Lichfield Branch

Brownhills Festival and Huddlesford Festival

As well as the Festival of Water being in our area there is the Brownhills Festival in August (19th/20th) and in September the Huddlesford Festival (23rd to 24th) both organised by Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust (L&H). There will be an IWA stand at Brownhills promoting the Festival of Water and a Lichfield Branch sales and recruitment stand at Huddlesford. If anybody can assist at either of these events it would be of great help.

Please contact Helen on helen.whitehouse@waterways.org.uk or phone 01543 491161.

A Towing Job

Some of our volunteers were in action in April, helping fellow member Neil Barnett to move his stricken narrowboat from Kings Bromley Marina to Great Haywood to have a new engine installed.

Many of you know about Neil and wife Christine’s regular exploits in their narrowboat on some of our more challenging waterways, and his particular penchant for tidal estuaries. Unfortunately their Severn Estuary trip last year was probably the final straw for his beleaguered 28 year old BMC 1.8 engine.

As Neil says “It’s done nearly 14,000 hours, half of which the previous owners had accrued.” “We’ve cruised most of the canal system and rivers, the whole length of the Manchester Ship Canal, the River Mersey, the Ribble Link, Thames Tideway through London (twice), and the Tidal Trent and River Ouse, plus a few other rivers, so we’ve worked the ‘old girl’ hard over the years”.

Ironically, and thankfully, their engine finally expired on the calm waters of the Trent & Mersey at Wolseley Bridge, and they managed to limp back to their berth in Kings Bromley Marina before the engine gave up completely.

Neil joked “I’m so glad it didn’t pack up last year when we were in the Bristol Channel because I don’t think the French customs officers would have taken too kindly to us arriving over there without our passports!”