Wolds Waters December 2017

WOLDS WATERS The newsletter of the East Yorkshire Branch

December 2017

The restored Thornton Lock, Pocklington Canal

waterways.org.uk/east_yorkshire

From our Branch Chairman 2017 has seen some more steady progress in improving the waterways in our branch area.

A number of derelict and sunken wrecks which were lying on the river Hull around the Beverly area, have been removed making navigation easier and hopefully reducing the amount of silt as well.

At Driffield River Head a very successful gala weekend was held in July bringing into use Mortimer’s Warehouse at the same time.

Discussions are ongoing how best to make use of the warehouse and details will emerge in the new year.

The Pocklington Canal has seen significant activity from both the Canal & River Trust and the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society.

The PCAS chairman Paul Waddington has given more detail in his article in this newsletter.

Our branch gazebo has been out and about again this year raising more funds which will be passed on to waterway projects in due course. We were able to make two donations each of £500 for providing mooring bollards at River Head Driffield and towards providing a lift for less able people to embark Sun, the Beverly Barge Preservation Society’s boat on the Beverly Beck. Thank you to everyone who has helped on the stand this year.

We are still unable to report any encouraging news regarding the closure of Elvington Lock on the river Derwent. A suitable solution is being investigated and I hope to have better news in the future.

Our social calendar has again been filled with the monthly meetings at Cottingham and our annual lunch in December. The topics at our meetings are quite varied and always interesting. If 2

you haven’t yet been, do come along. You will be made most welcome. Details of early 2018 meetings are elsewhere in this newsletter.

I must again thank our committee for their support and for carrying out the necessary duties such as Treasurer, Secretary, Editor, etc. Without them we would not have a functioning branch. IWA has over 30 branches around the country and they provide the local contact for members and waterway societies. It is imperative we keep the support of our members to ensure the future of local branches.

If you feel you could give a little of your time, please consider joining our committee or helping at the events we attend. One or two new committee members would be most welcome as we will inevitably face retirements in the coming years. We meet about six times per year and meetings are seldom more than two hours long. Our AGM on March 16th 2018 would be the time to join.

Please let me know if you can help.

Contact details for the branch can be found on our website at https://www.waterways.org.uk/east_yorkshire/east_yorkshire or you can contact me at roger.bromley@waterways.org.uk or by phone 01482 845099 Happy Christmas to you all.

Roger Bromley Branch Chairman

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Pocklington Canal News Pocklington Bicentenary The Pocklington Canal was fully opened to traffic in July 1818, so the year 2018 is its bicentenary year. This milestone anniversary is being marked in a number of ways. Most importantly a two mile length of the canal, from Melbourne to Bielby, will be reopened to navigation. Lord Halifax and Richard Parry, Chief Executive Officer of the Canal & River Trust, will take part in the reopening ceremony at Thornton Lock on Wednesday 25th July.

The two mile extension to the navigable length has required the fitting of new lock gates and some repairs to the brickwork of the lock chambers at Thornton and Walbut Locks. Dredging has also been undertaken along the length to give a navigable depth, and additional landing places are being provided at Thornton Lock and No8 Swingbridge.

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The works at the locks have been funded by the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society’s Bicentenary Appeal, which successfully raised £250,000. The dredging has mostly been funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund project, led by CRT, and with PCAS as a partner. The HLF project is also funding nature conservation works, heritage works, new signage and a range of activities during the bicentenary year.

Over the weekend following the reopening, there will be a boat rally and festival centred at the Melbourne Arm with a range of activities for visitors. A large number of visiting boats is expected. Details of all the bicentenary events, and a booking form for boat entries for the rally will be posted on the PCAS website, www.pocklingtoncanalsociety.org The length from Melbourne to Bielby is the first length to be reopened since 1987, when, following the rebuilding of two swing bridges, it became possible for boats to reach the Melbourne Arm, where moorings were established. Since then, PCAS has been working at various locations, most notably Walbut, Coates and Top Locks, where extensive repairs have been carried out.

The bicentenary has provided a renewed impetus to press for the restoration to a navigable state of whole of the canal. PCAS is already planning the next project, which will be at Sandhill Lock.

This lock is in a poor condition, and will require the complete rebuilding of one wing wall, including its foundations. The Society propose to undertake this work, starting early in 2019, and expecting the job to take two years. An appeal, The Sandhill Lock Appeal, has already been launched for £150,000. Currently about £11,000 has been raised.

The current thinking is that, after Sandhill Lock has been restored, the next project should be a larger scheme to complete the restoration right up to the terminus at Canal Head. This will involve works at Giles, Silburn and Top Locks. There have been meetings with the Canal & River Trust about this proposal, and it seems likely that the Society will be able to work jointly with CRT 5

to make this happen. A lot of money will have to be raised, but it does seem possible that the Society’s objective of full restoration could be achieved around the year 2025.

If this target date is achieved, the Society will have been working on the project for 56 years. We must pay tribute to all the people who have backed the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society over such a prolonged period.

Paul Waddington ‐0‐0‐0‐0‐0‐0‐0‐0‐0‐

A visit to Wansford On Sunday, 2nd December the Branch Christmas meal was held at The Trout Inn, Wansford. Eighteen members attended and a good time was had by all.

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We are grateful to Chris Stones for organising the bookings and even providing us all with a reminder of what we had ordered!

Will they ever .....

Our journey to Wansford took us through Driffield and at Canal Head we saw all the waterway industrial archaeology and an expanse of water just needing some boats to make this a tourist destination. As we approached Wansford we had the navigation on our right. How good it would have been to see a boat working though one of the locks. Just before reaching The Trout Inn we passed the bridge, that bridge, which made the dream, for the time being, impossible. Readers who lived in Hull in the late 1960s may remember the heading for this paragraph. A song written and recorded by two lecturers from Hull which started with ‘Will they ever bridge the Humber, will they ever bridge it o’er’ and some years later the Humber Bridge was opened. Could we write a song about Wansford Bridge in the hope that it could be made navigable and Canal Head could come to life and get the visits it is crying out for and deserves.

Edtor -0-0-0-0-0-

BOOZE CRUISING

Further to our previous article on the watering holes available to boat owners in our boating area we can review some other pubs and Restaurants visited this summer.

We have again called at Allerton Bywater and this time visited the Boat Inn as well as trying another meal at the Victoria. As explained previously it is not easy to tie up at the old Tom Pudding Staithe but we 7

have found a large ring on a chain at the top of the wall which is easy to get a first rope on, the ring can be found by looking for a small gate in the fence above the staithe this is about one third down the staithe from the Castleford end. Although part of a locked/canalized river system the river section past Allerton Bywater usually has a visible flow.

Whilst moored on the staithe we saw a man coming from the Boat Inn end of the quay with what looked suspiciously like a bin liner of rubbish he was going to fly tip in the canal. As he walked past us he announced it was the local Rugby Club Duck Race. The bag of plastic ducks were tipped into the canal and two canoeists shepherded them towards the Boat Inn, where the finish was and a crowd of supporters sufficiently inebriated had gathered on the bank.

The Boat inn seems to be more popular than the Victoria, which is probably due to its location next to the riverbank and its better selection of hand-pulled beers. The food was again basic pub food but well cooked.

For the first time ever we had a problem with rats getting into our greenhouse and climbing the plants to eat tomatoes. We had gone off on the boat to forget about rats so you can imagine our surprise when the hand-pulled beers included White Rat from the Rat Brewery. I had to try it and it was a very acceptable light summer beer. This was served in a pint glass decorated in rats including a row that marked the half pint point on the glass and once you finish your pint you are faced by a rat at the bottom of the glass.

There is a third pub in Allerton Bywater, the Anchor, but this is more a sports pub with no food and large TV screens dominating the bar.

Overnight we had some heavy rain and the river level started to rise and the flow rate increased. As we were getting a bit anxious we left at 6am and made for Woodnock lock on the Calder and Hebble and although the river was moving quite fast we got in safely and were clear of the river section.

Our next watering hole was Horbury Bridge where we have always enjoyed a meal at the Capri Italian restaurant, the expensive motors in its car park is a clear indication that the food is going to be good but not cheap! Afterwards a pint was tried at the Bingley Arms, which is a good canalside watering hole but has very limited food. An added 8Â Â

bonus was that one of the regulars at the Bingley Arms designed the Rat Brewery glasses and he returned to his boat and brought me a rat glass. There are moorings outside the Bingley Arms and it is just possible to turn our boat before the bridge .

The next night we returned to Stanley Ferry and had a meal at the pub of that name. Not surprising their main beer is Green King IPA, as the Hungry Horse pub chain is owned by Green King Brewery. I know that several IWA members have used the Stanley Ferry and the method of ordering food and getting drinks can be a bit confusing. It is also slow as it is a large, very popular pub with tables overlooking the canal at a premium. Fish and chips are good staple food and competitively priced.

A return visit to Allerton Bywater allowed us to try the Victoria for a second time. Unfortunately it was a Saturday night and a large party returned who had been at Doncaster Races a wife came in with two dogs and one of the party wanted to watch TV and sat at the end of our table smoking an E cigarette. They clearly need to separate the food and drinking areas.

Having praised the Bay Horse at Great Heck before we decided to stop and have a Sunday lunch with them. We had brought a couple of pieces of wood 2 metres long to bridge the piling indentations. Unfortunately the best-laid plans can be frustrated especially if there is a fishing match where you want to moor. After some discussion “We have had this match booked for six months” we managed to moor close to Heck Bridge using the disabled fishing point to tie on to. Will have to arrive Saturday night and get moored up before the fishermen arrive next time we try for Sunday lunch. Anyone know if there is still a closed season for course fishing?

The Canal Tavern at Thorne does not sound the most exciting of destinations but it is a reasonably popular pub with a good selection of drinks and a menu with all the pub staple foods. We are a little amused that there is a notice inviting you to consult their wedding planner.

What is disappointing is the moorings where the quay is breaking up and at several points has sunk into the water. There are a couple of berths inset into the bank, fenced and with an amenity block but these berths always seem to be occupied.

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The Pastures Hotel at Mexborough is a large modern establishment with food and conference facilities when we first visited Paul Shane who played Ted Bovis camp host in Hi Di Hi, a local, could be found sitting at the end of the bar drinking from a cup and saucer.

Recently a hotel has been built on the Pastures site by the canal with bedrooms and a restaurant called Reeds Hotel and we prefer this to the very busy Pastures hotel. We like their menu which is very simply priced £5 for a starter £10 for a main course and £5 for a sweet. There is a limited choice of drink in Reeds so a better selection is available in the main hotel, comparing prices for food there, they are very similar but in the pastures a starter is £4.99 not £5. It pays to make a reservation for the restaurant as it is busy during the week with many tables occupied by a single person. We put our mind to trying to guess their occupation, which brought them to a hotel on their own, do commercial travellers still exist? Mooring is not easy you could moor near Mexborough Low Lock but the number of security cameras on the house by the lock would indicate it is not a good place to leave a boat unattended. We use pins in the bank next to the entrance from the canal to the Pastures site. The bank is fairly soft and we have had them ripped out by Extol Pride when it was Humber Pride as they moved fairly slowly towards Rotherham with a cargo of Oil. We have now mentioned most of the canalside hostelries we have visited this year but we have one or two others in mind that will justify a voyage of discovery next year Useful Phone Numbers The Boat Allerton Bywater 01977514808 Victoria Allerton Bywater 01977 516438 Reeds Fine Dining Mexborough 01709 572737 Capri Restaurant Horbury 01924 263090

Andrew Brett

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The East Yorkshire branch of the Inland Waterways Association.

Notice of Annual General Meeting.

The Annual General Meeting will take place at 8.00 pm on Friday, 16th March at Cottingham Methodist Church, Hallgate, Cottingham.

Agenda Apologies for absence Approval of minutes of 2017 AGM Chairman’s report Treasurer’s report Election of Committee members Any resolutions (these must be sent to the Branch Chairman at least six weeks before the AGM) Any other business Date of 2019 AGM The business will be followed by a short report from the Peter Scott, Region Chairman) who will then give a presentation entitled "Waterway Extremeties, The Ends-Of-Things: An exploration of some of the lesser-user waterways of the UK"

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PROGRAMME January to March 2018 Branch social meetings and other local events Venue (unless stated otherwise) Cottingham Methodist Church Hall, Hallgate, Cottingham HU16 4BD 8.00-10.00 pm. Use entrance down side of church.

January 19th Unusual Canal Objects. Presented by Paul Waddington.

A further look at the objects and architecture found on the waterways.

February 16th "Horses for Courses. In this illustrated talk Iain Campbell will outline the different types of vessels both commercial and leisure found in canals and rivers relating to different parts of the country and the way in which these have adapted and changed over the years."

March 16th AGM and a talk from our region chairman Peter Scott Light buffet provided.

April 20th Hull & Barnsley Railway. By Brian Crowther. Some members may remember seeing the trains taking coal for export from Hull; how things change.

For more information about the Inland Waterways Association use the website www.waterways.org.uk or contact Barry Robins on 01482 658254 or 07885941983. For more information on the above meetings contact Roger Bromley on 01482 845099.

The Branch email address is roger.bromley@waterways.org.uk This newsletter is edited by Barry Robins, 90 Carr Lane, Willerby, Hull HU10 6JU. bandrrobins@gmail.com Note: The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Association and should not be construed as such unless so stated.

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