186 The Butty Spring 2009

The K&A Canal’s own magazine

the

No.186 Spring 2009

Butty Water supply for the K&A

ÂŁ2.50

K&A 200th anniversary roadshow

The Gibson Collection Co-operation brings new sluice to Bone Mill Working to protect, to enhance and to promote The Kennet & Avon Canal

Newbury Boat Company Please note our new Business Address Ham Manor Marina, London Road, Newbury, RG14 2BP Moorings

Permanent non-residential and temporary cruising moorings with good security at two locations in Newbury both within walking distance of Newbury town centre.

Resident staff at both locations Tel: 01635 42884 email: enquiries@newburyboatco.co.uk www.newburyboatco.co.uk Ham Manor Marina 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: 01635 31672

Greenham Island

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Butty The magazine for the Kennet & Avon Canal

Cover photograph: Moored boat at Burghfield Island Boat Club

contents

No.186 Spring 2009

Picture by Bob Naylor 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 mid-1950s. 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.

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10 pages of K&A news

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K&A 200 Roadshow

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Water management on the K&A

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New sluice for Bone Mill in Newbury

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The Gibson Collection

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.

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Devizes Wharf Couch Lane Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 1EB. 01380 721279 01380 727870 (fax) www.katrust.org.uk President Sir Anthony Durant President Elect Michael Ancram MP Vice Presidents Richard Benyon MP Sir William Benyon David Bruce Peter Collins Donald Collinson Michael Corfield Michael Goodenough David Lamb Admiral Sir William O'Brien Philip Ogden Brian Oram Sir Frank Price Prunella Scales Timothy West General Manager Mike Rodd gm@katrust.org.uk

Company Secretary John Forbes secretary@katrust.org.uk

Administrator administrator@katrust.org.uk

Finance finance@katrust.org.uk

Retail Manager retail.manager@ katrust-ent.org.uk

Hon Treasurer Neil Lethby

Hon Civil Engineer Michael Lee Museum Curator Terry Mundy Trust Council John Arthurs David Copley Graeme Dewhirst Peter Dunn Bill Fisher John Forbes Terry Kemp Neil Lethby John Maciver Adrian Softley Harry Willis Butty Editor Di Harris Pear Tree Studio High Street, Urchfont Devizes SN10 4QH 01380 840584 07711 367124 di@thebutty.co.uk

Butty News Editor Design & Layout Bob Naylor 07788 134901 bob@thebutty.co.uk

For Advertising Contact Di Harris or Bob Naylor Printers BAS Printers Unit 2B Minton Distribution Park London Road Amesbury Salisbury Wilts SP4 7RT 01980 592 950

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.

Plus regular features 14 BW Briefing, 15 Wilts & Berks, 24 French Connections, 26 Page for younger readers, 27 Reviews, 28 Museum news and Safety Matters,

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.

29 Branch reports, 36 Obituaries, 36 Obituaries, 37 Heritage 38 What’s on and Unclassified Ads

Copy deadline for The Butty No 187, Summer 2009 20th April 2009

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TRUST matters

No.182 Spring 2008

Arrivals

The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Notice of Annual General Meeting

Mike Rodd

General Manager

The forty-seventh Annual General Meeting of The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust will be held at Claverton Pumping Station, Claverton, Nr Bath on Saturday, 9th May 2009 commencing at 11.15 am for the purpose of hearing the President’s Valedictory Address, to install Mr Michael Ancram as the new Trust President and to conduct the following business:

1. To receive and adopt the Board of Trustees’ Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2008.

2. To approve proposed Changes in the Trust’s Memorandum and Articles of Association1 3. To elect Members of to be Trustees: Messrs Dunn and Fisher retire in accordance with Articles 50 and 51 of the Trust’s Articles of Association and being eligible, Messrs Dunn and Fisher offer themselves for reelection. (Messrs Arthurs and Dewhirst retiring, not offering themselves for re-election, make up the remaining number of retirees required by Article 50 of the Trust’s Articles of Association.)

4. Nominations for election to The Board of Trustees:2, 3 There are some vacancies. The Board of Trustees has a policy of continuous recruitment to ensure it has access to the skills and experience to run a modern heritagebased Charity. Properly authorised and seconded nominations are invited from among Trust membership to sit as a Trustee and Director of the Trust.

5. To re-appoint the Auditors, Messrs David Owen & Co, and to authorise The Board of Trustees to fix their remuneration.

Pictue by Bob Naylor

Ordinary Resolutions:

ike Rodd formally took up his post as General Manager on 1st March.

But he had already become well known to many Trust volunteers as he’d been spending two days a week with us since the beginning of the year.

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Mike, who lives with his wife Sue at Aldbourne, has joined the K&A Canal Trust after retiring from the British Computer Society in Swindon where he was Director of Learned Society and External Relations.

Mike is an active boater and owns a narrowboat, which he currently moors on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.

Mike will be responsible for the Trust and Enterprise, with a target to achieve a notable and sustainable increase in growth and activity along the length of the canal from Reading to Bristol.

A contribution to his salary has been secured through an award of £75,000 from Kennet District Council, to be paid over three years.

How to get to the AGM at Claverton Car parking

By Order of The Board of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust

Use the ‘over flow’ car park at Brassknocker Basin. This will be FoC for the AGM and a steward will be on hand to direct traffic.

John Forbes, MSc, PG Dip MS (Dist), MBA, AMBA Company Secretary 6th March 2008

By trip boat ‘Jubilee’ will leave Brassknocker Basin at 9.45am

Notes: A member entitled to attend and vote may appoint a proxy to attend and vote in his/her stead.

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The Trust, in common with all other Charities is required to ensure that its primary documents (the Memorandum and Articles of Association) are brought up to date to reflect changes in the Charities Act 2006 and the Companies Act 2006 (implemented in phases between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2009). The Trustees are required to put before a general meeting any proposed change in its primary documentation for approval by the meeting prior to formal approval being sought from the Charity Commission.

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Under Clause 39 of the Articles of Association of the Trust, a member is only eligible to stand for election as a Trustee if aged less than 70 at the time of election.

There will be a Claverton representative on each boat to lead the members down to the Pump House.

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Return trips will leave approximately 1 ⁄2 hours after the end of the AGM.

Closing date for receipt of valid nominations is noon on 19th April 2009.

Special arrangements can be made for anyone with mobility problems who does not wish to use the boats. Contact Pete Dunn on 01761 432811.

Notes for guidance together with nomination forms are available from the Secretary by e-mailing secretary@katrust.org.uk or in writing to The Secretary, K&A Trust, Canal Centre, Couch Lane, Devizes, SN10 1EB.

Registered in England and Wales: No 726331. Registered Charity: No CC209206

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‘Barbara Maclellen’ will leave Dundas Wharf at 10.00am or Bradford on Avon at 8.00am for those who want a longer cruise, but this must be booked in advance. Phone: 0800 1214679

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Maritime history has never been far from Terry’s heart and he worked for a year as Front of House steward at the National Maritime Museum while his wife Daisy studied French at Greenwich University.

He had already gained a diploma in field and landscape archaeology and another in maritime archaeology and he graduated in 2006 with a BA in Archeology.

He now runs his own company researching military records for family histories.

Terry is enjoying his involvement with the Museum, “It is wonderful to be working with such a great team”, he said, “And Elaine Kirby is a terrific right-hand man – she knows all the contacts and is making my life much easier. I hope to make improvements to the museum, but I am still in the planning stage.

“My detailed plans need to fit with the wider plans for the Trust as a whole.”

Wendy Pike, who ran the K&A Canal Trust’s Aldermaston Visitor Centre, Shop and Café, retired in December and Reading Branch held a party to bid her farewell.

Pictue by Bob Naylor

erry Mundy was born and bred in Kent — he joined the Merchant Navy before spending 3 years in the army.

In 1975 he joined his grandfather, father, three uncles and two cousins working on the River Thames.

He started as an apprentice lighterman and he eventually became a waterman and he skippered the tug that had once been his grandfather’s until he left the Thames in 1990.

Museum Curator

Pictue by Bob Naylor

Pictue by Bob Naylor

Terry Mundy

Departures

Colleagues at the Trust’s HQ in Devizes gathered to present Marion Jordan with a leaving present when she retired this Spring.

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No.186 Spring 2009

Pot-hole project

John Gould award for Mike Wyatt

ustrans Rangers and a team from Wiltshire Probation Service were busy in November repairing potholes between Dundas and Avoncliff.

Alison Colebrook the BW Volunteer Co-ordinator said, “Throughout the day, walkers, cyclists and boat owners were thanking the volunteers for filling the pot-holes and make the towpath a pleasant place to cycle and walk again.”

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hree sheep died when they took a walk on the frozen canal at Sulhampstead in January and fell through into the icy water.

Firecrews were called to the scene after a call from a passer-by but because the caller was not clear about the location it took over 45 minutes to find the sheep and by the time they were pulled out they were already dead.

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Picture by Bob Naylor

Icy canal death for sheep

Trust President, Sir Anthony Duarant, left and Terry Kemp K&A Canal Trust council member and Chairman of the Kennet & Avon Partnership, right, with Mike Wyatt

he John Gould Award was presented to Reading Waterfest Harbourmaster and former Reading Branch Chairman, Mike Wyatt, at the 2010 Roadshow at Reading Civic Centre in January.

After he received the award from Terry Kemp Mike said, “This award recognises the work of all volunteers in the Reading Branch.”

He paid tribute to his wife, Audrey for her support during their 55 years of marriage and

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to Trust President Sir Anthony Durant for his constant support — and in particular for arranging an audience with HM the Queen for Mike and others to deliver the Loyal address — an honour no other canal society has been given.

He paid special tribute to founder member, John Rolls, who died in 2007. “He did 100s of small jobs and it is he who should be receiving this award”, said Mike.

Mike pledged the £100 that

goes with the award to start a fund to campaign for recognition of Reading’s lost wharves.

He challenged the mayor designate, Coun Fred Pugh to accept the challenge on behalf of Reading Council.

Mike wants commemorative signs at the site of Blakes Wharf, Star Lane Wharf and Bear Wharf.

Mike also called on Reading Civic Society to recognise Holy Brook and Abbey Wharf.

Canals on camera ritish Waterways has mapped out the most iconic film and TV locations on the nation’s 2,200mile network of canals, rivers and docks, and is inviting the public to discover the real-life film sets on their doorstep.

BW marketing director, Simon Salem, said, “If you only see Britain’s canals and rivers on screen, you might be forgiven for thinking the waterways are mostly frequented by criminals, zombies and creatures from the pages of fantasy novels”.

If you visit Waterscape.com/filmmap you will find the locations of everything from reality TV and soap operas to blockbuster movies.

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K&A roving permit trial shelved

by Bob Naylor ritish Waterways have dropped plans to trial roving mooring permits on the Kennet & Avon Canal.

The controversial scheme to free boaters without a permanent mooring from the restrictions of a continuous cruising licence and allow them to cruise and moor within a limited area on payment of a premium on their licence has met with strong opposition since it was announced in a consultation document last year.

Announcing the proposal, Simon Salem BW marketing and

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customer services director said, “The option of a ‘roving mooring permit’ could cater for those who like to have no fixed base and cruise short distances between temporary moorings within easy reach of their work or other land-based commitment.”

The trial was to have been undertaken on the stretch of canal between Devizes and Bath and BW had expected that 250 or more boats would apply for the permits.

The National Association of Boat Owners opposes the plans and their Chairman, Stuart

Sampson said, “It is felt the proposals would fall foul of the 1995 Waterways Act — and it is also doubtful if legalising ‘bridge hopping’ will alleviate the competition for the prime casual mooring spots in the more congested areas.”

A BW spokesman commented, “We are putting the plans on hold and there will be no trial of the scheme on the Kennet & Avon Canal or anywhere on the network — we don’t have the infrastructure in place to deal with the problems that introducing the scheme would bring”.

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No.186 Spring 2009

Caen Hill fish population control

he fish population on the Caen Hill Flight has been thriving to the extent that the side ponds have become over-populated — upsetting the ecological balance.

Over recent years the quality of the water in the ponds has deteriorated — and large fish feeding on the bottom of the ponds have contributed to this by disturbing

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the silt on the canal bed.

By removing many of the larger fish that feed on the bottom of the ponds there will be less silt disturbance and less nutrients will be released into the water.

The lowering of the water quality has made the ponds less suitable for invertebrates such as dragon and damselflies as well as scarce aquatic plants

that rely on clear-water environments.

Improving the water quality will give the once abundant water plants a much better chance of making a comeback.

Together, the side ponds at Caen Hill represent one of the largest stretches of open water in the area — and they are a great wildlife habitat — supporting all kinds of wildlife

by Bob Naylor

including grass snakes, various birds and water voles.

A silt curtain was put across the entrance to one of the side ponds to see if this will prevent silt stirred up by boats from entering the pond.

The fish taken from Caen Hill were released on the Grand Union Canal as part of a £50,000 scheme to improve the fish stocks on the canal.

...and the one that got away Camera-shy carp makes a bid for freedom

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No.186 Spring 2009

K&A Canal winter work programme

Picture by Bob Naylor

Picture by Bob Naylor

A tree down between Burghfield Island and Southcote Lock blocked the canal in January. BW were able to clear the towpath for walkers and cyclists quickly and then they brought in heavy equipment to clear the navigation

Picture by Elaine Kirby

Piling work to repair the towpath took place here on the Caen Hill Flight in Devizes

Owners of wide vessels will be pleased to see the weed cutter at work on the Long Pound between Devizes and Wootton Rivers — although not so pleased by the news that they were not able to navigate the Caen Hill Flight after a problem on Lock 37 would only allow narrow beam boats to pass.

Picture by Bob Naylor

Picture by Bob Naylor

A spring rising in the lock at Kintbury meant that they had to have pumps running continually so that they could do repair work on the lock sides and fit new lock gates

Boat Trips

From the Cunning Man, Burghfield Bridge Public trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .May to September Private party hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A range of cruises Day boat hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Self-drive for up to 12 people Holiday hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 & 6 Berth Narrowboats Flexible weekly or short break periods Moorings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Permanent or temporary Enquiries: 14 Beech Lane, Earley, Reading, RG6 5PT Tel: 0118 987 1115 Fax: 0118 921 0604

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he winter months have seen British Waterways busy along the length of the Kennet & Avon Canal with planned stoppages for major work.

New lock gates have been fitted and reinforcement work has been done on the towpath alongside the Caen Hill Flight, Southgate Footbridge and Bath Bottom Lock.

Some works, particularly at Kintbury and Brunsden have been delayed by bad weather but BW are confident that all works will be completed in good time for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

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Approval for lock safety signs

Planning approval has now been given for permanent warning signs for locks and these have now replaced the laminated paper signs seen on locks last year.

D AY BOATING on the beautiful

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

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No.186 Spring 2009

Shop–a–trolley hotline

Foxhangers Marine

Modern Narrowboat fleet all built

by Foxhangers.

12 boats, 4 luxury semi-trads introduced.

Full engineering/maintenance base BETA and ISUZU engine sales/fitting WEBASTO central heating dealers Covered narrowboat painting dock Based at the bottom of Caen Hill Locks

email: marineservices@foxhangers.co.uk

Tel: 01380 827801 www.foxhangers.co.uk

ritish Waterways has launched a hot-line so that the public can shop supermarkets who’s trolleys are clogging up the waterways and diverting £150,000 of BW’s maintenance funds.

The information will be used to help recover trolleys, to map hotspot areas and to identify a league table of the nation’s least and most environmentally responsible retailers.

Later this year a ‘Golden Trolley Award’ will be presented to the retailer showing best environmental management of its trolleys and the ‘Off Your Trolley Award’ will be presented to the least environmentally responsible retailer.

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BW have written to all of the main retailers asking them to enter into a not-for-profit cost recovery agreement for shopping trolleys that BW recovers on their behalf.

“Shopping trolleys are symbolic of the mindless pollution that takes place along our canals and rivers every year and quite frankly we are fed up with having to clean up after other people,” said British Waterways chief executive, Robin Evans, “The annual cost of recovering the trolleys is money that we would otherwise spend on much needed maintenance and repairs to the nation’s historic waterways.”

The Barge Inn Honeystreet Historic Canalside Inn

serving home cooked food from noon — 2.30pm and 7 — 9pm

Real Ales Campsite Marquee for parties

Tel: 01672 851705 www.the-barge-inn.com

Crop circle venue with notice boards

To report an abandoned trolley in a British Waterways canal or river phone the Trolley Hotline on 01923 201120 or go to: www.britishwaterways.co.uk/trolley

Picture by Elaine Kirby

Santa in Devizes

Devizes Branch ran Santa cruises aboard the Kenavon Venture from Devizes Wharf in December. Helen Petrie and her children, Jack, four and Charlotte, three are pictured with Santa.

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No.186 Spring 2009

BW to make late payment charge

Top-ten accolade for K&A pub

£150 surcharge will be imposed on boat owners who’s licence is more than a month out of date from April this year.

British Waterways say that the extra charge reflects the extra cost of chasing up overdue payments.

“The Late Payment Charge takes affect from the beginning of April”, said BW National Enforcement Manager, Denise Yelland, “So the clock is ticking for unlicenced boaters to avoid incurring additional expense.”

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Drink boating law he Department for Transport's consultation paper on alcohol limits for non-professional mariners and inland boaters has drawn criticism from the British Marine Federation (BMF) and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA).

The consultation document proposes that alcohol limits should not apply to vessels with an overall length of less than seven metres and a 'maximum design speed' not exceeding 7kts.

The RYA Government and Legal Affairs manager Gus Lewis said, “First and foremost, the RYA does not condone being drunk whilst in charge of a boat, but we have unresolved concerns regarding which craft will be exempt, which individuals on board would be subject to the blood-alcohol limit and how the rules would be enforced (and by whom). We do not believe issues have been addressed properly.”

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Avon Vale winners Winners of the Avon Vale 100 Club are: December 1st |Prize No 22 S. Buer £38 2nd Prize No 55 Devizes Boat Club £19 January: 1st Prize No 57 Devizes Boat Club £38 2nd Prize No 46 Rob Wright £19 February: 1st Prize No 4 Di Harris £38 2nd Prize No 7 Pam Annis £19

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The Bridge Inn at Horton, near Devizes was named by British Waterways as one of the country’s top ten canalside pubs in the Sunday Telegraph. The pub is run by Nikki and Adrian Softley, centre and Nikki’s daughter, Helen Petrie, left and her husband Stuart.

Dundas Carol Service ore than 200 people gathered under the stars on a dark crisp night for the 10th annual Canal Carol service on Dundas Wharf.

The service was led by Rev Peter Atwill, Chaplain to the Canals and Inland Waterways with the band of the Trowbridge Corps of the Salvation Army.

Among the trimmed and illuminated boats that moored up in the basin were the K&A Canal Trust trip boats ‘Jubilee’ and the ‘Barbara Maclellan’ that had brought a party from Bradford on Avon.

As the service neared its close a steam train returning from Bath’s Christmas market added to the atmosphere by leaving a trail of steam through the Limpley Stoke valley and with the sound of its whistle echoing through the night hurried on to its Sussex destination.

by Robert Coles

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Dundas Wharf is crowded as Rev Peter Atwill leads the annual carol service

French students visit K&A A group of students from Lycee Jacques Monod, Orleans in France who are twinned with Marlborough College chose one of the coldest days of the winter to visit the K&A Canal Museum in January and walk the Caen Hill Flight hosted by Sam Wheller, pictured left.

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No.186 Spring 2009

Chicken run

Pictures by Bob Naylor

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David Berezynskyj, the BW SW Asset Engineer puts up a notice to warn visitors of about the cockerel

New rivets for Croften Boiler hanks to the magnificent public response to Crofton’s Boiler Rivet Appeal and a grant from Kennet District Council £10,000 was raised to pay for the replacement of 50 rivets at the back of Crofton’s Boiler and ensure its continued operation

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in steam.

The riveting work was done by the highly respected firm of HA McEwen (Boiler Repairs) Ltd of Keighly in West Yorkshire, three of who's staff spent at week at Crofton in early November.

But before they could start

PERTON

Engine sales & Instalations Full boat maintance Diesel heating Specilist Brokerage for a fixed fee £500.00 +vat Hull blacking & anodes fitted Bespoke Fenders made Diesel & Solid fuel stove fitting

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t fi tt ing Ltd

by Harry Willis

Crofton volunteers had to dismantle the walk way and brick work at the back of the Boiler House in order to give access to the affected area.

Once the job had been completed and a satisfactory hydraulic test carried out in the presence of the Boiler Inspector the brick work and walk way was put back again.

Overall the job took two months to complete.

The old rivets were cut out using an oxypropane torch and the new ones were inserted red hot then rounded over with a pneumatic hammer.

The latter process could be heard over one mile away in Wilton Village.

Victoria Westwood: 07970 729116 Riveeting in progress, above and the completed job, below

Tel: 01225 71001

www.ukboatyard.com

teve Furniss was elected Chairman of the Kennet & Avon Trade Association at their AGM at the Three Magpies at Sells Green in February.

Steve has an enormous background knowledge of the inland waterway industry.

He worked for many years on boat and engine maintenance and he worked in the hire boat industry rising to fleet manager.

He and his wife Steph are owner operators of the very successful Hotelboat, Tranquil Rose.

Steve and Steph donated a holiday on their hotel boat for the K&A Canal Trust draw last year.

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K&A essential guide

Contact Spencer Collins: 07790 017418

Brand new boats fitted to any stage on superior quality shells Full & Part refits

Picture by Bob Naylor

n one day in January visitors to the British Waterways depot at the Caen Hill Flight in Devizes had to run the gauntlet as a ferocious cockerel threatened anyone who tried to get to the offices.

Staff arrived one morning to find him strutting around the yard and it was feared that he might stay — but after causing mayhem for a day — he then disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived.

Foul play is not suspected!

New Chairman for Canal Trade Association

The K&A Trade Association 2009 guide to trades and services on the Kennet & Avon Canal is now available from K&A Canal Trust shops and businesses along the canal.

Press cuttings If you come across stories about the Kennet & Avon Canal in the press could you send them to the Museum Administrator at the Trust HQ in Devizes.

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No.186 Spring 2009

The K&A is all white

Caen Hill, Devizes

For the first time for some years there were snow scenes to photograph on the Kennet & Avon Canal and Allan Mercado and Bob Naylor were out and about recording the scenes in February

Pewsey Wharf

Bradford on Avon

Brassknocker Basin on the Somerset Coal Canal

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Manifold Lock at Prison Bridge, Devizes

Millbrook Swingbridge near Dundas

Dundas Aqueduct

Newbury Wharf

Sam Farmer Lock near Crofton

A snow family at the bottom of Caen Hill

Widcombe, Bath

Braving the weather on the Caen Hill Flight

A frozen figure beside the lock at Crofton Pumping Station

Newbury Lock

Newbury Lock

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No.186 Spring 2009

British Waterways briefing

by James Young, BW South West Business Development Manager

Working with waterways businesses backfill the enormous debt that the Government has created in propping up the failing financial markets, and may just contribute to an additional unwelcome feeling of malcontent that Britain needs to overcome.

Results from the Government review are expected in the coming months.

The credit crunch is having a direct affect on the businesses throughout the South West.

British Waterways, as a landlord of waterside land and property, is working with tenants to ensure they are given every opportunity to meet their rental payment obligations.

Late payment of rent will present one limited chance to set up an agreed payment plan.

Failure to comply with the plan can result in forfeiture of the lease. This has unfortunate implications with businesses

facing forced administration or receivership both in terms of losing trading premises and also valued staff.

British Waterways actively seeks dialogue with businesses but will not act as a finance house to provide soft loans to support businesses.

Moving on to more positive news from the K&A Canal communities, I attended a meeting of the Kennet and Avon Trade Association.

The agenda covered a range of subjects, and the concurrent theme was one of partnership — looking to address identified problems together.

It is recognised that BW funding is stretched, and that the aspirations of the Association will exceed what BW alone can deliver.

Yet an agreed pragmatic delivery programme of works can satisfy all parties.

n these months of deepening economic recession, British Waterways is experiencing an unprecedented review of its asset base in the Government’s Operational Efficiency Programme.

The review is looking to see what could be done to get better value for money and make savings out of government-owned organisations and property.

BW consistently maintains that we work our land and water holdings to their most efficient capability, given the central funding we are given.

The concern could be that a national sale of our assets will inevitably result in a loss of essential income, totaling some £27million that would have to be sought from other sources, or face the reality that the already stretched national canal maintenance programme will be

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reduced.

This would affect every BW waterway nationally, without exception.

Just reflect on the investment of £750 million that the Government has made into British Waterways over the last 10 years.

Selling our assets now would jeopardize that investment.

Rather than contemplating on the dire issues relating to a sell off of assets, now is the time for a considered long-term view to be taken on the benefits that the inland waterways provide to society.

The benefit to increasing numbers of society who spend their recreational time enjoying the ambience of the canals and rivers is fundamental in contributing to a robust and healthy community.

Selling British Waterways assets today will do little to

K&A 200

Towpath tidy

Environment Agency co-operation

I was pleased to attend the K&A 200 event in Reading, one of four roadshows that were excellently presented by Susie Mercer and Terry Kemp.

In challenging economic times, it is to be applauded that an historic event can provide a focus for a series of united communities to celebrate the bi-centenary of the opening of the K&A canal in 2010.

The forthcoming annual Towpath Tidy is once more being run in mid March and a number of exciting projects will be held on the K&A canal.

Alison Colebrook, Volunteer Co-ordinator can provide more information.

You can contact her on: 07917 373119or by email: Alison.colebrook@britishwaterw ays.co.uk

Finally, I have been working with the Environment Agency and other partners in reviewing the water based recreational facilities in the South West.

The paper is being launched in early February and makes specific reference to Bath as examples of where British

Waterways has been successfully integrating water based recreation into green infrastructure planning in urban areas.

British Waterways is looking forward to the continuing improvement and promotion of the B&T Canal in 2009.

HAMS TRANSPORT HOPTON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, DEVIZES, WILTS

With flatbeds up to 60’ we can safely transport your narrowboats and wide beams throughout the UK 01380 726837 www.hams-transport.co.uk

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No.186 Spring 2009

A busy year Ambitious projects were tackled during 2008 and the skills and efforts of Trust members along with WRG on some of the projects has contributed to great progress.

Through 2009 there will be plenty of opportunities for interesting and challenging work — bricklayers as well as drivers for dumpers and excavators are needed as well as people to do general outdoor work like path clearance.

If you would like to join the work parties get in touch at the office on 0845 226 8567 or email: Info@wbct.org.uk

Sound plans for Swindon

Wilts & Berks Canal News

Plans are in place to re-water the canal between Pewsham Locks and Naish Hill, so local branch members have worked to restore spill-weirs, Double Bridge and repair culverts that run under the canal.

When this work is completed there will still be plenty to do to repair the flight of 3 locks at Pewsham — as well as the saw pit and the dry dock.

Clearance work is essential to establish the restoration required so that a detailed contract document can be prepared so it will need drivers for diggers and dumpers as well as labourers to do the final clearance by hand.

The Planning Inspector has approved the Swindon Central Area Action Plan, which is the core document in planning the regeneration of Swindon Town Centre and includes the new canal route along Westcott Place and Faringdon Road.

The project has the goahead provided it makes some amendments to the way progress is monitored and the next major issues are traffic management and funding.

Cocklemore Brook Culvert

Chaddington grant

The Wilts and Berks Canal Trust won £10,000 of funding from the “Breathing Places” project which was set up by the BBC and the Big Lottery Fund to encourage more people to get involved in out door activities.

To get the best out of the funding most of the work is being done by volunteers and the funding has been used on

The Chaddington spillweir project won a £2200 Community Grant from North Wilts DC Area Committee in n October 2008 that will be used to hire specialist machinery for dredging.

Another job for 2009 is the repair of Cocklemore Brook Culvert.

Both entrance and exit portals have to be rebuilt which requires the diversion of the brook which at time has a significant water flow fast.

Breathing Places

CATLEYS CALOR GAS CENTRE Appliance sales & installations

Bring your boat up to Boat Safety Scheme standards Repairs, servicing and installation Corgi Reg: 50508

by Christine Hardisty

Pewsham Locks and Naish Hill

Beechfield Road Hopton Trading Estate, Devizes Telephone 01380 727266

Picture by Bob Naylor

the

Butty

Christmas bash With brickwork completed on Lock 4 at Seven Locks near Lyneham the working party held between Boxing day and New Year was able to concentrate on clearing scrub from the bed of the canal.

wildlife surveys, specialist tools and support for the volunteers.

The project’s aim is to restore the towpath and assess the state of the canal bed and infill on a derelict section of the canal at Moredon.

Work continued with a working party over the Christmas break and the project is set to complete by July.

Latton Basin Heritage Project: The Latton Basin Team are investigating and preserving this important heritage site in conjunction with the Cotswold Canals Trust. This year the team has cleared silt from the basin as well as clearing the canal bed and doing further work to expose the lock. The restoration is uncovering some fascinating industrial archaeology and will remain a lasting source of information and inspiration for future generations. The late Alfred and Ann Howse were the last keepers at the Basin and their family has been very generous in working with the team to pass on a vast amount of

detailed information that has helped deepen our understanding of their work.

The basin will not be used as part of the restored Wilts Berks Canal, instead, the plans are in place to create a new junction with the Thames & Severn Canal at Eisey.

Steppingstones Lane Bridge This project has been managed by the WRG since 2005 with support from members of the WBCT. The plan is that the bridge will be completed at Easter 2009, with two weeks of WRG canal camps, plus other weekend groups.

Childrey Wharf Members of East Vale Branch have been busy in 2008 installing drainage works on adjacent land. They will be constructing a new spillway and dredge the section of canal on which the wharf has been rebuilt. One aim of the work has been to prevent flooding of nearby fields when the canal is re-watered.

Stop at the one-stop service

HONEYSTREET Visit our Wharf on the Long Pound by Honeystreet Bridge for diesel, Calor Gas & coal water & 240 volt electrics overnight moorings pump-out & ‘Porta Potti’ disposal

Gibson’s Boat Services Telephone 01672 851232

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the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

2010 Roadshow The proposals Gateway 200: a pair of iconic landmark sculptures for Bath and Reading to evoke the past and embrace the future. Local schools will be involved in establishing the theme and the design of the sculptures.

Wadworth Celebration Bitter: Wadworth Brewery, based in Devizes, is producing a beer called K&A 200, which will be launched at Reading Waterfest on 20th June 2009 and will be sold in pubs along the canal and even in bars in the House of Commons.

Susie Mercer announces that Wadworth Brewery in Devizes will be making a 200th anniversary celebration beer

anal users at well-attended meetings in Bath, Reading, Devizes and Newbury listened to the proposals and put forward their own ideas for the celebrations.

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Overall the response to the proposals was positive from canal users and representatives from local councils — however not all of the ideas met with

universal approval and members of the audiences added their own ideas that the committee will consider.

Bath

Village Destination Panels: a series of 20 new interpretive signs will be sited at key positions along the canal to draw visitors to the villages and near-by places of interest. Each one will include a circular walk, promote local businesses and highlight the birds, plants and animals that can be seen in the area.

Photographic Calendar Competition: Photographers are being invited to submit photographs of the K&A, with four pictures being short-listed each month. The successful photograph for each month will be chosen in June 2009 and calendars will be on sale in September.

Fire Sculpture Event: the 28th of December 2010 is the actual anniversary of the opening of the K&A in 1810 and this is when the grand finale of the year-long celebrations will be held with a fabulous outdoor fire sculpture, brass band, roasted chestnuts, lantern parade and other suitable festivities.

Devizes Alice Boyde would like to see more activities that involve children.

A packed meeting in Bath Guild Hall was the first stop on the roadshow schedule.

Roy Smedley said that the K&A Canal Trust’s Bath branch have come up with lots of ideas to celebrate the bicentenary

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Sam Weller, left, would like to see a picnic area and visitor moorings built to celebrate the anniversary — and above — a show of hands at the Devizes meeting in the Corn Exchange demonstrated that this meeting overwhelmingly rejected the idea of spending £240,000 on the landmark sculptures in Bath and Reading.

Canal users got a chance to give their views on plans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Kennet & Avon Canal in 2010 when Susie Mercer, BW South West Head of Marketing and Terry Kemp, the Chairman of the Kennet & Avon Canal Partnership took the steering group’s ideas to meetings along the length of the canal Terry Kemp puts the case for landmark sculptures at both ends of the canal

Pictures by Bob Naylor

Projected cost A bicentenary celebration does not come cheap and the proposals being considered could cost as much as £250,000. But this sum includes working with local communities and schools to develop themes for the sculptures and village destination panels and all the planning and H&S costs that will be necessary for the installations and events.

Gateway sculptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£140,000 Destination panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£70,000 Fire sculpture event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£18,000 Delivery and promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£24,500 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£252,500

Funding proposals One thing is certain — none of this funding will come from BW’s canal maintenance budget. It will all be ‘new’ money, available and raised specifically for these sorts of projects. The contribution BW is making is their marketing budget for the year and it also includes income from the sale of K&A 200 merchandise and calendars. The contribution from the K&A Canal Trust will be raised specifically for the bicentenary and will be augmented by many hours of volunteer time.

Anniversary calendar photo competition New opportunity to enter ewspapers along the length of the canal are running a photo competition that will produce pictures for a bicentenary calendar.

The Bath Chronicle, the Newbury Weekly News and the Reading Evening Post are running competitions for their readers and the Gazette and Herald agreed to run the competition that would have produced pictures from the section of the canal covered by them.

Unfortunately they were

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unable to run the competition so there will be no pictures from this area — which is why camera clubs and Butty readers are invited to enter photographs.

Pictures are needed from the canal between Bradford on Avon and Hungerford from June 2008 to May 2009 — so get copies of the rules and send your entries to: The Editor, The Butty, K&A Canal Trust, Devizes Wharf, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1EB. Or preferably by email to: mail@diharris.co.uk

The progress so far

Getting involved There is plenty of scope for people to get involved with planning and fund-raising for the celebrations. There are T-shirts and calendars to buy and several people are being sponsored to take part in the Bath half-marathon.

Villages and organisations along the canal corridor are adopting the K&A 200 branding for events running up to, and during, 2010.

For promotional material contact Susie Mercer on 01452 318000 or email her at: susie.mercer@britishwaterways.co.uk

Newbury

BW SW Marketing & Communications Manager Susie Mercer said, “I'm pleased to report that Parish interest in the Destination Panels is still growing, which is great news. Fundraising efforts continue, with over 60 grant giving Trusts and Foundations having been written to by the beginning of March.

“The economic downturn is certainly making our task much harder and funds are much harder to secure, so a scaling down of the original proposals may well have to follow.”

“Our intention is to produce a memorable celebration at an achievable price.”

Reading Reading mayor-elect, Fred Pugh, left, pledged his support for the celebrations during his year of office starting in the year leading up to the bicentenary.

West Berks Library Services Manager, Christine Owen, plans to link the Newbury Library 10th anniversary with the K&A 200 celebrations.

Kintbury Parish Council Chairman, Steve Cook said that the village will hold a special celebration event to unveil their destination panel.

West Berkshire Councillor, Howard Barstow thought that there should be a book to celebrate the canal and its history.

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the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

Kennet & Avon Canal water supply Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Hon Engineer Mike Lee traces the history of water supply to canals and the way the water problems have been dealt with on the K&A he most important requirement for any canal is an adequate and sustainable water supply — how this is obtained and used depends on whether it is for a river navigation or a summit level canal.

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River navigations Improvements to rivers for navigational purposes, in Europe, go back to the Middle Ages, with the first pound lock appearing around 1480.

Leonardo de Vinci pulled together and published details of pound lock construction in his Codex Atlanticus in 1503.

The first pound lock in England was on the Exeter Canal, this was built between 1564 and 1567.

The canal was built to restore navigation to Exeter, which had been cut off as a result of mill weirs built across the river, in about 1560.

It was a short lateral canal and did not present any problems with water supply.

Following the building of Waltham Abbey lock on the river Lea in 1571 there was a steady increase in river improvement schemes, one of these being the Kennet Navigation.

John Hore’s improvement of the Kennet was the most ambitious undertaken in the

first half of the 18th century and the gradient of 138ft in 18.5 miles was considerably steeper than any previously undertaken.

To achieve this he built 18 turf-sided locks and 11miles of new cut; the locks at 122ftx19ft were also bigger than any previously built.

He also had to contend with organised opposition and damage to the works during construction, but the work was finished in 1723.

John Hore also built the Avon Navigation between 1725 and 1727.

Water supply to these navigations was, of course, from the river and most of the time more than adequate; except for the occasional summer drought.

The main problem was, and still is, the frequent occasions when there is too much water.

Anyone who has navigated either river, when levels are only a little above normal, knows how difficult and

dangerous certain pounds are.

High water levels, with the increased silt load and bed material movement, cause siltation of lock cuts and weirs; this plus occasional structural damage results in high maintenance costs.

John Hore was a pioneer, he was ahead of the field and he made mistakes, the positioning of locks and weirs is poor in several cases, particularly on the Avon; he was constrained by costs and existing structures, however his works are still there and in use.

The solution to most of these problems is the Lateral Canal where the canal is separated from the river and

water feed from the river is controlled.

An example of this was the Sankey Canal (from St Helens to the Mersey) built circa1763 One of the best examples of a lateral canal is the Canal Lateral à la Loire in France, the main line of which is between Digoin and Briare, 196km with 37 locks. First opened in 1838 and improved in1896.

I had recent experience of the effectiveness of this type of canal when the Loire was in flood. The flood waters reached the canal embankment a distance of over 1.5km from the river channel; however the level in the canal rose only 200mm.

of the summit pound to provide storage capacity together with staircase locks. He died long before the canal was completed but his design survived and the canal was built as he planned it.

This was followed by the Canal d’Orleans opened in 1692 joining Orleans to the Canal de Briare.

Pierre-Paul Riquet was at the same time working out the water supply system for the Canal du Midi. He designed a feeder system, one of which is over 42 km long; the first canal

tunnel, one of the three large aqueducts and the first canal reservoir. This is a massive construction using an earthfilled dam 780m long and 32m high and still in use.

This was Europe’s greatest engineering work of the 17th century. The first part opened in 1681 and was fully completed in 1692.

Europe was well ahead of Britain at this time as the Bridgewater Canal, which was to start the Canal Mania, was not begun until 1760.

By this time regular passenger and freight services were running over large parts of France and in Holland the express trekvaarten system of fast light horse drawn boats, very similar to the Scotch boats that operated on the K&A nearly 100 years later, covered most of the country and ran passenger and light freight services, to a strict timetable, to all the major towns.

They used narrow canals and were in use all year round.

Garston turf-sided lock

Picture by Fred Blampied

Summit level canals Europe’s first true summit canal, making use of pound locks, was the Canal de Briare.

Engineered by Hughes Cosnier, it joined the river Loire to the river Loing at Montargis.

Work started in 1605, was suspended in 1810 due to the assassination of King Henri, and it was not until 1642 that it was opened.

Cosnier worked out all the basics of summit canals that are still relevant today; he developed the use of feeder canals, lakes and the deepening

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Water supply availability, measurement and losses European waterways had an advantage over British as the rivers are larger with very large catchment areas — but even so very extensive collection and distribution schemes had to be constructed.

In England there are few rivers with a large catchment area and most of the water supply has to come from small catchments.

In the 1790s the gauging of water flowing in open watercourses was in its infancy.

A Frenchman, Antoine Chezy, had developed a formula to measure the velocity of flow in

watercourses circa 1768 but it is doubtful if this was known about in England as it was not translated into English until 1798.

The first current meter, to measure velocity, did not come into general use until the late 1790s.

The basic hydraulic equation (Quantity = Velocity x Area) is simple but getting the cross section area and the velocity anywhere near correct is difficult as there are seasonal variations in weed growth, rainfall, hydraulic gradient and channel cross section to be

taken into account.

Other problems which had not needed serious consideration until summit level canals became commonplace were evaporation, transpiration and bed loss.

Evaporation varies with the season and can be evaluated approximately with an evaporation pan.

Calculations at the time of construction of most of the canals would have been very basic.

Transpiration again is very variable and depends on weed type, cover and temperature

but generally speaking a combined loss of around 1”/day (25mm/day) was, until recently, accepted as a reasonable.

Bed loss can vary from virtually nothing to many cumecs (cubic metres per second).

There are then many variables and it is hardly surprising that there were problems with water supply on many of our canals.

The problems tended to be worse in the south of England where rainfall is generally less than further north.

moved, but even so there were at least five occasions where the canal slipped down the hillside between Dundas and Bath due to water pressure building up under the clay puddle.

Rennie and his staff really proved what good engineers they were as their underdrainage works were still working well when this section was rebuilt under the HLF project.

Between Dundas and Avoncliff is the notorious “Dry Section”— here water pressure builds up under the canal bed and used to lift the clay puddle.

From almost day one severe losses occurred and the canal

was shut annually between the two aqueducts for re-puddling.

The canal route was extended from its proposed junction with the Avon at Bathampton to Bath because of flood risk but then had an increase in bed losses.

There were at one time 16 pairs of shutting stop gates plus three sets of fall gates (one of which was found during the HLF works) on the Bath to Bradford pound Water demand had increased considerably above expectations and even allowing for lower losses than expected on the long pound more was needed.

The K&A’s water supply John Rennie does not have a good record on water supply, he under estimated the available water on both the K&A and the Rochdale.

He was however under pressure from the canal shareholders to get building and, unlike his French counterparts, was not able to have the time to get flow records for a lengthy period of time.

The first route was planned to go through Marlborough, using the Kennet water, and then via Calne to pick up the water available in the Avon catchment.

This had been chosen by previous surveyors and Rennie,

at first, agreed with them but later changed his mind having decided that water supply would be inadequate on the summit.

A route via Crofton was agreed in July 1794.

Rennie had problems obtaining adequate Resident Engineers and competent contractors.

This was the period of the canal building boom and there were not enough of either available.

He also encountered very difficult geological conditions particularly in the Bath to Bradford on Avon section.

The position of both Avoncliff and Dundas Aqueducts were

Water supply available to Rennie Wilton Water and Crofton Pumping Station (2 engines from 1813) Claverton Pumping station from1813 Froxfield feeder

Water from lock use at the junctions of the Wilts & Berks Canal and the Somerset Coal Canal

Seend feeder Small feeders and stormwater outfalls at several places all of small discharge

3 small portable steam engines from 1796 until 1830s

John Rennie’s design for steam powered water pumps

References World Canals by Charles Hadfield Navigable Waterways by LTC Rolt Kennet & Avon Canal Trust and personal archives Articles on the subject of water supply have appeared in The Butty in the past, including an article by Philip Ogden in Butty no 71.

Mike’s next article will look at the canal during its commercial period and how water problems were dealt with.

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the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

New sluice for Bone Mill

by Bob Naylor one Mill sluice, the quaint but fragile rustic structure in Newbury that has taxed the ingenuity of British Waterways engineers for many years, has been replaced with a new efficient modern structure thanks to a groundbreaking partnership that has brought together the Environment Agency, British Waterways, the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust and local businesses.

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For some time canal users have been very concerned about the threat to the canal that the state of Bone Mill sluice has posed.

Most of the weirs and sluices on the river sections of the Kennet & Avon Canal are privately owned and some owners are reluctant to spend money to repair and maintain them.

If there is a problem all that BW can do is try to pursaude owners to repair the structure.

The problem was brought into focus with the collapse of a weir at Sheffield Mill, home of singer, Kate Bush, near Theale in 2007 — causing a rapid drop in the water level and making navigation impossible.

A lengthy stoppage was feared while BW and the owners wrangled over who would pay

The work is completed and Spring growth will make the scene less stark

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for the work.

In the course of negotiations with Kate Bush’s agent to try to get them to repair the weir it came to light that a mistake in the sale of the land by the Kennet & Avon Canal Company in 1834 failed to transfer the responsibility for this weir to the new owners and the financial responsibility was inherited by British Waterways — who were then in a position to go ahead and repair the weir.

The ownership of Bone Mill sluice was unknown and despite extensive searches the ownership could not be established — so the Environment Agency have taken the sluice into public ownership and so ensured access for maintenance and the future of the sluice.

In 2006 Bill Fisher and Mike

The finished sluice

Lee of The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust brought together interested parties to create a working group to find a solution to the problem.

The Trust chaired regular meetings in the Stone Building on Newbury Wharf and the new sluice is the result of those years of discussion and negotiation.

The sluice had previously been completely re-built on the existing three vertical beams in local oak and steel in 1975 by

Bo be the Materials being delivered by barge

a team led by Bill Fisher.

Over the years the structure deteriorated to the point where in recent years it no longer functioned and sand bags, builders dumpy bags of ballast and sheets of plywood were used to maintain the depth of water needed for navigation — and at times of high rainfall these would have to be removed or broken up to allow the water to flow through the sluice.

When the water level

A dam was build round the sluice

dropped the sluice would have to be dammed again.

The consultation, planning and funding for the project took three years and the work was completed in six weeks by Land and Water who set up a depot on the canal bank near the Narrowboat pub and delivered all the materials to the site by barge.

The sluice has been completely re-designed with a single gate replacing the three separate sluices and this has has increased the water handling capacity by 27%.

The project cost £120,000 in total: £60,000 from the Environment Agency, £30,000 from British Waterways, £10,000 from the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust — and a further £20,000 from the owners of Ham Mill and other local riparian landowners.

The old structure

Plywood and builders dumpy bags of ballast maintained the water level and the bridge was deteriorating to the point where it was likely to be closed for saety reasons

one Mill has been a bone of contention for some years — it has een a threat to K&A Canal being navigable and attempts to identify e owner have done their best to

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the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

The Gibson collection Chris Gibson lives beside the canal at Honeystreet and he has been collecting postcards and photographs of the Kennet & Avon Canal for over 30 years An early Honeystreet postcard

n a family holiday on the River Wey in the early 1970s Chris became hooked on the Inland Waterways For more than 30 years he has been collecting postcards of the waterways of the British Isles and has four albums devoted to the K&A alone — he’s never counted how many he has — but the collection has grown into thousands.

He came to live alongside the K&A at Honeystreet in the late 1980s and from there he operated his work barge and the tug that he later donated to the London Waterways museum.

Chris now runs a photo-lab — but he is still involved with canal work and he is a regular

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on the Wilts & Berks workparties restoring the locks at Pewsham near Chippenham.

Chris is still buying postcards and old photos of the K&A — from local auctions — and now on-line auctions are making it even easier for him to add to his collection.

He recently bought three photographs at a local auction that came from a house in Honeystreet.

Two are obviously of the wood yard and the third is a group photo that Chris assumes is of the wood yard workforce.

He has yet to find anyone locally who can recognise anyone in the photo — so if you recognise anyone, get in touch with the Editor.

The barge Glendower built in 1916 by Robbins Lane & Pinniger at Honeystreet for Messrs AJ Harmsworth & Sons, Aldershot

This hand-coloured postcard of the Caen Hill Flight of Locks clearly shows a lock-gate made from a combination of wood and cast iron

Chris bought this photograph at auction in Devizes. They are possibly the workforce of Honeystreet woodyard — do you recognize anyone?

This boat is thought to be the ex-working boat Speculator that was listed in the 1851 census and again in 1861 as a a dwelling moored at Huntley’s Wharf, Honeystreet — now known as Builder’s Wharf and is the home of the Gibson family.

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

Free the

Butty posted to you

FREE entry to: Claverton Pumping Station Devizes Canal Museum Crofton Beam Engines

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

Membership Fees – please tick one box Annual fees are for one year from the month of joining

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Annual Membership Fees

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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)

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

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Please pay to Lloyds Bank plc, Devizes Wilts SN10 1JD (sort code 30-92-63) 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.

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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.

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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 25p 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

the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

French connections

news of our twinned canals

Canal du Nivernais Boat Rally he 10th Nivernais rally is being held at Vincelles, 15 km south of Auxerre in Burgundy — 100 miles south of Paris.

The rally is being organised jointly with the Dutch Barge Association for the first time — and more than 40 boats are expected this year.

The rally will kick-off on Friday with a bus tour of local attractions with lunch and a wine tasting and the day will end with a bring-your-own picnic-hamper communal supper back at the moorings.

On Saturday and Sunday there will be a fête in Vincelles with both land and water based activities, displays and competitions.

Various stands will provide

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Auxerre is home to the Olympique Canoë-Kayak Auxerrois Canoe Club who will be bringing a canoeing theme to the weekend with demonstrations and canoe water polo.

There will also be teams

epresentatives from the Canal du Nivernais, neighbouring canals and local politicians will be visiting the K&A at the beginning of September for a four day fact finding trip.

They will meet representatives from the K&A Canal Trust, the K&A Trade Association, British Waterways and local authorities as well as visiting attractions along the K&A. They want to share experiences about how canal users, villages, businesses and local authorities can work together to increase tourism.

The itinerary for hospitality has not been finalised yet — any Trust members who would like to help should contact Di Harris on 01380 840584.

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information on the canals of the region and merchants will be providing an opportunity to buy local specialties as well as to taste the food and drink for which the region is famous.

A catered supper for rally participants will take place near the moorings on Saturday night.

There are several reasonably priced hotels nearby.

Invitation to K&A Canoeists

Les Amis to visit the K&A Canal

from four other clubs.

They are keen for canoeists from the K&A to take part and they will lend canoes, so there is no need to transport your own canoe to the event.

Hostel-style accommodation will be found for school teams who wish to take part.

Contact Di Harris on 01380 840584 for more infomation.

Boat builders and repairers Bespoke built narrow and wide beam boats Holiday hire 2-12 berth Full weeks and short breaks 2 fully equipped and built for disabled use Full mechanical and electrical services Break down service Agents for Shire and Beta engines Mastervolt energy shop 3M thinsulate insulation Webasto heaters

Quality work by quality craftsman Reading Marine Company Ltd Aldermaston Wharf, Padworth, Reading RG7 4JS 0118 9713666

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the

Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

Canals for kids With Terry Kemp

The Mousehole Boat Company

Annie and Kenny’s Canal Tales Freddie’s Quiz Show orman the Narrowboat was moored close to Freddie the Farm Bridge. As normal he was boasting of his great knowledge of the facts about the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Freddie decided he would put this to the test by playing a quiz game like the television programme ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’. Norman was so sure he would get the questions right that he agreed to the quiz — they of course could not have a million pounds as a prize — so the agreement was for the prize to be five pounds.

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Freddie’s first question for one pound was: When was the Kennet and Avon Canal first opened?

Was it:

The Lapwing

a) 1810 b)2002 c)1720 d)1066

Norman got the answer right — Do you know what it is?

The next question was for two pounds:

On the fields beside the canal you will often see great flocks of lapwings.

They are beautiful birds with many colours visible in their feathers if you are lucky to get close to see. Their flying antics especially in spring are remarkable.

ROWAN

Who was the engineer that built the Kennet and Avon Canal?

Was he:

a)James Watt c)John Rennie

b)Fred Dibner d)Isambard Brunel

Norman got the answer right — do you know this answer too?

The final question to earn the five pounds was: How many locks are there on the Devizes Lock Flight?

Are there:

a)14

b)104

c)29

d)8

Norman got the question wrong — which was a great surprise to him — so much so that he sulked for the rest of the day.

If you can answer all the questions correctly you can win the £5 and a signed picture of the Kids Page gang. Just write down your answers your age and name and address and the first correct answer pulled out of Kenny’s hat on 30th May will get the prize.

Send to: The Kids Page Gang, The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, Devizes Wharf, Couch Lane, Devizes SN10 1EB or email: kids@thebutty.co.uk

Primers Corrosion Resistant, High Build Quality

Narrowboats Ltd

Undercoats All Colours Coach Enamels All Colours

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HMG Paints Ltd, Faraday Park, West Portway Industrial Estate Andover, Hants, SP10 3SA

Tel: 01264 356296 Fax: 01264 338123 Email: mail@hmgcoatings.co.uk

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Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

Reviews Leonard Pearcey

Tim Wheeldon

Non-technical book reviews

Technical book reviews

Walks around Bathampton Edited by Callum Christie Published in 2008 by the Bathampton Footpaths Association. £7.99 soft cover ike so many areas bordering our beloved K&A the eastern edge of Bath and its countryside is chock full of fascinating landscapes and history, imploring one to get off one’s boat and explore.

The Bathampton Footpaths Association is an unusually keen and talented group who are dedicated in preserving the myriad of ancient footpaths in their district. This attractive little booklet is a high quality publication — good photos (by Prabir Nandi) and excellent descriptions of the 12 walks. A Forward by the noted Bath historian and Museum Curator, Stuart Burroughs puts the history and geology of the region into sharp focus.

As a walking guide it is comprehensive, with straightforward directions, map references, times, degrees of difficulty and even vertical changes. Each walk is accompanied by notes which enliven interest in all that can be seen.

I do wonder, though, if it will prove tough enough for frequent use, bending back with muddy gloves to fit into anorak pockets. It will certainly need protection from the rain, so masochistically enjoyed by fervent walkers.

But overall I was so impressed that will forgive the “clanger”.

Dundas and Avoncliff aqueducts were, apparently, built by James Rennie. Would that have been John’s brother?

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The Penguin Book of Ghosts Westwood & Simpson Published in 2008 by Allen Lane ISBN 978 1 846 14101 0 456 pages. £14.99 hard back he winter 2008 Butty also featured a ghostly meeting on a towpath, and they do say that you can’t beat the flickering light of a narrowboat for hearing ghost stories. County by county, place by place, this book gathers together some fascinating tales. Inevitably I looked for those relating to places I knew, Aira Force for example, the magnificent waterfall on Aira Beck’s journey down into Ullswater. It’s a mournful legend, one of the Lake District’s best known, immortalised by Wordsworth in ‘The Somnambulist’, and tells of Emma, the promised bride of Sir Eglamour… but I wont spoil it for you. Then there’s Sussex’s Chanctonbury Ring – we used to cycle there from school – ‘If on a moonless night you walk seven times round the Ring without stopping, the Devil will come out of the wood and hand you a basin of soup.’ Thank goodness ours were day trips. The K&A counties are of course featured and altogether there are more stories than you could shake a broomstick at.

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Coal and the Dramway (within rural Bitton)

by Ian S. Bishop Published in 1999 by Bishop Books ISBN 0 9526494 5 4 44 pages £5.00 soft cover

Icons of England Edited by Jackie Scully Published in 2008 by Think Books ISBN 978 1 84525 054 6 176 pages. £20 hard cover

f the Bathampton Walks book was geographically somewhat “focussed” this one is microscopically so. It seeks to reveal what is left of the Avon and Gloucestershire Railway, which can be found in a small area of east Bristol that is now so built up that its relics are hard to trace.

This enterprise was an integral part of the history of the K&A and as such should be of great interest to the fervent industrial archaeologists amongst us.

The Kennet & Avon Company was an investor in the Dramway — this railway/tramway built to bring coal from the coalfields in the Kingswood area down to wharves on the River Avon.

Little remains of the original but some artefacts are still with us — a number of the stop plank racks west of Bradford on Avon are made of cast iron rails recycled from the Avon and Gloucestershire Railway.

This is not a history book — only the construction period is covered. And its use as a walking guide is severely compromised by the lack of a map, apart from the wharves themselves.

Only a dedicated enthusiast will get the best out of this labour-oflove — definitely one for the cognoscenti.

n the winter 2008 issue of this magazine, on page 13 to be exact, it was revealed that, when The Campaign to Protect Rural England approached star actor and director Kevin Spacey to nominate the place that summed up the English countryside for him for this book, he had no hesitation in identifying Avoncliff and the boating holiday he had on the K&A. Now, if you were in two minds about getting the book just for that, hesitate no more: it’s a beautifully illustrated and fascinatingly varied volume of 70 highly personal reflections. Newsreader George Alagiah muses on The English Countryside, broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh finds Heaven in a Wildflower, poet Wendy Cope walks her Water Meadows, BBC TV’s Nicholas Crane (without that irritating umbrella) takes to The Broads, and author Dr Richard Muir finds his haven in the spot where I made one of my very favourite TV programmes: Nidderdale. A gem of a book.

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Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

Safety matters by Ben Woodman

Crash-test dummies ’d like to tell you a story about a very good pal of mine; he’s a helpful sort of chap, and he likes driving.

A while ago he was on his way to Aldermaston when a very sneaky speed camera at Thatcham flashed him.

He didn’t know anything about this till, a few days later, a rather unsympathetic letter from Thames Valley Police landed on his doorstep, telling him that he been photographed doing 36 mph on the A4.

The letter offered him an alternative to a fine plus 3 penalty points on his licence, the alternative was paying a bit more than the fine and attending a Speed Awareness course.

After jumping up and down a bit and saying ‘Bother’ and ‘I don’t believe it’ a few times, my friend decided to accept the offer and go on the course.

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That’s what this story is all about.

He arrived to meet twentyfive other speeding miscreants in his group. (This by the way is a growth industry, that one company runs courses for well over 1000 drivers every week!)

At first everyone had to introduce himself or herself and reveal their speeding sins!

Then there was a sort of question and answer routine to show everyone just how little they really knew about the Highway Code, the new one that is, you know, the 2001 version with 130 odd pages!

This sort of thing went on for a bit. Then came a presentation video that really made my friend sit up and think!

It was about the impact speed on pedestrians when motorists braked from 30 mph and upwards, it went like this:A police driver drove at exactly

30mph, and applied full brakes at a marked point.

He stopped just inches short of a life size ‘Crash test dummy’.

He then did the same thing at increasing speeds in increments of 2mph, slamming the brakes on at the same marker each time.

The increases in stopping distance had the following affects on the dummy:At 32mph, the dummy was struck and fell backwards hard on to the road.

At 34mph, the dummy jackknifed at the hips and slammed face down on the bonnet.

At 36mph, the dummy jack-

knifed at the hips, slammed face down on the bonnet, then bounced back onto the road in front of the still moving car.

At 38mph, the dummy jack-knifed at the hips and flipped into the air.

The head went through the car windscreen and the body flipped again over the car’s roof and landed some distance behind.

Scary or what! It makes you think doesn’t it? Just a few miles an hour can make the difference between life, injury or almost certain death.

It certainly made me think.

That is of course when my friend told me all about it. Now I drive rather more carefully in built up areas, I go a bit more slowly around bends too, just in case a dummy is about to cross the road. My friend does too!

Museum news

by Elaine Kirby here have been further changes in the museum team with three new members recently joining us.

Terry Mundy is our new Curator and he is already sorting out the workshop in the museum which we will soon be able to open to the public with no health and safety issues.

Ken Hedges is the second new member of the team and he is helping Terry in sprucing up the museum — and being a model maker he has repaired one of our models.

Ken is currently using his own tools for the maintenance work he’s carrying out, so we need to create a toolbox for him. If you have any spare or duplicate tools, or your DIY days are over, please get in touch.

The third new team member is Sarah Gould who joined us in

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answer to the advert a few Butty’s ago.

Sarah will be our researcher and she will help Jeremy with the archives.

Sarah has been busy familiarising herself with the archive and researching some family history inquiries.

We intend to have a special exhibit for the 2010 celebrations — so if any of you have any memories or memorabilia of the reconstruction of the canal we would love to hear from you.

If you have any canal items of interest please contact us.

High on our wish list is a walk-in boatman’s cabin.

Although there were most probably not many of these on the K&A it is something that many people will have heard about and will be of interest to adults and children alike.

The museum Archive team, from left, Administrator Elaine Kirby, Researcher Sarah Gould and Archivist Jeremy Hopgood

To make this we will need to raise funds for material such as wood and paint — and we will need carpenters, traditional canal painters and makers of soft furnishings including crochet work.

A children’s dressing up box of traditional canal clothing would add to the experience for children on the many school visits to the museum.

I suspect our lady mannequin is a little lonely so a

male mannequin would be good company for her — and our present wooden model horse has seen to many years of service and a proper model horse would show off our horse harness.

Bill Fisher who operated horse-drawn trip boats has donated working horse artefacts that were used by two of his horses working on the K&A Canal.

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Reading David Copley 0118 9598247 aterfest takes place on 20th June on the loop of the Kennet behind the ruins of Reading Abbey (behind Reading Gaol).

The Trust arranges the water events and runs fund-raising stalls (membership, cakes, duck race, sales etc) and our friends at the Borough Council’s Special Events Team organise the trade and charity stands, entertainers, childrens events etc.

The range of Trust stalls reflects the number of people available to staff them so we need all the help we can get.

If you can help for part of the day I would love to hear from you.

The site is close to Reading town centre shops, car parks (fee payable), station, and Park and Ride buses from the M4 and the A33.

We also welcome visiting boats, indeed last year the best dressed boat competition was won by one of our visitors.

Our Harbourmaster, Mike Wyatt, will be pleased to give details of boat events and moorings on 0118 942 7708.

You probably saw pictures of Waterfest 2008 in last Autumn’s Butty — why not get yourself into the pictures for 2009?

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No.186 Spring 2009

The branch Committee is still evaluating the proposal but the plan to launch a special K&A beer at Waterfest 2009 already has a long line of volunteer beer tasters, with next summer’s Mayor of Reading in pole position.

John Gould Award.

The K&A 200 event gave an opportunity for Terry Kemp to present the John Gould Award for 2008 to Mike Wyatt and a bunch of flowers to his wife Audrey.

The highlight of their many Trust achievements was probably suggesting and promoting the Declaration of Gratitude for Restoration, presented to Her Majesty the Queen by four Trust officers, including Mike, in a private audience, but there are many other examples at branch and carnal-wide level.

We congratulate both of them on this well deserved award.

In October Jon Willis took a break from his other Trust volunteer roles to give us a fascinating insight into London’s Dockland, taking us from early dock construction through to Canary Wharf and the Docklands Light Railway.

I though I knew the area but was surprised to learn that St Katherines, the closest dock to the City, was a relative late comer.

In November Bill Fisher gave an enjoyable talk on memories of earlier days on the K&A. This was our last meeting before Christmas but before we devoured seasonal goodies brought by members Wendy Pike was presented with a potted Acer plant to mark her retirement from managing the Trust’s Aldermaston shop.

Her calm and friendly approach to our customers and volunteers will be greatly missed.

We wish Wendy a long and happy retirement and hope to keep in touch as she spends more time on her hobby of canal style painting, some of which will be sold in Trust shop.

We welcome Tracy Perryman, who has transferred from managing the Newbury shop to take over at Aldermaston.

Volunteer work

K&A 200 The BW presentation of their ideas for celebrating the Canal bicentenary took place a couple of days before Butty copy date.

Recent member meetings

Mike received the John Gould trophy and he pledged the £100 award that went with the it to start a fund to put up nameplates to mark Readings lost wharves.

This spring brings more work for our BW approved volunteer work team.

First in line is Tyle Mill lock with bollard replacement,

attention to the ground paddles and tidying up.

They then move on to Padworth Lock for more bollard work and tidying.

Work will also be under way in March on removing litter and dead shopping trolleys as part of our annual clean up.

Coming branch activities Members meetings continue on the last Friday of every month until 29th May, then restart on 25th September. Details are in the “What’s On” section.

The Branch dinner will be history by the time you read this but there is still time to join the branch Day Out on 26th April.

The destination is the Watercress Railway in Hampshire. Mike Bennett (0118 969 9861) will be pleased to give more details.

And please don’t forget Waterfest 2009 on 20th June.

Raffle tickets We hope to include tickets for the Reading Waterfest raffle with this issue of The Butty. We have some very good prizes this year. Please help by buying tickets even if you are not planning to come to Reading on June 20th. The more tickets sold the greater the benefits to the Trust, so it’s up to us how much we make from this funding opportunity provided by Reading Borough Council as part of their sponsorship of Waterfest.

Mike Price MABSE

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Tom Sheldrick Tel: 07760 452195 29

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Newbury Julie Dean 01962 883939 here are changes afoot at the Stone Building but I should start this report by thanking the shop volunteers who kept the Stone Building running right up until the usual winter close down in December following the departure of the shop manager, Tracey.

Their dedication is without question, as is the Trust’s appreciation.

Sadly, despite their hard work, the shop was not profitable last year as it hasn’t been for several years.

Given the economic situation the Trust has decided not to recruit another manager until it has thought carefully about the future of the Stone Building.

A volunteers’ meeting was held on 11th January to ensure we obtained their views on the way forward.

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No.186 Spring 2009

You can see from the photo that a good number attended including John Forbes and Bill Fisher from Trust Council.

It was agreed that the shop should remain closed except for high days and holidays, when a good customer base can be assured, and it is hoped that it can be reopened at Easter perhaps with a smaller range of stock.

The Trust will be consulting widely to help it develop a strategy for use of the Stone Building in the future.

We still hope to hold the 2009 Newbury Waterways Festival in its usual slot of the last weekend in July with the main festival day taking place on Sunday 26th July.

But we can only hope because, as I write we are still missing a key player in the team – the festival harbourmaster.

This important role is essential to the running of the Festival — we need someone who is not only an experienced boater but who can safely and sensibly organise the mooring

Members of Newbury Branch held a meeting to discuss the future use of the Stone Building on Newbury Wharf.

of up to 25 boats.

We had hoped someone would have put themselves forward after our plea in the last Butty — so come on — we know you are out there! Please get in touch by calling Rob Dean on 01962 883939).

The festival was a huge success last year and we are looking forward to doing the same again this year.

Our monthly illustrated talks are well underway and if you have missed the first two this year you still have the opportunity to join us for March

Tel: Tel: 01380 01380 725300 725300 Quality narrowboat maintenance Repair & refurbishment Engine servicing — Hull blacking Shot blasting — Painting — Sign writing Hull extensions & welding DIY covered wet dock Pump-out — Gas — Coal Day & weekend boat hire Chandlery — Boat Sales

www.devizesmarina.co.uk 30

and April.

They always fall on the last Wednesday of the month, held at the Stone Building at 7.45pm.

Our April meeting, on Wednesday 29th, is also our AGM so please make an effort to attend as there will be much to report and discuss on the future of the Trust in Newbury.

The AGM will be followed by a talk from Ray Knowles on the restoration and operation of Crofton Pumping Station – this is sure to be popular. We look forward to seeing you.

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS

No.186 Spring 2009

Successful season for Santa Hungerford Richard Snook 01635 253446 s I write this report, Christmas seems such a long time ago but it came at the end of a very successful year for “The Rose of Hungerford”.

Charter trip numbers were up by 7% with more evening and weekend charter bookings than we have seen for several years.

The total number of passengers on the public trips was slightly less than the previous year but if one thinks back to the weather during British Summer Time 2008, the reason for this is self evident.

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The bookings for the ever popular Advent Santa Cruises were initially slow to come in and this was causing the committee some concern.

However, a late rush of bookings during the first three weeks of December ensured that our takings for the Santa trips exceeded the 2007 total by nearly 10%.

Our thanks, as always, go to the captains and their crews who did a splendid job throughout the year and also to Santa, whoever he may be, who appeared at Dunmill Lock on time, in all weathers, and gave so much pleasure to children and adults alike.

Also special thanks to Santa’s little helper who, during the year, bought, wrapped and

No 1 condenser tank corrosion Crofton Ray Knowles 01672 851639 his time of the year the news from Crofton consists largely of details of the winter maintenance programme.

The boiler rivet work has been completed with some 50 rivets at the back of the boiler being replaced by the respected company Alan J McEwen & Co, Boilermakers of Keighley, West Yorkshire.

The cost of some £10,000 was met by the magnificent response to the Crofton Boiler Rivet Appeal.

There will be a large display of this work on the boiler side when we reopen at Easter.

Before McEwens could start work there was a great deal of work to dismantle the stairs and walkways at the end of the boiler plus the removal of the supporting brickwork.

This all had to be replaced when McEwens had finished and the boiler had been hydraulically tested and passed by the Boiler Inspector.

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During a routine inspection under the No 1 condenser tank, also 3,000 gallons capacity, a month before the bicentenary celebrations in 2007, it was noticed that the steel supporting joists were very badly corroded, more like lace curtains than steel.

Two railway sleepers were inserted as a temporary measure to support the 25 ton weight. This winter we have been replacing the sleepers with new steel joists — more work in a very cold confined space — including welding in a prone position because the sleepers couldn’t come out until the new joists were in.

No 2 condenser tank leak There was a hole in No 2 condenser tank which normally contains 3,000 gallons of water and without which the No 2 engine cannot run.

This had been leaking noticeably for the last 4 years and was slowly getting worse

labelled over 300 presents, no mean feat, so many thanks Diana.

I also happen to know that she has already started buying presents and wrapping them for December 2009!

We did have a slight panic when a call came in from the duty Santa a couple of hours before the first trip of the day to say that the sleigh had broken down 45 miles away and couldn’t be repaired until the following Monday. The Real Santa had to then get up from his sick bed and jovially attend to the two trips on the ‘Rose’ that day, full of bon-homie and Christmas cheer.

He was seen at the end of the day wandering around the car park, darkly muttering to himself Ho Ho B***** Ho. The feedback that we receive from both parents and children regarding the Santa trips is so

full of praise that it makes the struggling in the rain, ice and mud all worth while.

until by last summer it was losing a whole tankful in a week.

Some of the original restorers in 1968–70 have told us that the damage had occurred at that time.

Drastic action was necessary and the entire circulating pump which sits on top of the condenser tank had to be removed at the start of October to reveal a hole 30” (75 cm) in diameter.

This has been covered with a ½” steel plate tapped, bolted and sealed to the bottom of the tank. Work is now in hand to replace the circulating pump machinery on top.

We expect to finish this at the end of February.

direction of our master plumber Robin Moring.

Convenience We have also refurbished the public toilets which ran out of water on the last day of the steam gala when the rate of usage exceeded the volume of water flow from our borehole pump.

We now have new low-level cisterns, toilets and pipework, new controls for the borehole pump and a new Olympic sport — synchronised toilet flushing.

During testing in November, two of our volunteers could be seen in the two ladies’ cubicles, flushing toilets under the

Charter bookings We have already had a couple of charters during January and, at the time of writing, the bookings are coming in better than expected for the coming season during these financially difficult times, let’s hope it continues in that vein.

Volunteers We are always looking for more volunteers to help out crewing and maintaining the ‘Rose’, for which full training will be given.

Just give us a call and you will be made most welcome.

The Hungerford branch AGM will be held aboard the ‘Rose of Hungerford’ on Friday 8th May at 7.30 pm to which all Trust members are cordially invited.

Conservation Plan Work has started on our Conservation Plan to secure the future of Crofton for the next 20 years.

Survey work is now being done and funds need to be raised for a survey of all the timber structures in the building.

A later phase in 2010 will invite public consultation in writing, but more of this later as work proceeds.

Talks requests Request for talks are still coming in and Ian Broom, Dave Churton and myself are being kept busy.

Visit us — and help welcome I will end with our usual request for more help and look forward to seeing you all at Crofton during our 2009 season which starts on Good Friday, April 10.

We will then be open daily, except on Wednesdays, until Sunday September 27.

Full details are in the advert on page 35.–

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Devizes Alice Boyde 01380 724701 change of scenery for Devizes in the New Year.

Adrian Softley has stood down as Chairman of the branch giving him more time to focus on the Avon Vale workboat restoration, his other trustee duties and of course his work as mine host at The Bridge Inn, Horton.

Following a number of conversations I have taken on the mantle of Chairman, and a new committee has been formed.

Some of you may remember me from my stint as Secretary of the Branch 2004–07, while Roger Hollands was our Chairman; I stood down at the 2007 AGM when 5 months pregnant.

Amelia is now 19 months old, and I’ve started getting grey hairs!

The new committee and I are looking forward to putting together an active programme for the next couple of years, including of course the bicentennial festivities of 2010.

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2010 Roadshow It would be fair to say that the recent presentation by BW and K&A Council at Devizes (one of a series of four presentations the length of the cut) was met with mixed feelings by some members of the Branch.

The challenge for our branch is to arrange a series of activities during the course of 2010.

No.186 Spring 2009

I would — for obvious reasons — like a greater emphasis to be put on activities for families and young children, so that is my challenge.

I Survived Christmas By the time you read this, we hope to have had a successful “I Survived Christmas” party (at the end of February!) admirably catered as in the past few years by Food Glorious Food.

It is always a varied and entertaining evening.

Wilts & Berks Quiz The Branch will also have entered two or three teams in the annual Wilts & Berks Quiz — victorious maybe?

AGM Our AGM on Saturday 21st March will take place at 7.30pm at the Wharf, followed by a highly rated talk on ‘Mail and Stage Coaching Inns in Wiltshire in Georgian Times’ by Professor Tim Traverse Healey — we look forward to welcoming him to our evening.

We will also be joined on this evening by Mike Rodd, the Trust’s new General Manager, who says he’s looking forward to meeting members of our Branch, and we’re looking forward to hearing him speak.

Canal clear-up We have changed the date of our clear-up to fit in with BW’s towpath tidy and the new date is 28th March.

This really is much more fun than it sounds. Equipment and protective clothing is supplied.

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 32

Meet at 10am on the Wharf, we are usually finished by lunch.

Our branch programme will be regularly updated and circulated. If you would like a copy, please contact me on alice@3pplus.co.uk or 01380 724701 or 07813 845838.

I hope to have your support

for our Branch’s activities, welcome your constructive suggestions/comments, and hope to see you at our AGM. If you are interested in helping the Trust by volunteering in the shop at Devizes Wharf, please contact Sue on 01380 721279.

Avon Vale restoration group For information on the project contact John Kirby on 0774 8873280 ork is progressing well on the restoration of the Avon Vale with sponsorship from BW, HMG Paints, Devizes Marina and Commercial Signs and Displays in the form of materials or professional services making it possible.

Devizes Marina grit-blasted the boat and the hull has now

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been blacked and the cabin and deck primed with paint from HMG Paints.

The next stage will be to repaint the cabin Light French Blue which was the BWB Corporate colour when the boat was built 30 years ago.

The engine has been completely overhauled and will be re-installed soon.

Avon Vale 100 Club The 100 Club exists to raise money for the restoration of this historic ex-BW workboat.

A draw takes place each month with the chance to win up to £100 for the winner and £50 for the runner-up.

If you want to join in contact the Administrator at the Trust HQ in Devizes.

Between boat restoration jobs the group have been busy working on the Trust Building on Devizes Wharf — here they are replacing the refurbished museum and shop sign.

If you are interested in helping with the restoration of Avon Vale please contact either Adrian Softley at: adrian.softley@bridgeinnhorton.co.uk or John Kirby at: JHKoneaonly@aol.com

Gibson's Boat Surveys Ltd. Independent Marine Surveyors based on the K&A Canal For all your surveying needs please contact Richard Burchell on 07810 671770 or E-mail rich.burchell@hotmail.co.uk Hull or full craft Surveys with comprehensive written reports undertaken for Insurance, purchase, condition or damage assessment purposes Specialist consultancy also available for new build, RCD regulations and vintage or historic craft.

The Old Builders Wharf, Honey Street, Nr Pewsey, Wilts SN9 5PS

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS West Wilts Gill Milner 01225 762051 Report written

by Gill Milner and Eric Doel he Dundas Carol Service was led as usual by Peter Atwill of “Canal Ministries” and the Salvation Army Band, to whom we send our thanks and best wishes.

It was very well attended both by other boaters and those who travelled on ‘Barbara Maclellen’.

Conditions this year were very seasonal, being a cold and frosty night.

Several boaters decorated their boats and a passing steam engine added further atmosphere with lots of white smoke and the echoing whistle of what sounded like an ‘A4’ (steam buffs will know what this is).

It was a fitting prelude to Christmas.

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Annual dinner This was again held at The Mill, Rode.

Numbers were down on previous years, but this was a lovely evening with a happy atmosphere.

Our thanks to Dave Jupp for his organisation and to Chris Poulter, who ran the raffle.

No.186 Spring 2009

Charter trips

Santa trips

Another good year, although actual trips were slightly down compared to what was a record in 2007. We cannot be complacent so if you know of any organisation looking for something different then let Bernard Groves know.

Volunteer of the year The committee’s choice this year is Eddy Ody, who we mentioned in our last report.

Without him we really would have been stuck for a skipper on more than one occasion.

Well done Eddy and our thanks, again.

Social events Our next social event is on 7th March 6.45pm for a 7pm start, when we will be holding a ‘Domino Drive’ on ‘BMac’.

This will be a fun evening — no experience necessary.

Dog mess Unfortunately this year crews have turned up at the mooring of our boat only to find dogs have messed by our moorings.

Responsible dog owners, please ignore this, but it is very unpleasant to come to untie the ropes only to find dogs have fouled this area.

Also the entrance to the

Training

New volunteers attended a training day that included exercises for man overboard. It was fun but there is a serious side to this, ensuring that all our volunteers are trained in line with MCA requirements.

Debra and David Milner take their daughter, three-year-old Poppy to meet Santa aboard the ‘Barbara Mac’ Picture by Gill Milner

The number of passengers for our Santa Trips this year was down in comparison with last year— probably due to the economic climate, resulting in the cancellation of some trips.

However, all was not doom and gloom and about 96 children enjoyed their carefully selected presents.

Parents and Grandparents enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies.

On at least one trip we were able to provide splendid boat has been fouled.

Someone has to clear this mess up — not pleasant when someone accidentally treads it inside.

Please dog owners be more responsible where you allow your dog to ‘go’, or better still, clear up after them.

Maintenance The public trips over and Father Christmas safely returned home — booked again for next year — the ‘BMac’ is back on her mooring after completing 900 hours’ running time.

The ‘fix it’ team faced their busiest time of the year, spending January and February carrying out maintenance and other critical repairs.

During the cold conditions the engine had already been partially dismantled and components removed for servicing.

Although the paint work may be a hit rough at the moment, mechanically the boat is going much better than she did.

Let us hope we can get it all back together in time for March.

views of a kingfisher which seemed determined to ensure that all passengers had seen it.

The committee would like to thank Carol Doel for helping Santa with his present buying and those who helped with the wrapping and with supplying mulled wine and mince pies.

Thank-you to Santa for coming all this way to visit our passengers.

Promotional trip to Devizes Our promotional trip to Devizes and return will be from 24th to 27th April — sailing from Bradford on Avon at 10.00am on Friday 24th April.

We ascend the Caen Hill Flight on Saturday 25th April.

Leaving Foxhangers at 11.30am (we hope to beat the 3 hours 59 minutes it took last year.

We descend the flight on Sunday 26th April departure 11.30am.

Monday 27th April we depart from Foxhangers for Bradford on Avon at l0.00am.

All trips are free, although any donations are welcome and if you are lucky a member of crew will cook hotdogs.

Tell your friends, we would love to see anyone who is interested in the unique experience of climbing the Cane Hill Flight.

For further information contact Bernard Groves on 0800 121 4679.

Correction: because of a problem in editing the West Wilts report for the last issue John Box was wrongly named John Boy and Bernard Groves appeared as Bernard Braves — our apologies to them both.

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Butty BRANCH REPORTS Claverton, Bath & Bristol Pete Dunn 01761 432811 he Bath & Bristol Branch will host the Trust’s AGM on 9th May at Claverton Pumping Station. The branch committee are very pleased as it really puts us on the map.

However, to achieve this will take quite an effort. We are asking for the active support of branch members to help out as stewards on the day and to erect two gazebos during the preceding week.

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AGM car parking I can imagine what you are now thinking, “Where will we park all the cars?” We have sorted this out and the car parking details are explained alongside the AGM notice on page 4.

AGM catering I cannot promise the excellent spread of lunch that was provided at Crofton in 2008 but will do my best to offer tea, coffee and cake. There is another area where we will need volunteers.

The Pump will be running throughout the day and all we need now is luck with the weather.

If you have never been to the Trust’s AGM now is your best chance without having to travel too far. It should be an interesting day and if you want to volunteer for as little as one day to help make it a success please contact me on 01762 432811.

No.186 Spring 2009

2010 celebrations Other news from our end is that your committee attended a meeting with BW and others to review the coming bicentenary celebrations of the canal for the year 2010.

At that meeting there seemed to be broad support for the plans along the 78 miles of the waterway as they stood and we hope to hold some local events during the year linking with other interested groups — watch this space for more details.

Jubilee inspection In the autumn the trip boat ‘Jubilee’ passed its MCA inspections so is ready for another cruising season. We have carried out training of the crew and are still on the look out for new crew members.

The crew had a good season in 2008 despite the weather and closure of the A36 and wish to build on that success in 2009 and beyond, I wish them well.

Winter work At Claverton there was no major overhaul or repair project this winter.

We have spent our time tidying some of the large projects carried out over the last few years.

It looks like we are going to embark on a major repaint of the building excluding the pumping machinery later this year so as usual some new hands on the brushes would be most welcome.

Structural survey A structural survey of the building, funded by British Waterways, has recently been carried out by a firm of consulting engineers who have given us a very detailed report on the condition of the Pump House as it approaches its own bicentenary in 2013 and I am

pleased to say that there were no major problems found.

As you have read there is a lot going on and I hope that we will have a new branch chairman in place at the our AGM in March and he will be making himself known to you in the next issue of the Butty.

Burbage Crane project A joint project between IWA, K&A Canal Trust and The Crown Estate

ork has progressed well since the project started in 2007.

The crane’s counterweight framing joints have been completed.

The winter’s programme has covered fabrication of the shaped moulded packing members and the cleaning and repainting of the salvaged metalwork.

It is hoped to transport the crane back to Burbage aboard Avon Vale, the K&A Canal Trust’s workboat in the summer of 2010.

Whilst work continues on the crane at Claverton a parallel project is underway at Burbage to prepare the wharf to receive the new crane.

Although the project team inherited some details of the crane above wharf level they had no information about what was concealed below ground.

After carefully exposing the existing section of the supporting centre post below ground level the project team discovered a system of buried heavy timber members designed to transmit loads and considerable rot to the surface

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of the post below ground level.

The rotting buried timber members and the more severe surface rot will be removed, and then a concrete base will be constructed with mild steel connecting rods to tie this to the retained post.

Following the work to the base of the post it is planned to take up the inappropriate concrete paving and to repave the surrounding area with stone cobble paving to provide as near as is possible a match to what the original wharf paving was probably surfaced with.

This phase of the project is being financed with a grant from the IWA SW Region.

It is hoped that IWA funds will pay for an interpretation board on the towpath opposite Burbage Wharf which will tell the history of the Crane and its two reconstructions as well as giving credit to those who have participated in the current reconstruction.

We are currently looking for a team of volunteers to carry out the Burbage phase of the project if you are interested please contact Pete Dunn on 01761 432811.

Moonraker Narrowboat Company Ltd Once in a while we all deserve the 5 star treatment. Whether a romantic escape, family holiday or just some time out from the stresses and demands of life, your relaxation and enjoyment is paramount. Our aim at Moonraker Narrowboat Company is to help you unwind by providing high quality, luxurious boats and a personal service second to none.

Please visit our website at

www.moonboats.co.uk for up to date information, prices & availability

Alternatively please telephone

07973 876891 or email enquiries@moonboats.co.uk with your requirements

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Trip Boats

‘Rose of Hungerford’ A wide-beam boat seating 50 operating from just off Hungerford High Street.

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: 0800 121 4674

Visit the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust’s attractions Claverton

Cafés & shops

Bradford on Avon Wharf shop & café Tel: 01225 868683

Pumping Station

Claverton Pumping Station is a waterwheel powered beam engine built in 1813 to raise water from the river Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal. It has been restored by volunteers and is now open to the public.

Claverton is five miles south of Bath off the A36 Warminster Road, 400 yards down Ferry Lane across the uncontrolled level crossing. The pump is approximately 25 minutes walk from Dundas Aqueduct. Free admission for children under 16 (must be accompanied by an adult)

Open days 2009

Devizes Wharf museum & shop Tel: 01380 729489

Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday from April 11th until October 28th

Running days Opening times: Wednesdays 10am – 4pm, other days 10am – 5pm

‘Barbara McLellan’ 65ft wide-beam boat seating 51 operating from Bradford on Avon Wharf Cottage Public trips: • Every Wed, Sat, Sun and Public Holidays from Apr to Oct - 2.30 pm, 1? hr to Avoncliff and return.

• Easter and every Sat and Sun from May to Sep - 11.30 am, 1? hr to Meadows Bridge and return.

• Every Sun from end-May to mid-Sep 4.30 pm, 1 hr to Widbrook and return.

• Special Trips including Cream Teas, Bath, Autumn Tints.

Christmas Santa Trips W h e e l c h a i r / d i s a bl e d a c c e s s Charter trips: for 1 to 5 hours or a whole day.

Booking Manager: 0800 121 4679

April 12th & 13th May 4th, 24th & 25th June 14th & 28th July 12th & 26th

August 9th, 30th & 31st September 13th & 27th October 25th

Phone: 01225 483001 Email: enquiries@claverton.org

Crofton

Crofton Pumping Station shop & café Tel: 01672 870300

Beam Engines 1812 Boulton & Watt and 1846 Harvey beam engines regularly steamed from hand stoked, coal fired Lancashire Boiler. Amazing industrial archaeology in a rural setting From Marlborough, either take the A346 to Burbage and then follow the brown 'Beam Engines' sign, or take the A4 towards Hungerford, turn right, 'Beam Engines' sign before Froxfield, and continue to follow the brown signs, through Great Bedwyn, to the pumping station.

From Hungerford, take the A338 towards Salisbury, turn right at Shalbourne following the signs to Great Bedwyn, then follow the brown signs.

From Salisbury, follow the signs to Hungerford on the A338, then turn left at East Grafton and follow the brown signs.

Newbury Wharf shop & café Tel: 01635 522609

Open days Open daily 10.30am to 5pm From April 10th to September 27th 2009

Steaming days

‘Jubilee’ A 30 seat converted traditional narrowboat operating from Brassknocker Basin, opposite Viaduct Inn, Limpley Stoke on the A36 East of Bath Public trips: • From March 23 to October 26 Sundays and Bank Holidays 12.00 – 2.00pm Cruise to Claverton and return 2.30pm – 5.45pm Cruise to Avoncliff stopping for 30 minutes and return Charter trips Booking Manager: 0800 121 4682

All boats have a licensed bar and refreshments are available.

There is a public address system or you can use your own sound system.

April 11th, 12th and 13th (Easter) May 2nd, 3rd and 4th May 23rd, 24th and 25th, June 27th and 28th August 1st and 2nd, August 29th, 30th and 31st September 26th and 27th

Phone: 01672 870300

Museum

Devizes Wharf The museum is housed in the historic bonded wharehouse on Devizes Wharf.

Its exhibits chronicle the rise and fall of the canal as a commercial waterway and its subsequent restoration by volunteers.

Aldermaston visitor centre, shop & café Tel: 01189 712868

real a y o j n E t! a e r t y l i fam

Opening times: 10am — 5pm, 7days a week

General enquiries: 01380 721279

Website: katrust.org.uk 35

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No.186 Spring 2009

Picture by Bob Naylor

Butty

ouglas Redston who was a lifetime member of the Trust died on Saturday 13th December aged 86.

A confirmed bachelor he enjoyed a full and varied life encompassing many interests.

He would recount his canoeing adventures on the canals before the war on

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Obituaries Doug Redston trips between assisting in auditing books at various companies.

The middle of the War saw him enlisting in the RNVR were he trained and obtained his wings in Canada.

He was commissioned and completed operational training on Swordfish before going to North Africa to fly Albacores.

Then he returned back to the UK and the recently completed Indefatigable and 826 Squadron for an attack on the Tirpitz.

After the war he joined the staff of London University obtaining a degree and becoming a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

About this time he had built a small timber cabin cruiser which took him back onto the canals.

He was introduced to Lionel Monk and helped him take one of his hire fleet onto the little used canals to measure bridges, obstructions of which there were many, to help ascertain if various routes were possible for his boats.

This we were told involved notifying the railway that they wished to exercise their right of navigation and requesting the

opening of bridges (which had become fixed).

This became a big nuisance to the railway as they would repeat the request later on their return, perhaps a week or so later.

On his own boat he partook such exercises in company with Robert Aickman and Lionel and attended some of the early rallies.

About this time he moved to Twyford and became a member of the IWA and chaired early meetings of the Reading Branch of the K&A Association (Trust).

In 2003 he joined some friends on a week trip on the canal, to see how things have changed.

This was so successful that this became an annual event organized by what became the ‘Escape Committee’.

His last trip was the Cheshire Ring in 2008.

His appraisal of the local pubs and real ale will be missed by his friends

Derek Cann

Tom Rundle

first became acquainted with Tom Rundle when in 1984 I became a Skipper on K&A Trust trip boat ‘Ladywood’ at Bradford on Avon Wharf.

Tom was the ‘victualling officer’ and saw to it that the boat’s bar and galley was always topped up with provisions.

He was also a Committee Member of the West Wilts (Bradford on Avon) Branch of the K&A Canal Trust.

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Tom was a Cornishman, he was outspoken and gave no quarter. He appeared to many as a hard man to get on with, but as time when by I got used to his brusque manner and found out that below that shell, he was OK. He was a GWR railway engine driver and could tell many a tale about his days on the railway.

When I became Boat Manager of ‘Ladywood’, Tom and I used to meet on a Wednesday on the Wharf as ‘work’ day.

Top priority was ‘Ladywood’ — pump-out — refuel re-stock — clean up in the cabin.

Other jobs would be keeping the drydock working.

What I remember of those days were the tea/coffee breaks when the Wednesday team would sit around and get Tom yarning.

Tom was always at the forefront of any tasks that needed doing on the Wharf and he would cajole people into turning their hands to and helping — always a committee man and I suspect a trades union man. His heart was in the right place.

In the process of time Tom, myself and others drifted away from the Wharf.

Tom used to enjoy the gatherings of a local organ club. His other hobby was

growing flowers. I always knew Tom as living in Westbury and it was a sad day when I saw Tom in his electric mobile vehicle after his amputation.

He was very philosophical about it, and from the conversation we had I sensed a change.

I have learned since that he had taken comfort in the Church he became attached to. His nature and outlook on life very much softer and mellow.

I last saw Tom, again in his electric trolley, at a wreath laying ceremony at the War Memorial during Poppy Week in November. His first words were “and what are you up to here...?” in a manner that suggested I should have asked him if I was allowed before hand.

That was the old Tom, he had to know everything... if it was OK with Tom it was OK. As I found out over the years I knew Tom, he had a true loyalty to what he belonged to or believed in and to people he had taken to.

That is how I shall remember Tom Rundle.

John Sankey

Margaret Hopkinson (Hoppy)

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those activities was working at the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust’s canal shop on the wharf where she served for over 20 years as a volunteer.

I remember her caring attitude to customers and always listened to their problems and even invited them home for a cup of tea so making many friends.

Her work at the Trust and at Lackham College of Agriculture and Rural Life resulted in the prestigious award of The Wiltshire Museum Volunteer of the Year in 2005 which she dedicated to all volunteers in the organisations.

Many of us will remember her fondness for the variety of mini cars she owned and cherished, even showing sadness when her last mini finally gave up the ghost

causing her to end her voluntary work at Lackham One of my special memories of ‘Hoppy’ was earlier this year inviting her to join us on a boat trip on the ‘Rose of Hungerford’.

Asking her to sit and enjoy the scenery whilst the crew worked the boat, was a waste of time as she was soon up and helping people with refreshments and working the till in her expert way and promoting the canal.

The Devizes Branch was well represented at Margarets’ funeral where her granddaughters recalled their memories of their grandmother.

One particular memory recalled the words on a fridge

Picture by Bob Naylor

evizes Branch lost a very loyal member when Margaret passed away on Friday 29th November.

Born in Welshpool North Wales, daughter of a bank manager, the family moved to Cardiff and Margaret attended Howell School the oldest girls’ school in Wales.

Missing out on university education, because of the outbreak of war, she began working at Cardiff Royal Infirmary as a nutritionalist.

Moving to Winchester in the 1960s she later showed her caring side providing accommodation for Art Students in her Victorian house with her young daughter Wendy.

Retiring, she moved to Devizes in 1985 becoming involved with the local community activities. One of

magnet given as a present by Hoppy stating: ‘Sit down my friend and talk with me — let’s share our thoughts over a cup of tea’ A fitting statement for a much loved and respected lady.

Peter Jordan

Canal heritage matters... doing it right he waterway holds a wealth of important heritage assets which are part of the terrific story of its past.

Some of those assets are in the stewardship of the Trust and with this comes responsibilities, some statutory, some moral — all serious.

The task of understanding those responsibilities and the costs that go them is not insignificant.

Many of the requirements require specialist help and advice, not all available from our own volunteers and members.

The Trust has adopted the strategy to consider first the three key ‘heritage hubs’ that falls firmly into its responsibilities.

These are Crofton and Claverton Pumping Stations as well as Devizes Museum.

This work has begun and this start has been fully funded thanks to grants generously awarded by The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cotswolds

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Terry Kemp the K&A Canal Trust’s Heritage and Fundraising Director looks at the important conservation planning work being undertaken Conservation Board and Kennet District Council for which we are really grateful.

The final outcome of this work will be a full Conservation Plan for each site helping us set priorities in restoration, repairs, visitor development and budgets.

The work will be undertaken in phases: Conservation Statement — Testing and analysing the significance of each site and its importance Heritage Impact Statement – Understanding the acceptable impacts of change to the asset Surveys — Structural, Mechanical etc Review of modern laws and legislation Development strategy for each asset in respect of Conservation and Audience Development

interpretation so as to build knowledge and encourage education.

These principles are derived from the understanding that all ‘heritage products’ and elements have an intrinsic value in terms of the benefits (the value of their existence and for their own sake) that can be derived from them.

These are perhaps ‘posh’ words — for me they mean ‘our waterway heritage matters and we wish to share it!’

Budgeted plan The driver behind all this work is Trust policy — The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust approach to its conservation management is based on the underlying principles of preserving and sustaining, whilst providing access and

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If its not on the shelf we can probably get it

For all your boat safety, repair, upgrade and fit-out needs Tel: 01380 828448 Fax: 01380 828855

www.mp-steelcraft.co.uk 37

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Butty

No.186 Spring 2009

What’s On February Friday 27th Reading Branch. “The Thames from Oxford to Windsor: shaping history through the centuries", talk by Peter Halman. Downshire Room, All Saints Church Hall, Downshire square, Reading. 8 pm.

March

May

Butty stuffing

Friday 8th Hungerford Branch AGM, Rose of Hungerford. 7.30 pm Saturday 9th K&A Canal Trust AGM. 11.15am.

Claverton Pumping Station, Claverton, Nr Bath.

Friday 29th Reading Branch. Downshire Room, All Saints Church Hall, Downshire Sq, Reading. 8 pm

April Friday 24th – Monday 27th Barbara Maclellan Promotional Trip to Devizes and return. All trips are free. For further information contact Bernard Groves on 0800 121 4679.

Sunday 26th Reading Branch Day Out to the Watercress Railway, Hampshire.

Mike Bennett (0118 969 9861) will be pleased to give more details Wednesday 29th Newbury Branch AGM followed by “Crofton Pumping Station”, talk by Ray Knowles. Ray will give a talk about the restoration and operation of this major Trust asset. Stone Building, Newbury Wharf. 7.45pm.

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Thursday 11th Canal Users Forum. 7.30pm.

Woolhampton Village Hall, Woolhampton, Reading RG7 5RE. All welcome.

Saturday 20th Reading Waterfest, Abbey Ruins and River Kennet (behind Reading Gaol).

July Friday 17th–Sunday 19th Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais Rally, Vincelles, 15 km south of Auxerre, Burgundy, France. K&A canoeists are particularly welcome.

Phone 01380 840584 for more information.

Sunday 26th J Newbury Water Festival, Victoria Park, Newbury. This year’s theme is Pirates. More information from Rob Dean on 01962 883939).

Pictures by Bob Naylor

June Saturday 21st Devizes Branch AGM followed by ‘Mail and Stage Coaching Inns in Wiltshire in Georgian Times', a talk

by Professor Tim Traverse Healey.

7.30pm, Canal Centre, Couch Lane, Devizes. Light refreshments will be provided.

Monday 23rd Bath & Bristol Branch AGM. St Mary’s Church Hall, Bathwick.

7.30pm Wednesday 25th Newbury Branch. “Local Wildlife and the West Berks Living Landscape Project”, talk by Jacky Akam of the Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust who with West Berks Council have an agreement to manage and enhance the quality of the Wildlife Habitat in a 10 square mile area which including the canal and river system between Hambridge Road and Woolhampton. Stone Building, Newbury Wharf. 7.45pm.

Friday 27th Reading Branch. “The Energy Efficient Narrowboat”, talk by Dr Hugh Swann. Downshire Room, All Saints Church Hall, Downshire Sq, Reading. 8 pm.

Saturday 28th Devizes Branch. Canal Clean up.

Much more fun than it sounds.

Equipment and protective clothing supplied. Meet at 10am on the Wharf, usually finished by lunch time. Any questions, please call Alice Boyd on 01380 724701 or alice@3pplus.co.uk .

ver wondered how your Butty gets to you?... Here is a picture of the scene at the Trust HQ when the last issue of the magazine was being stuffed by a busy band of volunteers.

Two years ago a new system was introduced that involves the volunteers presorting the mail by postcode — saving the Trust money.

For this issue the Trust stuffers were joined by BW South West head of marketing, Susie Mercer who came to

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deliver flyers for the 2010 Roadshow to go out with the magazine and she decided to stay and join in the fun.

Explore the Dorset & Somerset Canal. We offer B&B, a packed lunch, drop off and collect anywhere on the canal. £80 a night for 2 people inclusive plus £60 for additional night. Contact Howard or Jane Smith on 01749 814930 or 07831 738753 www.barefootsorchard.co.uk Jane Crowe Traditional Signwriter and Decorator Experienced in roses & castles, scrolling, lining, graining, signwriting. Craftmaster Paints.

Local to K&A. 01380 860969, 07833 931364, jctraditionalart@aol.com Free secure reciprocal summer mooring — Newbury area. In exchange for mooring west of Devizes. June - September (dates very flexible) Under 50 feet. 01730 812230 or 07980544189 Chronic back pain?

Research proves that lessons in the Alexander Technique eases pain.

For more information telephone Tanya Whannell (Registered

Teacher) 01635 866409. Email tanya@whannell.co.uk DEVON – Narrowboat Holidays Luxury 4/5 berth Narrowboat, Grand Western Canal Country Park & Local Nature Reserve. combine cruising with days out in the West Country. 01884 252178 www.middevonhireboats.co.uk Holiday Mews to Let Central Bath, quiet location. Sleeps 4. Available throughout year. Owner continuously cruising. £25 donated to K&A Canal Trust for each booking. Contact Peter 07905 9053337 Burghfield Island Boat Club is currently looking for new members to join the waiting list. Please phone Vicky on 07703722102 for further details Narrowboat enthusiasts needed to help run a trust dedicated to giving youngsters experience on the canals. any skills welcome to maintain our narrowboat based at Aldermaston. Ring Julie on: 0118 9618450

UNCLASSIFIED ADS Mike Price Boat Safety Examiner Tel: 01225 703747 Mobile: 07736 837968 Moorings — long term and temporary, recreational rural moorings available at Ladies Bridge, near Pewsey on the K&A Canal. Telephone 07743 926269 for further details.

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 email: grahamhawkes@btinternet.com Sundial Marine Services For gas, oil, solid fuel heating servicing and installation, plumbing and electrical work. Eddie Belston Tel: 01373 302765 07518 057447 Wilderness Boats For repairs, refits and new and used craft. Call: 01666 577773 Holiday Cottage to let Port Isaac North Cornwall. Creel Cottage is a beautiful, warm cottage in this ancient fishing village. Available throughout the year. For information contact Derek Bullen 01380 828413

Unclassified ads are free for members of The K&A Canal Trust for up to 30 words — subject to available space For ads to run in the next issue of The Butty email: ads@thebutty.co.uk

The K&A Canal Trust merchandise

Fleece £25, Waterproof with fleece lining £25 Waterproof unlined £15.99, Polo shirt £16 Sweat shirt £17.99, Hoodie £19.99 P&P should be added to all orders: Caps and Hats £1.00 per item other garments £4.50 per item.

Woolly hat £6.50

Baseball cap £6.50 (The cap is one size fits all)

Clothing is available in blue and green and sizes small to extra large — other sizes and colours are The clothing is modelled by Kate Black available to order

Placemats, coasters, greetings cards and calendars

with photography by Emma Webb except the woolly hat that is modelled by Ellie Forbes with picture by John Forbes

Cards are £1.50 each or in packs of 6 alike for £4.99.

They measure 150mm x 105mm.

Placemats £4.99 each 210mmx 297mm

The cards are produced from watercolours of the K&A by Robin Woodford and the coasters and placemats are from canal scenes by Michele Butle

Coasters £1.99 each 100mm x 100mm

Calendars: £3.99 in the shops or £4.50 inc p+p by mail order

Membership vouchers: see rates on page 23

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

David Owen & Co Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors 17 Market Place Devizes Wiltshire 01380 722211

126 High Street Marlborough Wiltshire 01672 512163

Auditors to The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust 39