Chairman Inspiration from IWA Trustees

chairman’s Comment

“Remember that not only do you have a load of red t-shirts beside you, you have the whole organisation urging you forward”

Chairman’s Comment

I like to think that I put a bit of effort into considering the tone of every Navvies comment, but this one feels especially pressured to get it right. Not just because it’s several hours past the deadline Martin gave me, but also because we are all feeling the pressure of this damn pandemic – it’s important to get the tone right. Not too cheery and optimistic, not too pessimistic. Most of all it’s important people feel that the right decisions are being made at the right time. This is of course tricky because that right time rarely lines up with a Navvies press date!

But hopefully you will read the article about Covid and summer Canal Camps on pages 8-11 and believe we are asking the questions that will help us make those right decisions when the time comes for us to decide (probably around Easter), and that we have a plan B if conditions change again later in the year.

We are, however, only one half of the decision. The decision to work with us has always been with you, the volunteer, and so as we head towards the new normal, if I have one message for you all in this comment it is this:

One of the wonders of WRG is that people can just turn up and enjoy doing simple, satisfying tasks with very few questions asked. It allows you to (almost) be a different person. In many cases we work alongside someone with no idea of their personal life, their work life, their fears or concerns. Please respect people’s individual decisions and actions as we all find out what we feel comfortable with.

For the moment, however, remote working and Zoom meetings are the norm all day, every day for me. While they do all tend to merge together (and I find myself increasingly drifting off and trying to remember what it was like to be outside and sharing real, spontaneous, un-delayed laughter), I was present in a meeting yesterday that did stand out as

Plaque on the Stratford Canal at Lapworth. Is the spirit of ‘Hutch’ still alive on IWA’s Trustee Board? See Mike’s Comment. See also p20 for a look back at later years on the Stratford page 6

exceptional. Most surprising of all, it was a strategy meeting of the Inland Waterways Association, WRG’s parent body.

Firstly, I was introduced to the IWA’s new Chief Executive and I think things are looking good on that front. His name is Phil Hornsey and he comes to us from the world of rowing (To be clear: that’s rowing as in boats and oars, not as in arguing). In today’s modern world we don’t need to give him an introduction in Navvies (though I suspect he won’t be a stranger to our magazine) as you can just check him out online. In particular he has done some good interviews with various online sports magazines. Have a search and see what you think.

Secondly, during a discussion about ‘inspiration’ I heard an IWA trustee say “But we must never say things can’t be done (*); look at what has happened before and, even for the things that seem hopeless right now, we have no idea of what opportunities may arise in the future. It’s our dream to have a truly great waterways network - and if we don’t believe, then who will?” These words were not even part of a big finale; it was just a side comment backing up the main discussion. And it’s stuff like that which does pick you up. So when you read the rest of this magazine (particularly the arti- Out now: WRG’s 50th birthday whisky. Contact Jenny Morris cle on ‘quick wins’) remember on 01494 783453 ext 611 or jenny.morris@waterways.org.uk that not only do you have a load of red t-shirts beside you, you have the whole organisation urging you forward.

And speaking of the rest of this magazine I think it’s another cracking edition. We always said we hoped to use this gap in our work to focus on some of the stuff that we are too busy to do, or stuff that often gets neglected as it’s not quite as exciting as the big glamorous stuff. I think this is a good example: articles and progress reports on projects that you may never have heard of, together with some reminiscences and an article about old tyres. Perfect. My thanks to Martin and John for still managing to do this when the rest of us are just looking wistfully out the window.

Mike Palmer

(*) Though of course with my Health & Safety hat on I would phrase that as “we must never say things can’t be done, but we are allowed to say that things can’t be done safely today by me, so we will do it properly tomorrow”.