navvies 246

Issue No 246April-May

2011

Issue No 246April-May

2011

waterwayrecoverygroup

waterwayrecoverygroup

navviesvolunteers restoring waterwaysvolunteers restoring waterways

Visit our web site www.wrg.org.uk for

NavviesProductionEditor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road,East Dulwich London SE22 9PB020-8693 3266 [email protected]

Subscriptions: Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Rd.,Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ

Printing and assembly: John & TessHawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green,Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 3RQ01923 448559 [email protected]

Navvies is published by Waterway RecoveryGroup, Island House, Moor Rd., CheshamHP5 1WA and is available to all interested inpromoting the restoration and conservationof inland waterways by voluntary effort inGreat Britain. Articles may be reproduced inallied magazines provided that the source isacknowledged. WRG may not agree withopinions expressed in this magazine, butencourages publication as a matter of inter-est. Nothing printed may be construed aspolicy or an official announcement unless sostated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept noliability for any matter in this magazine.

Waterway Recovery Group is part of TheInland Waterways Association, (registeredoffice: Island House, Moor Road, CheshamHP5 1WA). The Inland Waterways Associa-tion is a non-profit distributing companylimited by guarantee, registered in Englandno 612245, and registered as a charity no212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, JohnBaylis, Mick Beattie, James Butler, SpencerCollins, Christopher Davey, George Eycott,Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Judith Palmer,Michael Palmer, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2011 WRG

MB

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all the latest news of WRG's activities

Chairman MKP on suits vs shovels 4-5Coming soon Canalway Cavalcade,training weekend and lots of camps 6-8Camp reports Chelmer & Blackwater, Wilts& Berks and Grand Western 9-13WRG at 40 Ian McCarthy provides somecontroversial answers to the questions14-19Diary canal camps and weekend digs 20-22Letters human ballast, a Dudley dig a longtime ago, and the state of the K&A 23-24Montgomery plans for this year 25Progress a roundup of news fromrestoration projects around the country 26-32WRG Print the pre-John H days 33-35WRG BC boat club update 36Pete Redway an appreciation 37Noticeboard A Forestry camp on the GW 38Infill Deirdre’s back! 39

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...are always welcome, whether handwritten,typed, on CD-ROM, DVD or by email.

Photos also welcome: digital,slides, prints. Please state whether youwant your prints back. Digital pics arewelcome as email attachments, preferablyJPG format, but if you have a lot of largefiles it is best to send them on CD-ROM orDVD or to contact the editor first.

Contributions by post to the editorMartin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road,London SE22 9PB, or by email [email protected].

Press date for issue 247: May 1st.

Subscriptions

A year's subscription (6 issues) is availablefor a minimum of £3.00 to Sue Watts, 15Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy,Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques payable to"Waterway Recovery Group" please.

This is a minimum subscription, thateveryone can afford. Please add a donation.

ContentsIn this issue...

Ala

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Left, top to bottom: Going, going, gone! The formerpaper mill building that blocked the Manchester Bolton& Bury Canal just a couple of hundred yards from thesite of our New Year camp has been demolished,ridding the canal of a serious blockage. Above:Wooden Canal Boat Society volunteers get to work onSoutham’s cabin. For some good news on a projectto restore another of their boats see pages 28-29.Below: Eddie Jones of KESCRG was presented withthis award recently by the group for services to week-end dig organising and Land Rover driving above andbeyond the call of duty. Front Cover: David Millerproves that he’s got the knack of taking a front coverphoto by sending in this pic of towpath work on theChelmer & Blackwater camp in Febuary - see campreport, pages 9-10. Back cover main pic: LondonWRG put the finishing touches on the Hereford &Gloucester Canal by the new Aylestone Park Slipway intime for a trailboat rally on Sunday 22 May. (pic: MartinLudgate) Inset upper: WRG Forestry Team on theGrand Western at Nynehead - see report on p12-13.(Tim Lewis) Inset lower: The Kennet & Avon: is itfalling into dereliction? See letter, p23 (Martin Ludgate)

WC

BS

Chairman’s commentSuits versus Shovels

“Defra are not

about to hand over

a priceless heritage

network to just

anyone, are they?”

Chairman’s Comment

There is a splendidly fruity account of two contrasting waterway management styles in theletters pages of this Navvies. In my view it’s not very balanced, until the final paragraphtakes it from rant back into sensible land. The two waterways mentioned are very differentand don’t really bear comparison, so while it fails under proper analysis, it does accuratelyreflect a conversation that I have heard a million times on sites and in pubs around thecountry, namely:

Suits versus Shovels – which actually restores a canal?

It’s a classic dichotomy that all canal societies face and that is why we agreed to reprint theletter. Because these things have a habit of being brought into sharp focus by external events– an over-reliance on council support can be a problem now the cuts are here. Equally whatuse is a hard-won Section 106 agreement without eager volunteers to implement it.

So it was worth printing the letter for that reminder alone. But it is a particularly timelyargument to have now, as Government department Defra is recruiting the ‘Transition Trustees’for the New Waterways Charity (NWC) which is to run the British Waterways network from nextyear. These aren’t the final trustees of the NWC – they are the small group who are charged withinvestigating how the final NWC should be made up, what it should do, what it should concen-trate on, etc. In short they have to create a believable ‘business plan’ by next April that willconvince the minister to say “OK I reckon that will work – I’ll transfer the whole of BritishWaterways (and later the EA as well) out of public ownership and into a new charity”.

So who are these mighty people going to be? There is certainly a large clamour forthem to be from the existing waterways scene. Whereas, from conversations I have had withDefra and others, their primary concern is much more for ‘a safe pair of hands’; people whohave previously been involved in big changes and see the big picture. This is perfectly un-derstandable – they are not about to hand over a priceless heritage network to just anyoneare they?

But I can’t help feeling it seems a bit ‘suit or shovel’.Because the group will comprise three current BW trustees and four new ones. Now if

you look at the numbers (and I’m doing this from gut instinct and no other evidence) thatmeans you get three people who have a natural predilection to say “well, in the old BW wealways did things like this so we are bound to say it’s still a good idea”, together with (Ireckon) three who can be trusted to set up something ‘safe’. Which leaves just one openingfor the bloke from the Monster Raving Loony Party* and that’s not good odds for any hopeof getting genuinely radical change. Which is the reason I decided not to apply to be a tran-sition trustee. I’m not sure I stood a chance anyway but I reckon that in this particular case itis going to be more effective being outside the tent than in.

So like all the best “comments” in Navvies this one has evolved into a chal-lenge – if we are going to have any influence in how NWC is set up then we need toachieve two things: Firstly, good work, because no matter how respectable our reputationthey will be wanting to look at what volunteers and alternative management structures(that’s WRG!) are delivering today. Secondly, we need to generate some good debate on the‘suits versus shovels’ argument and if anyone is qualified to debate this it’s Navvies readers.Because, although by the time you read this the transition trustees will have been picked, thedecisions they make over the next year will select the balance of suits and shovels through-out the organisation from bottom to top.

* Given that there are seven trustees, the other possible analogy I could have used was theSeven Dwarfs. But I still think the issue shows through: I don’t remember Snow White say-ing “Listen everyone, I think Dopey has got the right answer….”

Next week...

...we will be getting the Camp Kits ready – now everybody seemed to get the hang off thekit not having numbers on anymore BUT it still needs to say WRG on it somewhere!People seemed to think that if the kit list said three roasting tins then they just needed tofind any three tins and pack them. As a result we had lots of tins saying “Nits and StuffsVillage Hall” and presumably they are now pondering why their tins now have “wrg canalcamps” engraved on them!

After a particularly embarrassing moment...

...last month it might be timely to remind everyone that, if you are dropping off a WRGtrailer at our compound please don’t leave the handbrake on. They tend to stick on and thismakes driving them off again very difficult. If you are worried about it rolling off then chockit (and of course fit the wheel clamp). It took a lot of effort to get the wheels rolling againand we knew what we were doing. Another driver might not have been able to get it goingand that would have made a right mess of some weekend wouldn’t it !

A circular from the HSE...

...reminds us that they have recently decided that the levels of dust used when a cut-off saw(that’s a Stihl brick-saw to you and me) means that you need ‘FFP3 grade’ dust-masks, evenif you are using a dust suppression system (that’s a water bottle to you and me). We will bedeciding whether to upgrade everyone’s masks in the PPE kits or supply some special onesjust for the brick-saw in time for the Camps. Full details on HSE website, search for‘misc830’.

My friends on the inside

...tell me that, by the time you read this, the Droitwich Junction Canal will be open – blimey!

Inglesham

Initial investigations have started on this exciting new site. However, please remember thatthe Roundhouse and much of the grounds are a private residence. Just because we know Nicdoesn’t mean we can roam over his property. When you arrive at Inglesham you will bebriefed on the boundaries of our work site. Please don’t go past these boundaries without aninvite.

A reminder...

...that this years Mikron performance at Rowington Village Hall will be on 2nd August – allwelcome, bring your own picnic, or just watch Bungle and Mel tackle their epicurean epic.Some acting will be going on as well.

How will this summer go?

Well it’s looking tricky to predict as just about every ‘partner’ we have is shedding officerslike mad and trying to avoid anything that isn’t core spending. In Navvies not so long ago Idescribed volunteers as the glue that holds everything together when all the other compo-nents look shaky. Looks like we better had be, not only to inspire all those decision makerswatching us but also to keep the movement vibrant in these uncertain times.

Mike Palmer

Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice: May Day Bank Holiday

Before we start the main summer canal camps programme, we’ve got a couple of extracamps that you might be interested in. The first is Canalway Cavalcade, for which we havethis brief note from Liz Wilson:

Volunteers wanted 27th April - 3rd May (or any duration in between) to help out atCanalway Cavalcade at Little Venice in London. Please contact Liz Wilson for details on07730 814029 or [email protected].

Welsh Waterways Festival Camp: 25 - 31 May

...and the next is the Welsh Waterways Festival, aka the IWA National Trailboat Festival,where last year’s successful event on the Mon & Brec is being followed up by one a littlefurther west on the Neath Canal. Here’s Martin Thompson to explain more...

I know it’s a festival and the price of fuel is going up every day it seems, but where canyou have 6 days in a glorious, beautiful rural location, a most excellent canal, near to the longestsingle span aqueduct in the UK, with loads of free entertainment such as vintage machinery(Petter or Lister, which is the best engine, discuss?), music & choral performances, boat andcanoe demonstrations, plus much, much more. Oh, just a little side job will be helping to sup-plement the (no doubt keen and plenty in number) local canal trust volunteers to set up thesite, do odd jobs on the show days and help take it all down again. Although the exactrange of jobs has yet to be confirmed, there will plenty of time to enjoy the show. We willhave the WRG stand present to promote our wonderful way of life and hopefully attractmore people to join us, so standing around drinking tea/coffee will add that authentic touch!

The site location is at Ynysarwed Farm, Abergarwed, Resolven, SA11 4DD. Currentlythe intent is to arrive on the Wednesday (25 April) evening and depart sometime on Tuesday1st May. A WRG van plus a kit trailer has been booked and will be leaving from RAFFairford nr Swindon so if you need a ride /car pooling please contact me and I will try to sortsomething out. Accommodation location has yet to be confirmed but I’m sure it will belovely and near an appropriate hostelry! If you’re interested, ring me on 07736-796419 oremail head office on [email protected].

Leaders’ Training Day, 14 May

If you can bear to wait just a few seconds longer before we get to the nitty gritty and actu-ally start telling you about the summer camps, we’d like to say a couple of things aboutcamp leadership. First let’s hear from Helen Gardner:

The leaders day is on Saturday 14th May 2011 at Corley Village Hall, near Coventry(*). It will start around 10am and we’ll be done by 5pm. The idea is for anyone who hasled (whether last year or not), will lead in the future or think they may – it is also suitablefor local society working party organisers. We cover training on issues that have arisen outof the camps season and also things that people want to cover.

We also look at things that have gone well and share any good ideas we’ve had. Thereis no cost to the day and lunch is provided. Book by emailing Jenny Black [email protected] and including your dietary requirements. Any questions [email protected] 07989 425346.

* and more pertinently, near Fillongley - see the note about the Dr Busker gig on page 38

Coming soonLots of canal camps!

With the start of the summer camps

programme barely two months off, it’s

time to send your bookings in. Here’s

part one of our camps preview to help

you decide which camps to go on...

And on the subject of leaders...

...it’s over to James Butler for an update on how we’re doing with sorting leaders for thesummer’s camps... and sorting a leader-sorter for next year...

It’s only March and already it’s t-shirt weather. Things are looking good for a scorcherof a summer in both weather and in the world of WRG camps! We have already had onevery successful canal camp and we have many more to come - but we still need a few morepeople to fill in a couple more gaps for leading, assisting and cooking. There are only a fewlimited spaces left so if you haven’t contacted myself or Jenny Black at head office then NOWis the time to do so before your chance goes. Jenny Black can be contacted by email [email protected] and I can be emailed at [email protected]

Also as mentioned in last Navvies, I am stepping down from the leader-findingrole at the end of this year. I would like to thank everyone who has come forward to helpnext year, but unfortunately the hat in which we could put some names is a bit empty at themoment. Without someone to co-ordinate finding leaders there may well be many fantasticcamps in 2012 which could have given us all a chance to escape from the Olympics, butwhich might not go ahead due to no leaders being found! There is great support from manypeople in WRG so you won’t be doing the whole job yourself - and coming forward won’tautomatically entitle you to 10 years worth of committee meetings! So don’t be scared! Iam happy to chat to anyone about what the role consists of. There is no minimum or maxi-mum length of time to do the role either. More next time about what I do!

Training Weekend 18-19 June

There’s just one last thing left before we get onto the summer camps, and that’s to tell youhow to go about getting some training that you’ll be able to put to good use on your camp.Once again Ali Bottomley is co-ordinating the Training Weekend, and once again the Li-chfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust are kindly providing a work site to host it.

It’s still in the fairly early days of planning so we don’t have details of what manualskills (eg bricklaying), plant and vehicles (eg driving dumpers or minibuses) or other training(eg First Aid) will be on offer yet. But we do very much aim to match the training availableto (a) want to learn (so give Ali a ring and tell her!) and (b) what skills are likely to be usefulon the summer’s camps (so read the camps preview article below to find out) We have over-night accommodation available, and there will be more details on the WRG website. Butremember: we can’t promise to provide any training at short notice, so don’t just turn upand expect to be able to learn to drive a digger. You need to book on, and the sooner youdo that the better: Phone Ali on 07719 643870 or email [email protected].

And finally, what you’ve been waiting for...

Back onto this year’s camps, and once again we’ve been in touch with the leaders of the firsthalf of this summer’s programme to tell us first-hand about their camps and why you shouldbook on. And it all kicks off with a week on the Basingstoke Canal on 25 June to 2July, led by Paul Shaw. So, Paul, what’s happening?

The work has changed slightly from what was initially advertised, and we’ll now bebuilding a lock landing stage or two. This will involve sheet piling, so if you’ve not seen thisdone before now is a good chance to learn how it works. If you have seen it done, we needyou to show the rest of us how to do it! As ever with the Basingstoke Canal, there will belots of digger and dumper work. The acommodation has been upgraded from last year’s‘portacabins’, and this year we should be returning to Knaphill Football Club. Yes, there areeven showers at the accommodation!

But that’s not the only camp that week. Over on the Cotswold Canals, KESCRG willbe helping to put the finishing touches on Eisey Lock, which we’ve been rebuilding for thelast three years. Let’s hear from Adam ‘Digger’ Morris about it...

Our summer camp is at Eisey Lock on the Thames & Severn Canal which will hopefullybe finished this year in true “one more camp should do it” style! The outstanding work in-cludes the rebuilding of the lower wingwalls, placing the coping stones along the length of

the lock, reinstalling the bywash and landscaping the area on our way out.Any left over materials need transporting to nearby Inglesham and there will also be

plenty of “just” jobs as always. Team this up with our usual great selection of social eventsand we have a perfect camp in the making. We don’t have any accommodation sorted as yet,but when has that ever stopped us?

Next we head for a new site, the Higher Avon in Warwickshire for 2 to 9 July. Here’scamp leader Ed Walker to tell us about it:

Richard Worthington, Harri Barnes and I will be leading another action packed week;this year on the River Avon near the M40 road bridge. We will be working on a brand newproject to help make the River Avon navigable as far as Warwick - at present you can onlyboat as far as Stratford-upon-Avon. The first stage of this is to build a slipway so trail boatscan use the navigable-but-isolated section into Warwick.

This camp will consist of all the usual work associated with putting in a slipway - con-crete, steelwork, earthmoving and possibly a small amount of bricklaying and I’m sure we’llfind some fun things to do in the evenings, we’ve already found a pub that has a skittle alley!

Unfortunately as we go to press the camp is already fully booked. Feel free to phonehead office nearer the time to see if there are any more places due to cancellations, but ifnot perhaps a week on the Chesterfield Canal would suit instead? Let’s hear from SteveBaylis about what’s happening there on the same week - and the following week too.

Welcome to the first of two weeks this summer on the Chesterfield. From the 2nd-9thJuly George Rogers and myself will be working in partnership with Chesterfield Canal Truston the building of a brand new lock from the ground up as we work towards the re-openingof more sections of this historic canal, which was originally opened on the 4 June 1777.

The work will mainly involve the setting out and laying of brick and blockwork for thefoundations of the new lock and wing walls. If you have ever fancied learning to bricklay,this is your camp. If you want to mix tons of mortar, move loads of bricks, this is also thecamp for you!! We are also looking for experienced brickies and groundworkers, and ofcourse, D of E volunteers and other newcomers.

As camp leaders, George and I look forward to welcoming you on to what we plan tobe a superb camp. We hope to have the accommodation confirmed within the next couple ofweeks and are planning a number of evening activities just in case you have some energyleft to burn, failing that, the local pub may see an increase in profit for the week!! If youwant any more details on the camp, please feel free to give me a call on 07919 386 628.

And staying up in Derbyshire, the Chesterfield camps are followed immediately by aweek on the Cromford on 16 to 23 July. Here’s leader George Rogers with the latest...

Work on the Cromford Canal this summer offers something different: Water! And no, Idon’t mean rain; this section does actually have water in it, even if there aren’t any boats yet.Plus, it’s a world heritage site – so a double difference to enjoy and help to shape.

The week will be split between two sites, the main focus being the removing and re-building of an outfall (where the water may or may not get in the way) in preparation for therebuilding of a spill weir at a future date. Another group will then be on a separate (dry)section commencing the rebuilding of a gauging narrows.

And for those interested in other forms of transport, Crich Tramway Village have of-fered to open up for us for free one evening. Add to that myself, Rakey Dave, the marvels ofSue Johnson’s cooking and you have the potential for an entertaining week. So come andenjoy something a little different, and hopefully the start of a long campaign on the Cromford!

We’ve also got a couple of weeks on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canals in SouthWales on 9 to 23 July which we’ll tell you about next time, along with the latest on the Burton-upon-Trent IWA Festival Camp and the second half of the summer’s programme. And for ataster of what we’ll be doing in August on the Montgomery Canal, Alan Jervis says...

Where better to spend your summer? The next issue of Navvies will contain moreinformation from the leaders about the work on the Mont Canal Camps but at least some ofthe camps will require experienced machine operators so we thought we’d tell you now.

See Alan’s article about our plans for the Montgomery on page 25.Finally, there’s an extra camp this autumn run by WRG Forestry Team at Nynehead on

the Grand Western - see p38.Meanwhile, until the next time... get those bookings sent in now to avoid disappointment!

Chelmer & Blackwater NavigationCamp 2011-01: Feb 19-26

My very first camp as leader and i wasn’treally sure what to expect. Well I shouldn’thave worried so, my volunteers arrived asplanned and they were: Purple Helen, Robthe weekend cook, Sleeepy Dave, A.D. as-sistant leader alias H

2O, Adrian - Radio Gaga,

Dave - Pathman, Colin - Puzzler, Jonathan -Dumper, Tom - Maverick, Ninja, Chris -Hightower, Sarah - Smurfette, Jack -Pantenn, Greg - Dennis, Oliver - Flash Ourother cook Frank alias Mr Greyson (are youbeing served?) Tuesday till Friday, andSarah - Handsfree.

Let me say a big thankyou to Roy, Colinand Michael the locals who were a fantastichelp to me and the team, many thanks guys.

All arrived at the accomodation - theHaybay - by 5pm and unpacked and settledwell into this super barge. We had a great mealby rob, the H&S talk was completed withouttoo many mistakes - not by me of course.We all decided to adjourn to the local tointroduce ourselves to the friendly people(Jolly Roger). Some tried to play darts whileothers tried their hand at car racing on the Wiicomputer; after much laughter it was time forbed and all slept well for the first night.

Sunday morning arrived very quickly, ahearty breakfast was eaten with great relishwith a hope of more to come. Arrived on siteat 9.30am (breaking them in gently). We metRoy at Hoe Mill Lock where we were loadinga boat with all the stone from dredgings ofthe Navigation; they were then being takento Heybridge Basin. Maverick drove thesmall boat ferrying people to each shore,which by the end of the day he managed tomaster but let me assure you, not before hegave the leader a little dunk in the drink,how she managed to save herself i don’tknow because all in the boat were wettingthemselves including Maverick. I was notamused, very much.

The day involved much engineering butwas successful and was ended with another

good meal and an evening of domino felling(mostly unsuccessful, Ninja, Hightower andPantenn) and various other games.

Monday.... Thursday. Paper Mill Lock...Well let me see. What was it the team did? Ifrecall correctly there was some shifting ofabout 100 tonnes of Type 1 stone, pathlaying alng the moorings, followed by muchwhacking done by all. When we had finishedthe task of finishing the path and Tea Shopcar park, another task was found: to dig aFrench drain, lay and level and much morewhacking of the boaters car park. The fourdays were varied (not) but the tasks weredone with great enthusiasm.

It was a great team for my first campand they all worked like Trojans. The eve-nings... Well what can I say? They workedhard and they played harder. There weremany games of chess, Pictionary andwhiteboard Hangman, the crew were fond of

Loading material onto the work boat

All p

hoto

s by D

avid

Mille

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Camp ReportChelmer & Blackwater Navigation

The Canal Camps 2011

programme kicks off

with a week of towpath

work on ‘our’

waterway...

“Who needs a

leader when you

have such a

great team of

volunteers?”

Camp reportChelmer & Blackwatera tipple or 2 (...3-4-5-6... well I leave that toyou). We felt we had to be hospitable to thelocals and kept them company on manynights, taking over the dartboard and Wiiconsole.

By Wednesday I wasn’t really needed aswhen we got to site all got on with the jobs -who needs a leader all week when you havesuch a great team of volunteers?

Quiz night at The Ship: one team came2nd ,one team came 4th and one came joint7th (but it wasn’t last, you must understandthat it was joint 7th). Hightower won a tin ofchocolates which under some gentle persua-sion he shared with all, thanks Chris.

Friday, last day on site and it was backto Hoe Mill Lock loading more dredgingsonto two barges, this time to be moved. Itwas almost disaster as we couldn’t get theBurco to fire but after gently bashing it didoblige and we did do some work. Thatevening it was a pub crawl from the Ship tothe Jolly Roger until 2am when we left qui-etly and meandered back to the Haybay,some went to bed ,some ate lots and somewere still playing games - night night fromme and don’t wake me!

Saturday I let them have a lie in ,brekker at 9am then time for the worst partof camp: packing, counting and saying good-bye to new friends of which I’ve made a fewthanks to WRG.

Let me just say a big thank you toall the volunteers and MUPs who mademy job easy.

Debbie Curtis

Using the small boat to ferry volunteers Compacting the towpath with a Wacker plate

Wilts & Berks Trust Christmas Camp

The start of the camp didn’t bode too wellfrom the point of view of how much workwe’d be able to do. We were under at least 3"of snow, with 3"-4" of ice on the canal itself.Only Robin, myself and Di were able to makeit on Boxing Day, so we spent the time thin-ning out part of the hedge that Di will belaying in the Spring, being showered withsnow with every branch we pulled out!

Monday not only saw five more arrivals,but the hoped-for start of a thaw. Rob hadbeen planning to come up before Christmas,but having an old house he was concernedabout burst pipes, particularly if there was athaw, so unfortunately he didn’t feel safeleaving home until the Wednesday. DavidJames also put off coming until Tuesdayafter a heavy (?) previous night, but Frank,David Salisbury, Lifeboat Alan, Mike Helasand Valerie arrived on Monday. There wasstill a lot of snow around, so that day hadbeen spent having big bonfires to burn Di’shedgelaying brash.

Tuesday at last saw us starting on thebig task for the camp - breaking up theconcrete base of the spillweir to the east ofDauntsey Lock. We’ve known for some timethat there was a serious leak from under-neath the spillweir, and the only way to findout what was going on was to take up theconcrete, which we’d started on the BITMChristmas dig. Unfortunately it turned out tobe 8"-9" thick, much worse than we’d ex-pected. It took a combination of brick saw,Kango hammer and sledgehammer (thelatter combined with brute force and igno-rance) to even start to make an impression.It took several of us, taking turns with thevarious demolition tools, most of the rest ofthe camp to finally break it up, get the piecesout and smash these into smaller lumps sothe local farmer could use them for hardcorein his gateways.

For the last few Christmas camps, I’vebeen lucky enough to have the loan of a 3-tonne digger - FREE - for the complete week

to use on the Foxham/Lyneham Branch. Thelocal hire company, having had all theirequipment off hire for that period, wererelieved to have a little extra space in theiryard. It proved invaluable, not only forscooping out all the concrete out of thespillweir and loading the dumper, but alsofor removing willow saplings along the canalbank, and these are now cleared for at leasta mile along that stretch.

I was also able to train both DavidSalisbury and Lifeboat Alan (Simister) onsmall excavators, both proving competent.By cutting round sections of the concrete wewere able to wrap a chain round and liftthem out with the digger. At one stage, onelarge lump slipped and fell back into thewater, one or two people having an earlycold shower.

We averaged 10 people for most of theweek. As some went home, others arrived,with Martin T. and Luke arriving on NewYear’s Eve. Alan enjoyed himself so muchthat he stayed on for extra days, as didValerie who cleared a lot of bramble out ofthe hedge ahead of the hedgelaying. Robinalso did bramble clearance, and Frank keptthe home (bon)fires burning. We also hadhelp from our local work party on a coupleof days.

Di proportioned her time between herthree roles of cook, shopper and hedgelayer,and still managed to have tea on the table byaround 6.30 p.m. each day. It might havebeen difficult to fit in 3-4 hours a day work-ing on site if she hadn’t done plenty of ad-vance preparation, including making all thecakes and freezing them. What did we dowithout freezers? We probably bought ready-made cakes and puddings, not to mentionsome main courses, from the old supermar-ket, but Di feels that she’d be letting peopledown if she did that. My neighbour Fran, aTrust member, also baked some cakes for us.

We were two people short, as one ofthe three Davids had ‘flu, and Welsh Alanwas descended on unexpectedly by his fam-ily, so had a celebratory gathering.

Camp ReportNew Year on the Wilts & Berks

The Christmas Camp

that didn’t quite make it

into the last issue of

Navvies: WBCT at

Dauntsey

The snow had virtually gone by Friday,and the ice was receding on the canal untilby Saturday it might not have borne theweight of a dog, viz a 26kg flat-coated re-triever. We were hoping anyway that shemight have learnt her lesson after falling offthe edge of ice into the water two weekspreviously on a BITM dig! Mina loves canalcamps, and as usual had a whale of a time.She particularly took to Mike, and when hemade the mistake of lying down on his bedon his last night before he went home, andtherefore on Mina’s level, he found himselfsmothered with big sloppy kisses.

We have got well used to the FoxhamReading Rooms now, and they provide awarm welcome to come back to each nightafter a bitterly cold day on site. The caretak-ers decorate them well for Christmas, includ-ing a lighted tree next to Frank’s bed, but itdidn’t seem to keep him awake judging fromthe regular sounds emanating from there.They don’t have showers, but as I only liveabout 3 miles away, the campers were ableto come back to the cottage each night to getcleaned up.

Our Christmas camp tends to consist ofa number of jigsaw addicts, and we com-pleted two 1,000 piece and one 500 piece bySaturday night. In fact, we only managed todrag them away on one night for a skittlesevening.

We had only hired the Reading Roomsuntil Sunday morning, and as six of us werestaying on to work until Monday lunchtime,we all then retreated to the cottage for Sun-day night. Winter returned on Monday, butwe still managed to struggle through!

All the work we were hoping for wascompleted, and everyone worked incrediblyhard, and they were probably quite glad toget home and rest their aching muscles. Weeven managed to burn a lot of brash downby Lock 1 at 7 Locks, and tirfor out quite afew stumps. I am extremely grateful for allthat was done, and enjoyed the company ofeveryone.

Rachael Banyard

“The caretakers had

decorated the

accommodation for

Christmas including a lighted

tree next to Frank’s bed...”

Camp reportWilts & Berks

WRG FT cut it up (above) and burn it(below) at Nynehead - see report opposite

All p

hoto

s by T

im L

ew

is

Dig ReportWRG FT on the Grand Western

Reporting from WRG Forestry

Team’s long weekend carrying

out final clearance in preparation

for a major project by

contractors at Nynehead

Grand Western Dirty WeekendFebruary 18th - 20th

At Nynehead on the Grand Western Canal,scene of rather a lot of WRG Forestry actionin recent years, plans are well in hand for amajor work programme by contractors,funded through Natural England’s HigherLevel Environmental Stewardship scheme,involving work on two aqueducts and thesurviving remains of the best-preserved ofthe seven boat lifts on the canal. WRG FTwent down there again in February for a finallong weekend of preparation in readiness forthe start of this project in spring. Molly andHazel take up the story...

It was a cold and muddy but not wet week-end! With the Harris moor replanted wemoved on to the adjacent land following theline of the canal. Next job to do clearance ofoverhanging trees near to the aqueductready for contractors to restore all the stone-work including the lift and Three ArchBridge.

All fourteen hot and steamy bodiessqueezed into Denis Dodd’s love shack. Withchef Jo’s cooking, there was plenty of windaround to help with the fellingof the trees. First day startedwith the catering department’sdream answered, the Tesco’slady arriving and standing andwatching the guys unload hervan of the grub for the week-end, then the scrub bashingand site clearing commenced,with Alan on his brush cutter,John the Hawk on his bow-saw, ready for the massesarriving the next day, Martyndoing a grand job of supervis-ing from the bank, with Clive& Ben making more mess forJo and Lou to tidy up asusual.

Second day and themasses have arrived. The day

starts with Barry the bolt going completelyblind, after a tree stole his glasses, flingingthem into the undergrowth,never to be seenagain! Chainsaws were in abundance by now,with Clive & Ben swinging (in the trees),John Rogers on logging, ably supervised byMartyn. Whilst Paul Shaw coppiced the areabelow the Aqueduct, Sir Clive and Tim Lewiswere on dragging and clearing to the“smaller” second fire. John and Alan headedthe Perfect Tirforing team, pulling downmany trees that Clive & Ben had been swing-ing in! Lou kept Alan happy by keepingStiggy - more machine than man - filled,with standard tea breaks including lunchtime.Afternoon work: more the same as themorning.

Sunday and the last day, finishing up atlunch time. Log splitting was enjoyed by Jo& Lou keeping them out of mischief. Every-one else was on tidying up their own messand making a grand job of it. Lunch timeover and everyone departs, with Tim leavinghalf his luggage behind as usual. A goodweekend was had by all, leaving Mr Dodd torecover from his love shack weekend andleaving for Tenerife the following weekend.

Molly and Hazel

Nynehead boat lift awaits the start of major work

WRG at 40Forty views for forty years

hH

ele

n G

ard

ner

Ian Mac tells us all about

Marple, the Warm Hole,

the Cold Hole, and a

‘precocious little bugger’

called Mike Palmer...

40 Views for 40 Years

The eighth in a series of articles to celebrate WRG’s 40th birthday by capturing the views ofvarious people who have been involved in various capacities.

Now for an epic: Ian ‘Mac’ McCarthy; those of you who know Ianwill not be surprised to learn that he was able to talk for two andhalf hours and still have lots more to say. Ian – son of Mr Mac –tells us of tales of Manchester in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Obviously I’vehad to edit this down severely and it was hard to choose which bitsto include and which bits had to go – I’ve had to leave a lot out butyou’ll get the gist...

Q: How and when did you first get involved in canal restoration?A: I didn’t get involved in canal restoration straight away, what actuallyhappened was I was brought up in a good Church of England Christian Societyand I went, like everybody else in the ’50s and ’60s, to Sunday school. Onlymy father was the Sunday school headmaster so one definitely had to go.When we were about 9 we went into a Sunday school class that was run by one Harold Wither who was alocal lad in his late 20s at the time. Unfortunately Harold died earlier this year in February. Harold, at theend of the year, took his class for the last Sunday out on a trip. In the early July we went on a trip, nowhindsight’s wonderful, I now understand why we went on the trip. The reason we went on the trip was thatHarold was actually a scout master for Manchester Grammar School Troop C Scouts; to occupy the scoutshe and two of the other Scout masters had bought the narrowboat William which was one of the royalty classking class narrowboats and they’d bought it out of trade from whoever was carrying coal on it in the early‘60s and they’d converted into a boat that the Scouts could go away on – it had a Bollinder in it. Because itwas Manchester Grammar School, they broke up for their summer holidays a week earlier than all the otherschools so the Scout troop went away on holiday on the boat the week that was the last Sunday of Sundayschool. So that Harold could go, he took us as a group of kids on the narrowboat.

My first recollection is going on this magical journey when I was about 9, we went by train into Man-chester, we then walked to Knott Mill railway station and got on the old Altrincham electric line and caughtthe train out to Brooklands where the boat was moored up. We then got on the boat. We then went fromthere by boat to Broken Cross at Northwich. We then walked back into Northwich, had a root round therailway sheds with the steam engines, collected some numbers and then caught the train back into Manches-ter. That was magic, it was a magic day out. It was ruined a bit, somebody else had brought along a class ofgirls and we went under a pipe bridge and when she was told to duck she turned round to look at the bridgeand smacked straight into it. After that I was hooked and we wanted to go on the boat again. But of coursehe carried on taking the 9 year olds – it was only when he was promoted to the senior school we got trips outagain on the boat. I can remember all the masters went off to the pub except Harold who gave us a Sundayschool lesson sat on the bank at Lymm. I remember them coming back with a water can full of beer – be-cause then the more senior scouts could have beer. Things were so much easier in those days.

The next time I remember going on the boat was mid 60s – did the same run again – except there wereonly a couple of steam engines in the shed at Northwich that time.

One of my mates, he’d actually joined the scout troop because he went to Manchester Grammarschool - he’d got a scholarship from Manchester Corporation. Because he was in the Scout troop he knewwhat they were doing and they used to raise funds to pay for diesel for the boat by doing little jollies. Thelittle jolly I first remember going on was in late ‘66 and we went up the Rochdale canal in the centre of Man-chester just after Frowdy [?] had cleaned it out; they’d managed to get up the Rochdale Canal and we

attempted it with a little fibreglass boat called Tigerlily - thatbecame an annual event.

I missed out on operation Ashton because I didn’tknow about it but the year after they had a working partyat Marple – it was only a small one but I conned my fatherinto taking me there. The important thing was I was only15 – that’s quite important because I actually believe anawful lot of my mates all started off at the age of about 14/15 in canal restoration; they got the bug at that age. Onceyou’ve got the bug then you’re into it and it’s self perpetu-ating. But if they find something else to do at that age theythat’ll be the bug. I really believe we’ve got to get over thisstupidity of health and safety which is absolutely adverse torisk; people have got to understand risk and the only wayof understanding risk is that you understand what the risk isby experiencing it. The other thing is we’ve got to sort outis the insurance.

At 15 I was working on the canal at Marple and Ireally enjoyed it I then took to riding over there on mybike. I joined such luminaries as Tim Noakes, PeteStockdale, Andrew Boucher, we worked with Cyril‘Tongue and Groove’ Boucher. We used to sleep inBoucher’s cellar on the Saturday night – we used to drinkin the pub. By 16 I was drinking cider in the pub – drink-ing pint for pint against people like John Greenway. JohnGreenway used to turn up with a party 7 under his arm aslight refreshment before the pub opened. John Foley was around, Mike Heap, Ted Keaveney, the man whodid all the insurance: Ted Hill.

We started on the bottom eight at Marple, we were slowly trying to get those to work and by 1970we’d actually made [it] (and this was under the guise of the Peak Forest Canal Society). In 1970 me dadtook me on another working party and I believe it was the first big working party that WRG was involved inor it might well have been London IWA in those days. We started on the top eight, in particular the sidepounds. I remember digging sedge out of what’s called the pound out of Possett Lock which is the one inMarple right by the main road. We spent ages digging that out.

Q: What kind of state were the locks in when you started?A: Cyril ‘Tongue and Groove’ Boucher had done quite a lot of work by that stage and the bottom eightcould be made to hold water. The top gates were still in but some had missing or rotten balance beams; thebottom gates were there but very ropey. We used signal posts to replace them, we’d got the bottom 8working fairly well and we’d started working our way up the top eight. There was a magic working partywhere London IWA and Piggy turned up with a gate for lock 10 – a steel gate – all the others were wooden.They tried to lift it in with a Jones crane and the dumper truck fell in the canal and the crane fell over – it wasbasically a comedy of errors. It was lots of well meaning people who couldn’t measure things and didn’tquite understand how the canal worked.

At the top there was a guy called Tommy Wood who was the section inspector for the Peak ForestCanal: from Dukinfield all the way up to Whaley Bridge [though I’m sure he said Wallaby Ridge!] and Bugs-worth. He was really up for restoration and he used to say things like ‘if you want to do this properly thenwhat you need to do is...’ All locks on Marple Lock leak like sieves – Tommy knew what the answer was:you dig down the back, you repuddle them and they’ll be right for another 150 years because that’s how longthe pressure of the water filling and emptying the lock will take to punch its way through the clay - as long asyou do it properly. If you don’t do that the water will punch through, fill another void then it’ll wash it all outagain – and that is precisely what’s happening. We’ve got this quick fix mentality of how to fix a lock cham-ber that’s been happening at Marple Locks for the past 40 years: ‘oh dear it’s leaking we’ll pressure groutthem again’ at vast expense. These days with a big machine you could rip the clay out in a day – although it’smore expensive at the time it’ll last a lot longer. There’s lot of examples like that – the old ways are seen asslow but they actually work.

In 1971 [maybe late 70] about Christmas time it was decided that we would have a rally of boats in

Marple Locks with work in progress

Chris

Griff

iths

Manchester, in the city centre, based on the Dale St car park of the Rochdale Canal as a campaigning thing.We would take 100 boats – it became known as the 100 boat rally. I remember we arrived at CastlefieldLock – we made stop planks out of bits of old floor boarding and lumped them together, we ended up usinga Bridgewater boat as a strap to stop them bowing in the middle. We dug out all the muck from behind thebottom lock gates and tipped it on the offside – there was a guy who lived in the house called Bill Robertswho ran a firm called Home Hire; a ladder and wheelbarrow run hire place which was dead handy becausewe got the wheelbarrow runs from him. We were also allowed to sleep in his railway arch which he ran hisbusiness out of – this was underneath what’s now the line that goes from Knott Mill to Salford station. Therewas still the next two arches owned by a rag and bone firm; one was where the rags were stored and sortedand the other was where the ponies were kept and hired out from.

We set to work there; we replaced all the timber boarding from the low water level up to the top on thebottom gates with floor joists which we fastened on with big nails. We slowly then worked our way up theflight kind of codging the gates as we went; dumping all the muck from behind the gates in piles. The lockkeeper still lived on the canal (Harold Williams) and had lived there with his mistress since before the FirstWorld War – and she used to row at him. We numbered them [locks] from the bottom up – lock 1 was theone at Duke’s 92. Harold’s lock was in immaculate condition for two reasons: one Harold lived there and

two the IWPS had had a go in the mid sixties(under Bessie Bunker) at this magic competitionto keep the Rochdale open and they’d connedindustry into taking a lock each in sponsorship andrestoring it – but they took the one at lock 7[Harold’s] and they won the competition becauseit needed no working doing to it. It actually did animmense amount of harm to the political scene.

We slowly restored our way up theRochdale replacing gate timbers as they came untilwe got to lock 8. Now lock 8 was an epic –because it had been built over, the bottom lockgates had dry rot and were basically dust. TimNoakes and I were the main carpenters; PeteStockdale was in charge of getting the diggers andthe barrow hoist. We set to and we had thismonstrous working party where we had to sawthrough, by hand, the mitre post. Basically wehad a week off college to do this – I can remem-ber it took us 24 hours to get the scarf joint intothe post – whatever that timber was made ofbelow the water line it was like rock – I canremember still sawing through it at 3 o’clock in themorning.

We slept down there underneath RodwellTower in a place that became known as the WarmHole. All the central heating pipes kept it lovelyand warm – there was this breeze block hole intothese foundations so we camped out there – wehad cookers and everything. We had 2 pubs onthe Rochdale – we had the Crown Hotel onDeansgate for the bottom of the flight. Mrs


“We slept underneath Rodwell

Tower in a place that became

known as the Warm Hole. All the

central heating pipes kept

it lovely and warm...”

Patching up the Rochdale Nine and (below)boats using them for the 1971 rally

Chris

Griff

iths

Harr

y A

rnold

Clearing Lock 8 of the Rochdale Nine (the one under RodwellTower) during the 1974 series of digs

Hardcastle used to run it and interesting characters used to live there. We used to go in the back room andsing rugby songs. At the top of the flight we had the Coach and Horses. We got evicted from the warm holeby the police – who came in and said ‘we’re very sorry lads – you’re doing a right good job’. The policereally knew us well – they’d turn up and come and drink tea that my father used to come down and brew.My father and another guy called Tom Cook would arrive about 3, 4 o’clock in the afternoon and they’dbrew tea. On a Saturday that’s the time when all the football supporters are inside the ground – it was alwaysa 3 o’clock kickoff. The police used to come and drink tea. When they came to evict us they were verypolite - they said “there’s somewhere else you can use”. That was an air raid shelter actually underneath DaleSt - it had been built by the Corporation for the Rochdale Canal Company. We made a big heavy door – putthat on and that became known as the Cold Hole.

Lock 9 wasn’t bad and with a couple of weeks to clear we managed to get a boat up the flight. Wehad the rally of the 100 boats. Ted being Ted [Keaveney] had managed to get every councillor that he couldthink of to turn up. That was probably the thing that got the restoration to occur. Ted discovered who thechauffeurs were for all the mayors and organised for the chauffeurs to bring the mayors and then told themayors they were coming – they couldn’t say they weren’t because the cars were organised.

One boat needed to go on the Saturday (the James Loader) – we’d said ‘right – there is only yougoing downhill and we are going to go for it – we are going to take you downhill quick’. We did it in 45minutes – from Piccadilly to him going away from the bottom. 9 locks 45 minutes – 9 wide locks. But goingalong the Oxford Road pound you needed your wellies on because it was about a foot above the towpath.We discovered the nuclear bunker by flooding it and then depriving it of water.

We got the boats up – basicallyas a consequence the restoration ofthe Cheshire Canal ring which is whatwe’d been campaigning for hap-pened. Then it started big style.There was an agreement with BritishWaterways that there would bevolunteer input – we went back toclearing all the lock chambers out atMarple. By that stage we had somebetter funding and the ability to conindustry. We’d got Grayston Cranesto provide us with small mobile cranesand that made clearing out lock cham-bers great fun. Waterway RecoveryGroup had come into existence underthe guise of Piggy – him and NigelStevens, Mike Day, Meg would allappear and camp out in various churchhalls – there were various lasses –Maggie Blewitt sticks in mind.

One thing that set the canal society and WRG apart [specifically talking about Ashtac] was WRGwould come in and blitz the place and we’d then spend months sorting out the political ramifications and allthe shit that was left behind. There was lots of support beforehand setting it up and greeting people – after-wards it was just left to the canal society and it was a real hard job sorting. There was a lot of animositycaused by that between the Peak Forest working party and the Peak Forest Canal Society and WRG – a lotof management had to go on. Anyway – we got it restored. We set off with a narrowboat called Ant andthat was the first boat that actually did the full length of the [Ashton] canal. Joel was the first boat to getdown from the Ashton into Manchester.

This bit of a problem came into existence – the Rochdale was still like we’d left it in Easter 1971 i.e.with knackered gates and not holding water and people now wanted to use this Cheshire Canal Ring that wasbeautifully restored. The Rochdale Canal Company who had hoped it would never happen and they’d beable to build all over it all of a sudden had a financial liability on their hands and the political persuasion wasthat Manchester Corporation were not going to pay for this big property company to restore – they couldrestore it. There became a huge push from the canal society and Corporation pressure. They agreed thatthey’d have a couple of pairs of lock gates manufactured. They agreed to pay for mobile cranes so we couldclean out the lock chambers. We then ran the Rochdale – we restored it and really dug it out. We had huge

Chris

Griff

iths

working parties; it was the Ashton and the Peak Forest and the Marple crowd all working together.We dug out the Rochdale but it then took a lot of management, we used to work it every weekend and

work boats through it. A couple of our guys were paid for by the Rochdale Canal Company – they workedas lock keepers – 7 day a week cover.

John Palmer came on the scene with his little white pickup. I can actually remember the first day heturned up and stood and watched us clearing out probably lock 14 at Marple. We’d run out of petrol and hewandered over to his pickup and produced a petrol can. And then something else happened and he pro-duced that out of the back of his pickup. This man in a purple boiler suit. He worked for Shell Carrington inthose days who provided the boiler suit. He worked on some peculiar reverse continental shift pattern whichbasically meant you never knew when he was working and when he wasn’t. We used to go and eat in placeslike the Hazel Grove takeaway once John had arrived because he lived in the place – that was always the lastresort when you’re at 11 o’clock on a Sunday night getting back from somewhere and the Hazel Grovetakeaway would feed you. John would take us there and we would suffer.

In those days of course Mikey [Mike Palmer] was this precocious little bugger – 7 year old child, whohad watched every one of the trade programs on BBC2 and could tell you how an atomic reactor worked –in detail. There was another brother but we hardly saw him except when things were desperate. And thenthere was John senior; he ran the camping and outdoor leisure and canals (COLAC) and he had the bigexhibition hall at what was then called Belle Vue in Manchester. Because he couldn’t quite fill the hall thecanal societies got in for free to fill the end of it – so that the traders weren’t at the end of the line.

We’ll have a little digression into canal societies and bric a brac. Having muscled our way onto thecommittee of the Peak Forest Canal Society – we conned my father into joining as well – to give us morepower. We needed money and we had Peak Forest Canal Society sales stand so we made a proper salesstand out of bits of hardboard and pictures of what we did. We used to drag that around the place. I re-member we went to the national rally of boats at Lymm. We sold marble bottles - we’d found a supply and itmust have been somewhere like one of the lock cottages at Marple and we’d discovered the rubbish tip andwe’d dug them all out. We sold them and we made a fortune – we sold them there – that must have been ‘72I think.

I can remember the first working party where I went away. Must have been in 1970/69 – we weregoing to go and work on the Stratford canal at somewhere need Lowsonford. We didn’t have many awayworking parties because we were trying to restore our own canal so everybody came to us.

Q: After the Cheshire Ring was restored what happened next?A: We convinced the committee of the Peak Forest Canal Society that we had a debt of honour to pay –what we did, we got them to fund us to go away once a month and pay for the fuel and maintenance of tools.We started going once a month working on other canals. We went to work on all sorts of things – it startedoff we worked on the Caldon (although that was basically open), we worked on the Cromford – that was awaste of time because they wrecked the pumping engine at Cromford itself by running it off load daft buggers– again it’s not listening to experience or finding out. We used to do 11 working parties on canals (on theAvon, on the Stratford, the Mont must have reared its head, I remember going to the big dig at Droitwich –that must have been ’76).

We went up to Scotland to help the Scottish IWA – they were wondering how to kick start the restora-tion of the Forth and Clyde so we went to Maryhill and dug out the lock chamber up there. We had anotherrun up to Scotland to work on the other end of the canal, we had this amazing run in with this local business-man on the Friday night who appeared from nowhere and suggested we might like to use his canteen. I neverdid read what was written on the wall. On the Saturday afternoon this tight Scottish bugger turned up anddemanded to know how many man hours we’d had on his premises; we’re halving the number and he’sdoubling it and adding a nought. Anyway – he says ‘do you not know what we do here?’ – not a bloodyclue. ‘We’re a distillery and if you’ve had so many man hours on the premises you’re entitled to so much


“At one point some

character called Tom

Cook said ‘Mr Mac – I’ve

had an idea. There’s

all this paper...’ ”

whisky so stop arguing about the numbers’.It was originally called Peak Forest Mobile whilst we were paying off this debt of honour – we were

going to national rallies by that stage as well – we would go as ourselves and not as WRG. Eventually webecame WRG North-West and were completely independent except in name. When we became WRG weinstituted this thing called the ad-hoc which still runs. We weren’t going to be formal we weren’t going tohave named positions – the idea was to be flexible. It worked fairly well.

Q: What was Graham Palmerlike?A: He was a round, gnome-likecharacter – we knew him as Gnome,as Piggy. He always had this bobblehat on. He was quite a forcefulcharacter and knew what he wanted.He had an entourage around him thatcame along for free, that did his beckand call and organised things; thatwould be people like Mike Day,[John] Felix, Doddy [John Dodwell]– yes and no – Doddy was IWA.We didn’t get to know Graham thatwell until we broke out of beingPeak Forest and came under theWRG mantle – that would be ’76,’77.

Now David Hutchings was thereal organiser – he made Piggy looklike a non-starter. Hutchings, weused to have a secret pact when wewent down there – we’d say we are NOT going to jump when he says jump. And we’d all collectively jumpwhen he said jump. An amazing leader, a tremendous guy. I went down there by myself as well – it was justimmense fun working with Hutch. We ran out of cement one Sunday, we drove to the builders yard and wearrived there and it was all locked. He went into this beat up old Land Rover – they weren’t street legal –they were just wrecks. He got the bolt croppers out, cut through the chain, got his own padlock and fastenedthe chain, we went in, got the bags of cement.

Q: WRG North-West has obviously carried on since the ‘70s?A: Now then at one point some character called Tom Cook said ‘Mr Mac – I’ve had an idea. There’s allthis paper’. And that was the start of the WRG North-West paper collection. It’s gone from strength tostrength – in recent years it’s a real money spinner. When we were doing it we were down to 50p a tonne atone stage but we just carried on doing it – it was a social event but once you’d got it going you could nevertell the paper price. It was very variable in those days – it kept the coffers full and it meant we could get atranny van of our own. It paid for the working parties.

Q: What are you most proud of?A: Getting the Rochdale to work in ‘71 was an incredible achievement with volunteers. Volunteers are allvery well and good but at the end of the day they are purely a political weapon. They can’t easily do aserious restoration – it’s a very long winded process. Getting the Rochdale to work again and a 100 boatsup was a major achievement for a volunteer organisation with not much money.

Q: Where do you see WRG’s future?A: For WRG to have a future it’s got to admit it’s a political organisation as well as restoring canals.Canals don’t get restored by WRG. WRG enables the politicians to see the error of their ways and then getround to doing it. WRG has to have two elements in my view.

Helen: I think we’re just about done.Mac: I’m not – I could talk for hours. I only got up to 1975...

Long distance dig: giving a hand on the Forth & Clyde

Navvies diaryYour guide to all the forthcoming work partiesApr 16-25 Camp 2011-02 Cotswolds (Eisey Lock): Leader: Martin Thompson, Assistant: Gary Sum

Apr 16/17 WRG PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) weekend: Basingstoke

Apr 28-May 3WRG Site Services for Little Venice: Volunteers wanted to help run the festiva

Apr 29-May 2wrgNW Thames & Severn Canal: Inglesham Lock. Joint dig with Essex WRG. S

Apr 29-May 2Essex WRG Thames & Severn Canal: Inglesham Lock. Joint dig with wrgNW. Start

Apr 30-May 2IWA National Campaign Rally: Northampton (River Nene)

May 6-12 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend

May 7/8 KESCRG Wendover Arm: KESCRG AGM

May 7 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

May 14 Sat WRG Leaders Training Day: for Canal camp and work party leaders, at Corle

May 14/15 NWPG Thames & Severn Canal: Dig Deep project, bricklaying at Eisey Lock

May 15 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings: Fillongley Village Hall

May 21/22 wrgBITM Rickmansworth Waterways Festival: Site Services and BITM Sales Stand

May 21/22 London WRG Thames & Severn Canal: Dig Deep project at Eisey Lock

May 25-31 WRG Trail-boat Festival, Neath Canal: Site services for Welsh Waterways Festto be held just south of Resolven. Leader: Martin Thompson. See page

May 26-31 WAT WAT festival at Boxmoor: Setting up festival site (open Sat-Mon)

May 28-30 wrgBITM Boxmoor Canal Festival: Wendover Arm Trust festival on new site at HeSite Services and BITM Sales Stand

May 28-30 KESCRG Wendover Arm Festival: at Hemel Hempstead. Bhaji stand.

May 28-30 wrgNW IWA Trail-boat Festival, Neath Canal: Sales Stand

Jun 3-9 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend. To be confirmed

Jun 4/5 London WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Jun 4/5 Essex WRG To be arranged

Jun 11 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Jun 18/19 wrgBITM Wilts & Berks Canal: Lock 2 at Seven Locks, preparing for the new brid

Jun 18/19 wrgNW Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival: Sales Stand

Jun 18/19 WRG WRG Training Weekend: Lichfield Canal

Jun 25/26 NWPG Basingstoke Canal: Construction of back pump pipe

Jun 25/26 London WRG To be arranged: Tool painting weekend?

Jun 25-Jul 1 Camp 2011-05 Thames & Severn Canal: Dig Deep project at Eisey Lock. Week-long ca

Jun 25-Jul 2 Camp 2011-03 CANCELLED - Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: There are still two oth

Jun 25-Jul 2 Camp 2011-04 Basingstoke Canal: Leader: Paul Shaw, Assistant: Steve O’Neill, Cook:

For details of diary dates beyond the end of this list ple

Canal Camps cost £56 per week unless otherwise stated. Bookings

for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 2011-02'

should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham

HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, [email protected]. Diary compiled

by Dave Wedd. Tel: 01252 874437, [email protected]

mmers, Cooks: George Rogers, Debbie Curtis 01494-783453 [email protected]

George ‘Bungle’ Eycott 07771-775745 [email protected]

al Liz Wilson 07810-448109 [email protected]

tart Thurs eve. David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

Thurs eve. John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

John Pomfret [email protected]

Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]

Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

ey Village Hall Helen Gardner 07989-425346 [email protected]

Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 [email protected]

Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]

d Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

tival, Martin Thompson 07736-796419 [email protected] 6


emel Hempstead. Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]



John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

ge. Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

Jenny Black 01494-783453 [email protected]

Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 [email protected]


mp led by KESCRG. 01494-783453 [email protected]

her camps on that week. 01494-783453 [email protected]

Andy Ramsay. 01494-783453 [email protected]

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

Once per month: pls check BCNS BCN waterways Mike Rolfe 07763-1717352nd Sunday & alternate Thurs BCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Mon and Wed CCT Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby 01453-836018Every mon am Thu pm CCT Cotswold (E end) John Maxted 01285-861011Various dates CCT Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract 07986-351412Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Every Tue & Wed C&BN Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale 01376-334896Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 02964th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-26572nd weekend of month GCRS Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield 0115-989-21282nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010Wednesdays H&GCT Over Wharf House Wilf Jones 01452 413888Weekends H&GCT Hereford Aylestone Martin Danks 01432 344488Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 0161-427 74021st & 3rd Sunday KACT Bradford-on-Avon Derrick Hunt 01225-8630662nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Paul Shaw 01524-356851st, 2nd, 4th Sun + 3rd Sat LHCRT Lichfield Sue Williams 01543-6714273rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-374370Last weekend of month MBBCS Creams Paper Mill Steve Dent 07802-973228Two Sundays per month NWDCT N Walsham Canal David Revill 01603-7386482nd & last Sundays PCAS Pocklington Canal Paul Waddington 01757-638027Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird 01394-3807652nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt 01225-863066Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Dave Wedd 01252-874437Last weekend of month SCS Stover Canal George Whitehead 01626-7754982nd Sunday of month SNT Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby 01522-8568101st weekend of month SUCS Newhouse Lock Mike Friend 01948-880723Every Tuesday morning TMCA Thames & Medway C Brian Macnish 01732-823725Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657Wednesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot John Smith 01903-235790Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Peter Jackman 01483-772132Wednesdays WACT Loxwood Link Peter Wilding 01483-422519Thursdays WACT Winston Harwood Grp Tony Clear 01903-774301Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols 01403-7538821st w/e (Fri-Tue or Fri-Wed) WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-8745362nd Thursday of month WAT Drayton Beauchamp Pete Bowers 01255-504540Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Please send any additions corrections or deletions to diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

Abbreviations used in Diary:BCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCBN Chelmer & Blackwater NavigationCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustDCT Droitwich Canals TrustEAWA East Anglian Waterways AssociationECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyKACT Kennet & Avon Canal TrustKESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. Group

LCT Lancaster Canal TrustLHCRT Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n TrustMBBCS Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal SocietyNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupNWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal TrustPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietyRGT River Gipping TrustSCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietySCS Stover Canal SocietySNT Sleaford Navigation TrustSUCS Shropshire Union Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm TrustWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

Mobile groups' socials: phone to confirmLondon WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig. 'StarTavern', Belgrave Mews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094NWPG: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap', Westend of Friar St. Reading. Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

Navvies diaryCanal societies’ regular working parties

“The Kennet and Avon canal,

arguably the most beautiful

canal in the country, and after

ten years it is the worst

maintained canal in the country”

Lettersto the editor

The following letter was originally published in the Stover Canal Society’s magazine. The authorhas agreed for it to be printed in Navvies to give the views expressed a wider audience

Dear Editor

A Tale of Two Canals

It looks very much as if British Waterways, the controlling body of the majority of Britain’s canals,will become a charitable trust, just like the Stover Canal Society. The jury is still out on theproposal but the majority opinion is that whatever, it can’t get any worse. I am not so sure.

Two of our major canals, the Shropshire Union and the Kennet and Avon, were largelyresurrected by charitable trust and handed over to British Waterways to run. Many years on,the Shroppie, as the Shropshire Union is known, has gone from strength to strength whilstthe Kennet and Avon has declined almost into dereliction.

The difference is in the committees. The Shropshire Union Society committee is stilllargely composed of those members who got down and dirty during the restoration of theircanal. They are fanatical about what they consider is their canal; they are very proactive inproviding and maintaining almost one hundred visitor moorings, information boards, picnicsites and seats along the four canals that comprise the Shropshire Union. Apart from theShroppie they have the Llangollen canal, the Montgomery and the Middlewich Branch. Atthe slightest hint that British Waterways is not looking after their canal properly the commit-tee is in there, lobbying BW to get it sorted, and you can see that it works.

On the other hand we have the Kennet and Avon canal, arguably the most beautifulcanal in the country, and after ten years it is the worst maintained canal in the country. I’vetravelled the length of it this year, Reading to Bristol and back. It is a shambles, fallen treesalmost blocking the waterway, most of the visitor moorings waist high with brambles andstinging nettles and the canal is full of junk. Sunken boats along the length of the canal andpaddles and lock gates almost too heavy to move due to lack of maintenance. Unlike theShropshire Union Society, the Kennet and Avon Society has no members of the originalrestoration team on their committee. They have bank managers, accountants, local govern-ment officers, solicitors, high ranking police officers and head teachers.

They have enough paper pushers to move even the EU paper mountain and they areall in it for themselves. It looks good to have a charitable trust on your CV, or to boastabout it at the golf club. There is hardly a one of them who owns a boat and most of themhave never even been on a canal boat. They wouldn’t know if British Waterways is doingtheir job properly because they never go near the canal. Where the little money they cancadge as donations goes nobody knows, they certainly would not get engaged in anything ascrass as raising money to provide facilities for the boaters. So nothing gets done and thecanal slips back to near dereliction. Except in the visitor hotspots like the Devizes flight andBradford on Avon where the grass is mown to within a millimetre of its life, gates paintedand stones whitewashed and where the British Waterways managers and the Kennet andAvon committee members meet to congratulate themselves on a job well done.

The Stover Canal Society and the Stover Canal Trust need administrators, somebodyhas to count the pennies and the shovelfuls of sludge dug out of the canal, but we also needthe diggers. The trick is getting the balance right, as the Stover moves up a gear and headstowards re-watering we must ensure that the balance of both committees are right beforewe end up back where we started, like the Kennet and Avon.

Bill de Leie, Stover Canal Society member

Letters...to the editorDear Martin

WRGIES to the Rescue It’s always good to know that there is help athand. At last year’s Welsh WaterwaysFestivalat Newport, the first two boats tonavigate to Pentre Lane were prevented bythe low Bettws Bridge. But - a quick call tothe Rally WRG organiser for extra ballast -and ‘Bungle’ was quickly despatched andloaded on to the front of the WildernessBeaver Navi, whilst two of his colleagueswere needed to assist the Olive.

Navi was now able to clear Bettwsbridge - and become the first official boat tonavigate the newly restoredcanal.

My thanks to the efficientteam at Newport for this - andfor all the other things they didto make our visit to Newport gosmoothly

Ivan Cane, nb Navi

Dear MartinThis Christmas the ice was sothick that we were unable tostart our usual boat trip for thefirst time in over 40 years. Ifinally ran out of excuses to dosome of those long-deferredjobs like clearing out old papersbut I came across some real delights. One was a scribbled note that I had written after aworking party at Dudley (I’ve forgotten the exact year) and I Thought it might bring backmemories for some readers of Navvies. It read as follows:

Had a great time grovelling in the muck - up to our necks in muck and sinks and lavatoriesand bicycles and bricks - what heroes! We did a tremendous amount of work, frightened thelocals to death, exhausted the man at the slipper baths and drank a lot of beer.

Dave Kee was in a picture in the Birmingham Evening Thing which referred to “thegreatest event on Brum’s canals in 200 years”— the working party not Dave Kee. DaveGoode dropped a bucket on my head, Fred thought he’d got tetanus and we all got colds.Great weekend.

Yours sincerelyDave Brough

(most of us were called Dave - it was more or less compulsory)

Two WRGies provide human ballast for nbOlive (above) while Bungle helps nb Navisqueeze under Bettws Lane Bridge (Below)

Ivan Cane

Ivan Cane

MontgomeryA new project for WRG

What’s Happening on the Canal?

The Montgomery Canal is unique: it passesthrough beautiful scenery, has over thirtylisted buildings and structures and it has agreat diversity of wildlife, some of which isvery rare. It’s also been derelict since itsclosure in 1936.

Volunteers have been campaigning forits restoration since the late ’60s, both bytrying to persuade politicians to fund therestoration and by working on actual rebuild-ing. The process has been slow becausefunds are hard to find. Some half of thecanal’s 35 miles have been restored, but notall of these sections are accessible from themain canal system which makes it difficult forboats to visit. A number of organisations areinvolved in the work in various ways: theFriends of the Montgomery Canal, the InlandWaterways Association, the MontgomeryWaterway Restoration Trust, the ShropshireUnion Canal Society and WRG.

WRG has worked on the canal exten-sively: the restoration of Frankton locks andAston Locks, the construction of the AstonNature Reserve and the rebuilding of anoverflow weir at Maesbury. Now we’re start-ing another major project.

A few years ago, the section fromGronwen Bridge to Redwith Bridge wasrestored and filled with water. Currently, theShropshire Union Canal Society are restoringthe section from Redwith Bridge to PrycesBridge. Neither of these sections has a wind-ing hole and so, even when they’re fully re-stored, BW won’t allow boats to use them.The nearest winding hole is in the next sectionsouth, between Pryces Bridge and CrickheathBridge. Those of you who came to the 2010Reunion will remember this section: you didthe preliminary clearance on it!

However, this section is more challeng-ing than most of the sections which havebeen restored to date, with the exception ofthe four miles south of Frankton locks (whichwere not restored by volunteers). Along thislength, there are areas where the towpathhas sunk very low and where the far bankhas almost disappeared. There’s water in thecanal bed in winter and it’s dry in summer – asure sign of leakage. Indeed, we believe thatthis section (from Pryces Bridge all the way tothe border at Llanymynech) has leaked eversince it was constructed. Restoring this sectionis going to present unique problems.

We’ve obtained permission to use this

next section of the Montgomery canal as a‘test bed’ to develop methods of reconstruct-ing this kind of canal which will not only beuseful here, but will, in effect, ‘write themanual’ for restorations all over the country.

We have, over the forty-odd years ofour existence, developed views about howcanals should be restored and we’d like tofind approaches which will:

1. Make the canal watertight (obviously). Even this isnot easy as the ground is very peaty and it tends tomove up and down with the seasons. If we buildsomething too rigid, it’ll just crack and leak again, sowe’ll need to lay a flexible watertight liner.

2. Retain the canal’s original appearance. Part of the charmof the Montgomery is its rural appearance: a trapezoidalcross-section with soft banks lined with vegetation.These are visually attractive and offer a good habitat forwildlife. If we have to use modern approaches andsteel piles, we don’t want them to be visible, so we’llprobably try to bury them within the banks.

3. Be fairly straightforward for volunteers to build.4. Be at the lowest possible cost consistent with

doing a through job.5. Be as ecologically friendly as possible: including

minimising the ‘transport miles’ for the materials weuse. The canal was originally built from local materi-als and, as far as we can, we’d like to do the same.

In the period summer 2011 to somewherearound the end of 2012, we’ll be setting upstorage facilities on Crickheath wharf andworking to restore this section of canal.There won’t necessarily be a ‘logical’progress from Pryce’s Bridge southwards:we’ll probably select a couple of the mostdifficult sections and work on them first.When we’re sure that these are properlysorted out, we’ll do the easier parts!

Most of our work this year will be CanalCamps during August and at Christmas, withother occasional weekends organised byWRGNW. Work on this section is directlyextending the navigable length of canal:when it’s complete, some two miles will havebeen added to the connected system: wherebetter to spend your summer?

Alan Jervis

Progress the L&H and the Gipping

Remember that big concrete

pipe running through the

Tamworth Road Locks on

the Lichfield? Well, parts of

it are just a memory now...

After the Lichfield Canal closed, its bed at TamworthRoad Locks was used as a route for a concrete pipecarrying a storm water drain. How to get rid of it haslong been a headache for the Lichfield & HathertonCanals Restoration Trust, but they’ve finally removed abig chunk of it as you can see from the pics whichshow (from top left, anticlockwise) the pipe being re-moved form Lock 25, the tail of the same lock minusthe pipe, the sections of pipe stacked for reuse, andthe pound between locks 25 and 26 sans pipe

Lichfield and Hatherton Canals

The contractors have moved onto the Pound26 site on the Lichfield Canal at TamworthRoad to begin the rewatering project. Speedwas of the essence to meet the deadlines forspending the three grants. There may bedelays due to the slow processes of SevernTrent Water in granting authority for re-routing one of their land drains. The projectshould be completed within two months.

This will be an exciting moment for theTrust as this will be first, albeit very small,section of canal to have been restored towater after over 20 years of work. Our ownwork team and engineers will now be lookingat the building of Lock 27 and the constructionof a weir at the sharp bend by the A38.

At the Huddlesford end of the LichfieldCanal we are now close to concluding a landpurchase which will secure the ownership ofthe track from the rebuilt Cappers Bridge toour existing site just east of the lift bridge.The patchwork of leased and purchased landwill then be complete to Darnford Lane, withdiscussions continuing with Lichfield CruisingClub over relocating their moorings from theeasternmost section of the Lichfield Canal.Remedial work on the section west of the liftbridge can then be considered; this waspreviously watered on a trial basis.

The other main recent focus has beenon the Hatherton Canal at Churchbridgewhere we have opposed several planningapplications from Redrow Homes whichwould have infringed our pro-tected line. They have now rede-signed their proposed estate tomeet our objections but still do nothave permission to build, as coun-cillors have other concerns aboutopen spaces and the size of gar-dens. Discussions continue withLittle Wyrley Estate and BritishWaterways over the proposedopening up of the Lord HayesBranch (which will provide the linkfrom the new route of the Hather-ton Canal to the Wyrley &Essington main line) and facilitatingthe building of mooring basins.

As with all canal schemes allthese works are costly and theTrust will have to undertakeserious fund-raising activities if itis to maintain momentum.

Brian Kingshott

River Gipping(aka Ipswich & Stowmarket)

The River Gipping Trust’s volunteers havecontinued to focus our restoration activiteson Baylham Lock, located between NeedhamMarket and Great Blakenham

The proposed work on the retaining walland the training wall at Baylham was put onhold throughout December and January as thecontinuing cold weather, snow and high waterlevels made bricklaying impossible.

We made good use of the time how-ever, with a thorough tidy-up around thesite, post and rail fencing work, and withclearance work around the old by-wash sluiceand eel trap. This revealed the need for somenew bridge timbers and handrails over thesluice, which we were able to put in placewhile waiting for the weather to improve.

We finally got back to construction workat the end of January: a series of three work-ing days with good weather and low waterlevels has allowed us to make significantprogress to rebuilding both the walls belowthe accommodation bridge.

We hope to have completed work inthis area by mid March, when we hope tocarry out bank clearance and repair work atBosmere lock, on the edge of Needham Mar-ket, before moving on to clearance work andrepairs to bridge abutments at Pipps FordLock, the next lock upstream from Baylham.

Martin Bird, Restoration ManagerRiver Gipping Trust

Baylham Lock: rebuilding the retaining wall below the tail bridge

Riv

er

Gip

pin

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rust

ProgressWooden Canal Boat Society

Wooden Canal Boat Society

Thanks to an important funding break-through work is expected to start on a majorboatbuilding project in May. More details willbe announced soon. [See next column forlatest news ...Ed]

This means that the tiny number ofdedicated volunteers who have been workingday and night for years to save some of thewaterways’ floating heritage now need a bitmore help from you! Though the funding issubstantial, there’s still a gap to fill by mar-keting this important project at waterwayevents etc. The funding is coming from anon-waterway source.

The project will take about 18 monthsand professional boatbuilders will be em-ployed. There will, however, be plenty ofscope for volunteers to come and work onthe project and learn some traditionalboatbuilding skills. In fact this will be vital.

Meanwhile, work on Southam’s cabin isproceeding steadily and her troublesomegearbox has been replaced with an identicalbut less worn example.

At the Heritage boatyard by the Hud-dersfield Narrow Canal some more clay hasbeen dug out, to rectify the quagmire prob-lem, and the slip has been surfaced withcrushed brick. An extra winch anchor pointhas been made and the slipway beams pre-pared.

The shop continues to be successfuland is the main funding source. In the pastyear it has largely been staffed through theFuture Jobs Fund. As this is ending it willbecome crucial to recruit more shop volun-teers through the summer months.

This is a project where ordinary (andsometimes extraordinary) people band to-gether to save some of the floating waterwayheritage and use it to benefit the community.Now is a time when more people are neededin all departments. Come and give is a hand.

Contact me on 07931952037 [email protected]

Chris Leah

Hazel Project gets Go Ahead

Since sending us the progress report in theprevious column, the WCBS has been able togo public on its ‘major boatbuilding project’:

Thanks to a grant of £75,000 from TamesideCouncil, the Wooden Canal Boat Society willbe able to start rebuilding their 1914 narrowboat Hazel in Spring 2011 for use as a awellbeing boat. Hazel will provide holidaysfor people whose wellbeing will benefit fromcanal boating on this historic wooden boat.This is truly remarkable in the current eco-nomic climate, when the media is full ofstories about public spending cuts and re-duced grants for charities.

WCBS has had a very good relationshipwith Tameside Council since moving into theborough in 1996. In 2011Tameside Councilput together a pilot Social Returns on In-vestment report in partnership with WCBSand T3SC, the local Council for VoluntaryServices. Tameside decided to help fundHazel because they could see the benefits ofcanal boating, volunteering and the Hazelwellbeing project to members of the commu-nity who are in recovery from, or at risk of,mental ill-health.

The de-construction, charting andrestoration of Hazel will take part at WCBS’snewly-built boatyard at Knowl Street,Stalybridge, which is owned by TamesideCouncil. Work will be carried out by skilledboatbuilders backed up by volunteers. Whenthe work on the boat has been completed itwill be crewed by a mixture of paid skippersand volunteer crew members, many ofwhom may themselves be in recovery frommental ill health.

Although WCBS has most of the fund-ing needed to restore Hazel, the fundraisingwill continue in earnest for the forseeablefuture. Another £40,000 must be raisedtowards the building project, and moremoney will be needed to cover runningexpenses. Donations will enable WCBS tomaintain and run the boat and subsidiseplaces for the less well off. At the same timeHazel will be very much run as a non profitbusiness, or Social Enterprise as they arealso known.

To find out more about the Hazelproject or how to make a donation pleasefeel free to contact Fiona Jones by email [email protected] or telephone 07500828276.

We will also need:

. People to develop the sponsorshipscheme: Hazel sponsors put their namesto one or more dates each year for whichthey pay £28 per day sponsored. Newvolunteers are now needed to promoteand administer this scheme.

. Tugs and tug organisers: The rebuiltHazel will return to her original unpoweredstatus. Boat owning volunteers will besought to tow Hazel on sections of herplanned itinerary. Organising suitable boatsand crews to be in the right place at theright time, and providing suitable trainingfor tug steerers, is a task in itself.

. Closing the funding gap: £40,000doesn’t sound much when you say itquickly, but it’s also an awful lot of jumblesales and raffles. The project will need toraise funds for running costs once theboat is in service. We will need volunteersprepared to put in both inspiration andperspiration to make sure that there’salways enough money to keep going.

. Boatbuilding Volunteers: There will be2 or 3 professional boatbuilders workingon Hazel throughout the 18 months be-tween slipping and launching. Volunteerswill be an important part of the restorationwork. Important events like plank steam-ing will be scheduled for weekends tofacilitate volunteer support. It will bepossible for volunteers who want to stayfor a week or two to either camp on theboatyard or stay aboard one of the boats.

. Artistic volunteers: One fundraisingscheme will be to cut up the old planking,as it is removed, to form blocks to bepainted with castle scenes, roses or otherdesigns. These will be sold through ourcharity shop, canal events and the internet.Volunteers, who could be anywhere in thecountry, are sought to paint these.

. Technical volunteers: Some aspects ofthe fit out, such as the electrical system,charged by solar cells, the wheelchair lift,gas and plumbing, will require peoplewith the relevant technical knowledge andqualifications. If suitable volunteers help,this could greatly reduce the overall cost.

. Project planning and training: As theproject moves from restoration to theoperational phase it will be necessary tohave properly trained crew in place, an

itinerary planned, tugs organised and asystem for administering bookings andgetting guests to the boat. While fundingwill be sought to employ someone for thisrole, success is by no means guaranteed,and they would need help from volunteers.

. Materials: Some of the timber has al-ready been acquired. More oak will comefrom sawmills, at great cost, as the timefor slipping Hazel approaches. The WCBSnow has a chainsaw based machine thatcan be used for planking logs in the field,so if anyone has a fallen or felled oak tree,please get in touch. Other rot free timberfor fitting out, new or reclaimed, may beuseful as long as it does not involve exces-sive amounts of transport or preparation.. Tools: WCBS only has a limited stockof caulking mallets and irons and wouldwelcome donations of these. Good qualityhand or power tools, ancient or modern,are always helpful, though power toolsmust be 110 volt for safer use outdoors.

Contacts: Planning, administration andFundraising: Fiona Jones [email protected]. Boatbuilding,materials, tools, Hazel sponsorship: ChrisLeah 07931952037 [email protected].

For more information on the very var-ied volunteering opportunities available atWCBS please ring 0161 330 8422 or [email protected]

Hazel has her own Facebook pageunder the name Narrowboat Hazel andshe welcomes new friends.

Postal enquiries should be sent toWooden Canal Boat Society, Charity Shop,173, Stamford St Central, Ashton underLyne, Lancashire OL6 7PS. www.wcbs.org.uk

Chris Leah

Can you lend a hand with Hazel?

WC

BS

ProgressN Walsham & DilhamNorth Walsham & Dilham Canal:

10 years on

It is now ten years since the East AnglianWaterways Association started restoration ofthe NW&DC,after severalyears of spadework by AlanFaulkner with his pen!This included the commis-sioning of engineering andenvironmental reports.

The NW&DC is alittle known private canal inNorth Norfolk. Originally 9 mileslong with 6 locks, the top mile and2 locks were abandoned in 1870.The remainder of the canal fell intodisuse after the last wherry (Nor-folk sailing barge) left in the1930’s. Gates failed, losing the headsof water, and the present top pound aboveBacton Wood Lock was dewatered, to enablea road bridge to be lowered to cope with theheavy traffic that was en route to build thefirst natural gas terminal at Bacton. The re-routing of the flow led to flooding, to whichthe answer at the time was to cut a channelacross the canal – rather than re-watering it!

The ‘tidal’ section of 2 miles 510yards, below Honing Lock, was sold toa local farmer in the 1980’s so that hecould rebuild Tonnage Bridge to copewith the wider farm traffic. Luckily thiswas built to the same design as theoriginal bridges. This lower length isregularly used by canoeists, and anoccasional motor boat will venture tothe lock remains at Honing.

For the first five years, EAWAwork parties concentrated on theremoval of tree growth from the 4lock sides and chambers, and some ofthese were quite large affairs. At thesecond lock up, Briggate, tree growthhas led to the imminent collapse of the

east wall; however, the remaining locks arein a reasonable state. During some clearingaround Dee Bridge, the entrance of a 100yard branch – Honing Staithe Cut – wasdiscovered. With encouragement from theNorth Walsham Canal Co and the local land-owner, this became the main focus of atten-tion for the next couple of years (albeit theother cleared sites still needed regular main-tenance). First the surrounding scrub, brashand dodgy trees were removed, then onevolunteer brought his digger along and thecut was once again in water. The end of thecut had once been truncated by a railway,now closed and converted into part of a longdistance walkway, the Weavers Way, and sothe sight of open water has made the Staithea regular picnicking area for walkers. Tocapitalise on this interest, a ‘canal walk’ was

cleared alongside the Staithe andthen for a distance upstream alongthe canal, before returning over anew footbridge to Weavers Way.This soon became a populardiversion; was ‘opened’ by thelocal MP and also collected an

environmental award.Also at this

lower end toencouragecanoeists andsmall boats,the channeldown toHoning lock

Reconnecting the canal and Briggate Mill Pond

has been cleared, and an area for canoeiststo launch in the soke by the lock. Within anhour of doing this, three families fromCheshire were using it. Below Honing lockwas hand dredged to enable small boats toturn. Above the third lock, Ebridge, treeclearance has also been a major task overthe past two winters. At the end of each daythe work party organiser has re-emergedfrom the undergrowth saying “Well done lads– just another 100 yards to go!”

A major event occurred in October2009, when the North Walsham Canal Com-pany sold the top 2½ miles, Ebridge &Bacton Wood Locks to the “Old Canal Com-pany”. The directors of this company own theMill at Bacton Wood, which is onthe dry pound, and wish to re-water the pound so that therestored mill can work onceagain. Since then a large in-vestment has been made, over36,000 bricks have been used inthe rebuilding of Bacton Woodlock, and the ex BW dredgerWeasel has been bought andplaced in Ebridge Mill pond andslowly advancing towardsBacton Wood. Work partieshave been assisting with this –from brick cleaning to clearingscrub from the dry pound.Whilst doing this the spillweirfor the pound was discovered –some ¾ mile above the lock.

This is to be cleared this spring – and itsrebuilding will be a major step forward inallowing water to re-enter the pound.

Over the past winter, Briggate Millpondhas been the main focus for work parties. Acouple of years ago a resident was attempt-ing to ‘claim’ the mill land and millpond astheir own. This led to the Canal Companyasking us to mark the boundaries of theirproperty. The pond, as well as serving themill (itself burnt down in an insurance scamin the 1970’s), was also the place that wher-ries loaded and unloaded for Briggate andthe larger nearby village of Worstead. Havingestablished the boundaries, the next logicalstep was to clear the pond of trees, shrubsand brash. This took place over the next twowinters, and in February this year, at the firstmid-week work parties, assisted by memberswith diggers and dumpers, the pond wasonce again linked to the canal.

For the coming year Briggate ponddredging needs to be completed, the fiveother sites maintained. The focus will now beon the dry section: clearing of the ‘breach’where the IDB opened up a culvert to lessenflooding in the area; working towards therebuilding of the culvert; rebuilding ofBacton Wood weir; clearing the wharf area atRoyston Bridge and general clearance of thecanal bed – with the eventual aim of re-watering.

Work parties are held two Sundays permonth, with occasional mid-week parties.Dates, reports and pictures to be found atwww.eawa.co.uk or by contacting the or-ganiser David Revill on 01603 738648.

Ivan Cane

Rebuilt wing walls at Bacton Wood Lock

Honing Staithe Cut

Grand Union Wendover Arm

With improved weather after the start of theyear, work on the Wendover Arm Trust’sproject to install concrete capping over thecanal water supply pipe laid in the bed of thedry length of the arm was in full swing againon the Trust’s February working party. Bulkexcavation of Stage 3 was completed up tothe manhole, (under the traffic cone), whereit is intended to end the present run of pipecapping as can be seen in the first picture.The next section to be re-wateredwill end at a bund under Bridge 4A.

The final 15 metres of Stage 2pipe capping was prepared readyfor concreting at the March WorkingParty.

The second picture is a viewfrom Bridge 4A which shows workin hand at the end of stage 2 wherebulk excavation is complete andonly the 15 metres of pipe cappingand offside bank reinstatement areoutstanding before bank profilingand bank/bed lining can commence.In the foreground the line of theunderground pipe is in the middleof the bed, thus avoiding cuttinginto the offside bank but makingconcrete pouring more difficult asthere will not be enough room for adumper alongside the trench.

During the week both bankswere cleared of scrub up to themanhole and stumps removed andcarted back to the tip at Little Tring.Young trees on the banks at variouspoints were also removed.

To complete housekeeping atLittle Tring the area on the offsidejust inside the inner gates at LittleTring was levelled off and coveredin hardcore and road stone as a carpark for volunteer’s vehicles.

On the last day of the work-ing party it was disappointing tofind that vandals had removed the

protective plastic sheeting and timber fromthe top of the wall formwork at Bridge 4 thatis ready for concrete pouring. This can onlyhave happened on the previous day, orevening before, when work was only in handat Little Tring. It was replaced and hopefullywould remain undisturbed until the Marchwork party.

For more information about the Trust’swork see http://wendovercanal.org.uk.

Roger Leishman, Restoration [email protected]

Above: Bulk excavation of Stage 3 complete (notetrafficcone onmanhole) Below: Stage 2 progress

Pic

ture

s by W

AT

ProgressWendover Arm

Does your local

waterway restoration

project not feature in

this section? Feel free

to send an article in

WRG Print: how it began

Seeing John Hawkins’ report of his doingsfor the last 40 years or so sends one offdown memory lane. This is not to confirmthe probable opinion that anyone of my ageis a boring old fart, but prompts me to fill inthe WRGPrint history of the time before Johnwas involved.

Well, not quite that, because it startedbefore WRGPrint was thought of. WhenTimDodwell and Graham Palmer and a fewother malcontents started our ball rolling bydreaming up an umbrella organisation thatwould help support all the local working partiesup an down the country, the object to do thepublicity about it was Navvies Notebook, aRoneoed, folded foolscap publication (askyour grandpa about both Roneo and fools-cap) At the time the ‘A’ series of paper sizeswas just coming in, and the swap to A4started immediately because Grahamsaw that Roneo was just not cutting(this is a pun – see note about grand-pas above) it, and he could get A4copied at a printshop (something elsebrand new then – fortunately Grahamwas a Londoner and print shopssprang up everywhere in the metropo-lis where offices needed printing donein an age before desktop computers,desktop printing... but I digress...)

Graham would drop the copy intothe printshop at lunchtime, and pick itup when he finished work, stuff it intohis briefcase and totter off to the North-ern Line to Finchley. He would probablydo this about three times in order to dragall the printing home, then a group of usmet at our treasurer Phil Greenwood’shouse to fold, staple and stuff it. Iclearly remember leaving Phil’s onenight at about 1 am with job still notcompleted! The print run in those dayswas about 750 or 1000, but grew rap-idly. When I was printing it I producedjust under 3000 copies.

Our fellow London navvy John

Cadisch worked for the family firm who soldwire and other mesh. Their factory unit wasequipped with long benches upon which theyunrolled, cut and rerolled the mesh anddispatched to their customers, and wasperfect for up to 30 idiots to collate, fold,stitch and stuff what was always called Navvies,even when it said Navvies Notebook on thecover. The factory was also a very short stag-ger from 4 Wentworth Court which was tobecome well known as “where you send forNavvies Notebook”, to quote the song wewrote one drunken evening at the Fleur deLys at Lowsonford – shortly before we werethrown out.

Graham was not happy with this (theprinting, not the Fleur de Lys) – printshopswere not cheap, and true to the idea that wedo whatever we can to control costs hebought a printing machine. It was offsetlitho, about as cheap as one could

How it began: Navvies Notebook issue No 1

WRG PrintThe early years

...in which Mike Day fills us in on

how Navvies was put together in

the days before John Hawkins, and

teaches us some new words like

‘Roneo’, ‘foolscap’ and ‘Letraset’...


“We did dream of what

we know now as our

desktop computer, and

would have killed for an

IBM golfball machine...”

get it, but it served usfor several years.

Once we had thehands-on experiencewe had better printingthan we usuallypicked up from aprintshop. Theirproducts were reallypoor and could not beconfused with today’sprintshops 40 yearson. Graham sourcedthe machine via hisprintroom at work,and had several min-utes instruction onhow to work it. Heand I worked it out abit more in his garageat home. Ostensiblyhe was telling me howto do it – actually we worked it out from firstprinciples as we went along. Graham couldnever be accused of being a mechanic!

Not surprisingly I ended up running offthe magazine downstairs whilst Megan (thewife) was upstairs typing furiously or takingshorthand from Graham, variously trying tokeep up with his correspondence and/orproduce the next few pages of the alreadyoverdue NN ready for the platemaker. Wedid dream of what we know now as ourdesktop computer, and would have killed foran IBM golfball machine, as it was all thetitling was by Letraset and the maps werehand drawn and it all took ages; but we hada laugh putting it together.

I can’t remember where we got theplates made, but they were shot on a galleycamera then printed down to the aluminiumplate. Later Len Felix, John’s dad, did themfor us by a photocopier process for a while,but when that finished I found a platemakerin Yiewsley (on the canal bank, would youbelieve) who was ace.

Driving to Finchley and printing forhours was not for the fainthearted, so I put

on a spurt and erected the heap of shutteringply purloined for me by Jim Evans, andfound I had a shed big enough to print in,and eventually we had two Gestolith machinesrunning, and I did once manage to print acomplete issue in an evening. Quite how I gotto work the following day beats me.

The problem with litho is that it relieson oil and water not mixing. The waterroller adds a film of water to the plate thatdoes not stick on the image areas, but theink does when that roller does its job ananosecond later. Unfortunately, to get aknackered Gestolith to work the water vol-ume had to be turned up, which swelled thepaper and in damp conditions (like Britishweather) it was unusual to be able to run thesecond side immediately, as the paperscrunched up as it went through the ma-chine. Even more unfortunately, if I leftpaper in the shed at all it sucked up all theatmospheric water and became unusable.We lived in an upstairs maisonette at thetime, so I had to take delivery of 12 boxes of10 reams, carry it upstairs, carry it down andprint the first side, upstairs again, down

Navvies assembly as it used to be: on the big metal tables at Cadisch’s

Mik

e D

ay

“I was lucky enough to

have help from a couple of

nubile young ladies for a

while as the printing outfit

became WRG Print”


again for the second side, upstairs, thenfinally down to the car and off to Cadisches.One was fitter in those days. Today, paper isonly supplied in 5 ream boxes owing to thephysically challenged population (or H&S@W.)

I was lucky enough to have help from acouple of nubile young ladies for a while asthe printing outfit became WRGPrint, and weprinted bits and bobs for all kinds of peopleand societies (IWA London Branch Windlassfor some time) and made a bob or two forWRG. The girls drifted away (one got a jobprinting, on the back of producing Navvies inmy shed) and John came and thankfullyrelieved me of the printing. I suspect nowhe fancies a couple of nubile helpers drop-ping round to help out as well.

Naturally I have just looked up when allthis happened, and I see that Graham ownedup to printing it all ourselves in No 40 (Jan1973), although I think some odd

pages were done that way several issuesbefore. I stopped on No 80 or 81 (Feb ‘81/Jan ‘82) around that time John took over. Itwas a bad time for Graham. He had movedto Oswestry, but was suffering more thanusual with depression (a constant compan-ion) and within a year or two had heartsurgery; only lasting five years beyond that.In fact the 80s was a bad time for canalrestoration in general, with very little moneyavailable – just like today really.

Anyway, WRGPrint was part of the tenyears when we acquired thousands ofpounds worth of machinery, ran big digs,toured the country whipping in local socie-ties, always hanging on to Graham’s coattailsand even had to run the site at NationalRallies because IWA did not seem able. Butthat is another story.

Mike Day

Navvies 40: GKP announces WRG Print’s birth

WRG BCBoat Club news

Wrg bc news March 2011

I’m not sure if I should begin with an apol-ogy or just think – well what do you expectfrom the secretary of a boat club with themotto ‘Incompetence at its Best’?

As we didn’t have as much money asthose at the AGM thought, we were able tomake donations of just £100 each to theInglesham Lock Appeal and ‘Barrow of Boul-ders’ appeal for The Mont.

Changes of names I forgot to men-tion in the Christmas Mailing include:

. Athena Beckett’s boat is now Brown Trout,not Bonnie Lassie

. Jean and Peter Cookes’ boat is now Waf-fle, not Jeep II

. My surname is now Heritage not Dean butas I haven’t got round to changing eithermy email address or my bank details, thiswont complicate things yet.

We need some new inside window burgeestickers. These are on order and will nowcost £1.50 each +postage. I will bringthem to the NationalFestival if you wantto save on postage.

On the topicof The National –will you be there?It has been agreedthat we hold theAGM/social gather-ing on someevening over theweekend. Saturdayis preferred, but weneed to check theprogramme first. Ihope we will be ableto erect the club-house somewherenear the site or WRGaccommodation andthe boats.

If you are going to be unable to attend,let me know if you would like a copy of theAgenda. Please send me any comments youwant to make or matters you wish to raise.All nominations for club officers gratefullyreceived!!

Cruising This Year: The club cruise isto the Droitwich Canals – or if you can’t getthere by boat there is a very pleasant tow-path walk.

Please let me know how you get on andtake and send me photographs plus any com-ments or observations you wish to make.

New Members: anyone wishing tojoin wrg boat club, (probably the best boatclub on the cut), get in touch with me or anyclub officer, giving a postal address so I cansend an application form. Membership isopen to active members of Waterway Recov-ery Group and those who have previouslybeen involved in working with the group.

A joining fee of £10 is payable (plus 1year subscription) by new members.

xxx Sadie (Heritage not Dean)[email protected]

In which it is revealed

that the WRG Boat

Club secretary is now

officially a piece of

waterways heritage...

Cruise through here this year: the new double locks on the Droitwich

Pete RedwayAn appreciation

Pete Redway

To those involved on the practical side on theBasingstoke Canal, Pete Redway was the ableand enthusiastic organiser who led the Sur-rey & Hants Canal Society work parties forover two decades, from taking over fromMike Fellows in the final stages of restorationin 1989 until just a few weeks before hisuntimely death in February. To those in-volved in the political side, he was a re-spected canal society chairman who foughthard for the canal that he believed in. ToWRGies and other visiting volunteers, he wasMr Basingstoke Canal - and an all-roundgood bloke.

Taking over at the very end of therestoration effort might sound like an easynumber. Not on the Basingstoke Canal, itwasn’t. The canal was restored, but in manyways its problems were only just beginning.It was crippled by inadequate water supplieswhich meant that most years it ran out and

had to close by early summer. It was forever strapped for cash owing to local authoritiesfailing to honour the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ they had made to pay for maintenance, whichmeant that even if the canal had enough water there were often stoppages due to lock gatefailures and other problems - for example Deepcut Locks have been closed for a couple ofyears now, and the canal authority’s finances are in a critical state. And all the while, natureconservation organisations - who had kept rather a low profile while the volunteers wererestoring the canal - were trying to push through proposals to severely restrict the numbersof craft permitted to use it.

Despite all these challenges, Pete always remained upbeat about the canal. Whether inhis negotiations with the local councils, or down on the towpath with a team of volunteers,he was always sure that “we’ve turned the corner” and there was a secure future in prospectfor the canal. And despite his increasing involvement with local authority politics he neverlost contact with the volunteers on the ground - whether driving up the towpath in a bat-tered van full of kit, or making sure to write a letter to Navvies thanking the volunteers afterthe end of a canal camp.

Always a practical man, one of his biggest contributions to putting the canal’s future ona more secure footing was his involvement in the backpumping systems that are graduallybeing installed along the canal. Fittingly, when the first one at Woodham was officiallyopened in 2003, it was named the Redway Pumphouse in his honour. A second one, at StJohns, followed - this time almost entirely built by volunteers - and he was already planninga third pump at Brookwood, or a new reservoir as an alternative. At the same time he wasleading work parties at Deepcut Locks, rebuilding wing walls with the aim of getting the flightand the whole canal open again for next year. We owe it to Pete to help the Canal Society toreach that target, and ensure that the canal really has “turned the corner”.

Martin Ludgate

Pete Redway is surprised to find a pumpingstation named in his honour in 2003

Mart

in L

udgate

Contacting the chairman:

Mike Palmer3 Finwood Rd,

Rowington, WarwickshireCV35 7DH

Tel: 01564 785293

email: [email protected]

Stamps

wantedSend used stamps,petrol coupons, phonecards, empty computerprinter ink cartridges toIWA/WRG Stamp Bank,33 Hambleton Grove,Milton Keynes MK42JS. All proceeds tocanal restoration.

Dial-a-camp

To contactany WRG

Canal Camp:07850 422156(Kit ‘A’ camps)07850 422157(Kit ‘B’ camps)

NOTICEBOARD

Congratulationsto

Jenny Black and Adam ‘Digger’ Morrison their engagement

Inglesham Update

The IWA Inglesham Lock Appeal to raisefunds to enable WRG volunteers to restorethis crucial lock where the Cotswold Ca-nals meet the Thames had raised almost£36,500 towards the £125,000 target aswe went to press. To support the appealsee: www.inglesham.org.uk

DIRECTORY UPDATEUnfortunately a few errors crept into theNavvies Directory in the last issueFirstly our apologies for giving an out-of-dateaddress for Malcolm Bridge of WRG North West.His address is 89 Rishworth Mill, Rishworth,Sowerby Bridge HX6 4RZ. Tel: 01422-820693.Secondly we’ve reverted to the previous NWPGcontact. Their work party organiser is nowBill Nicholson, 17 Clifford Road, PrincesRisborough HP27 0DU. Tel: 01844 343369.Mob: 0779 109 7773. email: [email protected] we’ve got an out-of-date contact for theSomersetshire Coal Canal Society. It should beDerrick Hunt on 01225 863066. He is alsocontact for Kennet & Avon Canal Trust work parties.Finally the Wooden Canal Boats Society emailaddress is wrong. It should be [email protected]’ve also got an update:Dave Wedd has taken over as the contact forWRG on the Basingstoke Canal. Phone 01252-874437 or email [email protected].

The next full directory will appear in issue248. Please send any updates to the editor.

Thanksto Chris Griffiths of

Stroudprint for his continuedhelp with Navvies printing

Extra Canal Campon the Grand Western Canal

WRG Foresty will be leading a weekíscamp down in Devon in october,

running from Friday 21st to Saturday29th. The work will be scrub bashing

the line of the canal, and theaccommodation will be in

Burlescombe hallIf interested, please book through

head office as usual.

Well-known entertainer

Dr Buskeris performing live at Fillongley Village

Hall (not far from Coventry) to anaudience of local people plus KESCRGand WRG volunteers on the eveningof Saturday 14 May - the same week-end as the Leader Training Day and

WRG Committee meeting held neaby.For information and tickets contact

Eddie Jones [email protected]

Scenes you seldom see on a dig: No 6

“We don’t care how many guest ales the Rat & Ferret has on, we’re still going clubbing.”

InfillFeaturing Dear Deirdre

Is it namby-pamby to

stop digging for the

winter? And how many

times have you seen the

WRG safety video?

Dear Deirdre Owing to my advancedage (I’m 74 next birthday), my childrenare urging me to lay off the diggingover the winter and resume againwhen it’s a bit warmer. Do you thinkthis is being a bit namby-pamby?

- AB, Dull Eastwich

Deirdre writes: It certainly is namby-pamby, and you should be ashamed of your-self for even considering it. What kind of exam-ple are you setting the youngsters? If the WRGveterans start slacking off just because thecanal’s frozen solid and the van lock’s iced shut,then the youngsters in their 50’s and 60’s willstart to think it’s okay to drop out, and restora-tion will be left to the mercy of those giddyyoung forty-somethings for six months of theyear. The peace of the canal bank will be ru-ined by Radio 2 blasting all over the place and

they’re so obsessed with sex they’ll never getthe brick courses straight. You must also con-sider the possibility that WRG is the only thingkeeping you alive. Just buy some bloody thermalsand don’t let me hear any more about it.

Dear Deirdre After a busy summer ofcamps, I have now seen the WRGsafety video 27 times. Do you know ifthis is a record?

- Jon J, by email

Deirdre writes: You’re a long wayshort: the record for the most number oftimes watching the WRG safety video cur-rently stands at 239 and is held by Mr FrankWallder. But this is only because of the habitof Essex WRG of watching the video with awarm milky drink last thing at night to helpthem settle down to sleep on their digs.

Have you got a question for Deirdre? Just email [email protected]

And finally...

As with many online sales websites, the very useful IWA online shop (which is what you alsouse when you book a camp online) will sometimes suggest another purchase, which it (orwhoever programmed it) judges might be appropriate based on what you’ve just ordered.Sometimes these things seem quite smart, other times... well, you know the sort of thing:you order a copy of Graham Greene’s classic murder thriller Brighton Rock from a books siteand it suggests a couple of geology titles you might be interested in too... In my case, a fewmonths back I ‘ordered’ a canal camp. What did it suggest? A waterproof case for digitalcameras and a sea-searcher magnet to retrieve things that you drop in the cut! Has some-body told it about the episode at Droitwich Barge Lock in 2009? I think we should be told.

navvies 246

Documents

directors of wrg

silvester road

moor road

eleanor road

sue watts

john hawkins

john tesshawkins

island house