WINDING WAYS
The LEICESTERSHIRE BRANCH NEWSLETTER
Issue 63 - September 2023
WINDING WAYS RETURNS!
The resignation of Aegre Editor Peter Hill, after almost 20 years of editorial duty, means there will not be another issue of the East Midlands Region newsletter any time soon. So, this is the first issue of the revived Winding Ways, which we think was last sent out as Issue 62 in September 2012. I’m not sure if this issue will be a ‘oneoff’ but there are several matters to cover at the moment, so here goes.
SOCIAL EVENTS First Post -Covid Meeting
We had to abandon our usual autumn and winter meetings due to the pandemic, but we are keen to get going again. We are returning to the The Gate Hangs Well, Fosse Way, Syston, LE7 1NH using the wonderfully refurbished room that we used to use before moving to Birstall.
The meeting will start as before at 7.30, and our guest speaker will be Bob Williams from the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust.
We will also have Linny Beaumont, Director of CRT East Midlands Region, who will update us on their current concerns.
Market Harborough FESTIVAL OF BOATS & ARTS
2025 is the 75th anniversary of the 1950 Inland Waterways Festival of Boats & Arts held in Union Wharf, Market Harborough.
The Leicestershire Branch, working in collaboration with the Canal & River Trust, the Old Union Canals Society and Harborough District Council, are organising an event to mark this important historical festival, to be held on Friday 30th May, Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June 2025.
We will be basing the event at Foxton, as Union Wharf is no longer suitable, being now full of permanent CRT moorings and a hire fleet.
The land-based activities will be sited in the existing event field at the top of the flight.
THE GUC LEICESTER LINE Is it still sustainable?
Given the number of issues on the Leicester Section of the GUC this year, there must now be concerns that as a result of the Defra funding cuts, the River Soar and Grand Union Navigation may soon become unsustainable.
There have been stoppages at Kegworth Lock, Birstall Lock, North Lock and Kilby Lock during the year, all of which have deterred boaters from navigating the north Leicester Line. This reduction in boat movements will push this section of the system even further down CRT priority list, resulting in further delays to the maintenance of the Leicester Line infrastructure.
If you haven’t written to your MP to protest at the funding cuts, now would be a good time to do it!
Boats will be assembled on allocated moorings above and below the staircase flight, and there will be an organised cavalcade up the Harborough Arm to Union Wharf and back on the Saturday to collect their commemorative plaques.
During the day, there will be entertainment from the Quorn Ukulele Orchestra in the event field, and we hope to have a performance from the Mikron Theatre Co. on the Friday or Saturday evening.
The 1950 Festival of Boats & Arts in Market Harborough was the fi rst Inland Waterways Association national rally, and was a huge success for the IWA and the town. It attracted around 120 boats of various shapes and sizes, and some 50,00 visitors.
Full details will be available on an Event Website
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Birstall
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Birstall Lock
We walk the dog past Birstall Lock most days, and on Monday 17 July we noticed that something wasn’t quite right with the top gate, so took a few pics and reported it to CRT. As can be seen from the photo, the o ff -side top gate balance beam had become detached from the actual gate. It was not clear why or how. It could have been damaged by a boat, or simply given way because the timbers were so rotten. Anyway, CRT are were fairly quick to advise boaters that the navigation was closed here, but until they came and padlocked the bottom gates, boats still persisted in getting through!
CRT arrived three days later, on 20 July, and removed the balance beam, craning it onto the crane boat. (They knew they couldn’t leave it on the lock-side because it would have ended up in the lock!)
They were back to re-fit it on Monday 24 July, so all done in a week, which we thought was quite a good effort. They have also replaced the ‘fenders’, the little wooden upright pieces that are there to stop boats from getting caught up in the gap below the balance beams.
Sadly, there are still no lock mooring bollards below the lock. This omission was pointed out to CRT it must be almost two years ago, in October 2021.
Leicestershire Branch Committee
Andrew Shephard, Chairman
M: 07710 362952
E: andrew.shephard@waterways.org.uk
Herbert Eppel, Treasurer
M: 07808 967196
E: Herbert.Eppel@team.waterways.org.uk
Sue Stevens, Secretary.
Trevor Stevens, IT & Web Site Manager
Mo Murray, Committee Member
Debbie Shephard, Committee Member
⚠ We need your help to #ProtectOurWaterways
Join the campaign to protect our canals and rivers from funding cuts. With your help, the waterways stand a better chance of securing the investment they need. Visit waterways.org.uk/protect or email protect@waterways.org.uk to get involved.
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Lock
July 2023
Birstall Lock 20 July 2023
Birstall Lock 17 July 2023
News from MOWS
The Melton & Oakham Waterways Society
At the 2022 AGM the Chairman Mick Clowes announced his resigna9on a:er 17 years in office and a:er a few “chairless” mee9ngs a new incumbent, Glynn Cartwright, was appointed. Subsequently, the current Treasurer, who wished to step down, was replaced and one or two changes of personnel took place on the commiIee.
So, with new ideas coming forward several major events took place, the first of which was to appoint a footpaths o ffi cer to replace the old footpaths commi:ee.
Mike Pa:erson will oversee the improvement of the footpath/towpath infrastructure adjoining the whole naviga@on from Syston to Melton and liaise with County Hall when problems arise. He also intends to stage guided walks along the naviga@on when @me permits.
As a happy coincidence, this lines up nicely with the recent publica@on of our “Wreake Valley Way” walks booklet.
This, together with the re pressing (with addi@onal informa@on) of the guide book to the Melton Mowbray Naviga@on, is now on sale at many outlets around the town and beyond.
The second and third things to occur broke new ground for the society, when a 30-foot steel trip boat “Daydream” was purchased along with 7 rowing boats (to be hired out) and a 12-metre floa@ng pontoon to assist in the boat hire side of things. Also, the old Melton Bowling Club changing room has been repurposed as the hire boat office for staff and the storage of equipment and life jackets, etc.
This all entailed a new programme of dredging around the Melton Ring to allow the trip boat to operate with 14 (12 passengers and 2 crew) on board and to create the new pontoon loca@on. In addi@on, a winding hole has also been produced to allow the trip boat to return to base when not being used. It is envisaged that the rowing boats will be in opera@on soon from the rear of the café in Wilton Park, and the trip boat will run hourly trips from the Melton canal cut out to Eye Ke:leby Lock and back, commencing next spring
Exi@ng @mes ahead!
For more informa9on about The Melton & Oakham Waterways Society, go to:
Memory Lane Wharf
Almost there! The restoration of Memory Lane Wharf in Leicester has been a branch campaign for many years, but now we might finally have a successful outcome.
Legal agreements are now almost signed off, and CRT are hoping for a start on site early in 2024. The project will provide the full range of services for boaters - water, Elsan and rubbish disposal.
There will also be around six permanent residential moorings located in the old arm, which will ensure a level of passive security for the site, as well as contributing towards the financial viability of the scheme.
Alan Leather, CRT East Midlands Partnerships & Funding Manager, will be at our meeting at The Gate Hangs Well on 2nd November, to give us a project update.
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meltonwaterways.org.uk
The new MOWS Trip Boat
CHAIRMAN REPORT
It is great that Leicestershire Branch are able to con9nue to communicate with their members by “resurrec9ng” Winding Ways as a local newsleIer.
Aber Aegre became the East Midlands combined newsle:er Winding Ways did con@nue for a @me in parallel with Aegre and now it is @me for winding Ways to take up the mantle again. Regre:ably our appeal for a new editor for Aegre fell on deaf ears and therefore it won’t be published again for the @me being. If anyone is willing to take this on, or knows someone with editorial skills or aspira@ons, it’s not too late so please do get in touch.
The Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign, which IWA is jointly leading, along with other waterway organisa@ons, has certainly raised the profile of waterways and their contribu@on to people’s lives, wellbeing and prosperity.
There is an on-line pe@@on hosted through the IWA web site which has currently over 40,000 signatories; Pe@@on · Fund Britain's Waterways · Change.org so please add your support. If the pe@@on can reach 100,000 a Westminster debate can hopefully persuade Defra to look again at the future funding of our waterways.
Some@mes great things arise out of adversity and hopefully the threat to the future of our inland naviga@ons will be the same.
IWA desperately needs new and younger members, and this return to the campaigning zeal which originally led to the forma@on of IWA in 1947 is certainly an opportunity to create new momentum for our associa@on. The best way of recrui@ng new blood is by exis@ng members lobbying and sponsoring our future genera@ons and family members to join us in fully suppor@ng and enjoying our waterways. If each exis@ng member could recruit just one new member this would make a huge increase in the ability and capacity for IWA to con@nue the fight.
Largely due to the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign, the long-term funding reduc@on for Canal and Rivers Trust post 2027 has had the headlines, but in fact the threat to the EA Naviga@ons waterways is far more immediate with the current in year cut in capital works funding of 50%. We will be taking a firsthand look at how this plays out over the next several years having just taken the decision to move on from Sileby Mill to take up a mooring on the River Nene near Northampton.
We leave our Leicestershire mooring (aber circa 15 years), with many happy memories but new horizons beckon! Expect to hear my ramblings about the eastern waterways either here or in Aegre in due course!
Dave Pullen Chairman, IWA East Midlands Region
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FESTIVAL OF BOATS & ARTS 1950 UNION WHARF, MARKET HARBOROUGH
