KESCRG on a prep weekend for their summer camp, laying a culvert under the future route of the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal at Malswick. And (below) London WRG and KESCRG on a muck-shift at Tringford, site for the Wendover summer camp. Camp reports next time (please!!!)
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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, John Baylis, George Eycott, Emma Greenall, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Nigel Lee, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.
ISSN: 0953-6655
© 2022 WRG
Chairman’s Page Mike spins the plates 4-5 Editor on Camps and connected canals 6-7 Restoration Feature on the North Walsham & Dilham Canal 8-10 IWA view from the acting Chief Exec 11 Leader Training hints and tips in a report from the Leaders’ Training Day 12-15 Restoration Feature ‘Yorkshire Link’: hope for the Barnsley Dearne & Dove? 16-19 Diary Canal Camps and weekends 20-21 Health & Safety get ‘camp-ready’ after three years with this back-to-work refresher 22-23 Progress all around the system 24-36 Navvies News WRGNW’s way forward 37-38 Infill Deirdre returns! 39
...are welcome, whether by email or post. Photos welcome: digital (as email attachments, or if you have a lot of large files please send them on CD / DVD or contact the editor first), or old-school slides / prints.
Contributions by post to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or by email to martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk.
Press date for issue 314: 10 July.
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Cover: Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers working on the final stretch of the Redwith to Crickheath length of the Montgomery, due to welcome the boats next year. Back cover: Removing infill at Little Tring on the Wendover Arm and (below) new winding hole construction at Selly Oak on the Lapal. See our Progress pages and Editorial for more on all these projects.
Hmmmm…. so I’m hunched over my laptop attempting to write this Comment for Navvies and:
· Martin says the deadline has passed and he really needs the completed words by tonight, and
· I’m trying to organise how a few vans are getting to the Training Weekend, and
· I’m proof-reading a new report due out of our parent body the Inland Waterways Association’s Head Office very soon, and
· I’m really looking forward to getting back out on site this summer, and
· There are quite a few other plates I’m trying to keep spinning, too.
So far so normal for this time of year, though one of those ‘other plates’ does definitely qualify as news and I’ll talk about it lower down.
But first of all let’s talk about getting ready for this summer, shall we? Because, after several years of (shall we say) uncertainty it does look like we can say with confidence that the 2022 Canal Camps programme is one we would describe as ‘normal’. Of course what we actually mean is ‘new normal’ as there are a few differences but, crucially, the list on the back of this year’s Canal Camps T-shirt looks like the others: a summer full of a decent number of Camps!
Which brings me on to my first request: it’s quite probable that you will not have been digging for a year or two or, even if you have, then many of the other people on your event won’t. So please take the time to read the ‘Site Refresher’ on page 22. It’s a simple message
but an important one. Not only that but it’s a message for both volunteers and leaders. So please all read it and ponder its message as you return to site.
Now the main reason for this ‘Site Refresher’ is obviously to keep people safe and happy, but perhaps I could give another reason: looking down the Camps Summary chart prepared by those nice people in Head Office, I see plenty of properly challenging and technical work scheduled. Now I know that I probably say that every year, but this year it seems even more important that I do so. Our hope that all those restoration societies might spend the lockdown planning some significant and challenging work seems to have come to pass, as the work this year is exactly that: significant and challenging. Obviously it’s always important that we pay attention to the detail of the job in order to keep people safe, but it’s also important that we do this to get the job done right. Now the WRG Board has considerable confidence in both the framework that we operate Canal Camps under and the skills of all our volunteers, otherwise we wouldn’t be running these camps at all. But please do approach your work on site this summer with care.
Talking of ‘approaching work on site’ I’m pleased to say that my simple attempt to
“Our hope that restoration societies might spend the lockdown planning some significant and challenging work seems to have come to pass”Our former accommodation at Brimscombe. Now you see it... Martin Ludgate
get ready for site went well. I took part in the Cotswold Canamble, walking from the Cotswold Canals Trust’s visitor centre in Stroud to the Daneway pub. My thanks to everyone that sponsored me and it was wonderful to see all the work that has been done, and is being done, as we all walked along the towpath. There were lots of marshals all along the route and I’m pleased to say my WRG T-shirt drew many appreciative comments as I trudged along. One of the many highlights was visiting the ‘re-invented’ Brimscombe Bookshop. This has responded to the demolition of the old buildings at Brimscombe Port (for which I shed a tear as I plodded past them) by moving to the old woodwork shop just between the Ship Inn and Gough’s Orchard lock. It’s a fantastic space and well worth a visit if you happen to be passing.
In my last Navvies comment I made some fanciful comments about how I would spend my time on the Canamble thinking some suitably grandiose thoughts about how we could ‘sell’ the importance of waterways (both navigable and yet to be restored) to the wider public. This was to be in preparation for contributing to a report that IWA is writing on the benefits of waterways to the UK. I’m pleased to say that I’ve just been reading the draft of this report and it is, as hoped, a very powerful set of arguments. It’s still in draft mode at the moment but it’s scheduled for release soon. Probably soon enough to make the next edition of Navvies (but then we always say that!)
So perhaps I should stop predicting its release date and return to my other prediction: not only will the report be a stirring call
to arms to ensure navigable waterways are protected, funded and cared for, it will also give some very real support for the question “What about the unrestored waterways? Surely it makes sense to restore them so that the whole country can benefit from them?”
IWA obviously supports us by paying our core costs (and we are very grateful for that) but it feels especially rewarding when it chooses to use its ‘campaigning arm’ to support us. My thanks to Alison Smedley for what is shaping up to be a fantastic report.
Talking of things coming out of Head Office brings me to the main plate the Board have been spinning recently:
Jenny Morris has told us she is leaving IWA’s employment in order to take up a job more local to her that will allow her to spend more time with her family. Having spoken with her I can assure you it’s not anything we have done; it is just that family commitments have to take priority.
It is, of course, a huge loss to us. I’m aware that many Navvies readers may not be able to remember a time when it wasn’t Jen in Head Office providing us with (amongst other things) support. But there was a time, and the Board have discussed this situation and we have determined that we will step up our efforts to ensure both you the volunteer and Mikk Bradley & Jonathan Green are properly supported as we go into this summer. Jen also assures us that she won’t completely fade away – all the friendships will stay and, amongst other things, she will probably be on the ‘Drive a digger’ stand at the Festival of Water!
On a personal note I would like to go on record to say that having Jen as a colleague and friend has been a wonderful part of my life. Jen has always understood the “WRG way of life” and has always supported, encouraged and inspired us all as it has evolved over the years. It is her influence and industry that has helped shape WRG into its current strong position.
So let’s get back to what we do best – I’ll see you on site!
Mike Palmer...and now you don’t. Gone to make way for the restored canal!
Martin looks forward to some extensions of the canal system, looks back on a successful Leader Training Day, and hopes for a full postbag...
Get connected! You may well, if you’ve read my restoration feature articles and editorial columns in recent years, be familiar with the following dialogue...
“So let me get this right: the plan isn’t to open up the first bit of canal, right at the junction where it leaves the navigable network, and welcome the first boats onto the restored waterway as soon as you can. No, instead you’re going to concentrate on some isolated duckpond-like length in the middle of nowhere, which for the next decade or more will be unusable by anyone who can’t tow their boat behind their car, or pick it up and carry it like a canoe?!”
“Err… yes, that’s about it.”
“But why on earth are you restoring your canal in such an arse-about-face kind of way?” “Well, it’s a long story…”
As I’m explained several times in these pages, unfortunately such are the circumstances on many canal restoration projects that very often that’s exactly how we do end up restoring canals. So we’ve got 12 miles of isolated restored Montgomery Canal, some of which has been open for decades, that we’re only now finally looking forward (fingers crossed) to possibly linking up with the navigable network at Frankton Junction in the next few years. And the isolated five miles or so of the Loxwood Link restored length of the Wey & Arun. And the four miles and five locks at the top end of the Grantham.
And in every case, there is indeed a ‘long story’ – a lengthy explanation of why it actually makes good sense to start in the ‘wrong’ place. This could relate to the physical state that the canal’s in: both the Grantham and the W&A start with tricky sections which have been filled in and built over, and nobody’s going to give you the millions to reopen them if you haven’t already restored some easier bits elsewhere to show them that the canal’s worth restoring. Or it could be to do with funding sources, especially if the canal runs through different local authority areas – or even different countries in the case of the Mont. It’s deeply frustrating, especially to then hear or read uninformed comments to the effect that the canal trust working hard to make it happen “hasn’t a clue about how to restore a canal”. So it’s really rather refreshing to be able to report on several cases where we really can actually ‘start at the beginning’ – not just because some of us are boaters and are itching to get cruising these restored canals, but also because we know there’s nothing like a reopening with a convoy of boats cruising through onto the ‘new bit’ to generate some really good publicity for getting the rest of the job done.
We’ve already reported several times in recent issues on the Cotswold Canals, where work is going full speed on getting the four miles open from Saul Junction to Stonehouse, opening up a ten-mile extension of the national waterways system in about 2025. But our cover pictures depict three other sites where it (hopefully) won’t be too long now before some (admittedly rather shorter) sections will be joining the canal network soon.
The front cover shows Shropshire Union Canal Society’s volunteers putting the finishing touches on the Redwith to Crickheath length of the Mont, ready for a reopening of two miles from the current limit at Gronwen Bridge to Crickheath Wharf – planned for next year. The back cover shows the new winding hole under construction for the Lapal Canal, which will sometime soon facilitate boats turning into the already part-restored short length leading from the Worcester & Birmingham Canal through a new retail development and into Selly Oak Park. And also on the back cover the Wendover Canal Trust’s digger and dumper are
busy shifting piles of infill as they get to work on creating the ‘narrows’ that will form the start of the next section to be reopened from the current terminus at Little Tring – hopefully (subject to sorting out a few leaks) in the not too distant future. You can read about the Lapal, the Wendover and the Mont in our bumper-sized Progress section in this issue. And there are more on the way soon (for example the first short section beyond Bridge 1 on the Buckingham) and doubtless others to follow after not too many years (The next section of the Mont… and the Pocklington? Stafford? Wilts & Berks Melksham link?) So hopefully there might be just slightly fewer of the kind of conversation that kicked off this column…
Facing some challenges: But alongside these projects with the potential for visiting boats in the near future, in this issue we also report on a couple of projects that aren’t yet at that stage, and in fact are facing some big challenges. Our two restoration feature articles report on the North Walsham & Dilham, where the canal trust is picking itself up again after the loss of its leading light Laurie Ashton; and the Barnsley Canal, where a new group is in the process of being launched, just a couple of years after the former canal society disbanded having struggled to make progress for some years. These two schemes need support if they are to succeed.
Back to normal? Meanwhile in our continued progress towards ‘the new normal’ we not only have a full summer canal camps programme for the first time in three years, but we also had the first Leaders’ and Cooks’ Training Day for three years. And I found it extremely useful – even though I’m not a camp leader this year. So useful, in fact, that I’ve done a quick precis of it in this issue. I’m not suggesting that reading what I’ve written is a substitute for being there, but hopefully it will encourage you to join us next year – and in the meantime give you some useful hints and tips, especially in conjunction with the Health & Safety ‘Refresher’ piece also in this issue, as many of you head off for your first week-long Canal Camp since 2019.
And the return of Canal Camps means… the return of Canal Camp reports in Navvies! My own contribution to the Leaders’ and Cooks’ Training Day was a piece about writing reports for Navvies, and you’ll see a very brief summary in my article. I know they’re not every reader’s cup of tea, but I regard camp reports as potentially an important part of the magazine. At best, they can be a good way to fulfil Navvies’ main objectives in (a) telling people about what we get up to in canal restoration (b) entertaining and amusing the readers (c) occasionally stimulating people to think about some of the issues and arguments and most importantly (d) hopefully encouraging more people to get involved, or the existing volunteers to keep coming back. And even if they don’t achieve all these lofty aims, they’ll serve to remind all your fellow volunteers of what a great time you had, and how you’d really like to do it all again next year.
Leader training: Ricey gives us his thoughts
As usual I have no intention of telling you what to put in them and what not to, nor of applying any heavy censorship on what you send – “publish and be damned” has always been our motto – although you might like to think about whether it will achieve the above aims. Or you might not…
I look forward to receiving some reports (and pictures please!) to include in the next couple of issues – and remember, the sooner you write them, the more you’ll remember from the camp, and the better chance of getting them published sooner rather than later.
Martin Ludgate
In 1995 Laurie Ashton and his wife, Julie, bought Bacton Wood Water Mill, in North Norfolk. They set about restoring the mill’s machinery, but, with a dry mill race, they needed water returning. Hence, in 2009, they set up the Old Canal Company, which then purchased some 2½ miles of the disused North Walsham & Dilham Canal from Swafield Bridge to Ebridge. Although their section of the Canal was dry, the top mile did have a flow of water, and the bottom section, to Ebridge was in water, although choked. It wasn’t long before engineer Laurie decided to restore the waterway back to the former sailing canal that it had once been. Back in 1934 the last commercial wherry (Norfolk sailing barge) had delivered cargo to his Mill. Laurie’s restoration was purely at his own expense. He bought an exBritish Waterways dredger and, with a friend Jeremy and his digger, de-silted the bottom mile from Ebridge to Spa Common, returning the water to
its full height. Unfortunately, his dredging licence had expired, and the work led to a Stop Notice being issued by the Environment Agency in 2012. However, that section of Canal was by then fully restored, and soon became an important community asset, especially during the Covid pandemic. Anglers, canoeists, paddleboarders, walkers, picnickers, gongoozlers, model boaters and even a Wild Swimming Club have made it their home.
The NW&DC Trust, whose aim is to restore the whole canal, aided Laurie with voluntary labour, mitigation & compensatory works and support. This led to eventually taking over the bank and water maintenance of the restored mile, through the purchase of a tractor, weedcutter and tools. The Trust also raised funds to reinstate the top gates at Ebridge Lock, rebuild the spillways at Royston and Ebridge (the latter also aided by a WRG Canal Camp) and run a solar powered electric trip boat.
Meanwhile, Laurie turned his attentions to the dry and upper sections of the canal, reinstating the channel, building up the banks and most importantly (with the aid of a retired brickie) rebuilding the lock chamber at Bacton Wood (some 60,000 bricks). Needing gates for his lock, he built a shed and manufactured the gates himself, the top gates using timbers that had been recycled from the groynes of Cromer Beach. The gates were fitted, with the help of the Trust, and now just need the waters reintroduced.
Sadly, in 2021, Laurie died whilst out working on his beloved Canal. This came as a great shock to everyone involved, as the driving force of this David Hutchings (*) type character was suddenly lost.
(*) Restoration legend who masterminded the Stratford and Upper Avon schemes
Late in 2021, after some 9 years of negotiating by the Trust, the EA removed the Stop Notice. Sadly, Laurie never saw this day come to fruition. However, this is a major step forward for the Canal’s restoration as a whole, for although the other three canal owners did not actually have a Stop Notice applied to them, the shadow of its threat had prevented them from moving forward with their own plans.
The NW&DCT and Laurie’s great friend Jeremy, who had undertaken most of the channel work on the canal restoration, have agreed to move on with two main projects in his memory. Jeremy is to continue to build up the banks of the one and half miles of canal to Swafield, with the aim of re-watering that section this year, whilst the Trust looks to raising the funds to restore the bottom gates at Ebridge, hence enabling boats to pass through to the next section to be restored, to the south.
Ivan CaneThe North Walsham & Dilham Canal is the only canal (as opposed to a river navigation) in Norfolk. Opened in 1826, it formed an extension upstream from the navigable River Ant, following the route of the unnavigable reaches of the river.
It ran for nine miles from Wayford Bridge on the Ant to Antingham Ponds, climbing by six locks built to take Norfolk wherries (sailing barges) up to 50ft by 12ft 4in.
The canal carried cargoes including coal, agricultural produce, and supplies to two bone mills, but traffic declined with the arrival of the railways. In 1893 the length above Swafield was abandoned, and in 1934 the wherry Ella made the final trading journey, after which the canal fell into dereliction and the channel silted up.
Restoration was proposed by David Hutchings in 1972; in the 1990s the East Anglian Waterways Association commissioned restoration studies and carried out working parties, and the North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust was founded in 2008.
Length: 9 miles
Locks: 6
Date disused: 1934
Our ex-WRG-acting-Chairman and now acting-IWA-Chief Exec fills us in on what the Inland Waterways Association does for restoration and more...
It seems I am always writing in Navvies in an interim role. Having just handed the reins of WRG back to Mike Palmer now that he is recovered, I find myself as Chief Executive of WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association, again on an interim basis!
Some readers of Navvies will have seen the IWA communications in IWA Bulletin or Officers’ Briefing or, but for those who may not receive them I was asked by Trustees to take on the role of Chief Executive Officer on a interim basis following the resignation of the previous CEO. After over 30 years’ involvement with the waterways, WRG and IWA, some people might say I’m living the dream!
Some Navvies readers might wonder what exactly IWA does either for WRG or for the waterways in general. The simple answer is that we do what nobody else does – IWA is the only independent national charity campaigning for Britain’s canals and rivers.
In practical terms this means that IWA funds all of the activities of WRG (that we all know and love), but it does so much more. IWA took on the bankrupt (but navigable) Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation over 15 years ago, saved it from closing down, and has restored it to a well maintained, thriving and selffunding waterway. Through the Restoration Hub (the collective name for all the aspects that make up IWA’s waterway restoration function) we support all the local canal and river restoration trusts and societies with practical and technical advice. The Practical Restoration Handbook is the ‘go-to document’ for many groups. We also have volunteer experts who give their time
freely and willingly to support restoration – in engineering, planning, health & safety etc. IWA also arranges insurance for the majority of the restoration sector, getting lower premiums than would be available for individual groups.
So in the restoration field IWA is a key enabler, but IWA is wider than that. It also has volunteer experts across the waterways spectrum – heritage, inland freight, biodiversity, green boating and many other topics.
IWA also has the ability to campaign nationally – we are the administrative support for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Waterways which means MPs and Peers attending meetings on various waterways issues.
In other communications I said I was honoured to be asked to be CEO, and I really mean that. When you look at what the IWA has achieved, at what we continue to achieve, and what still needs to be done then there is no doubt that IWA and WRG will be sorely needed for many years to come.
The editor went along to the WRG Leaders’ and Cooks’ Training Day, and brought back some handy hints for anyone involved in leadership
We’ve held a training day every spring for quite a few years now, aimed at giving help and guidance to our leadership teams for the summer’s canal camps, but also at anyone who’s involved in running or organising volunteer work parties on canal restoration, whether they’re the mobile groups, local canal societies or whatever.
Well, when I say every spring, of course that’s with the exception of the last two years when Covid put the kybosh on so many of our activities – and many of us are a bit rusty not only when it comes to practical skills but also organisation and leadership.
So I found it particularly useful to attend this year’s event, even though I’m not down to lead any camps. So much so that I thought it would be worth condensing a really useful and interesting day down into a brief precis of the day’s activities for the benefit of those who weren’t there.
Hopefully you’ll pick up a few useful tips from what I’ve included; if you’re interested in learning more about any aspect, Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans and the head office team will I’m sure put you in touch with the right person; and in due course look out for details of next spring’s event.
Start with a haiku The day was led by Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans who kicked off with a haiku (Japanese three-line poem):
…as well as a slogan “Let’s dig again” which not only summed up the feeling as we looked forward to the first time we’ve had anything like a full summer Canal Camps programme since 2019, but also set off an earworm for those of a certain age.
He also explained the idea of a ‘top tip’ which all the speakers would include in their presentations. His was “volunteer to lead the middle camp of a run of three on the same site – then you won’t have to do either the setup or the take-down.”
Disaster planning? WRG Chairman Mike Palmer then introduced the idea of “disaster scenarios” to learn from, before reassuring us “don’t worry, they won’t all happen on your camp – probably none will” and that in the interest of avoiding the blame game, any covered would be ‘anonymised’ – there would be no mention of who had snapped the van keys off by sticking them in the ignition of the wrong van…
IWA update: Moving on to changes in our parent body the Inland Waterways Association’s organisation, he welcomed Jonathan Green, the ‘new Alex’ doing a lot of the WRG stuff at Head Office, broke the news that Jenny Morris (who has been the main WRG person at head office for 15 years or more) is departing (but not before the start of the camps programme), told us about the new canal camps duty director rota for head office staff, and regarding the recent and rather unexpected changes of IWA Chairman and Chief Exec his words were “Don’t Panic”, which reminded a few of us older folk of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy …
Ice breaker: Then it was time for the ‘ice breaker’ exercise (and we aren’t talking about those funny little boats they used to use to smash the ice on the canals here, we’re being figurative). The exercise was for each table to come up with an idea for a 2022 Canal Camps T-shirt – and we’d vote for which one would be the basis of the actual design used. You can see the entries across the bottom of this page – the lock gates “Opening up” design celebrating the return of Canal Camps was the clear winner.
Essential updates: On to more serious stuff, and the ‘essential updates’ news section covered an assortment of important points, reminders and news items
. Jonathan Green introduced himself
. All but three camps had leaders confirmed – and those three gaps looked to have been filled as we went to press
. The ‘Safeguarding Adults at Risk’ guidance has been updated – see the IWA
‘virtual hub’ website
. A reminder of the importance of reporting any van accidents
. The Covid-19 camps precautions had been updated but still included: volunteers to take a LFT before camps; increased personal space and ventilation in the accommodation; enhanced daily cleaning
. The ‘float’ available to leadership teams for catering etc expenses has been increased in view of recent price rises
. The implications for PPE provision etc of volunteers now being classed as ‘workers’ for the purposes of H&S
. The new WRG H&S guide is published
. The first volume of the IWA/WRG Practical Restoration Handbook major rewrite was due to be published in June
. We appeared to have only had three ‘near miss’ incidents in 2021 – was this a good safety record or people forgetting to report things as a result of a couple of years off?
. …and following on from that, a need to take a view that to a certain extent “It’s not just the first timers” but “we’re all newcomers” and “you don’t know everyone’s back-story”.
. And don’t forget that red diesel is no longer permitted in site plant!
First time leader: Next it was Evvo’s turn to report on “My first camp as leader”, six years ago. This had been an eventful week, with “battlefield promotion” from assistant to leader, no cook to begin with, and once a cook had been found, a phone call from said cook from A&E, after they’d “cut the end of their finger off” (some slight exaggeration I think), and
rather seriously a volunteer in early stages of dementia who hadn’t mentioned this.
But excellent support from Head Office (including staff staying on for the first few days of the camp) helped save the day, and the volunteer mentioned above was found a suitable task, did a good job and had a great time. And Evvo’s top tip was “You don’t have to be last to bed, or first up!”
Mental health: This report of a ‘baptism of fire’ was followed by a very interesting and thought-provoking piece by mental health professional Beth Gardiner on issues related to your own mental health and that of your volunteers. So engrossing, in fact, that I didn’t take any notes, and couldn’t possibly do it justice from memory. I’m sure Head Office can help you.
Experiences as a leader: After the allimportant lunch break, Stephen ‘Ricey’ Rice then told us his experiences as a leader, summed up with four points:
. Confidence, not complacency
. Planning and preparation
. Be reactive AND proactive
. Learn from experiences
My notes also include the cryptic “broken foot bones” and “Stilton”. I think the latter relates to the volunteers spending all week eating cheese from a nearby factory shop, which Ricey would also have liked to take advantage of, but didn’t get around to getting there until the final Saturday – after the shop had shut. The lesson: delegate somebody else to do it for you!
This led on to an interactive session where Ricey gave each table various scenarios and questions, to get discussions going about how to react to these circumstances – see illustrations (right and opposite) .
Start the week: Colin Hobbs then brought us “First Day of Camp”, with some handy hints on how to run your first 24 hours…
. Photograph everything in the accommodation before you start – then you’l know where to put it back at the end of the week
. Make sure everything works in the accom – check all the cooker rings, heaters, fridge etc
. If possible do a site visit on the Satur-
day evening, then the intro talk will make more sense
Cooks’ turn : The next section was titled Cooks’ Utopia, with an explanation that Utopia meant “An imagined place or state in which everything is perfect”. Among the more memorable points made by the team of cooks, either as advice to fellow cooks or to the rest of the camp were:
. Make sure Paul (big on breakfast cooking, small in stature) can reach the pans
. The cook can be quite isolated – find time to talk to the camp
. Talk to the cooks!
. If you have an accident with the excavator on site, the chances are it will affect one person. If we have an accident in the kitchen, it could affect the entire camp
. A volunteer complaining about the sandwiches is a little bit out of order when it’s a camp where you make your own sandwiches. (Or as Helen put it more succinctly “Don’t be a twat”)
This led on to the cooks’ ‘pet peeves’, which included:
. Cross contamination: sugar in the coffee, toast crumbs in the spread, diesel in the milk. We have enough cutlery. Don’t do it.
. Washing up the brew-kit when the volunteers return to the accommodation after work: clean the box, clean yourselves. Don’t just walk into the kitchen in your dirty site kit and dump a muddy box full of dirty cups etc on top
. Empty the bins when they’re full! Don’t just supplement them with a bin bag next to them.
. Recycle late night beer cans and bottles, don’t leave them on the tables or worktops till breakfast time
. Fridge-raiding! And the difference between stuff that’s for available for anyone who’s feeling peckish (toast!) and stuff that’s part of the cook’s meal planning (*)
(*) at this point, mention was made of one Steven Davis of KESCRG nicking some salami from the fridge on a camp in the early 1990s, blaming the D-of-E volunteers for it, and finally owning up to the camp leader… 15 years later!
Site and environmental points: Next we heard from Jess Leighton on some key points on site supervision. This ranged from dealing with Weil’s disease, both proactively (avoid risks) and reactively (report any symptoms) to special hazards (scaffolding and other ‘heights’ issues). And Marion Carter followed this with some environmental awareness points – protected plants and animals, invasive species, and “the tree that isn’t dangerous now might be in six months’ time!”
End the week: Colin then returned with his ‘Last day of camp’ piece, His points included:
. Aim to leave the work finished to a standard where the local society can carry on . Talk to the local society about a ‘handover’ finish
. Start cleaning kit around lunchtime on Friday, do several walks around site looking for tools that have been left –
and particularly any brick-lines still up
. Pack away all catering kit on Friday other than what’s needed for Friday night and Saturday morning
. Thank everyone!
. Aim to get away by 10am so that kit can arrive at the next camp in good time
Tell the story: The day’s final slot went to yours truly the Navvies editor with some words on Canal Camp reports for the magazine. See the Editorial page for more, but basically it might be worth thinking about:
. Why do we have them? To inform, to entertain, to encourage more volunteers
. How should we write them? The choice is yours – diary style, ‘picture story’ style, or all sorts of novelty styles: we’ve had everything from a cartoon strip to one in the style of an extract from the Old Testament
. When? Do it sooner and you’ll remember more stuff more easily
. Who writes it and for whom? It doesn’t have to be written by the leader; it isn’t just read by WRG volunteers, it goes to canal society people, IWA folks and even the odd CRT bod
. What to put in it and what not. Best if you don’t land the editor in court or get him the sack. But other than that, anything goes. And the most important thing is that you JUST GET ON AND WRITE IT!!!
And finally... Evvo summed up the day with four words of advice for leaders:
Listen (to people’s answers, comments, chat and ‘the vibe’)
Ask (for advice, whether volunteers understand, about their hopes and ambitions)
Remember (the ultimate goal – don’t get too immersed and lose sight of it)
Believe (in yourself and your team).
A last word by Mike – “Don’t feel massively under pressure to finish the job” and the day was rounded off, as it started, with one of Evvo’s haikus:
This piece was submitted as a ‘progress’ report – but we think it’s a bit more than that – hence the title. It’s an attempt to get things moving again on a canal which had an active restoration group for quite some years and hosted a number of WRG Canal Camps around 20-30 years ago (The infamous black Elsecar mud dug out of the basin by what became the Elsecar Heritage Centre was something of a WRG legend at the time!) but where the original group finally closed down a couple of years back.
The Yorkshire Link is a new name for the Barnsley and Dearne & Dove canals which between them formed what could be a popular through cruising route – and have some regeneration benefits for the area. But the new group are still just starting to find their way, discover what state the route is in, pick up the pieces from the earlier work, and get a feel for how feasible the restoration is, and how best to get things going again. And they’re appealing for assistance and information from anyone who can help. Iain Duncan explains...
The Barnsley, Dearne and Dove Canal restoration was always destined to be a tricky one, but the pandemic, HS2 and several other factors stepped in to put things on hold for a couple of years. So
is this a progress report? I’d like to think so, as we all know a couple of years is but a blink of the eye in Canal Time especially when most of those years were of enforced inactivity from which we are only just emerging.
But let’s step back for a moment a few hundred years and recall the legacy that has inspired the latest crew to polish their shovels and take up arms.
The Yorkshire Link, as it has become known recently, was never a greatly success-
ful waterway. In fact it is two canals: originally the Barnsley Canal branched off as an arm of the Aire and Calder, headed South from Wakefield , past Royston and hockeysticked south of Barnsley and back up the Dearne valley heading for the coalfields and crossing the then non-existent M1 to the tramway of Silkstone, finally becoming the Barnsley Canal. Like many canals of the time coal was assumed to be the main cargo, but there were probably too many very small
Barnsley Canal: Length: 15 miles Locks: 20 Date closed: 1953
Dearne & Dove: Length: 10 miles Locks: 19 Date closed: 1961
coalfields in the area and the canal found it difficult to make money.
It was a very diversified industrial area at the time, glassmaking was a large part, Barnsley was the world’s only supplier of aerated bottles and along with processed flax, paper and corn the canal survived. It added a few extra arms as time passed, The Worsborough to supply water and the Elsecar later to supply a better coal down to Swinton.
The second canal, the Dearne and Dove , was slightly more successful, predominantly coal based, running down the Dearne valley from a junction with the Barnsley Canal near Barnsley to Mexborough where the Dearne feeds into the Don which then leads on towards the Sheffield Canal.
So a broad beam through route was created, but it can be assumed was rarely used as a through route as such. And because of its early collapse (often literally as there were very many small pits throughout the valley leading to subsidence) it can be assumed that it ceased operating long before any leisure boating ever made its way along the link - although I’d like to be proved wrong.
And so it lay fading slowly away for 50 years until in the 1980s the first group of new navvies came along and decided it could be saved. The Barnsley Canals Consortium commissioned a feasibility study (which we are still looking for) which concluded that although expensive it could be done and (together with the Aire & Calder and Sheffield & South Yorkshire navigations thisNovel use for former mooring ring, in what’s now a supermarket yard
Yorkshire Link could create a broad beam one week long cruising circuit that would help to bring prosperity to the region. So now we are back at my current progress report. I will continue in note form since I think this is the best way to explain the ‘blink of an eye’...
1: Study concludes Link is feasible
2: Consortium estimates it will take 30 years
3: Loss of key stakeholders leads to closure of the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals Trust and transfer of assets elsewhere
4: New team supported by the Inland Waterways Association’s West Riding branch and Yorkshire & North East Region emerges, contacting local authorities, engaging with partnerships, growing the team, learning about how to renovate canals!
5: Search for detailed recent history of BDDCT commences. Who and what did they do?
This is the very start of our ‘dig’. I am sure many of you have many cake-inspired tales to tell, of bottled Elsecar grime, (no we don’t want it back), of pleasant days looking for remains of the canal heritage maybe. That is the stage we are at – We have to find out what still exists and if the feasibility study is still feasible, before we invest too much shovel time. We know there were several areas of canal still in water in Google Earth time, but we now have to go walk the walk in real “Let’s build as many ill-considered houses and empty warehouses” time. The Canal route was protected in the interested local councils’ LRF plans a few years ago and we are asking if that is still the case: judging by some developments we have seen, it has not been honoured by any of the councils.
If any WRGies can help in any way please contact me at duncan@waterways. org.uk or Ian Moore at west.riding@ waterways.org.uk
Canal Camps cost £70 per week or as stated. Bookings for WRG Camps with nu Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, enquiries@wrg.org.uk. Diary c
Jul 2-9 CC202201
Jul 9-16 CC202202
Jul 16-23 CC202203
Jul 23 WRG/IWA
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Camp: building new canal chann
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Camp: building new canal chann
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Camp: building new canal chann
Cotswold Canals: ‘Open Day’ event at restored Inglesham Lock - detail
Jul 23/24 London WRG Shrewsbury & Newport Canals: preparation for summer camps at Berwic
Jul 23-30 CC202204
Jul 23-30 CC202205
Jul 30-Aug 6 CC202206
Jul 30-Aug 6 CC202207
Aug 6-13 CC202208
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Canal Camp: repairs to Stonham’s W
Wendover Arm Canal Camp: rebuilding channel ‘narrows’ section
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Canal Camp: repairs to Stonham’s W
Wendover Arm Canal Camp: rebuilding channel ‘narrows’ section
Lapal Canal Camp: laying towpath and connecting path in Selly Oak Pa
Aug 20-27 CC202211 Wey & Arun Canal Camp: starting work on construction of new liftbridg
Aug 21-28 CC202212
Aug 28-30 IWA/WRG
Sep 3-10 CC202213
Sep 10/11 KESCRG
Sep 10-17 CC202214
Shrewsbury & Newport Canal Camp: rebuilding tunnel entrance and as
IWA Festival of Water at Burton on Trent: site services team, volunteer
Swansea Canal Camp: restoring lock chamber walls at Trebanos
Surrey Hills Wood Fair: running ‘drive a digger’ fundraising with Wey &
Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal Camp: restoring lock chamber walls at
Sep 17/18 WRG NorthWest Hollinwood Canal
Sep 17-24 CC202215
Swansea Canal Camp: rebuilding overflow weir at Ty-Coch Locks
Oct 1/2 KESCRG (possible) Wey & Arun Canal: new liftbridge Birtley
Oct 28-30 Family Camp Wendover Arm: Family Canal Camp at Whitehouses Pocket Park
Nov 5-6? WRG Reunion? Date, venue and exact nature of event (and whether it happens at all)
Dec 26-Jan 1 Christmas camp? To be confirmed, site to be announced - see page 37 and forthcoming
umber e.g. 'Camp 202201' should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Moor contributions to Dave Wedd. Tel: 07816-175454, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk
nel and culvert at Malswick. Led by KESCRG01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
nel and culvert at Malswick01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
nel and culvert at Malswick01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
s to be confirmed01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
k Tunnel
Tim Lewis 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk
eir01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
eir01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
ark01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
ge at Birtley01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
sociated structures at Berwick Tunnel01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
s wanted for children’s ‘drive a digger’ activity01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Arun Canal Trust Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk
Trebanos01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Mike Chase 07974-395294 mechase1975@gmail.com 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Ed Walker 07887-568029 ed@edwalker.eclipse.co.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
to be confirmed - see page 3701494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk issues of Navvies 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk
Within a few weeks we start our first full programme of canal camps since 2019. So now is a good time to refresh ourselves on working safely...
In Summer 2021 WRG managed to successfully run a small trial program of canal camps, and building on that success there is a larger program planned for Summer 2022. As many volunteers return to canal restoration projects across the country, some of them after a considerable length of time, now is a good point to refresh ourselves on some aspects of working together on projects to ensure a safe and enjoyable time for all.
Respecting individuals’ levels of caution: Since the end of the government mandatory covid rules it’s easy to forget about the precautions we have lived with previously, especially when absorbed in a task. But it’s important to recognise that people are still exercising various levels of caution depending on their personal circumstances, health, feelings, whether they are caring for an elderly relative or have a job they can’t be absent from, for example. We must respect their choices, give them the space they desire, on site, in the accommodation, in travelling or social activities, and respect any decisions to avoid any situations or activities which they don’t feel comfortable with.
Mental Health: Over the last year WRG has benefited from several training and awareness sessions focused on mental health and wellbeing. This summer each of the flightcases that hold the paperwork etc that goes out to camps will contain a supply of new cards with vital information and support on this subject. Canal camps can be wonderfully exciting and fulfilling experiences but they are also very different to many people’s day to day lives. Take the time to recognise and look after your own mental health, and keep an eye on those around you. The changes, challenges and losses over the last couple of years may have affected people differently, but small acts of kindness can go a long way.
Plant: It is strongly recommended that if you are asked to operate a piece of machinery, where possible you should take it to a quiet corner of the site away from the public, volunteers, obstructions and hazards and familiarise yourself thoroughly with all aspects of this particular model of plant, in all the functions that you may need to use. Consider how the size, age, level of maintenance, and site conditions will all affect how it handles and operates. Consider how this machine varies from one that you were trained on or which you have operated most recently, and how you may have to adapt how you use the machine.
Find somewhere
quiet to familiarise yourself with machinery
Driving: Just because you’ve always driven vans, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should continue to do so. Check that your driver authorisations are still valid and more importantly check how you are feeling. Think about how differently a fully loaded van will handle and manoeuvre, including braking and stopping distances compared to your own vehicle, and adjust your driving style to suit. Driving the vans requires more mobility and strength than driving a car; firstly ensure you are able to do this safely and comfortably for the whole journey, and then ensure you are comfortable by adjusting mirrors, seat position and height to suit.
Plant/vans/power tools: Take some time to reacquaint yourself. Read the guidance again, refresh your memory, talk it through with another trained person – there will be something you’ve forgotten! Leaders - consider setting aside an allocated time early in the week/weekend to train or familiarise several volunteers at once.
Beards: Have you grown a lockdown beard? While you now qualify for London WRG membership, be aware that facial hair reduces the effectiveness of face fit masks.
Medication, Allergies and Medical Information: Have you started taking any new medication? Could it affect your ability to operate plant and vehicles? Ensure the site leader is aware of your medical circumstances and the cook is aware of your dietary requirements. Advise the leader or head office if your personal information needs to be updated.
Different/reduced Abilities: Consider if you or your fellow volunteers may have reduced abilities since you were last on site - such as lifting, sight, hearing, mobility, strength and stamina - and consider how the work can be adapted to suit. Reassess your personal circumstance and ensure you are only taking on tasks suitable for you.
Site managers: give all volunteers an induction and explain all site rules and emergency procedures, even if they are volunteers you’ve worked with before. The site and site hazards are likely to have changed considerably and there may be new procedures which volunteers need to be aware of. Even though it might feel like you have been operating this way for a while, it might be the first time some volunteers have been to the site for some time.
All these factors works both ways. It’s the responsibility of the volunteer to inform the site leader of any changes, but equally leaders: don’t presume a volunteer you know well will feel able to jump straight back into all roles.
Now available in flightcases and at head office: wellbeing card, Weils disease card and new H&S guide
WRG will be returning to the Lapal Canal (the abandoned Selly Oak to Halesowen length of the Dudley No 2 Canal, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations) this summer for a canal camp, working on the towpath and a connecting path in Selly Oak Park. But the main project under way at the moment as part of the Lapal Canal scheme isn’t physically on the Lapal Canal at all...
The first section of canal from the junction with the Worcester & Birmingham Canal has been partly reinstated as part of a retail development, and will link up with the section in the park where WRG will be working. But access for boats from the W&B will be tricky because of the awkward turn resulting from the constricted site. In fact all except the shortest boats won’t be able to turn from the Worcester direction onto the Lapal Canal at all. The junction is right up against a road bridge and can’t be widened to make room to turn.
So the solution is to create a new winding hole (turning basin) on the far
side of the canal, just beyond the junction, so boats coming from Worcester will use it to turn around and then approach the junction from the rather easier Birmingham direction. It forms part of a wider local amenity scheme called Whitehouse Wharf, which also includes a new canalside public square and a footbridge providing access from the town centre to the retail development, while the winding hole will enable it to be a destination for trip-boats from central Birmingham.
The pictures on these pages show the state of progress on creating the winding hole.
LHCRT have funding for a new section of canal at Falkland Road, while carrying on with work at Tamworth Road and refurbishing a liftbridge
Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust has been awarded £260,000 from Lichfield District Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which will be used to continue the work already carried out along Falkland Road (part of Lichfield’s bypass road, where a diversionary route for the restored canal is being created alongside the road, to replace a length lost under building development). This will allow Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust to build an 870 metre extension of the public footpath and partial dry canal channel alongside Falkland Road, creating a traffic-free community greenway link between Birmingham Road and the very popular Heritage Towpath Trail at Fosseway Heath.
The path will be available to pedestrians and cyclists and of particular benefit to residents of the new Taylor Wimpey Friary Meadow and Bower Park developments, providing a green corridor supporting the sustainable development of Lichfield District. Zone A of the Falkland Road channel and towpath project was completed during 2020, following the donation of land by Staffordshire County Council (SCC), a Community Fund grant of £2,800 and LHCRT’s successful public Piling Appeal. The CIL funding, which comes from developer contributions, is subject to gaining planning permission for current and future works and transfer of land ownership from SCC. Final approval will allow the extension of the path and channel through Zones B and C up to Birmingham Road.
Meanwhile, work parties have continued to concentrate their efforts at Tamworth Road on building new walls at the site of old lock 24, which has been demolished to allow the channel to be lowered before it enters a new culvert under Cricket Lane (with a replacement lock to be built on the far side of the road. New buttresses holding up the old wall next to
Lichfield Canal
miles of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. The canal
Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line in Wolverhampton to a junction with
eastern length which included all 30 of the canal’s
cost
the lock cottage are not now visible and the new wall on the cottage side is ready for backfilling with concrete, while work on the building of the towpath wall is also progressing well.
Also at Tamworth Road, the LHCRT ‘green team’ and Duke of Edinburgh award volunteers have planted new hedging and sown wildflower seeds along a newly created bund. Bat boxes have been installed at Tamworth Road following a survey carried out from April to October, 2021, by 14-year-old Owen Smith, son of Garry Smith, senior ecologist for specialist consultants Chase Ecology, which discovered seven species of bats feeding in the area.
The lift bridge installed over 20 years ago at Darnford Moors has been given a complete facelift, thanks to Thomson Protective Coatings Ltd, who provided the work and materials for free. The bridge originally came from the Peak Forest Canal via the Chesterfield Canal. Its refurbishment and construction of the abutments was largely carried out by volunteers in 1997/1998 with funding from Staffordshire Environment Fund. It allows the towpath to cross over from the south side of the canal channel to the north side, avoiding the abandoned lock 29 and conservation area.
The main restoration action at the moment is concentrated on the 1500 metre length between Pryces Bridge and Schoolhouse Bridge, on the English length of canal beyond the current limit of navigation at Gronwen Bridge, near Maesbury. There are three separate projects on the go, each at a different stage in the restoration process. Also a fourth project will be starting shortly on the Welsh section of the canal.
Shropshire Union Canal Society’s volunteers continue rebuilding work on the channel between Pryces Bridge and Crickheath. The majority of the banks in the areas affected by subsidence are now complete and final channel shaping in these areas has started. Lining work was due to start in
early May. Work is hampered by the historic twin problems of bad ground and high water table but at the time of writing, of the 320m length in question 60m has already been lined and 100m is profiled to the final shape ready for lining. The plan is that this section will be in a state to be re-watered in the autumn. The two images [ on this page and on the front cover of the magazine] give some idea of the scale of the works.
The work on this section was recognised in late November when the Society, together with Arcadis (consulting engineers) and the Canal & River Trust (the client), won the Community Engagement Award at the 2021 Ground Engineering Awards Ceremony held in London. The winner came from a short list which included a section of the HS2 project and three other professionally deliv-
ered entries. The Ground Engineering Awards Ceremony recognises achievements across geotechnical engineering, and attracts the biggest names in main contracting, engineering consulting, geotechnics and ground Investigation suppliers and manufacturers.
Meanwhile preparation work has started on the Crickheath to Schoolhouse Bridge section of channel. To date a newt licence has been issued, a ground investigation undertaken, the channel design established and costing produced. This is likely to be another SUCS volunteer-led project.
Further south still, the legal work connected with the rebuilding of Schoolhouse Bridge is now finished and the design agreed
with the highways authority. A recent increase in the prices of building materials has set back the start of the project and a new appeal for funding has been launched. The final bit of excellent news was the announcement of allocation of ‘Levelling-up’ funds for restoration by contractors of most of the Llanymynech to Ardleen length [See our restoration feature in Navvies issue 310 ].
This work will enable the rebuilding of two bridges, construction of off-line nature reserves, and extensive channel works. Work is likely to start on site next year. Additional funding is being used by CRT to study future main road crossings south of Ardleen.
David CarterShropshire Union Canal Volunteers continued their fortnightly programme at the beginning of May near Crickheath.
The first task was to pump out volumes of water to enable the waterproof lining and blocking to begin. The lining process was made very difficult by very strong gusts of wind which got under the plastic lining sheets causing huge air bubbles to form.
In spite of this handicap 12 metres were prepared for blocking during Friday after noon. Saturday was a very calm day and a further 18 metres of lining was quickly put down and laying blocks began in earnest. By lunchtime on Sunday 30 metres of channel had been lined and blocked, using 3,000 building blocks.
Another 40 metres of waterproof lining was put down and covered with building blocks. 140 metres have now been completed leaving a further 190 metres to finish by Christmas, in order that this stretch of canal can be filled with water and retention tested for a grand opening in 2023. It is anticipated that by the end of August all lining will be finished, enabling all energy to be directed to towpath work and other remedial tasks.
On the Sunday a stretch of embankment was covered in Riprap. We covered an area of canal bank above the water-line with soil and boulders [pictured] to reduce erosion from boats and also promote grass and vegetation growth.
Some time ago we gave you an oversight on the work being done across the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal. We updated you on the land acquisitions at Malswick, near Newent - which included building some bridges, literally, for the farmer enabling us to access the land for further development of the canal. After this work was completed, we applied for (in the process providing over 100 plus documents) and received planning permission to restore over 600 metres of canal (actually it will be a brand new channel on a slightly different alignment to the origin al) in November 2021.
This year the team at Malswick have continued work on the project. There is now a new entrance accessing the site. Work has
been completed on building the ‘small’ culvert under what will be the new canal (see picture). Other groundworks have been started ready to put in place the ‘large’ culvert. After contacting WRG to show what we have done and what we have to do it has been agreed that 3 weeks of WRG camps will occur in July 2022. Hopefully we will see a lot of workers. [...and hopefully some camp reports in the next issues of Navvies ...Ed ]
In the meantime, engineering solutions are being worked on for other parts of the canal. A little way up the road from Malswick, at Newent we are investigating the concept of an Inclined plane for getting boats up and over the road there. We already have an excellent model, (picture below) created by a volunteer. The model was first shown at last year’s IWA event at
The Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal was begun during the Canal Mania, when the success of some of the early canals led to a rush of speculative construction of waterways, some of which (like the H&G) turned out not to be very profitable at all. To make matters worse, a diversion via Newent to serve a small new coalfield added an expensive tunnel to the route, the coal turned out to be no good, and the canal ran out of money at Ledbury. However a young man named Stephen Ballard joined the canal company and convinced them that if they could get to Hereford it would be a success. It got there in the end, but it wasn’t a success. The company made the best of a bad job by selling out to a railway company who closed the canal and used parts of it for their line. The railway in turn closed in 1959.
Length: 34 miles
Locks: 23
Date closed: 1881
Worcester and proved to be a great way to engage interest in the canal and was also mentioned in Canal Boat magazine.
In Herefordshire we have gained some landowners permission to work further along the canal. While this gives us permissino to work the canal and the canal towpath unfortunately no public access is permissable at present, although we have had a couple of walks occuring where we have gained permission to show members these sites as part of a guided walk. One walk already completed gave us a view of the Ashperton Tunnel entrance. This is accessed via a private garden. In the previous few months volunteers have been working on gaining access to the tunnel and clearing undergrowth. We have another guided walk occuring in June as part of the Herefordshire Walking Festival.
At both ends of the canal we had the reed boats in again. This picture shows them getting ready with the cutter at Over. They then went up to Aylestone Park in Hereford the following day.
The Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust continues to focus on rebuilding a sustainable canal from Hereford to Gloucester, with the emphasis on ensuring there is a built-in income to keep the canal maintained once it is restored.
Background: the Wendover Canal Trust is working to restore the six-mile arm of the Grand Union Canal. This begins with almost two miles of navigable canal from the GU Main Line at Bulbourne to a new winding hole (turning point) and temporary terminus created at Little Tring as part of Phase 1 of the restoration, completed in 2005. Just beyond there is a short filled-in section whose re-excavation has unfortunately been complicated by the discovery that the 100 year old rubbish and ash that it was filled in with is classed as contaminated (it contains some lead, which was used for lots of things back then) and needs special disposal
(although it can be moved around the site). This is the area where a ‘narrows’ is being constructed, limiting the width of the canal (which up to here has been capable of taking 14ft wide craft - albeit they would have a
tight squeeze passing each other) to narrowboats of around 7ft beam.
Beyond here is the start of almost two miles of what was dry channel to Aston Clinton (the remaining length from Aston Clinton to Wendover is in water, used as a feeder, and just needs three low-level unnavigable bridges dealing with), but which WCT’s volunteers have been rebuilding (including lining in concrete and bentonite matting) ever since 2005, including building new footbridges (Bridges 4 and 4a) and creating mooring bays, and rewatering in lengths. They’ve been working back from the far end at Aston Clinton and they’re getting fairly close to completing the job by linking up with the infilled length where the narrows is being built at Little
The crack at Whitehouses pumping station: source of the leak?
Tring, but unfortunately the most recently rebuilt section has turned out to be suffering from a hard-to-track-down leakage problem.
April working party: The weather was variable, with conditions being good enough
Length: 6 miles Locks: 0 (1 stop-lock added) Date closed: 1904
Grand Union Main Line to Birmingham
Aylesbury Arm
Infilled section and new narrows under construction
Tringford
Marsworth
Bulbourne Junction
To London
Little TringA41
Aston Clinton
Halton
The Wendover Arm has the dubious distinction of having been built as a navigable feeder to provide a water supply to the Grand Junction (now the Grand Union) Canal, but ending up leaking so much that it was actually costing the canal water. Attempts to waterproof it (including lining a section of it with bitumen) proved unsuccessful. In 1904 the canal company gave up, closed it to navigation and drained the length from Little Tring to Aston Clinton (with the Arm’s water supply function maintained by carrying the water in a pipe laid in a trench dug in the former canal bed). From Aston Clinton to Wendover the remaining length of the canal was maintained as an unnavigable water supply channel, with the water kept at a reduced level.
Phase 3 Aston Clinton to Wendover: in water at reduced level, three new bridges needed
Wendover
Bulbourne to Little Tring: always navigable
Phase 1 at Little Tring: reopened 2005
Phase 2 Little Tring to Aston Clinton: under restoration / channel rebuilding Bridge 4 and area of leakage problems
Whitehouses former pumping station site
on Sunday 3rd April for 26 dumper loads of ash to be removed from the edges of the hole where the narrows will be, and stored near the road access. But next day it was so wet that attempts to excavate the narrows had to be abandoned. (And Thursday 7th was very windy).
By the end of Tuesday 5th we completed excavating the required profile to build the narrow section of canal next to the Little Tring winding hole. On Wednesday, 7 cubic metres of ready-mix concrete was spread across the floor of the excavation as a “blinding” layer. The pictures show the the hole excavated and volunteers laying the concrete.
Bottle collecters continue to disturb our excavation, so to deter them and increase site safety, we have erected a Heras steel fence at the top of the ramp down into the hole.
Unexplained water loss Bridge 4a to 4: Our ongoing work has not yet explained the water loss in this section, although there is now some as-yet-incomplete evidence that at least some of the loss is at the former pumping station site at Whitehouses. Our bunds (which divide this into shorter lengths, as part of the investigation) needed further work because water was running round the ends, so we had to remove some concrete blocks from the side of the canal above each end and replace them with actual concrete. At the end of the
work party, there were still some unexplained trickles of water, and work continues.
We found some minor pointing needed at Whitehouses, perhaps from the work done in 2008, and that was done on Tuesday. While tidying the site for this, we were surprised to find a large and long crack along the back of the low-level original brick apron in front of Whitehouses pumping station, across the lower front of the arches. It is not yet clear when the crack started, but it seems to have become larger. Initial thoughts were that while this may not explain our current water loss issue, it would certainly leak in future when the water reaches full height. Mikk Bradley is consulting CRT on the required repair.
May working party: At the narrows, blockwork was laid as a permanent shutter to the required shape, which is something like an hourglass when seen from above. It took a lot more effort than expected to tie together steel reinforcement, which unfortunately had to be completed in the rain. Five loads of ready-mix concrete were delivered and placed, poured, spread, compacted and tamped the following day. .
The resulting concrete foundation looks too wide to be a narrows, but by the time blockwork walls have been laid round the edges of the concrete, and then faced with brick, the narrows will be little wider than a 7
foot wide narrowboat.
Spoil Relocation: In preparation for this summer’s major ash removal exercise, our mountain of clay contaminated with coal tar (from a 19th century attempt to waterproof the canal) has been moved. Until now it was on top of the ash, between the car park and the winding hole/narrows. Now it has been temporarily placed just the other side of the car park and entrance, at the beginning of the section towards Bridge 4. It has temporarily filled in a short section of canal to towpath level. It is expected that this spoil will be gradually used up when we recommence lining the canal. For now, we have an additional storage area for materials. We experimented with a remote-controlled hired roller to compact this spoil so that it can be driven over. However we were disappointed; it achieved little that we couldn’t have achieved as well or better by driving the large excavator back and forth over it.
Ash removal: Almost all the ash we stockpiled last month has gone to FCC’s tip at Calvert. This took 13 lorry-loads across four days. We look forward to a major operation in July and August, which we expect will clear most or all of the ash, except that which lies under our volunteers’ car park and the entrance area where we store material for removal. These sections will be the last to be relined, and so will not be cleared of ash until we have completed all other relining.
Unexplained water loss Bridge 4a to 4: This month’s work has concentrated on chipping out the brickwork crack we found last month at Whitehouses. While it is by no means
clear whether this has anything to do with the water loss to date, it will certainly cause water loss in future unless we repair it. It was worse than we expected; having chipped out some old brickwork, the cracks led to voids which appear to have been dug by rabbits under the Whitehouses wa lls. Suitable repairs are being discussed with the Canal & River Trust.
Tidy Friday: Seven volunteers spent the time at the rear of the winding hole clearing the vegetation from around all the new trees that we have planted over the last two years. We have found that this last lot of trees have a much better survival rate than the previous year’s, around 95% compared with only 75% of the earlier ones. We think this is because until this last year they all came bare root, but now they come as plug plants.
Visit of Kescrg and London WRG: Members of two of the travelling groups jointly visited us over the weekend at the end of our work party. They finished the spoil relocation, extended the towpath fence next to where the spoil now is, further excavated the crack at Whitehouses, and did some final brickwork repairs at Bridge 4. Thank you!
Clive Johnson Restoration volunteer and Chairman Wendover Canal TrustRemember the liftbridge base that was largely built during three weeks of Canal Camps in 2019? Good, because it’s time to build another one...
The Wey & Arun Canal Trust’s latest project is to build the second of two new liftbridges at Birtley, south of Bramley near the northern end of the canal. This is the site where in 2019 three weeks of intensive work on consecutive canal camps carried out the bulk of the structural work to build the first bridge. This has since had a temporary fixed deck installed, but now needs a lifting mechanism adding - it will be a traditional counterweight balanced bridge operated by a manually wound mechanical system, which is set to become a distinctive feature of this part of the canal.
Meanwhile the site of the second bridge is currently a causeway blocking the canal, carrying a public bridleway and incorporating a gas main. To allow the excavation of a trench below the canal bed for relocation of the gas pipe and also the creation of a temporary bridleway diversion, the canal needed to be dammed off and drained.
WACT has installed a SpeedyDam waterfilled dam from AquaDam Europe (consisting of a geotextile membrane with polyethylene liner), creating a 1.2m high barrier in a matter of hours. It’s the first time the Trust has used one of these; it’s easily transportable and will be useful on future projects elsewhere on the canal.
A way forward for WRG North West? And the possible revival of a couple of regular WRG events that haven’t happened since before the pandemic
As we went to press WRG was still hoping to organise some kind of event to fill the slot in the calendar traditionally occupied by the Bonfire Bash, also known as the Reunion, but possibly with some changes...
Firstly it won’t necessarily just be a big scrub-bash like it usually is. In fact there’s been a suggestion that we might combine it with a BCN Cleanup type event (an annual weekend - usually in springtime but not held since March 2020 - spent throwing grappling hooks into the Birmingham Canal Navigations and pulling out all manner of junk), with both rubbish removal and vegetation clearance - perhaps on the Bradley Canal. And secondly it won’t necessarily take place on its traditional date of the first weekend in November.
But no decision’s been made on whether it will take place at all. Watch this space.
This is another event that’s been a popular part of the WRG calendar in the past, but like the Bonfire Bash it’s a big social gathering as well as a working party - which means we’ve been more wary of re-starting it since the pandemic. However we are keeping a watch on how things develop - and we do have one possible site, a new one for us, on the Stover Canal in south Devon. Again, watch this space.
WRG North West’s ad hoc meetings are famous (or infamous), not for the scintillating conversation or the business achieved, but more for the amount of tea consumed and the buffet food eaten. Due to Covid, we had not had an in-
person ad hoc meeting since January 2020 and we were all missing them.
In addition, as mentioned in the last Navvies it was felt that we needed to regroup and discuss if we wanted WRGNW to continue and if so, how we wanted the group to move forward, especially due to having low numbers turn out to our last few digs. The meeting was organised with over two months’ notice to everyone on the WRGNW mailing list. Nearer the meeting date we received several messages of support from people who could not attend (mainly due to their location) with some useful suggestions for publicising the organisation and the work that we do.
On the evening of the meeting, there were ten people in attendance. The previously received messages of support had already been circulated and were also available in paper format at the meeting. We discussed these first. The general consensus of the meeting and the support messages was that we should definitely continue and the discussion quickly turned into how the group could be revived – the two main issues being:
· How to recruit more and especially younger people
· How to re-start our working partiesWRG NW on the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal at Nob End
A particular problem was seen to be that we have no young people at our working parties, and that consequently any young people we recruited would not want to become regulars – a Catch 22 situation. It was felt that we must start by trying to use personal Facebook accounts to advertise our work parties to our own friends and contacts. Paid Facebook advertising was considered, but the options known to our Facebook users had little to commend them.
We also decided to try to advertise to local canal societies and the various CRT “adopt-a-canal” groups in the hope that their volunteers may also want to try working with us at a different site. Details of these groups will be collated by Carolyn in a shareable document so that we will be ready to advertise to them. If anyone has any details they would like to add to this list, please email wrgnorthwest@gmail.com.
In addition, we felt that the current IWA website is not very user friendly and is difficult to navigate. We felt that we needed a simpler site where we can give brief information about the group, list of dig dates and information about them. We now have a Facebook page (in addition to our group) which will have information only and can be viewed by anyone, on or off Facebook, without the need to “join” anything. [To find it, just search for “Waterway Recovery Group North West”] A very simple website may fol low in the near future.
For our working parties, it was decided to try to organise something each month, with a mixture of local one-day “digs”, joint digs with other groups (if they are happy for us to join them) and a couple of “away weekend” working parties of our own. We also considered that we may not have a van (or a driver) to travel so we need to ensure public transport provision is included and the offer of lifts in cars where possible.
Are other WRG groups having
difficulties restarting after Covid?
thoughts
Some readers of Navvies may recognise the name of Peter Bowers (or by his many nicknames!), or seen him in photos. Over the years he has worked on many Canal Camps; and also with the local canal trusts on the Wendover Arm and River Gipping.
A few weeks back he decided that he would, in some of his ‘spare time’, walk along the towpath of the canal between Edinburgh and Glasgow – staying in B&Bs along the way. Whilst he was talking about his project with some friends at Dunstable Cruising Club it was suggested that some members would be prepared to give donations for his walk; and also some ‘matched funding’. As a result of this Pete decided that any moneys donated would be passed to WRG.
Our thanks to Pete and all folks who have donated.
John HawkinsDear Deirdre I’m about to head off on my first canal camp since 2019! I can’t really remember how I used to pack. Have you any reminders? - AH, Milton Pagnell
Deirdre replies It depends on what kind of WRGie you are really. Old hands will probably have a collection of old rags they’ve been wearing on digs since around the late 1980s. Moths won’t go anywhere near these garments, so you can be confident they’re still just as you left them – probably balled up in the garage where you threw them after the last dig. It’s just your phone charger you need to throw in too.
If you’re a part-timer or a novice, you’re more likely to have washed your kit when you stuffed it away before the plague came. It’s well worth giving everything a good shake and a sniff to check no mice have nested in there since you last used it. You’ll finally be able to get a second use out of that new bedroll you bought in 2019. Remember to take a proper bed pillow – by now you’ll have forgotten how awful that blow up one is and what a waste of money it was.
Whatever kind of WRGie you are, make sure to give your boots a good check before you go. Soles can really deteriorate over time, especially if they’ve been caked in lime mortar prior to storage. And remember you wore your favourite digging shorts to redecorate the hallway in first lockdown – you’ll need to dig them out again and hope the paint splatters aren’t too bad.
Dear Deirdre Oh god I’ve just found the tea towels in with my digging gear. I must have volunteered to wash them after my last dig two and a half years ago and forgotten all about it. What on earth can I do? They’re all stuck together with black spots on. Shall I try mould remover and a boil wash? - MJL, Dull Eastwich
Deirdre replies I think some things even a boil wash can’t fix. It might be time to replace the tea towels, which have probably been in circulation since they nationalised the waterways. They’re so thin now that you might as well use cobwebs to dry your dishes. I find Wilko are usually good value.
One of the various things that bricklayers will bore you with, if given the chance (or even if not given the chance) is ‘bonds’. These are the various patterns that the bricks are laid in to make a wall, and they have names like English Bond, Flemish Garden Wall Bond and Rat Trap Bond. But here are some others that you’re probably less familiar with...
The “Michael Bond” - uses marmalade instead of mortar
The “Unibond” - only needs one brick. A strangely pointless bond.
The “Basildon Bond” - if you really want your wall to remain stationery! (sorry)
The “Bond-I-Beach” - especially good for building barbecues
The “James Bond” - two gaps and then seven bricks!
The “Premium Bond” - made of gold bricks. And with a fairly low chance of success. (You may like to draw parallels with some organisations’ approach to canal restoration in the past. I couldn’t possibly comment.)
The “Government Bond” - allegedly strong and stable. Usually to be found with rotten foundations. The “Brooke Bond” – has tea leaves in the mortar. Alternatively, a bond used by the sort of bricklayer who can’t get a brick down until they’ve had their third cup of tea while peering at the wall, prodding it with their trowel, muttering and then having another cup of tea. (What, there’s any other sort of brickie?)
The “Bond-age”. Original meaning: the pattern you get when using old hand made reclaimed bricks of different sizes. Current urban slang: using straps/ties or other metal inserts to stabilise the resulting wall
Coming soon: “Throwing in the trowel” – the WRG editor finally gives up on trying to write any more ‘amusing’ pieces about bricklaying…
