Navvies 290 August - September 2018

navvies volunteers restoring waterways

Focus on the Lichfield Canal: See what happened on the summer camp...

Read the restoration back-story...

Find out about the Bonfire Bash there...

...and send your booking in!

Plus Waveney, Cotswold, Wey & Arun reports issue 290 august-september 2 0 1 8

Intro Lichfield camp

Pictures by Martin Ludgate

A selection of pictures from a week at Fosseway Heath, Lichfield, spent building a towpath wall in concrete and brick, and laying a towpath base made of recycled brick rubble. See page 28 for a Lichfield feature including a camp report.

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In this issue Contents For latest news on our activities visit our website wrg.org.uk See facebook group: WRG Follow us on Twitter: @wrg_navvies Production Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road, East Dulwich London SE22 9PB 020-8693 3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk Subscriptions: Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Rd., Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ Printing and assembly: John Hawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 3RQ 01923 448559 john.hawkins@wrg.org.uk Navvies is published by Waterway Recovery Group, Island House, Moor Rd., Chesham HP5 1WA and is available to all interested in promoting the restoration and conservation of inland waterways by voluntary effort in Great Britain. Articles may be reproduced in allied magazines provided that the source is acknowledged. WRG may not agree with opinions expressed in this magazine, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy or an official announcement unless so stated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept no liability for any matter in this magazine.

Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association, (registered office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA), a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, John Baylis, George Eycott, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Jude Palmer, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2018 WRG

PLEASE NOTE: Navvies subs renewal cheques MUST be made payable to The Inland Waterways Association

Contents Chairman’s Comment 4-5 Camp reports Inglesham, Waveney, Wey & Arun 6-17 WRG BC news from our Boat Club 18 Letters Camp reports: essential reading, a load of cliquey crap?

19-21 Diary WRG, IWA, CRT, canal societies 22-27 Lichfield Special feature including camp report and Bonfire Bash details 28-36 Camp report Uttoxeter family camp 37-38 Progress roundup 39-40 News 41 Infill including Dear Deirdre 42 Training Weekend in pictures 43

Contributions... ...are welcome, whether by email or post.

Photos welcome: digital (as email attachments, or if you have a lot of large files please send them on CD / DVD or to contact the editor first), or old-school slides, prints.

Contributions by post to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or by email to martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk.

Press date for issue 291: 1 September.

Subscriptions A year's subscription (6 issues) is available for a minimum of £3.00 (cheques payable to The Inland Waterways Association) to Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cumHardy, Manchester M21 9FZ. This is a minimum subscription, that everyone can afford. Please add a donation.

Cover Picture: This year’s WRG Training weekend included a professionally led bricklaying course, with work on Weymoor Bridge on the Sunday. See also p43. Back cover top: two miles of Pocklington Canal to Bielby reopened in July; centre: first public trips on the Cotswold Canals below Bowbridge; bottom: newly restored length of Wilts & Berks at Studley Grange is opened

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Chairmans Comment Chairman’s Comment

Martin Ludgate

Owing to a bit of a major error on my part, together with some “holiday type” issues with the Navvies production schedule that I was unaware of, I find myself with about 50 minutes to write this comment for Navvies.

So firstly what updates can I give you about anything I’ve mentioned recently?

I have just spent a couple of days last week doing some video filming on the Lichfield camp. This was hopefully completing the next video from the IWA (WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association) Restoration Hub on “Project Planning”. This production started at the Training Weekend where we asked some volunteers to give us their concerns about project planning. Then we filmed them asking these questions. I’m sure you can imagine many of the concerns – “How on earth do I get started?”, “What’s the point, if it will all change anyway?”, “I don’t want to do paperwork” etc.

These are all valid concerns – so last week we assembled a few experts and filmed them giving their answers and thoughts to all these questions. We also filmed an amusing sequence of our very own Alex Melson going through all the steps to create a plan. We just need to decide on the backing music for this sequence and we should have an amusing video that actually reassures and encourages people to write (or contribute to) a project plan.

As I said in the last Navvies the IWA Trustees have given us a clear objective to improve the levels of planning across the sector and I would really like to thank everyone who has helped with this, from the volunteers at the Training Weekend to both the Lichfield & Hatherton Canal Trust and Lichfield Cruising Club who kindly hosted us, and in particular Emma Greenall who was so enthusiastic about the project and then finally submitted to being filmed answering some of those key questions. My consider-

Mike stars in the new project planning video at Lichfield

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CRT

able thanks to you all - if it stops an incorrect concrete pour, or a wasted day waiting for the materials to turn up, or an error in the finished water level or maybe even a serious injury then it will be very worthwhile.

A clear example of the concept of starting your planning early was a meeting IWA’s Mikk Bradley and myself had recently where we were deep in the Grantham: gates go in at Lock 15, work starts on Lock 14 detail of planning an exciting little project that is not due to start till 2020. It’s done by fantastic people, some of whom still early days but it does look like 2020 will have been friends for more years than I can be rather busy in the area of Schoolhouse remember and some of whom I have only Bridge on the Montgomery Canal. known for two days - but by Friday will feel I realise that for many readers all this like I’ve known them for ever. It’s a huge concentration on paperwork and planning diverse bunch of people who are just a might seem a little contrary to the “WRG pleasure to be with and bring experiences way” but I’m writing this sitting at my laptop you just don’t get anywhere else. (Last night whilst looking out over the Canal Camp I’m during a card game being played by some co-leading on the Grantham Canal. What I very “international rules” one of our French can see is people all working well and safely, volunteers asked “Can you explain to me the making great progress and not too much difference between “this” and “that”?”. Which happening in the way of “stuff ups”. Which prompted the sort of conversation you just may well be one of the things keeping Mr don’t get anywhere else!

Ludgate awake at night – if all the “amusing I’m really confident that, no matter how after the event” stories in Navvies disappear WRG continues to evolve, it’s still going to be then will it change the tone of everyone’s an organisation shaped by its people. And favourite magazine? that is important, because one of the most (As an aside I am writing this sitting on important things about the canal network is a comfortable chair at a table in the site that everywhere you look you see unique office and I’m a little worried about my heritage – heritage shaped by engineers, laptop battery running out because the mains artisans and navvies. The waterways are sockets are not going live until tomorrow, people things, they were built by individuals, which are levels of luxury and OTTness that it’s important that they are rebuilt by indieven I’m concerned about. However someviduals who can put their passion and enthubody else has paid for them so I may as well siasm into a living network. use them.)

Anyway it’s time for me to go out and But more importantly, and this is some- build a bywash. So I’ll stop there and go out thing that has always been constant, I am and enjoy the sunshine. looking out at some fantastic work being Mike Palmer

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camp report Inglesham And it came to pass... that the first of this issue’s camp reports will probably get the editor run in for blasphemy rather than just libel...

KESCRG Camp 2018-05: Inglesham Lock, Cotswold Canals

Pictures by Bobby Silverwood unless credited otherwise

The regional mobile group KESCRG have made Inglesham Lock the focus of most of their weekend digs this year, rather in the manner of their former involvement with the Dig Deep Project. Following visits in April, May and June to prepare the compound-side chamber wall for rebuilding, the group took charge of the first of six week-long WRG camps to commence the Biblical task of reconstruction. Mighty were their deeds…

On the first day, the wrgies said “Let there be shade”. And there was shade.

With Saharan temperatures forecast for most of the week and beyond, a roof of tarpaulins was erected over the scaffolding to create vaguely bearable working conditions for our happy campers, and to prevent the lime mortar going off like postcrete!

On the second day, the wrgies said “Let there be progress”.

And there was progress.

Whilst the bulk of the campers beavered away stripping back damaged brickwork in the centre of the lock, Mick did what Mick does best; tackling the fancy brickwork rebuild around the paddle gear.

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On the third day, the wrgies said “Let there be Bungle”.

And there was Bungling.

The process of restoring locks is often to strip them right down and rebuild from the bottom up. In some cases, the same is also necessary for the kit used to restore said locks. In this case, the dumper received a not-insignificant amount of TLC courtesy of Phil, George ‘Bungle’ Eycott and others.

On the fourth day, the wrgies said “Let there be square holes and round holes”.

And there were holes of all shapes and sizes.

The paddle chamber rebuild really started to take shape by the middle of the week, by this point led

by John but reported back daily to Robert who had spent the first couple of days on site, but then defected to Cirencester to dig up Roman mosaics and coinage.

fact file Cotswold Canals

Length: 36 miles Locks: 56 Date closed: 1927-46 The Canal Camp project: rebuilding the second chamber wall at Inglesham Lock Why? The lock is being restored thanks to an appeal by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association. As the final lock where the Cotswold Canals meet the Thames, it will open up access to the canals from the rest of the national waterways system.

The wider picture: Most efforts on the canals in recent years have been concentrated on the Lotteryfunded Phase 1a section (Stonehouse to Brimscombe), which will now (following a provisionally successful second Lottery bid) be followed by the Phase 1b length (Saul to Stonehouse). But it’s important that the east end of the route isn’t forgotten in all this, so the work at Inglesham helps to continue to put the case for reopening of the entire 36 mile length.

Canal Camp site: Inglesham

Phase 1b: Saul to Stonehouse Phase 1a: Stonehouse to Brimscombe

Phase 3: Brimscombe to Cerney

Phase 2: Inglesham to Cerney

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On the fifth day, Rick said“Let there be bricks, laid in neat courses”.

And Rick saw that it was good.

This is where the real production line style progress begins, setting the pace for the rest of the camps season.

On the sixth day, the wrgies said “Let there be an RAF centenary fly-past”.

And God said “Have a thunderstorm instead”.

Mark Antony Richardson

The Royal International Air Tattoo just over the fields at Fairford provided much entertainment and occasional distraction for the last day on site, but sadly the first rain in what felt like months meant that the big fly-past was called off.

The WRGies also said “Let there be a beautifully cast quoin” And it was so. Stephen saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

The shuttering was struck from the quoin that had been cast on Thursday, followed by much scutch hammering to make it look more like the stone it was replacing.

By the seventh day, the WRGies had finished all the work they had been doing; so on the seventh day they rested from all their work (in a sparkly clean accommodation). Then the WRGies blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it they rested from all the restoring that they had done.

With thanks to Ian Williamson and Mark “Mk2” Richardson for leading an excellent week, and to Nina Whiteman and Bobby Silverwood for keeping everyone amply fed, but mostly to the band of happy campers whose hard work set the pace for weeks two to six.

If the remaining five camps haven’t finished it all by then, KESCRG will be back in September and October to add what will hopefully be the finishing touches to the lock. Do come along and join us to see the progress for yourselves.

Bobby Silverwood

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camp report Inglesham Second week of seven this summer at Inglesham, and already the ‘gateway’ lock to the Cotswold Canals is seeing great progress...

Inglesham Week 2

Sunday: After breakfast cooked by the normal crew of Colin & Paul, the early site crew of Mick L , Pete F and Paul went off to site to start the pumps

John Hawkins

Once again Nigel Lee’s camp was fully booked weeks before the camp. He was to be assisted by Colin Whitcombe and the master cook Anne Lilliman.

When the review of those who attended was taken it was noticed that one third of the twenty volunteers were coming from Devon.

So would the last person left in the county please turn off the lights? Thank you.

With five members of the camp already there before breakfast, the handover from the previous camp was seamless and while Nigel tasked Paul to put up the tool talk sheets on the wall the rest of the volunteers arrived during the rest of the afternoon. The French contingent of Irene and Simon arrived from the same train but took over ten minutes difference to find the van. The setting up of everyone’s bed resulted in ‘St Helen’s Janet’ overlooking one of the spare beds while the second was given to Simon.

Pete F mistook Paul’s bed for RAF Martin’s and was going to pinch it until he sighted additional bags...

After the welcome briefing from Nigel, we went to watch the H&S video which had more pauses than a Catholic prayer.

Port bottle number 1 was opened Problem number one was that the men’s shower was out of order After the evening meal we mass invaded the Ship Inn.

and other site items ready for the arrival of the volunteers who had had to come via a different route to avoid the Fairford air show.

All the volunteers were given a site specific tour and then tasks were allocated. The ‘chuckle brothers’ Mike & Andy were given the job of mixing. Meanwhile the French contingent were under the bricklaying guidance of Alan, and Dave and Ian S were also on brick laying duties. The St Helen’s duo were with Colin laying blocks while Pete F, Paul & Steve were tasked with setting up the corner stone close to the compound and bridge. When finished Paul and Steve spent the rest of the day making up the former for casting a stone next to the paddle hole. Here the ‘three codgers’ old John H, old Pete and middle age Mick set to build up the wall. Rob was confined to his wet ladder recess which was still damp from before the pump out.

RAF Fairford laid on a wonderful display during the day of both modern and vintage aircraft but this did not stop Janet from sunbathing at every opportunity at the

Arch formwork and brickwork on the paddle chamber

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Paul Ireson

went off for an evening at Sapperton Tunnel and the Tunnel House pub close by.

A useful addition to WRG’s training aids? breaks. The chuckle brothers were quoted as saying they were buggered after a day of barrowing and mixing which they had misunderstood during the briefing. Irene sported a T-shirt which could be a Tool Talk on how a WRGie needs to get dressed in the morning [see pic above].

Pimms number 1 mixture created.

Monday: The drive to site today went past Fairford for a spot of plane spotting and we kept a beady eye out for RAF Martin. We should not have bothered as we were treated to as many planes today as when the show was on.

Duties were rotated but some kept their previous day’s allocation which included the old codgers and Rob as well as Irene on the bricks.

The chuckle brothers’ work today was a load of blocks while Steve and Paul with assistance from Pete on the mixer cast the first stone of the week. When everyone returned to the accommodation, while most relaxed before dinner, Paul and Janet were energetic enough to go for a 5km run although Paul looked very distressed when returning. After dinner most of the camp

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Tuesday: Steve and Paul distressed the cast stone (with phrases like “You’re a Trump supporter” or “Do you realise your builders have crossed several borders?”) Meanwhile the block and brick laying continued at pace but the ladder recess work was temporary postponed while Rob went off on an archaeological dig in Cirencester. Nigel come down from his pedestal and helped Colin infill behind the stone laid on Sunday along with moving and laying blocks to support it.

Nadine released herself from kitchen duties and was given the task to build the escape tunnel along the wing wall as she was informed that there was a pub on the other side of the fence. The end stop plank runs were constructed and brick were laid to support them.

Late afternoon it was decided to cast the second stone which meant that Acrow props would prevent a free flow of mortar delivery. So a late night crew of Pete, Steve, Paul and Mick would set up everything and cast the stone after everyone had gone.

However, setting up the props gave Simon an interesting obstacle course during his final barrow runs.

The good news item - the men’s shower had now been repaired.

Wednesday: This morning’s breakfast was prepared under the influence of dancing and singing. Colin took over as master mixer and stated that he had no complaints from the brickies, but most of them were inexperienced and therefore were not aware of the standard bricklayers’ phrases and taunts. The chuckle brothers were separated as Andy helped Colin while Mike joined the brick laying team. The old codgers were joined by young Pete to insert the arch former and to start building up the base. After distressing the second stone and removing all the Acrow props, Nigel gave Steve and Paul a ‘just job’ of sorting out the container and clearing up enough space for the delivery of fifty bags of lime the next day. This meant that ten Acrow props were to be left in store while the other thirty one was loaded onto the trailer to be stored at Brimscombe where a team including Pete, Steve, Paul and Andy put them into unit 8.

Thursday: During breakfast the lime arrived

at Brimscombe and was loaded onto the trailer and when on site placed in the container. A message from Jon P that the Acrows needed to be in unit 8b caused several personnel to rebel. Colin’s mixing team now swapped chuckle brother as Mike took over because Andy had been broken the day before. Master bricklayer Irene continued on her sixth day of the task as she did not want to stop. Steve and Paul were dispatched to play with the excavator and digger to move the large stones and soil, however it should be noted that marksmen should stay awake during operations. The honesty invasion caused one half of the St Helen’s crew to attack the other half with a trowel in the name of swatting them. Upon return to Brimscombe, the team of chuckle brothers, Steve, Paul, Pete, Dave and Rob moved the 31 props from one unit to another. The rebels in this party stated that if they were wanted to be moved again they were to be fixed together and placed in an orifice.

Cook notice - experimental meal not successful due to quantity of food, various cooking times and the vagaries of the oven.

Normal service will be resumed the next day.

Helen’s crew joined seven day brickie Irene on finishing off the course along the wall, while Dave, Andy, Ian and Paul were detailed to block laying. Rob had been continuing his ladder recess after his day’s absence and was now at the same level as the brick layers, while the arch now had two courses of bricks overt it. During the afternoon push, the French contingent along with Mike were given some excavator instruction by Steve.

A team of Dave, Pete, Simon and Rick raised the scaffold level closest to the bridge while Ian, Andy and Paul continued their block laying assisted by Carol who was pointing up the blocks with a few suggestive comments when parts of her body prevented the full use of the long level...

The evening meal was followed by the ‘thank yous’ to the catering team and all other helpers. The evening was fuelled by various ports, gins, Pimms and other alcoholic beverages which resulted in the evening entertainment in the pub of the leaders both this week and next using a colouring in book and having their results displayed in the mess room back at the accommodation.

Space has been provided for the three leaders in August.

A big thank you to everyone who attended this camp this year, we achieved what was required and have advanced the final completion of the lock.

Paul Ireson

John Hawkins

Friday: Steve’s exclusive vegetarian breakfast was to be shared as we had a new recruit for the day in the guise of Ricey who was to be the next week’s leader. As it was his first visit to Inglesham, he was given a guided tour of how to get to site, however the attempt of unlocking the front gates and then trying to open the still landlocked side caused hilarity in the van as he was also not informed of the twisting post when closing the gate. As John H was going to the senior citizens’ dig at Geldeston, Paul took over the driving duty, this meant that Simon had more The lock chamber wall rebuild progresses legroom. The St

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camp report Waveney While the discussions continue on the Letters pages about the merits of camp reports, here’s one that at least deserves an Oscar or two...

WRG in association with

River Waveney Trust presents a major slow motion picture

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN ...Gentlemen of a Pensionable Age

Coming soon to a canal near you. Not a cowboy in sight!

Starring: John “The Hawk” Hawkins

Bob “The Builder” Crow Ian “Cookie” Johnson David “Private Fraser” Williams

Nigel “The X-Factor” Lacey Andy “Toolman” Catling David “Whip-Cracker” Evans

Filmed between 21 and 28 July 2018 on location at Geldeston Lock, River Waveney, Norfolk, or Shipmeadow Lock, River Waveney, Suffolk if you are from south of the water.

The story so far: in a quiet border area of East Anglia a village lock is facing ruin. The Fallen Tree Gang and the Crumbling Mortar Brigade are attacking the lock chamber’s south wall. The local citizens of the River Waveney Trust have been working valiantly to resist the banditry of these two villainous groups. However, their efforts are starting to ebb as the tide comes in so they send for the Magnificent Seven Gentlemen. Into town they trundle, 459 years of expertise in a SAD yet trusty red wagon to free the RWT from their adversaries...

Look out for:

· · ·

The M7G ride the tide to remove the destructive mortar and tree.

The M7G brave the blazing sun, suffering hallucinations as a mirage of the Locks Inn oasis taunts them continually.

The wall rises like a phoenix to repel disintegration.

Casting: Nicola Kiely Technical Support: Mikk Bradley Cleaning: Andrew Mackney, Geoff Doggett, Tim Bacon, Graham Peache and Alva O’Malley Heavy Lifting: Joe and Margaret Langran Doughnut Suppliers: Maurice Philpot and Phyllis Mills Canopies: Joe Langran Morale Boosters: David and Sarah Patey Tool Recovery: Joe Langran Producer: Bernard Watson Executive Producer: Alex Melson Duty Director: Rick Barnes As Whip-Cracker, I would like to thank all the WRGies and RWTers who made all this possible and such a rewarding and fun week.

David Evans

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The Magnificent Seven Gentlemen of Geldeston Lock 2018

Above: the team; top: the tree root; left the brickies

fact file River Waveney

Length: 4 miles Locks: 3 Date closed: 1934 The Canal Camp project: Continuing rebuilding the offside wall of Geldeston Lock Why? Following on from summer 2017, this year’s camp continued rebuilding the lock, which had been in a poor condition and could have collapsed if restoration hadn’t started soon.

The wider picture: As long ago as 1670, the creation of the River Waveney Navigation saw three locks built to allow boats to continue from the tidal reaches (which were already in use between Breydon Water and Beccles), on up to Bungay. These lower lengths (plus their links to Lowestoft and the upper Yare) still form part of the Broads; however the length above Geldeston fell out of use and closed. There are no current plans to reopen the locks (the upper two of which have been replaced with sluices, making it more difficult), but Geldeston is to be restored as a historic feature - and hopefully a place to moor the unique preserved wherry (sailing barge) Albion, which traded on the Waveney in the early 20th Century.

Ellingham Lock Canal Camp site: Geldeston Lock

Bungay

Wainford Lock

Geldeston Lock

Tidal river to Breydon Water and Great Yarmouth

Beccles

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River Waveney, Geldeston Lock chamber wall at the start and the end of the camp

What it looked like towards the end of the second camp

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camp report Wey & Arun Meanwhile down in the deep south, our friends in NWPG have been finishing off a slipway and making improvements to the Loxwood Link Wey & Arun Canal WRG/NWPG Camp July 2018 As this was one of the first camps of the main season, the first task was to drive north to Tom’s farm where Mike Palmer had kindly prepared minibus BOB and kit B ready to drive straight off before retracing our steps to Kirdford Village Hall in deepest West Sussex. A good hall for a summer camp, it can comfortably accommodate about 20 volunteers, the Wey & Arun Canal Trust (WACT) portable shower unit on the front car park and the WRG and NWPG gazebos on a newly paved area down the side of the hall. We were to eat all our meals out here, given the excellent weather.

This won’t be the first report to say that this was to be a hot week – as I now know, others have been hotter! Temperatures on our two work sites were never below 25C and often up at 28C – especially at the slipway site where there are few trees and little natural breeze.

The 2018 Camps Brochure had indi-

cated that the work was to be a combination of towpath laying and visitor centre construction at the northern end of the canal. As is often the case in planning camps nine months before they are due to take place, it is difficult to guarantee that all the necessary permissions are going to be in place and/or that other priorities are not going to arise in the meantime. Both were the case here.

WACT had set a date for the opening of the slipway on the summit (see news pages) as well as having instigated a programme of improvement works to their showpiece navigable length of canal at Loxwood. Our camp was to work on both of these sites, with the originally planned work now postponed to the WRG autumn camp in October.

Following the usual and necessary safety talks and briefing and our first Saturday welcome barbecue, the camp split into two groups on Sunday morning and were to stay that way all week. The smaller group headed off to the slipway site at Dunsfold where the main task was to dig out all the soft (but rapidly hardening) clay around the

fact file Wey & Arun Canal Length: 23 miles

Locks: 26

Date closed: 1871

The Canal Camp project: Finishing off works on the new Summit Slipway, and improvements to the restored Loxwood Link length of canal.

River Wey to the Thames Shalford

Bramley

Birtley

Dunsfold

Why? The slipway is being built so that trailboats can be launched Canal Camp site: into the recently restored section of over a mile of the canal’s Summit slipway summit level. And the Loxwood work helps to keep a showpiece restored length of canal up to scratch and usable by tripboats, which Canal Camp provide valuable income and publicity to support further restoration. site: Loxwood

9 Loxwood

Restored Loxwood The wider picture: Having spent some years concentrating on the Loxwood Link length, the Canal Trust has adopted a ‘three sites strat- Link section Newbridge egy’ aiming to spread activity onto the northern sections too, as part of the long-term aim to open the whole route. One of the new sites is the Summit, which is set to be further extended by another new bridge; the other is at the north end of the canal near Shalford, where WRG volunTidal River Arun Pallingham teers will be working on the October camp. But at the same time it’s vital to the coast to keep the lengths already restored (as at Loxwood) in a good state.

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Pictures by Bill Nicholson

new slipway and wharf and to replace it with of the day as well as holding the vessel in hardcore and a finished surface. Work on the position whilst these operations were being slipway has been on-going since being undertaken. By the end of the camp just over started at last year’s WRG autumn camp and half of the required length had been comthe Trust has set an opening date of 30th pleted - about 75 metres in total.

September almost exactly one year on.

At the lock, a second team set about This was essentially a team of plant replacing all four of the lock gate quadrants drivers with Pete Bunker and Adrian Sturgess as the originals had either sunk or were in taking turns at operating the Trust’s 13-ton the wrong position for the boat crews’ feet. and 6-ton diggers and Duncan Robertshaw Led by Graham Hawkes our (very tolerant) and Ian Rutledge sharing out the 9-ton and assistant camp leader, this was the physically 5-ton dumpers and the ride on roller. The hardest job on the camp as each new quadhot dusty work continued all week – forturant hole had to be dug through the rocknately the team had the benefit of Camp hard dried Wealden Clay with only limited Dave’s well established site welfare and other machine access and assistance. There was facilities including a fridge and fan to cool off also the additional problem of the plans not in between bursts of plant driving. matching with the expectations of either Mention of Camp Dave reminds that the KevDave or the boat crews who continued to camp (and all other physical volunteer activi- operate boat-trips through the lock whilst ties on the canal) are now masterminded by work was on going. Unfazed and having Dave (KJD) Evans – not to be confused with rebuilt one of the quadrants twice, the team Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans though both Supreme completed all four by the end of the week.

Leaders in their own right. KJD, now full Team 3 had the job of constructing the time with WACT had the onerous job of lock tail steps. This were originally of plypreparing all the task plans for the camp wood, and like the walings had perished which have to agreed in advance with IWA insurers before any work takes place on site. As a camp with a number of small teams carrying out multiple tasks this was a considerable volume of paperwork and having completed the exercise we considered that it would be unreasonable to expect a volunteer to do it.

Maybe it is only canal trusts and societies with access to paid staff that are going to be able to run camps in the future – or those with very dedicated volunteers?!

The larger section of the camp were based at Loxwood and centred on and around the New Lock and wharf close to the Onslow Arms and Canal Centre. Their tasks all related to the aforementioned improvements and came under the supervision of ‘KevDave’ Baker, the WACT ranger for the Sussex section. Team 1 led

by Steve ‘Pugwash’ Saunders with shipmates Sam Doe, Tony Unseld and Michael Kendra took the workboat ‘MV Dave’ (May Upton) and spent the week replacing the timber walings on the walls both under the road bridge (nicely shaded) and along the main wharf. Drilling, Rebuilding the lock tail steps at Loxwood grinding and gluing were the order

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after 10+ years of use. This was more of a case of Build and Design - Mike Fellows and Dave Rumble knew what the end result needed to be and the maximum depth and height of each step. There was already a retaining wall to the correct height so having dug out behind it, the target length was set out and construction began. After that it really was a case of ‘step by step’. Later in the week Pete Turville and new recruit Willy Field used their two days on the camp to build the remaining Trip-boats pass through the Loxwood New Lock as work continues steps up to the towpath with the whole job completed on the Friday and ready for the Half Moon pub quiz where against some use by the trip boat crews. expectations out teams came in 2nd, 3rd and There were two other jobs at the lock.

4th just missing out on the gourmet meal for One was to dig out and jack up the electric four which was won by the inevitable profesmetal cabin at the lockside used to use the sional quiz team. Instead of the promised back pump electrics so that it was once more boat trip which had to be cancelled due to on the level. The other was to reposition the what water available being reserved for paid lockside rustic fence closer to the lock allow- up charters, we enjoyed a pleasant evening ing for the lock to be more securely gated off walk up from Loxwood to the recently comfrom the towpath/road access adjacent. pleted Gennets Bridge Lock, finishing off for Having experienced the hard clay on the a pint in The Sir Roger Tichbourne. I forget quadrant job, KJD had sourced a new auger who won the skittles match but as usual it attachment for the hired 3 ton digger. The was keenly contested. job was started and finished (apart from We made significant progress at the fitting the gates) in one day with Rob Nichol- slipway such that the target opening date son, Derek Williams and Malcolm Hawkes (30th Sept 2018) is now achievable and we taking the lead roles. completed all the improvement work at I have mentioned a large number of the Loxwood New Lock and much of the timber team but as with most camps there are the walings. Thanks to all the teams who made it others who don’t take a lead role but do the an enjoyable and successful week – we hope leg work of digging, mixing and barrowing. to see many of you team back for the WRG The two Rogers ‘Aussie’ Wishart, returning Autumn camp during October half term for his second camp on the W & A and where the plan is to start the towpath works WACT regular ‘Cranleigh’ Roger Beazer; also on a new section of canal at Birtley. But then Steve Melling and John Barnes who mixed plans… most of the concrete for the quadrants. Back Bill Nicholson at base the unflappable Su Webster kept us well fed with her excellent and much appreci- In addition to the October camp, London ated cuisine. It is safe to say that everyone WRG will be visiting the Wey & Arun for a worked tirelessly all week. weekend work party on 1-2 September - see It wasn’t all about work – we attended diary pages.

page 17

Boat club

News

Including details of the WRG Boat Club AGM at the IWA St Neots Festival, plus some interesting reminiscences from the waterways of 1954...

WRG Boat Club News I recently received a very interesting letter. It was a bit ‘Bad news Good news’ as it was from a couple who had been members for years, and it was telling me that they were leaving the waterways and our club! The history of the waterways that they included was very interesting, so I asked them if I could pass it on. Here it is, from Peter (and Jean) Cooke...

I started boating in 1954 when my father bought a 24ft wooden cruiser. It had a Swedish Solo engine that could run on TVO (tractor vaporising oil), this appealed to my father’s Yorkshire roots – no need for expensive petrol! He kept the boat at the Sheffield Canal Basin. There were half a dozen or so boats moored there, most of them being modified in some way or another. Dad built a rear cabin for sleeping purposes.

In those days I can remember being fascinated by what I know now were the Sheffield-size barges fully loaded with grain.

These would dock under one of the warehouse arches; here a scoop/hopper thing would take the grain up into the warehouse.

It was mainly working boats in those days; rarely did we come across other cruisers.

We’d pass Vic Waddington’s depot at the junction of the derelict Dearne and Dove Canal. There were no narrowboats on the Yorkshire waterways. My first sight of a narrowboat was when we moored at West Stockwith Basin.

There were stop planks under the first bridge of the Chesterfield Canal as this derelict waterway was a mere stream. Opposite the towpath side, by the bridge, were two carcasses of wooden narrowboats, with swans nesting in one of them! It was then that my father told me about narrowboats, as he had seen one on the Pocklington Canal as a young lad in the mid twenties. It was such a carefree time for me as a young lad, no worries about mooring fees, insurance, boat tests etc etc.

page 18

I’m sure that between us we know lots of canal history. Please share what you know; I’ll be delighted to hear from you!

Soon we will all be off to St Neots, to the Festival of Water. Well, I live in hope that lots of members will be there.

As you all know, our AGM will be held there so here is a list/agenda for you to read through, think about and determine to help us. It’s your club and we would hate to be less able to represent you all.

AGENDA for 2018 AGM Apologies for absence The Minutes of last year’s AGM (Please read these as they were published in Navvies last year.)

Matters Arising from the minutes Officers’ Reports: Commode Door AWCC Representative Secretary (including Membership) Treasurer Setting Subs for the coming year Allocation of funds / donations this year.

Election of Officers. Please note our need for new officers to ensure the future of our club!

Future Plans Any Other Business (Compulsory ‘socializing’ of members! There may even be FUN) We all look forward to seeing members there. We only meet up once each year; please make the effort to join in. xxx Sadie Heritage 07748186867 sadiedean@msn.com

letters to the Editor Camp reports: do you “love to read the different styles, banter and injokes” or do we sound like “a cliquey bunch who all get rat-arsed”?

The letter and editorial comment in issue 289 about camp reports prompted some replies...

Dear Martin, Fortunately we live in a free country, have our own views and are free to express them.

I read the letter from John Felix (Navvies no 289) on canal camp reports. I am in my 80s and have been an armchair subscriber to Navvies for decades. I make sure to send my subscription, and a decent donation by return partly to thank all the team for their dedication and hard work producing such a varied and informative magazine. Also to ensure I don’t miss an edition as I particularly look forward to reading the canal reports together with the fact files which put them into context for me.

I love to read the different styles, the banter, and the “in jokes” which I mostly don’t understand, but have fun trying to work out. They make me wish I were young enough to join in, but they are the next best thing. I can’t wait to get issue no 290, with lots of canal camp reports hopefully.

Thank you Martin and all the team for regularly producing such an informative and amusing magazine, I don’t take all the hard work for granted.

Keep up the good work.

Derek Horsnell Martin I can see John Felix getting his head bitten off but personally I’m with him. The camp reports are the worst bit of Navvies for me and I never do more than skim over them and look at the photos, for all the reasons stated by John. However, I do read those which have not been written in a student rag week style, such as the Lancaster report in the latest issue.

That’s what a report should read like in my view.

I do wonder whether the other kind of camp report is counterproductive. I wonder how representative they are of the camps themselves and worry that they are. I’ve never been on a camp, despite being an armchair supporter of WRG for many years, and the reason for that is entirely down to the impression the camp reports have given me. From reading them I expect to encounter a cliquey group of regulars who all get rat-arsed down the pub every evening and if you don’t want to try and break into that circle over a number of camps you’ll feel rather awkward. Now I accept that may well be totally and utterly not what WRGies are like in reality but that’s the impression that comes across to me in Navvies and I’m not particularly keen to book myself into a week of confirmation of my fears. So I’m probably far more likely to dig with one of the canal societies who submit reports and who give off a more inclusive feeling through their more factual style.

Sorry, this probably won’t be received well but I’m just telling you the truth from my point of view.

Regards Andy Overton Hi Martin I thought I would just respond to your editorial on camp reports in Issue 289.

The fact file part is interesting but I must admit that I really enjoy reading the entertaining part of them (even when I don’t know the people involved) and even more so when I do! It would be great if these could continue and I hope you receive lots this year.

Regards Sue Jones

page 19

Hi Martin I just received Navvies 289, and just wanted to re-iterate my previous comments about the fact files. These are just what is needed, I like to see the information about progress. I generally tear them out and keep as an ongoing reference.

Keep up the good work.

Andrew Harris Whitby, Ontario Dear Martin Re: Camp Reports. The letter from John Felix reminded me of something similar I wrote many years ago on a similar theme. Age has hopefully matured my opinions and made me a little more sanguine about the stuff that Martin puts in the magazine.

First, should camp reports appear at all in Navvies. I spent a few hours scanning through some early issues and even the great GKP was adamant that publicity was everything and camp reports played a major part in that.

Second should Martin print everything he receives? Again, read Navvies Notebook issue 25 where Graham Palmer says “If it is interesting and/or relevant it will be printed. I am not prepared to compromise on […] free speech and the ability to be unfettered by convention.”

I don’t see anything that has changed in the 48 years since he wrote that.

Finally should all the camp reports be full of facts and nothing else? Absolutely not.

I’ve been on a few camps where most of the week was either spent brick cleaning or shovelling sh*t. The fact that someone can write a report that covers those interesting pastimes and make it readable and funny deserves the highest commendation. As the chairman of a local Scout group I particularly enjoyed the report on the second week on the Lancaster Canal in Issue 289.

Martin’s ‘Fact Box’ is very useful as an overview of the complete project and if I want to know more I can probably log in to the local societies web site.

Yes I know that there are lots of ‘in’ jokes but I can live with them if they make me smile. Perhaps we ought to remind the people who write the reports that those of us who haven’t been on a camp for a few years probably don’t know that when the report mentions someone called ‘Mucky’ they mean Mick Beattie. (Sorry, that’s going back a few years).

Anyway Martin, keep up the good work and to quote the great Duke of Wellington “Publish and be damned”.

Spencer Greystrong Dear Martin Firstly, thank you for producing 6 excellent copies of Navvies each year! (Creep over.)

You asked for comments on Camp Reports. Most importantly, please keep your potted ‘Fact File’ for each report. The ‘Why?’ and the ‘Wider Picture’ are particularly important for the sad people like me who want to know how my three courses of bricks fit into a 40-year project.

As a relative newbie in WRG terms, I like the variety of styles of reports and am happy to accept whatever comes in that respect. I think ‘technical’ comments are probably better in a stand alone article, rather like David Smith’s on artificial coping stones or an earlier one on ‘shuttering’ (I think). I am happy with the current level of informal banter within reports and, two years ago, when I started, it gave me a flavour of the sort of people I was joining!

So, in summary, ‘steady as she goes’, I think, please.

Malcolm Parker Hi Martin Re camp reports (And no, that is not a comment on your journalistic style!) I am a dedicated armchair follower of your restoration projects, I am grateful to all who take the time to submit reports to you. Yes, I prefer some styles to others, but that is a question of personal taste and it would helpful if we could all remember that your magazine reaches a wide audience ranging from the inveterate restorers to those on the fringes who are considering dipping their metaphorical toes in the water for the first time.

Keep up the excellent work and thanks for such an interesting and informative journal.

Mike Lott

page 20

Dear Martin To me the camps are one of the main reason WRG exists as a key way to support local restoration work. So to stop including camp reports in the magazine as someone has suggested would be like removing the heart from WRG. I have supported WRG for more years than I care to remember and I look forward to the camp reports. It gives me a good flavour of what WRG is up to and how people enjoy it. Yes there may be occasionally comments made I don’t understand but I just pass over them.

I am what would be called an armchair supporter but even for those that are active many will only go one or made two camps in a year and so the reports tell them what WRG is doing in many other places. So keep the reports in; and to those who write them, thanks; and to those who don’t, why not? Many of us want to hear what has happened. It enables us to feel more part of WRG and all it does.

David Chalmers Good morning Martin Please keep the status quo regarding camp reports. I used to be in Kesrg and worked with ken,sue,roger,mike, dave,brian, and am still in the 200 club. I also went on canal holiday with mike and brother before he was chair, and I’m now a member of BITM with Dave.

Yours Ray Crane (80) Dear Martin Re family camps (issue 287). I’m delighted to see that family camps are back. My lot all helped on the Mont staying at Four Crosses Village Hall starting with the International Camp (1976?) My nephew from America said it was the best holiday he had ever been on - age 9.

Now regarding Himalayan balsam. [which the family camps spend some of their time removing from canals] It’s the very best late flowering plant for insects - especially my bees we don’t need to take them to the heather (using petrol). I think this is better than nettles!

Almost all of our garden plants are from abroad. Buddleia is a real weed rooting into my wall!

Regards Janet Williams Dear Martin Many moons ago (but within the last two years!) Navvies had a quiz question along the lines of ‘How many miles do our vans travel each year?’. Did you ever publish an answer? If so, I must have missed it so what is the answer, please?

Malcolm Parker I don’t think we ever did publish an answer: I’ll see if I can get one for next time ...Ed Dear Martin Whilst rummaging through the family archives, I came across this ticket overprinted (in faded biro) ‘Family McCarthy’. I cannot recall Mrs Mac attending, though young Ian Mac (lately of pension age!) thinks he may have attended. It has the look of the once active Navvies Anonymous mob, whilst my withered elderly brain also recalls a ‘Cosmo’ tribe. The organiser’s address at the bottom doesn’t ring any bells with me.

Also most interesting is the venue: ‘The Pindar of Wakefield’: is it still there, and who or what is a Pindar? The reverse side carries a useful and clear map. Maybe some senior WRGie might be able to tell us if it was a ‘good do’ and if it raised any cash for the cause, whilst Yorkshire readers can further our knowledge of the Pindar - I look forward to reading about it.

‘Mr Mac’

page 21

navvies

diary

Canal Camps cost £70 per week or as stated. Bookings for WRG Camps with Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, enquiries@wrg.org.uk. D Aug 25-Sep 1CC201823 Aug 25-Sep 1CC201824 Aug 31-Sep 6WAT Aug 31-Sep 2Family Camp Sep 1/2 London WRG Sep 8/9 KESCRG Sep 8/9 NWPG Sep 8/9 wrgNW Sep 15/16 wrgBITM Sep 22/23 London WRG Sep 22 Sat WRG Sep 23 Sun WRG Sep 29/30 wrgFT Oct 3-10 wrgNW Sep 30 Sun WACT Oct 5-11 WAT Oct 6/7 KESCRG Oct 13/14 London WRG Oct 13/14 NWPG Oct 19-27 WRGFT2018 Oct 20/21 wrgBITM Oct 20-27 CC201825 Oct 20-27 CC201826 Nov 2-8 WAT Nov 3/4 BB2018 Nov 3/4 wrgFT Nov 3 Sat WRG Nov 10/11 NWPG Nov 17/18 London WRG Nov 17/18 wrgBITM Nov 30-Dec 6 WAT Dec 1/2 KESCRG Dec 1/2 London WRG Dec 8/9 wrgBITM Dec 8/9 wrgFT Dec 7/8/9 wrgNW Dec 26-Jan 1 CC201827 Jan 2019 London WRG

Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock Grantham Canal: Lock 14 Wendover Arm: Profiling & lining Fri-Thu Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Wey & Arun Canal Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Cotswold Canals: Stroud Phase 1A or Phase 1B Hollinwood Canal Wendover Arm: Block laying on Bentomat lining Buckingham Arm Logistics Committee & Board Meetings: Location TBC Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Montgomery Canal: Redwith, leak repair. See page 41 Wey & Arun Canal: Grand Opening of Thriscutt Slipway 2:00pm Wendover Arm: Profiling & lining Fri-Thu Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lichfield Canal Wey & Arun Canal: Birtley or Shalford or Dunsfold Wey & Arun Canal: WRG Forestry Camp, Kirdford Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Grantham Canal: Lock 14 Wey & Arun Canal: Birtley and Shalford (NWPG camp) Wendover Arm: Profiling & lining Fri-Thu Lichfield Canal: Bonfire Bash, WRG Reunion WRG Reunion Committee & Board Meetings: at Bonfire Bash Cotswold Canals: Stroud Phase 1A or Phase 1B Cotswold Canals Thames & Medway Canal: Slipway gabions removal Wendover Arm: Profiling & lining Fri-Thu Cotswold Canals: Xmas Party joint dig - LWRG to organise Cotswold Canals: Christmas Party joint dig with KESCRG Maidenhead Waterways: Christmas Work Party Cotswold Canals Uttoxeter Canal: Dig including Christmas Meal Christmas Camp: Location TBC Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: 12/13 or 19/20 Jan

For details of diary dates beyond the end of this list ple

page 22

WRG and mobile groups

h number e.g. 'Camp 201823' should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Diary compiled by Dave Wedd. Tel: 01252 874437, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk

Roger Leishman Tim Lewis Bobby Silverwood Bill Nicholson Ju Davenport Dave Wedd Tim Lewis Mike Palmer Mike Palmer Nigel Lee Ju Davenport Roger Leishman Bobby Silverwood Tim Lewis Bill Nicholson Dave Wedd

Roger Leishman Nigel Lee Mike Palmer Bill Nicholson Tim Lewis Dave Wedd Roger Leishman Bobby Silverwood Tim Lewis Dave Wedd Nigel Lee Ju Davenport Tim Lewis

01494-783453 01494-783453 01442-874536 01494-783453 07802-518094 07971-814986 01844-343369 07808-182004 07816-175454 07802-518094 01564-785293 01564-785293 07802-854694 07808-182004 01442-874536 07971-814986 07802-518094 01844-343369 01494-783453 07816-175454 01494-783453 01494-783453 01442-874536 01494-783453 07802-854694 01564-785293 01844-343369 07802-518094 07816-175454 01442-874536 07971-814986 07802-518094 07816-175454 07802-854694 07808-182004 01494-783453 07802-518094

enquiries@wrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk rwleishman@gmail.com enquiries@wrg.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk bobby@kescrg.org.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk nw@wrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk nigel.lee@wrg.org.uk nw@wrg.org.uk www.weyarun.org.uk/events37 rwleishman@gmail.com bobby@kescrg.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk rwleishman@gmail.com enquiries@wrg.org.uk nigel.lee@wrg.org.uk mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk rwleishman@gmail.com bobby@kescrg.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk nigel.lee@wrg.org.uk nw@wrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

page 23

navvies

diary

Canal societies’ regular working parties 3rd Sunday of month ACA Every Sunday if required BBHT Every Tuesday BCA Once per month: pls check BCNS 2nd & 4th w/e of month BCS Thursdays Sep-Apr BCT 2nd Sun & alternate Thu BuCS Every Mon and Wed CCT Every Mon am Thu pm CCT Various dates CCT Every Sunday ChCT Every Tue and Thu CSCT Every Tue & Wed C&BN Every Friday ECPDA Most Wed and Sun DSCT Second Sun of month FIPT Thu and last Sat of month GCS Tuesdays H&GCT Weekends H&GCT Wednesdays H&GCT Thursdays H&GCT 3rd Wed and last Sat K&ACT 2nd Sunday of month LCT Every Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun LHCRT 3rd Sunday of month LHCRT 2nd full weekend of month MBBCS Alternate Saturdays MWRT Two Sundays per month NWDCT Weekly PCAS Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT 2nd Sunday of month SCARS 1st Sunday of month SCCS Last weekend of month SCS 2nd Sunday of month SNT Every Thu and Sat SORT various dates SRL 1st weekend of month SUCS Every Tuesday morning TMCA Most days, please contact WACT 1st w/e of month (Fri-Thu) WAT Every Sun WBCT Every Wed WBCT 2nd and last Sun of month WBCT

Snarestone Peter Oakden Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar Basingstoke Canal Chris Healy BCN waterways Mike Rolfe Basingstoke Canal Duncan Paine Aqueduct section Tim Dingle Buckingham area Athina Beckett Cotswold (W depot) Reg Gregory Cotswold (E end) John Maxted Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract Chesterfield Canal Mick Hodgetts Chichester Canal Malcolm Maddison Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale Langley Mill John Baylis Derby Canal Keith Johnson Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield Oxenhall Brian Fox Over Wharf House Maggie Jones Over / Vineyard Hill Ted Beagles Herefordshire Wilf Jones East Kennet & Avon Mike Bennett Lancaster N. Reaches Robin Yates Lichfield Hugh Millington Hatherton Denis Cooper Nob End Ian Astbury Maidenhead w/ways Ian Caird N Walsham Canal David Revill Pocklington Canal Richard Harker Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird Sankey Canal John Hughes Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt Stover Canal George Whitehead Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott Baswich, Stafford John Potter Montgomery Canal David Carter Thames & Medway Les Schwieso Wey & Arun Canal Northern office Little Tring Roger Leishman Swindon Oliver Gardiner Wootton Bassett John Bower Pewsham Ray Canter

01827-880667 0161-427 7402 01252-370073 07763-171735 01252-614125 01288-361356 01908-661217 01452-614362 01285-861011 07986-351412 01246-620695 01243-775201 01376-334896 01623-621208 07845-466721 0116-279-2657 0115-989-2128 01432-358628 01452-618010 01452-522648 01452-413888 0118-969-9861 01539-733252 01543-251747 01543-374370 07855-471117 07581-092001 01603-738648 07702-741211 01394-380765 01744-600656 01225-863066 01626-775498 01522-856810 01444-414413 01785-226662 01244-661440 01634-847118 01483-505566 01442-874536 07785-775993 01793 636297 01249 659111

Please send updates to Navvies diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

page 24

Canal societies and CRT Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ regular working parties 2nd Saturday of month Audlem 2nd Saturday of month Aylesbury Every Thursday Bath 1st Wednesday of month Birmingham Alternate Thursdays Blackburn 1st Thursday of month B&T 1st Sunday of month Burnley Alternate Tuesdays Caldon Last Saturday of month Chester 1st Saturday of month Colne/Nelson Alternate Thursdays Coventry 3rd Thursday of month Devizes 1st Saturday & next Tue Fradley 4th Thursday of month Gailey Every Wednesday Gloucester 1st Wed & Fri of month Hatton Last Sunday of month Hawkesbury 1st Saturday of month Hemel Hemp.

2nd Friday of month Huddersfield 1st Thursday of month Knottingley Alternate Thursdays Lancaster 3rd Thu & Sat of month Lapworth 3rd Friday of month Leeds Alternate Tuesdays Leicester 1st Tuesday of month Littleborough 2nd Sat of month London Cent.

1st Wed & 3rd Sat of month London East 1st Sat 3rd & 4th Wed London West Last Tuesday of month Mirfield Every Tuesday Mon & Brec 2nd Thursday of month Newbury Alternate Thursdays North Warks 4th Saturday of month Oxford 3rd Wed of month Perry Barr 2nd Wednesday of month Preston Every Friday Sefton 3rd Saturday of month Selby 2nd Wednesday of month Skipton Alternate Fridays South Derbys 2nd Thursday of month Stratford Alternate Wednesdays Tamworth Every Tuesday Turnerwood Alternate Thursdays Walsall Every Tuesday Wigan Every Thursday Worcester

Abbreviations used in Diary: ACA BBHT BCNS BuCS BCS BCT ChCT CBN CCT ECPDA FIPT GCS H&GCT KACT KESCRG LCT

Ashby Canal Association Bugsworth Basin Heritage Trust Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc. Buckingham Canal Society Basingstoke Canal Society Bude Canal Trust Chesterfield Canal Trust Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Cotswolds Canals Trust Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.

Foxton Inclined Plane Trust Grantham Canal Society Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. Group Lancaster Canal Trust

Shropshire Union Aylesbury Arm Kennet & Avon Bimingham & Fazeley Leeds & Liverpool Bridgwater & Taunton Leeds & Liverpool Caldon/T&M Shropshire Union Leeds & Liverpool Coventry Kennet & Avon Coventry/ T&M Staffs & Worcs Glos & Sharpness Grand Union Coventry/Oxford Grand Union Huddersfield Broad Aire & Calder Lancaster Canal Stratford Canal Leeds & Liverpool Soar/Grand Union Rochdale Regents/Docklands Lee & Stort Paddington/ GU Calder & Hebble Monmouth & Brecon Kennet & Avon Coventry/Ashby Oxford BCN Lancaster Canal Leeds & Liverpool Selby Canal Leeds & Liverpool Trent & Mersey Stratford Canal Coventry/ Fazeley Chesterfield BCN Leeds & Liverpool Worcester & B’ham LHCRT MBBCS NWPG NWDCT PCAS RGT SCARS SCCS SCS SNT SRL SORT SUCS TMCA WACT WAT WBCT

Jason Watts Sonny King Steve Manzi Sue Blocksidge Alice Kay Steve Manzi Alice Kay Andy Whitehouse Jason Watts Alice Kay Sue Blocksidge Steve Manzi Sue Blocksidge Sue Blocksidge Caroline Kendall Sue Blocksidge Sue Blocksidge Sonny King Becca Dent Becca Dent Alice Kay Sue Blocksidge Becca Dent Wayne Ball Andy Whitehouse Debbie Vidler Debbie Vidler Debbie Vidler Becca Dent Caroline Kendall Steve Manzi Sue Blocksidge Sonny King Sue Blocksidge Alice Kay Alice Kay Becca Dent Alice Kay Wayne Ball Sue Blocksidge Sue Blocksidge Wayne Ball Sue Blocksidge Alice Kay Caroline Kendall

07824 356556 07876 217059 07710175278 07917 585838 07825 196 365 07710175278 07825 196 365 07789 982392 07824 356556 07825 196 365 07917 585838 07710175278 07917 585838 07917 585838 01452 318028 07917 585838 07917 585838 07876 217059 0113 2816811 0113 2816811 07825 196 365 07917 585838 0113 2816811 01636 675704 07789 982392 07825 099167 07825 099167 07825 099167 0113 2816811 01452 318028 07710175278 07917 585838 07876 217059 07917 585838 07825 196 365 07825 196 365 0113 2816811 07825 196 365 01636 675704 07917 585838 07917 585838 01636 675704 07917 585838 07825 196 365 01452 318028

Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n Trust Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society Newbury Working Party Group North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust Pocklington Canal Amenity Society River Gipping Trust Sankey Canal Restoration Society Somersetshire Coal Canal Society Stover Canal Society Sleaford Navigation Trust Stafford Riverway Link Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust Shropshire Union Canal Society Thames & Medway Canal Association Wey & Arun Canal Trust Wendover Arm Trust Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

page 25

navvies

diary

Inland Waterways Association and other one-day working parties

Aug 25 Sat Aug 28 Tue Aug 28 Tue Every Sat Sep 2 Sun Every Tue/Sat Sep 9 Sun Sep 11 Tue Sep 13 Thu Sep 15 Sat Sep 15 Sat Sep 18 Tue Sep 18 Tue Sep 20 Thu Sep 25 Tue Sep 25 Tue Oct 7 Sun Oct 9 Tue Oct 11 Thu Oct 14 Sun Oct 16 Tue Oct 16 Tue Oct 18 Thu Oct 20 Sat Oct 20 Sat Oct 23 Tue Oct 23 Tue

IWA Peterboro’ Horseways Channel: Horseways Lock and Channel. 10am-3pm BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm IWA W. Country Bridgwater & Taunton Canal: Taunton area 10am-1:30pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA W. Country Bridgwater & Taunton Canal: Bridgwater area 10am-1:30pm IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Kidderminster. Plastics clearance, Br 17 IWA NSSC/CUCT Uttoxeter Canal: Work party at Bridge 70, Crumpwood. 10am-3pm IWA Chester Shropshire Union Canal: Chester area, painting & veg clearance. 10amIWA Manchester Venue T.B.C.: Greater Manchester area. Veg clearance, etc. 10amBCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. 10am-3pm. Meet at locks 47 BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Kidderminster. Plastics clearance, Br 17 IWA NSSC/CUCT Uttoxeter Canal: Work party at Bridge 70, Crumpwood. 10am-3pm IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. 10am-3pm. Meet at locks 47 IWA Chester Shropshire Union Canal: Chester area, painting & veg clearance. 10amIWA Manchester Venue T.B.C.: Greater Manchester area. Veg clearance, etc. 10amBCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm

IWA branch abbreviations BBCW = Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire; Other abbreviations: BCN = Banbury Canal Partnership BPT = Burslem Port trust; CUCT = Caldon TMCS = Trent & Mersey Canal Society; CRT = Canal & River Trust

Mobile groups' socials:

The following groups hold regular social gatherings

London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig at the 'Rose & Crown' Colombo Street, London NWPG: 7:30pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading.

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IWA and partners For WRG, canal societies and CRT working parties see previous pages

4pm 4pm

& 48

& 48 4pm 4pm

David Venn Colin Garnham-Edge Steve Wood Steve Bulgin Geoff Wood Mike Slade Chris or Steve Hayes David Struckett Steve Wood Jason Watts

01366-324102 07976-805858 07855-794256 07977-263840 01522-689460 07976-805858 07710-554602

Colin Garnham-Edge Geoff Wood John Lawson Colin Garnham-Edge Steve Wood Geoff Wood David Struckett Steve Wood Chris or Steve Hayes Colin Garnham-Edge Geoff Wood John Lawson Jason Watts

07940-878923 07976-805858

07976-805858 01522-689460

07940-878923 07710-554602

Colin Garnham-Edge Steve Wood

07976-805858

david.venn@waterways.org.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk stevebulgin@icloud.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk mike.slade@waterways.org.uk workparties@sleafordnavigation.co.uk david.struckett@waterways.org.uk steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk jason.watts@canalrivertrust.org.uk secretary@manchester-iwa.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk john.lawson@waterways.org.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk david.struckett@waterways.org.uk steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk workparties@sleafordnavigation.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk john.lawson@waterways.org.uk jason.watts@canalrivertrust.org.uk secretary@manchester-iwa.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk

MK = Milton Keynes; Mcr= Manchester; NSSC = North Staffs & South Cheshire & Uttoxeter Canal Society;

RGT= River Gipping Trust; SNT = Sleaford Navigation Trust;

in pubs.

Please phone to confirm dates and times

SE1 8DP.

Contact Tim Lewis 07802-518094 Contact Phil Dray 07956-185305

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focus on Lichfield With a summer camp just finished, and preparations under way for November’s The Lichfield Canal “Which is the most completely knackered canal that anyone’s seriously proposing to restore?” This was a question that I clearly remember discussing with a bunch of fellow WRG volunteers quite a few years back. And the answer that we came up with was “Surely it’s got to be the Lichfield Canal.” That’s right, the one we’re about to give a big push to with our November WRG Bonfire Bash dig.

Sure, there have been some canals proposed for restoration since then which on the face of it have been even more terminally obliterated than the Lichfield – but I think that at the time, we had a point. With the A5, A38, A51, A5127 and A461 (twice) crossing it with no bridges – oh, and the odd railway line too, plus a few bits that had been filled in and built on – it was going to be a tough job. I think the words ‘hopeless case’ might even have been uttered by those less familiar with the track record of canal restorers when it comes to achieving the impossible…

And now here we are, some three decades on, at Canal Camp 2018-15, rebuilding a towpath wall which will form part

of the restored canal’s route around Lichfield.

And planning to go back there with London WRG in October, and looking for a good turn out at the Bonfire Bash. And nobody seems to be talking about lost causes now. So has the restoration got easier in the meantime?

Well, no, on the face of it things have actually got harder, thanks to a new motorway, a bypass, and the dreaded HS2 railway – but in fact the last two of those look like they might now actually help the restoration, rather than get in its way.

Going back to the early days, when the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust was founded in 1988 it was very much a case of ‘work where you can’, rather than having the luxury of being able to plan the restoration in a logical way. In fact a the Trust probably did more work on its other planned reopening, the Hatherton Canal, which has taken a bit of a back seat recently.

An early project was a lock at Fosseway Lane, on a length approximately midway along the route, so about as far away as possible from the ideal ‘work inwards from the ends’ approach. The chamber and bywash were completely restored by LHCRT with support from WRG in the mid 1990s, and then work shifted to a second

Lichfield and Hatherton canals See also map on page 32

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Restoration Feature Bonfire Bash, we look at a restoration making good progress despite challenges site at Darnford Lane, just a mile from the Huddlesford Junction end of the canal.

This was one of several places where the canal will need to be diverted from its original route, and new locks built, to avoid obstructions which have blocked it since closure. In this case, the obstruction is Darnford Lane itself, which crossed the canal on a long-since demolished humpback bridge. Any new bridge will need to be built to comply with modern rules concerning traffic sightlines – so no hump – and the most practicable way of doing that is to lower a length of canal so that a navigable concrete culvert can carry it under the road.

But that meant relocating a lock and excavating a new length of canal at a lower level. So in the late 1990s the new length was dug

What is the ‘Lichfield Canal’?

You won’t find Lichfield Canal in the waterways history books, because it’s a name coined relatively recently by the people looking to restore it.

Historically, the Wyrley & Essington Canal reached for 23 miles from Horseley Fields Junction on the Birmingham Canal near Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction where it met the Coventry Canal. There was also a branch which served Wyrley, and another branch off that which led to Essington (but soon shut) as well as branches to Anglesey Basin and one built later (the Cannock Extension) to Cannock. Both the Wyrley & Essington and Birmingham canals became part of the extensive Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) system.

All 30 of the locks on the Wyrley & Essington main line were concentrated in the eastern seven miles where the canal descended from Ogley Junction (where the branch led off to Anglesey Basin) via Lichfield (where it skirted the city centre) to Huddlesford. As a result of the heavy lockage, these seven miles were

out, and a second-hand liftbridge installed to carry the towpath where the new length joined up with the existing canal. At the same time an ‘inverted syphon’ culvert carrying a stream under the canal was replaced in concrete, a length of canal was steel piled (carrying the names of sponsors on the top of the piles!) and there was an experiment (sadly unsuccessful) in using modern lining materials to waterproof the channel through the very sandy soil.

Those who were involved in WRG around 2000 will remember this featuring as part of our ‘WRG Works’ fortnight of events around the system to mark our 30th anniversary.

Work then shifted to what has been the main worksite for most of the time since more expensive to maintain, and less busy. So while the rest of the route remained open (and still does), the canal from Ogley to Huddlesford was closed in 1955, when the rest of the canal was still busy with coal boats.

Now the situation is reversed: the surviving 16 miles are underused, along with most of the northern BCN, partly because you can’t get to them without going through Birmingham, Wolverhampton or Walsall. Open up the eastern seven miles, and you make these canals much more easily accessible - as well as bringing boats into Lichfield. And that’s the aim of the Lichfield Canal restoration.

...and the ‘Hatherton Canal’?

Also in LHCRT’s long term plan is restoration of a through route to the Staffs & Worcs which consisted of part of the Cannock Extension, the Churchbridge Locks Branch and the Hatherton Branch of the Staffs & Worcs. But so much of the original canals has been destroyed that it will probably follow a different route for much of the way.

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then, both for LHCRT and for visitors including WRG: Tamworth Road Locks on the south east side of Lichfield. Two partly demolished chambers have been rebuilt, a third lock uncovered (but not restored, as it may need to be relocated to get past another road blockage), two pounds between locks rebuilt, and a great deal of work to remove a land drain (laid in the bed of the canal) has been done. Below the locks, a long length of towpath wall has been rebuilt, as far as where the A38 dual carriageway cuts across the canal. Here, another diversion is necessary, and the first section of this has been built, leading up to where a new bridge will take the new canal under the A51 road.

Finally, the whole area has been opened up to the public as the Borrowcop Locks Canal Park.

More recently, attention has shifted to the opposite side of the A51, where the canal passes through the corner of Darnford Park, and new locks will be needed to drop it down to get under the A38. No actual construction has happened yet, but a great deal of the excavation for the locks and cutting has been done.

Meanwhile a new worksite was opened up in recent years at Summerhill towards the Ogley end of the canal. LHCRT bought a 1km length of canal, and has cleared the heavily overgrown route, completely resurfaced the towpath, laid the hedge, rebuilt a culvert carrying a stream under the canal, and restored a wharf. And preparation is under way for the new lock which will lower the canal to get under the A461 by the Boat Inn. And most recently, the Trust’s volunteers have gone right back to its first worksite at Fosseway Lane, where an £18,500 grant is enabling a length of canal and towpath a short distance east of the lock to be restored – initially as the Fosseway Heath wetland nature reserve with the towpath as an accessible walkway for local residents and part of a heritage trail, but ultimately as part of the reopening of the canal as a through route. This is where our 2018 canal camp was based – and you can read about it on the following pages.

But that’s just the volunteer work side of things. At the same time, the Trust has

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Pictures by Martin Ludgate

focus on Lichfield

Restored lock at Tamworth Road had to fight off proposals which might have blocked the route, raise significant sums to stop this happening, and more recently get involved in the planning process to turn these threats into restoration opportunities.

The first of these was what was then called the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (now the M6 Toll) which threatened to flatten both the Lichfield and Hatherton canals in the early 2000s. A major campaign saw navigable culverts installed for the Hatherton and an aqueduct to take the Lichfield Canal over the motorway, thanks to a £250,000 grant from the Manifold Trust and a fundraising appeal fronted by LHCRT patron, well-known actor and waterways enthusiast David Suchet.

Next it was the turn of the Lichfield Southern Bypass to threaten to screw things up for the canal restorers. By this point (and following high-profile cases such as the M6 Toll) the Government had brought in planning guidance policy PPG13 which stated clearly that builders of new roads should give

Restoration Feature proper consideration to making provision for canals under restoration where they crossed the route of the road. But the trouble was, the bypass didn’t actually cross the route which had been identified for the restored canal. No, it was the A5127 Birmingham Road which crossed the canal’s route – right next to where it met the bypass, and where it was being rebuilt anyway as part of the bypass works. So the road-builders managed to weasel out of paying for a navigable culvert by a particularly pedantic application of PPG13.

And that meant it was down to David Suchet to lead another appeal to pay for the culvert, which now lies buried under the road, waiting to be re-excavated when needed…

And that’s likely to be quite soon, because the next section of the bypass is to be built in the next couple of years. And this time, it looks like the bypass works will make proper provision for the canal, and actually help to get this section restored. But what it won’t provide is a navigable culvert under the Birmingham to Lichfield railway line, alongside the bridge that will take the bypass under the railway. So that’s why David Suchet Appeal No 3 is under way: to raise £1m to tunnel through the railway embankment. And it needs to be raised quickly,

because the only way to get it done as ‘cheaply’ as that is to build it at the same time as the bypass.

On a more positive note, the new road bridge that we mentioned earlier would be needed at Darnford Lane now looks set to be built in the not too distant future: a set of concrete culvert sections is already lined up by the site, ready for the road to be dug out so that they can be craned into place, removing one more obstruction from the canal.

Finally, the HS2 high speed railway plans which threatened to obliterate the canal near to its eastern end have now been modified – unfortunately a nice new bridge at Cappers Lane which was only built a few years ago, and has yet to see a boat, doesn’t look like it ever will, because it’s in the way of the line. But the good news is that HS2 Ltd has now agreed to build a new replacement section of canal as part of the railway works.

To sum up, it’s still not an easy restoration and there are numerous obstructions to be dealt with, but things are starting to line up. The Summerhill length ends just next to the M6 Toll aqueduct – and building a new deep lock to link them together is on the agenda. The section affected by HS2, the completed work near Darnford Lane, and the new bridge which is set to carry Darnford Lane itself over the canal are close enough together that they could be combined to form a significant reopened length of canal leading from Huddlesford Junction in the not too distant future. And likewise the Tamworth Road site, the section affected by the new bypass, and the Fosseway Heath site are all within a mile or so of each other.

In short, it’s come a long way from ‘most completely knackered’ category. Book your place on the Bonfire Bash, and help it come even further.

Waiting for a new lock: end view of aqueduct over M6 Toll Martin Ludgate

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focus on Lichfield Read Emma’s report from a week’s work on the Lichfield’s Fosseway Heath Lichfield Canal Camp 28th July – 4th August 2018 Saturday: The camp began on Saturday 28th July with Pete B, Pete F and Emma picking up the vans from the Derby camp along with stowaway Susan. We arrived at our accommodation for the week, the beautiful canal-side Lichfield Cruising Club, which confused a few WRGies as the canal has water in and moving narrowboats. We were met by Harri with lunch and the first ‘big shop’ then unpacked the catering equipment, set up our home for the week and the rest of the volunteers arrived between 4pm and 5pm. The week started badly for DofE-er Will who dropped his emergency tube of Pringles whilst carrying his kit inside but he soon realised he wasn’t going to need them with Harri cooking.

After the welcome talk and safety video we dodged the showers to fit in a site visit before dinner and then sampled the very convenient and reasonably priced in-house bar.

On Sunday morning we woke to heavy rain and tried looking up multiple weather apps on our phones to find the most optimistic forecast, but we didn’t let it stop us and only had to run for cover during one particularly heavy downpour. As Roger and the other Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Restoration Trust (LHCRT) volunteers had kindly prepared a good stretch of the retaining wall foundations we got to work straight away

with Martin, Sandy, Pete B and Will starting the bricklaying before morning tea break!

The supporting cast of Liz, Laura, Joe and Adam kept up a constant supply of cleaned and sorted bricks and Alex and Inka churned out the cement mortar, while Pete F, Paul, Callum and Joel started preparing the next stretch of foundations. Susan and Paul assisted LHCRT volunteers by moving rubble by dumper and crushing it using a crushing bucket on an 8t excavator to be used in the base of the footpath later in the week.

That evening, a bunch of us ventured into Lichfield to complete a Treasure Trail around the city’s landmarks, finding clues.

Monday’s weather was kinder and so Paul, Joel and Callum got to work mixing and laying concrete and concrete blocks for the foundations. I taught Will to use the dumpy level as he is due to start studying civil engineering, and we levelled in 3 brick pillars which Martin laid, to allow the rest of the brickwork team to work in between.

Pete F used the 3 tonne excavator to excavate further ahead of the foundations team to expose the partially buried existing retaining wall so that it could be dismantled and the bricks recovered to be reused later.

Everyone pitched in to help get the delivery of water to where it was needed in a variety of ways as there is no water source on site.

That evening we played girls v boys ten pin bowling, of which Joel was the overall

fact file Lichfield Canal

Length: 7 miles Locks: 30 Date closed: 1955

The Canal Camp project: Building a towpath wall and laying the path at Fosseway Lane To Fradley Diversions to be built to bypass obstructions to restoration A3 8

Why? Initially to create a nature reserve and public path; eventually as part of the Lichfield Canal route.

LICHFIELD A4 61

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HS2

The wider picture: See feature on previous pages for A51 Byp ass the full story, but basically it’s about reopening a missing link route which opens up access from the busy Coventry Canal To Anglesey via the historic Lichfield Basin Tamworth Road A5 city to the sadly underused work site Ogley Junction canals of the Northern Wyrley & M6 Toll Canal Camp site: Birmingham Canal Summerhill Essington Canal Fosseway Heath Navigations. work site To Wolverhampton

Coventry Canal Huddlesford To Coventry

Darnford Lane work site

canal camp Report work site - and then turn over for a more unorthodox camp report by Laura... winner, followed by air hockey in the arcade in which Inka beat Alex (it’s in print now so it must be true!).

Tuesday: The retaining wall continued to grow and several people moved between the tasks of bricklaying, blocklaying, mixing and brick cleaning. During a contemplative moment of brick cleaning Inka came out with a particular little pearl of wisdom “These bricks are all different, some are big some are small, some are straight and some aren’t.

Like people I suppose”.

On the way back from site we stopped by the Tamworth Road locks to see “one we made earlier” which inspired lots of us by reminding us what our sandy ditch and pile of bricks will look like when it’s got water in and what volunteers can achieve. After dinner, WRG chairman Mike arrived and we relocated to the pub for some serious preproduction meetings and scrabble games (which Will and Joel won).

On Wednesday morning John arrived and I promptly put him to work on the trickiest part of the brickwork, the decorative coping course of alternate bricks on end. We started a new task to construct the towpath on each side of the boardwalks. This involved using the 3 tonne excavator to load the material which Pete had dug out for the foundations into the dumper driven by Susan, and loading it behind the abutment walls for Callum and Joel to level out and compact in layers using a wacker plate. The top 150mm was made up of crushed brick and stone (crushed on site earlier in the week) on a layer of geomembrane and topped with limestone fines.

There was extra excitement on site when the film crew arrived to film scenes for the next IWA Restoration Hub video about Project Planning. Laura, Joe and Inka stepped up to keep the mortar production going while Alex was busy being a star doing some Oscarworthy pointing and nodding at paperwork with Mike and Mikk. Liz also starred in a cameo role of ‘Lady Receiving PPE’ and Pete F, Paul and John played supporting roles in the ‘Site Induction’ scene as they weren’t quick enough to get back to work after lunch.

Wednesday evening’s entertainment was an infuriating but hilarious game of crazy golf won by Joel (again!).

Thursday: I was rather distressed to find I wouldn’t be going to site on Thursday morning with the rest of my volunteers but instead had to stay behind at the accommodation with MKP and the film crew and answer some questions which anyone who attended the training weekend will be familiar with, such as “What’s the point in writing a Project Plan, it’s all going to change anyway?”. Fortunately, it was done in no time and I could get back to site thanks to a lift from Harri.

Paul gave Laura and Inka some further training on the excavator and they continued to load the as-dug material behind the retaining walls to build up the level of the towpath. Pete, Sandy and Will extended the foundation of concrete blocks and concrete bed even further along so there was no chance of the brickies slowing down.

That evening an imaginative game of scrabble broke out, horrifying the purists, and we went to the pub.

Friday: In addition to finishing the stretch of towpath we’d been working on and getting the brickwork to full height (“just one more mix!”) Peter Buck had kindly organised a tour of the Victorian Sandfields pumping station near site to see the enormous Cornish beam engine.

After cleaning and packing the kit into the trailer we took our end of camp photo sitting (carefully) on a very small section of the wall we built. For our final evening we enjoyed a lovely al-fresco meal on the lawn next to the canal, just outside the apple tree drop-zone. We celebrated Alex’s birthday (actually on Saturday) with a Harri-made caterpillar cake big enough for 20 and played a couple of lively games of croquet.

Finally, a couple for the bloopers reel: we learnt that you can’t fit 2 people in a dinosaur onesie and that it’s very hard to put a bra on with your hand in a plastic bag [Martin – that’s my bit of ‘pap’].

Thank you everyone who made it such an enjoyable camp. And that’s a wrap!

Emma Greenall

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focus on Lichfield See also Page 2 for a selection of colour pictures from the Lichfield Camp...

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canal camp Report ...and see next page for how to book for November’s Lichfield Bonfire Bash

By: Laura Gilmore & Joe Atwill

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focus on Lichfield Book now for the Reunion Bonfire Bash The WRG Reunion 3-4 November: Lichfield Canal The Reunion is our annual major working party and get-together for all canal volunteers (also known as the Bonfire Bash), and this year for the first time ever we’re holding it on the Uttoxeter Canal. The work will include scrub bashing - which hopefully means some big bonfires - plus some hedge-laying, and if the weather’s suitable we may also be able to continue the work from the Canal Camp of building the towpath wall at Fosseway Lane. And we’re hoping to see something approaching 100 volunteers for the weekend.

We’ll have more details of the work, accommodation etc in the next issue - in the meantime, book in using the form below or via the WRG website wrg.org.uk.

And if you can’t wait until November to go and work on the Lichfield, London WRG have a weekend working party there on 13-14 October. See diary pages for contact details.

Waterway Recovery Group Lichfield Canal Reunion 2018 I would like to attend the WRG Reunion Bonfire Bash on 3-4 November Forename:

Surname:

Address: email: Phone:

Any special dietary requirements?

I require accommodation on Friday night / Saturday night / both nights I enclose payment of £ Association’) for food

(please make cheques payable to ‘Inland Waterways

(cost is £13 for the weekend based on £3 breakfast and evening meal, £2 lunch) How will you be travelling to the Reunion?

Do you want to work with volunteers from one of this year’s Canal Camps or from one of the regional groups? If so, which camp or group?

Do you suffer from any illness, such as epilepsy or diabetes, about which we should know, or are you receiving treatment or under medical supervision for any condition YES/NO If yes, please attach details on a covering letter.

In the unlikely event that you should be injured, who should we contact?

Name:

Phone:

Signed: Send to: Reunion Bookings, WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA

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family camp Uttoxeter Last year WRG held an initial Family Camp for accompanied 8-14 year olds. This year there are three: the volunteers report from the first one...

After the success of last year’s initial Family Camp for volunteers aged 8-14 (accompanied by their responsible adults), WRG is holding three more of these weekend events in 2018. The first of these took place on the Uttoxeter Canal in June: two of the young volunteers report back...

Balsam, bird boxes and bollards Uttoxeter Canal family camp 8-10 June On Friday evening, we all gathered at Denstone pre-prep school in Uttoxeter for the first WRG family camp of the year. The accommodation was the top floor of the old stables, fully equipped with new beds and freshly painted (we were the first to use it).

Outside, we had a great mass of land in which we could roam, this included: a basketball court, tennis courts, a zip wire, playground structures and a wide-open space.

Seeing everyone on the first day was great, we also learnt that basketball is a great way to make friends. So, we slept on the first day

with excitement and anticipation running through us.

Saturday morning was an easy wakeup, that was until the fire alarm was set off by our bacon cooking (there was no fire!).

Also, all through the night, we were wondering how we would get out of the accommodation tomorrow morning as the Iron Man 70.3 was going past the front of the drive and the road was closed. After a hearty breakfast of cereal and a bacon sandwich, we jumped in the vans and set off for site.

When at site we set it up and then put on our PPE. After a quick site safety talk, we set off to do the morning’s tasks: taking shoots off old stumps and digging holes for the bollards. It was the adults who dug while the children – with the support of some adults – lopped off the shoots. Finding the stumps that we were chopping the shoots off was hard due to the amount of Himalayan balsam that was around, so we destroyed that too. At break, the holes for some of the bollards were nearly finished. Break came and went without a fuss, afterwards, we set

fact file Uttoxeter Canal The Canal Camp project: building and installing bird boxes, clearing vegetation, carrying out a nature survey, removing invasive species, and installing bollards, all on a site in the Crumpwood area.

Caldon Canal to Etruria

Length: 13 miles Locks: 17 Date closed: 1849

Froghall: 1st lock and basin restored 2005 Oakamoor

Why? As part of plans for a ‘showpiece’ restored length and visitor site.

Crumpwood The wider picture: The canal having closed 180 years ago with parts of its route used for building a railway line, restoration isn’t going to be a Alton quick or easy job. The first section at Froghall, which might seem the Denstone obvious place to start reopening the canal (so that boats from the Caldon Canal Camp site: Canal can access it) is going to be very tricky and expensive to open, thanks to several missing locks, a blockage where a main road crosses, and Crumpwood the need to share space with the Churnet Valley Steam Railway. So the Proposed Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust looked around for a more practical place to diversion start, and hit on the Alton to Crumpwood length - bypassed by the (disused) ending in railway, with surviving locks, the last remaining bridge, and an unusual ‘level converted crossing’ of the River Churnet. This could be a restored ‘showpiece’ length, quarrry with a public tripboat to raise funds and support for more canal restoration.

Uttoxeter

page 37

prompt start, we left the camp quickly due to IronManUK – a massive triathlon held that day. When we arrived, we set up site for the last time. We retrieved the bird boxes from the toilet (they were all dry by this time), and added extra decorations with brighter colours. We then pulled and collected piles and piles of Himalayan balsam and had a competition to see who could make the best sculpture out of it. Our builds included a nest, a barbecue, a bed and a tepee: the nest got the most votes. Then we had a lunch of sandwiches, crisps, maltesers, haribos and fruit.

Next to the canal was the river, and right by our base was a weir and lock – which was old and disused. We went to explore this and found out many interesting things about the canal. Once we’d explored, we went to do much more Himalayan balsam. Due to the fact that it was our last day, we left site at 2.30pm, so we didn’t get home in the dead of night. We had to leave the camp the way we found it – as much as we could. Jenny, the other camp leader, almost lost her nail after getting her finger trapped in the van door – ouch! We then all said our goodbyes and left our wonderful camp, but knowing that we were going to try and go back next year.

Jonathan & Georgina As we went to press there were still places available on this year’s third family camp on the Chelmer & Blackwater on 31 August - 2 September. See diary pages or wrg.org.uk.

Alison Smedley

off for our next jobs: more hole digging and balsam pulling. The pulled balsam was put into piles and left, the flies loved it! At lunch some of the holes were finished and some had just been started.

Lunch came and went with no real problems, so it was time for the afternoon jobs, more digging and a nature hunt (completed by the children). On the nature hunt we found many different things, a nesting bird which we couldn’t work out what species it was, some sort of larvae, and many different types of bugs and plants. After the nature hunt, the children completed the creation of some birdboxes. Once created, they were painted a darkish green (the base colour) and then put on a plastic sheet. At the end of the day, the plastic sheet was moved into the toilet (yes, the toilet!) to keep them dry overnight. Then, after packing away site, we left for the day.

When we got back, we were all very hungry after our day’s work, so Rob (our cook) set up the barbecue and cooked many things: sausages, corn on the cob, halloumi, kebabs and aubergines. We enjoyed all of this with some ice cream and brownie knocked up by Amber, our leader. After the barbecue, we had a campfire and toasted marshmallows over it – yum! After all that, no wonder we dropped off with the click of a finger!

In the morning, we were woken early by the fire alarm, set off by the pancakes which we had for breakfast. After the

Young volunteers with their completed bird boxes

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progress

Roundup

Work continues on the Wendover, regular work-parties get going on the Derby, and there’s good progress - and a boat - on the Buckingham Grand Union Wendover Arm

Derby & Sandiacre Canal

The Wendover Arm Trust’s May and June Working Parties both started with the Friday spent pumping out water! During May work had to be restricted to bulk excavation but things improved in June; 27 metres of both banks were profiled ready for lining.

For the July and August Working Parties, work could now progress on lining both banks and follow with bed lining.

Whitehouses: The work now forging ahead on the channel means that work will reach Whitehouses probably before CRT even begin work on the pseudo weir at Whitehouses; we still await their estimate for the work.

Tidy Friday: John Reynolds and his team continue with their good work of vegetation control This is valuable work and I am sure John would like to hear from anyone able to spare a Friday once a month.

Roger Leishman

The Derby & Sandiacre Canal Socity currently hold between two and three working parties each week. On Wednesday we can be located at the bottom lock in Borrowash, restoring one of our locks along with the help from locals.

Fridays can find us at the recently acquired derelict cottages that we are restoring in Draycott, all building skills along with general labour are appreciated to help us keep costs under control.

Every other Sunday we are at various sites along our route depending on work needed to maintain pathways and walks.

Full details can be found on our website: www.derbycanal.org.uk or contact me direct via coordinator@derbycanal.org.uk Eddy Case, Chairman Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society 07523 896645

BCS

We hope to have a Derby camp report next time

First boat on the restored length of the Buckingham beyond Bridge No 1 at Cosgrove: see over

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progress Buckingham Buckingham Canal Work on the restoration of Bridge No1 (at the far end of the surviving length used for moorings at Cosgrove) is well underway, with much of the original stone work still in good shape. Our volunteers have completed the task of building a platform in the bed of the canal to provide a base for them to work from when the next stage of the restoration begins. You may recall that back on 10-11 February we were joined by a group from London WRG who worked alongside our own volunteers, removing more of the soil from the bridge’s wing walls and building a flight of steps on the steep slope up to the bridge.

These steps have since proved very popular with walkers, particularly when the towpath is very wet and muddy. They have certainly made the climb and the descent a lot easier.

On 6 March a group of students attending a brick laying course at Milton Keynes College visited the site with their teacher, in preparation for them to help with the work of restoring the bridge. LWRG joined us again for the weekend of 21-22 April, when they completed one corner of stonework and erected a second scaffolding tower, and they are due to visit us again on 22-23 September.

Regarding the bridge reconstruction our structural engineer, Keith Rawlings, has submitted his recommendations, and subsequent discussions took place with Phil Emery, the Senior Heritage Advisor with Canal & River Trust. We sometimes forget that the restoration of the canal is about protecting some 220 years of industrial heritage, and when Phil saw what we had uncovered, he was highly delighted about how much of the original structure remained. The original design of a hump back bridge will now change to a flat deck, and the principal reason for this design change is the load transference when heavy farm vehicles are present. The new design approach is to put a flat bridge deck slightly above the original stonework, wide enough for a combine harvester. It will be supported on steel beams with transverse concrete beams infilled with concrete blockwork and overlaid with a concrete and mesh screed as a wearing surface. These techniques will show a

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clearly visible differentiation from the original construction of this structure, but are in accordance with modern restoration practices, whilst also following the guidance issued by the current CRT Senior Heritage Advisor. Nevertheless, the original stonework shall remain wherever possible as a visible monument of the past, as well as a valuable contribution to the future. Final discussions with Phil Emery are upcoming and we are anticipating that we will now progress with getting the formwork in place and steels to site in readiness to enable some good and productive progress over the next few months.

The commitment of Buckingham Canal Society to original and historical construction should stand us in good stead with a future grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), aimed at furthering the restoration of our canal from Wicken to Buckingham.

Whilst work continues at the bridge, our efforts are also focused on progressing west toward the A5. Because of the amount of rainfall we had in the spring, alongside the extra pumping carried out by BCS volunteers, the canal at Cosgrove started to look again like a ‘real canal’ with plenty of water in it, which is always good for publicity! And we even put a boat in it.

Our next big project, known as the New Channel (which deals with the diversionary route around the length obstructed by the A5 and Old Stratford) proceeds at a healthy pace. Good progress is being made, with the initial formal submission to the EU now underway. Web access for this has been granted, and the project team is actively working on our submission. The Society has had preliminary discussions with the Old Stratford Parish Council about potential grant funding which would enable us to buy the land between the A5 and Watling Street. Our intention is to apply for a change of use for this land, and the descent channel across the MK Dons land.

A meeting has also taken place with the South Northamptonshire Council (SNC) Planning team to discuss the overall New Channel proposal. This was very positive with fruitful discussions on both sides.

navvies

News

Another WRG North West mini-camp on the Mont, the opening of a slipway on the Wey & Arun, first mention of the C-word... ‘Christmas’ W&A Slipway opening I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has been involved in the construction of the Wey & Arun Canal’s summit slipway over the past 2 years We will be holding a opening ceremony on Sunday 30th September to open the slipway and canoe landing stage (assuming with the assistance of the London WRG camp on 1-2 September it’s finished! Which it will be!) Please feel free to pass on the invitation to anyone who has been involved.

The Wey & Arun Canal Trust is also inviting boaters to join in by bringing canoes, kayaks, paddleboards and other small craft - it will be possible to launch trailable craft using the slipway. See weyarun.org.uk for boat entries and details.

Dave Evans

Congratulations... ...to Lucy and Chris Byrne on the arrival of Amber Jade Byrne on 11 August.

Coming soon (1) WRG North West are running another ‘mini camp’ on the Montgomery Canal, this time concentrating on waterproofing a leaky length of canal near Redwith. The work will involve digging out behind the canal wall, removing rubble and replacing with a more leakproof material, plus removal of bushes and a tree and then making good any damage to the landowner’s garden from the work. It will need dumper and excavator drivers (the latter need to be capable of precise work). Accommodation is likely to be at Llanymynech.

Contact Ju Davenport (see diary pages) for details and to book.

Coming soon (2) Plans are already in hand for the London WRG and KESCRG Christmas Party Dig on 1-

2 December on the Cotswold Canals. Well, when I say ‘plans’, I mean we’ve already decided the theme for the Saturday night fancy dress and fun - it’s “Food and drink”.

We’ll have more details of the work, how to book, and also information about the rest of the Christmas camps and work parties, next time.

Alan Faulkner R.I.P. We are sorry to have to bring you the sad news of the death of Alan Faulkner, who had a pivotal role in a number of canal restoration projects particularly on the eastern side of the country. He was involved in the restoration of the Great Ouse, completed in 1978, and more recently in the setting up of the North Walsham & Dilham Canal restoration project as well as the Fens Link scheme and many other schemes - and in the East Anglian Waterways Association, an umbrella body for waterways in that area, being the long-serving editor of its magazine The Easterling.

He was also a prolific author of canal history books, writing heavyweight histories of the canals which made up the Grand Union system, as well as a series of booklets on working narrow boats.

London WRG... ...would like to put on record our heartfelt thanks to the anonymous donor who surprised us all by offering to pay for a new Tirfor winch when ours was found to be beyond economic repair.

Also to the Inland Waterways Association (North and East London branch) who, when our Burco broke, heeded our cries that it would not be possible for us to continue restoring canals if our supplies of tea and coffee were cut off, and chipped in for a new one.

Seriously, many thanks for ensuring that London WRG is fully equipped to face the approaching winter scrub-bashing season.

Martin Ludgate

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infill including Dear Deirdre How to go on a camp if you’re self-employed, whatever happened to the new vans, and Mr Mac delves into the WRG North West archives Dear Deirdre I desperately want to go on a camp this summer but I’m self-employed and I really can’t afford to take more time off work. Have you any advice?

- JK, Wolversbury

Deirdre writes For years now I’ve found a way to earn money whilst participating in WRG camps. There are many people in the ‘birding’ community who adore birdwatching but are unfortunately too lazy to actually go out in the wild and look at birds themselves. I offer a simple subscription service where I’ll text updates on all the birdlife I see on the canalside to my followers, and they get to enjoy birdwatching from the comfort of their own living rooms. There’s a huge birdwatching community in the UK so I’m sure you can build your own following and generate an income while you dig.

Dear Deirdre What happened to all those new vans I raised all that money for? I was very disappointed to come on my annual camp to find we’re still driving round in the same mud-drenched old bangers we were in 2016. Did head office spank all the money on new pens or something?

- NT, Ashton Mandeville

Deirdre writes No these actually are the new vans. It only took 5 minutes for WRG volunteers to make them look just as beaten up as the old vans. We’ll be along in a minute asking for funds for the next lot. Thanks for your support!

[The editor would like to point out that the vans are in fact all looking spick & span with new logos] Do you have a question for Deirdre? Just email it to the editor and we’ll get her reply

Once upon at time in the north west...

I am indebted to David ‘Mr Mac’ McCarthy for sending me an extract from the minutes of the WRG North West ‘Ad Hoc’ Committee meeting of 28 February 1985: WRG Navvies Subscribers List: The person maintaining this is giving up soon. It is a very big job and involves writing out about 400-600 first and second renewal reminders each issue. Also Alan [Jervis, the then WRG Chairman] is fed up with dealing with al the resultant cheques and slips. Edd Leetham offered to do the reminders on his computer and Sue Watts volunteered to deal with all the cheques and received slips, with any problem areas to be sorted out between them. Alan was visibly unimpressed but after the meeting it was agreed that he probably thought they were joking... ...followed by an extract from the minutes of the next ‘Ad Hoc’ on 4 April 1985: WRG Navvies Subscription Secretary: Sue and Edd’s offer to do this has been taken up after all. Alan has handed over his stuff to Sue. Edd to collect the rest from Christine Martin and John Felix (at a pub in Northampton on Easter Day).

Mr Mac comments: “Such is the way history is made. Sue is therefore the longest serving member of the dedicated Navvies team.”

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outro Training

Weekend

Pictures by Martin Ludgate

Our pictures show just some of the skills and knowledge passed on during the WRG Training Weekend hosted by the Cotswold Canals in June.

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Openings... openings...