T he Canal Museum will be closed over the winter for work on the installation of new light-ing to the galleries and other building work to

upgrade the building. A grant from the Arts Council with additional funding from the Friends of the Canal Museum and the Northampton Branch of the Inland Waterways Association has enabled the replace-ment of the gallery lighting with new state of the art energy efficient display lighting. However, the café and shop should be open as usual on Wednesdays to Sundays in the winter between 11-3pm.

MUSEUM MATTERS November 2013

The Newsletter of The Friends of The Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne

See you at

Carols on the Canal Sat 7th December

Inside…

Sculptor Update

Village at War Feature

Achievement Award

Jack James serialisation

Curatorial News

Manager & Treasurer’s Reports

CAROLS ON THE CANAL

Photo: James Rudd

O ur annual Carols on the Canal event with the children of Stoke Bruerne Primary School is on Sat-urday 7th December with illumi-

nated boats on the water and a Christmas Market at The Navigation all weekend. There will also be a Festive Disco at 8pm in the Navigation on Saturday evening, a prize for the best Illuminated Boat, Santa Claus will be there and festive fare such as mulled wine, roast chestnuts, hot soup and turkey baps will be available to keep out the chill. The Museum will be open until 6.30pm and

the Christmas Market until 9pm. It all starts on the Museum Green soon after 4.30pm and is the perfect start to your family Christmas celebrations.

If you are a trader and would like a stall, booking forms are available for download on the website. Stalls are go-ing fast so get your booking form in as soon as possible to be sure of securing one.

For more information e-mail public-

ity@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk or tele-phone Lynda on 01604-861205.

Winter Opening Hours

S ince midsummer things have been

rather quiet with the boat, but in late

July we sent ther to the Leighton Buz-

zard Canal Festival under the care of

Rick Thake and Bob Westlake. A very suc-

cessful weekend ensued helped greatly by

the nearby presence of Ken Nelson, who can

be relied upon to draw the crowds with his

rope work demonstrations.

During the school holiday period the boat

lay on her moorings at Stoke. There was very

little rain during this time so no bilge pump-

ing was needed. Lorna York had been busy

working on some of the portable cabin fit-

tings at home. The drawers had suffered

from damp during the time the boat lay at

Stretton for re-bottoming and there was a

considerable deposit of mould. Also the

wood had swollen with the damp and so the

drawers and table were very difficult to move

in and out. Lorna dried out everything thor-

oughly and undercoated them. Once they

were brought back they were refitted and

provided with the necessary handles by Phil

Kidd.

September saw some heavy rain in the early

part of the month, so the bilges were regu-

larly pumped by volunteers prior to the Vil-

lage at War event in the middle of the

month. The top planks were set up and

lashed ready for clothing later on.

A work party was held in early October

with five volunteers including a new one,

Iain Dunkley, as well as the usual sus-

pects. The panelling above the side bed

had deteriorated owing to condensation

getting underneath and removing this

entailed undoing the bolts holding the

porthole. Rob Westlake treated them with

penetrating oil a few days before and they

undid easily.

The panelling was duly stripped out, as

was some more by the cross bed and the

bare steel work behind was treated with

red oxide.

The ballast drums were emptied of water

and moved from the back end of the

hold, enabling us to remove the rotten

shuts on which they were standing. Rob is

now making replacements for them. The

back end planks were removed and given

a top coat of paint to match the cabin

top, as was the forward engine hole bulk-

head. A large amount of surplus rubbish,

such as off-cuts and similar “come-in-

useful-some-times”, was removed from

the boat’s bottom. The new fenders were

removed and given a dosage of preserva-

tive. Finally we placed an order for be-

tween 30 and 40 small hooks with eyes

for top and side cloth strings with a black-

smith. The repacked stern gland was once

more tightened and all leaking stopped.

It is hoped to give the boat a few runs

during the winter and we have been

promised the loan of a butty and steerer

so that crews can acquire some practice

at this black art. Any members who are

interested are welcome to come along on

any work parties and, once dates have

been decided, we shall put them on the

website.

Sculptor Update

By David Blagrove

En-route to the Leighton Buzzard Festival in July

Photo: Rob Westlake

Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership – Draft Development Plan

The Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership wants your views on whether their initial plans for the development and management of the canal corridor at Stoke Bruerne over the next ten years are the right way to go. Tell them what you think. Copies of the Draft Stoke Bruerne Canal Corridor – Management & Improvement Plan 2014-2024 will be avail-able for consultation along with a feedback/response form in the Canal Museum Café between 1st December until 31st January when the Museum is open, Wednesday-Sunday between 11am and 3pm.

One free tea or coffee for every Stoke Bru-erne resident handing in a filled-in feedback/response form - an offer you can’t refuse! Bring a neighbour or friend with you. Proof of residency may be asked for.

Copies of the Plan and response forms will a l s o b e a v a i l a b l e o n - l i n e a t www.stokebruernecanalpartnership.org.uk from the 1st December and more information can be obtained by e-mailing Chairman, H e l e n W e s t l a k e a t c h a i r -man@stokebruernecanalpartnership.org.uk

Treasurer’s Report November 2013

Trading account £28,981.99 Charity account £10,291.36 Reserve account £1,051.51 Cash account £178.86 TOTAL £40,503.72

Despite the inclement weather on the Sunday the Village at War weekend made a surplus of over £6,000. The exact figure cannot be calculated as there are a couple of advertising receipts to be received and an outstanding invoice which we have been expecting. After the refurbishment of the museum over the winter there may be a re-quest for, possibly, two more display cabinets. We are building up funds to help with future develop-ments in and around the museum which, hope-fully, are not too far off. We have changed our accounting year to end on the 31st December as this period sees little or no activity. Previously the 31st March bridged the run up the the Gala week-end which meant some payments would be in the previous year’s accounts.

Proposed Grand Union Canal Conservation

Area Appraisal

South Northamptonshire Council have en-gaged The Conservation Studio to prepare their Proposed Grand Union Canal Conserva-tion Area Appraisal for Public Consultation. Copies can be read on-line at http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/4843.htm The public consultation on these proposals runs for six weeks from 11 November 2013 until 23 December 2013.

Sculpture of Jack James

T he Stoke Bruerne Canal Partner-ship is looking into the feasibility of a project to commemorate the

50th Anniversary of the founding of the Canal Museum by commissioning a full size sculpture of Jack James, the former boatman and lock keeper who put his own collection of canal memorabilia on display and helped persuade the then British Transport Board to set up the first inland waterways museum at Stoke Bruerne in 1963.

Pledges of donations towards the project have been received, including a promise of funding from the Friends assuming other funding materialises, but a lot more needs to be raised before the pro-ject can become a reality.

If you would like more information or would like to support the project, please e-mail the Stoke Bruerne Canal Partner-ship Chairman Helen Westlake chairman @stokebruernecanalpartnership.org.uk

David Blagrove, Chairman of the Friends, writes…

“What happens to all the money raised by our successful events?”

A question that, quite rightly, exercises the minds of Council members and doubtless other members of the Friends too, is “What happens to all the money raised by our successful events?” It is indeed frus-trating when people have worked hard for weeks or months to put on a successful event seemingly to find that the results of their endeavours have vanished into the vaults of a bank apparently never to reap-pear. In reality there are two main direc-tions in which these funds are channelled. The first is in direct support of the mainte-nance of the fabric of the Museum build-ings and artefacts.

“Museum was in a parlous state”

When we were first formed, the Museum was in a parlous state and needed consid-erable work done on the exhibits, the dis-play arrangements and some of the fabric. One of our first tasks was to get the fa-çade of the café painted and sign written and such work has gone on continuously over the last seven years. Since the for-mation of CRT and its offshoot organisa-tion, the Museums and Attractions Part-nership, there has been a more generous budget for such matters, but even so we are still called upon occasionally for contri-butions towards this sort of thing.

More to the point though, and where much greater sums are going to be required, are future capital projects. We have been ac-tively involved in creating and developing plans for the canal side environment and the Museum over the next ten years or so. There are a number of exciting and inter-

esting projects proposed but the final de-tails of these take a good deal of time in the preparation. Take for instance the cur-rent project to provide interpretation pan-els along the canal side from the tunnel end to the locks. This has been under dis-cussion for at least fifteen years if not longer, but has been seriously hindered by lack of funding. Eight years ago a plan was about to go forward, based on a part-nership of local interests and the National Heritage Lottery, then the London Olym-pics were announced and all such projects were put on hold pending 2012. Last year such funds became again available but in the meantime costs had soared. We have always committed ourselves to a propor-tion of the funding but this was on the ba-sis of the initial proposal.

“Resources are not bottomless”

The current position is that Lynda Payton has been masterminding a bid for such funding, along with Helen Westlake, Chair of the Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership. CRT have agreed to manage the project and the HLF has made an offer. Council has approved a match funding amount of £250 towards this project. More details of this are available on the Partnership’s w e b s i t e a t : h t t p : / /www.stokebruernecanalpartnership.org.uk. Hopefully this winter will see the project at last enter its final stage and we shall then consider exactly what our financial contribution is to be. There are other mat-ters in hand, such as the ultimate refur-bishment and presentation of the old lock

outside the “Boat Inn”, possible statuary commemorating historic figures in Stoke Bruerne connected with the canal and, of course, extension and re-equipping the Museum itself. These are at varying stages of development and are not going to be immediately apparent. Council has agreed to commit a substantial sum to the Arts Council Funding bid for improved lighting in the Museum. One thing though is certain, back in 1955 a conservative estimate from a firm of contractors for restoring the entire Kennet & Avon Canal from Reading to Bath was some £150,000; today such a sum would barely cover the cost of a new car park for the Museum. The sums raised through our endeavours may look large, but are only a small part of what will be required for future capital projects. Although the CRT has a more stable long-term financial pattern than did either BW or TWT before it, its resources are not bottomless and so, if extensions or major upgrading of exhibits are to take place, then such pro-jects will have to be inaugurated through some sort of partnership with outside funding sources, and we shall be cer-tainly called upon to assist with match funding.

“Handsome surplus”

In spite of miserable weather once more, this time on the Sunday, the Village at War event succeeded in bringing in a handsome surplus. This year saw several innovations, notably the presence of HM King George VI and Lord Louis Mount-batten as well as the Rt Hon W.S. Chur-chill, PM and General Montgomery, the latter still apparently awaiting promotion to Field Marshal. On the Sunday morning many of the re-enactors attended a Church Parade which actually used St Mary’s Church. The Rector, Andrea Wat-kins, most sportingly pointed out that a woman would not have conducted such a service during the late WW2 and found a retired male cleric to officiate in her place,

although I am pleased to say the Reverend Andrea was both present and took part in the service. It was interesting that both the clergy present were not overawed by the presence of their Supreme Head and Gov-ernor in the congregation.

“A superb show”

The Organising Committee, led by Mick Butler, deserves our thanks for once more putting on a superb show, and if you missed it then you most surely lost out!

The next, and last major event of this year, will be what we have previously called “Illuminated Boats and Carols”, but which Council have decided to rename “Carols on the Canal”. This will be on Saturday 7th December and will be accompanied by a Christmas Market, at “The Navigation”, following the success of last year’s experi-ment. We shall still welcome illuminated craft on the canal of course, but bitter ex-perience has shown that it is not always either easy or possible for boats not based at Stoke Bruerne to attend. We have been promised a large Christmas tree for the Museum Green this year, so please put this date in your diaries.

“Date to remember”

Another date to remember is the Thursday before “Carols on the Canal ”, that is 5th December, when we shall be holding our AGM. A formal notice is in this Newsletter. Our most efficient Social Secretary, Rose Granaghan, is arranging more monthly meetings for the New Year and all mem-bers are very welcome to come along.

Yet another enterprise to which our funds have been directed is of course the Mu-seum’s boat “Sculptor”. I am pleased to report that most of the work required is approaching completion. We had hoped to repaint and grain the cabin last winter, but investigations revealed a couple of areas where damp had got behind the panelling and caused serious rotting from the inside. This is now in hand, as is the final replace-

ment of broken or rotten shuts. Hopefully, during this winter we shall also be able to undertake some regular runs for training purposes, since next year the boat should be more active in visiting local events than hitherto. Members wishing to get involved in this aspect of volunteering are again more than welcome.

As yet no formal programme of training or work parties has yet been arranged, but I can always give up-to-date information if you telephone me on 01604 862174. One possibility is working with a butty should members wish to become acquainted with this particular aspect of the black art of working boatmanship.

David Blagrove Chairman October 2013

V isitors flocked in their thou-sands to our annual Village at War event at Stoke Bruerne on

14th-15th September and despite a weather threatened Sunday the week-end proved a great success raising a very welcome surplus of around £6,000. Mick Butler and his VAW team deserve our congratulations!

The festivities started on Friday eve-ning in the canal side Navigation Inn, continued through a very busy Satur-day complete with Swing Dance in the evening and finished off on Sunday with a special church service attended by Royal British Legion, Veterans, Army Cadets and Military Re-enactors followed by firepower displays and bat-

tle re-enactments throughout the after-noon. Sadly Sunday's planned Spitfire fly-past from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had to be cancelled due to the weather, but not just at Stoke Bruerne— all of its scheduled displays that day.

Musical entertainment and 40’s glamour was provided by George Formby (aka Paul Casper), Lola Lamour and the Mar-ket Harborough Ukele Band performing underneath the dry arch of the canal bridge where a dance floor had also been erected.

Winston Churchill (aka Peter Austwick) and Field Marshal Montgomery (aka Alan Oliver) were very much in evidence inspecting the troops as usual. And…for the first time, King George VI and his

THE WEATHER DID NOTHING TO

DAMPEN DOWN THE WARTIME SPIRIT

wife were out and about talking to their loyal subjects.

This year the 40s themed weekend had lots of new attractions for visitors in-cluding a display of vintage wedding dresses, Women’s League of Health and Beauty fitness routines and a Wartime Produce & Craft Show. Make do and mend was the order of the day and the village defences were patrolled by the local Home Guard.

After six years on the VAW Sub-Committee both Denis Atkinson and Jenny Copeland have announced they are standing down. Both have made an immeasurable contribution to the event over the years and Chairman Mick But-ler paid tribute to Jenny in saying: “Jenny’s vision in initiating Village at War, and her enormous contribution in leading the event in its early days, as well as her continued efforts throughout the last 6 years has put the weekend

well and truly on the map.” He contin-ued: “Jenny and Denis have helped to raise considerable sums for the Mu-seum and are to be congratulated on all the hard work they have put in.”

Next year’s Village at War has been set for 13-14th September, so put it in your diaries now. Anyone wanting to get involved in helping to organise the event should contact Mick Butler on 01604 473756. Photo: Chronicle & Echo

For more pictures and reports of the Village at War Weekend, including

videos, go to the web page at:

www.friendsofcanalmuseum/village-at-war-2013

JACK JAMES ...a serialised biography

by David Blagrove

PART 6

I n the meantime a scandal had bro-ken on the Oxford Canal which may now perhaps be revealed, since all

the participants are long dead, as is the Oxford Canal Company that may have been implicated in the affair. Jack James knew of the matter but was always reluc-tant to say too much about it, but I did manage to glean some information from him. I suspect that his father may have had a part in it.

In 1915 the War Department obtained land near the Oxfordshire village of Up-per Heyford in order to build an airfield for the Royal Flying Corps. This became RAF Heyford in the Second World War and ultimately a US airfield during the Cold War. The airfield was conveniently near the Rugby Portland Cement com-pany’s works at Bletchington but bricks and other materials for the infrastruc-ture had to be obtained from further afield.

“So far, so good”

The Chawley Brickworks on Cumnor Hill outside Oxford obtained a War Office contract for the supply of bricks for the new airfield. These were loaded onto two large road trolleys holding some ten or twelve tons apiece and brought down Cumnor Hill to Oxford Basin by the brickworks’ traction engine. Here the contents were transferred into a boat which was then worked up the canal to Heyford Wharf, now a leisure boat base, where they were taken by cart up the hill

to the airfield. So far, so good, but the story as related by Jack James was that, once one consignment of bricks had been unloaded onto the wharf and labo-riously reloaded onto a small builders’ wagon, the boat returned to Oxford for another load. This was duly loaded and the traction engine returned to its base and the boat set off. The difference was that this time the boat was not unloaded at Heyford but winded and returned to Oxford under cover of darkness. Mean-while another two loads of bricks arrived at the Basin and similarly remained aboard the trolleys, being sold elsewhere in Oxford.

“Resultant scandal”

I am not sure for how long this “scam” went on, but the rumour was that one boatload of bricks was sold several times over to the War Office before the inevita-ble discovery. The resultant scandal, which could have meant criminal charges for the participants, was seem-ingly hushed up. Probably the Oxford Canal’s directorate had sufficient friends in high places to ensure this, and the brickworks belonged ultimately to the Earl of Abingdon, but one result was that the wharfinger of Oxford Basin, one Hubert Hawkins, was “encouraged” to volunteer his services to the Army.

“Learned his letters”

Following the Geddes reforms Hawkins was commissioned and sent to France where he took charge of traffic opera-tions on the River Somme, and it was here that Jack James once more made his acquaintance. Jack spent the rest of the war working barges up to the front line carrying supplies in one direction and often wounded men downstream. He seems to have been caught up in the German offensive of March 1918, for he

was again wounded in an action near the Canal du Nord. At that time matters were sufficiently desperate for all troops who could fire a rifle or machine gun to be pressed into the line, but he seems to have returned to the river once the emer-gency was over. One bonus of his war-time career was that he had learned to read and write. He had learned his let-ters as a young lad by copying the large letters painted on the side of railway trucks and seemingly proved an apt pu-pil once he was able to attend regular classes offered in France by the Army, for inevitably many serving soldiers had only the basic rudiments of literacy. This ability was to serve Jack in good stead in later life for, like many boaters, he pos-sessed an innate intelligence and ability that was greatly enhanced by the ability to read and write. He also learned a smattering of French, and for the rest of his life would astonish foreign visitors by addressing them in “soldiers’ French”, sometimes not altogether appropriately!

THE FRIENDS OF THE CANAL MUSEUM

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

to be held on Thursday 5th December 2013 in the Learning Centre, Canal Museum

commencing at 8pm

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence 2. Minutes of the previous Annual Gen-

eral Meeting of The Friends of the Canal Museum held on Thursday, 18th October, 2012 at the Canal Mu-seum, Stoke Bruerne

3. Matters Arising 4. Chairman’s Report 5. Treasurer’s Report 6. Subscriptions 7. Election of Members of Council 8. Presentation of Friends Achievement Award 9. Any other business

At the time of publication of this notice, there are six vacancies on the Committee which also includes one ex-officio seat held by the Manager of The Canal Mu-seum at Stoke Bruerne. Under the terms of the Constitution David Blagrove, Lynda Payton, Bill Mann, John Alderson and Rick Thake retire by rotation and seek re-election. Other nominations for Council must be received by the Chairman, David Blagrove, Wharf Cottage, The Green, Bridge Road, Stoke Bruerne, NN12 7SE by 1st December 2013.

All those voting must be fully paid up mem-bers of The Friends of The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne.

{signed} David Blagrove, Chairman, The Friends of The Canal Museum at Stoke Bru-erne.

After the Annual General Meeting, there will be a social evening with refreshments served.

NEW SCRIPT FOR AUDIO TRAIL HANDSETS

Over the summer months our Chairman and his-torian David Blagrove has re-written all the audio commentaries for the Museum’s audio handsets, and he and Emmerdale actor Tony Howes have been busy re-recording the transcripts.

Now Volunteer and Council member Trevor Allum has the enormous task of uploading the new commentaries onto all the audio handsets in readiness for the spring.

A large number of new handsets had previously been purchased to replace ones which are be-yond repair.

Funding for the re-recording project and for the purchase of replacement audio handsets has been provided by the Friends.

ble from the footpath) and work steadily down the locks. Now that we are away from the busy Top Lock area we shall probably start holding work parties at weekends, but the next one is scheduled for Tuesday 2nd December. Start time 10am. Meet at Lock 15 (second lock down from the top). Future dates will be put on both our website and The Stoke Bruerne Canal P a r t n e r s h i p w e b s i t e w h i c h i s www.stokebruernecanalpartnership.org.uk

A lthough not strictly a Friends organisation (it runs under the aegis of the Stoke Bruerne Canal Partnership), it seems that most

of the volunteers are from our mem-bers. Parties operate under the over-all supervision of CRT’s volunteer co-ordinator, Miriam Tedder. Since setting the group up last Spring it has carried out several tidy-ups of the side lock, including carrying out an uphill battle against weeds. The arris rails round the side lock and footbridge approaches have been cleaned down and repainted and the gates and paddle gear of the top lock have been similarly dealt with.

Our newly acquired resident mem-ber, Kathryn Dodington has been waging a one-woman campaign with BT over the flagpole at Top Lock, which has been unusable for several years on account of badly-positioned overhead telephone wires. I am pleased to report that she has had some success and we hope that soon the wires will be reposi-tioned and allow us to maintain this pole and restore it to use.

Now that the Top lock area is tidier and smartened up we are gradually moving down the flight. The side ponds by Lock 15 were becoming almost invisible through vegetation and our September work party removed huge quantities of this. Not only that, they also uncovered the old ash box put there over a century ago for the receipt of ashes from steamers and cabin ranges. This was then used to spread over paths and lock sides in frosty weather and for racking up lock gates. The arris rails had completely rotted away under the vegeta-tion and will be renewed at the next work-ing party.

For the winter season we shall be concen-trating on vegetation clearance along the Long Pound (in places the canal is invisi-

Canal Adoption Group News

Curatorial Update by Mike Constable

A utumn is the quiet period for the Curatorial Team as they gear up for their concentrated time either side

of Christmas. Some work on new interpre-tation has been taking place and some sourcing of new display material, but there is little to see in the actual Museum. Plans for the winter have been put on hold pend-ing the outcome of the work being planned to fit the new lighting. Hopefully this will all become clear in time for full details to ap-pear in this edition of Museum Matters.

Whilst in Liverpool I did meet up with the Director of the National Museum of Wales in Swansea who will be looking after the Weighing Machine once it has been re-

Volunteers on a task party earlier in the year

stored by the team there. They are cur-rently making new sections to replace the parts that had been dam-aged through long exposure to the ele-ments and the site where it will be erected for the fourth (or is it fifth?) time is under preparation although pouring the new concrete base is likely to be delayed until the weather improves after Christmas to avoid frost damage in the curing stage.

Email to David: I hope you remember me. I was the lady who came to last year’s canal festival with Sagitta, the Dudley Canal Trust GUCCC historic narrowboat and we opened to the public. I also met you at Crick Boat Show when you were promot-ing Stoke Bruerne as attraction of the year.

My usual job is as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and I have been awarded a one year fellow-ship to conduct research on canal boat-ers’ health and wellbeing in the Black Country on the BCN. At the Waterways Craft Guild AGM I enquired if Stoke Bru-erne museum held the Sister Mary ar-chives and was informed you are the custodian.

As part of the research fellowship project I am also researching the historical as-pects of ‘Care on the Cut’. Would it be possible to read Sister Mary’s docu-ments as part of my research journey? I can come to Stoke Bruerne at your convenience and have approval from the university to stay overnight. Best wishes, Della

Email from David: Hello Della. Yes, I recall you on Sagitta.

It is not quite correct to say that I hold the Sister Mary archives, but I do have custody of her case books from 1942 to 1961, and very interesting they are. What needs doing is for them to be ana-lysed by someone with more medical knowledge than I and maybe extracting some statistics about boaters’ health, diet and so forth. The information is still, I would think, of a confidential nature since some of her patients are still around. However they give a remarkable insight into how she went about things and you would be welcome to come and see them at any time.

Let me know when you would like to visit. Best regards, David.

After quelling my excitement by trying not to appear too eager I responded to David’s email a week later. By the end of November I had made my first visit to Stoke Bruerne by car, armed with a ‘grid’ of what I had found out about Sister

RESEARCHING SISTER MARY Dr Della Sadler-Moore tells us how it all began

PART 2—continued

FRIENDS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

At its November meeting Council decided to es-tablish a new Award to be presented to any mem-ber or Council member who, during the year, or over a sustained period, has in the opinion of Council made an outstanding contribution to the work of the Friends and brought significant bene-fit to the Canal Museum by so doing.

The Award will be presented at the Annual Gen-eral Meeting each year.

Mary and a list of publications from which these facts had been extracted. I viewed the Case Books on David’s kitchen table and we discussed the ‘facts’ about Sister Mary. I took copious notes, and on leav-ing Wharf Cottage I agreed to order from the British Library copies of the original articles and to piece together from these a more comprehensive account of what is reported about Sister Mary.

‘The Grid’

This mapping of Sister Mary’s life has be-come known as ‘The Grid’ between David, Lorna and myself, and the first grid was completed in December, in prepara-tion for a two day visit to Stoke Bruerne in January. By now I realised I was deviating from the ‘Care on the Cut’ fellowship I had been approved to conduct. To proceed I submitted a revised research plan and this was approved.

In January I made a two day visit to Stoke Bruerne. The first afternoon David and I discussed lots of issues and I did a pre-liminary review of the Sister Mary Ledg-ers/Case Books of which there are three. One dedicated to Willow Wren the other two for GUCCC entries. Before I departed that first afternoon David gave me his ‘Waterway’s of Northamptonshire’ book because contained in appendix I are pic-tures of Sister Mary and details of the delegates at the This is Your Life event.

I was staying in Roade that evening at a Friend of Stoke Bruerne Museum’s B&B. Lucky for me Bill and his wife were so knowledgeable and sharing of information regarding the area, and that Bill helped me find the IWA meeting venue in Blis-worth that evening because David was giving a talk on the Blisworth/Braunston tunnel, based on David’s book ‘Two Cen-turies of Service’. I was impressed at the IWA turnout, I sat at the back and was fortunate to chat to a number of live-aboard boaters, who showed interest in

my ‘Care on the Cut’ research. Not to forget to mention how riveted I was at David’s talk.

‘Geography is not my best subject’

I left after the talk and was now worried if I could come up to David’s expectations in terms of researching Sister Mary. As usual I got lost between Blisworth and Roade, but as Lorna will tell you ‘geography is not my best subject’, hav-ing kept her waiting at Northampton Ar-chive due to ending up in Leighton Buz-zard. Back at the B&B I began to realise how much information I had accumulated that first day, and on reviewing the copi-ous amount of notes I’d made I found them to be somewhat erratically docu-mented. So whilst the facts were rela-tively fresh in my mind, alongside having David’s book on loan, I spent a long night sorting these out ready for my next day with David.

‘Like a jigsaw puzzle’

Next day I left the B&B and was able to find Sister Mary’s resting place at what was once Roade Baptist Church, I took pictures, and I arrived at Stoke Bruerne before 9am so walked the towpath to the tunnel. After last night’s talk by David the scenery began to fall into place; like a jigsaw puzzle the pieces were coming together. Today my mentor for the ‘Care on the Cut’ fellowship (Professor Laura Serrant-Green) was joining me at Stoke Bruerne to meet with David to agree the way forward, and for Laura to double check my pilot analysis of 12 entries made by Sister Mary in one of the case books (which I had completed the day before). Laura met David when we agreed the best way forward was to con-tinue as planned and that a set of display boards would be the best option to report the findings locally. Continued over page...

Message from the Museum Manager David Henderson brings us up to date

As you can see from the charts The Canal Museum is part of the Museums & Attractions (part of the Mar-keting Directorate within the Canal & River Trust).

All sites have been trading reasonably well in this fi-nancial year. In expendi-ture all sites are within budget and Stoke Bruerne and Standedge have achieved budget for in-come.

Museum & Attractions New Structure (Nov 2013 )

As 14 persons were report-ing directly to Debbie Lumb (Head of Department) it has been decided that James Dean, will become Support, Mentor and lead operations colleague at Standedge Visitor Centre,

Spend per Visitor (free and paid) Total In-come YTD (£s)

ANDERTON GLOUCESTER NWM (inc HBY)

STANDEDGE STOKE BRU-ERNE

Catering 77457.86 16008.30 57813.68 47272.94 40527.56

Retail 73442.15 16896.11 25665.08 3825.57 41627.20

Boat Trips 121086.57 84153.73 7900.90 23761.75 0.00

Museum & Attractions—KPIs September 2013

Gloucester Waterways Museum & Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne. Tim from Ander-ton will lead NWM and Trevor Basin (Wales).

There was a blockage with Debbie Lumb being so busy and finding it difficult to support 14 persons. Support and authority to action should be more dynamic under the new structure.

Museum Closure in December and the New Year

The Museum will be closing this winter for:

Re-wiring throughout Museum

New lighting

New ceiling

New floors

Café branding - ‘selling the other sites with images’

It is the first time in my 7 years as Man-ager that major works will be taking place. Being part of CRT has allowed us to re-ceive CRT funding as well as funding se-cured by Lynda Payton for a new lighting project. Most artefacts will be stored in the learning centre (removal starts 9th Dec to be completed Fri 20th Dec). The contrac-tor will be on site early January and it is intended we re-open the Museum to the public just before Easter (hopefully April 1st).

The Shop and Café will remain open dur-ing our winter hours operation eg. be-tween Wed – Fri 11am to 3pm and week-ends 11am to 4pm.

We are looking for more volunteers in April to support the operation. This in-cludes lunchtime cover for shop and café (noon to 2pm). If you are able to offer 2 days a week please contact me in the New Year. Full training will be provided and no experience necessary. Good communication skills are important. Thanks to all the Friends volunteers who have helped the Museum this season.

Both the Gala and Village at War were a great success and there is money avail-able to improve the Museum as we re-store the artefacts and exhibitions after the refurbishment.

I went to The Boat for lunch and again found myself sorting out my notes and thoughts ready for the final afternoon with David before I left for home. I arrived back at David’s and he had a visitor, Lorna York, who he had mentioned in a previous email. We were introduced and we hit it off immediately. We chatted away and I remember the feelings of un-certainty as to the way forward disap-peared. That afternoon we all raised questions and chipped in ideas, and as the afternoon progressed the discussions became more analytical and critical. Armed with my notepad and Lorna’s pen (I’d mislaid three over 2 days so far) I hastily tried to keep up with the note tak-ing. The IPad then came out and Lorna introduces me to genealogy web sites. The journey of discovery now took an-other turn.

In the next article Della and Lorna reveal the journey of data collection from Janu-ary to June 2013, when Della handed over the Display Boards to David and Lorna at the canal festival. In the final article in the series Lorna, David and Della explain the content of the display boards and the unexplained areas of Sis-ter Mary’s life.

RESEARCHING SISTER MARY

Dr Della Sadler-Moore tells us how it all began

...the story continues

Chairman David Blagrove 01604-862174 also member of the Curatorial Group & Trustee

Vice-Chairman Lorna York Also Trustee

Treasurer Rick Thake treasurer@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk

Minutes Secretary Denis Atkinson

Membership Secretary Vacant membership@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk

Publicity, Newsletter & Website, Grant Funding & Awards Lynda Payton 01604-861205 publicity@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk

Museums & Attractions Partnership John Alderson

Volunteer Co-ordinator Trevor Allum

Other David Henderson (ex-officio seat), Jenny Cope-land (Trustee), Bill Mann and Michael Butler

Events Sub-Committees Dennis Atkinson, Bill Mann, David Henderson, Lynda Payton (Gala Sub-Committee Chairman), Rick Thake, Tim Carter (occasional), Laura Stur-rock, Jenny Copeland and Michael Butler (Village at War Sub-Committee Chairman), Trevor Allum, Helen Westlake, Mike Partridge, David Daines (corresponding), Terry Richardson, Roger Hasdell (corresponding), Graeme Scothern (corresponding)

and Victoria Powell.

Non-Council Posts Roger Hasdell - Joint Newsletter Editor Terry Richardson - Assistant Publicity Officer Brian Collings - Curatorial Group Rose Granaghan - Winter Talks Organiser Laura Sturrock - Trustee

DIARY DATES Talks will be given through the winter on the third Thursday of the month from Sep-tember to April inclusive. See below for venue information. A donation is appreci-ated to help cover expenses.

Please put the following dates in your diaries:

Thursday 21st November Talk at Canal Museum Learning Centre 8pm George Dickinson - an ex. police-man's life on the Canal

Thursday 5th December AGM & Social Evening 8pm in The Learning Centre, Canal Museum

Saturday 7th - Sunday 8th December Christmas Market at The Navigation Inn (in aid of The Friends of The Canal Museum)

Saturday 7th December Carols by the Canal and Illuminated Boats from 5pm on Museum Green

Wednesday 1st January Morris Dancers at The Boat Inn at 12 noon

Thursday 16th January Talk, Venue TBC at 8pm Kathryn Dodington—The Queen’s Jubilee, River Thames

Thursday 20th February Talk, Venue TBC at 8pm John Toy—1st Year with Digital Cam-era

Thursday 2oth March Talk, Venue TBC at 8pm Malcolm Ranieri—Chasing the Steam Railway

Thursday 17th April Talk, Venue TBC at 8pm Steve Morley—Tale of Two Canals

Sunday 20th April Easter Egg Hunt - all Easter

Wednesday 23rd April St George’s Day - Morris Dancers at The Boat Inn at 7pm

COUNCIL 2013/14 www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk