Ouse News - Summer 2023

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland

Association or of the Great

Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers.

Photo: Carole Alderton

BCN above M5 Junction

Great Ouse Branch Committee:

Chairman:

Keith Alderton

Tel : 01366 727236

Secretary:

John Hodgson

Tel : 01234 344884

Treasurer:

Enid Hodgson

Tel : 01234 344884

Volunteer Coordinator:

Gail Mead

Tel: 01359 242967

Ouse News Editor:

Carole Alderton

Tel : 01366 727236

Membership Officer:

Peter Webb

Tel: 01353 658581

Member:

Stephen Foote

Tel: 01763 838936

We are a small, friendly group and would welcome another committee member to help us organise meetings and events. Please contact the editor.

Ouse News Page 3

Branch News

Winter Meetings are at 8.00 pm at the North Lodge Pavilion, North Lodge Park, Milton, CB24 6UD.

T HURSDAY 26 TH O CTOBER 2023

This will be a talk by a representative from the Middle Level Commissioners.

T HURSDAY 23 RD N OVEMBER 2023

This will be a talk by the Cam Conservators but has yet to be confirmed.

We welcome the following new members to the branch. We hope you will introduce yourselves to us when coming to an event or meeting:

Ian Cooper, Elstow, Bedford

Jack & Laura Jury-Hyde, Little Paxton, St Neots

Simone Wilson, Balsham, Cambs

T HURSDAY 22 ND F EBRUARY 2024

Details to be confirmed.

T HURSDAY 28 TH M ARCH 2024

This will be our Annual General Meeting, together with an update from the Environment Agency.

Andrew & Daphne Lee, Little Staughton, Bedford.

If anyone is reading this newsletter and would like to become a member, please contact Peter Webb, our Membership Officer, on 01353 658581.

Chairman’s Corner

I am pleased to report that after more than a year of frustrating problems with both Carole’s health and boat repairs we are now at long last firing on all cylinders in both respects. So much so, that we have recently returned from a three week trial run to see if Carole could still cope with operating locks and driving our 55-foot boat. We, therefore, started off gently by choosing the route with the least locks from our base in Warwickshire. Hence we travelled up the North Oxford and Coventry Canals and on to the end of the Ashby Canal, stopping off in Coventry Canal Basin on the way back. All-in-all, a very pleasant and relaxed 120 mile round trip with only 7 locks to do (twice). If you have not already done so, you really should try and cruise the Ashby Canal, which is surely one of the most attractive in the Country.

You may have seen an item on local television news recently, talking about the Great Ouse River Trust. This is a new organisation to us and we have, therefore, made contact and invited them to send a representative along to address one of our branch general meetings to explain what they are about and to explore matters of mutual interest.

It is with regret that the branch committee has decided that we will not have a presence at Ely Aquafest and Reach Fair in future as we do not command sufficient support to man our stand. We, therefore, intend to sell off our gazebos, tables etc. However, you can see on page 3 that we are continuing with our usual series of off-season talks and look forward to meeting branch members and guests at North Lodge Pavilion.

Earlier this year the Environment Agency produced its Navigation Update in which it outlined the number of capital projects it intended to complete in 2022/2023. It is interesting to note that out of the total of 95 projects listed, the River Great Ouse has 5, the River Thames has 28 and the River Nene has 19. I fully understand that we can’t be a winner every year, but we do seem to have picked the short straw this time around!

Ouse News Page 5

You may recall that we previously reported on the completion of the EA’s project to raise the Middle Level Barrier Bank of the Ouse Reservoir between Earith and Welmore Lake Sluice. The object of the exercise was to prevent the regular winter flooding around Welney. Unfortunately, exceptional rainfall last winter proved the bank height to still be inadequate and as a result, the bank will have to be raised yet again. The work will start in July and last for 8 to 10 weeks. I am sure that the residents of Welney will hope that they get it right this time!

We have been notified that plans to build a new large sewage work beside the River Cam at Waterbeach are progressing and the Planning Inspectorate has accepted a Development Consent Order to proceed to the examination stage. We have been kept informed of developments at each stage of the project and, as far as we can tell, the navigation will not be adversely affected once completed.

In the last issue, I reported that East Cambs District Council had reportedly fined a boater for overstaying at Ely Waterfront during adverse weather conditions when it was unsafe to navigate. I am pleased to say that the call for mooring restrictions to be waived during the winter has been rejected. However, agreement has been reached not to enforce the regulations in times of sub-zero temperatures, thick fog or high winds.

Keith Alderton

News & Views

Do you have an article, comment or photo you would like to share? We would be very pleased to receive it! Contact the editor: carolealderton@waterways.org.uk

Gas Cylinders

Many boaters will no doubt be aware that Calor have announced that they intend to discontinue supplying small cylinder sizes i.e. 3.9kg propane and 4.5kg butane. This decision has caused much consternation amongst leisure users as many cruisers and caravans have gas lockers specifically designed to fit these cylinders and cannot accommodate larger bottles. A number of boating organisations have made representation to Calor to reconsider their decision. The company has subsequently agreed to continue filling the smaller models as long as existing cylinders remain serviceable.

The Boat Safety Scheme has concerns regarding safety implications and has issued the following statement containing much helpful advice :-

Calor has made a statement to the BSS about the continued supply of LPG in its small cylinder sizes, 3.9kg propane and 4.5kg butane, for the immediate future which gives those affected boat owners a little breathing space and a golden opportunity to plan for alternative arrangements – either LPG cylinders from alternative suppliers or introducing safe and well-fitted adjustments to their gas system by competent installers.

The Calor statement to the BSS in full says:

‘In January we announced plans to streamline our small cylinder range to help put us in a better position to service our wider cylinder customers who rely on us to provide their home heating and hot water.

‘In taking this decision we underestimated the impact this would have on specific user groups who use the 3.9kg propane and 4.5kg butane cylinders for caravanning and boating. We have listened to concerns and we are finalising plans to continue to exchange and refill serviceable* cylinders of these sizes, phasing them out of supply over a longer time frame. This should give users additional time to source an alternative way to power their onboard facilities.

Ouse News Page 7

‘We are working out the full details of this process and will communicate this as soon as we can.

‘*Serviceable cylinders are those that do not require refurbishment, due to age or damage. Calor is able to keep this stock of cylinders in circulation for the foreseeable future. However, they will be phased out once they reach end of life and will not be replaced by new cylinders of these sizes. Cylinders that are deemed unserviceable will be taken out of circulation. This means that over time, and as the number of cylinders decrease, supplies will be limited for users of these specific sizes.

‘Our advice to boaters is to take advantage of this new Calor position and use the opportunity it affords to, if changes are necessary, find competent expertise in local boat yards, or through the Gas Safe Register www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer-or-check-the-register/ and ensure any changes are safe and compliant with boat LPG Codes of Practice and BSS Requirements.

‘In the coming weeks the BSS will add useful information to our website to help affected boat owners transition to alternative arrangements.’

Keith Alderton

Historic 1793 Footbridge over the River Gipping at Baylham in Suffolk now restored

On a glorious summer’s day, Saturday 20th May, a crowd of 75 watched as the guest of honour, local MP Dr Dan Poulter, cut the red ribbon to declare the new footbridge over the River Gipping at Baylham officially open. The Chair of the Trust, John Warren welcomed Dan Poulter and presented him with a copy of the Trust’s new book ‘The Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation’ about the history of the Gipping and congratulated the Trust volunteers.

Ouse News Page 8

During the last two years the footbridge over the river just above Baylham has been rebuilt by volunteers, replacing one that was last seen at the bottom of the river in 1942. This bridge formed part of the towing path and without it around 1km of footpath alongside the river was lost.

The River Gipping runs between Stowmarket and Ipswich in Suffolk. It was canalised in 1793 and was almost certainly John Rennie’s first ever completed canal project.

Of the fifteen locks built over the 16 mile length all except one remain to some extent with water flowing through the lock chambers. None have lock gates. Remains of the lost lock at Claydon, thought to have been buried under the A14 when constructed some 40 years ago, have recently been discovered by volunteers. A lock wall around 100 feet long remains, but no sign of the other. National Highways wish to include it in their ‘Cultural Heritage Asset Management Plan’ as a Heritage Asset and have indicated that they are mindful of carrying out a full feasibility study with the view to possibly restoring it.

In 1994 the IWA started restoration work on Bosmere Lock, then Creeting Lock between 1997 and 2004 moving on to Baylham Lock which was completed by the then newly created River Gipping Trust a few years later. The Trust then went on to restore Pipps Ford Lock, which is very nearly complete; thus there are now four locks virtually fully restored ready for lock gates to be installed. These four locks form a group between Baylham and Needham Market, a stretch of waterway about 3 km long. The Trust is working on restoring navigation along this stretch and running a trip boat from Bosmere at Needham Lakes (a very popular visitor attraction) and Baylham which has a very popular Rare Breeds Animal Farm. Lock gates at Creeting and Pipps Ford will be required to do this.

Last year the Trust commissioned a scoping study of the Baylham to Needham stretch by MossNaylorYoung, a company specialising in waterway regeneration. The report identified many possible biodiversity benefits associated with making this stretch navigable again.

The new footbridge mentioned lies between the planned navigation restoration stretch of the river between Bosmere Lock (Needham Lakes) and Baylham. The 1793 brick bridge abutments remained but needed extensive restoration with around 500 reclaimed bricks recovered from the bottom of the riverbed cleaned and reused. A new wooden platform deck was purchased in kit form from The Wooden Bridge Company www.thewoodenbridge.co.uk and assembled by Trust volunteers. The deck consisted of five 10.5m long wooden beams, each 475mm high by 200mm wide weighing around ¾ tonnes each. Each beam was rolled across the river on a temporary scaffolding bridge.

Ongoing plans for limited navigation along the entire 16 miles between Ipswich and Stowmarket is still being progressed, but the Trust is concentrating their efforts on the Needham Lock to Baylham stretch.

The Trust organise a volunteer work party every Wednesday, normally attended by 12 to 18 volunteers. As well as working on the footbridge the Trust is looking to expand their towpath clearance work further upstream towards Stowmarket and further downstream towards Ipswich.

Constructing the wheelchair friendly ramps up to the footbridge

Getting the footbridge beams across the river

Opening Day speaches

Ian Petchey, Volunteer Restoration Manager River Gipping Trust

Visitors on the footbridge at the opening ceremony

Bridge Boatyard Bridge Road Ely, Cambs

CB7 4DY

Repairs and servicing Engineering and glassfibre workshops

Slipway

Suppliers of diesel, gas and coal

Authorised Nanni dealership

Gas safe engineer

Book Review

by Anthony Marris

TALES FROM THE TILLERMAN

A life-long love affair with Britain’s Waterways

By STEVE HAYWOOD

Tales from the Tillerman is Steve Haywood’s latest travelogue, charting his meanderings around England’s inland waterways network over a four year period at around the time of the EU referendum. Given the author’s age and musical taste I assume the name of the book derives from Cat Stevens’ LP from the 1970s “Tea for the Tillerman”, one of my favourite albums.

The book is aimed at a wide audience both the casual travel book reader to the inland waterways enthusiast and so the text is sprinkled with useful information about the size of the network, the reasons and background of the “Canal Age” etc whilst also providing entertaining anecdotes for the experienced boater. Some of his stories such as his entering the River Douglas on the Ribble link in conditions which perhaps were unadvisable verge on sheer madness. Perhaps this account is there to grip the reader from the start.

The author then goes on to describe his admittedly overly optimistic trip to York up the River Ouse, a river which is notoriously prone to flooding in the winter. Yes, guess what, the worst floods duly arrive and the book details a number of Steve Haywood’s adventures on the river before they took the wise decision to take a break to warm, dry South Africa, the only problem being that they had left their passports back on board their narrowboat NB Justice, which by then had been moored in a place only accessible – yes you’ve got it by water. Eventually they persuaded a boatman to take them but he gave them only ten minutes to gather what they needed from the boat before the river rose even higher.

For the benefit of the East Anglian reader, the author decides to head east to explore the Fens and the Great Ouse basin via the Wash, another potentially hazardous trip, this time carried out without drama, giving a good account of the history of Wisbech and the wealth created in previous years contrasted with the more recent decline. He hits the nail on the head as to the reasons behind the Brexit vote which while a great disappointment to him was even more so for his wife, Em. He also gives a detailed account of the Denver Complex, a complex which few in the region realise presently gives them security from the devastations of further flooding.

Finally with the tenants vacating the Haywood house in South London, their dream comes to an end and they find themselves and the reader returning to the humdrum of everyday life – but at least in this case the Haywoods have fulfilled a promise they made to themselves and given the reader an amusing account of their adventures aboard and an insight into the British psyche.

ISBN 978-1-4729-7700-7

Anthony Marris

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IWA Publishes New Guide to Denver Crossing

Like most rivers, the River Great Ouse flows into the sea. The main boundary between the non-tidal river and estuary is at Denver Sluice. The Middle Level is a series of drainage channels.

To get from the non-tidal waters of the River Great Ouse to the Middle Level requires a short estuary crossing between Denver and Salter’s Lode Lock.

For those who have not made this crossing before, it can be daunting. Chris Howes, author of the Imray guides to the Great Ouse and Fenland Waterways, IWA Great Ouse branch member and Eastern Region representative, has put together this very useful guide to navigating between the Middle Level and the Great Ouse.

In it you will find details of how to contact the lock-keepers at either end for the best times to cross, how the tides affect crossing and how to avoid the sand bar; as well as tips on equipment and checks to carry out before you make the crossing. View, download and print the guide on our website.

waterways.org.uk/about-us/news/iwa-publishes-new-guide-to the-denver-crossing

Emergency

convoy leaves

UK with vital flood equipment for Ukraine

An emergency convoy of lorries carrying donated flood equipment left the UK for Ukraine, following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

An emergency convoy of lorries carrying donated flood equipment, including pumps and temporary barriers left the UK for Ukraine on 15th June, following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region last week.

Equipment donated by the Environment Agency will offer a significant capability to pump water out of flooded areas and protect from further flooding in Southern Ukraine. Alongside, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is leading a major relief programme in the area following the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and considerable amounts of flood water causing danger to life.

Donated equipment includes three high volume pumps, six mobile pumps that can be used to pump water out of affected areas, and 15km of temporary barriers, which can be used to deflect water and protect critical infrastructure. Environment Agency high volume pumps have the capacity to remove 1750 litres per second from affected sites.

The UK government moved quickly to bolster its support to Ukraine as it deals with severe flooding from the dam breach, which is expected to last for weeks and leave many in need of food, water and basic supplies. Flooding from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam is having an untold impact on over 42,000 people in the Kherson area. The floods have submerged an estimated 100,000 hectares of agricultural area, important for grain and oil seed production. This compounds an already dire situation, as so much of Ukraine’s agricultural land has been mined and destroyed as part of Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier that week, an additional convoy of life-saving equipment set off from Ashford in Kent, organised by the Home Office, the National Fire Chiefs’ Council and supported by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The convoy, which left from Kent Fire and Rescue Service, included 19 rescue boats and more than 2,000 items of flood recovery equipment including helmets, life jackets, throw lines and pumps. It was expected to arrive in L’viv, Ukraine, as a matter of urgency.

This deployment followed the announcement on 10th June that the UK government is giving an extra £16million in humanitarian support as Ukraine deals with the aftermath of the destruction of the Nova Kakhova dam. This builds on our existing humanitarian support of £220 million which is allowing partners, such as the Ukraine Red Cross, to help evacuate civilians affected by the flooding.

Alongside this the UK-led Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine had already delivered two specialist rescue boats, search and rescue equipment, and trauma medicine to Kherson to assist the ongoing rescue operations by the State Emergency Services.

The Beez Neez goes to Liverpool

Graham and Sue Schneider were to leave Stafford on The Beez Neez heading for Liverpool Dock on April 27th. The idea was to visit Liverpool Docks and then take on the Lancaster Canal. Both places we had never been to. The plan was in place and all bookings made. The 8th of May would see us in Liverpool for a week and then on 15th May we would undertake the Ribble Link crossing for the Lancaster visit.Then, everything went pearshaped! We had been thwarted by the owners of the Bridgewater Canal. They were supposed to rebuild Vicars Hall Bridge in November 2016, such work needed a complete closure of the canal. It then got moved to December with an anticipated reopening date of March 2017, then it moved again to February 2017 reopening on 26th May.

Being a flexible crew we went into a huddle. The Liverpool booking would have to be re-scheduled so we picked 28th May. Unfortunately the follow up of that was that we could not get the Ribble Link crossing because all the tides were wrong. We could have spent a month on the Lancaster Canal but we thought that might be too long so the Lancaster visit was cancelled for a future cruise. Being brave we thought we would take on another canal we had never done, the Huddersfield Narrow including the Standedge Tunnel (the longest, deepest and highest tunnel in England) going under the Pennines. We still haven’t done it!!

Lets start with the Macclesfield and then the Peak Forest. Beautiful canals and worth the trip on their own.

Macclesfield Canal

Below the Marple Acqueduct on the Peak Forest Canal

We got as far as Uppermill on the Huddersfield Narrow but having been sat in a lock for three hours, then another two hours to travel the next mile we were a little apprehensive. We had another ten locks to do and overnight the water disappeared again and left us sitting on the mud.

Uppermill is a very nice Pennine town

Executive decision time. The locks were too difficult for the two of us to cope with and the delays caused by lack of water would cause us problems later in the trip so we retraced our route back on to the Trent & Mersey Canal. We headed for Runcorn on the Bridgewater Canal. Mooring behind the Brindley theatre in Runcorn we took in the first night of Guys and Dolls. The show was fantastic and the voices well, all I can say is for an amateur group they were very professional. It was as good as any West End production.

We slowly made our way along the Bridgewater Canal and visited friends in picturesque Lymm.

Luckily we timed it right and we were the first boat north bound through the re-built Vicars Hall bridge, and a day early so we had loads of time to get through Wigan and Burscough to meet up with CRT on the 28th May.

We had to be up bright and early because CRT required us to be at Bridge 9 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at 8am. They only operate the bridge at 8am for one hour. Maximum of six narrowboats or three wide beam boats (wide beams count as two narrowboats). We were booked in with four narrowboats and one wide beam. The wide beam went through to Litherland the day before and would meet us there before we descended the four locks into the Liverpool Docks.

Entering Collingwood Dock and passing the Titanic Hotel

Sid’s Ditch which takes us from Collingwood Dock through to Prince’s Dock and then a new tunnel under the Liverpool Museum

There were only two locks to go. Prince’s Lock which we had to operate ourselves and the Mann Island Lock which has to be operated by our CRT crew who had followed us all the way from bridge 9.

Travelling with other boaters who had already been into the docks before helped us to find our way to our mooring in Salthouse Dock, which is right opposite the new shopping centre of Liverpool One.

Just as an aside, I love the sense of humour abounding in Liverpool. The two main football teams both have fan shops in the new Liverpool One shopping centre. Liverpool has the Liverpool Football shop. However Everton don’t stick at that. They call their shop ‘Everton 2’ so their postal address is Everton 2, Liverpool 1. These marketeers eh!

Our mooring for the week. Just a walk away from everything Liverpool has to offer and there is a lot of it so we will be doing it again.

Graham Schneider