July 2021
Lincoln - works complete. See page 15
From the East Midlands Region of the Aegre 160 - July 2021 Page 1
Aegre is published © 2021 by the East Midlands Region Committee of the Inland Waterways Association for members of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Branches.
Chairman
David Pullen, 43 Howell Road, Heckington, Sleaford. Lincs NG34 9RX Tel: 01529 460547
Vice-Chairman
Dave Carnell, Conifer Cottage, North End, Goxhill DN19 7JX Tel: 01469 530138
Leicestershire Branch Chairman
Andrew Shephard, 41 Roman Road, Birstall, Leicester, LE4 4BB. E: andrewshephard1946@gmail.com
Lincolnshire Branch Chairman
Contact David Pullen (as above).
Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Branch Chairman
Contact David Pullen (as above).
Member & WRG rep.
John Baylis, 215 Clipstone Rd West, Forest Town, Mansfield NG19 0HJ Tel: 01623 621208
Editor for Aegre: Peter Hill, 7 Lock Keeper’s Way, Louth LN11 0GQ E-mail: aegre.editor@waterways.org.uk Printing: Colour Image Loudwater. Despatch: Branch Volunteers. Picture credits: Front cover; Jonathan Ryan - Fosdyke and Witham Boaters. Others; see page 23.
Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Registered as a Charity No: 212342. Tel: 01494 783453. Website:
http://www.waterways.org.uk Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the East Midlands Region. They are published as being of interest to our members and other readers. The inclusion of any advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the IWA East Midlands Region or any of its Branches. Dates and times of events may change and should be checked before travelling.
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Summer Mountsorrel. Photo David Tip from Unsplash
Aegre
No. 160 July 2021
Contents Canal Societies and Trusts in the EM Region The Editor’s Flotsam and Jetsam From the Region Chair - Grant Review Boston to Peterborough (B2P) Wetland Corridor. News from Leicestershire Shardlow Inland Port Friars Mill - Friars Mess? Cranfleet Cut Mooring Lincolnshire Jottings Journals Received Erewash Canal News from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Grantham Canal Society Trent and Mersey Canal Paddle Boards Ahoy Derby and Sandiacre Canal Chesterfield Canal Trust Cromford Canal Picture Credits Old Union Canals Society Aegre 160 - July 2021 Page 3
4 5 6 8 10 12 12 13 14 15 15 16 18 19 19 21 22 23 23 23
Canal Societies and Trusts in the EM Region
Ancholme Rivers Trust
Gail Copson, 21 Maple Close, Brigg, North Lincs. DN20 9JE. Tel: 07769 950589.
Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society
Chris Madge, c/o 62 Broadway, Duffield, Derby DE56 4BU Tel: 07827 946444 www.derbycanal.org.uk
Erewash Canal P & D
Norman Cornwell, 38 Millfield Road, Kimberley, Notts. NG16 2LJ Tel: 0115 8544155 Mobile 07854 451183 www.ecpda.org.uk (note the change)
Association
Foxton Inclined Plane Trust
Friends of Charnwood Forest Canal
Foxton Canal Museum, Middle Lock, Gumley Road, Market Harborough LE16 7RA Tel: 0116 2792657 www.fipt.org.uk
Mike Handford, 1 Sheepy Close, Hinckley, LE10 1JL Tel: 01455 611508 mahandford@gmail.com
Friends of the Cromford Canal
Judy Berry, 5 Hambling Close, Nottingham NG6 7DX Tel: 0115 854 9852. www.cromfordcanal.org
Grantham Canal Society
Mike Stone, 7, Crow Park Drive, Burton Joyce, Nottingham NG14 5AS; Tel: 0115 931 3375 www.granthamcanal.com
Louth Navigation Trust
Paula Hunt, Navigation Warehouse, Riverhead, Louth LN11 0DA Tel: 01507 605496 www.louthcanal.org.uk
Melton & Oakham Waterways Society
Michael Clowes, tel: 01509 414140, e-mail: lindandmick@btinternet.com www.meltonwaterways.co.uk
Old Union Canals Society
Jean Bourne, 2 Nithsdale Crescent, Market Harborough, LE16 9HA tel: 01858 461483
Sleaford Navigation Trust
Steve Hayes, 10 Chelmer Close, N. Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 8TH Tel: 01522 689460 www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk
Trent and Mersey Canal Society
Margaret English, 10 Long Lane, Middlewich, Cheshire CW10 0BL. Tel: 01606 834471 www.tamcs.org.uk
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The Editor’s Flotsam and Jetsam Perhaps now at last it will be possible to do a bit of forward planning, and publish details of events going on around the Region with reasonable hope of them going ahead. So we have included much of what you would normally find in terms of dates and venues, both for regular meetings, and for specials, for the Branches and the various Trusts and Societies around the Region. Do please support them if you possibly can, as they are all a bit short of support at the moment, not to mention funds. While “not going out” over the past few months, like many others I have been spending time reading, and in particular various canal-related magazines and journals. I have admired the resourcefulness of the various editors, who have managed to fill their pages with interesting stuff, in spite of having very little in the way of real events to report. This applies to both the professional publications like Towpath Talk and Canal Boat, and the magazines of Canal Societies like “Cuckoo”, “Portal”, and “Packet”. Let me add very quickly here that I carefully avoided the word “amateur”, because these publications are really well and professionally
produced from initial editing to printing quality. Because of the “unprecedented situation” all of their content has been different from the usual, with subjects falling broadly into things like “industrial archaeology” and the history of the canals; walks beside them; planning problems and solutions; the eternal problems with someone wanting to build houses in the way of your canal route; and even cookery. But the result has been worth while, in this writer’s opinion. This time here we have a report which falls into the category of “boring but important”. Please have a careful look at David’s summary of the Defra/CRT review on page 6. There are also our usual reports from around the Region, and some encouraging plans for the future. For example the Grantham Society is looking for volunteers to join from the Nottingham area to progress new plans at that end of the canal - see page 18. Hoping as always for more and better things this year and next, best wishes, Peter
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From the Region Chair - Grant Review Canal and River Trust (CRT) Grant Review Defra and CRT have jointly announced the terms of reference for a review of the grant terms from Defra which apply up to June 2027. Some key points in the present grant agreement are: an annual core grant of £39m., a conditional grant of £10m., and income from the Investment Assets Portfolio (current assets valued at £850m). The conditional grant is likely to be the most vulnerable part of the agreement as it is based on three key performance indicators: safety of the waterways; towpath condition (for public access); flood management . The full document may be viewed and downloaded at: https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/canal-river-trustgrant-review/terms-of-reference. Assuming that you are not finding it difficult to sleep right now (!) I have extracted several key paragraphs from the document, (actually it is a very clear, concise and well written document!). The first part is a reminder of the key objectives of moving British Waterways into the present CRT Charitable Trust status: Page 6 Aegre 160 - July 2021
i) To reduce dependence on government grant and to foster increasing self-sufficiency, by providing access to new charitable income streams and stimulating new efficiencies. Over time, to increase overall funding available for the waterways. A prerequisite for this is to support the viability of the Trust – especially in its early days - and so minimise the risk that government has to intervene to take responsibility for the waterways from the Trust ii) To move the long-term cost of maintaining the inland waterways and associated heritage infrastructure (estimated at around £4 billion in nominal net present value terms) from the public sector to civil society iii) To support localism and give waterways’ users and communities greater involvement in the management and long-term sustainability of the waterways iv) To safeguard the canals and associated heritage infrastructure through the Trust Settlement, in perpetuity, for the benefit of the nation, free pedestrian access to the towpaths
v) To ensure that the waterways continue to deliver and increase public benefits across the areas of: public safety; public access, recreation, amenity and health; environment; urban and rural regeneration; heritage. Broad Review In addition to reviewing past and current performance, Defra and the Trust have agreed that the third component will consider the extent to which the strategic context has evolved since 2012 and /or is likely to evolve in the future. This may include consideration of any future funding arrangement for the Trust within a wider strategic context, including but not limited to: the role of the waterways in society; the government’s broader policy objectives and priorities; long-term recovery from, and impact of Covid-19; and /or through the identification of new or obsolete benefits. Defra may choose to consider the grant review within a wider strategic context regarding other inland waterways and/or navigation authorities including the Environment Agency. The review will be evidence based and will draw on material from a wide range of sources. Defra and the Trust have agreed that evi-
dence sources will include (but are not limited to): data and information the Trust already holds (for example, asset registers, financial records, customer surveys, environmental monitoring records etc); existing or newly commissioned study data or metrics gathered by the Trust, including the Trust’s Outcomes Measurement Framework; independent analysis, assurance, technical surveys and assessments, financial and commercial advice, research and data collection; other advice, evidence, expertise and testimonial (that may also be drawn from customers, the public, stakeholders, independent experts and other government departments). This last point clarifies that IWA, and all other committed waterways stakeholders, will be able to make their evidence, views and opinions known directly to Defra. Closing date for this is September 2021 but the exact date is not yet confirmed. Anyone making an individual submission is advised to read the whole document to ensure your evidence is directed to the correct Defra department. The review will be published on or before 1 July 2022. David Pullen
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Boston to Peterborough (B2P) Wetland Corridor. We are working towards publishing a condensed version of the B2P business case to be able to get the attention of planners, councillors and politicians. Our aim is to emulate the excellent strategy publication that Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust (B&MKWT) have produced. This is seen as a complementary project to complete a new northsouth navigable waterway link. We are also actively promoting the opportunities that the proposed South Lincolnshire Reservoir offers to B2P in potentially creating connections between some Lincolnshire rivers for open channel water transfer to the new reservoir. On 5th July three outline design options were published by Anglian Water and their partners. All three options are for a reservoir close to or alongside the Black Sluice Navigation (BSN). Two of these options would
include a new channel linking the BSN to the River Glen near Guthram Gowt. IWA’s main contention is that the new reservoir should emulate both Rutland Water and Grafham Water in providing wide benefits to the public in terms of amenity, wildlife, water sports and outdoor leisure in general. For example, the rapidly burgeoning watersport activity of stand-up paddle boarding is supported at Rutland and Grafham. Covenham Reservoir near Louth is an existing example of a lowland reservoir where the water supply is by open channel transfer from the Louth Canal. On 21st June Lincolnshire Branch joined with Louth Navigation Trust (LNT) to visit Covenham reservoir and water treatment works as guests of Anglian Water. Approximately 20 visitors from IWA, LNT, and several key members of the South Lincolnshire Water Partnership were given a comprehensive tour of the Covenham site. Undoubtedly the highlight (and most scary!) part was going under the reservoir to below the draw-off tower with circa 9m depth of water above! A full report of this visit will appear in the August edition of
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Towpath Talk and with thanks to Janet Richardson, editor of Towpath Talk, for some of these pictures.
IWA and LNT members (socially distanced!) at Covenham (JR)
The reservoir (DP)
Louth Canal and open transfer channel connection (DP)
Feeder channel with reservoir intake pumps at the far end. (DP)
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News from Leicestershire SOCIAL GATHERINGS: Covid is still a bit of an issue. I dare say that most of the branch members that routinely attend our social meetings will have been double-jabbed by now, and may even have been triple-jabbed by the time we get to October. We have not yet arranged anything, but we are still hopeful that we can start again with social gatherings in the Autumn.
soon. The legal agreements have also been fairly protracted, but CRT say that they are making good progress and anticipate that they will be signed off around the time that the pre-commencement conditions are worked through. No definite timescale on this unfortunately, the hope is that they will be on site by October. In the meantime, the dredging team will be dredging the area around Lime-Kiln Lock, to be completed by September.
MEMORY LANE WHARF: Progress has been slow with further hoops to jump through regarding the moorings. Planning was approved with a list of precommencement conditions which CRT are working through and hope to have them discharged
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EVERARDS MEADOW: The towpath around Aylestone Meadows and around Blue Bank Bridge has been resurfaced up to where the new visitor moorings, just to the south of Blue Banks
Lock, between bridges 102 and 101, will be located. The bollards are on order and are to go in soon. There will be some new signage also, and this will give boaters a good stopping point to visit Everards Meadow. Photo left: The resurfaced towpath for new Blue Banks visitor moorings (Photo - Alan Leather, CRT) These new visitor moorings were a CRT initiative, in consultation with Blaby District Council. As I said last time, the IWA were asked to advise on the location and practicalities of the moorings, which we were delighted to do.
BIRSTALL LOCK Picture above from AS. CRT appear to have completed their work on the approach to the lock, but seem to have forgotten to put in any bollards. Hopefully, they are also ‘on order’. That’s it for this issue. Hope everyone stays well, and that those of you who are boaters have managed to get out and are having an enjoyable year on the waterways. See you in October, hopefully! Andrew Shephard, Chairman, Leicestershire Branch
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Friars Mill - Friars Mess? Here is the most recent CRT notice about the, once much vaunted, Friars Mill moorings: Due to the electric posts being smart meters, this unfortunately means that they cannot be used as visitor electric at this moment in time. The showers, which are not owned by the Canal & River Trust, are not available to boaters. There is no parking for boaters within the Friars Mill complex and the bins are for the use of the Friars Mill complex only. It is hugely disappointing that, after many years of gentle encouragement from IWA, there are still pretty much zero boater’s facilities in Leicester. The status of the water points is currently unclear. All negative and unhelpful and once again no encouragement whatsoever for boaters to stop in Leicester! DP
Shardlow Inland Port Shardlow Inland Port are planning a water-based festival on the week-end of September 11-12, all being well. The pubs are well on board, and planning includes boat trips along the Trent & Mersey, live music, a craft fair, car boot sale, a fun fair, horse ‘n’ cart display, beer tents, historic Shardlow exhibition, dog agility show, and of course teas and cakes. Opening times and other details were not available at the time of going to press, but details - and possible opportunities for other stalls - are available from Sue Hampson at <shardlowsue@icloud.com>
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Cranfleet Cut Mooring In a previous issue of Aegre we reported on a plan to improve the range of visitor moorings along the Cranfleet Cut opposite the Sailing Club. Now Robert Aspey reports: I finally managed to get a response from CRT about improving this site with additional mooring rings and associated repairs. From my conversation with CRT it looks like volunteer labour will be the only way of getting work like this done, as they are having to prioritise major works, and jobs like this, although important,, keep getting pushed to the back of the queue. I have therefore completed a CRT partner group form and CRT will arrange a date for a meeting on site to discuss this in more detail. We would be looking at something along the following lines: CRT supplying the mooring rings etc. and us supplying the labour. Will post updates as matters progress. Anyone interested in helping with this project please get in touch with Robert, or follow his Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/groups/267686390376240/
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Lincolnshire Jottings Light Weight Stop Logs. A 2 Person Operation! At their Riverhead base, the Louth Navigation Trust would like to offer occasional waterbased activities such as kayaking and paddle-boarding. At the moment the water is too shallow, and an increase of about 400mm would be needed for safe boating. Due to the tilting gate weir at the down-stream end of the pound not working, the present level is maintained by traditional wooden “stop logs”, which due to their weight are difficult to change. To increase the level by 400 mms, suitable for canoeing and paddleboarding another method was required, while the depth of water was agreed with the Environment Agency. Lightweight aluminium stop logs were available from IBS Engineered Products from Doncaster, and could be installed in a two person operation, using ropes to lower them into existing stop log grooves. Picture above. These Page 14 Aegre 160 - July 2021
proved successful and increased the water level using two stop logs each 200mm deep, giving the depth required. IBS produce flood defence structures and stop logs from single span (up to 6m) to centre supported systems. LNT Work Parties. Due to the unique barrel sided design of the locks on the Louth Navigation, and uncertainty about the way they were constructed, the Trust sought advice from IWA’s Technical Support Officer, Mikk Bradley, as to their internal structural make up. Prior to site visits Mikk studied a copy of a drawing sent from John Dyson to Sir Joseph Banks in 1788. See picture above. Following site visits to the listed locks at Ticklepenny and Alvingham, discussions between Mikk and LNT volunteers as to ways of carrying out necessary work took place. DC Pictures from Roger Subden.
Fosdyke works complete EA flood defence repairs at Lincoln on the Fosdyke Canal are now complete. Brayford Harbour management and the Brayford Belle trip boat are particularly grateful to the EA site personnel for their co-operation in allowing boat traffic to continue during the works - an arrangement brokered by Dave Carnell of IWA Lincolnshire Branch. The EA construction barge is seen on our front cover page leaving the site and heading to the Lincoln CRT yard to be dismantled. (photo by Jonathan Ryan - Fosdyke and Witham Boaters).
Erewash Canal Norman Caldwell reports that a very mundane but important topic has taken centre stage during the earlier part of this year. The new flushing toilets at Sandiacre Lock Cottage have finally been installed and are working. All being well the meetings at the Cottage will be resuming on the third Thursday of the month at 7.30pm. (Not in August) .All are welcome. A new website has been built and opened for business, www.ecpda.org.uk. Have a look to get their latest information.
Journals Received We are very pleased to acknowledge copies of journals, sometimes in PDF format, from various canal and river societies and trusts. They include “The Portal” from Friends of the Cromford Canal; “The Packet” from the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society; “The Cuckoo”, from the Chesterfield Canal Trust; “Sleaford Navigation Trust” journal; the “Melton and Oakham Newsletter”; “The Wharfinger” from Louth Navigation Trust; “The Bridge” from Grantham Canal Society; “Grand Trunk” from the Trent and Mersey Canal Society; “Union” from the Old Union Canal Society, and the “Easterling” from our Eastern neighbours the EAWA. Anyone interested in receiving a copy of one of these journals should contact the relevant address given on page 4. For “The Cuckoo” contact the editor at 22 Works Road, Hollingwood, Chesterfield S43 2PF. Aegre 160 - July 2021 Page 15
News from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Branch AGM and social meeting 6th October 2021 There is currently no branch committee despite there having been four well-attended meetings in 2019 -early 2020, at the new venue at the Clock Warehouse, Shardlow. We have arranged an AGM and social meeting for 7.30 on 6th October at The Clock Warehouse. N&D Branch members will receive a mail shot with this copy of Aegre, and a further email follow up (to those whose email addresses are held at IWA Chesham office). Please come along and be prepared to give a little of your time to form a N&D committee. At 8.15 there will be a presentation about the Stamford Canal by Ken Otter of the Stamford Canal Society. (see Aegre issue 158 page 16 for further information). Ken has “irrefutable” evidence that Stamford Canal precedes ALL others! So come along to see if he can convince you! We are also planning to have an IWA stand at the Shardlow Inland Port festival weekend on 11/12 September, and it would be great if N&D branch members could support this event as well. New plan for Island Quarter A significant new plan is being discussed for part of Nottingham, which could have implications for the canal through the city. The Island Quarter is an area to the north-east of the sharp turn made by the canal towards the south, going towards Meadow Lane Lock. It includes some derelict land, but also existing and relatively new buildings. Think of a roughly rectangular area between Poplar Street in the north, the railway to the Page 16 Aegre 160 - July 2021
south, Manvers Street (or the A612) to the east and the canal and the A60 to the west (plans below). The plan is being put forward by Conygar Investment Company, and some work has already started. As part of the ongoing construction at Canal Turn, Sir Robert McAlpine installed a floating platform in the canal on 13 January for work north of Bridge 2. At the time of writing, contractors Land & Water are installing a capping beam to the new offside waterway wall which itself will support the new step-free access and associated pavilion building on the offside of the canal. It is interesting to compare the developer’s plan, left below, with the Google Earth image of the area, dated 2019. Pictures other than Google courtesy of Conygar Investment Company plc.
For more details, see https://www.theislandquarter.com/
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Grantham Canal Society Mike Stone reports: things are planned to happen from August onwards. Some preparatory work has begun at Woolsthorpe Depot for the construction of the barge slipway. The contributions received from our many supporters for this work have ensured that it is now fully funded and completion is planned for early spring next year. Volunteers are planning to undertake repairs to a number of culverts and other places with leaks along the canal. This work may commence before the autumn if site conditions permit and we receive final approval to the Canal & River Trust plans. To help us get tools and equipment to the various locations we are still trying to locate a suitable vehicle that we can afford. We thank those who have contributed to the ‘Van Fund’ but if you haven’t yet donated then now would be a good time for us please. The work to improve the canal heading west from Kinoulton by removing self-set trees and shrubs, which commenced before the start of the nesting season, will recommence in September. New activity will be started on the two miles of canal through the
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Cotgrave Country Park if we can encourage some new volunteers to join the Society. We are currently looking to develop a depot in the Rushcliffe area from which newly recruited volunteers can operate. For those living in or near Nottingham now is your chance to assist. Of course work will continue along the navigable lengths from Woolsthorpe to Grantham, where we have yet to restore the canal to the condition it was prior to the Covid lock-downs. Also we plan to undertake work on the weir at Denton to minimise the volume of water that is currently wasted over it. Spring 2022 will see work undertaken on the three restored locks at the top of the Woolsthorpe flight, which are showing their age, as two of them were originally restored thirty years ago. Looking further ahead we are planning the detailed restoration of Lock 13, our next major project. We need to undertake surveys to establish the strength of the current structure before determining how radical restoration will be. After that lock is completed there remains only Lock 12 of the Woolsthorpe flight, which we expect to be a complete rebuild, as were Locks 15 and 14.
Volunteers with surveying or construction experience would be most welcome during the planning process of these tasks. If you enjoy the benefits offered by the 30 miles of the Grantham Canal please consider giving us some practical support either by spending time as a volunteer or contributing to our restoration funds. Full details of both opportunities are found on our website www.granthamcanal.org Thank you all for your continued support for our canal.
Trent and Mersey Canal Their social programme, if you are near enough, is at The Red Bull Public House, Congleton Road South, Stoke-on-Trent, ST7 3AJ and the planned programme will hopefully continue on October 15th. Roger Evans reports: the new booking system for Harecastle Tunnel seems to be working well. Mornings are still “turn up and queue for guaranteed passage”, but afternoons are now “pre-
book”. We booked a 2pm passage (as we knew we couldn’t arrive by midday), arrived a few minutes early, were told that we were the only boat booked and waved straight in. About 10 minutes later, another boat (presumably un-booked but allowed in as there was time) entered behind us. Finally, more good news, the original Middlewich Big Lock footbridge has been repaired and replaced, with the temporary one now being removed.
Paddle Boards Ahoy On 19th June Carolyn Smith from Burgh le Marsh, Lincolnshire completed her third 50km Stand Up Paddle (SUP) from Lincoln to Boston in her best time of under 11 hours, and in the process raised over £2,500 for various charities. Carolyn was supported by Boston’s Phil May, who is also the founder and principal trainer at Yellowbelly SUP. Paddle boarding is arguably the fastest growing water activity right now due to its low cost, simplicity and ease of getting afloat. Here is a list of some of the opportunities to try paddle boarding throughout our region: ● Boston Yellowbelly SUP, https://www.yellowbellysup.co.uk/
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● Tallington, Lincs (near Peterborough) http://www.tallington.com/water-activities/stand-up-paddleboarding-sup/ ● Leicestershire Windsurfing and SUP Club, Kings Lear Lake, Leicester. http://www.leicesterwindsurfingandsupclub.com/ ● Rutland Watersports https://anglianwaterparks.co.uk/rutlandwaterpark/watersports ● Colwick Park Nottingham. https://www.facebook.com/events/colwick-country-park/paddle-inthe-park-learn-to-paddle/1469873986383145/ ● Carsington Water, Derbyshire http://www.carsingtonwater.com/tasters Until I witnessed it at first hand I had no idea that many modern paddle boards aren’t “boards” at all, but rather they are mini inflatables that can be readily transported, thus making the activity even more accessible for young people. Carolyn and Phil are on inflatables on the river Witham, whilst at the bottom of the page are rigid boards at Carsington. DP
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Derby and Sandiacre Canal
Chris Madge reports: we have been delayed in the launch of Outram, the trip boat. The short explanation is that following legal advice the Council have decided that they need to create a Navigation Authority for the river and that we also need to prove that the operation will be safe and that we won’t damage any part of the bridges or other river structures. It is most frustrating to be delayed in this way, but they have now appointed someone to accelerate the issues and we have been given access to further funds to deal with the additional work. Will we launch this year? Watch this space. As a fall back we are considering working on the Erewash in the meantime.
As you’ll know all local authorities are keen to revitalise their city centres following the epidemic and Derby city is keen to open up the river as an attraction. We have been consulted at a high level and have proposed ideas included in the diagram above. We have a broad promise to fund a study by Atkins on these and other ideas and are hopeful that we may have a means to promote the lock through the Long Bridge weir. So watch this space, as it could mean a significant and very visible step forward in a few years time. Work is also still ongoing at Sandiacre to check the state of the lock walls. The more that Gary and David dig, with various helpers, the more issues seem to arise. However, we will overcome.
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Chesterfield Canal Trust Staveley Town Fund The major exciting activity at the moment is not related to mud and digging (yet) but to paper work associated with the plan for a scheme to restore the 2½ miles from Hartington to Renishaw. Chesterfield BC has given planning permission for this work, and it is provisionally allocated £5.68M from a fund of £25.2M awarded to Staveley from the Government Towns Fund. Provisionally because a Business Case has to be prepared covering strategic, economic and project management aspects in fine detail. Consultants have been engaged to help with this work, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Trip boats Our trip boats are currently running charters. We hope to be able to restart our public trips from July 19. Please keep an eye on our website for further information. Information Centre and Shop at Hollingwood Hub We would welcome anyone who would like to help. We are open virtually every day from 11 to 3. Please contact Rod Auton for more information.
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Water Sports at Hollingwood Hub We are hoping to expand our water-based activities over the summer with the provision of siton kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and a day-boat, all based at Hollingwood Hub. We are looking for volunteers who would be interested in helping to manage the scheme in the short term whilst it is getting established. It will initially start to operate at weekends. Experience of water sports would be helpful, but not essential, and full training for the role will be provided. If you are interested and can commit to one day a month, please contact Rod Auton for more information. Gardeners at Hollingwood Hub New gardening volunteers would be very welcome at Hollingwood Hub. We need members able to dig , fence paint, mow, strim, litter pick etc. There are lots of easy jobs to assist the hard-working team in catching up post lockdown. If you are interested or would like further information, please ring Jim Bower on 07899 755362.
Cromford Canal Volunteer efforts pay off Efforts to re-furbish Birdswood the trip boat were finally successful, and all being well the trips should be in progress again when you read this. An innovation, as far as we know, is an automated commentary system which notes the boat’s position from GPS, looks up a list of appropriate comments for the locality, and broadcasts them to the passengers. Leawood Pump and the High Peak Junction workshops should be open again. Beggarlee Progress John Boucher reports that nothing much has happened on the ground yet, but further progress is being made with the paper. All this still needs volunteers to process the various applications, and at the moment FCC are short-handed in ecology and habitat, forestry, landscaping, archaeology and geo-technical areas. To support all this activity more help on the publicity and fund-raising areas would be really valuable. Anyone willing to help could drop a mail to judyberry@gmail.com. Aqueduct Cottage Restoration of the cottage should be complete by the time you read this. A major work for all concerned.
Old Union Canals Society normally hold their monthly meetings in Great Bowden village hall (LE16 7EU) on the last Friday of the month at 7.30pm. For current information call Mary Matts on 0116 2792188.
Picture Credits We are most grateful to all of the following, who have contributed photographs or other illustrations to enhance this edition of Aegre: Andrew Shephard; Chris Madge; Michelle Hill, Eddie Case, Archie Roberts, Dave Carnell; David Collin; Robert Aspey; Rod Auton; Phil May; Carsington Water; Mel and Sue Sowerby; David Pullen; Jane Pollard; Mick Clowes; Alan Leather; David Pit; Malcolm Fielding, and as noted for specific articles. Aegre 160 - July 2021 Page 23
See page 12
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