safety — the rest of his views he said are unprintable.

News in Brief Rural transport funding The K&A Canal Rural Transport Partnership got an extra year's funding from the Regional Development Agency as part of a £750,000 package to fund the 11 RTPs in the South West until March 2007.

The extra funding will allow the RTP to continue running the Summer Sunday Bus Service (beginning in July), the Website, the K&A Canal public transport timetable and print a third Wigglywalks Leaflet, the second of which will be available in June and contains 3 walks between Wilcot and Pewsey.

The K&A RTP has a small grants fund for community and voluntary group projects. Grants of up to £3,000 are available for transport or leisure projects.

If you have an idea for a leaflet, event or any other small project contact Oliver Giles on 01452 318000 or visit www.visitkanda.com

Newbury award

Picture by Allan Mercado

PhD student, Stuart Maudling of Plymouth found the gate paddles tedious and slow

Laurie Stallard of Trowbridge is concerned that the windlass slips off gate gear very easily.

Foxhangers Marine

Brenda Maudling of Mold, North Wales gave the new gear a thorough testing when she took a boat up and down the flight in a weekend and her verdict is that the new gear is too slow and very hard work.

Tracy Perryman with her award for work for the K&A Trust Newbury Branch, which she received from the Branch Committee.

Modern narrowboat hire fleet all built by Foxhangers, 10 boats 2 new semi-trads for 2006 ? Full engineering/maintenance base ? BETA and ISUZU engine sales/fitting ? WEBASTO central heating dealers ? Covered narrowboat painting dock ? Bespoke boat building undertaken ? Based at the bottom of Caen Hill Locks

Tel: 01380 828795 www.foxhangers.co.uk 9

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Butty NEWS

No. 171 Summer

News in Brief Civic Award for K&A Trust Devizes Mayor Margaret Taylor presented past K&A Trust Chairman David Lamb with the annual award for environmental achievement and tourist potential for the restoration of the canal.

Although the award was being given to the Devizes Branch, it recognised the work of all branches and members who worked for decades to restore the canal.

David said, “I am honoured to be accepting this award on behalf of all those who had the foresight to fight to keep the canal and work for its current restoration.”

Honeystreet development Word reaches us that developers have their eyes on the historic wharf at Honeystreet.

No plans have yet been submitted for formal consideration by the Planning Authorities, but Alton Parish Council are concerned that approval might be given for a new housing development unsympathetic to the canal and Honeystreet's unique place in its heritage.

The Trust will seek to protect the area from inappropriate development.

Combe Opera David and Mary Rusell will be presenting a “Musical Evening at Combe” on Friday 23rd September 2005, which will once again benefit the K&A Trust.

The first half will feature a one-act operetta, ‘The Cockaleekie Curse’ by WS Gilbert and Frederick Clay.

There will be a two-course dinner followed by a cabaret performed by leading young West End actors.

Tickets are £45 each including dinner from the K&A Trust office in Devizes.

Parties of 10 will get one free ticket.

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Somerset Waterways Development Trust The Somerset Waterways Development Trust was formed at a public meeting close to the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal in April this year with help and advice from BW’s Terry Kemp.

Seen by some as a group of frustrated navvies and boaters, they are people with their eyes and hearts set on conserving, protecting and improving the watercourses, canals and rivers in Somerset.

They recognise that the waterways of Somerset are not just about boats and boating, but also about the landscape, the environment and our historic inheritance as well as being a place to relax and slow down.

The inspiration of the Trust

came from the growth in tourism and leisure on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, as well as the successes of other waterway schemes around the country and abroad.

There are also proposals in the county to build a tidal sluice on the River Parrett near Bridgwater.

This will change the look of the River, maintaining the level with no tidal fluctuations and will mean that properties and land nearby can turn their 'face to the river' and take full advantage of the recreational landscape and economic advantages it will create.

If the sluice is built, the local canals and rivers will recreate a potential navigation system.

Success for local paddler in canoe marathon

The River Parrett was originally navigable from the sea to Thorney Mills, near Langport, with access at Bridgwater to the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal and to the Westport Canal upstream from Langport. There were originally well over 50 miles of navigable waterway connected together to form a system in Somerset and East Devon.

Terry Kemp said, “Having seen the success of people power in The K&A Canal Trust, I know it can achieve great things. The Somerset Waterways Development Trust have captured the same sort of enthusiasm, so watch this space!”

IWA Trailboat Festival 2006 For their diamond jubilee, the IWA have chosen to hold their National Trailboat Festival at Crooklands in Cumbria on the Northern Reaches of the Lancaster Canal. The festival will be held over the Easter Weekend, 14th–17th April.

Red Nose Day

Picture by Elaine Kirby

Simon Dark, of Bradford on Avon and Daniel Beazley powering their way to second place in this year’s Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race at Easter with a time of 17hours 27 minutes. See feature on page 22 Picture by Allan Mercardo

Newbury Weekly News reporter, Caroline Ratford and Jim Cathart from BBC Radio Berkshire started their Comic Relief Treasure Hunt on the K&A. Their first clue took them running out of the newspaper office to the lock where they found nb Andante and Trust Marketing Director, John Kirby. Jumping on board, they ‘dashed’ to their first venue – the Stone Building – while John told listeners about the K&A Trust.

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Membership drive succeeding

by John Kirby

BW General Manager signs-up

Marketing & Membership Director he response to my call to help recruit new members has been very heartening and we have signed up more members so far this year than we did in all of last year.

The new joining pack has played its part in persuading people to join and so has the redesigned Butty with the emphasis now that the magazine and the Trust are for all users of the canal – not just boaters.

It is pleasing that many of the new members are not boaters, but use the canal for walking, cycling or fishing.

While I was litter collecting with Ian Jarvis, BW South West Region General Manager, I suggested that he should be a member of the Trust and signed him up there and then.

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So that’s my ‘just one more!’ member recruited. Someone else has recruited approaching 20 new members on his own.

And I’m pleased to say that other members have been recruiting too. I hope everyone will do their bit to make the campaign a total success.

Taking the Trust to a wider public We will be attending three water festivals this year – Reading, Newbury and Bradford on Avon, as well as various other events near the canal. So the Trust gazebo will be out and about over the summer and it will be helping us to introduce the K&A and the Trust to locals and visitors to the area.

Picture by Robert Cole

John Kirby, Director of Membership and Marketing shows Ian Jarvis, left, BW’s General Manager South West, the new Trust membership pack.

The offer of a free map and admission to all the Trust’s attractions was an offer he could not refuse and we are pleased to welcome Ian to the Trust.

Andrew Moore Boats Broad beam canal boat specialists

20 years in designing and fitting interiors enable us to give you the best in traditional or modern style Furniture panels are designed and manufactured in house and finishes applied in our purpose built finishing shop Boats built to your requirements or stock builds All boats fitted out in our workshops in dry controlled conditions

Fitting out service of your own acquired shell We can arrange delivery to us, carry out the work to whatever stage you would like We can then arrange for your finished boat, complete with Boat Safety Scheme Certificate to be transported wherever you want it.

Refurbishments undertaken Storage for all types of craft in our secure yard

Chilton Cantelo, Nr Yeovil, Somerset BA22 8BQ Telephone: 01935 850860 Mobile: 07815 916959

www.andrewmooreboats.com 11

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Enterprise update

by Malcolm Grubb Managing Director Kennet & Avon Canal Trust (Enterprise) Ltd Turnover targets

irst, an update on 2004 trading performance. The accounts have now been finalised and audited and it is pleasing to report an uplift in trading profit performance over 2003. Whilst sales of goods through our shops were below 2003 levels, revenue from boat trips and charters more than compensated. Our cost base was marginally below that of 2003 and the resultant trading profit uplift means a significant increase in monies paid over to Trust and available for important project work.

Congratulations to all concerned.

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The new season is now underway. Our retail outlets have stretching turnover targets but our experienced shop team headed by Jane, Wendy, Tracy, Reg and Neville are determined to respond to the challenge.

We also welcome Jill Lewis as our new shop manager at Bradford on Avon and I encourage you all to pay a visit to the newly developed wharf and amenities. I can thoroughly recommend lunch – especially the paninis and chocolate gateaux! We have installed new

garden furniture at Aldermaston, and our catering sales at Newbury go from strength to strength. Devizes wharf centre and Crofton and Claverton also are well worth a visit and all offer a warm welcome.

‘Themed’ boat trips Our fleet of boats – ‘Barbara Mac’, ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Rose’ have all benefited from upgrades during the winter. Our enthusiastic crews have a full programme of trips – including some attractive themed events

– and are looking to expand charter business with imaginative marketing. We have set up a new boats marketing committee to help drive performance and ensure we share best practice and transfer good ideas across the fleet.

Sales challenge Once again may I say a very big thank you to our volunteers who contribute so much to our business. I should also like to throw down a challenge – can anyone beat the Crofton record of 15 Butty sales in one day?

New galley for the ‘Rose’

by Peter Crawford wo years ago we celebrated twenty years of carrying passengers from Hungerford Wharf by the ‘Rose of Hungerford’. It was a bright warm May day and with our distinguished guests from the town we enjoyed a pleasant cruise which started some of us thinking of the future.

Twenty years is a long time and one thing we knew was that we had at least another twenty years of work for the ‘Rose’. Over the years she has been lovingly looked after and still looked as good as new.

That is except for the ‘facilities’ which could do with a bit of TLC.

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Cabin rebuild As we all know with boats, if you start to look for improvements in one area others will appear. It was not long before it was decided that if the toilet was to be refurbished then the galley could not be ignored. So started a train of events that eventually escalated into a complete rebuild of the rear cabin area.

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Picture by Graeme Dewhirst

Picture by Brian Poulton

The galley during the refurbishment and the finished job.

The Hungerford Branch entered into the project with gusto and established a working group under the chairmanship of the boat manager, Graeme Dewhirst.

They established a list of requirements and designs and then tried to find a woodworker to carry out the work. At a meeting with Tim Stevens of Foxhangers during the routine inspection docking at Newbury last November, a full inspection of the area was carried out and that is when the whole project began to take on a significantly different perspective.

Whilst carrying out an inspection of the galley and toilet area in preparation for a refit, the holding tank was found to be in a decidedly unhealthy condition to the extent that, if used by a substantial person, they would possibly go the way of all things and require to be pumped out! Therefore, a complete removal of the rear of the cabin was required for a replacement and this meant taking ‘Rose’ to Foxhangers marina west of Devizes immediately after Christmas.

The project team from

Hungerford Branch commenced the work under the direction of Tim Stevens. The complete rear of the cabin was ripped out and the holding tank removed.

Just in time Just in time – as when it was being removed it started to collapse. A new tank, ordered before Christmas, fitted like a glove and rebuilding of the galley and toilet area began. Rebuilt in ash by Tim Wickenden, the final result looks great.

Come along and have a trip on her from Hungerford and judge for yourself.

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Canal engineering report

by Mike Lee The K&A Canal Trust Hon Civil Engineer ew gear boxes have been fitted to most locks on the canal. Comment has been mixed. BW’s design was based on the needs of a crew of reasonably fit ladies doing most of the lock work.

place to renew all the timber bottom gates), Sulhampstead Copse, Dreweats and Burghfield.

A new reed and weed cutting boat will be available for work on the canal this summer.

Straw poll

Counters

A straw poll of boaters on Caen Hill at Easter showed that the ladies were happy, but most male crew disliked the high number of turns the windlass required to open the gate paddles. Most agree, however, that the ground paddle operation is better.

Work will be undertaken on some sections of towpath and additional pedestrian and cycle counters are to be installed.

There will be some updating of the signage along the canal. A Tree Management Plan will also be drawn up.

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£2 million for K&A this year BW will be spending about £2m on the canal in this financial year. £1m of this is for new lock gates; at Caen hill (where a programme is now in

Work-gang Reorganisation The reorganisation of the workgangs started last year has now been fully implemented.

The Presentation team includes the lock keepers and those dealing directly with the

The Tutti Pole

by the South side of Hungerford Bridge Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of our Tea Room/Restaurant and Patio Area seating up to 50

Morning Coffee • Luncheon • Afternoon Tea Roast Sunday Lunch • Home made fare a speciality Monday – Friday 9am – 5.30pm • Saturday & Sunday 9am – 6pm The Tutti Pole, 3 High Street, Hungerford RG17 0DN Telephone: 01488 682515

BW Devizes Office closed

public. The Response team deals with emergencies and urgent incidents or damage.

The Operations team, who do all the maintenance work and major repairs, are now free to work to their programme without being suddenly called away to deal with other problems.

BW Devizes office has been changed into a depot and is no longer open to the public.

Telephone calls now go via the main switchboard at Gloucester.

MAD money

Towpath use

The K&A will benefit again from the BW ‘Make a Difference’ Fund, in 2005/6.

From a national pool of £2 million, the South West Region has been given over £600K for improvements to the sanitary stations and water points along the K&A (£110K), tree management and vegetation control (£160K) and £150K on other improvements.

BW have 11 heat-sensitive counters along the canal to count people passing by.

For 2 years they have collected data to assess popularity and trends at particular sites.

There are also 2 cycle counters below the footpath which tell BW whether the towpath is being used as a comuter route or for leisure.

Crofton Beam Engines Amazing industrial archaeology in a rural setting 2005 Open daily

10.30am — 5pm from March 25th to October 2nd In steam

June July August October

25 & 26 30 & 31 27, 28, 29 1&2

1812 Boulton & Watt and 1846 Harvey beam engines regularly steamed from hand stoked, coal fired Lancashire Boiler Crofton Pumping Station is a Branch of The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

Cofton Pumping Station, Crofton, Marlborough, Wilts., SN8 3DW. Tel: 01672 870300

www.croftonbeamengines.org 13

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Museum News

by Curator, Warren Berry e get requests from people trying to trace ancestors who had an association with the canal, but one unusual request was from a university student in America who, as part of an assignment, asked questions about navigation and ships between 1699 and 1744 – especially with respect to Swift’s book, Gulliver’s Travels. We can

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One of the new display cabinets

14

normally satisfy most requests for information, but this, I felt, was somewhat outside our brief.

As a registered museum, we have to provide statistics every year to Wiltshire County Council and the Audit Commission so that they can produce reports comparing such things as visitor numbers and income for all the

Picture by Bob Naylor

New display boards chart the canal’s history

museums in Wiltshire. Including our own, there are 21 registered museums in Wiltshire, and during the year 2003/2004 between them they had over a third of a million visitors.

Whilst not in the Wiltshire top ten in terms of visitor numbers, our museum attracted over 3,600 visitors during the year and handled 230 research enquiries. Other museums have larger collections and busier locations, so this figure is very encouraging.

For the last three years the number of people visiting the

Picture by Bob Naylor

Trust museum has remained consistent. We would like to see numbers increase.

When improvements to our displays have been completed, we will review how and where we advertise and how we will market the museum and its services in the future.

Meanwhile, the new museum brochure, the Windows on Wiltshire website www.wowheritage.org.uk, and the revised Trust website will all help to generate an increased awareness of the museum and its collection.

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No. 171 Summer 2005

BW update

by Eliza Botham, BW South West Service Manager ecent weeks have been hectic for British Waterways staff, attempting to get everything ready for the summer. We had a great Spring Clean – thanks to the many people who turned out to help. Caen Hill Café opened on Good Friday and did extremely well on its first weekend.

Following this, Ian and I were the first Duty Managers of the year to be out and about on Easter Weekend. Finally, the service team have been on the Kennet & Avon doing an audit of our facilities by boat.

Unfortunately, not everything went to plan, and we have problems at Newbury Lock.

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Spring clean The South West Clean-up campaign for the Spring of 2005 was a success, thanks to the great support of staff and volunteers. There are no accurate figures, but about 400 man-days have been used to fill over 100 bags of rubbish and fill 17 skips.

Caen Hill Café Over 500 people visited the café on 25th March and 150 people had a free cup of coffee with a hot cross bun.

Some regular customers are now visiting and we're doing a great line in bonios for our customers with dogs! Our visitor book lists compliments about the coffee and clean toilets amongst other things, so well done to the new team.

Problems at Newbury Despite a fantastic effort to put in all the new paddle gearing across the Kennet & Avon, I'm afraid we had a problem with the gate paddles at Newbury.

The new gates arrived with the wrong gearing, which unfortunately wasn't spotted until they were installed. These particular gates need to have the gearing recessed to allow the gate to open right back, but unfortunately this just wasn't possible with the

gearing that was supplied. As we write, several wide-beam boats have been assisted through Newbury lock as a precaution, with no problems.

Seventy foot boats working in pairs will need to go in singly but half length or smaller boats should be fine.

Unfortunately, this won't solve the problem for hotel boats, who will have to use the lock singly. The problem does not affect other locks on the flight.

We hope to rectify the problem with an overnight stoppage and John Laverick is looking at the problem himself on site today.

Paddle gearing During the winter, the Operations Teams have been working very hard to improve the paddle gearing on the Kennet & Avon. All works have been completed at the Eastern end of the canal. Installation of paddle gearing should have been completed at the Western end of the canal by May Bank Holiday and we apologise for inconvenience caused to boaters while some spindles were removed for modification.

Duty Manager For those of you who aren't aware of this service, we have a Duty Manager available every weekend throughout the summer. The purpose of the role is to be out and about, visiting events or busy sites to support local staff, sort out any problems, and talk to visitors. It's a great way of getting the feel of sites. One of the challenges of working on these waterways is that the Kennet & Avon is so long, but we are also responsible for the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal (16 miles), the River Severn navigation (42 miles) and the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal (14 miles), so it's a big area to get round.

My stint as Duty Manager found me checking whether a boat club was having a good time when they visited Gloucester, looking at a nonfunctioning toilet and checking out busy sites at Bath,

Bradford on Avon and Devizes.

Anyone needing to contact the Duty Manager at weekends should telephone 07710 175 117. This number doesn't replace the emergency number (0800 47 999 47), but is an additional service contact.

Moorings and licence evasion update Good news is that we now have some extra resource and during March we sighted over 1400 boats, but the bad news is that we've checked some marinas and there are lots of unlicensed boats. Please can I urge all licence holders to display their licences and marina owners to encourage their customers to obtain licences. It really does help if everyone displays up-to-date licences, so that we don't waste time and your licence fees on writing to people who have a licence.

Service Team boat audit One of the criticisms sometimes unfairly levelled at BW is that our staff don't understand what boat owners and hirers need, so we've all been spending a little more time out on boats to test the system from your perspective.

This Spring we have taken two boats right through the Kennet & Avon, experiencing and auditing facilities as we go – from the perspective of having to use them.

On the first weekend of the audit, the boat was not being used, so my family came with me on a trip east of Aldermaston. It was great to be out boating again, the first trip I'd taken on the Kennet & Avon, so we were all looking forward to it. We weren't disappointed, as the Kennet in particular is so peaceful and pretty. We moored up overnight in between Garston and Burghfield Locks and returned to Aldermaston on

Sunday night.

Although the locks and swing bridges kept us busy, we enjoyed the work, but it's rather different boating on a canal where you are responsible for customer service! Suddenly, all the little things that you would tolerate somewhere else become highly significant. Craig and his lengthsmen do a great job, and I hope that the notes we made will help them to focus on some of the customer service works for this year. Work on the lock gearing continues and I know this means that the locks fill more slowly as there is one top paddle missing, but please bear with us, it will all be done.

For the next two weeks, we encouraged staff from service, property, operations and yes, even finance, to come boating and help us with the audit. A few brave visitors have joined us on some long days, and new staff have learned how locks and bridges work, how to steer a boat and how to moor up! Now we don't all claim to be experts on your patch, but we're doing our best to start off with a wider understanding of boating.

Picture by Alan Botham

Passing through Monkey Marsh Lock with Eliza Botham at the helm and Patrol Officer, Jane Newton at the bow.

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Cotswold Canals Trust Restoration update

by Jack Telling ritish Waterways continues the preliminary work necessary to unlock the £11.3 million earmarked for the full restoration of the canal from Stonehouse to Brimscombe Port. This is expected to result in the £25 million project starting in Spring 2006. The deadline for the Stage 2 submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been extended from June to August 2005. At the same time a £6 million grant application will be made to The South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA).

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In the meantime, HLF has contributed £411,000 and SWRDA £325,000 for feasibility studies and planning.

SWRDA has also granted £250,000 to match Stroud District Council funding for masterplanning, which should lead to an Area Action Plan guiding the regeneration that the restored canal will create.

process. They will bring their experience to bear on the major issues of access to the work sites and the sustainable management of waste arising from the works.

Regeneration Team

On 13th April the Company of Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation, believed to be the oldest canal company in the world, signed the Navigation over to BW on a 999-year lease. This will help to ensure public access and is a vital step in BW’s ambition to restore the Cotswold Canals.

Originally the Proprietors owned the Navigation from Framilode on the Severn to Stroud (Wallbridge) but, after the canal was abandoned in 1954, parts of the canal between Saul Junction and Eastington were sold to local landowners. The expected £11.3 million HLF grant includes funding for BW to buy back this land, resulting in a continuous towpath from Saul to Wallbridge and thence to Brimscombe Port via the Thames & Severn Canal.

The BW Regeneration Team has been boosted by two more appointments. Chris Rainger has been appointed as the principal engineer for both the Cotswold and Droitwich Canals.

Chris, a Chartered Engineer, brings extensive experience of waterway construction projects across the country, particularly the HLF funded project on the Kennet & Avon Canal. Edward Moss has been appointed Community Projects Officer.

His role involves interpretation, education and volunteers. Edd, who has an MA in Heritage Management, brings a wealth of experience in community work. He has recently worked on the HLF Past Masters project on the Stratford Canal.

Morrison Plc has been appointed Managing Contractor for the restoration project. As well as engaging and supervising sub-contractors, the firm will also have an important input into the design

16

Stroudwater Navigation leased to BW

Spine Road Bridge opened Although the main structure of the bridge, which marks an important step towards the full

Pike Road Bridge pictured before 1914

restoration of the Cotswold Canals, was completed some months ago, a formal opening has been delayed whilst the distinctive bulrush parapets were fitted and work in the vicinity of the bridge completed.

Spine Road Bridge was formally opened on Saturday 30th April by Jack Russell the famous Gloucester & England cricketer and artist. Within a popular walking area, and located next to the entrance to the Cotswold Water Park, the new bridge enables pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road safely on the towpath, along the line of the original canal. Animal tunnels have been provided so that even the local wildlife can get to the other side of the road safely!

This £0.5 million project was project managed by British Waterways on behalf of the Cotswold Canals Partnership.

Funding partners included the Countryside Agency’s Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire County Councils, The Cotswold Canals Trust, the Inland Waterways Association, Hills Minerals & Waste Limited (through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme), the Medlock Charitable Trust and 28 other charitable trusts and private sector firms that responded to an appeal by the Cotswold Canals Trust.

Pike Road Bridge The expected completion of the HLF funded phase of the restoration in 2008 will leave the canal from Brimscombe Port to Stonehouse isolated from the national waterways network until the 3-mile length of the Stroudwater Navigation from Stonehouse to Saul in a westwards direction is fully restored. The Cotswold Canals Trust has already restored one mile of this length and an opportunity has arisen to remove another major obstruction to navigation.

Pike Bridge was originally a typical Stroudwater humpback brick bridge built about 1777.

The height of its arch was reduced and widened in 1823 with a further widening in 1870. The final modification was the most dramatic; it occurred in 1924 when a major and quite elegant concrete extension was added on the west side. Unfortunately shortly after the canal was abandoned in 1954 the highway authority demolished much of the bridge and filled in the canal at this point.

Pike Bridge is an opportunistic project that developed a momentum all of it own in a relatively short time.

It was triggered late last summer when Gloucestershire County County Council (GCC) offered to sponsor initial design work for a new bridge if

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No. 171 Summer 2005

An artist’s impression of Pike Road Bridge

Work progresses on the bridge

the Cotswold Canals Trust would lead the project and, crucially, assemble a funding package.

The Trust, working with GCC, formed a working partnership with Halcrow (for the design) and Ringway (for the construction). In line with the aspirations of the Conservation Management Plan the Trust indicated that it wished to retain and, where possible, reuse what is left of the former bridges surviving under the current road. It was also important to develop a scheme that would allow the road to remain open throughout, albeit with traffic signals.

It soon became apparent that the project would cost in the region of £350,000. With the assistance of the Countryside Agency’s Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, which

Picture by Ken Burgin

generously offered a very substantial grant amounting to nearly half the cost, a funding package was quickly assembled. Gloucestershire County Council, Stroud District Council and the Inland Waterways Association also offered significant grants which left a funding gap of £110,000 which has been underwritten by the Cotswold Canals Trust. The Trust is currently appealing to other charitable trusts, private sector firms and individuals for donations to cover as much of this gap as possible. Donations should be sent to the Cotswold Canals Trust, 44 Black Jack Street, Cirencester, Glos. GL7 2AA. An appeal brochure can be obtained by e-mailing: ken.burgin@pikelock.com Construction of the new bridge started in early March and one half has been nearly

completed. Once the bridge is completed (expected July 2005) the canal and towpath will be excavated underneath revealing the surviving 1777 brickwork. The original towpath seems to have been built at an exceptionally high level and it may be necessary to reduce it in order to provide pedestrian headroom. This task is probably suitable for volunteers.

This project is a good example of the voluntary, private and public sectors pooling their resources and ideas to deliver a really good result efficiently and with costs kept to a minimum. A number of Trust members have been involved but the driving force has been the Trust’s ViceChairman, Ken Burgin, whose drive, energy and imaginative approach has resulted in rapid progress. An unusual feature of the project is the Cotswold Canals Trust being given a project management role by Gloucestershire County Council, a role which is being undertaken by Trust volunteers with appropriate skills.

Further information Pike Bridge information and pictures can be found on the project’s dedicated web site: www.stroudwater.co.uk/pikebridge

Cotswold Canals restoration information can be found on the following web sites: Cotswold Canals Trust: www.cotswoldcanals.com

Cotswold Canals Partnership: www.britishwaterways.co.uk/cotswolds

Or contact: Jack Telling (Cotswold Canals Trust) on 01453 825709 or 07785 330489 (mobile) Sharon Atkinson (British Waterways Press Office) on 01923 201349

Saul Festival 2005 The 8th Saul Canal & Folk on the Water Festival will take place on 1st–3rd July. All profits go to the restoration of the Cotswold Canals. For more infomation visit: www.junctionevents.org.uk

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Wilts & Berks Canal news

by Chaloner Chute strong characteristic of canal restoration has always been how it links past endeavours and experience with today’s determined efforts by navvies of the 21st century. Some recent happenings on the Wilts & Berks Canal reflect this subtle thread that bonds the two past centuries.

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Summit lock opened Relatives of the family from the lock cottage at Chaddington, Wootton Bassett, at the turn of the last century were able to join us at the recent opening ceremony of the summit lock.

What a joyous occasion it was, with members travelling from

as far away as Cornwall. The grandson of the former Lock keeper Billy and his cousins were there and regaled us with tales of their past lives.

Skiff Emily was tenderly launched into the water and gracefully completed her shortest – but perhaps most significant – voyage yet. She was the first boat of any description to go into the lock for 70, 80 or 100 years; noone seems to know when the last barge came through.

The ‘Topping Off’ ceremony took place to mark the occasion, and Juanita Davy, Trust Chairman Ken Oliver and Canal Partnership Chairman Doreen Darby all did their stuff.

There was great praise for the project team led by John

Bower, and key workers such as Ron were there on hand to witness the occasion. All present proudly spoke of their achievements. A special Trust blue and yellow ribbon was cut

by Juanita Davy to mark the opening and Ken poured the bubbly.

This marks a milestone in restoring the Canal between Wootton Bassett and Swindon.

The lock was restored over 2 years entirely by Trust volunteers.

Funding was provided by the Canal Trust, North Wiltshire District Council, partners and a generous £87,000 Biffaward grant. North Wiltshire District Councillor Doreen Darby, chairman of the Canal Partnership was delighted by the project’s success, “This is another wonderful success story on the Canal and testimony of what can be achieved by good partnership working. The high standard of skill and huge endeavour shown by the Trust is for all to see.”

The next phase

Picture by Paul Lancaster, NWDC press office

Doreen Darby, Chairman of the Canal Partnership and Ken Oliver Chairman of the Canal Trust with Challoner Chute pulling the blades!

We are now laying plans for the next phase of restoring the canal between Templars Firs, Wootton Bassett and Hay Lane, near Swindon and doing a good job at including the community. The Head Gardener of St Mary’s School, Calne, came to our assistance and felled the willow that was

poised to fall into the canal near Chaveywell Bridge. It was a difficult job as the tree was hung into a neighbouring tree and under tension, but down it came. On 26th March we laid on boat trips for children who had entered the Easter Egg Hunt in the neighbouring park.

Business was brisk. And 10th April was the day for clearing remaining stumps from the canal bed at Double Bridge, Pewsham.

We’ve had plenty of community involvement, schools (St Mary’s, Wantage has been involved too), logs for delivery, boat trips, Easter egg hunts... All the stuff of getting locals involved and taking a pride in their canal.

Oral archive I plan to get out and about this summer and interview members and those old salts who are still around to hear their stories. I’m hoping to build up an oral archive.

New Newsletter The new Wilts & Berks Newsletter and Guide will be coming down your way shortly; a first bold attempt to communicate our plans and progress to a much wider audience. Copies will be available in the K&A shop. I would like to thank the editorial team and the County Council for a first great effort.

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18

www.kennetcruises.co.uk

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No. 171 Summer 2005

The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

by Brian Poulton, 14 locks in

with material provided by the Mon & Brec Canal Trust. lot of us glibly talk of ‘The Mon and Brec’ Canal when referring to the waterways in South Wales, but how many people know that there are, in fact, two discrete canals in that network? The Monmouthshire Canal is one, and the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal is the other.

The Monmouthshire Canal was opened in 1799 and had a main line of 11 miles from the Usk Estuary at Newport to Pontewynydd, near Pontypool.

It had a branch, also 11 miles long, which ran from Malpas to Crumlin. The Brecon and Abergavenny Canal, completed in 1812, ran north from Pontymoile to Brecon, a length of some 33 miles. That latter stretch, the one we so often refer to as the ‘Mon and Brec’, was re-opened for navigation in 1970, and has since been extended southwards to the edge of Cwmbran where five derelict locks and a lowered road bridge currently form obstacles to further restoration in that direction.

Below Cwmbran, the canal carries water through to Newport, and many features of the canal, such as locks and mileposts, remain visible.

Some stretches are available for canoeists. The junction with the western arm, the Crumlin Branch, comes just after the M4 motorway has crossed the canal north of Newport. The Branch runs parallel to the motorway for a mile or so, and four locks are fleetingly visible to the left as you head for Cardiff. Then the canal passes under the motorway and approaches perhaps the

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greatest feature of the South Wales canals: the Rogerstone or Cefn flight of 14 locks, which lift the canal up 168 feet.

Restoration Plans The Monmouthshire Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust formed in 1984 with the aim of promoting the full restoration of the Monmouthshire Canal from Newport to Pontymoile, including the Crumlin Arm, and the Brecon and Abergavenny Canal from Pontymoile to Brecon. The Trust also wished to promote the fullest use of the waterways by all forms of waterborne traffic, and thereby to promote the education of the public in the history and use of the canals and waterways.

The Trust, like us, has discovered the power of partnerships. It is a full partner in the Monmouthshire Canal Regeneration Scheme, alongside BW and the various riparian local authorities.

Initially, their plan was to seek £29 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable a full restoration between Five Locks in Cwmbran and Crindau in Newport, but the requirement for matched funding could not be met. However, through Landfill Tax Credits and the Government’s New Deal Scheme, three locks were restored north of Newport, as was the top lock of the Fourteen Locks at Rogerstone.

The Trust still has aspirations to open further stretches of navigation towards Cwmbran, and the lowered bridges at Five

Locks might be lifted as part of traffic calming measures funded by the Highways Agency. The Cwmbran Aqueduct could be brought back into use by a novel and ambitious scheme to use two locks to ascend to the aqueduct and a further two to descend, with water fed from a lock further up the valley at Forge Hammer. The idea of a new boat lift to replace the Forge Hammer Locks is being actively pursued, raising visions of a spectacular waterways feature in South Wales to challenge the Falkirk Wheel!

Recently, the Regeneration Scheme partners have made some heartening progress. A successful £80,000 bid to the ERDF will allow one lowered bridge to be raised, engineering studies on another are being carried out, and a complete strategy has been agreed for the restoration of Fourteen Locks. Marinas at Newport and Malpas are in the ‘Newport Unlimited 2020 Vision’, and the Trust would like to see one of them completed in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup which Newport is hosting.

Malpas

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Rogerstone

The Trust As the restoration scheme gathers pace, the Trust has grown both in numbers and in terms of activities. From a figure of 180 in 2000, membership is around 700 and growing. The 2004 National Trailboat Festival was held at Malpas and, during 2005, the Waterways Recovery Group will be holding eight work-camps on Fourteen Locks and the main line above Newport. Meanwhile, the Trust would welcome visitors to their Canal Centre at Fourteen Locks, just off Junction 27 of the M4.

Naturally, we wish the Monmouthshire Brecon and Abergavenny Canal Trust every success!

You can visit their website at www.mon-brec-canal-trust.org.uk A trailboat rally on the Mon&Brec

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Transforming Devizes Wharf

by Di Harris

Picture by Bob Naylor

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Canal Centre on Devizes Wharf

he Kennet & Avon Trust was given a licence to work on the Devizes Wharf building on 3rd January 1979.

“It was a cold and crisp morning and snow lay on the ground when we took over the Wharf Building”, said Doug Simpson, one of the Devizes branch members who worked to renovate the building. Mike Corfield, branch chairman at the time, remembers that they were all excited by the prospect of getting on with the work, but then the enormous reality of the project hit them as they realised exactly what the Devizes Branch had taken on. “This is different to restoring a lock”, they thought.

But a core team of half a dozen branch members and a host of volunteers took on the task with gusto.

Mike rallied the team and

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over the next 18 months or so they begged, borrowed and stole to get the materials they needed to refurbish the building. It was truly a community project with local people offering their skills and local business making contributions too.

Derelict and unsightly The building, which since 1974 had belonged to Wiltshire County Council, was in a dreadful state. A KDC report described it as a derelict and unsightly part of the town. It was many years since canal related business had taken place in the buildings; 48 years as a wine and spirits warehouse had been followed by 32 years as a highways depot.

In 1978 a KDC report

suggested that the building should be leased to The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust who agreed to carry out the renovation.

When the Trust took on the licence in 1979 a Manpower Services work experience project was still reinstating the outside of the building. The garage doors installed when the Council used it as a highways depot were removed – and the first floor, which had been raised to house the lorries, was replaced at its original height.

What was left was a shell.

The Trust had to complete all the internal construction and fitting out, decoration and provision of services.

Hand tools and generator To begin with, the volunteers Devizes Wharf in 1978 after the highways depot moved out

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used generators to supply electricity for power tools and to heat the building while they were working in it, though much of the work was done without power tools. As volunteer Eddie Hopkins said, “It’s remarkable what a change 25 years can make, but we were still using hand tools in 1979. I think we would think twice about doing so much work without power tools these days.”

Everyone got involved Although Trust money financed the work, it was volunteer labour that made it a reality.

According to Mike, it’s hard to understand how marriages survived. The team was working eight hours a day every weekend and in the evenings for nearly two years.

And families were roped in too. When Barbara Hopkins turned up to discover where her husband was, she was delighted to hear Mike praise his work so highly. She fell straight into his trap when he asked if she was any good at decorating. Her reply was, “Oh yes. With Eddie working overseas so much, it’s me that does all our decorating.” And with that, a new volunteer was enlisted, and the office that was to be the Tourist Information Centre was decorated.

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Devizes Wharf in time 1807 The Devizes Wharf Company was formed to provide wharfage and warehousing, and took a 60year lease for the wharf site from Devizes Corporation and the K&A Canal company 1810 Work began on building the corn sheds by Couch Lane 1819 Trade was declining. No corn or flour or stone had been handled in the previous year 1898 The corn store was leased to William Cunnington & Sons, wine and spirit merchants 1946 The building ceased to be a bonded store and Devizes Rural District Council leased it as a works depot and garaging for its refuse lorries. The seven northern bays were converted to garages and the headroom increased by raising the first floor. The balcony had already been partly removed 1974 After Local government reorganisation the freehold of the highways depot passed to WCC. Kennet District Council leased the site from Wiltshire County Council. KDC had ‘user rights’ and continued to use it as a depot 1978 The highways depot moved out.

A report produced for KDC proposed that the wharf should

become an amenity area for the canal and the town. WCC agreed to the proposals and the two Councils agreed that Kennet would lease the depot area for 99 years at a nominal rental reviewable after 60 years and subject to conditions limiting use to recreational and ancillary purposes. KDC agreed to release it to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust. Main conversion work in the bonded warehouse, the future Devizes Canal Centre, was completed (mainly through a work experience scheme) 1980 On 3rd January the K&A Canal Trust took over the building on licence and started the internal renovation and conversion The Canal Centre was officially opened on Friday 13th June by Chairman of the West of England Tourist Board, Mr Peter Chester. Guests inspected the improvements carried out by both KDC and the Trust. More volunteers were still needed to finish off the work 1981 On 1st January K&CT was given a 21 year lease 1983 The project was finally complete when Anthony Burton opened the Interpretation Centre (now the museum) 1996 A rent review was carried out and KDC substantially increased the rent paid by the Trust

“The redevelopment of the Wharf is a good example of initiative and co-operation between a local authority and voluntary organisations. The project has generated considerable local interest and support and the amenities provided are already being used and enjoyed by the public. The restoration of the canal and the completion of the development will make Devizes Wharf a popular and interesting place for local people and visitors. It will have also restored a derelict and unsightly part of the town into an attractive canalside amenity for the use and benefit of the community.”

Kennet District Council report, July 1980

The future The original 21-year lease has now expired. The buildings need more work carried out and there are plans to extend the Museum.

The black and white Canal Centre with it’s wooden balcony and Trust Office and Museum has become synonymous with Devizes Wharf. Whether it continues to house the Trust, will depend on the outcome of negotiations with KDC.

The ‘wide boat’ Croxley at William Dickenson’s warehouse on Devizes Wharf unloading sacks of grain in about 1900

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Canoeing

Paddling your canoe on the K&A

Devizes to Westminster canoe marathon success for K&A canoeist The Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race brings the Kennet & Avon Canal and canoeing into the public eye every Easter weekend — but this marathon isn’t the only way to enjoy the K&A in a canoe

The first crew away from Devizes Wharf on Good Friday Morning Picture by Bob Naylor

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Picture by Bob Naylor

imon Dark of Bradford on Avon, with Daniel Beazley from Leaside Canoe Club, came second in this year’s Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race – with a time of 17 hours 27 minutes.

Simon has been canoeing for 23 years and started after he went to a Bradford on Avon Canoeing Club open day. “I enrolled on a 5-week training course. After 3 weeks I was asked to take part in a race and I jumped at the chance – I came third” he said.

Simon trains six times a week and raced every weekend after Christmas to train for the Devizes to Westminster race.

Simon has started the race 8 times and finished 7. He has won it twice — the first time at 19 and in his first senior race.

Tactics are important for the race said Simon, “We had a fair idea we could come 1st or 2nd so we started after our

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main rivals so that we could chase them. We reached the tide on time, but once we were on the river they were faster than us and we just couldn’t catch them up”.

Canoeing has taken Simon all over the world. He’s been part of the British marathon team since the 1980s and came 6th in the world championships in Sweden in 1996. In August he’ll be taking part in a 6-day double kayak race around Madeira and he’s hoping to take part in the marathon in Australia in the new year.

Back at home he is the commodore of his local canoe club and something of a hero to the younger members.

Simon said he found the Devizes to Westminster “bloody hard work”, but he only canoes to compete. Canoe camping isn’t for him, even though – at 39 – he is now eligible to enter veteran races!

Devizes to Westminster – the origins It all started in a pub in 1920.

Friends talking about the transport strike bet that they could scull from Pewsey to Mudeford in fewer than 3 days; 27 years later the race was repeated. The Devizes to Westminster was an offshoot of this race and it has been run

over the 125 miles and 75 locks between Devizes and Westminster every year since 1948 except for 2001 when the race was cancelled because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak and it was abandoned in 2000 because of extremely dangerous weather conditions.

A swan protects his nest near the start of the Devizes to Westminster canoe race

Joining a canoe club There are numerous canoe clubs along the length of the K&A.. Find contact details of your nearest affiliated club by contacting the British Canoe Union at www.bcu.org.uk Getting a licence & insurance If you join the BCU (Adult recreational membership is £29) you will get third party insurance and a licence for British Waterways waters.

For more information go to their website.

Where to hire a canoe Bath and Dundas Canal Company, Brassknocker Basin. Tel: 01225 722292 Bradford on Avon, Lock Inn, Tel: 01225 868068 Safety tips Canoeing is great fun, but water can be dangerous.

Follow these tips for safe and enjoyable canoeing. ? Novices should always be accompanied by an accomplished canoeist. ? Wear a life jacket or buoyancy aid while afloat. ? Locks, weirs and sluices can be very dangerous. ? Don't stay aboard your craft in a filling or emptying lock — carry it around. If it is too heavy, use ropes to keep control from the side.

Picture by Bob Naylor

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Otters return

by Sophie Lewis p until the 1950s otters graced the length and breadth of our waterways. Swimming, feeding and living in harmony with nature.

But by 1970, something was drastically wrong and the charismatic creature was virtually extinct in many English counties.

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Britain’s waterways have traditionally supported a vast range of wildlife and the otter is not the only species to have experienced a frightening drop in numbers. Brown trout, whiteclawed crayfish and water voles are all at dangerously low levels and need our help.

Pesticides The dramatic population crash of the otter was almost entirely blamed on the widespread used of organochlorine pesticides on farms for seed dressing and sheep dips.

These harmful chemicals got into the very watercourses that the otter depended on for food and habitat.

With very few predators, the otter sits atop of the food chain, a standing that we normally see as stately and almost indestructible, especially when you think of creatures such as lions and vultures. However, it is this lofty position that appears to have been the downfall of the otter.

Their diet is made up of 80% fish. These fish will have already digested the harmful chemicals and over a period of time these pesticides will build up to dangerous levels in the otters bloodstream. This in turn caused decreased fertility and an impaired immune system, which brought about the abrupt end to the creatures’ reign over British waterways. It seems that almost overnight the otter disappeared from our rivers and coastal areas.

Chemicals and ensuing pollution were not the only culprit to blame for the drop in numbers. Unsympathetic river and land management destroyed swathes of suitable

habitats and disturbance by people and dogs of important breeding sites is another reason their population declined. Top this off with a thriving otter fur market and the creature hardly had a chance.

In the 1970s the government finally banned organochlorine pesticides and, since then, the otter population has slowly been recovering. Despite this, they are still considered vulnerab le and are extinct in much of their range with many populations still diminishing.

Countryside Act Strictly protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), otters cannot be killed, kept or sold without a licence.

Locally, otters are now making a come back in our rivers. The most recent survey, carried out by the Environment Agency in 2000-2002, found that the Thames Region had the largest increase in positive otter records of anywhere in

the UK, with an increase of 300%. This is a remarkable jump in numbers, yet the creatures remain at much lower levels than before the 1950s.

Water quality The banning of organochlorine pesticides is partly responsible for this turn in fortune.

Improved water quality, enhanced otter habitat and working in partnership with landowners have all played their part in safeguarding the otter for future generations.

Recent successes locally include evidence of otters along the River Loddon. This is the first time the creature has been found in Berkshire for 20 years. Along the Kennet & Avon Canal there have been many unconfirmed sightings of otter signs in recent years, but as yet there are no official figures.

It will take time for the otter to recover fully. Young otters spend up to 18 months in the care of their mothers; litters are very small and the average lifespan is a short four years.

All of these factors affect the recovery of this elusive mammal.

The government has set an ambitious target to restore

otters to all UK rivers by 2010.

For this to happen more work is required. Even though there are suitable habitats out there, further wetland restoration is needed to ensure healthy, sustainable otter populations.

In addition, all new roads should be built with special underpasses designed for otters to cross safely.

Hopefully, with careful management and monitoring, the otter will make a welcome return to the Kennet & Avon Canal.

Otter tracking To help track the extent of the otter, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust carry out annual surveys along many of the region’s waterways.

If you have a keen interest in wildlife and would like to get involved with the otter surveys contact The Wildlife Trust’s head office on: 01865 775476.

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Get Walking James Harrison’s walk includes Barton Farm Country Park, the Tithe Barn, Avoncliff Aqueduct and the newly refurbished Wharf at Bradford on Avon OS Map: Explorer 156 (1:25000)

Length: 3 miles Duration: Allow a minimum of 1 hour The Tithe Barn

arton Farm Country Park lies between the Kennet & Avon Canal and the River Avon and is a mix of cut grass, meadowland and partly deciduous woodland.

The terrain is easy going with only a few areas close to the river prone to being wet under foot.

Much of the towpath and through the park is wheelchair and pushchair friendly.

Where to begin: If coming to Bradford on Avon by car it is best to park in one of the town’s pay and display car parks, and then walk along the B3109 Frome Road (heading south) to the start of the walk at Barton Farm Country Park. The park can be found at the end of Pound Lane and is well sign-posted.

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After finding Pound Lane (running west from Frome Road), start the walk at Bradford on Avon’s famous Tithe Barn, which dates back to the 14th century and is one of the largest of its kind. It is well worth a look inside when open.

Other medieval buildings close to the barn now house tearooms, craft shops and galleries.

Leave the old farmyard by its western entrance and pick up the path as it leads away from Barton Farm, following the southern bank of the River Avon.

Keep an eye out for Bradford’s medieval bridge as it crosses the River Avon behind you. Follow the made-up path, keeping the river on your right (and the note the railway line beyond). The Kennet & Avon hugs the contours above you, on your left.

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Soon the path divides, with the left-hand route leading up

to the canal towpath and the lower path continuing on the same level and following the southern bank of the river.

After passing through a small area of trees, the lower path opens out into one of the park’s meadows – a perfect place to look out for all kinds of wildlife.

As the grass path makes its way through two large fields, it eventually heads up towards the Kennet & Avon Canal towpath via a series of steep steps. Turn right on to the towpath and continue to head west. After a short while, you’ll reach the lower part of the village of Avoncliff, with its tearooms, cafes, pub and craft shops.

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This part of the canal boasts a magnificent aqueduct with views looking east and west along the Avon Valley. After making time to enjoy the atmosphere of Avoncliff, return to the towpath and head east to make your way back towards Bradford on Avon.

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After walking the towpath for about 11/2 miles, passing a swing bridge and an alternative route back through Barton Farm Country Park, you will end up at the bridge carrying the B3109 across the canal.

Here you’ll find the famous Lock Inn Cottage café and bike hire and, on the other

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Bradford on Avon Tithe Barn

The newly refurbished wharf and lockside at Bradford on Avon with the K&A Trust Tea Rooms on the left of the picture

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Pictures

by Bob Naylor side of the Frome Road, Bradford on Avon’s historic canal wharf, with a number of original wharf buildings including the Wharfinger’s house and Lock Keeper’s Cottage which is now the tearoom and shop run by the West Wiltshire Branch of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.

After spending some time at Bradford on Avon wharf, make your way back to the B3109 (the Frome Road) and turn right, heading towards the town centre, passing the entrance to Barton Farm Country Park on your left.

Avoncliff Aqueduct

Bradford on Avon medieval bridge

Membership Fees – please tick one box Annual fees are for one year from the month of joining Pay by standing order and claim your FREE leather card wallet

Join The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust now to help Protect, Enhance and Promote the waterway and you will get:

Annual Membership Fees Adult Single/£15 Senior Citizen Single/£10 Adult Family/£17 Senior Citizen Family/£12 Junior (14–18)/£7

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Life Membership Fees Adult Single/£200 Senior Citizen Single/£100 Adult Family/£250 Senior Citizen Family/£125

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Corporate membership – please phone 01380 721279 for information Branch Membership – please tick one box Central

The K&A Canal Trust the magazine Posted to you

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A GEOprojects canal map of the Kennet & Avon Canal (and including the River Avon and Bristol Docks)

Reading Newbury

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Hungerford Crofton Devizes

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West Wilts Claverton Bath & Bristol

I/we would be interested in helping with branch activities Your details – please complete all sections I/we wish to join the Trust and enclose: A completed Standing Order form A completed Gift Aid Declaration form A cheque (payable to The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust) I would like a FREE leather card wallet (standing order applicants only after receipt of first payment)

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Name(s) of applicant(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................... ...................................................

Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................... ...................................................

FREE entry to: ?

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Claverton Pumping Station Devizes Canal Museum Crofton Beam Engines

Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Standing Order Name of Member’s Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address of Member’s Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................................................

Please pay to Lloyds Bank plc, Devizes Wilts SN10 1JD (sort code 3092-63) credit A/C No. 0441822 The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust the sum of £. . . . . . . On (date). . . . . . . . . .and the same sum on the same date each YEAR until further notice.

Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Account No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................................................

Join at any of the Trust shops or the attractions listed — or phone: 01380 721279

To Bank: When making payments please quote: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gift Aid Declaration Name of Charity: The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Details of Donor Title: . . . . . . . . . . .Full Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Postcode: . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I want the charity to treat all subscriptions/donations I make from the date of this declaration until I notify you otherwise as Gift Aid Donations.

Signature: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you pay by standing order you will also get a leather K&A wallet to keep your membership card in Registered Charity no. CC209206

Date: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You must pay an amount of Tax at least equal to the tax that the charity reclaims on your donations in the tax year (currently 28p for each £1.00 you give).

Please post or fax this form to: The Membership Secretary, The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, FREEPOST, Canal Centre, Couch Lane, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1BR. Fax: 01380 727870

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Back to the future Adrian Softley explains how he and his wife Nikki have tried to get back to the quieter times before diesel engines with their replica Kennet Barge. he last issue of The Butty related the building of our barge. We are now afloat and our maiden voyage from Keynsham to Devizes is complete. The barge does fit in all the locks and goes under all the bridges and handles like a dream. Many people are surprised that such a large barge is powered completely by solar power.

There are no exhaust fumes pack consists of 24 x 2 volt and little noise or vibration on lead acid cells with auto top our new barge. I imagine it is up, feeding two ‘millipack’ not unlike the original horse controllers, which in turn feed drawn barges. the Lynch Motor. The fingertip As the original Kennet & Avon controls on the tiller are for Barges were horse drawn, it speed, forward, neutral and occurred to me that not only reverse. For domestic power did we have the chance to we have a 6k inverter-charger, recreate an important piece of supplying 240 volts to our canal history, but we also had freezer, fridge, washing the chance to use the latest machine and tumble drier. technology to create an We didn’t want to use any environmentally friendly barge fossil fuels, so we looked long for the future. and hard at hydrogen fuel cells, sterling cycle units and more. None of these offer the reliability or economy of diesel So we searched the Internet for heating, cooking, hot water and found just the man, Dr and standby generation of Hugh Swann of The Solar electricity. So we do have a Narrow Boat Company in diesel powered Rayburn on Reading. Hugh came up with board. We are hoping to install what we believe is the best under-floor heating. solution. Electric propulsion by a 30 horse power Lynch Motor, with a 48 volt power pack Another area where we have charged by approximately 10 steered away from the norm is square meters of solar panels our toilet. As usual we have glued to the roof. They can be read endless articles about walked on so they don’t cause what is best. We think we have any access problems. They found it in the form of a Biolet have a maximum rated output XL waterless composting unit of just over 1kw, so even on a from the USA, which should dull day our system collects a only need emptying every nine reasonable charge. Our power

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Solar power

Composting toilet

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Up the Caen Hill Flight at the end of a long day.

to twelve months. The Biolet is a biological composting unit that uses the process of evaporation and aerobic decomposition to transform faecal waste, urine and toilet paper to a hygienically safe product (humus) that may be used as compost. The bonus here is no costly pumping out.

Fitting the unit is very simple; it can be placed wherever you like and just requires a vent pipe through the roof of the boat and, in the case of the XL, a power supply (average 65w per day). There are, however, models available that do not require power.

Picture by Bob Naylor

Picture by Bob Naylor

Nikki and Adrian Softley in costume for the Devizes Boat Club rally

Our work begins We are extremely pleased with our steel copy of the fabulous oak barge ‘Unity’ built by Robbins, Lane & Pinniger Ltd at Honeystreet in 1896. Rod Boyce and his staff at RLL Boats at Keynsham have done a wonderful job.

Now the hard work begins for us on the fit out and exterior painting of Unity – we will keep you posted.

Picture by Bob Naylor

Unity aproaches Devizes Wharf

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Cleaning up our waterway Reading RESCUE 2005

by Moreen Thorne e still need volunteers to get dug in and get their hands dirty on the K&A. During March, when we were all beginning to think about enjoying the summer days ahead, teams of volunteers gave the canal a thorough Spring Clean from end to end.

The volume of rubbish recovered is truely shocking.

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RESCUE is the Recreation and Environmental Spaces Clean Up Event, held this year on 19th and 20th March, and coordinated by Reading Borough Council. Teams of volunteers helped the Council and the Environment Agency to clear rubbish from our parks, rivers and recreational areas.

Six volunteers from the K&A Reading Branch, David Copley, Andy James, Jenny Cann, Mike Wyatt and Gerry & Moreen Thorne, met at County Lock on Saturday. They were armed with grappling hooks and gloves to clear out rubbish from the river. The Council had provided sacks, litter pickers and gloves.

From the lock and the surrounding area, we pulled out two plastic garden chairs, an electric scooter, shopping trolleys, several bicycles, a child’s trike, a long length of polythene ribbon – and more.

We then started on the area under the IDR bridge, where we retrieved a metal bedstead, a length of iron fencing, a halfbarrel planter, a video recorder, and yet more bikes and shopping trolleys. Then Andy caught something really heavy. With great difficulty we lifted it high enough to see that it was a washing machine – complete with washing!

Then we found a fairly new looking motor scooter. There was no number plate, but it did have a tax disk with an expiry date of January 2005. We contacted the police, and within an hour we’d had a call to say that the scooter had been reported stolen and they’d traced the owner.

At Queens Road car park, we fished out lots of bicycles,

about 12 feet of metal railing and more shopping trolleys.

Carrying on towards Blakes Lock, we pulled out stuff as we went. The rubbish barge was now coming back down collecting the rubbish we’d piled up on the side. Then a second barge arrived – they’d been up to Fobney lock. Both barges were piled high. The lock keeper at Blakes had found an armchair floating and a large “Offices to let” sign, so that went onto the barges too.

On the Sunday, David & Jan Copley, Mike Wyatt and Graham Hawkes met on the back stream near Homebase.

They pulled out more trolleys, bikes, a plastic tube, a long pole with a “footpath” sign, an office chair and several lengths of cable. Jan, meanwhile, had filled five sacks with general rubbish. Near Gasworks bridge they saw a freezer in the water.

They tried to pull it out, but the stench coming from it was unbearable. The freezer was full of rotting food! The Council Control Centre picked it up in one of their trucks.

Mike later found out that the total rubbish found in and along the banks of the Kennet amounted to three lorry loads, one 35 cubic yard skip and two builders skips. That’s an awful lot of rubbish!

The canal clean-up was a team effort.

Rural Transport Partnership Officer Oliver Giles and Sustrans Rangers did their bit by cleaning up and checking the route signs along the canal.

Picture by Moreen Thorne

Devizes Canal Clean-Up

Picture by Bill Kemp

aturday 12th March at 10.00am saw a bunch of trusty regular stalwarts joined by some newer faces tackling the rubbish dump that is our canal and towpath at Devizes.

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Some combed the banks of the canal for litter, whilst others went fishing under the bridges with grappling irons to recover discarded bicycles and shopping trolleys.

Meanwhile, Trust Chairman Brian Poulton was out on his boat recovering the floating litter that was only accessible from the water.

The clean-up has been held annually by the Devizes Branch for over 20 years, and has always been held just before the famous

Devizes to Westminster canoe race on Good Friday.

BW provided litter-pickers and helped with the disposal of the rubbish that was collected.

This year the Canal CleanUp recovered as big a haul of rubbish as has been collected in earlier years.

“It is a pity that some people discard their rubbish in or beside the canal, rather than dispose of it properly.” said Trust Chairman, Brian Poulton.

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Newbury Barges The history of these huge vessels that carried cargo from the Thames, up the River Kennet to Newbury by Warren Berry, Curator of the K&A Trust Museum lthough Kennet barges were the principal barges employed on the Kennet & Avon, they were not the only ones used, particularly where the river Kennet was concerned. On that part of the navigation, especially in the early years, the massive Newbury barge was once a common sight.

Very little information appears to be available concerning these vessels and they have been shrouded in a certain mystery. Recent research at the museum however has uncovered some interesting facts about these riverine leviathans.

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Western barge The ancestors of the Newbury barges were undoubtedly punt like craft with flat keel-less bottoms, upward sloping square cut ends known as swims, and parallel vertical sides. The hull was carvel built with knees and braces to provide support. These punts were very heavily built and the box-like structure had its own built-in rigidity and strength.

Such craft were extensively used on the upper Thames and dramatically increasing trade on that river meant that by the 16th century the size and capacity of these craft had also increased. By this time, the term Western barge was used to describe these vessels and for hundreds of years they were a common sight on the river Thames.

Square cut sail Illustrations show that a simple square cut sail, set on a short mast placed amidships, was used and that the primitive square shaped hull was retained up to the end of the 18th century. Western barges were said to be 128 ft in length with a beam of 18 ft, a draught of 4 ft, and a capacity of some 200 tons, over twice

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as much as the average Kennet barge.

Newbury type However, for reasons that are not as yet clear, by the latter half of the 18th century the popularity of these large barges was diminishing, and a slightly smaller version of the Western barge, known as the Newbury type, was increasingly being used. These barges had the added advantage in that they could more readily be used on the increasingly important Kennet navigation.

Barges of the Newbury type appear to have been around 109 ft long with a beam of 17 ft and a draught of 3 ft 10 ins.

While having somewhat less capacity than their larger sisters, these barges were still capable of carrying 128 tons and were thus very much larger than Kennet barges with around a third more cargo space.

Although extensively used on the river Kennet, a much narrower navigation than the Thames, Newbury barges still appear to have retained their masts and sails. The mast was set in a centrally placed tabernacle so that it could be

readily lowered, and the rigging, which probably consisted of a few shrouds either side, was simple in form to facilitate that operation.

Continuous sailing on the Kennet with a large square sail would have been difficult, and although this means of propulsion would in all probability have occasionally been used, it is likely that in most instances these large barges would have been bow hauled using teams of men, particularly when going upstream.

Hauled by 80 men During the towing operation, the heavy towrope was fixed to the masthead so that it could be kept out of the water as much as possible. Up to 80 men might be employed to haul one single barge, and the Hauliers, or Halers as they were called, were often destitute ragged men who waited at town wharves and fought for the opportunity to earn a pittance towing barges up to the next reach. Barefoot and frequently working up to their waists in cold water,

these tough men often had to bear on their shoulders a ‘hand tearing’ cable that when waterlogged weighed a ton and in winter was often stiff with ice. This practice continued well into the 18th century, when it became more common to utilise teams of horses to haul barges. Even then, however, horses were only used in preference to Hauliers when the terrain either side of the river allowed it.

The life of the crew of a Newbury barge was also tough and the facilities available to them were sparse. Throughout their voyages in winter and summer alike, the crew’s only shelter consisted of a vast canvas awning fixed to wooden hoops, which was situated in an area at the stern of the barge. This structure was reminiscent of a covered wagon, and in it the crew ate and slept irrespective of weather conditions, using a brazier or clay-lined hearth for heating, and sleeping on straw covered benches. Apart from a small deck at the bow, the remainder of the barge was devoted to cargo space. In that space, heavy bulk cargo such as coal would have been

the

Butty

No. 171 Summer 2005

stacked as high as the gunwale, though lighter, more manageable goods such as timber and hay would have frequently been stacked very much higher. Some barges even towed rafts of extra hay or timber, and frequently utilised smaller ‘lightening boats’ into which cargo could be transferred when the barge was navigating shallow water.

It is interesting to note that although life on board a Kennet barge was undoubtedly hard, the working life and conditions of the men who crewed the earlier Newbury barges was, by comparison, very much more difficult.

This article is based to a large extent on a long out-of-print book The Making of the Middle Thames by DG Wilson, published in 1977 by Spurbooks, Bourne End.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT DRAWING OF A NEWBURY BARGE C/ L C/ L

Principal dimensions Length ‘109 ft LWL Beam 7 ft Drought 3 ft 10 ins Capacity 128 tons

Canvas awning over hoops.

This was called a “Tilt”.

LWL

C/ L

LWL

Stern

LWL C/ L

For clarity yard and sail are not shown

Bow

Hand spine windlass

Side elevation

Dead eyes

LWL

LWL

Swim head bow

Budget stern Fixed beam used to support mast tabernacle. Shifting beams moved as required to accomodate different cargoes.

Helmsman’s platform

Shifting beam

C/ L

Scale: feet

Fixed beam

Shifting beam

Keelson Access planks

0

Channel either side to support dead eyes

Planks used on both sides of cargo area to provide access to and from ends of the barge. Also used when poling of the vessel was required.

C/ L

Access planks

Plan

5 10 15 20 25

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Reading Mike Wyatt 0118 9427708 s usual we had the Branch Christmas dinner in mid February!

Then came the AGM in March at which we said goodbye to Peter Crawford as Chairman. Many thanks Peter for 4 years in the chair, not to mention all your previous work as secretary. The branch now has me as a 75-year-old chairman. Far too old. We want an energetic newcomer with fresh ideas and drive. Out of a branch membership of over 400 with some 200 or more living in the Greater Reading area, there must surely be some new blood around! We look forward to seeing some new faces at the next autumn meeting on 30th September.

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Reading Water Fest By the time you read this Reading Water Fest will be nearly on us again. (It’s on the River Kennet by the Abbey Ruins and Toys R Us on Saturday 25th June.) We have a core of hard working dedicated members who help at all events, but we do want some more. Even if you really can’t help, why not just come and bring your children (of all ages) and your grandchildren.

There is plenty for them to do with boat trips, the duck race, music, dancing, and stalls of all kinds. Perhaps you can make cakes – our cake stall is always a sell out and raises a lot of money for the Trust.

Please ring Audrey, my wife, and let her know what you can provide. Don’t forget the Newbury branch Waterways Festival on Sunday 31st July either where we shall be helping out.

Branch BBQ at Padworth It’s not all hard work, however.

The Branch BBQ is on Saturday 3rd September at the Padworth Visitor Centre, (ring Jenny Cann the Treasurer on 0118 978 6895 to book tickets) and we are planning a

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No. 171 Summer 2005

trip on the Thames Sailing Barge ‘Kitty’ on Sunday 16th October. Then it’s the Branch 50th birthday on Friday 25th November 2005, exactly 50 years from the memorable meeting in the Town Hall that caused the hubbub that prevented the closure of the canal – but that’s history, now we can celebrate.

And if anyone has any spare time, why not help out at the Padworth Visitor Centre shop.

Contact Wendy Pike on 0118 971 2868.

Newbury Allan Mercado 01635 35046 ewbury Waterways festival 2005 is looking to be busier and more successfulthan ever. The Festival will be held in Newbury Wharf, the canalside and Newbury’s Victoria Park from 10am till 5pm on Sunday 31st July. A members’ party and barbecue will be held on Saturday evening 30th June at the Wharfside. Good sponsorship has been confirmed from major Newbury companies and to date over 30 stalls have confirmed their attendance. There is room for more, and provided the weather gods look kindly on us and with free admission the day looks set for an enjoyable and rewarding day out for the public and K&A members alike.

Obviously Festival Manager Tracy Perryman will need lots of voluntary help on the day, so willing Trust members who are able to spare even a few hours

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of their precious time will be given a warm welcome. Can you help? If so, please give Tracy a ring at Newbury’s Stone Building (01635 572609).

Following the Branch AGM, members and members of the public heard an interesting talk

by Tony Higgott, former curator of the Newbury Museum, on the Story of Newbury. It was particularlry valuable for members and guests since much of Tony Higggott’s talk centred around the contribution the Kennet & Avon canal had given to the prosperity of the town and surrounding locality. With Higgs, Guyers and Town locks now completely refurbished, the canal is becoming busier day by day. Our swans don’t seem too pleased now that they cannot get to the canalside so often. But, as I tell them, that’s how life is today. So just carry on, and swan around for a while.

Hungerford Richard Snook 01635 253446 ince my last report in March, ‘Rose’ has now returned from her refit at Foxhangers. In spite of an horrific weather forecast, the return journey was completed in fairly benign weather, although it took half a day longer than expected, mainly due to ‘improvements’ to the paddle gear to most of the locks. Fortunately, the crew managed to return just in time

S

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Boat Gathering, Boat Trips and many other displays and attractions Barbeque for members and boaters on the Saturday Night Harbourmaster telephone: 01793 722292 or 0782 1842628

Newbury Waterways Festival 2005 Victoria Park, Newbury

Sunday 31st July 10.00am to 5.00 pm

Stalls available: £25 for Traders and Crafts and £10 for Charities and Canal Associations.

Larger stalls available pro-rata £18 per boat includes 2 tickets to the Saturday night barbeque and a commemorative plaque

Contact Tracy Perryman on 01635 522609

for the first of this year’s charters. The crew treated this return journey as ‘sea trials’ and found several teething problems. Most of these faults have now subsequently been rectified by Foxhanger’s staff, although, at the time of writing, we still have an intermittent serious fault with the new toilet. I am expecting this to be completely replaced well before you read this report.

The most positive feedback regarding the refit is the lighter, brighter and cleaner look in the galley and toilet.

When entering the galley, it now feels less like the Black Hole of Calcutta and more akin to the Stadium of Light, mainly due to the new ceiling hatch.

Charter bookings Public trips have been well supported so far this year although we drew a blank on the day of the Royal Wedding and the Grand National.

Charter bookings are coming along quite nicely, with about a ten percent increase in numbers on this time last year.

I know it is early days yet, but we have high hopes of another record year. Last year our Santa based activities, as well as being great fun to all concerned, netted close to £4000 for Trust funds.

Seeking Santa To maintain this level we desperately need another couple of volunteer Santas.

The job is not arduous or intellectually demanding; one only has to sit down and talk to children. Uniform can be provided and in these politically correct times, we welcome applications from both males and females with a deep voice!

There must be some Trust members out there willing to give some of their time to this rewarding cause.

Crofton Ray Knowles 01672 851639 e have now completed two Bank Holiday steaming weekends, with both engines pumping well for most

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the

Butty BRANCH REPORTS of the time and very well from after lunch on Monday 2nd May once we had tightened up a loose grub screw.

Call for volunteers Visitor numbers were a little disappointing on both weekends, which may have been just as well, as we operated at minimum staff levels on both occasions and we very nearly had to close on Sunday 24th April. So I repeat my plea for volunteers for nonsteaming weekends and for a Branch Secretary.

Filming On the brighter side, on 2nd March we had a preliminary visit from Spire Films of Oxford for the possible use of our boiler firebox in one of the “Worst Jobs In History” series on working on coal-fired ships.

The real thing is very hard to find these days! They were suitably impressed and the crew arrived at 08.30 on

No. 171 Summer 2005

Tuesday 29th March for 4 hours’ work. Our Chief Engineer, Roger Jackson, had worked as a ship’s engineer and had provided them with a two-page information note on the customs, conditions and methods of working aboard a coal-fired ship which was of great help.

The jobs being followed were of stoker and trimmer in the engine room of a large ship (the trimmer moves the coal in the bunkers around so as to keep the ship on an even keel).

The presenter for the series is Tony Robinson and he, historian Cliff Pereira and Roger were ‘miked up’ for a sequence where Roger showed Tony and Cliff how to stoke and rake a boiler and then stood by whilst they had a go.

Part of the technique for coping with the very hot conditions was for the stoker to cut eyeholes in a sack, get it wet and then wear it over the head to combat the blast of heat that hit him when a firebox door was opened. A large ship

would have rows of boilers going flat out all the time.

Roger had made up a hood from a clean piece of sacking to show the director, who was delighted, and Tony Robinson wore it when he was stoking.

Quite a bit of time was spent on all of this to create an accurate impression of the heat and dust and smoke. They also took shots of No.1 engine at work and finally they went outside in the rain for a sequence where Tony was simulating the work of a coal trimmer in what I felt was a rather imaginative way of presenting it, especially as our coal pile was about 8 tons and an average ship’s bunkers were 800 tons each.

It rained the entire morning and we only had four visitors at the end of the morning which was just as well, as the filming by the boiler required the café doors to be open but the lights to be off. Luckily the visitors were interested in the filming and didn’t mind waiting.

The finished programme will

be on Channel 4 possibly in October but more likely in January next year.

Workshop and crewroom completed We have received a completion certificate for the new workshop and crewroom from Kennet District Council so we are in the last stages of moving in, taking the opportunity to have a good sort out of all those items which were being kept as ‘they might come in useful’… and haven’t for more than 5 years!

As I mentioned in the last issue, there is still a lot of painting outside to be done so bring your overalls or old clothes and some dry weather on Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays. If you can’t bring dry weather we have some inside painting as well.

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WILDERNESS BOATS ? Chelworth Manor ? Malmesbury ? 01666 577773 Active independant owners club at www.wilderness.org.uk

South West’s premier boat builders on the Kennet & Avon

Offering a wide and comprehensive range of boats From 30ft narrowboats through to our larger range of wide beam vessels

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www.mp-steelcraft.co.uk 31

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Devizes

No. 171 Summer 2005

rd.hollands@tiscali.co.uk or Alice at: Alicebf2@aol.com

Roger Hollands 01249 650952 ranch Membership Awareness Day is the 9th July and we will be taking the marketing gazebo and setting up shop by the lock adjacent to Prison Bridge – opposite the Black Horse pub! We will be offering to help boaters through the adjacent locks and at the same time ‘ encourage’ them to sign up for Trust Membership.

Volunteers are needed throughout the day to staff the gazebo and help operate the lock. If you haven’t operated a lock before, come along and we will show you how. Bring a friend and perhaps persuade them to become members too.

Many thanks to BW for allowing use of the towpath for this event. We did promise not to trap unwilling boaters in the bottom of the lock!

If you can help please contact Roger at:

B

A tale of two hats

West Wilts John Maciver 01225 812225 successful charter trip on our first day got the season off to a good start. Isn’t it satisfying when a plan comes together?

Yes, thanks to all the efforts and planning by the hardworking volunteer maintenance team, ‘Barbara McLellan’ was all put back together after the winter refit and everything worked and there were no spare bits left lying around wondering where they should

A Picture by Bob Naylor

Alice Boyd is Secretary of the Devizes Branch of The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust and also Social Secretary of the Melksham Branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. To ensure that their is no confusion about which hat she is wearing

OA DAY B TING on the beautiful

Kennet & Avon Canal self-drive and skippered boats canadian canoes & cycle hire The Bath & Dundas Canal Co. Brass Knocker Basin Monkton Coombe, Bath, BA2 7JD Telephone: 01225 722292 Web: www.bathcanal.com

all-aBoard Marine serviCes & newBury dry doCk All boat maintenance services Boat Safety Examinations Anywhere on the K&A and Thames Corgi Reg:189616

Tel: 01635 37606 Mobile: 07940 583361 & 07703 235779

GREENHAM LOCK COTTAGE, AMPERE ROAD, NEWBURY RG14 5SN

www.aamarine.co.uk

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Devizes Branch Chairman, Roger Hollands and committee member Vicki Messam produced a hat that was presented to Alice at the Branch AGM. Now all she has to do is turn the hat round to show the correct organisation that Alice is representing at a meeting.

have been fitted!

The enhancements to the Bradford on Avon lock and canal-side area, reported in the last issue, were completed in time for Easter. The end result is very impressive and has come in for much praise from boaters and passing tourists alike. So, once the car park signs are erected, we are confident that even more visitors will be attracted to the Wharf which should lead to increased business for us in both the Trust’s Cottage Tearoom and ‘Barbara McLellan’.

To complement the work above, Branch volunteers have been busy tidying up and introducing improvements both inside and around the Cottage.

Harry Fox in particular has done a superb job in the garden. However, the catalyst for most of these changes has been our new Shop Manager, Jill Lewis. Her aim is to provide high quality service and the upmarket presentation that

the

Butty BRANCH REPORTS

No. 171 Summer 2005

Picture by Bob Naylor

An early morning trip down the Caen Hill Flight for Barbera McLellan on the return to Bradford on Avon during the recruitment cruise in April.

customers expect. So, for example, she has introduced a greater range of coffee and hot drinks, and a completely new selection of homemade cakes, panini, sandwiches, etc.

The changes have been appreciated and welcomed by visitors and it all adds to the ‘feel good factor’ of relaxing in the very pleasant terraced garden overlooking the canal.

Well done, Jill.

Easter was busy, but the indifferent weather thereafter resulted in fewer than expected passengers on Public Trips.

Bookings for Charter Trips have been buoyant, thanks mainly to the wide leaflet distribution effort, Trust marketing and the Web. Mind you, misinterpretation of information on the Web can lead to some amusing requests. For instance, one potential customer recently asked for a booking on the

‘water taxi to Bath’; another, wanted a day trip along the entire length of the K&A canal.

We had good radio and press coverage for our recruitment and promotional trips to and from Devizes during period 22nd to 24th Apr. This coverage helped to entice an encouraging number of potential volunteers to came along and enjoy the trip and to find out what was involved in joining as volunteers on the boat, or helping in the shop.

We have several Special Trips planned throughout the year.

The first for the diary are: Bath Day Trip (one way or return): Jun 18th, Aug 13th and Sep 10th. Depart BoA, 9.30 am – Ploughman’s Lunch.

Depart Bath, 3.00 pm – Strawberry Cream Tea. Strawberry Cream Tea: Depart BoA at 2.30 pm: Fridays – 24th Jun, 15th Jul and 5th Aug.

HAMS TRANSPORT HOPTON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, DEVIZES, WILTS

Another event for your diary is the 2-day Bradford on Avon Wharf Show during Bank Holiday weekend, 27th and 28th August 05. On Saturday 27th, a boat jumble is planned along with the usual mix of craft, canal and general stalls, food outlets, music, boat parade and a pig roast in the evening. The theme on Sunday will be ‘historic’ with working boats, vintage cars and steam engines. ‘Barbara McLellan’ will be running 1 hour trips throughout both days. This promises to be a cracking weekend, so please come along and join in the fun.

Finally, I would like to welcome our new volunteers who are now ‘shadowing’ the more experienced members and learning the ropes, so to speak, and enjoying themselves. Remember, you do not have to have any previous experience of working on a boat or in a shop in order to join us. You will find the new pursuit both rewarding and enjoyable. Why not come along to our Volunteer Social evenings on B Mac on the last Thursday of the month. Andrew Cox and his team arrange an excellent programme.

Happy boating.

Claverton Pete Dunn 01761 432811 he winter maintenance was more or less complete by Easter and the first runs of the season went off without any

T

hitches. We were a little quiet, but this can be explained by the cold weather over the two days.

On Easter Monday I noted that the river was at an almost record low level for the time of year. But – as the saying goes – 24 hours is along time in politics and the same could be said of Claverton, as after many hours of rain on the following Tuesday the river was in flood condition and we were not able to open as usual on the Wednesday. The result of this was the Sunday team that followed had a big clean up operation to do before the Pump House could be opened to the public, but we are all used to this as it’s one of the hazards of sitting in the river.

The bearings had to be washed out again before the machinery could be run so we have effectively had to clean up twice this year.

David Rivers, one of the original student restorers, has donated to us a set of slides covering the years of restoration and in early March I presented a slide show to members using these slides.

We thank David for this valuable contribution to our archive. The venue for the event was The Radstock Mining Museum. This is an excellent place for such events as the building – once the town market – has lots of character and interest. If you have not paid a visit there I would highly recommend it to you.

This would seem a good time to remind the Trust that we have a slide show about the Pumping Station that we can

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Auditors to The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust 33

the

Butty BRANCH REPORTS bring to you. If you wish to organise an event for your branch get in touch with George Eycott who normally delivers this talk – he has travelled widely across the south of England with it.

We are pushing the new recruitment pack to all our visitors and have signed up a few new members now. We have even managed to get a few of them to become active at Claverton, but I am still looking for a shop manager to organise the shop keepers and deal with stock.

Finally we will be holding our annual barbeque on Saturday 18th June starting at 5.30; all are welcome. Just bring along your food and we will supply the heat for cooking. Pete Adams has promised to organise a sing song but don’t let that put you off. George may be persuaded to give his now famous rendition of Paddy’s Wheelbarrow, only previously heard late in the evening at National Waterway Festivals.

No. 171 Summer 2005

absolute tranquillity.

Bath & Bristol Mike Davis 01225 448576 e are anticipating another good season on our trip boat ‘Jubilee’ which, on the basis of current bookings, should be similar to last year.

I would encourage readers of the Butty, whether Trust members or nor, to join a public trip from Brassknocker this summer and see what it is all about?

Remember also to also visit the Claverton Pumping Station.

This is a wonderful way to spend some time on a nice summer’s day. The location is idyllic. Bring some friends with you and have a picnic.

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Unusual charter We had an interesting charter booking recently when the boat never left its moorings. It was a prayer meeting and the congregation wished to have

sure you list it amongst your favourite addresses. We will be renewing the Walks Leaflet for our stretch of the canal and intend to include it on the web site; you will be able to run off a hard copy as a do-it-yourself walk. We really do have one of the best stretches of the canal in terms of its history and geography.

Saltford meeting On 1st March we had an excellent joint branch winter meeting with the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust at Saltford. The subject was ‘the prospects for canal restorations in the South West in the 21st Century’. Ian Jarvis spoke for British Waterways, with John Laverick also in attendance. Brian Poulton spoke for the K&A and Chaloner Chute for the Wilts & Berks. We had more than fifty people there.

Then on 22nd March we had our AGM at Brassknocker.

Brian Poulton and Malcolm Grubb, new Managing Director of Enterprise, were there. We are pleased that Blair Murray, captain of ‘Lady Sophina’, whom many of you will know, has agreed to join us on our local committee.

The Trust is upgrading the web site and you will, amongst many other things, be able to keep in touch with our branch activities through this. Make

Membership drive You will read elsewhere in The Butty about the drive to expand the membership again. In our post-restoration period it is about enjoying what we have created; protecting, enhancing and promoting. We need a strong membership to have the clout to do this. One of John Kirby’s initiatives is to ‘recruit a friend’; if everybody did this, the membership would double.

This should be an easy proposition for any member so please take the trouble to do it!

One member brought in seventeen new members in no time!

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Public Trip Boats • 3 boats • 3 locations • public trips • special charters •

‘Rose of Hungerford’ Operating from just off the High Street in Hungerford With a seating capacity of 50, ‘Rose’ is a comfortable well-equipped wide beam boat.

Public trips: • Every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday from Easter until October 2.30pm: 2.5 hours • Every Wednesday from June until September – 2.30pm: 2.5 hours • Every Wednesday during July and August – 11.30am: 1.5 hours • Every Sunday during August – 11.30am: 1.5 hours • Special Santa Trips at Christmas

Charter trips available for all your special occasions Wheelchair/disabled access Booking Manager: 01488 683389

34

‘Protect Enhance Promote’

‘Barbara McLellan’

‘Jubilee’

Operating from Bradford on Avon Wharf Cottage

Operating from Brassknocker Basin, opposite Viaduct Inn Limpley Stoke, A36 East of Bath

All boats are well

‘Jubilee’ is a converted traditional narrowboat with a 30-seat capacity.

Brassknocker Basin has ample parking.

and they have licensed

Public trips:

address system or will

The Barbara McLellan is a 65-ft purpose-built wide beam boat capable of seating 51 passengers.

Public trips: • From May to September 11.30am: I hour trip to Meadows Bridge, Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidays • End March to end October 2.30pm: 13/4 hour trip to Avoncliff, Wed, Sat, Sun and Bank Holidays • From June to mid-September 4.30pm: I hour trip to Widbrook, Sunday only • Special trips, including Cream Teas, Bath, Autumn Tints, Santa

• Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter to October 12.00 – 2.00pm Cruise to Claverton and return 2.30pm – 5.45pm Cruise to Avoncliff stopping for 30 minutes and return • From June to September inclusive Tuesdays 2.30pm – 5.45pm Avoncliff and return Thursdays 2.30pm – 5.45pm Bathampton and return

Charter trips: for 1 to 5 hours or a whole day.

Wheelchair/disabled access Wharf shop and tea-room

Charter trips available

Boat tickets, gifts, books and refreshments

contact the booking manager

Booking Manager: 01225 775326

Booking Manager: 01749 850169

equipped to provide a range of refreshments bars.

They also have a public accept your own sound system.

General enquiries: 01380 721279

eal at! r a y o j En family tre

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Butty Letters to the Editor

No. 171 Summer 2005

Letters on any subject related to the canal are welcome. We want to encourage debate about canal issues. This is your forum to voice your views.

Requests for anonymity will be honoured, but no letter Editor, Di Harris will be published unless it arrives with contact details.

Letters should be not more than 300 words and may be edited for reasons of clarity or space. Send letters to the Editor: contact details on page 3.

MOORING ABUSE, CONTINUOUS CRUISING AND LIVE-ABOARDS After reading various articles and letters in the last issue of The Butty I felt compelled to write my views on the above subjects.

There is no doubt that in all walks of life there are the lawabiding citizens and the, well, citizens who are not. The sad part about this is that the behaviour of the latter spoils life for the others. I agree with B Greaves of York who wrote “Liveaboards are a unique living heritage and an asset to the canal and country”.

However this can only be true if all liveaboards adhere to the rules. Boat owners who pay their way become disgruntled when they see others abusing the system by claiming to be continuously cruising, when in fact they are simply shuttling backwards and forwards on the same stretch of the canal

every few weeks. They wonder why they pay when others don’t. They are tempted to do the same. This is back to front.

Purchasers of canal side moorings could be encouraged to display a sign when they move away from the mooring stating how long they will be away and inviting visitors to moor while they are away. If all boat owners took a pride in their boats and their environment, not littering or spoiling the canal side, then there wouldn’t be such a problem.

Also, I fail to see the difference between a mooring for a boat that is lived on and a mooring for one that is not.

The boat takes up the same space what ever, and both are lived on from time to time anyway.

HONEYSTREET BARGE

Gardens, it was moored directly above Keynsham Weir and occupied by Alan Hoskins and his wife until the Tea Rooms closed.

Occupation continued in its houseboat role, until a winter flood stranded it ashore. The attempt to refloat ‘Pearl’ failed and she sank, breaking her back in the process and presumably remains in the silt.

The article and picture of the building of the replica barge at Keynsham caused memory recall – for only a short distance away is where the Honeystreet built ‘Pearl’ ended its life afloat.

Nikki and Adrian Softley may have been able to further their research, but only if they put on diving gear!

So far as I am aware ‘Pearl’ was the last wooden Honeystreet barge to remain afloat.

Following service, mainly carrying wood pulp from Bristol City Docks to St Anne’s Board Mills, it transferred from FTA Ashmead & Sons to the National Dock Labour Board’s Training Centre in Bristol.

Acquired by the Hoskin’s family, who ran Keynsham Tea

Nikki Softley, Devizes

Fred Blampied, Saltford

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH OUR LOCKS? I have just had the misfortune of a return trip from Foxhangers to Hungerford to return Rose of Hungerford to her base after a re-fit.

First I had the back breaking

MOORING ABUSE I felt I had to comment on the article entitled Mooring Abuse

by Michael Davis, Chairman of Bath and Bristol Branch, in your Spring Issue.

We are continuous cruising, but we were wintering on the K&A and had to choose, due to closures, in which part we wanted to be marooned after the New Year.

We heard such horror stories about the canal below the Caen Hill flight (crowded, no parking), but we decided to ignore the stories and find out for ourselves.

We are so glad we did. It was lovely and we spent a glorious 10 weeks (travelling to Bath and back) until the flight reopened in March. The countryside and views were stunning and we saw a variety of wildlife. The towpaths were superb.

We had no problem mooring wherever we chose and met a variety of very nice people. We did not experience any of the problems that Michael Davis listed in his article.

We saw and spoke to fishermen, walkers, runners, families with dogs and children and everyone we spoke to, without exception, extolled the virtues of the canal and

surrounding area. I have two dogs and walk extensively and I am also very gregarious and talk to all types of people so did meet people who lived on the canal, were holidaying on the canal and lived by and around the canal. We met some jolly fishermen also.

We certainly did not get the impression from what we saw or heard that the ambience of the canal was under threat.

We have a car and we had no problem parking and did not hear of other people experiencing a problem. We moved every week or so and I loved all our mooring spots and would be hard pushed to name a favourite.

I have to ask, has Michael Davis experienced all the problems he mentioned in his article or has he also been listening to the same horror stories as us?

We belong to Pewsey Boat Club and also the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust and fully support the best interest on the canal, but appreciate that the canals and their beauty need to be available to everyone, not just the ‘chosen few’.

task of Caen Hill with re-geared paddle gear.

Now we all know Caen Hill is an effort on the best of occasions, but BW have seen fit to attach 3:1 gearing on top and bottom paddles which has trebled the task.

It doesn’t work too badly on the top paddles, but the bottom ones now require about 60 turns of a windlass each to raise.

I would imagine this was done to ease the effort required, but this is not the case: a) because the gearing is not free running but requires just as much effort to turn it as before and b) the spindle that the windlass fits on to is around 2” long and the windlass keeps flying off it.

Two of my crew had bad knocks to their persons when this happened.

All in all it has made the flight harder and increased effort in

both energy and time or, as Peter Jordan put it, a total of 7000 turns of a windlass to get through.

On top of this, on arrival at Wootton Rivers, we found that one top paddle gear had been removed.

Just removed for maintenance, we thought.

Oh no! Every lock from there to Hungerford – a total of 24 locks – had had their top paddle gear removed on one side!

What is going on?

Saving water?

Stopping vandalism?

I am intrigued and want to know the answer.

What should have been a pleasant cruise returning to Hungerford was a back breaking and frustrating journey. Why?

Ann Bellows, Salisbury These two letters represent many that were written on this subject – too many to print.

Thank you all for your letters.

Graeme Dewhirst, Newbury

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No. 171 Summer 2005

Reviews

by Clive Hackford The Duke’s Cut. The Bridgewater Canal

By Cyril J Wood First published in 2002 by Tempus publishing ISBN 0 7524 2371 1 128 pages£12.00 soft cover

Grey Lady

By Jenny Maxwell First published in 2002 by Time Warner ISBN 0 7515 3233 9 419 pages. £5.99 soft cover

his is a book presented in the now familiar Tempus style of many photographs with explanatory text but following a theme throughout - a style that is popular and easy to read in stages. The subject is a canal that has special historical interest in the overall history of our inland waterway system.

The nature of the book is well summarised in the author’s own words. “I have tried to produce a book that concentrates on the ‘mechanics’ of the Canal’s history and geography, concisely, without the encumbrance of facts that the reader usually skips.”

The text is well set out, making it easy for the reader to select which subjects or location about which to read. History is covered in 36 well-illustrated pages followed by 42 pages of a description of the Canal’s route. The third chapter comprises page by page of sketch maps of the route with descriptive text and photographs. This is a most useful technique and greatly facilitates the transfer of information to the reader in an easily digestible form. A few final pages on navigational and general information is of special interest to the boater.

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en Jacardi is the central character in this excellent story. At the age of 10 he was caught stealing coal from boatbuilder Josiah Armstrong who beat him with his leather belt. But there was something odd about the boy’s breathing which resulted in him being taken in and cared for by Josiah and his wife. During his slow recovery from bronchitis, Ben reveals a past of regular beatings from his mother who used a carter’s whip and tells that he ran away to escape those beatings. With a reasonable education and an eye for a straight saw cut, he becomes invaluable to Josiah. The cloud on the horizon is Josiah’s son Patrick who returns home from the army and a life in London. He robs his father and disappears leaving Josiah unable to pay wages.

This marks the start of the real story as Ben accepts the boat ‘Grey Lady’ in lieu of wages and with his wife begins his adventures trading on the canals.

This is an enjoyable, easily read story written by an author in love with the waterways and with many friends who have given advice that has brought the story alive.

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Canal Narrow Boats and Barges

By Tony Conder First published in 2004 by Shire Publications ISBN 0 7478 0587 3 56 pages. £5.99 soft cover

The Worst Journey in the Midlands

By Sam Llewellyn First published in 1983 by Summersdale Publishers ISBN 1 84024 338 4 224 pages. £7. 99 soft cover

his is a useful introduction to boats of the inland waterways, by an athor whose name is well known in the world of canals and rivers. Naturally the different types of narrow boat predominate, due to their diversity but others also have their place from the Keels of the Humber through Severn Trows to the barges of the River Wey. The illustrations are plentiful and of good quality. There is always interest to be found in old photographs and the architecture, industry and transport found in the background of many of the illustrations in this book provide a story in their own right. The author also provides a list of inland waterway museums where conserved boats may be found.

his is a most hilarious account of the author’s odyssey from Wales to London by a leaking rowing boat that had been built in 1899. As the author puts it himself “Three hundred and fifty miles in all. A long way to go backwards.” The persistent rain which enveloped our traveller in Wales seemed to follow him down the Severn and across England by canal and so to the Thames and the Houses of Parliament. The reader gets the impression that locks, weirs and tunnels were devices introduced by the canal builders specifically to terrify anyone eccentric enough to attempt to row from Wales to London. While the Tardebigge Flight bred bitterness, getting sucked backwards for the last 20 yards out of a tunnel by a fast approaching narrow boat did nothing to calm the nervousness (fear) of rowing through the bowels of the Earth.

The hilarity engendered by this narrative is enhanced by the fact that many a reader will recognise the underlying truth of the observations.

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Books reviewed in this and past issues of The Butty are available from the Trust shop on Devizes Wharf or through other Trust shops. If it is not convenient to visit in person you can use our mail order service by telephoning Devizes (01380) 729489.

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The page for younger canal users

No. 171 Summer 2005

School canal project

Pictures, museum, shop and lunch A visit to Devizes Wharf during a Braeside Educational Centre stay

by Pete Jordan

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Picture by Bob Naylor

road Chalke Primary school near Salisbury took a horse-drawn boat trip from Kintbury as part of their canal project. For teacher, Judy Cooper, one of the most memorable moments was when she had to remind the children that they could speak again, after she had told them to stay quiet for two minutes to listen to the sounds around them.

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After the boat trip they had much to say about it.

Pictures by Judy Cooper

Lara, Luke and Carlie “We liked going through the lock”.

Jacob Chalk “I liked the water coming into the lock and we went up!”.

Henry Eyres “I enjoyed watching Bonnie (towing horse) walking on the towpath pulling us along the water”.

Honor Hornsby and Matthew “We liked watching Bonnnie”

Luke “ I liked it in the lock when we went down down down!”.

Tom “I remember going under the bridge”.

Tessa “Turning the boat around was fun”.

Honor Jackson “I liked looking at the things on the canal”.

Isabel “I liked Bonnie’s shiny brasses and bobbins. Bonnie was strong, she had to pull us all along.”

Henry Emmett “I thought the barge was pretty on the outside, it was like my barge painting”.

India “I remember the plants along the canal”.

canal shop to spend the allocated money on items that surround them. Some children immediately think of parents, brothers and sisters or friends and buy a small item for them.

Others think only of their tummies and purchase sweets, if allowed to by teachers and are not persuaded by Canal Staff to buy an item for the family.

Then it is all change, so that all activities are covered by all members of the party.

Time for lunch now and sitting on the grass or the low walls comparisons of quality, whilst munching away.

Then it is back to the crocodile and the walk back to complete the worksheets in the classroom and reflect on the day’s activity.

Canal staff welcome these well-organised groups and willingly give up time to talk to the children.

Usually we are rewarded with a ‘Thank You’ letter, which delight us as we read the expressions used and look at the pictures drawn by our young visitors.

Watching wildlife

by Susan Litherland, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust cross Wiltshire, hundreds of children are taking part in beetle, bug and butterfly hunts, planting trees and making ponds, visiting nature reserves, surveying wildlife, making environmental art and helping the planet through waste reduction and energy-saving schemes, all through being members of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Watch groups.

There are nine groups in Wiltshire, based in Swindon, Chippenham, Lackham College, Langford Lakes, Melksham and Calne. All groups are run by volunteers with lots of support from the Trust. Groups usually meet once a month either at weekends, after school or early evening and the average age range of members is 8 to 12

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years old.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is one of a partnership of 47 Wildlife Trusts across the country, and all offer and support Watch groups in some form or another. Being a Watch member of the Wildlife Trust means children receive publications on wildlife aimed at their age range, although it doesn’t automatically mean you join a Wildlife Watch group.

Groups are only located where there are willing volunteers to run them. The Trust is really keen to get one up and running in Bradford on Avon so if you are interested in getting involved, or want to become a member of one in existence, please contact Sarah Wood at the Trust on (01380) 725670.

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Picture by Bob Naylor

crocodile of children turns onto the towpath at Town Lock, Devizes, pauses to listen to an explanation of how a lock works and – if there at the right time – watch a boat work through the lock.

The crocodile snakes on looking at boats and their decoration, perhaps talking to a boater who explains how they live on board and why roses and castles decorate boats.

A quick look at the Wharf Theatre, learn how it was used as a bonded warehouse, then onto the Canal Centre and the Museum.

Braeside staff then organise a well used plan, dividing the crocodile into three, so that room is available for all to learn.

The first third quickly go up stairs to the Museum, worksheets in hand on clipboards to answer questions concerning the aspects of the canal.

The second third move onto the wharf and are given photos of items to find and mark its location on the wharf map together with their use.

The final third come into the

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No. 171 Summer 2005

What’s on diary June Saturday 18th Solstice Music Party. Folk, rock and acoustic blues, at The Barge Inn, Honeystreet.

2.30pm ‘til late. Free.

Saturday 18th Claverton BBQ starting at 5.30pm. All welcome. Just bring along your food and we will supply the heat for cooking.

Saturday 25th Reading Water Fest on the River Kennet by the Abbey Ruins. Organised by Reading Borough Council in partnership with The K&A Canal Trust.

11.00am – 5.00pm.

July Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd Saul Canal & Folk on the Water Festival 2005. Full details can be found on the Festival website: www.junctionevents.org.uk Saturday 2nd Devizes Branch are running the Tombola at the CAMRA Beer Festival on Devizes Wharf.

Wednesday 6th – Saturday 9th Mikron Theatre at K&A venues 6th. ‘Wheel of Fortune’. 8.00pm.

The Row Barge, Woolhampton.

0118 971 2213. A collection will be taken after the show.

7th. ‘Village Voices’. 8.00pm.

The Row Barge, Woolhampton.

0118 971 2213. A collection will be taken after the show.

8th. ‘Wheel of Fortune’. 7.30pm.

Wharf Theatre, Devizes. 01380 725 944 (Devizes Books). £8.

9th. ‘Village Voices’. 7.30. Wharf Theatre, Devizes. 01380 725 944 (Devizes Books). £8.

Saturday 9th Devizes Awareness Day. The lock adjacent to Prison Bridge (opposite the Black Horse pub).

Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th Bristol Harbour Festival.

Enquiries about boat entries to: The Harbour Master’s Office, Underfall Yard, Cumberland Rd, Bristol BS1 1XG (telephone/fax 0117 9031484).

Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais Rally. Coulanges sur Yonne.

Contact Jo Parfitt. 00 33 (0) 680 301 153.

Saturday 30th Newbury Branch BBQ and party, Victoria Park, Newbury.

Sunday 31st Newbury Waterways Festival, Victoria Park, Newbury.

10.00am – 5.00pm.

August Saturday 27th – Sunday 28th Bradford on Avon Wharf Show.

A boat jumble is planned for Saturday along with the usual mix of craft, canal and general stalls, food outlets, music, boat parade and a pig roast in the evening. The theme on Sunday will be ‘historic’ with working boats, vintage cars and steam engines. ‘Barbara McLellan’ will be running 1 hour trips throughout both days.

Saturday 27th Crofton Branch AGM, at the Pumping Station. 6.00pm.

Branch BBQ at 6.30pm.

September Saturday 3rd Reading Branch BBQ. Padworth Visitor Centre. Tickets from Jenny Cann, 0118 978 6895.

Saturday 3rd – 10th Twinning visist. Les Amis will be cruising west from Aldermaston and back. Contact Mike Lee on 01225 873915 if you can help with hospitality.

Friday 23rd Combe Opera. Tickets £45 from Trust office.

Saturday 24th Devizes Branch Meeting and talk.7.30pm at the Wharf.

Wednesday 28th Newbury Branch meeting.

‘Barging through Eastern Europe’ a talk by Robin Higgs OBE. The Stone Building, Newbury Wharf. 7.45pm.

November Friday 25th Reading Branch 50th birthday party. More details from Mike Wyatt, 0118 9427708

Can’t wait to get out this summer? ….. then wiggle!

wigglywalks We have a series of guided walks along the Kennet & Avon Canal that can be accessed by using the bookable Wigglybus services in the Vale of Pewsey. Explore this beautiful landscape by bus and towpath and enjoy a drink by the canal. To receive a Wigglywalks leaflet call …

01225 713371 38

during office hours

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No. 171 Summer 2005

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PRIZE CROSSWORD The prize for the winner of this crossword will be a video from the Trust’s Shop. Two runners-up will get £10 voucher to be used in the shop. Send your entries with your name and address to: Prize Crossword, Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, Canal Centre, Couch Lane, Devizes SN10 1EB before 6th August 2005.

Photocopies will be accepted.

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The Butty Prize Crossword No 171

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Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.....................................

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Across 1 Forgive plea offered as explanation. (6) 4 By the sound of it look at stream and get carried away on the ocean. (8) 10 Oscar touched concealed architectural ornament. (9) 11 Affirms attester’s very odd witness statement initially. (5) 12 Conservative loses right to trifle. (3) 13 Woman wearing cosmetics possibly? She’s a butterfly! (7,4) 14 Tea party city boots out navy. (6) 16 Ape from Borneo has opponents for fruit. (7) 19 Contorted bare act gives entertainment in night club.(7) 20 Edits text with small measure before conclusions. (6) 22 At last a safer arrangement without acceleration could lead to unsuccessful attempts. (5,6) 25 Skill may be spotted in kindergarten. (3) 26 Architectural moulding produced by volunteer with oxygen on either side. (5) 27 Proprietor’s trendy – he has possession. (9) 28 Scatter English spiders all over the place. (8) 29 Refrained from hurting saint cut by Democrat. (6)

UNCLASSIFIED ADS

Butty Crossword 170 Solution G L O W W O R M S A L

R A D L D R R E S E S

A B U S V I V D E

T C R C

N D C O T I M M N E N T A T H S I N N S K Y C T H A G 0 N O K L

A N O E R T X H A I N G H E R H A B B E O Y

A L A B O A U R G C A R O R M W R E L A L

R A S B T

S C I N T I L L A

H A M T O R I O U I S

C A A N T A K A T T O A

H I G S

Down 1 Stir up contralto in departure from stage supported by ecstasy. (6) 2 Hot dish to search for aid for groom! (9) 3 Upward flowing bodies of still water for sailing boat. (5) 5. 99 toe green line, albeit in a confused state, undertaking political activity before 5 May. (14) 6 Chess, for example – Sounds tedious sport (5-4) 7 Spanish wine consumed in barrio jail. (5) 8 Joseph Addison maybe; he says it’s chaotic but not hard. (8) 9 Positions held in lawsuits or posts manned in battle! (6,8) 15 Numbers supported by honour and grace finally; could be a trio. (9) 17 Mafia leader – one to be idolised over dad? (9) 18 Betrayed about common coffee house - one may be executed here. (8) 21 Puts up with fish – that’s daft! (6) 23 Big cats are individuals of unusual courage. (5) 24 Rip off footballers’ kit. (5)

M N N S M E L L I E S T

Winner RW Cripps, Eastbourne.

Runners up Mrs A Parmenter, Bromham and B McGowan, Swindon.

Buying a narrowboat?

Need it moved to another location? Don’t have time to do it yourself? Let me move it for you. Apprehensive about cruising for the first time?

Don’t have time to take a full day’s instruction? Just need someone to give you an introduction into boat handling and gain confidence? Give me a ring. I can help. Just call Roy on 01635 821780 The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust We are looking for oak stop planks for the restoration of Dauntsey Lock. They need to be 9’6” long x 6” wide x 6” or 8” deep. If you are felling trees and have suitable oak please phone 01249 892289

Commission a collector’s model of your nb/trailboat/etc or cottage, or both – in a bottle. Leaflet John Burden, 32 Astley Close, Pewsey, SN9 5BD. 01672 563193. Guild Waterways Artists.

Waterways Craft Guild – Master

Boat Surveys Professional surveys of any type of boat undertaken for sale, insurance or damage.

I have over 40 years of boating experience and guarantee prompt, efficient and sympathetic surveys with realistic recommendations.

George Gibson, Gibson’s Boat Services.

Tel: 01672 851232

Bob Naylor Boat Safety Examiner Tel: 01380 840584, Mobile 07788134901 Email: bob@boatsafe.co.uk Fancy a weekend’s hard graft?

The NWPG arranges monthly restoration trips to southern canals.

Learn new skills – for free!

Contact Graham Hawkes on 0118 941 0586 or grahamhawkes@btinternet.com Unclassified ads are free for members of The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust for up to 30 words.

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Discover the hidden treasures of the Kennet & Avon Canal by bike

Much of the towpath is SUSTRANS Route 4 and is level, wide and ideal for cycling.

Picture by Steve Morgan, SUSTRANS

For a free leaflet and map of the Kennet and Avon Canal cycle route or for more information about cycling on canal towpaths please email enquirieskanda@britishwaterways.co.uk or telephone 01452 318000

The Kennet & Avon Canal towpath is free from traffic and suitable for all ages and abilities.

All we ask is that you fit and use a bell and are polite and courteous to others, a cheery hello or thank you means a lot.

The Kennet & Avon Canal cycle route is well serviced by rail, there are convenient mainline stations at Reading, Thatcham, Newbury, Hungerford, Pewsey, Trowbridge, Bath and Bristol. This makes the towpath ideal for commuting and very easy to plan a leisure trip with mileage to suit individual preferences.