T TOWPATH TO
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96 PAGES
Issue 171, January 2020
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FREE INSIDE
2020 YEAR PLANNER
YOUNG VOLUNTEER EARNS AWARD
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Winter waters
NEW APPEAL FOR PRESIDENT
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NARROWBOAT’S UNUSUAL CARGO
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Narrowboats moored on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Parbold, West Lancashire in January 2019. PHOTO: COLIN WAREING
Towpath Talk’s Top Teams for 2019 are revealed By Janet Richardson
BOAT TREKKER AT FINAL FRONTIER
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FOR BREAKING NEWS & BOATS FOR SALE visit our website
www.towpathtalk.co.uk
BOATS FOR SALE Starts on
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AS A new decade dawns, we bid farewell to 2019 with the results of our Towpath Talk Top Team award which has been running throughout the year. With four teams shortlisted for the final vote it was a very close-run contest with the Grantham Canal Society volunteers taking the title by a short head.
Boats gunshot probe
Such was the support also for Crusader Community Boating from Blisworth that we are awarding our first Community Boat award – something we had already been planning for the coming year. Commended are the Friends of the River Nene and the Waterways Chaplaincy’s Martin and Fiona Buck. Award presentations to our finalists
POLICE are investigating damage to narrowboats after gunshots were fired in Cambridge. Officers were called on Thursday, December 5, at around 10.15pm, after nearby residents reported hearing shots from what was believed to be an air rifle near boats on the River Cam. Photographs of holes in the window of one of the boats have since been published. One resident told reporters that shots, coming from the Chesterton side of the river, were fired at boats moored at Browns Field, Fen Ditton, and this went on for about five minutes. Cambridgeshire Police said no injuries were reported and enquiries were continuing.
will take place in the new year. The winning team receives the hire of a day boat carrying up to 10 people, generously sponsored by ABC Leisure Group Ltd. The runner-up will receive a £100 voucher to spend at Midland Chandlers at Braunston and all four finalists will receive a £100 donation towards their volunteering organisation from Mortons Media Group Ltd, the
100-day achievement
UPPERMILL Community Action Network (UCAN) achieved its 100-day volunteering milestone after starting out in 2015. This included more than 2300 hours of voluntary work achieved by local people who, according to UCAN, “care about, and are committed to, crafting and maintaining our beautiful local environment”. Thanks were given to all supporters, and for the positive feedback from the community. The next work parties will be on January 4 and 23, and February 8 and 20. The usual meeting point is 10am at the canal bridge on Moorgate Street but this can change. Contact Peter Killan on 01457 878361 or peterkillan@hotmail.com
publisher of Towpath Talk. Our thanks go to the readers who rose to the challenge of finding a group of unsung heroes who have gone that extra mile for their local stretch of towpath, canal or river, waterways association or community boat – and gave our judging panel a difficult job of shortlisting the four finalists. • Continued on page 2
Ouse bodies found
THE bodies of two men were found on a boat moored in York city centre. Emergency services were called to Lendal Bridge on the River Ouse at around 8pm on December 4. North Yorkshire Police said officers attended “after concerns were raised for two men in their 60s who had been out of touch with their family.” Upon arrival officers found the bodies. Fire and ambulance services both attended. The deaths were being treated as ‘unexplained’ although did not appear to be suspicious and a post-mortem examination was due to take place. The men had not been identified when Towpath Talk went to press.