Minutes October 2009

INLAND WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION IPSWICH BRANCH Committee Meeting Date: Friday, 2 October 2009.

Venue: ‘The Chequers’, Great Blakenham.

Present: Susan Brown, Brian Cornell, Spencer Greystrong, Brian Holt, Diana Holt, Clive Saville, Charles Stride, Lewis Tyler, Chard Wadley and Carolyn Wadley (Minutes).

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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE None.

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MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD 15 MAY 2009 Item 4 ­ the Chairman’s report incorrectly stated David King as Chairman of MK Branch whereas the Chairman is Tony Collins. With this amendment the Chairman duly signed the minutes for 15 May 2009 as being a true record of the proceedings.

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MATTERS ARISING NOT INCLUDED IN THE AGENDA Regarding the EA Advisory Commission, Lewis explained that his name had been put on a list but there had been no interview.

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COMMITTEE REPORTS Chairman Chard showed the committee an email from the Pickerel Project regarding a River Clean­up to be held this coming Sunday. It was agreed that at such short notice it was not possible to attend and at the next Pickerel meeting it would be mentioned that an earlier notification would be helpful.

Chard said that he had attended the National AGM with Spencer on 26 September and reported that the main concern voiced at the meeting was the forthcoming DEFRA cuts. The IWA aim to show there concern and are asking branches to target their MPs. Chard had also attended the Region meeting on 1 October and stated that the new chairman is Alistair Chambers. The DEFRA cuts were also the main topic at this meeting and the May Day protests were discussed.

Chard suggested to the committee that we get together with the River Stour Trust and organize something at the Granary in Sudbury on the protest day. He continued saying we could invite the local MPs and should start to organize ourselves ASAP. Chard is to speak to Peter Hesketh, chairman of the RST and suggested the River Gipping Trust be included as well to which Lewis agreed. Spencer said it was an ideal opportunity as a combined event to show how many people are involved. Charles said we must confirm the date by December to advertise the event in Anglian Cuttings. Brian Holt suggested we involve the Broads to see if they are planning any action. Susan put forward the idea of giving out leaflets and information to Schools, Libraries and Information Centres. It was also thought we should include the EAWA and the North Walsham and Dilham.

Lewis and Mitzi Tyler are to attend the Southern Canals Society meeting on 18 October.

Chard finished on a sad note saying that John Fillingham, an active member of the branch had died suddenly and a condolence card had been sent to his wife from the branch. Chard had also attended the funeral of Francis Batton a founder member of the River Stour Trust.

Secretary Charles had received various minutes from Cambridge and Peterborough. Planning

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notifications had been received from Forest Heath and Bury St Edmunds the latter being their Core Strategy; also Stowmarket Planning Meeting stated that the River Gipping through Stowmarket is in their forward planning. Charles had received a paper from the West Country Branch to all Branches reference achieving a re­instatement of the Capitation Levy on IWA members’ subscription.

Charles said that the notification of the branch membership was received too late for a response.

A query from a member regarding the use of funds for Baylham which was donated by Anglian Water has been replied to and clarified by the branch Secretary.

The list of future talks has been circulated as well as BW’s volunteering policy.

Treasurer Spencer distributed a copy of the latest accounts and explained the donation from IWA, Ipswich Branch to the RGT which included the interest. Spencer also explained some of the expense items.

At the National AGM, Spencer had raised the funding and losses at National Festivals.

Public Relations Officer Brian Holt explained that he had received a renewal notification for the Domain name saying he would like to hold on to the name but not the emails. All agreed to this request.

Spencer said he had been shown the HO Website at the AGM and it looks good. Ipswich Branch has their name on the website and Spencer explained how it would work.

Social Secretary Diana stated that all the meetings were listed in Anglian Cuttings, and the venue booked. The February meeting clashes with the local pantomime so there will be no fee for the room on that evening. A brief summary of our May outing was in Anglian Cuttings and a flyer will be sent out with the next edition giving more information.

Editor, Anglian Cuttings Chard explained that Michael Carter no longer wished to be editor of Anglian Cuttings and was also retiring from the committee; this will go through officially at the AGM. Chard gave a thank you to Michael for all his work in the past and said that Charles had agreed to take on the position of Editor for which Chard thanked him.

Regarding the delivery of the magazine electronically to members it was agreed that unless members were willing to give out their email addresses this was not possible. Chard said it was possible for Region members to have electronic copies and it could go on the website. It was agreed that Charles, Spencer and Chard would have a separate meeting to discuss this possibility.

Membership Secretary May – 502 members and 322 memberships.

June – 500 members and 320 memberships.

July – 500 members and 320 memberships.

August – 507 members and 323 memberships.

This is the first time the branch has reached 500 members.

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REPORTS ON OTHER BODIES River Gipping Trust Lewis reported that the RGT’s AGM was held on 15 May 2009 and that the Trust has a new Chairman, Gordon Paton. Gordon is a good choice having been Mayor of Stowmarket three

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times and sits on the East Suffolk Internal Drainage Board. A meeting with Daffyd Evans and Peter Marjoram, both of the EA, was successful and the latter subsequently visited the lock site.

An open day was held at Baylham Lock on 27 September and it was very well supported with good comments from those who attended. The event was well publicized in advance with a very good report on Radio Suffolk given by Spencer. A full page report in the East Anglian Daily Times was also good publicity. Gerry Crease provided and cooked the food together with tea and coffee and a PowerPoint presentation was running in the marquee.

Work was carried out over 2 days at Hawksmill, clearing trees to tidy up the area round the bridge and river; Mid Suffolk District Council supplied a shredder and staff to assist.

Lewis continued saying that PowerPoint presentations to other groups are going well and the RGT are now becoming well known.

Work at the lock has progressed well with the invert completed thanks to two WRG work camps and a London WRG weekend, all during July and August. A thank you to WRG members for all their help has been sent from the RGT and endorsed by the Ipswich Branch committee at this meeting.

Lewis said that the next stage for the committee of the RGT is the long term 10 year plan.

River Stour Trust Susan gave an update on the RST saying that boat operations began at Flatford and Sudbury with a total of 4 boats and that crew training continues as all skippers now require suitable qualifications. With the Swan at Henny closed an alternative restaurant trip was established at the Boathouse in Sudbury. In June the weed in the river became a major problem and boat operation stopped whilst clearance work by the EA was carried out. The Henny Swan has now reopened giving an additional boat destination. At Sudbury events were held to encourage children of various age groups. Other events included a mini S2C for members to canoe the length of the river, a 2 day steam and electric boat event with the traditional Sunday of stall, boats and refreshments at the Granary being held. This included 9 visiting steam and electric boats on the river. A group of members enjoyed a trip on the sailing barge Victor between Mistley and Felixstowe.

The Trust held its AGM in June, all council members were re­elected apart from Lesley Ford, who resigned, and Alan Cook who rejoined Two boats from Sudbury were craned into the River at Bures in July to give public trips as part of the Bures Europa event. This gave the public a rare opportunity to boat on the river with permission from the EA. Permission for the public to use electric boats on the river at the main villages on Bank Holiday weekends was also obtained from the EA. The Coracle event at Bures was on 1 August and much enjoyed by everyone who took part. In September the annual S2C event took place attracting 302 boats onto the river to navigate from Sudbury to the sea at Cattawade, this was probably the greatest number of boats there had been on the navigation at one time. The Trust hosted their first 2 day school event at the VEC with 70 children and their teachers learning about river wildlife, lighters and the ‘man and boy’ who operated them, how a lock works plus a ride on a boat. Last weekend saw the illuminated boat procession at Sudbury and two Waterbus events being run between Flatford and Dedham. If the Waterbus is successful a regular service may be run to enable visitors to walk one way and ride the other.

Susan reported on the restoration work at Stratford Lock, the target being to complete the gabion wall to the footbridge a length of about 80m. 2,305 man­hours of work had been done by mid September by the volunteer work force which included men from Horsley Bay and the Military Corrective Training Centre in Colchester. The site is now being tidied and closed for the winter. Next year should see the clearance of the lock chamber begin.

Chard gave a thank you to Roger Brown and the team for all their work and progress over the summer with little man power.

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Norfolk Industrial Archeology Society Spencer said that sadly he had received news from Philip Tolley that Brenda Taylor, Membership Secretary, had died in a car accident. He asked Charles as Secretary to send a letter of condolence to the Society.

River Action Group The minutes will be circulated on receipt.

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ANY OTHER BUSINESS Brian queried reference on the net of someone canoeing on the river. Spencer replied that www.canoeme.org has canoed the River Gipping twice and was querying portage but permission is required from land owners for portage.

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NEXT MEETING Friday, 27 November 2009.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 3.40pm.

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