The Packet Boat, September 2015

The Packet Boat September 2015

September 2015

The Newsletter of the the Chester and Merseyside Branch CHAIRMAN’S NOTES At the time of writing these notes it is half way through the summer but the activity with IWA matters still goes on. We have had several meetings with our partners for the 2016 Festival next year and I would emphasise that it will be taking place on the 10th, 11, and 12th June at the Eldonian Village site which was the same location as the IWA National Festival 1968. Our involvement with the Mersey River Festival, which takes place the week before, came about through the Liverpool City of Culture asking the Branch to be involved in organising an inland waterway presence in the Salthouse Dock. We may also be able to run an illuminated boat parade which could be seen to celebrate the bicentenary of the opening of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. On the same weekend is the Liverpool Boat Show and we are in consultation with CRT to work out the logistics of boat movement down the link to facilitate this, bearing in mind we have no control over the link bookings. The bookings for the Eldonian Village site along with the Festival Dinner are looking healthy even at this early stage and anyone proposing to come to Festival should get the booking form in now – we anticipate that we should be approaching maximum capacity about Christmas time. Festival Entry Forms are available from Mike Carter—email mike.carter@waterways.org.uk; or phone 07795 617803.)

The Tidal Level Gauge project, which is a legacy from the Chester National Campaign Festival last year, is progressing well with final assembly being undertaken by Peter and Yvette Askey from Taylor’s Yard in Chester.

I mentioned in the last magazine that we had put an entry in for the CRT ‘Living Waterways Awards’ based on the Tourism and Recreation category. We were pleased to receive an email advising that we had got through to the second round and would be assessed some time in June. This proved quite rigorous with two assessors spending the best part of a day with us and our other partners. The Chester Renaissance team provided a room in the Town Hall along with a buffet lunch and we gave several PowerPoint presentations along with a site visit. I am pleased to advise that there are 4 enhancement projects now authorised on the approach to Chester worth 1 million pounds and that gateway section will take on a dramatic improvement within a year. Having said all that, we found out via the CRT Press Release that we had not gone through to the final round of the Awards! Still, at least we tried.

Our first social get together will be on the 13 October at the NWM Ellesmere Port and it will be good to meet up with old friends and of course meet up with new ones. Our first speaker will be Ken Pye of Radio Merseyside fame and Gaven (membership secretary) will be letting you have more information about the evening in due course.

All for now and I hope you are all enjoying the summer.

Peter Bolt (Chairman)

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REGION CHAIRMAN’S REPORT A wise man once said, and if he didn’t he should have, that the purpose of history is to learn from the past and repeat what went right and avoid repeating what went wrong. As I probably get more things wrong than right, I tend to avoid looking back. Within the IWA there is an occasional tendency to look back too much as we have a long and glorious history, but the important thing is always to look forward to where we’re going.

The future is challenging for the IWA as we live in a rapidly changing world, especially as far as communicating is concerned. In my working life, things evolved from typewriters to telexes, faxes and then emails and we are now bombarded with information, news and opinions from all sides. The IWA must change and adapt, which is not easy for some of us. I personally am not a user of social media, but recognize that is has an important place in the today’s world, and if the IWA is to survive and prosper it must embrace this and other innovations, and those of us of a more mature age must try and adapt or make way for those who can. All of which leads into me breaking my own rule and looking back over the last six years since I became your Region Chairman in this my last piece in your magazines before I relinquish the post.

First let me say that it has been a pleasure and a privilege to hold that position, chiefly because I have made a lot of friends and met a lot of people I otherwise wouldn’t have. I’ve learned that the different branches in the region each has its own character and personality, dependent on the people who make it tick and that means that each branch is good at some things and not so good at others. The IWA nationally must and does recognize that and accept that a branch can only do what it is capable of doing and always remember that we’re all volunteers and will only do what we enjoy doing.

Over the last six years I suppose the biggest change to the waterways has been the transfer of most of the national system from British Waterways to the Canal and River Trust. Nationally we recognize that much of the system is still run by the Environment Agency and while we have agreement in principle that this will be transferred over to CRT, there is a long way to go to achieve the reality. That doesn’t directly affect our region but we do have in the middle of the patch the small matter of the Bridgewater and Manchester Ship Canals owned by a private company. I would love to get Peel and CRT talking about say linking the Weaver to the Bridgewater via the restored Runcorn Locks to make a circular cruising route.

I think we can all agree that the canals under CRT management are much better off than under the old BW, the condition of the track has improved, they are more engaged with restoration, there are fewer assets at risk of falling down and the more stable funding system has created more certainty. The organization has been compared with a tanker making a U turn, which takes some time and a lot of space but there has been a great improvement, not least in their preparedness to listen to and work with others.

All is not perfect yet; I was disappointed that the Press Release of their recent annual report claimed the HS2 realignment near Fradley as a victory for CRT without mentioning the initiative and joint working with the IWA on that project. The Montgomery restoration on the new length opened last year was referred to without giving credit to the work by Shropshire Union Canal Society, and there is a tendency to imply that CRT invented volunteering on the waterways. Our disappointment at this has been expressed at the highest level and let us hope the real partnerships that work together, both nationally and locally are not forgotten by the media men. We sometimes get criticized for working with CRT, but I wonder whether we’re supposed to query everything they do or work with them to get it right. I sit on the local CRT partnership and can reassure you that I do not just sit there and agree blindly with the utterances of CRT management, and to be fair to them, that’s not what they want.

So generally things are better than they used to be, but there are still things that need improving, both with CRT and with IWA, and I’ll carry on working towards them. You will have a new Region Chairman in Mike Carter after the AGM on September 26th, and I do hope a lot of you can make it there; I will stay on the Region Committee to help or hinder him, nationally I’m still on Finance committee, and I’ll stay active in my home branch, so I hope to carry on seeing you all.

So thanks very much for everything, keep up the good work, and see you around on the cut.

Alan Platt

As soon as you get your 2016 diary MARK OFF THE DATES

*** 10-11-12 JUNE 2016 *** This is the weekend of what promises to be one of the Branch’s most spectacular Festivals, to be held in Eldonian Village (just above Stanley locks), Liverpool.

Boat entry forms and full details available via the website at www.waterways.org.uk/chester/ chester_merseyside or via. email from mike.carter@waterways.org.uk or phone/text Mike on 07795617803.

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TWO-YEAR MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE “Have you ever considered enrolling a new member? Do you have an available membership form for when the opportunity arises?”

The opportunity could arise while you are cruising or bringing friends along to a social meeting to hear one of our excellent talks.

We do need new members so the Branch remains in a healthy position. At the IWA AGM last September it was highlighted that the membership numbers had recently plateaued with little or no change. So, Andrea and I (Branch Membership Secretaries) are setting you a challenge starting today.

The challenge is to see if you can sign up a new member during a two year period, YES, A TWO YEAR PERIOD – I would like to think that you can rise to this challenge and do your bit. Make it your IWA priority over the next two years.

To assist you I have enclosed a new member’s application in the newsletter. Sometimes getting someone involved and gaining a new member can be as simple as asking someone to join. If everyone did this we would have gained nearly 600 new members!

By engaging new members and getting them involved brings new and fresh ideas. They could be looking at things in a different light or have different ways of doing something due to them not being shown how it’s always been done.

So I'm asking all of you, in the coming two years, to be the voices for the IWA, doing a little to bolster membership numbers.

IWA National campaign Festival, Chester.

Chester and Merseyside Branch Work Party

Membership of the IWA is what makes it strong and can help everyone involved with the inland waterways, either through the towpath or on the water. Therefore membership recruitment has to be a priority to carry on the excellent work and campaigns of the IWA. Gaven and Andrea

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WHAT WAS THE IWA TALKING ABOUT 50 YEARS AGO ?

(Source: The IWA Bulletin No 75, November 1965) “New Waterways Report” On the 4th August 1968 IWA launched their “most important publication” called “New Waterways”. Apparently representatives of over 20 newspapers and press groups were there and the BBC gave it coverage on various radio and television programmes.

So what were the “New Waterways” that were being proposed?

“A new canal system be constructed to carry 1,350 ton capacity barges. This waterway, built on one level, 310 feet above sea level, would run from Preston, through Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Rugby and on to Hertford. There would be connections with the Rivers Lee, Trent, Weaver, and Severn. Birmingham would be served by two branch lines, at 310 feet, terminating at Brierly Hill and Erdington........ The system would be equipped with several giant boat lifts, at the junctions with rivers, and also current inducing mechanisms to transfer water from the wet north west to eastern parts of the country “....

An amazing proposal – which clearly never came to fruition but shows the “blue sky” thinking of the IWA leaders at the time.

Blackburn National Rally report “The main object of choosing Blackburn as the site of our 1965 National Rally of Boats was to foster resistance to the closure of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, or of any part of it, by British Waterways.”

The writer comments on the huge enthusiasm shown by BW staff for the event, turning out on duty at all hours and “feverishly tarring and painting gates and balance beams, and greasing swing bridges”.

The Rally also had three subsidiary sites, with 50 craft arriving in Chorley on 5th August and being greeted by the Mayor. Then all the boats converged on Blackburn the following day (130 craft in total) whilst 14 full length boats stayed at Lydiate, including “Friendship” which had been towed from Hawkesbury Junction!

We are also told that “over 300 members ... attended a highly enjoyable Dinner where a particularly valuable supporter of our cause emerged, in the shape of Mr Charles Fletcher-Cooke, QC, the MP for Darwen. “ Apparently Mr Fletcher Cooke said that the Association was “the most successful pressure group in British politics”. He also listed the “necessary qualities for success, all of which IWA has in a high degree: 1, Enthusiasm, 2, Money, 3, Great Organising Ability and 4, A good deal of bloody-mindedness.”

Following the Rally, 50 boats cruised the 17 miles to Burnley and were inspected by the Mayor of that borough.

The Committee were thanked for arranging a “varied programme of entertainment for the rally participants and the public, including brass bands and an excursion down a “delightfully primitive” coal mine and to Bronte country.”

Given that your Chester & Merseyside Branch committee are currently planning our 2016 Eldonian Village Canal Festival I am sure we can take some pointers from these early campaigning events. Clearly they were successful in that the British Waterways Board did not close the Leeds & Liverpool at that time although the section down into Liverpool did become a remainder waterway, leading to a further IWA National Rally at the top of Stanley Locks in 1968 !

Gillian Bolt

It should be noted that the views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the IWA. They are published as being of interest to our members and readers. The IWA is a registered charity No. 212342

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NEWS FROM THE SANKEY CANAL RESTORATION SOCIETY

by Colin Greenall

Progress continues on the Sankey Canal ST.HELENS Canal Bank collapse near Hey Lock; Work on the sections of canal bank that had collapsed below Hey Lock are now complete and the footpath/cycleway has been re-laid up to Bradley Swing Bridge.

The local Sustainable Transport Footpath/Cycleway: St.Helens MBC have allocate money for the installation of another length of footpath/cycleway between Bradley Swing Bridge and Newton Common Lock, this work complements the work already carried out with the help of the LST Fund Grant of ÂŁ3.2 million which has provided new cross boundary footpaths and cycle ways across the region of Halton, St.Helens and Warrington. SCARS was consulted in the early stages of this project to see if any of the towpath walls could be located on this filled in section of the canal, some small sections have been found and will be used to interpret the line of the canal and its history.

The new footpath/cycleway by Bradley Lock

Work Parties: During the past few months SCARS volunteer work parties have been busy tidying up the area of canal around Blackbrook Road Bridge and on an area of overgrown canal wall near to Engine Lock

Canal wall exposed near Engine Lock

New Volunteer Groups HALTON & WARRINGTON During the month of May SCARS were delighted to welcome a group of volunteers from the Prince’s Trust //Groundwork who successfully completed a canal clean-up project on the overflow at Sankey Bridges. It was here that eight young people set about clearing the vegetation from around the overflow fence and towpath and then proceeded to give the fence a good coat of black and white paint At a later date an award presentation was organised and the group was presented with certificates from our Chairman Dave Smallshaw.

The Storage Container at Spike Island; Work on lining out the container is now complete and is ready to take some of our tools

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and other equipment, this give SCARS two storage centres the other being at Blackbrook, St.Helens .

Open Day at Spike Island: In May we held our first Open Day at Spike Island, the day went very well thanks to the staff of the Catch 22 Community Group Cafe making us feel welcome and providing us with cups of tea etc. The day went well with lots of people showing much interest in our display and sales stand.

Sankey Canal Restoration Steering Group (new title for “Linking The Locks Project”); The heading “Linking the Locks” is to be dropped from the group title, it will now be known as “Sankey Canal Restoration Steering Group” and “Linking the Locks“ will be used when referring to the Coastal Communities business development project .

Coastal Communities Fund ; In February tenders for the construction of the electrically operated lift bridge at Fiddlers Ferry Marina all came back over the budget cost of £375,000, so some downsizing of the plans were needed. The result is that the bridge will now be fixed but future proofed so that when the canal is restored it can be made to lift. It has also been agreed that the local businesses should be consulted as to the best time to proceed with the installation of the bridge to minimise on disruption. Work is due to commence in the summer to upgrade the railway level crossing this will be carried out by Network Rail.

The other part of the scheme is now up and running i. e. The two business marketing posts have been filled, one full time Business Development and Marketing Officer (Jonathan Aghanian) and one part time Business Marketing Coordinator (Joanne Lomax). In March and April they organised two events one at the True Fit Golf Centre in Fiddlers Ferry and the other at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes to launch the “Linking the Locks” business development plan. Both these events were well attended by local business, colleges and local government departments. The events were introduced by Steve Park managing director of Warrington & Co who are managing the scheme; Dave Smallshaw from SCARS gave a brief presentation on the opportunities for groups to do volunteer projects along the course of the canal.

WREN Funding for Spike Island Locks; The contractor has been appointed (UNICON Ltd of Ellesmere Port) and all the permissions are in place. Work was scheduled to start on July 8th, but to date nothing has happened.

Heritage Lottery Fund Bid; A new bid is in preparation, a pre-application enquiry has been submitted and acknowledged by HLF with initial discussions indicating the areas the project will need to explore in more depth. Warrington BC has appointed consultants AECOM to assist in our application planning, who are now working up a strategy for a new application which will now be submitted in time for the first submission date in 2016.

Summer Events Lymm Transport Rally; Sunday 28th June; After days of lovely sunshine Sunday morning dawned wet and miserable, but by the time we arrived on site the rain had stopped and the clouds had began to break up so by the time we had set up our sales stand everything was set for a good days trading and so it proved to be with plenty of help from Ian Hornby and Dave Smallshaw, Cynthia and I could concentrate on keeping the stall well supplied with things to sell. We also did well with the consultation survey and the people who came to ask questions about the canal, altogether a good day out.

SCARS Sales and Display Stand at Lymm Transport Rally

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY IWA BRANCH MEETINGS 

2015 13 OCTOBER:

‘Journeys Over the Water’ - ‘The Mersey Ferries and their Destinations’ Ken Pye FRSA, Managing Director, ‘Discover Liverpool ‘

10 NOVEMBER: ‘Underhand, Unfair, and Damned Un-English’ The development of the submarine 8 DECEMBER

2016 12 JANUARY

9 FEBRUARY

Tony Rowe RN (retired) and his experiences in our nuclear fleet ‘Ropes, Knots and Fenders’ - the first industrial revolution these held our ships together and gave us an empire.

David Walker will give us a presentation and display of his ropeware.

This is followed by mince pies, sherry and our pre-Christmas bumper raffle IWA 70th Anniversary: ‘Past, Present and Future’ Les Etheridge, IWA National Chairman, will give his views with a lively Q&A to follow!

‘One boat, Two people and Forty lorry loads’ Colin Edmondson, expert historian of the River Weaver, talks on grain carrying on the Manchester Ship Canal

CHESTER CANAL HERITAGE TRUST 2015 4 NOVEMBER

2 DECEMBER

‘The Neston Collieries’ - Birthplace of Wirral’s Industrial Revolution.

Anthony Annakin-Smith tells the story of the early collieries at Neston, including underground canals, the area’s first steam engines and tales of sabotage!

‘Water Engineering for British Waterways. ‘ A talk by Derek Jones on his work as a Water Engineer for BW, with responsibility for a large area including Scotland and the Falkirk Wheel.

2016 3 FEBRUARY

‘The Stover Canal—then and now’ Bill deLeie on the history of the Stover Canal in South Devon and the work that is being done to preserve it for future generations. ______________________________________________________________________________

The programme for the Boat Museum Association will be included in the next edition of this newsletter.

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The Chester & Merseyside Waterways Liaison Report Spreading the word, drying the laundry, making friends and ringing the ring.

Spreading the word As you know the main objective of IWA is to enthuse new and potential waterway users by bringing people together with a common agenda that seeks to improve and restore our UK canals and waterways for everyone.

In the Chester & Merseyside branch area we have 4 navigation authorities and many local authorities interest groups and local associations, so this year we have been determined to take as many opportunities as possible to inform all the relevant authorities and groups in our area about the aims and objectives of IWA. The way we do this is sometimes not that obvious, as just hanging out my washing has promoted lots of queries from my neighbours.

You may have read about the recent IWA Manifesto project that has now brought together more than 40 MPs who have all signed up to our IWA Waterways Manifesto. Thus whilst the IWA national team have had very worthwhile 'Pimms and Canape' sessions at the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group reception, Chester & Merseyside branch committee have been hanging out the washing and getting out and about at local 'Tea and Butties' sessions with local councillors and community groups making lots of new IWA friends and supporters. Thus it's been a busy time since our last newsletter.

As you know the IWA agenda is already well established with Canal & River Trust (North West; Manchester & Pennine; North Wales & Borders) and we have also managed to get round to meetings with representatives from Peel Ports (Bridgewater Canal and Manchester Ship Canal), Natural Resources Wales (Tidal Dee), Cheshire West & Chester (Upper Dee), Sefton and Liverpool Councillors (Leeds & Liverpool Canal) and Warrington (Bridgewater Canal).

Also, working in partnership with CRT Explorers and the local waterways managers, we have also made contacts with the following groups and projects in our area : Maghull and District Community of Schools Pride of Sefton Safe Productions L30 Community Association Garden Quarter Residents Association.

Eldonian Housing Association Runcorn Rowing Club Connahs Quay Boatmen.

Chester Labour Party Friends of Rimrose Valley Park

I think this effort has been worthwhile as I'm now receiving calls and enquiries from a much more diverse set of stakeholders, thus adding all these groups to our existing list of friends, (including Sankey Canal Restoration Soc.; Chester Canal Heritage Trust; Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust; River Weaver Navigation Soc.; Broken Cross Boat Club, etc..), we now have a very wide and growing list of like minded groups. The list is long so I have set up a database of local societies and contacts. If you know of any other relevant groups that we have missed please let me know so we can continue to spread the IWA message.

IWA Volunteer Task Force We have continued with our monthly work parties and so far in 2015 have put in more than 220 hours. Litter picking, painting locks, weeding and generally tidying up the area around the canals. Most of the monthly work parties were held at Chester but for a change in April we moved the event to Eldonian Village in Liverpool which was a great success. I'm hoping to start monthly work parties at both locations from September.

Ringing the Ring This IWA project runs through our area and aims to improve and replace missing mooring rings at the mooring sites on the Cheshire Ring.

With lots of help from John Brighouse we managed to complete a survey of the Trent & Mersey Canal from Middlewich to Preston Brook and hope to start work shortly at Anderton where we intend to improve the provision by installing 20 missing mooring rings The Campaign Continues – Over to you Looking forward to the future we still see challenging times along the waterways in our area. We have seen some good developments that have increased use of the Wirral line to Ellesmere Port and Leeds & Liverpool Remainder stretch and there is also good progress with the reopening of Dee Lock. However we must keep the pressure on to ensure that the waterways are recognised as safe and pleasant places for boaters and all waterways users. I'm sure, with a large group of like minded supporters, we can maintain this wonderful national treasure and keep our waterways alive for everyone. So please visit the web site WWW.WATERWAYS.ORG.UK and encourage people to join us in this lively and worthwhile campaign.

Mike Carter - Waterways Liaison & Vice Chair