navvies 260

Reporting from the

Easter campsand Cleanup

Reporting from the

Easter campsand Cleanup

waterwayrecoverygroup

waterwayrecoverygroup

navviesnavvies

Issue No 260August-September

2013

Issue No 260August-September

2013

volunteers restoring waterwaysvolunteers restoring waterways

Featuring lots of camps beginning with ‘W’:Wendover, Wilts & Berks, Wey & Arun...Featuring lots of camps beginning with ‘W’:Wendover, Wilts & Berks, Wey & Arun...

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, ChrisDavey, George Eycott, Helen Gardner, JohnHawkins, Dave Hearnden, Jude Palmer, MikePalmer, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2013 WRG Mart

in L

udgate

all the latest news of WRG's activities

Chairman if it arrives in time’ 4Coming soon autumn and winter camps, plussome training and a Christmas party 5Camp reports Wilts & Berks andWendover Arm 6-10WRGBC news from our own Boat Club 1140 interviews Robin Higgs and WheelyBin Bob face the questions 12-23Diary canal camps and weekend digs 24-27Letters to the editor 28-29Progress our regular roundup from aroundthe country’s canal restoraitons 30-35Camp reports NWPG on the Wey & Arun,WRG on the Basingstoke 36-39Directory contact details for WRG andcanal society working parties 40-43Bits & Pieces Operation Starburst, Trainingon the W&B, Weil’s Disease 44-45Noticeboard 46Infill including Dear Deirdre 47

Contributions...

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

Photos welcome: digital, slides,prints. Please say if you want prints back.Digital pics are welcome as email attach-ments, preferably JPG, but if you have a lotof large files it’s best to send them on CD 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 261: 1 September.

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...

Above: Volunteers celebrate final completion of onewall of Steppingstone Lane Bridge on the Wilts &Berks (see camp report, page 6).Below: NWPG laying a path during their camp onthe Wey & Arun (see camp report, page 36).Left: rebuilding the Sawmills Gauging Narrows onthe Cromford Canal (camp report next time).Front cover: Lady Capel’s Bridge on the GrandUnion near Watford, being re-pointed and re-paintedas the follow-up to last year’s project with CRT on theNorth Oxford Canal (photo: Martin Ludgate).Back cover top: Steppingstone Lane again, showingthe towpath wall under construction (John Hawkins)Back cover bottom: KESCRG‘s camp on the Wen-dover Arm, see page 8 (Barry Brown)

Em

ma G

reenall

Ala

n Cavender

ChairmanReunion and Capel’s Bridge

“Nothing I saw has convinced

me I’m wrong when I say that

exposure to volunteers will

make CRT a more efficient,

better, stronger organisation”

Chairman’s Comment

Well here we are – half way through thesummer and still no sign of the traditionalmonsoon!

All seems to be going well, and fromwhat I have heard we have had a crackingbunch of first time volunteers who we verymuch look forward to introducing to the joysof hanging around train stations on a Fridaynight, unending journeys in Transit vans thatonly finish just after last orders and wakingup on a strange village hall floor!

The Bonfire Bash

Which brings me to the first bit of news. Bynow we should have announced the site forour Bonfire Bash / Reunion. Now we arereally keen for this event to go ahead be-cause, from our perspective, it kills a lot ofbirds with one stone. Firstly it gets a lot ofvolunteers from the summer back into oneplace in a nice informal setting were we cantalk about the summer, how it went, whatwas good and what was not quite so good. Italso is a very good clear deadline for all thecanal societies to get their exciting offers ofnext year’s work to us.

And by spending the Saturday after-noon turning all these offers into an wellthought out(?) programme of works we canthen spend the Saturday night promotingthis exciting new programme to a largeaudience, getting together leadership teamsand getting a decent head-start on actuallyfilling up these camps with volunteers.

And at the same time, we get to do alot of work on a restoration project.

So, all in all, it is very useful event –and means that we as the WRG Committeeactually get to go out digging on the Sunday.BUT it does mean that every single year wehave to find a site that can support a lot ofpeople with some straightforward jobs. Thisyear it’s been a bit of a struggle to do this,and so we thought we might have to not runthe reunion event this year.

But at the last minute a possible sitehas arrived. Unfortunately not actually intime for us to confirm it here but no doubtvery soon we will be releasing details on theemail lists and the website and Facebook andall that new fangled stuff.

Lady Capel’s Bridge

Another bit of fun this summer has beenanother bridge job with Canal & River Trust(CRT). Not quite such a major job as lasttime on the North Oxford in 2012 but quiteintensive none the less. As a distraction fromthe IWA National Festival camp we said wewould re-point and then repaint bridge 163(Lady Capel’s bridge) just up from the Festi-val site at Cassiobury Park [See front coverphoto ...Ed]. A long, long time ago (whenCRT was called something else!) it had beenpointed with inappropriate mortar and thenpainted with an inappropriate paint. So,although it wasn’t in danger of falling down,it did need a bit of work and, seeing as therewere going to be quite a few of us staying ina marquee nearby, we thought it might be aneasy way to see how well we could worktogether again.

As a result there is now a shiny whitebridge for everyone to admire. As to howwell we worked together, it still wasn’tbrilliant. We’ve given some feedback and Idon’t doubt they will learn from it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly thecase that every single bad thing that hap-pened (be it brushes arriving a day after thepaint, or a sudden change of specification, ora missing vital ingredient, or a promisedcontribution that never materialised) hashappened to me, and probably all of you,on a volunteer run site. But never all onthe same job!

Certainly nothing I saw has convincedme I’m wrong when I say that exposure tovolunteers will make CRT a more efficient,better, stronger organisation.

Hugs and kissesMike Palmer

Coming soonAutumn and winter camps

STOP PRESS: plant

training on the

Wilts & Berks on 28-29

September

- see page 45

But first... the last of the summer canal camps

By the time you receive this copy of Navvies the summer canal camps programme will be allbut finished; and the very last one (Camp 2013-20 on the Swansea Canal from 31 Augustto 7 September, led by Bob Crow and Katrina Schonhut) is looking likely to be fully booked.But do feel free to ring head office or check the WRG website just in case there’s still room.

September at Inglesham

Last time we promised you some information in this issue about what was happening atInglesham Lock, the project at the east end of the Cotswold Canals which was to be re-stored thanks to the IWA Tom Rolt Appeal but which had hit delays getting permissions.Well, it still looks like we will be running a few weeks of extra camps to sort out the stop-planks/chamber waterproofing, investigation, lower wing wall repairs etc. starting Septem-ber - but as we went to press we were still working out the details. So please keep checkingthe WRG website and Facebook group, and register your interest via Jenny at head office.

Operation Starburst in Manchester, 19-20 October

Just announced: Manchester’s answer to the BCN Cleanup. See Page 45 for details.

Autumn camp on the Chelmer & Blackwater, 26 October - 2 November

For something a bit different from our normal restoration camps, Camp 2013-21 on theChelmer & Blackwater Navigation on 26 October - 2 November will be helping to main-tain a working waterway, operated by Essex Waterways, part of our parent body the InlandWaterways Association. We’re likely to be working on towpath maintenance, bank protection,tree and scrub control. Book this one via Head Office or the WRG website as usual.

The Bonfire Bash: 9-10 November

We had been hoping to be able to announce something in this issue about where our majorannual reunion working party on 9-10 November would be taking place. However we’ve hada bit of a struggle to find a suitable site, as a result of which we’re still finalising the arrange-ments and can’t go into print yet. Hopefully details will appear in the next Navvies, but in themeantime we’ll pass on the news via the website and Facebook group as soon as we can.

London WRG and KESCRG Christmas party dig: 7-8 December

Hopefully a new venue for the first of the festive working parties: we haven’t quite con-firmed it, but it’s looking like the Chichester Canal for a biggish scrub-bash with a Christ-mas Party on the Saturday night. Run jointly by London WRG and KESCRG regional groups,but everyone’s welcome. Put the date in your diary and we’ll bring you more details next time.

New Year Camps: Cotswold and Uttoxeter 26 December - 1 January

Once again Gary Summers and Pete Fleming will be leading the Uttoxeter Camp, with ‘RAFMartin’ Thompson and Dave ‘Moose’ Hearnden in charge on the Cotswold. More next time.

Camp ReportSteppingstone again!Camp 2013-07 Wilts & Berks Canal

Saturday 6th July dawned hot andsunny, a trend which was to last all week – acamp with no rain – what joy! By early after-noon we had arrived at the accommodationwith the vans and kit trailer. The accommo-dation was a new venue for WRG: BourtonClub in Bourton, near Swindon. A good sizedhall, large car park, reasonably sized kitchenwith dishwasher and an on site bar – whatmore could we ask for?

Our French volunteer Romain and oneof the Katherines were collected from thecoach and rail stations and by the time wereturned the hall was filling up with the othervolunteers. Following the normal introductionsand brief chat about the running of the campHarri, our cook for the week, presented thenew food hygiene talk. We then went off tosite prior to viewing the safety DVD.

One advantage of the dry weather wasthat materials and the portaloo had been deliv-ered right down to the bridge. (SteppingstoneLane is notorious for resem-bling the Somme when itrains.) A tour of the sitewas given and the potentialhazards pointed out. Inparticular as work was to becarried out both on thebridge parapets and belowthe bridge exclusion zoneswere to be enforced toobviate the risk of materialsor tools falling onto a workarea below.

On returning to thehall the safety DVD wasshown and had more im-pact as the volunteers couldrelate to the specific siteconditions. Following theevening meal, as it wassuch a warm evening every-body sat outside with a littlelight refreshment from thebar. Being Saturday evening

the bar had a singer – best glossed over!On Sunday following the tool kit check

we loaded the required tools into the vans.There is little room to turn and park at thebridge so we did not take the trailer to site.

The initial tasks of removing weather-damaged bricks from the parapet walls andrecovery of useable stone were allocated andthe teams set to work. In the absence ofcoping stones the brickwork had sufferedfrost damage during the last couple of harshwinters. Fortunately less damage than antici-pated was discovered and only the topcourse required removal. Some volunteerswere then instructed on mixing lime mortarand during the afternoon the new brickswere laid and other areas repointed.

Meanwhile the stone picking team hadestablished various heaps of useable stoneand rubble for backfill. Richard and Nickvolunteered to commence the task of diggingout the mud under the bridge to establishthe state and level of the invert. Blue, theWRG excavator, was used to remove some ofthe infill but lack of firm base material meantthat only a limited amount was excavated –oh for a long reach machine!

A good day’s work was rounded off bya visit to the cold, character-building showersat Watchfield Sports Pavilion.

On Monday whilst the brickwork washardening off some more pointing was car-ried out. The stone work on the North East

wingwall, which had a sig-nificant collapse at lowerlevel, was removed down toa firm base. Some of thiswork was carried out byhand but the larger stoneswere removed using theexcavator. As there wasinsufficient stone to rebuildthe wall entirely in stone ithad been decided to use leanmix concrete bags at lowlevel below the water lineand stone above.

Meanwhile theunderbridge stalwarts,Richard and Nick continuedwith clearance of the mate-rial on top of the invert.

Another team headedby John were measuringthe available coping stoneswhich had been rescuedfrom a railway bridge beingA sandbag chain laying the base

John H

aw

kin

s

demolished, to establish how much usablecoping stone was available.

The corner stones were too short inone dimension and it had been suggestedthat they be cut and separated then pointedin between. I was not alone in not being infavour of this approach.

‘RAF Martin’ Thompson called by enroute home from work, and after discussingour thoughts he suggested putting an insetrow of bricks on the parapet corners to over-come the problem – not just a pretty face!

On Tuesday one team set about puttingthe inset brick idea into practice whilst an-other team continued filling bags with leanmix concrete and building the wall of bags.Stone was sorted into sizes in readiness for therebuild. Meanwhile Richard and Nick weremaking good progress under the bridge.

Tuesday evening saw us venture intoSwindon for Ten Pin Bowling. George, one ofour DofE volunteers and Romain were thewinners but looked a little concerned when toldthe winners always buy a round of drinks…

Wednesday saw a continuation of workon the wingwall and later in the day Nick ledthe team in starting the stone wall above theconcrete bag base. Another team were bring-ing the copers which had been cut into man-ageable sizes to the bridge. The centrecopers were set with stainless steel ties andbedded on lime mortar.

On arrival on site on Thursday we discov-ered some little darlings had lobbed some ofthe cleaned bricks from the bridge into the goobelow. Kat, Steph, George, Rob and Jenny setthemselves the challenge of recovering them.Much merriment ensued and with lots of goodold slimy goo the recovery crew got verymuddy and we lost count of how many bootshad to be rescued when the wearer partedcompany with them. They did however man-age to recover the bricks.

We lifted the first of the corner copersinto position using the excavator. Followingon from this copers were laid on the SouthEast section of the parapet. Meanwhile Martinhad started work on the extension of theunderbridge North West brick wall to bring itin line with the South West wall.

When we stopped for lunch, that mo-ment that occurs on many camps had ar-rived. We had all been toiling for several daysand now suddenly there was a lot to show forour efforts. The wing wall was really takingshape and looking fantastic and the bridge wasstarting to look as it should with coping

stones in place. During the afternoon goodprogress was made on all tasks.

In the evening the entertainment was avisit to the Pub quiz at the College Farm pub.

All too soon the last day on site hadarrived. All of the younger volunteers wereleaving before the evening meal so the tradi-tional Friday evening speech and ‘thank you’swere held at breakfast time.

On site rapid progress continued withlaying the coping stones, finishing of the topof the wing wall and work on the under-bridge brickwork. At lunchtime Harri pro-duced a birthday cake complete with litcandles in celebration of Rob’s birthday thefollowing day. By the end of the afternoonthe Eastern parapet coping stones werecomplete and the corner and centre copersset on the West parapet.The stone wing wallwas complete and top surface finished. Thebrickwork under the bridge was complete andthe invert had been exposed and the stopplank base found to be in good condition.

The site was tidied for the final time.Tools all cleaned and shuttled back to the hallcar park to be counted. Timing was perfectas the portaloo was collected just as wemade the last trip back from site. Followingthe tool count it was time for one last coldshower before our Fish and Chips and su-perb array of goodies for sweet.

My thanks to everyone on the camp fortheir hard work and good humour. We can allbe proud of what we achieved. My specialthanks to Harri for the superb meals andwonderful cakes, and to my carer – sorryassistant – Katrina.

Bob Crow

The completed wing wall

John H

aw

kin

s

KESCRG / WRG Camp 2013-08Whitehouses Pumping Station

Grand Union Wendover Arm

Our camp this year was something of areprise of last year – same site, same accom-modation, same cooks, more-or-less thesame dates, pretty much the same core ofexperienced volunteers and the same levelsof enthusiasm and aptitude in the intrepidband of ‘first-timers’. Even the work bore anuncanny resemblance to last year...

Pretty much the only change was theweather. Last year ‘tent city’ provided protec-tion for the bricklayers from the incessantdrizzle that lasted pretty much all week – thisyear we coincided with the start of the Julyheatwave and the marquee and jury-riggedshelters provided invaluable shade to preventthe mortar drying on the trowel and us allturning into overcooked lobsters. We hadunprecedented wall-to-wall sunshine fromSaturday to Saturday, and the fact that theBurco was reported to be sub-optimal by thepreceding camp was largely irrelevant as weconsumed vast quantities of squash andwater on site each day. Amazingly we suf-fered no heat stroke, sun stroke or sun burn– a testament to the usefulness of a Mick, alot of rope and several tarpaulins (and prob-ably some sun cream).

Over to new volunteer Jessamy Bloomfor the next part of the report...

At the end of the week, I ex-pressed an interest in writing - not quiterealising that I was offering to write thereport on the week we had spent reno-vating part of the Wendover Arm, off theGrand Union Canal. However, that iswhat it turned out I was doing, so now Iam piecing together the week fromscrawlings in my journal. We all startedarriving - I was one of the first. Havingnever been on a canal camp before, Iwasn’t sure what to expect. The firstthing I can say is that I had not expectedthe weather - a veritable heat wave,which continued for the entire week! I

can’t complain, not after hearing about lastyear, where the entire week was spent indownpours of rain - and considering the clayunderfoot in the bed of the canal, which wassludgy even in 30 degree heat, I imagine wegot the better end of the deal this year!

The first thing that had to be done, aftera few introductions, was to unpack the vans -bringing fridges, cooking utensils, and somekit into the village hall. Then I was given thedesirable job, along with a few others, of doingthe trailer inventory to make sure we had allthe necessary kit. By the time we were fin-ished, dinner was ready and an introductoryspeech was made by Stephen (our campleader) with input from Ian (assisting), as wellas watching the health and safety video.

The dinner was fantastic - Michael andNina managed to surpass themselves everyevening with amazing food, and wake us all upin the morning with great cooked breakfasts,as well as bringing us all lunch on site. Lateron, everyone got to know one another in thepub. We had a nice mixture of completenovices (i.e. me) and people who had beendoing these camps for years.

Our mission was to restore parts of theformer Whitehouses pumping station site tooperate as a water level control feature forthe Tring Summit pound of the Grand Unioncanal, eventually allowing excess springwater from the Wendover Arm to weir intothe original pumping shaft and down to

Camp ReportKESCRG on the Wendover

“A testament to the usefulness

of a Mick, a lot of rope

and several tarpaulins”

- Stephen explains how KESCRG

managed to burn so few people

The pumping station inlet wall - as discovered

Ray O

rth

Wilstone reservoir. We were alsocreating a nature trail pathway toprovide public access to the site oncework is complete. We have beenworking over the last couple of yearsto restore the structure so that whenthe Wendover Arm Trust reach thispoint with their Bentomat reliningwork, they can tie into the completedstructure without being distracted byhaving to restore it themselves.

So to the week – on Saturday,while Mick, Anne and I sweated ourway to Stoud and back to get the kit,pick up the cooks and do variousvolunteer pickups; Ian, Rob B, Racheland Bobby spent the day on sitestrimming the 6ft nettles that hadgrown since May and preparing the walls forbricklaying to give us a head start to the week.

The first working day was a bit of achallenge - but it worked much better than wewere warned it might. We managed to get tosite just after 9am, and were all working pro-ductively by 10am. I was assigned to thegroup building steps into the canal bank, sowe could safely access the pathway naturetrail which we started work on after lunch.Other groups included block-laying for theTrust working party on the relining work a bitfurther along the Arm, and preparing thebrickwork for rebuilding during the week.Working in the heat was exhausting, but wemanaged to get gazebos over most of the site,and the nature trail was covered by trees, sowe managed okay.

Packing up at the end of the day washindered slightly by the majority of us stand-ing around one of the vans,listening to Murray’s final setagainst Djokovic in the Wimble-don final on the car radio! We gotback to the hall in time for aWimbledon themed dinner, andthen off to the pub.

The next day, similar workcontinued. I was block-laying onthe relining work today, the onlyarea that did not involve coverfrom a gazebo! However, it wassatisfying to see the blocks go upso quickly, so much so that wefinished the section, and the nextroll of Bentomat could be laid.

An interesting aspect ofthe Wendover Arm project isthat the line of the Arm is still

owned by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), asthere is a pipe running under the dry sectionof the arm carrying the water from Wendoverto the reservoirs, where it is pumped up tothe Tring Summit pound by the Tringfordpumping station. This means that CRT areactively involved in the project, both from aheritage and an engineering point of view.On Monday and Tuesday we were joined byGary from CRT who was able to give usinvaluable advice on mixing and workingwith Lime Mortar, generously sharing hisexperience and time, working alongside usrebuilding the front wall of the pumpingstation outfall on both days – giving us amassive boost to the project. We were alsovisited on the Wednesday by Andy and Flor-ence from CRT to look at our work so far,and we also had a guided tour of the fasci-nating Tringford pumping station.

The wall - nearing completionBarr

y Bro

wn

Ste

phen D

avis

The wall - ready for coping stones

Monday evening’s enter-tainment was a trip to the cinema- to see ‘Despicable Me 2’. As itwas the evening, the cinemawasn’t exactly filled to capacityfor a children’s film, but person-ally, I think it was very enjoyable!

By Tuesday, the path hadprogressed almost to the pointwhere no more strimming hadbeen done, and lots of old brickshad been cleaned, ready to beused again. The evening wasspent walking along the openpart of the Wendover Arm fromLittle Tring, finishing with re-freshment at the Grand JunctionArms at Bulbourne.

Wednesday saw the path reach the endof its track, and we began to flatten the earth,ready for the aggregate layer. There was alsomore brick cleaning to be done, as the brick-work was moving on at an alarming rate!Straight after site, we toured the Tringfordpumping station (thankfully not the same as a‘pump-out station’, which was what I heardthe first time!). Only one of the pumps iscurrently in working order, causing a bit of aheadache for water-supplies to the summitlevel, highlighting the importance of the long-term benefits of restoring the Wendover Arm.The rest of the evening was spent (by some ofus) in the pub.

I spent Thursday working on the naturetrail, where we got to laying down the matting.This was very exciting, until we realised thatthe (very heavy) whacker, which was beingpulled along in front of the matting, was nowat the end of the trail, with a large roll ofmatting preventing its return to the start!

We had an interesting talk about theprogress of the Wendover Arm that evening,and I found out that we were working on Stage2 of the project (stage 1 being the alreadycompleted, and stage 3 not yet begun).

On Thursday, Nina and Michael ourfabulous cooks had to leave us, but theirinventiveness and clear joy at having theopportunity to let rip in the kitchen for aweek really contributed to the great atmos-phere of the camp. The chilled soups atlunchtime were both thirst quenching andnourishing and the evening meals were notjust food, but a culinary adventure to reallylook forward to - particular highlights beingthe Purple, White and Green Wimbledonthemed evening in honour of a certain Mr

Murray, and the Spanish and Indian evenings.Never tried sliced oranges with diced rootginger? Then I recommend that you do!

Friday was the last working day - alsomy last day, so I don’t actually know whathappened on Saturday! (you didn’t miss much– an awful lot of scrubbing and cleaning ofthe hall! – Stephen). We poured road-stoneonto the nature trail, and whackered it (havingretrieved the whacker using 6 people and awheelbarrow!). The brickwork had progressedwell, and was back to the point it had been whenit was left last year! We left the site earlier thanusual, to get back in time to clean and tidy thetools, and wash out the vans as well.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable week,helped by the amazing weather, the greatwork ethic, and the lovely people on the camp.

By the end of the week much prepara-tion work and bricklaying had been carriedout in the overflow chamber, and the frontwall was once again ready for coping stones.Kescrg returned to the site for our Augustweekend, and the coping stones are nowsitting proudly on top of their wall once again.

Massive thanks have to go to Gary,Andy, Florence and Tom from CRT for alltheir advice, help and involvement; to Rogerand Ray from WAT for their support andgiving us such an interesting project to workon; and huge thanks to Ian and Liz for ablyassisting me, to Michael, Nina, Anne and Lizfor catering magnificently, to Mick and Rachelfor being endlessly useful, and to everyoneelse for your enthusiasm, good humour,initiative, and for making leading this weekan order of magnitude less stressful than thepreceding 51 weeks of work!

Jessamy Bloomwith contributions from Stephen Davis

The wall after KESCRG returned for a weekend to add copings

Kate

Penn

WRG Boat Club News July 2013

Well, it is a lovely sunny day as I type this –not a usual experience of late – but predica-ble as we are not boating at present.

‘Why are you not boating in early July?’I hear you cry. Well mostly because we havejust sold Lynx! A very sad day for us, eventhough we knew it had to be. It has broughtback memories of the Boat Club activitiesthat have involved Lynx. We celebrated theboat’s 90th birthday at the AGM/social gath-ering at the National that year (was it BealePark in 2003? We left the plaques on Lynx sowithout them I never know!). We all satround on straw bales, I provided the ‘fizz’and (plastic) Champagne flutes and RogerJeffries not only assembled most of the strawfor seating but did a grand job opening thebottles.

My most enduring memory is from theopening (eventually) of the Aston locks onthe Montgomery. There was a boat organisedfor the VIPs but not enough room for someof the local councillors (QIPs?)* We wereasked if we could take them as passengerson Lynx for the inaugural trip down thelocks. We said ‘No we can’t take passengers,but we can take a cargo.’ So we went downthe locks with a cargo of councillors, allsitting on chairs arranged in the hold. How-ever since the hold is 4ft deep they couldn’tsee much if they sat down but if they stoodup the jolly bunting was flapping all roundtheir heads. Still they said that they enjoyedthe trip and thanked us. As we had no ‘facili-ties’ on the boat they all came back on theroad transport provided.

Lynx was very good formounting displays – the mostfamous being the collection ofEdwardian bloomers. We did do‘We want the Full Monty’ (letteringon a VAST pair of bloomersamongst the others and the flags)at a later Mont gathering - theone when we held the AGM there,but as it was tipping it down withrain while I was in the hold sort-ing out the lights and the genera-tor I thought ‘I am going to beelectrocuted if I start this thingup’ so chickened out. The Mayorliked what we had done andfortunately found it amusing.

As a boat club we have donea few crazy things I suppose. I

miss the ‘bring a boat’ weekends most wherewe would boat to some restoration that wasgoing on somewhere. Someone please findplaces where we could do that again.

Now to the future – we did book bothLynx and Straw Bear into Huddlesford so weplan to meet you ALL there for the clubAGM.

By the time you read this the newstyled National Festival will have come andgone, so I look forward to lots of news frommembers.

I have tried to contact all members togive access to the Association of WaterwaysCruising Clubs (AWCC) magazine Alert but Istill get caught out by ‘technomancy’ I do mybest – honest. If you haven’t heard from megiving you the link, please go to the AWCCwebsite and there you will find a link to get‘Alert’ sent direct to you.

I’m sure I will think of lots more newsafter I have sent this in, life is like that

For boat club information contact meon 07748186867 text is best or [email protected]

xxx Sadie Heritage

* Quite Important People, if you didn’tbother to work it out.

WRG BC NewsWRG’s own Boat Club

Will you be there? Huddlesford, site for the WRGBC AGM

LH

CR

T

WRG at 40Forty views for forty years

“We had one letter from BW which said

‘This is a candidate for future restoration’

followed by a letter saying “There’s no

question of restoration”

- early days at Huddersfield

On to interview 35 and over to deepest Wales to find ‘Wheelie Bin Bob’ Dewey and findout what else he does other than zoom around on a Bradshaw. Bob had prepared a verydetailed CV when he applied for the position of ‘interviewee’ and it was very useful.

Q: How and when did you first get involved with canal restoration?A: The first involvement with physical restoration was on theKennet & Avon in Bath when I stayed with an Aunt who lived in Bathfor many years, I came across these people with a dragline pullingmaterial out of the top lock at Widcombe Locks – that would havebeen 1965/66 something like that. I think I may have held onto therope – the dragline but nothing much more than that!

My next involvement of any significance was when I left collegeand moved to Yorkshire (just south of Huddersfield – a little place calledHigh Flatts) and discovered this derelict Huddersfield Narrow Canalwhich was only a few miles from where I lived. It looked in better condi-tion than the Grand Union which I remembered as a child. I thought:“How can this canal be derelict and the Grand Union still in use?”

I joined the IWA and the Peak Forest Canal Society (as it then was).I did some digging on the Ashton Canal and Marple Locks back in 1972-73 after the Cheshire Ring campaign had been won – it was putting thefinal touches to the restoration. The chairman of the IWA in West Riding said “Is anybody interested in theHuddersfield Narrow now that the Cheshire Ring’s almost complete?” and I stupidly said “Ooh yes – I’minterested” and became first secretary of the Huddersfield Canal Society and things moved on from then.

Q: How did you know about the IWA and the PFCS?A: I think we went to a canal festival in Sowerby Bridge or somewhere in West Yorkshire, there werethese muddy people standing around in a tent who seemed enthusiastic and interested – I can’t remem-ber exactly who was there but I felt I quite wanted to have a look and see what they were doing so Iwent to Ashton, to Marple. Although it was coming to the end of a very successful campaign it wasvery much shovels and there were no real machines – we had a bit of a hoist. We were digging under abridge (which was completely silted up) and we had to shovel mud into this barrow which was thentowed up a ramp and then tipped it back into the canal further up because the BW machine could get toit there. It was more than a bit Heath Robinson but it achieved what was set out to achieve.

We also did some work in Marple locks where BW had kindly pressure grouted the locks but thegrout had come through into the chambers – we had to break out the concrete from the inside of thechamber. But it was interesting and fun and very soon after you saw the canal restored and that was “Iplayed a very small part but I played a part in achieving something”. Then you started looking at theHuddersfield Narrow which they were still filling in at that stage: they had this magnificent idea ofcascading the locks which meant ‘let’s fill the chamber almost to the top with rubble, concrete and stuff- the water will trickle over it and it’ll be all pretty and there’ll be rainbows, salmon will leap up thecascades’. Whereas in reality the concrete either got coated in black slime or if they’d put rubbish inthat was degradable the concrete would collapse into the lock. There were 74 of those and they werestill cascading the last two or three when the society was formed.

BW were still trying to sell bits of it off. We had one letter from the recreation department at BWwhich said “This is a candidate for future restoration” – something like that – promptly followed by aletter from the estates department saying “There’s no question of restoration – Mr whatever-his-name-was was quite wrong, when he said ‘restoration’ he meant something else”. Obviously cracks in BW aswell at that stage.

Q: How did you go about restoring it – what tasks were there to be done?A: We always knew it wasn’t going to be a volunteer restoration project (except in a very cosmeticsort of way), we had a couple of restorations: one was filling in pot holes in the towpath, really just tosay to the public “Hey – we’re here and we’re prepared to put our effort into it”; the other was clearingout the first lock in Huddersfield which was one of the few that hadn’t been filled in at all. We organ-ised a boat festival next to it and people came and saw these lunatics absolutely up to their necks inmud, digging out this lock. We couldn’t pump it out – we had no facilities for pumping it out. There’s alovely photograph somewhere of people leaning over the side into the lock with no safety fencing andno hard hats. The main thing really was campaigning to persuade the authorities that restoration meantsomething. It was a different project from the Peak Forest where it was just derelict, this is where therewas a six lane highway across the canal with no bridge, there’s a causeway containing a major sewergoing across the canal virtually at water level. There’s a section that’s been sold off with a factory builton and there’s another section with a big factory built on it. It takes a lot to be credible; we had to buildup credibility for a long time. We had a letter from one of the factory owners saying “Haven’t yourealised they’ve built railways now, you don’t need canals” – tragically I can’t find that letter. It wasabout persuading the public that it did actually make sense and it could actually happen. That took avery long time.

There’s a lot of luck in restoration projects and I used to say to our committee “if we get thiswrong that’s the end of the Huddersfield Canal forever; if we get it right the canal will be restored”.One of the absolute classic events was when our chairman said “Would you come one Sunday morningto show some slides to this councillor in Stockport?” I thought “Do I really want to drive over toStockport, on a Sunday morning to show some slides to this guy?” Fortunately I did because it latertranspired this was the chairman of Greater Manchester planning committee. Greater Manchester wereabout to be abolished and they were desperate to squirrel away all the money they could and so thecanal society got a cheque for 1.2 million pounds out of that. The hairs on my neck still tingle at that,not only because of seeing a cheque with not ‘000001’ but ‘1200000’, but because it could easily havenot happened.

People said “This society’s got money – this can actually do things”. We started off by only spendingthe interest but the money got spent eventually – it wasthe start of credibility.

Q: Have you boated the HuddersfieldNarrow?A: Certainly have! Went to the festival in the firstyear it was reopened. It was all over in a bit of a blurreally – for years you’d walked up and down bits andthen we did [boated] it in three days (at that time you hadto go through the tunnel in a convoy) and I want to doit again and again.

Q: What was your first interaction withWRG?A: After Marple was finished Peak Forest [CanalSociety] set up this Peak Forest Mobile – we went downto Stratford and did work on the Southern Stratford, wealso went to the Great Ouse. It was all a bit haphazardin those days; the Great Ouse work party really sticks inmy mind because we didn’t have any accommodationbooked. My recollection is (somebody else may have adifferent view) that one of us went into an estate agentsand said we’re interested in an empty property can weborrow the keys for the weekend? We stayed in thisempty property for the weekend – that’s my recollectionanyway. We came to the Mont – we went to variousplaces because Peak Forest were really twiddling theirthumbs thinking “We’ve got all this impetus and all this WRG at Diggle in the 1980s

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equipment and we want to do something”. I knew they wanted to come to the Huddersfield but itwasn’t opportune at that stage.

It’s a big step for somebody who’s an organisation like BW or the council who’ve spent a lot ofmoney cascading the locks, filling them in [to say] “OK guys – you can dig it out”. Again, another luckychance, our Chairman was going to London in a train and and he sat down next to the principal engineerof BW (who was also making the same journey) and they started talking. Somehow the Chairman ChrisFarrow persuaded the principal engineer that he could do this ‘trial dig’ to see what the state of thelocks were at Upper Mill. It had to be called an exploratory dig – we weren’t restoring the locks but wewere digging out all the material that had been dumped in there to see what was in there. Nobody everquite explained what would happen if we decided the lock couldn’t be restored – I wasn’t going tospend weekends tipping it back in again. WRG came and helped organise those digs and then hadvarious other work parties at the next lock up. We then did some of the work at Diggle locks withWRG. WRG played an important part.

Q: Peak Forest Mobile – what was your motivation for going out with them?A: Although I worked in an office in a collar and tie I quite like getting muddy – a few WRG peopleknow that I like getting muddy and crawling up dirty culverts – it was something very different from myday to day life.

Q: You’ve got more involved in the IWA – festivals in particular?A: That’s really by chance – again it’s about doing something very different. People at work used tosay “what are you going to do for your August Bank holiday (as it then was)” – “I’m going to Birming-ham – I’m going to collect rubbish from a festival site”.

Q: What was your first National?A: I think York was the first back in the ’70s but my first involvement as Wheelie Bin Bob was Isuppose Henley. Sue Burchett said “This guy needs something to do” so they called me (as they tend todo – put manager on the end ofpeople’s titles) Waste DisposalManager or something and it’s hap-pened ever since.

Q: What is your job at theNational?A: Clearing the site, getting rid ofthe rubbish and organising thepeople to do it. We have aBradshaw and a trailer and wetrundle around the site picking uprubbish and putting plastic bags inbins. Really trying to make it a goodexperience – I think there’s nothingworse than going to a festival withice cream cartons thrown on thefloor and rubbish blowing about.Our aim has always been that itshould look absolutely pristine allthrough the event. It’s nice whenpeople say it’s the tidiest festival we’ve ever been to. I think it’s part of it – yes the entertainment’simportant but the canvas against which you see it is equally important.

Q: You joined the IWA in the ‘70s - have you got involved in any particular branch?A: I go to Chester Branch, I’m officially in Chester Branch but occasionally go to Shrewsbury Branchmeetings. Never had any organisational roles in IWA except that professionally I’m a town planner sonow I’m one of the honorary consulting planners to IWA which means that if they ever want any plan-ning advice they turn to me. It happens in bursts, you get a few phone calls from people who have beenreferred to me, sometimes it’s about writing reports or giving information about how IWA could deal

Bob and his team in action this year at Cassiobury Park

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with a town planning matter. I see my role as trying to help branches who have a problem, rightly orwrongly they don’t ring me very often.

With the Montgomery Trust I make planning comments on their behalf but I think most branchesare reasonably keyed-up in the sense that they know they need to write letters. I have given a couple oftraining talks to IWA branch members on planning matters and the theme as always is “If in doubt – ask”.

Q: Where did you grow up and what was your first experience of canals?A: I grew up in North-West London and my parents always used to go out for a walk on a Sundayafternoon and very often we went on the Grand Union. Sometimes we saw loaded pairs of boats goingby – that seemed quite interesting to me. I didn’t really take any specific interest – I didn’t note downnames – although I took a photo of a boat in Cassiobury Park Lock. One year there weren’t any boats,that was, now with hindsight I understand, ’63 after the big freeze when BW stopped carrying. Thatwas my first real experience of boating. Our next door neighbours bought a cruiser and we went to seeit on one occasion but it never left its moorings.

Then I bought half a Josher called Erik in the mid ’70s: ironside, wooden bottom Josher with amassive engine that took us quite a long time to start for the first time but never ran again. The familycame along and the boat went I’m afraid.

After the Huddersfield was going to be reopened we bought a share in a 60ft narrow boat [Joker]which we share with four other couples. That went to Huddersfield – that was its first major trip out forus. Normally I organise the other peoples’ holiday by saying “We’re going down to St Ives, Watford orwhatever – you’d like two weeks before that would you like to take it to Stoke Bruerne – and wouldyou [to another couple] like to bring it back two weeks after us?” and they tamely say “Ooh – that’s a goodidea”. Not realising it’s part of my master plan to get down to the National without using up all myholiday. It works very well for us.

Q: The Mont - you said you attended the first work party?A: The first Peak Forest [Canal Society] work party was down at the Newtown end clearing the watersupply from River Severn. We scrabbled about up to our knees in the River Severn digging – there’s afeeder at that end of the canal. Don’t know if it’s been cleared out since, but it was where Peak Foreststarted. My first week’s camp was on Lock 4 at Frankton in the days when the canal got as far as thebottom of the lock and was dry thereafter. That first camp was led by one Neil Edwards.

Then somebody in IWA nominated me as the IWA’s representative to the Montgomery Trust andthen their secretary left so they said “You would like to be secretary wouldn’t you?” sometimes I don’thave that word “no” in my vocabulary. I’ve been secretary for ten years or so – maybe more. The Montproject ought to have been completed years and year ago but never quite seems to hit the button and goturbo – it gets quite close.

Q: What other camps did you do?A: I don’t know whether I ever did any other camps except as leader – I’ve led quite a few canalcamps. I’ve led camps on Stroudwater, Wilts & Berks, Hereford & Gloucester - they were fun.

Q: Your CV also says you claimed the record for attending approx 45 weekendwork parties in 1989?A: That was the first year after I left Yorkshire and I had moved to Leicestershire and didn’t reallyhave much going on so I went out with BITM, North-West, London, KESCRG. Living in Leicester, Iused to say it’s two hours to anywhere – I could get to Stroudwater, Wilts & Berks, Montgomery allwithin two hours, Pocklington, Ashby, Lancaster...

Q: Are there any particular people you remember?A: I think there are a lot of people who put contributions in, John Palmer and I worked together a lotof times. John Foley was one of the people I’d first contacted when the Huddersfield Narrow was firstbeing proposed, he wrote me a very nice long letter saying hadn’t I noticed that Stalybridge had beenfilled in? Yes I had!! It was a very thoughtful letter [made me think it was] not so crazy as I first thought.The Burchetts.

Q: What are you most proud of about your involvement?A: The Huddersfield has got to be really an achievement – I mean people call it ‘the impossible

restoration’, I don’t know who actually said that but if I’d known it was going to be impossible I prob-ably wouldn’t have started the restoration. But it’s nice to feel I had part of that and that things I didhopefully were key in that coming to fruition. We mentioned at one point that 1.2 million poundcheque – it still makes my hairs stand up on the back of my neck to think I had 1.2 million pounds inmy hand and that came partly as a result of something I did.

Q: What would you say WRG’s greatest achievement was?A: Undoubtedly that WRG has proved ‘impossible’ doesn’t exist in their vocabulary – even canalslike the Hereford & Gloucester which had been closed for over a century I think. The Wilts & Berkswas started by the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group (of which I was a member), they couldn’t even,they daren’t even say the Wilts & Berks Restoration Group. At that time it was crazy, it was an abso-lutely ludicrous idea to restore that canal and now they’re proving everybody wrong and it really ishappening big time. I think WRG has co-ordinated and we moved on. In many ways I’m sad because Iused to love digging silt off the bottom of a lock chamber – soft silt – just shovelling. If you’re usingyour brain all week just to be able to do something mindblowingly dull and boring but you’re actuallyseeing something – it’s very satisfying.

Q: What would you say WRG is not so good at?A: My view is that WRG perhaps isn’t advancing – we’re still doing a lot of labour intensive jobs. Iwould love to see WRG moving into more of a construction phase – I think we’ve got the skills andconfidence to put road bridges back. The Wilts & Berks, for example, has a lot of lanes going across itwhere the bridge has gone but the lane doesn’t get much use but we could put a bridge back. I’d lovefor us to demonstrate doing something like that. I know a lot of people hate concrete culverts – bigsquare concrete box culverts to make bridges – well they’re ugly but they’re practical. Why don’t we getsome moulds made for lovely curved shaped culverts? If we cast a few of them – which we knowwe’ve got the competence to do. If we persuade a local authority this lane isn’t terribly busy and itwouldn’t matter if we closed it for a week whilst we did it. Once we’ve done one and proved we cando it in a reasonable timescale I think we could start really marching ahead. Yes it’s fun digging mudout of the bottom of a lock chamber but it’s a not good use of peoples’ time and labour. I’d like WRGto move in that direction I think.

Q: What’s changed for canal restoration in the time you’ve been involved?A: It’s changed in that we have modernised – the little half tonne (I think) dumpers have prettymuch gone, we’ve got our own excavators. Smalleys were a small excavator that had two wheels andsort of walked to sites and it took an inordinately long time; you sort of walked one step then you drewsomething back and then walked another step and it took you a week to get to the site. They were earlymechanical excavators, didn’t do very much but they were the beginning of saying to the world “Wearen’t just picks and shovels - we are moving on”. Equipment’s all numbered and maintained andorganised - which was all a bit haphazard at times. We’ve got our own catering kit – we used to have totake our own plates, knives andforks to camps, I had little sym-bols marked on mine so I couldspot which were mine and bringthem home at the end of theweekend.

Q: Has anyone in par-ticular inspired you?A: I think a lot of the North-west team – I’ve enjoyed workingwith the Northwest people. Idon’t think I use the word in-spired, not because I don’t thinkthere are people who have beenfun to work with but I supposepart of the enjoyment is thatwe’ve learnt together. One small step forward: the Smalley walking excavator

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Q: What is your favouritederelict canal?A: I do enjoy the Wilts & Berks.It’s good because it’s got lots ofthings to do and it’s a link – canalswhich are cul-de-sacs are nevergoing to be as attractive I think.Remote canals are perhaps nevergoing to be as attractive – theLancaster is a fantastic canal and Ithink the Hereford & Gloucester isas well but you sometimes thinkpart of canal restoration has to bethat the end product is used andusable and all these cost-benefitreports that we’ve commissionedactually deliver. It would be anabsolute disaster if anything we’verestored gets abandoned becausethe resources aren’t there to lookafter it. I was always worried[about] the Huddersfield, abouthow many jobs it was going to create and how much money it was going to create - people said “nobodywill ever use all the locks” and you think deep down (although I love locks) are they right? I think theHereford & Gloucester is hopefully long enough to survive on its own but I suspect there’s going to bequite a few people who are a bit doubtful about going on the half-tidal Severn to get to it, I hope insome way that can be made easier.

Q: Have you any madcap restoration plans for canals?A: That’s partly the planner in me that sees the gaps in maps and thinks “Ooh – why isn’t there abit?” One of the things is the London to Cambridge Canal. Now the River Cam and the Great Ouseprobably doesn’t get that many visitors ’cos it’s such a heck of a long way to get to it - when we tookJoker to the St Ives festival one couple took Joker to Peterborough and handed over – that was a fair trekeven for them and we still had a fantastic two weeks on the Ouse. To get to the River Lea and RiverStort is a long way from most of the canal system - so why could we not put the join between the RiverStort and the Cam? There was an Act of Parliament to build the London to Cambridge Canal - whenyou look on a map the distance isn’t very far and there’s a thin blue line that goes most of the way. Ithink that’s well worth thinking about!

Q: Where do you see WRG’s future?A: I think it’s got to continue to grow and to continue to build up a professional approach to canalrestoration. I think it mustn’t lose sight of the fact it’s supposed to be fun. One of the worst things atthe end of canal camps was always counting the number of spoons and ticking off on lists which wasvitally important – but you’ve just done a week of canal restoration.

Q: Do you have any classic ‘do you remember the time when stories’?A: There are lots of things I remember doing like crawling up culverts which at one time was myspeciality. We went down to Bude, on Bude there are these inclined planes with bucket pits where theyhad huge buckets that went down in a vertical pit to pull the boats up the slope. We were potteringaround at the bottom of the inclined plane clearing out the bottom basin and we were told that thebucket pits had long since been destroyed and filled in and didn’t exist anymore - a couple of us crawledup this culvert and stood in these bucket pits and they were absolutely immaculate – perfect condition(I think the buckets had gone). People telling you one thing – don’t believe what people say. On theHuddersfield the first blockage was the six lane highway in Huddersfield and I spoke to one of theresident engineers who’d been involved filling it in, he said “the bridge was there but we hand packed itwith stone and pressure grouted it with concrete – don’t try and dig there – dig next to it – you’ll neverbreak through all the concrete we put in it”. So the contractors turn up to build this bridge and the firstbrick they move all the rubble falls out - they didn’t put any concrete in. Beware what people tell you.

Favourite: The Wilts & Berks at Steppingstones Bridge

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WRG at 40Forty views for forty years

“we had to make the point to Manchester

that we absolutely weren’t wanting

someone else to do it. We were prepared

to do it ourselvess”

- Robin Higgs on Op Ash

Many, many people had suggested I interview candidate number 36 so I headed to Basing-stoke Canal country to meet Robin Higgs and find out exactly what involvement he’s hadover the years. Robin was surrounded by a wealth of WRG memorabilia including a copy ofevery issue of Navvies (which he still reads avidly) and his signing on booklet for OperationAshton. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to Robin’s story.

Q: How and when did you first get involved withcanal restoration?A: First contact with canals would have been in 1962 when theIWA London & Home Counties Branch organised a boat rally inWoking – that was my first encounter with the waterways – it cameinto my consciousness. Then in ’66, my mother used to go to lecturesat the Workers Education Association, they had a visit by HughMcKnight and Viscount St Davids [from] St Pancras Cruising Club.They talked about canals – we went along and heard this, my brotherand I. Tim Dodwell was a name that came up because he was theorganiser of the working parties side of London & Home Counties.My mother contacted him and said “I’ve got two strong lads – howabout giving them a job restoring the canals?” So we contacted Tim,got involved and started work on the Kennet & Avon. Actual physical work started on the Kennet &Avon – just west of Reading.

Q: So it was your mother that encouraged you?A: She was always the one pushing us into things a little bit - one of the grandmothers was a suffra-gette – the ladies in our family were always very outgoing and involved in things. My mother really wasthe one who said “It’s a wonderful movement”. [It was] not well understood in those days, all our work-ing in those days was very much related to campaigning because people didn’t understand waterwayrestoration at all. We had to make a case for it being something sensible to do.

Q: You started on the Kennet & Avon – can you remember what kind of jobsyou were doing?A: It was very much bank clearing, clearing towpaths, opening it up.

Q: What motivated you to carry on?A: I find water’s a fascinating element; just the idea that you could float on a boat through the coun-tryside I find a very engaging and attractive idea.

Q: Where were you living at this time?A: Living here in Chobham on the Surrey/Hampshire border. The Dodwells lived in Chertsey at thattime, Jim Woolgar and others who eventually became Waterway Recovery Group were all in this area.In 1966 the next major factor was the Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society being formed and I joinedthat, I went to the inaugural meeting and was involved really right from day one. It was very much alocal and London orientated sort of centre for canal work. From ’66 until 1970, until we formed WRGat the National Rally in Guildford, it was the London & Home Counties [IWA] Branch. We did a lot ofdriving over the country, the Stourbridge 16 we drove up there, I remember staying on a narrow boat inthe Bumblehole in the freezing winter weather with no heating - we had to break the ice outside to getsome water to wash. In a way I’m slightly unusual because I worked on most of the rallies, the Marpleflight up on the Peak Forest, Welshpool, all sorts of places and eventually got very involved in the

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Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society’s [Basingstoke Canal] restoration and became its chairman in 1974.

Q: How did WRG come about?A: It was a natural evolution from the London & Home Counties working party group which wasvery much South-East oriented. We had the Peak Forest people up there working, there was a lot goingon in the Midlands of course - it was just realised that it should have a much wider appeal. Graham[Palmer] was very much a member of the Home Counties team with Tim [Dodwell] being chairman andGraham being editor, so it was from that they realised that it’s got to get bigger, it’s got to becomenational – a good taking off point was the National Rally at Guildford of which I was the site director.We were quite an irreverent lot because IWA Council used to meet on the Saturday morning of rallies inthose days, we had decided to make a headline-grabbing event, we were going to have a ‘piano smash-ing up’ – it’s dreadful to think of it now isn’t it? – we were going to break a piano up and pass it througha six inch pipe. We were told by Council that it wasn’t the sort of image waterways should be proposingand so we didn’t do it but we had a stand there; a local plant hire firm had brought in equipment andthat was the time Waterway Recovery Group was formed.

Q: What role did you play with WRG in those early days?A: Very much working party. When we move on to some of the bigger things like Op Ash [OperationAshton] in ’68 and Ashtac I was involved in the site planning. I used be Graham’s driver a lot of thetime – he didn’t like driving on the motorways so we had to flog all round Birmingham on the A5 fromFinchley – it used to take us hours to get anywhere. I was involved in the planning of Op Ash, wherewe decided plant would be distributed - so it’s very much on the practical restoration side. That was anamazing event. Back to my point about campaigning, we had to make the point to Manchester and toDroylsden and Ashton that we absolutely weren’t wanting someone else to do it. We were prepared todo it ourselves and get stuck in – we had hundrds of people that came from all over the country. Itchanged the whole perception of volunteers.

Q: Any particularly lasting memories from that weekend?A: Had all sorts of interesting things to do – we had a dispute with the council as to whether wewere taking rubbish out of the canal which was in Ashton and putting it on Manchester’s tips. I had toride shotgun with the lorries to make certain that they knew where the rubbish had come from. Theimpact of it was just dramatic in the end.

We had all the dumpers halfway up the flight in a patch of land above the towpath, in those daysdumpers were two wheel drive forward tipping dumpers. I slept in a marquee overnight because ofvandalism – you daren’t put anything down, it would disappear. First job in the morning was to drivedumpers down on to the towpath, now a two wheel drive dumper on a steep slope you have to go downbackwards – if you go forwards it runs away with you. There wasn’t the same sort of training in thosedays that you have with WRG now so I did things like taking all the dumpers so that they didn’t all endup in the canal... which one of them did...

Q: Ashtac was ’72?A: Again we had monorails and all sorts of things to cope with. Vast numbers, ages to book in. Ithink it was Ashtac we had to move our sleeping quarters – we took over some gas showrooms to sleepin. It was such a lot of fun – volunteering has to fun at the end of the day otherwise people won’tcontinue with it. For a project to be successful you’ve got to have strong leadership and good team-work. This was all that was sort of being built around Graham – he was very much a visionary and verykeen on inclusiveness. He made certain when we were working, say on the Southern Stratford, every-one got involved. Graham was very keen to see that it didn’t get too cliquey. We used to do funnythings like tummy thumping where we used to charge at each other and see who you could push over...

Q: In the ‘70s WRG was very much weekend digs – the concept of a canalcamp came later?A: Yes – the modern canal camp system came on much later. We had Droitwich dig, Welshpool -nearly always Friday to Sunday. One of the things that did change, when we had the camp in ’77 onBasingstoke Canal – the Deepcut Dig – I believe that was a defining moment in the organisation ofthese massive working parties in that we did a lot of work beforehand. The canal society had a lot ofvolunteers, we had a quite a working party structure so we did a lot of preparation. When everyone

came for the Deepcut Dig it was allconstructive work, there was virtu-ally no scrub bashing – the scaffold-ing was already in the locks and thebricks were there. When DeepcutDig was over a lot of positive workwas done – it wasn’t just a lot leftover from bonfires – it was quite asea change in the way the digs werelooked upon.

Q: Welshpool was in 1969?A: Yes – Welshpool was great fun;the weather was awful, we had thickfog. We found a plug in the bed ofthe canal below the lock nearWelshpool town centre. I was in-volved with running Coventry Cli-max fire pumps all night trying topump the section of the canal out. Again, they were weekends, they weren’t week digs at all. Always itwas the publicity that we needed, the whole concept that amateurs could actually do professional workand of course WRG’s a prime example of how it’s become very professional.

Q: What was your background?A: My life has always been in horticulture on the land, so I’ve always been used to tractors, plant andequipment and repairing things. It’s a very practical, hands-on life.

Q: Going back to the Basingstoke and the Surrey and Hants Canal Society in1966...A: The canal at that stage had become quite dried, derelict. There were some places where it hadwater in but it had got to a position where the owners of the Basingstoke Canal Company had thoughtthey would like to divest themselves of it. They had very little income and were wondering what theyshould do with it other than develop it. Of course Jim Woolgar started it off with letters in the localpapers saying “it’s a tragedy the canal’s just lying there derelict and it’s about time we did somethingabout it”. There was a meeting in Woking and nearly 200 people attended, the committee was formedand it sort of went on from there.

I was very involved on the working parties side but I didn’t join the committee – I was the chair-man throughout the whole of the restoration ’74 – ’91 but from ’66 to ’73 I was very involved in work-ing. I was still working much more over the country you see. I came back from working nationally withthe Ashtacs and all these sort of things and then, partly because of work and time, I got more involvedlocally.

The Basingstoke’s only three or four miles away and it’s a very, very beautiful canal. It was quitea campaign that was mounted, it started to come into public ownership in Hampshire in ’74 and then inSurrey in ’76. [Before that] the owners didn’t like us; we had to work in the name of a residents’ associa-tion and things like that – there was an injunction stopping the canal society from doing work. It wasall quite a fraught time but we were very keen and very sure. Canal restoration is all about quality oflife for the future – for our children and grandchildren. If we don’t save these things (like railwaypreservation), once they’re gone it’s very difficult to get them back again.

Q: What were the difficult things about the Basingstoke Canal?A: 29 locks, a lot of different authorities to cope with and not an awful lot of money either. I set upa partnership with the county council and local authorities and which really, simply said “if you providewhat money you can we will provide the labour”. The big schemes on the Basingstoke Canal werenearly all Manpower Services Commission (a whole gamut of projects) all handled through the canalsociety – we gave the undertaking to the authorities that we’d be the vehicle for restoration. We had alot of support locally – a lot of people were in favour. There isn’t a very good water supply – some-thing we’re still addressing now.

Deepcut Dig: first Big Dig with constructive work

Chris

Griff

iths

Q: There’s a lot of people who’ve had input into the Basingstoke CanalA: If you’re talking of people that influenced me obviously there were people like [Robert] Aickmanwho I got to know a bit and who I corresponded with. He always said when he gave talks around thecountry on canals everybody asked about the Basingstoke Canal – he thought the reason was all thearmy bases in the area. The guards’ depot at Pirbright had a swimming pool in the canal – there was adiving board. It was somehow in the national psyche.

With our MPs, politically we were in a fairly strong position – we had people like Cranley Onslow(secretary of state) and he was supportive, Lord Onslow himself would ask questions in the Lords. Wemanaged to get quite a lot of political clout – it’s partly where we are, close to London – we needed allof it.

Q: The canal was restored in ’91?A: We reopened it in 1991 with the Duke of Kent coming along – it was a wonderful event. I wasvery honoured to be able to speak on behalf of the volunteers there. My wife wasn’t invited onto theboat – lots of political people and not too many volunteers get involved in these things. When I was beingpiped on board sort of thing, the Duke’s equerry said to my wife “Aren’t you coming on board?” and she said“No – I haven’t been invited” – he said “Oh yes you are – come on board”. I was delighted about that.

Q: What’s your involvement now?A: I’m a vice president but still working as a - consultant’s not the right word – maybe an advisor.One of the things over the years I have been able to do is to make a lot of contacts – I do quite a lot ofliaising work. I’m still a consultant with IWA Restoration Committee (ResCom) – it’s a lot of linkingwork and advice I suppose.

Two things I’ve always wanted to put together are the people who do the work (so WRG and usthe working party people) and the politicians who form policy and strategy. It is those two, it hasalways been my desire to put together. I started the Southern Canals Association in 1975, had peoplelike Mike Day, Graham Palmer there – really to stop people reinventing the wheel. Now it’s got easierin these days of electronic communication but in the ’60s there weren’t [those things] - I was very keen onteam work and team building. I was Restoration Committee chairman from 1996 to 2000 and whatever– an IWA Trustee. One of the things I was keen to do was to put ResCom and WRG together – that’swhy I dragged Master Martin Ludgate onto ResCom. I fairly much like to bang heads together andmake people talk together.

Q: Have you boated the Basingstoke?A: Yes I have – I haven’t got a boat myself. One of my abiding happy memories is going up theflight with David and Audrey Smith quite a few years ago.

Q: Did Audrey Smith ask youto become the RestorationCommittee chair?A: She did – at that time there hadbeen some interesting times in the IWAover restoration and Audrey Smith aschairman (and she is one of the bestchairman I have ever worked under –she was a visionary chairman, I’ve gotsuch a lot of time for Audrey) sheinvited me to come in (I wasn’t amember) to take on its chairmanshipand look at restructuring ResCom. Iwas a bit uncertain as what my recep-tion would be being brought in fromoutside but I have to say they were allbrilliant - all the people I worked with:Tony Harrison and Roy Sutton who aresuch a link between WRG and theIWA. I was very pleased to do it – it was a very enjoyable time.

Nearly a piano-smashing contest: WRG at Guildford 1970

Harr

y A

rnold

There was quite a lot to do, very much the way Restoration Committee works now is as we devel-oped it then. It’s added a few more bits and pieces but pretty much as we set it up. Travelling roundthe country is something I wanted us to do. I didn’t want to have meetings in London or something –they still go everywhere – to be with the people doing the work.

Q: Jumping back again to WRG in the 70sA: Even before then – we’d had the Southern Stratford reopened in ’64 by the Queen Mother. As weknow it was opened rather than restored so we had rather a lot of work to do there. Things like work-ing at Edstone Aqueduct - fun and games when we were on a learning curve with sheet piling. It hadbeen opened but it wasn’tgetting much use – WilmcoteFlight and all sorts of thingsneeding work doing on them.

The canal was NationalTrust owned in those daysand there wasn’t much moneyand the canal really was notdoing too well. DavidHutchings was on the sceneof course – he’d been the onewith the Stratford and theUpper Avon – I got involvedin that one as well. Mygoodness, he was a charis-matic character! We restoreda lock on the Upper Avon –we drove two rows of sheetpiling and dug it out and got anew lock and a river cut inabsolutely no time flat. Wedid things people didn’tbelieve could be done.

Stratford Blitz came on a bit later – I used to drive Graham up there. Another little memory isbeing in the village hall at Lowsonford – about 10 o’clock at night we heard a Bolinder coming up thecanal and the place emptied in about two seconds flat!! I remember the Fleur de Lys pies as well, theywere lovely pies that we used to have on a Saturday evening.

Q: You mentioned Stourbridge?A: Yes - the Stourbridge Sixteen – IWA, I think, were persona non grata with Waterways [BW] so thework was instigated by the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society and it was David Tomlinsonwho spent two to three years on the Stourbridge Flight of locks. They were very derelict, the lock gateswere all falling apart and the chambers were full of mud. With London & Home Counties we used togo up for the weekend, John Dodwell was one of them, my brother Peter as well. We would be clearingout a lock at the weekend near one of the bottle kilns and we had about the most unstable vesselknown to man: a narrow boat as a mud boat. We used to fill this up – it was wheelbarrows and planksand barrow runs filling up the mud boat (called Wallace) and then it was someone else’s job to empty it.

That was very important - the Stourbridge Sixteen which opened in either late ’66 or early ’67 wasanother critical link on the BCN. I went up there quite a bit.

Q: And Droitwich?A: Yes – the Droitwich Dig – we had a canal there absolutely full up of reeds. There were somesections in water and some dry sections there – a lot of Droitwich was to do with clearing out thechannel. We had Hymacs [excavators] there and one of the things about using the Hymacs – I remembermy brother saying to Graham “I think to work properly we need to get the Hymacs in the bed of thecanal – just not on the banks”. I remember Graham being uncertain a little bit as whether he dared putHymacs in the bottom, whether we’d lose them. But in the end, that’s what he did. We did a lot of workthere and then there was a big time lapse before it all got picked up again. Lovely to see it open now.

Building bywashes during one of the Stratford Blitzes

Harr

y A

rnold

Q: What was a typical car journey with Graham Palmer like?A: It would be a Friday evening and it would be a flog from here up to Finchley then driving up toBirmingham or to Marple. For the Peak Forest there was a Dr Boucher had a house with a cellar and wehad the key to that so you can imagine by the time we’d driven up from London to Manchester it wasmidnight. There was another wonderful chap – Chris Burton – he was full of stories, we didn’t get anawful lot of sleep when we got up there. They were long journeys, Graham didn’t like motorways so Iwasn’t allowed to go on the motorways, we went all the way up the ordinary roads.

Q: You were very active in the working parties in the 70s – what was the nextprogression for you?A: With beginning to get a young family I had a little bit less time to go swan about all over thecountry so I changed the emphasis a little bit – it was the Basingstoke Canal that took most of my time.

Q: But you’ve kept an interest in WRG?A: I still do – very much so. I’ve got such a lot of time for Mike Palmer – he’s a great lad - bringinga healthy dose of irreverence to the job. If you work on the land all your life, as I have, and you have toput up with the weather you’re a bit of a rebel. Then when I’ve become chairman of this that and theother I’m looked on as part of the establishment, I’m always slightly ill at ease with that thought. I’mreally one of the lads.

Q: What are you most proud of about your involvement?A: In two ways: generally in how the movement itself has become so much more a professional partof people’s thinking about canals – I’m very pleased about the way WRG and all of us have evolvedinto credible organisations. I’m also delighted about the Basingstoke – to remember it as a derelictcanal and to be able to boat on it now is something I’m very proud of. All the people I’ve met – onealways gets more out of volunteering than you put in, I’ve gained a lot of friends. In 2003 I was hon-oured by being invested with the Order of the British Empire for services to conversation and heritage.Everyone says it I know - it is On Behalf of Everyone else – it really is.

Q: What is WRG’s greatest achievement?A: It’s become a very credible, professional organisation which will stand in good stead compared toanyone else. It also does it in a way where there’s a lot of fun and camaraderie because if that doesn’thappen it won’t work – if people don’t enjoy it they vote with their feet. WRG has developed, as it hadto in these litigious days, into a sound organisation but it is also very conscious of the humanities andpeople. I’d love to see more emphasis being put into young people in its involvement.

Q: Where do you see WRG’s future?A: It’s evolved a lot into its working camp format – I’m not sure there’s much else you can evolve –it seems to have stabilised in an acceptable way. I hope it will go on as it is – I’m not sure I’d like WRGto change too much.

Q: Who’s inspired you? Which characters have stood out over the years?A: It would have to come in the first instance from people like Aickman, Viscount St Davids andHugh McKnight – the people who inspired me to think this is something I’m going to be interested in.Very much Graham as well – I had a lot of time for Graham – he certainly was inspirational. AudreySmith in recent times, I’ve found she was someone I’d admired greatly for the way she ran the IWA.

Alan Jervis, I was on council with him. I have an awful lot of time for Alan, he’s a very thought-ful person. He had a conscience – there was the thought of IWA joining with the British Boat BuildersFederation and the case Alan made as to why it wasn’t the way forward I was very impressed by it, histhinking, his perception about it.

Q: Is there anything else you wanted to say?A: I’m just very happy to have been part of it all – I’m a very ordinary guy and I’m happy to havebeen part of it – I still am. There’s still a lot to do and there always will be.

Number 36 done and the end is in sight! Next interview in next Navvies – I’m not saying who!Helen Gardner

Navvies diaryYour guide to all the forthcoming work parties

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

Aug 24-31 Camp 201318 Mon & Brec Canal: Heritage construction skills, vegetation clearance.

Aug 24-31 Camp 201319 Chesterfield Canal: Constructing the new Staveley Town Lock.

Aug 31-Sep 7Camp 201320 Swansea Canal: Clearing vegetation and reinstating coping stones, plus

Sep 1 Sun IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Hythe Bridge, Oxford. Litter pick & veg clearance ready for

Sep 6-12 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu. Bed & bank lining.

Sep 7/8 KESCRG Wey & Arun Canal: Dunsfold dredging. Accom at Plaistow.

Sep 7/8 London WRG Chesterfield Canal

Sep 7 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Sep 11 Wed wrgNW Ad Hoc meeting, 7.30pm

Sep 12 Thu IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Painting bridge at Hazelhurst Junction. 10am-3pm

Sep 14/15 NWPG Wey & Arun Canal: NOTE NEW DATE. Dunsfold, or Hunt Park, or Gosd

Sep 19 Thu IWA Warks Stratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & pat

Sep 21/22 wrgBITM Ashby Canal: Lock chamber clearance.

Sep 21/22 wrgNW Hollinwood Canal: (Possible venue)

Sep 21 Sat IWA Warks/CRTStratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & pat

Sep 21 Sat IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10am-

Sep 21 Sat IWA Notts/DerbyNottingham Canal: Cleanup, Beeston Cut & Nottingham Canal 10am-4p

Sep 22 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings: Rowington

Sep 24 Tue IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Painting bollards, etc ready for Banbury Canal Day. Lock

Sep 28/29 London WRG Cotswold Canals: Ham Mill Lock. Half-AGM.

Sep 28 Sat IWA Mcr/CRT Greater Manchester area: Painting, veg clearance, pulling rubbish out, lit

Oct 4-10 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu. Bed & bank lining.

Oct 5/6 KESCRG Cotswold Canals: Ham Mill Lock. To be confirmed.

Oct 5/6 wrgNW To be arranged

Oct 12 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Oct 13 Sun IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Task & location TBC

Oct 15 Tue IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10am-

Oct 17 Thu IWA Warks Stratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & pat

Oct 18/19/20 IWA MK Grand Union Canal: Bi-annual Canal Cleanup in Milton Keynes area

Oct 19/20 wrgBITM Wendover Arm: To be confirmed

Oct 19/20 London WRG Somersetshire Coal Canal

Oct 19 Sat IWA Warks/CRT Stratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & pat

Oct 19/20 IWA ManchesterOperation Starburst: Canal Cleanup in 5 locations. Meet Portland Basin

Oct 26 Sat IWA Mcr/CRT Greater Manchester area: Painting, veg clearance, pulling rubbish out, li

Oct 26-Nov 2 Camp 201321 Chelmer & Blackwater: Bank protection, towpath construction and vege

Oct 26-Nov 2 Camp 201322 Uttoxeter Canal: WRG Forestry

Oct 27 Sun IWA SY&D Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation: Canal Cleanup at Tinsley. 10am

Nov 1-7 WAT Wendover Arm: ‘Seven-day weekend’ Fri-Thu. Bed & bank lining.

Nov 2/3 wrgNW To be arranged

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

for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 201315'

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]

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

01494-783453 [email protected]


s repointing brickwork. 01494-783453 [email protected]

Oxford Open Doors. Stefanie Preston 01494-783453 [email protected]

Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]

Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

David McCarthy 01706-211377

Jean Helliwell

Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]

den Aqueduct. Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 [email protected]

th work. 10am-3pm Brian Bayston 01926-831508 [email protected]

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

David McCarthy 01706-211377 [email protected]


-4pm Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]

pm at Beeston Lock Alison Smedley 01538-385388 [email protected]

Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]

k 29, 10am-4pm Stefanie Preston 01494-783453 [email protected]


tter pick 10am-4pm Ian Price 07971-444258 [email protected]


Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]


David McCarthy 01706-211377

Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]

-4pm Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]


David King [email protected]

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]



n, Ashton 10am-4pmAlison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

tter pick 10am-4pm Ian Price 07971-444258 [email protected]

etation clearance 01494-783453 [email protected]


m-1pm Mavis Paul 07725-464611 [email protected]



Every Tuesday BCA Basingstoke Canal Chris Healy 01252-370073

Once per month: pls checkBCNS BCN waterways Mike Rolfe 07763-171735

2nd & 4th w/e of month BCS Basingstoke Canal Duncan Paine 01252-614125

Thursdays Sep-Apr BCT Aqueduct section Tim Dingle 01288-361356

2nd Sun & alternate Thu BuCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217

Every Mon and Wed CCT Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby 01453-836018

Every mon am Thu pm CCT Cotswold (E end) John Maxted 01285-861011

Various dates CCT Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract 07986-351412

Every Sunday ChCT Chesterfield Canal Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695

Every Tuesday CSCT Chichester Canal Malcolm Maddison 01243-775201

Every Tue & Wed C&BN Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale 01376-334896

4th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042

Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-2657

2nd weekend of month GCS Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield 0115-989-2128

2nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653

Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628

Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010

Wednesdays H&GCT Over / Vineyard Hill Ted Beagles 01452 522648

Thursdays H&GCT Herefordshire Wilf Jones 01452 413888

Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 0161-427 7402

Every day KACT Bradford-on-Avon Derrick Hunt 01225-863066

2nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Paul Shaw 01524-35685

1st, 2nd, 4th Sun + 3rd Sat LHCRT Lichfield Sue Williams 01543-671427

3rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-374370

Last weekend of month MBBCS Creams Paper Mill Steve Dent 07802-973228

Two Sundays per month NWDCT N Walsham Canal David Revill 01603-738648

Every Thu & Sat, Apr-Sep SORT Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott 01444-414413

2nd & last Sundays PCAS Pocklington Canal Paul Waddington 01757-638027

Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird 01394-380765

2nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-731746

1st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt 01225-863066

Last weekend of month SCS Stover Canal George Whitehead 01626-775498

2nd Sunday of month SNT Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby 01522-856810

Thu and Tue Apr-Sep SORT Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott 01444-414413

1st weekend of month SUCS Newhouse Lock Mike Friend 01948-880723

Every Tuesday morning TMCA Thames & Medway CBrian Macnish 01732-823725

Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025

Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657

Wednesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot John Smith 01903-235790

Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Peter Jackman 01483-772132

Sundays mainly WACT Loxwood Link Kev Baker 02380-861074

Thursdays WACT Winston Harwood Grp Tony Clear 01903-774301

Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols 01403-753882

1st w/e of month (Fri-Thu)WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-874536

If you have any additions / corrections / deletions to this list, please sendthem to Navvies diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

Mobile groups' socials: phone to confirmLondon WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig. 'Star Tavern'Belgrave Mews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094

NWPG: 7:30pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap',West end of Friar St. Reading. Phil Dray 07956 185305

Navvies diaryCanal societies’ regular working parties

Navvies diary

Abbreviations used in Diary:

BCA Basingstoke Canal AuthorityBCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BuCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCS Basingstoke Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCBN Chelmer & Blackwater NavigationCSCT Chichester Ship Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCS Grantham Canal SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyKACT Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

KESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. GroupLCT 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 SocietySCS Stover Canal SocietySNT Sleaford Navigation TrustSORT Sussex Ouse Restoration TrustSUCS Shropshire Union Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm TrustWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

Following recent discussions in Navvies in which the feeling of most contributors was in favour of the idea

of working with the Canal & River Trust following the changeover from British Waterways, we have

decided to list CRT’s regular volunteer working parties. These are on navigable canals, carrying out tasks

such as vegetation control, hedge maintenance, painting and litter clearance. All volunteers welcome.

4th Thursday of month Bath Kennet & Avon Rob Labus 07711-403479

3rd Thursday of month Devizes Kennet & Avon Rob Labus 07711-403479

2nd Thursday of month Newbury Kennet & Avon Rob Labus 07711-403479

4th Thursday of month Bath Kennet & Avon Rob Labus 07711-403479

Weds and Thurs Droitwich Droitwich Canal Suzanne Byrne 07900-276544

1st Saturday of month Fradley Trent & Mersey Tom Freeland 01827-252010

4th Thursday of month Gailey Staffs & Worcs Murray Woodward see below3rd Saturday of month Lapworth Stratford Canal Murray Woodward see belowAlternate Tuesdays Leicester Grand Union/Soar Tom Freeland 01827-252010

3rd Saturday of month London Grand Union/Lee Becky Williams 07799-436816

3rd Saturday of month near Selby Selby Canal Lucy Dockray 07767383736

Alternate Fridays Stoke Caldon / T&M Tom Freeland 01827 252010

Every other Wednesday Tamworth Coventry Canal Tom Freeland 01827 252010

4th Saturday of month Tipton BCN Murray Woodward see below

Every Tuesday Wigan Leeds & Liverpool Katie Jackson 07500823753

4th Saturday of month Manchester Ashton / Peak Forest Steve O’Sullivan 07887 684707

3rd Thursday of month Welshpool Montgomery Canal Paul Corner see below

2nd Friday of month HuddersfieldHuddersfield Broad Claire McDonald 07920295943

1st Mon & Wed of month Hatton Grand Union Canal Murray Woodward see below

Last Sunday of month HawkesburyCoventry/Oxford Miriam Tedder 07775 543990

2nd Saturday of month Aylesbury Grand Union Miriam Tedder 07775 543990

3rd Thursday of month Cheshire T&M/Macclesfield Hazel Mayow 07920 466237

Contact details for CRT Towpath Taskforce working parties: All CRT volunteer co-ordinators

can be contacted using email addresses of the form [email protected], for

example [email protected] for the Kennet & Avon. For those where no phone

number is given above, either use email or try the national CRT enquiries number 03030 404040.

Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ working parties

Dear MartinHaving spent a very significant amount of ‘leisure time’ over the past 25 years helping topromote and advance the case for a restored Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal I amprone to passionately ‘defend’ the cause at times. That’s no excuse, however, for failing tofollow the advice of ‘think twice before you write once’ and getting the tone of my letter toNavvies 258 rather wide of the mark, quite obviously offending some readers when that wasnot my intention. I also wrongly attributed the words “waste of time” as a quote from PhilScott’s letter for which I unreservedly apologise.

My letter prompted your thought-provoking editorial in Navvies 258. You point out thatthose of us deeply involved in the detail of a specific restoration may not appreciate thatWRGie reasons for attending a canal camp might be totally unconnected with our overallrestoration objective and that they might not be interested in the wider picture. As you saywe can all “do a little better” - so thank you for permitting me space to answer some specificquestions that are now raised by your correspondents.

Mike Day asks about water supply. In the early day of securing route protection in thethen Local Plans we had to convince the local authorities that the restoration project wasviable. The Birmingham University School of Civil Engineering carried out an independentstudy involving data from British Waterways (relating to modern day demands of a similar nar-row canal), the Environment Agency and other sources. This concluded that adequate watersupplies would be available to meet modern day leisure demands utilising some of the historicsources, a number of identified new ones and by implementing effective water conservationtechniques including back pumping. The first phase of one of the new sources has already beensuccessfully implemented at Over where we are taking surplus water from the nearby RiverLeadon. Further phases in developing this source include the restoration of tidal flaps where theLeadon joins the River Severn and the installation of archimedean screw hydro-power.

Another writer suggests that I may censor the content the H&G CT’s magazine and website- I am pleased to confirm that is not the case! I have no involvement in the website now (or inthe past). A team of fivevolunteers, who includetwo members of the Coun-cil of Management, areresponsible for the content.As it is the official websiteof the H&GCT of course itreflects the policies of theCanal Trust as does ourmagazine (which, I ampleased to say, has aconsiderable number ofcontributors - many ofthem regular). Both ourwebsite and magazine arepromoting a multi-millionpound project - therefore(just as you pointed out inyour editorial in Navvies258) this is another area ofour activities where there Water feed from the River Leadon to the H&G at Over Basin

H&

GC

T

Lettersto the editor

On the Herefordshire &

Gloucestershire Canal’s water

supply, letters after one’s

name, and singing Jerusalem

from the same hymn sheet

may well be a difference in approach between WRG and that of canal trusts and societies.How good it was to read Valerie (‘Tasterella Taster’) Goodwin’s positive account about

the H&G Canal in the WRG at 40: 40 views for 40 years item in the last issue where - refer-ring to the extension of the Canal at Over (completed during the Easter Canal Camp in2012) - she says it’s exciting to see a huge length like that done.

She asks “Are they going on?” Outwardly we have nothing but fields between the newwinding hole (at the end of the section) and the first road crossing some three miles away -so many may think that it’s just a question of acquiring the land? Unfortunately close towhere the Canal currently terminates is a long-closed illicit waste dumping site that extendsover the line of the Canal. So instead of extending the Canal in a number of successiveshorter lengths the intention is to include the necessary diversion around it as a part of amuch larger scheme, so the appropriate funding can be obtained for what will be quiteextensive land acquisitions. So please join us elsewhere before then to help us to completeother equally important parts of the jigsaw that one day will come together to provide 34miles of Canal from Gloucester to Hereford.

Yours sincerely,Cliff Penny

Director/Trustee H&G CT, Editor The Wharfinger.

Dear MartinThe recent exchange of letters in Navvies have been very interesting and thought provoking- but Cliff Penny has no right to accuse Mike Day of arrogance. All sorts of people writearticles or letters for publication in Navvies, and many of them will have highly rated qualifi-cations, but I can’t recall any of them including a string of letters after their names. CliffPenny’s may have been relevant for him to get his post of director of H&G CT, but have norelevance to the arguments in the correspondence in Navvies. Thank goodness most of usdon’t feel the need to brag about how important we are!

Di SmurthwaiteDear MartinCliff Penny seems to have upset a lot of people, and that is a great pity. I am not at all clearabout the reason for this but part of the trouble seems to be that he has a lot of letters afterhis name, so I will not mention the little collection I used to have. Why do I put this in thepast tense? Well, at the age of 91 I don’t really need them any more, so I have droppedthree and the remaining three are quite innocuous.

However, the real reason for this letter is to plead for tolerance on all sides. Gettingsome of our waterways restored is hard enough without a lot of dissension and petty point-

scoring. We all need to pull together. The restorationof the Hereford and Gloucester is a toughassignment but it is well worth doing and will need adetermined effort on the part of everyone. Nowand again we are all likely to come across someonewho really gets up our nose, but, for the good ofthe cause, we have to overcome our nausea and geton with the job.

We must all sing from the same song-sheet.And that reminds me of the “Navvies’ Jerusalem”that I wrote some years ago. It might still be lurk-ing somewhere in my computer, so if I can find it Iwill send it along in the hope that it will proveinspirational and get everybody singing the sametune. Let harmony prevail!

Stanley Holland I think we’ve just about done this subject to death, solet’s have some letters about something different - andas controversial as you like - in the next issue. Mean-while see left for the Navvies Jerusalem words. ...Ed

The Navvies’ Jerusalem

And did that pound in Brindley’s timeWind among England’s valleys green?And was a noble flight of locksOn ev’ry lovely landscape seen?But then the railway giants cameWith soot and smoke and fire and flame,And they despoiled the waterways.To England’s everlasting shame.

Bring me my boots and grappling iron!Bring me my mighty JCB!Bring me my spade - O ecstasy!Bring me a gallon flask of tea!I will not flinch from seas of mud,Nor shall my sludge-pump idly stand,Till we’ve restored the waterwaysThrough England’s green and pleasant land.

Stanley Hollandwith apologies to William Blake (words)

and Hubert Parry (music)

ProgressMeanwhile, down in Sussex...

Our roundup of restoration

progress begins with two

projects in the deep south:

the Sussex Ouse and the

Chichester Ship Canal

Chichester Canal

Since Chichester canal opened its new shopat the canal basin in mid January sales havealmost doubled. It just goes to prove thatlooks do count! The old portakabin was justnot a match to our light and airy two storybuilding. The views over the basin from theupstairs balcony, especially in the winter,when the leaves are off the trees, are superb.

Now we have begun work on our newvisitor / education centre. We have managedto raise most of the cost of the refurbishmentfrom grants. Plus a grant for the actual fittingout of the education centre together withenough money to replace our 20year old,very dated, interpretation boards along thelength of the canal.

Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust

Isfield Lock:The proposals put forward bythe Environment Agency under their MiddleOuse Restoration of Physical Habitats(MORPH) plans altered the original Summer2013 restoration programme that SORT hadhoped to push on with.

As well as making improvements to the

fish ladder at the Sutton Hall (Isfield) Weirupstream of Isfield lock, MORPH proposes toreinstate the ox-bow west of the upstreamcut. That would bypass the lock, but notcompromise the long-term plans of SORTand to achieve this the cut would once againneed to be flooded. The work is scheduled tobegin in 2014 and obviously IS somethingthat would seriously compromise the currentrestoration of the lock.

And so thoughts were turned awayfrom the continued restoration of the westwall within the lock chamber to installingstop planks at the upstream end of the lockand to the complete restoration of the up-stream wharf wall.

The relatively kind weather conditions(as opposed to the summer of 2012) have

enabled work to progresswell. At the time of writ-ing the lock approachand cill has been clearedand re-laid. Stop plankgrooves have been cutready for lining. Thewharf wall has beenexposed; dug out, par-tially demolished and isnow being rebuilt. Thephotographs show thework in progress. Addi-tionally the rebuilding ofthe banks / towpathalong the cut is a work inprogress and about twothirds complete.

A great effort bythe restoration teamworking under project

manager Ted Lintott and the supervision ofRoy Sutton. SORT fully expects to be readyfor any works and changes to the river flowthat MORPH proceeds with in 2014.

Irongate Lock: The main focus of SORT’swork is rightly on Isfield Lock but one eye isbeing kept on Irongate Lock at SheffieldPark, lying on a short cut in the river on land

London WRG at Chichester, cafe and visitor centre just visible behind

Mart

in L

udgate

owned and managed by the National Trust.The Trust is anxious to help with work laterin the summer and SORT will be on hand tooffer help and expert advice on the wayforward with this possible restoration.

To help SORT: If you want to help witheither project contact Ted Lintott on 01444-414413. If you want to become a member of

SORT contact Bob Draper (Chairman andcurrent Membership Secretary) on 01825-763857.

Additionally SORT currently requiresurgent help with updating its web site. Any-one who thinks they can help should contactBob Draper and would need to have theappropriate computer skills.

Terry Owen

Rebuilding the wharf wall above Isfield Lock (above) and stop plank grooves at the head (below)

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OR

T

ProgressRiver Gipping

River Gipping Trust

Our work parties have continued to meetevery Wednesday through the cold and wetspring and despite the weather we havemade a huge amount of progress at PippsFord with our work to create a new foot-bridge and return the original river channelto its function as a bywash for the lockchamber.

We had a week in April with a diggerand dumper on site, which gave us a runningstart on clearing out some large old treeroots and the decayedremains of the originalbrick abutments. Wediscovered these hadbeen built without anysubstantial footing ofany sort, and unfortu-nately they were insuch bad shape that wecould not re-use them –apart from salvaging asmany bricks as possiblefor the rebuild.

The first construc-tion job was thereforeto lay a new concreteraft to form the sub-structure for the newabutment walls and toprovide a base for aweir, which we willneed when we reachthe point of returning the lock to navigableuse. We have now reached the point whereone of the new walls is 80% complete andthe second 20% complete, so our workparties through the summer will be concen-trating on completing the abutment walls,backfilling behind them to create the bridgeapproaches and building the bridge itself.

The site at Pipps Ford is near the RiverGipping Public Footpath and in support ofthe Trust’s educational aims we have recentlyinstalled an interpretative board to explain tothe public what is going on. The board has

been prepared and produced for us by oneof our regular workparty volunteers, LesHoward, of MHP Associates.

In the meantime work on our otherproject to replace the sluice at Baylham hasbeen further delayed by the wet spring andthe continuing high water levels. Howeverflows in the river are now stabilising, and asub-group has started work on removing theold timber ground beam. Once this is re-moved we will arrange for a concentratedeffort to install the new gates.

Martin Bird

Casting the concrete base and (below) the new interpretation board

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GT

Meanwhile in East Anglia,

Pipps Ford Lock and

Baylham Lock on the

River Gipping are

receiving attention...

ProgressStover Canal

...while in Devon, things

are happening on the

Stover Canal - or more

accurately on the Stover

Canal path...

Stover Canal Trust

For the past twelve monthswork has been ongoing to pro-vide public access to the lowerend of the canal towpath atJetty Marsh Sea Lock andTeignbridge to facilitate publicaccess and reinstate the publicfootpath that was withdrawnabout 1953.

This work which requiredformal planning permissionfrom Teignbridge Council andapproval from Network Rail(canal owners) will involve thecreation of a metal footbridgeunder the railway bridge in theby-wash arch, erection of asecond footbridge over thespillway at the lower end of thecanal, and the establishment ofa hard surfaced towpath.

At the lower end of theoriginal clay cellars, now usedas workshops, the new footpathdiverts away from the line of theoriginal towpath, and followsthe side of the by-wash up tothe Teignbridge Road. This willrequire a second footbridge tobe constructed across an area ofground that can become water-logged in winter.

The final stage of the workrequired the provision of a safepassage across the

Teignbridge Road and thecreation of a new footpath inthe field opposite to connectwith the existing Templar WayFootpath at the canal bridgethus avoiding walkers having towalk in the road. The planningpermissions stipulated a ‘chi-cane’ crossing to ensure thatwalkers had a clear view of theroad at the crossing.

Foundation for suspended walkway in railway bywash arch

Spillway bridge under construction

Towpath surfacing in progress

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tover

Canal

Tru

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ProgressShrewsbury & Newport

A new group set up to

concentrate on the eastern

end of the Shropshire Union

Newport arm gets its first

WRG visit...

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals

The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust (SNCT), which has been campaigning for restora-tion of the route from Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union Main Line via Norbury toShewsbury for some years, has been joined by a newer group. The Norbury to NewportCanal Restoration Community Interest Company (CIC) is concentrating on getting volunteerwork going on the eastern end of the canal from Norbury Junction to Newport, while SNCTcontinues the political campaigning for the whole route.

Earlier this year, London WRG supported both groups with a visiting weekend workingparty, clearing the canal at Forton Aqueduct and east of Newport. Here’s Dianne Maxfield ofthe CIC’s take on the weekend...

Mix brawn and brains and a real understand-ing of the task in hand and what do youhave? The famed WRG work team of volun-teers, who ably put together a workingknowledge of how best to restore that pre-cious part of our local heritage - the canalsystem according to Thomas Telford! Theteam of 15 or so gave of their time andexpertise to put in some professional help onPhase One of the Norbury to Newport Canalon what was probably the coldest weekendof the Winter but thanks to the Forton CricketClub, the CIC were able to accommodatethem in some comfort.

Making themselves at home

They arrived on the Friday night, travellingfrom various parts of the country and I canhonestly say that I have rarely seen such acheerful and well organised group as they setto, making themselves at home in the Club-house. There were sleeping quarters toarrange, cooking equipment and provisionsfor the weekend to bring in.

Depending on facilities available, theyare able to ‘set up camp’ even if very little isprovided, because they bring their own stuffregardless. Seeing just how quickly the partysettle in was an experience in adaptabilityand sense of commitment

Saturday morning it was all hands atwork on various tasks at Forton and, when Iarrived, my first impression was of an at-mosphere of men/women at work but I was‘just in time for a teabreak’

Teamwork

A tea urn, powered by a gas cylinder, wasbubbling away by the hedge and suddenlyeverything stopped and from all corners menand women in hard hats, muddy boots and athirst, came into view. A young womanholding aloft a bunch of teazel declared ‘justthe job for my handicraft class for makinghedgehogs’.

Congratulations went out to a guy whohad been wrestling to remove a tree root.“Not me”, he says, “teamwork”, which said itall really. Working together to achieve some-thing quite wonderful just for the love of it.

Looking around everything seems tocome in boxes. Here a box for saws, there abox for tea mugs, and centre stage smokedrifting from the rosy glow of a wood fire.

As a complete novice restorer of canalsthis first visit of the Waterway RecoveryGroup was a complete eye opener. I knewthat they worked all over the country formost of the year, weekends and weeks onend but I had not experienced the effectpersonally of such commitment.

Though this was their first visit, I’mpretty certain it will not be their last. Welldone to them all and thank you on behalf ofour 200 plus members who truly want to seeour canal fully restored in the future.

I can confirm that this almost certainly won’tbe London WRG’s last visit. We hope to doanother one this coming winter - see futureDiary pages for details. ...Ed

ProgressBuckingham

...and the Buckingham Canal

Society have finally got

permission to start work on

re-watering the first length

at Cosgrove

Buckingham Canal Society

We held a training weekend in March atBourton Meadow. Terry Cavender of BCS ranthis weekend and hired in an excavator andtracked dumper truck. With the help of DaveWedd from WRG a number of our volunteersare now qualified to drive both vehicles. Thiswas a requirement from Canal & River Trust(CRT) before our volunteers are allowed touse them on site at Cosgrove.

Our volunteers have finished the prepa-ration work at our Bourton Meadow sitewhere we have been working alongsideFurze Down School pupils. This has provedto be a very enjoyable and beneficial time forboth BCS and Furze Down School and we arevery sorry to hear that from next year FurzeDown School will no longer be taking part inThe Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.

Our contractors Waterline Solutionswere due to start work on site from Monday24th June with the work expected to takeabout six weeks. The major part of the workis re-lining the canal bed. Whilst the contrac-tors are working on site from Monday toFriday it is expected our volunteers will beable to start the tasks of planking and install-ing coir rolls along the towpath side of thecanal at agreed weekends or during some ofthe lovely summer evenings we are sure tohave!

After the canal bed has been re-linedthere will be planting to be carried out alongthe towpath and non-towpath side. Severalnative species of saplings are being plantedto replace part of a hedge that had to beremoved to allow the re-lining work to takeplace. With the coir rolls in place along thecanal bank this area will be planted withsome non invasive species of aquatic plantsgiving a soft edge down one side of thetowpath and the off side of the canal bankwill be grassed over.

Meanwhile work to re-water the firstlength of canal at Cosgrove is nowunderway! We used surveying tools to trans-fer the water level from the canal along the

Buckingham Arm, marking the level at regu-lar intervals with paint. Wood painted orangeand nailed to the fence was then used tomark out the top of the bund (dam) and thebottom of the slope each side.

Our volunteers have started work build-ing the first bund in the canal bed so that thefirst 250 metres can be re-watered. I thinkthe volunteers who have been helping withthis work have grown to appreciate the‘navvies’ of old who dug the whole canalfrom Cosgrove to Buckingham in ninemonths!

The first step was to dig a trench acrossthe canal central to the bund position, mark-ing the division between the area of canal weare looking to fill and the stretch that willstay dry. This trench was excavated down tothe clay layer and the soil placed in dumpybags along one side of the trench. Theseform the center of the bund and providesome structure to it. When the clay wasexposed all along the trench a foot of claywas excavated and put to one side.

The special TerraSeal line that has beendonated to us by H&R ChemPharm (UK) wasthen cut to the correct length. It was placedin the trench to prevent water passing fromthe wet to the dry stretch. The clay was thenreplaced to seal the bottom of the liner toform a waterproof joint.

A pipe was passed from the wet to thedry side of the canal with a flange giving it aseal as it passes through the liner. This pipewill be used to transfer water from one sideof the bund to the other when the secondstretch of canal is re-watered. As the claywas replaced in the trench it was tampeddown to compact it. Soil was then used toinfill the trench. A further set of dumpy bagswas then placed next to the first set and filledwith soil from the canal bed.

Once both sets of bags are filled withsoil then the bund will be built up with soilon top of them and either side a ramp will bebuilt to provide more stability and allowaccess for compaction of the soil with anexcavator.

Rhubarb crumble, rounders,

scrabble and Bill Nicholson’s

ability at teabag-flinging...

oh yes, and some towpath

laying as well...

Camp reportNWPG on the Wey & ArunCamp 2013-06 29th June – 6th JulyNWPG on the Wey & Arun Canal

10 things I learnt with the NewburyWorking Party Group at ‘Hunt Park’,Shalford

Along with 20 or so volunteers I tookpart in work to create an accessible riversidepath beside the Cranleigh Waters in Shalford,to the south of Guildford. This comprises thefirst stage of environmental works to create anew Hunt Park. As an occasional canal re-storer this is my list of 10 things, in no particu-lar order, that I learnt during the week:-

(1) The Chair of the Wey & Arun CanalTrust makes a mean rhubarb crumble.

- thank-you, ma’am, for your contribution tothe splendid tucker consumed in the courseof the week.

(2) Rounders and environmental workare equally dangerous

- by the end of day 2, two of the group hadattended Guildford A+E for treatment for leginjuries: one incurred playing rounders theprevious night and one from a nasty incidentinvolving a heavy bag of stones and a slidingpallet – a salutary reminder that the H&S talkat the start of week is not just for fun…

(3) A week on canal camp can extendyour Scrabble vocabulary

- words such as gabion, terram, rebar andstakhanovite are now all strangely familiar to me.

(4) Young people are OK (as, of course,is the Duke of Edinburgh)

- working with the 5 youngsters completingtheir Gold DoE reminded me what I reallyknew already – despite what sections of themedia may want you to believe, young peo-ple are generally enthusiastic, interesting andcheerful; but do bear in mind, if they’re inthe same pub-quiz team as you, that theirknowledge of 1970s TV can be disappoint-ingly lacking.

(5) If you’re working by a slow-moving

river, you’re going to get bitten andstung

- if the nettles don’t get you the mossies andhorse-flies surely will.

(6) ‘Concerned of Surrey’ can be a painin the neck, but they’re not all like that

- a lot of people stopped and asked whydiggers, dumpers and people in hard-hatswere hard at work in an attractive mixedwoodland of oak, ash and alder. Most weresatisfied/reassured with the explanationgiven to this eminently reasonable question;a minority, though, remained belligerentlysuspicious. Lesson – you can’t please every-one…

(7) Some people can sleep throughanything

- one youngster was able to go to sleep inthe berth next to the camp’s champion snorer– quite a feat.

(8) You have to keep an eye on yourteaspoons during the course of theweek

- by the last day we were reduced to stirringour tea on-site with a variety of implementsnone of which were teaspoons.

(9) There are some very nice people inthe Wey & Arun Canal Trust

- many members of WACT, including the ‘topbrass’, dropped-by to see how things weregoing and offer encouraging and appreciativecomments. This was most welcome particu-larly towards the end of a sweaty workingday with the horse-flies biting.

(10) Accurate back-hand spent-tea-bag-flinging is amongst the many ac-complishments of the camp leader andpolymath, Bill Nicholson

- the aforementioned teabag was still se-curely stuck to the inside of the compoundhoarding on the last day – a fine shot in-deed.

Martin Bourne

Postscript from Bill Nicholson…

You needed to be a bit of a visionary to seethis project as canal restoration or waterwayrecovery. Perhaps WRG should be renamedto the Waterway Creation Group. However,we spent a valuable week creating what willhopefully become a valued amenity for thelocal people of Shalford and Bramley.

The canal will follow later and part ofour new path will form the towpath along asection of the Cranleigh Waters river that willbe used for the navigation.

The team worked really hard to com-plete about half of the path (200m), thewhole of the zig zag ramp at the northernend and the gabion abutments for a footpathbridge at the southern end. As usual thelogistics were complex. We had to get 10 tonlorries to reverse off the A281 into a newlybuilt compound to deliver Type 1 limestone,this then had to be loaded into two tonnedumpers for transport to the “park” wherenew access ramps had to built down fromthe Sustrans cycleway.

We had initial questions as to whetherthe cycleway bridge over the river wouldwithstand our regular traversing with plant –it seemed no worse for wear at the end ofthe week. We asked many questions of theauthorities and never got answers – so wecarried on anyway!

Building a footpath badly is easy. Build-ing one neatly requires careful levelling,measuring, edging and rolling. Even on thesection we’ve part completed there’s more todo as LWRG will find out when they visit

(hopefully!) on 3/4th August. We were fortu-nate therefore to have the services of JJ(Price) who had spent two weeks last year onthe Mont doing just what we needed atShalford. With his Royal Naval backgroundhe easily and sensibly resisted my impatienceto speed the work! Consequently when finallycompleted this autumn the path will lookexcellent. I am hoping he’ll be back in theWACT camp to finish the setting out. Ishould also mention his team of hard workingand willing DoE volunteers – Chris(topher),Chris(tian), Sam, Scott and James who stuck tothe task for the whole week without complaint(with a bit of dumper and roller drivingthrown in for light relief). I was very sur-prised when one of the five young gentlemenasked to be relieved of his dumper drivingduties because he was bored with it!

Last year the weather was terrible andwe hardly ventured out of doors after work.This year it was back to the real pleasures ofa canal camp – returning to the hall after ahot exhausting day’s work, grabbing a coldbeer from the fridge and relaxing into afolding camp chair in the evening sunshinewhilst awaiting a hot shower and the excel-lent food of our camp cook Sue. We alsoplayed rounders (with some creditable per-formances from some surprising people),took a trip on the canal and thrashed thelocals in The Forresters pub quiz.

So another camp is over – my 24th yearin succession. Time to start planning nextyear’s!

Bill Nicholson

Gabion base for a footbridge

Installing edging for the towpath

Ala

n Cavender

Finally, to break the monopoly

of camps on canals beginning

with ‘W’, here’s a report from

Deepcut and Brookwood Locks

on the Basingstoke Canal

Camp reportBasingstoke CanalCamp 2013-10 Basingstoke Canal

A fantastic week was had by all 19 volun-teers working at Deepcut lock flight, veryably assisted and encouraged by the localcanal society, not to mention members of thepublic on the very busy towpath, and occa-sional boat people (the Basingstoke Canal iscurrently open on a part-time basis).

The accommodation did not at firstseem inviting, a burnt out shell greeting usfrom the road – never mind, lurking behindthe burnt out shell, the village hall was openand warm and cosy. There was the usualmixture of WRG regulars and relative new-comers. We included in our number threeoverseas university students and two work-ing for Duke of Edinburgh awards, one ofwhom shared his birthday cake with us.

The Deepcut lock flight has a luxuriousverdant canalside. Tall oaks and elms gracethe cut on either side for miles. There areplenty of fish in the remarkably clean canal.After their existence was pointed out bysome passing walkers, “crayfish wars”seemed to break out. The “native” largerblacker crayfish (so I’m told) were spotted aswell as several “non native” crayfish speciesacting as insurgents.

The towpath is well maintained andextremely popular. The piling at lock 27 inparticular proceeded slowly with extremecaution as multitudinous groups of cyclistsand dog walkers passed by. Everyone waspleased to take an interest in looking afterthe canal, and everyone took a favourableinterest in the Waterway Recovery Groupwork, although this did include a few of the“while you’re all here, could you just pop upto lock… and do this-that-and-the-other”brigade.

The main part of the work was at lock27, with extra tasks at locks 25 and 26 and,as it turned out, another sudden major exer-cise at lock 12 nearer into Woking.

At lock 27 there were five major tasks.These were, to erect some sheet piles at theupper side of the lock; to build the lower

offside quadrant; to rediscover the upperoffside quadrant; to investigate the subsid-ence / seepage near the upper offside quad-rant, and most importantly, to cut up andsalvage some old lock gates.

At the end of the week, the piles wereall in, nicely straight, vertical, bolted andanchored to anchor piles in the bank. Thelower offside quadrant had been rebuilt, andcoping stones made up from concrete with a“distressed” look put in situ: the initial esti-mate was that “seven and a bit” of thesewould be needed, in the end it was six andone oddly sized one put in the other wayround to the others. It was found that theseepage near the upper offside quadrant wascoming from the lock chamber itself, so alarge amount of clay was put down to seal it.On Friday afternoon the remains of the oldlock gates were put on the work boat andtowed upstream to lock 28.

At lock 26 there was similarly the upperoffside quadrant to rediscover, and the wind-ing gear to paint. Again, the quadrant was

The piling crew

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there all along; it justneeded to be dugout.

Slightly furtherdown under a roadbridge at lock 25were some stepsleading down tonowhere. These wereto be investigatedwhen the brambleswere cleared away,and we were to paintthe balance beamsand rails. The bram-bles gone, it wasdiscovered a newshallow track hadbeen built leadingsideways away fromthe end of the steps,so the decision wastaken to leave every-thing as it is for now.

Halfway through the week came the big event. Somehow or other a balance beam hadbeen removed and left in the canal at lock 12. Four of our number were mustered by thelocal society to spend the day moving a dredger into position and lifting the balance beam.

It wasn’t all work. At the end of the day we all retreated to hot showers kindly providednearby and a battle of the sexes for who could spend longer in the showers. The boys wonevery time. Anyone would think there were more of them. Or maybe it was the importantbusiness of working out exactly where one person was going to part his hair; or maybe itwas just flicking each other with towels. Better even than the showers, a boat trip with din-ner on board was provided on the Monday night.

The food by George was great. He looked after us veggies and even took note whensomeone didn’t likemushrooms, cookinga special mushroom-less pie just for oneperson. Food wastewas, to put it mildly,minimal. There was afreshly baked cake onsite every day.

Thanks for agreat week to‘Teacher Chris’ theleader, Colin theassistant leader,Adrian, Chris C, Bev,Tina, Ed, Josh, Tim,Stephano, Andrea,Patrick, Andy, Mike,Dave, Simon,Gaspard, and ofcourse George thecook.

Marion CarterLaying the gate quadrant

Starting work on a retaining wall

ASHBY CANAL ASSOC

Rod Smith

4 Ashby Road, Sinope

Coalville LE67 3AY

Tel: 01530 833307

BARNSLEY, DEARNE &

DOVE CANAL TRUST

June Backhouse, 39 Hill St,

Elsecar, Barnsley S74 8EN

01226 743383

www.bddct.org.uk

BASINGSTOKE CANAL

SOCIETY

Duncan Paine

52 Kings Road

Fleet GU51 3AQ

01252-614125

[email protected]

www.basingstoke-

canal.org.uk/society

BCN SOCIETY

Jeff Barley, 17 Sunnyside

Walsall Wood, W Midlands

01543 373284

www.bcn-society.org.uk

BUCKINGHAM CANALSOCIETY

Athina Beckett

2 Staters Pound, Pennyland

Milton Keynes MK1 5AX

01908 661217email: [email protected]

www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk

BUGSWORTH BASIN

(IWPS)

Ian Edgar

Top Lock House, Lime Kiln

Lane, Marple SK6 6BX.0161 427 7402

[email protected]

www.brocross.com/iwps/

index.htm

DirectoryCanal Society and WRG contacts

CALDON & UTTOXETER

CANALS TRUST

Alison Smedley

Hazelhurst Cottage

Denford, Leek ST13 7JT

01538-385388

[email protected]

www.cuct.org.uk

CHESTERFIELD CANAL

TRUST

Mick Hodgetts

31 Pottery Lane

Chesterfield S41 9BH

01246 620695

chesterfield-canal-

trust.org.uk

CHICHESTER SHIP CT

Linda Wilkinson

1 Chidham Lane

Chichester PO18 8TL

01243 576701

www.chichestercanal.co.uk

COTSWOLD CT

Bell House, Wallbridge Lock

Stroud GL5 3JS

01453 752568

[email protected]

www.cotswoldcanals.com

FRIENDS OF THE

CROMFORD CANAL

George Rogers

2 Main St, Whatstandwell

Matlock DE4 5HE07789 493967

[email protected]

www.cromfordcanal.org.uk

DERBY & SANDIACRE CS

Doug Flack

23 Thoresby Cres, Draycott

Derby DE72 3PH01332 576037

www.derbycanal.org.uk

DIG DEEP INITIATIVE

Alan Cavender

53 Derwent Drive,

Maidenhead SL6 6LE

01628 629033

[email protected]

www.dig-deep.org.uk

DORSET & SOMERSET

CANAL SOCIETY

Derrick Hunt

43 Greenland Mills

Bradford on Avon BA15 1BL

01225 863066

[email protected]

EAST ANGLIAN

WATERWAYS ASSOC

David Revill

43 Kings Road

Coltishall, Norfolk

NR12 7DX

01603 738648

[email protected]

EREWASH CANAL P&DA

Mick Golds

73 Sudbury Avenue

Larklands

Ilkeston

Derbys DE7 5EA

Notts (0115) 9328042

ESSEX WATERWAYS LTD

Colin Edmond

Paper Mill Lock

North Hill

Little Baddow

Essex CM3 4BT

01245 226245

[email protected]

FOXTON INCLINED

PLANE TRUST

c/o Mike BeechFoxton Canal Museum

Middle Lock

Gumley RoadFoxton

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7RA

0116 279 [email protected]

www.fipt.org.uk

RIVER GIPPING TRUST

Martin Bird

29 Melton Grange Rd

Melton

Woodbridge IP12 1SA

01394 380765

restoration@rivergippingtrust.

org.uk

GRAND WESTERN CANAL

TRUST

Denis Dodd, Wharf Cottage

Nynehead, Wellington

Somerset TA21 0BJ

01823 661653

GRANTHAM CANAL

SOCIETY

Ian Wakefield

0115 989 2128

ian.wakefield@

granthamcanal.com

www.granthamcanal.com

HEREFS & GLOUCS

CANAL TRUST

c/o The Wharf House

Over

Gloucester

GL2 8DB

01452 332900

www.h-g-canal.org.uk

KESCRG

Eddie Jones

‘Little Orchard’

Berryfields, Fillongley

Coventry CV7 8EX

0845 226 8589

[email protected]

www.kescrg.org.uk

LANCASTER CT

Paul Shaw

12 Malham Close

Lancaster

LA1 2SJ01524 35685

[email protected]

www.lctrust.co.uk

LAPAL CANAL TRUST

26 Loynells Road, Rednal

Birmingham B45 9NP

01785 713862

www.lapal.org

LICHFIELD &

HATHERTON CANALS

REST'N TRUST

Sue Williams, Norfolk House

29 Hall Lane, Hammerwich

Burntwood WS7 0JP

01543 671427

[email protected]

www.lhcrt.org.uk

NEATH & TENNANT CS

Ian Milne

16 Gower Road, Sketty,

Swansea SA2 9BY

01792 547902

MANCHESTER BOLTON &

BURY CANAL SOCIETY

Steve Dent 07802-973228

www.mbbcs.org.uk

MONMOUTHSHIRE

BRECON &

ABERGAVENNY CT

Phil Hughes

14 Locks Canal Centre

Cwm Lane, Newport

NP10 9GN

01633 892167

[email protected]

www.mon-brec-

canal.org.uk

NWPG

Bill Nicholson, 17 Clifford Rd

Princes Risborough HP27 0DU

01844 343369 / 0779

1097773

[email protected]

www.nwpg.org.uk

POCKLINGTON C.A.S

Paul Waddington

Church House, Main St.

Hemingborough YO8 7QE

01757 638027

ROLLE CANAL AND NTH

DEVON WATERWAYS SOCAdrian & Hilary Wills

Vale Cottage, 7 Annery Kiln

Weare Giffard, Bideford

EX39 5JE

Tel: 01237 [email protected]

www.therollecanal.co.uk

SALTISFORD CT

Budbrooke Road

Warwick CV34 5RJ

01926 490 006

[email protected]

www.saltisfordcanal.co.uk

SCARS (SANKEY CANAL)

Colin Greenall

16 Bleak Hill Rd,

Eccleston

St. Helens WA10 4RW

01744 731746

[email protected]

www.scars.org.uk

SHREWSBURY &

NEWPORT CANALS TRUST

Tam Hazan

[email protected]

www.sncanal.org.uk

SHROPSHIRE UNION CS

Richard Hall

35 Tyrley Cotts

Market Drayton TF9 2AH

01630 657737

[email protected]

www.shropshireunion.org.uk

SLEAFORD NAV TRUST

Steve Hayes

10 Chelmer Close

N Hykeham

Lincs LN8 8TH

01522-689460

email: steve.hayes-

[email protected]

www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk

SOMERSETSHIRE COALCANAL SOCIETY

Derrick Hunt

43 Greenland MillsBradford on Avon

BA15 1BL

01225-863066

derrickjohnhunt@btinternet,com

www.coalcanal.org

RIVER STOUR TRUST

John Morris

2 Stockton Close, Hadleigh

Ipswich IP7 [email protected]

www.riverstourtrust.org

STOVER CANAL SOCIETY

George Whitehead

26 Northumberland Place,

Teignmouth TQ14 8BU. Tel:

01626 775498

[email protected]

www.stovercanal.co.uk

STRATFORD ON AVON

CANAL SOCIETY

Clive Henderson

The Bridge House

Church Lane

Lapworth

Solihull B94 5NU

[email protected]

www.stratfordcanalsociety.org.uk

SUSSEX OUSE

RESTORATION TRUST

Paul Morris, Farmcote

Nettlesworth Lane

Old Heathfield

Heathfield TN21 9AP

01453 863683

[email protected]

www.sxouse.org.uk

SWANSEA CANAL SOC

Clive Reed

17 Smithfield Road,

Pontardawe

Swansea SA8 4LA

01792 830782

THAMES & MEDWAY CA

Brian Macknish

Meadow View

Hodsell St

Sevenoaks TN15 7LA

[email protected]

www.thamesmedway.co.uk

WELL CREEK TRUST

Mrs C Day,1 Tramways

Outwell PE14 8PZ

[email protected]

WENDOVER ARM TRUSTRoger Leishman

7 Hall Park

Berkhamsted HP4 2NU01442 874536

[email protected]

www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk

WEY & ARUN CT

The Granary, Flitchfold Farm

Loxwood, Billingshurst

West Sussex RH14 ORH

01403 752403

[email protected]

www.weyandarun.co.uk

WILTS & BERKS CT

George Eycott

Knowle House

1 Ham Road, Wanborough

Wiltshire SN4 0DF

07771 775745

[email protected]

www.wilts-berks-

canal.org.uk

WOODEN CANAL BOAT

SOCIETY

173 Stamford St Central

Ashton under Lyne OL6 7PS

0161-330-8422

[email protected]

www.wcbs.org.uk

WRG CONTACTS

WRG ENQUIRIES,

BOOKINGS, DRIVER

AUTHORISATION,

Jenny Morris, IWA

Island House, Moor Road

Chesham HP5 1WA

01494 783453

[email protected]

www.wrg.org.uk

WRG NORTH WEST

Malcolm Bridge89 Rishworth Mill

Rishworth, Sowerby Bridge

HX6 4RZ01422-820693

[email protected]

www.wrgnw.org.uk

WRG NW - ENQUIRIES/PAPERCHASES

David McCarthy

Woodstock14 Crumpsall Lane

Manchester

M8 5FB

0161-740 2179

www.wrgnw.org.uk

WRG BITM & 'NAVVIES'

DIARY

David Wedd

7 Ringwood Road

Blackwater

Camberley

Surrey

GU17 0EY

01252 874437

[email protected]

www.wrgbitm.org.uk

LONDON WRG

Tim Lewis

5 Herongate Road,

Wanstead

London E12 5EJ

07802 518094

[email protected]

www.london.wrg.org.uk

WRG EAST MIDLANDS

John Baylis

215 Clipstone Rd. West

Forest Town

Mansfield

Notts NG19 0HJ

01623 633895

ESSEX WRG

Frank Wallder

12 Bray Lodge

Cheshunt

Waltham Cross

EN8 0DN

019926-636164

[email protected]

www.essex.wrg.org.uk

WRG FORESTRYClive Alderman

30 Primley Lane

SheeringBishops Stortford

CM22 7NJ

07973 877380

[email protected]

IWA/WRG STAMP BANK

Steve & Mandy Morley

33 Hambleton Grove

Emerson valley

Milton KeynesMK4 2JS

01908 520090

[email protected]

Canal & River Trust volunteer coordinators

Central Shires Tom Freeland [email protected]

East Midlands Simon Gent [email protected]

Kennet & Avon Rob Labus [email protected]

Manchester & Pennine Steve O’Sullivan [email protected]

North East Lucy Dockray [email protected]

N Wales & Borders Paul Corner [email protected]

North West Matt Taylor [email protected]

London Debbie Vidler [email protected]

South East John Highmore [email protected]

S Wales & Severn Alan Sumnall [email protected]

West Midlands Murray Woodward [email protected]

Help us keep this directory up to dateIf you spot any errors or omissions or know of any changesplease pass them on to the editor. The next full directory willappear in issue 263, but any corrections received before thenwill also be included in the next available ‘NavviesNoticeboard’. Thank you for your assistance.

CANAL CAMPS MOBILES

(A) 07850 422156

(B) 07850 422157

'NAVVIES' EDITOR

Martin Ludgate

35 Silvester Rd.

London SE22 9PB

020 8693 3266

0777 947 8629 (mobile)

[email protected]

'WRGWEAR' CLOTHING

Helen Gardner

33 Victoria Road

Northwich CW9 5RE

07989 425346

[email protected]

WRG BOAT CLUB

Sadie Heritage

236 Station Rd. Whittlesey

Peterborough PE7 2HA

01733 204505

07748 186867 (mobile)

[email protected]

WRG DIRECTORS

CHAIRMAN

Mike Palmer

3 Finwood Road Rowington

Warwickshire CV35 7DH01564 785293

[email protected]

WRG PLANT

George Eycott

Knowle House

1 Ham Road, Wanborough

Wiltshire SN4 0DF07771 775745

[email protected]

SITES GROUP

Judith Palmer

3 Finwood Rd, Rowington

Warwickshire CV35 7DH

01564 785293

[email protected]

WRGPRINT

John & Tess Hawkins

4 Links Way, Croxley Grn

Rickmansworth

WD3 3RQ

01923 448559

[email protected]

IWA CHAIRMAN

Les Etheridge

c/o IWA,

Island House Moor Road,

Chesham HP5 1WA

les.etheridge@

waterways.org.uk

TRANSPORT MANAGERJonathan Smith

23 Hardings ChalgroveOxford OX44 7TJ

01865 891 370

[email protected]

OTHER DIRECTORS

Mick Beattie

42 Eaton DriveRugeley WS15 2FS

Rick Barnes

11 Lawns Park

North Woodchester

Stroud GL5 5PP

07976 748345

[email protected]

Spencer Collins

The Boatyard,

5 Hammond Way

Trowbridge BA14 8RS

07790 017418

[email protected]

Chris Davey

Angle House

Green Terrace

Skipton BD23 5DS

[email protected]

John Baylis (see above)

Harry Watts

12 St John Road, Slough

SL2 5EY

07889 237834

[email protected]

James Butler7 Hawthorne Close

Woodford Halse NN11 3NY

07745 [email protected]

Helen Gardner (see above)

BITS & PiecesWant some plant training?

Something old, something blue...

After over 15 years of use and in some cases abuse, we have decided to retire ‘Blue’, our JCB803 3-tonne tracklaying excavator. There are two main reasons for this: . It is starting to show its age and we

cannot ignore the increasing repair bills. Due to changes in legislation, continuingto run the beavertail truck to move itaround is becoming more complex

We cannot pretend it is in immaculate condi-tion, but it may be useful to a local restorationgroup who have the time and knowledge todo the ongoing maintenance themselves (orhave a friendly local engineer) and where itwill tend to spend a long time on one site(thus reducing the transport costs).

If you are interested, please contactGeorge ‘Bungle’ Eycott via email [email protected]

Camp reports

As you will see, we have a selection of CanalCamp reports in this issue. Four of them, intotal. But as you may also have noticed, thereare rather more than four canal camps in oursummer camps programme. Which meansthat we’ve still to include camp reports fromquite a lot of camps - on the Cotswold Canals,Cromford, Chesterfield, National Festival, Mon & Brec, Swansea, Chelmer & Blackwater...

Anyway we’ve got plenty of space for camp reports in the next issue, so please sendthem in to the editor as soon as possible. Don’t forget to send some photos too (or send theeditor a link to your online photos).

Plant training 28-29 September

Just as we were going to press it was confirmed that Rachael Banyard would be running aplant training weekend in cooperation with WRG on the Wilts & Berks Canal.

It is hoped to provide training on 3-tonne excavators, dumpers, and possibly scaffold-ing and levelling. But this relies on enough people expressing an interest in receiving sometraining as soon as possible - don’t just assume that it will happen, and expect to be able toturn up and get trained.

If you are interested, please contact Jenny at Head Office on 01494 783453 [email protected] as soon as possible. The sooner you tell her what you want to learnabout, the more likely we’ll be able to organise making the equipment and instructors avail-able for the weekend.

Are you interested? ‘Blue’ at work recently

Em

ma G

reenall

Do you want some

excavator training?

And do you want an

excavator to go with

your training?

BITS & PiecesWeils Disease update

Announcing Operation Starburst

A follow-up to the successful Ashtac 40thanniversary cleanup last year, OperationStarburst is a major Canal Cleanup coveringthe canals of Manchester on Saturday 19thOctober and Sunday 20th October 2013,working at five different sites across the city’swaterways.

Work will involve pulling rubbish out ofthe canal and litter picking, with volunteersworking in five different locations based on acentral meeting point of Portland Basin,Ashton-under-Lyne, OL7 0QA. The sites are:

. Stalybridge. Ashton. Newton Heath. Hyde. Failsworth

Work takes place from 10am to 4pm eachday. Volunteers should bring suitableclothis including stout footwear and water-proofs in case of rain, but all tools will beprovided.

Contact Alison Smedley, IWA BranchCampaign Officer on 07779 090915, [email protected], or seewww.waterways.org.uk.

Weil’s Disease - extra

The last Navvies carried a Toolbox Talk onthe risks of leptospirosis / Weil’s disease, arare but potentially very dangerous infectionusually associated with rats. But not neces-sarily, as Cath Coolican-Smith explains...

It’s not just rats, it’s any domesticaltedanimal that can pass on leptopsirosis -sheep, cattle, horses, dogs, even racoons(though it has to be said i’m not convincedthey’re a major concern on British canals).

But the thing about dogs is that theycan get it and pass it on to us, and also theycan die of it too. However the good news isthat they can be vaccinated and it does work.Now most vets in this country will vaccinate,

but some think it’s not necessary - they don’tthink they are in high risk area.

The thing is, all canals are a high riskarea, so we ought to be making sure thatany dogs that come on to WRG sites arevaccinated - both for their and our sakes.And it is a vaccine that needs repeatingannually.

It doesn’t really matter whether or notthey are supposed to be there, if they arethere they need to be vaccinated and thatvaccination needs to be up to date. Becauseif they are not, then (as leptospirosis canlive in damp soil as well as water) we areeffectively increasing the high risk areafrom the canal to anywhere around theaccommodation where the dog has widdled- like on grassy bits outside the accommo-dation where volunteers might sit to sortout site kit...

Remember Navvies Anonymous?

Well AnneNicholsdoes. She’sput to-gether hermemoriesand reci-pes fromcookingfor WRGNA in the1990s andturnedthem intoan e-bookcalledFancy adirtyweek-end? Thetravels of anavvies’ cook. It’s publisher by YobunnyEnterprises and available to download foryour Kindle from amazon.co.uk for theprincely sum of £4.93.

Volunteers wanted

for Operation Starburst!

(or, as the older folk

might call it, Operation

Opal Fruits)

Congratulationsto

Lizzie and Mark Gittoes

on the arrival of a baby boy

(as yet unnamed, but with lots of hair!)

on 13 August

weighing 10lb 7oz

Dial-a-camp

To contact any WRGCanal Camp:

07850 422156(Kit ‘A’ camps)07850 422157(Kit ‘B’ camps)

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.

Contacting the chairman:

Mike Palmer,3 Finwood Rd, RowingtonWarwickshire CV35 7DH

Tel: 01564 785293

email: [email protected]

Moving house?

Don’t forget totell Navvies about

it, so yourmagazine gets

delivered toyour newaddress

Want a trip boat?Basingstoke Canal Society (formerly Surrey &Hants Canal Society) has just replaced its 30-year-old trip-boat John Pinkerton with thebrand new John Pinkerton II, as a result ofwhich the original boat is now looking for anew home.

If your canal society is interested in a 50-seatbroad beam trip-boat, contact BCS. Seebasingstoke-canal.org.uk for contact details.

Thanks

to Chris Griffiths of Stroudprint for continuedassistance with Navvies cover printing

WRGies become rug-dealers!WRGies and boaters Tina and Colin Hobbs are appeal-

ing for your old red or black WRG t-shirts so that Tinacan turn them into rag rugs to sell to raise funds.

If you have any old WRG t-shirts that have seen

better days, please save them and donate them tothis good cause. Contact Colin by email on

[email protected] to arrange a handover.

Off your trolley?

A new smartphone app hasbeen launched that enables

members of the public to report thelocation of any abandoned shopping

trolleys that they spot (in a canal,perhaps?) Take a photo of the trolley,and the app uses the phone’s GPS totell recovery company Trolleywise

where it is, so they can send someoeout to pick it up.

The app is also called Trolleywise, andit’s free to download for iPhone or

Android. See trolleywise.co.uk.

Thinks: the BCN Cleanup willnever be the same again.

Or maybe not.

Congratulations...

...to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trustfor getting the Queen’s Award forVolunteer Service, the UK’s high-est award for volunteering

Infillfeaturing Dear Deirdre

Dear Deirdre Is it ever socially acceptable to order drinks other than real alewhen in a pub with WRGies?- Gary, Lytham St Annes

Deirdre writes I’d strongly advise against this if you’re trying to engender any respect inyour local group, although you’re pretty safe if you can order something that looks like cider.You may have noticed that cider drinkers enjoy a grudging respect from the real ale crowdand even CAMRA acknowledges them.

Not many people know that there are actually quite a number of lager drinkers in WRG.For years many of them have successfully disguised themselves as full human beings bypassing their tasteless mass-produced fizzy muck off as artisan Somerset cider. SomeWRGies ask for their Carling to be served in a Stowford Press glass to assist their subterfuge.So try that, but guard your glass carefully in case the person sitting next to you accidentallytakes a swig from your pint and rumbles you.

Do you have a question for Deirdre? You can email it to [email protected]

The right tool for the right job...

So what’s happening in the photo below? It looks like the “learn to drive a digger” kids’ event atthe IWA festival. But why are the driver and banksman both wearing cooks’ aprons? Let’s look a

little closer and see what they’re up to...Ah yes (see

right), crushingthe biscuits tomake the basefor the cheese-cake for theWRGies’ puddingthat night. Seethe new WRGcatering safetydocumentationfor more details...

And finally...

From a new DVD just published in a series ofwaterways videos, this one covering theThames through London, and describing thecruise past the Houses of Parliament...

“The Victoria Tower, to the left, wasbuilt as a fireproof suppository for parlia-mentary records”

Were I more of a cynic I might suggestthat this conforms to a commonly held view onwhere you can stick most of the outpouringsfrom within that particular building...

Mart

in L

udgate

How to cope with lager

drinkers, what WRGies do

with biscuits, and where

MPs can shove their

records...

navvies 260

Documents

directors of wrg

wey arun

wrg martin ludgatepage

wrg andcanal society

silvester road

moor road

winter camps

diary canal camps