MILE
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As it was - Freight being unloaded at Fairies Hill Wharf Wakefield Branch of the Aire and Calder Navigation Potential for trade at new wharf in Leeds , see page 5
IWA WEST RIDING BRANCH SEPTEMBER 2018 waterways.org.uk/westriding
Contents Region Chairman's Thoughts New Leeds Wharf Northern Tidal Waters Southern Tidal Waters How Thrifty are we being? BSS Certification Consultation Notes from the Editor New IWA merchandise Festivals of Water A photographic quiz More musings on C&RT New York Area Incident Room Open meetings 2018 Open Meetings
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CHANGING ADDRESS All the IWA membership records are maintained centrally at Head Office, who are also responsible for distributing the Milepost to those members who have elected to receive it by post. So if changing address there is no need to contact the branch, you only need to contact IWA Head Office. And IWA Waterways Magazine and the Milepost will be sent to your new address.
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REGION CHAIRMAN'S THOUGHTS HOW WELL ARE WE BEING ?? Canal & River Trust is now a wellbeing charity, with a new branding and logo, and it aims for greater public recognition and engagement in the period of the supportive government funding contract until 2027. On the logo, I assumed that the C&RT lockkeeping team an Hanbury locks were being ironic with their painted car-tyre in the new colours, mounted on their fence. On the new “wellbeing� idea, I find myself in agreement with Steve Haywood in CanalBoat p25 October 2018 who is sceptical at these "attempts to butter up the Government into extending its grant by trying to pass itself off as some sort of arm of the NHS, dedicated to the health of the nation." and he advocates ways that C&RT could more successfully sell the canals as a national resource, which he thinks they are missing a trick by not doing. As I understand it, wellbeing is a local authority funded responsibility so no easy money there for longer term canal maintenance and development. We all need to attract support from communities, their Local Authorities, MPs, Town Councils, ... It's all better than going for fitness, which can happen around the duckponds just as well as the navigable canals. Our Unique Selling Point is the vibrancy, the colour and the movement of the navigation across the countrywide connected network, by powered boats, by paddled boats and anything else that floats. As I write this in Sheffield, I am cut off navigationally from London by all routes bar the tidal Trent. Everything across the Pennines is closed as a through route for lack of water and has been closed for the whole of the school summer holidays, when we might have expected the peak in navigation. I have yet to meet anyone in C&RT who thinks such a sorry state of affairs was their responsibility, something for which, doing their job, they should have prevented. They all say it was the hot weather and the lack of rain in the Pennines that was responsible. The Weather Was The Ogre. And so it was. If I correctly remember a presentation from the C&RT water management team, these closures would only happen once in twenty years. And the mathematician in my soul chirps that just because it happened this year in no way completely prevents it happening next year too. See tinyurl.com/mp201809c (from C&RT) Our national Navigation Committee will be considering launching a Resilience
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REGION CHAIRMAN'S THOUGHTS CONTINUED Campaign - how to make more of our network by wasting less. Examples are: wear on wide lock gates by boat gunwales scraping past the closed gate: better protection for the gates would help retain water. Dredging summit levels to their original depth would retain more water in a similar way that the widened Knostrop Pound in Leeds retains more water as part of the Flood Alleviation Scheme. Access to more reservoir capacity ceded to the Water companies. More backpumping. More remote monitoring of water levels with local volunteers responding to leak (accidentally open paddles) notifications. Winding holes at top and bottom of all flights to avoid unnecessary locking by those wishing to go t'other way. Using technology to find and co-ordinate boats into sharing wide locks. And any other ideas which may not be original in themselves but can help as part of an overall strategy. Maybe it could be a Network Wellbeing Strategy. On the bankside, Geoff Auty reports being told by a C&RT person that the £3m spent on rebranding would be better used on the canals. That was probably a rhetorical flourish, as even a couple of thousand new teeshirts, replacement signs all over a dozen high profile locations, and a few launch events, together with the £60k on the rebrand itself – and I'm still a nought away from £3m. It is still worth reading the C&RT Annual Report, which doesn't have any better rebranding accounts, but does show how their money is spent. Restructuring costs for the new six regions, (on p84) were £2.2m. There is another report on how wellbeing is measured by C&RT. See tinyurl.com/mp201809a and tinyurl.com/mp201809b
Peter Scott
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NEW LEEDS WHARF The Commercial Boat Operators Association (CBOA), the national trade organisation for barge and other commercial craft operators on the UK’s inland waterways, warmly welcomed the news that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (“WYCA”) has agreed to provide £3.17m towards the building of a new wharf at Stourton on the Aire & Calder Navigation on the outskirts of Leeds as part of the Port of Leeds project. For some time, the Canal & River Trust, strongly encouraged by CBOA, has been reviewing building a new wharf at Stourton – with room for either one or two barges to be tied alongside at the wharf (depending upon demand). The site is well located in logistics terms, being close to the motorway and also rail connections. The new wharf would be able to handle sea-dredged aggregates brought by barge to Leeds from the Humber. Steel and timber products are also possibilities, along with other goods imported via the Humber ports. With modest improvements to the Navigation, barges would be able to bring containers to Stourton, relieving road traffic congestion on the M62 and reducing pollution. Existing barges can carry up to 550 tonnes each - the equivalent of 27 lorries each carrying 20 tonnes. With the navigational improvements, it would be possible to bring across from Europe EuroClass II barges which can take 650 tonnes. David Lowe, CBOA’s chairman, said “This is very welcome news and shows the commitment of the local authorities to seize the opportunity of doing something to take traffic off the roads – to the great benefit of their local people.” Steve Higham of the Trust said “The Canal & River Trust is very grateful to WYCA for their encouragement and support. This provides the opportunity for a new dawn for freight using of Yorkshire’s waterways. This fits in very well with the Trust’s work with Transport for the North in identifying ways for moving freight in the North.”
16th July 2018 For further information, contact David Lowe at d.lowe@cboa.org.uk
INLAND WATERWAY FREIGHT TRANSPORT CONFERENCE – WEDNESDAY 10 OCTOBER, 2018, LEEDS The Canal & River Trust, in partnership with the Freight Transport Association and the NSR Interreg Project IWTS2.00, will be hosting a conference on waterborne freight transport for inland waterways on 10 October in Leeds. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to look closely at the potential of Inland Waterway Freight Transport in the UK and Europe. The event will include an optional site visit to see a site in Canal & River Trust ownership that has been earmarked for development as an Inland Port at Stourton (Leeds). To attend this free event, please register through the weblink below. https://tinyurl.com/freightcon
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NORTHERN TIDAL WATERS This summer, as well as our usual canal trips we have had trips on three tidal waters, the Rivers Tyne, Severn and Great Ouse. River Tyne - a trip from the centre of Newcastle to Tyne mouth, all tidal water on the passenger boat Fortuna. A highlight was the “blinking eye� millennium bridge which was opened to allow our boat to wind at the start of the trip. A second trip upsteam took us under the seven bridges that join Newcastle to Gateshead. Details of trips from https://riverescapes.co.uk/sightseeing Advanced booking required for these trips.
Blinking Eye Bridge
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NORTHERN TIDAL WATERS We passed this unusual lock at the mouth of the Ouseburn Barage that John Pomfret talked about in October 2014 (account in January 2015 Milepost).
One of the more unusual items was the Kittiwake Tower. This was built to give the kittiwakes that nest and perch on the ledges of buildings in the town somewhere to build their nests. Unfortunately the kittywakes are not interested, but the pigeons seemed to be enjoying it!
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SOUTHERN TIDAL WATERS River Severn We navigated from Worcester to Sharpness and back with friends on their narrowboat Sapphire. From Upper Lode lock to the entrance to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Gloucester, on some days of the monthly tidal cycle, there is a significant tide. We consulted the C&RT lockkeeper at Upper Lode who gave excellent advice to moor up at Lower Lode moorings for a couple of hours and then go downriver with the ebb tide, which was two metres over the weir at Gloucester on this morning. This tide had all the treecovering brown swirling water, with its fair share of large logs, all threatening to jam the propeller. The tide was carrying us at about 9mph as we arrived at Upper Parting at Maisemore, needing to take the narrower East Channel towards the lock, rather than the larger West Channel to ...large logs... the weir. Remembering the junction's layout from two earlier trips, a moored boat confirms the navigability of the smaller channel. We easily completed the turn, and then called the Gloucester lockkeeper on the VHF. The problem is that there is only one sign, a large motorway-type, and it is placed after the junction. It's just too easy to interpret all the markings as meaning to take the "next left". which could be uncomfortable, and difficult to turn upriver and make progress against such a tide. Then there are those "3 miles". If it had been a motorway sign, then the junction (which you have in fact just passed) would be three miles ahead. It's trying to say that having turned, there are 3 more miles to the lock. The second-thoughts-small-additionalsign with a left-pointing arrow may cause sufficient doubt to enter the navigator's mind, to persuade them to take the proper turn. Less dangerous is the sign for upriver traffic at Upper Lode. The main sign accurately shows the way to the lock, but it has another newer, less faded sign alongside, with a prominent arrow pointing towards the weir, with the small words "No Craft Beyond This Point". You couldn't make it up. Peter Scott
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EASTERN TIDAL WATERS River Great Ouse - th is w as part of our route to the Festival of Water at St Neots. As Fulbourne is 71’ 6” long we have to go through Salters Lode lock on the level when the tide is at a level that allows both sets of gates to be open without any salt water entering the Middle Level. Due to low water in the Middle Level we arrived just in time, approaching the lock, that the lock keeper had made ready for us with minutes to spare. We got through, just, and sat in the lock entrance as the last of the tide went out. This meant we were sitting on the sand with our propeller partially out of the water.
Nb Fulbourne - View under the swim
The tide turned quickly so we were only aground for about 20 minutes. We took the opportunity to stop the engine and clean the mud box (through which cooling water passes on its way to the engine). This rather worried the other people with boats waiting to go through, as we were completely blocking the exit of the lock to the river.
Waiting for the engine and the tide
On our return journey we followed the Denver lockkeeper’s advice and locked through soon after high tide and waited in the Salters Lode lock approach for a couple of hours for the tide to go out.
Leaving Salters Lode
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HOW THRIFTY ARE WE BEING ? Do we walk into the supermarket thinking “I must be THRIFTY today”? However much we think of value-for-money, or restricting food-miles, I would be surprised if many members used the word THRIFT in any context in our daily lives. It just doesn't trip-off-the-tongue, even if it ever did. “I wish my car was more thrifty” ??
We all need to share the water available in a dry summer to best advantage, and it's C&RT's campaign people who have written lots of signs based on the word THRIFT, and tried to make a mnemonic of it, with each letter standing for a different idea. It would normally be a harmless game, and maybe some navigators would remember some of the six messages on the notices stapled to lock beams across the country. If only it had an S in it! We could tell navigators to Share locks. Or a P for Paddles and G for Gates, which all need to be left closed. Having decided that THRIFT is the thing, these ideas have to be “Tw o in a Lo ck ” and “Have y o u S h u t Up?”. Or that's what they were in old notices, which all remain displayed for years. A newer, revised H says “Help K eep It In ”. Someone thinks that's more memorable. “Repo rt Leaks” is as good an anything and expressing Take Turns as “In vite Oncoming Boats Through” is no worse than the others if navigators remember the additional advice that this applies to a lock set t'other way, and an oncoming boat is able to use it.
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HOW THRIFTY ARE WE BEING ? My granny used to say that Fs always cause the trouble. And so it is here. The old signs said “Fo llo w Advice” and “Th in k Ah ead ” with the expansion that it's a good idea to lockwheel through flights as well as checking boats in front and behind to maximise efficiency. This has now become “Find a no th er favo u rite ” which the website says means “Explore less busy parts of the network” and “Th in k ah ea d” which now means “Plan cruises to minimise use of locks” as well as saying “It doesn't matter if it's pouring down or gloriously sunny. It's always good boating practice to ...” Maybe, if we had the letters, Go Somewhere Else or Go Caravanning Instead. It's all so discouraging. The challenge is to have the water to make the network alive with moving boats. Working the locks is the privilege and the essence of navigation. Neither chore nor hardship, it's an essential part of why the network is so attractive. And to help C&RT appreciate and celebrate its assets, the challenge if you choose to accept it, is to design a new mnemonic based around a different word that encompasses what we can all do to use those resources to best advantage. Fame awaits your efforts in the next, and maybe the last, issue of Milepost. Peter Scott
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BSS CERTIFICATION CONSULTATION The Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) is running a consultation, which will affect boats seeking BSS certification from 2019. The proposals include a mandatory requirement to have suitable Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarms in good condition in suitable locations on boats with accommodation. BSS is a safety initiative to help minimise the risk of boat fires, explosions, or pollution harming boats on the inland waterways. Most navigation authorities require boating customers to have a BSS Certificate. The changes will affect all classes of examination, private boats, boats used for day or period hire and the Non-private Boat Standards (2002). If the proposals are implemented, checks for alarms will begin in April 2019. The IWA is fully supportive of this initiative. The intended benefits include:
helping prevent CO poisoning of people and their pets aboard boats
helping protect first-responders, emergency services, BSS examiners, waterways staff or other workers on, or in the immediate vicinity of the boat
preventing death or injury to boat owners placed at risk in their own boats from running the boat's engines or appliances
making craft occupants aware of moderate levels of CO which can be a longterm threat to health if left undetected
helping prevent CO poisoning fatalities and injuries to tenants on boats who may be at higher risk from CO poisoning. There is a list of CO alarms recommended as suitable for boats and a guide to best practice placement in the CO Safety on Boats leaflet available on the BSS website,
https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org Suitable smoke alarms are already mandatory for boats with overnight accommodation offered for self-drive leisure hire. Boaters are encouraged to respond to the consultation by Friday 9th November 2018. Find out more about the proposals and make comments on the Boat Safety Scheme website https://tinyurl.com/bss-consult
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NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Hello All, Hope you have all enjoyed the warm summer weather on the canals and your boating exploits were not too curtailed by the lack of water. Elsewhere in this issue we have a report of boating on tidal waters - lack of water was not a problem there. This copy of the Milepost is rather thin perhaps more contributions from readers would have helped. We have a lack of volunteers to take over the job of editor. This does not have to be just one person - an editorial team might make the job more palatable? In any case the next edition, January, will be the last one under my editorship so let’s make it a good one. Please let me have contributions by 20 December. Regards, Elaine Scott, Editor
NEW IWA MERCHANDISE
Are you wearing the new logo yet? Just the thing for Christmas presents. New this year are t-shirts and caps. The burgees are available in three colours; you could have one of each!
Items can be found at IWAShop.com along with polo shirts, sweatshirts, fleeces and waterproof jackets.
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FESTIVALS OF WATER IWA's August Bank holiday festivals nowadays the Festival of Water - this year revisited the Great Ouse at St Neots, eleven years since our previous Festival st St Ives. The traditional illuminated boat procession filled the walkways of the main river bridge, and this was followed by a firework dislplay put on by the local council. At least two of the days were dry!
The site from the bridge at St. Neots
The announcement of the 2019 Festival of Water at Waltham Abbey on the River Lee followed some passionate debate on
why we have a roving festival and what it achieves for IWA and our campaigning for the Waterways. We compared our current efforts with that first Festival at Market Harborough in 1950 (which had some of its own passionate debates), and some of the attractions were very different from today's. My Illustrious Namesake, then an IWA Vice-President, was for that Festival both thespian and philanthropist. Aickman wrote that Peter Scott, with mad impulsiveness, had guaranteed a
One of the new gazeebos
Visitors enjoy the food in the food court
play, Springtime for Henry with performances on five successive evenings, against loss, for a substantial sum. Having recruited the three professional actors, Barry Morse, Carla Lehmann, and Nicolette Bernard. Peter Scott. said he would like to have a try at the remaining part himself. Peter had never acted before, though he was good at reciting 'The Hunting of the Snark' and at singing American railroad ballads. "Peter's extraordinary capacity for excelling almost immediately at everything he undertakes, emerged even in this unusual context". Then there was
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FESTIVALS OF WATER the conducted tour of the corset factory ("too uniformly pink" wrote Aickman), and the member who charged a shilling to see around his boat. For comparison, it seems that St Neots own lingerie / corset factory closed long ago, and its building was demolished around 1997, and I could match neither the acting nor the moneyraising. By happenstance, until the 1990 Festival in Gloucester Docks, the Peter Scott Challenge Trophy was awarded to the boat covering the greatest distance to the festival on salt water.
Enjoying the boats
Our travels to that festival included only a short wait at Upper Lode Lock on the River Severn for the last effect of the tide to disperse, and our trip this year (page 8) was only the second since then. The trip to St Neots also requires a short tidal passage from Salter's Lode to Denver (page 9). Peter Scott
Interesting moorings
Wrgies at work and at rest
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A PHOTOGRAPHIC QUIZ ... in a copy of Mile Post last year you included a photo of me and the nb Smeaton Stanley Previously you included a photo of me (Paul Jowitt) up a ladder "surveying" (checking the corrosion/rust!) a canal bridge (later identified as being at Wood Lane - Battyeford Toll. And now replaced). Going through some old letters/ emails from the engineer I worked with at the time (Brian Hutchinson of Husband & Co) and came across a couple more photos which might be of interest. They date from early 1969
I wonder if members can tell me where they were taken?
I can tell you that the BWB Bargee is Frank York of Mirfield. The trestle amidships was a "working platform" to assist with the bridge inspections. Health and Safety...!!! Paul Jowitt
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MORE MUSINGS ON C&RT Structural problems in the Wakefield area When BWB was turned into C&RT, problems seemed to be cured more quickly. But maybe the new broom is getting tired. We have had a section of collapsed kerb at the approach to a lock replaced in recent weeks - with concrete rather than traditional stone. It had been broken for several years and it became so much of a feature of the landscape that they had fixed railings around it. However even I was surprised when a workman told me it had first been reported 12 years ago.
Geoff Auty
Water Resource problems Until the Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals were restored, all the North East Region navigations were river fed and water management was not an issue, the Leeds & Liverpool being under North West Region control. Under the recently introduced regime I trust that C&RT have addressed that but it still leaves the matter of how the supply to the summit pounds will be apportioned. It is only human nature that whichever side has control there will be a tendency to favour their own ‘patch’ to the detriment of one side or the other. A long time ago BW had a national list of its intended water supply studies. The Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals were some way down that list but, if C&RT is continuing that work, by now they should be near the top. I wondered what is the present position? Provision of Mooring Rings on Improved towpaths Boaters on most canals have been able to moor almost anywhere that it is possible to do so, irrespective of whether there are designated moorings. Hard surfacing may make it impossible to drive in mooring spikes and in such circumstances the provision of rings should be an integral part of any surfacing scheme. It is not good enough to fail to do so and then plead budget constraints as a reason for not installing them retrospectively. Where third party funding is available that should contribute to the initial costs. Keith Noble
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new York Area Incident Room
The Environment Agency has opened a new York Area Incident Room at Foss House, an office block alongside the River Foss, which itself was marooned when the river burst its banks in late 2015 and flooded hundreds of homes. The Agency says staff will be better prepared than ever before to coordinate the response when rivers such as the Foss, Ouse, Wharfe and Derwent are at risk of flooding. They will receive a feed of live data Sam Parkhouse, EA Flood Resilience Officer on river levels and flows from monitoring stations across North and Picture Frank Dwyer East Yorkshire, and they will be aided for the first time by footage streamed in from a drone. Flood resilience officer Sam Parkhouse said the experts would be contracted to fly the drone over flooded neighbourhoods, which might otherwise be difficult to access. Staff will be able to make decisions on a wide range of issues, including whether to issue flood warnings, close sluices and penstocks, install demountable flood defences, bring in temporary pumps and lower the Foss Barrier to help prevent the river flooding. They will also liaise with emergency services and local authorities to help them deal with the impact of flooding. The room uses an ‘incident management portal,’ which was established after a review of the agency’s mapping capabilities in the wake of the 2015 floods had identified the need to improve how data was acquired, shared, and used. “The portal provides access to a variety of information to improve situational awareness for incident room staff,” Sam said. “This can include images, data and live feed video from field staff and drones. “Staff in the field can use an app to upload images and information about an incident area and the sophisticated technology can then be used to look at potential options to help resolve the situation.” The room can deal with more than just floods; being able to tackle problems caused by drought - for example the recent deaths of fish in the River Foss in York, caused by low oxygen levels - and pollution incidents. The opportunity to create a new incident room had come about after the agency had moved its entire regional base from Coverdale House at Clifton Moor to Foss House, where it shares accommodation used by Defra staff. Information from The Environment Agency
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OPEN MEETINGS Friday 12 October - Braunston Pickle
Braunston Pickle are a folk duo who specialize in waterways songs, both humourous and serious and play a variety of instruments. They have entertained the masses at many canal events including Cavalcade, the Braunston show and the IWA Festivals of Water . Friday 9 November - A Year in the Chair and Plans for the Future
Ivor Caplan, became IWA National Chairman in October 2107 after having served for many years in various posts in the organisation which he joined in 1975.
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2018 - 2019 OPEN MEETINGS South Pennine Boat Club, Wood Lane, Mirfield WF14 0ED
7.30 pm to 9:30 pm FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER 2018 “Braunston Pickle” A musical evening courtesy of one of our members Barbara Bridge See page 19
FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2018 “A Year in the Chair and Plans for the Future” IWA National Chairman Ivor Caplan See page 19
FRIDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2019 Keith Noble Title to be announced
AGM TO BE HELD AT FERNS WHARF FRIDAY 8 MARCH 2019 C&RT Regional Director Seán McGinley Followed by AGM All the meetings organised by the West Riding Branch are Open and everyone is invited. We are delighted to welcome any member of the general public and members are encouraged to bring their friends. To find out more about the waterways or the IWA come and join us at one of our meetings or visit the website http://www.waterways.org.uk Closing date for contributions for the next issue 20 December 2018 Contributions can be hand written, typed or in electronic format. Pictures can be prints or digital. Please send to Editor: Elaine Scott 3,Moorbank Drive, Sheffield, S10 5TH elaine.scott@waterways.org.uk
The views expressed in this publication are published as being of interest to our members and readers and are not necessarily those of The Inland Waterways Association or of its West Riding Branch. The Inland Waterways Association Registered in England no 612245 Registered as a Charity No 212342 Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA Tel: 01494 783453
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