Chairman’s Thoughts Dear Members Welcome to the first ‘Hereward’ of 2020. We need to act to make sure it’s not our last ! Our brilliant editor, Phil, is standing down after 30 fantastic editions. Our thanks and praise go to Phil for all that he’s done for us. We now need to find someone to take over the role. If you would like to join ‘Team, Hereward’ - we’d be delighted to hear from you. You don’t need to have previous experience of editing or setting out a newsletter as we’ll give you all the support you need. You never know - you could start out a novice and end up with a new and interesting skill set ! We hope to see as many of you as possible at the AGM on 10th March. This is your chance to catch up with what’s happening at the Branch and with friends, and boating companions. This year we’re having a talk by the Environment Agency, and also reports on the Middle Level, including their new bye-laws and registration charge. Your committee will be asking if you would like us to introduce a programme of Branch Social Events during the year. Branches in our Region have regular talks on a wide variety of interesting subjects, and other events. Northampton Branch has an annual dinner, whilst Great Ouse Branch has a yearly outing somewhere interesting. Any (or all) of these are possibilities for us. We will also be calling for new committee members. We urgently need to bolster our committee ranks. We currently meet once-a-month (except July and August) at Peterborough Bowls Club, in the evenings. If you’re interested, but don’t fancy venturing out on winter evenings, we could meet during the day, either at Peterborough, or perhaps somewhere else. Another option would be to meet ‘remotely’ by computer. I find myself increasingly doing this and I consider it works really well, and saves hours of driving time. A successful Branch operates as a team. If you can assist us in any way, we’d love to hear from you (your current Branch members will be easily recognisable at the AGM by their care free demeanour and eternal good looks). We’d love to hear from you
Chris Howes Peterborough Branch Chairman emailchrishowes@gmail.com chris.howes@waterways.org.uk 07857 642 743
1
Please give your consideration to the above questions and hand in your responses at the AGM or forward by any other means to any member of the Branch committee 2
3
STUART HOLMES BOAT SAFETY EXAMINATIONS PETERBOROUGH BOATING CENTRE
Chandlery
Diesel - Calor
73 NORTH STREET STANGROUND, PETERBOROUGH Tel: 01733 566688
4
Coming Soon Easter Cruise Our Easter Cruise is scheduled over the long weekend Friday 10th April Monday 13th April 2020. Alastair hasn’t had his arm metaphorically twisted to take charge of organising it. Yet ! But if we buy him enough beers at our AGM, we’re hoping he can be persuaded! Make a diary date - and more details of Fenland’s number one social event of the season will follow.
ANRC Rally at March Friday 22nd May - Monday 25th May 2020 This year the Middle Level Watermen’s Club are hosting the Annual ANRC (Association of Nene River Clubs) Rally. The MLC (Middle Level Commissioners) are kindly allowing their land to be used for mooring and camping. We are hoping that IWA Peterborough Branch will have a stand at the event. We know that MLWC would like to see as many visitors as possible, and we’d appreciate a bit of help on the stand. More details will follow nearer the time. An article outlining the past activities of the Middle Level Waterman’s Club and their contribution to the MLC system can be read on page 6
www.waterways.org.uk/peterborough The IWA charity registered number 212342 The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the Peterborough Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers
5
The Middle Level Watermen’s Club Too few visiting boaters on the Middle Level appreciate what a debt of gratitude we all owe to the Middle Level Watermen’s Club. By the 1960s commercial traffic on the Middle Level had almost completely dried up and there was concern that navigation would finish altogether. In 1963 the Club was formed to fight to save navigation. As Brian Gowler, one of the founding members, explained “Those boating the Middle Level today” sometimes “complain of narrow or weedy waterways but few have any idea of the situation …. when M.L.W.C. was formed. Since those days the Sixteen Foot, Twenty Foot, Forty Foot, Reed Fen, Pophams Eau, Bevil's Leam and other sections of the navigation have almost doubled in width and depth”. Brian recounts “on my first trip to Northampton in July 1963, it was necessary to bow haul my boat from Ashline Lock to Stanground taking 12 hours”. The Club’s first President was Teddy Edwards, an early member of the IWA (membership No. 14), Secretary to the East Anglian Waterways Association, author of The Inland Waterways Of Great Britain, and the leading light in the successful campaign to restore navigation to the Old West River (Great Ouse). The new club busied itself with providing Club facilities, started cutting back trees across the Level, built landing stages at locks, erected signage, and crucially held annual rallies to attract boaters onto the Level. Most important, they cruised over as wide an area as possible, proving that if they could reach those ‘distant’ locations, boaters there could reach the market town of March, on the Middle Level. Many historic victories have been won, the Middle Level is now far more accessible then it ever was, Well Creek has been saved and restored, the Link Route between the Rivers Nene and Great Ouse created, and navigation on the Great Ouse restored all the way up to Bedford. A small and friendly boater’s association, the Middle Level Watermen’s Club has ‘punched above its weight’ for many years and has much to be proud about! 6
INLAND WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION Peterborough Branch
COMMITTEE MEMBERS CHAIRMAN: Chris Howes e-mail: emailchrishowes@gmail.com SECRETARY: POSITION TEMPORARILY VACANT TREASURER: Roger Mungham Tel: 01945 773002 e-mail: rogerboatmans@talktalk.net EDITOR: Philip Halstead, 20 Cane Avenue, Peterborough PE2 9QT Tel: 01733 348500 e-mail: philipntricia@hotmail.co.uk ENTERTAINMENTS OFFICER: Richard Fairman Tel: 01406 380575 Roger Sexton
Andrew Storrar
7
Mike Daines
Mill Drove, Ramsey Cambs. PE26 2RD Tel: 01487 813621
billfenmarina@tiscali.co.uk www.b illfenmarina.com
Moorings occasionally available, £15 per foot per year + VAT, if paid annually. Slipway for bottom blacking from £120.00 Chandlery, Fuel, Gas, Toilets, Shower We stock Rylard & Craftmaster Paints, Anodes, Coflex, Rust Konverta, Incralac etc.
8
When Fenland was at the heart of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Universe Chris Howes has done some delving into the past and identified that some of the Fenland towns many now consider to be sleepy backwaters were once at the forefront of the 1960’s Rock and Roll explosion.
9
Chris tells the story of what he found:I’d several times heard a rumour that the Rolling Stones appeared at Wisbech Corn Exchange early in their career, but that the good folks of Fenland, lacking an appreciation of their music and unusual appearance, booed them from the stage. I decided that with the help of the ‘inter-web of connected things’ I’d try and find out the truth of the rumour. The Stones certainly played at a dance at Wisbech Corn Exchange in 1963. Shown is a copy of an advert that appeared in the Wisbech Standard. It is interest to note that the promoters felt they needed to introduce the Stones as “the South’s answer to Liverpool” - just in case people didn’t know who they were. The ad appeared on a Friday, promoting the gig the next day, Saturday 20th July 1963. Allegedly, the next day Mick & Keith borrowed a horse that was stabled next door to their lodgings, and rode around the rugby ground. With my new interest in Fenland rock ‘n’ roll, I decided to investigate further. I was stunned to discover that in 1967 we could have jived, bopped and boogied to a line up including Hendrix, Cream and Pink Floyd, all in the Tulip Auction Hall in Spalding. “The Top Six” were all hugely popular at the time, with the Move’s “Flowers in the Rain” being the first record to be played on Radio One, which was born to the BBC in 1967 to replace the Pirate Radio Ships. The cost of this mind blowing evening’s experience was a £1 !! Mind you, it seems that by the next year prices had rocketed by 50%. In Whittlesey it cost 30/- to see and dance to huge names of the time including Donovan, the incredibly important John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and the recently formed Fleetwood Mac. All of this for 30/-!!! (£1.50 for anyone born after the 1960s). To quote Mary Hopkin’s No 1 record of 1968 “Those Were The Days” ! Chris has found a selection of posters from this era and some are illustrated here. Those of an age (if they’re prepared to admit it) will no doubt be able to reflect on many of the names and wonder where they are now! 10
11
12
More on the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway
Following on from the article in the Autumn issue of Hereward Bill Smith has found some more pictures relating to the tramway at Outwell. The photo above shows the old tramway bridge crossing the channel of Well Creek to take the route of the line beside the main road. Note the low level of water in the channel. The much more recent photo right shows the same location with President and its butty traversing the route. The red telephone box identifies the point where the old bridge was located. 13
OUNDLE MARINA VILLAGE BARNWELL ROAD, OUNDLE, PETERBOROUGH PE8 5PA Tel: 01832 272762
e-mail: info@oundlemarina.com
CHANDLERY
MOORINGS
200 non-residential moorings for Cruisers and Narrowboats up to 62 feet long
Well stocked Chandlery plus Diesel, Petrol, Calor Gas, Homefire Coal, Logs, Kindling
SERVICES & FACILITIES
Craneage, Slipway, Boat and Canopy Repairs, Engine Servicing, Toilets, Showers, Laundrette Keep up to date with the latest Boats for Sale, River Conditions and Marina News by visiting www.oundlemarina.com THE CHANDLERY IS OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK—9.00AM TO 5.00PM CLOSED WEDNESDAYS
Contact: Training Secretary, PYC Phone: 01733 311680 Net: http:// www.peterboroughyachtclub.com
10 14
Proving the curvature of the Earth on the Old Bedford River From the secure perspective of the 21st Century we all know which camp we belong to, Zetetics or Globularists. No longer do heated arguments rage in the pub over whether the Earth is flat (Zetetic) or round (Globularist). However in the 19th Century this important concern was a hot subject for debate. Thanks to its straightness the Old Bedford River became the proving ground for the counter arguments. In 1838 Samuel Rowbotham endeavoured to prove the earth flat by making observations along the 6 mile straight above Welney. Using a telescope he observed barges six miles away. Samuel argued that if the earth was round (as some scientists then argued) the barges would only be visible for 3 miles before they disappeared from sight due to the curvature of the Earth. As he could still make out the barges 6 miles distant, ipso facto there was no curve. This ‘proof’ stood unchallenged until 1870 when Alfred Russel Wallace, inspired to renewed scientific scrutiny by Charles Darwin’s work on evolution, conducted a further experiment on the Old Bedford River. Three barges, each with a pole of identical length erected on them, were moored at two mile intervals. If the earth was flat, the tops of the three rods would line up when observed through a telescope. However the second marker was a clear 32 inches above a line between the first and third markers, proving, quod erat demonstrandum, the curvature of the Earth. We now understand that Rowbotham’s apparent ability to see further than the expected 3 miles was caused by the phenomenon of the refraction (bending) of light over water. Remarkably, the measurements employed in the 19th century to calculate the diameter of the earth arrived at a figure of 7,920 miles. With the benefits of modern scientific instrumentation, the diameter of the earth at the equator is now stated to be 7,926 miles !
The dead straight alignment of the channel makes it easy to see why the Old Bedford was an ideal choice for these experiments!
15
WARNING
CONTAMINATED DIESEL CAN COST YOU UNFORSEEN EXPENCE
12 16
Cruise to Liverpool 1980 John Revell has tracked down some old photographs of when he first visited Liverpool by narrowboat 40 years ago in September 1980. The boat was hired from Wigan Pier and called Winterburn. John describes his observations on the cruise in the captions to his photographs. Venturing beyond Maghull in 1980 was a very different experience. For example the section through Bootle was completely shut off with overhead power lines straddling the canal for what seemed like miles.
This was the view of the famous Canal Turn on the Aintree Grand National Course which still looks much the same today.
17
Above: The canal came to an abrupt halt at a Tate and Lyle factory built straight across the canal and venturing down the Stanley locks was a non starter in a hire boat. Below: Dean Lock which has changed little except for the volume of traffic using the M6. Photos: John Revell
18
All that glistens - could be gold! The comic history book 1066 And All That says of King John (1166-1216 ) that he ‘begun badly as a Bad Prince’, and ‘finally demonstrated his utter incompetence by losing the Crown and all his clothes in the wash’. Of course this isn’t an accurate historic account, but it is generally agreed that John did lose the Crown Jewels to the waters somewhere around here. It is both interesting, and potentially profitable, to ponder where the treasure might have actually been lost. The earliest chronicler of the events, shortly after Magna Carta, was Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a Benedictine monk at St Albans Abbey. He gives a graphic account of King John’s journey from King’s Lynn to Wisbech, suggesting that the King's belongings, including the Crown Jewels, were lost as he crossed one of the tidal estuaries which empties into the Wash, being sucked in by quicksand and whirlpools. Roger was succeeded in 1236 as the Abbey of St Albans Official Recorder of Events by Matthew Paris (died 1259), who wrote the Chronica Majora, a great record of English History of the period. Paris writes that King John ‘attempted to force a passage over the water which is called the Welle stream, and there suddenly and irrecoverably lost all his wagons, treasures, costly goods and regalia. A whirlpool in the middle of the water absorbed all into its depths, with men and horses, so that hardly one escaped to announce the misfortune to the king’. Another report stated: ‘Then, journeying towards the north, in the river which is called Wellstream, by an unexpected accident he lost all his wagons, cars and sumpter horses with the treasures, precious vessels and all the other things which he loved so well; for the ground was opened up in the middle of the waves, and bottomless whirlpools swallowed them all up’. The Welle Stream was also known as the ‘Welnye’ ‘Old Wellenhee’, or ‘Old Croft River’. Where is, or was, the Welle Stream ? It is necessary to appreciate that the routes of the rivers Nene and Ouse were significantly different, before everything changed, almost beyond recognition, by Cornelius Vermuyden’s great drainage works in the 17th Century. The Nene and Great Ouse, long established rivers, rise within 15 miles of each other in Northamptonshire but took very different routes to the sea. Prior to the 17th Century both rivers split into two arms, and one arm from each of these rivers merged, somewhere around Benwick, before flowing out to sea in a great estuary 1/2 mile wide, east of Wisbech. In the 2nd Century AD the Roman Polymath Ptolemy records that this estuary as called Metaris. Typically the Well Stream could be 50-100ft wide as it wandered its way through Welney, Upwell, and Outwell, shifting its course over time. However once Vermuyden’s two great Bedford rivers cut through it, they removed both its water and its importance. The Wisbech Canal which was authorised by an act of 1794 (closed in 1926 and filled in in the 1970s) linked Outwell and Wisbech and flowed along part of its route. The A1101 which runs from Bury St Edmunds, through Littleport and Wisbech to Long Sutton, and which is claimed to be ‘the lowest road in Great Britain (rarely rising above sea level) follows much of the old 19
course of the old river (including, sadly, the former route of the Wisbech Canal). But the river still exists in Upwell and Outwell. This is part of the same Welle Stream which King John lost his treasurer crossing ! Next time you cruise along Well Creek, through the pretty villages of Upwell and Outwell, when you’ve finished admiring the pretty architecture, reminiscent of Holland, or the always beautiful array of spring flowers, cast your eyes downwards into the waters. King John’s fabled lost treasure just might be waiting nearby for you to find it !
Middle Level Commissioners - Statement on Boat Licensing Proposals issued January 2020 1) Licence fees will come into effect on the Middle Level from 1st April 2020 - 31st March 2021. 2) The MLC will contact individual boat owners during February with specific details of the level of residenal licence charges, 3) The intenon is for the level of charges to be broadly similar to EA charges, but with a minimum 15% discount for the first year, 4) The Commissioners will not require boats registering to show a current Boat Safety Cerficate during the 1st year, 5) The Commissioners will work with the EA to make licencing for those seeking transit through the Level as simple and straight forward as possible 6) The Commissioners will be supporng the Middle Level Watermen’s Club and Associaon of Nene River Clubs (ANRC) Late May Bank-Holiday Fesval in March by providing moorings and camping. The Commissioners will contact the Middle Level Watermen’s Club and Associaon of Nene River Clubs and give details of the arrangements for short term visitors for those aending the fesval from EA waters.
Editorial Farewell As this is the last issue of Hereward under my editorship I would like to sign off by thanking all those who have supported me over the years with copy, photos and ideas. Until I saw the montage produced by Chris and included in the inside front cover I hadn't realised just how many issues I have produced. I would also like to thank the two Ians who have been involved in the printing and the IWA head office staff for arranging the distribution to the membership. I would like to thank Chris for his warm sentiments in his opening address in this issue and the various members of the Branch committee who have served during my tenure of office. I close by offering my best wishes to the Branch for the future.
Phil 20
Flotsam in the Channel
Cruising under blue skies ‘Up the Drain’
Email: gregbassam@gbwatersports.co.uk 21