Navvies 299

navvies volunteers restoring waterways

Camps preview: This summer on the Wey & Arun, Chelmer & Blackwater Cotswold and Lichfield ...and what’s with all these cakes?

issue 299 FEBRUARY-MARCH GROUP

2 0 20

Intro Cake!

See page 4 for an explanation

page 2

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, Emma Greenall, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Nigel Lee, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2020 WRG

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

Contents Cake! The editor explains all...

4 Chairman Mike on BNG 5-7 Coming soon Clean Up, Canalway Cavalcade, Training weekend and more 8-9 Waveney Camp and training opportunity 10 Camps preview the Chelmer, Wey & Arun, Cotswold and Lichfield canals need you!11-13 Camp report Cotswold Christmas 14-15 London WRG a year in the life 16-19 Diary WRG, IWA, CRT, canal societies 20-25 Progress around the system 26-33 50 years ago 1970 was The Big Year 32-35 Letters broken biscuits and birthdays 36 News 37 Infill Deirdre’s back!

38 Outro Cotswold Christmas camp pics 39

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 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 300: 1 March.

Subscriptions A year's subscription (6 issues) is a minimum of £3.00 (cheques to The Inland Waterways Association) to Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ. Please add a donation if you can.

Front cover Lichfield Canal: London WRG working on Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust’s latest worksite, Gallows Wharf, repairing the towpath all. See Camps Preview p9-11.

Back cover Cotswold New Year Camp at Whitminster: high-tech and low-tech approaches to lopping high-level overhanging branches. See report p12-13. Pictures by the editor

page 3

Happy birthday to WRG So what’s with all the pictures of cakes on the inside front cover page? The editor explains about WRG’s forthcoming big birthday...

How many years since what???

You might have noticed that on page 2 we have a selection of colour photos of WRG volunteers with what look suspiciously like they might be birthday cakes... well, apart from one which looks suspiciously like an arrangement of broken biscuits, but hey, WRG NorthWest always have to do things in their own inimitable way.

So what is it we’re celebrating this time? It’s WRG’s 50th anniversary. “But hang on a minute!” I hear you exclaim, “didn’t we just celebrate that a couple of years ago?” Well, no (and actually it was four years ago, but things are always longer ago than you think), that was the 50th anniversary of Navvies magazine. Because WRG, being a rather idiosyncratic organisation in various ways, has somehow managed to end up four years younger than it’s own magazine.

Navvies was launched in 1966 (originally as Navvies Notebook) to provide information about canal restoration working parties and other useful information for the increasing numbers of ‘mobile volunteers’ - the ‘new navvies’ as they called themselves, travelling from site to site (a little like the original navvies who built the canals), working on whichever projects they were needed on. And then four years on, founder editor Graham Palmer and the people involved in this venture decided that it would be a good idea to actually set up an organisation to back up Navvies and to provide coordination, resources, labour and equipment to support canal restoration projects across the country. So WRG was launched at the Inland Waterways Association’s National Rally of Boats at Guildford in August 1970. And the rest is history...

This, of course, gives us twice as many anniveraries to celebrate, which is great, but it does get increasingly difficult to think of something new to do each time to celebrate it. So this time, for a change, we thought we’d kick the anniversary year off with what we hope will be the first of 50 birthday cakes - one for every year of WRG’s existence. The first one was served up on the Christmas Canal Camp, just a couple of minutes into 2020, and the next seven were eaten at two London WRG digs, one NorthWest dig, a WRG Forestry weekend, a couple of informal gatherings of WRGies past and present at Center Parcs and in rural Staffordshire, and a camp leaders’ get-together in Rowington.

We’re hoping there will be lots more WRG 50th birthday cakes served by more camps, regional groups, and anyone else - you don’t even have to be part of WRG, just anyone who thinks our birthday (and more to the point, our continued existence and commitment to doing what we’ve been doing since 1970 and much more) is worth celebrating. And no, I’m afraid we don’t issue the cakes - that’s up to you! But please, if you do celebrate our birthday with a cake, take a photo and send it to the editor, or post it in the WRG Facebook group, or get it to us in some way or other, and we’ll all help to spread the WRG message.

And no, this isn’t going to be the only way we’re marking the occasion. You’ll see in our letters page and elsewhere in this issue that we’re already on the case. But we’re very much open to suggestions of anything else to do during this year - the letters page is yours!

Martin Ludgate

page 4

Chairman’s Comment Mike Palmer explains all about biodiversity net gain, and whether we’re doing restoration, regeneration, recovery or whatever?

Chairman’s Comment So there are a couple of big conversations that I believe are going to be floating around over the next year or so. I don’t think I can claim to be an expert on either of them, but I can recognise that they are important and need to be had. So I’ll just start talking and see what happens. The two conversations relate to Biodiversity Net Gain and Regeneration or Restoration.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Hopefully you all read Alex Melson’s article on page 31 of the last edition of Navvies. It’s an excellent introduction to a subject that has the potential to significantly influence our work from now on. For those who want to read more about the subject there will be a more comprehensive Guidance Note from Alex on the IWA website in the coming month. For anyone who is particularly keen to find out more please do feel free to contact Alex and he will be more than happy to share a draft and I really do recommend giving it a read. As I say, I’m not an expert on this and it is very new and will develop over the next few years, so you should take these next few paragraphs very much as just some early observations rather than fact.

So just in case you haven’t read the article, the very quick definition of BNG is that if you want to do some development then you have to make sure that, as a result of that development, the environment is actually better off than before. And I guess we may feel quite good about this, at least initially. Our usual contribution to the debate has been that, generally speaking, a restored canal is better for nature than a derelict one. BNG however may need you to prove that that it will be better specifically for that particular bit of the restoration you are proposing.

So here are a few observations that apply to Stop Press (1)... all “developers”: BNG is not even law yet and exactly how it will be applied will be dependent on yet to be written Codes of Practice, legal interpretations, plus all the usual “resource limits” – this legislation is going to require literally hundreds of project officers and consultants to both generate and process all the applications. It’s clearly going to focus on the big players first – if you are building a nuclear power station (or perhaps a high speed rail link?) then you will be the initial focus; next come big housing developments, etc. Nice rural canal restoration may take a while to appear on the radar.

As Alex pointed out, this relates to “development” – so it may be that just restoring the lock doesn’t count, but if you want to put a new bridge over it then it might.

Just as we were going to print, yet another cake When it does you can pretty much pic (see p4) turned up, from WRG Forestry guarantee that, like other environmental

page 5

Martin Ludgate

legislations it will be applied unequally from case to case.

One project in Somerset may have one interpretation applied to it, whereas an identical project in Lincolnshire may not. So the Inland Waterways Association is going to have to keep on its toes trying to make sure these cases are highlighted and the local societies get all the support they need.

(Though please understand it is to be expected that there will be some differences between each application – unlike H&S Aston Nature Reserve: the bigger they are, the more successful legislation, where (say) a scaffolding issue will always be a scaffolding issue no matter which county it’s in, each restoration will be considered based on the habitat it is in – so location is an issue).

There is quite a lot of new language everyone is going to have to learn. We tend to talk about all of this as “mitigation” but that’s only one option here (and it’s not the preferred option).

There will be much talk of being clever and letting other developments use your waterway as mitigation. We have been here before with development-led restoration. These days people are very keen to label projects with terms such as “greenwashing”, so we should be wary about this.

Next, here are a few issues that apply specifically to waterway restoration: Waterway restoration often relies on incremental gains: we restore the odd lock here and there and then hopefully manage to put a length in water, slowly joining things up. But it is a slow process and you cannot absolutely guarantee that the next few bits of the jigsaw are going to fall into place. How successful are we going to be with an application that says something along the lines of “we would like to install half a mile of concrete channel lining through this peat bog which is a negative, but it will enable four miles of rural healthy canal after that. Oh, except we haven’t bought the land or got the permissions for that next bit yet”. Will our projects be assessed in totality or just the bit we are asking to work on? Can we do a whole load of environmental work on one section and then ask (maybe years later) for it to taken into consideration for another project? How do we deal with projects that cross boundaries between planning authorities (a large number of them do)?

Then there is a genuine technical issue – one of the key stages of any BNG application relies on a thing called the BNG metric to work out just how much your project will affect its habitat. It’s basically a big spreadsheet where you type in how much concrete, how many trees planted, etc. and it comes up with a resulting change in biodiversity: 10% improvement, 8% loss, etc. From a waterways point of view it’s missing a vital trick; one of the most impressive things about waterway restorations is that they frequently join up habitats. A waterway is a nice safe corridor that links up habitats that would otherwise be isolated. And, as we learnt with Aston Nature Reserve which WRG built on the Montgomery Canal all those years ago, nature reserves need to be a certain size to be successful, the bigger you make them the more successful they become.

Waterways are brilliant at this connectednes, but unfortunately the current metric doesn’t take this into account. To be fair the boffins behind it Stop Press (2)... have acknowledged this and so it will have to be a “manual adjustment” after the metric has done its work.

Congratulations to Ian ‘Mac’ So it is all too early to properly say what this will McCarthy on being re-elected as a all mean for us, but it does seem that all the restoraCanal & River Trust Council memtions may have to think about re-phasing some of ber representing volunteering for their plans for restoration so that the promised gains another four-year term. appear ahead of the engineering works.

page 6

Harry Arnold

There is almost certainly going to be questions raised about our “jungle bashing” events. Now to be clear – it’s been a long time since we just did random jungle bashing. We got bored years ago with people asking us to clear long stretches just for effect (and then asking us to come back five years later because “it’s all grown back again”). Nowadays before we agree to tackle a wooded section we have to be confident that it’s for a particular purpose and further resto...and here’s a flashback to us building it in 1993 ration work will follow on from it. So we should be in a good place regarding this. Except we are possibly more willing to accept a “promise” of it leading onto further works than the statutory authorities.

Yes, this is more paperwork and legislation that will directly impact on our work. But I really am convinced it does seem also to be a tremendous opportunity. We have always felt that we are improving the environment – this gives us a chance to use the environmentalist’s tools to prove it.

So I’m not worried about the BNG legislation and our work – I think we shall find it helpful most of the time and if we can’t prove that the work we are doing will lead to net gain then we probably should re-think or re-plan it.

The second discussion is literally a battle of words:

Restoration vs Regeneration.

This one has arisen after much thinking in IWA Head Office and I know it’s particularly a favourite with our new Chairman Paul Rodgers.

So the thinking goes something along the lines of: ‘Restoration’, although a lovely word, limits you to a certain approach, a certain set of funders, a certain set of policy makers and a certain set of decision makers. Crucially, only a certain sector of the public are interested. Whereas ‘Regeneration’ gets you access to much more people, much more funding and much more opportunities. So you might get £1m to restore an aqueduct, but you might get £100m to regenerate a city centre. Also regeneration can occur anywhere – whether the waterway is navigable or derelict.

So to be clear – this discussion is not about a logo change or anything like that. It’s about using the language that some people will want to hear.

Now my thoughts on this are rather conservative at the moment. Restoration has an association with returning something to its past glory, attention to detail, honouring something from the past that was really quite clever. Whereas Regeneration seems to conjure up images of concrete and new buildings. But I can’t deny the argument that maybe 10% of the population care about the word Restoration but, right now, everybody cares about Regeneration. And it is true that you can completely regenerate an area by faithfully restoring something within it.

So, unless anyone convinces me otherwise, I think that we shall still be seen as restorers, however, if people want to position us as one part of a particularly visionary regeneration scene, then I won’t be too upset.

Mike Palmer PS Of course our founder GKP was very clever by picking the word “recovery” for our middle name because that could embrace all options. However, being “in recovery” is something not many MPs, etc. want to be associated with...

page 7

Coming soon spring 2020 Final call for the BCN Cleanup, then Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice, the WRG Training Weekend, and the Leaders and Cooks Training Day Final call for the BCN Clean Up, 14-15 March What do a sword, a coffin, a toilet and a set of goalposts all have in common? That’s right, they’re all things we’ve pulled out of the murkier recesses of the Black Country waterways network on the annual Clean Up weekend over the years. We’ve even found the odd bike that’s been capable of further service. But of course it’s not about the ‘treasure’ we find (although that’s always good for bragging rights in the bar afterwards!) it’s about helping to keep these canals - less well-used but nonetheless fascinating, historic and potentially a real asset - in a condition that encourages more people to boat on them. And that in turn helps to keep them clear and navigable. We tackle a different section of canal each year: this year it’s the Old Main Line from Oldbury toTipton.

As usual it’s a big joint effort by WRG, the local IWA branches, local canal societies and the Canal & River Trust (who provide work gloves and the all-important grappling hooks for the volunteers, and skips to take the rubbish away in). For volunteers staying for the weekend, accommodation and food are available once again at the Malthouse in Tipton. (Or you can even arrive there by boat, as several volunteers do every year).

We’ve had plenty of bookings already but as Navvies goes to press there’s still room in the accommodation for more volunteers.

So don’t delay: fill in the booking form below or book via www.wrg.org.uk.

BCN Clean Up 2020 Waterway Recovery Group in association with BCNS CRT IWA DCT CCT I would like to attend the 2020 BCN Canal Clean Up on 14 - 15 March Forename:

Surname:

Address: email: Phone:

Any special dietary requirements?

I require accommodation Friday night / Saturday night / both nights I enclose payment of £

(pay 'Inland Waterways Association') for food (£13 for weekend)

Do you suffer from any allergy or 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) In the unlikely event that you should be injured, who should we contact?

Name:

Phone:

Signed: Please send this form to: National Cleanup bookings, WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA

You can also book online via the WRG website wrg.org.uk

page 8

Canalway Cavalcade site support team, 29 April - 4 May Canalway Cavalcade is the Inland Waterways Association’s annual festival at Little Venice (near Paddington in London) which is held every May Day Bank Holiday(*) and 2020 will be its 38th year. One thing that makes it happen is a team of site services volunteers – not an official WRG Camp, but generally a bunch of mostly WRGies who set up and manage the festival infrastructure and site. (*) Yes, in 2020 UK Gov have decided to move the Bank Holiday to the following Friday. However for a number of reasons Cavalcade will still take place as a two-day event on what would normally have been the May Day Bank Holiday weekend of the 2nd & 3rd May. The camp runs from mid-morning on Wednesday 29th April (when stuff starts arriving and we build our camp) through Thursday and Friday when we build the festival. The two days of the weekend during the actual festival generally involve site management activities before the take down of the event on the Sunday evening and Monday morning with the aim to have cleared the site by mid-afternoon on Monday 4th May. To make it all happen we’d like the experienced volunteers who have helped in previous years to come again and also some new faces to join the team to ensure the future of the event. We recognise that you may not be able to attend the whole camp because it does run mid-week to mid-week but we do need people to attend on the weekdays, in particular on the Sunday evening and Monday because this is when we most need them! There will be a plan of work activities so that everyone gets chance to enjoy some of the festival and take in the amazing atmosphere of the event.

The accommodation is limited and restricted to two narrow boats for sleeping on, plus a field kitchen (which needs to be built on day 1) for cooking and eating. Work activities include putting up (and taking down) marquees, market stalls and banners around the site, fencing, and general event management.

Outside of the workcamp activities the event also needs volunteers to assist with other aspects of the event such as donation collecting, giving information to the public and children’s activities – if this is of interest please let Emma Greenall (Emma.Greenall@waterways. org.uk) know.

Contact Pete Fleming on Pete.Fleming@waterways.org.uk for more information.

WRG Training Weekend, 8-10 May Organised in the run-up to the main summer Canal Camps programme, but open to anyone - whether from local canal societies and trusts, WRG or other mobile groups, canal campers or people new to restoration - who wants to learn some useful manual, machinery handling or vehicle driving skills - or anything else.

We’re hoping to offer the following: machinery: small excavators, telehandlers, dumpers; vehicles: vans, trailers; skills: bricklaying, fencing, scaffolding; site tools: bricksaws, pumps, CAT scanners.

It’s being hosted by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, and there’s overnight accommodation available at Brownhills Community Centre.

But we really need to know as soon as possible that you’re coming and what you want to learn - not only because the numbers are limited for some skills, but because we need to know what plant to hire for the weekend in advance.

So go to wrg.org.uk, select ‘Training Weekends’ from the ‘Canal Camps’ pull-down menu, and book yourself some training. (Or contact head office, see diary pages for details) Oh, and note that it’s the Bank Holiday Weekend - we’re starting with a half-day on Friday.

WRG Leaders & Cooks Training Day, Saturday 16 May Every year we run a training day for Canal Camp leaders, assistants and cooks - but also for anyone who is (or is thinking of getting) involved in leading or catering for volunteer work parties on canals. We’re still planning it, but put the date in your diary, note the site (Brownhills Community Centre, with a site visit to the Lichfield Canal planned, and food and overnight accommodation available on Saturday night), and see our website or ask Head Office for details.

page 9

Coming soon Waveney Our first two Canal Camps in spring on the Waveney are a bit different: we’re offering mentoring/training in bricklaying and camp cooking River Waveney Camps 2020: Practical training opportunities The River Waveney forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk running past Bungay and Beccles. Since 2017 WRG volunteers (alongside River Waveney Trust volunteers) have been restoring Geldeston Lock and from 23 May to 06 June we will focus our efforts on completing the restoration of one side of the lock – removing damaged brickwork and then rebuilding the chamber and approach walls. Because of limited site space, numbers for these camps have always been lower than typical camps.

There is a little more room to move on site this year so we decided to include some training / mentoring opportunities in the two weeks of the camps for volunteers who are looking to develop their leadership, bricklaying and cooking skills. Some training opportunities still remain. We have filled the spaces for experienced WRGies.

We shall be helping three WRGies by giving them a go as assistant leaders, so those slots have been taken, but there is still space for others to develop their bricklaying and cooking abilities; perhaps even start their bricklaying or cooking careers.

There are lots of bricks to remove from the compromised area of wall (three treestumps poking through the wall have wreaked a certain amount of havoc!), which will then be rebuilt using lime mortar with two leaves of facing stretchers / headers strengthened by up to four more hidden leaves. Therefore, competence can be built on ‘out-of-sight’ bricklaying before laying some visible courses. Much of this work will be done from floating platforms to which the added challenge of Geldeston Lock’s being within the tidal reaches of the River Waveney has been added. Bring your sea-legs!

A number of bricklaying mentors are lined up to help. We could take four WRGies for training, two each week. For helping cooks, we could take two, one each week. However, for both disciplines we would be happy for shorter visits (eg: three or four days) if that helps potential camp members.

On the cooking side, there will be a dozen or so hungry volunteers to be fed to the usual high WRG standards. This is an opportunity for inexperienced cooks (or cooks looking to build their confidence) to improve their abilities. We know a number of volunteers have stepped in before now to cook on camps for a day or two where there was no formal cook and we would happily consider these volunteers. This would be an ideal opportunity for a new-ish cook, perhaps who has just done the cooking element of the Training Weekend (07 to 09 May) and wants to develop newly gained knowledge and skills in a less pressurised, smaller than usual camp.

If you’re interested, please contact Alex Melson in WRG Head Office on 01494 783453 or alex.melson@waterways.org.uk and tell him the dates you’d like to do, your level of experience, etc. The usual camp charges will apply, adjusted for shorter stays.

He will co-ordinate responses and work out the best fit. Our apologies if we can’t take all who apply.

David (Evvo) Evans – Camp Leader Last year’s Waveney Camp

page 10

summer Camps Preview Looking ahead to this summer WRG Canal Camps programme, we’re spotlighting four contrasting weeks around the country...

Camp Spotlight: heading for the East, South, West, and... err... Middle

Go West: the Cotswold Canals: Returning to the Stroudwater Navigation, volunteers will be setting their sights on repairing and maintaining a number of locks within short walking distance from each other. The priority being Newtown Lock, where volunteers will be tasked with taking down the chamber walls

Martin Ludgate

Alex Melson

Star of the East: the Chelmer & Blackwater: It’s always an interesting experience working on a waterway with actual water in it… let alone one open to active boating! The Camp will be visiting Beeleigh Weir, just a stone’s throw away from Heybridge Basin and arguably one of the most picturesque (if not the most picturesque) spots on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation. Work will primarily be focusing on repairing and maintaining the timber bridge railings over the weir and installing a new concrete ramp, to improve access for visitors using the navigation. There will also be the chance for volunteers to see other parts of the navigation and get involved in essenBeeleigh Weir bridge on the Chelmer & Blackwater needs repairs tial works not listed above.

Chelmer & Blackwater Camp: CC2020-14, date: 15-22 August

Work on the Cotswold Canals is likely to involve Pike Lock...

page 11

Martin Ludgate

to investigate the extent of the suspected void behind it, cutting a new ladder recess, repointing and works around the weir. Other locks that may be visited over the three weeks include both Blunder Lock and Pike Lock.

Cotswold Camps: CC2020-15, date: 15-22 August; CC2020-16, date: 22-29 August; CC2020-17, date: 29 August-5 September

...and Newtown Lock

Martin Ludgate

Deep South: the Wey & Arun: We’ll hand over to Bill Nicholson of the Wey & Arun Canal Trust for this one...

The Trust’s major project for 2020 and the two to three years beyond is the construction of a new road bridge at Tickners Heath to replace a causeway that currently obstructs the canal. Planning permission was granted in January 2020 with a number of pre-start conditions which are currently being addressed. Some of the land being This road crossing blocking the Wey & Arun will be replaced by a new bridge used for the new canal and bridge comprises ‘Common Land’ and consent is require to work on it. This has been applied for but the earliest date for a decision is given as July/August. There is, however, plenty of advance work to do pending receipt of this permission The July Canal Camps will focus on the set-up works for constructing the new bridge.

These will comprise the construction of a construction site compound involving the erection of timber site hoardings, hard surface and car park, siting of cabins and containers and installation of essential services. Next to the site compound the Trust has to divert the existing public road onto a new temporary alignment around the location of the proposed bridge.

This will require removing the top and sub soils to stockpiles, laying of a membrane and levels of rolled and compacted hard core prior to contractors installing a tarmac surface. By the end of the two weeks of camps the road will be ready to be diverted and work on the footbridge parallel to the new road bridge ready to start.

The camps have also been asked to re-surface a significant length of the towpath at Loxwood. This is on the showpiece navigable length of the canal and is very well used by walkers and horse riders. As with the new temporary road at Tickners Heath, the work will involve the use of excavators, dumpers and rollers. Opportunities will be available to train to

page 12

Alex Melson

operate this plant under the WRG driver training and authorisation scheme.

The Trust is confident that anyone volunteering to join the camps will be fully engaged as there is plenty of work of all types to go around. We once again look forward to welcoming WRG volunteers to the canal.

Wey & Arun Camps: CC2020-05, date: 4-11 July; CC2020-06, date: 11-18 July; CC202019, date: 24-31 October

Building a Wey & Arun liftbridge last year. Next project is a road bridge

Tim Lewis

Middle Ground: the Lichfield Canal: After working on the Fosseway Heath section in 2018 and then above Lock 18 in 2019, this summer our volunteers will be found on yet another section of towpath wall in the Lichfield area.

This time it’s near Gallows Wharf, midway between Fosseway Heath and another of our past worksites at Tamworth Road - and it’s all about linking up lengths of canal and eventually reopening the entire sixmile through route. There will be two main jobs - one will be repairing and repointing the existing brickbuilt towpath wall; the other will be laying a new towpath surface on top of it. So there will be a variety of work including some bricklaying, some machine operation, and some carpentry putting down the wooden boards forming the sides of the path.

Lichfield Camp: CC2020-10, date: 1-8 More of this on the Lichfield Camp: London WRG at Gallows Wharf August

page 13

camp report Cotswold Reporting from another week of cutting down trees and overhanging vegetation prior to restoration of the Stonehouse-Saul length of canal Cotswold Canals Christmas Camp First time volunteer Adam, taking part in the Cotswold Canals Christmas Camp as part of his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, reports from a week clearing overhanging trees and vegetation from a length of the Stroudwater Navigation near Whitminster, a couple of miles from the west end of the canal...

As everybody else celebrated and enjoyed their Boxing Day holiday, three red WRG vans pulled up outside Unit 1 of the Brimscombe Port Business Park, unloading volunteers and equipment for a week’s worth of shrub bashing.

Thursday Following the late breakfast (some of us enjoying an extra half-hour of sleep) we finally set off to the location of last years Christmas camp, the canal near Whitminster

Pictures by Martin Ludgate

Wednesday (Boxing Day)

The author at work

fact file Cotswold Canals The Canal Camp project: Clearing trees and branches overhanging the canal near Whitminster.

Length: 36 miles Locks: 56 Date closed: 1927-46

Why? It’s is in preparation for reopening of the west end from Saul to Stonehouse, which will be a focus or restoration over the coming years - including reinstating the ‘missing mile’ just east of the canal camp site.

The wider picture: The Lottery-funded Phase 1a section (Stonehouse to Brimscombe) is mostly complete. A provisionally approved second Lottery grant would reopen the all-important Phase 1b (Stonehouse to Saul), linking the restored section to the national network at Saul. We won’t know if the multi-million pound grant has got its final approval until autumn 2020, but any initial work we do on this length (including the Christmas camp work) improves the chances of it being confirmed.

Phase 1b: Saul to Stonehouse Christmas Canal Camp site: near Whitminster

page 14

Phase 1a: Stonehouse to Brimscombe

Phase 3: Brimscombe to Cerney

Phase 2: Inglesham to Cerney

. Despite Nigel forgetting the keys to the MEWP (Mobile Elevating Work Platform - see back cover photo) the day went smoothly, filled with sawing, cutting and burning; surprisingly Tim was able to not put out the fire this time (personally I think that the DofEers just got in the way). The day was finished with some Tirforing to pull out the felled trees.

Friday Today most of the WRG volunteers managed to wake up on time for breakfast (looking at you, Dave!). Despite remembering to bring the keys to the MEWP this time, Nigel still managed to cock up, trying to drive it like a 4x4 up a hill. The volunteers also attempted to work on the opposite side of the canal, their efforts diminished by Fran’s use of a gnawed paddle.

Saturday This morning “sleepy” Dave managed to wake up in time for breakfast; if only Nigel (whose name seems to be repeating itself) had shown this kind of commitment he might not have gotten the chainsaw stuck.

Speaking of chainsaws, Paul had a hell of a time cutting down the tree on the opposite side of the canal, setting up a complicated rope system to ferry the branches to the awaiting fire; the system was implemented to stop Martin from diving into the river again, trying to reach his boat. Also the group created another cutting side towards the A38 roundabout where some of the group went.

canals. Further southeast (towards the A38) the WRG volunteers started another bonfire site, to chop down a tree that had grown over the canal. A notable accident was John taking a swim after trying to sit on a plank on the canal.

Monday (New Year’s Eve) The final day and the last day of the year started out with Su arriving at the worksite, and the volunteers felling and cleaning up any remaining branches from the 2 sites from Monday. The newbies were intending to go see the completed Bowbridge lock on the way back to see the work that WRG does.

However Nigel, wanting to have another third mention in the camp report, decided that he should slip the track on the MEWP on the only road out of the worksite; the attempts by the minibuses now stuck behind the MEWP to go around proved futile and the volunteers were forced to wait.

Eventually the MEWP was rescued and the volunteers returned to Brimscombe Port to clean the vans and equipment used during the week. Then having completed all the work the volunteers sat down to a tasty New Year’s Eve dinner and celebrated not only the start of 2020 but also the 50th anniversary of Waterway Recovery Group.

Adam Ankudowicz

Sunday Today work was finishing up on the north western section of the canal, with most of the thicker logs being taken by the local Cotswold Canals Trust to be sold with the money contributing to the future restoration of local

Using a Tirfor (and pulley block) to haul branches out of the canal

page 15

groups London

WRG

It isn’t just about summer canal camps, our regional groups work all year: here’s what our London based group have been up to in the last 12 months London WRG: a year in the life...

January: Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation.

Our first outing of 2019 saw us on WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association’s own navigation, the Chelmer & Blackwater in Essex, working on towpath surfacing, laying a concrete hardstanding, repairing fences and other jobs involved in maintaining a navigation.

February: Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. The first of our three visits during 2019 to what’s becoming a regular venue for London WRG weekends saw us clearing trees and heavy scrub from a length of canal east of Berwick Tunnel, near the Shrewsbury end of the route. By the end of the weekend it looked more like a canal...

March: Wey & Arun Canal. You may remember the camp reports in Navvies describing the epic three weeks of work in the summer to create the abutments for the new liftbridge which will cross the canal at Birtley. But before any of that could start, we spent a weekend laying trackway to allow access to the worksite.

page 16

Pictures by Tim Lewis unless credited

As we’ve only run one week-long Canal Camp since the last issue of Navvies, that means a bit of a lack for Canal Camp reports in this issue. But never fear, as always our regional groups have been busy all year, so here’s a round-up of what our London WRG group’s volunteers got up to in 2019. As you can see it was a pretty varied year, work-wise...

April: Buckingham Canal. We’ve been supporting Buckingham Canal Society’s project to reinstate the first bridge on the canal (where it leaves the Grand Union Main Line at Cosgrove) for a couple of years now. By the time of our June dig, we were adding brickwork to the new bridge deck. Will it see a boat this year?

Ian Stewart

March: Birmingham Canal Navigations. As usual, London WRG supported the BCN Clean Up, hauling out bikes, shopping trolleys, old tyres and some junk defying identification from the lessboated parts of the system. Last year it was the turn of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. This year’s is coming up soon: have you booked your place yet?

June: Derby Canal. A bit of a change for April, as we weren’t working on a waterway at all. We were helping Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust’s project to renovate a set of seriously derelict canalside cottages, which they hope to turn into a canal centre / community centre / rent out to raise funds for canal restoration.

page 17

June: Shrewsbury & Newport.

Back at Berwick Tunnel, but this time the other end of the tunnel. The jobs included taking out a particularly large and stubborn tree stump as well as taking down part of the building on the right, once a tunnel keepers house, or a stable, or perhaps both (but presumably not at the same time)

September: Cotswold Canals.

Another joint dig with KESCRG and one of several billed as the ‘last ever’ work party at Inglesham Lock, where the Thames & Severn Canal meets the Thames, completely rebuilt over several years thanks to an IWA Appeal. We’re seen here doing the final clearance of the competed chamber.

page 18

Ian Stewart

August: Wey & Arun Canal. Since our previous visit in March, three week-long camps had made enormous amounts of progress with the liftbridge, which was largely complete. We (and our friends in KESCRG) carried out some of the final jobs including brick facing, shuttering and concreting behind the brickwork.

October: Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. Our third 2019 weekend on the S&N, and we visited yet another different site, still in the Berwick area near the Shrewsbury end of the canal. This time it was the former Berwick Wharf, and our typical autumn work of ‘scrub-bashing’ not only uncovered the wharf wall as seen on the right, but we even found a mooring ring!

December: Cotswold Canals. This was our annual Christmas Party and weekend dig with KESCRG. As usual, the work was more scrub-bashing (see the Christmas Camp report elsewhere for an idea of the work, as it was on the same site). And there were some inventive ideas for the ‘School Nativity Play’ themed fancy dress!

Ian Stewart

November: Uttoxeter Canal. As usual we supported the national WRG Reunion (otherwise known as the Bonfire Bash), working on the Uttoxeter Canal in the Alton area of Staffordshire’s Churnet Valley.

This picture, believe it or not, is the remains of the canal, and also a canal cottage. One day there will be boats here again...

So who are London WRG? We’re a mobile working party group originally based in London, but these days welcoming volunteers from all over the country - our hard core of regulars includes people from as far apart as the Midlands, Devon and the South Wales borders.

And new volunteers are welcome, wherever they come from. But for those who do actually live in London, we can provide transport to and from most of our working parties (except during some of the summer) in a minibus which (by long-established tradition) leaves Waterloo Station on Friday evening. Oh, and we hold a social gathering in a London pub, usually on the Wednesday a week and a half before each working party.

When do we work? Roughly every third weekend for most of the year - see the Navvies diary, the WRG website or the London WRG Facebook group for details.

Where do we work? Well, all the places shown above - plus we’ve got plans for a couple of new sites, inside the Blists Hill museum and Waltham Abbey gunpowder mills museum.

page 19

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. Di Feb 29/Mar 1 London WRG Feb 29/Mar 1 NWPG Mar 6-13 WAT Mar 7/8 KESCRG Mar 7/8 wrgFT Mar 7/8 wrgNW Mar 14/15 BCN2020 Mar 21-24 WACT Mar 21/22 wrgBITM Mar 21 Sat IWA/CRT Mar 22 Sun WRG Mar 24 Tue wrgNW Mar 28/29 wrgFT Apr 3-10 WAT Apr 4/5 London WRG Apr 4/5 wrgNW Apr 18/19 KESCRG Apr 18/19 wrgBITM Apr 25/26 London WRG Apr 26 Sun WRG May 1-8 WAT May 2/3 NWPG May 2/3 IWA May 8-10 TW2020 May 15-17 wrgBITM May 16 Sat LTD2020 May 16/17 London WRG May 17 Sun WRG May 22/25 KESCRG May 23-30 CC202002 May 23-25 WACT May 30-Jun 6 CC202003 Jun 5-12 WAT Jun 13/14 NWPG Jun 20/21 KESCRG Jul 3-10 WAT Jul 4-11 CC202004 Jul 4-11 CC202005

Shropshire Canal: Blists Hill Museum site.

Cotswold Canals: Note date changed (twice) Wendover Arm Cotswold Canals: Joint with Forestry, at western end Cotswold Canals: Joint weekend with KESCRG Shrewsbury & Newport Canals BCN Clean Up: Old Main Line, Oldbury to Tipton Wey & Arun Canal: Half working week Wendover Arm: Tree removal at Green Park Restoration Conference 2020: Wolverhampton Committee & Board Meetings: Rowington Village Hall Ad Hoc Meeting River Parrett: Langport (for IWA West Country branch) Wendover Arm Wey & Arun Canal Cromford Canal: to be confirmed Wey & Arun Canal: prep work for Tickners Crossing Cotswold Canals: Weymoor Bridge area Cotswold Canals PAT Testing: Alex Farm (to be confirmed) Wendover Arm Wey & Arun Canal: Tickners area Canalway Cavalcade - Little Venice: (note: not on the bank holiday) WRG Training Weekend: Lichfield Canal Rickmansworth Festival: Site Services Leaders & Cooks Training Day: Brownhills Community Centre Buckingham Arm Committee & Board Meetings: Brownhills Community Centre Buckingham Arm: to be confirmed River Waveney Canal Camp: Geldeston Lock Nat. Trailboat Festival: Wey & Arun Canal, Thriscutt Slipway River Waveney Canal Camp: Geldeston Lock Wendover Arm Cotswold Canals To be arranged Wendover Arm Swansea Canal Camp: Trebanos Lower Lock Wey & Arun Canal Camp: Led by NWPG

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

page 20

WRG and mobile groups

h number e.g. 'Camp 202001' should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, iary compiled by Dave Wedd. Tel: 07816-175454, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk Tim Lewis Bill Nicholson Tony Bardwell Bobby Silverwood Nigel Lee Ju Davenport

07802-518094 01844-343369 01296-634973 07971-814986 07802-854694 07808-182004 01494-783453 Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 Dave Wedd 07816-175454 01494-783453 Mike Palmer 01564-785293 Malcolm & Barbara Bridge Nigel Lee 07802-854694 Tony Bardwell 01296-634973 Tim Lewis 07802-518094 Ju Davenport 07808-182004 Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 Dave Wedd 07816-175454 Tim Lewis 07802-518094 George ‘Bungle’ Eycott Tony Bardwell 01296-634973 Bill Nicholson 01844-343369

Dave Wedd Alex Melson Tim Lewis Mike Palmer Bobby Silverwood

Tony Bardwell Bill Nicholson Bobby Silverwood Tony Bardwell

london@wrg.org.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk bobby@kescrg.org.uk nigel.lee@wrg.org.uk nw@wrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk nigel.lee@wrg.org.uk operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk london@wrg.org.uk nw@wrg.org.uk bobby@kescrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk bungle@wrg.org.uk operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk

01494-783453 07816-175454 01494-783453 07802-518094 01564-785293 07971-814986 01494-783453

enquiries@wrg.org.uk bookings@wrgbitm.org.uk alex.melson@waterways.org.uk london@wrg.org.uk mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk bobby@kescrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk

01494-783453 01296-634973 01844-343369 07971-814986 01296-634973 01494-783453 01494-783453

enquiries@wrg.org.uk operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk bill@nwpg.org.uk bobby@kescrg.org.uk operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk enquiries@wrg.org.uk

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

page 21

navvies

diary

Canal societies’ regular working parties 3rd Sunday of month Every Sunday if required Every Tuesday Once per month: pls check 2nd & 4th w/e of month Thursdays Sep-Apr 2nd Sun & alternate Thu Every Mon and Wed Every Mon am Thu pm Various dates Every Sunday Every Tue and Thu Every Tue & Wed Every Friday Most Wed and Sun Second Sun of month Every Mon to Fri Every Fri and Sat Tuesdays 3rd Wed and last Sat 2nd Sunday of month Every Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun 3rd Sunday of month 2nd full weekend of month 2nd Saturday of month Alternate Saturdays Two Sundays per month Weekly Every Wed and 1st Sat 2nd Sunday of month 1st Sunday of month Last weekend of month 2nd Sunday of month 3rd Saturday of month Every Thu & last Sat 1st Saturday of month Every Thu and Sat various dates 1st weekend of month Every Tuesday morning Most days, please contact 1st Fri - 2nd Fri (8 days) Every Sun Every Wed 2nd and last Sun of month

ACA BBHT BCA BCNS BCS BCT BuCS CCT CCT CCT ChCT CSCT C&BN ECPDA DSCT FIPT GCS GCS H&GCT K&ACT LCT LHCRT LHCRT MBBCS MSCS MWRT NWDCT PCAS RGT SCARS SCCS SCS SNT SNCT SNCT SNCT SORT SRL SUCS TMCA WACT WAT WBCT WBCT 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 Lock 14 Ian Wakefield Woolsthorpe depot Ian Wakefield Oxenhall Brian Fox East Kennet & Avon Mike Bennett Lancaster N. Reaches Robin Yates Lichfield Hugh Millington Hatherton Denis Cooper Nob End Ian Astbury Stockport Branch Roger Bravey 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 Mark Sherrey Stover Canal George Whitehead Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby Wappenshall Philip Jones Shrewsbury Alistair Price Newport John Myers Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott Baswich, Stafford John Potter Montgomery Canal David Carter Thames & Medway Les Schwieso Wey & Arun Canal Northern office Little Tring Tony Bardwell 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 0115-989-2128 01432-358628 0118-969-9861 01539-733252 01543-251747 01543-374370 07855-471117 0161-442-9087 07581-092001 01603-738648 07702-741211 01394-380765 01744-600656 07973-918467 01626-775498 01522-856810 07580-160497 07980-123444 07711-858986 01444-414413 01785-226662 01244-661440 01634-847118 01483-505566 01296-634973 07785-775993 01793 636297 01249 659111

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

page 22

Canal societies and CRT Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ regular working parties 2nd Saturday of month Audlem Shropshire Union Jason Watts 07824 356556 Every Thursday Bath Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710175278 07917 585838 1st Wednesday of month Birmingham B’ham & Fazeley/BCN Sue Blocksidge Alternate Thursdays Blackburn Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196 365 Burnley Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196 365 1st Sunday of month 2nd Wednesday of month Chadderton Rochdale Jason Watts 07824 356556 Last Saturday of month Chester Shropshire Union Jason Watts 07824 356556 Colne/Nelson Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196 365 1st Saturday of month Alternate Thursdays Coventry Coventry Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 Devizes Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710175278 3rd Thursday of month Drakeholes Chesterfield Becca Dent 0113 2816811 2nd Friday of month 1st Saturday & next Tue Fradley Coventry/ T&M Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 Gailey Staffs & Worcs Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 4th Thursday of month Every Wednesday Gloucester Glos & Sharpness Caroline Kendall 01452 318028 Last Sunday of month Hawkesbury Coventry/Oxford Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 Huddersfield Huddersfield Broad Becca Dent 0113 2816811 2nd Friday of month Knottingley Aire & Calder Becca Dent 0113 2816811 1st Thursday of month Alternate Thursdays Lancaster Lancaster Canal Alice Kay 07825 196 365 Alternate Tuesdays Leicester Soar/Grand Union Wayne Ball 01636 675704 Jason Watts 07824 356556 1st Wednesday of month Littleborough Rochdale Llangollen Andy Whitehouse 07789 982392 2nd and 4th Wednesdays Llangollen 2nd Sat & 4th Wed of month London Cent. Regents/Docklands Linzi-Joy MacDonald 07484 912884 Linzi-Joy MacDonald 07484 912884 1st Wed & 3rd Sat of month London East Lee & Stort 1st Sat & 3rd Wed of month London West Paddington/ GU Linzi-Joy MacDonald 07484 912884 Alternate Wednesdays LoughboroughSoar Wayne Ball 01636 675704 Mexborough Sheffield & S Yorks Becca Dent 0113 2816811 3rd Thursday of month Last Tuesday of month Mirfield Calder & Hebble Becca Dent 0113 2816811 Every Tuesday Mon & Brec Monmouth & Brecon Caroline Kendall 01452 318028 Newbury Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710175278 2nd Thursday of month Alternate Thursdays North Warks Coventry/Ashby Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 Oxford Oxford Sonny King 07876 217059 1st Friday of month 2nd Wednesday of month Preston Lancaster Canal Alice Kay 07825 196 365 Retford Chesterfield Becca Dent 0113 2816811 2nd Sunday of month 4th Friday of month Rotherham Sheffield & S Yorks Becca Dent 0113 2816811 Every Friday Sefton Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196 365 Selby Selby Canal Becca Dent 0113 2816811 3rd Saturday of month Sheffield & S Yorks Becca Dent 0113 2816811 2nd Friday & 4th Tuesday Sheffield Alternate Wednesdays Tamworth Coventry/ Fazeley Sue Blocksidge 07917 585838 Last Thursfay of month Tees Barrage Tees Becca Dent 0113 2816811 Every Tuesday Wigan Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196 365 Every Thursday Worcester Worcester & B’ham Caroline Kendall 01452 318028 Alternate Wednesdays Worksop Chesterfield Wayne Ball 01636 675704

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

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 Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n Trust

MBBCS MSCS MWRS NWPG NWDCT PCAS RGT SCARS SCCS SCS SNT SRL SORT SUCS TMCA WACT WAT WBCT

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society Manchester & Stockport Canal Society Maidenhead Waterways Restoration 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 23

navvies

diary

Inland Waterways Association and other one-day working parties Bi-weekly Feb 2 Sun Every Fri Feb 9 Sun Feb 11 Tue Feb 13 Thu Feb 15 Sat Feb 15 Sat Feb 18 Tue Feb 18 Tue Feb 20 Thu Mar 1 Sun Every Fri Bi-weekly Mar 8 Sun Mar 10 Tue Mar 12 Thu Mar 14 Sat Mar 14 Sat Mar 17 Tue Mar 17 Tue Mar 19 Thu Bi-weekly Apr 5 Sun Apr 9 Thu Apr 11 Sat Apr 11 Sat Apr 12 Sun Apr 14 Tue Apr 16 Thu Apr 21 Tue Apr 21 Tue

IWA W. Country Bridgwater & Taunton Canal: Teams at both ends 10am-1:30pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA Lichfield Coventry Canal: Offside Veg with boat & chipper 9:30-3:30 IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm 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. Refurbish Lock 49 IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter IWA Lichfield Coventry Canal: Until mid-March. Offside Veg with boat & chipper IWA W. Country Bridgwater & Taunton Canal: Teams at both ends 10am-1:30pm IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm 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. Refurbish Lock 49 IWA W. Country Bridgwater & Taunton Canal: Teams at both ends 10am-1:30pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter 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. 10amIWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. 10am-3pm. Refurbish Lock 49 BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, 9am-1pm IWA Northants Northampton Arm: 10am-2pm. Painting, vegetation & litter

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 Wed 10 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.

page 24

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

4pm 4pm

9:30-3:30

4pm 4pm

4pm 4pm

Mike Slade Geoff Wood Neil Barnett Mel Sowerby Colin Garnham-Edge Steve Wood Jason Watts Barry McGuinness Colin Garnham-Edge Geoff Wood John Lawson Geoff Wood Neil Barnett Mike Slade Mel Sowerby Colin Garnham-Edge Steve Wood Jason Watts Barry McGuinness Colin Garnham-Edge Geoff Wood John Lawson Mike Slade Geoff Wood Steve Wood Jason Watts Barry McGuinness Mel Sowerby Colin Garnham-Edge John Lawson Colin Garnham-Edge Geoff Wood

07977-263840 07808-846434 01522-856810 07976-805858 07875-999825

07940-878923 07808-846434 07977-263840 01522-856810 07976-805858 07875-999825

07940-878923 07977-263840 07976-805858 07875-999825 01522-856810 07940-878923

mdslade8@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk neil.barnett@waterways.org.uk workparty@sleafordnavigation.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk jason.watts@canalrivertrust.org.uk barry_m@manchester-iwa.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk john.lawson@waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk neil.barnett@waterways.org.uk mdslade8@gmail.com workparty@sleafordnavigation.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk jason.watts@canalrivertrust.org.uk barry_m@manchester-iwa.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk john.lawson@waterways.org.uk mdslade8@gmail.com geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk steve.wood@team.waterways.org.uk jason.watts@canalrivertrust.org.uk barry_m@manchester-iwa.co.uk workparty@sleafordnavigation.co.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com john.lawson@waterways.org.uk bcpontheoxford@gmail.com geoff.wood@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

page 25

progress S & N Canals Our regular roundup of progress begins on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals, where they’re appealing for help with the Wappenshall project to different gauges (the Newport took the standard 70ft by 7ft narrowboats, while the The Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust is Shrewsbury’s locks took four small tub-boats roughly 20ft by 6ft), a transhipment port was making progress at its Wappenhall Junction restoration project site, but is appealing for set up at Wappenshall. There are two 1835 more volunteers, in particular ones who are warehouses built by Thomas Telford and a canal basin formerly filled in but recently recarpenters and bricklayers.

The Trust aims to restore the entire excavated by the Trust. former route from Norbury Junction on the SNCT is turning its attention to restoring the historic warehouses, and needs volShropshire Union Canal’s main line to Shrewsbury. This consists of two canals, the unteers - especially brickies and carpenters: Newport Branch of the Shropshire Union “You would be joining an incredible from Norbury to Wappenshall, and the length group of volunteers who give up Fridays and of the Shrewsbury Canal from Wappenshall Saturdays every week to work on site. Your work would be towards opening a new cafe, to Shrewsbury. a museum dedicated to Thomas Telford The two meet at Wappenshall Junction (roughly midway between the other projects which would be a huge step towards the restoration of these two historic canals.” that WRG has supported the Trust on: at Anyone interested can contact SNCT via Forton Aqueduct / Meretown Lock in the their Facebook page or just turn up at the Newport area, and around Berwick Tunnel junction (it can be found at TF6 6DE) on a and Berwick Wharf a few miles east of Friday or Saturday and ask to speak to Bernie Shrewsbury.

Because the canals were originally built Jones or John Heather.

SNCT

Shrewsbury and Newport Canals

The two historic Thomas Telford warehouses and on the right, the recently recovered basin

page 26

progress

Lancaster

The Lancaster Canal Trust’s volunteers have finally completed the lining of the ‘First Furlong’ length, and are looking forward to re-watering it Lancaster Canal Northern Reaches Lancaster Canal Trust is delighted to announce that the lining of the First Furlong length of canal being restored and rewatered at the start of the dry section of canal near Stainton was completed in the snow at the last working party of the year in December. There are a few areas where block laying cannot be competed because of the water level which is taking time to clear. This will be achieved when it stops raining. We have laid approximately 22,500 concrete blocks, as well as geotextile and EPDM waterproof linings.

A lot of work still has to be completed before we can be joined to the isolated navigable Millness / Stainton length and Waterwitch, our trip boat can travel under Stainton Crossing Bridge (172) and reach the far end. The main items are:

·

Pictures by LCT

Earthing up the offside bank to protect the lining and encourage plant growth. This has already occurred along most of the towpath side, with impressive growth but there is length to be completed and some Blocklaying reaches the end of the lining and (below) the view more filling in. through the bridge from the bund at the end of the watered length The Canal & River Trust has approved our project manager’s design for the stop planks and these will be ordered and installed shortly.

CRT is lending us stillage equipment to test for leaks, so we can raise the water level on our side and carry out stillage tests for them.

When these are completed and approved and the connection agreement is approved and signed we will be able to remove the bund and finally be linked to the present navigable section.

· · ·

page 27

progress Wooden boats It’s not just about restoring the canals themselves: the Wooden Canal Boat Society has an update on work to keep its historic fleet going... about towing her to Lapworth in his book Bread upon the Waters. After changing Work on Southam: Recently Wooden Canal hands several times she was motorised and Boat Society volunteers have been largely converted to leisure use with a full-length working on getting Southam up and running cabin in 1965. again.

The WCBS bought Southam from BritBuilt by Walkers of Rickmansworth in ish Waterways, sunk at Hillmorton, in 1992 1936, Southam was one of an order for 36 and, after an epic journey north, dealt with unpowered butties for the Grand Union the reasons for her sinking.

Canal Carrying Company. She spent her As the best of the unrestored boats in working life mostly carrying between London the WCBS fleet, Southam can be kept runand the Midlands until retired by British ning by a series of major dockings. She’s Waterways in 1962. David Blagrove writes being kept in her post-1965 converted condi-

WCBS

Wooden Canal Boat Society-

page 28

WCBS

WCBS

Renewing four of nb Southam’s planks: left ripping out the old wood, above the first of the new planks goes in, below caulking the seams around the new planks

During 2019 work has progressed slowly on renewing cabin sides which were getting fairly rotten. In October she was taken out of the water for four planks to be replaced on her left hand side. Much of the shearing (the vertically planked inner lining of the hull) has been replaced with keruing [an Asian hardwood] boards recovered from lorry beds. This work is now nearly complete and she will be launched at the end of December.

In 2020 the new engine will be installed, a new engine room built around it and work will continue on renewing the cabin sides and fitting out.

Having Southam up and running again will enable 118 year old Lilith to take a break from recycling trips so that she can have her stern end rebuilt. After that, Forget me Not will need a rest from towing duties so that she can have a mid life overhaul. Painting the Forth Bridge has nothing on maintaining wooden boats!

Darren Shepherd

tion as an example of the way in which many ex-working boats survived.

Southam has been a very useful boat, towing on recycling trips and towing Lilith on trips to collect timber for rebuilding Hazel, as well as providing accommodation for volunteers at Portland Basin and at waterway events.

In 2014 she was laid up because of mechanical problems, and efforts were concentrated on getting Hazel finished. It soon became clear that work was needed on the hull and conversion too.

Tameside College donated a BMC 3.8 litre Commodore engine, almost identical to the one that had powered the boat since 1965 but which was now getting rather poorly. This has been stripped down, built up again and the marinising parts swapped from the old engine. The Parsons gearbox has also been rebuilt (and the reason for continual gearbox trouble found and eliminated).

Forget-me-not towing Hazel on a recent outing

page 29

progress Wendover Arm Wendover Arm Trust were braving the elements, wrestling with pumps, and preparing for a readymix concrete pour through Bridge 4 Grand Union Wendover Arm

Pictures by WAT

Wendover Arm Trust November working week: It was Wet Cold and Windy. The activity started with pumping out the work area and some of the section on the other side of Bridge 4. After the pumping out it rained straight away!

The main activity was centred on finishing the blockwork at the Mooring wall being created, and the last piece on the towpath side. The last reinforced concrete ‘sleeping policeman’ (beams of concrete resembling speed humps cast in the bed to hold the blockwork of the channel sides apart) was cast in place, bringing the total to 7.

Following on from this the Bentomat waPic 1: laying and filling hollow concrete blocks terproof bentonite lining mat for the bed was rolled out, the main roll cut off and lifted away and the remaining ‘spare’ bed mat carefully folded back for future use.

Work now turned to excavating through the Bridge 4 abutments.

This was a more intense operation due to the possibility of the excavator striking the bridge, and a lot of the work had to be done by hand. Where the spoil had been compacted by passing plant for some years the bed and sides were very hard packed Pic 2: all set up ready for the concrete pour despite all the rain.

page 30

WAT January working week: As per the norm for this time of year we had mud and water to deal with before we could make a start. Unfortunately, both of our petrol-powered pumps didn’t like being wet and cold. One broke its pull-start cord and the other just went on strike. Once at home it started first pull...

Saturday to Monday: we cut Bentomat strips for lining the sloping sides through bridge 4 and transported them to site. We pumped out and bailed out (by hand) west end of the bridge narrows, levelled the east end of bridge using a Pic 3: after the concrete pour laser level and 5 tonne excavator, and rolled out the existing bed mat. We loaded hollow blocks and ballast and transported to site, where we laid the Bentomat strips and installed hollow blocks. (see pic 1) All this was leading up to a readymix concrete on the Thursday. Except that we decided on Tuesday to ask the concrete supplier to deliver a day earlier and they agreed to deliver at 11:00 on Wednesday. No pressure then?

We set out some more formwork for the bed concreting and commenced preparing the reinforcing mesh by attaching some ‘standoff’ feet to ensure the Pic 4: next section to be tackled, the far side of the bridge required thickness of concrete covering the reinforcing. By Tuesday night (as seen in pic 2) it was ready for the concrete to arrive.

On Wednesday the concreting team laid the reinforcing grids, built and removed the raised platforms for the dumpers delivering the concrete, moved the blocks, shifted, raked and vibrated the concrete. Meanwhile our two dumper drivers took delivery of the concrete from the car park at Little Tring to Bridge 4. Pic 3 shows what the completed concrete looked like the following day.

It was now time to use concrete to infill the gap between the blocks and the bridge walls and carefully fill the gaps in the blockwork. At the same time fresh Bentomat was laid on the next part of the bridge banks, and the formwork laid out ready for a quick start next month – see pic 4.

From the Wendover Arm Trust’s monthly volunteer Operations Reports

page 31

progress Cotswold Canals Down on the Stroudwater, work is underway to create a rather unusual feature - a main road roundabout with a canal across it!

In May 2019 Highways England awarded £4m towards the restoration of the Stroudwater Navigation, which forms the western part of the Cotswold Canals. This will restore parts of the waterway, locks, bridges and wetlands which were demolished when the A38 / A419 roundabout and M5 motorway were built in the late 1960s - and putting right the damage caused by new major roads is the objective of this pot of HE money.

Gloucestershire Council has awarded the contract to Alun Griffiths to deliver this first part of the next phase of the canal restoration, to recreate the ‘missing mile’ destroyed when the new roads were built (and at the same time to create wildlife habitats, flood prevention

Forest of Dean hills (across River Severn)

River Frome

A38

Sites for new bridges

CA

page 32

L NA

R

T OU

E

measures, a community orchard and traffic-free pedestrian and cycle routes under the main roads).

It will be part of the ‘Phase 1b’ section of the restoration, which will connect the Phase 1a length (which runs from Stonehouse via Stroud to Brimscombe Port, and which is nearing completion thanks to funding from the Lottery, local authorities, regional development funding, an lots of volunteer labour from Cotswold Canals Trust, ourselves in WRG, and other groups) to the national network at Saul Junction. This, dubbed ‘Cotswold Canals Connected’, has provisionally been awarded a further £10m from the Lottery, and WRG and CCT are gearing up to supporting this with some 700,000 hours of volunteer work over the next four years (while contractors carry out the heavy work such as the new M5 and railway crossings needed) - but we must wait until later this year to find out if this Lottery grant is confirmed.

However in the meantime, this aerial picture by Ken Bailey, reproduced courtesy of CCT’s magazine The Trow, shows the roundabout (viewed looking north westwards) where the A419 and A38 meet, and where the canal will be reinstated by the work currently under way thanks to the £4m of HE funding.

And hopefully in the not too distant future we’ll have another aerial photo for you, taken from a similar vantage point, but this time with a canal across the roundabout.

Stroudwater Navigation (site of WRG Christmas Camp) Whitminster village

A38

Preparation work for traffic diversions

Contractor’s site compound

A4 19

page 33

1970:

“The Big Year”

For WRG’s 50th year, we’re going back to our roots and looking at how the then Navvies Notebook reported the year when WRG was launched...

50 years ago...

“MAKE 1970 THE BIG YEAR” said original Navvies editor the late Graham Palmer. Yes, he actually said it in capital letters, in issue 22 of the magazine (or Navvies Notebook, as it was then called), dated January 1970. And although that might not actually be what he was referring to, it did indeed turn out to be a big year - because seven months later in August 1970 WRG was born. Yes, as I explain on page 4, our magazine actually pre-dates us: following four successful years of providing a means of communication for roving canal volunteers to keep informed of what was going on (especially important, given that half of the volunteers probably didn’t even have a phone, let alone any of today’s technology), it was decided to found a volunteer organisation to back it up.

But all that was several months in the future in issue 22. So what were the hot topics?

How did early 1970 compare to early 2020?

The way things were: The work sites in the diary (one thing that’s remained a feature in Navvies ever since) and reports include just two waterways that we’re still restoring today. The Upper Avon (where new locks were still being built in 1970), the Kennet & Avon Canal (Widcombe Locks were under restoration), the Peak Forest at Marple Locks, Langley Mill on the Erewash, Dudley Tunnel (whose approaches were being cleared in 1970) and Bugsworth Basin have all long since been reopened. The River Wey was never derelict, but volunteers were helping to keep it up to scratch (much as we do today in the Chelmer & Blackwater). One that we haven’t quite finished yet was the Pocklington, recently begun in 1970 “working on the mile-long pound between Walbut and Thornton locks” - I’m glad to report that those two locks and the mile-long

page 34

pound finally reopened (following some real struggles over the years against interests which opposed reopening to navigation, and indifference from the authorities for much of the time) two years ago! And the Surrey & Hants Canal Society hadn’t even got permission to work on their own canal (the Basingstoke) yet, so they were off to help on the Upper Avon.

As you might expect, most of the contact names listed won’t mean much to many of today’s volunteers, but it’s good to see mention of ‘John Dodwell’s gang of Irregulars’ working (like everyone else, it seems) on the Upper Avon. Half a century later he’s helping to pushing for progress on the Montgomery (which in 1970 had been recently launched, and is the other one of the two from issue 22 that we’re still working on), although he’s on record as saying that no waterway should ever take that long to reopen!

Some things never change: Some of the work sounds very familiar, from “removal of numerous small trees from the canal bed” on the Pocklington to “several enormous tree roots” being Tirfor winched from the bed of Bugsworth Basin - plus some rather more mechanised construction work on the Avon involving dredging with excavators and piling lock chamber walls. And what we would today run as a ‘tech tips’ or ‘toolbox talk’ article lists different types of dumpers (including two-wheel drive, four-wheel rigid or articulated, straight tip, swivel tip or high level tip, oh, and some of them were as large as three ton capacity!) and pumps - “One thing that can make or break a working party”.

Looking forward: If there wasn’t much hint of the forthcoming launch of WRG, there was plenty of looking ahead. “We are ready and have th capability to take part in a major restoration project on one of the remainder waterways

[a category for those which were neither to be maintained for leisure or commercial trade, but to be dealt with as cheaply as possible and safe]... and I don’t mean a stump or short arm soomewhere which it seems likely we might be fobbed off with to keep us out of officialdom’s hair.”

And on the subject of being “fobbed off ”, one thing that comes across is the sheer difficulty in persuading anyone to let us restore their canals for them. Yes, I know, there has been plenty of heartfelt cursing of navigation authorities, local authorities, government agencies (yes, EA, we mean you) in recent years for not just letting us get on with it. But it seems to have been even more of a bugbear then: “We have manpower - an asset denied even to British Waterways Board - we are in that position to make a positive contribution to the watrways in a particularly constructive way.

Nearly three years have elapsed since that - shall we say - misleading White Paper that made mention of the value of volunteer labour, yet what attempt has been made, what thought has been given, by those who control the destiny of the waterways to accept the help we have to offer.”

Shall I file this under ‘the way we were’, or ‘some things never change’? Discuss.

On a more positive (indeed defiant) note, Graham Palmer vowed that “The next few years WILL see the Upper Avon restored and once again navigable to Stratford, WILL see the 16 locks at Marple opened, MUST see the Ashton Canal placed back on the waterways map,” adding that if the Ashton was lost, it would be “down to prejudice, apathy and stupidity and a system that values expediency and a jaundiced eye on the balance sheet above the quality of life, the heritage we

pass on to the next generation, and the wish to reinstate an intelligent and viable link to the waterways system.”

“MAKE 1970 THE BIG YEAR”, he concluded.

Ancient and bizarre Then, as now, there was a certain amount of humour, idiosyncrasy and downright opacity at times in some of the working party reports, such as this example from Bugsworth... “Last weekend from the site-hut an unusually large bird was glimpsed on the overhanging branch of a large tree on the far bank; it seemed to be biting at the bough. The poor thing must be hungry after the recent hard frost - but this seemed a VERY large bird... it was! The wind swirled the mist away for a moment permitting a clearer view of the tree. It was now seen to be none other than John G******y, soaked to the skin and plastered in mud. He had shinned up the tree, axe in hand, to lop off a bough, and what we thought were bird cries were the voice of the tree climber above the gusts of wind as he called ‘I wish I had my camera up here!’

There’s also mention of a Montgomery dig where “fortified by beer (9 gallons) donated by Welshpool Bypass Action Committee, a small group were only restrained by fog from raiding Stoke Bruerne to retrieve the top gates for the lock. However I believe contact has been made with the local Viet-Taff...”

And there’s the handy graphic (below) indicating how to clear a lock: And finally... Graham Palmer again: “What we want, and indeed insist upon, is a bigger slice of the cake from now on.”.

Funny you should mention cake...

page 35

letters to the editor

Don Bridgewood

Dear Martin I am enjoying reading the back issues of Navvies (and its predecessor Navvies Notebook) on the WRG website (https://www.waterways.org.uk/wrg/navvies_magazine/navvies1_50).

It is good to be reminded of the vision, energy and enthusiasm of those early Inlnd Waterways Association members who were prepared to ‘get down and dirty’ over 50 years ago. They brought their own tools, collected Green Shield stamps and cigarette coupons (remember those?) to raise money for more and better tools and generally ‘mucked in’.

This was despite the official opposition and denial from British Waterways and local Councils who could have taught modern politicians a thing or two about ‘fake news’.

However, in the light of WRG’s imminent 50th anniversary it occurs to me that you might like to start running a ’50 years ago’ feature in Navvies, although I realise that the first edition of Navvies Notebook was actually way back in 1966.

This will help the current generation of restorers understand On the subject of anniversaries and looking back, here’s a pic taken at the Ashtac Big Dig which kicked off the how much we owe to those Cheshire Ring restoration in 1972, and a re-creation at the early visionaries and the work they undertook at a critical time 40th anniversary event in 2012. Can you spot Bob in the history of the waterways. Keaveney (on the tiller in the2012 pic) in the 1972 one?

Malcolm Parker

Hi Martin I notice the letter on the letters page of Navvies Issue 298 December / January from WRG Northwest who state that you cannot get ready broken biscuits any more.

Can you please tell them that they are not going to the right store to get them. Iceland do a well assorted 1300g box of broken biscuits for £3 each.

Regards Robin Bishop

page 36

Julie Arnold / Waterway Images

That’s a very good idea, so I’ve started doing it - see elsewhere in this issue. ...Ed

navvies

News

Restoration Showcase 2020

2020 Restoration Conference

Following the success of last year’s event in Liverpool Docks showcasing waterway restoration projects in (broadly) the north west quarter of the country, it is to be repeated this year but hopefully with contributions from even more restoration projects, and at a different location.

Once again it will be happening on board the restored Manchester Ship Canal steam tug-tender Daniel Adamson, but this time moored at the Anderton Lift on the weekend of 22-23 August.

New restoration projects represented this year are: Burslem Port, Uttoxeter Canal, Stafford Riverway Link, Hollinwood Canal, Stockport Branch and Plas Kynaston Canal.

That’s in addition to the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals, Sankey Canal, Montgomery Canal, Runcorn Locks, River Weaver, Lancaster Canal and Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal projects plus the local IWA, who were already represented or invited in 2019.

It’s being timed to coincide with a local IWA boat gathering and the River Weaver Navigation Society’s annual week-long cruise.

This year’s annual waterway restoration conference, organised jointly by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association and the Canal & River Trust, will be taking place on Saturday 21 March at South Wolverhampton & Bilston Academy. It’s aimed primarily at waterway societies but many WRG volunteers may find it useful too.

This year the emphasis is on volunteer recruitment, governance, funding, environmental changes introduced by legislation (see Mike Palmer’s Chairman’s Comment in this issue) and dealing with utilities on site.

It’s free to waterway society volunteers, members and staff (and that includes us!) and it runs from 10am to 4.15pm. See waterways.org.uk or contact our head office.

Bricklaying training Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust is looking to organise a one-day course from a highly trained and experienced brick expert that will not only show how bricks can be reclaimed, but also how to do window arches, colour bricks to match and a lot more. It’s aimed at the Trust’s volunteers (who are busy restoring the historic Thomas Telford warehouses at Wappenshall) but there are places available to WRG volunteers too. Contact Bernie Jones on berniecjones@hotmail.com.

(And meanwhile don’t forget our own bricklaying training during the WRG Training Weekend - see ‘coming soon’ pages)

Thank you... ...to Chris Griffiths of Stroudprint for his continued assistance with printing the colour covers for Navvies.

Di Smurthwaite R.I.P. We are very sorry to have to bring you the sad news that Di Smurthwaite, longstanding WRG volunteer and regular supporter our BITM regional group, died just as we were going to press. We will bring you an appreciation in our next issue.

And finally...

...one that didn’t quite make it into the ‘progress’ pages is the 58km Travancore State Canal in Kerala, India, where the Sivagiri and Chilakkoor tunnels, 722m and 350m long, are currently under restoration as part of the revival of the 1860s canal for freight.

page 37

infill and the return of Deirdre Dear Deirdre I’m trying to decide which of my WRGie friends should be godparent to my new baby daughter. There’s Fred, who’s an excellent brickie but has 2 very savage dogs I wouldn’t trust around an infant, or Sandra, who’s a very good site leader but admits she loathes children. Or I could ask Sally who really understands single handed boating but has spent quite a lot of time in prison. Can you help me choose?

- SS, Woolsthorpe-on-Avon Deirdre writes I think you need to consider which skills the godparent will be able to pass on to the next generation. Are any of them any good at heritage brickwork? If Fred’s any good with lime mortar I think you should pick him and the baby will have to take her chances with those dogs.

Dear Deirdre I read in the Daily Express that we’re to have the worst winter on record what with all these storms etc. Do you think a lot of the March and April digs will be cancelled?

- John G, Aberthrubwell Deirdre writes The Express has been recycling that headline for the last 20 years so no I wouldn’t worry. WRG leaders generally only consider the wellbeing of their vehicles and not their volunteers when they’re deciding whether to cancel a dig or not. Unless their precious vans are likely to actually be blown away in a tornado, I’d be pretty confident all digs will still go ahead.

Death in Venice?

The editor gets a fair number of news alerts - basically internet links to news stories with ‘canal’ in them - which vary from the really useful to irrelevant stuff about root canals and ear canals. But this one (right) caught his eye recently. It appears to refer to some kind of computer game, and yes, the short video did indeed seem to show mayhem and desctruction in what might just have been a hellish post-apocalyptic Venice. So he followed the link to see what more it had to say...

The first collectible can be found after you make your first proper stop and exit the boat. From the direction the boat is facing, go right and go inside the building. Go up the stairs to your left and up the top, you’ll see a comic to the right of a chest. Next, After you stop a second time, due to the bridge being down before you go through the closed door, go into the stone building to your left. Go And finally... up the stairs and as you reach the top you’ll Not quite in the same league of hellishness, see a doll’s silhouette. Turn around and but we couldn’t help but thank whoever you’ll see a Zombie Hand and a doll on a posted this small but useful sign on the BCN... table. Continue on and follow the objective marker. When you reach the bridge, don’t cross it right away. Turn left and go up the stone steps to the right of a metal fence. In the small room up the stairs, you’ll find an Upgrade Kit. After crossing the bridge, go into the building to the left. Go up the rubble ramp and in the bombed-out room, on a table, you’ll find the document.

Sounds like a typical set of canal camp joining instructions...

page 38

outro Christmas Camp

A selection of pictures from our festive camp on the Cotswold Canals. See report, p12-13

page 39

page 40