Whatever our individual feelings about the monarchy, it seems appropriate following the sad departure of the Queen and the arrival of the new King to include a few pictures illustrating how they (and other members of the Royal Family) have supported waterway restoration in recent years. They show the late Queen at the Kelpies for the naming of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal forming the new eastern approach to the Forth & Clyde; the new Queen Consort taking the tiller of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust’s tripboat at an event where she also cut the first sod of the Melksham bypass canal; and the new King opening Wallbridge Lower Lock on the Cotswold Canals.
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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.
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Editorial Why restore canals if we can’t afford to run existing ones? Martin has some ideas 4-5 Camp reports All the rest of the summer’s camps, from Wey & Arun, Swansea, Mon & Brec, Shrewsbury & Newport, Chelmer 6-27
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Cover: A selection from the summer’s WRG Canal Camps - see reports in this issue and previous one Back cover: Forthcoming WRG work site: our friends in mobile group NWPG begin the initial clearance work on Westfield Lock, whose restoration is scheduled to be a major volunteer contribution to the current Cotswold Canals Saul to Stonehouse ‘Phase 1b’ restoration (pic: Ian Stewart)
Given the threat to our existing canals from possible public funding cuts, why are we trying to open more canals? Martin suggests some answers...
What’s the point in restoring canals...
That may seem a curiously negative question for Navvies to be asking, but bear with me for a minute. Firstly, I’m not suggesting that Navvies or its readers are actually asking that question. It’s more that there are people out there who are already doing so, and it would help if we have some answers ready for them.
And secondly, there’s a second part to it: the full question is “What’s the point in restoring canals when we can’t even afford to maintain the ones we’ve already got”. And that’s a question that inevitably gets asked whenever the existing network of canals goes through a bad patch. Which it is at the moment...
When I say “a bad patch” I’m not particularly talking about the state the canals are in now. Yes, there is widespread criticism by boaters of the state of the network – but I’m not going to get drawn into the debate about whether that’s because it’s genuinely going down the pan with more and more evidence of deficient maintenance everywhere you look, or whether it’s simply that these boaters are largely from the ‘grumpy old person’ tendency, successive generations of whom would have us believe that the canals have been continuously getting worse for the last 40 or 50 years (and must have been perfect in the 1970s...)
No, such arguments are of less importance compared to what might happen in the future. The Canal & River Trust (which is responsible for the majority of the navigable network) is tied in to a 15year Government funding deal which ends in 2027, and which for its final five years lacks any kind of
inflation-proofing. So from now onwards, with inflation shooting up, what it will actually pay for is falling in real terms - and it could have lost a quarter of its value by 2027. And with the Government contract providing roughly a quarter of CRT’s total income, that’s a big hole. But it gets worse...
As I mentioned, the funding deal ends in 2027. And there’s no guarantee of any cash at all after that. Cutting it off completely or reducing it significantly could blow a hole so big in the canal network’s funding that it would put its future at risk. CRT’s Chief Exec said as much at the Trust’s recent annual public meeting.
We hope that won’t happen – negotiations with Government department Defra have been going on for more than a year, with CRT, WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association and other organisations all doing their best to make the case for continued public funding on the basis of all the benefits that the canals bring to the public, not just to the boaters who contribute through their licence fees. A decision should have been made in the summer, but it’s been
repeatedly delayed thanks to the monthly change of prime minister and associated reshuffles...
We hope they conclude that the canals are worth funding. But if they don’t (or if the funding they eventually agree is much reduced), we need some answers to my original question if we’re to continue restoring canals at all. I have a few suggestions. Feel free to suggest more – or indeed to shoot me down in flames. The letters page is yours...
Firstly, the money for maintenance of the navigable network and for restoration of derelict waterways isn’t comparable and doesn’t come from the same sources. The funding for CRT has come from Government department Defra, which has rarely provided cash for canal restoration in recent years –the big restoration grants have come from the various Lottery funds, local and regional government, and specific national government ‘pots’ such as Highways England’s fund for repairing environmental damage from new road construction. If we were to tell the National Lottery Heritage Fund or the Towns Fund or the Levelling Up Fund that we don’t want their millions for canal restoration any more, it’s not like they’ll hand to CRT to keep the Rochdale and Huddersfield canals better maintained instead. No, they’ll (quite rightly, as per their remit) give it to steam railways or town centre regeneration schemes or environmental projects or whatever.
Secondly, we’re on a different timescale. Look back through the 40-50
years that some of our main restoration schemes have been going, and you’ll come across various other occasions when the existing national network’s finances were badly stretched. There was the ‘Tunnels Crisis’ of the early 1980s, when a whole series of tunnel closures, as 200-year-old structures showed their age, cut the network in various places – Blisworth, Netherton, Wast Hill, Preston Brook and more. Eventually the Govenment realised it had to provide extra cash, and did so.
Similarly with the large backlog of engineering maintenance that was building up in the 1990s: once again, the Government eventually cottoned on to the situation and provided the wherewithal to start tackling it.
These crises might have seemed like the end of the world at the time, but compared to the (often frustratingly) slow pace of canal restoration they seem today like relatively short-term issues. It’s a good job we didn’t stop restoring (say) the Droitwich or the Montgomery in the 1980s or 1990s on the grounds that “we can’t maintain what we’ve already got”.
And finally, looking at some of the interesting things happening in canal restoration – the linking-up of the lengths of the Wilts & Berks in Swindon; the extension of the Montgomery towards the Welsh Border; the Derby’s new tripboat operation in the city centre – they’re all appearing in the press as ‘good news stories’. They’re exactly the sort of stories that can actually show what a good thing waterways are in general, and actually help to make the case for seeing the entire national network as a valuable asset that must be preserved.
So keep the faith, folks. Believe that we will succeed in making the case for finding a way to keep the network maintained – if not immediately (although IWA’s Waterways for Today report is having a good go at that –see our last issue) then in the fullness of time.
And in the meantime, don’t stop restoring canals.
Martin LudgateThe summer Canal Camps programme featured a return to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal for some bywash restoration. Marion Carter reports...
The main task this year for the camp on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal was to repair a bywash (lock overflow structure) close to ‘Shop Lock’, one of the Ty-coch flight of locks south of Cwmbran.
Much of the old stonework was leaking and vegetation was growing where it should
not have been. We removed several large sections of stones and revealed a large hole where the water had been piping out from underneath the stones. We made our own ‘channel’ from wooden formwork and used this to pour concrete from the barrow ramp straight into the hole. The local volunteers showed us where spare old stones could be found, but fitting the jigsaw back together was difficult. Rachel the jigsaw queen started
cutting many of the stones to fit them back together. We used lime mortar between the stones.
We also cleared vegetation to reveal the remains of an old cottage and a workshop saw pit.
Painting the lock gates allowed us ample opportunity to have a natter with walkers and cyclists. Everyone was interested and enthusiastic about restoring the canal. Being a councillor let Rex explain how town and country planning might work for restoring a canal.
We numbered nine in total, WRG regulars and some new recruits, including Pete who has been volunteering for the National Trust for years. We were from all over England and Wales and Germany too. Accommodation was at Crosskeys Methodist Church Hall, a huge hall with magnificent views all around, and showers generously provided by a local leisure centre. The hall is close to the station and bus stops and has ample parking for vans and cars. Andy slept in his own campervan
Length under restoration: 15 miles Locks: 50 Date closed: 1930-1962
The Canal Camp project: repairs to the lock overflow bywash structure at Shop Lock, one of the Ty-Coch flight of locks.
Why? As part of the continuing restoration of the flight of nine locks, which saw a great deal of work during 2012-17 under the ‘Waterworks’ project involving Lottery funding and local authority support to provide training and work opportunities for local people.
Cwmcarn
Navigable to Brecon 35 miles
3 5 3
Five Locks
Cwmbran
Canal Camp site: Ty-Coch
4
Road built on canal line
New link proposed
Fourteen Locks CrumlinArm
Malpas
Newport River Usk
Original route through Newport obliterated
The wider picture: Following completion of restoration north of Five Locks some years ago the canal has been continuously navigable from there to Brecon and a popular but isolated 35 mile boating route. Restoration from Ty-Coch southwards to Malpas has also been completed, as has some work on the Crumlin Arm. By completing Ty-Coch Locks, the remaining unnavigable ‘missing link’ is reduced fur ther, improving the chances of attracting the support (and money) to deal with the tricky length in Cwmbran (which has been lost under a main road) and other serious blockages. This would create a 50-mile navigable route - and a new link to the Severn Estuary via the River Usk could mean that (for suitably seag oing craft) it would no longer be an isolated waterway
in the car park.
One evening Dave drove us to Newport to see Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt. It’s about a bunch of assassins, and a snake, on a train. Believe it or not it’s a comedy. It soon became loudly obvious Zoe does not like snakes. We also had an evening trip to a local small brewery.
We finished work early on the Friday and Dave kindly drove us to the nearby Five Locks site. The lock gates warranted a double look: they’re fake concrete lock gates just holding the water back. They look like lock gates from a distance but close up the brutalism shows, as if Mussolini had built them!
Like many canals in this area, the canal was originally built as a freight transport route for coal to reach the Bristol Channel. We are now providing a very pleasant leisure route to the south of the new town of Cwmbran. Personally, as soon as I got home I put some vinyl on the turntable: Every Valley by Public Service Broadcasting.
Ian cooked the food and dishes included spaghetti bolognaise, salads and puddings such as Eton mess, as well as the usual fry ups for breakfast, and porridge to which our volunteer ‘X’ proved very partial, even eating it cold for lunch. Everyone kept asking for seconds.
Thanks for a great week to Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans the leader, Ian the cook, Pete, Rex, Rachel, Zoe, X and Andy.
Our job on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals was to rebuild a donkey shelter that also forms a tunnel portal buttress. Which is probably a first...
This was a camp led by Mikk (Bradley) and Mick (Lilliman) – “Buy one Mikk and get one Mick free!” Unusually it was a Sunday-to-Sunday camp. Anne Lilliman cooked.
The main task of the camp was to start rebuilding the buttress wall of the donkey shed / lengthsman’s hut [nobody’s quite sure which it was] adjacent to the Northwest Portal of Berwick Tunnel.
On Saturday the advance party of Mick and Anne arrived to get the hall cleaned, shopping done and one van delivered. They were joined later by Alan and Nigel who went to site on Sunday morning to fell some trees with one of the local chainsaw artistes, Chaz. In the meantime, some more locals (very
Length proposed for restoration: 25 miles Locks: 25 Date closed: 1944
The Canal Camp project: Beginning rebuilding of a hut / shelter which is built into (and forms a buttress for) the northwest por tal wall of Berwick Tunnel - plus mortar pointing at Widows Bridge. .
Why? The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust aims to open up the site as a local attraction, restoring the tunnel portal and the shelter / hut and creating an accessible path along both sides of the canal to make a circular walk for local people.
The wider picture: Much effort has been concentrated on the eastern sections around Newport and the other current main focus of work at Wappenshall Junction and warehouses, but the Trust wants to increase local awareness and suppor t for the canal along the length of the route, with the eventual aim of reopening the entire 25 miles to full navigation, and putting Shrewsbury back on the waterways network.
Canal Camp site: Berwick Tunnel
Canal Camp site: Widows Bridge
Eyton Trench Locks (not proposed for restoration)
Wappenshall
Former Shropshire tub-boat canals (not proposed for restoration) Trench
friendly and helpful lot the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust gang) arrived at Uffington Village Hall to erect a dining marquee as the hall itself is quite small.
By Sunday evening everyone had arrived and after an excellent meal we went to the local pub to find they close early on a Sunday evening; we were just in time for a drink or two.
On Monday Our first job was clearing up the chainsaw gang’s mess so we could get to the work site. Messy Nigel, let’s say it was his mess! (He didn’t have time to clear up as there was a lot of felling involved) The stone-layers played ‘find the numbered stones’ whilst Mandy, Katy and Stephen did some training on how to mix lime mortar. Having found the required stones, the stone gang of Mikk, Rob, John and Alan started placing them in one of the buttress walls, which form the side walls of the ‘donkey shed’. There were no complaints about the mortar. (a first??) After erecting the access platform Mick and Katy started removing loose brickwork on the other buttress wall until firm brickwork was found.
Tuesday saw work continuing with Stephen taking the lead on mortar mixing. The local work party turned up and helped by brick cleaning and removing more chainsaw debris. After showering we had a food extravaganza, more about that later...
Wednesday saw the select band of Mikk, Alan and Stephen go to Widows Bridge to prepare the brickwork for pointing. Katy left us to sort out packing for her new house and new job. We wish her good luck. Mandy started bricklaying, clearly a hidden talent, suitably tutored by John and Rob. Mick started laying bricks on the buttress wall, as well as mixing mortar for the brick and stone gang.
Thursday saw the dream team of Mikk, Alan and Stephen go to Widows Bridge to start pointing the face of the bridge. The rest of us continued at Berwick Tunnel. where work continued on the brick and stone laying. Mandy continued laying some bricks with John’s guidance. Some of the locals went to Widows Bridge to help with removing the coping stones ready to prepare the top of the wall in order to securely bed the coping stones. By the end of the day Stephen declared that his pointing skill had improved from hopeless to very poor. More brick and stone laying at the donkey shed. Friday saw a change in the team going
No camp report would be complete without a description of food so here goes...
Sunday: Slow Roast Brisket / Chick Pea Tagine / Roast Veg; assorted fruit Crumble and Custard
Monday: Chicken, Leek and Mushroom
Casserole / Mushroom and Leek Casserole; Lemon Citron Pie and Ice Cream
Tuesday: Curry Extravaganza cooked by Mikk, including Batatyachi Bhaji, Zukini Suya Ki Subzi, Sambhara, Aku Shaak, Shak Suka, all with Jasmine Rice. All delicious with home made chutneys and pickles and Nan Bread. Followed by Anne’s Mango Ice Cream.
Wednesday: Campfire Stew (gammon) and potato wedges; Surprise Pudding
Thursday: Assorted leftovers; assorted puddings and Mango Ice Cream.
Friday: Fish and Chips
Saturday: Mince Beef Stew and Jacket Potatoes; Apple and Cinnamon Cake Breakfasts were the usual selection of cooked food.
Cakes included: Lemon Drizzle, Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cake, Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Brownies, and a small Lemon and Orange Drizzle Cake.
Well done to Anne for fabulous food and to Rob B for having seconds of everything... see photo below...
What worked well this week:
. Small group with two small projects
. Compact hall with dining marquee
. Brilliant locals
. Breakfast at 7.45 so we got to site on time
. Lists for domestic duties
. Brilliant food
What wasn’t so good:
. Temperamental showers for the ladies, eventually sorted.
. One or two more people would have helped make the work a bit easier
. Better marking up of the stones would make selection easier
to Widows bridge, Mandy took Stephen’s place so that he could lay some bricks under John’s guidance. The pointing progressed well with only a small section remaining to be completed from the upper level of the scaffold. More brick and stone laying at the donkey shed. We had an early finish to go to Norbury Junction for a fish and chip cruise to Gnosall and High Onn, organised by Anne. Nigel joined us and Bernie, chairman of the S and N, kindly bought drinks for all us WRGies, which was much appreciated.
On Saturday, our last day on site, Mandy rebuilt one of the pillars at Widows Bridge (with Alan’s guidance) whilst Mikk finished off the pointing from the top level of the scaffolding and made a start on the lower level. The rest of us did more brick and stonework and we all finished early to go to Wappenshall Wharf for a very informative guided talk.
Summing up the week: hard work, great company, glad to see Rob B back WRGing, friendly locals, lots of work done, fabulous food and thanks to the volunteers that make this possible. Many thanks from me to Mikk for making it a great week.
Mick LillimanA week rebuilding a weir wall on the Chelmer & Blackwater, a navigable waterway run by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association
In our last issue we included a camp report from Camp 04, the first of two weeks on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation - which unusually for WRG meant working on an active navigable waterway rather than rescuing one from dereliction. This waterway is run by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association, and our volunteers were there to rebuild the cracked and deteriorating sidewalls of a weir which carries the flow of the River Chelmer alongside Stonham’s Lock. As we reported last time the first week’s job was to take the damaged brickwork down. Week two’s job was to rebuild it. Or as their scribe reports in his own style...
...a band of intrepid WRGies travelled, some far and some not quite as far, to the Essex land of Chelmer and Blackwater. In this land they met the evil concrete monster who had to be vanquished before their quest could begin. After six day of titanic struggle, with some falling by the wayside and the wood being painted black with the blood of big tinny, they were finally triumphant and the scene was set for the construction of a mega str ucture that would hold back the earthy island and allow the waters to flow.
Six more days to achieve our goal which will be documented in this tome, read on dear follower...
Windy Hawk, who hails from Heart Ford Shire, is our builder extraordinaire who spent hour upon hour chipping away at the base of the wall whilst the rest of the band removed the rubble in preparation for the build. Initially we had issues with the waters encroaching on the foundations we were to build on, but finally triumphed in diver ting the torrent and succeeded in getting a dry platform to build off.
Our journey to our place of conf lict was altered by the landowner and we had to travel up hill and down dale, through plantations of willow and the odd pylon, working our sturdy transports hard.
The morning arrived warm and dry as is usual at this time of year in these climes, testing Ollie the brick slicer to his limit; with sweat leaking from every pore he worked tirelessly through the morning to feed the builders. He also undertook the task of cutting lengths of reinforcing bar for strengthen our defences as the wall rose up from the waterline. Lime mortar and concrete were mixed efficiently by the supporting members of the crew. All in all a good day with work progressing apace.
More of the same the next day, fighting the heat and humidity but prog ressing well. On the evening we had an expedition to Haybridge Basin to see the old accommodation that we used in the past, the Haybay converted barge still sat safely in the estuary. We also took a drive to Paper Mill and had a wander.
I’m afraid it looks increasingly unlikely that we will achieve our goal as upon arrival we
found the ramparts damaged with several bricks having been dislodged. Once these were cleaned and reset we had some of the younger heroes working to fill the back rows of the wall and continuing with the pointing.
Really went well today and I think everyone was happy with the results. Despite our valiant efforts however we failed to reach our goal, even with everyone of the band going above and beyond. A band member from the previous week, Alana, returned to assist us learning new skills along the way.
In ending this missive I would like to take the opportunity to thank my band of heroes: Claire for been an excellent provider of sustenance, Dave for been a very able assistant and mentor, John for his unflag ging work rate and sense of humour, Olly for dedication and ability to wield a brick saw, Lewis for his knowledge and his enthusiasm to do the tasks asked of him and last but not least Ralf for his unflagging work ethic and the fact that he was prepared to suffer me for a second time.
Scribed by Paul (Arry) HarrowsmithLength: 14 miles
Locks: 13 Date closed: never - but it came close! (see below)
The Canal Camp project: Taking down and rebuilding deteriorated brickwork on the wing walls around the weir which carries the main flow of the River Chelmer alongside Stonham’s Lock.
Why? Because if not kept in good repair the walls would eventually collapse, and the weir would no longer be able to fulfil its function of retaining the river’s water at a suitable level for boats to navigate the waterway.
The wider picture: This is not a derelict waterway under restoration, it is a navigable waterway undergoing a long process of gradual improvement by its owners Essex Waterways Ltd (a subsidiary of WRG’s parent body The Inland Waterways Association) who took over to save it from closing down when the original company went bankrupt over 15 years ago. It had been allowed to fall into a poor condition, and EWL has been working hard to put things right. But as a body with no regular public funding (unlike the Canal & River Trust and some other navigation authorities), EWL needs to rely on volunteer support otherwise it would struggle to keep the navigation open - let alone to improve it. Hence the use of Canal Camps to do the work.
Chelmsford
The first of two weeks’ restoration work at Trebanos Locks, featuring chamber wall repairs, repointing, rebuilding steps... and ‘Mortargate’
IWA’s former National Chair found a new job this summer leading the first of two camps on the Swansea Canal at Trebanos. Camp correspondents the ‘Chuckle Brothers’ report from South Wales...
Thirteen souls arrived at Ystradgynlais (approximate pronunciation: ‘us-trad-gun-lice’) Scout Hall for a week on the Swansea Canal, each one grateful that they didn’t get lost and have to ask for directions!
The goal of the first of two Swansea camps was to spend the week on Lower Trebanos Lock repointing the lock chamber, restoring a section of the lock walls and rebuilding some steps that were nothing short of a danger to life and limb for any potential future boaters.
Thirteen may be an unlucky number and could explain the first incident to afflict that camp over the week: with just 24 hours to go it looked like were facing the ultimate catastrophe – the camp cook’s car had developed a terminal fault and it would be three
weeks before it would be repaired! However, the ever-resourceful camp cook – and IWA’s Volunteering Manager - Jenny Hodson got a second opinion and it was determined that it wasn’t immediately terminal and could probably cope with the six-hour drive from Lincolnshire to Glamorgan! With a whirlwind shopping trip to the local supermarket immediately on arrival, we were miraculously but marvellously fed. This culinary prowess continued all week.
The Canal Camp project: Lock chamber wall restoration and re-pointing and rebuilding a set of steps at Trebanos Lower Lock.
Why? Trebanos Locks are part way along a restorable length of canal in water from Clydach to Pontardawe which could be opened to navigation.
The wider picture: With the top five miles from Godre’r-Graig to Abercraf largely lost to 1970s road improvements, and the bottom five miles from Swansea Docks to Clydach mostly buried under urban development, Swansea Canal Society is concentrating on the middle six miles from Clydach to Godre’r-Graig - including Ynysmeudwy and Trebanos locks plus the buried lock at Pontardawe. But in the longer term a diversionary route could be created, avoiding the missing lower length, and ultimately reinstating the link to the Tennant and Neath canals.
Length: 16 miles originally
Locks: 36 originally
Date closed: 1928-1960
Abercraf
Upper lengths lost under new road
Trebanos
Canal Camp site: Trebanos
Day One: Saturday – the best weather of the week! All four nations of the UK were represented with folks travelling from all over Britannia - from as close by as sleepy Devon to as far away as Scotland. The wonderful Ystrad…. (or often simply referred to as “Y”) Scout Hall was quickly prepared for action due to the prior experience of Sue Jones and Will Radice-Horne (the Cambrians) who had been digging on the Swansea Canal on previous camps. Such local knowledge was vital and kept us on track across the week. Any good team should quickly move through the forming, storming, norming, and Swansea
performing stages. This team saw its fair share of ‘storming’, though thankfully only in the meteorological sense of the word!
The heavy rain and strong wind experienced during the week seemed to suit our Caledonian volunteers and they were often heard remarking, “It’s just like summer… without the midges!” as the next deluge threatened to drown us.
We had two Peters on the camp and, in the interest of good communication, one, at his own suggestion, was renamed Tim! With the surname Mullett, our new Timmy might have had his big hammer with him, but we didn’t get to see it! The large hall would have allowed us plenty of space to exercise respectful post-Covid separation, but we spread even beyond the four halls of the hall – it was a scout hall after all! So, with two campers in their mobile home, one in his caravan and the other Peter at the mercy of the worst that the Welsh weather could throw at him in his tent, we had ample space to spread out.
The team was a wonderful mix of characters, experience, interests, backgrounds and foibles, and the Saturday evening introductions set the scene for a week of good humour and building new friendships.
The humour started on the first night when Devonian Andy’s mattress deflated. This collapse was repeated on nights two to seven! “Do you know how much I paid for it? …£10”, he was heard to exclaim as if it were an expensive purchase; a theme repeated after successive nightly collapses and mirrored by the repeated sighs and raised eyes of his campmates. We developed a broad
definition of the word ‘humour’ over the week!
Sunday: Rain A leisurely 9am start on the first day almost saw us heading home for a couple of hours as the expected deserted track to the lock and empty car park that had been the experience on the camp leaders’ site visit just two weeks before was found to be solid with cars and burly, teenage, future national Dragons players! The rugby season had started which meant that access to the site was challenging. After a spell of endearing ourselves to the locals by
helping to direct cars and answer questions about WRG, we got the work started on three battle fronts: the raking out of the vegetation and old mortar in preparation for pointing; the clearing of vegetation from the heavily overgrown ‘island’ between the lock and the bywash; and the rebuilding of the dodgy steps.
Deputy camp leader Jonathan Green took charge of the ‘Islanders’; the ‘Pointers’ were a largely self-managing group, and the steps were put fully in the hands of David Smith after he’d carefully inspected the scaffolding in the lock chamber.
The site was heavily contaminated with Japanese Knotweed, so we had environmental safeguards in place which included boot and tool washes at the end of each day. Thankfully the local canal trust had isolated the offending perennial weed into a cordoned-off area, so the remaining vegetation was quickly cleared, uncovering stone chippings and sticky mud beneath.
Evening Social: Chuckle Brothers’ quiz: 10/10
Monday: Rain Leadership skills come in many guises, but Paul’s appeared to have deserted him as a plan emerged to sieve and wash the two tons of newly discovered chippings which any sane person would have interpreted as a gag. We were sadly mistaken! He was clearly in cahoots with the very resourceful Swansea Canal Society Chairman who was probably a Blue Peter presenter in an earlier career who presented the Islanders with a... “here’s one I produced earlier”…. stone sieve. Over the week we ‘chipped away’ (typical camp ‘humour’ persists) and a pile of clean chippings was produced using a system more secret than the Colonel’s recipe.
Evening Social: A visit to the Miner’s Welfare Hall to watch a film where, owing to tuck shop lighting issues, the illumination of cinema snacks was achieved by the vendor’s phone (thought to be a ruse to hide ‘sell-by dates’ by some cynics). This tuck shop performance was the highlight of the evening…just sayin’!
Tuesday: Showers On Tuesday we were visited by the CRT Heritage Officer to discuss the finer skills of lime mortar mixing
...being shown how to do it...
and repointing. Our lock mortar has been analysed to the nth degree. The supposed faithfully reconstituted blend (which includes coal dust at particular, microscopic level) was not to everyone’s taste (visually speaking) appearing to be a startlingly white when dry and suggestive of an Italianate marble bathroom. Several different mixes were tried and left to dry. A decision about the final mortar recipe would have to be made at the highest level to satisfy the exacting requirements of CRT, the local Canal Society, and the local conservation officer who has responsibility for local listed heritage structures along the canal. The weather conspired against us and prevented the lime mortar going off enough to assess the true finished colour. As a result, all the Pointers’ effort went into preparing the walls thoroughly for the follow-on camp so that they can get cracking as soon as the lime mortar mix is agreed. In typical camp humour, some wag described the indecision as Mortargate. In the meantime, the lock wall preparation resulted in the most pristinely prepared walls in Wales.
It was great to work collaboratively with Canal & River Trust and get the benefit of the experience of a lime mortar expert who has repointed the 2000-year-old Roman Lighthouse at Dover.
We had the most amazing lunch provided by the local Canal Trust. We felt very welcome and valued!
Evening Social: plan to go to the pub but have a better offer to stay at the scout hall! 11/10
Wednesday: Rain with Thundery Showers As the week progressed David worked steadily on the steps up to the lock gate quadrant, recycling old stone to realign the treads. The Chuckle Brothers continued to keep everyone in high spirits by recycling their old jokes.
The rest of the team started to find their niche. Timmy put everyone to shame with his work ethic and seemed to be on some (probably illegal) fortifier. Blarney Stone Paul gave exhaustive (exhausting?) leadership talks which gave everyone the chance to catch up on much needed sleep. We all concentrated intently on Sandy’s very softly spoken Caledonian discourse, pondered, then asked him if he could say it again. Will took on the leadership initiation role of packing the vans at the end of the day – and has a career in house removals, it seems, unless we can find him a leader’s role in WRG.
Weather watcher Richard pampered our dirty boots in the boot wash each day before we left site but his vital role of keeping us from being struck by lightning was greatly appreciated by all. We learned that as well as being Jenny’s sous chef, Liz was good at chatting. Jonathan excited us with his van cornering; luckily, we packed extra pants –no near misses were experienced in the ferrying of campers to and from site.
Sue was deemed our camp Duchess and presented with slippers and served bedtime cocoa on a silver (OK melamine) tray. We’re hoping that this tradition was maintained on Swansea week two! Invading hornets were swatted, transforming important wall-mounted scout memorabilia into matchwood (redacted in the interests of being invited back) - an easy challenge for Repair
Shop Dave. Peter regaled us with deep and meaningful conversations and sighed a lot. Meanwhile, Paul kept up his daily WhatsApp calls with Morgan at CRT to resolve Mortargate– at
least that’s what he said he was doing as he sat on the neighbouring park benches or sheltering from the storms in the gazebo!
Social: Ten-Pin Bowling 9/10
Thursday: Thunder, lightning, and torrential rain Work on the main tasks proceed apace and saw us moving to the other main role of rebuilding a section of lock wall. Will and Sue carefully prepped the wall and without wanting to steal the thunder of Swansea week two’s report, the foundations were laid for some beautiful stonework.
We uncovered a quarry of recovered stone and local Canal Society Chair, Gordon, operated his stone carrying boat in the style of Mr Big in the 007 Live and Let Die speedboat chase. We need a video version of Navvies to show this Oscar winning stunt action in its full glory.
Social: As is customary, we were treated to dinner and a cultural evening hosted by Gordon (a dead ringer for Alf Thompson in Postman Pat) who serenaded us with several ballads – each one followed by a quick check he hadn’t offended anyone - oft met with a less than unified consensus. In later songs it was felt safer to substitute certain words with hand and body movements. This evening was somewhat muted given the news that Her Majesty the Queen had died. God bless you your Majesty! 10/10
Andy’s flatress continued to deflate. Peter sighed… justifiably.
Friday: sunny spells
The week ended on a sombre note following the Queen’s sad passing. We soldiered on in a rather gloomy (psychological and indeed meteorological) atmosphere. Continuing with our work and ensuring that the work we had committed to had been completed to the best possible extent would have resonated with Her Majesty. Black WRG tshirts were worn by some.
We wrapped up the work on a day of much better weather – just in time for the van checks!
We felt we left the lock in pretty good shape for Ruth and Sue’s camp, but the week is best summed up in highlighting the biggest failing in Paul’s delegation ‘skills’: asking us to write the camp report!
Social: After a great deal of fun, AKA exhausting hard work, we had a relaxing evening with Chinese or fish & chips, mutual applause, and beer / whisky drinking. 12/10
Saturday: Glorious weather, blue skies, wall to wall sunshine After a super-efficient cleaning roster masterminded by budding leader Will, ably assisted by Sue and Liz, all campers had left by 9:30am. To be fair, van mover extraordinaire David was back on site at 1:30pm after having taken van BOB to Crosshil ls for the Mon & Brec camp. ‘Every camp needs a David!’, said Liz!
Mike ’arry Harrison and Andy Harrison
P.S. we didn’t mention the daily toolbox talks – probably best!
The second of two weeks’ restoration work at Trebanos Locks on the Swansea Canal, as reported by Draig Goch... the Red Dragon!
Shwmae pawb! Croeso y Gamlas Abertawe. Ddraig Goch dw i.
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Swansea Canal. I’m Red Dragon.
I hope you’re looking forward to reading all about my adventures on the Swansea Canal Camp week 2.
Saturday 17 Sept: Today I arrived at camp and got myself settled in ready to meet all my new friends including camp leader Ruth, assistant leader Sue, and leader advisor Martin. Ruth and Sue tell me it’s their first time in these roles so Martin is going to be there for advice and guidance (alongside me of course!) A lovely gentleman from the local society has brought us plenty of beer and cider to keep us well hydrated during the week, I’m sure that will go down nicely!
Later my new friends start arriving and help to move the trailer into a better position (sounds easier than it was) before a safety brief and kit check ready to start our adventures tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what happens on camp.
Sunday 18th Sept: Our first day on site today. After a fabulous breakfast by our lovely cook Bev we are ready and raring to
See first week’s camp report for more detailed map and information
go. First things first we get an introduction to the site at Trebanos Lower Lock so we all know where everything is, and get our tasks for the day. We have 3 main goals for the week:
1 Rebuilding a portion of a lock wall so new coping stones can be added
2 Levelling the area on the far side of the lock so new textile and gravel can be placed
3 Pointing the lock wall
Rowan and Colin start off a mix of lovely mortar for Sue, Will and Martin on the wall rebuild whilst Sam and John start levelling under the old textile. I of course help to supervise and make sure everyone is happy. Making sure I’m doing my fair share too I get a brew on ready for everyone to have their well-earned breaks!
In the evening we return to camp for some more scrummy food (just remember, the pork is pulled, and the kale is massaged)
before we have a ‘pub quiz’ with ‘The Top Table’ triumphing over ‘Cycle Gladiators’. During proceedings I have a little bit too much alcohol and scupper the chances of Cycle Gladiators by spilling my drink all over their answer sheet. Oops! Must be more careful next time.
Bev also gives me the recipe for the delicious crispy kale which I’ll put at the end for you all to enjoy. Exhausted from a hard days work we all head off to bed before a more unusual camp day tomorrow.
Monday 19th Sept: I’m told that normally by Monday on camp we’re well underway with our work on site, but that today will different as we won’t be visiting site to do any work. Instead, we will be paying our respects to our late Queen Elizabeth II, as after over 70 years on the throne, today will be her funeral. On Saturday our
leader, Ruth, gave everyone the option as to what they’d like to do today, some have decided to visit friends, some to have their time to themselves, and others have chosen to watch the funeral with me on the projector. Will has brought his laptop so we can stream it (very technical he is) and make sure everyone’s choices were catered for. I must say all those people pulling the carriage, and marching along after, do an excellent job (although they are missing a dragon).
After the funeral four of us go off on a trip to Rhossili on the beautiful Gower coastline. If you’re ever down this way, it’s certainly worth a visit! We go for a walk along the coast before clambering over some rocks as the guys want to see if they can make it onto Worms Head. Sadly, the tide and light are against them so they are unsuccessful, but we manage to get a group photo of us taken by a lovely couple so we can remember our trip out. Finally, it’s picnic time watching the sun set before returning back to camp where we meet another camper, Michael, who has now joined the camp.
Tuesday 20th Sept: Back to site today and I’ve been told we’re going to be getting a lesson on the use of lime mortar from Morgan, the local Canal & River Trust Heritage Officer. Hopefully I learn lots as this dragon likes getting his claws dirty with some mixing and pointing! Morgan goes over some of the background with us before he
tells us about how to make the perfect mortar mix for the job we’re doing. Then we get to the fun bit, practising our pointing. I think we do a pretty good job if I do say so myself!
Sue and Will are using up lots of our mortar to continue with their wall building whilst Ruth and Michael finish levelling off the far side of the lock and start moving gravel. Our day on site is made even better by a lunch of sandwiches and cake provided
by the ladies of the local society. They certainly know how to look after a dragon.
After work on site finishes up it’s back to the accommodation for food and then we’re off bowling. I’m very good at bowling as I can fly the ball right down to the pins and get a strike every time! I’m told that’s not fair on the others though so I have to stick to normal bowling instead (much more difficult with claws I can assure you). All have a good time though and enjoy their evening out.
Wednesday 21st Sept: Another day on site and with the main part of the lock wall rebuild complete it’s time to start laying some coping stones. My gosh they’re heavy beasts! Luckily with my flying ability, and some magic from local Gordon, we manage to start manoeuvring them into position and mortaring them into place.
I also help continue the gravel laying which I have to fly over the lock (with the help of my friends and their wheelbarrows) so we can get it into the right place. I wish these trucks had longer cranes so they could put it over there for us, but alas that isn’t to be and manual labour it is for this poor dragon. They’re making me work hard for my supper this week!
We get a nice visit from a local WRGie friend who’s interested in our work and wanted to come and say hello, before it’s back to the grind of our work. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time, and there’s a little job swapping as some of this work is very heavy.
As they say though, all work and no play makes Ddraig Goch a dull boy, so after
Shwmae Hello
Pawb Everyone/all
Croeso Welcome
Camlas Abertawe Swansea Canal
Ddraig Goch Red Dragon
Draig Dragon
Dw I I am
Diolch yn fawr Thank you very much
Hwyl fawr Goodbye
Thursday: gravel shovelling and raking complete
our day on site we make a trip to see Henrhyd Falls which isn’t far from our accommodation. It’s the tallest waterfall in South Wales at 90ft high, and despite less water due to little rain, I enjoy flying underneath it.
Thursday 22nd Sept: After being lucky with the weather so far there’s a threat of rain today. Whilst dragons don’t mind a little rain, we don’t want to get too wet lest we get scale rot! The morning stays dry if grey and I crack on with my tasks, helping fly gravel and mortar to where it’s needed. I also have the assistance of our fabulous camp cook, Bev, on site today to help lighten this dragon’s load. After much flying, shovelling, barrowing and raking, the gravel on the far side of the lock is finally complete. Phew! After seeing some photos of it from the start of week 1 I can certainly say it looks much smarter now with its lovely, cleaned gravel, along with 4 tons of new stuff.
There’s more work on laying and backfilling the coping stones, and some of my new friends start working on deep pointing as well as removing an outer layer of mortar that was the wrong colour due to ‘mortargate’. [For those not in the know there was a ‘disagreement’ over
the required mortar colour in week 1 which thankfully has now been resolved so onwards we go!]
By the end of the day, we can really see the results from all the hard work that’s been put in and have a group photo to celebrate our success. Thankfully the promised rain was minimal, so this Draig managed to stay dry. No rot for me today.
In the evening I get to attend a beautiful meal at a local pub hosted by the canal society to say thank you to my friends and me. I must say they really do know how to spoil a Draig! During the evening we get a rendition of some songs by the locals, along with poetry, and our leader gives thanks to us for all our hard work even presenting me with my own title Prif Oruchwylydd Grup Adfer Dyfrffyrdd or ‘Chief Waterway Recovery Group Supervisor’ for my English-speaking brethren.
Friday 23rd Sept: The final day on site! I will be sad to leave as I’ve had such a brilliant time this week. There’s still plenty to do though, especially with assistant leader Sue abandoning us for a WI walking weekend (with actual beds in hotels! I’m sure she’ll miss her camp bed with us). After a slow start waiting for a delivery of aggregate and lime, I can finally get my claws into some proper work. More coping stones and pointing to be done so we can leave it in a good position for the locals to apply the finishing touches. I’ve been told we won’t be doing quite so long a day on site today so we can make sure we have time for kit check and trailer packing later so I’d better work extra
hard. With some of my friends having come a long way, and vehicles to move on in the morning, we want to get as much of the hard work done today as possible.
I really am so proud of the team I’ve been working with this week. They’ve given me such an enjoyable time on camp, and they’ve all worked their boots off!
After kit check is complete it’s time for fish and chips on our final evening together, alongside a game of I Spy (some improvement required) before we head off to bed, ready for a return to normality tomorrow.
Saturday 24th Sept:
· Speed showers. Women shower faster than men (timed). It’s takes a while to get a whole camp through two showers so no lolly gagging!
· Fabulous meals by our lovely cook Bev.
· The solving of mortar-gate. Don’t get between a heritage officer and society in disagreement!
· Lack of rain. Whilst this Draig doesn’t mind a bit of Welsh rain he also enjoys basking in the rare sunshine.
· Cycles Gladiator wine. Who knew one could spend so long discussing a wine label!
· Trips out. I got to see some more of my beautiful country, and all trips were throughly enjoyable.
· New bottle opening tips. Did you know you can open a beer bottle with another beer bottle? Just watch out for flying caps!
· Ready, set, food! Will always first in line for Bev’s food (what a compliment!) But we finally broke him by food coma on the final night.
· WRGer bees. All the little WRGer bees working hard to complete their work.
· Colin’s caravan. The Aladdin’s cave with everything you might possibility want!
It’s time to say goodbye! Oh, how I do hate these moments. Final checks and cleaning complete, our campers head off one-by-one. Diolch yn fawr pawb. I help take the vehicles to the local station for collection before it’s my turn to leave. I hope all the volunteers have enjoyed their week as much as I have, and you never know, maybe we will meet again on a future camp. So, it’s hwyl fawr for now, and may we meet again on future sunny lock side.
Finally, before I leave you our camp leader wanted me to pass on her thanks to the whole team for a brilliant camp. The WRGer bees really did smash it and made her job easy. And from myself, I want to thank you all for making my first WRG camp such a brilliant experience. I also want to encourage anyone considering canal restoration to give it a go. Whether a WRG canal camp, regional group weekend, or local society work party. Seeing your hard labours bear fruit is extremely satisfying, and you get to meet a great bunch of people along the way. You never know, maybe you’ll even see a return of this Draig in a future Navvies…
Draig Gochassisted by Ruth
1 Massage the kale with a small amount of olive oil to ensure an even coating.
2 Sprinkle on a small amount of salt.
3 Cook for 20 minutes and enjoy!
Delays to the planned work mean a quick change of plan, but NWPG still have a successful week at Loxwood on the Wey & Arun Canal
This camp was meant to be at Birtley, starting the second of two new lift bridges on this northern part of the Wey & Arun canal (the first bridge having been built largely during a three-week blitz of camps in summer 2019). But it was always going to be a tall order to get everything in place in time for our planned camp at the end of August. Dams had to be installed across the canal channel and a bridleway diverted over one of them; a gas main (which ran through the new bridge site) needed to be re-routed by SGN contractors and piles bored and poured before WRG volunteers could do anything constructive. In the end, all those things happened a few days before our camp was due to commence - but unfortunately it was too late.
Plan B – luckily there was one! To Loxwood and the restored navigable ‘Loxwood Link’ section for some improvement works. The Trust had been given two funding grants – one from the Parish Council to re-surface the towpath from Devil’s Hole Lock towards
Southlands Lock and a second from the British Canoe Union to provide low level timber landing stags. These were to help canoes and paddleboards to portage around the locks. The camp’s tasks were to build up to four stages and carry out about 250m of towpath improvement work. This provided plenty of variety with plant driving and carpentry being the main skilled tasks.
Four weeks from the decision to change venue allowed just enough time for the Douglas Fir timber (from a local timber yard) to be ordered and delivered and the risk assessments and method statements to be prepared and approved. Thanks to Dave Evans of Wey & Arun Cana Trust (WACT) for ensuring that this happened in time for us to start work on the Sunday morning of the camp. Our accommodation was at Kirdford. The village hall committee have always been very obliging fitting in WRG camps and weekends and have been doing so since the 1980’s. Having a hall that is always available for weeks of camps in the summer is not something to be taken for granted. Saturday morning and the well-estab-
Length: 23 miles Locks: 26 Date closed: 1871
The Canal Camp project: Towpath surfacing and building landing stages on the restored and navigable Loxwood Link section.
Why? The towpath provides an attractive local walk. Resurfacing will improve it - and is suppor ted by the local authority which provided a grant for the work. The landing stages will make it easier for canoeists to use the enjoy the restored canal.
The wider picture: The Canal Trust aims to eventually reopen the canal to through navigation from the River Wey to the River Arun. It has already opened several sections including through Loxwood, on the summit at Dunsfold, and near the southern end north of Newbridge - and is looking to link these together and to further sections (including at Birtley, the original planned site for this camp). But encouraging local people and local authorites to support the canal (by work such as we were doing on this camp) is cr ucial to raising the necessary funding to achieve these long term aims.
Birtley
lished NWPG camp team swung into action, moving the spare chairs and tables into the garage, putting up the gazebos for the outside dining area, storing the spare WRG kit and other sundries (!) in the upstairs room. All of this was with the aim of making as much space as possible in the main hall and back room to ensure compliance with the WRG camp Covid guidleines. The team introductions and accommodation safety briefings done, we enjoyed our traditional first night barbecue ready for the week’s imminent labours.
Our team comprised the NWPG regulars plus Ian, Michael and Brian who have ‘previous’ on WRG digs and new volunteer Peter for whom the week was to be his first time working on a canal. I am assured it will not be his last, as I don’t think that we have put him off. The catering team of Sue and Dave kept us excellently fed throughout the week – including cooking breakfasts so no early starts for reluctant volunteers. Then, of course, Dave and Adam from WACT without whom nothing on site would have happened. So to the work. We divided into two teams and broadly stayed in those teams for the whole week but with people switching tasks within them. The towpath team had
the use of two dumpers and two diggers and a sit-on roller. Training was provided, enabling the drivers to be rotated so that the hard graft of raking and levelling the Fittleworth stone could be shared. Well, sort of, as Graham and Peter spent most of their week on the end of a rake. Sorry – to be redressed next time out!
The second team took charge of the landing stage construction. Steve set up a timber preparation operation in the site compound – close to the Burco – where his gas-fitting expertise was needed to keep it alight. The younger team members plus Dave and Adam from WACT led on the landing stages themselves. The first task was to drive the 6in x 6in timber legs into the canal bed. The original suggestion to do this with a sledge hammer being rejected by the camp leader on the grounds of average age of the team and a wish not to spend too much time with the nearby defibrillator.
So Dave sourced a gadget from the plant company that could be attached to a digger and which forced the reluctant posts noisily into their allotted position. We let Dave operate the machine so that he could only blame himself if the posts ended up in the
wrong position. Having done the first landing stage, the piling team went onto the next two.
Posts in place, the fun bit of installing the horizontals, braces and deck could begin, with some working from the Aquadocks (floating work platforms assembled ‘Lego’ style) and others from the bank. The landing stage below Devil’s Hole Lock was the most complex as it had decks at two heights - one for the trip boat and the other for canoes. This was tackled first.
Good teamwork and methodical working meant that by Thursday we had completed three of the four landing stages: one each above and below Devil’s Hole lock and another above Loxwood New Lock. The fourth stage, at Brewhurst Lock, was left for another day with time short and the site being some distance from our compound. We were also running out of timber. Not to waste any of the timber off-cuts and to prevent him slacking, Steve spent Friday turning these into attractive timber planters which were later offered for sale at a bargain price. Other camp jobs included fitting new stop planks at Rowner Lock and further towpath works at Birch Copse.
It wasn’t all work. In the evenings,
which were getting quite dark being the end of August, we found time to explore the canal around Lordings Aqueduct, where Graham explained his work in helping to restore the unique waterwheel pump that feeds the canal from the River Arun. We visited the Birtley Bridge site to see what we might have been doing, before enjoying wood fired pizzas with our skittles at Wonersh Village Hall. Graham Horn (NWPG) took an evening off from his tour guide duties to run a quiz night for us in the hall and we played Molkky (a Finnish skilttles game) which brought out the competitive streak in some – actually all! Jigsaws and beer also featured heavily in our unwinding. Boat trips were off – no water! It was a relaxed camp, with no Covid or other problems. The plant and WRG kit were returned intact (although ‘Bungle’ of WRG Plant may disagree) and nobody hurt themselves – just what the leadership team likes. That it was so, and the high standard of the work done, was thanks to everyone on the team. It wasn’t the job planned when bidding for a camp last winter but it was fun and rewarding and we achieved a lot. Looking forward to another next year!
Bill NicholsonSorry no Bonfire Bash, but London WRG and KESCRG are plotting a Christmas extravaganza, and next year’s Camps are being planned...
Sorry, no Bonfire Bash / Reunion
OK let’s get the bad news out of the way first. You might not actually have received this issue of Navvies in time (sorry!) but just in case you have, and you are wondering what’s happened to our usual early November big Reunion / bonfire bash weekend working party and get-together... I’m afraid we’ve been unable to find a site with suitable work and (actually the trickier of the problems) suitable accommodation for a large working party. So I’m afraid there won’t be one this year. If anyone’s got a site and accommodation and would like to host us in 2023, please do get in touch - it’s never too soon. I remember when once or twice we were so well organised that we managed to announce the venue in the Canal Camps Brochure that came out before the previous Christmas! It would be great to be able to do that again. And speaking of Canal Camps...
Well, the news is that there’s no news just yet but there will be quite soon. As per last year, it seems likely that the Canal Camps Brochure giving full details of the programme of weeklong camps for the whole year will be published with the February-March issue 317 of Navvies. But like last year, we plan to include a ‘pre-preview’ in the pre-Christmas issue 316 giving as much information about the likely sites as we can, so you can start thinking about which ones you want to go on.
But I get it, you want some actual information NOW about some actual canal restoration work with WRG and the other mobile groups. So what are they up to?
Yes - London WRG and KESCRG have got a couple of weekend working parties planned before Christmas. In fact they’ve got the same couple of weekend working parties, because they’re joint digs by both groups. On 5-6 November and again on 3-4 December both groups will be combining their efforts. The first of these will definitely be on the Wey & Arun Canal; the second might end up there too, depending on whether our original choice of site can find us accommodation. See either group’s Facebook group for details, or for London WRG contact london@wrg.org.uk or phone Tim Lewis on 07802 518094 or for KESCRG contact Ed Walker on ed@edwalker.org.uk.
Oh, and the December date is the traditional combined working party and Christmas fun and games fancy dress extravaganza, with a theme of ‘Royalty’ to mark the approaching coronation of the new King.
In the new year the two groups will go their separate ways again. London WRG have pencilled in 14-15 January for their first weekend and are looking to see if the Chelmer & Blackwater has work and accommodation, while the Cotswold and Lichfield have been proposed for later in the winter, while the Shrewsbury & Newport is a possibility for a weekend in the spring. See the next Navvies for more details.
Meanwhile KESCRG are also planning for 2023: they haven’t chosen sites yet, but the weekend dates are 4-5 February, 4-5 March, 25-26 March, 6-7 May, 10-11 June and 1-2 July.
Yes, we’re still hoping to find a site for a Christmas camp, and to run a BCN Cleanup next year
The Wilts & Berks Canal
The restoration back-story: Back when what’s now the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust was launched, restoration of the 55-mile canal linking the Kennet & Avon Canal at Semington to the Thames at Abingdon was ‘impossible’. Yes, I know, it’s not been unusual for some of the more difficult canal restoration proposals to be initially greeted with scepticism regarding the prospects of these long-abandoned canals ever reopening. For example the launch of schemes to restore canals such as the Wey & Arun, Huddersfield, Lichfield and Thames & Severn have all been dismissed as ‘impossible’, ‘hopeless cases’ or ‘lost causes’ – even by people within the canal restoration movement.
But where the Wilts & Berks differed from these was that even the Canal Trust itself regarded reopening the canal as impossible. It was launched under the original name of Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group, with the ‘amenity’ bit intended to imply that the new group simply wanted to preserve
some of what was left of the old canal as a public amenity, with no hope of ever actually putting boats back on it as a through route. But if that’s a measure of how difficult it would be to reopen it, then perhaps it’s a measure of how the restoration movement was becoming more ambitious that after a few years (and to a certain amount of continuing scepticism) the Group changed its objectives to include full reopening to boats – not just of the Wilts & Berks but also its northern branch the North Wilts Canal. To-
Latton
Chaddington
The Wilts & Berks Canal’s south western end had its origins in some of the earlier routes proposed for the Kennet & Avon Canal, which would have run further north than the one eventually adopted, ser ving Marlborough, Calne, Chippenham and Melksham. Meanwhile its north eastern reaches can trace their origins back to an early plan for the Thames & Severn (now part of the Cotswold Canals restoration) which would have run further south and joined the Thames at Abingdon
The Wilts & Berks promised to serve all of these towns which had missed out on the earlier plans, and provide a third east-west route across southern England. Opened in 1810 from Abingdon on the Thames to Semington on the Kennet & Avon, it was 52 miles long with 42 locks. In 1819 it was joined by an important branch, the eight-mile North Wilts Canal which de-
When the group that’s leading the restoration was first formed, reopening the canal
gether with the Cotswold Canals and Kennet & Avon (which itself was still under restoration at the time) this would re-create the ‘Wessex Network’ stretching across much of southern England.
So why was it such a difficult restoration? Firstly because at all three of the places where it met up with other waterways, chunks of canal had disappeared under the expansion of nearby towns. The link to the Thames had vanished under Abingdon; the final few miles to the Kennet & Avon had
Length: 52 miles Locks: 42 (main line)
Length: 8 miles Locks: 11 (N Wilts)
Date closed: 1914
Grove
East Challow Wantage
To Oxford and Inglesham
River Thames
To Reading and London
Possible diversion in connection with reservoir (if built)
scended via 11 locks from a junction with the main line in Swindon to meet the Thames & Severn Canal at Latton.
It could have become part of something bigger: there was a proposal for a canal to continue the route from Abingdon to the Grand Junction (now the Grand Union) Main Line at Marsworth, providing a route to London that bypassed the River Thames which was an unreliable navigation at the time. But the only part of this route ever built was the Grand Junction’s Aylesbury Arm.
Unlike its neighbours which took wide-beam barges the Wilts & Berks was built for 7ft wide narrow boats. It was never really busy or profitable but carried a moderate trade mainly in coal from the Somerset coalfield. Competition from the Great Western Railway which paralleled much of its route led to a decline in trade. It was almost disused by the time an aqueduct failure west of Foxham closed it to through traffic. It was abandoned in 1914, some sections were filled in, the rest was left to decay, and much subsequently disappeared under roads, buildings, agriculture and par ticularly the expansion of the towns on the route.
been obliterated by the expansion of Melksham; a length on the approach to the Cotswold Canals had been filled in for housing construction on the edge of Cricklade. And secondly, because there the three arms met in Swindon… well, you can guess what happened there. Oh, and the M4 motorway crossed the canal with no bridge, as did the Great Western Railway in a couple of places. In other words, there was no chance of any piecemeal reopening from the junctions of the nearby navigable waterways anytime soon. Any sections which could be restored would be landlocked – and quite possibly isolated from each other by having Swindon or difficult road or rail crossings in between them.
The Trust did what such groups usually do in these circumstances: over its first 20 years or so it simply worked wherever it could get permission to work on local
projects – and from quite early days it was supported by WRG and other visiting volunteer groups. Early projects included a length leading west from Swindon; rebuilding Foxton Top Lock; locks in the Wantage area; and Moredon Aqueduct, the River Key Aqueduct and Moulden Lock on the North Wilts; in 1991 the Big Dig brought 1000 volunteers to Wantage to celebrate WRG’s 21st birthday with a massive scrub-bash and three miles of bonfires. Meanwhile an independent group did a lot of work at Dauntsey Lock and the flight of seven locks near Lyneham. At the same time it began to work on the possibilities for getting around the major blockages in the longer term – a diversion to the south to avoid the missing length in Abingdon; a route involving a length of the River Avon as an alternative way through Melksham; lengthy diversions running alongside the M4 around the south of Swindon.
However from around the Millennium onwards, things started to come together regarding the section of canal between Wootton Bassett and Swindon. It’s not been straightforward – steep cost overruns on one project gave the Trust some financial headaches and slowed things down for a while. But 20 years on, it’s really begun to move.
A decent length heading east from Wootton Bassett had already been cleared and watered; to the east of there, Chaddington (or Summit) Lock was restored
with support from visiting mobile groups under the Dig Deep Initiative; continuing from there towards Swindon a grant paid for a length at Studley Grangre to be restored. Between there and the restored length on the edge of Swindon (which had been one of the first sites to see restoration work) there was a problem in the form of the M4 motorway blockage. But there was also an opportunity in the form of Wichelstowe.
Wichelstowe is the new name (well actually the old name dredged up) for the large residential expansion of Swindon on the south side of the existing urban area. It extends over an area which includes a length of the canal’s proposed east-west diversion around the south side of Swindon. But it also incorporates a section of the canal’s original route, which is proposed to be retained as an arm leading into Swindon, and also for access to the North Wilts branch heading northwards. Now in the past, a plan to develop a huge new housing scheme on the line of a canal might have been seen as the kiss of death for any restoration plans. But these days (after a couple of decades of the canal restoration movement championing the idea) the developers have come around to the idea that having a canalside site is sufficiently desirable that it actually increases the value of the houses. So much so that it’s worth the developer sacrificing a few housing plots in order to give some of the others a canalside view. Not only that, it’s actually worth the developer paying the cost of restoring the canal – or even building it from scratch, in the case of the diversion route. (And OK, it’s also an opportunity for a supportive local authority to make this a planning condition.)
That’s something that’s been talked about on a lot of restoration projects – and actually happened on several occasions, for example the first length of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in Salford was reopened as the first phase of
the Middlewood commercial development (which promptly went bust, but that’s another story!) But Wichelstowe is (I think) the first where a brand new length of canal, complete with bridges and a new lock, has been built as part of a housing development – but with a long term view to reopening to navigation. At the same time, another part of the Wichelstowe development has brought about the restoration of part of the original canal line. And there’s more to come…
So where are we now? In brief… the sections of canal in Wichestowe are complete (although it’s taking time to track down some troublesome leakage on one of them). Much of the canal between there and Wootton Bassett is restored. Routes around the main obstructions have been identified. Elsewhere many individual projects have been completed on both the main line and the North Wilts, including all those described above plus others. These include the WRG-supported Jubilee Junction scheme which marked the Inland Waterways Association’s 60th birthday in 2006 by creating the new junction with the Thames and first 100 yards of canal on the new route around Abingdon; restoration of the Pewsham to Lacock length; the canal park at Shrivenham supported by an IWA ‘Waterways in Progress’ grant, the nearby rebuilt Steppingstones Bridge and more.
So what next? Although there’s work continuing on other sites such as Shrivenham, it looks like the main progress will continue to be the Wootton Bassett to Swindon length. The latest news is that work should be starting soon on the next stage of Wichelstowe, following the submitting of a planning application. This will involve rebuilding the ‘missing link’ section of canal that links up the two lengths already in existence: the length of
the original main line leading into the town, and the first part of the bypass running alongside the M4 around the south side of town. This will create a significant length of navigable canal, and it already has a tripboat operating on it. And there’s another plan to build the next short section of the diversion around Swindon as part of another housing scheme.
At the same time, there’s hope of progress on what might have seemed like one of the biggest challenges: the M4 motorway. The fund set up by Highways England to pay towards mitigation of environmental damage from new road schemes of recent decades has already been mentioned in Navvies in connection with the £4m it provided for reinstating the Cotswold Canals / A38 crossing near Whitminster. The Wilts & Berks has also put in for funding from the same pot – and although it hasn’t landed the big one yet, it’s already secured a £42,000 grant for feasibility studies into providing the M4 canal crossing. The Trust is hopeful that a larger sum for the detailed design will follow, and in due course a grant for the cost of building the actual bridge in a couple of years’ time. Meanwhile on the far side of the motorway, diversion of nearby roads, paid
for by Swindon Council in connection with the next phase of Wichelstowe, has already involved building a new bridge to carry Wharf Road over the canal when it gets there. So clearly somebody thinks there’s a good chance of the canal getting there…
But at the same time as these big projects by professional contractors there are sure to be plenty more jobs for volunteersthe Trust’s teams have been at work on the towpath at Studley Grange, at Shrivenham Canal Park (where they’ve installed a solarpowered pump to keep the canal topped up) and elsewhere - as well as running the tripboat and a visitor centre. See WBCT’s progress update on page 40 to see what they’ve been up to lately.
And then what? One other site that might just see some real progress in the not-toodistant future is the extreme south west end of the canal at Melksham. As we mentioned, the old course through the town has been lost, but a new route has been identified. This would leave the Kennet & Avon just a little west of the original junction, and descend on a new route via several locks to join the River Avon. The river would be made navigable through the town, with a new lock built alongside an existing weir, followed by more locks climbing back out of the river and rejoining the original route north of the town.
This area too is the subject of proposals for housing development. And here, too, there seems a good chance that some or all of the work to build the new link from the K&A to the Avon could be funded through the housing scheme. And having got boats from the national network reaching Melksham, extending to Lacock and Pewsham seems a lot more practicable.
Finally, on the eastern arm heading towards Abingdon, there’s the long-running on-off saga of Thames Water’s proposed large new reservoir, which (if it’s ever built) might just provide a channel for the easternmost length of the canal, doubling up as the reservoir’s emergency emptying channel. And at the Swindon end of this section, there are proposals for further expansion of the town on the east side, which could see more sections of canal built in the same way as the Wichelstowe schemes.
Oh, and a few years back, Swindon Council came up with a rather eye-catching scheme to reinstate the west-to-north canal route through the town centre, connecting up to the North Wilts Canal, by building brand new canal channels down the middle of some of the town’s streets. It might or might not happen, but clearly the canal’s come a long way since it was written off by its own supporters as impossible…
Martin Ludgate
Shropshire Union Canal Society near completion of the channel and towpath to Crickheath - and prepare for next year’s project on the length beyond
Late August update: Towpath ‘ton-up’ boys and Crickheath South project starts. The second August Work Party on the Shropshire Union Canal Society’s major project to complete the channel and towpath to the current reopening target at Crickheath Wharf was well attended by SUCS volunteers despite being in the middle of the holiday season. The principal aim of this work party was to develop as much of the towpath reconstruction as possible. The complete 330 metre length has to have wooden shuttering on the inside and outside edges, and then the middle section has to be dressed with graded stone and dust. A small team passed the 100 metre mark on second day and by close of play on Sunday had a total of 125 metres chalked off.
Other work saw another 2000 concrete blocks being laid to advance the lined channel to within 15 metres of the winding hole (turning point) already created at Crickheath. The connection to the winding hole, which is in water (retained behind a large clay dam), was due to be made at the start of October. The existing clay dam will be replaced by a temporary fabric dam whilst the clay is removed. The channel will then be incrementally filled with this water to test it.
More riprap stone and soil were added to exposed areas of the 1 metre section above the blocks. Riprap is designed to reduce the erosive effect of wash created by boat propellers. The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) funding that has financed the project will end in October, hence the need to complete all work by the end of that month – see below. The second big advance this month was the start of preliminary work for our next project, the channel beyond Crickheath Bridge to the new Schoolhouse Bridge. The fence posts were installed in the new compound, with the fence materials to follow later in the week.
Early September update: The rakers’ progress. The first September work party saw a change of emphasis from shaping, lining and block-laying to concentrating on towpath reconstruction. The 330 metre length of towpath has wooden shuttering on the inside and outside edges and the middle is dressed with graded stone and a top layer of fine
material. Teams working on different parts of the project delivered incredible distances of finished and prepared towpath.
The 220 metres from the previously finished section at Pryce’s Bridge had to be given a top layer of fine dust which was transported by power barrows, raked out and Wacker plated to compress it. To operate these endless, longdistance power barrow journeys from point of supply to point of tipping between the prepared narrow wooden shuttering required great skill and endurance from the drivers.
The process then advanced onto the next section on Sunday and another 125 metres were finished off by close of play on Sunday –remarkable!
At the Crickheath end another massive length of 117 metres of shuttering was added to take it to within 40 metres of the winding hole. A dressing of stone was added to build up the towpath to the required height so that the final topping of fine material can be added.
The milepost from this section that has been lovingly preserved by Judy and Peter Richards for many, many years was brought into position and will be installed at the next work party.
Late September update: Towpath team triumph on the Monty In beautiful dry weather, the second September work party of Shropshire Union Canal volunteers completed what had as of August seemed to be an impossible task. 330 metres of towpath has now been boarded with parallel lines of shuttering to retain the stone base. This has been top dressed with finings of stone dust and whacker plated to consolidate it. Large stones (riprap) have also been applied to the metre between
the blocked channel and the towpath. Finally soil has been added on top of the stones and on either side of the new towpath to encourage the growth of vegetation.
Another 30 metres of channel was covered in layers of liner and building blocks to bring the restored section to within 10 metres of Crickheath Basin.
The Canal and River Trust deadline for completing the towpath and shaping/lining of the channel was due to fall at the beginning of October. This would mean removing the clay dam that is retaining thousands of gallons of water in Crickheath Basin, enabled by Canal and River Trust installing a synthetic dam in front of the clay dam before the end of September thus allowing removal of the clay dam during the first October work party using a large digger from the off side. This was expected to be a very tricky operation but will expose the concrete base and sides of the basin and allow the waterproofing layers of liner in the channel to be sealed to these surfaces. These final 10 metres will then be paved with building blocks to weigh down the layers of material – hopefully we’ll report on it in the next issue.
Moving on: first post for the compound for 2023’s project
CRT intend to fill the channel with water to test the section in November with a view to opening the canal for navigation around Easter next year.
Fred Barrett
Wendover Canal Trust’s recent activities have
centred around three important tasks.
Firstly, building a ‘narrows’ – a vertical sided narrow section of canal channel – immediately beyond the limit of navigation on the restored and reopened section at Tringford, which will form a limit for widebeam craft as well as a location for stop-planks when the canal needs to be drained for maintenance.
Secondly, removing a large amount of household waste from 100 years ago consisting mainly of ash, which was used to fill in the length of canal from the site of the narrows onwards – and which needs disposal at a specialist tip, at considerable expense (funded thanks to recent grants from local authorities).
And finally continuing with the next section (continuing from Bridge 4) of the regular longrunning job of profiling and lining the channel with Bentomat (bentonite clay matting) for two miles from Tringford to Aston Clinton so that it will hold water (this section suffered from chronic leakage problems throughout its working life, leading eventually to it being drained, with the canal’s water supply function carried out by a pipeline instead).
August working party: The two-week August work party started on 5th August with the first week prioritising preparation work for ash removal from the tip area in the second week. The WCT work party followed on directly after the two weeks of Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camps (see Navvies 314 for camp reports).
Bridge 4: Surplus materials were moved from Bridge 4 and the shelter dismantled and moved to where the canal lining would be continuing.
At the end of the current lined section some of the spoil was moved and the end of the bed of Bentomat was uncovered. There were two areas of damaged Bentomat which were repaired by patching-in squares of Bentomat cut from the end of a roll. The joints were sealed with Bentonite granules. The next 40m roll of Bentomat was joined at the bed and sides and rolled out.
‘Sleeping policemen’ (concrete upstands to protect the Bentomat joint and to provide support across the canal channel) were cast at 10m intervals and backfill placed on the Bentomat. This work completed a further 40m of canal channel. The end of the Bentomat was covered with protective boards and surplus spoil was heaped over the back ready for the next connection.
Tip Area: The boundary fence at Henry Grace’s boundary was taken down and the materials stored. The stock fencing and barbed wire could possibly be reused. A survey of the fence lines to both sides of the canal channel was undertaken. The surplus spoil over the ash was scraped up and used as backfill in the canal channel at Bridge 4. A hard-core access track was laid to allow the muck-away lorries taking the ash away to the tip to be loaded direct at the excavation face. The 20 tonne excavator was delivered to site and the low loader was able to drive onto the site so there was no disruption to the traffic on Little Tring Road.
The second week of the work party concentrated on removing the ash from the tip area. There was an average of five volunteers each day due to the criteria of not having facial hair in order to effect a seal when wearing a face mask, a requirement of the control measures identified in the risk assessment.
The 20T excavator dug out the bulk of the ash, which was made much easier because it had a tilt rotator bucket which could be turned sideways or to any angle. The 5T excavator trimmed the sides down to the coal tar layer (a remnant of one of the many unsuccessful attempts to make the canal hold water – it was lined with tar) and moved ash to the 20T excavator.
By the end of the week 70 lorry loads of ash had been removed: 1400 Tonnes of material. The coal tar had been exposed over the full length on the towpath side but only part way on the offside. Discussions about boundaries of the canal cannot start until the full extent of the coal tar has been exposed and the channel surveyed. Well done to the team that spent the week excavating the tip.
Tidy Friday was spent continuing strimming and cutting the grass on the path, around the benches and at Whitehouses. The new powered wheeled strimmer donated in memory of David Page was used. This will save strimming time by 75% and will reduce the risks of vibration, noise and manual handling from using hand-held strimmers.
September Working Party: At Bridge 4 the orange plastic fencing was taken down and moved to the storage area while there was still access for plant along the bed of the canal. The vegetation along the towpath was cut back and a new post and rail fence erected to replace the orange fencing. Measurements were taken to allow more fencing to be ordered to make the area look tidy and finished.
Joints to the offside brickwork foundations were inspected and cut back where there was obvious damage or weak areas.
Canal Channel: Final profiling of the offside bank was carried out over the 40m ready to lay the Bentomat. Solid concrete blocks and coil roll was placed over the Bentomat to complete the lower section of bank lining. The banks are ready for backfilling when the spoil has reached the right moisture content (if the spoil is too dry it slides down the Bentomat).
The next roll of Bentomat was joined at the bed and sides and rolled out over a 20m length. ‘Sleeping policeman’ were cast at 10m intervals and backfill placed on the Bentomat. The rolled-up end of Bentomat was protected with timber boards.
Tip Area: More ash was excavated and stored at the end of the access track ready for disposal off site. Bottle collectors have been on site making the tip unsafe. Heras fencing has been erected across the site, but they are still getting in. in addition they have been throwing bottles onto the farmer’s land and he is worried that broken glass could injure his livestock.
Narrows: Progress has been made laying the coping to the top of the Narrows walls. Two concrete corner ‘stones’ have been cast. The excavation for 12m of the towpath strengthening wall has been carried out and a length of concrete blinding placed. Solid concrete blocks and bulk materials were moved to the area of the Narrows to allow WRG BITM to hold a work party on the weekend of 16-18 September.
Mikk BradleyRather than report on progress from the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals, we’ll just let these two pics of Wappenshall East Basin tell the story...
Jim Weir of Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust sent these two pictures to show just how much of a transformation there has been at their recent main worksite at Wappenshall East Basin. This is situated by the junction where the Shrewsbury Canal meets the Newport Arm of the Shropshire Union Canal. The pictures were taken from the historic warehouse by the basin. They both show the same view. The top picture is the site when the basin was still filled in. In the bottom picure it’s been dug out, the entire base has been concreted, the walls rebuilt and the canal rewatered.
The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust reports on benches, a boat and a drydock, and promises us some exciting news in the next issue of Navvies
The Canalside Partnership at Wichelstowe in Swindon – a development partnership between Swindon Borough Council and Barrett Homes, is proceeding with getting planning permissions to extend the existing stretch of canal in Swindon right up to the planned M4 crossing, with a branch connecting it to a short existing stretch at East Wichel; this will triple the navigable length we have there.
The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust has just acquired leases on two significant pieces of land –Naish Hill, between Chippenham & Lacock and Uffington
Gorse, a patch of woodland adjacent to the canal that we plan to turn into a canal park similar to the one we have been working on by Shrivenham that celebrates biodiversity. Memorial benches have been installed at three locations to commemorate three of our volunteers recently deceased – Roy Murrell and Chris Naish in our East Vale branch, and Kath Hatton, our major fundraiser for many years for the Trust as a whole, installed on our jetty in Swindon. Pictured [opposite page, top] is Roy’s bench.
In Swindon, work has begun on mapping the profile of a stretch that was dug out for fishing but is unsuitable to be a functioning canal as it is too shallow & narrow for steel boats to pass each other. Although out trip-boat Dragonfly can just get through, it’s effectively a one-way stretch. Our picture [opposite page, centre] shows the Trust’s Head of Boats (yours truly) doing some depth sounding!
We are revising most of our signage, staring with the information boards we have at many places along our 72-mile line, as many are embarrassingly out of date. A fresh look is needed, and artist Marilyn Trew has injected some maps with a difference! [above]
In our MCC Branch (Melksham, Calne & Chippenham), work is now complete on restoring the walls of the dry dock [opposite page, bottom] located there thanks to various donors; the next stage is to reconstruct its roof.
Next time we hope to have our most exciting news since restoration started!
Chris BarryRead more about the Wilts & Berks Canal in our restoration feature on page 28
Meanwhile the Wey & Arun Canal Trust are starting work on building the second of their two liftbridges on their Birtley section of canal
Wey & Arun Canal Trust volunteers have been making great progress on their latest major canal restoration project in Surrey, a few miles south of the point at which the Canal connects with the national waterway network near Shalford.
The Trust is restoring a section of canal at Birtley, near Bramley, to create a length of waterway initially suitable for kayakers, paddleboarders and canoeists to use, but ultimately as part of the long term plan to reopen the through route to the South Coast for inland waterways craft. As part of this project, work is underway to construct the second of two bridges in this picturesque area.
Three years ago an intensive three-week programme of Canal Camps built the first of these two bridges, initially with a temporary fixed low-level deck. At the site for the second bridge, the canal is blocked by a causeway that carries a bridleway and cycleway so volunteers have constructed a diversion to allow rightof-way use to continue while the bridge is built.
They have also worked with gas distribution company SGN to relocate
This drone shot arrived just as we were going to press and too late for our main Montgomery progress report. It shows that Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers had taken out the dam separating their worksite from the Crickheath winding hole, and were completing the last 10 metres of their channellining marathon ready for reopening to Crickheath in 2023. Full story next time.
a gas main under the canal bed.
Piling contractor Neil Foundations Systems set to work at the end of August and volunteers have now begun work on the bridge foundations. Concrete blinding was applied to the canal bed in September to create a sound working base, and working parties have been constructing formwork and steel cages at the Trust’s depot and site ahead of casting the concrete ground beams needed.
The bridge will be a manually operated lift bridge, and the same type of mechanism will be fitted to the first bridge, several hundred metres to the south, to replace the fixed deck.
You should find a book of raffle tickets for the Wey & Arun Canal Trust’s annual raffle enclosed with this issue.
Whilst there is of course absolutely no compulsion (nor even any gentle coercion) to contribute in this way, we wouldn’t include them if we didn’t support WACT’s aims. You can read opposite about work starting on the Trust’s latest project, a liftbridge similar to the one we helped them build in 2019. On page 24 you can read a report from a canal camp there earlier this year. And see below for their plans to give another apprentice a good start in a waterways career while progressing their restoration.
So please consider supporting them.
Having become the UK’s first canal restoration trust to take on an apprentice when Adam Rayner joined in 2021, the Wey & Arun Canal Trust is looking to take on a second apprentice as Adam prepares to join WACT’s small permanent staff.
The new Level 3 (A Level) Water Environment Worker Apprentice will help guide and lead teams of volunteers constructing new bridges (see opposite page) and carry out a wide range of waterway and environmental mini projects along the length of the canal as well as maintenance tasks.
The role offers on-the-job training combined with studying both remotely and in person at Bridgwater and Taunton College. Applicants need to enjoy working out-ofdoors, be self-motivated and have a clean driving licence. Applicants also require good organisation and problem-solving skills, as well as physical fitness and ability to communicate well with a wide range of people of all ages.
As WACT says, it offers “a fantastic opportunity for someone looking to learn new skills and forge a career in waterway restoration”, while “the training and experience offered will provide a great avenue for progression within the industry”.
See www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/ apprenticeship, search ‘Wey & Arun Canal Trust’
...to John Hawkins of WRG Print on being awarded the Inland Waterways Association’s Richard Bird Medal for long service on Navvies printing. John is pictured receiving the award from IWA’s acting Chief Executive (and longstanding WRG volunteer and supporter) Jonathan Smith.
...for failing to include anything in the last Navvies about the Inglesham Lock completion ceremony acknowledging all the hard work by volunteers from WRG an others (particularly KESCRG) at the lock at the eastern end of the Cotswold Canals. Our picture shows Rick Barnes and Jenny Morris with the commemorative pillar.
...for the increasingly late arrival of the last few issues of Navvies including this one. The editor takes full responsibility for this, and will endeavour to get the next one out on time before the Christmas break, if only so he doesn’t have to wish you all a happy Christmas in this issue while it’s still October...
“There’s a canal lock in here somewhere...” “There’s a canal lock in here somewhere...”
”Told you so!”
”Told you so!”
