Sou’Wester BRIDGWATER DOCKS FROM THE AIR
Photo courtesy of Mark Searle
January - April, 2022 Issue 189 IWA South West and South Wales Region www.waterways.org.uk/southwest
South West and South Wales Region Committees South West & South Wales Region Committee: Chairman: *Roger Francis Members: *Ray Alexander Hon. Secretary: Sou’Wester Editor: Navigation Committee
*Andrew Strawson *Joyce Potts
*Geoff Brown *Geoff Harman Baz Juniper
Representative:
*Steve Warwicker
*Steve Peet *Tony Pugh
Avon & Wiltshire Branch Committee: Chairman: *Geoff Brown Hon. Secretary:
*Tim Wheeldon
Hon. Treasurer: Events Officer: 100 Club Administrator:
*David Chalmers *Geoff Brown *Vivienne Hook
Member: *Steve Warwicker
Gloucestershire & Herefordshire Branch Committee: Chairman: *Steve Peet Members: Vacant Hon Secretary: Acting Treasurer:
Jackie Peet Chris Handscombe
South Wales Branch Committee: Chairman: *Tony Pugh Hon. Secretary: Treasurer: Minutes Secretary:
Vacant Henry Brown Vacant
Membership Officer:
*Tony Pugh
Publicity Officer:
Vacant
Volunteer Co-ordinator
Vacant
West Country Branch Committee: Chairman: *Ray Alexander
Members: Mike Synan Chris JL Yewlett
Members: Julian Gibson
Hon. Secretary:
*Vacant
Chris Jewell
Hon. Treasurer & Events:
Mike Aldridge
Maurice Pinner
Volunteer Co-ordinator:
*Mike Slade
*Contact details for these appear inside the back cover. 2
Region Chairman Fellow Members and prospective members, Welcome to the 189th issue of the Sou’Wester, and hopefully, an improving situation regarding Covid, as we enter another year, with hopes high that progress can be made on the arrangements for Bridgewater Docks and also the Aberdulais Aqueduct. In fact, apart from those, there are things happening in Exeter and on the Bude Canal, as well as on the Avon. The region is well blessed with representation at the top table, with Ray Alexander being part of the Trustee Advisory Group and Hannah Sterritt as a Trustee, and a member of the South Wales branch. Hannah has just been elected as a Trustee, and we welcome her. The last Regional Chair’s informal chat with Phil Hornsey did not take place, nor did he attend the following Trustees meeting, as he had unfortunately, gone down with an attack of Covid. However, I am pleased to say he is making a good recovery. So there is a slight hiccup at the top, but I am sure Phil will be back with a full intention of moving the Association forward into 2022. Meanwhile, during December we are discussing the Road map as to how to do just that. Anyway, I do not have to go on about our happenings, as you can read them all for yourself in the following pages, as well as one of my last boat handling articles, which comes at a time when my own boat is safely aground in a drained canal for a winter stoppage, so I will not be overtaking anyone in the near future. May I end by wishing you all a Happy and Safe New Year Roger Francis
3
Notices FORMAL NOTICE OF BRANCH AGMs Each branch will be holding its AGM in 2022
Contact details for Branch Chairmen can be found on the inside back page. Agenda (which is common to all branches) 1
Apologies for absence
2
Minutes of 2019, 2020 and 2021 AGM’s as applicable
3
Report of Chair
4
Treasurer’s report and accounts
5
Election of Committee
6
Any other business (previously notified to Chair before the meeting).
Immediately after the AGM, the new Committee will meet to appoint its Officers.
IWA Avon & Wilts Branch: Thursday 10th March, 2022:
7.30pm
By Zoom, contact details to follow
IWA South Wales Branch: Saturday, 14th May, 2022
2pm
Venue: The Royal British Legion Club, the Lock House, Station Road, Riverside, Aberdulais, Neath. SA10 8ES Phone: 01639 643386 There will be a short walk of the Neath and Tennant Canals, including the Aberdulais Aqueduct, starting from the car park at approximately 12 noon. Lunch will be available for those who wish to make a day of it. Alas, all is dependent on the Welsh Covid regulations. 4
IWA Gloucestershire & Herefordshire Branch: No details at present.
IWA West Country Branch: Thursday, 24h March, 2022
7.30pm
By Zoom - contact details to follow The AGM will be cover the formal business of the meeting plus questions from members.
News IWA AVON AND WILTS 100 CLUB DRAW Vivienne Hook The Winter Draw of the Avon and Wilts 100 Club Winter Draw took place via Zoom on Thursday, 25th November and the results were: This took place at the virtual AGM. Congratulations to the winners: 1st Prize
£19.00
Mr. Lewis
2nd
Prize
£11.40
Mr. Brabner
3rd
Prize
£7.60
Mr. & Mrs. Blake
The 100 Club donation for 2021 will go towards the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. If you would like to join the 100 Club, we have plenty of numbers available. The cost is £6 a year and gives you a chance in three draws. You can have as many subscriptions as you like. The easiest way to subscribe is to make a payment directly into the 100 Club Bank Account. Please contact me if you would like details, alternatively please send me a cheque made payable to Avon and Wilts IWA 100 Club to my address below: 48 Broadfield Road, Knowle, Bristol, BS4 2UQ Please contact me if you have any waterway connected suggestions for recipients of the monies in 2022 (email address on page 27). 5
EDITORIAL Joyce Potts Welcome to this 189th edition of Sou’wester. Well, I think we have another packed issue and just to give a very brief summary, you will have read on page 4, the details of the branch AGMs for our region. The only one which did not go ahead in 2021 was IWA South Wales Branch and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the Covid rules for Wales do not prevent this from going ahead in 2022. IWA Avon & Wilts and West Country branches are both holding their AGM’s via zoom. Our Region Chairman gives us his experienced view of overtaking on the canals in his article on “Overtake at your peril” with the tongue-in-cheek photo that accompanies it - see pages 8 - 9. On page 5, we have the Avon & Wilts Branch 100 Club Winter Draw results. If you would like to see your name there, why not send a cheque for £6 to Vivienne Hook. On page 9, you will find a brief report about the restoration project to reinstate the Stroudwater Navigation through the A38 roundabout at Whitminster. This has won the ICE South West Civil Engineering People’s Choice Award and the Project under £8m New Build Awards. Congratulations to the Cotswolds Canal Trust. Amongst other things, we then have spooky goings-on at the Swansea Canal, the new replica Ventiford Crane on the Stover Canal before finishing with the Branch reports - page 19 onwards. You may wonder why certain things appear in the order that they do. Well the Chairman’s page, notices and news are always in the same order with the Branch reports and further events at the end. Then it’s a question of the best fit to try and minimise blank space. The same goes for the branch reports as well which is why they are not always in alphabetical order. At the time of writing this, we are experiencing another Covid variant and although everyone is recommended to have their booster shot, England have brought their rules into line with the other 3 nations meaning that the wearing of masks or face coverings is mandatory. 6
West Country Branch Work party volunteers visit By Julian Gibson On Wednesday, 29 th October, a group of us headed down the M5 to Topsham lock cottage on the Exeter ship canal. We were helping a small group of volunteers from the Friends of Exeter Ship Canal who are renovating the lock cottage site to reopen as a café in 2022. There will be two pontoons moved onto the canal bank to allow access for boaters and canoeists to stop at the café. We were helping to clear the canal banks ready for this. It’s a lovely place between the estuary and canal with views over to Topsham and being in the middle of a busy nature reserve. Even on a dull October day, there were loads of walkers, families and cyclists. Topsham is a few miles from Exeter along the river and canal. It’s a beautiful place to visit. There is a ferry that runs from Topsham over to the canal paths and café. Obviously not running all the time through the winter. This was a café some years ago, then a holiday let, but the cottage has been unused for a while. So the garden area has become brambles. Topsham Lock Cottage is owned by Exeter council and will be used by the Friends to help raise money for their canal upkeep tasks. Some photos of our antics are here. Tasks like this wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have our brilliant volunteers. Photo courtesy of Mike Slade, WC Branch member 7
“Overtake At Your Peril!” Roger Francis Overtaking on narrow stretches of water, especially canals, must be treated with great respect, and only be contemplated in extreme circumstances. Largely speaking it is not really necessary if all the traffic on the particular canal is going along close to 4 miles an hour. I say this because it is the most dangerous act which often ends in tears! The reason being that there are lots of hydro dynamic forces acting on the two vessels. Even the professionals view it with extreme caution. In fact, there is a basic guidance that is rigidly adhered to by most in open waters, suggesting that if you are overtaking another vessel, the minimum distance apart should be five cables, or half a nautical mile, which is slightly larger than a statue half mile. I was recently sent a copy of a study, which was being carried out late last year, showing a video of how the overtaking problem was affected by the hydro dynamics taking place, and indeed, the two vessels involved did in fact get very close, if not touch! This short article cannot go into what was exactly happening but it is pertinent that this research is still necessary, as it is a problem that continues to vex the most experienced pilots. A couple of months ago, a hire boat on our canal, was ahead of me and thinking about mooring on the towpath side of the canal, and so he asked me to pass him. Thinking that the canal had been dredged in recent years, I pulled over as far towards the opposite bank as I dared, and crept past him. I was almost past when I ran aground. Also, as a result of my overtaking him, the bow of his boat was getting up close and personal with the stern of my boat. See photo which gives an idea of this. So I asked him to overtake my grounded boat. Those of you who have been 8
keeping up with these articles will know as I did, what happened next! Just after he was completing passing, my boat was sucked away from the bank and I was able to continue on up the canal behind him. Had we both been afloat, the most likely outcome would have been a passing kiss between our boats. In one of my previous companies, I was on an almost fully ice class ship, running up the St. Laurence river throughout the year, and in the winter the river was covered in ice. We were specially designed to operate in such conditions, being able to cut through six feet thick ice. Some ships however, used to become stuck in the ice. So, one aspect of our job was to try to break the ships out from the ice, if we happened to be passing. We did this by making a pass beside them at our ice breaking speed, with the idea that our track would indeed cause them to be sucked into our track, and leave them getting under weigh behind us, and in most cases it worked a treat. If they remained stuck, there was nothing for it but await the ice breaker.
A38/A419 Whitminster Roundabout Canal Bridges South West and South Wales Region Committee The South West and South Wales region committee were delighted to see the awards made at the ICE South West Civil Engineering Awards ceremony on 30th September, 2021. The restoration project to reinstate the Stroudwater Navigation through the A38 roundabout at Whitminster won both the People’s Choice Award and the Project under £8m New Build Award. These was extremely well deserved and we congratulate the Cotswold Canals Trust and its partners on this achievement. Photo: Robert Paget 9
BRIDGWATER DOCKS Ray Alexander The Inland Waterways Association (IWA), the charity that campaigns to protect and restore the inland waterways of Great Britain, welcomes the announcement made at this week’s Bridgwater Town Development Forum that £23.2m has been awarded from the Government’s Towns Fund to Sedgemoor District Council for the regeneration of Bridgwater. The award includes £4m towards the regeneration of Bridgwater Docks, which IWA is keen to see used to provide new community and leisure facilities at the Docks and to support the restoration of both the Docks’ infrastructure and the historic Bascule Bridge that straddles the Docks. The award is subject to a satisfactory business case being prepared and signed off by the Government. Waterways form a significant part of the country’s infrastructure, boosting local economies and bringing health and wellbeing benefits to the communities they touch. They provide a leisure amenity that everyone can enjoy. Nowhere is this more evident than at Bridgwater in Somerset, which has a combination of a river and historic quayside, the heritage Docks including the Bascule Bridge, and the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal which passes through 14 miles of delightful countryside to the county town of Taunton, where it joins the River Tone Navigation. Chairman of the IWA West Country Branch, Ray Alexander, says “We are delighted to see the regeneration of Bridgwater Docks included as part of the Towns Fund award. Our vision for the future of the Docks and the Bascule Bridge is for them to become a vibrant and exciting part of Bridgwater and to help attract more visitors to the town and more boaters to use the Docks. We also wish to see the history and heritage of the Docks celebrated and used to good effect so that heritage and waterway enthusiasts, historians and many others will wish to visit Bridgwater and see the Docks and the Bascule Bridge for themselves.” The Inland Waterways Association has strong links with Bridgwater through both its members and its volunteers, it recognises the importance that the Docks have to the Town and for some years has been lobbying the 10
local authorities and others to secure the future of the Docks. Now that the award from the Towns Fund has been announced IWA is keen to work with the authorities to help optimise the opportunities provided by this funding. Cover photo: Bridgwater Docks from the air, taken by Mark Searle.
SWANSEA CANAL SOCIETY – HALLOWEEN 2021 Andy Ellis, Membership Secretary, Swansea Canal Society Rather than focus on the on-going efforts of the Society to restore and maintain the Swansea Canal, we thought you might like to learn of a wonderful collaboration between three users of Coed Gwilym Park in Clydach. The Friends of Coed Gwilym Park (FOCGP), the Clydach Heritage Centre and the Swansea Canal Society combined forces to organise a “Spooky” Halloween 2021 event in the park. The planning went smoothly but the weather did not! As we peeped cautiously out of our bedroom windows on the morning of the event, we wondered what we had let ourselves in for as the forecast was for torrential rain and howling gales. Nothing daunted, we met at 9:30 in the morning and got stuck in to setting up. Mercifully, the weather was reasonably kind with the foul weather limited to brief outbursts. The local families turned up in droves – and costumes – to make the day a rip-roaring success. The Friends of Coed Gwilym Park ran a barbecue with 60 burgers and 60 hot dogs supplied by Andrew, our wonderful local butcher in Clydach. They also provided hot and cold drinks and were busy all day, only needing to pause occasionally to hang on grimly to their gazebos! They were sold out by 2 o’clock having originally thought they would be taking a lot home! Overall they had an amazing day and managed to make a donation to the Heritage Centre of £120 towards their running costs. Cont on page 12/... 11
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[Photo FOCGP Getting Ready]
[Photo left: CHC Entrance]
The Clydach Heritage Centre was eager to take part in the event as well and provided a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt around the park for children, complete with home-made prizes made by their chair, Sue. This proved to be so successful that Gwyn had to keep dashing home to print more forms! The event also gave the centre an opportunity to share their new display of plaques from the former Clydach Hospital.
[Photo above: CHC Display]
Sue sold craft items made by Canal Society volunteers. A good part of her time was devoted to hanging on to the goodies as the wind tried to scatter them throughout the park. 12
The Canal Society put canoes and kayaks on the water, with free trips for those in fancy dress. It looks like everyone had great fun, although some of the steering left a lot to be desired. Although the hire was free, many of those taking to the water generously made donations to Society funds, with a total of £126 being raised throughout the year. [Photo SCS]
Here's a couple of photos of the splendid Halloween costumes. Can anyone guess who is in the skeleton suit?
The day turned out to be a huge success, despite the conditions. Volunteers from three groups worked hard to run the event and local families had great fun, ignoring what the weather threw at us. The whole day was a brilliant example of a real community effort. We are already planning the next one! Thank you everyone, volunteers and visitors alike, for making the day so special, and thank you to parents for permitting the photos to be used. 13
The Unveiling of the Ventiford Crane on the Stover Canal On 19th September, 2021 the Stover Canal Trust’s replica of the iconic crane at the Ventiford Basin on the Stover Canal was unveiled by Dr Ruth Sewell, representing the Inland Waterways Association, the major funder of the replica crane through its South West Inland Waterways Regeneration Fund. The two-mile long Stover Canal near Newton Abbot was built in 1792 to transport ball clay, but in 1820 a sevenmile Granite Tramway was built - with rails carved out of granite - to transport granite blocks quarried at Haytor on Dartmoor to the Ventiford Basin, the terminus of the Canal in the village of Teigngrace. At Ventiford the original crane was used to transfer the blocks, weighing up to three tonnes, from tramway wagons onto barges moored in the Basin. From Ventiford the blocks were carried down the Canal and Teign estuary to the port of Teignmouth where they were trans-shipped onto vessels, mostly bound for London. There the granite was used in the construction of London Bridge, the British Museum and many other notable structures and monuments. The crane is a key structure for both the Granite Tramway and the Canal. However, specifying the design and dimensions of the replica was no easy 14
task. The granite business ceased in the 1850’s and thereafter the crane and the Basin became redundant. The wooden components of the crane above ground rotted away and most of the cast iron elements of the mechanisms used to rotate the crane and raise and lower the granite blocks were removed. However, the part of the crane that was below ground was preserved and a photo was found showing a significant part of the crane structure above ground. Together with an historic print of a similar crane used at Teignmouth, this evidence made it possible to make what is considered to be a faithful, albeit static, reconstruction: the rotating and other mechanisms have not been restored to working order. The wooden elements of the replica have been made from a single oak tree sourced in North Devon. The eight-sided central column has a diameter of approximately 0.7 metres and is almost 6 metres tall, of which about half is below ground level in a granite-lined pit 3 metres deep. Together with the 6 metre long jib and 4 metre long supporting strut, the timber components weigh over 2.5 tonnes. The replica raising and lowering mechanism is made of steel and incorporates fragments of the original iron work. The timber sawing and carpentry and the metal work were all carried out to a high degree of precision by craftsmen from the local area, based on detailed drawings by the Trust’s vice chair, Paul Taper, a retired engineer who carried out the research into the design of the original. cont on page 16/… 15
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Many Stover Canal Trust volunteers contributed in various ways to this successful project. The restoration of the Ventiford Basin has taken several years and has involved the removal of the silt that had filled the Basin and the careful archaeological excavation of three canal barges that had been abandoned and become buried in the silt. The Basin has become something of a visitor attraction as a result of the construction and intensive use of the Stover Trail, a foot and cycle path recently constructed alongside the Canal. Most of the Stover Canal must remain dry because of its use as a flood relief channel and the limitations on the abstraction of water from the rivers that used to feed the Canal. However, an earth core dam has been built to enable the Basin to be filled with water, just leaving the Trust with the challenge of retaining the water in the Basin! The reconstruction of the Ventiford crane has hugely increased the attraction and public appreciation of the heritage of the Stover Canal, and the Stover Canal Trust is enormously grateful to the IWA for its contribution to the project. Photos courtesy of the Stover Canal Trust 16
SKEW BRIDGE, MONKHIDE, HEREFORDSHIRE Nigel Jefferies, Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust Skew Bridge in M o n k h i d e , Herefordshire, situated just south of the A4103 about six miles east of Hereford, is a unique feature; it is the most askew canal bridge on the entire national canal network. In his book, “The Hereford and Gloucester Canal”, David Bick suggests that it was built by Ballard, simply to prove his technical expertise and this was surely the case. Later in the same book, Bick points out that before Ballard started building the second section of the canal, between Ledbury and Hereford, he was given £25 in 1829, for a fact-finding visit to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was at that time, under construction. It is recorded that he walked ten miles along the railway, accompanied by Mr. Stephenson, the engineer. Interestingly enough, I read recently in Derrick Beckett’s book, “Stephenson’s Britain”, that there were three skew bridges on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. One of these skew bridges was the Rainhill Bridge, which had been completed by the end of 1828. When a conventional stone bridge is constructed, once the abutments or founda-tions for the base of the arch have been constructed, wooden frames or centring are constructed springing from these abutments and the stones or voussoirs which form the soffit or arch of the bridge are then laid on this supporting framework. The wing walls and spandrels are then con-structed; burden is laid on top of the arch of the bridge and after this has consolidated the centring is removed. Stone was the first durable con-structional material used by man and as Hopkins points out in his book, “A Span of Bridges”, providing it is used where the stone blocks are press-ing against each other, or where they are subject to Cont on page 18/… 17
…/cont from page 17
compressive forces, it is very strong - even relatively soft stone. However, if stone is subject to tension, it has little strength and this imposed limitations on early civilizations, who only used post and lintel or trabeated constructional technique; Stonehenge being a good example. The origin of the construction of the arch is open to doubt; Robert Furneaux-Jordan states that it was known to the Greeks, but not exploited by them, perhaps because they were not engineers. It was of course the Romans who were the first to fully exploit arcuated construction and in particular, the semi-circular arch, which is the simplest and safest arch to construct. The disadvantage with the semi-circular arch is its height, or rise, in relationship to its span. Consequently engineers sought to construct flatter arches or even semi-elliptical spans. A good example of the latter is Telford’s 1829 bridge at Over, near Gloucester, which carried the A40 across the River Severn until quite recent times. However, the flatter the arch the greater the risk of the bridge collapsing, since unlike the semi-circular arch, the thrust is not evenly distributed. Here again Over bridge is a good example, for although it has not collapsed, it is recorded that, when the centring was struck, the arch dropped ten inches, much to Telford’s consternation. This can still be seen today in the flatness of the parapet of the bridge. When building a skew bridge, similar problems of instability arise, since the line of thrust is no longer at right angles to the abutments. The most common solution to this problem is to lay the stones or bricks of the arch in a spiral form, a technique devised by William Chapman and explained in Ree’s Cyclopedia of 1813. However, before building the Rainhill Bridge, Stephenson was so unsure that Beckett relates that he commissioned his masons to construct a full-size timber model. The second skew bridge was Haggerleases bridge, built towards the end of the Haggerleases branch line, which was opened in 1830 and another wooden model was made before the construction of this bridge. Apparently, Haggerleases bridge has since been demolished. Bearing-in-mind the date of Ballard’s visit to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1829), I would suggest that he saw Stephenson grappling with the construction of the Haggerleases bridge and returned home looking for an opportunity to emulate his feat - hence the construction of Skew Bridge, Monkhide. Photo courtesy of Mike Potts, H&GCT member 18
Branch Reports IWA Avon & Wiltshire Branch Geoff Brown, Branch Chairman Not a lot to report. I have finalized our social program for the second half of the winter, details of which can be found on page 25, including our AGM, details of which can be found on page 4. Despite my appeals in the last 2 editions of Sou’Wester, there have been no responses. In a subsequent report from the Salisbury sub group, the result of no volunteers will be seen! A short report from Myra Glover is below. There have been no further meetings of the River Avon Users Group due to various problems, but there is to be a meeting of the Bristol Harbour Recreational Users Group in January. Also we will be holding a Zoom committee meeting in January.
IWA Avon & Wiltshire Branch Salisbury Group Myra Glover “It is with regret that the Salisbury group of the IWA has had to make the difficult decision to close. The main reasons for this are the lack and age of members, the difficulty in finding affordable speakers together with the effect that Covid has had on member’s health and attendance. We hope to arrange some social gatherings in the future so that members are able stay in touch with each other” 19
IWA South Wales Branch Report Tony Pugh, Branch Chairman Around South Wales: The Neath and Tennant Canal Trust: The Structural Report on the Aqueduct and the overdue NRW ‘report’ are eagerly awaited. Swansea Canal Society: Have received several grants and continue with their work parties.
The Mon & Brec Canal: the all electric canal boat, the Lord Raglan has had to cancel their Christmas Trips due to low water, picture shows the in-terior of the vessel. Regular trips will start in March 2022. For trips on the Lord Raglan as well as information on all of the canals, please check out the websites shown at the end of this report. Levelling up funding in Wales Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has said £121m of funding will go to 10 specific schemes in Wales as part of the levelling up fund. Powys County Council had made the bid for the funding, supported by the CRT, and it has now been confirmed that it has been successful. The bid to "revitalise the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site" receives £13.3m. Montgomery Canal Restoration receives £15.4m from the levelling up fund. This Welsh canal (Camlas Trefaldwyn) is owned by CRT and runs exclusively through Powys County Council's area within Wales. In contrast, here in Western South Wales, in the Swansea and Neath Valleys (The Neath, Swansea and Tennant Canals), we have a setback in that we have multiple stakeholders, including: the private owners of the canals; at least two Unitary Authorities; the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) with its constituency and regional MS’s (Members of the Welsh 20
Parliament); together with the UK Parliament, a UK Secretary of State for Wales and UK constituency Members of Parliament; not forgetting the Town and Community Councils. I have searched but could not find any authority that applied for levelling up funding for the canals in the area. My considered opinion as Chairman of IWA, in South Wales, is there should be one joint body to act on behalf of Canal restoration in the area to include, flood protection, regeneration, publicity and tourism. A body set up to work with all authorities and organisations both in Wales and the UK nationally. Such an arrangement could possibly be controversial in Wales and would require substantial funding but at this time little is being achieved. The views of Members would be appreciated. Details of IWA South Wales Branch AGM can be found on page 4. For up to date information on the local South Wales Canal activities: The Fourteen Locks Canal Centre http://fourteenlocks.mbact.org.uk/ The Monmouthshire, Brecon & Abergavenny Canals Trust http://www.mbact.org.uk for the boat trips, go to the website then click on “our boats” The Neath & Tennant Canals Trust: http://www.neath-tennant-canals.org.uk/ The Swansea Canal Society http://www.swanseacanalsociety.com The Swansea Bay Inland Waterways Partnership Swansea Marina http://www.swanseamarina.org.uk/ The Torfaen Canal Volunteers 862481 heatherhugh@hotmail.com
Contact: Hugh Woodford 01663
The group hold regular meetings. The Cardiff Bay Harbour Authority http://www.cardiffharbour.com 21
IWA West Country Branch Ray Alexander, Branch Chairman Visit by Phil Hornsey (IWA CEO) The branch committee hosted a visit by IWA’s Chief Executive, Phil Hornsey, at the end of September, which included a meeting with the Branch Committee as well as visits to the Exeter Ship Canal, Bridgwater Docks and the River Parrett at Langport. The opportunity was taken for the committee to explain how the branch is organised, the activities that are undertaken and to raise a number of issues of concern, including the need to reverse the continuing fall in IWA memberships, for Chesham to provide real help to attract branch committee members, the dire state of communications from the Trustees and Chesham and the over-reliance on legacy income to meet day-to-day expenses of the Association. Waterways World Andrew Denny of Waterways World also came to the branch in September and visited various locations on Bridgwater and Taunton canal, ending at Bridgwater Docks. We were able to show Andrew the Somerset Boat Centre (an IWA corporate member) and to introduce him to the owner, Ryan Chorley, which was good. Andrew’s article on the canal and the docks was published in the December edition of Waterways World. Volunteer Work Parties I am pleased to report that our regular volunteer work parties at Bridgwater, Taunton and Langport have all been re-established over the summer months and are now fully active again, which is good news. A combined event featuring volunteers from all three locations was held at Langport in October and again in November and succeeding in clearing out part of the water channel that runs through the town gardens (the former Langport & Ivelchester Canal); a separate event comprising a visit to Topsham Lock Cottage also took place in October and is reported on page 7. 22
Bude Canal outstanding regeneration works When the regeneration works on the Bude Canal were undertaken in 2007-9, at a cost of £3.8m, two items were left outstanding, comprising the raising of Rodd’s Bridge and the provision of a slipway. In view of all the Government funding currently available for infrastructure projects a letter has been sent from IWA to a number of Councillors requesting that consideration is given to applying for funding from the forthcoming Shared Prosperity Fund to complete the outstanding regeneration works. It is hoped that a positive response will be received to including these in Cornwall’s bid to the fund. IWA Chiltern Branch visit to Somerset This took place as planned over the weekend 17th – 19th September when some 20 IWA members stayed in the Castle Hotel, Taunton, took a trip on the horse-drawn barge at Tiverton on the Grand Western Canal, also the West Somerset Railway and on the Sunday were joined by Mike Slade and myself for a visit to the River Tone, Firepool Lock on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, the former Chard Canal junction, the River Parrett at Langport and Bridgwater Docks. At Langport we were joined for the walk by Val Saunders of Langport Town Council and at the Docks an excellent carvery lunch was provided by the Admiral’s Landing. Langport WRG FT visit The WRG Forestry Team visited the River Parrett at Langport on the weekend 9th/10th October and thinned out the overgrown trees along the river bank and in particular at the Gas Works inlet and the clump of trees just beyond the first bird hide on the path to Huish Bridge. Our corporate members Langport Town Council were delighted with everything that was achieved by the WRG visit, which was originally planned for March 2020 but deferred due the pandemic. Bridgwater Docks At the meeting of the Bridgwater Town Development Forum on 23rd November it was announced that £23.2m had been awarded from the Government’s Towns Fund to Sedgemoor District Council for regeneration Cont on page 24/... 23
.../cont from page 23 projects in Bridgwater. The award includes £4m towards the regeneration of Bridgwater Docks, which is good news and which is expected will be supplemented by a contribution from CRT through its dilapidation liabilities under its former lease of the Docks. The award is subject to a satisfactory business case being prepared and signed off by the Government, which will take much of 2022 to complete. An IWA Press Release was subsequently issued to the waterways press, the local Somerset pres and West County Branch members - see pages 10 and 11. CRT towpath policy A note setting out the committee’s concerns on the lack of towpath cutting on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was submitted to the Navigation Committee for their regular meeting with CRT. This referred to the deteriorating position along the whole canal under CRT’s experimental towpath cutting policy and included photographs taken near the Boat and Anchor showing that it had become almost impossible for two cycles/ pedestrians to pass each other. As a result of this, some urgent remedial work has been undertaken by CRT and the situation is being reviewed for 2022. The committee remain unhappy about the excessive amount of reeds still growing along the towpath side of the canal. IWA South West Inland Waterways Regeneration Fund (SWIWRF) The first grant from SWIWRF was made in the summer to the Stover Canal Trust in connection with the replica heritage crane at Ventiford Basin. The grant was for £11,500 and covered just over 50% of the costs involved. An opening event took place on 19th September and IWA was represented by our member Ruth Sewell. Ventiford Basin is well worth a visit. See pages 14 - 16 for details.
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IWA Gloucestershire & Herefordshire Branch Steve Peet, Branch Chairman There is nothing to report from the Branch again, as no activities have taken place due to Covid. We do hope to be able to organise some meetings again once we are all sure that it is safe to do so. Jackie and I are in touch regularly with Chris, our Treasurer.
Forthcoming Events IWA Avon & Wiltshire Branch 2022 Social Program All meetings are by Zoom; log on details to be given out nearer the time Thursday, 13th January - 7.30 pm
Bristol Harbour Underfall Yard by Andrew Blayney
Thursday, 10th February - 7.30pm
River Thames by Peter Finch of the River Thames society
Thursday, 10th March - 7.30pm
AGM - details on page 4 25
Waterways in the IWA South West and South Wales Region Avon & Wilts Branch Rivers Avon & Severn: Tidal navigation that is the responsibility of the Bristol Haven Conservancy, downstream of the second Severn crossing Avon Navigation: Hanham to Avonmouth, including River Avon & Bristol Docks Kennet & Avon Canal: Hanham Lock to Froxfield Bridge North Wilts Canal Somersetshire Coal Canal Wilts & Berks Canal: Kennet & Avon Canal to County Boundary 1m West of Shrivenham Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Branch Coombe Hill Canal Gloucester & Sharpness Canal Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Leominster Canal Lydney Canal River Severn: from Mythe Bridge, Tewkesbury to a point on the tidal navigation which is the seaward extent of responsibility of the Gloucester Harbour Trustees, downstream of the Second Severn Crossing Stroudwater Navigation Thames & Severn Canal River Wye: Hay-on-Wye to Severn Estuary South Wales Branch Brecon & Abergavenny Canal Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals Monmouthshire Canal Neath & Tennant Canals Swansea Canal River Usk River Wye - Hay-on-Wye to source West Country Branch Bridgwater & Taunton Canal Bude Canal Chard Canal Exeter Ship Canal Grand Western Canal Liskeard & Looe Canal North Somerset Waterways River Parrett Rolle Canal Stover Canal Tavistock Canal River Tone 26
Contacts Ray Alexander
Joyce Potts
rayalexander01@gmail.com
souwester@waterways.org.uk or
Geoff Brown
joyce.potts@waterways.org.uk
geoffl.b263@gmail.com
Tony Pugh tony.pugh@waterways.org.uk
David Chalmers david.chalmers@waterways.org.uk Roger Francis
Mike Slade mike.slade@waterways.org.uk
roger.francis@waterways.org.uk
Andrew Strawson
Geoff Harman
andrew.strawson@waterways.co.uk
01179 623812 geoff.harman@waterways.org.uk
Steve Warwicker
Vivienne Hook vivienne.hook@waterways.org.uk
Tim Wheeldon
Steve Peet
tim.wheeldon@waterways.org.uk
steve.warwicker@waterways.org.uk 01225 723890
scpeet59@icloud.com
Next Issue of Sou’Wester The next issue of Sou’Wester is due out in May, 2022. Please send all copy to the Editor at souwester@waterways.org.uk by
Saturday, 2nd April, 2022 The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of IWA. The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a non-profit distribution company limited by guarantee. Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 1WA. Tel. 01494 783453 Registered in England no. 612245. Registered as a Charity no 212343. www.waterways.org.uk 27
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