Glad to see the lights still work — I hate to think anyone would try to use the lock!
February 2016 West Riding Branch
Contents Chairman’s Thoughts Paying for the Damage Leeds and Liverpool Mile Posts Tony Martin Afloat Without Buying A Cruising Licence 2 More boating without a licence And not on our patch, just on our doorstep Branch AGM Agenda South Yorkshire Boat Club Flood volunteers with a difference Challenging trips for Jubilee Venture Flooding in Leeds The Cutting of the Cut Our Branch Meeting date
3 4 6 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 18 23 24 26 28
Please make sure we have your contact details If you don't get an email notification of the meetings, we haven’t got your details. Please let Tracy at IWA head office have the correct details. Tracy.Higgin@waterways.org.uk
Flood Appeal - Donate now Please show your solidarity with the thousands of people whose lives have been turned upside-down. Help us rebuild canals in the heart of flood-hit communities by making a donation today. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/community-appeals/flood-appeal
Front Cover — Leeds Lock 27 Dec 2015 2
Peter Scott
Chairman’s Thoughts Hello All Belated new year greetings for those I haven’t seen so far this year. I hope that few of you were adversely affected by the floods. Peter and I went into Leeds on Boxing Day. The force of the water as it came through the dark arches and turned below River Lock was frightening. It is not surprising that so much damage was done. Work is going on apace to restore the waterways to full navigation but it will take some time, even with the help of volunteers. See pages 16 and 18 for details of some of the work done by IWA members and the Calder Navigation Society. Mike Marshall and Tom Wright of CRT will be joining us on Friday 11 March before our AGM to speak to us about the problems the floods have caused in our area and what they are doing to open as much of the system as possible to navigation. We too have been affected by the floods if only incidentally. The SPBC clubhouse was flooded and the floor has been condemned. Work on the replacement is unlikely to be completed by the AGM. South Yorkshire Boat Club have kindly offered us the use of their club house in Heck — details of AGM on page 14 and the boat club on page 15. Several people have offered to give lifts to the site. Do let me know if you would like a lift. An important point to note: the Branch committee has five members, two of whom, Peter and myself, come to the end of their terms of office this year. For the Branch to continue we need more people who are able to help. Please consider if you can offer some time, however small. It would be a shame if the Branch were to cease to exist.
The Branch was represented at the unveiling of the first restored milepost as part of the restoration of all the Leeds and Liverpool mileposts as a lasting legacy of the bi-centenary. Report on page 6. There is to be an open day at Bingley Three Rise on Sat/Sun 5/6 March where we will have a small stand. Anyone who can help on the stand for an odd half hour will be very welcome.
Elaine Scott, Branch Chairman 3
Paying For The Damage The Christmas floods were unexpected. The damage they caused could not have been predicted. The waterway structures that suffered worst were not built to withstand the onslaught of the debris and the water. The engineering structural assessments that underpin the Government contract, including its funding for Canal and River Trust, are for normal conditions, and they could not be relied upon to predict what happened in the Christmas floods. It wasn’t that the older or weaker or lower-graded structures behaved worse: it was more the ferocity of how the water attacked them that caused the damage. There is no ready-made template for a repair programme: there is no special contingency for money for flooding beyond that available each year in the CRT Business Plans for unexpected events. Neither does the Government have any of these on its grander scale. Government support for the overall flooding disaster depends on how the government decides to us its own contingency funds – and how it responds to the wider community needs and the political pressure that different groups bring to bear. Some of these Crowther Bridge - CNS funds are to be channelled through Local Authorities, and may depend on applications to, and applications to government by, those Local Authorities. The boundary of responsibility for ownership and repair, particularly for roads and bridges, has no repair-plan-template, either. And the time taken to agree the responsibilities, the design and the funding can be similarly frustrating: and the discussions will delay rather than advance the repair projects.
We have significant money involved here: maybe the £15m mentioned in WW, maybe more or maybe less: it is encouraging that CRT have the flexibility and the authority to continue with the 2015-16 winter maintenance programme, all in the knowledge that future plans will have to recognise the need for flood repairs. Let’s support CRT in its Flood Appeal, (see page 2) in its actions to maximise the contribution from Local Authorities and Government, and in whatever is needed to protect the public from further water damage. Let’s also recognise that the ‘value’ of our canal network was reduced at-a-stroke as the floods damaged the waterways: the floods didn’t spread their effects as £2m-bites out of (say) each of eight years’ future maintenance budgets: they took 4
our money away as they raged through our bridges our banks and our aqueducts. The damage was done and we are already that-much-worseoff now. So keeping canals closed while we think about the future effects on the finances just adds to the damage the floods have done. It was always true that administering a closed canal is easier (and less expensive) than administering an open one. Let’s remember that managing an open and Figure of Three Lock - Stuart Clewlow navigable national network of waterways is exactly why we have a national charity to do the job for us. It was never likely to be easy, and the devastation of flooding just adds to the burdens: nevertheless the job is the same as it always was, and we need to support and cajole CRT in focussing its energies and resources on returning closed canals to open ones as its highest immediate priority. For us in the North-East we have particular need to encourage boats to cross the Pennines. If we have restrictions and temporary closures on one of those routes (the Rochdale for example) we can be reducing the administrative closures on the other short route the Huddersfield Narrow – which as this column frequently reminds us, suffers a two-day closure every weekend and two further one-day closures every week – all at Standedge Tunnel. Come on, Manchester and Pennine CRT Region: we in our North East outpost need your assistance in helping boats navigate towards us, particularly in our contribution to the Leeds and Liverpool bicentenary year. Peter Scott
River Aire raging on Boxing Day
5
Leeds and Liverpool Mile Posts On Friday 19 February Peter and I were invited to attend a formal ceremony in Skipton, to unveil a ½ mile canal post recently restored in Skipton on the towpath close to the Rendezvous Hotel. The milepost unveiling was carried out by Skipton Town Mayor, Councillor Gordon Bell, seen here arriving by boat with his wife. Bob Pointing, Chair of CRT North West Partnership and Chantelle Seabourn, North West Local Waterways Manager travelled with them. It signified the main launch of the Restoration Project, part funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore all 127 mileposts along the canal, together with the ½ and quarter posts. The first newly restored milepost unveiled has been saved thanks to the eagleeyes of retired Keighley resident, John Webb. He is a keen local historian and canal enthusiast and during his walks along the canal noticed that the mile maker had been damaged and a broken section was buried in nearby undergrowth. He brought it to the attention of Canal & River Trust staff and they have arranged its restoration by Hazel Grove firm Calibre Metalwork. Bob Pointing related the tale of the finding of this post and issued a challenge to us all to find the rest of the missing posts. Some may be buried, or hidden by vegetation but it is always possible that some have been taken as souvenirs or garden ornaments. There may even be some plates (the bits with the mileage on) lying about somewhere. If you do know of the whereabouts of any milepost related items do let CRT know. .
Councillor Bell and John Webb with the restored ½ milepost
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In place
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mile post ½ mile post
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¼ mile post
Missing
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mile post ½ mile post
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¼ mile post
The mileposts on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal were installed in the mid 1890’s in response to the Canal Rates, Tolls, and Charges (Leeds and Liverpool Canal) Order Confirmation Act, 1893 itself a response to the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. Approximately 127 mileposts were installed (there are one or two anomalies along the canal, for example there are two mileposts 35, half a mile apart; there is no milepost 82 which be inside Foulridge Tunnel; there is now a milepost at the mid point of the canal 63½). Between the mileposts were a half-mile post and two quarter-mile posts. The 1893 Order enabled the Canal to round up part-mile journeys for toll purpose to the nearest quarter mile. All the posts are made of cast iron. The mileposts and half-mile posts are approximately four foot long and weigh 65 kg. The project will focus on replacing missing mileposts and will refurbish or re-site all existing posts whether they be mile, half or quarter. Should funds allow the replacement of half and quarter posts will be considered.
CRT length inspectors have so far surveyed the condition of the mileposts along approximately three quarters of the canal, between Wigan (milepost 35) to Leeds (milepost 127). They have identified 24 missing mileposts (plus 2 severely damaged); 39 missing halfmileposts; and 93 missing quarter-mileposts.
One we painted earlier 2013
To donate towards the restoration of the mileposts see the CRT web site on https://tinyurl.com/mp201602a Bill Froggatt Heritage Advisor (North West Waterways)
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Leeds and Liverpool Bicentenary Plaque
£7 These brass plaques will be available at the AGM and from the stall at Skipton. A small donation to Branch Funds will be made for each plaque sold by us If you can’t get one there please contact Elaine Scott to order one and arrange for delivery
Bicentenary Celebrations: Key Events Date April 16-17 April 30 – May 2 June 3-5 June 4-5 June11-12
June 18-19 June 24-26 June 25-26 July 23-24 August 27-29 September 3 September 9-18 September 9-11 September 10-11 October 15-23 October 16
Event Saltaire World Heritage Weekend Skipton Canal Festival Liverpool Mersey River Festival Blackburn Colour Run Inland Waterway Association boating festival – Eldonian Village, Liverpool. Burscough heritage weekend, West Lancashire Leeds Waterfront Festival Blackburn Flora and Fauna weekend Blackburn Canal Festival Burnley Canal Festival Canal Step Dance – World Record Attempt Saltaire Heritage Festival Leigh Canal Festival Heritage Weekend in Blackburn and other canal venues
Kennet recreates inaugural voyage along the full length of the canal World premiere of Super Slow Way Symphony, performed in Liverpool, Blackburn and Leeds. 8
Tony Martin We are sad to announce that Tony Martin, Secretary and founder Chairman of the North Riding Branch of the IWA died on Monday 25 January. Tony had been in poor health for some time and he had been looked after in a care home and in a hospice for the last month or so. He single handedly persuaded York City Engineers to allow IWA to operate the quirky Castle Mills Lock on the River Foss in York. The photos show Tony in more active times leading the IWA team which operated the lock for boaters wishing to use the river. Tony was instrumental in forming the York Branch of the IWA, first as a Section of the West Riding Branch and then as a Branch in its own right. He edited the Branch magazine, Northern Navigation News. Tony will be missed by all his colleagues and friends, as well as people and organisations around the North Yorkshire Navigations. We send our condolences to his sister and their family.
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Afloat Without Buying A Cruising Licence part 2
To continue the theme of being afloat on interesting boats on interesting waters, but without having a tiller or wheel in hand, here is another Scotland expedition, this time on Loch Katrine, north of Glasgow. Aboard the steamship Sir Walter Scott ÂŁ16 will occupy you for two hours on the lake. Depart from Trossachs Pier, Loch Katrine, By Callander, Stirling FK17 8HZ for the trip to Stronachlachar and back. Booking is advised, as the loch is remote from other civilisation. Phone 01877 376315. http://www.lochkatrine.com/loch-cruises/ Travelling South, a diversion to Boston can embrace a visit to the seals aboard Boston Belle, through Boston Grand Sluice, out on to The Wash and inland again on the River Welland.
There are eleven trips planned for 2016, all at weekends and you will need the ÂŁ20 each, and to book in advance. Phone 01205 820108 or 07595 045387 http://www.bostonbelle.co.uk/ 10
Also on the River Welland, further inland, is a trip to a shopping arcade aboard SpaldingBeauty or one of the sister ships running the Spalding Water Taxi service. It's ÂŁ3 for a single journey and will take you from the centre of Spalding to the Springfields Outlet Shopping arcade any day from Easter to beginning of October. It's a turnup-and-go service, with no booking necessary. And with a spare day or two it's possible to hire the boats from the operating company for a whole day for a trip a dozen miles upriver or a narrowboat for a whole weekend. Phone 01406 380 532 or 07970 832131 http://www.spaldingwatertaxi.co.uk/
For those venturing as far as the South Coast, try the new boat Kingfisher for a trip on the Chichester Ship Canal from Chichester Basin. That's ÂŁ8 for a 75minute return trip, running every day, four times per day Easter to early November. Booking is advised for us northerners travelling a long way. Phone 01243 771363 http://chichestercanal.org.uk/boat-trips/
11
More boating without a licence The Inland Waterways Association has stepped up to answer a request by Canal & River Trust to supply skilled volunteers to assist with a new approach to the deployment of its workboat fleet. The Trust, which is reorganising its workboat fleet into a nationally managed resource, has asked IWA to work with its staff to assist with the inspection and moving of craft. IWA volunteers will provide the necessary knowledge and skills, as well as the national coverage required for the work. From April 2016 the Trust intends to organise its workboats centrally to co-ordinate the fleet on a more strategic basis, and craft will be ‘hired’ to the regional maintenance and construction teams. It is hoped that this will lead to more efficient use of the workboats across the Trust’s different teams and by volunteers, such as IWA’s volunteer work parties. The work will also include IWA volunteers monitoring the condition of craft and reporting any potential issues to the Trust which will then be used to develop programmes of repair work. IWA will be seeking volunteers across the country and National Chairman, Les Etheridge, comments “Our skilled volunteers will enable the Trust to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in deploying and maintaining its workboat fleet, demonstrating once again the value of IWA members and our commitment to making the waterways better for all users.
From IWA press release
12
And not on our patch, just on our doorstep— Tinsley Lock open day on Sunday 14 February gave us a chance to talk to…….
Richard Parry Jon Horsfall
Mike Marshall
… and see the bottom of the cut
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Branch Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the West Riding Branch of the Inland Waterways Association will take place on Friday 11 March 2016. The evening will begin at 8.00 with a talk by Mike Marshall and Tom Wright of CRT.
The meeting will take place in
South Yorkshire Boat Club Great Heck Note change of Venue See next page
Agenda
Apologies for absence
Approval of minutes of the 2015 AGM as published on page 10 of the June 2015 edition of MilePost
Matters arising from the minutes
Chairman’s report
Secretary’s report
Treasurer’s report
Election of Committee members - Nominations for the Branch Committee may be made at the meeting. There are currently 5 committee members of whom 2 come to the end of their terms of office this year
14
South Yorkshire Boat Club SYBC have kindly offered to host the meeting at their club house Heck Basin Heck Lane Great Heck DN14 0BL Entrance is by electronic gate There is a Bar serving all types of drink including tea and coffee also available is home cooked hot and cold food.
Directions from North From M62 J34 Onto A19 Doncaster Continue through Whitley Village and past 40 mph sign then First left signposted Balne, Pollington & Snaith (Balne Moor Road) Continue 1/2 mile then turn Left onto Heck Lane (there is a house opposite on this junction) Continue approx 1/2 (open fields on both sides) until 30 mph sign Turn right and gate is immediately slightly to the left of this track facing you. Directions from South Continue on A19 from Doncaster direction until Cross Roads before Whitley, Turn Right, signposted Balne, Pollington & Snaith (Balne Moor Road) Continue 1/2 mile then turn Left onto Heck Lane (there is a house opposite on this junction) Continue approx 1/2 (open fields on both sides) until 30 mph sign Turn right and gate is immediately slightly to the left of this track facing you.
15
Flood volunteers with a difference An emergency committee meeting of the CNS which Peter and I and Nigel Stevens of Shire Cruisers attended on 5 January led to CNS and IWA offering to assist in surveying the canals for flood damage by boat and on foot. Nigel lent us the boat, Oxford, to travel the canal from Sowerby Bridge to Elland Bridge to see what, if any, flood damage we could find. Although not producing an engineering survey we were able to try the facilities needed by boaters. Being 42’ Oxford was able to turn before Elland Bridge.
Elland Bridge Above and below
16
LEEDS
Main areas of flooding
Park Nook Lock Elland
Boat stranded below Park Nook
17
Challenging trips for Jubilee Venture - Geoff Auty Jubilee Venture is a 47’ narrowboat, owned by the Wakefield District Scouts, and caught by the floods in the dry dock at South Pennine Boat Club. This is a report from Geoff Auty of an offer to use the boat to survey the canal and then a trip they took as part of the survey all before the river was officially re-opened.
Saturday 16th January - Figure of Three Locks The offer of using Jubilee Venture was passed on to CRT and the response was "Thanks, but Figure of Three is impassable!". Figure of Three is the lock nearest to my home: we live well up the hill, and don't face into the valley and we were not aware of a serious problem there. All the news had been about the upper Calder valley, until York flooded, and then the Calder was largely forgotten. Being closest, Calder Navigation Society asked me for photos of the damage to Figure of Three Lock - Geoff Auty augment some that were not very clear. I went in the early morning: with the frosty conditions, I decided not to go too close, and viewed from the edge of the field to take these four photos. It seems that the river went over into the canal at the same location as several years ago, with the deluge from the tight bend in the river going at right angles into the pound between the two locks, and this time scooping out a deep basin in the process, thus demolishing a substantial portion of the paving (lifting stone cobbles) in the process. The water has then flowed along the towpath, past the lower lock, and scooped out a section of 20 to 30 metres long, exposing cables (maybe the cable channel beneath the path created a weakness - but this is speculation). The path being washed away behind the landing stage, the landing stage might have moved - but again that is speculation from a safe vantage point at the edge of the field.
Figure of Three Lock - Geoff Auty
This time it seems to have caused less damage to the river bank, but more damage to the lock area. Although the bend in the river was made less tight when it was diverted to make the Healey Marshalling yard, it looks as if the bank will 18
need to be made like a bobsleigh track. Independently, these photos were taken by Stuart Clewlow, a member of the Wakefield Scouts training team on afternoon before my visit. He was closer to the trouble than I dared to go in the frost. Stuart also commented that the situation on the canal was similar to the aftermath of the 2007 floods. The mass of stone put in the river bank in 2007 seems to have stayed in place, which has resulted in less overall Figure of Three Lock - Geoff Auty damage to the river bank this time. Stuart thought a narrow boat might pass around the mass of debris but it was not possible to see how far the silt had spread across the canal below the surface. There was a new wide beam boat moored above the locks, which there before Christmas and is heading for Brighouse, but it cannot pass the flood locks at Ravensthorpe - probably silting but could also be a difference in water levels as Thornhill Double Locks leak a lot. He says that the right hand top gate at the Figure of Three lower locks will open, but the left hand one will not move and is silted up. The ground sluice on this side is probably also silted up.
Figure of Three Lock - Stuart Clewlow
After these pictures were taken, CRT cleared the channel, enabling the gates to be opened and pushing the slit away from the water's edge in the section between the two locks.
Saturday 6th February
A crew of three started from South Pennine Boat Club in the hope of moving JubileeVenture from Battyeford to Broad Cut. On the way there, we stopped to look at the floodlocks at Greenwood Cut and at Ledgard Bridge. Both sets of gates were closed. The water level was on the yellow/green boundary, and we checked that the gates could be moved by one person, despite them being awkwardly placed under bridges, affording poor leverage. At Battyeford Lock exit, the water level was in the red, with the yellow band not even visible below the water line, and the river was running quickly. I believe the riverbed dips slightly above Wood Lane bridge. 19
JubileeVenture has had substantial refurbishment of its stern gear (propeller shaft and stern tube), but there has been no opportunity for "sea trials". By the time we had given the boat its test-run, we decided that the planned journey was too great a risk, especially within the limited time available, and that the conditions at the floodlocks would be slippery in the persistent rain. At both floodlocks, there was a large accumulation of rubbish on the river-side of the gates, extending for about 2metres. Opening the gates to full width would be difficult and timeconsuming. It would not be possible to reach down from the banks to move the rubbish other than with a boat-pole which we could only carry by walking along the bank: but the Battyeford to Ledgard Bridge, and the Greenwood Lock to Thornhill Cut End sections do not have continuous waterside walking. A boat pole from the bank would push Ledgard Bridge in the floods the rubbish into the river and onto the weirs, or more likely push it only far enough to let the gates open from where the rubbish would run into the canal. With planning we could take garden rakes: they could not reach the rubbish from the bank, but could reach it from the boat. That is also problematic: the boat would have to be held with the stern partly in the river, being pulled sideways by the current. There is another problem of what to do with the rubbish once lifted out: the front deck of JubileeVenture is larger than most narrowboats, but even at the first lock there was probably more rubbish than would safely fit.
Friday12th February We started with a crew of five, arranging to meet at the bridge in Forge Lane (the former Perseverance Inn). Three arrived early and walked to Long Cut End to check the that the floodgate could be moved: they returned with a positive report, so one car was left and all went in the other to South Pennine Boat Club. On the way we called at Greenwood and Ledgard Bridge floodlocks. With short balance beams under bridges, both proved difficult to open. There was less floating rubbish in front of the gates than the previous week. At Greenwood, the water level had a difference of nearly 2 inches although the marker was on yellow, and we had to let water run through the paddles for about 10 minutes. With the combined efforts of four people on one with the fifth person holding the other, the gates could be moved. Silt soon stopped each gate and the separation was less than 6ft at the first attempt. One of our crew had a tape 20
measure in his car and with repeated swings on each gate in turn, we eventually achieved a 7ft separation. The story at Ledgard Bridge was similar. We closed the gates at the downstream end of the flood basin, when the floodgates proved difficult to move. In addition to pushing on the beams, we pulled on the chain at one side of the floodgates. Again, several swings achieved a 7ft clearance. Expecting we would soon be back, we left the floodgates open and the inside basin gates closed.
There was no problem leaving Battyeford Lock. Uncertain if we still had 7ft clearance, some of the crew got off at Ledgard Bridge, and were able to open the gate on the right (beam not under the bridge) a River barrier Long Cut End - Geoff Auty little wider. We closed the floodgates, and then opened the second pair without any problem. Shepley Bridge was OK. Greenwood floodlock was again difficult to open. Once more, it was the short beam under the bridge that caused the restriction. I remained on the boat. After several attempts by the others, I could see that it looked just clear down each side. I moved gently forward, but it was too tight, and as the gates had not opened equally, I could not have gone through completely because the boat would be going towards the side-wall, so it was a case of backing off and starting again. More muscular exertion, and it looked possible. I managed to wiggle the boat through with 7 fenders surviving and one dragged off (we retrieved it). There are some broken sections of wall near Greenwood lock, but otherwise no problems. The floodlock at Long Cut End proved easier than the others, once we had moved some floating wood out of the way. Two passing walkers helped. Again we closed the gates behind us. At Forge Lane, two drivers left to do the car shuffe and we all met again at Thornhill Double Locks. The three remaining crew had managed the upper lock and the boat was just entering the lower lock when the drivers arrived. Two crew left here and three of us managed Mill Bank as normal. Then it was Figure of Three. Obviously parts of the towpath are damaged, but it was passable with care. We filled the top lock, then the lower lock, and opened 21
the offside gate of the lower lock.
Then we returned to find that the water was down by about 4 inches, even though one paddle was still open on a top gate, and the gates could not be opened. Water appears to be leaking through the wall on the offside between the lock and the bywash into the middle pound. We had to open both gate paddles and the ground paddle to make a level. Then it was possible to let the water out with just one person on board to take the boat from the upper lock straight through the middle pound into the lower lock. Getting crew off or on the boat in the middle pound would be difficult. Silt and rubble appear to have been pushed away from the lockside, forming a mound by the hole which was scoured out by the flood, and crew could walk down to the lower lock with care; but it is rough-walking in places and the best pick-up point was beyond the landing stage and the three bankside bollards. The landing stage does not seem to be disturbed although the ground behind it is scoured out. Overall it seems that ground has lifted easily where there are cables under the towpath. Approaching Horbury Bridge, we took care to check for shallow water when passing Smithy Brook, and there was no problem. Broad Cut Top lock was no problem and we finished our journey at the Navigation Inn. Journey time from SPBC was 11am to 4pm. On much of the journey, there is debris at a high level on overhanging trees. It is unsightly, but no hindrance.
Figure of Three Lock - Geoff Auty
Overall, it would have been difficult with fewer people to manage the floodlocks, and with the Figure of Three area in its present state, less than three people might have had problems. With my hands full most of the day at the places it mattered, I managed only three photos. The other photos were taken in each of the Figure of Three locks - to prove that we were there.
Figure of Three Lock - Geoff Auty
22
Flooding in Leeds 27 Dec 2015
View from Knights Bridge
View from Crown Point Bridge
23
The Cutting Of The Cut. “If you go on first, the dog might follow and then … “. The third attempt to film the dog walking on to the boat was successful. They thought it really important to have a dog-ontothe-boat shot to properly tell the story of the Christmas floods. As you do. It was a brilliant day’s boating to position the boat for the visit of the film crew: they were telling the story of the Christmas floods in the Calder Valley, and this couple-ofminutes of film was to be a short insert into a longer set of interviews in Mythamroyd and surrounding places. They had half-an-hour to make the item, a couple of days ahead of the broadcast. They brought the presenter – and the dog – with them. The script, which was a couple of sentences, was filmed in long, short and middling versions: there were a couple of shots of water churning out of the propeller, and of the boat passing along the canal, and then the film crew were off, walking back to their cars. The boat crew, that’s us, then had some more hours returning the boat to base, and later, the reverse of the couple of hours of driving from home to the boat. The CRT Flood Appeal benefited – everyone’s expenses were donated to this – and it was an extremely enjoyable winter-boating day. But was it worth it? It seemed an expensive way to picture a dog walking on to a boat: it could have done that at the base, even if that was further from the programme‘s interviews. The boat and canal were a brief and picturesque backdrop to a serious story of the devastation of the floods and recovery-so-far, forty days later. The canal wasn’t the main story, and the need for us to manoeuvre past flood-deposited channel-blocking-silt wasn’t pictured. The canal’s need of extensive repair wasn’t mentioned, either: indeed once the dog was in position, the canal passed-by as it would have done before the floods. Maybe the programme’s audience gained an unhelpful impression of normality on the canal.
Should we, we the waterways community, have participated? Those who sup with the … errr... television know that news and features editor don’t easily concede script approval: it’s a package visible to a large audience and all publicity is (maybe) good publicity. It doesn’t much matter which programme or which channel or which celebrity presenter is involved: the producers say they want authenticity, and there are many possible authentic news scripts based on the same clips. With an ‘entertainment’ (rather than ‘news’) film crew last the year, a discussion on the 24
importance of authenticity was interrupted by passing some moored boats and my comments on issues around mooring restrictions and their implementation nationally: please could I say that again to the camera? Steer round the bend sounding as authoritative (and authentic) as the situation allowed. Could I say it again – repeat performances are a regular requirement – and could I look at The Presenter this time. Yes. Easy. Of course, the Presenter isn’t there: they are sitting inside the boat working on where is best for the next picturesque scenery shot. Cut to Cooking-The-Presenter’s-Breakfast. Presenter and Producer have stayed afloat overnight while boat and film crews have gone away, and are now reassembled ready for a morning start. Which is delayed by the need of a tomatoto-fry. Have any of us a tomato to hand? Errr … no we haven’t. Now, it’s no part of the duties of a Volunteer Lockkeeper to have a tomato about their person: but presence-ofmind is useful in all situations, and maybe those Local Residents chatting in their front garden can find us a tomato, if asked. Yes They Can. One is produced, handed to Volunteer Lockkeeper, to Producer, to Presenter, to fryingpan. And a pound coin is duly passed in the opposite direction to the joint satisfaction of the waiting onlookers. Breakfast is suitably sizzled, filmed, and stored in the oven because all these waiting people want to get on with boat-moving. Authenticity, of a kind, is maintained. A different programme, in a different century, had us closing in on a floating cabledrum, not clearly visible to the steerer fifty foot behind us. “Three, two, one ...” and there’s a slight bump as the bows push away the obstruction. And in one morning’s filmed boating, that little incident seemed sure to make the final programme. Which it did: I was reminded of it last summer as a viewer of, seemingly, a collision-every hour and a barely competent crew. A TV canalprogramme needs “something happening” I and can roll-up lots of minor incidents into a wholly-misleading impression.
Unwinding some webbing attached to a strangely-bent piece of metal, all tightly wound around the propeller: “could you hold that up again, and tell us what it is”. A dozen years later, and benefiting from satellite-channel rebroadcasts (on dull Tuesday afternoons), new boating friends were still surprised that I failed to correctly identify the rail-to-sleeper attachment thingummy. Such is the way of television: happenstance and editing can tell a story to an audience many times removed from its original context. And we are still flattered to return to be on (or close-by) yet another TV show. Sigh. Peter Scott 25
Our Branch Waterways
Restoration potential
Aire & Calder Barnsley Canal Calder & Hebble - Wakefield to Royston Huddersfield Broad Canal Bradford Canal Huddersfield Narrow Canal tp Standedge Halifax Canal Leeds & Liverpool Canal to Greenberfield Rochdale Canal Selby Canal Branch boundaries on the waterways
West Riding Branch 26
People who help run the Branch 2015/ 2016 Chairman *
Secretary *
Treasurer *
Elaine Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH 0114 230 1870 07980 953880 elaine.scott@ waterways.org.uk
Ian Moore 2 Eric Street, Bramley Leeds LS13 1ET 07989 112581 westriding@ waterways.org.uk
William Jowitt 35, Lowfield Crescent Silsden BD20 0QE 01535 657256
Membership Secretary * NE&Yorks Region * Volunteer needed
Committee Member* Mike Tucknott 4 Royds Avenue Birkenshaw Bradford BD11 2LD 07885 951099 Speaker Finder Volunteer needed
Minutes Secretary*
Peter Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH 0114 230 1870 peter.scott@ waterways.org.uk
Peter Scott (temporarily)
Committee Member*
Telephone Contact
Volunteer needed
Volunteer needed
Badges, Stamps & Raffle
Website
Ellen & Ailsa Sayles
David MackDavid.Mack@sdgworld.net
Committee member indicated by *
If only all meetings were as well attended‌. 27
Next Open Meeting 8pm Friday 11 March 2016 at South Yorkshire Boat Club, Great Heck Mike Marshall and Tom Wright of CRT What is happening after the floods to be followed by the AGM Please let me know by email or text if you are able to help arrange any events or meetings. elaine.scott@waterways.org.uk
07980 953880
All the meetings organised by the West Riding Branch are Open and everyone is invited. We are delighted to welcome any member of the general public and members are encouraged to bring their friends. To find out more about the waterways or the IWA come and join us at one of our meetings or visit the website http://www.waterways.org.uk Closing date for contributions for the next issue 15 May 2016 Contributions can be hand written, typed or in electronic format. Pictures can be prints or digital.
Unless otherwise stated photos are by Peter Scott
The views expressed in this publication are published as being of interest to our members and readers and are not necessarily those of The Inland Waterways Association or of its West Riding Branch. The Inland Waterways Association Registered in England no 612245 Registered as a Charity No 212342 Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA Tel: 01494 28 783453