Bear Essentials Issue 36

BEAR ESSENTIALS The Newsletter of : -

IWA Warwickshire Branch Issue No. 36 – April 2013.

Editorial

Our Spring/Summer Programme Talks at The Sports Connexion, Leamington Road Ryton-on-Dunsmore,Coventry,CV8 3FL

 Wednesday 10th April, 7.30 pm “Wildlife on Warwickshire waterways”, Peter Sanders of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust explores the wildlife of the county’s canals & highlights some of the conservation work with which the Trust is involved.  Wednesday 8th May, 7.30pm “Canal holidays 50 years ago”, Roger Butler uses archive photographs from the 50s & 60s to tell the story of cruising aboard the first hotel boats.

Walks

 Sunday April 21st Meet 10.30 am Over Basin near Gloucester on the H&G Canal. Walk to inspect recent restorations and the Llanthony lock.  Saturday May 25th Meet 10.30 am at free car park at the picnic site on Warwick Road, Stratford on Avon.  Wednesday 12 June Meet 7.30 pm by the Canal Bridge near the Folly Inn Napton for a walk up Napton Flight. th

 Wednesday 10 July Meet 7.30 pm at Hatton Top Lock Car park.

Bring your own Picnic/Barbeque. th

 Saturday August 18th Meet 10.30 am at the layby on the Tamworth Road, Lichfield for a walk along the Lichfield and Hatherton canal to see the recent restorations. th

****CANAL CLEAN-UP SUNDAY 12 MAY**** Meet 10.00 am at the Tesco moorings by Emscote Road Bridge 46. CRT will provide equipment.

This winters meetings have continued to be well supported. In January we had a very enjoyable “Xmas” meal at the Tom of the Wood in Rowington. In February, we were grateful to Mick Clowes of the Melton and Oakham Waterways Society for stepping in at the last moment with a very informative talk on the Wreake Navigation. If you are able to attend, I am sure that the IWA Leicester Branch will give you a warm welcome to their walk along part of the Wreake Navigation taking place place at th 7pm on Thursday 9 May. Full details will be found at: https://www.waterways.org.uk/leicestershire. In March the AGM was followed by an interesting talk on the Avon Navigation by Clive Matthews detailing plans to make the navigation even more enjoyable with extra mooring and improved flood management.

Sue Roy

2013 -2014 committee details Chairman Secretary Treasurer Membership Secretary Minute Secretary Committee Member

Richard Sanders Tina Jackson Anthony Davies Greta Russell Muriel Richardson Ian Jackson

Tel: 01926 403179 Tel: 01788 891545 Tel: 02476 442701

Committee Member Carole Nicholson Branch Email: warwickshire@waterways.org.uk

There are a number of jobs which the branch needs help with:  Walk Leaders – Choose a local waterways walk about 3 to 4 miles long and offer to lead the walk.  Assist in planning a talks programme and booking speakers  Assist with publicising branch activities  Assist with organising Work Parties  Obtain CRT authorisation to use selected powered tools such as hedge trimmers You don't need to serve on the committee but you will need

to work with the committee. If you would like to help please contact richard.sanders@waterways.org.uk Work Party Report – By Carole Nicholson

Lapworth Towpath Taskforce CRT have arranged for regular volunteer teams to work around Lapworth junction. Volunteers from IWA and local communities rd work on the 3 Thursday & Saturday each month. We have picked up litter, resurfaced towpaths, cleared overgrown towpaths, painted lock gates, bridges & railings, put up fences & bird boxes and assisted a boat backwards up 13 locks! If this appeals to you, why not join us so there is no interruption to activities during the holidays. We meet at 10am at the CRT building at Lapworth. Steve Lambert, CRT, supplies coffee & cake so just bring lunch if you want to do both morning & afternoon sessions.

Hatton Clearance Last year our branch decided to clear the offside path between Hatton locks 32-36 where the lock chambers are on the nontowpath side. A number of members spent several days clearing brambles and hawthorn bushes to re-establish a passage way making working the locks easier. Positive feedback was received from boaters when they read the notices identifying that Warwickshire branch was responsible.

This year, Steve Lambert of CRT agreed to support us by providing hedge trimmers and a variety of hand tools to widen the path and make it easier to manage and use. Five days of variable weather but great enthusiasm from a team of our members resulted in widening the original pathway to two metres and extending it to below lock 31.There is still more to do, but the nesting season is now upon us, so hedge clearance has to stop. However, we hope to strim these sections through the summer to control regrowth.

Bear in Mind:

Notes from the chairmen.

EX-CHAIRMANS REPORT Many of you will have heard by now that, after 3 years in the post, I have resigned as Chairman but remain active as a committee member. Technically the branch chairman, secretary and treasurer are elected annually at the first committee meeting following the branch AGM, but in practice the lack of “new blood” means that principal branch officers frequently remain in post for many years. Had I been younger I would have been willing to stay for longer. I am delighted however that with no volunteers to replace me Richard Sanders has agreed to take on the job and I wish him every success – or should I say my commiserations?

My last official duty, outside the Branch, as chairman was to attend the West Midlands IWA Region AGM, hosted this year by Stoke on Trent Branch (now renamed The South Cheshire and North Staffordshire Branch in a resolution put before their own branch AGM on the same night). Many of you will remember with sadness the recent passing of John Bedingfield.

West Midlands Region was presented with a restored early IWA car radiator badge, mounted on a wooden plinth, which it decided will be awarded annually in his memory to the branch recruit recruiting the most new members in the previous year. Fittingly (John being a former Warwickshire Branch Chairman) our branch won the award in its first year of presentation and it fell to me to receive it on our behalf. My grateful thanks go to all of you who have pulled together during my chairmanship to make the Branch so successful, culminating last Autumn in us winning the Branch Achievement Award and now this Regional Trophy.

Over now to our new Chairman, Richard, for his thoughts on the coming summer and beyond.

Ian Jackson NEW CHAIRMANS REPORT My thanks go to Ian Jackson for leading us for the last three years and I know that the wide knowledge and experience which he has gained over the years will continue to be invaluable to the committee. So who is replacing Ian? I've served on your branch committee for the last 4 years, as programme secretary for the last three.

My earliest recollection of boating is on the river Crouch in Essex, aged four and fishing for pouting with my father. He owned a series of boats including one clinker built boat with a small cabin. Having to clear the propeller of weed a mile out to sea in the Thames estuary is not an experience I want to repeat. Moving to Warwickshire, I thought we had left boating behind; indeed we had for a while, apart from the occasional walk along the GU. However in 1990, needing a holiday in which our teenage children would join in enabling us to see parts of Warwickshire we had not yet visited, we hired the William Jessop from Magpie Line in Nuneaton and completed the Warwickshire ring including leaving my daughter at the helm, but stranded aground in one of the pounds on the Aston flight. A few years later we hired again and by the end of the holiday my wife, Jackie and I had agreed a long term goal of owning a narrowboat. Colleagues at work introduced the concept of shared ownership and we soon obtained a share in Scimitar. On retiring I spent fifteen months searching for a 'go anywhere' semitrad narrowboat with an internal airdraft of 6'6”.(you will realise the combination of that airdraft and the Froghall Tunnel presents a problem). The search resulted in Mad Hatter, with 500 hours on the clock. It should now read 5000 (if the display worked) but we have travelled to the four corners of the interconnected system and are endeavouring to complete the task of visiting it all - just 200 miles to go – but they keep restoring old bits!

Now back to branch business. As you can see the committee numbers are much reduced so we will be relying on others to run or assist with branch activities. I have included a list of jobs to be found overleaf.

Last year, the weather played a big part in how much the waterways were used and enjoyed, and it looks set to have an impact this year. The continuing cold weather has meant that many boaters are behind in their maintenance and the high water table will mean that when cruising, particularly on rivers, they will need to pay close regard to the rainfall over the catchment areas.

Last Novembers talk from Adam Comerford of CRT demonstrated the extremes we experienced and how CRT manage the water supply. We were assured that we would not have a drought in 2013.

The weather also played a part in branch activities. A dedicated group of members led by Nick and Carole Nicholson, have managed to clear a wide path on the offside between the Ugly and Middle bridges on Hatton flight despite the cold and s snowy weather. Unfortunately we were unable to continue our successful clean-up of the G U canal through Warwick on 24th March due to snow. This has now been rescheduled to Sunday, May 12th. CRT will support this clean-up with equipment and a boat to transport the rubbish, bikes and trolleys away. Why not invite a friend along to give a hand? Events like these are a good opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the waterways and to interest others. During the summer we shall be running a lock ransom at Lapworth Junction plus attending the Stratford-upon-Avon River Festival. I would encourage you all to support these events by attending or helping.

Richard Sanders The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed here in this newsletter, but encourages its publication as a matter of interest.

Nothing herein may be construed as a matter of policy, or an official announcement, unless otherwise stated. The Association accepts no liability for any material contained herein. Editor :

Sue Roy, Phone :The IWA is a registered charity ( No. 212342 ), founded in 1946. Supported by donations & members’ subscriptions, it campaigns for conservation, use, maintenance, restoration, & development of the inland waterways of Great Britain - for the benefit of all.

Registered & General Office: - Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, Herts. HP5 1WA. Phone: 01494 - 783 453.

46 The Butts, Warwick, CV34 4ST 01926 – 49 78 45.

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