Editor Martin apologises again

Editorial Apologies...

Yet again the editor is sorry he can’t bring you the hoped-for details of impending camps - but there’s more news of a forthcoming project

The editor apologises...

I’m sorry. Firstly for the slightly late appearance of this issue of Navvies. In my defence, it was all for the very best reasons, We figured that by delaying it by a few weeks, we could send it to press both (a) late enough that we would not only be able to include camp reports from the first few trial canal camps that we were tentatively planning, but also be able to give you all the information for the follow-up autumn camps, and at the same time (b) early enough to give you enough advance notice to be able to book on for some of those autumn camps. Wait a minute, autumn camps? I’ll come to them later...

The next thing I need to apologise for is that having spent a fair chunk of the last Navvies explaining why we couldn’t commit to running any summer camps (basically we couldn’t be sure that the last of the Covid restrictions, and in particular the associated impact on how we run our accommodation, would be lifted fully in time for the necessary planning), you will see in this issue that we’ve gone ahead and organised several of them. Five in fact. You, the readers, could be forgiven for thinking that it seems a bit like finding out afterwards that a load of your mates have had a great time at an event that you weren’t invited to. My apologies. It wasn’t meant that way at all. We simply had to organise them at such short notice that it just didn’t work with press dates and lead times for paper magazines. I hope that our attempts to communicate it in time via email and social media reached as many people as possible. And at this point I was going to add “...and if they didn’t, at least we’re now following the successful trial with some more more camps, for which we’re giving you the full details on the following pages...” But unfortunately...

Yes, I’m afraid my third apology is because as we go to press, through no fault of any of the groups involved, we find ourselves in the unfortunate position of not being able to give you any dates for Canal Camps at all. One site is experiencing issues with planning; another with land ownership; a third with securing suitable accommodation. We do genuinely have some optimism that there will be canal camps this autumn, but once again we won’t know until this issue has gone to print - and the next issue will be too late. All I can say is: keep an eye on the WRG website and Facebook page for the latest news.

But if we can’t bring you the detailed ‘Camps Preview’ article that we’d been hoping to include, we’ve still managed to feature some short, medium and long-term news in this issue on where we’re likely to be working: . In the short term, on the opposite page are some ideas of what might be happening this autumn, fingers crossed. . In the medium term, Harri Barnes’s piece on the following pages 8-9 gives you the lowdown on Westfield Lock and Oldbury Aqueduct. This project will keep us busy for the next couple of years - and form our contribution to the Lottery-supported Cotswold Canals Phase 1b restoration which will see a 10-mile extension to the waterways network in 2024. . In the long term, on pages 20-24 is the latest in our series of in-depth restoration features. This time it features the Grantham Canal, to tie in with the recent opening of the restored Lock 14, and we will no doubt be back to help the Grantham Canal Society restore locks 13 and 12 once funding can be secured.

Finally, I would like to add to our acting Chairman Jonathan Smith’s comment (see page 4) my own best wishes, and those of everyone involved in Navvies magazine, to our Chairman and very good friend Mike Palmer for as full and speedy a recovery as possible following his accident.

I’ll see some of you on a worksite sometime... hopefully sooner rather than later! Martin Ludgate