IWA Chelmsford Branch Newsletter October 2014

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Pont Canal de Briare by John G Carlaw

Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways Disclaimer: The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this Newsletter but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed herein may be construed as policy or official announcement unless stated otherwise. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter in the Newsletter

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Content From the Editor From the Chairman From the Region Chairman Big Dig More Changes Four Counties Ring Mid Week Working Parties Information Boards

Page 2 Page 2 Page 3 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7

Frangipani SUP Holiday Visit Readers Photos Branch Social S.B.C. Essex WRG Just for Fun Social Events

Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 12

From The Editor We have had a few teething problems with the changes of the Newsletter format; like many changes, with practice we will get better.

We would like to increase our contributors to this Newsletter. Please make time to look out your photos, articles and ideas and send them in for our next Newsletter: Last inputs for Winter Newsletter 21/12/2014. Tell us about your own waterway experiences, your holiday or send in Readers Photos.

For those on e-mail please send your input to chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk Those without just give me a call to arrange for collection. 07837 576464.

From The Chairman Well, I'm sure that those of you who have been boating or otherwise using our waterways have made the most of our Indian summer and hope that there is plenty more of it to come. Thinking along these lines and reading John's account of his early days on the canals reminded me of when Doug and I took our first tentative break in a narrow boat, in 1972.

We had been married for about three years and had a large, shaggy black dog. Not wanting to leave him to the tender care of others and being keen to take him with us on holiday, we booked a trial week on board "Auckland", starting from Bunbury, on the Shroppie. Being new to canalling, we took everything but the kitchen sink with us and were surprised to find how well equipped the boat was.

Having been through the usual induction course - watching the boatyard manager take the boat through Bunbury locks and steering about a hundred wobbly yards before letting him off - we were then on our own. We each had a go at steering and neither was any better than the other, frequently going almost broadside across the cut, as is the normal practice for most beginners. The weather was looking threatening so, by the time we had "navigated" the couple or so miles to Barbridge Junction, with increasingly shredded nerves, we tied up for the night just into the Midddlewich Arm. The thunderstorm started after we had gone to bed and that was when I found that the window over my bunk wasn't quite watertight! My sleeping bag was soaked, so we managed to tighten the window a bit, swapped bunks and I switched to one of the boatyard's sleeping bags, of which three had been supplied. Unfortunately, we hadn't done a good-enough job on the window and it was Doug's turn to get wet. By the time we got to bags four and five, I had found a cross-bunk under the wash basin at the other end of the boat and Doug was keeping the dog company!

After a quick retreat to the boatyard and a bit of make-do and mend, we started out again the next morning in glorious weather, which fortunately held for the rest of the week; by the time we had been up to Llangollen and back we were well and truly hooked, bought our first boat after another couple of hirings and never looked back.

Happy canalling to you all.

Molly Beard

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From The Region Chairman My post, along with those of region chairmen for South East Region and Eastern Region, came up for election this year. I was the only nomination for London Region, which either means I am doing a fantastic job and you are all happy with me or apathy has once again won the day!

When I was first elected as Region chairman, three years ago, I said there were two priorities: •

to sort out the problem of boats without a home mooring overstaying on visitors mooring.

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to increase our membership base

I have come to the conclusion the problem of boats without a home mooring overstaying in London has nothing to do about boats, continuous cruisers, or overstaying. This is a housing issue. Somehow we need to get across that you cannot solve London's housing shortage and resulting high prices by moving people onto the canals.

This is what is happening now. Because CRT is treating the problem as a boating issue in my opinion they will never solve the problem, there are just too many people looking for affordable housing. They may have success around the edges by keeping lock landings and visitor moorings available for others but we will still have boats blocking navigation four abreast. To this end the Canal and River Trust (CRT) are introducing new arrangements for visitor moorings in central London to free them up for genuine visitors.

The second priority was to try increasing membership. In my opinion, the only way we will be able to increase our membership, is to be able to demonstrate that we are an active, vibrant organisation out on the towpath. To that end, we are to run a major “Big Dig” this autumn on the Regents Canal. It would be nice to think we could still get 1000 people out, as we have done in the past - but I doubt if we can! Please see the announcement elsewhere and come and join us and prove me wrong!

Paul Strudwick

London Waterways Big Dig Your Region committee has been working with Stefanie Preston from Head Office to arrange a large scale cleanup in the London area. We have agreed with CRT that we will have a Big Dig clearing a drained section of canal and the adjacent towpath in the Mile End area on the 22nd November 2014.

In joining our work party you will be showing your support for the care and improvement of the London waterways, as well as spreading the word of our work through meeting other people. So if you can spare the time please come and join us, bring your friends and family, anyone can join a work party, they don’t have to be an IWA member.

If you can come and help please contact :- Stefanie Preston Tel: 01494 783 453 ext 610 Email: stefanie.preston@waterways.org.uk Or me Email: paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk So that we have some idea of numbers and can send you more details of the exact location and other arrangements nearer the time.

Paul Strudwick

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days, a subsequent change of ownership saw its popularity dwindle. It was always a planning requirement that the private car park to this complex was to be short term only and as there is a large multi-storey car park opposite the basin, the private car park would be developed as a prime waterside site. Following the success of their recent development at Cressy Court, Taylor Wimpey have received planning permission on the Waterfront Place site. The scheme will create new residential apartments on the car park whilst retaining the ground floor of the existing buildings for commercial uses. The existing path alongside the basin will be retained and will be extended onto the adjoining Smiths Yard site. Service bollards will be provided for the moorings.

Springfield Basin More Changes As long ago as 1985 when this Branch produced its report ‘Springfield Basin and Beyond’ we were promoting the potential for redevelopment of both Springfield Basin and the adjacent vacant former gas works land. The Council’s subsequent Planning Brief ‘Springfield Basin and Chelmer Waterside’ in 1994 picked up the potential and shortly afterwards encouraged the first new development on Springfield Basin at Coates Quay. Two further schemes followed this at Waterfront Place, where the successful restaurant and banqueting suite was built, and at the head of the basin where shops and flats known as Springfield Basin filled the gap between the other two schemes.

The Smiths Yard site which was previously used for vehicle bodywork is also to be redeveloped and a new planning application is expected for this.

Not far away at Springfield Lock the grandest scheme of all was to take place with the building of Lockside Marina, a development of waterside apartments grouped around a new marina basin.

By the time you read this, the Waterfront Place site will be surrounded by hoardings and the waterside buildings at Smiths Yard will probably have disappeared. The new apartments at ‘The Waterfront’ are already being advertised, so if you want a city centre pad where you can moor your boat, you need to act quickly!

In 1985 when the Branch promoted the redevelopment of this redundant brownfield land, it was believed that the ownership of most of the area by the Local Authority would allow it to be developed quickly. Almost 30 years later, nothing has happened apart from a temporary car park use and more worryingly the owners, Chelmsford City Council, are buying other sites in the area without any firm proposals for their reuse. Most of the privately owned land in this area has already been developed or is about to be. Are we now going to see another 30 years of vacant council owned town centre land with nothing happening at a time when there is a shortage of housing and local authorities ought to be setting an example by releasing their land for this purpose?

Articles earlier in the year illustrated the most recent development at Indigo Wharf, fortunately now officially named Cressy Court, where more waterside flats have been built and a new pedestrian route has been formed alongside the basin and through to Navigation Road. I do not know how the Cressy Court name came about, but it certainly has genuine waterway links!

Now, almost 30 years after this Branch promoted development of this derelict area, more change is about to commence. Although the Waterfront Place restaurant was an outstanding success in its early

Roy Chandler 4

minutes! Impressed! They explained the bridge was having intermittent problems and they were awaiting a new sensor, meanwhile they gave us another key so we could be on our way. Passing Macclesfield & Bollington there are huge converted mills giving you an idea what used to be.

Four Counties Ring Setting off on a leisurely 2 week cruise of the Four Counties Ring with a detour to Bugsworth Basin, we left the Boatyard in Stone Staffs, cruising anticlockwise on a glorious sunny day in May, the trees and flowers in bloom, waterfowl and their young in abundance along the way.

Heading up the Trent & Mersey Canal passing Stoke on Trent, Etruria, on through Middleport & Longport where bottle kilns can still be seen canal side, then arriving at the famous Harecastle Tunnel - south portal, we had a short wait while instructions were explained by the tunnel keeper, and once the oncoming boats had cleared we were on our way, into darkness where the tunnel doors close behind you and you can hear the extractor fans. After about 45 minutes we emerged into lovely sunshine again at Kidsgrove, where the canal looks orange due to the iron ore seepage.

On reaching Marple Junction we turned onto the Peak Forest Canal where we experienced some shallow areas especially at the swing bridges when getting on / off the boat proved tricky at times.

The newly restored Bugsworth Basin was really worth the visit, there is a maze of basins and some are accessible by boat, all facillities are available, and the Navigation Inn does very good meals.

We headed back to Red Bull to resume the Four Counties Ring and the section nicknamed 'Heartbreak Hill' due to the 26 locks in 7 miles many of the locks being duplicate locks (2 locks side by side). We moored briefly at Hassall Green only to find the Post Office, cafe and Pub nearby had all closed down, but the Potters Barn up the lane is still open. So onwards to Middlewich a popular town, and busy canal due to 2 hire-boat bases here. Turning onto the Shropshire Union Canal, Middlewich Branch at Wardle Lock, we cruised a very rural part to Barbridge Junction, turning left onto the mainline Shropshire Union Canal to Nantwich along a high embankment over looking the lovely town. At Audlem we moored, which was very busy with a village festival, a lovely place with the Shroppie Fly and the well stocked Audlem Mill canal side. The 15 Audlem Locks were soon behind us, and passing Market Drayton, Tyrley Cutting where the canal is lined by trees for miles, and passing under 'High Bridge' (High Offley) a double arched bridge with a telegraph pole under the top arch, then passing Norbury Junction which was a hive of activity, The Junction Inn does great meals! Onwards to Gnosall for a wander, a pretty village, then Brewood and another stop to explore, seeing the unusual Gothic Speedwell Castle - a fantasy castle.

Here we turned away from Red Bull Locks onto the Macclesfield Canal and our detour: the canal crosses on an aqueduct and we saw the duplicate locks below. The route is lovely especially around Scholar Green & Kent Green, good walking, and a lovely, meal at the Rising Sun. Onwards, passing Congleton with masses of pretty bluebells along side the canal, a relaxing time until Bosley Locks, then one of the Automated Swing Bridges at Fools Nook (pub closed down). All was well until I tried to remove our BW key it was stuck. We called CRT who arrived in 5

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Four Counties Ring cont

Mid-Week Working Parties

At Autherley Junction left again onto the Staffs & Worcs Canal, and the Round House Canal Shop at Gailey - a must to see. Further on Penkridge, a popular mooring spot, and Tixall Wide with the Gate House in the field. Another left back onto the Trent & Mersey at Haywood Junction, the Farm Shop here has expanded over the years and is fabulous.

Since I typed the report for the last ‘Newsletter’ our small team of four has shrunk to three! Dave Lawton (also known to us as Dave Two – at one time we had three Daves) died suddenly of cancer of the pancreas. Several of us will be attending a memorial service in Chelmsford Cathedral on Thursday September 25th. We will miss him, The main work of the summer is always mowing. Between us and the staff we have fourteen miles and eight locks to mow (the other four locks are mowed by Caretakers). In addition to this we’ve had taken one of the work boats and have hunted for and removed floating pennywort (an invasive American weed) from the Navigation.

We have spent several days helping the staff deal with fallen trees on the non-towpath side: winching them across the Navigation, sawing them up and removing the resultant logs. We have also repaired a handrail along the moorings at Sandford. We had a day operating the chipper and we have helped with craning and with locking at Heybridge on many occasions.

If anyone else is interested in regular voluntary work on the C&BN please contact me on 01376 334896.

Mooring at Salt (just after a swan attacked our rear boat fender!!) we walked up to the Hollybush Inn While on the subject of volunteers… In his article in the where we have always enjoyed a delicious meal, it last ‘Newsletter’, Roy Chandler (not for the first time) paid was as good as ever. tribute to volunteers – not just the ones above, but all the others as well.

What is possibly not generally known is that Roy (in common with all the other Directors of Essex Waterways Ltd) is also a volunteer. The hours that he puts in are the equivalent of any three of our regular other volunteers, added together! Thank you, Roy. John Gale

Finally we returning to Stone and to have an explore around this interesting town.

The last time we cruised the Four Counties Ring it was the first week the canals re-opened following closures due to the 'Foot & Mouth' and we had such a lovely time (although great sadness for the farmers) we planned to return again one day, now we have and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't spend all our time in the pubs!!

Stephanie Mason & John Grieve 6

Information Boards

Frangipani SUP

Heybridge Basin has for many years been a location that attracts visitors. Some come to see the river and its sea lock connection to the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation, or to look at the boats, or visit the pubs.

Others come for a riverside stroll or a longer coastal walk or for a bit of bird watching. In recent years the popular Tea Rooms and the offering of boat trips on the Navigation have brought more visitors.

On the navigation at Hoe Mill

A single information board provided by the Chelmer Canal Trust close to the Daisy Meadow car park provided information about the Navigation, but there was no information about the history of Heybridge Basin or explanation of how the sea lock works.

The Branch was very conscious of this and when the time came to consider how best to remember Doug Beard it was quickly decided that an information board in his memory would be very appropriate.

Doug spearheaded the restoration of Springfield Basin in the early 1990’s and went onto gain agreement of IWA Trustees to the setting up of Essex Waterways Ltd. and the rescue of The Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation in 2005. He was an IWA Trustee and director and chairman of Essex Waterways Ltd. The Doug Beard information board is now in place at Heybridge Sea Lock and it explains how the sea lock works and the role of Essex Waterways. It is placed alongside a similar board in memory of a local resident which provides some history of Springfield Basin. Both are already being well read.

Our thanks must go to Gemma at IWA Head Office for her help with the artwork for the boards and her patience throughout its finalisation.

Roy Chandler 7

Holiday Visit

During our visit it managed to rain most of the time but that did not stop us from walking over and back.

On our return from the south of France we spent three days travelling back to the UK. This involved a few nights stop over at Pierrefitte, just south of Orleans. As part of a day out visiting the local area we called in to a small town called Briare.

Each end is marked by two ornamental columns

This small town, with its attractive marina, is the setting for a sophisticated engineering masterpiece of one of the longest bridge-canals in Europe.

you can see the influence to bridges and structures in Paris

With stonework and wrought-iron flourishes, designed by Gustave Eiffel (1832 - 1923), the structure crosses the Loire, linking the Braine-Loing Canal with the Canal Lateral. These waterways in turn join the Seine and Rh么ne rivers respectively.

The 662m (725yd) bridge was opened in 1896 and completed a grand waterway system that begun in the 17th century.

There is a tow path on both sides of the waterway to stroll along, especially if the sun is out.

The aqueduct is built on fourteen piers. These piers support a single beam, in turn supporting a steel channel.

If you get the chance it is well worth visiting John G Carlaw

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Branch Social

Readers Photos

The History of the Chelmer and Blackwater Our first social meeting this Autumn was well attended and was presented by Dennis Padfield, a regular visitor to our meetings. He introduced his presentation by telling us he had a narrow boat moored at Sandford and was naturally interested in the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. He showed us a very detailed map of all the rivers that eventually reach the rivers Chelmer and Blackwater.

He told us that Chelmsford was made a County Town in 1218 and that goods were brought from Maldon through Danbury and on to Chelmsford by horse drawn wagons.

Thames Sailing Barge passing Heybridge Basin Roy Chandler

The muddy roads through Danbury and especially on the hill leading down to Chelmsford were always a problem and in 1677 it was suggested that a canal should be built along the river Chelmer.

There were copious objections to the scheme from the residents of Maldon. Dennis explained the reasons for the objections and told us about the people who continued to try and solve this problem.

There were several more proposals for the making of a canal.

Many years passed and in 1793 an act of Parliament created the “Proprietors of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation’’. The new Company, with the help of John Rennie and William Coates, then set about transforming the river into a canal in a very short period as it was fully open by 1797.

He told us about the commercial users of the Navigation up until 1972 and the subsequent Administration of the original Navigation Company in 2003 and the rescue by Essex Waterways in 2005.

Many thanks to Dennis, his presentation was extremely informative and very interesting.

The delicious homemade cakes were donated by Stephanie.

Chris Chandler.

Norfolk Wherry near Horning Chris Chandler

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This not only keeps everyone in touch, but allows the free passage of information around club members.

Sandford Boating Club (S.B.C.) By the time you read this I am afraid that most of the good weather would have passed us by for this year and those of us fortunate to own a boat will be starting to think about our winterisation plans.

Whilst out and about no cruise would be complete without its minor hiccups, breakdowns, or problems with locks.

Regardless of where you have your boat moored, I expect you will agree that there are always a number of boats that never seem to leave the safety of their moorings, being tied to the bank and not looked after.! Ask yourself ‘what is the point of owning a boat” in that case. Maybe it is the fact that these boat owners have not had the encouragement or lack the enthusiasm to actually use their boats.

Cruising together with other fellow boat owners makes any problems easier to overcome. In fact on one of our cruises back in May six boats made the trip down to Heybridge in the brilliant sunshine and found that there were problems with the lower paddles on Ricketts Lock. This started to look like the return trip back to Sandford might not be possible so whilst down at Heybridge use of the emergency telephone number supplied by Essex Waterways to each and every boater was called. To the great relief of all on the cruise they were met at Ricketts Lock on the return leg by two of EWL’s lengths-men, Eve and Michael, who had worked vigorously to fix the problem and get the lock back into working order.

Well this is where we come in…

Some of you may not have heard of the ‘Sandford Boating Club’, surprisingly based at Sandford Lock on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, Essex.!

The club was set up in 2008 by most of the boat owners based at Sandford at that time with the aim to have one voice for which to put over points of view and concerns to the navigation authority and to promote the use of the upper reaches of the CBN.

A rapid response on a Bank Holiday was very impressive and a HUGE thank you from S.B.C. was sent for delivering a first class service.

A number of our cruises end up at Heybridge, usually spending the night in one of the local hostelries for an evening meal, followed by the return trip the following day.

With more boats arriving at Sandford the club started to encourage boaters to use their boats more frequently, and now regularly organise cruises either up into Springfield Basin or down to Heybridge.

Nearly every bank holiday you will see some of the SBC boats using the navigation through organised cruises, always spotted by the bright yellow pennants flying from their tiller arms or masts.

For next season we are looking into spending the middle day relaxing and returning on the Monday, if it happens to be run over a bank holiday !!

All are welcome to join the club, 67 members at present, and it is not necessarily confined to boaters who have their boats moored at Sandford. There are no fees or membership matters, just a very easy going group who like to get things organised and encourage this wonderful hobby of ours called ‘boating’.

Our club objectives have always been to promote the CBN and its environs, community boating, social events, helping in maintaining areas of the navigation and enabling good communication between boaters and authorities. In fact anyone wishing to find out more about the club and its activities can visit the club website at www.sandfordboatingclub.org where details of events, notices of stoppages, works programmes, closures etc are posted together with a gallery of photos from our events and adventures.

To get in touch please have a look at our website, www.sandfordboatingclub.org or either contact David Zelly on 07973-382916 david@nbcamelot.co.uk or indeed Ray O’Shea on 07941-489533 reo2702@hotmail.com

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contents of four tonnes bags of Type one to surface the path.

Essex WRG Working Party September 6th and 7th was another of the joint working parties between Essex WRG and Chelmsford Branch. Once again we were at Hoe Mill. We were lucky in that we had three new volunteers join us – two on the Saturday and all three on the Sunday.

We were continuing the work started on our previous visit. Bob, once again, got the job of driving the “Avant” and he dug a second soak-away pit just beyond the sheds, which we then filled with broken bricks, before putting the fabric covering down followed by a layer of soil, another fabric layer followed by some ‘type one’ aggregate. As before this was raked level, and consolidated by using the Wacker Plate.

The weather was kind to us; it was cloudy but dry and warm on the Saturday. On Sunday it started cloudy, rained while we were having a tea break, and then blue sky and the sun came out We finished about five, tired but happy that we’d done a good job.

In addition to this we put up a new fascia and gutter along the bigger of the two sheds and a drain pipe to empty into the first soak-away, we also modified the drain pipes on the second shed to feed into the new soak-away. We were (and are) satisfied that these works will function correctly, but, in spite of that, someone went up the ladder with a watering can to check. A small cheer went up when water was seen leaving the bottom of the drain pipe and disappearing into the grating.

Our next joint working party will be on the Chelmer on the weekend of December 6th and 7th and is likely to be ‘scrub bashing’ and having a bonfire but I don’t know exactly where along the Navigation yet. We will send out an e-mail with details mid-November. If you’re not on e-mail, ring me on 01376 334896 to get details. Hope to see you there.

John Gale

Other work included partially enclosing the open end of the larger shed, and painting this. There was the removal of an intrusive Elder stump, vegetation clearance, and removal of some rotten timber. In total we spread, levelled and “wackered” the

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Social Events

Just For Fun SUDOKU Fill in the grid so that each row, column and 3 x 3 block contains the numbers one to nine (1 - 9)

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13th November. Roger Squires.

The Droitwich Ring.

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9th October. Denys Harrison.

Heybridge Basin. Vintage Films

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11th December. Roy Cox. Historic Films and Christmas Gathering.

Meetings are held at Moulsham Mill, Parkway, Chelmsford (between Tesco Homestore and the Army & Navy roundabout). 7:45pm for an 8:00pm start. Plenty of parking and refreshments available.

Your membership is very important. We need your continued support to the Chelmsford Branch and Inland Waterways Association but most importantly for the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation which is operated by the Inland Waterways Association’s subsidiary company, Essex Waterways Ltd.

Branch Committee If you have any topics or subject that you wish to bring to the committees attention please use the contact details below Molly Beard:

Chairman

molly.beard@waterways.org.uk

John Gale:

Vice Chairman & Treasurer.

24 Longleaf Drive, Braintree CM7 1XS

Paul Strudwick:

London Region Chairman.

Paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk

Chris Chandler:

Secretary.

Chris.chandler@waterways.org.uk

Roy Chandler:

Planning and Conservation.

Roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk

John Carlaw:

Newsletter and Membership.

Chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk John.carlaw@waterways.org.uk

Mike Huggett:

Publicity.

Mike.huggett@waterways.org.uk

Stephanie Mason:

Refreshments.

None

Kirsten Smith:

Youth.

None

Adam Wyllie:

Branch Web Editor.

Adam.wyllie@waterways.org.uk

IWA Chelmsford Web Address

http://www.waterways.org.uk/chelmsford

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