Lee & Stort Recorder April 2014

Magazine of IWA Lee & Stort Branch Spring 2014

Lee and Stort Recorder

Wendover Arm Grand Draw 2014 th 7 September to be precise!

Oh so close?

Did you come within a gnat’s knee last year with your ticket number? You may get even closer this year. The wheels are turning already, in fact they have been turning for a while.....the prizes have been sponsored, the tickets have been sponsored, and now we will await your essential support in the necessary funding towards the restoration.

There are the customary books of tickets enclosed with your magazine and it is rather quintessential that these tickets are circulated to every available supporter. There is the usual apology to members who do not require tickets, but no apology for seeking a donation to the Trust and our cause.

We are again extremely grateful to Wyvern Shipping; Grebe Cruisers; Mr & Mrs Martin; and other sponsors for the prizes that are available to you in the Grand Draw 2014. There is also the Virgin Balloon Flight again. It was mentioned that this year’s tickets have been sponsored. Our thanks go to Grass Roots of Tring. They grasped the opportunity, and we are most grateful.

The tickets are designed this year for you to print your name and telephone number on the back of the counterfoil. If you require more tickets, a call to me, Michael Wright, on 01727 860137 is all that is required.

Any surplus tickets that have not been sold can be returned, also to me, at 54 Meadowcroft, St. Albans, Herts, AL1 1UF. Cheques should be payable to the Wendover Arm Trust with an address on the back please.

All counterfoils and monies should be returned to this address

by SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST 2014.

Please remember to keep the tickets, and return the counterfoils!

The counterfoils are used in the draw, not the tickets!

Any queries call 01727 860137 - We will try and sort things out.......

Further details of the Draw will also be available on the WAT website.

Michael Wright.

Grounding Gracefully When the cruise liner Concordia ran aground and tipped over off the coast of Italy, the world gasped, but running aground does not have to be a disaster! Try naming an inland boater who hasn't run aground many times. There are certain guidelines for running aground gracefully.

Be aware that the deepest part of the boat is at the stern. However this can change if too many passengers are crowded at the bow.

Running aground at the bow should not be a problem as long as the propeller is in deeper water.

Just reverse out. Driving forward usually makes matters worse.

Occasionally a boat may run aground midships over an obstruction such as a shopping trolley.

This may happen, for example, if the water level drops after the boat has been moored.

Sometimes poking around with a bargepole can be counter-productive if your body-weight might do more good on another part of the boat.

If you run aground don't panic. Instead, stop to assess the situation.

For example if there is a current which way is it flowing? If you smoke have

a calming cigarette-break. Or better, if you don't smoke, just go through the smoking motions. Remember that the more you rev the engine the deeper the stern is pulled down.

If you are cruising paired-up with another boat, there is always someone on hand to drag you free. Be nice to other boaters and offer help when needed. You never know when you may need help yourself!

Recently our family group was aboard a ferry boat traveling about 36 miles between Tioman Island, made famous by the film 'South Pacific', and the mainland of Malaysia. As we approached the arrival estuary, we ran aground with about 60 passengers aboard. With the keel aground the craft gently rocked from side to side and life jackets were handed out. Very soon the skipper gave the order for all passengers to move from the bow to the stern (or was it the other way?) We were pleased to oblige in transferring our collective weight. However, it was to no avail and very soon smaller ferryboats came alongside, and passengers were precariously transferred between the rocking boats. It later transpired that this 'emergency' was a regular event due to neglected dredging! Another practical tip: to release a grounded craft, transfer weight from port to starboard or vice versa.

A popular place for running aground on the Lee is outside the Navigation Inn at Ponders End. There is a hidden concrete obstruction waiting to spoil someone's journey. I remember once making the mistake of attempting to set off upstream at speed and ran aground really hard. No amount of reversing helped nor did a powerful tow upstream. The problem was solved by getting a line to the opposite bank and manually pulling the bow over sideways until the boat eventually pivoted off the obstruction. Tip: think laterally. Another tip: always carry plenty of rope.

Now a very, very long line reminds me of my most memorable runningaground experience way back in the summer of 1996. In fact a line long enough to stretch from one country to another.

I was No 3 crew member on a sturdy, 90-year old, proper Dutch barge and our mission was to return the craft from Holland to France. All was going well but we were blissfully unaware that our navigation map was several years out of date. We were not to know that one of our chosen navigations had been abandoned several years earlier in favour of a splendid new canal which ran parallel. With hindsight perhaps we should have wondered why this other navigation was bustling with activity whereas our waterway of choice was a haven of peace. An interesting factor was that our chosen waterway was the actual boundary between Holland and Belgium.

Now abandoned waterways do not get dredged, so the inevitable happened. A gravelly 'crunch', and no further motion.

We were now faced with a serious situation. Were we legally in international waters, or were we out of bounds in no-mans land? We managed to pivot the boat round through 180 degrees until we were facing whence we had come.

A fine manoeuvre but we were still firmly attached to Belgium. I contributed my own two-pennyworth to help improve our situation but Skipper screamed at me to drop that xxxxxx bargepole. I did so immediately and it started to float away peacefully in the direction of the North Sea. Skipper then gave the order to launch the dingy and Number 2 dutifully rowed off, taking with him the end of a very, very long line, in search of something to secure this bowline with a 'bowline'. Over in Holland, i.e. on the other bank, we could see something which resembled a survey trigonometrical point but it may have been a post to mark the national boundary. This was not the time to worry whether our plan was politically correct. Hopefully it would meet our immediate and desperate needs.

If you look at the bow of a proper Dutch barge you should see something which resembles an old fashioned mangle. It is, in fact, a powerful winch. All hands took turns to wind its handle and with a very huge sigh of relief the border post was not winched out and nor did Holland move closer to Belgium. We were once again floating free.

The dingy, re-united barge-pole, and very, very long line were properly stored Bristol fashion and off we went. Shortly after this a fastmoving rigid inflatable boat, or RIB, with about 6 men aboard, dressed all in black, came towards us looking very determined and very much like an SAS crew or border patrol. Somebody must have raised the alarm because of our suspicious activity. Skipper instructed us not to acknowledge them and they sped off past us upstream!

Problem? What Problem? After that our voyage was comparatively incident-free.

John Shacklock

No 2, why on Earth are those fellows on the bank frantically waving and jumping up and down so much?

CRT IS Listening

Boating Community Communications Volunteers Recruited The Canal & River Trust (CRT) was, as I’m sure you all know, created in July 2012 as a charity to succeed British Waterways, and be Guardian of the inland waterway network. I believe there is some cynicism amongst boaters about the change and a feeling that they can’t be trusted to do what boaters want, notwithstanding Chief Executive Richard Parry saying “Boaters keep the waterways alive”.

The CRT is committed to growing the number of volunteering opportunities within the Trust and making volunteers a key part of who they are and what they do. This is, of course, partly driven by economics, but more importantly by a conviction that they need to get people who care about the future of the waterways involved in the Trust’s work (http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteering). Boaters are increasingly seeing volunteer lock keepers, and other volunteers at welcome stations around the network, and a new initiative is to recruit volunteers to help communication between boaters and the Trust – both keeping boaters upto-date with any navigation problems or hazards, and listening to boaters and passing their concerns to those who can take action.

The first four ‘communicators’ have been recruited, and two are in the London Waterways: Lee Wilshire who is a ‘live-aboard’ in Central London - and Me - a holiday boater, living in Hertford. If you are a Twitter person you should start to see Lee passing on information from @CRTLondon. I will be working with Debbie Vidler the London Volunteer Co-ordinator, who many of you may know. Debbie is keen to develop ‘Adopt a Canal’ ( http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteer/adopt-a-stretchof-canal-or-river-near-you ) and ‘Towpath Taskforce’ (http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteer/ways-to-volunteer/towpathtaskforce) schemes on the Lee & Stort, and I will help her by opening up communication channels with boat and cruising clubs, town and parish councils and other local organisations like residents’ associations.

At the individual level, please use me as your route into CRT. If there are issues you feel CRT should be dealing with, please tell me if you see me at one of our Branch meetings, or phone or email me (I’m in the committee list on the back page of the Newsletter). I will pass on your concerns and I will tell you what is being done about it.

These appointments are part of an attempt by CRT to become more effective, and I am convinced that CRT does want to listen.

Mike Jones.

From the Region Sitting down in the dark days of winter, the summer and the opportunity to go boating seems a long way off. Certainly with all the rain we have had so far this winter we should not have a lack of water this year! This year I will have completed three years as your Region Chairman and will be coming up for re-election. IWA being a democratic organisation, gives you a say who leads the Region and if you would like a chance to become the Region Chairman please lookout for the call for nominations in ‘Waterways’ later in the year.

In previous Region Chairman’s notes I have talked about the role of the Trustees and some of the Association’s major committees. I thought this time I would talk a little about the work of the branches and regions. Most people are familiar with the social meetings and work parties organised by the branch committee. This is the public face of the local IWA, but what you may be less familiar with is the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to protect the canals in your area.

The Branch committee regularly works with, and lobbies, CRT and other navigation authorities, on a range of issues from the standard of maintenance of structures to cutting of vegetation and general cleanliness of the waterways in your local area. They also monitor planning applications, and lobby local authorities and developers, for changes where they feel that the development would be detrimental to the navigations or their environs.

The Region carries out a co-ordination role to ensure that all branches across London are working together, and have a common approach when dealing with CRT and regional authorities like the GLA. Finally both the Region and Branches raise funds to allow them to make donations to appropriate waterway causes that support IWA’s objectives.

Last year I set the objective for the London Region to find a solution to the mooring problems in London. I have to report that so far we have failed to achieve this. We are still having regular meetings with local residents, boaters without a home mooring who wish to stay in a narrow geographic area, CRT, and our friends in RBOA and NABO under the auspices of The London Waterways Better Relationships Group.

This year the GLA produced a report on the problem which was generally supportive of our position. There has been some progress. CRT have started, in Central London, to clearly mark bollards for use by boats operating locks by painting them yellow.

This should help eliminate the dangerous practice of mooring on lock landings.

The Better Relationship Group is now moving on to consider the use of designated visitor moorings. Nationally there is some good news as Nick Brown, the legal officer of the National Bargee Travellers Association, has abandoned his claim for a judicial review of CRT’s ‘Guidance for Boaters Without a Home Mooring’. This should give CRT more confidence in dealing with people who persistently overstay on moorings, but there is still a long way to go until we reach a final solution.

Finally as I said last year, we always need volunteers to help us run events such as Cavalcade, and to carry out the numerous activities that help IWA’s continuing campaign to ensure that our waterways prosper.

Paul Strudwick.

Follow me on Twitter: paul @greenboater.

The maximum size of boat that can navigate the Lee & Stort Navigations is: length (River Lee): 85' 4" (26.0 metres) - Old Ford Lock length (River Stort): 89' 9" (27.4 metres) - Brick Lock beam (River Lee): 16' 1" (4.9 metres) - Hardmead Lock beam (River Stort): 13' 4" (4.1 metres) - Brick Lock headroom (River Lee): 7' 8" (2.33 metres) - Kings Weir Bridge headroom (River Stort): 6'10" - Keck's Bridge draught (River Lee): 5' 11" (1.8 metres) - cill of Hardmead Lock draught (River Stort): 4' 1" (1.24 metres)

N

IWA AGM 2014

aturally a full set of minutes together with a list of items stored in a Hertford Warehouse will arise in due course, however, and in the meantime, while we await, a few thoughts from the audience. Good turnout this year with members from the far flung reaches of our empire: Hertford Branch Emeritus, Chelmsford, even St Piran (and wife) paid homage.

What puzzled the committee?

I wondered as well. Chairman harrumphing, Vice Chairman is thinking ‘oh dear, oh dear’, while the Treasurer has despair writ large.

Could it be because the committee are getting on a bit? Can it be that YOU didn’t respond - well T Plunkett excepted - to the cry for new blood? It is still not too late to step up to the plate, they do every week at Stifford you know.

Good to see Mon smiling. Is this because Rob Beaton is penning an article for the next newsletter?

The newsletter only works if you yourself pen the occasional article, send a photo in you know.

Still enough of the questions.

Perhaps I should nominate me for the committee? Nah, daft idea, you would be better.

Signed Mrs Trellis (Tunbridge Wells Branch) Sent in by our one-and-only Banny.

Our new committee member, Tony Plunkett.

AGM notes for Newsletter Stop Press – Branch AGM (nearly) a sell-out This year’s Branch AGM was attended by 32 of our Branch members - and Paul Strudwick, London Region Chairman, at The New Inn, on Monday 10th March. Business was conducted at a pace by Branch Chairman, Craig Haslam and buffet consumption started in under an hour.

Craig reviewed the highs and lows from the past year. Ware Boat Festival was again a triumph for organiser Les Hunt, and was attended by about 80 boats. It is hoped that this year’s Festival will be even bigger with renewed involvement by Lee & Stort Cruising Club, and the demise of the National Festival, though a National Pageant has now been announced for August Bank Holiday weekend.

Less successful were our attempts to open up Ware Common Wharf to general use after it was purloined by a boater. The Branch has worked with Ware Town Council and CRT to reinstate the status quo.

Progress has been made (the fence is gone) but the boat is still on the moorings and our efforts will continue.

Craig regretfully announced the resignation of Frank Wallder from the Committee on grounds of ill health. He thanked Frank in his absence for his years of sterling work for both the Branch and the wider IWA community and wished him a speedy recovery.

Four members (Les Hunt, Banny Banyard, Terry Stembridge and Mon Hawes) of the Committee were re-elected at the end of their current terms of office and Tony Plunkett was co-opted after the formal meeting.

The Branch needs new ideas and new blood and he is a very welcome addition; but there is always space for others with a bit of spare time.

The big decision of the evening was to donate all of our River Society ‘ring-fenced’ money (£1,961.60, made up to £2,000) to the Carpenters Lock restoration appeal. This is outside our immediate patch, but is none-the-less a major improvement project on the Lee Navigation.

Paul Strudwick reported that the project has been estimated at £750k and that small donations like this were important in securing major funding from other sources. The decision was supported by all present and welcomed by Treasurer, Carole Beeton, as removing an anomaly in our accounts.

Mike Jones, secretary.

Lee Valley Marina – Springfield The ‘face’ of Springfield Marina is currently undergoing a ‘lift’.

A number of additional pontoon sections are waiting to be

installed. This will create further moorings, largely for smaller craft, but may necessitate the re-positioning of some of the established boats; and the pontoon lighting is being upgraded.

Water points are being upgraded; the pathway to the Riverbank moorings, and the free Wi-Fi, will be completed during the coming year.

In the long term, a proposed undercover dry dock, alongside the current workshop, would be able to accommodate two narrowboats side by side, or one widebeam. The

shower/toilet block is to be refurbished in the near

future, and undercover storage will be provided for push bikes.

The former disabled shower room has been used to extend the

laundry room, with the imminent installation of two extra washing

machines, and two more tumble dryers. The disabled shower has been relocated to a separate building close to the existing shower/toilet block.

It has always been their vision to provide the marina with services

commensurate with other marinas in the country, which they believe they are close to achieving.

Lee Valley Marina – Stanstead Abbotts The marina is within a mile of the confluence of the Lee and Stort

rivers at the gateway to the East of England. Benefiting from access to the

Hertfordshire countryside the marina is ideally placed for walking,

cycling, fishing and bird watching in Lee Valley Regional Park.

Offering 200 berths, all general boat yard facilities are available and we boast an onsite chandlery once again, which stocks a variety of boat parts and accessories. If we don’t have it in stock

we can usually get it for you within 2 working days.

Boat yard services:

We offer boat repairs, engine servicing,

boat fitting, welding, painting/blacking, pressure

washing and boat craning up to 18 tonnes, along with slipway use, diesel, coal and gas sales and pump out services.

We are also agents for Canal and River Trust, and can supply both

short and long term boat licences.

For those of you who will be attending the Ware Festival in July, there is going to be another ‘Boat Jumble’, so start sorting out all the unwanted boat bits you’ve accumulated over the years, - and remember to bring them with you.

Beer Festival The New Inn in Roydon, where we, and the

local boat clubs meet, will be holding another Beer Festival in September this year, over the

Last year’s event, held in

weekend of 19th – 21st.

October, was a great

success. The beer flowed,

and on the Saturday,

with revellers enjoying the

atmosphere, the music,

the music played, and

the pub was packed

the hog roast, and, of course, the various real ales that Ron had acquired for the weekend.

The pop/rock/folk group with a voice

like a bag of rusty nails, entertained us splendidly. They played a lot of the

oldies that we all know and could join in with, and helped to make it a thoroughly enjoyable event.

And Yet ANOTHER Beer Festival

As if that wasn’t enough this year’s Ware Festival is to include a

Beer Festival – unfortunately not over Carnival Weekend, when we have our annual Boat Festival, but the following Saturday 12th July, from noon to 11:00 p.m., in Fletchers Lea (that’s the building

alongside Ware Priory), so once again convenient to attend by boat

and moor nearby. Tickets are required for this, but at present I don’t know where you can buy these – I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

It looks like it could be a very wet summer indeed!

Note from your Chairman Dear members, well I hope you have survived the winter and that the floods have not had too much of an impact on you personally and will not disrupt your planned cruising as the spring and summer fast approach. Over the winter, the committee have not been idle: contributing to the national debate on the overcrowded mooring situation; continuing to work with Ware town council and CRT to resolve the mooring issue at Ware Common Wharf; putting forward our position on the proposed bridge over the River Lee at Hertford; and meeting regularly to plan the Ware Boat Festival. We have represented the Branch at an IWA recruitment work shop, CRT Forum and Regional Committee meetings to ensure our two navigations remain on the agenda.

With an ever increasing work load in my professional life, I did offer to stand down as chairman at the AGM but no such luck!!! You had other plans for me and I am delighted to remain in post until such time that a willing volunteer steps up. Our plea for new committee members has not gone unheard with the possibility of new blood joining us soon.

The Branch has donated funds to the Wendover Arm appeal and Canalability to support local and regional organisations and agreed at the AGM to donate 2000 to the Carpenters Road Lock appeal.

This lock in the Bow Backs will build on the regeneration brought about by the Olympic Games and will ensure our ring fenced money from the old Rivers Society is spent on our navigations. The membership fully supported this donation at the AGM. We are hopeful that the new waterways within the Olympic will begin to open up to navigation later this summer, but it is not known when the new lock will be complete.

At the AGM I announced that Frank Wallder was standing down from the committee due to health reasons. Frank has been a stalwart of the Branch and has played a significant role within the national IWA arena. He was an active member of the committees that oversaw national navigation and commerce issues, and ensured our branch was

represented at all levels of the IWA. Locally, Frank has been pivotal in promoting the branch, not least by his exhibitions at Ware festivals within the gazebo village year after year. Here Frank promoted the aims and objectives of the IWA to the wider public and never missed an opportunity to recruit new members. Frank will be sorely missed on the committee, and I personally wish him a speedy recovery and all the very best for the future.

I look forward to seeing many of you at Cavalcade, Rickmansworth and Ware and wish you all an enjoyable season wherever your cruising takes you.

Craig.

s we have come to expect, Richard Thomas started us off, and gave us a fascinating talk on Guy Fawkes and his abortive plot, which mayhap be summarised as no bang and a lot of bucks, galloping up North to avoid arrest.

If you missed it, you missed a grand evening, especially Les’s famous Gallic Shrug.

February saw the return of Bob Parris, master mariner and engineer first class. Bob you missed your vocation as a stand-up comic of the first water. By the time you read this you will have missed the AGM?

Dates for your Diary In preparation for this year’s Ware Boat Festival we’ll be having a Working Party in Ware on Saturday 21st June to tidy and clear the towpath and surrounding areas so that the river looks spick and span for the forthcoming Festival, Carnival, Town Show etc.

We’ll be meeting at 10:00 at the end of the Library Car Park (near the footbridge), and we can promise copious quantities of tea, coffee and biscuits throughout the day. We’ve been promised the help of the local Scouts and Cubs, and the Canal & River Trust will be supplying tools and equipment, and hopefully personnel as well.

If you can lend a hand, even for just an hour or two, it will be most welcome.

Please don’t let us down – let’s show Ware how our local IWA Branch can help do something really worthwhile for the local community.

3rd – 5th May 2014 17th – 18th May 2014 21st June 2014 4th – 6th July 2014 12th July, 2014 19th – 21st September 2014 13th October 2014 10th November 2014 8th December 2014 12th January 2015 9th February 2015 9th March 2015

Canalway Cavalcade, Little Venice Rickmansworth Festival, Rickmansworth Working Party, Ware (meet at 10:00 am, Library Car Park) Ware Boat Festival, Ware Beer Festival, Fletchers Lea, Ware (Noon to 11:00 pm) Beer Festival, New Inn, Roydon A Real Gent on the Regent by Ian Shacklock (Mis)adventures of barging in the South of France by Lisa Alderman Mince Pies & Mulled Wine London by Jeremy Batch To Be Advised Annual General Meeting

All meetings are at The New Inn, High Street, Roydon, CM19 5EE, commencing at 8:00 p.m. (unless otherwise indicated) Everyone welcome – Members and non-Members

Committee Members Chairman Vice Chairman, Publicity Officer Craig Haslam Les Hunt h: 01279 860 507 m: 07956 848 025 m: 07801 260 579 e: boatyboy96@hotmail.com e: les.hunt@waterways.org.uk Secretary Mike Jones h: 01992 584 310 m: 07976 517 749 e: mike.jones10@ntl.com

Membership Secretary, Treasurer Carole Beeton h: 01992 468 435 e: robandcarole@msn.com

Joint Events Officer Banny Banyard h: 01279 771 552 m: 07860 669 279 e: banny@tesco.net

Joint Events Officer Terry Stembridge h: 01992 575 702 m: 07709 205 498 e: terry.stembridge@btinternet.com

Magazine Editor Monica Hawes h: 020 8520 0461 m: 07943 169 800 e: monicaforboats@hotmail.com Tony Plunkett h: m: 07944 678 228 e: tplunkett@hotmail.co.uk The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this newsletter, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy, or an official announcement unless otherwise stated.

IWA accepts no liability for any matter in this newsletter. Registered Charity No212342