Anglian Cutting No. 113

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ANGLIAN CUTTINGS

Our annual excursion - on the River Thames this year

Award Winning Ipswich Branch Newsletter No. 113 Spring 2009 The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee.

Registered as a charity no. 212342 Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1WA Tel: 01494 783453 Web: www.waterways.org.uk

Chairman Chard Wadley chairman.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Minute Secretary Carolyn Wadley Secretary Charles Stride secretary.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Treasurer Spencer Greystrong treasurer.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Membership Secretary Clive Saville 01206 241623 membership.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk

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Publicity Brian Holt 01502 741345 pro.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Social Secretary Diana Holt 01502 741345 socialsec.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Fund Raising Lewis Tyler 01473 310381 RGTRep.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Anglian Cuttings Editor Mick Carter 01245 496676 editor.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk Pickerel Project representative River Stour Trust Rep Sue Brown Brian Cornell 01449 721632 pickerelrep.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk RSTRep.ipswichbranch@waterways.org.uk

Welcome to our new members

Clive Saville

Mr A MacDonald Essex Mr P Magnus Suffolk Mr J A Kennerley Suffolk Mr G J Summers Norfolk Mr J W Summerfield Norfolk Mr & Mrs E & D Clark Norfolk Mr T Peek Norfolk Mr P Stebbings Norfolk Mr & Mrs P & G Corderoy Suffolk Mr K Dalton Suffolk Mr & Mrs J W & D M Stonehouse Essex Mr & Mrs R & A Reding Essex Mr C Smith Norfolk Mr & Mrs R & J Butler Suffolk Mr J Evans Norfolk

3 STRATFORD LOCK RESTORATION by Sue Brown Unlike the works on the River Gipping at Baylham Lock, the restoration of the lock at Stratford St Mary on the Stour stopped at the end of September when we came to the end of the 12 week work period allowed us by EA. Soon after we ceased work our tool container was robbed, so we must replace all our equipment before we can start work again this year, when our target is to complete the line of gabions along the Suffolk side of the channel to the footbridge. This is labour intensive as the rock to fill the gabions has to be loaded into barrows at the Waterworks and transported across the river on the raft to be placed into the gabion baskets.

We shall be working every day except Sundays from 13th July to the end of September, and if you can help you will be made most welcome. www.riverstourtrust.org The Great Yarmouth Mercury reported that on the 2 March 2009 a Caister-on-Sea man was convicted for speeding on the River Yare and fined £750 plus costs.

A couple of years ago some of your committee members had the opportunity of visiting the" Lydia Eva" oldest steam drifter still afloat, moored in the river at Lowestoft.

Since that date a lot of work has been carried out on the boat and in March of this year her boiler was fired for the first time in 30 years. She was warmed up over two days and brought up to full steaming pressure for a boiler test which resulted in her being certified to steam.

When the Lydia Eva next goes round to Great Yarmouth she is expected to burn about £3000 worth of coal, she consumed £1000 worth for the test alone.

You can read more information about the Lydia Eva at

http://www.lydiaeva.org.uk

4 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

This edition of Anglian Cuttings reaches you just after our Chard latest annual coach trip (see Spencer’s report) and I would like to congratulate Diana and Brian on another excellent outing. I received many good comments regarding the places we visited, the organization and the friendly atmosphere.

Carolyn and I have recently had a holiday in the Derbyshire Dales and whilst there we walked the Cromford Canal.

We started at the basin and reached Whatstandwell where they are improving the towpath so we could go no further. It is a lovely canal which is being restored gradually and there is much history along the way about the canal and the railway which once ran along side. We also visited Chesterfield and walked some of the Chesterfield Canal. The basin has been restored and there is a café and information centre by the lock. Unfortunately, as we were out of season, this was only open at certain times due to a shortage of staff so we may return sometime in the summer.

The work on the River Gipping at Baylham Lock progresses well, as those of you who belong to the Trust will have read about in the Trust’s magazine. There are two WRG work camps planned, one in July and the other in August with London WRG visiting between the two.

The next edition of Anglian Cuttings will be out at the end of September ready for details of our winter meetings. Until then I wish you an enjoyable summer.

Keep boating Chard.

5 IPSWICH IWA ANNUAL OUTING 2009 by Spencer Greystrong Once again Diana and Brian planned and organised an excellent weekend. They clearly have connections in high places as they even managed to produce ideal weather, particularly for our trip up the Thames.

On Saturday thanks to everyone’s punctual arrival at the pick-up points we arrived at our first destination, Milestones Living History Museum at Basingstoke at 11.00am. just as it opened This is a fascinating place, entirely under cover, where they have faithfully re-created both a Victorian street with its shops, houses and factories and a similar setup showing the 1930s. In the Exhibition Court there were individual rooms covering the period from 1940 to 1980. As we wandered round we found a sawmill, a tram shed (with trams) and lots more. A particularly interesting area was the Thorneycrofts factory which was world famous for its lorries. They were also one of the largest suppliers to the British Army in WW2. Their decline started when they merged with AEC in the 70’s and then British Leyland. The museum has a very pleasant restaurant upstairs which provided me with a sausage roll, chips and beans along with a pint of London Pride!

Unfortunately the replica Victorian pub was not open due to staff shortages.

Our next stop was the Mid Hants Railway, colloquially known as the Watercress Line because the area through which it ran produced huge quantities of that particular plant and the railway allowed it to be transported to London whilst still fresh. Our coach driver, Paul, dropped us off at Alresford and we had a very pleasant steam hauled trip to Alton behind No. 850 Lord Nelson. This locomotive was built in 1926 and is the only surviving member of the original 16 engines in the class. In the meantime Paul had driven to Alton and was waiting to take us to our hotel on the outskirts of Reading.

6 A few of our more health conscious party took advantage of the swimming pool, spa and sauna before dinner but it would appear that most people decided that they were fit enough already. After an excellent meal (and the odd glass of wine) some hardy souls actually stayed awake ‘til 10.00pm but the majority retired early.

The following day saw even fewer people in the pool before breakfast but as we weren’t due to leave until 10.15 that gave Joshua my 7 year old grandson time to have a huge bowl of Cocopops, a full English breakfast and toast and marmalade which was followed by another bowl of Frosties!

Our first port of call was Caversham Bridge in Reading where we boarded a Salters Steamer that was going to take us to Henley. Salters started running passenger steamers in 1888 with the very first service being a daily return trip between Oxford and Kingston. Our trip was about 10 miles which took us through 4 locks, Caversham, Sonning, Shiplake and Henley. As we got closer to Henley on Thames the properties along the river side were clearly becoming bigger and more expensive with one of the grandest belonging to the singer, Vince Hill.

At Henley the boat moored up just outside the River and Rowing Museum around lunch time which was handy as Joshua was hungry again! After lunch our tour of the museum started with the ‘Wind in the Willows’. This exhibition faithfully follows the original story line, using theatrical lighting and sound techniques to transport visitors on a journey through the whimsical world of The Wind in the Willows. We were given audio guides that told the story as we walked through. It was clear that everyone really enjoyed this exhibition and Joshua in particular was engrossed - to such an extent that he nearly burst into tears when he heard the Weasels had taken over Toad Hall.

In the main hall Diana, Brian and I tried our hand at synchronised rowing with mixed results.

7 There was no end of interesting stuff about the Thames itself along with many historic boats including the one in which Sir Steve Redgrave won his fifth Olympic gold medal. This really is an interesting place to visit and I would recommend it if you are in the area. We finally left for home at 4.30 and tried our luck at the second quiz devised by John and Joan. (I forgot we did one on Saturday as well). Not everyone joined in as they were asleep!

All in all a great weekend. I wonder what Diana and Brian will come up with next time?

WALK ‘N’ WATER On Saturday 2nd May we drove over to The Granary, Sudbury to take part in an event organised by The River Stour Trust. We were split into two groups as one couple had two Boarder Terriers and we had Magic, our elderly black Labrador we decided it would be easier on the boat if we weren’t in the same group! At 11.30 our group boarded “Francis J” one of the Trust’s trip boats, skippered by Sue, with Roger as crew. At the same time the other group set off to walk along the Stour Valley Path to meet up with us at Henny Street, opposite The Swan. After negotiating round some small boys in rowing skiffs we set off downstream passing some brick pill boxes built during the last war.

At Great Cornard some of us got off to help work the lock, here the bollards put anything that BW could come up with to shame. Roger had to contend with a rather boisterous, wet muddy Springer spaniel, that was running round the lock which made it difficult for him to work the paddles without getting his trousers wet! Once through the lock, a canoe moored to the downstream landing stage, made picking up the shore crew difficult. We passed the new Visitor and Education Centre and saw the very smart new apartments that now incorporate Bakers Mill.

Contd.

8 It was a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze and we enjoyed the pastoral scenery as we continued along the river before mooring at Henny Street around 12.30. As the Henny Swan had recently closed we had been advised to bring a picnic that we ate beside the river on the pubs picnic tables. Some of our group had decided to walk on to the pub at Lamarsh for their lunch and then make their own way back to Sudbury later. One lady who could not walk far had arranged to travel back by boat. After about 30 minutes the other group, who had walked, arrived and joined us with their picnics.

At around 1.30 we set off with Sue and Roger to walk the 3.75 miles back to Sudbury. The first mile was on the road to Great Henny Church. Here we joined the Stour Valley Path that runs across the churchyard and along the sides of fields with beautiful views over the surrounding countryside. At one point Magic was a short way ahead and disappeared round the end of a hedge. When we caught up with him he was swimming in a large pond among the fish. Luckily the water was crystal clear so we didn’t get splashed with mud when he came out. Generally he finds a smelly dyke to swim in to cool off. Later when he was on his lead he helped pull Brian and Roger up the hill. We walked along the edge of the clay pits and past some houses before crossing the river Stour on the disused railway bridge. The other group had already arrived back at The Granary and we joined them for tea, coffee and biscuits. We enjoyed our day helping to raise funds for The River Stour Trust.

This was the first “Walk ‘n’ Water” that the Trust has organised and it is most likely that they will run more in the future. For details of events organised by The Stour Trust, please contact The River Stour Trust 01787 313199 or see their web site at http://www.riverstourtrust.org/ .

Diana Holt How about trying one of these next time Di????... (ed) What utter joy! Larking about on the water just got even more fun.

The Walk on Water Ball is a giant six foot diameter inflatable sphere that lets you walk on water.

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Trent Bridge at Nottingham

AUGUST 28 – 31 BANK HOLIDAY

2009 National Festival & Boat Show will be held at Red Hill, near Ratcliffe on Soar, on the Soar Navigation, close to its confluence with the river Trent, and the junctions with the Erewash, and Trent & Mersey canals, just south of Nottingham.

IWA hopes to encourage boaters visiting the Festival to try the Erewash and Chesterfield canals and other lesser frequented waterways of the East Midlands. The Festival also intends to raise the profile and give support to waterway societies in the area, including the Derby, Cromford and Grantham canals all of which are currently under restoration.

Moira - 24th & 25th May, 2009 The 2009 IWA Trailboat Festival starts with a spectacular illuminated boat display on the Saturday evening, the 23rd.

Abandoned in 1944 due to mining subsidence, the Ashby Canal at Moira has been progressively restored, giving nearly 1.5 miles of new canal in the heart of the National Forest. The length incorporates a new road bridge, a swing bridge and now the only lock on the Ashby Canal.

Boaters can join the event from Friday, 22nd May, and the illuminated boat parade will be centred on the Donisthorpe length of the canal. At Moira, Sunday and Monday will feature a full programme of events and entertainment, trade and charity stalls and historic re-enactments

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Restoration News from the River Gipping Trust.

The retaining wall that we have been rebuilding above the lock is now finished and looks very smart. Well done all.

It had a good test of its integrity in early February when the river was in flood (see photo) & our work site was flooded.

Since then we have rebuilt one of the upper wing walls & repaired & re-pointed the other. The stop planks are doing a good job of keeping the lock chamber fairly dry, so we can get on with demolishing one wall of the lock ready to get an excavator in to the lock during the Canal Camps. This will enable us to remove the crude invert repair that would limit the draft of boats that could use the lock and replace it with a correctly profiled concrete invert.

Canal Camps have been arranged for the weeks 11th to 18th July and 8th to 15th August.

There will also be a London WRG weekend camp on the 25th 26th July followed by 5 days of work parties by our own volunteers, we have to complete in this period the same amount of work as in each of the two, week long, camps. Any offers of help during 27th to 31st July would be very welcome.

Following a discussion between David Benham and the late Jeremy Clover, re. River Gipping in Stowmarket, we were contacted by David Benham of Mid-Suffolk D.C. Spencer & I attended a meeting with David Benham & 3 of his colleagues at the council offices on 11th March.

11 David is charged with producing a master town plan for the area of Stowmarket that includes the head of the Stowmarket Navigation.

After a wide ranging discussion of their views and our aims we were ask to produce a costed list of action required to make the river navigable for leisure purposes. I, very optimistically, produced a list that included all the locks & bridges down to Gt. Blakenham, the last lock in the MSDC area. After all Great Blakenham Lock is only a Âź mile from the Snowasis Project that looks as if it will go ahead, there will surly be some section 106 money available from a project of that size and who knows some of it may come our way.

Colin Turner Restoration Manager.

Working up the flight from WW2 People's War by Mrs Jean Peters At seven, the cheery little lock keeper appeared, slipped the: chain off the end gates and got the lock ready for us. In we went, our loaded boats low and heavy now to steer - but at least one could see over them. We filled water cans - had the boats "gauged"" and were off. I learnt the art of taking the butty. The routine for locks, jump off checking strap in hand over the gate, round the stump, three turns, hold it checked, move rope to a forward stump and tie her up, to prevent her slipping her Elum under the beam of the gate and sinking when the water rose. Shut your gate, go and wind a paddle. Loose your boat as soon as she is beyond the danger line. Wind your rope neatly in coils on the cabin top. Lay the end on your water can and round the chimney. The end ready to be seized next time. Most difficult was the timing of the jump off; one hall to take one's tiller out which one couldn't do until one steered one's butty into the left of the lock.

Then before the narrow brick ledge was passed one had to hop out, strap in hand and tear up the steps to check. The windlass jabbed my ribs, where it rested in my belt - my arms ached with the stupid paddles I couldn't move. Lock after lock, between locks, the steering. "Steer the opposite way that you want her bows to go" I repeated to myself. Nearly repeated once too often, for on finding myself heading for a brick wall I steered frantically into it instead of away. Kit on the motor gave a wild cry - made animated gestures to steer the other way. Which I did, avoiding complete disaster but getting a very healthy bump. Practical lesson number one!

The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar'

12 ROTHENSEE BOAT LIFT near Magdeburg, Germany.

Purpose The Rothensee boat lift was originally envisaged as part of a larger project.

The lift is at the Eastern end of the Mittellandkanal, it was intended that this canal would cross the Elbe on an aqueduct and then be connected to the Elbe-Havel Canal by a double boat lift at Hohenwarthe. The Rothensee lift is about 500m from the junction of the Elbeabstiegcanal and the MittellandKanal lowering boats to the level of the Elbe. The Rothensee lift was completed in 1938 but as a result of the Second World War the aqueduct and Hohenwarthe lift were not constructed. As part of a German re-unification transport project the Elbe aqueduct was completed after a 60 year delay, however two shaft locks were built instead of the proposed Hohenwarthe lift. For 60 years, therefore, the Rothensee lift, which was originally intended to allow passage just from the Mittellandkanal to the Elbe carried all the navigation traffic from the West German industrial centres to West Berlin.

In 2001 the parallel Rothensee ship lock which allows the passage of bigger ships was completed making the lift redundant

Technology The boat lift overcomes a normal water level difference of 16 metres, however, changing water levels on the Elbe causes this to vary between 11 and 18 metres. The trough moves between levels in 3 minutes. A boat can pass through the lift in 20 minutes. Approximately 70 ships with a maximum displacement of 1,000 tonnes pass through the lift daily.

13 The Rothensee boat lift utilizes floats in float chambers in a similar manner to that at Henrichenburg. In this case only two float chambers were needed. The lift follows the patented plans of Rudolf Mussaeus.

The trough is 85 metres long and 12.2 metres wide and is supported on two 36 metre long 10 metre in diameter cylindrical floats submerged in two 60 metre deep float chambers. The floats are internally sub-divided into three separate chambers. Each of these chambers is filled with air compressed to a pressure appropriate to its depth in the float chamber in order to prevent implosion. The floats provide buoyant lift equivalent to 5,400 tonnes, enough to balance the weight of the trough and its load of water and ship. The trough is set in motion using four worm geared shafts, 27.3 metres long and 42 centimetres in diameter moved by eight 44 kW electric motors. Because the trough and its load are in equilibrium with the floats only the friction opposing the troughs movement needs to be overcome by the motors. A complete lift can be achieved using less than 500 kW of power.

This method of construction was selected because a standard lock was not technically possible over this height difference at the time. This method also saved the cost of back pumping lost water. Today 110 million m続 of water are back pumped for the parallel ship lock each year.

The overall height of the lift measured from the base of the underground float chambers to the upper cross beams is 97.21 metres. The water depth in the trough is usually 2.5 metres.

History The building of the boat lift was a major engineering achievement. To build the lift 225,000 cubic metres of earth were moved and 55,000 cubic metres of concrete were needed. In order to dig the pits for the two 60m deep float chambers the ground was frozen to a temperature of -40 degrees celsius in order to prevent a possible collapse of the excavation.

14 It took 4 months for the temperature to be lowered by the correct amount. In the neighbourhood of the boat lift a company owned housing estate, the Schiffshebewerk Estate was built.

In the first 50 years of its existence 730,000 lifts were completed. In the years 1980 and 1981 an 18 month long general overhaul was completed. It was at this time that it received its green coat of paint.

The lift today Despite the completion of the parallel locks in 2001 (see right) the lift is still in use. The German Federal audit office, aware of the lift's current loss making status will probably bring about the lift's closure in the near future.

The Elbe Aqueduct

This article was reproduced from Wikipedia, an amazingly informative site. The photographs are my own during a visit to the area.

Magdeburg is slowly becoming part of unified Germany, but the people here still cling to the East German values. When I first visited Magdeburg steam for heating the city’s homes was produced by a factory, and piped round by huge metal ducts beside the roads.

Mick Carter (editor)

15 Pete Bowers, a stalwart member of the Ipswich gang of volunteers reaches the magic pension age (and he still has his own hair .Ed.. hmmh)

Roger Brown receiving the Ipswich Branch tray at the annual dinner earlier this year.

It is awarded to non-committee members for outstanding, heroic, amazing, death-defying feats that no man or beast should have to endure!!!!

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Working party dates Working parties are held at Baylham Lock from 0900 to 1700 every Wednesday and the first Saturday in the month unless that Saturday is in a Bank Holiday weekend, the work party will then be held on the second Saturday.

In 2009 we are hosting 2 x WRG canal camps on: July 11th to July 18th. and August 8th to August 15th.

We also are hosting a London WRG weekend on 25th & 26 July.

We plan to tackle a large job in July & August which may require extra work parties to be arranged at short notice offers of help would be appreciated.

Colin Turner

Interesting web sites Ipswich IWA web site http://www.ipswich-iwa.co.uk http://rivergippingtrust.org/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ipswich_iwa/ . http://www.waterways.org.uk http://www.harnser.info http://www.iwapeterborough.org.uk http://www.broads-society.org.uk/index.php?page=home http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/home/home.asp http://www.riverstourtrust.org/ http://www.goba.org.uk/ http://www.waterscape.com/ http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/ The IWA may not agree with the opinions expressed in this newsletter but encourages publications as a matter of interest. Nothing printed can be construed as policy or as an official announcement unless otherwise stated. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter in this newsletter