Ouse News August 2009

The Inland Waterways Association

Ouse News - Autumn 2009 The Cambridge Branch Newsletter covering the Great Ouse area

Contents: Branch Committee p2 Chairman’s column p3 Branch News p5

Area News

The famous Fotheringay bridge and church on the river Nene: see p8

Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways

Santon Downham Freight News River Nene notes Boat sales B & MK progress Cuttings Photo competition Animals afloat

p6 p7 p7 p8 p9 p10 p11 p11 p12

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the Cambridge Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers.

Ouse News Page 2 Branch Committee April 2008 Chairman: Stephen Foote 14 High Street, Chrishall Royston, SG8 8RP Tel 01763 838936 e-mail: g4foh@tambourine.org.uk stephen.foote@headlandgroup.com Secretary: John Hodgson 9 Beaufort Way, Brickhill Bedford MK41 7XQ Tel 01234 344884 e-mail: jhodgson@rivouse.fsnet.co.uk Treasurer: Jonathan Mead 12 Coltsfoot Close Ixworth, IP31 2NJ Tel 01359 232603 e-mail jcmead@tiscali.co.uk Membership Officer: Keith Alderton 21 Waterside, Ely, CB7 4AU Tel 01353 669829 H 01353 663095 W e-mail: info@elyboatchandlers.co.uk Navigation Manager: Anthony James 45 Bottels Road, Warboys Huntingdon PE28 2RZ Tel 01487 823086 e-mail: taffpat@btopenworld.com Ouse News Editor: Harold Wiseman 32 Cantelupe Road, Haslingfield, Cambridge, CB23 1LU Tel 01223 871635

e-mail: wiseman32@dsl.pipex.com Sales Officer: David Anderson 21 Cambridge Street, St Neots, PE19 1JL Tel 01480 477227 e-mail: david.anderson70@ntlworld.com Members: Peter Webb 35 Norfolk Road Ely, CB6 3EJ Tel 01353 658581 e-mail: peter.c.webb@tesco.net Derek Bradley 24 Witchford Road Ely, CB6 3DP Tel 01353 661601 e-mail: bradleyd@waitrose.com Social Secretary: Post Vacant

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Ouse News Page 3 Chairman’s Corner The ‘bar-b-q summer’ we were promised by some over-optimistic meteorologists had not, as of midAugust, materialised in quite the way we were hoping! Anyhow, we have managed a most enjoyable cruise through the MLN and up the Nene and the Northampton Branch of the GU and from our new base at Blisworth have enjoyed some lovely journeys along the Grand Union Canal. I hope you have been able to enjoy the waterways as well despite the rain and will continue to do so whilst summer lasts.

By the time you read this, the IWA National Festival at Redhill on the confluence of the rivers Soar and Trent will have come and gone. I hope you managed to get to it, if only for a ‘day visit’ – there is so much to do and see at these festivals. Unfortunately for various reason I was unable to get there myself this time – which is a shame, particularly as I have managed to attend every ‘National’ since Gloucester way back in 1990!

The Association’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday September 26th. at the Council Chamber of Milton Keynes Civic Offices in central Milton Keynes. The Association AGM is usually a lively forum for exchanges of views and is far from being the stereotypical dull ‘AGM’. If you can spare an afternoon to attend, you can find full details in the latest issue of ‘Waterways’ magazine or on the internet at www.waterways.org.uk.

One of the actions at the AGM will be to confirm the appointment of Regional Chairmen for the Association’s new regional structure. In six of the eight regions, only one nomination for the position was received. In the other two, no nomination was received at all. Therefore there is no need for a

Ouse News Page 4 ballot this time around. The nominee for Eastern Region is Alastair Chambers, presently the Chairman of Peterborough Branch. We wish Alastair an enjoyable and rewarding period in office, and pass our grateful thanks to Derek Bradley, the retiring Chairman for all his hard work and guidance over many years.

Our autumn/winter evening programme kicks off on October 15th at Milton Community Centre. Included with this newsletter is a programme card to guide you through what’s in store at our next four meetings.

However – we are still looking for someone to join us on the Committee as Social Secretary to mastermind the programme organisation and other social events. If you can spare a little time and might be interested to help, do give me a ring or drop me an email; contact details are on the inside front cover.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and hope to see you in Milton in the autumn.

Stephen

Ouse News Page 5 Branch News Winter Meetings are at 8 pm. on Thursday evenings at the Community Centre, Milton (North Cambridge) CB24 6BL.

‘President’ which celebrates its centenary this year.

Richard will also be promoting the video of President’s recent visit to the Fenland waterways.

18 MARCH: Our annual Members & Visitors welcome.

15 OCTOBER 2009: The Great Ouse from the Wash to Tempsford.

A talk with slides by Alan Faulkner of the EAWA, which will include details of the restoration of the upper reaches after the second world war.

19 NOVEMBER: The Middle Level Waterways A talk and slide show by Ian Smith, Chief Clerk to the Middle Level Commissioners, with particular reference to navigation.

11 FEBRUARY 2010: “Friends of President” A talk and slide-show by Richard Thomas on the historic steam narrowboat

update from the river managers of the Environment Agency after the short business of the Branch Annual General Meeting.

SUNDAY 2 MAY Gathering of boats at Reach Lode.

This mini-rally, lunchtime barbeque and quiz, has become increasingly popular with Members who come by both boat and car. Bring your own food and drink.

Reach Fair is held on the following day (Bank Holiday Monday).

We welcome Mr Mark Tuck of Great Ouse 15 OCTOBER Moorings Association, Littleport, to 2009: The Great Ouse from the branch and hope he the Wash to Tempsford. will to us Aintroduce talk withhimself slides by Alan when coming an event or Faulkner of thetoEAWA, which meeting. will include details of the restoration of the upper reaches after the second world war.

Ouse News Page 6 Area Notes Denver Sluice .Following the completion of the repair work to the three sets of timber ‘V’ doors last year they were returned to operation. Since then they have been used to discharge as much water from the Ely Ouse River as possible. This has helped us manage the silt levels in the tidal Great Ouse River. The flows through the structure have prevented the silt bar that usually restricts navigation just downstream of the Denver Lock from developing and the main river bed levels are currently being kept low enough to maintain significant discharges through the Denver Sluice.

Roxton to Cardington Locks June to December 2009 The bad news is that passage might need more care and be slower here but the good news is that the timber landing stages are being repaired or replaced.

Locks for Locks The lowest 4 locks of the Northampton arm of the Nene have been fitted with security locks which need a BW key. Boats from our Ouse system might not have these keys so boaters should be sure to obtain one before tackling the Nene.

Recycling New facilities have been provided at St Ives and Hermitage locks. Please separate material and put glass in one container and other recyclable goods, cans, paper and plastics in the other.

BW News Their annual report states that the DEFRA grant for the next financial year will be reduced by M4.6 which is disappointing. The 20/20 discussion for the possible future privatisation might have possibilities but needs careful watching.

Ouse News Page 7 A visit to Santon Downham Over the spring bank holiday Arachne and 5 other boats from the Upware Boat Club went to the new GOBA mooring at Santon Downham. We were the first boat and we had a beautiful journey until the last 500 yds when the blanket weed, which was in bloom, slowed us down to a crawl. At the moorings the current which was diverting round the weed was a terrent; this, together with under river boulders, made it extremely difficult to moor.

A Shetland 27 and a Norman 22 then moored along the bank before the next 3 boats including Sid Fisher’s “Sheer Bliss” moored alongside in the deeper water. After a good cheap drink in the Santon Social Club the outside 3 then turned and returned to Brandon. The 3 remaining boats had a BBQ and stayed the night.

Next morning the river may have dropped an inch because it took many hands to push us over the boulders into deeper water before we could depart. The Shetland damaged its prop on the outdrive and the Norman’s owner fell in as he was attempting to push off!

Conclusions: it is a lovely remote mooring with a good space for a BBQ, ideal for Santon and all its forest walks BUT the weeds need cutting and the mooring needs to be dredged before it can become a stress free location.

Peter & Jean Webb

Freight News Our freight representative reported that, early in the year, an unusual manoevre took place on the Cam. Barges moved two portable cabins, housing dry rowing facilities, from Riverside in Cambridge to the Cantabridgian Rowing Club in Chesterton.

The cabins, containing the same ergonometers as used by Sir Stephen Redgrave, were gifted by the former Rees Thomas special school now part of the Castle School. Cantabridgian first had to move the cabins by road from the school in Milton Road to storage in Landbeach. Water transport came into its own in transferring them along the Cam to the Chesterton boat house.

Robin Adams

Ouse News Page 8 Notes on the Nene These are just a few notes from our trip up the Nene in May this year - which may be helpful to anyone cruising the river in the near future.

Middle Level Navigations from Salter’s Lode to Stanground Sluice – it is important to telephone the lock-keeper at Stanground as soon as your arrival time is known. A ‘one up, one-down’ system is operated whenever possible to conserve water. Advance notice of arrival helps the lock-keeper to plan this.

Peterborough Yacht Club sells diesel and also has water and Elsanemptying facilities provided there is a member of the club available to serve you. They have no fixed ‘hours of opening’ and a phone call ahead might be beneficial.

Oundle Marina is closed on Wednesdays.

The Nene lock guillotine gates that have been fitted with new wheels for raising and lowering them are in my view much easier to operate than the original windlass mechanism. At the upper end of the river however, the vee gates on Abingdon and Northampton Town locks proved impossible to open or close single-handed and it would be very helpful if something could be done about that.

There are more mooring places than before which was good to note, including some new floating pontoon moorings that can provide safe havens should the river go into flood.. On the downside, the shower, rubbish disposal and Elsan-emptying facilities at the Rushden and Diamonds Football Club are now closed as the football club has gone into liquidation and has no money to pay for day-to-day maintenance. Fortunately the Environment Agency has managed to negotiate to keep the water-tap and pump-out open for visitors but the long-term future of this incredibly useful complex is in doubt. Our colleagues in Northampton Branch assure us that both they and EA are ‘on the case’ and we hope that normal operation will soon be restored.

Ouse News Page 9 We were pleased to note a downstream landing stage at Northampton Town lock which wasn’t there when we came that way a few years ago. However the landing stage is sited some way downstream of the lock and is on a slight bend and your boat cannot always be seen when operating the lock. In the interests of security it might be prudent to lock your boat before leaving it.

At Cotton End, the first four locks on the long climb out of Northampton on the Grand Union canal have been fitted with anti-vandal locks. Any visitor passing this way for the first time and not in possession of a British Waterways key could find themselves awkwardly stranded, for the nearest source of keys is Gayton Marina, a £15 round-trip taxi-ride away. Our colleagues in Northampton Branch have brought this to the attention of the local British Waterways team and a solution is actively being sought.

An invaluable guide on this trip was a copy of the Nene Notes produced by Peter and Jean Webb for visitors to the National Waterways Festival at St.Ives in 2007. Copies are still available from Peter at the e-mail address on page 2 of this newsletter.

Stephen Foote

Boat Sales Boatshed Grand Union is the Inland Waterways Office of Boatshed, the worlds largest Boat Brokerage. We are constantly looking for more boat owners to benefit from our cutting edge technology and traditional style service.

We will donate £100 to IWA funds for every boat introduced to us by an IWA member that we subsequently list and sell. Members need the consent of the boat owner to introduce them, then phone or email Phil Bassett at Boatshed Grand Union with the details.

Members can also gain the donation by introducing their own boat for sale. When we sell the boat the £100 will go to the IWA. Tel: 01923 275139 Email: Phil@BoatshedGrandUnion.com Web: www.boatshedgrandunion.com

Ouse News Page 10 Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway link Construction Begins Or, a small step for a road….a giant step for a canal!

The proposed link has recently taken a step closer. As part of the A421 widening scheme there is an underpass being constructed under the road. The work, which is being carried out in conjunction with the Waterway Partnership and the Highways Agency, began in early June.

Despite being only about 30m in length, it is the first actual “work on the ground” after a number of years of planning and organisation. It is also a part which will solve one of the many crossings challenges which will be encountered in the project.

The philosophy now is to construct the canal in segments, ultimately linking them together to form the entire route between the two towns.

This construction, despite being relatively small, will form a focus for the project, giving encouragement to others to join in, seeing that the long held vision is possible and becoming a reality.

Currently, planning permission is also being sought from Bedford Borough Council for the creation of a “borrow pit” as part of a proposed development near Wootton. This will be in the form of a channel which will be used as the waterway. The length of this channel is still under negotiation but is expected to be about 2.4km long which form about 10% of the total length. This will take advantage of the new underpass being constructed. This will be some way off being a full navigation channel, being a basic channel cut. It is, however, the single most expensive element of a full waterway and will form the basis of the vision of the style of the new waterway. The other elements such as cycleways and walkways etc can be added later.

John Hodgson

Ouse News Page 11 Press Cuttings from the Cambridge Evening News A cautionary tale: A man suffered serious burns as a blaze destroyed his 30ft wooden river cruiser. It was moored outside the Five Miles From Anywhere pub, when the fire broke out. Fire crews from Soham and Cambridge arrived quickly but the boat was completely destroyed by the accidental fire. The man’s burns were treated by ambulance staff before he was transferred to hospital.

Jesus Green’s leaky lock gates replaced: Hargreaves’ lock gate experts were commissioned to replace all four of Jesus Green lock’s leaky wooden gates with exact replicas, hewn from “green” European oak. The former oak gates, which also feature cast-iron balance beams, were built in 1981 but weathered before their time and left the lock with serious leaks.

Another crisis: A car crashed through the brick wall into the river at Houghton Mill in July. An elderly driver had to be rescued from the water and suffered minor injuries. The car was removed to prevent pollution of the river.

Standing room only on the Cam: A new sport has appeared on the river: stand-up paddle boarding. Standing on a small board similar to a surfboard, the boarder uses a paddle to move quite fast across the water. It started in Hawaii about 50 years ago but there is now a base on the Cam. The questions to ask are: is it a boat? what safety regulations apply? who has right of way?

Photograph Competition We always need pictures for Ouse News and readers have sent in many over the years. But to widen the appeal, how about entering a picture of yours? It should include some aspect of the river Ouse system. Entries close 31-12-09 and can be sent as e-mail attachments or prints through the post to The Editor (see page 2).

Size does not matter. The prize will be awarded at the branch AGM.

Ouse News Page 12 Animals afloat

Family cruising photo: Jonathan Mead

Seen at Bull’s Bridge Photo: Taff James

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