Yet another event that’s finally returned after the pandemic is the annual BCN Cleanup. As well as the usual shopping trolleys the volunteers found assorted other items. As seen above left they have a better class of cable thieves on the Walsall Canal - they thought to pack the insulation away tidily in a suitcase before they lobbed it in the cut. Above right and below right: BCN Society and CRT were on hand with boats to take the junk away to the skips. Below left: the editor found himself a new bike! See page13 for a full report and more pictures from the weekend
Fran Burrell
Uncredited pictures by the editor
For latest news on our activities visit our website wrg.org.uk
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Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road, East Dulwich London SE22 9PB 020-8693 3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk
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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.
Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association, (registered office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA), a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.
Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, George Eycott, Emma Greenall, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Nigel Lee, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.
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Cover: The annual BCN Cleanup working party returned for the first time since 2020. See page 13 for a full report. (picture: Martin Ludgate) Back cover: A rather different kind of volunteer work taking place on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals - covering the newly installed sewage treatment plant tanks for the Wappenshall Warehouse toilet block with a layer of concrete. See progress report on page 21. (picture: Bernie Jones)
The Wey & Arun Canal Trust has suffered criminal damage to its restored length of canal which will cost over 50 grand to fix. Please help!
Help the Wey & Arun! We were appalled to hear, just as we were preparing to send this issue to press, that the Wey & Arun Canal had been hit by a major vandalism attack. And we’re not just talking about the annoying but unfortunately commonplace graffiti, ripping up of newly planted trees or the like. No, in this case those responsible destroyed the control equipment at multiple locations for the canal water back-pumps which have been installed by the Wey & Arun Canal Trust at every rebuilt or new lock on the Loxwood Link restored section as a way of ensuring a decent water supply on a canal which historically struggled for water. In addition, they removed security padlocks and opened lock paddles to release water, causing serious damage and putting at risk the Trust’s Easter boat trips (an important money-spinner as well as a big publicitygenerator for the Trust’s restoration work) and potentially disappointing many customers.
Altogether it looks likely to cost more than £50,000 to repair. Which is not only money that the Trust can ill afford at a time of high inflation (and even higher rises in costs of construction work), but it will impact restoration progress in other ways - for example having to concentrate on putting things right will take WACT away from restoration work, and make it more difficult in the short term to accommodate visiting groups such as WRG.
I’m not going to get into who might have done the damage or why, or what we’d like to do to them (other than to say that WACT is working with Sussex Police, who anyone with any information should contact on 101 quoting “0731 of 02/ 04/23”) because there’s something much more useful that we can do.
Pictures by WACT
The Trust has launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the repairs, and we can all contribute to it by going to weyarun.org.uk/loxwood-appeal. Please consider making a donation. And to end on a brighter note, the Canal Trust’s volunteers managed to install temporary pumps just in time for the Easter boat trips to run - although managing water levels is going to be tricky until permanent repairs can be carried out.
A clash of dates: In Mike Palmer’s Chairman’s Comment on pages 6-7 you can read some more of his thoughts about the summer’s Canal Camps, and about how organising the week-long summer camps programme has been gradually getting back up to speed after the last few years. But it’s not just about week-long Canal Camps...
Elsewhere in this magazine you will read two reports from weekend working parties. One was a joint weekend by three of the mobile groups, London WRG, KESCRG and WRG Forestry, carrying out tree and vegetation clearance on a new worksite on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. The other was the post-Covid return of the annual BCN Cleanup, run jointly as a WRG centrally booked weekend also involving local canal groups in the West Midlands, and spent throwing grappling hooks into lesser-used parts of the Birmingham Canal Navigations network, hauling out old bikes, shopping trolleys, tyres and other junk (this year we found a kettle, a bog seat and a ceremonial sword!)
It’s good to see these events getting back up to speed too, alongside the week-long summer Canal Camps, but the eagle-eyed among you might notice from a couple of slightly cryptic comments in the dig reports that we managed to organise both of them on the same weekend - which was a shame as quite a few volunteers (including the Editor) would have liked to have gone on both of them. Now once again I’m not going to get into recriminations about whose ‘fault’ it was (and both events had good reasons for not being shifted from that date), but I will say that: (1) the fact that both events were successful despite the clash is one more sign of things generally getting back to a healthy state and (2) it’s clearly time to bring back the Navvies diary pages, which haven’t been a regular feature for some time (because postpandemic so much of what we’ve done has been organised to a shorter timescale and on a more ad-hoc basis than it used to be) but would help prevent clashes like this. So I will!
In Navvies 316 I said “2023 is not the year to decide to give Canal Camps a miss and go trekking in the Himalayas!”. Well it seems you have taken me at my word as it took just a few days for our 2023 Canal Camps schedule to become pretty much fully booked. There are still a few places available and, right now, it’s looking pretty likely that we will be adding some more Camps to the schedule soon and so, if you haven’t got a place yet, keep looking. Why do I say with confidence “looking pretty likely”? Well, you know that suggestion I made that (perhaps) all our local societies might use the ‘gap’ that the pandemic created to do some more intensive planning and get even more work ready to go. Well it does feel like it’s come to pass. Normally at this time of year we would be getting approached by (say) the Nitts and Stuffs Canal Society with “any chance of a Canal Camp?” But in the last couple of months it’s been more the case that they have been asking for three or four weeks (each!) Now obviously not all these requests will result in Canal Camps this year. But if one or two of them do then that’s a significant increase!
And even if none of these possible Camps happen, we are going to need to be at the top of our game for the foreseeable future. Why? Well, let’s have a think about the current situation:
Firstly for many of us it’s a return after a gap of a few years. So many of us are going to be a bit ‘rusty’ and therefore we need to be careful.
Secondly, you can apply exactly that thinking/reasoning to those of us trying to run the organisation. So you may need to bear with us.
Finally (and this is a slightly bigger ‘picture’), just like those local societies, WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association has also been working away. In particular they managed to produce the excellent report Waterways for Today.
This report outlines the benefits that the waterways network provides to the whole of the country (not just the boaters/anglers/towpath walkers that immediately spring to mind). It provides genuine documented evidence for all of these benefits and, crucially for us, every justification for supporting a navigable waterway also applies for a waterway under restoration. So with campaigns like this it is highly possible that more opportunities/projects will appear.
So that’s my thoughts as to the importance of our work for the next few years. Daunting? Well, let me tell you my thoughts on that as well:
I’ve known WRG a very long time and for all that time it’s been an organisation that has always risen to any challenge. Now traditionally at this point in the story the phrase “WRG is built on its people” or similar would be trotted out. Which is of course true, but I’d like to try putting a slightly less sickly coat of paint on that. It’s the way all you people behave, be that bringing (unbidden) a barrow load of bricks to the brickie about to run out; offering some help to the volunteer unloading a van; or grabbing a tea-towel when you see someone else plunge their arms in the sink.
Then, to build on this image of special people (and I’m rather glad to say my phrase in navvies 317 of “sitting The IWA report, available online
“Waterway Recovery Group is an immensely strong, resilient organisation that can take any challenge and rise to it...”
round a table and sharing good food, good thoughts and good laughter with good friends” appears to have been well received)…
WRG has always been an organisation based around pragmatism. The ‘hard and fast’ rules we do possess have usually come up through the ranks, and the ‘unspoken’ rules always have. It makes it a wonderful organisation to run - perhaps a little strange to those viewing from the outside, but hopefully everyone on the inside can see that we way we do things make sense. It’s not only wonderful but it also inspires in me great confidence about all of you. Waterway Recovery Group is an immensely strong, resilient organisation that can take any challenge and rise to it. I mean – what else would we do?
And on the subject of ‘unspoken rules’ and ‘the way we do things: just to clear up any misinterpretation of a couple of decisions we have recently made...
. A default size of 12 volunteers per Camp: This has come from both general feedback and our Covid Working Group. The feeling was that increased spacing was appreciated generally but also meant that in the event of any ‘infectious development’ (not just Covid) it would spread less quickly and therefore it would give you more time to spot it and take any necessary actions.
Now what we really should be doing is poring over the dimensioned floorplans of each Village Hall that we keep in our database in Head Office and providing a precise figure as to how many volunteers each Camp could support. Except, of course, we don’t have them and even if we did, there is no guarantee that they would be accurate ever since the Lower Nittwell Village Hall installed their third shower room (!), and certainly we could only guess how a Leader likes to arrange the village hall anyway (“Oh I like the Burco over there and the Toaster near the firedoor” etc).
So we took the rather clumsy but terribly pragmatic decision to make the ‘default limit’ for each Camp 12 volunteers (including Leader / Assistant / Cook). That is just a starting point – if the Leader looks at both the accommodation and worksite and feels that the number could go up then we will increase the size of the Camp – the majority of the summer Camps have already done this.
. Giving the Camp bookings link to each leader in advance of it appearing on the WRG website: This was not about making sure that all the leader’s mates got preference over ‘normal’ bookings via the website. It was about making sure that those with the rightskill set for the job were allowed to book on before the camp was fully booked. Especially if the numbers were kept down to 12, then it became even more important that the people with the right skillset got preferential booking. This tactic was all about getting ‘the right tools for the right job’.
Mike PalmerLooking forward to two training events in the near future to help hone your skills ready for the forthcoming summers Canal Camps programme
The date has been fixed for Saturday, 13 May 2023, and the venue is at the traditional location of Rowington Village Hall, Rowington Green, CV35 7BU; What3Words = driven.amuses.basics). Please ignore any previous dates or locations you might have seen or been told.
The day is open to everyone who leads or aspires to lead WRG Canal Camps or working weekends. A leadership team is formed of the leader, an assistant leader and, perhaps most importantly, the cook. The day could also be useful to local societies who organise work parties of any duration or ask WRG to assist on week-long or weekend digs.
The day formally starts at 10:00 but breakfast products will be available from 09:30. We have the hall from about 18:00 on the Friday for anyone who wants to travel the previous evening. There will be no catering provided on the Friday (apart from tea and coffee) but there is the kitchen, which could be used, and there is the Tom o’ the Wood pub just a gentle stroll away.
Lunch and supper will also be provided on the day. Attendees are encouraged to stay overnight in the hall and attend the WRG Committee Meeting on the Sunday morning at 10:00 to get an understanding of all the things that have to be done in the background to allow Canal Camps to go ahead.
Bookings must be made in advance through the WRG website wrg.org.uk or by telephoning WRG Head Office on 01494 783453; please advise of any dietary or other requirements. There is no charge for attending the LTD.
This year, as always, leaders will be brought up to date on all those matters that enable a Canal Camp to go ahead safely, efficiently and effectively. Some things will be familiar to experienced leaders, but complacency cannot be allowed to occur and we have new leaders on camps who will not be so familiar with the key elements of running a Canal Camp and be grateful for reminders and tips.
There will be time for attendees to fire in questions, suggestions and comments and generally get things off their chests. Updates on legal and WRG requirements will be provided. There will also be sessions where leaders can help each other in developing ways to communicate amongst each other, to exchange vans and trailers before and after Canal Camps, to exchange ideas on integrating and organising their teams, amongst other things.
WRG would like leadership teams to share and develop ideas and practices to help make the Canal Camps even better than they normally are; especially for the leaders who quite often bear the brunt of the work at the start and end of the weeks.
If you have any questions, please contact Jenny or Verena at WRG HQ on 01494 783453 or message David (Evvo) Evans.
Keep On Digging
Dave ‘Evvo’ EvansA little earlier than usual, this year’s Training Weekend will take place on Saturday 27 th and Sunday 28th May with accommodation available from Friday evening. The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust have been kind enough to welcome us onto their site at Fosseway Heath once again, providing us with a fantastic, central place to update skills needed for the forthcoming Canal Camps season.
We are hoping to provide initial training and refresher sessions across a range of skills that have been identified as a priority for this summer: small excavators, dumpers, vans and trailers, site tools, bricklaying and pointing.
The weekend would be ideal for those who are in need of a refresher session before Canal Camps start. Leaders may also be aware of volunteers who are attending their weeks and would benefit from having some experience in the skills outlined above. Additionally, if you are an instructor, able to volunteer and share your expertise over the two days, please do get in touch.
Volunteers can register their interest through our website wrg.org.uk or by contacting head office on 01494 783453 or enquiries@wrg.org.uk.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Ali ‘Womble’ BottomleyThe annual Restoration Conference, jointly organised and funded by Canal & River Trust and WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association, this year took place at the Winding Wheel, Chesterfield – just a short walk from the terminus of the Chesterfield Canal. Approximately 100 delegates from lots of different canal restoration societies, CRT and IWA attended to hear from three keynote speakers along with a choice of breakout sessions, networking and the opportunity for guided and self-guided walks along the canal.
Julie Sharman, Chief Operating Officer for CRT, opened the day with a reminder of why this year’s theme, Creating a Sustainable Waterway, is so important. Sustainability is often misinterpreted as meaning only environmental sustainability – but restoration also needs to consider social and economic sustainability. The latter is particularly relevant to CRT at the moment, with the noises coming out of CRT’s central government grant renegotiation not being particularly positive. To anybody restoring and using the canal network, the positive impact waterways have is undeniable and obvious – but it is an unfortunate reality that this isn’t always the case for those holding the purse strings.
However a partially or fully restored canal is looked after (and whoever it’s looked after by), the current reality is that it needs to plan on generating sufficient income to pay for its upkeep. The keynote speakers for the day therefore focused on the journey from restoration to future custodianship with lessons from smaller navigations.
The first keynote speaker was yours truly, with probably
the easiest talk of the three, as I got to talk about restoration itself. As you may be aware, the Chesterfield Canal Trust was granted £5.3m in 2022 through the Staveley Towns Fund, part of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda. This will deliver the next half-mile of canal from Staveley to the river Doe Lea, stopping just before a very expensive aqueduct is required! The scheme is a departure from the historic norm in restoring the canal, as for the first time it will be the Chesterfield Canal Trust leading the project, not relying on other partners.
I therefore talked about some of the lessons learned in transitioning to a delivery organisation – some of the key processes and governance arrangements that we’ve had to develop, the importance of a very clear understanding of scope and budget, and the changing attitude and understanding around risk management. All of these lessons can be applied on any scale of project.
Up second was Gemma Gregory, Countryside Service Manager at Derbyshire County Council, who manages the length of restored Chesterfield Canal in Derbyshire. Gemma has been a stalwart of the restora-
Every year, representatives of Britain’s waterway restoration projects meet to share best practice, info and lessons learned. George Rogers reports...Restored Chesterfield west end: maintained by Derbyshire Council although funding available is limited. The Hub building (left) helps Martin Ludgate
tion and management of the Chesterfield Canal for the last 17 years and was therefore able to share some of the key challenges in transitioning from restoration to operation and then operating a canal on a steadily reducing budget and workforce.
In this, a clearly defined handover process is really important, as is a well-designed, well-constructed and welldocumented canal that properly considers the future maintenance requirements. Identifying the future operator, consulting with them and developing a funding plan are essential. Working with strong partnerships and developing key relationships is really important –Gemma and I were able to talk about the strong working relationship we have, where we don’t always agree but we can work through everything professionally and with the necessary understanding of each other’s organisations.
A welcome tea break followed and a
chance for further networking. Several of the local canal societies had brought publicity stands and these were also popular at this time.
After tea, the conference split into two breakout sessions. The first, led by Evie Challinor and Richard Harrison from CRT, looked at some of the Environmental challenges in restoring a canal, focusing on lessons being learned on the Montgomery Canal – particularly relevant at the moment as there is some local objection to the restored canal being used for powered boating, because it is now a really vibrant ecological corridor. That it is only that way because of it being a canal, and that without boating it will only degrade back to a dry ditch, is often lost in the discussion – but I digress!
The other breakout session focused, as compère Paul Rodgers so eloquently put it, on ‘Terry’s piles’. Terry Cavender, from the Buckingham Canal Society, ran a session on temporary works – including the design and installation of the large stock of steel piles that many of you will have seen photographs of on social media. A par-
ticularly huge thanks is due to Terry, as he stepped in to deliver this session only a couple of days before the conference when the original speaker unavoidably had to withdraw.
After the breakout sessions came the all-important lunch break with much more networking. These periods are really important for informal discussions, answering further questions and just catching up with people you haven’t seen – in many cases for four years (since although the conference did take place in 2022, a lot of people were still suffering the after-effects of Covid and couldn’t be there).
Following lunch, Roger Clay, Engineering Director at the Avon Navigation Trust, talked about the challenges of operating a waterway post-restoration. This was a fascinating insight into some of the work and equipment required. Lots of people assume that all the income for maintaining a canal comes from boats, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Roger talked about the fleet of work boats and engineering facilities – and how the Trust derives a lot of income from also carrying out contract work for the likes of the Environment Agency and others. Volunteers also still play an integral part in being the eyes and ears, with Reach Masters looking after specific lengths.
Wrapping up the inside portion of the day, Les Etheridge, National Chair of the IWA, summarised some of the key points learned and brought it back to the theme of sustainability and the stark reminder from Julie Sharman that funding to maintain canals is not guaranteed. Les talked of some of the campaigning work that IWA will be leading to promote maintaining and increasing funding to canals and encouraged everyone to get involved – else the canals we’re
restoring may not have anything to connect to or survive in the long-term. With this rallying call, the formal part of the day drew to a close.
Afterwards, there was an opportunity for delegates to go and see some of the past work done to restore the Chesterfield Canal and some of the work yet to come. Selfguided walks looked at the Chesterfield end, with a walk from the conference venue to Tapton Lock, where restoration efforts really kicked off, as well as a walk at Renishaw, where works are about to start again. A guided walk went from Staveley Town Basin and explored the works to be completed in the Towns Fund project.
Overall, the event was a great success and much positive feedback was received. A huge thanks to the organisers at IWA and CRT, particularly Jenny, Verena & Emma, as well as to those who started the organising but weren’t there for the event – Jenny Morris & Jodie Weathers. Thanks to all of the other volunteers who supported, particularly the Chesterfield Canal Trust volunteers who assisted with signin, official photography, and led the walks. Finally thanks to my fellow speakers and our compère for keeping us punctual (almost).
George Rogers
The annual BCN Cleanup returned after two years’ absence, concentrating this year on keeping the Walsall Canal clear of bikes, trolleys and the rest...
Every year in the early spring, many of our volunteers take a brief break from restoring canals to spend a weekend looking after some of the waterways that are already open and used by boats. Or rather, they’d be used a bit more by a few more boats if they didn’t have an unfortunate tendency to attract rubbish from an anti-social minority of the local residents. We’re talking about the offthe-beaten-track bits of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) system, a fascinating network of industrial and ex-industrial canals covering the Birmingham and Black Country areas. Not only do they have their own loyal fan-club among boaters dedicated to exploring them, but these canals can also make a contribution to improving the environment in some rather deprived areas. However that relies on them being kept in decent condition –otherwise they’ll descend into a vicious circle of attracting rubbish and deterring boaters and other users.
So the role of the annual Cleanup is to break that circle and keep the canals open – basically by several dozen people descending on particularly bad sections, armed with grappling hooks, and pulling out as much rubbish as they can. And it attracts volunteers from WRG, local canal groups and the local people, and is supported by the BCN Society and the local Canal &
River Trust team who provide workboats to take the rubbish away for disposal or recycling.
We’ve missed two years’ worth of Cleanups as a result of Covid and other issues, but we returned to the BCN in March 2023. Leader Chris Morgan takes up the story...
Well, we did it. We didn’t think it would happen but it did!
After two years off (2021 and 2022) we got the event out of the bag after the Canal & River Trust local management’s enthusiasm to have it again on the Walsall canal prevailed.
We had about 27 volunteers between the accommodation and the three visiting
boats as well as day visitors and 10-plus CRT volunteers and management in fine new blue sweatshirts.
The WRG volunteers had to go through a second safety talk at Ocker Hill by CRT after myself and my team leader Dave ‘Moose’ Hearnden had done the obligatory one at the accommodation, so all were well prepared.
Saturday saw us throwing our grappling hooks in between Ryders Green Locks and Moorcroft Junction. There were the usual antics at the Great Bridge Asda site as the reef of trolleys was dislodged and grappled free of the BCN mud; I swear some regulars had tears in their eyes when the parfum de BCN hit the senses, they had genuinely missed this annual fix!
22 trolleys emerged from the depths in all. CRT inform us that they are in talks with Asda who now have their own team to deal with this issue… [ Post-Cleanup note: on Monday after the event the BCNS boat crew going back up the locks collected 6 new trolleys deposited in the same place so I think talks need to continue.]
Saturday evening saw some crews disappearing to the Fountain Inn to meet up with BCNS volunteers for a debrief, whilst others went off for a guided walk taking in the Lost Line of the canal from Tipton Green to the New Main line, thanks to Martin for enabling this.
Back to the accommodation and some great grub cooked by Maria and George, and the local ale from Ma Pardoe’s and The Black Country Ales Brewery.
We all got together to sing a song to Maria, who announced this was her last BCN as Cook as she wants to get her grappling hook out next year, so Any volunteers please contact me or Moose. Seriously this event will not happen unless we can get a new cook, please. Maria is happy to share advice and tips so please get in touch if you are interested.
What a sterling job Maria has done - 20 plus BCN Cleanups as cook - and no one has gone hungry, and the greedy ones always get extras! Thank you Maria. (and assistant George obviously).
On Sunday after breakfast we were all dropped at Midland Rd Bridge in Darlaston to hit the bridge holes, it was Tesco’s turn to delight and entertain with a variety of new and nearly new trolleys extracted from the depths.
Plastics, fences, ironing boards, bikes, tyres, strimmers, scaffold poles, car seats were all included in the detritus pulled out. It was a 3 mile walk back to Ocker Hill sign-on point and we all made it. Well done to Jim and his bad knees: I know he cursed Moose at every bridge, thank goodness for the non-vandalised benches.
We said our goodbyes to CRT and thanked them for keeping us so ultra safe and headed to the accommodation for lunch before we decamped.
I’d like to thank Moose and Maria, without either of whom this camp would not have taken place, also to George for assisting Maria and all the van drivers for getting us safely to and from site, the intrepid BCNS (Birmingham Canal Navigation Society) volunteers who had two full days and two very full boat loads but also cleared the towpath of mud, a task that often goes unmentioned - we couldn’t do it without them.
The staff at the accommodation were as friendly as usual, despite some toilet hiccups that were sorted when reported.
I would like to thank the regulars who turned up and made up for those who were missing somewhere in Shropshire, and yet still all the beer was drunk and paid for!!
It was great to see Verena and Jenny from head office on their first camps, and I think they enjoyed it. I would have to say I was expecting us to pull more out having had two years off, but for a small group we were kept busy. It really was great to see you all after the break.
Where to next year? We will see… we need a cook, or perhaps Karen will (LOL)…. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm for the BCN.
Canal Camps cost £80 per week or as stated. Bookings for WRG Camps with Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, enquiries@wrg.org.uk. Diary
Apr 26-May 2
IWA/WRG Providing site services team for IWA Canalway Cavalcade festival at
May 13 WRG Leader Training Day at Rowington - see page 8 for details. Leader:
May 20-21
May 20-21
KESCRG Working party: Wendover Arm with London WRG
London WRG Working party: Wendover Arm with KESCRG
May 27-28 WRG Training WRG Training Weekend on the Lichfield Cana - see page 9 for details.
Jun 10-11
Jun 10-11
Jul 1-8
Jul 8-15
Jul 15-22
Jul 22-29
Jul 22-29
Jul 29-Aug 5
Jul 29-Aug 5
Aug 5-12
Aug 5-12
Aug 12-19
Aug 18-25
Sep 16-17
Oct 7-8
KESCRG Working party: date and venue to be confirmed
London WRG Working party: date and venue to be confirmed
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CC2023-12
Cotswold Canals Camp: initial works on restoring Westfield (John
Cotswold Canals Camp: restoring Westfield (John Robinson) Lock.
Cotswold Canals Camp: restoring Westfield (John Robinson) Lock.
Cotswold Canals Camp: building culvert under Westfield (John Robinson)
Lichfield Canal Camp: creating a towpath through Darnford Moors Ecology
Cotswold Canals Camp: building culvert under Westfield (John Robinson)
Lichfield Canal Camp: creating a towpath through Darnford Moors Ecology
Lapal Canal Camp: Building towpath access ramp and steps in Selly Oak
Derby Canal Camp: Work to be confirmed, possibly Borrowash Lock.
Louth Navigation Canal Camp: repairing Ticklepenny Lock. Leaders:
Neath Canal Camp: Installing drainage under towpath, reinstating lock
London WRG Wey & Arun Canal: likely to be working on Birtley No 2 Swingbridge
London WRG Working party: Shrewsbury & Newport Canals
Nov 4-5 WRG
Dec 2-3
Dec 2-3
London WRG
KESCRG
Possible WRG Reunion’Bonfire Bash’ working party - venue to be
Joint Christmas dig and party with KESCRG on the Wey & Arun Canal
Joint Christmas dig and party with London WRG on the Wey & Arun
number e.g. 'Camp 202302' should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, contributions to Dave Wedd. Tel: 07816-175454, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
Little Venice Pete Fleming pete.fleming@waterways.org.uk
Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Leader: Ali Bottomley01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Robinson) Lock. Leaders: Mike Palmer / Becky Parr01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Leaders: Bill Nicholson / Graham Hawkes01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Leaders: Stephen Davis / Ed Walker01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Lock. Leaders: Stephen Rice / Sandra Horner 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Park. Leaders: Jess Leighton / Colin Hobbs01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Lock. Leaders: Mike Palmer / Becky Parr01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Park. Leaders: Colin Hobbs / Andy Pritchard 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Park. Leaders: Dave Evans / Paul Harrowsmith 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Leaders to be confirmed01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Mikk Bradley / Mick Lilliman01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
bridges. Leaders: Paul Rodgers / Will Radice Horne 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
confirmed01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
Canal Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Having completed rebuilding work on the Montgomery Canal to Crickheath ready for an opening soon, SUCS have moved on to the next section...
Crickheath South work party reportMarch 3-5, 2023: This Shropshire Union Canal Society work party on the new section south of Crickheath Bridge (having completed the lengths up to that point - see reports in previous issues of Navvies) is best characterised by the 3 P’s: Plant, Progress and Pace. An outstanding achievement thanks to the volunteers’ efforts and some kind weather.
Traditionally, March is the first month when plant operations recommence on site. Since February’s work party, the site had received virtually no rainfall at all and weather conditions during the work party were similarly benign, albeit a little chilly at times. Diggers and dumpers were put to maximum effect and even the task of cleaning them at
the end was very quick and simple. By Saturday, the multitude of tree stumps remaining from the previous vegetation clearance were removed over the full length of Phase 1B. This included 20 classified as ‘substantial’ or ‘monster’. The redundant 10" concrete drain, headwalls and chamber were also removed from the channel and by close of
play on Sunday over 110m of Phase 1B had been site stripped.
Friday saw a superb turnout of 21 Society volunteers complemented by three volunteers from CGI who planted some hedging kindly donated by the company. There have been bonfires on each of the recent work parties but this month’s effort surpassed the lot. Whilst a number of volunteers diligently attended to the bonfire,
others took the opportunity to completely clear Phase 1A of brash, and carefully replanted snowdrops that had colonised the channel. With pumping and low rainfall, Phase 1A is now clear of water in the channel although the ground remains a little soft for plant work at the bridge end. As well as permitting vegetation clearance in this area, it was also possible to complete the surveying of the channel profile up as far as Crick-
Length: 35 miles Locks: 27 Date closed: 1936 (breach south of Frankton), 1944 (legally abandoned)
Crickheath South Project
Crickheath Bridge 85
Phase 1A
Phase 2
Phase 1B
Schoolhouse Bridge 86
The Crickheath South Restoration Project is the Shropshire Union Canal Society’s latest project on the Montgomery Canal, and carries on from where the last project finished at Crickheath.
It continues southwards towards Llanymynech and covers the 750 metres between Crickheath Bridge and the soon to be rebuilt Schoolhouse Bridge. Engineering wise it’s expected to be simpler than the last project with no significant subsidence, and ground investigations by the Canal & River Trust revealing no areas of its primary cause, peat. The project is divided into three phases:
Llangollen Canal to Llangollen
7 miles reopened Frankton to Gronwen Bridge
Gronwen Bridge: current navigable limit, reopening to Crickheath imminent
Frankton
To Hurleston
Aston Locks
Former Weston Arm Llanymynech
Carreghofa Locks (restored)
Arddleen
Burgedin Locks
Pant
School House Bridge (to be reinstated)
Short restored length with trip-boat at Llanymynech on Welsh border
4 road blockages between Llanymynech and Arddleen
Welshpool
Berriew
Refail
Garthmyl
Crickheath Newtown
12 mile isolated restored navigable length from Arddleen through Welshpool to Refail
3 locks restored but several road blockages remain south of Refail
Phase 1A covers the first 180m through Crickheath village. and features a former tramway wharf on the offside. In places the wharf wall has been repaired or rebuilt but two thirds of the length (over 100m) requires attention. Phase 1B continues through open country covering half of the remaining distance to Schoolhouse Bridge. Phase 2 covers the remainder and is characterised by being in a cutting, the offside bank being rather steep in places. Preparatory work began in 2021 and continues apace as described in this report.
Final length into Newtown obstructed by sewer in canal bed, terminus basin built on, possibility of diversion to new terminus
heath Bridge. The channel over the entire project has now been surveyed ‘pre-site strip’ and further surveying will be undertaken as the site strip progresses.
Finally, on Sunday, we welcomed four members of the Dry Stone Walling Association from Cheshire who are keen to help with repairs to the tramway wharf and came to meet us. We all have a much better idea of what will be involved and the most effective way to proceed. Work on the wall repairs is scheduled to start later in the spring.
We are always looking for new volunteers and members. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should see shropshireunion.org.uk/ work-party-schedule for details of dates and contacts. Please encourage family, friends and colleagues to become members of the society - please see
shropshireunion.org.uk/support-us/ membership for details of how to join.
More details on the Shropshire Union Canal Society’s restoration activities, including detailed work party reports, can be found at shropshireunion.org.uk/restoration/.
See the previous page for an overview of the Crickheath South restoration project and explanation of the phases.
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust continue restoration and conversion work at Wappenshall warehouses and welcome WRG Forestry to Berwick
WRG Forestry did a fantastically professional job of dismantling a large dangerous Goat Willow at our Berwick Tunnel North Portal site (see photo). This will enable us to more easily access the towpath with excavators and dumpers now.
Work continues at the Wappenshall site (where the historic warehouses by the junction of the Shrewsbury and Newport canals are being restored as a canal centre) too. We have installed three large sewage treatment plant tanks and connected the foul drainage to them from the toilet block. The latter is coming on well now: both inner and outer walls, complete with insulation, are halfway up and the new windows have been installed. We have almost completed replacement of all spalled brickwork on the outside of the building and quotes are being obtained for doors and windows. Once the toilet block roof is on and all doors and windows are in, the building will be weatherproof and ready for inside work to start.
Bernie JonesSee also back cover photograph
The Plan: Wendover Canal Trust’s plan was to carry out vegetation works along the towpath between Wendover and Halton (that’s part of the length of canal that remains in water but at a reduced level and functions as a feeder, beyond the far end of WCT’s long-running Tringford to Aston Clinton channel rebuilding project) on behalf of Canal and River Trust (CRT) to enable the towpath upgrade to be carried out this year. WCT had secured some funding to carry out towpath improvement works and a second part of the February work party was to surface a trial length of towpath at Little Tring. No work was planned for the relining of the canal. The canal water level had risen and WCT were able to rewater the section of rebuilt and re-lined canal between Bridge 4 and Bridge 4a and further investigate the water leak.
Towpath vegetation work: WCT had agreed a scope of the vegetation work with CRT. This was used to identify the vegetation work and to act as a check list when carrying out the work. WCT volunteers managed to complete the full 2.7km of vegetation work during the work party. During the work the towpath was kept open and there were many complimentary comments from towpath users. In addition, the vegetation was cleared at the Wharf Road entrance to the canal, allowing the canal to be seen from the road.
Towpath upgrade at Little Tring: Approximately 180m of the towpath was excavated to receive 150mm of surfacing material. The specification was for MOT Type 1, compacted in two layers over a layer of geotextile. The Type 1 was found to be of an open nature with little fine material to bind it. A surface dressing of fine material ( Type 1 graded 6mm to dust) has been applied in places.
Volunteers managed to lay and compact the first layer of Type 1 over the full length of towpath that had been prepared and to complete the two compacted layers over approximately 100m. Again the towpath was able to be kept open and volunteers received many complimentary comments and were asked when the next towpath section was going to be surfaced.
To reduce the manual labour WCT purchased an electric powered wheel barrow which proved to be very useful. A later section of the towpath employed a 1 ton ‘skip loader’.
In order to continue extending the towpath, should funds be available, hedge trimming was carried out over a further 40m of the towpath.
Canal water level: Higher water levels in the canal at Drayton meant that water flowed into the section of canal between bridges 4 and 4a. This allowed the stop planks at Bridge 4 to be checked for watertightness and sealed using wood ash. The sealing was partially successful, but needs more work.
WCT were able to check the repair to the sluice at Whitehouses. The sluice was found to be watertight so the repair that WCT had carried out proved to be successful.
When the area at the site of the former swing bridge was pumped down, it was found that there was some water leaking through the walls, most noticeably at the expansion joint. A representative from Oxford Hydrotechnics visited the site to provide advice and suggested that the weak point in the walls, bridge hole and mooring wall is likely to be the expansion joints. He suggested using a polymer grout to seal the joints. The polymer grout expands on contact with water to provide the seal.
March Work Party:
Canal lining: The bed of the canal was prepared so that the next section of Bentomat waterproof bentonite lining could be rolled out and joined to the previous section. A section of the current Bentomat was cut off where this had been submerged for the last 2 months. The new roll of Bentomat was jointed and rolled out over approximately 20m. ‘Sleeping policemen’ (Concrete struts placed across the bed of the canal to protect the join and to provide support at the base of the walls) were cast and the Bentomat backfilled.
A patch repair was made to the Bentomat where the new roll was seen to be damaged when it was being installed. The canal banks were profiled. Towards the car park ‘rough’ profiling was carried out. This excavates the banks down to the former coal tar lining. Final profiling to receive Bentomat was carried out on the towpath side for approximately 40m.
Mikk Bradley
River Gipping Trust’s volunteers are opening up lengths of towpath and planning to rebuild the only missing lock on the navigation
River Gipping Trust volunteers have been busy reinstating around 3km of riverside footpath, and plan to reopen more in 2024. With the Trust’s new footbridge at Baylham now open to walkers a permissive path has been created that’s about 1km long, retracing the original line of the towpath which was lost to walkers around 100 years ago when the towpath bridge collapsed into the river. The official grand opening of the footbridge, which sits on restored 230-year-old brick abutments, will be on Saturday 20 th May at 11am at Baylham.
A 1km stretch of towpath at Claydon and a 1km stretch above Needham lock have also been reinstated adjacent to the river by Trust volunteers this year. All three lengths are now open to the public giving a better walking experience along the river. More than 10% of the Gipping footpath is now on the riverside.
The 1km of towpath alongside the river at Claydon runs parallel to the current Gipping Valley River Path which is around 30m away from the river with few, if any, views of the river in summer. Judging by the density of vegetation cleared, volunteers believe this riverside towpath has not been used for around 15 years.
Further upstream, between Needham Market and Stowmarket, Trust volunteers have been clearing around 1km of vegetation between the footpath and the river to allow the footpath to be moved closer to the river along the original towpath line, affording a far greater riverside walking experience. Over the past few years much of this footpath has been 3m away from the river, along a 2m high corridor of nettles in summer, often virtually
impassable, and with no river views.
As well as improving the riverside walking experience and offering better views of the river, having the footpath directly alongside the river helps restrict the problematic growth of Himalayan Balsam by providing easier access to the bank side growth which is where the plant is most deadly, as it leaves the river banks vulnerable to serious erosion when it dies back over winter
The Trust have recently planted more than 300 trees alongside the sunny side of the river which should give the river some shade from the sun when they are mature (making over
Stowmarket
Needham Lock
Bosmere Lock
Creeting Lock
Needham Market
Stowmarket Navigation (River Gipping)
Pipps Ford Lock
Baylham Lock
Ipswich
Length: 16 miles
Locks: 15
Opened: 1793
Closed: 1934
River Gipping
Existing footpath route
New footpath route
1,000 trees planted over the last 3 years). There is local evidence that shade from the sun reduces silting and overgrowth in the river. The Trust avoids planting trees between the river and the footpath so as not to cause possible future obstructions along the path and to afford better views of the river for walkers.
The Trust is working with National Highways to investigate the feasibility of restoring the 1793 John Rennie-designed brick lock at Claydon, lost some 40 years when the A14 was built. This is the only lock structure missing along the river’s 16-mile 15-lock length, with water flowing though all the other 14 lock structures.
This year’s major project is to complete the restoration of Pipps Ford Lock. A temporary PortaDam will be installed by OnSite for two weeks at the end of July enabling the lock structure to be pumped dry. Stop planks grooves and a concrete base under the stop planks will be installed, making the lock ‘lock gate ready’. This will be the fourth lock to be restored, ready for lock gates, along the river.
The Trust has recently published a history book of the Gipping, titled The Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation – John Rennie’s First Canal Project. Available directly through eBay at £10 each + £2.50 postage, search ‘Stowmarket Navigation’ on eBay.
London WRG, KESCRG and WRG Forestry held a joint weekend working party on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. Sophie Smith reports...
London WRG, KESCRG, WRG Forestry Shrewsbury & Newport Canals 25-26 March 2023
We always enjoy our trips to Shropshire (although that doesn’t stop us moaning about the long drive there from London). This time, London WRG were joining WRG Forestry for a focused weekend of tree felling and shrub bashing. Although the long-arranged dig unfortunately clashed with the late-organised BCN Cleanup, we had healthy numbers and had to cap it at around 23 people as we knew we couldn’t fit any more round the dinner table.
This was a stretch of the Shrewsbury & Newport that we hadn’t worked on before and there was a good amount of work for a large group. On this particular weekend we were felling some large trees and extracting many smaller ones. We were limited only by the number of Tirfor winches we could deploy: there were at least three at work but we could have used twice as many.
The site, by a major electricity substation just outside Uffington village, presented a number of hazards including overhead cables and fairly deep water in the cut. The narrowness of the towpath and lack of anchor points for Tirfors were also limiting factors.
Although Forestry were leading the dig there was less chainsaw activity than I’d expected as the main emphasis was on fully extracting what we’d cut down. This means it was the Tirfors working at full tilt rather than the chainsaws. I don’t know if it’s just coinci-
dence but Tirforing seems to be a very big part of what London WRG does these days, particularly as we are so active on the Wey & Arun where there is so much ash dieback to tackle. I think there’s probably a case for buying more Tirfors for our kit, as we are often asked to supply them (big ones in particular). This dig also required a very unusual piece of equipment – chainsaw safe wader trousers, which I’ve never seen before!
We managed to get a large amount of wood offsite and used a logsplitter at the Berwick Tunnel north portal site to turn it into logs which help fund the SNCT’s activities. We used waders to get a lot of partially submerged willow out of the cut, and burned some of the smaller branches on site. We also trimmed a lot of the hedgeline, particularly under the power lines. The main focus though was on clearing tree growth out of the cut, including some very mature specimens and ones that have fallen and rerooted themselves sideways.
It’s really great to see that the local
trust has increased its ambitions since we first started digging regularly on this canal about six or seven years ago. They are now active across a number of sites and there has been very significant progress made, at Wappenshall in particular [ See progress report, page 21 ]. They seem to have a good momentum going with their working parties but they are still glad of an injection of WRG support, including our specialist skills such as tree felling and extraction. As London WRG weren’t able to bring tools on this dig we relied on the Forestry trailer for everything, which brought home how much better organised all other groups seem to be than us. We were particularly impressed with Forestry’s cutlery kitbox. Catering was kindly provided by Anne with support from Mia. Some volunteers took advantage of the accommodation offered by the pub in the village and others bought tents, which really freed up some room in the small hall. Thanks to those who camped as it really helped manage the space. I’m also grateful to those who generously shared their own tools, including David Smith and Alan Lines, and to Tim Lewis for doing the van movements. Thanks also to the Buckingham Canal Society for letting us borrow their van for the
weekend as ours was on the BCN. We’ve already agreed to go back to Shropshire 7-8 October and finish this stretch off. You’re very welcome to come too –particularly if you bring a Tirfor!
Sophie SmithSome time ago we announced the arrival of the first part of the new edition of the ‘canal restorers’ Bible’, the Practical Restoration Handbook. We can now give you some information about plans to publish the remaining sections...
To recap: the original printed edition was compiled by WRG and our parent body the Inland Waterways Association, and published back in 2000 as a way of sharing useful knowledge garnered from many years of volunteer work with all the restoration groups out there, to avoid them all having to ‘reinvent the wheel’.
In recent years, the IWA Restoration Hub has taken on the updating of the Handbook. This time it will take the form of an ‘enhanced toolkit’ designed to be webfriendly and accessible on the worksite via mobile devices. It will consist of a number of Guidance Notes supported by a series of Toolbox Talks - and has been split into three books.
The first was published last year, titled Getting it right from the start: planning a waterway restoration project. It includes the following 25 Guidance Notes:
. Introduction to Health & Safety Law
. Preparing the Project Plan
. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
. Preparing a Risk Assessment
. Volunteer Health & Welfare
. Behavioural Safety
. Leadership Skills
. Insurance
. Site Setup and Organisation
. Environmental Considerations
. Waste Management
. First Aid at Work & Reporting Accidents
. Temporary Works and Excavations
. Personal Protective Equipment
. Manual Handling
. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)
. Hand-Arm Vibration
. Working at Height
. Working near Water
. Fire & Electrical Safety
. Safety Signs & Signals
. Noise
. Dust & Fumes (Respiratory Hazards)
. Underground & Overhead Services
. Lead & Asbestos
Our next project is to put together the second and third books. Although the work isn’t funded yet so we don’t have a target date, we thought we’d give you an idea of what it currently looks like they will cover. This is the list of planned Guidance Notes for book 2, The right tool for the right job: plant, equipment and tools for waterway restoration:
. Vehicles & trailers
. Safe use of dumpers
. Safe use of excavators
. Site segregation
. Lifting operations
. Tools encyclopaedia
And this is the list of planned Guidance Notes for book 3, Waterway restoration: specific activities and the environment:
. Environmental considerations
. Biodiversity net gain
. Invasive species and biosecurity
. Vegetation clearance
. Safe use of chainsaws
. Creating towpaths and footpaths
. Creating boundaries
. Tree surveys
. Waterways heritage protection: an overview
. Working on heritage structures: considerations
. Repairing heritage brickwork including lime mortar
. Scaffolding
. Demolition
. Dewatering
. Clearing lock chambers
. Using concrete on canal restoration projects
. Canal lining
. Bank protection
Remember the WRG Bonfire Bash, otherwise known as the WRG Reunion? Yes, the big autumn get-together and working party that used to be a regular feature of the WRG calendar, usually on the first weekend in November.
Well, as with so many things it fell foul of Covid, and the size and nature of the event was such that it was particularly tricky to reinstate it.
We would like to bring it back - but we need a suitable site (preferably scrub-clearance, as that’s the easiest to organise on that scale) and accommodation for up to 100 volunteers. Does your canal society have anything that would fit the bill? If so, please get in touch with us.
And the same goes for the Christmas / New Year Canal Camp. If you have enough scrub-bashing to keep a team busy from 26 December to 1 January, and suitable accommodation for us, we’d like to hear from you right away!
The answers to the anagrams puzzle last time
A runway end: Wey & Arun
Red van mower: Wendover Arm
Brisk wetlands: Wilts & Berks
De-rust a trow: Stroudwater
Rubble rot and money snatch: Manchester
Bolton & Bury
Ditch feelers: Chesterfield
Cry dead-end, Sabrina: Derby and Sandiacre
Bum making arch: Buckingham Arm
Ancestral: Lancaster
Clonking top: Pocklington
Child Life: Lichfield
North hate: Hatherton
Tech riches: Chichester
Voters: Stover
Sherry & port buns, eww: Shrewsbury & Newport
Gnat harm: Grantham
Fir fiddle: Driffield
Rich warm hutch: Whitchurch Arm
A new ass: Swansea
Feral sod: Sleaford
Allan Scott R.I.P.We’re sorry to have to bring you the sad news that London WRG recently lost one of its long-serving volunteers, Allan Scott, who died after battling cancer. He was a stalwart who had been part of London WRG’s small team of regulars who helped to see the group through some lean times in the late 1980s and early 1990s and kept it going long enough for the good times to return with an influx of new volunteers.
But besides his interest in canal boating and restoration, Allan’s other passion was singing - with his Barbershop choir and involvement in amateur dramatic / operatic productions. So it’s not surprising that he made it onto the cast of the odd (very odd!) WRG Pantomime performed at the Inland Waterways Association’s National Festival - see opposite page for a composition of his. Even when ill health prevented him from attending working parties he was still a cheerful and regular attender at London WRG socials, see picture - he’s on the right.
We send our sympathies to everyone who knew Allan.
Dear Deirdre I’m under considerable social pressure to take my own tools with me when I go digging. I have a fine set of tools that I keep in excellent condition, including my heritage brickwork tools and a high-grunt Tirfor winch that I spent a great deal of money on. The problem is, my WRG group are rather cavalier with tools and I’m rather nervous about sharing them. What’s the best way to handle this?
- AB, BolminsterDeirdre writes WRGies are notoriously careless and that’s why most WRG tools look like they’ve been run over with a van. Don’t feel you have to share your good stuff if you’re not comfortable doing so. You can always tell your friends that they were stolen out of your shed – but then unfortunately you will have to use WRG’s dodgy tools instead of your nice ones. Maybe it’s best if you bring them to site but don’t share them. Writing your name on the handle should help. You can also write some really stern threats and curses on there to really reinforce the message.
Dear Deirdre 6 years ago I suggested we buy a new teapot for our kit but we’re still using the same horrible bashed up old thing. I keep reminding people about it but no one ever seems to want to replace kit. Is there any way to speed up this process?
- JK,WolversburyDeirdre writes Trying to get kit replaced is like trying to launch a major infrastructure project. The time between the conception of the idea and the realisation of it can be decades. I don’t understand why replacing a teapot is WRG’s equivalent to commissioning Crossrail but that’s just how it is round here. Your best bet is to just throw the damn thing in the cut and then produce the new teapot you’ve bought, just in time for teabreak. Just be aware it may take another 6 years for you to get the expense refunded.
Do you have a question for Deirdre? Just email it to the editor.
As mentioned opposite, London WRG has sadly lost one of its stalwarts, Allan Scott. One of his notable contributions wasn’t actually on a restoration site, it was at the WRG Panto Snow White and the Severn Wharfs in which he would have starred as the wicked Lord High Executive of all the canals, had he not gone down with the lurgy on the eve of the performance. But he’d already written this adaptation of I’ve got a little list from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, and understudy Dave Parrish was recruited to perfom it. We reproduce it in Allan’s memory:
As someday it may happen that a stoppage must be found I’ve got a little list
I’ve got a little list
Of waterways throughout the land that should be underground They never would be missed They never would be missed
Like K&A and Macclesfield, the Bridgewater and Peak The Caldon, Rochdale, Huddersfield, The arm that runs to Leek
And drain the reservoir along the GU up at Tring
Just think of all the chaos and confusion that would bring I could go on and on but now I think you’ve got the gist They’d none of them be missed
They’d none of them be missed
Chorus: You may put them on the list, You may put them on the list And they’d none of them be missed, And they’d none of them be missed.
We can’t forget the do-gooders restoring bits of cuts I’ve got them on the list, I’ve got them on the list
Like KESCRG BITM WACT and WRG and groups of similar nuts I’ve got them on the list, I’ve got them on the list
Then theres all those trouble makers domiciled at 114 [1] What is it that they do all day?
I’ll give them all “what for”!
And IWA groups and festivals and rallies ’cross the land And Chairmen such as Audrey Smith [2], it’s getting out of hand
And the editor of Navvies who we know is always pissed
They’d none of them be missed
They’d none of them be missed
Chorus: You may put them on the list, You may put them on the list
And they’d none of them be missed, And they’d none of them be missed.
Editor’s notes [1] IWA’s then address, 114 Regent’s Park Road, [2] the then IWA Chair
