Navvies 307

navvies volunteers restoring waterways Preparing to build

bridges: Wey & Arun Montgomery and Cotswold canals

Focus on the

Lichfield Canal

issue 307 june-july 2021

Intro KESCRG on the Wey & Arun

Pictures by Steve Davis

Cutting the timber to size

Despite the disappointment of having to postpone the restart of our Canal Camps again (see editorial, page 4), there hasn’t been a total absence of mobile volunteer groups working on the canals.

KESCRG ran a one-day working party on the Wey & Arun Canal, fitting the bridge deck joists (made from oak trees which had to be felled to make way for the diverted canal) on the foot / cycle / horse bridge which will form part of the new road bridge being built over the canal at Tickners Heath.

Further visits are planned: see KESCRG on Facebook

Fitting the first joists

Nearly finished

The team admiring their completed job

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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: WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA Printing and assembly: John Hawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green 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

© 2021 WRG

PLEASE NOTE: subs renewal cheques MUST be made out to The Inland Waterways Association NOTE new subs address below Contents Editorial No Canal Camps, restoration threatened by nature conservation orders and construction work... it’s all a bit 1980s 4-6 Chairman 7-8 Safety points to remember when we (finally) get on site - and a quiz to help! 9-11 Restoration feature: the Lichfield and Hatherton canals 12-19 Letters on Italy, Covid, Bradley Locks, and the price of Navvies...

20-21 Progress news roundup from around the system 22-32 Nature plants on the NW&D Canal 33-35 Erewash work party report 36-37 Navvies news Thank you Sue Watts 38-39

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 308: 15 July.

Subscriptions A year's subscription (6 issues) is a minimum of £3.00 (cheques to The Inland Waterways Association) to WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Please add a donation if you can.

Cover pics Front: New foot / cycle / horse bridge at Tickners Heath crossing, Wey & Arun Canal, is lifted into place. Road span follows next year. See also opposite page. (Picture: WACT) Back cover top: Grantham Canal Lock 14, scene of WRG camps in 2019, now complete. (Sea Lane Media Ltd) Bottom: preparing for new Ocean Railway Bridge, Cotswold Canals - see pages 6 and 30. (CCT)

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EditorialAnother false dawn?

Less-than-happy news about Canal Camps 2021, worrying developments in canal restoration... but a big ‘first’ coming up for the Cotswold Canals Editorial In my last editorial I began by running through the list of themes from the seven issues of Navvies since WRG’s work came to a grinding halt at the start of the pandemic in early 2020: the ‘Lots is going on in the background’ issue; the ‘Getting back to work’ (for local canal societies) issue; the ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ issue and so on. I accepted that “after a year of false dawns, the credibility of this continuing optimistic tone is beginning to wear a teeny-weeny bit thin” in the absence of any more concrete evidence of WRG being able to re-start Canal Camps. But then I provided that ‘concrete evidence’ in the form of a ‘pre-preview’ of the summer’s likely Canal Camp sites - albeit with disclaimers that it depended on any further twists in the Covid-19 story that might throw another spanner in the works.

And we deliberately delayed publication of this issue by a couple of weeks so that we would be able to confirm details of the camps and encourage you to book on.

Well, there’s no dressing it up any other way this time. I’m sorry to bring you the disappointing news that we’ve put our plans for a shortened Canal Camps season (which we had been hoping to run through August and September) on hold. The reasons for this are: the four-week delay to the final relaxing of the lockdown restrictions; the uncertainty about which of the remaining restrictions will actually be lifted on 19 July; the apparent impossibility of getting any definitive answer on whether our use of shared accommodation (which is the main sticking point - as you’ll know from reports of one-day events and local canal society working parties, the site work isn’t a show-stopper) would be subject to the ‘rule of six’ (still in force as we go to press) or whether (as with workplaces and the like) we would be able to accommodate larger numbers subject to the appropriate risk assessments and precautions; the need to make decisions early enough to avoid putting canal societies

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to considerable unnecessary inconvenience and cost (especially given the current problems with supplies of building materials); but ultimately (as the very timely letter from Fran Burrell on page 20 reminds us), “to keep us healthy and alive”.

That’s not to say that we’ve written off another year of work by WRG - and other mobile groups. As I write this, KESCRG are on a one-day dig on the Wey & Arun (see pictures, page 2). Numerous canal societies are hard at work on local projects (see our lengthy ‘progress’ section). A few ‘niche projects’ requiring no more than six volunteers, or where the local circumstances mean they can be arranged at short notice once the future changes to Covid restrictions (and their implications for safety of our volunteers) are known, might be able to go ahead. And come the autumn, we will rethink things in the light of any changed circumstances, and might come to a different conclusion regarding whether it is safe to proceed with Canal Camps and mobile groups’ weekends. Navvies will keep you informed.

And now the bad news...

I’m afraid that in a break from the usual good news / bad news (or sometimes bad news / good news) format for these editorials, I’m going to follow that with more unhappy news. Unfortunately in the wider world of waterway restoration it’s occasionally starting to feel ever-so-slightly like we’re slipping back to the bad old days of perhaps 30-odd years ago...

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in many ways the waterway restoration movement seemed to be taking great strides forward. We’d all but finished the early schemes - the ones like the Cheshire Ring canals, the Basingstoke and the Kennet & Avon, canals which had simply been allowed to fall into dereliction in the past - and were cracking on with the ‘second generation’.

These were canals which had actually been closed down and in many places blocked by

demolished road bridges, sections filled in, ing canals under restoration was eventually and in some cases built on, requiring canal adopted. diversions and new structures. Canals such The second threat was from nature as the ‘impossible’ Huddersfield Canal, the conservation interests. Suddenly, from having Rochdale, the Thames & Severn, and the been seen as environmentalists, canal restorultimate ‘lost cause’ of the Wey & Arun. ers were cast by some (not all) in the conI’ll freely admit that despite being servationist camp as the villains - taking young and optimistic I had my doubts about canals that had become rich wildlife habitats how realistic it was to expect canal societies during the years of dereliction, and putting to raise the cash to rebuild demolished road this biodiversity at risk by dredging them and bridges - or to expect any external funders bringing back boats. The letters ‘SSSI’ struck to foot the bill. But then it started happening fear into the hearts of canal restorers - to - first on the Rochdale, then on the Hudders- have a Site of Special Scientific Interest field, then on other canals as derelict land designation slapped on your restoration site grants, local authority regeneration money, seemed like the kiss of death. Or, depending European funding for ex-industrial areas and on which side you were on, it seemed like a other sources started to see canal restoration necessary protection for a rare and fragile as something to support. The ‘impossible’ eco-system of a type which was fast disapbecame the ‘possible’ as money came in and pearing nationally. bridges went up.

I hoped things had changed since those But at the same time, canal restoration days. While disagreements still occur bewas coming up against some threats... tween nature and navigation interests, there Firstly, these canals having been legally have been some very hard thrashed-out abandoned, there was no statutory protecagreements (the Montgomery conservation tion against further blockmanagement plan being a Got yours yet? ages adding to their probcase in point) where both lems - if, for example, a sides have compromised in new road needed to cross order to agree on a way the route, or a canal bed that the canal can be was seen as a suitable site restored at all. And more for a housing developrecently, as recounted in ment, or an existing recent Navvies, examples bridge was threatened of restoration societies with demolition on spotting the opportunity grounds of being a liability not just to work with or an obstruction to road nature conservation bodies traffic. So Williams Bridge for the benefit of both on the Montgomery Canal interests but to take the was flattened, even lead: like the Manchester though the canal’s restoraBolton & Bury Canal Socition was well under way: ety putting the case for Sure, the bridge wasn’t in the canal as an eco-highterribly good condition, way. Or the idea that traffic sight lines weren’t Biodiversity Net Gain good, and yes, assurances legislation can be seen not were given that it would as a further imposition on be reinstated as and when canal restorers, but as an the canal was restored opportunity for canal but it felt like a kick in the restoration to be carried As we went to press only 70 teeth for canal restoration. out in a way that enables bottles remained of the one And the threats from new it to provide the net gain cask of ‘Restoration’ Islay roads had to be fought off required by adjacent single malt whisky produced (not always successfully) commercial developments, for WRG’s 50th anniversary. at successive battles over so that it can thereby gain See waterways.org.uk/ the next couple of decades support and funding. support/shop/restorationbefore any kind of guidSimilarly with new whisky-10-year-private-cask ance in favour of protectroads and other develop-

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ments. Protection of canals under restoration in local planning is now common; planning guidance has (eventually) led to new roads being much more likely to make provision for canal restoration; there have even been Government grants to right the wrongs of the past by funding reinstatement of road crossings. And the (financially quantifiable) benefits of having an adjacent waterway mean that developers building new residential estates are more likely to pay towards restoring a derelict waterway than to fill it in so they can cram in a few more houses; while for mineral extraction sites a requirement to reinstate the canal afterwards is often a condition of planning permission.

And yet in the last few months there have been several cases that look like backsliding into the 1980s.

Firstly (as covered in Navvies 306) there was a planning application for a housing scheme at Froghall which would block the Uttoxeter Canal restoration, with no practicable alternative route available. This was despite the canal being protected in the Local Plan. There’s a suitable patch of land available and earmarked for housing, but developers Hadleigh want to extend beyond that to use the canal route as well. And basically they reckon they’ve got the local authority over a barrel. They’ve as much as said so in subsequent contributions to the planning application documentation - they’ve told Staffordshire Moorlands Council that if they don’t get the nod for their plans in full, it won’t be worth their while building any houses there at all. And as the council needs to get some residential developments under way somewhere within its boundaries as its contribution to reducing housing shortages, the pressure is on it to approve the scheme.

And just to help the Council to salve its conscience about destroying a viable canal restoration scheme, the developers have kindly suggested two alternative routes for the canal, both of which have been dismissed by Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust as ill-informed and unworkable. One requires a new tunnel; the other a canalisation of the River Churnet including up to six rebuilt bridges, two new bridges and two new locks.

Oh, and a boat lift. And also presumably getting the Environment Agency to accept an improbable amount of buggering around with a natural watercourse to fit canal boats down it. Frankly it would probably be easier to wait until the houses are built, then buy

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them up and demolish them to put the canal back. We still hope that the council will (when they eventually make the muchdelayed decision) show some integrity and turn it down; but given the lack of specific statutory protection (other than the Local Plan) it’s far from certain.

Secondly on the Cotswold Canals there’s been a threat from Natural England to put an SSSI on pretty much the whole Cotswold Water Park - an area of lakes created from gravel workings around the Cerney area. No problem with that, but it doesn’t just cover the lakes, it covers large swathes of surrounding land including the canal (which is of absolutely no ‘scientific interest’, indeed part of it is filled in and used as an access road for gravel lorries) - despite assurances that Cotswold Canals Trust believed it had received from NE that the canal would be excluded. The upshot will be a whole raft of completely pointless conditions imposed on canal restorers, such as having to apply for specific permission to carry out absolutely any restoration or future maintenance work, right down to mowing the towpath, trimming the hedge and keeping it clear. And don’t even think about having any bonfires...

And thirdly, still on the Cotswold Canals, a few miles further east past Eisey, and once again with reference to gravel: a planning application has been submitted which attempts to renege on a promise made to reinstate the canal at Roundhouse Farm Quarry once quarrying is complete. This goes back quite some years to when the quarrying company first applied to extract gravel. CCT lobbied successfully for a condition of approval being a stipulation that the canal would be put back afterwards, and that a plan must be immediately submitted detailing how this would be done. No such plan has ever been produced, and now a retrospective application has been submitted to vary the conditions of the original one. It doesn’t explicitly remove the requirement to reinstate the canal, it more ‘air-brushes it out’, by replacing it with a set of drawings which don’t even show the canal. CCT reckons that if accepted, there will be “no real prospect” of the original requirement being enforced.

Now there’s a James Bond quote that says “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action”. I’m not sure I’d go that far. I hope these are just isolated examples - and my thanks to those who we managed to alert in time (via Nav-

vies or the WRG Facebook page) and who submitted objections: let’s hope the authorities will be swayed by them. But it does occasionally feel a bit like we’re fighting the 1980s’ battles all over again.

Do you agree? On the subject of you, the Navvies readers, putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard), our letters pages have attracted the biggest postbag for some time.

They’re all very much appreciated, whether they’re letters of appreciation (including for last time’s Italian restoration feature - I’ll see if I can find any more overseas restorations

This one wouldn’t quite fit on the letters page...

Ahhhh. A paper Navvies. Lovely. I’ve really missed it. Normally I really look forward to reading it sitting down with a cuppa or hiding in the corner of a pub or squeezed into a train carriage (thank God it’s not the size of a broadsheet). I hate reading things online, it’s not the same. And when everything is bloody online these days. Some issues I’ve just not bothered to even skim and see what’s in there.

It’s all too much of an effort. In fact out of everything we’ve all had to endure over the past year, having to read Navvies online is errr ... actually when I think about it ... it’s a mild inconvenience.

Right. Ok. Dear Editor Thank you for the latest edition of Navvies.

I’ve very much enjoyed the return to print, it suits me much better. I would like to say thank you and well done for all the Navvies that have been produced over the last 12 (and a few) months. It would have been very easy to skip some or have a slimmed-down version but a lot of work has gone into producing a great magazine. I know it’s hard to get material even in normal times so this makes it even more of an achievement.

I must also remember that sometimes things do go slightly astray with Navvies and that Jenny and Alex (who, along with their colleagues, do a FANTASTIC job at head office) are very helpful and with a quick phone call to them any problem is normally resolved within minutes. But they don’t necessarily read every Facebook comment so maybe a nice chat is going to be more effective.

Many thanks An avid Navvies reader.

PS Big up to John ‘the Hawk’ Hawkins!

to report on), letters putting us right on the odd error, taking us to task on serious subjects such as attitudes to Covid, or making thoughtprovoking points about Navvies, WRG and canal restoration. Please keep them coming!

But anyway let’s end on a brighter note. While the east end of the Cotswold Canals may be under threat from a pincer movement by Natural England and Cullimore Gravels, at the west end the Phase 1b ‘Cotswold Connected’ restoration is approaching a major milestone...

On our back cover, the lower picture shows some genuine ‘concrete evidence’ of progress. These are the sections which have been cast and are gradually being assembled ready for the replacement of the current railway embankment blockage at The Ocean, Stonehouse, by a new bridge to carry the restored canal under the Birmingham to Bristol main line railway. As far as I know (and doubtless you the Navvies readers will put me straight if I’m wrong), this will be the first example anywhere in the history of canal restoration in Britain of an active main line railway crossing which blocks a waterway being replaced by a new navigable bridge as part of a scheme to reopen a canal. As such, I would say that it’s just as significant as those early road bridge reinstatements on the Rochdale and Huddersfield back in the 1980s that I mentioned earlier.

I look forward to more of these railway crossing reinstatements in the future, including on the Lichfield Canal - see our restoration feature on pages 12-19 to see how much good progress is made on this project.

And meanwhile elsewhere the removal of road blockages continues - our front cover shows the first stage of the latest one on the Wey & Arun Canal, where the bridge for foot / cycle / horse traffic at Tickners Heath is being craned into place, in advance of the main road span next year. And our Progress pages report on School House Bridge on the Montgomery, where following lot of red tape and paperwork it looks like replacement of the last missing road bridge on the English length of the canal will finally get under way.

Not to mention the River Gipping, where they’re all set to reinstate a missing towpath bridge across the river.

And I will see some of you again on a WRG worksite sometime in the not-toodistant future.

Until then, stay safe!

Martin Ludgate

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chairman’s

Comment

“It’s not that unbelievable feeling you get when the van pulls off site at the end of a day and you say ‘now that was a good day’.”

I’m writing this just a few feet from the chest of drawers that houses my collection of digging T-shirts. There are quite a few of them that enthusiastically proclaim an ambitious target (remember Target 88 or Project 2000?). Looking back at most of those I’m not sure if any of them actually came true and hit the date concerned. Because no matter how dedicated the workers, no matter how committed the support, no matter how close you get to the finish line, sometimes things just don’t go to plan.

That is how things are this summer.

You will read more about this in the further pages of this magazine, and there will be more info online, but we can now be sure that our hoped for Canal Camps re-start in August will not be happening.

In one respect this is due to external factors – we all know just what the situation is out there for everyone whether they dig canals or not. The Camps team could not have worked harder to plan new ways of running camps safely. But in the end it’s a very internal WRG thing – we just don’t think it’s safe to run them at the moment.

Whilst there will be some carefully planned activities going on, it’s going to be a while before the evidence suggests we can travel from all around the country and congregate in village halls like we normally do. I wish there was a magic solution for this but quite frankly I’ve got nothing. I’m known as a fairly optimistic character but even I’m starting to feel properly beaten here. More than that, I’m really missing it – all of it.

There are, of course, positives that have been popping up along the way. I had always hoped that any period of inactivity on site would actually enable work in other areas to come to the fore and that has happened. Just a few hours ago a group of WRG volunteers completed a “Lifting and Slinging” course in Middlewich, and there have been plenty of other training courses going on, with more planned.

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Ian Stewart

Chairman’s Comment

On the recent lifting and slinging course Not having to take all those bookings has meant that the team at Head Office have been able to work on other things. In particular Jenny has done some great work with Ray Alexander on Highway Crossings that has the potential to push millions of pounds into restoration and shift some blockages that have been frustrating canal restorations for years.

Numerous projects around the country have managed to negotiate deals, secure funding and promote plans that would have never go to the top of the To-Do list in normal times.

But it’s not digging is it? It’s not that unbelievable feeling you get when the van pulls off site at the end of a day and, if you can hear yourself over the banter and laughter, you say “now that was a good day”. It’s not the taste of tea and cake. It’s not prising your boots off outside the hall, before walking in and asking “what’s for tea?”.

I’m truly missing all of that, and I have never meant it more when I say I hope to see you all on site* sometime soon.

Mike Palmer *Or perhaps at the Festival of Water over in Worcester on the August Bank Holiday.

safety Back to site - safely?

Has anything changed in the year-and-a-bit since you were last on a restoration worksite? Our checklist runs through the factors to think of... as lifting ability, sight, hearing or mobility, and consider how the work can be adapted While some members of the restoration to suit. community have been able to keep volunteering at their local sites Driving: Just because you’ve always driven throughout the pandemic, others of us vans, that doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t been on a restoration site for should continue to do so. Check your driver some considerable time. Although any authorisations are still valid and more impor‘back to work’ plans are rightly going to have tantly check how you are feeling. a large focus on Covid-safe procedures, it’s important that we also re-familiarise ourStrength and stamina: After a year of selves with construction site health, safety working from home it’s natural to assume and environment best practice. that you might have a reduced level of There are several factors which may strength and stamina compared to before have changed over the last year which may lockdown. Pace yourself and listen to your change your suitability to do certain tasks own body. which you did previously. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t volunteer – just that it is a Plant / vans / power tools: Take some good time to reassess your personal circumtime to reacquaint yourself. Read the guidstances and ensure that you are only taking ance again, refresh your memory, talk it on tasks suitable for you. through with another trained person – there will be something you’ve forgotten!

All these factors work both ways. It’s Things to consider the responsibility of the volunteer to inform Medication: Have you started taking any the site leader of any changes, but equally new medication? Could it affect your ability leaders - don’t presume a volunteer you to operate plant / vehicles? Advise the leader know well will feel able to jump straight back or head office if your personal information in to all roles. needs to be updated.

Back to Site

Allergies/medical information: Ensure that the site leader is aware of any changes to your medical circumstances.

Different / reduced abilities: many people will feel different returning to site after a long break.

Consider whether you or your fellow volunteers may have reduced abilities since you were last on site such

Martin Ludgate

Beards: Have you grown a lockdown beard? While you now quality for London WRG membership, be aware that facial hair reduces the effectiveness of face fit masks.

Refresh your memory, talk it through with others

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Sites Sites are likely to have changed, even after a year of reduced working. Make sure the site manager gives you an induction; if not, ask for one.

Site managers: you may have been operating this way for over a year, but it might be the first time some volunteers have been to the site for some time; give them a refresher and explain all site rules and emergency procedures.

Site Safety Quiz Take the quiz and score yourself at the end. This is intended to be a bit of fun, but also to get you thinking about site safety again.

(1) What are the main hazards (*) associated with using the Burco? (*) Note not the ONLY hazards) a: b: c: d:

Burns from boiling water Burns from steam Burns from hot metal body All of the above

(2) What is the minimum required PPE on site? a: b: c:

d:

Hard hat, high vis vest, steel toe capped boots Hard hat, high vis vest, face mask Hard hat, high vis vest, steel toe capped boots, task appropriate eye protection, task appropriate gloves, plus any additional PPE required for the task you’re doing.

Short shorts and bin bag with arm holes

(6) What factor can reduce the effectiveness of a dust mask? a: b: c: d:

The type of work How expensive the mask is Beards The weather

(7) How is Weil’s disease contracted? (give 2 answers) a: b: c: d:

Cuts or scratches Contact with an infected person Through the lining of the mouth, throat and eyes Insect bites

(8) If someone gets grit in their eye, what is the best thing to do? a: b:

Ask them to rub the eye until it waters Hold the eye open and flush it with sterilised water or eyewash Hold the eye open and wipe it with clean tissue paper Tell them to blink a couple of times

(3) What are the risks of working with mortar and concrete? (answer all that apply)

c:

a: b: c: d:

(9) If you see this label on a substance what should you do?

Inhaling cement or lime dust Burns to the skin Splashes to the eyes Pollution to watercourses

d:

a:

(4) What should you check before using a scaffold?

b:

a: b: c: d:

c:

If everyone else is using it If Bob says it’s fine to use If it has a scaffold tag If the scaffold tag says it has been inspected in the last seven days

(5) What should you check before using a power tool? (answer all that apply) a: b: c: d:

If there any damage to the casing, wires or triggers If the guard is fitted properly If you are trained and competent to use it What year it was made

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d:

Dispose of the substance or contents by burning Find out how to use the substance safely as it could explode Find out how to use the substance safely as it is flammable (could catch fire easily) Warm up the contents first, with heat or a naked flame

(10) A volunteer is using a mattock to dig up a tree stump. What hazards should you be aware of? (two answers) a: b: c: d:

Damage to eyes caused by sunlight reflecting off the mattock Smoking, as gas could be released Standing in front of, or behind, the worker with the mattock Standing too close to the worker with the mattock

(11) Which of the following, by itself, pro- b: vides the best solution for reducing risks related to site transport and access? c: a: b: c: d:

A one-way traffic system with segregated pedestrian routes Ensuring that there are adequate signs directing traffic to various parts of the site Providing all site staff with information detailing the site layout and designated traffic routes Reducing the need for some vehicle movements on site by requiring more materials to be offloaded manually outside the site

(12) A bird is discovered on a nest in an area where work is to take place.

What should you do? (one answer) a: b: c. d.

Cover it with a bucket Move it, do your work, then put it back Protect the nest and seek specialist advice on how to proceed Scare it away

(13) What does it mean if lifting and placing a particular load forces a worker to have to twist or turn their body? a: b: c: d:

That the weight they can lift safely is more than usual That they must wear a back brace That the weight they can lift safely is less than usual That they can lift the same weight as usual

(14) If you find bats on site, which of the following statements is true? a: b: c: d:

You can disturb or destroy shelters or resting places of bats if they get in the way of building work You can move the shelters or resting places of bats as long as you do it at night when they are out hunting Bats are not a protected species so you can disturb or destroy their shelters or resting places All bat species and their roosts are protected. You cannot disturb them without licensed mitigation

(15) Which is the most important reason for keeping a working area on a construction site clean and tidy? a:

So that skips can be emptied more often

d.

So that volunteers don’t have to have a big clean up at the end of the week So the site looks better in photos on Facebook To prevent slips trips and falls

(16) Why is over exposure to vibratory tools and equipment a serious issue? a: b: c: d:

Vibration can cause disabling health conditions that cannot be cured There are no early warning signs of damage caused by vibration There is no way that exposure to vibration can be prevented The long-term effects of vibration are not known

(17) Where should accidents that cause any injury be recorded? a: b: c: d:

In the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) accident database In the accident report book On a near miss card In Navvies

(18) A near miss can be best described in what ways? a: b: c: d:

An unreported accident An accident that was narrowly avoided An accident leading to time away from work An accident that leads to death

(19) What should be done if you find a crack in your safety helmet? a: b: c: d:

Find a replacement when you go on your next break Glue the cracked area Carry on working if it is a small crack Stop working immediately and find a replacement

(20) What should you do in the event of an accident? (answer as many as apply) a: b: c: d: e:

Tell the leader Record it in the accident book or near miss card as relevant Ignore it, you don’t want to make a fuss Seek medical assistance from a first aider or emergency services if necessary Try to sort it out yourself so you don’t get in trouble Answers on page 39

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Restoration feature In our continuing mission to give you the wider view of restoration projects while capabilities and it’s where they can get permission to work. And this was certainly the The restoration back-story: If you’ve case on the Lichfield Canal. read a few of these articles you’ll be familiar In fact it wasn’t just that there were with the idea that while it would be nice to blockages near the ends of the seven-mile begin a canal restoration project at one end route from Ogley Junction (where it joins the of the route, where the derelict waterway navigable length of the Wyrley & Essington connects to the navigable network, and work Canal) to Huddlesford (where it meets the your way along it to the other end, in pracCoventry Canal); there were problems all the tice it seldom works that way. Sod’s Law way along it. Reopening it as a through route seems to dictate that there will be some would require new crossings of the A38, A51, major blockage within a mile or two of each A5, A461, A5127 and several minor roads, end of the canal – meaning that a canal not to mention the Birmingham to Lichfield society in its early years, reliant on volunteer railway line, and the canal would need to be labour and small-scale fundraising, will often diverted around a section that had disapneed to start by restoring a length that’s got peared under housing on the edge of Lino immediate prospects of linking up to chfield. In fact it was felt that four or five anything, simply because it’s within their diversions would probably be needed in total, to deal with various issues such as reducing the earthworks involved in creating the various new road crossings.

But by Fosseway Lane, roughly midway along the canal, was Lock 18, with a lock chamber surviving in reasonable condition, a short length of unobstructed canal leading downwards towards Lichfield, and permission to work on it. So the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust began in mid 1990s by restoring this lock, supported by WRG and other visiting groups.

This was followed in the late 1990s by a move to the east end of the canal, not far from where it met the Coventry Canal (but separated from it by another road blockage, where a new bridge would be needed to carry Cappers Lane over the canal). This was the Darnford Lane work site, which many longstanding WRG volunteers will remember. We supported LHCRT building a new culvert to take a stream under the canal bed, creating bridge abutments and installing a liftbridge (secondhand from the Peak Forest Canal) to take the towpath across the canal, building long lengths of steel piled canal banks, trialling (not entirely successfully, I recall) a modern membrane channel lining method through the porous sandy soil, and exca2000: end of camp pic at Darnford Lane liftbridge vating a length of new channel for one of Martin Ludgate

The Lichfield Canal

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Lichfield (and Hatherton) Canals

Martin Ludgate

waiting for the return of WRG work, we look at a short canal taking big steps...

Channel Lining at Darnford during a camp forming part of WRG’s 30th anniversary events Length: 7 miles Locks: 30 Date closed: 1955

To Anglesey Basin

A3 8

Railw ay

A5127

A4

M To 6 ll A5

Ogley Junction

Coventry Canal

Huddlesford To Coventry Cappers Lane

Darnford Lane work site

Byp LICHFIELD ass 1 A5

Aqueduct

61

Fosseway Heath work site Summerhill work site

To Fradley

Diversions to be built to avoid obstructions to restoration

?

HS2

Lichfield Canal

Next part of bypass to be built

Tamworth Road work site Gallows Reach work site

New channel being built alongside Wyrley & Essington Canal Falkland Road section of bypass to Wolverhampton

The Lichfield Canal is the name given by canal restorers to the abandoned eastern seven miles of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. The canal originally stretched from the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line in Wolverhampton to a junction with the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford, but this eastern length which included all 30 of the canal’s locks was closed in the 1950s to save the cost of maintaining the locks.

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Martin Ludgate

the diversions mentioned earlier (in this case the idea was to lower a length of canal, and ultimately relocate a lock, so that it would be possible to reinstate the bridge carrying Darnford Lane - the original would have been a hump-backed bridge, something not acceptable to today’s highways authorities).

The third main worksite was Tamworth Road Locks, on the edge of Lichfield, where the canal ran parallel with the A51 Tamworth Road, descending through locks 2427 before turning left, passing under the road, and meeting up with the Darnford section. This has been a main LHCRT worksite since about

First section to be rewatered at Tamworth Road Locks

Lichfield and... Hatherton?

Martin Ludgate

With most of the progress in the last 20 years happening on the Lichfield Canal it’s easy to forget that there are two routes being proposed for restoration by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust.

The other one, known by restorers as the Hatherton Canal, was originally made up of three sections: the Hatherton Branch of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal rising through eight locks in 3½ miles to Churchbridge, the Cannock Extension northern branch of the Wyrley & Essington Canal (part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations) heading north from Pelsall on the level to Cannock, and the 13 locks of the Churchbridge Locks Branch built as a joint venture of the BCN and Staffs & Worcs companies to link them together.

All three were abandoned (apart from the first couple of miles of the Cannock Extension as far as Norton Canes) between 1955 and 1963, and much of the Cannock Extension and Churchbridge Locks were subsequently obliterated by opencast mining. So when LHCRT looked at reopening the route, it considered alternative routes for the eastern part of the route, diverging from the Hatherton Branch near Churchbridge. Initially the plan was for a new route to join the Cannock Extension at Grove Basins; more recently an alternative joining the Wyrley & Essington via a fragment of the former Lord Hayes Branch has found favour.

Either way it would still achieve the objective of opening up another link from the popular Staffs & Worcs Canal to the underused northern parts of the BCN. In combination with the Lichfield, it would create numerous new 1992: London WRG rebuild a Hatherton bridge wing

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2000: Locks 25 and 26 have been restored, a large stormwater drain pipe laid in the bed (and through the locks) has gradually been replaced, the canal bed repaired, sections rewatered, and the towpath opened up as the Borrowcop Locks Canal Park, making it a popular local walk in advance of opening to navigation. Work at Lock 24 was limited to ‘cosmetic’ restoration: just above the lock there had been a minor road bridge carrying Cricket Lane over the canal, and it wasn’t known for whether reinstating this would require the canal to be lowered, and the lock to be relocated to the other side of the road.

At the eastern end of this section, the canal comes up against the A38, which crosses it at approximately water level, just short of the site of the original Lock 27. The solution here is to create yet another diversion which takes a sharp left turn, passing through the A51 embankment in a new navigable culvert, before dropping down via a new pair of staircase locks, turning right,

tunnelling under the A38, and rejoining the original line. Much of that will have to await major funding, but the first part of the diversion (the left turn and length leading to the A51 embankment) has been built, and much of the excavation for the staircase locks has been done.

In recent years another three sections have seen a great deal of practical progress – but before bringing the story up to date, I’ll first mention some of the other issues which have impacted the Lichfield – and they’ve mainly involved roads and railways.

The first of these surfaced in the late 1990s when what was then called the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (and is now the M6 Toll) threatened to cut through the Lichfield Canal (and also the Hatherton Canal – see the separate panel about LHCRT’s other restoration project). The canal had been abandoned, had no statutory protection, the road builders were under no obligation to make any provision for it to be re-

routes including a new cruising ring circumnavigating Cannock Chase.

Even the restoration at the western (Staffs & Worcs) end won’t be straightforward although it won’t need such drastic changes as further east. Some way will need to be found to cross the M6 (possibly if the motorway is ever widened, that will provide an opportunity); also at least one lock will need to be moved to avoid the need for a hump-backed bridge to carry a local road. On the plus side, navigable culverts were put in for the Hatherton Canal during the M6 Toll construction and associated roadworks in the Churchbridge area; also the Hatherton does have one working lock: the first lock from the Staffs & Worcs junction is still navigable to provide access to moorings.

Although LHCRT’s practical efforts have been mainly concentrated on the Lichfield, the Hatherton has seen activity (with support from WRG at times) including restoration work on two bridges and vegetation clearance. It’s had to take a back seat while the Lichfield has taken priority but it hasn’t been forgotten.

13

Hatherton Canal

14

15

16 17

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Martin Ludgate

– with the first stage (known as Falkland Road) running from the A461 on the south west side of Lichfield around to the A5127 Birmingham Road to the south of the city. This would meet the Birmingham Road at a new roundabout, right where the line of the future canal diversion came through. So LHCRT felt that the new planning guidance Road Locks taking shape would mean that a navigable culvert should be provided to allow for future construction of the canal diversion. But the authorities managed to duck this by pointing out that the Birmingham Road was an existing road, not a new one, and that therefore the guidance didn’t apply. So it was back to David Suchet to head another appeal to raise the cost of adding a navigable culvert to the road works.

And once again it was successful, and there’s a concrete navigable culvert buried deep under the roundabout, ready to be excavated and reused when the canal arrives.

In a more positive vein, one existing road blockage disappeared with the construction of a new Cappers Lane Bridge, at the east end of the canal, clearing the way to connecting up to the Coventry Canal. But unfortunately... well, that bring us to the subject of railways...

Firstly, the canal diversion around the south of Lichfield will also need to cross the Lichfield to Birmingham railway line. That won’t be cheap, and although it runs right alongside the next section of the Lichfield Southern Bypass road, it (sadly) can’t by any stretch of the imagination be claimed that planning guidance says the road-builders should provide for the canal too. On a practical level, having initially considered the idea of combining the two structures (in the

First part of the diversion below Tamworth stored – and money was tight. The Secretary of State instructed the road builders to provide foundations for an aqueduct to carry the canal, couldn’t be persuaded to include building the aqueduct in the road construction works. And building it later, once the M6 Toll was open, would make it far more expensive.

An appeal, led by LHCRT patron David Suchet, raised sufficient funds (helped by a 250,000 grant from the Manifold Trust) to enable the aqueduct to be built at the same time as the road – and also navigable culverts to be built where the M6 Toll crosses the Hatherton Canal. The aqueduct was completed in 2003: with the subsequent adoption of new Parliamentary Planning Guidance stating that new road construction schemes should give due consideration to making provision for canals under restoration (largely as a result of this high-profile case), it was hoped that a precedent had been set which would avoid the need for any more such emergency appeals. But that proved over-optimistic...

As mentioned earlier, there was a need for the restored canal to take a diversion around the south side of Lichfield to avoid a length which had been built on. This would run alongside the Lichfield Southern Bypass road, which is being gradually built in stages

page 16

interest of keeping the cost of the canal worked on, back in the 1990s) towards works down to a manageable 1m) and Lichfield and the start of the diversion alonglaunched a ‘Tunnel Vision’ appeal to raise the side the Southern Bypass road, which was to cash, it’s now felt that this isn’t a practicable be restored initially as a nature reserve and solution and it needs to be a separate struc- local amenity. Supported by several WRG ture. That means it will cost perhaps three Canal Camps, the towpath wall has been times as much, but on the plus side there completely rebuilt, and more recently the isn’t the same time pressure to get it done corner has been turned and the new channel while the road is being built, and at least the is well under construction along the verge money raised will pay for initial works. alongside the bypass road. And meanwhile And the other railway issue: yes, it’s the restored Lock 18 has been refurbished HS2 again. The route of the first phase of and linked up to the start of this length of the line (the part that’s currently under canal. construction) crosses the Lichfield Canal just Finally, the third new section to be south west of Huddlesford Junction. As tackled is Gallows Reach, a length stretching originally planned, the high speed railway from Gallows Bridge (carrying the A5206, was to cross the area on a high viaduct, and a rare main road crossing surviving making it straightforward for it to bridge the intact) eastwards towards Tamworth Road canal without impacting restoration. But local Locks, where the original towpath wall has support for a less obtrusive line meant rebeen completely restored. placing this with a low embankment – and demolishing the new Cappers Lane Bridge Where are we at? I’ve gone through the before it has ever seen a boat! The good work so far in roughly chronological order, news is that legally binding undertakings but perhaps a quick run-through along the were given to provide a canal diversion at line of the route would give a better feel for HS2’s expense, that the situation has now where the restoration’s reached. Starting at moved on to detailed design of this diversion the top end, the length from Ogley Junction including a replacement Cappers Lane down the first few locks towards the M6 Toll Bridge, and that construction will begin next aqueduct hasn’t seen much work, and there year. has been some obstruction of the route. The But back to practical progress. Next next section runs through open country and section to see volunteer work under way was the Summerhill length, over a mile of lock-free channel (rare on a canal with 30 locks in seven miles) from the Boat Inn by the A461 crossing to just short of the M6 Toll aqueduct. A length formerly impassable due to dense vegetation has been cleared, the towpath surfaced, an old sand wharf restored, and a stream culvert under the bed reinstated.

Another new length to receive attention was Fosseway Heath – a section running from Summerhill towpath work - note M6 Toll aqueduct at top left Lock 18 (the first one

page 17

the line is visible, but some adjustment of the levels will be needed to join up with the aqueduct. Immediately beyond the aqueduct (with just space for a new deep lock to link them) is the start of the Summerhill restored length reaching through to the Boat Inn by the A461.

There’s less to see on the other side of the road: this is going to be one of the trickier bits to restore, with another new road crossing needed for the A5. There hasn’t been much work done until Fosseway Lane, a couple of miles towards Lichfield. But from then on, as we reach the start of the length running around the south of the city, there’s a distinct feeling that it’s all starting to come together. The restored Lock 18 is followed by the Fosseway Heath nature reserve length, which then takes a sharp right turn as he canal leaves the historic route and begins the diversion around the section that has been built on.

This diversion is rapidly taking shape alongside the bypass, with just one minor road crossing (it had been hoped that a bridge would be provided as part of a housing development, but it was – controversially – allowed to go ahead without) to be dealt with before the A5127 Birmingham Road.

Here the buried navigable culvert awaits

page 18

Martin Ludgate

London WRG at Gallows Reach, just before lockdown. There’s been a lot of progress since.

excavation, and next is the railway embankment, for which funding is still needed. Beyond, the next section of the bypass has been taking shape, and is making provision for the canal as it goes – including two new bridges and a retaining wall to separate the road from the historic Lock 22.

This length leads straight on into the current Gallows Reach worksite, which in turn reaches almost to Cricket Lane. And on the other side of Cricket Lane, Lock 24 (which it has now been confirmed will be relocated to the other side of the lane) is in the process of being modified so that the canal will pass through on the level. Locks 25 and 26 are restored, as is the start of the next diversion, until it comes to a stop at the A51 embankment. On the other side, excavations in Darnford Park show where the two new staircase locks will lower the canal to pass under theA38.

Half a mile further on, concrete culvert sections have been assembled ready to reinstate the Darnford Lane bridge, following which the channel has been excavated as far as the completed liftbridge and stream culvert. Lock 30 awaits restoration, then we’re into the final section which (fingers crossed) HS2 will reinstate, linking up to the last few hundred yards which were restored many

years ago for moorings

by Lichfield Cruising Club.

Martin Ludgate

What next? As you probably realise from the above, the section around the south side of Lichfield looks set to be the main focus of attention in the coming years, with the completion of the Gallows Reach length, the extension of the diversion alongside the Southern Bypass road, and the prospect of linking these together by reinstating the Cricket Lane Bridge and (hope- WRG 2018 Reunion a quick trim for Lock 18, 25 years after restoration fully) finding the funding for the tunnel through the railway embankment. In the medium term, LHCRT has identified an interim objective of opening up the eastern end of the canal to bring boats from the Coventry Canal to Lichfield.

But it isn’t just about the eastern end. The Trust is also looking to build a new deep lock to link the M6 Toll aqueduct to the completed Summerhill length, and a new lock at the other end of the Summerhill length to assist in getting the canal under the A461.

LHCRT

And then what? Well, the above would see more than half of the canal restored – it’s only seven miles long – improving the prospects for reopening the entire route, and achieving the long-term aim of getting more boats onto the underused northern reaches of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. And to really do that properly, there’s always the Hatherton Canal too – see the separate panel on pages 12-13.

Martin Ludgate

Canal diversion alongside the Falkland Road section of Lichfield Bypass under construction

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letters

to the editor

“I need no apologies from WRG for trying to keep me safe” - plus the return of the ‘real’ paper Navvies, and comments on canals from Bradley Locks to Milan Dear Martin Firstly thank you for helping me catch up with a years worth of Navvies which were recently determined to very definitively NOT be in my inbox as I likely had missed any renewal notice. Oops - in my defence I have been quite busy! I read them all in the last two days with some laughter, tears, good memories and hopes for the future. I wish to make what may very well be a small and pernickety point - but as someone who has lost friends, colleagues and her own health due to Covid, it is a point of great importance to me. I also believe it may have more of an effect on others than may first be apparent.

It’s about language. I am constantly hearing about what will happen “when the rules allow” or the importance of “protecting the NHS”. Safe return to work, volunteering and social activities is in fact not really about those things for me. I have desperately missed my “normal life” but I don’t want to go back to it if it leads to the death and disability of myself or others. The safety of WRG work practices are only going to be truly tested when we have someone who becomes ill or later tests positive on site although the riskiest area will be accommodation. I caught Covid while working in a poorly ventilated building as my patients did not wear masks to protect me although I wore one to protect them.

The safest time to return is when prevalence of the virus in the community is low. I believe a return to digging in the summer is indeed very possible and can be done safely. But any restrictions in place are not due to an external force making me follow the rules, but because I care about what happens to my friends. For me, taking ownership of my own behaviour and thinking about the WRGies I care very deeply about, I think this also helps me mentally more than putting the blame on something impersonal such as government rules would do. I think saying “depending on the rules” is something we say without thinking, but if we think

page 20

about it, our disappointment about the things we have been unable to do is lessened I think, because we didn’t do these things for a very good reason. We followed the rules because we care for others.

So I need no apologies from WRG for trying to keep me safe. I know we would be digging and attending camps if it were possible to do so safely. I thank all involved for trying to make plans and for keeping Navvies and London WRG socials going through this long and sorrowful year, and even the Buckingham canal society for a liberal dousing of rhubarb scented hand sanitiser last summer.

It has all helped to keep us healthy and alive.

Fran Burrell Dear Martin I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this issue, both having it physically in my hand, and the contents. The glossy paper was a nice touch too. I am one of the older camp attendees, I have been to 2 so far, and at least for me, having a physical copy to read worked better.

Many thanks to all of you volunteers.

Colin Porter Hi Martin Just received Navvies 306, I’m pleased to see a print copy again, electronic is OK for information but us dinosaurs do like hardcopy! Thanks.

I was pleased to see that Bradley locks are a possibility for re-opening. I was born in Wolverhampton and remember the locks being filled in amidst the “canals are dangerous” narrative at the time.

I also managed to photograph the Bentley canal before it was put from use.

Ironically the local authority needed the route for storm water management, so the canal was dredged to more than navigable depth to install concrete culverts. Supposedly the whole project cost more than restoration for navigation would have done. regards Andrew Harris Whitby, Ontario

Dear Martin Thanks for including your item on the canal network around Milan. I thought it was fascinating, and please don’t feel you have to rush back exclusively to British canals as soon as lockdown is lifted.

After all, numbers of volunteers from continental Europe visit for WRG camps each year and it would be instructive to have some insight into the restoration scene in the countries they come from.

I understand the sheer size of most projects mean they’re handled differently, move more slowly and have less frequent progress to report, but we’re all part of one movement and it’s good to know what’s happening the other side of the fence.

(Cautious) hug, Geoff Kershaw Hi Martin Loved your article in 306 about Milan’s canals. I immediately headed over to my 1000+ canal postcard collection and dug out the only card I have of Milan’s canals. Funnily enough, when I first chanced upon it (probably in a shoebox full of cards) I thought it was somewhere in Manchester.

Then I looked more closely at the cars and realized that it was Italy.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see it. I looked online and I think it’s the footbridge that connects Via Casale on the one side with Via Pasquale Paoli on the other. But I could be wrong.

Enjoy, Jeremy Frankel Hello Martin Enjoyed my hard copy of Navvies 306 especially all the coloured pics. Just one small point, on P15 you say that the Shrewsbury Canal was opened in 1979!

Graham Eckersley

time to increase that? I know many people will be paying more than the minimum subscription. To enable contributions to cover the actual costs of publication and distribution, would it be possible for you to give an indication of that figure for the six issues each year? Not everyone would necessarily be able to afford it but at least people would know the true value of what we are receiving.

Many thanks for all your hard work.

Malcolm Parker Hi Martin I have been a keen reader of Navvies from the start and I think it is the best amateur produced magazine. I must commend you on your extensive knowledge of the canal systems. Also I must commend John Hawkins and his team for the beautifully produced magazine every month My problem was trying to find the page on your site where I could renew my subscription easily. Eventually when I found it I gift aid my sub and then wanted to make a donation to the worthy cause. This was possible but only in certain denominations of money that was on the site. If I wanted to put in my own odd amount, for whatever reason this did not seem possible to do. As we are always trying to recruit new members would it not be possible to have a banner head line somewhere saying join/renew here?

A new member would certainly be put off by the number of hoops to go through to join us.

Regards.

Roy Varley The above two writers both make some good points which I will make sure get discussed.

However regarding Navvies subs I feel it makes sense to wait until things have settled down a bit more from the current situation before making decisions for the future ...Ed

Whoops sorry, should have been 1797! ...Ed Dear Martin Thank you for the new paper edition of Navvies (306). It is much appreciated.

Thank you also to the new printers and the team who have dealt with sending it out in these difficult times.

Your Editorial mentioned the increased costs. I have been receiving Navvies for almost 5 years now and the minimum subscription has remained at £3.00 for all that time, I believe. I understand (and applaud) the reasoning behind that decision but is it

Jeremy Frankel’s postcard of Milan’s canals

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Progress Montgomery SUCS have been rebuilding the canal banks and bed near Crickheath, while MWRT have been struggling with the legalities at School House Bridge Montgomery Canal The lockdown necessitated a temporary secession of Shropshire Union Canal Society work party activity, but site work recommenced on the first day of Spring. Amazingly this was the fifth time the society has been compelled to restart work on Pryces to Crickheath after an enforced break; the others being due to newt exclusion and trapping (three times) and last year’s virus lockdown.

The main task during the four work parties since the restart was bank construction and associated channel bed treatment.

Work started in March on the third of the four lengths of bank, sited over peat areas, which will eventually require surcharge.

[Surcharge is pre-loading compressable ground by putting weight on it (in this case large containers filled with water) to cause the expected settling of the ground to occur in a controlled and monitored manner now in advance of channel repair work, rather than slowly and unpredictably after the canal has been restored] The length in question is on the towpath side at the Crickheath end of the site, an area which has already seen some construction activity with the installation of the culvert. The initial work involved plugging the sides of the culvert using large quantities of puddled clay, and benching the remains of the existing banks — effectively cutting steps in them so as to form a strong bond with the new construction.

Building the bank consumed nearly a thousand tonnes of stone

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from the quarry at Criggion, a site that has supplied material to the canal for many decades. Progress on this bank was more rapid than on those before Christmas and it was finished in four work parties. This was because it was possible to deliver stone to the top of the bank where it was shaped and compacted by an excavator sitting on the bank. This eliminated the time consuming process of delivering stone to the base of the bank and lifting it into position.

The other major work was channel shaping in the middle section of the site. We are well practised at this task and rapid progress holds out the hope of an early start to lining/ blocking in this section.

The monitoring of subsidence of the two banks at the oak tree (which have already been surcharged) has been going on for over four months now, and it might be interesting for readers to see some of the results. The graph shows the amount of settlement for the towpath bank which was finished last year. The points exhibiting the most subsidence are at mid-point in the length and correspond to the deepest dip in the original towpath. For context, 150mm

represents about a third of the height difference between the finished towpath level and the design finished water level. Better to get the subsidence now rather than when the canal is open to boats!

From the work party report in SUCS magazine Cuttings Over a year ago, I reported that the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust’s Schoolhouse Bridge team had concluded that there just was not enough time to settle arrangements to rebuild the bridge in 2020 - we were waiting to hear from too many people.

In January 2021 Shropshire Council, having decided its own lawyers might not have time, instructed a national firm of solicitors to deal with the arrangements. Briefly, they are: An agreement for the subsidiary company Montgomery Canal Reconstruction Ltd to dig up Long Lane and to build the bridge and for the Council to take it on as public highway.

Arrangements for the Council to own the land the bridge stands on (which means the Canal & River Trust transferring ownership of 10 square yards of canal land), for the Council to maintain the highway and the bridge, and for CRT to be able to maintain the canal under the bridge.

Simple, it would appear, but it turns out to be a bit more complicated. The mountain of legalese means that we shall end up with at least four documents which include many repetitive statements to which we must comply. Given that they are written in each and every document, being that “you must comply with the law”, “you must comply with the earlier clause”, and one of the agreements says that another agreement is to apply! The last three months have seen a succession of online meetings, many emails and many drafts of those agreements. When the agreements are finished, CRT must apply to DEFRA for approval where they affect the freehold of the canal (those ten square yards!) and nothing can happen to the canal until that is given. This has been a challenging process, but as we work through issues, we have to remember that the Council and CRT have both made many decisions, without which the project would not be possible and that includes waiving various costs and charges.

We like to think we have nearly finished but we don’t know when consent will be given, or when we can start. It’s very frus-

. .

trating for us, for everyone who has so generously supported the funding for the bridge, and for the volunteers who have offered to help and have been waiting for news... we have been waiting to give them news too!

We will rebuild Schoolhouse Bridge and that will open the way to Llanymynech and mid-Wales and while we have been working through all this, much else has been happening. To prepare for future restoration, we must show the costs and benefits of restoration, on both sides of the border, and to have covered ecological issues, especially the rules for the Special Area of Conservation in Wales. Current reports will take account of today’s criteria for ecology or highway standards and will be essential in the competitive world of funding. With CRT’s Enterprise officers in Wales and West Midlands, we have been looking at funding through the UK Government’s ‘Levelling-up and Shared Prosperity Funds’, which replace EU funding. We recently discussed this with Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams, who named the canal as a pet project in the House of Commons St David’s Day debate.

Through our partnership with Shropshire Council and CRT, the Council arranged for its contractor Balfour Beatty and consultant WSP to inspect the canal from Crickheath to Llanymynech to assess the cost of restoration as a no-cost contribution to restoration.

Ecological consultants who helped at Schoolhouse Bridge have advised on how to deal with the badger sett north of the bridge.

They have also advised that it is unlikely there would be any ecological issues at the damaged south culvert, which is good news.

The Welsh Government gave CRT a £245,000 grant for channel clearance on the Welsh section and the Guilsfield Arm and a weed-cutter for use by TRAMPS volunteers.

A Welsh Government grant of £1,000,000 to CRT, Powys County Council and others will benefit the Montgomery and Mon & Brec canals in Powys under the title Canals, Communities and Wellbeing.

CRT is planning repairs to Vyrnwy and Aberbechan Aqueducts, both essential for water supply for the Special Area of Conservation and will need to obtain funds for both.

We have obtained an Order from the Department for Transport to stop-up highway rights at Schoolhouse Bridge, where the present embankment is wider than the new bridge.

Michael Limbrey, MWRT writing in SUCS magazine Cuttings

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Progress on the S&N As work continues on reinstating and rewatering the East Basin at Wappenshall, the National Trust are clearing a section near Berwick Wharf Shrewsbury & Newport Canals A couple of pictures sent in by Bernie Jones of Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust showing two aspects of the Trust’s current work. The upper picture is an aerial view of Wappenshall, the junction and interchange basins where the Newport Canal met the Shrewsbury Canal, and where SNCT plans to create a canal centre in the historic transhipment warehouses currently under restoration.

“Currently work continues at Wappenshall Wharf to re-water the East Basin. This shot, taken by member Steve McLelland with his drone, shows the nearly complete 42m retaining wall and the extent of the base slabs we have cast so far. Most of the remaining spoil will be removed by the end of June and some will be placed behind the retaining wall and Wacker plated down in 150mm layers to recreate the towpath. Just need some dry weather now and we can really crack on!”

The second picture is at SNCT’s other main current worksite, the Berwick Tunnel area not far east of Shrewsbury, where the aim is to link up with a stretch of canal in the popular nearby National Trust property at Attingham Park: “Here is a shot of the contractor that was employed by the National Trust to remove a large number of dead and dying trees from the section of the Shrewsbury Canal beside the Pelham Road between Upton Magna and Berwick Wharf. The National Trust plan to re-water this half mile of canal and reinstate the towpath later this year.”

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Progress River Gipping Meanwhile in Suffolk, the River Gipping Trust’s volunteers are preparing to reinstate a wooden towpath footbridge missing since over 80 years ago River Gipping

RGT

The River Gipping Trust have now placed an order for a new 10.5m long footbridge to go over the River Gipping in Suffolk just above Baylham. The wooden platform will arrive in a kit of parts ready for Trust volunteers to install, with an anticipated bridge opening date this Autumn.

The Trust started a footbridge fundraising appeal around two years ago and to date have received £13,245.22 in donations specifically for the footbridge and footpath which nearly covers the footbridge cost.

Whilst the Trust awaits delivery of the footbridge, volunteers are working hard on restoring the 230 year old brick bridge abutments. The top three courses of brickwork have been removed from both bridge abutments in readiness for a new spreader beam for the wooden footbridge platform to sit on. Under the spreader beams will be installed four bat boxes to encourage bat nesting underneath the bridge. The 230 year old bricks (specified by famous canal engineer John Rennie) removed from the abutments have been cleaned up and will be re-laid on the abutment top edges where many bricks have been lost over time.

John Rennie’s 1791 estimate for this bridge was £102, and this could have been one of his very first bridges ever built. We don’t have any photos or drawings of the original bridge, but we do know the wooden platform lay fallen in the river in 1941, and had probably been there for many years beforehand.

Without the bridge the tow path was lost as it was here that the towpath changed from one side of the waterway to the other. Rebuilding the footbridge will once again open up the towpath route alongside the river to walkers.

Ian Petchey, restoration manager, River Gipping Trust.

Preparing the bridge abutments for installation of the new bridge deck

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Progress Sussex Ouse Meanwhile down on the Sussex Ouse, they’re working out how to repair a fish weir, modifying a container, and making themselves more charitable... the new area to where we’ll be moving our storage compound so that we can complete The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust is now the landscaping around the lock at Isfield.

This involves turning our 20ft sea-going back at work after a long winter of lockdown. During this period of outdoor container into a land-based trailer! We are inactivity, we have been ‘indoor-active’ by fortunate that one of our volunteers, Brian, is a former fishing boat builder and knows all changing our Memorandum and Articles of Association to make them ‘more obviously about welding, tolerances and balance recharitable’. This was done at Her Majesty’s quirements. We are only moving it 75 metres but all this effort will definitely be worthRevenue & Customs’ suggestion for which we are very grateful. (We are recognised by while.

HMRC as a charity for tax purposes.) We We have also been looking at how to repair or replace the damaged fish ladder at have also commenced an application to register as a charity with the Charity Comthe weir adjacent to the lock. Specialists in civil engineering and fish ladders are applymission.

Another important piece of off-site work ing their minds to the matter, after which has been our developing a new and imwe’ll seek a partnership with the Environment Agency to get the work done. The fish proved website. Still early days and not yet visible but good progress is being made with ladder has been in this damaged condition for a couple of years or so and is not allowthe aim that it would be easily maintainable ing the sea trout to get above the weir to in the future by those without higher despawn in their preferred quieter waters. grees in computing.

David (Evvo) Evans Back on site we have started preparing

SORT

Sussex Ouse Navigation

Repair needed: the damaged fish weir at the weir adjacent to Isfield Lock

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Progress Wendover Arm The Wendover Arm Trust have completed one length of channel rebuilding, are starting another, hope to deal with a troublesome tip...

Grand Union Wendover Arm

thought to be infilled with harmless material but turns out to have been a historic refuse tip containing 100-year-old domestic waste (largely ashes) classified as hazardous as a result of its lead content from the paint and plumbing of the day. Removing this is therefore expensive (and funding is still being sought) but a trial section has been excavated and there are hopes of more progress.

For these and other reasons, work started at the far end at Buckland Wharf and has progressed back towards Tringford. Since 2005 it has got most of the way there, with the section from Bridge 4a to Bridge 4 (a new footbridge on the site of a former swingbridge) recently completed and soon to be watered, and the final half-mile length from there to Tringford now being tackled.

Pictures by WAT

Some background information: Wendover Arm Trust’s long-running project is to rewater the two-mile dry section of canal from just beyond the current limit of navigation for boats cruising the Arm from the Grand Union Main Line at Tringford (where a section including Little Tring Bridge was restored and reopened in 2005) to Buckland Wharf, beyond which the canal is in water (albeit at a reduced level) for the rest of the route to Wendover. But in order to re-water what was a notoriously leaky section, it needs to be completely lined in a combination of concrete and Bentomat (a waterproof matting based on bentonite clay).

Two more issues further complicate matters: firstly, when these two miles were drained in the early 20th Century, the Arm’s The Bentomat handling fixture: This function as a water supply feeder from appliance (known as the ‘Bentomatic’!) arsprings in Wendover to the Grand Union rived on site for inspection and trials. It will Main Line still had to be maintained. To do need some further fettling to allow easy this, a pipeline was laid in a trench dug in mounting onto the 13-tonne excavator but the dry canal bed for almost the whole twolooks very promising. The idea is that it will mile length, feeding water from the Wendoto be able to apply Bentomat directly from a ver – Buckland Wharf length of canal to a large roll onto a 45-degree bank thus avoidpumping station at Tringford. Part of the pipe ing manual handling and the need for prior is still in use for this purpose, and although it cutting into lengths and re-rolling etc. will no longer be needed once the canal is restored, the new channel needs to be protected against possible collapses of the old pipe underneath it. So before each section of the canal channel is rebuilt, first the bed is excavated to find the exact location of the pipe (which wanders from side to side of the channel) and a protective concrete capping is cast on top of the pipe.

The second complication is that immediately beyond the limit of navigation for boats from the main line at Tringford is a short infilled Breaking out the concrete pad on the old waste tip site length, which had been

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Historic refuse tip surface clearance: The whole of the surface of the tip has been cleared to allow subsequent excavation and disposal of the tip contents. The first item to be broken up and removed was the reinforced concrete cutting pad that had been used for rolling out and cutting up the Bentomat (hence the need for the ‘Bentomatic’!). This had obviously been made to a remarkably high standard and required all the might of the 13 tonner and a large hydraulic pecker to Stop planks going break it up.

The Tip surface has been a materials store and general dumping ground for as long as I can remember, and it took all of two weeks hard graft to shift the stacks of concrete blocks and other usable materials to other areas such as the side of the “dry” canal banks, and either recycle or dump the other materials in an environmentally friendly way (i.e., give them to somebody else for their future use!)

in at Bridge 4 ready for the next rewatering

Pipe capping resumes: We are starting the excavation and lining of the section from Bridge 4 through to the historic tip. The first stage is to prepare and cast the reinforced concrete pipeline capping to provide protection to the Bentomat liner should the pipeline collapse. The capping will also be used as an access “road” for completing the remainder of the lining activity. This will eliminate the usual water and mud problems over the next Stop planks are go! After some adjustwet period. As can be seen in the pictures, the ments to the stop planks (which will separate capping is now being made 2.6m wide, enough the completed Bridge 4a to Bridge 4 section for a 6-tonne dumper to run between the form from the current channel rebuilding worksite boards, it will also be wide enough for an 8between Bridge 4 and the historic tip site), tonne excavator to run on. This is going to be they were taken down to the Bridge 4 site a huge advantage to us in the wet months as and installed in the channels built into the we will not be up to our knees in mud. new walls. The first plank was laid onto a With this process the volunteers were piece of Bentomat to aid sealing to the conable to transport the 4 cubic metres of crete upstand cill. The back of the planks ready-mix concrete for 800m along the canal was sealed with a single layer of Bentomat to bed and finish the tamping in around 40 provide as much water proofing as possible. minutes! Based on this success, the amount A tarpaulin will be further added to make of form work will be tripled. We have a lot of sure the seal is as good as we can get it. pipe capping to do!

Hut 1 moves: With the stop planks fitted, the site hut could now be moved on to the concrete slab in the canal bed on the Tringford side of the planks. This will allow the excavation of the soil covering the remains of the old swing bridge wall on the offside so that the brick work can be restored and rebuilt.

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Bridge 4a to bridge 4 finished: The canal length from bridge 4a to bridge 4 has now been completed including the finishing touches to the Whitehouses weir structure and, of course, the stop planks at Bridge 4.

We are now discussing with Canal and River Trust the steps required to be able to rewater this section.

Tidy Friday Group: The Tidy Friday group has started work on the raised decking at the Whitehouses weir and former pumphouse site. This involved hand moving lots of wood beams and planks as well as sand/cement/ballast along the offside bank.

Movement of the materials by hand/wheelbarrow is now required because of the stop planks being in place and the bed of the canal being very wet and muddy. This structure will form the basis of a public information centre explaining the interesting history of the Whitehouses site.

Excavating and removing the Historic refuse tip: Our dedicated Tip Removal Project Group are evaluating the bids from several waste removal contractors. Further excavations are on hold, hopefully for a short time, while we try to get grants to cover the cost.

Update: May working party The concrete pipe capping is going at a pace despite this month’s very variable weather. We have decided to make the capping wider than in previous years, as we intend to use it as a roadway as well (which will save time and therefore money in plant hire).

This work-party we have completed a record 125m of capping/roadway. We have had 5 days of concrete deliveries, with 3 x 4 cubic metre loads each day, which required 60 dumper journeys carrying 1 cubic metre at a time. These concrete days have been a minimum of 1 day apart, to allow us to dig out and level ready for the next concrete. We also have a new shuttering system based on the steel road formers but in timber, this has made the levelling so much easier and therefore quicker. Our hired 6 tonne dumpers just fit within the shuttering and can drop the ready-mix straight into position.

Brickwork at Bridge 4: This is an ongoing project; the more we uncover of the old brickwork, the more we find needs repairing.

Loose bricks were cut out, and new or reused bricks were laid, most days throughout the extended fortnight. There’s always room for another bricklayer, so any more budding bricklayers out there, please contact operations@wendoverarmtrust.co.uk.

Article put together from the Wendover Arm Trust’s operations reports, compiled on behalf of Tony Bardwell, by John Reynolds with help from Clive Johnson.

Pipe capping under way on the new section, from Bridge 4 towards the historic tip site

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Progress Cotswold Canals Last autumn we brought you the excellent news of funding for the next phase of the Cotswold Canals restoration. Now work is getting under way Cotswold Canals

ciated main road alterations) plus refurbishment of locks restored or partially restored some years ago by CCT volunteers...

Martin Ludgate

As pictured on the back cover of this magazine (bottom picture), the concrete components are being cast and assembled ready to The Railway Bridge: Having written earlier put together the new Ocean Railway Bridge about the new Ocean Railway Bridge being for the Cotswold Canals. This is a vital part installed in May, I am extremely reluctant to of the ‘Cotswold Connect’ scheme (otherwise write anything for fear of invoking a certain known a ‘Phase 1b’ of the overall Cotswold law!

Canals restoration - see map opposite), a As is now well known, the Ocean works £16m Lottery-supported programme of have been delayed by Network Rail and are works to reopen the four-mile length of the now expected to be undertaken during the Stroudwater Navigation from Saul Junction Christmas - New Year period. The reason is (connection to the Gloucester & Sharpness simply that ground conditions affected the Canal and so to the rest of the national proposed foundations. Excavations will have waterway network) to Stonehouse. At to be deeper than planned and could not Stonehouse it will meet up with the six miles definitely be competed within the allotted of the already (almost) completely restored time. Of course, this delay will cost, but we ‘Phase 1a’ section, creating a ten-mile navipaid into the Network Rail internal risk fund gable route up the Stroudwater Navigation to and so would expect those costs to be covStroud and on up the Thames & Severn ered from there. Final confirmation of all this Canal to Brimscombe Port with a planned is awaited. reopening date of 2024.

Nevertheless, progress has been made!

So reinstating the railway crossing at All of the 37 component units for the bridge ‘The Ocean’ (a wide bit of canal) just west of have now been cast and are waiting to be Stonehouse, where currently the canal is assembled. The largest of these weighs in at blocked by a railway embankment with a tiny 64 tonnes. Alun Griffiths Construction will unnavigable culvert through it, is clearly a have stood down on site by the time you vital part of that reopening.

But not only that, it’s also believed to be the first time anywhere in Britain that a new bridge has been built to reinstate a missing crossing by an active mainline railway as part of a waterway restoration project.

Dave Marshall of the Cotswold Connected project, writing for Cotswold Canals Trust’s magazine The Trow, brings us an update on the railway bridge and other progress including the ‘missing mile’ (a mile of canal which was destroyed in the 1970 during construction of the M5 motorway and asso- This unnavigable culvert will be replaced by a new railway bridge

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Cotswold Canals:

we hope that the few remaining objections will be withdrawn, we have to assume that the Inquiry will take place. This of course involves a great deal of detailed preparation.

Sometime during June, we expect to have submitted the planning application for the Missing Mile. This again involves a huge amount of work and has been delayed by last-minute changes brought about during discussions with landowners.

Dave Marshall

Martin Ludgate

read this and will return in October.

The Missing Mile: At the end of March, volunteers carried out hedge and tree removal on the Missing Mile (our thanks to the landowners) and have more to do in the autumn once summer wildlife surveys are complete. This work was in advance of the bird nesting season and reduces the workload in the autumn, when more activities will be underway.

Out of Lockdown - on to locks: Now that Covid-19 restrictions are beginning to be lifted, volunteers have started work at Blunder Lock. This will involve brick and stonework repairs, installation of safety ladders and eventually new top gates - would someone like to sponsor these?! Two ‘portadams’ were installed in April, with the top one being removed as soon as stop planks were safely put in place.

Once Blunder Lock is finished, we expect to begin work at Pike Lock. Only when Ocean Railway Bridge has been completed will attentions transfer to Newtown Lock, because of the possible effects on water movement.

Behind the scenes: There is the inevitable paperwork: In early August, we will have the Public Inquiry for the Compulsory Purchase of land. In spite of best efforts, our land acquisition team does not yet have all land agreements in place. Although

Next in line: Pike and (beyond) Blunder locks

the phases

The Cotswold Canals is the canal restorers’ name for the route from Saul Junction on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal to Inglesham on the Thames, made up of the Stroudwater Navigation (Saul to Stroud) and the Thames & Severn Canal (Stroud to Inglesham). To break the restoration down into more manageable chunks, Cotswold Canals Trust has divided it into ‘phases’.

Phase 1: Saul Junction to Brimscombe, seen as likely to be completed first Phase 2: Inglesham to the Cotswold Water Park, likely be the next section restored Phase 3: the difficult central length with the collapsed Sapperton Tunnel, probably last to reopen.

As a result of the size of grants likely to be available, Phase 1 was then broken down into two: Phase 1a: the isolated length from Stonehouse to Brimscombe, now nearing completion.

Phase 1b: the key connecting length from Saul to Stonehouse, which links the Phase 1a length to the national canal network. Major Lottery funding was confirmed in 2020. Scheduled completion 2024.

To Gloucester

Total length: 36 miles Locks: originally 56 (at least one extra needed) Date closed: 1927-54

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

Phase 3: Brimscombe North Wilts Canal to Cerney to Swindon

Phase 2: Inglesham to Cerney

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Progress

Lichfield

Meanwhile on the Lichfield there’s been progress at Fosseway Heath wildlife area, the new length of canal alongside Falkland Road, and Gallows Reach Lichfield Canal Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust volunteers have made remarkable progress in the early part of 2021, considering the restrictions imposed by the pandemic lockdown. At Fosseway Heath, the basin wall has been completed, with a ramp built over it to allow the earth from the excavation of the canal bed on Falkland Road to be moved into the creation of a wildlife area with paths running through. An earth bund has been built along Falkland Road towards Claypit Lane, which serves the purpose of keeping unauthorised vehicles off the land, but also allows the establishment of several hundred yards of hedging provided by South Staffs Water’s PEBBLE (‘Projects that Explore Biodiversity Benefits in the Local Environment’) Fund.

The hedging will be enhanced by the planting of 50 trees donated by Jane and Brian Taylor.

Jane has been a member of Walsall Spinners and Weavers – a group dedicated to the crafts of hand-spinning and weaving – and it was through a demonstration by the group at the Huddlesford Heritage Gathering that she came into contact with LHCRT. Her

family has maintained a tradition over many years of raising money for good causes through a thank-you get-together meal with friends and neighbours, and they decided that this year’s donation should go towards tree planting ‘for nature, global warming and everyone’s pleasure in the future’.

Meanwhile, on the Gallows Reach section of the Lichfield Canal alongside Tamworth Road, a new section of the Heritage Towpath Trail has been officially opened by the Mayor and Sheriff of Lichfield. The Canal Walk is a 260-yard stretch of towpath created by the construction of a canal wall using bricks recovered from the original wall, built in the 1790s, and sheet steel piling.

A little further along Tamworth Road, a bywash uncovered several years ago and rebuilt in the original architectural style, has been protected after it became necessary to move the Heritage Towpath Trail to allow for the widening of the canal bed and the demolition of the old Lock 24.

The towpath now goes over the bywash, which has been redesigned by master brickie Rick Walters to incorporate a trio of arches reflecting the original design features.

See our Lichfield feature on pages 12-19

Hedge-planting between the Falkland Road bypass and the site for the new canal channel

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nature plants on the NW&D What do hirsute garlic, poached egg and double sneezewort have in common? They’re all plants found on the North Walsham & Dilham Canal The North Walsham & Dilham Canal: Group) over 400 plant taxa have been found in the approximately four miles of restored A fruitful place for adventives area. These include many intriguing ‘out-ofand aliens

Picture by the author

place’ plants, and it has seemed worthwhile The subject of nature and biodiversity on to wonder how these arrived at the Canal. waterways under restoration has been someSubstrates Most of these adventives thing of a hot topic at times, with arguments occur on the sides and shoulders of the being put forward both for and against resto- embankments which enclose both the canal ration. But does anyone actually know how bed and also the ditches (‘back sokes’) on rich in plant life our waterways under restotheir outer sides. The embankments have ration actually are? Many will have needed to been built up using a wide range of imported carry out environmental impact assessments fill, over a period of several years. To serve and the like and will therefore have a good its engineering function as a reasonably idea, but meanwhile on Norfolk’s only canal, stable, self-binding but also free-draining the North Walsham and Dilham, the canal medium, this fill mostly comprises light, trust’s Wildlife officer Suki Pryce has been sandy/gravelly loams. recording plants found on the route for the The fill is mainly supplied by a local last four years - and has discovered it to be skip-hire firm, and judging by the taxa which amazingly rich in habitats and plants - some have been found along the Canal, it seems of which have given Suki cause to wonder that many of them have come from gardens, how they got there... farmland, wasteland, industrial, urban, or coastal areas.

The North Walsham and Dilham Canal (NWDC) is a partly-restored canal in the North Norfolk area, cutting through the valley of the upper River Ant. Despite – or even because of – the restoration, the Canal corridor is surprisingly rich in different habitats, biodiversity, and plants. I began plantrecording there in 2017, and since then (and helped with IDs and surveying by members of the Euphorbia Oblongata Balkan Spurge Norfolk Flora

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Effects of Management on Habitats The tops of the embankments are regularly mown and provide a fairly short-sward habitat which may extend to the ‘shoulders’. The Anemone blanda, Limnanthes douglasii and Lathyrus latifolius were found in this sort of habitat. The inner (canal) sides are rough-cut around two to four times per year, resulting in a medium height (typically up to 60-100 cm) habitat which seems to favour a very wide range of taxa which can tolerate a certain amount of competition. Interesting perennial aliens persisting in these sorts of areas include Euphorbia oblongata, Geum quellyon, and Sidalcea malviflora.

The soke bank sides are cut less frequently (from once a year to once every four years), and provide a more tall-herb habitat where substrates are richer. Where they are poorer, this habitat resembles that of the inner canal banks, and the Allium trifoliatum, for example, was found in this sort of spot.

Ongoing maintenance work such as reprofiling the embankments, desilting sokes, removing woody plants, plus natural phenomena such as bank slippages, create occasional disturbance which must also help the growth of new adventive propagules.

(Perhaps the strangest of these was a single tiny small-leaved hard-to-determine specimen on a gravelly ditch-side slippage site –

eventually found to be Lysimachia maritima Sea Milkwort. By what route did this coastal plant arrive in the Ant valley, one wonders?)

Now You See Them... The Canal embankments are still being built up sporadically, so new fill - with all its unknown propagules - is still being introduced to the corridor. But even in the fairly stable, undisturbed areas, new taxa seem to appear out of the blue, may disappear in a year (Calandrinia ciliata, Anemone blanda, Limnanthes douglasii), may persist, and then again may reappear after a year or two’s absence. For example, what seemed to be a well-established patch of Galega officinalis some 30 square metres in size on a ditchside in 2019 had disappeared without trace in 2020. Yet a patch of Potentilla argentea has survived since I’ve known the site on a quite competitive ‘shoulder’ location, despite being pretty out-of-place there. And the solitary patch of the annual alien Absinthia artemisiifolia found in 2018 didn’t reproduce itself in 2019: instead a single specimen was back in 2020, but 200 metres away from its predecessors. Finally, how do perennials I’ve never seen in previous years, such as Primula veris, Leucojum aestivum, and Anemone x hybridus, suddenly appear apparently out-of-the-blue - as well-established clumps in undisturbed areas? I have suspected guerrilla gardening, but no-one has owned up to it...

The two most unusual, non-local plants Balkan Spurge and Red Maids found growing, were listed in the Aliens and Adventives section of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland’s April Newsletter, with the Red Maids considered as an ultra-rare “incomer” in the UK. Not many other restoration groups can claim Calandrinia Portulaca Red Maids that fame. Or

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can they? I would be interested to hear about similar surveys on other canal restorations.

Conclusion How long this wealth of adventives will continue to appear once the sections of Canal involved are fully restored,

and the substrates settle down, we don’t know.

But for now, the site continues to be a treasure trove for fans of adventives and aliens.

Suki Pryce North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust

Adventives and aliens found along the North Walsham & Dilham Canal restored sections, grouped by likely origins of imported fill A = alien R = rare in Norfolk Normally found on poor/dry/sandy/chalky soils: Chalk Knapweed Centaurea debeauxii, Common Centaury Centaureum erythrea, Wild Carrot Daucus carota, Hoary Cinquefoil Potentilla argentea R, Sticky Groundsel Senecio viscosus A, Heath Groundsel Senecio sylvaticus Normally found on dunes, sea cliffs etc: Sea Milkwort Lysimachia maritima R Associated with saline environments: Narrow-leaved Pepperwort Lepidium ruderale Probably came in on agricultural/countryside soil: Fool’s Parsley Aethusa cynapium, Fiddleneck Amsinckia micrantha A, Wild Oat Avena fatua A, Sugar Beet Beta vulgaris ssp vulgaris, Cockspur Echinocloa crus-galli A, Bifid Hemp-nettle Galeopsis bifida R, Hedgerow Crane’s-bill Geranium pyrenaicum, Scarlet Pimpernel Lysimachia arvensis, Musk Mallow Malva moschata, White Melilot Melilotus alba R, Wild Radish Raphanus raphanastrum, Soapwort Saponaria officinalis, Field Madder Sherardia arvensis, Field Penny-cress Thlaspi arvense, Alsike Clover Trifolium hybridum R, Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus Probably came in on urban /waste ground spoil: Common Ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia A, R, Buddleja Buddleja davidii A, Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus, Annual Wall-rocket Diplotaxis muralis, Perennial Wall-rocket Diplotaxis tenuifolius R, Canadian Fleabane Erigeron canadensis A, Jersey Fleabane Erigeron sumatrensis A, Annual Beard-grass Polypogon monspeliensis A, Water Bent Polypogon viridis A, Narrow-leaved Ragwort Senecio inaequidens A, R, Tomato Solanum lycopersicum A (probably from sewage sludge) Probably came in on garden/allotment soil: Double Sneezewort Achillea ptarmica flore pleno A, Soft Lady’s Mantle Alchemilla mollis A, Hirsute Garlic Allium trifoliatum A, Balkan Anemone Anemone blanda A, Japanese Anemone Anemone x hybrida A, R, Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus, Columbine Aquilegia vulgaris A, Red Garden Orache Atriplex hortensis var rubra A, Swiss Chard Beta vulgaris ssp cicla, Red-maids Calandrinia ciliate R, Pot Marigold Calendula officinalis A, Peach-leaved Bellflower Campanula persicifolia A, Cornflower Centaurea cyanus A, Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus, Galingale Cyperus longus, Californian Poppy Eschscholzia californica A, Caper Spurge Euphorbia lathyrus, Balkan Spurge Euphorbia oblongata A, R, Snowdrop Galanthus agg, Goat’s-rue Galega officinalis A, R, Chiloe Avens Geum quellyon A, R, Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus A, R, Spainish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanicus A, Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea Lathyrus latifolius R, Shasta Daisy Leucanthemum x superbum A, Summer Snowflake Leucojum aestivum A, Poached Egg Plant Limnanthes douglasii A, R, Lobelia Lobelia erinus A, Welsh Poppy Meconopsis cambrica, Apple Mint Mentha x villosa A, Grape Hyacinth Muscari armeniacum A, Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum A, Flowering Currant Ribes sanguineum A, Greek Mallow Sidalcea malviflora A, Michaelmas Daisy Symphyotrichon agg A, Comfry ‘Hidcote Blue’ Symphytum x hidcotense A, Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus A, Argentinian Vervain Verbena bonariensis A

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working party Erewash It’s not just restoration: ECPDA report on what their working party have been doing to help maintain the Erewash and nearby navigable canals...

Erewash Canal

Pictures by ECPDA

The last Friday in April saw the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association work party return to work post lockdown with a new list of problems supplied by our friends at the Canal & River Trust. Our first Friday was spent at or near to our base at Langley Mill at the top end of the Erewash Canal with ‘housekeeping’ jobs and preparing for work further down the canal in the coming weeks.

Week two saw three of us take our workboat Pentland for a three hour run down the canal to straighten the top gate handrails at Hallam Fields Lock using our hydraulic bender, before another three hours back to the Mill. This led to a CRT request for help with bent spear (paddle) rods on the deeper Trent and Mersey Canal locks. FolBent and (below) straightened spear rods - and lowing a bit of head scratching regarding the hydraulic bender used to straighten them

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their length (12ft-plus) and distance away, we had CRT deliver the rods to our workshops at Langley Mill and did the job there.

A further request to straighten a locking bar off a River Trent weir sluice led to us cutting off the bent bit of metal and welding on a replacement from our stocks.

Other work for CRT has so far included: vegetation clearance at the side weir above Dock Holme Lock, more paddle post repairs, repainting of a couple of bollards that had recently mysteriously changed colour, replacing a couple of lengths of handrail on Mills Bridge, freeing off a jammed paddle security lock at Eastwood Lock, replanting one large totem post and planting two new smaller ones. We have also taken delivery of several lock gate windlass posts to replace some that are too far gone to repair by cutting out the rot and repairing with filler.

Work at ‘The Mill’ has included the inevitable mowing and hedge cutting, trimming the turf at the edges next to the access road and replacing the worn out CRT padlock

on the main gate plus cutting anchor rods for the coir rolls that the Friends of the Cromford Canal folk are installing on their navigable section at Cromford. Our wheeled strimmer has been coaxed back to life and a gang mower (kindly donated by Lichfield Cruising Club) overhauled and an ‘A’ frame fabricated to enable it to be towed behind our dumper. A more unusual job has been to take receipt of a couple of bespoke plastic sewage tanks which we have drilled to enable them to be fastened together with one acting as the overflow to the other. They have now been transported by boat to our lock cottage at Sandiacre which will enable a flush toilet to be installed thus allowing the cottage to be opened for school visits.

There’s still plenty to do and we are already beginning to prepare for our forthcoming rally in May 2023. Must get the bar and twenty barrel stillage on the list for checking over in the near future!

Dave Turner ECP&DA work party

Narrow boat ‘Bath’ delivers the toilet tanks to Sandiacre lock cottage

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navvies

News

Our thanks to a longstanding member of the Navvies team, and a chance to pedal, paddle and pootle along the Montgomery Canal in September while that the return address on the Renewal Form had been altered.

Soon after I started WRG Print, Sue Watts Thank you Sue for the many years that took up the role to collect Navvies subscripyou have dealt with all the problems: people tions. At about the same time the person sending the form and not a cheque, others who was the ‘whipper-in’ for the ‘Navvies sending a cheque and not a form, cheques Assembly’ evenings (at that time we collated, incorrectly worded, and I dare say many stapled, folded and stuffed all copies by other hiccups along the way. hand) decided that he would no longer carry Once again many thanks. on with that role. I then took on that part.

John Hawkins, a.k.a. WRG Print I thought that it would make things better if Sue Watts was also included in the phoneMontgomery Canal Triathlon returns round.

Every other month I would phone her Changed date and format: The Marathon to ensure that the latest paid-up renewal Triathlon – 4 September 2021. forms were sent to the office for the system As England and Wales emerge from to be updated and also to give her a possible lockdown, plans are being made for this date for our ‘assembly evening’; this would year’s Montgomery Canal Triathlon with give her notice for a deluge of mail from her arrangements to mitigate coronavirus risks Postman! for all involved, on a later date, Saturday 4th This arrangement continued for a long September. The annual event involves entime – I would only speak with Sue, but trants travelling the entire 35 miles of the never actually met her. She was involved canal by bike, canoe and on foot, and raises with WRG NW and had done some digging funds for the restoration of the canal. The with them for a while. eighth one was in 2019; it wasn’t held in When the National Boat Festival (or was 2020 because of Covid precautions, but this it then called a Rally?) took place in Salford year it’s back, shifted from its original May my late wife (Tess) and I went by train to date to September. the event. We were then due to move our It’s also a slightly shorter course this friend’s boat away to its home mooring after year, but for a good reason. Shropshire the weekend. Whilst we were browsing at a Union Canal Society volunteers are doing Canal Society’s stand I was aware of two their best to catch up on time lost during people talking behind us and recognised one of lockdown and carrying out restoration works the voices as that of Sue – a very ‘chance’ in the Crickheath area. This means that the meeting. Since that day I have met with her towpath is closed between bridges 84 and at several WRG NW events: significant birth- 85. So this year’s course will run from the day parties, MBE celebrations, paper chases canal’s terminus at Newtown to Belan by etc. As time moved on we then communicated bike (11½ miles); then to Crowther Hall by email, and the occasional phone chat.

Lock, Pool Quay by canoe (5½ miles) then But then along came Covid and Sue finally on foot to Bridge 86 (9½ miles). The decided that she would have to ‘self-shield’ finishing point is just before Schoolhouse until things cleared or rules meant that she Bridge 85, the last road blockage standing in could revert to her usual life style. the way of reopening the canal to the Welsh Of course everything has now been border - and the subject of current planning, dragging on for many months and Sue has fundraising and initial works for a new now taken the decision to step down from bridge. her Subscriptions role.

If you’re interested in taking part, contact Some people may have noticed for a triathlon@themontgomerycanal.org.uk

Thank you Sue

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News

navvies Clean up the Paddington Arm WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association is supporting the Paddington Arm Cleanup in London, run by the Friends of the Grand Union Canal - and all volunteers from WRG are welcome to take part on 24 July.

Volunteers are needed to pick litter, help with any large items found, and to load it into boats. They will be working at locations stretching for over 12 miles along the Arm which runs through West London from Bulls Bridge Junction near Hayes to Little Venice and Paddington Basin.

Originally scheduled for 10 July, it has now been put back to 24 July as a result of the delay to the final stage of easing of lockdown restrictions.

See www.friendsofgrandunioncanal.co.uk/ paddington-arm-clean for more details.

First Aid course George ‘Bungle’ Eycott is arranging a one day Emergency Outdoor First Aid course at Hinton Parva (just off M4 J15) on 18 and possibly 19 September (the second date will only run if there are enough bookings). It’s fully funded by the Inland Waterways Association so no cost to the individual (unless the person cancels at the last minute and the place cannot be filled).

If you’re interested please contact bungle@wrg.org.uk

London This is the most complex. London has a “Low emission zone” (LEZ, virtually everywhere inside the M25) and an “Ultra low emission zone” (ULEZ, currently the same as the congestion charge zone but see note below), the zones operate 24 hours a day every day except Christmas Day. None of the WRG vans are affected by the outer LEZ however DD16BOB, WR14FLN, RX06KNP and D16EHP are all in scope for the ULEZ and therefore need to pay £12.50 per day if they drive within it in addition to the congestion charge if applicable.

Note that the ULEZ will be expanding from October 25th this year to go up to (but not including) the North and South circular roads.

Bath This would have been simple had they not moved the goalposts and bought more vehicles into scope a few weeks before it came into force which has meant some sources of information are out of date…. The Bath Clean Air Zone operates 24 hours a day 365 days a year. DD16BOB, WR14FLN, RX06KNP and D16EHP are all in scope for the Bath clean air zone charge and therefore need to pay £9 a day if they drive within it.

Birmingham The Birmingham Clean Air Zone operates 24 hours a day 365 days a year from 1st June 2021. DD16BOB, WR14FLN, RX06KNP and D16EHP are all in scope for the Birmingham clean air zone charge and therefore need to pay £8 a day if they drive within it.

You will see our two newest vans (D16SAD and R10RFB) are not subject to Emission control zones and any of the various emission zone charges so WRG vans / minibuses for obvious reason when we have a van There have recently been various emission based in the London area we will try and control zones introduced around the country make sure it is one of these two. and, depending on which van you’re driving, There are further zones being planned this may affect whether you plan to avoid for 2022 onwards, as we know more we will certain areas (or pay the appropriate charge obviously update people. I will also be updatto enter them). Below is a brief guide to ing the front covers of the van folders to which vans can go where. include whether a van is emission zone compliThe emission zones which concern us are: ant or not.

Answers to safety quiz on pages 10-11 1: d; 2: c; 3: a, b, c, d; 4: d; 5: a, b, c; 6: c; 7: a, c; 8: b; 9: c; 10: c, d; 11: a; 12: c; 13: c; 14: d; 15: d; 16: a; 17: b (if injury was caused it wasn’t a near miss, it was an accident); 18: b; 19: d; 20: a, b, d

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