1 NewsletterSummer2022 Disclaimer: The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this Newsletter but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed herein may be construed as policy or official announcement unless stated otherwise. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter in the Newsletter The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distribution company limited by guarantee Registered in England no. 612245. Registered as a charity no. 212342 Registered Office: Island House, Moor House, Chesham HP5 1WATea Room at Llangollen By John G Carlaw
Paris to Normandy Page 9 Branch Committee Page 20
FromContentThe Editor Page 2 Waterways Page
From The Vice Chairman Page 2 Susan Page 13
2
Update
From The Regional Chairman Page 4 Branch Meeting Page 14 Springfield Basin Page 4 Leicester Page 15
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Licence Fees Page 8 Just For Fun Page 20
From The Editor
onto some more waterway topics. In July Roy Chandler and I and another 140 people went to Maldon Town Hall where a meeting had been arranged to discuss water quality for the River Chelmer and River Blackwater. The meeting was hosted by Maldon Mayor Councillor Andrew Lay and attended by John Whittindale MP, Dr Robin Price Director of Quality and Environment from Anglia Water, Fergal Sharkey OBE Environmental Campaigner and Hattie Phillips a local young Environmental Campaigner from Maldon. I cannot report to you word for word on what was said but here are a few key points. The Environmental Agency DEFRA were invited but failed to attend the meeting. Councillor Andrew Lay said: “I am very disappointed. DEFRA are a public body, funded by taxpayers and should be answerable to the public. We would like to engage and hear from them.” John Whittingdale spoke about the need to support the community and businesses that rely on the Blackwater Estuary, Maldon Oysters, and Maldon Salt.
Dave Moore Page 6 Photos Around the Navigation Page
The Shardlow Page 7 Social Diary Page 19
I hope everyone is enjoying the weather as best as you can. Pam and I had our cancelled 2020 holiday over June and July in the south of France. It was the first time in 25 years we went away outside of the school holidays. It was a good experience, the most notable thing was how quiet it was. We are now looking forward to our trip on the Shropshire Union and Llangollen canals at the end of September. We still need you to dig out those photographs, write that article, document those waterway memories as we would still like to increase our contributors to the next Newsletter. Last inputs for Autumn Newsletter 21/09/2022. For those on e-mail please send your input to chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk Those without just give me a call. 07837 576464.
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From The Vice Chairman
Essex
Hello everyone, I do hope you have enjoyed your summer. If you went away, was it hot where you were? It was really hot at home when we made a short visit to Sheffield for a funeral, and it rained, and the temperature was about 13c so regionally it can be quite different. I hope that if you did any boating that you took some photos and could write a brief article for a future newsletter. We went to the Isle of Wight twice the second time I swam, cycled, and ran everyday as I was training for a short Triathlon at Eton Dorney Lake where they held the Olympic rowing. It was hard but also fun especially when I got to the finish line! I finished in 1hour 17mins and had the honour of being the oldest person in the race (but not Anyway,last!).
Following the meeting I contacted Dr Robin Price, and he has been in touch with me to introduce other colleagues. I plan to ask someone from Anglian Water to come and talk to us perhaps at the AGM to give us more clarity as to how this affects the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.
There were some issues raised at the meeting of the discharge from a pipe at Beeleigh and John Whittindale has written to both Essex and Suffolk Water and Anglian Water to establish what this consists of and who is responsible.” An attendee mentioned something to do with sewage from the River Brain and from Chelmsford how this gets to Maldon I am unclear. Clearly this is an issue that concerns as all.
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He highlighted badly maintained pipework at many Anglian Water sites and addressed how events in Chelmsford, Braintree and Witham impact the water in Maldon.
I would also like to invite Hattie Philips she is an inspirational young woman. John Whittindale MP said that Hattie speaks for young people that is true, but Hattie speaks for us all. All waterways and coastal areas and open space are more valued than ever before for wildlife for recreational use and for businesses that depend on them, so this is an issue that affects usRebeccaall. Loader
He explained some of the challenges faced by Anglian Water such as the disposal of fats, oils, wet wipes, and masks within the system continued to be a problem. He also addressed the importance of the river and estuary for wildlife and for residents engaging in leisure activities.
Feargal Sharkey addressed that he felt that “the water companies need to directly address now the serious issues that they face.”
Dr Robin Price described the documented spillages in the water as “unacceptable.” Anglian Water received a two-star rating from the Environmental Agency and has a five-year investment plan to enhance the regions infrastructure, which is expected to cost £800 million.
From The Vice Chairman (cont)
Springfield Basin in Chelsford
Paul Paul.strudwick@waterways.org.ukStrudwick
London Region could still do with more people to help us deliver the IWA’s objectives. We are desperately in need of someone to take notes for our meetings, we only meet 5 or 6 times a year normally on zoom. All you would have to do is remind the Chair (me) to produce an agenda and then take notes at the meeting. After the meeting you will have 21 days to produce a set of notes and circulate them to those at the meeting for comments before a finally agreed set of notes are ready for the next meeting. If you could help with this or have skills you think could be useful to support our campaigning, please have a chat with me.
Finally, the Volunteer Hub, is now on line and all those volunteers known to head office should have been given access. If you need access and haven’t been contacted, by head office, with the arrangements to get access please contact membership via email membership@waterwys.org.uk or 01494 783453 option 1.
Since Roger Stocker, Chair of West London Branch and, I left the trustee board, London has only had one representation on the board, Dave Chapman, Chair of Chiltern Branch. I am therefore pleased to see that there is a new trustee who lives in our Region, Charlie Norman, joining the board after the AGM in September. Charlie has a boat in Roydon Marina and I worked with her on the old Promotions Committee and am looking forward to doing so again now she is a trustee. You may have heard that our National Chair has resigned. This has not delayed the roll of IWA and the new arrangements are running out smoothly under the interim CEO, Jonathan Smith. In October the Region is hosting the London IWA Region/ Canal and River Trust London & South East Liaison Meeting on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. Our chance to show off how we do it to Ros Daniels, Director Canal & River Trust London & the South East and Matthew Symonds the CRT National Boating Manager (Leisure Boating) as Essex Waterways runs this navigation. These meetings give us a chance to discuss our concerns on issues across the region. One issue we will be raising is the need for more facilities across the London area. Whilst both parties agree there is a need for more there has been little progress in rolling them out since Canal & River Trust issued their plans several years Yourago.
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The reopening of Springfield Basin in 1993 by this Branch has been followed by the gradual redevelopment of its surrounds. This has taken many years and while the most recent phase at Chelmer Waterside with over 400 dwellings is nearing completion and opening up the Navigation to new public spaces, there are still several large sites to be redeveloped. One of the early redevelopment successes in Springfield Basin was Waterfront Place. This converted an existing former warehouse to a banqueting suite with a new two storey restaurant and terrace on the basin frontage.
From The Regional Chairman I’m writing this in a bit of a rush as we are due to start our summer cruise in a couple of days. Our original plan, to visit Stoke on Trent and the Caldon Canal before heading to the Festival of Water at Burton on Trent, has had to be curtailed by the partial closure of the Trent and Mersey Canal due to lack of water. Hopefully this is not going to become a regular occurrence as climate change sets in.
There is always concern that new commercial uses within residential developments will not be forthcoming and eventually the use will change to more residential properties. With the recent Covid crisis having an adverse effect on retail and commercial uses in town and city centres this concern is Itamplified.wastherefore
After several very busy years the owners decided to move on to their next venture and Waterfront Place was sold to a Leisure Operator whose main business was holiday parks and hire boats. Unfortunately the restaurant operation lost its customer appeal and the site was again sold for the redevelopment of its car park which was deemed unnecessary as it was located opposite a multi-storey car park.
The car park was developed with residential apartments but the Planning Authority insisted that a commercial use be retained on the ground floor of the existing premises. They did allow the upper floors to be converted to residential use. After several years of marketing the building for commercial use proposals the local press reported the reopening of a waterside restaurant. However this did not materialise and rumours abound as to what happened!
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This was extremely successful to the extent that the restaurant places, although many, had to be booked weeks in advance. As a ‘place for people to go’ Waterfront Place overlooking the Basin created an awareness of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation in Chelmsford and provided a destination for boaters on the waterway.
Springfield Basin in Chelmsford (cont)
good to see that a planning application was lodged to change the use of Waterfront Place to a ‘Place of worship with an ancillary cafe’. The submitted plans show that the early C20th warehouse which was last used as the banqueting hall is to be the main church. This building is of local historic value being a former canal served warehouse. The more recent waterfront restaurant building will become meeting rooms with the cafe. The external waterside terrace will be retained for use with Thethis.applicant is Danbury Mission which has a modern operation in Danbury with similar but larger facilities. This is busy throughout the week with a variety of activities and also a cafe facility. The change of use of Waterfront Place which has now been permitted by the Council is therefore welcomed as providing an appropriate new public use while creating activity and interest for this important waterside complex. Roy Chandler
In 1975, Dave joined IWA Chelmsford Branch’s committee as sales officer, and by 1980 he had become chairman of IWA Chelmsford Branch. In October 1982 he was elevated to become chairman of South East Region, which in those days consisted of seven branches: Chelmsford, Guildford & Reading, Hertfordshire, Kent & East Sussex, London, Oxfordshire and Solent & Arun. During Dave’s time, all region chairmen were also ex-officio trustees of the Association. During his term as region chairman, and for many years beyond, Dave was a keen member of IWA’s sales team, travelling to help at stands at shows other than the London Boat Show. In 1986, he was chairman of IWA’s highly successful National Rally held at Brentford. He remained region chairman until standing down in 1991, but took up office again in January 1993 as his successor had to stand down when London Branch divided into three and became a region, as his successor was in the new region. Dave served as region chairman until April 1995. Having taken early retirement, he then stood in as (paid) temporary office supervisor at IWA’s then Regent’s Park Road office for the summer of 1995. Dave was a keen supporter of WRG, often working with London WRG at weekends. He was awarded a Richard Bird Medal in 2002 in recognition of his work for IWA over many years. He also set up and chaired the friends of the London Canal Museum. Throughout this period, Dave was ably supported by his wife Mavis, and daughters Judith and Alison, with the whole family providing wide-ranging support for the Association. Judith became a regular WRG Navvy, eventually marrying Mike Palmer (WRG chairman), and becoming an IWA trustee and national Followingtreasurer.Dave’sretirement, he and Mavis moved to Staffordshire and Dave became a keen supporter and marketing manager for Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. He was also an active trustee for six years. In other interests, Dave was an avid collector of historical canal cards and a prominent figure in the Canal Card Collector’s Circle. He was also passionate about Thames Sailing Barges and volunteered with the Norfolk Wherry Albion in his time. Mavis predeceased Dave in 2018. Neil Edwards
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Dave Moore David Moore, who has died in July, aged 83, was chairman of IWA’s South East Region for nearly twelve years.
Dave first went on a canal hire boat holiday in 1963, and enjoyed it enough to return for more of the same in 1965. Further hire boat holidays generated sufficient interest for Dave to visit the London Boat Show and join the Association. Within a couple of years he had volunteered to help on IWA’s stand at the boat show and continued to do so every year for many years.
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The Shardlow
A couple of hours later, once the phone was working again, I called the CRT and explained my concern about the missing boat. “I shouldn’t worry, sir, the Shardlow has been stuck at Whinport for a day because of a lock failure, so it can’t have gone missing in your tunnel.”
I soon reached the far end of the tunnel, but there was no sign of the boat. “Blast”, I thought,” I must have missed them again”. There were a couple of early morning anglers a few hundred yards further on, and I went up to them inquiring if a horse drawn narrowboat had just been past. “No mate, we’ve been here for over an hour, and no boat nor anything else has been past”. I thanked them and wandered back to the boat deep in thought. Once back on board, I took out the phone intending to report the disappearance to the Canal and River Trust, who administer the English canal system. The phone was completely dead, so I put it on charge. After my favourite breakfast of a bacon and egg sandwich, we left our mooring and headed on through the tunnel. As I waved at the anglers, one shouted “no boats have come out, mate”, no doubt thinking that I was some kind of nutter.
What on Earth was happening to me. “You must have been day dreaming, Dear” said my wife, Maggie, sensible as always, but I was certain that I hadn’t. Then it struck me. I had the photos that I had taken on my phone of the boat entering the tunnel. With some trepidation, I took up the phone and went to the Photos App. There were the three shots I had taken that morning, but inexplicably all had been over-exposed to the extent of being quite blank.
How could that suddenly happen on what is an automatic function on a phone? I took another photo to verify that the phone camera was working, and it took a perfect image of the back of Maggie’s head.
I had seen online the previous evening that a horse-drawn narrowboat called the Shardlow was due to travel along the canal that morning, heading towards a festival at Stoke on Trent. I was looking forward to seeing such a very rare sight, as almost every craft on the canal system today is diesel powered.
I noticed a slight surge of my boat on its moorings, indicating that a boat was approaching. There it was, with a horse pulling the boat as it emerged round a bend in the canal behind me. As I was dressed in not more than underpants and a fleece, I dashed below to get some clothes on. I wanted to take some photos and I was also concerned that the towline could foul my stove chimney as it passed. By the time I emerged again, only a minute or so later, the horse and boat had already passed and were nearing the entrance to the Dartington Farm Tunnel. Cross with myself, I belted along the towpath after them, and was able to take a few shots of the stern of the boat before it disappeared into the Oncetunnel.Ihad
It was a beautiful May morning, still quite chilly, but it looked like it was going to be another beautiful day. There was a light mist rising from the canal and I could hear songbirds nearby, although I could not make them out. I was sitting on the after deck of my narrowboat in the early morning before anyone else was up, enjoying a cup of tea and planning the day’s cruise.
got my breath back, I decided to jog over the top of the hill so that I would be able to get a proper look at them as they came out of the tunnel and hopefully to take some further photos. I also wanted to talk to the two figures who I had seen leading the horse and steering the boat.
When I returned home after a few unremarkable, but very pleasant, cruising days, I decided to try a little online research in the hope of showing that I had not lost my marbles. After several hours of “surfing” through numerous web sites and social media, I eventually struck gold. There was a report in the Dartington Weekly Gazette dated November 1843 of a working canal boat that had entered the Dartington Farm Tunnel and had never been seen again. Now I had a date, I was able to concentrate my search, but apart from the names of the two boat people, Meg Jones and Jake Biggins, I was stumped. And then in the Manchester Guardian of January 1844 I found a reference to a missing canal boat named, by an odd coincidence, Shardlow.
Press Contact For further information please contact IWA Press Office by emailing pressoffice@waterways.org.uk
By mutual agreement, Maggie and I decided to steer clear of the Dartington Farm Tunnel for the rest of our canal cruising days.
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IWA’s Chair Les Etheridge commented “These are extraordinary times and it is understandable that CRT needs to take every action possible to support its waterways. It is regrettable that planned maintenance will be deferred by CRT. IWA and Waterway Recovery Group have already demonstrated to CRT that volunteers can carry out serious repairs and maintenance, and believe CRT has not taken full advantage of volunteers to support navigation.”
The Inland Waterways Association understands the extraordinary economic climate that is affecting Canal & River Trust and appreciates the reasoning of a second increase (of 4%) within one year. IWA welcomes the confirmation that the Trust will support boaters who may be struggling to pay their licence fees on a case-by-case basis. However, IWA regrets that this second increase has been carried out without any consultation of users. IWA notes that CRT has only now decided to focus spending on only navigation and legal requirements. IWA is well aware of the pressures and costs of running a navigation (IWA operates the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation through its subsidiary Essex Waterways Ltd) and makes extensive use of volunteers for ongoing maintenance and repairs. Through IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group, IWA is experienced in repairs to, and maintenance of, waterway heritage infrastructure. IWA believes CRT could make better use of volunteers across its whole network to carry out preventative maintenance and repair work.
Issue date: 3 August 2022
Shardlow (cont)
Tony and Maggie Weber CRT Changes to Boat Licence Fees
The following day we sailed to Rouen and had a guided tour to see the sights that inspired the impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin.
Our ship was MS Renoir operated by Croise Europe, we had cruised on their ships previously and were impressed. MS Renoir is 110m (361ft) long x 11.4m (36.5ft) beam with 54 cabins and a maximum of 105 passengers, although there was less on this cruise.
From Paris to the Normandy Coast
After arriving in Paris our group boarded a coach and we soon arrived at our ship near the Eiffel Tower. We settled in our spacious cabin and then enjoyed our first meal on board.
The next day we set sail and enjoyed the picturesque landscape bordering the river with its twists and turns and many wooded islands. During the afternoon a coach took us to the grand Versailles Palace, built by Louis XIV to shift the centre of French Government away from Paris. We had a guided tour of the amazing interior and walked around the gardens. This included the historic site of the Treaty of Versailles signing which brought to an end World War One.
This organised holiday had been delayed for two years due to Covid so we were very pleased that the French authorities were allowing visitors at last.
There is an early start the following morning and we head downstream through several locks towards Poissy where we visit Chateau de Malmaison the home of Josephine Bonaparte.
The ship continued to travel along the river through beautiful countryside until we reached Hornfleur which is opposite Le Havre. We arrived late evening but had to wait until after midnight for the tide to reach the water level in the harbour so that the gate could be opened to let us enter. Hornfleur is a very interesting port with an old town and a museum celebrating Monets work. We walked through a park, enjoyed views over the estuary and watched the big ships sail past.
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The next morning we had a coach tour of Paris and our guide pointed out many attractions including the Grand Boulevards, the Opera House and the Louvre, such an impressive city even though we have been several times previously. During the evening we set sail for a cruise along the Seine admiring the illuminated attractions. The Seine really comes to life after dark!
In May this year we finally went on our cruise from Paris to Honfleur on the river Seine in France.
From Paris to the Normandy Coast (cont)
Along the route of the river Seine we saw many pretty villages, steep hillsides, deep locks and cargo boats carrying a variety of loads. We had travelled 356 km and passed through six locks, some just big enough to take our ship, some where we shared locking with cargo boats. Some were double locks and one was in the process of having a new double lock built. The river becomes tidal at Amfreville Sous Les Monts. We passed under the three ‘Grands ponts de la Seine’, Brotonne Bridge, Tancarville Bridge and Bridge of Normandie which is the ninth longest cable stayed bridge in the world. These have a clearance of around 50m at high tide. We returned to Paris by coach and back to London by Eurostar where this very enjoyable holiday ended.
Having completed the re-piling of Paper Mill Lock Island the team moved to below the road bridge to an area of bank erosion adjoining the bridge which was being aggravated by swimmers and canoe launching. In order to deal with these issues a new canoe launching point complete with piled edge and steps was formed a little further downstream where visibility for craft coming through the bridge is improved. The area of eroded bank was then piled to the towpath level which is too high for launching thus encouraging use of the new launching area.
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Chris Chandler Essex Waterways Update
In view of the popularity of Paper Mill to visitors an area of bank has been cleared by the bridge and picnic benches installed in an attempt to move visitors away from the busy mill pool.
11 Essex Waterways Update (cont)
The team then moved on to Barnes Lock to install new top gates with only a one week closure. Unfortunately our caravan, which is used to provide site facilities for the staff, was seriously vandalised overnight here to the extent that it has had to be scrapped. We are on the lookout for a suitable cheap Thereplacement.nextproject
The programme to replace lock gates at Barnes Lock, Cuton Lock and Little Baddow Lock early in the year was unfortunately delayed due to the late delivery of new timbers for the lock dams. This has meant that gate replacement work did not commence until June with a 2 week closure of Cuton to allow the installation of new top gates and the re-boarding and overhaul of the bottom gates. As part of the work here local dredging was undertaken and a shoal removed downstream at a surface water outfall.
is repairs to Stonhams weir. Here the wing walls will receive new piling and concrete backfill to stabilize the existing foundations in readiness for a two week Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camp which will carry out brickwork repairs on the wing walls. This will be followed by piling the lower weir front and underpinning to prevent further under scouring. This work is a continuance of similar work at Little Baddow Lock and Rushes Lock to prevent failure during severe flood conditions.
At Chelmer Waterside in Springfield Basin, Chelmsford we have planning permission for ten residential moorings adjoining the Taylor Wimpey residential development. It has not been possible to implement this as Taylor Wimpey has been using the adjoining site for their site offices. We have however been able to install one of the several new landing stages in order to keep the planning permission live. This is the time of the year when the towpaths need regular cutting and weed in the Navigation needs removing. A team has therefore been alternating between towpath cutting and weed removal along the length of the Navigation. The record breaking temperatures and lack of rainfall have resulted in serious weed growth which has kept our two weed boats very busy.
car park at Heybridge Basin is now Pay and display. To protect the interests of our boaters we have therefore installed an ANPR camera system at our Lock Hill car parking area so that it is only available for registered users and not the general public. Roy Chandler
Volunteer skippers and crew are keeping the trip boats Albert and Blackwater Dawn running all week providing popular ticket trips from Paper Mill and Heybridge Basin. The Heybridge Basin visitor moorings have seen the welcome return of boats from Holland and Germany as well as many UK Daisyvisitors.Meadow
The gate replacement at Little Baddow Lock will now take place in the autumn so as to avoid any further closures of the Navigation during the summer.
12 Essex Waterways Update (cont)
The Boatbuilders remaining work will involve fitting breasthooks, weed hatch, repairing the twin rudders, drilling the deadwood and fitting the propeller shaft, there is also a great deal of work where volunteers can assist the restoration. This includes plugging the fixing holes, caulking the hull and painting inside and out. At the beginning of March Chelmer Canal Trust found that there was very little evidence of floating pennywort on the Navigation for their regular work party to remove. Realising the need for volunteer help with Susan they rapidly arranged to transfer their work party to St Osyth.
Six volunteers arrived at the dry dock to be welcomed by Boatbuilder Tom. With some intrepidity they walked the gang plank, ducked their heads and climbed down the ladder into the dry dock.
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Susan Work on the restoration of Susan, the sole remaining timber built lighter from the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation came to a halt in December 2020 due to the lack of funds. The Susan Trust was however delighted to have recently received further grant funding so that their Boatbuilder could be reappointed and work resumed. The Garfield Weston Foundation awarded a grant of £7.5k and the Essex County Council Community Initiatives Fund a further £1k. Both Funds had previously awarded grants for the project. In addition IWA/Essex Waterways provided £15k towards the restoration so that work in the dry dock at St Osyth can be completed and Susan returned to operate on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation.
The Chelmsford Branch held its first face to face committee meeting in June on the trip boat 'Albert'. It was a lovely evening and we really enjoyed seeing each other after so many Zoom meetings and looking at the waterway being enjoyed by many happy people especially a wedding party on 'Victoria'. A picture of the committee is attached. Left to Right Chris Chandler (Secretary) Philip Cervinni (Treasurer), Stephanie Mason (Refreshments rep) Roy Chandler (Planning, Essex Waterways) Photo taken by Rebecca Loader Vice Chair.
After a couple of hours work practically all the holes in the bottom planks had been plugged. Having made a good start on this initiative and feeling positive, Chelmer Canal Trust volunteers have been returning on a regular basis to do some more hole plugging and cleaning and painting the hull. You are always welcome to join them!
14 Susan (cont)
After a quick tidying of the floor around Susan they received an introduction to the materials and techniques of hole plugging and the realisation that there were possibly around 2000 holes from fixings that needed to be plugged! Then after a demonstration of the epoxy and filler preparation by Tom they split into three teams of two. A routine was soon established to clean each hole, paint in the glue, insert the filler, apply glue to the timber plug and insert it into the hole ensuring the grain of the plug matched that of the plank and push fully in.
Roy Chandler Branch Meeting
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Easter Monday, a dry, bright, cool start, which soon warmed up well, heading through some locks , we soon paired up with a narrowboat just casting off, breathing in as we squeezed passed a fallen tree blocking some of the canal near Leicester, seeing the Leicester Stadium at Lock 41, and stopping for the night at the safe moorings on the pontoon at Castle Gardens in Leicester. It had been a good day and so much fun and laughter with the crew on the other narrowboat, working the locks well together. Castle Gardens are well maintained and lovely, great for the dogs too. Our very elderly Ant (a bit deaf and blind), and our puppy Cleo who at 6 months old had taken to boating so well, adapting to different routines, and enjoying watching everything from the travel crate on the back deck, sharing with Ant to keep them both safe, she also enjoyed short spells on the roof in her dog bed, held by me, while she got a birds eye view of everything.
Our original plan for Easter cruising was a trip to Market Harborough from our mooring at Brinklow Marina, but having ten days away we decided last minute on a longer route, saving Market Harborough for another time.
Heading off again to stop at Midland Chandlers at Braunston to purchase new tunnel lights and a leisure battery, which John soon fitted, while there another narrowboat stopped and also got a new leisure battery, but didn't know how to fit it, so John fitted theirs as well, they were so grateful. Onwards we climbed Braunston double locks (6) sharing with a hire boat, which makes it easier working together, then through Braunston Tunnel, and we were impressed with our new tunnel lights. Turning left at Norton junction onto the GU Leicester Line and seeing lots of beautiful cowslips. We stopped below Watford locks to book our passage with the lock keeper, a flight of single and staircase locks, we waited for a boat coming down before we could head up. Once at the top we soon headed through the very wet Crick Tunnel, slow progress following a narrowboat with problems, we then moored near Yelvertoft.
Leicester Ring Easter 2022
Leaving Brinklow on Good Friday, a glorious sunny day, with birdsong for company we passed through Rugby, ascended Hillmorton Locks (3) and although busy, with a volunteer lock keeper helping, the duplicated locks spreading the boaters and keeping the queues away, we were soon mooring near Dunchurch Pools Marina, watching a duck with 13 ducklings near our boat.
Leicester Ring Easter 2022 (cont)
Leaving the next day with sun and cloud, we passed Frog Island, where the lock had its top gate open and bottom paddle up, flooding the pound below and towpath, making it interesting getting through! I had to climb the ladder to help John open the gate and then back down the ladder, and then hoovered just outside the lock so John could get back on the boat from the sloping wall, and keep his feet dry. The next lock was hard work too, due to the high water and the gates hard to open, below this lock we joined the River section, where we passed the Space Centre, then Mountsorrel with the impressive multi arch brick bridge, seeing Barrow Boating with quite an assortment of pedal boats, which included car and swan designs. Through Normanton on Soar, passing the wooden frames of the 'Emergency Flood Moorings' no way of getting off your boat onto land from there. Soon passing Radcliffe Power Station, and round by Trent Lock junction where it was very windy as usual, through Sawley Lock, and mooring above Derwentmouth Lock, taking us off the River and onto the Trent & Mersey Canal.
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Leaving the next morning we joined another narrowboat to share the double locks as far as Willington where we moored for a while, before heading off again to navigate through the now single locks, mooring for the night at Branston Waterpark, where we all enjoyed a walk around. That evening the nearby Bridge Inn was fully booked but they offered a takeaway from the menu, great result, and delicious.
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The next day we headed to Barton Turn Marina for diesel and gas bottles 'ouch' fuel prices are sky high
forward to more cruising
Onwards again and soon climbing the Atherstone locks (11), meeting narrowboats on/off throughout the flight, heading on to moor at Hawkesbury Junction, where we had an excellent meal in The Greyhound TheInn. following day we travelled back to moor on our berth, with help from a neighbouring boater due to the strong winds, being an aluminium boat, she is quite frisky if the wind is too strong, even with a bow Timethruster.tolook
It had been a lovely break, lots of blossom in the hedgerows, constant birdsong, and seeing so much wildlife and birds, weather, cool, warm, hot, sun, cloud and wind. Great seeing so many boats out and about, and so many friendly people. We noticed more wide beams around the route we did.
Leicester Ring Easter 2022 (cont)
Stephanie Mason & John Grieve
currently. Onwards through Wychnor lock onto a short River section as far as Alrewas lock, taking us back onto the canal. Below Fradley we saw the new marina is open and occupied by boats. I joined the queue for the locks, and at lock near the junction John told me a Bee Keeper had just been and collected a swarm of bees from next to the lock! We then turned left onto the Coventry Canal and through the swing bridge, onwards passing Hopwas, left at Fazeley Junction, to Glascote locks (2) where a queue was waiting for CRT as one of the bottom gates wouldn't open, once CRT arrived, they removed a brick from behind the gate, and stayed until all the boats navigated the locks. We moored at Amington, where John went to the chippy for our late tea.
Visiting
18 Photos Around the Navigation Paddle Boarders at Paper Mill
Smack at Heybridge Basin Wrecked Caravan Roy Chandler
ChelmsfordEssexCM28TR
Thursday 8th September 2022
January 2023 NO MEETING
Thursday 9th February 2023
Pam and Mark Bathurst from The Medway Queen Preservation Society. The Medway Queen was ordered in 1923 and has a long history from before and after the war. Pam and Mark will tell us about the history, the restoration work and where the Medway Queen is now based and how we can visit and see her sailing.
At the end of the last programme in April we had a very interesting talk about the River Gipping in Ipswich in April and an extremely well attended talk about Brunel the Engineer in May. It’s really nice to see so many members and friends enjoying the evening. : 7.45pm for 8.00pm cake Galleywood Heritage Centre, J16 off the A12 Common (Off Margaretting Road)
Thursday 10th November 2022
Speaker to be confirmed Thursday 11th May 2023 Speaker to be confirmed
Daniel Bridge presents an illustrated talk on water in its many varied forms, from the liquid stuff at the seaside and in the rivers, to clouds, rain and rainbows, fog, ice, and more. There are also shots of wildlife associated with water, so something for everyone!
The
Thursday 13th October 2022
Thursday 8th December 2022Christmas Social / Quiz / Buffet etc
Raffle Donation for entry and refreshments VENUE
Thursday 9th March 2023
19 Social Diary Please come and join us for our new social programme starting September 2022.
All Social Meetings Start time
Refreshments including homemade
John Frankland - The South Woodham Ferrers New Town Project The ‘New Riverside Country Town’ of South Woodham Ferrers (population 17,500) was a pioneering planning initiative, dating from the mid-1970s. This presentation ‘South Woodham Ferrers New Town – The Promised Land?’ examines the project’s origins, the process of development during the town’s 20-year growth and the distinctive ‘Essex’ character that resulted.
Adrian Wright - Why Do Rivers Flood?
AGM followed by Anglian Water – Water quality and water recycling
Thursday 13th April 2023
20 Just For SUDOKUFun Fill in the grid so that each row, column and 3 x 3 block contains the numbers one to nine (1 - 9) 5 1 8 4 2 1 5 6 9 8 2 6 3 8 9 4 1 9 5 8 7 8 4 6 9 3 1 7 8 4 Branch Committee If you have any topics or subject that you wish to bring to the committees attention please use the contact details below Molly Beard: Chairman molly.beard@waterways.org.uk Rebecca Loader Vice Chair & Social Secretary rebecca.loader@waterways.org.uk Philip Cervini Treasurer. philip.cervini@waterways.org.uk. Paul Strudwick: London Region Chairman. paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk Chris Chandler: Secretary. chris.chandler@waterways.org.uk Roy Chandler: Planning and Conservation. roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk John Carlaw: Newsletter and Membership. john.carlaw@waterways.org.ukchelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk Stephanie Mason: Refreshments. None Kirsten Smith: Youth. None Adam Wyllie: Branch Web Editor. Adam.wyllie@waterways.org.uk IWA Chelmsford Web Address http://www.waterways.org.uk/chelmsford
