Towpath Talk September issue!

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Issue 215, September 2023

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DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LICENSING RANGER

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FERRYING FLOCK TO SONIC FEAST

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Welford Wharf, at the end of the Leicester Line’s Welford Arm, was once busy serving nearby lime kilns. It is now a rural haven, great for walks and wildlife. Beyond is the historic pub, The Wharf Inn. PHOTO: ROBIN JONES

TRAINING ON THE DROITWICH CANALS

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BOAT REVIEW: THE MOLE

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Prime Minister urged to safeguard waterways ALMOST 40,000 people have already signed a petition in support of the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign.

The petition at change.org urges Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ensure his government takes action to help safeguard Britain’s canals and rivers now and for future generations.

It calls on him to acknowledge the many social, economic and environmental benefits that the inland waterways provide

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and give his assurance that the Government will intervene, where necessary, to ensure Britain’s rivers and canals remain fully open, navigable, safe and accessible for all.

Started by Inland Waterways Association chief executive Prof Sarah Niblock, the petition is aimed to send a clear message to the heart of government about what is at stake. She said: “The Fund Britain’s Waterways petition is now LIVE and visible

– please add your signatures and circulate far and wide. Let’s deliver a hefty pile of pages to 10 Downing Street this autumn.

“Also, please download, print and proudly display a window sticker. Whether you are afloat or on dry land, these will send out a striking message.”

The sticker, a copy of which can be seen on page 78, can be downloaded at www.waterways. org.uk where there is also a link to the petition.

Explaining why now is the time to act, the petition refers to the waterways’ recognised benefits to well-being, projects helping to regenerate both rural and urban areas and boat-based tourism and leisure activities contributing £2.5 billion to the economy each year.

The Canal & River Trust relies on central government grant funding to make up nearly a quarter of its income to maintain its network. But if CRT loses 40%

of its grant funding from 2027, this will impact on maintenance and risk canal closures.

The Environment Agency also maintains more than 600 miles of waterways including the Rivers Thames, Medway and Wye as well as the Anglian waterways. It received less than half the funding needed to support its maintenance plans for this year. Scottish Canals also has more than £70 million of maintenance work outstanding.

Young anglers

Rare plants

Gauging Lock

PROMISING to be the biggest angling event for young people in almost 20 years, the National Celebration of Young People and Fishing will take place on the Staffordshire & Shropshire Canal over the weekend of September 16-17. It has already attracted 275 entrants and is open to anyone aged from seven to 20 years old. Everyone who participates will take home a medal or trophy, a Guru goody bag and a special event certificate signed by six former world champion anglers.

RESEARCH is under way examining two species of rare plants in the Montgomery Canal. Types of pondweed, they are the long-stalked potamogeton praelongus and flat-stalked potamogeton friesii, which are a part of the Potamogetonaceae family – a group of aquatic plants comprised of more than a hundred species worldwide.

The research will look at developing different ways to naturally cultivate these plants, which improve water quality, provide shelter for aquatic organisms and act as a primary food source for waterfowl and fish.

THE Brentford Toll House and Gauging Lock on the Grand Union Canal will be open to visit over the weekend of September 9-10 as part of the Open House Festival. One of London’s smallest museums, it is based in the Grade II-listed Toll House and there will also be the chance to meet some of the volunteer lock keepers. Open House Festival is a two-week celebration of London’s homes, architecture and neighbourhoods. For more information visit opencity.org.uk and click on open-house-festival-2023

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2 WELCOME/NEWS

September 2023

WELCOME EVERY month sees society newsletters and magazines popping through the letterbox or into my inbox and it is always a great pleasure reading these and catching up with all the news.

A recurring theme is the challenge of attracting new members, visitors to events and volunteers – especially younger people.

This is one of the topics raised by IWA Lichfield branch chairman Adrian Wedgewood in the summer Lichfield Lines. He writes: “People have got used to not going out, depending on social media and being isolated.”

I totally agree with these sentiments which ring true closer to home. On a personal level our visits to our town centre local two or three evenings a week have never returned postpandemic, to be replaced by a weekly lunch at a country hostelry. Our ‘screen time’ has also increased exponentially!

Objectives suggested by Adrian include an attractive programme of topics and speakers, broadening the appeal of events and demonstrating the social benefits of branch meetings with a friendly welcome. I am sure that, for many of you, this is a similar scenario.

I was interested to read in the July edition of the IWA East Midlands region newsletter Aegre that former MP turned broadcaster Michael Portillo visited the Fossdyke Canal and Brayford Pool in Lincoln where he interviewed regional chairman David Pullen and had a trip on narrowboat Wigford Tug with IWA members Mel and Sue Sowerby. That’s one to watch out for but probably not till next year.

Our contributors have also been getting out and about: Andy Griffee spends a day with a Canal & River Trust licensing ranger, see page 6; Sally Clifford catches up with some unusual passengers on page 10 and Nicola Lisle visits the High Peak Junction Visitor Centre next to the Cromford Canal on page 17. And Les Heath also reports on a store war with a difference on page 11.

Here’s hoping for a sunny September.

TOWPATH

TALK

Janet

Editor Janet Richardson jrichardson@mortons.co.uk Publisher Tim Hartley Group advertising manager Sue Keily Advertising sales team leader Tania Shaw – 01507 529489 tshaw@mortons.co.uk Editorial design Chris Abrams Production editor Pauline Hawkins Publishing director Dan Savage Commercial director Nigel Hole Contact us Customer services 01507 529529 Telephone lines are open: MondayFriday 8.30am-5pm help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk News & editorial Tel: 01507 529466. Fax: 01507 529495 editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk Published by Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs, LN9 6JR Tel: 01507 523456. Fax: 01507 529301 Printed by Mortons Print Ltd Tel. 01507 523456 Next issue – September 28, 2023

Paddle challenge along the Swansea Canal PEOPLE are being challenged to canoe or kayak a mile of the Swansea Canal as part of the year-long celebration of the canal's 225th anniversary.

Glandwr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales, is encouraging the local community to take to the water and participate in the one-mile paddle over a stretch of the canal between Clydach and Trebanos. To date, more than 250 people have successfully completed the challenge, beating the initial 225-mile target. A £61,200 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant is helping to run the Swansea Canal 225 project and events and activities to celebrate the anniversary.

Caroline Kendall, project manager at Glandwr Cymru, explained: “We have been asking people to head down to the Swansea Canal and paddle a mile of the canal from Clydach

to Trebanos to help us achieve our target of 225 miles. We are delighted that the target has been reached, with everyone who has taken part having received a certificate celebrating their contribution to the challenge.

“Now we want even more people to enjoy the paddle challenge. It’s a fantastic way for people to get on to the water, improve their well-being and enjoy the beauty and the heritage that the canal has to offer as we celebrate an important milestone in its history this year, together with the Swansea Canal Society.”

The challenge is one of several events taking place throughout the year in partnership with the Swansea Canal Society. An exhibition telling the story of the canal’s history is on show at the National Waterfront Museum Swansea until September 17.

The Swansea Canal near Trebanos. PHOTO: GC

Swansea Canal Society has canoe and kayak hire at Coed Gwilym Park available until the end of September so people of all ages can enjoy the pleasure of being on the water all summer. Canoe hire operates every Sunday. Canadian open canoes as well as single and double sit-on kayaks are available. Volunteers can also raft up two canoes to allow at least six people to paddle together.

More details about canoe and kayak hire on the Swansea Canal are available on the Swansea Canal Society website at swanseacanalsociety.com Please check before travelling for any late changes to availability on the day.

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Four new members appointed to CRT advisory groups THE Canal & River Trust has made a new appointment to its Navigation Advisory Group (NAG) and three appointments to the NAG sub-groups for moorings and locks.

Each appointment is for an initial three-year term and is an unpaid voluntary role.

Members of the advisory groups are drawn from the communities they represent, and include boaters, boating business owners, angling coaches, fish experts and scientists.

Joining the Navigation Advisory Group is Hannah Sterritt who has been boating since 2018, when she first went on a hire boat holiday. She and her partner have lived aboard their 54ft narrowboat since 2020, initially on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal and, since earlier this year, cruising the main network.

Additionally, Alan Moss and James Lowe have joined the NAG moorings sub-group, while Graham Puddephat has joined the NAG locks sub-group.

Matthew Symonds, head of customer service support at Canal & River Trust, said: “Our advisory groups are places where we can work through ideas with people who can share their first-hand knowledge of the subjects.

“In the last few years, our volunteers on our Navigation Advisory Group have reviewed the trust’s proposed schedule for winter stoppages, advised on national and local proposals including accessible moorings, the Strong Stream warning system, and towpath works.”

They have also helped to develop the customer service facilities review, boat licence consultation and Boater Census.

Steaming into canalside station

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US 2-8-0 Class S160-51917 pulling into Consall Station on the Churnet Valley Railway passing over the Caldon Canal. Moored in front of Bridge 50 is the photographer’s canal boat which looks very small but still important to the scene!

PHOTO: TOM BLANPAIN

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NEWS 3

September 2023

Trust plans £89m works programme

Spoil being excavated during the repairs to the damaged culvert. PHOTO: COLIN WAREING

Repairs complete to damaged culvert NAVIGATION was due to resume, as we went to press, between Bridges 31 and 32 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal near Burscough in Lancashire following repairs to a collapsed washwall where a sinkhole had appeared.

Attempts were made to stop the water flowing through on to adjacent farmland

with a plastic fibre sheet but this didn’t stem the flow and two fibre dams were installed either side of the leak, with pumps to keep the water flowing towards Liverpool.

A five-metre-wide strip using around 120 tons of clay was installed over the centre line of the culvert across the

width of the canal bed. This resulted in the same amount of spoil having to be excavated and moved around the bed during the works.

The washwall was rebuilt on a new concrete footing.

The canal was due to be refilled and the dams removed as we went to press.

IWA branch announces landmark festival plans

THE 2025 Market Harborough Festival of Boats & Arts will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the festival first held in the town’s canal basin in 1950.

This was the first such Inland Waterways Association event and was a huge success for both the

IWA and the town, attracting an impressive number of boats, around 120, and some 50,000 visitors.

“The marking of the 75th anniversary has for some time been high on the agenda of the Leicestershire branch of the IWA,” said Andrew Shephard, branch

chairman, “and I can confirm that we will be organising what we hope will be a major IWA festival during 2025.

“We are now working closely with Harborough District Council, seeking to identify an alternative venue for the land-based

activities, as the terminus basin itself is not now a feasible location, being full of permanent moorings.”

The Old Union Canals Society and the Canal & River Trust East Midlands Region have both confirmed their enthusiastic commitment to the event.

THE Canal & River Trust has announced an £89 million programme of engineering work, illustrating the scale of the resource required to protect and preserve the network.

Against a backdrop of the Government announcing sweeping cuts to the future funding of canals, in the current financial year the trust will complete more than 450 separate engineering projects including manufacturing and installing 123 lock gates. It will also carry out more than 1000 reactive repairs and will continue the vital programme of works to its canal-feeding reservoirs.

The cost of maintaining the network year on year is increasing due to its age, the effects of inflation and the additional expense of responding to more frequent and extreme weather events.

Central to the 2023/24 programme is the ongoing work to help ensure the resilience of the water needed to keep canals topped up, with continued investment to safeguard the water supply from the trust’s reservoirs – the oldest in the country.

The programme includes £26 million earmarked for 37 of the 71 reservoirs.

Nineteen of these will be on site during the year including ongoing activity at Toddbrook (Peak Forest & Macclesfield canals), Harthill (Chesterfield Canal), Barrowford (Leeds & Liverpool Canal), March Haigh and Swellands (both Huddersfield Narrow Canal).

A further 18 reservoir projects are being planned for future years.

A £6.5 million dredging programme includes 11 routine maintenance projects, three national programmes, spot dredging and

dredging to canal feeders, with £1.8 million being allocated to dredging at Gloucester and Sharpness docks to tackle high levels of silt.

In addition, £2 million is planned for stabilisation and leak sealing on four embankments, £2 million for improvements to five mechanical and electrical structures, £1.4 million for the refurbishment of seven bridges and £1 million to repair six culverts.

Two programmes focus on reducing leaks in critical areas and two on the resilience of river sluices supporting water control on river navigations.

External funding is supporting the continued restoration of the Montgomery Canal and a programme of works to the iconic Anderton Boat Lift following recent repairs.

Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust, said: “With canals so popular and serving society in so many ways, it is more important than ever that we are relentless in our efforts to keep them safe and available.

“While our campaign to Keep Canals Alive asks all those who use and enjoy the canals to write to their local MP to secure their long-term future, in the immediate term the vital maintenance to keep canals safe must continue.

“Over the next year that programme of work ranges from the largest-scale repairs, such as at our reservoirs, to the more modest maintenance that makes such a big difference to boaters’ experiences, like fixing a leaking lock gate or our rolling dredging programme.

Our expert teams of colleagues, contractors and volunteers will be working hard all year round to fight for the future of our waterways.”

Wordsearch winners CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of our latest Wordsearch competition.

First prize of Towpath Tipples Gailey Gin, Gongoozler’s Ruin

Gin and a Dudley U n d e r g r o u n d E xp e r ience goes to Vincent Keen of Derbyshire. Runner-up Derek Brandes of Nottinghamshire

receives six Waterways Maps and a £20 gift voucher for Boat Street Cafe; third prize of books Barging Free and One Paddle Short of a Lock plus a Fragrant Fender go to Mrs Alison Smith of Conwy.

4 NEWS

September 2023

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Historic footbridge rebuilt by volunteers

A NEW footbridge over the River Gipping – Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation – in Suffolk has recently been opened.

The culmination of three years’ hard work, the footbridge, built entirely by River Gipping Trust volunteers, sits on restored 230-year-old brick abutments engineered

by John Rennie. It reopens 1km of footpath – the old towpath – alongside the river, last walked by the public around 100 years ago.

Three years ago, the original brick bridge abutments were in a sorrowful state of repair with around 1000 bricks missing, a tree growing around one of them and another tree rooted into the bottom of the other. Some bricks could be seen on the bottom of the riverbed and volunteers started to recover them.

Around 500 whole bricks were recovered; all were heavily blackened after maybe as many as 100 years under water, but they quickly recovered their natural red and yellow colours and were reused in the restoration. All the bricks forming the bridge abutments are original 230-yearold bricks.

The 1793 footbridge at Baylham was engineered by John Rennie in 1792 and was one of around 20 new bridges built along the Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation. The navigation was Rennie’s first completed canal project and it was completed in just 18 months after his initial survey on horseback.

Impressed by this feat of engineering he quickly moved on to build many more canals and bridges across the UK including the Kennet & Avon Canal, the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation and London Bridge, now located in the USA. Rennie was one of Britain’s greatest civil engineers of all time.

Lock restored

Trust volunteers have also just completed the restoration of Pipps Ford Lock, one of the oldest locks engineered by John

Lock restoration work.

Time for a breather as volunteers celebrate the lock work completion.

Rennie remaining in Britain. Seeking to reestablish navigation along this river, the trust now has four of Rennie’s 1793 locks fully restored, ready for lock gates.

The first stretch to be made navigable will be between the popular Needham Market Lakes and Baylham Rare Breeds Farm, where the four locks are situated.

Opened in 1793, the Ipswich to Stowmarket Navigation is 16 miles long with 15 locks, each 55ft long by 14ft wide.

Fourteen lock structures remain with water flowing through them all, but none have lock gates yet.

The missing lock at Claydon has recently been found, partially intact, buried adjacent to the A14. The trust is working with National Highways to restore it with much help and support from OnSite, who installed the two temporary dams, and Selwood Pumps, who provided a dry lock to enable the repairs to be carried out.

The official opening of the new bridge. PHOTOS: IAN PETCHEY/RIVER GIPPING TRUST

Hats off as the new footbridge takes shape.

The original bridge in June 2019.

Volunteers working on the bridge in September 2021 as it starts to take shape.

OnSite’s Portadam.

Getting the 5 x 10m long x 500mm deep beams across in September 2021.

Innovation at lock gate workshops

THE Canal & River Trust’s lock gate workshops, at Bradley in the West Midlands and Stanley Ferry in Yorkshire, are bringing forward several small changes to lock gate production to increase speed and efficiency.

With more than 1500 locks across the trust’s canal network, and a working life of typically 25 years, there is a constant cycle of production and replacement of old lock gates. This year the trust’s specialist team is producing 123 separate lock gate leaves for installation across the network.

The small changes to production will save the team 25 working days each year, enough time to produce at least an additional two top end single lock gates or one set of bottom end mitre gates.

CRT workshops manager Simon Turner said: “Anyone who knows the canals will understand the enduring appeal – and vital function – of the traditional lock gate. While our specialist workshops still build these lock gates in-house, it’s more important than ever that we find ways to do this more efficiently. Our historic canals are facing significant challenges from floods and droughts, driven by a changing climate, and from a cut in future funding from government.”

A working group including workshop carpenters, heritage specialists, engineers and volunteer boaters on the trust’s Navigation Advisory Group has brought forward the changes.

First designed 250 years ago, the traditional black and white lock gate is an iconic feature of the nation’s landscape, and it is important to preserve this heritage aspect.

One change agreed by the group is to only paint lock gate steelwork that is above the waterline. As the painting is purely decorative, this will retain the characteristic look while having no impact on the resilience of the gate.

While each lock gate is unique in terms of its precise measurements, different waterways or lengths of waterway have unique gate designs.

Establishing a design template for different canals or lengths means the workshops don’t have to reproduce any 20th century, non-heritage or functional anomalies which may currently exist on each canal.

Standardised designs are now in

Lock gates being produced at CRT’s Stanley Ferry workshop.

PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

place for the Shropshire Union Canal, Birmingham Canal Navigations and Worcester & Birmingham Canal, with work ongoing for the Oxford, Stratford and Montgomery canals.

Further location-specific changes, in some instances requiring consent from local authorities, will see an alteration to the design of the bottom end gates on the Grand Union Canal which will negate the need for a second horizontal layer of planking without compromising the performance of the gate.

The group has looked at ways the trust can save money on materials.

In conjunction with engineers from the Timber Research & Development Association it has refined the Lock Gate Calculation sheets. These calculate the size of timber required to achieve the required strength of the lock gate. The new sheet allows the teams to try different timber sizes and is likely to produce a saving of 5% on timber usage.

Simon added: “The proposals for alterations to the designs and production process were brought forward by the teams who carry out the work, with valuable ideas and feedback shared by boaters on our Navigation Advisory Group. Any new ideas must respect the important heritage of the canals, while balancing the needs we have, as a charity, to safeguard the future of the ageing network.”

NEWS 5

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Schoolhouse Bridge takes shape

AFTER more than six years of planning and fundraising Schoolhouse Bridge is taking shape. Contractors recently craned the bridge sections into place and there is once more a Bridge 86 over the Montgomery Canal.

Schoolhouse Bridge was the last highway blockage on the Shropshire section of the Montgomery Canal. It is believed that in the 1950s or 1960s the highway authority demolished the old bridge, replacing it with an embankment of earth and stone.

As restoration progressed towards Shropshire’s border with the Welsh county of Powys, volunteers of the three local waterway charities got together to promote the Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal.

Describing it as an exciting day, chairman of Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, Michael Limbrey, said: “Our experienced volunteers are at work to rewater the next section and we have launched a new appeal to raise funds to provide them with equipment and materials.

“Supporters, both local and further afield, have generously donated for the bridge and are now supporting this next phase of the restoration.”

A retired engineer from the Inland Waterways Association designed a bridge which could be built with much of the work carried out by volunteers, but with delays from Covid and other difficulties it was ultimately necessary

for contractors to be brought in for the main project work.

After a ceremony in April when Coun Vince Hunt, chairman of Shropshire Council, turned the first sod, contractors Beaver Bridges of Shrewsbury made rapid progress.

Installing the bridge arches is the most significant part of the project. The arches were in six sections produced by Macrete, based in Country Antrim, and were delivered to the site by a convoy of flatbed lorries. Each section was made of connected segments which formed an arch shape when lifted by a 250-ton crane to be lowered on to carefully positioned cills on the reinforced concrete abutments.

While a spectacular process, the organisers were not able to publicise the date beforehand as the site could not accommodate a large number of viewers, or their cars. However a number of local residents and supporters and the chairman of the local parish council were able to watch the proceedings.

The whole process was completed in a matter of hours, with the six arch sections and spandrels in place by mid-afternoon.

Michael continued: “It is six years since we resolved to reconstruct Schoolhouse Bridge. If we could do it, it would be a significant contribution to opening up the canal to the Welsh border at Llanymynech. Now we can see a bridge for the first time for more than 60 years.”

The bridge starts to take shape. PHOTOS: BEAVER BRIDGES LTD

Michael explained that the project is part of a larger plan to revive the Montgomery Canal, bringing many economic, social and environmental benefits which other restored waterways have already achieved.

Richard Hinckley, sales director of Beaver Bridges, said: “We are extremely proud to be engaged with the design and installation of the new bridge as part of a larger plan to revive the Montgomery Canal and playing our part in rebuilding history and leaving a legacy on the canal for future generations to enjoy. I very much look forward to seeing the first narrowboat go under the bridge.”

Donations are welcome at https://localgiving.org/appeal/ MontgomeryCanal

Lifting one of the six arched sections into place.

Restoration event success despite motorway chaos

MORE than 100 members of the public toured the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) event on board the steamship Daniel Adamson (the Danny) moored at Sutton Weaver on the River Weaver in late July.

They were suitably impressed by the work of volunteer canal restorers. In total nine canal organisations from around the region set up stalls and were there to give expert advice and answer all questions.

The canal organisations from as far afield as Shropshire, Manchester and Runcorn showed the value of restored waterways to the environment, well-being and in particular economic development. They were all able to show how they individually bring benefits to their local community especially attracting significant funding, protecting jobs and helping local firms survive.

One of the stands run by the Shropshire Union Canal Society had just completed a £2.8 million Heritage Lottery Fund supported scheme to bring 1.5 miles of canal into the national network; it has now started work on a new

BANISH T

Visitors enjoying the presentations on board the promenade deck. scheme costing upwards of £1.5 million for another half mile and a new bridge.

What was pleasing was that some exhibitors recruited new members and volunteers and the public gave generously to the good causes.

M56 chaos

While the visitor numbers began to hit reasonable numbers on the Saturday afternoon, boosted by a party of young sea scouts, the volunteers were hopeful of increased numbers on the Sunday; however a major incident on the nearby M56 was to dampen their ambitions.

Jim Forkin, chairman, IWA Chester and Merseyside, said: “Things were starting to go well then suddenly at lunchtime, visitor numbers

fell away and volunteers could only sit and watch as traffic on the nearby M56 viaduct came to a complete standstill and nearby A-roads became logjammed.

“A message from the police showed that, right through our busiest period until 4pm, the motorway would remain blocked and our customers were either stuck in their cars or had

chosen not to set off.”

Bob Cannell, volunteer co-ordinator on the Danny said. “We had a great turnout of volunteers ready to help the event organisers and show new visitors around the boat but this is what can happen at events that you cannot plan for.”

Les Green, trustee of the Danny, added: “This is the second time IWA and the Danny team have run this event and even if numbers were down, it gave the public that got there a good understanding of the restoration movement and to meet the people involved.”

The IWA has not been put off by events and plans to run another event, possibly in 2025, in either Liverpool or Anderton Boat lift dependent on the Danny cruising itinerary.

Visitors heading aboard the Danny. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

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6 NEWS

September 2023

Steve fastens a patrol notice to the roof of a narrowboat.

The notice.

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Steve chats to a Swedish holidaymaker.

A day in the life of a licensing ranger Illegally moored boats, boats without licences and even a boat sinking – it’s all in a day’s work for one of the Canal & River Trust’s licensing rangers, as author Andy Griffee discovered when he went out on towpath patrol with one of them.

ONE of the first things I notice about Steve Broad’s ranger uniform is the body-camera strapped to his chest. The Canal & River Trust’s nationwide team of 27 rangers were issued with one each after the murder of one of their colleagues on the Grand Union two years ago.

“I knew Clive Porter quite well,” Steve tells me. “We joined the CRT at the same time 13 years ago and met up occasionally at

conferences.” The two men had both worked for the police, Clive as a serving officer and Steve as a special constable on the streets of Birmingham.

A 50-year-old Polish boater called Sylwester Krajewski was convicted of the ranger’s murder.

It’s a very real reminder of the potential dangers faced by this small group of people who patrol the canal network for the CRT. Steve and just one other

Andy Griffee, right, spends the day with licensing ranger Steve Broad. colleague are responsible for patrolling 150 miles of various canals in the West Midlands and I joined him at Stourporton-Severn for the start of his

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COLIN WAREING Lancashire in January 2019. PHOTO:

eams for 2019 are revealed k’s TTop TTeams T k’s Towpath Talk a s, we bid farewell awn AS A new decade dawn t th to 2019 with the results of our Towpath Top Team award which has been k Top Talk r r. running throughout the year.

With four teams shortlisted for the final with vote it was a veryy close-run contest t volunteers ty the Grantham Canal Society taking the title by a short head.

Such was the support also for from Crusader Community Boating first Blisworth that we are awarding our a rd – something Community Boat awa f the we had alreadyy been planning for r r. coming year. of Commended are the Friends the River Nene and the Waterways Chaplaincy’s Martin and Fiona Buck.

Award presentations to our finalists

r The r. will take place in the new year. off a winning team receives the hire 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 four Chandlers at Braunston and all donation finalists will receive a £100 towards their volunteering organisation the from Mortons Media Group Ltd,

alk.

Tal tth T publisher of Towpath Our thanks go to the readers who rose of to the challenge of finding a group a gone that extra ave unsung heroes who have f their local stretch off towpath, mile for a association or ays canal or river, waterways a our judging ave community boat – and gave the panel a difficult job of shortlisting four finalists.

• Continued on page 2

found on a boat moored Ouse bodies t achievemen f nd 100-dayCommunity of two men were fou probe Action Network (UCAN) THE bodies Boats gunshot were called UPPERMILL Y k city centre. Emergency services after starting in Yor investigating damage to narrowboats POLICE are Officers were after gunshots were fired in Cambridge. a December 5, at around 10.15pm, ay, called on Thursday, f m shots fro after nearbyy residents reported hearing near boats on the what was believed to be an air rifle the window of one River Cam. Photographs off holes in a since been published. One resident ave of the boats have Chesterton the told reporters thatt shots, coming from moored at Browns side of the river, were fired at boats five about for on Field, Fen Ditton, and this went no injuries were minutes. Cambridgeshire Police said reported and enquiries were continuing.

achieved its 100-day volunteering milestone 2300 hours of out in 2015. This included more than who, according voluntary work achieved by local people to, crafting to UCAN, “care about, and are committed environment”. and maintaining our beautiful local and for the positive Thanks were given to all supporters, work parties will feedback from the community. The next 8 and 20. The usual be on January 4 and 23, and February on Moorgate meeting point is 10am at the canal bridge Killan on 01457 Street but this can change. Contact Peter 878361 or peterkillan@hotmail.com

at around 8pm to Lendal Bridge on the River Ouse said officers on December 4. North Yorkshire Police f two men for attended “after concerns were raised with their touch in their 60s who had been out of bodies. Fire .” Upon arrival officers found the family.”

The deaths and ambulance services both attended. although did were being treated as ‘unexplained’ a post-mortem not appear to be suspicious and The men had not examination was due to take place. alk went to press.

Tal tth T been identified when Towpath

11/12/2019 10:17:16

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shift. They have a set schedule of places to visit on a two-week cycle and log the licence number of every boat into an electronic device which also records the exact location.

We are soon chatting to some friendly Swedish holidaymakers on their hire boat when Steve notices something strange. The number painted on the boat doesn’t match the number on the paper licence stuck in the window. He checks more details on his device and discovers the painted number doesn’t match the boat’s painted name. CRT’s business boat manager will be asked to investigate the anomaly further.

As we walk further, Steve laments the Government’s 40% real terms cut in its grant to the CRT – beginning in 2027.

He worries about reductions in basic maintenance and even the possibility that some canals will have to close. One boater tells him the financial black hole makes his job more important than ever. The rangers’ work helps to keep boat licence fee evasion below 5% of the 36,000 boats in scope – and it’s an impressive 3.5% in Steve’s own patch.

An hour later, at Kinver, we come across two boats tied up on a busy lock mooring.

He knows about the first, which has a broken gearbox and so it has been given a limited AES (Authorised Extended Stay). However, the second moored boat isn’t displaying a name, licence number or licence. It appears to be unoccupied, so Steve writes out a patrol notice and uses a cable tie to fix it to the boat’s roof.

If no one is living on the boat, it could eventually be

Canal & River Trust licensing ranger Steve Broad with his van. taken out of the water by CRT and automatically scrapped if it is worth less than £3000. If someone is living on the boat, they may end up being taken to court. Steve’s murdered colleague had been serving a patrol notice when he was killed.

Sinking boat

Later, at Stourbridge, another boater tells us about a boat he saw sinking the previous day on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at a village called Swindon. We make our way there immediately in Steve’s blue CRT van which can also carry his bicycles and a small dinghy. As we go, Steve speculates on the identity of the sinking boat and its owner. He suspects it is someone he has dealt with before.

Sure enough, after a 20-minute hike to Hinksford Bridge, we discover 44-year-old Stuart and Swallow, his flooded boat.

Stuart has a licence for the boat but it’s in poor condition and this is the fifth time it has sunk in eight years. A small inflatable boom has been put in place to prevent diesel seepage and a petrol-operated pump is failing to keep pace with the water flowing over the gunwale. The inside of the boat is flooded up to the bottom of the windows and debris has been scattered along the towpath.

The sinking boat with the owner’s belongings alongside. PHOTOS: ANDY GRIFFEE

It could be a tense situation, but the ranger is greeted by Stuart like an old friend and immediately asks for CRT’s help. He has no insurance to pay for his boat’s rescue because it has failed a safety inspection.

But if CRT is forced to take the boat out of the water due to diesel leakage, it could cost him up to £6000. Steve takes pictures and begins alerting other members of the CRT on his device.

Stuart returns to drinking from a bottle of wine as we leave and tells us a friend is now coming to his aid with a more powerful pump. “It’s all in a day’s work,” says Steve as we return to his van.

“But it can be stressful at times.”

Being a ranger isn’t just about policing licences. Steve often comes across single men on boats who are failing to cope.

Sometimes he puts them in touch with the canal chaplaincy.

Later that same day, a safety alert message is sent out by CRT. It says the fire service and police have attended the site of the sunken boat. Colleagues and volunteers are being advised not to approach an individual who is being ‘extremely aggressive, under the influence of alcohol’. A nearby hedgerow has been set alight.

It just shows, Steve tells me, how quickly things can change for the worse on the towpath.

Andy Griffee is the author of the Johnson & Wilde crime mysteries which are set on the canals and rivers of the UK. The third book in the series, Oxford Blues, has just been brought out in paperback by Orphans Publishing. He has also written a novella called Devil’s Den which is set in the Kinver area and is available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon.

NEWS 7

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Flower is a budding boat horse

THE Shropshire Union Main Line near Norbury recently saw a Shropshire Union fly-boat hauled by a horse, perhaps the first time there for 100 years.

This rare and wonderful sight was the well-known Saturn, hauled by Flower, an eight-year-old mare.

David Ray of Norbury Wharf Ltd said: “Flower did really well. She is usually ridden by my daughter, Elizabeth, and we use her to pull a cart, but this is the first time we have used her to pull a narrowboat. We are all really pleased with how it went and we hope to be able to do more.”

John Yates of Saturn Fly-Boat said:

“This is living canal heritage at its very best. The canals were built for horse haulage, and so was the Saturn. The horse is the almost forgotten hero of canal history, until you see one in action and the whole canal suddenly makes sense. Horse boating is quiet, quick and green. The more of it we can do with Saturn, the happier we shall be.”

More horse boating trials were held a few days later from the Anchor Inn at High Offley to Shebdon and back to Norbury Junction.

Saturn was previously hauled on the Montgomery Canal by Cracker, who has now retired.

Flower heads off from the Anchor Inn.

David Ray drives Flower along the towpath.

Flower hauling Saturn along the Shroppie.

Under the High Bridge (No 39). PHOTOS: BOB JERVIS

Smiles as Flower takes the job in her stride.

Flower is Elizabeth’s usual mount.

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8 NEWS

September 2023

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Charity book and music shop celebrates first year of trading

The children’s section and a sofa where you can read them a story. PHOTO: CCT

Bob Hosking with his family and members of the Chichester Ship Canal Trust at the canal basin.

Memory lane boat trip for Bob’s 90th birthday

A SPECIAL birthday wish to get back on the water was achieved for a former boat craftsman thanks to the kind efforts of his care home and Chichester Ship Canal Trust.

Bob Hosking was able to celebrate his 90th birthday in true style with a canal boat trip from the canal basin. Bob is a resident at Dovecote View care home, in Westhampnett. The home has a wishing tree where residents can add their ideas, and staff do their best to make them happen.

Bob was a long-standing former volunteer at the canal and he was thrilled to be granted his wish for a cruise there.

An extra bonus was a fish and chip lunch donated by local eatery La Fish in honour of the special occasion.

Koral at Dovecote View said: “We were delighted that the canal trust could offer this trip for Bob and a few family members, to celebrate his 90th birthday.”

Yoddi, owner of LA Fish, said: “We had heard what a special event it was and as a local company we love to help in community situations.”

Canal trustee, Dorothy Cox, was on board to answer questions about the canal and two volunteers from the canal

Enjoying a smooth cruise along the Chichester Ship Canal.

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Enjoying his fish and chip lunch on board trip boat Kingfisher. media team were on hand to record the event.

Bob has had a long association with ‘all things to do with sailing and boats’. He

spent most of his working life involved with either building or surveying them.

He gained an inland waterways boat master licence, performed safety surveys of traditional sailing ships and worked at Watercraft in Shoreham devising safety equipment for vertical drop lifeboats used by oil rigs.

He was a keen sailor himself, owning a number of boats and designing and building his own racing dinghy. Linda Kelsall-Barnett, his niece, said: “Uncle Bob inspired my love of the water and sailing, and this trip is so appropriate for him.”

Bob’s wife, Janice, thanked everyone who had made the day so special. And Bob added: “I have very fond memories of the canal… 10 out of 10 for the skipper who gave us all a smooth ride today!”

THE Cotswold Canals Trust charity book and music shop celebrated its first year of trading in Stonehouse on August 5.

Located in Queens Road, the shop spreads over three units and is laid out perfectly for shoppers to find their perfect book. There’s a children’s section and a sofa to sit and relax or snuggle up with your little one to read them a story.

The shop offers a wide range thanks to the many generous donations received. Books range from a novel for your holiday or an autobiography on your favourite cricketer to a reference book on how to grow vegetables. If there is a subject a reader is looking for, the shop is likely to have it.

It’s not all books; the shop also sells CDs and LPs from all genres, meaning you might find that rare LP you once loved on sale at a bargain price. Prices range from 50p upwards.

Since opening, the bookshop has raised more thanr £10,000, all of which goes towards to restoration of the Cotswold Canals.

Bookshop manager Mike Richter said: “The first year of trading has been a great success and we are proud to be able to raise so much money towards the canal restoration. We are grateful for the generosity of our

Montgomery Canal restoration moves on apace WHILE the Monty’s restoration work continues, much progress has been made agreeing plans and future requirements.

One of the main objectives for this year’s pilot scheme is to inform the waterproofing requirements.

Two sections of the channel, one 50m in length and the other 140m in length, have been selected as being the most informative.

The sites will be prepared to ensure they meet the minimum required depth and have stable profiles for the banks but, crucially, will not include any new waterproofing or lining.

With dams at each end these will be filled with water and the water retention performance monitored. The trial will take place in early autumn and the results will contribute to the overall specification for the project.

This combines ecology, heritage, engineering and

operational requirements.

The heritage requirements apply to the wharf wall and wash wall repairs south of Crickheath Bridge and have already been agreed.

Work continues on the other aspects with particular attention being paid to maximising the ecological benefit and improvement, not least in the context of recent new legislation.

Project manager Tom Fulda explained: “A trial of the lime mortar mix specified by the Canal & River Trust proved successful with the results commended by CRT. “This is used for repairs

Many hands make light work. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

Wash wall repointing. to the wash wall south of Crickheath Bridge and with good progress in the July work party, this job is now more than 50% completed.

Similarly, works to repair the tramway wharf have progressed rapidly with a combination of society volunteers and those from the Dry Stone Walling Association contributing their expertise. A further length of copings will be replaced on the repaired wall soon and the grant award from the Association for Industrial Archaeology will help fund some of the new copings required to replace broken and crumbling ones from the original wall.

“The third and final ‘wall job’ was to complete

the southern end of the wharf with an elegant corner returning the wall to the bank. This was finished on the last day of the July work party in the nick of time before the heavens opened.”

The July work party also saw the start of site preparation for the water tests which included tasks ranging from site strip to checking the channel bed met the minimum required depth, some profiling of banks where this was required and a trial of the clay dam construction using clay salvaged from the last project. Compared with the overgrown state 12 months ago the site is already starting to resemble a canal.

donors, customers and volunteers who make it all possible.”

The shop is volunteer-led with more than 25 volunteers helping out on a weekly basis. More are needed and everyone is welcome to visit and have a chat with the volunteers to find out how they could get involved.

It is still surprising how many people in the Five Valleys don’t know about this hidden gem and it really is well worth a visit.

The shop is open every Saturday, Wednesday and Friday between 10am and 4pm and many customers enjoy coming in every week to see the friendly volunteers and peruse the latest books on sale.

Donations cannot be accepted at the Stonehouse shop as there isn’t enough room to store and keep the shop topped up with books, however, donations are always gratefully received at the trust’s shop in Brimscombe.

4-6 Queens Road, Stonehouse GL10 2QA Phone: 01453 791889 bookshop@cotswoldcanals.org www. cotswoldcanals.org/ support-us/the-bookshop/ Facebook: CCT Charity Book & Music Shop

Volunteers sought for society’s plant and projects GRANTHAM Canal Society is seeking volunteers to join its team which keeps its boats and plant in working order.

The maintenance department is struggling to keep the society’s everincreasing fleet in tiptop condition and any plant out of action impacts funds coming in as well as delaying restoration and repairs.

Volunteers are also being sought as restoration work starts on Lock 13.

The first phase of the project includes constructing access roads, creating a towpath diversion, installing a boundary fence and site welfare well as removing vegetation and clearing the site before work can start on the lock itself.

Other construction issues include leaking culverts, banks and Lock 18, most of which can be solved in-house if the society can ‘build’ the size of its construction teams.

New members with a willingness to get the canal restored is the most important skill required, but people with existing building/construction skills would certainly increase the pace at which some of these issues can be resolved.

An appeal also recently went out for used equipment for the new welfare unit in a converted container including washing and toilet facilities and kitchen fitments.

Contact either membership@ granthamcanal.org or specialprojects@ granthamcanal.org if you wish to join.

CHARACTER 9

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Still water reflects the light of a new day for this family of ducks.

Characters of the Cut Giles Williams – your helmsman!

By Alice Griffin

WHEN Giles Williams found himself recovering from illness in early 2016 and looking for work that would take him into the open air, he could not have foreseen that an initial job as towpath ranger for the Canal & River Trust would lead him on the path to set up his Your Helmsman business, moving boats and training people how to steer.

He shared with me: “While on the job I’d mentioned my many years of experience as a holiday boater and this led to them asking if I could help crew some boat movements for the trust. They liked what I did, and I went through their internal training to become a skipper for them in London.”

The rest is history, as they say, because it wasn’t long before boaters in London got to know Giles and began to ask if he could move their boats for them. “I looked into the details of the insurance and licences I’d need to do that and, well, the first client I had paid for all of those!”

Things progressed when, in September 2019, a good friend asked Giles if he might introduce a young couple – new to boating – to life on the waterways aboard their own boat.

He told me:“I wasabit nervous about doing so, but I gave them a day on the water aboard their new boat demonstrating simple manoeuvres and encouraging them to try things out for themselves and I found I enjoyed it!” Perhaps more importantly, though, so did his clients, who found the learning experience calm and reassuring.

Giles next decided to take the RYA Inland Waterways Helm and Crew Instructor course and now teaches using its methods, although as he’s not currently associated with a training centre he doesn’t offer RYA certification. “I concentrate

Giles Williams: Water and moving things is in his blood! on coaching people on their own boats, with an emphasis on building confidence and how to safely navigate single-handedly.”

Golden hour

He loves his work and is a real advocate for our wonderful waterways. “I love getting up early and particularly enjoy being afloat in the golden hour after dawn, when the water is still and reflects the light of a new day.” I couldn’t agree more, Giles!

And I also agree when he observes how extraordinary it is that “a system designed and built for heavy industry in the past 300 years has become a tranquil, green haven, even in the centres of the cities it created.”

With his obvious love of the canals you might wonder if there is a link in his past and, well, you would be right. Giles told me: “My paternal grandfather was in the merchant marine and my mother’s side was a family of carters from London’s East End.” It seems both water and moving things is indeed in Giles’s blood!

Despite this, his work is not without occasional apprehension: “When I’m offered the task of looking after someone’s boat, especially if it’s a particularly new boat, there’s a great deal of pressure in avoiding getting even the most minor

A job as a towpath ranger led on to moving boats for customers. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

scrapes and scratches.” However, two summers spent skippering a narrowboat for cocktail cruises in central London has certainly given Giles a high level of confidence.

“I learned how to ensure every contact between a boat and anything else (when mooring up, for example) was as gentle a kiss as it could possibly be.”

Despite having travelled much of the canal system, there are still stretches on his bucket list. He shared: “Although I’ve holidayed there in the past, I’ve not spent nearly enough time on the Birmingham Canal Network. It’s such an important part of the system I don’t know why my peregrinations have taken me around the outside of it so much!”

And of everywhere he’s explored, he’s always happy to be on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal between Kidderminster and Wolverhampton: “It’s one of the prettiest canals in the country, I’ve never had a bad day there.”

Giles’s passion for the waterways extends beyond just enjoying the nature though, as he also helps administer the London Boaters campaigning Facebook group, striving to improve conditions for boaters on London’s waterways.

“I want our waterways to thrive, and while I know the organisations managing our waterways want that too, I also know they are under-resourced, under-funded, and subject to policies. I’m 100% behind the new Inland Waterways Association campaign to properly fund Britain’s waterways.”

It seems that despite illness being the unfortunate catalyst for his life on the water, everything has come good as Giles helps others on their journey to valuing our canal system as much as he does!

Facebook & Instagram: @yourhelmsman Website: yourhelmsman.co.uk Alice Griffin is a natureloving writer and yoga teacher who has spent a large part of the past 15 years living afloat. She runs online and in-person courses that help people invite a sense of slow into their lives. Website: www. alicegriffin.co.uk YouTube: @wanderingalice

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10 NEWS

September 2023

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Ferrying flock for sonic feast Sally Clifford finds out how the canal – with a little help from some fleecy friends – played a part in a unique music celebration in West Yorkshire.

TEXTILES have played an integral part in Yorkshire’s history so it was fitting for some fabricated fleecy friends to be part of a unique celebration.

HERD, described as a ‘spectacular sonic feast for the eyes and ears’, was a collaborative project involving artists, musicians, singers – and a flock of model sheep – commemorating Kirklees Year of Music 2023.

Helen Marriage, CEO of arts production company, Artichoke, explained the HERD project had been around two years in the making.

During that time, she said, they focused on the history of the area known for its rich textile heritage and mills to create a soundscape incorporating music reflecting that legacy.

The ground-breaking project, devised by composer Orlando Gough and produced by Artichoke, involved artists and local people.

Perhaps the most unusual and eye-catching feature of the celebration was the flock of singing sheep led by the giant mother sheep (Aina) broadcasting her soundscape into the distance.

Over six days, the 23 sheep sculptures, created by Huddersfield artist, Dave Young, and each named after the ancient sheep-counting song Yan Tan Tethera, appeared throughout Kirklees – including the local canal.

Textile heritage

Helen is a narrowboat owner who lives part-time on her 70ft long vessel, The Black Countryman, on the Oxford Canal.

She explained some of the flock would be afloat, all created from recycled materials such as discarded metal, denim and rags, reflecting the area’s textile heritage.

The soundscapes were commissioned from local sound artists and mixed together by Orlando Gough and sound designers Sebastian Frost and John

Fleecy friends: Vedero and Wix, the small rural sheep created by Huddersfield artist, Dave Young, for the HERD Kirklees Music event.

Del’Nero with recorded performances by the choirs, bands and soloists involved in HERD. “They really capture what the place looks and feels like, the early history of rural Yorkshire right up to its postindustrial present,” said Helen.

Shepley Bridge Marina in Mirfield, home to the Safe Anchor Trust charity, was the destination for two of the flock departures.

Established in 1995, the charity, run entirely by volunteers, provides canal boat trips for physically and mentally disabled groups as well as the socially disadvantaged through age or social isolation or deprivation.

In support of the Canal & River Trust, the charity also helps to maintain its local waterways and surrounding environment.

Kevin Thorburn, a volunteer and trustee of the Safe Anchor Trust, explained: “We were asked to provide a working boat to transport mechanical sheep, complete with sound systems, along the Calder & Hebble Navigation and Huddersfield Broad Canal from Mirfield to Huddersfield. It sounded like a wonderful and fun community project which our volunteers were very keen to be involved in.”

Ready for the journey: members of the Safe Anchor Trust’s volunteer crew who transported Vedero and Wix to Huddersfield for the HERD Kirklees music event.

Following their travels, the HERD, including Pethera, a small rural sheep which was transported on the front deck of the 32ft long Marsden e-Shuttle operated

by Huddersfield Canal Society, arrived in St George’s Square, Huddersfield, on Sunday, July 16 for the free event finale – the performance of five specially commissioned future songs for Kirklees.

Mike McHugh, trustee and boat

supervisor with the society, said it was great fun to be involved in the event. Helen added: “It encapsulates all the elements that make Kirklees as special as it is.”

HERD was supported by Kirklees Council; Arts Council England; National Lottery Heritage Fund; West Yorkshire Combined Authority; Canal & River Trust and One Community Foundation.

Visit https://herd-kirklees.co.uk/

Watch the video

Visit http://tinyurl.com/HERDVideo The Safe Anchor Trust’s Lady Brenda narrowbeam workboat accompanied by the charity’s volunteer crew navigate the Calder & Hebble Navigation with Vedero and Wix. Video by Sally Clifford.

Sound system

Departing from the marina with the Safe Anchor Trust’s volunteer crew on Lady Brenda – one of the charity’s five-strong fleet – a 36ft narrowbeam workboat used for clearance and environmental work – were small rural sheep, Vedoro and Wix. Shaped on a steel frame, the sheep were filled out with lighter materials, willow and bamboo. Their heads were modelled in clay and a cast was taken in papier mache or thermoplastic sheet.

Additional fabric/paper textures and paint were applied after.

Inside each sheep was a sound system playing sounds of industry, manufacturing, music and people on the journey to Huddersfield.

Interestingly, Jeff Trigg, volunteer and trustee with the Safe Anchor Trust, is a member of Huddersfield Choral Society – one of the organisations contributing to the soundtracks for the event.

“I think it’s good to be involved and to be part of something that is Kirklees wide and a project promoting music throughout Kirklees. Also the links with the historical past and the textile industries within Huddersfield,” said Jeff.

“The Safe Anchor Trust is a community project and it is good to be part of a community project across Kirklees.”

Kevin said: “Over the years we have carried some unusual items on our boat, from shopping trolleys to bikes, most of which we have pulled out of the canal or river as part of our environmental work.

But music-playing model sheep has to be up there with the strangest and wackiest cargo we’ve had!

“It is both a privilege and an opportunity to be able to contribute to other events going on within Kirklees.”

Floating fleeces: Vedero and Wix on board Lady Brenda with Jeff Trigg, trustee with the Safe Anchor Trust.

On their way: The Safe Anchor Trust crew with their unusual cargo on the journey to Huddersfield for HERD, the Kirklees music event. PHOTOS: SALLY CLIFFORD UNLESS INDICATED

Shuttling sheep: Pethera aboard the e-Shuttle.

PHOTO: ALAN STOPHER, CHAIR OF HUDDERSFIELD CANAL SOCIETY.

Work starts on Cromford Canal extension at Langley Mill THE much-anticipated start on the extension of the Cromford Canal at Beggarlee, Langley Mill, has begun with preparatory work to pipe two gullies.

One of these will pass underneath and across the new canal extension which has been one of the principal objectives of the Friends of Cromford Canal which was established in 2002.

Connecting with the Erewash Canal and the abandoned Nottingham Canal at Langley Mill, Great Northern Basin, the extension will add 1.25km from the end of the in-water stretch which is the mooring for the Langley Mill boatyard. The original line of the Cromford was cut by the A610 construction in the early 1980s.

The new extension will have a double lock raising the level from the in-water section. The upper level will then travel north for 50m and then turn sharp right and go through the centre span of the old Walker Barber railway line under the A610.

The canal will then turn immediately left (northwards) along the side of the A610 for 600m

The A610 road bridge and the centre span through which the canal channel will go. PHOTOS: FRIENDS OF CROMFORD CANAL to Stoney Lane, where a winding hole will be established. This will be the extent of the first phase of the extension. There will be a new public footpath established along the canal to Stoney Lane.

Delays have arisen with the planning, due to the FCC having to work with multiple authorities. The

Assembling the manhole and finishing the top lid brickwork.

county boundary between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at Beggarlee is the line of the A610 road, although originally it was the river Erewash which flowed alongside the Cromford’s original line, but was changed when the A610 was built.

So it was necessary to discuss and agree planning consent with two county councils and two district councils, also working with the Canal & River Trust and the two wildlife trusts, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The groundwork has required the area up to the A610 bridge to be completely cleared of 40 years’ thick woodland

by FCC work parties, supported by the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association.

A number of the FCC

volunteers who had training on dumper trucks and diggers worked with the Waterways Recovery Group on site in early July to construct the new watercourse, which will go under the new canal extension.

They have dug out gullies and set in position 80m of piping although were held up on several occasions by debris left behind and buried when the A610 was built. One of the biggest pieces was a tyre from a large vehicle.

The amount of direct volunteer time including the WRG work and all the other volunteer operations is in excess of 2800 hours.

When the present pipe laying is finished, there will be a pause awaiting the return of WRG in September to build a second large manhole chamber.

NEWS 11

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

PART OF MIDDLEWICH CANAL CENTRE

The Pamela May 2 community boat has electric propulsion. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Training trainers on the Droitwich canals

By Ralph Barber

AT TIMES it felt like learning a new language. In short, this organisation is a charity that runs boat projects for the benefit of the community somewhere in the country.

This is the definition of the NCBA, or should I say the National Community Boats Association. It’s been going since 1985, when it went under the name of the Community Boat Association.

Then in 2005 it became the NCBA as well as registering as a charity to advance the education of the general public in safety procedures by: establishing and preserving standards of good practice in boating; establishing a scheme of accreditation for persons in charge of community boats and developing a curriculum of safety instruction.

This is how a number of us met with senior trainers from the NCBA on a cold day in April for three days of training to become NCBA trainers. We had two skippers from up north and a couple of local people who crew the community boat the Pamela May 2 based in Droitwich.

After avoiding the mud in the yard caused by the dredging taking place along the Droitwich canals – plus a couple of bikes and, of course, some shopping trolleys that

had been recovered from the water and were awaiting collection – we started with how to log in to the website, doing course updates and then started our teaching practice.

Theory lessons on several subjects to get into the role of a trainer were delivered. With a mixture of backgrounds, the interaction was good as we picked up further strange language terms, for example CCBM – that is Certificate in Community Boat Management. Prior to that is the CCC (Community Crew Course) that can be followed by the Boat Handling course, or the Single Helm Course and the Lockside Assistant Course.

On the water

The following two days we were out on the water in Pamela May 2. It was an experience for the visitors as the vessel is electrically driven, so a new experience that was used as a lesson for pre-inspection as no oil or fan belt to worry about.

Also, one of the visitors had not been on a narrowboat as they run community boat trips on a 12ft widebeam which of course gives a foot each side to get the boat into a lock, not the case on a narrowboat going into a narrow lock.

We did practical lessons, turns, mooring and then working up through the five locks to the Droitwich marina.

The visitors did not like the M5 tunnel, it was a tight fit and even tighter coming back that required a bit of local lock management to ensure safe passage back to the boat’s home mooring.

Further lessons on reversing and then an evacuation that caused some interesting discussion afterwards. One reminder from this was, don’t forget to call the emergency services to help put the fire out.

We all completed the training, to later receive in the post our certificates and our ID badges stating we are NCBA trainers for the next five years as we have to then prove it all over again.

The Pamela May 2 is run by the Droitwich Waterways (Pamela May) Trust. It was launched in April 2019 and is fully equipped for disabled passengers. Bookings are welcomed from care, residential and nursing homes, day centres and special interest groups.

As it’s a community boat social groups, families and youth groups are also welcomed. Arrangements can also be made for special occasions such as weddings and anniversaries. The boat is crewed and maintained by RYA qualified volunteers who over the year will be converting to the CCBM qualification thanks to a training grant received from Awards for All.

Asda puts a price on its trolleys ladened with trolleys bound for the scrap yard we added these to the haul and after we finished SHOPPING trolleys in the cut have always been strapping them down we were accosted by two a problem for boaters but for members of the Asda employees who accused us of stealing Birmingham Canal Navigations Society they have their company property, each apparently valued become an additional headache – especially at £400.” Matters became worse when the two those from Asda. threatened to call the police and even with the Members of the society, BCNS logo on the truck they took some convincing that the whose admirable efforts to volunteers “weren’t bad ’uns”. clear the canals of rubbish are well known, were recently The members agreed to return the trolleys that were in upset after being accused of good condition and took them stealing the trolleys.

While waiting to help their to a designated point. The rest Explorer Cruise boats up went for scrap.

However, the Asda employees Ryders Green locks, BCNS volunteers decided to do some said the store should be notified grappling. Their main haul, of future grappling activities. as usual, was Asda shopping But Bob explained: “We made the point that Asda trolleys, some of which were still linked together. should be looking after their The haul was left on the bank valuable property more under the footbridge below the effectively and pointed out bottom lock for collection by that submerged trolleys can the nearby BCNS pick-up truck. stop boats in their tracks and Member Bob Fox, who is also cause extensive damage to a editor of the society’s magazine Asda trolleys are causing boat’s stern gear. We’ll see what Boundary Post, said: “Already additional problems for the BCNS. happens next time.”

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12 IWA ROUND-UP

September 2023

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AROUND THE COUNTRY WITH IWA’S AMY TILLSON

HS2 Select Committee report acknowledges IWA route concerns

THE HS2 (Crewe-Manchester) Bill Select Committee has published its First Special Report (19/7/2023).

It covers responses to individual petitioners, some traffic and design issues, and a major section on ground conditions in Cheshire.

IWA’s correspondence on the subsidence risk to HS2 and the Trent & Mersey Canal is referenced several times in the report, and in its conclusions the committee requires HS2 to “provide us with responses to the questions asked by the Inland Waterways Association”.

IWA’s written evidence to the committee (Evidence on Route Selection & Subsidence Risk in Cheshire, 25/6/2023, published 11/7/2023) asked nine questions about subsidence risk from the unstable ground in the Cheshire brine field, on matters that were not covered by or were insufficiently explained in response to other petitioners’ evidence to the committee.

These cover the risks of HS2 construction reactivating historic areas of subsidence, and in particular where the

route crosses the canal at Billinge Flash.

IWA’s questions challenge assumptions about earthworks, drainage, differential subsidence and future repairs. IWA also proposed a local route modification that would avoid the major subsidence hazard around Billinge Flash, removing two of the three viaduct crossings of the canal between Middlewich and Broken Cross.

This would also provide significant cost savings and greatly reduce the visual and noise impacts of both construction and operation on the heritage, wildlife and recreational corridor of the Trent & Mersey Canal and its users. The final question asks that HS2 fully investigates and considers the benefits of this proposed route modification.

IWA awaits with interest the response from HS2 Ltd to the critical questions and the constructive alternative route proposal, and to the Select Committee’s further deliberations when this and more information on ground investigations is published.

Coming back under the bridge into Castle Mills Lock. PHOTO: PETER HOPWOOD

A view of Uz Boat taken from Castle Mills Bridge.

PHOTO: CHRISTINE GRAY

Tackling one of IWA’s Silver Propeller challenges IT IS rare to have a passage enquiry more than 60 days ahead requesting a specific day and time – it has sometimes been less than 60 hours, writes IWA and River Foss Society member Peter Hopwood.

However, on May 17 skipper Mike Wright confirmed his 57ft long, 6ft 10in wide narrowboat, Uz Boat, would be arriving at the York city centre lock at the agreed time of 11am on May 18.

It did and there was adequate water flow in the River Foss but an

unoccupied cabin cruiser and its dinghy were illegally moored adjacent to, and tied to, the bottom lock gates, thus blocking the lock entrance.

The four lock keepers on duty, Roger Button, Paul Wilson, Alistair Gray and Adrian Lovett, managed to move the cabin cruiser and dinghy to one side, enabling Uz Boat to pass, necessitating the use of only one gate at each of the locks.

Skipper Mike confirmed they were attempting to complete the Inland Waterways Association’s

Silver Propeller Challenge to reach certain defined points on the inland waterways system, Wormalds Cut on the River Foss being one.

Uz Boat achieved the objective and Mike took the requested photograph showing the original Leethams Millers Wharf, now offices and residential flats, at the junction with Wormalds Cut. Uz Boat was soon back and on its way heading for Ripon.

Mike was very grateful for the arrangements made and appreciative of the efforts of the lock keepers.

Leethams Millers Wharf at the junction with Wormalds Cut. PHOTO: MIKE WRIGHT

Shrewsbury local canals exhibition The HS2 route crosses the canal at Billinge Flash. PHOTO SUPPLIED

THERE will be a local canals exhibition at the Abbey Station in Shrewsbury SY2 6AH (opposite the

New guide to electric boats published IWA is pleased to announce the publication of its new guide An Introduction to Electric-Drive Narrowboats.

It believes that it is vital for members of the inland waterways community to make their contribution to a more sustainable environment.

IWA’s Sustainable Boating Group has been looking at how inland waterways leisure boating can become more sustainable since 2019 and published its Vision Paper in

2020, covering propulsion, the existing fleet and domestic energy on boats.

IWA is delighted to see that an increasing number of new boats are now being built with some form of electric drive and most boatbuilders are now offering electric drive options. The technologies associated with this form of propulsion are not only unfamiliar to most boaters but are rapidly changing as electric road vehicle technologies develop.

This new guide is not intended to be a ‘design and build’ manual for electric narrowboats but hopefully will help boaters who are not experts in the technologies to understand the issues involved and make appropriate decisions when specifying their new or converted boat, in consultation with their builder.

Malcolm Bridge, the principal author of the guide and a member of the

Sustainable Boating Group, has owned an electric narrowboat for some years.

The guide has been written in consultation with other electric boat owners and members of the group, who are all experienced boaters owning boats ranging from historic ex-working boats to modern leisure craft.

Find this publication and others on sustainable boating at https://waterways. org.uk/campaigns/ sustainable-boating

Abbey Church) on Saturday, September 23. It will be hosted by the Inland Waterways Association and will include three canal groups – Shropshire Union Canal Society, Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust and the Friends of the Montgomery Canal.

Shrewsbury is within 20 miles of many canal towns and villages, including Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Newport, Queens Head and Welshpool with access to the Llangollen, Shropshire Union, Montgomery and the unrestored Shrewsbury & Newport Canals.

Most of these canals are in regular leisure use and, recently, more navigable miles have been

added to the Montgomery while the east basin at Wappenshall on the Shrewsbury & Newport has been rewatered.

The exhibition will provide an opportunity to meet people who are currently enjoying these waterways and to discover how to get involved.

It’s a great chance to find out about the many miles already in regular use and what’s being done to restore more.

There is free entry to the Abbey Station which has been made available once again by kind invitation of Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust and the event will be open from 10.30am until 3.30pm.

There’s a large public car park next to the station.

Lichfield Branch fundraiser turns a profit THE Lichfield Branch of IWA recently held a fundraising ‘lock wind’ event at Barton Turn Lock

on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Branch members assisted boaters through the lock, in order to

raise awareness of the organisation, and held a cake sale, raising more than £100 for the branch.

Get involved – work party dates PLEASE contact the branch to register an interest if you would like to attend one of these work parties. It is advisable to wear stout shoes and old clothing, and take a waterproof. You may want to take a packed lunch and refreshments.

NORTH September 16-17 IWA Manchester Branch: Working with the

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society at Prestolee on Saturday and Sunday September 16-17 at their regular work site, Prestolee Road, Little Lever, Bolton BL3 1AD. Contact Barry McGuinness, b.mcguinness1@googlemail.com EAST September 3 and 19 IWA Northampton Branch: Work

parties are usually held one weekday and one Sunday a month, along the Arm, 10am-2pm. The tasks usually include vegetation clearance, weeding, litter picking and painting at locks.

Contact: Geoff Wood at geoff.wood@ waterways.org.uk for details.

gardening, litter picking and painting.

Work parties are dependent on weather being agreeable. Contact: Pat Durham on 07510 195918; email pat. durham@waterways.org.uk

work party at Fenny Lock on the Grand Union Canal. 9.30am-1.30pm. Work can include vegetation clearance,

Somerset area, 10am-1pm. Contact: Mike Slade at mike.slade@waterways. org.uk; 07977 263840.

Tuesdays IWA Milton Keynes Branch: Regular

WEST Tuesdays & Saturdays IWA West Country Branch (Taunton & Bridgwater): Work parties in the

The lock wind event at Barton Turn on the Trent & Mersey Canal.

PHOTO: M BEARDSMORE

13

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

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14 FREIGHT

September 2023

Eastwood (or Sir Frank Price) Lock on the outskirts of Rotherham and the plaque marking completion of the upgrade works.

Branford Barge Owners’ Humber Renown entering Pollington Lock, the first lock encountered on the A&CN after leaving the tideway at Goole.

PHOTOS: JONATHAN MOSSE

The Don Aqueduct is a major piece of infrastructure on the SSYN where the New Junction Canal crosses the river close to water level.

If it ain’t broke Jonathan Mosse’s monthly look at freight developments on the inland waterways.

WITH impending funding cuts the dominant feature in current waterways news, a look at ageing canal infrastructure as a potential impediment to growing inland waterways freight could be considered somewhat inappropriate.

A couple of months back I nominated five key areas for consideration if freight was ever to enjoy a lasting renaissance on our canals and rivers. We had already examined wharfage and training before allowing Robert Wynn & Sons Ltd and the company’s versatile barge Terra Marique to slip in and pose centre stage in last month’s issue of Towpath Talk.

Back on track, it is just that: what to the railways would be sleepers and rails are, by adoption, the bridges and locks along our commercial waterways. In use

both suffer wear and tear and therefore require maintenance, repair and a programme of managed replacement.

Representing a total of 66 miles, with the capacity to accommodate 600-tonne Euroclass II barges, the combined waterways of the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigations (SSYN) and the Aire & Calder Navigation (A&CN) are, undoubtedly, the most significant commercial inland waterways of the UK. Taken together they form a useful case study.

As with waterways the world over, these two navigations have been progressively enlarged and upgraded to increase capacity ever since they were conceived in the early 18th century. The 10 locks on A&CN would have been mechanised in the 1960s and have probably undergone upgrades to their mechanical and electrical (M & E) systems in the 1980s.

I say ‘probably’ as exact dates are hard to come by. Not so, however, with the identical number of 10 locks on the SSYN,

as this waterway was subjected to a full upgrade, completed in 1983 and much trumpeted as a navigational triumph.

Alas, it has proved to be a case of too little, too late and the combined mix of River Don and artificial cuts has seen but a fraction of the anticipated trade.

Ageing process

While the A&CN has proved much more successful in terms of tonnage carried in the intervening 40-year period, what these two waterways clearly do share in common are the effects of anno domini: the ageing process common to both homo sapiens and waterway infrastructure alike!

Few, if any, problems are currently showing up on the SSYN (probably through lack of use) but this certainly cannot be said of the A&CN where lock failures are now commonplace. Commissioned by Canal & River Trust (CRT) in 2014, MDS Transmodal produced a report entitled The Case for Investment in the Aire and

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Calder Navigation in which it identified the improvements to the waterway that could be justified to increase freight traffic, while minimising the financial risk to CRT. Among other things, the report identified the infrastructure works required to improve the freight-carrying capacity of the navigation, by addressing key bottlenecks in the light of reviewed infrastructure studies, and through interviews with key stakeholders.

As with many past inland waterways freight studies and reports, conducted and produced over the past few decades, there has been a dearth of activity when it comes to putting their recommendations into practice. This state of affairs is hardly likely to change in the face of the financial pressures the inland waterways now find themselves confronting. At least not under the present regime.

If we are to see development and investment in the freight-carrying potential of the UK inland waterways, then logically it needs to come from the government department with the word ‘Transport’ in its title.

There is clearly a need for investment if only to maintain ‘steady state’ with a sum of around £800,000 per lock estimated for M & E works, focused primarily around lock operating mechanism renewal on the A&CN alone.

Unable to resist further coverage of the Terra Marique, here’s a video of the vessel demonstrating her versatility. Last

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Entering Bulholme Lock, Castlefield on the A&CN: a lock now subject to regular breakdowns.

Currently none of AMA Storage and Distribution’s stock arrives in Rotherham by water: a lost opportunity! month’s feature showed her loading and unloading at wharfs where her rising and falling hold floor was employed to match the height of the quay. She demonstrates another trick at: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=r5F1ea97txc.

After several months of engineering work, planning and preparation, Allelys completed the offloading and transport of a 155-tonne transformer from Traeth y Graig Ddu (Black Rock Sands) Morfa Bychan in North Wales, to the National Grid substation at Trawsfynydd on behalf of EUNSAN. Working with Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd, the tide was used to beach the Terra Marique, allowing for swift discharge of the transformer ready for its onward journey on Allelys’ 12-axle flat-top trailer.

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EVENTS ROUND-UP 15

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Audio journeys across the water

A WATER-based art installation by Luke Jerram – Crossings – began its UK tour at the National Waterways Museum, Gloucester.

Nine decorated rowing boats house speakers playing true stories from around the world – each one the account of a water crossing. So, as people propel the boats, they take themselves on an audio journey, the telling of the stories blending with the action of rowing.

The 10 very different stories to choose from range from the personal experience of 13-year-old Kurdish refugee Mana Azarish to Jo Royle’s account of life on board Plastiki – a vessel she sailed across the Pacific to raise awareness of plastic in our oceans.

Broadcaster Andy Kershaw shares his adventures on the Niger, accompanied by a singing boatman and other musical treats, and retired barber Mr Fan takes the waterborne listener back to his 1979 experience as one of the Vietnamese Boat People.

Luke Jerram explained why he brought Crossings to Gloucester: “The docks have many tales to tell so I can think of no better place to share the stories on our rowing boats. They come from people who have had extraordinary boating experiences.

“Boats can be a form of transport, a vehicle to enable work, a method of escape, a tool of employment. They are a way of connecting people and places.

They can simply be an object of leisure.”

The colourful rowing boats.

Anna Finn, Canal & River Trust, with artist Luke Jerram.

Canal & River Trust community development and attractions manager Anna Finn added: “Each story is a reminder of the crucial role water has played in so many people’s lives across the world.”

Each lasts around 20 minutes and the boats can take a maximum of four people for the hour-long experience.

Tickets cost £10 per boat and can be booked on Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/ waterways-eventbrite Entry to the museum is not necessary but there is 20% off items from the museum cafe for everyone deciding to visit the museum as part of their trip.

Crossings can be enjoyed at Gloucester until September 3 after which it will move to venues in Weston-superMare in September and early October.

Visit www.lukejerram.com/crossings The installation was created by Luke

Jerram in collaboration with BBC Radio 4 producer Julian May. It is supported

by Arts Council England and Gloucester City Council and was originally commissioned by Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park.

Luke Jerram’s multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations and live arts projects. In 2022 alone he had 104 exhibitions in 25 different countries, visited by more than two million people.

The National Waterways Museum, Gloucester is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Tickets to the museum give unlimited return visits for 12 months and cost: adult (16+) £8.50; child (6-15) £5; child (five and under) free; family £22; concession £7.50.

Enjoying a ‘crossing’ in Gloucester Docks.

Luke Jerram takes to the water at the launch.

PHOTOS: BARBARA EVRIPIDOURU/CANAL & RIVER TRUST

16 HERITAGE

September 2023

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A great way to see the waterways of Birmingham Words and photos: Phll Pickin

YOU can learn a lot from books and, more recently, the amount of information available online has increased significantly. But nothing beats having someone with a considerable amount of subject knowledge with you when you visit somewhere new.

So anyone interested in learning more about the canals that flow through the centre of Birmingham while they cruise in a historic narrowboat should consider booking a trip with the Heritage Working Boats Group.

The Heritage Working Boats Group was formed around the year 2000 with a £250k lottery grant from the previous Friends of the Working Boats group that existed prior to that date. Today the group is made up of a number of hard-working and highly knowledgeable volunteers who maintain a collection of working boats on behalf of the Canal & River Trust.

These boats are moored at CRT’s Icknield Port in the shadow of the Edgbaston Reservoir embankment.

From their base, the boats are cruised the short distance to the recently refurbished Roundhouse from where prebooked passengers board, in our case, Swift.

Bookings are arranged via the Roundhouse reception, with whom the group has a commitment of around 50 days per year. Group numbers are kept

Heritage Working Boat group members prepare Swift for the first trip of the day outside The Roundhouse in Birmingham. to 10, with each passenger provided with a wireless receiver to enable everyone to hear the commentary provided by one of the group’s volunteers.

Despite the obvious popularity of the trips with the public, there has unfortunately been a reduction in the number of school trips booking the boats. Skipper of our trip, Terry Baylis, said: “Pre-Covid we had two, three or four boats attending events in and around the Black Country and West Midlands with occasional trips a bit further afield.

“On average, I would think we had something going on for most of the spring, summer and early part of autumn. This would have included days or even weeks at various locations where school trips came along, with one of our boats being part of the activities arranged.”

Group member Joan Blackley, who

Swift ready for passengers. has been involved with the group for around 20 years, feels the reduction in school parties could well be down to a lack of funding; with school budgets being squeezed ever harder, ‘trips like these are no longer a priority’.

The trips that do take place are, in many cases, run through the Canal & River Trust education team, whose Explorers project was established to give an opportunity for school children to step aboard a working narrowboat.

Over the years, the Heritage Working Boat Group has welcomed some highprofile visitors to its boats, including Pudsey Bear on more than one occasion, members of Black Sabbath, and even King Charles III when he was still Prince of Wales.

The boats have become a familiar sight in Birmingham, where they normally carry out two trips per day so that during a season, which runs from Easter to October, the team clocks up around 56 days’ work.

This year numbers have been reduced due to two of the group’s four boats being out

Historic Stourport is third Heritage Inland Port HERITAGE Stourport was formed through a partnership of organisations and individuals who saw the benefit of applying for Heritage Inland Port status.

They included Stourport Forward, Stourport Civic Society, Stourport Yacht Club, S&W Canal Society, Inland Waterways Association, several town councillors and other interested local people.

Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire will celebrate its Heritage Inland Port status, alongside cities such as Exeter and Chester, on Saturday, September 9.

It is hoped that this formal recognition will further stimulate tourism around the canal basins and within the town itself, focus more attention on the heritage of the town for tourists and local people and underline the importance of its heritage when planning decisions are considered.

Heritage Harbours is a joint initiative between Historic England, Maritime Heritage Trust and National Historic Ships UK, to help safeguard and conserve historic locations including buildings, quays and shipyards.

At the inland ports, including Chester and Shardlow, you can see traditional vessels still in operation and the buildings, facilities and people that make that possible.

The historic Georgian Canal Basins, which connect the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal to the River Severn at the heart of Stourport, have shaped the history and development of the town since its formation in the 1770s.

They have played a key part of the national story.

This canal was the first canal to be opened that actually crossed the country linking east and west and, in a sense, north and south due to linking the rivers Severn and Trent.

Celebrations

There will be a variety of entertaining activities around the lower and upper canal basins on Saturday, September 9 from 9.30am-3.30pm. These include guided walks and the opening of Stourport Forward’s Heritage Rooms which include The Tontine Stable and The Old Ticket Office.

Stourport Forward’s historic working narrowboat, Bramble, and two other historic boats will also be on display and volunteers will be present to answer questions and allow visitors to view the living quarters and cargo area.

The Severn barge, River King, will be operating public trips.

In addition, The Fetch Theatre Company will be running family scrunch puppet making workshops throughout the day.

Stourport Yacht Club will be hosting displays about the history of this historic working port by the civic society and there will be stalls by IWA and S&WCS. There will be a small fee for the puppet workshops, but the other activities will be free of charge. There is no need to book, just turn up on the day between the advertised times.

Severn barge River King will be operating public trips on the day. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

A historic picture of Stourport in 1775.

Stourport canal basins.

Joan Blackley and Jeff Steele help the passengers board Swift before setting off on the first trip of the day. of action due to maintenance issues.

Visitors to this year’s Gnosall festival will have seen Swift, which flew the flag for the group at C-Fest. Other canalfocused events attended by the group have included Coventry, Stratford, Birmingham, Stourport, Droitwich, Worcester and Fradley. But as with many groups, there is always a shortage of volunteers, and you don’t have to be a boat owner to get involved. Terry Baylis had no previous experience of narrowboats before he retired around 18 years ago.

But one group member who is a boat owner, and who was aboard during our trip, is Jeff Steele. Along with being a guide and lookout on the Heritage Boat trips, Jeff

The final few passengers take up their place for a trip around a section of the canals of Birmingham. is also a lock keeper and helps out with vegetation management along the canals.

Regardless of their backgrounds and experience, all of the group members are committed to preserving the heritage of the waterways and providing the public with an hour and a half’s glimpse into a bygone age.

Interested in booking one of the Heritage Working Boat trips? Visit https://roundhousebirmingham. org.uk/product/heritage-workingboat-trip/ And if you are interested in getting involved with the work of the group, visit https://www. heritageworkingboats.org.uk/hwbg/

Narrowboats join historic register THE following historic narrowboats recently joined the National Historic Ships UK register: Lion Iron composite motor narrowboat with a fore deck, Lion was built in 1913 by Fellows, Morton and Clayton Ltd, Birmingham and transported general goods between the city and London.

Between 1949-1967 Lion was operated by the British Transport Commission, Docks & Inland Waterways Executive, and finally the Willow Wren Canal Carrying Company, before being converted into a pleasure boat.

She was bought by her current owner in 2014.

Hartshill Lady An open Joey built in 1910 by Thomas Bantock & Co at Bilston, Wolverhampton, Hartshill Lady was

originally 71ft. One of the builder’s later boats, she worked the Birmingham Canal Navigations for the GWR fleet.

Shortened to 55ft in the late 1970s, Hartshill Lady’s iron sides and rubbing strake were shaped to form a trad stern and fitted with a steel cabin and ‘famco’ bus windows. She is currently under ongoing restoration in Oxford.

Whitley The barge Whitley was built in 1948 at Harker’s Yard, Knottingley, for the Aire & Calder Navigation Company. Later in the ownership of British Waterways, Whitley was used by the company’s joiners who carried out repairs and fitted lock gates on the navigation and has been in private ownership since 2010.

Anson Built in 1958 by Plimblott & Sons, Anson

was one of four pairs of boats ordered by the North West division of British Waterways and originally paired with the butty Benbow.

The vessels had new features such as a raked fore-swim – to send a cushion of water under the boat to the propeller – steel hoops over the hold and a 6ft10in beam to allow passage through locks with bulging walls.

Anson remained in service as a passenger trip boat with BMCC Co until 2023 and is now under new ownership.

Lion taking part in the parade at Braunston Historic Boat Rally in 2018. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

President’s progress WHILE steam narrowboat President has been out of the water awaiting a new boiler, other works have been carried out.

Writing in the Friends of President’s August 195 newsletter, Black Country Living Museum development manager Sophie Howell gave a progress report on the project.

“We have taken this opportunity to carry out a considerable amount of woodwork restoration in part funded by the Association of Industrial Archaeology,” she wrote.

“This included the replacement of 32ft of hull bottom boards and keelson using historically a c c u rate f i tt i ng s, manufactured specifically

for President.”

The tender to build the new boiler has gone out and at the time of writing, submissions were being considered from heritage boiler makers prior to award of the contract. The Friends of President took Kildare, the butty usually towed by President, to the Braunston Historic Boat Rally in June.

MUSEUM FOCUS 17

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023 The High Peak Junction Visitor Centre.

PHOTO: NICOLA LISLE

The cafe at Cromford Wharf. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Leawood Pump phouse.

PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

History meets tranquillity at scenic visitor centre

Nicola Lisle continues her museum series with a look at this visitor centre on one of the loveliest stretches of the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire.

The history of both the canal CANAL and railway heritage effortlessly intertwine at High and the railway is brought Peak Junction, an area that is also to life in a self-guided audio teeming with wildlife, including tour available from High Peak many protected species.

Junction Visitor Centre, for a Once a busy intersection small charge, so you can explore for Cromford Canal and the the remnants of their glory days.

One of these is the Leawood Cromford and High Peak Railway, this beautiful, tranquil Pumphouse, which was built The Cromford Canal blue spot is now a Site of Special in 1849 to pump water from plaque. PHOTO: NICOLA LISLE Scientific Interest as well as the River Derwent into the being part of the Derwent Valley Cromford Canal. It has been Refreshments are available Mills World Heritage Site. from the visitor centre, where kept in working condition The canal owes its existence by a team of volunteers, and there is also a selection of to Sir Richard Arkwright, whose is in steam on various dates maps, walk leaflets, books and souvenirs. cotton manufacturing empire from April to October (see in Cromford helped kick-start Listings in What’s On). Both From High Peak Junction the Industrial Revolution. the pumphouse and the it is a 30-minute walk to Needing an efficient method nearby Leawood aqueduct are Cromford Wharf, the former of importing and exporting raw scheduled monuments. canal terminus, and you materials and finished goods, There is also the old wharf can enjoy the rich variety of he enlisted the help of canal shed, where goods were loaded wildlife along the way – look engineer William Jessop, and between boats and wagons, for ducks, moorhens, little grebes, water voles and, in soon the idea of a canal from and various railway buildings, Langley Mill to the mills at sidings and old wagons. the summer, dragonflies Cromford took shape. and damselflies.

The former railway Despite running into workshops, adjacent to the Many of the former canal financial problems, the first visitor centre, were built for buildings at Cromford Wharf have survived, including a stage of the canal, from the Cromford and High Peak Cromford to Butterley tunnel, Railway in the 1830s for building former warehouse that now opened in February 1792, and and servicing locomotives. The houses a cafe and shop. the canal was fully operational workshops and forge were You could also take a trip from August 1794. restored in 1985, and there are on Birdswood, a historic The canal was kept busy now displays telling the story of narrowboat built just before transporting coal, limestone, the old railway line. the Second World War and There are also opportunities iron and other goods, and the now run by the Friends of Cromford Canal. Check www. expansion of the canal network to try your hand on the historic throughout the late 18th and forge on dates throughout birdswood.org for sailing early 19th centuries gave the year. The next date is dates; the final date this year is October 8. increasing access to the industrial December 27, 2023. (Note that heartlands in the Midlands, the workshops are closed from From here, it is worth the London and the North.

September to December 2023 short walk into the historic for essential roof repairs.) p ) As always, it was the railways y and picturesque Cromford that sounded thee village, where you can death knell for thee e xplore Arkwright’s fo ormer mills.

Cromford Canal. Losss of trade made the canal Returning to High increasingly unviable, Peak Junction, if you are and it was taken overr feeeling energetic you ca an continue following by the Midlandss th he Cromford Canal to Railway Company in n Ambergate (about four 1852. This takeoverr miles), or explore the did little to solve the canal’s problems: trade High Peak Trail, which continued to decline fo ollows the 17.5-mile and this, together with ro oute of the old Cromford an nd High Peak railway to an increasing number of structural problems, Do owlow, near Buxton, forced the canal’s an nd is now a traffic-free The trip boat Birdswood operated byy the closure in 1944 after tra ail for walkers, cyclists Frien F i d ds off C Cromford Canal. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON and horseriders.

150 years of use.

High Peak Junction Visitor Centre

The old transit shed at High Peak Junction.

PHOTO: NICOLA LISLE

Lea Bridge, Cromford, Derbyshire DE4 5AA www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/countryside/ countryside-sites/country-parks-and-visitorcentres/high-peak-junction-visitor-centre.aspx Open daily 10am-5pm, April to October; weekends only 10.30am-4pm, November to March.

Free admission (small charge for audio tour) Getting there: parking available at High Peak Junction and Cromford Wharf car parks, both signed from the A6. Regular bus services. Trains to Cromford and Whatstandwell stations, both within walking distance.

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18 WHAT’S ON

September 2023

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Celebrating canal life at Shardlow

THE Shardlow Inland Port Festival is a community-led weekend of events that celebrate Derbyshire’s canal life and heritage, with this year’s festival taking place on Saturday and Sunday, September 9-10.

This event aims to raise awareness of the historical importance of Shardlow in relation to 18th century trade and its historical roots.

It features a floating market and a display of historic and

working narrowboats gathered around the picturesque London Wharf.

Free to enter, there is also a programme of live music, Morris dancing, children’s entertainment, stalls and food and drink throughout the village.

The Shardlow Heritage Centre provides a fascinating insight into this 18th century canal transshipment port with all its associated wharves and warehouses which can be explored by visitors throughout the year.

The Babbling Vagabonds Magical Market Stall! PHOTO SUPPLIED

Canal comes alive for Tapton Lock Festival

Festival visitors browse the floating market. PHOTO SUPPLIED

By Order of Retained Client

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‘PETAGIN’ VINTAGE STEAM CARVEL LAUNCH Sale Closing: 19th September 2023 at 13.00 UK Local Time Location: Long Eaton, Nottingham

NOW in its 11th year, the popular Tapton Lock Festival returns on Saturday and Sunday, September 9-10 with a host of new activities and entertainment for families to enjoy.

The free annual event takes place around the Tapton Lock Visitor Centre on the Chesterfield Canal from 11am until 4pm each day. It is organised by Junction Arts and Derbyshire County Council, with the aim of bringing families and friends together to enjoy the outdoors, promoting better health and well-being.

During the weekend the canal comes alive with outdoor theatre, music and dance, arts and crafts workshops, stalls, ‘have a go’ canoes, boat rides and much more.

Family favourites such as the brilliant bubbleologist, circus skills and climbing wall will return but there’ll also be some new entertainment for 2023 including performances and workshops from Bollywood dancers, African drummers and the Babbling Vagabonds Magical Market Stall!

Visitors will also be able to try their hand at Lego printing and greenwood crafts or get greenfingered in a seed workshop.

Junction Arts co-ordinator Jane Wells said:

“Tapton Lock Festival brings together the arts and the outdoors to create an event that is inclusive and accessible to all. It encourages communities to come together and enjoy the beautiful canal walkways that are on our doorstep.

“Working with Derbyshire Countryside Services, each year we aim to bring back the popular activities but also introduce something new. This year we’re excited to have new performers and activities that will bring even more colour and vibrancy to the festival.

“At Junction Arts, our aim is to build stronger communities through the arts and The Tapton Lock Festival is a great example of this! The festival raises awareness of the area along the Chesterfield Canal and the network of footpaths and cycleways, encouraging people to spend more time in nature with family and friends, becoming healthier and happier.”

As part of the festival Junction Arts has commissioned an ‘artist in residence’ at Chesterfield Football Club to work with a small group of young people who attend Thr1ve, a social prescribing group for young people, part of the club’s Spireites Trust.

For more information visit www.junctionarts.org

World’s last sea-going paddle steamer Waverley offers 12-hour excursion THE IWA Chiltern branch is holding a day out on what is believed to be the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer

Waverley on Tuesday, October 3. It will travel from Tower Bridge Pier to Whitstable with time ashore and return,

departing 9.20am and returning at 9.30pm, £70. Contact Colin Bird 01932 248178, ccbird@ tiscali.co.uk

Etruria Industrial Museum Etruria Junction Stoke-on-Trent

Built by W.R.Kerrison of Oulton Broad in 1933 to Lloyds Standards Early 1890’s Mumford compound condensing engine Steamed by a Merryweather ‘B’ boiler, oil fired by Lune Valley type burner 26’ long x 6’3”beam and 2’3”draft 18”x30” propeller Painted hull built of larch and pitch pine on oak All original polished fittings Windermere kettle Owned by Vendor for over 50 years BSS Recently Renewed See auction catalogue at www.iaservices.co.uk Viewing of Lot only by Appointment

For further information please contact Tom Hutchinson on +44 (0)7774 652425 or email tom@iaservices.co.uk Industry Asset Services Ltd, Bitstone, Foxt, Stoke on Trent ST10 2HN

www.iaservices.co.uk

Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th September 1100 to 1630 Both Days- Shirley’s 1857 Bone & Flint Mill ‘In Steam’

The only operational potters’ mill in the world running from 1230

Saturday—Vintage Stationary Engine Rally Sunday—Classic Vehicle Rally Blacksmith Demonstrations : Tea Room :Toilets

Entrance to Museum and Mill Free in support of Heritage Open Days Donations welcome OR guided tour of the mill (subject to availability) £5.00 per adult.

Free car park off Etruria Vale Road Limited access to the mill for those with mobility difficulties

Etruria Vale Vale Road, Road, Etruria, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent ST1 Etruria ST1 4RB 4RB info@etruriamuseum.org.uk www.etruriamuseum.org.uk info@etruriamuseum.org.uk www.etruriamuseum.org.uk

19

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

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20 WHAT’S ON

September 2023

A first for Norfolkbased canal trust THE North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust hosts its first canal festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 9-10.

A free entry event, it will be held canalside at Dilham Hall Retreats by kind permission of Luke Paterson; Oak Road, Dilham NR28 9PW or What3Words /// watches.releasing.riverbed and will be open between 10am-4pm each day with parking available.

The festival will have a watery theme with taster sessions of canoeing and paddle boarding on sale plus trips on a wherry The Newun skippered by her owner and creator Graham Pressman.

Each afternoon there will be music – on Saturday the Blakeney Old Wild Rovers and local band The Hucklebucks on Sunday.

Food and drink vendors will be available plus a variety of exhibitors, hopefully including local boat builders, to demonstrations from the Worstead Weavers plus small, independent enterprises selling their produce.

On Saturday evening a ceilidh is being held by the NWDCT in Honing village hall. Tickets are limited. For more information please call Barry Mobbs on 07749 707077.

Floating market at Shropshire food festival

Promoting the Ginger & Spice Festival are Shropshire Live presenter Ryan Kennedy and festival director Julia Roberts. PHOTO SUPPLIED FOR the third time at Market Drayton’s Ginger & Spice Festival, the Roving Canal Traders will be exhibiting their wares on a floating market.

This will take place on the Shropshire Union Canal between Bridge 63 and Bridge 64 opposite Ladybird Mooring between 10am and 5pm each day of the festival from September 28 until October 1.

Other attractions include a Fodder and Tipple Trail through the streets of Market Drayton and out into the countryside – including the Shropshire Union Canal. This ticketed event, which takes in the floating market, will include local tasting courses and refreshers at several stop-offs en route.

The seventh annual festival will be supported by local news channel

WHAT’S ON IN SEPTEMBER September 2-3 Coombeswood Canal Trust:

Enjoy a trip on a wherry. PHOTO: NW&DCT

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Open Weekend and Boat Gathering, Hawne Basin, Hereward Rise, Halesowen, West Midlands B62 8AW. After a break of several years, the event will focus on boating

If you want your event listed in our free monthly What’s On section email your entry to jrichardson@mortons.co.uk or use the events form at www.towpathtalk.co.uk/events Please check with organisers whether the event is going ahead before setting out on your journey.

activities with boat trips, model boat display, boat handling competition, traditional skills demonstration, children’s activities, live music, real ale and food. Admission free with free parking. hawnebasin.org. uk/OpenWeekend2023.html

September 2-3 Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society: Autumn Rally

of Boats at Bratch Locks.

Entry fee is £15 inclusive of commemorative plaque.

Contact Steve Bingham on 07964 151552, email ste. bingham1954@gmail.com Whitchurch Canal Festival:

On the Whitchurch Arm of the Llangollen Canal with traders, stalls, towpath cafe, boat trips, amusements and live music. Open Saturday 11am-late and Sunday 11am4pm. whitchurchwaterway. uk/canal-festival/ September 3 Odiham Raft Race: Colt

Hill, Odiham.

September 7 IWA Lichfield: Guided

walk, Carlton and the Ashby Canal. An easy 4.5 mile walk without stiles, following the towpath, footpaths, grass tracks and pavement.

Meet in the car park of The Gate Hangs Well, Barton Road, Carlton (near Market Bosworth) CV13 0DB at 10.30am for 10.45am start.

Contact Clive Walker, clive. walker@waterways.org.uk September 8-10 Roving Canal Traders Association: Floating market at

Black Country Boating Festival.

September 9 Stourport

Shropshire Live, broadcaster Ryan Kennedy presenting a series of interviews showcasing the local artisan traders, businesses, sponsors and artists.

Estate agency James Du Pavey is headline sponsor of the James Du Pavey Festival Food Theatre located under the stone portico Buttercross on Cheshire Street, in the town centre. It will showcase top local and regional chefs between 10am and 4.30pm on the Saturday.

Festival activities also include: Thursday – A Taste of Autumn, guided garden tour; Friday – ceilidh with the Tern Valley Tinkers followed by buffet supper; both these events are ticketed.

On Saturday visitors can enjoy a free spicy artisan street market on Cheshire Street and activities for children including gingerbread decorating. Live street musicians will be near the food court throughout the day.

For families there will be a selfguided heritage trail and quiz including visiting buildings and places of historical significance. It also includes a shop window competition to pick the bestdressed gingerbread character, decorated by the local businesses and community to the theme of book characters.

Forward:

Celebrations to mark S t o u r p o r t- o n -S e v e r n ’s Inland Heritage Port status.

Activities around the lower and upper canal basins, boat trips, guided walks, displays and puppet workshops.

Historic buildings will also

be open. 9.30am-3.30pm.

September 9-10 South Yorkshire Boat Club:

Open weekend with games, stalls, arts and crafts, bar and food. SYBC, Heck Lane, Great Heck, Goole DN15 0BL from 10am-4pm daily. Visitor mooring available.

North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust: Canal Festival

at Dilham Hall Retreats, Oak Road, Dilham NR28 9PW or What3Words ///watches. releasing.riverbed. Free entry festival, open 10am4pm each day. Wherry trips, canoeing and paddleboarding, demonstrations, stalls, music and refreshments.

Tapton

Lock

Festival:

Tapton Lock Visitor Centre, Chesterfield Canal, 11am-4pm each day. Outdoor theatre, music and dance, arts and crafts workshops, stalls, ‘have a go’ canoes, boat rides and more. Free admission.

Louth Navigation Trust: Folk on the water and Heritage Open Days festival, Riverhead, Louth. Two-day event, 12pm to 5pm each day, featuring paddlers, model boats, live music , Pimms and Bensley’s Ice Cream. Canal historian Stuart Sizer will present a one-hour talk on Saturday at 12pm on ‘The early days’ and a Walk-nTalk on ‘History of Riverhead’ from 12pm-1.15pm on Sunday.

Take your paddleboard and join in the fun.

Roving Canal Traders Association: Floating markets

at Shardlow Inland Port Canal Festival and Aylesbury Basin.

September 16 River Wey Festival: Dapdune

Wharf, Guildford, 11am-5pm.

Friends of Cromford Canal:

Static day at Leawood Pump, in steam but not actually pumping, 11am-4pm.

September 17 Friends of Cromford Canal:

Leawood Pump in steam, 12pm-4.30pm.

Erewash Preservation & Development Association: Open

day at Sandiacre Lock Cottages, Sandiacre, Nottingham NG10 5LA, 10.30am-3.30pm. www.ecpda.org.uk September 20 IWA Lichfield

Branch:

Waterways Recovery Group 2023 – ‘Are we back to normal’

by Mike Palmer, WRG. Martin Heath Hall, Christchurch Lane, off Walsall Road, Lichfield WS13 8AY, 7.30 for 7.45pm.

September 23 IWA: Local Canals Exhibition

also including Shropshire Union Canal Society, Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust and the Friends of the Montgomery Canal. Abbey Station in Shrewsbury SY2 6AH (opposite the Abbey Church). Free entry to the Abbey Station by kind invitation of Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust and it will be open from 10.30am until 3.30pm. Large public car park next to the station.

September 23-24 Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust/Lichfield Cruising Club: Huddlesford

Heritage Gathering, Huddlesford Junction. Biennial gathering of historic boats, floating traders, private boats and classic vehicles is back after a few years’ absence.

Displays on the field plus music, entertainment, food and bar all day. See events calendar at www.lhcrt.org.uk September 27 IWA Chiltern

branch:

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal by Trevor Ellis. The Heritage Education Centre, Batchworth Lock, Church Road, Rickmansworth WD3 1JJ, 7.45pm.

Contact John Brice 07740 733241.

September 28-October 1 Ginger & Spice Festival:

Market Drayton, Shropshire.

Events include floating market, spicy artisan street market, food theatre, town trail, guided garden tour, crafting court and live street music. www. gingerandspicefestival.co.uk

21

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

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22 FEATURE

September 2023

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Ready to roam: cafe owner seeks new life as continuous cruiser

Words and photos: Les Heath

AFTER building up a successful cafe boat and trip boat business in Lincoln over the last 20 years, adventurous Christine Ellerby is now ready for a new chapter in her life – cruising the waterways system as a liveaboard.

Christine’s cafe boat Moonraker and trip boat Oliver have become an integral part of Lincoln’s tourist scene but now the time has come for her to pursue what she calls a ‘new adventure’.

As a result both businesses are now on the market for a total of £90,000 and she has bought her own narrowboat home to start a new chapter in her life.

Both the cafe boat and trip boat are moored in the centre of the city which is currently undergoing a major transformation.

“As a result of all the regeneration in Lincoln these businesses of mine are really going to benefit big time and get really busy. But I have now had enough and want to cruise the canal system before I get any older,” said Christine, 52, who claims that being tied to the businesses with only one day a week off is preventing her from realising her dreams.

Having always had an interest in boats Christine first decided to buy Moonraker which at the time was based on the Huddersfield Canal at Slaithwaite. The boat, which does not have an engine, was built as a cafe boat and can seat between 20 and 30 people.

Trip boat Oliver.

Christine Ellerby on her cafe boat.

Moonraker and Oliver moored outside Lincoln’s Waterside shopping centre..

Narrowboat Katie – Christine’s new home.

It was transported by road to Lincoln where Christine began all the procedures with the city council, health authorities, Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency.

“Whoever buys the boat also buys the licence which would never be granted again,” said Christine, who takes great pride in having established a unique business in the heart of the city despite

early difficulties. She expanded the business even more by obtaining a further licence for tables and seating on the bank beside the floating cafe.

In 2015 she bought 20ft narrowboat Oliver which had previously operated as a trip boat at Hebden Bridge on the Rochdale Canal and was licensed for 12 passengers.

“This was my original idea before I

bought the cafe boat,” said Christine, Chair s and tables on th e bank. who has managed to run both businesses in tandem for the last eight years.

“But I need more time to follow my Katie which is now her home. And she dream of continuous cruising. I am not cannot wait to set off on her travels as getting any younger and now is the time soon as the businesses are sold. to do it.”

Anyone interested in finding out more In anticipation of a new adventure about the businesses should contact Christine bought a 58ft narrowboat Christine on 07551 876758.

Serving sweet treats in Skipton Sally Clifford chats to the couple celebrating their 10th season on the Ice Cream Tug.

IT HAS been an unseasonal British summer.

July 2023 is understood to have been one of the wettest on record yet, come rain or shine, Catherine McGettigan and husband Nick, accompanied by their Jack Russell Roo, will be serving ice cream with smiles on board their Ice Cream Tug Boat, Fox, to the passing pedestrian traffic on the towpath.

After days of constant downpours the sun was finally shining, enticing a steady stream of customers to the serving hatch for ice cream sourced from their supplier who produces it just a few miles away on their family farm.

The row of benches lining the towpath proved a popular pitch for customers devouring their sweet treats before heading off to explore the sights of Skipton.

The location of this quaint North Yorkshire market town, on the doorstep to the Yorkshire Dales, makes it a popular destination for visitors and tourists alike.

Nick, who hails from Suffolk, estimates they have served thousands of customers over the years. This year is their 10th season in the Ice Cream Tug which, he recalled, they purchased from a pal following

Skipton’s Ice Cream Tug has been serving delicious ices to customers for more than a decade. a conversation in the pub.

The couple had dabbled with boating before having owned a 44ft narrowboat which was moored in Barnoldswick, and so began a refreshing career change – certainly a contrast to their previous professions as Catherine, who is originally from Bedfordshire, explained.

“We moved around various places. We have been in Hull for a long while, we worked abroad on an island in the South Atlantic. It was small and I taught

in the primary school and Nick worked on the local newspaper.”

The couple, who met as English graduates at university, decided to relocate to Skipton as they felt it would provide good connectivity for their growing sons.

They were fulfilling other roles before taking on the Ice Cream Tug but its success, particularly through the summer months, has become a full-time profession.

Its location, close to Belmont Bridge and Skipton canal basin, is a popular spot for pedestrians passing by on the towpath.

Catherine and husband Nick. long boat may have previously worked at Wigan Pier.

The two winches on the front give some indication of its previous use, as Catherine explained.

“It is a push tug, there are two winches on the front and it is deep. It was designed to lash butties to the front and push them into place.”

Featured flavours

Bedecked with planters brimming with beautiful blooms, the ice cream cone mounted on the cabin is a welcome sign for those seeking a refreshment stop.

According to Catherine, little is known about Fox’s name or history. She understands the 21ft

Nick prepares iced treats for customers.

Inside the immaculately clean and spacious cabin, an addition to the boat during the renovations carried out by the previous owner, the kettle is perched on the stove ready for action.

Featured ice cream flavours of bubblegum, to please their grandchildren, strawberry and vanilla, are served from the freezer in waffle or ordinary cones direct through the serving hatch. Sauce, sprinkles and chocolate sticks are also part of the service.

Their season starts in April and usually ends in September.

“We open at the beginning of April – we do Mother’s Day – and unless it is horrendous we open until the end of September, maybe a week or two into October depending on the weather,” said Catherine.

Summer is their busiest time of year and working from lunchtime until late afternoon seven days a week limits the couple’s opportunity for a break.

With boat maintenance an essential job for the winter it literally is all hands on deck!

“We try to open every day so in the winter we also catch up with our family and friends,” Catherine continued.

But the boat brings many benefits – whatever the weather.

The fold-up chair on the back provides an opportunity to sit, relax and savour the gentle lull of movement amid the tranquillity of this beautiful waterside setting where trip boats frequently pass.

Catherine with Roo who can be unruly when it comes to scrounging treats! PHOTOS: SALLY CLIFFORD The unseasonal weather is challenging to businesses such as this but Catherine and Nick take it in their stride.

“If it’s lousy weather you’ve got your burner, you make yourself a cup of coffee, get a book and if it’s lovely you can sit on the back. There are swans and ducks – what’s not to like?” said Catherine. “It is really relaxing.”

Nick added: “It’s the easiest job in the world. It is very peaceful and tranquil. You feel better for coming here just being on the water.”

Roo spends time in the belly of the boat when she accompanies her owners to work, although Catherine says visits are being restricted for the sake of the two-year-old terrier’s health.

“She is the perfect scrounger.

She works the benches up and down. She has got all the moves to extract as much from anybody sitting there!” smiled Catherine.

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

23

24 MARINAS & MOORINGS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Settle in for winter You're probably not quite thinking about the dark nights and cold weather just yet (we get that)... but we're thinking ahead to help guarantee a mooring space for your boat this Winter! Security is top of our list but there are many more reasons to moor with us over the winter... as well as friendly faces as standard.

• Regular boat checks

• Great facilities

• Access to marine services *

• Well lit, fully serviced pontoons and jetties with electricity and water supply

• Community events and socials • Access to winter fuel

To secure your winter mooring or to just find out a bit more, talk to one of the team at a marina or visit aquavista.com. * at select marinas

MARINAS & MOORINGS 25

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

HAREFIELD MARINA HAREFIELD MA ARINA

Bridge 180, Grand Union Canal, Harefield UB9 6PD Tel: 01895 822036 muskmarine@hotmail.com www.harefieldmarina.co.uk

A marina that offers you a choice

A family owned marina set in rural Worcestershire, but minutes away from the M5, gives all boaters great travel opportunities.

The 238 berth marina is located on the Droitwich Canals, ideally situated for great cruising albeit for a short break or long holidays. It is within easy walking distance of the Spa Town of Droitwich.

Facilities include:- Chandlery - Pump out - Slipway - Boat sales/ (up to 65ft) brokerage - Covered wet dock - Engine inboard/ - Water and electric outboard repairs points - gas and coal - Diesel

200 secure, non residential rural moorings in secluded countryside setting 5 mins from M25/M40.

One days cruising from the Thames.

Set in beautiful countryside at the junction of the River Severn & the River Avon in Gloucestershire. Flood protected moorings, water and electric at berths, fuel, pump-out, and staff on hand 7 days a week. Gantry crane and work area for blacking.

MOORINGS AND BOAT SALES For viewings and information please call 01684 293737 or email: sales@tewkesbury-marina.co.uk

WWW.TEWKESBURY-MARINA.CO.UK Follow Us

This marina offers you ■ Security for you and your boat ■ Full length jetties, in a non flood environment ■ First class facilities, including luxury shower block and launderette ■ Shop and Chandlery

■ Elsan, Pumpout, Diesel, Water ■ Boat Blacking options available ■ Hardstanding, Service Area, and Cranage Pad facilities ■ Calor Gas Stockist ■ Caravan Motorhome CL site

Winter moorings available

Award winning White Mills Marina is a family run marina on the River Nene in Earls Barton.

With excellent road and rail links to London (approx. 1 hour), plus excellent facilities and services along with the fabulous (also award winning) boathouse café, \White Mills is the perfect base for discovering the beautiful Nene Valley.

Why not come and see for yourself?

www.droitwichspamarina.co.uk Tel: 07970 626807 or 01905 317250 TPIF

www.whitemillsmarina.co.uk Droitwich Spa Marina Ltd Hanbury Road, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire WR9 7DU info@droitwichspamarina.co.uk Tel: 01905 317250 Mobile: 07970 626807 www.droitwichspamarina.co.uk

t: 01604 812057 e: info@whitemillsmarina.co.uk

White Mills Marina, 344, Grendon Road, Earls Barton, Northants NN6 0RB

26 MARINAS & MOORINGS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Winter Mooring Rates

As the nights start to settle in and the days become shorter, you may start to consider where to moor your boat this winter.

Look no further than Lakeland Leisure Estates marinas, where our winter moorings provide a safe and secure place to shelter over the colder months.

Welcome to the Lakeland Leisure Family...

We’re moor than just a marina!

3 Months

Monthly

30ft Narrowboat

£467

£163

40ft Narrowboat

£621

£217

50ft Narrowboat 60ft Narrowboat 70ft Narrowboat

£783 £940 £1099

£273 £328 £383

50ft Widebeam

£1174

£409

60ft Widebeam

£1410

70ft Widebeam

£1648

Safe & secure marinas

Electricity & water

Fantastic facilities

Laundry

Community events

Workshops

Friendly familiar faces

& much more

3 Months

Monthly

40ft Narrowboat

£647

£226

50ft Narrowboat

£815

£284

60ft Narrowboat

£978

£341

70ft Narrowboat

£1144

£398

3 Months

Monthly

35ft Narrowboat

£597

£209

40ft Narrowboat

£678

£237

50ft Narrowboat 60ft Narrowboat 70ft Narrowboat

£837 £997 £1157

£292 £348 £403

50ft Widebeam

£1465

£512

£491

60ft Widebeam

£1745

£608

£574

70ft Widebeam

£2024

£705

Tattenhall Marina, Newton Lane, Tattenhall, Chester CH3 9NE 01829 771742 | enquiries@tattenhallmarina.co.uk

LAKELANDLEISUREGROUP.COM

Great Haywood Marina, Mill Lane, Great Haywood, Staffordshire ST18 0RQ 01889 883713 | enquiries@greathaywoodmarina.co.uk

Saul Junction Marina, Church Lane, Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire GL2 7JY 01452 740043 | enquiries@saulmarina.co.uk

3 Months

Monthly

40ft Narrowboat

£609

£218

50ft Narrowboat

£762

£272

60ft Narrowboat

£914

£327

70ft Narrowboat

£1066

£382

Barton Marina, Barton-under-Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8DZ 01283 711666 | enquire@bartonmarina.co.uk

LAKELANDLEISUREBOATSALES.CO.UK

MARINAS & MOORINGS 27

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

KNOWLE MOORINGS BAKERS LANE, SOLIHULL

OFF-LINE NON-RESIDENTIAL 20 BOAT MOORINGS NOW OPEN. GRAND UNION CANAL, BETWEEN BRIDGES 68 & 69 ALONGSIDE ‘THE BLACK BOY’ PUB & RESTAURANT WATER & ELECTRIC PER BERTH, OPEN ALL YEAR, VERY PICTURESQUE & TRANQUIL SETTING, SAFE & SECURE, COMPETITIVE RATES.

TELEPHONE 07813 156950

Hill Farm Marina

South Stratford Canal The View Restaurant is now fully open www.theview-eat.co.uk • Enjoy private access to a traditional 200 acre beef and sheep farm • Dogs run free in designated areas.

• Watch the changing seasons, the wildlife and the animals on the farm • Enjoy the complete peace, freedom and tranquillity of being in the countryside • Access some great lock free cruising for day trips, weekend or longer voyages • Easy access to the motorway network • Onsite laundry, Hairdressers and Dog Grooming

It goes without saying....

• A secure place to moor your boat, and park your car • Luxurious showers, communal areas, pump out and fuel etc.

• Free unlimited WIFI • Electricity and water connections • Extra wide pontoons available

Please watch the progress www.hillfarmmarina.co.uk email info@hillfarmmarina.co.uk or call David on 07971 118953

Sherborne Street, Birmingham B16 8DE 0121 455 6163 / 0121 454 5367 www.sherbornewharf.co.uk or email@sherbornewharf.com

Our boat yard facilities are located canal side, on the main line outside the Distillery

Moorings in the heart of the city Mooring in the centre of Birmingham City

We are in a unique position on the Birmingham Canal Navigations and have berths available close to the city centre serving all types of boaters for overnight, short term and long term moorings.

! QUIET AND SECURE MOORINGS ! BOAT REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE

! GAS, DIESEL AND PUMP OUT

Boat engine service £225.00 Single day empty and refill £250.00 V bottom boat extra charge (at the time of booking you must inform us if your Boat is V-Bottom £100.00 Extra days in the dock if already booked in for blacking or service will be charged at £70 per day Blacking consists of jet washing the hull of the boat down and making sure area is clean and dry, should we find anything of concern we will contact you to inform you. We can offer various blacking products please call us and speak to us.

Anodes are £150 per pair and fitting/welding is £60.00 per pair if purchased from us.

All other works are charged at £60.00 per hour

Blacking is charged per foot length of the boat 40 FEET 45 FEET 50 FEET 55 FEET 60 FEET 65 FEET 70 FEET 75 FEET

£600 £675 £750 £825 £900 £975 £1,050 £1,125

CONTACT US ON 0121 455 6163 FOR ANY ENQUIRES

28 MARINAS & MOORINGS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Blisworth Marina Cruising mooring - Go cruising for 3 months and get 20% discount Pay for 2 years and get a discount of 10% on 2nd year Widebeam berths available

For Boat Sales please visit our website Blisworth Arm NN7 3FG www.blisworthmarina.co.uk info@blisworthmarina.co.uk 01604 879827

Moorings available • 3 mooring locations • Long term non-residential moorings only • For further information and availability please email us at: info@basingstoke-canal. co.uk or call 01252 370073

• •

Car park facilities Nearest water point, refuse disposal 2.5km

Canal Centre Moorings Mytchett •

•

Water point, refuse disposal, elsan, pump out, car park facilities Situated next to Visitor Centre, Campsite and Cafe

Bridge Barn Moorings Woking •

Water point, refuse disposal, elsan point and situated next to canal-side pub

Also visit our website: www.basingstoke-canal.co.uk

Fenny Marina Finding peace away from home

www.thefennymarina.co.uk

Holland Moorings Farnborough

moorings@fennymarina.co.uk | Fenny Marina Ltd Station Fields Southam CV47 2XD

Tel 01295 770461 ✔ Wi-Fi ✔ Electric & Water ✔ Shower & Toilet ✔ Totally Secure ✔ CCTV ✔ Elsan & 24-hr Pump-out ✔ Diesel, Gas, Coal, Logs, & Kindling ✔ Rural Location ✔ Rubbish & Recycling ✔ Courtesy Lighting ✔ Chandlery ✔ 15 Min drive from M40

MARINAS & MOORINGS 29

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

2 B E DR OOMS | 2 BAT HR OOMS 775 SQ F T

H OMES AVAI LABLE FR OM

£295,000

ENJOY LIFE AFLOAT WITH A HOME ON THE WATER Nestled alongside the mighty River Severn and just a stone’s throw away from the enchanting market town of Upton-upon-Severn, Waterfront Living is a pioneering project that sets the standard for floating homes. Offering two bedroom luxury homes with spacious decking and modern interiors, you can continue life afloat with more space to live, relax and entertain.

UPTON LAKE, EAST WATERSIDE, UPTON-UPON-SEVERN, WR8 0PB www.waterfront-living.com | info@waterfront-living.com | 01933 829 940

.0 0$) $)320 5' 0$) +$2541$"2) (6"56

'Touring /),"0% Park .-,!

4/3"(-# 1Wagons /(%&+ Glamping

1/0% -0( +$/,* *&,2 2//,"0%+

'''(#3:9'06:9&095%0($#(42

+##1: .0%:* ,4"1:&* +7:8759:* +/- ),; 6:1:!7#%: &"!$& #"!%$$

'/88# 1)2,"-)* 7552"6%1 )6%"6))2"6% &52!1$54 -3')

30 MARINAS & MOORINGS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

www.goolemarina.co.uk Email: info@goolemarina.co.uk Tel: 01405 763985 Goole Marina, The Timber Pond, Dutch Riverside, Goole, DN14 5TB

Services:

•Dry Dock •Slipway •Welding •Blacking •Shot Blasting •Engine Servicing •Solar Panel •LPG Gas Safe work •Joinery Services •New Boats •Boat Brokerage •Electrical Work •Painting

Facilities:

•Water/ Electricity •Bottled Calor Gas supplier •Pump out •Laundry room •Heated toilets, Shower room with under floor heating •Licensed bar with outside seating area •Postal address for live aboards •Chandlery •Diesel

Goole Marina is located in a basin connecting to the Aire and Calder Canal and close to the commercial port of Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The marina provides an ideal base for cruising the waterways of Yorkshire as well as giving easy access to the Humber Estuary and the North Sea. We have a marina basin to accommodate 150 boats of various lengths & widths.

We can accommodate all types of craft from Cruisers to Narrowboat and Barges.

All types of moorings, garden moorings to floating pontoons, which can be accessed 24hrs a day.

Our new Marina Café, Coffee Dock, is now open to the public.

Open Monday – Saturday 9am until 3pm.

Everyone welcome!

Northampton Marina The ideal location for exploring East Anglia’s Waterways

Call us on 01604 604344 or 07867 580129 to arrange a visit or to make an enquiry.

Office hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Saturday & Sunday 10am to 4pm www.visitanglianwaterways.org www.northamptonmarina.co.uk Find us on Facebook: Northampton Marina

Nestled alongside Becket’s Park, Northampton Marina has a secluded, countryside feel whilst being within easy walking distance of the train station and town centre with its many shops, bars, restaurants and theatres.

Located at the junction of the River Nene and the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal, it is ideally placed for exploring both Anglian Waterways and the wider canal network.

Offering boaters a friendly stay with access to a great choice of cruising routes.

Our award-winning facilities building is open to all marina customers, including washrooms, laundry, pump-out and Elsan disposal point. All of our berths have access to water and electricity. Our landscaped grounds provide a relaxing recreation area with BBQs and picnic tables.

We offer permanent, visitor and winter moorings.

You can also purchase your Anglian Waterways boat licences and navigation keys from our full time Site Officer.

Why not make Northampton Marina the base for your next boating adventure?

MARINAS & MOORINGS / PRODUCTS & SERVICES 31

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

FRADLEY MARINA

07941 167 087

Private, tranquil moorings nestled in the Staffordshire countryside just a stone’s throw from historic Fradley Junction on the popular Trent and Mersey Canal.

F.O.C. no obligation measure & sample viewing at your boats. Centrally located for your convenience.

• 60 full length moorings • Water and 16amp electric • Modern shower block • Car Parking • Electric Gates • Recycling • Workshop & Slipway • Elsan • WI Fi & CCTV • Laundry • Fuel • Nationwide Boat Sales brokerage Our workshop and slipway is taking bookings for blacking • painting • servicing • surveys • repairs • new boat fit out • interior remodelling • furniture & cabinet making To contact the workshop please call Fradley Narrowboats on 07542 824262 or email fradleyboats@gmail.com

www.fradleymarina.co.uk |

fradleymarina | 07941 167 087

PLEASE NOTE:

01827 313334

info@elitefurnishings.co.uk

Our standard curtain lining includes a Teflon finish for added protection from moisture and soiling

Hillmorton Wharf Marina OUR SERVICES INCLUDE:

• Hull Blacking • Boat Painting • All welding and fabrication works undertaken

• New shells available for 2023 delivery • Carpentry • Wet Dock slots available • Surveys, BSS inspections and Certification • Paint Shed for rent for DIY painting • Calor Gas, Diesel and Pump-outs

Contact us for a quote and prices:

Hillmorton Wharf Marina Crick Road, Rugby, CV21 4PW Tel: 01788 543570, Option 0 Email: enquiry@hillmortonwharf.com We are approximately 2 miles from junction 18 of the M1.

Where the A428 crosses the Oxford Canal, turn into The Waterside Pub car park, we are located to the rear.

Residential moorings available

32 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

HiQ

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Based in Nottingham, offering quality services across the Midlands

MARINE SERVICES UK LTD

CALL FOR A FREE SAMPLE NOW!

With over 50yrs experience we provide quality workmanship at sensible prices.

• Engine and gearbox servicing and repairs • Stern gear servicing and repairs • Electrical system design, installation and repairs for both 12 and 240V, including batteries and inverters • Solar panel system design, installation and repairs • Diesel heating system installation and repairs • Bow thruster repairs • Installation of the latest SMART technologies • Free estimates • Prices per job not per hour Tel 07741 650559 Email enquiries@hiqmarine.co.uk www.HiQmarine.co.uk

The W har f, W at l i ng St , G a i l ey , St af f s ST1 9 5 PR 01902 791811 en q@ j d b o at s . co . u k www. j dboat s . c o. uk

J.D. BOAT SERVICES GAILEY LTD

Bespoke dinette furniture delivered to your boat with reaady assembled units that are easy to install.

HANDMADE WOODWORK (WORCESTERSH HIRE)

SPECIAL ISI NG IN BO AT RESTO RATIO N & REP AI R Cabi n Ref i t s ! W o odwor k ! Pa i n t wo r k ! St eel wor k

ORDER YOUR BESPOKE DINETTE NOW!

En g i n e s ! El ec tr i c s ! Sol ar Panel s ! Hy b r i d Pr o pu l s i o n HARDST AND ING ! DI Y F ACIL IT I ES ! STO RAG E

01562 540204 www.okkjoiinery.co.ukk orders@okjoinery.co.uk

CAST IRON STOVES

Britain's Tools & Machinery Specialist!

33629

INVERTER GE ENERATORS

LOW NOISE

FROM ONLY

65

PETROL GENERATORS ELECTRIC

PRESSURE WASHERS

IG2000D

1800W ALL ENGINES ARE 4 STROKE

LOW NOISE

3400W

IG G1700F

259 EXC.VAT DOUBLE DOUBLE £310.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

£ FROM ONLY .00

1700W

IG3500AF

PRICE CUT DOUBLE.00

389exc.VAT

£

£466.80 inc.VAT

WAS £490.80 inc.VAT

2200W

Max Weight exc. inc.

Model Output Sockets kg VAT VAT IG950D 800W 1 9.3 £219.00 £262.80 IG1700F 1700W 2 22 £259.00 £310.80 IG1200D 1100W 2 12.4 £279.00 £334.80 IG2000D 1800W 2 19.4 £399.00 £478.80 IG3500AF 3400W 2 35 £389.00 £466.80 IG2200A 2200W 2 26.6 £429.00 £514.80 • Produces sine wave & stable power, essential for computers & sensitive equipment • Great for boats, caravans, motorhomes, camping, etc. • Low noise • Fuel Efficient Eco Throttle • 12V batteryy charging facility • Up to 7 hours running time on 3/4 load

5 EASY WAYS TO BUY ONLINE www.machinemart.co.uk

IG2200A

SUPERSTORES NATIONWIDE

CALL & COLLECT

SAME DAY

TELESALES 0115 956 5555

140 Bar

Makes easy work for washing vehicles, patios, stonework, etc.

JET7500 includes hose reel

429 EXC.VAT DOUBLE DOUBLE £514.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

CHECK FRAME TYPE WHEN ORDERING

IG950D

429

£

£ FROM ONLY .00

LOW NOISE

800W

BLAKENEY .00 DOUBLE exc.VAT DOUBLE £514.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

289

Honda engine models available

399

5kW

BARREL III .00 DOUBLE exc.VAT DOUBLE £346.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

£

IG950D, IG2000D & IG2200A Recommended by

EXC.VAT DOUBLE DOUBLE £478.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

DOUBLE £262.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

ENERGY RATING A+

5kW

SUPERSTORES NATIONWIDE

£ FROM ONLY .00

DOUBLE.00 219 EXC.VAT

£

ENERGY RATING A+

PRICE CUT NOW FROM

.00 225exc.VAT £270.00 inc.VAT

£

WAS £286.80 inc.VAT

PG3800A exc.

WAS NOW Model KVA HP VAT inc.VAT inc.VAT PG2500A 2.2 5.6 £225.00 £286.80 £270.00 PG3800A 3 5.6 £289.00 £358.80 £346.80 PG3800ADV 3 5.6 £309.00 £394.80 £370.80 PG6500ADVES 5.5 9.7 £549.00 £694.80 £658.80

2030 psi

JET 7500

FROM ONLY £ DOUBLE .99

64EXC.VAT

FOOTER £77.99 inc.VAT

^ WAS £83.98 inc.VAT † WAS £131.98 inc.VAT * WAS £203.98 inc.VAT Model JS1850^ JS1950 † JET7500 * JET9500B

Max. Motor Pressure exc.VAT £64.99 1400W 1523psi £99.98 1600W 2030psi 1600W 2030psi £159.98 2400W 2900psi £239.98

inc.VAT £77.99 £119.98 £191.98 £287.98

FROM ONLY

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FOOTER £53.99 inc.VAT

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ONLY .98 DOUBLE exc.VAT DOUBLE £131.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

109

£

CLICK & COLLECT

OVER 10,500 LOCATIONS

Calls to the catalogue request number above (0844 880 1265) cost 7p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge. For security reasons, calls may be monitored.

All prices correct at time of going to press. We reserve the right to change products and prices at any time. All offers subject to availability, E&OE.

CI1200B

12V TO 230V

POWER INVERTERS

• Convert 12V DC to 230V AC for the running of mains equipment from 12V batteries exc. inc.

Model Output VAT VAT CI800B 400W £44.99 £53.99 CI1200B 600W £68.99 £82.79

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 33

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

www.LimekilnChandlers.co.uk Chandlery Shop

Boat Yard Services Dry dock & Wet dock available for full 7 day bookings.

Now booking for 2023!

Monday to Friday - 9:30am – 4:00pm Closed Saturday and Sunday

Dry dock services: ! DIY dry dock – free pressure washing included. ! Clean off service available; wire brush etc. ! Blacking service available ! Over-plating, welding, repairs, maintenance & servicing ! Anode fitting ! Checking stern gear ! Hire for surveys ! Shot blasting to white metal including 3 coats two-pack (hull only)

Canal Yard, York Street, Stourport - on – Severn, DY13 9EH TEL: 01299 821111 Spring into the season with our special offers available now

Marina & Moorings

British Made anodes available from stock

Marina Services Coal – Chandlery - Diesel - Calor Gas Pump out – Engine Servicing – Boat repairs - Temporary moorings

Fire accessories

Chimneys from £30 in stock Black or Stainless steel.

Second hand narrowboats purchased for cash, please call for details.

moorings • boat sales chandlery • marina services

Stock Boats

Elsan Products

International Intertuf 16 & two pack products

at www.eveshammarina.co.uk

New Eurocruiser £174,950 ex Vat • 60’ x 12’6” • 2 Berth • 2023 A 2023, 60ft, One bedroom, Euro cruiser from Collingwood Boats, In addition to the standard features this boat has, A Rear Canopy Fitted, A Dishwasher, A Wine Chiller and A Bow Thruster.

This boat is available with a mooring, subject to terms and conditions.

New Shearwater

£148,950

• 60’ x 6’10” • 4 Berth • 2023

MOORINGS THAT ARE SAFE & SECURE WITH EXCELLENT FACILITIES FOR BOTH LEISURE & RESIDENTIAL Contact Marc or visit www.eveshammarina.co.uk today!

Evesham Marina Kings Road • Evesham • WR11 3XZ info@eveshammarina.co.uk

01386 768500

A 2023 Shearwater Narrowboat from Collingwood Boats, in addition to the standard features this boat has, an Upgraded 42hp Engine, Long Cruiser Stern with Cushions, Pram cover, L Shape Dinette and a Washer Dryer.

34 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

RED HILL MARINA RATCLIFFE-ON-SOAR, NOTTINGHAM, NG11 0EB

TEL: 01509 672770/07760 627421 • EMAIL: enquiries@redhill-marina.co.uk Leisure and residential moorings Boat land storage, boat repairs and fitouts Slipway and boat hoist to handle up to 60 ton, 70ft x 14 ft BOAT BUILDING, BOAT PAINTING, REPAIRS, SALES AND CHANDLERY.

RED HILL MARINA OPEN DAY - AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY SATURDAY 26TH AUGUST TO MONDAY 28TH AUGUST 2023 INCLUDING VINTAGE & COLLECTABLE TRACTOR DISPLAY VARIOUS TYPES OF FLOAT HOMES AVAILABLE AT RED HILL MARINA UP TO 40FT LONG X 14FT WIDE.

THESE CAN BE MOVED BY ROAD TRANSPORT. VARIOUS MOORINGS ALSO AVAILABLE AT RED HILL MARINA LEISURE, RESIDENTIAL, OFFICE SPACE MOORINGS AVAILABLE ALSO PROJECT BOATS AND FLOAT HOMES AVAILABLE.

For all enquiries, please contact the Marina office on: 01509 672770

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 35

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

CLEANING’S A PLEASURE WITH MIRACLE LEISURE!

NORBURY WHARF Limited

LADDER-MATE

COMBINATION RESCUE LADDER/GANGPLANK

Have you fallen into the water and struggled to get out?

Most accidents happen in or around locks.

Getting out of the water is hard with wet heavy clothes.

The bank sides are high and no hand holds to get out.

This versatile lightweight (LADDER-MATE) stores securely on your roof with the free ladder lock supplied. £125 + £30 p&p to any location on UK mainland or free collection (Please call us)

Traditional boatyard, with traditional values The Wharf, NORBURY JUNCTION Staffordshire ST20 0PN Telephone: (01785) 284292 E-mail: info@norburywharfltd.co.uk

One stop shop for all your boating needs DRY DOCKING AND BLACKING from £20.00 per foot.

A FULL RANGE OF CLEANING PRODUCTS

Brass-mate (Brass polish) Miracle Wax Polish (Boat polish) Wash’n’Wax (Shampoo) Miracle Brass Brite (Tarnish Remover) Weather-Mate Gel (Brass Protection) Port Hole Mask (Magnetic)

Cotton Stockinette (Cleaning Cloths) Canopy Klean Bilge & Hull Cleaner Full range of Tiller Pins

Over 100 tillerpins in stock visit www.tillerpins.co.uk www.miracleleisureproducts.co.uk e: sales@miracleleisureproducts.co.uk Telephone: 01902 686569 or Dawn 07909 086868

BROLLY-MATE

Hands-free attachment that slides over the tiller bar.

This is an attachment that slides over the tiller bar when it is raining and you can pop the brolly in the top of the tube secured by a thumb screw.

Choice of sizes.

from

£25 + p&p

PROP-MATE

Keeps your weedhatch clear

Half cleaned mushroom

£22 + VAT each + p&p

Now taking bookings for 2024

Liveaboards are welcomed

- Easy access to the boat is provided by our specially constructed bridge which reaches out to either the bow or stern of your boat. Free 240V hook-up is provided while the boat is out of the water.

TURN TO

PAGE 65 T

O VIEW RANGE OF OUR BOAT FOR SALE S

Shared ownership the affordable way

❖ LIVEABOARDS WELCOME ❖ DOGS AND CATS NO PROBLEM ❖ FREE ELECTRICITY WHILST ON THE DOCK

www.norburywharfltd.co.uk

Ownashare manages a fleet of narrowboats which operate on a shared ownership basis.

This means that owners of 1/12th shares can enjoy at least 3–4 weeks’ holiday afloat each year, school holiday weeks are available at a small premium.

Tel: 07800 902323 for more details

www.ownasharecruising.co.uk

SEE US AT THE SHOW, STAND J337

Batteries and beyond.

Experts in batteries, solar panels, chargers, inverters and accessories.

We stock leading brands, including: SunPower, Rolls, Varta, Victron Energy, Solara, Solbian, Pylontech, CTEK and EcoFlow.

Ecobat Battery, 36a Vanguard Way, Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury, SY1 3TG, UK +44 (0)1743 218500 | is.info@ecobat.com

VISIT US AT ECOBATBATTERY.COM

Scan to visit our site

36 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

FULLY SERVICED CRUISING AND RESIDENTIAL MOORINGS AND FULL BOATYARD SERVICES • Iver (Slough Arm) and Northolt (Paddington arm) • Secure sites with private parking • Delivery of gas, solid fuel and diesel direct to your boat • Electricity, water, elsan and pump out • Showers and laundry • Chandlery • Mechanical, electrical, and carpentry work undertaken • Craning, grit blasting and blacking • Two part epoxy hull treatment • Fuel polishing service

sales@high-line.co.uk 01753 651496 www.high-line.co.uk THE BOATYARD MANSION LANE, IVER, SL0 9RG

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

NARROWBOATS AND WIDEBEAMS FOR SALE IN WEST LONDON FOR SELLERS • Free moorings • Sales location with established footfall • Open 6 days / week • Trade Plates for unlicensed craft • Pre sales preparation and repairs FOR BUYERS • Free guidance and advice • Comprehensive handover • Secure clients bank account • ABYA qualified brokerage staff • Industry standard documentation PRIVATE BUYER’S SERVICE • If you are buying privately, we can offer the following services: • Advice on all aspects of purchase • Provision of documentation • Secure Clients bank account • Bespoke service – as much or as little as you want, priced accordingly

kb@vcmarine.co.uk 01753 652502 / 07860 480079 www.vcmarine.co.uk

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 37

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

TRAVELSAT 07914 401 036

! smhicks@btinternet.com

www.travelsat.me.uk

INTERNET CONNECTION ON THE MOVE

The Problem…

Poor 3G/4G/5G and £799 Wi-Fi signals on your travels?

The Solution…

MAXVIEW ROAM A powerful 3G/4G/5G mobile and Wi-Fi solution.

“

I have just had the Maxview Roam system installed and it is brilliant! I now get download speeds comparable to being in a house, and that’s a 500% increase in speed. The device is discrete and expertly installed with a test before I bought to ensure the device was worth having. All I can say is, I wish I’d known about this along time ago. Absolutely brilliant and recommending it to all my friends!

”

Hebden

A comfortable seating solution for limited space!

Fully pocket sprung | sofa or sofabed | including modular footstool space saving | two seating positions for optimal comfort.

Simple & Stylish Space Saving Solutions for Narrowboats!

01274 800334 • info@sofabedbarn.co.uk

www.sofabedbarn.co.uk

Kate Boats

One stop shop for your boat!

The same skills that keep our hire boat fleet running reliably and looking good can be available for your boat.

• Blacking • Welding • General engineering • Engine servicing • Engine replacement • Painting from touch up to a complete repaint • Electrical repairs and installations • Gas safe engineer on site • Heating repairs and replacement • Internal repairs and refit • BSS and hull surveys organised We have recently invested in a trailer to pull boats out of the water for blacking, bookings now being taken for blacking in 2023.

www.kateboats.com 01926 492968

38 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Woodworks Boat Fitting Bespoke boats to any stage of completion • Repair and alteration service Wheelhouses and dogboxes made to order

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

www.boat-fitting.co.uk PHOTOS - VIDEOS - INFORMATION Unit 72, Road B, Boughton Ind. Est. New Ollerton, Notts. NG22 9LD 01623 860 553 email: info@boat-fitting.co.uk Proprietor: Andrew C. Hooke B.A. (Hons)

L R I N A arine E T m S

FOR ALL YOUR BOATING NEEDS NB “A DREAM COME TRUE”

We are pleased to offer this beautiful 2004 58’0” “READY TO GO” Narrow Boat.

Built by JL Pinder with cruiser stern and exceptional fit out including Barrus 40 engine, solar panels, oil fired CH, washing machine, spin dryer and Satellite TV. One owner from new, this is an opportunity to acquire a much loved boat.

Price: £61,950 GO TO:- www.tankbusters.co.uk - for full details of Fuel Cleaning Services and Equipment.

Call 07974 808277 or email: bruce@tankbusters.co.uk

WHAT'S IN THE BOTTOM OF YOUR FUEL TANK?

Used one micron filter bag & 100ppm water removal filters with saturated diesel being filtered

Magnet filter bowl

Rust on magnet

Rust & diesel bug on magnet.

Tankbusters filter first by magnet removing larger particles of rust! Fuel/other contamination is then filtered to a micron filter bag. Water filters remove water to 100 parts per million (ppm) using tankbusters own filtration equipment.

More & More customers are frequently complaining they have had there tank cleaned by a competitor, only to break down again. They call Tankbusters who attend and take samples from the tank and find the fuel still has water / diesel bug and rust in the tank. Clearly a COWBOY JOB. Tankbusters filter to One Micron & Removes water to 100ppm CALL TANKBUSTERS FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Call Terry on 01299 877223

Engine Service – Fixed Price £125.00 inc VAT Call 01299 877223 for details

DISTRIBUTORS & STOCKISTS FOR MAJOR BRANDS FULL BOAT YARD SERVICES

DIESEL, GAS, SOLID FUEL & PUMPOUTS ENGINE REPAIR, SERVICING, REPLACEMENT ALL MARINE ENGINEERING SERVICES INTERNAL REFITS, IMPROVEMENTS, REPAIR ELECTRICS, WATER, GAS, HEATING INSTALLATIONS

2023

DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE U S E CO D E : TOW2023

PREMIUM BITUMEN FOR THE ULTIMATE PROTECTION Hull Blacking with high volume solids smlmarinepaints.co.uk 01285 862 132

DIESEL TREATMENT PRODUCT

FOR YOUR CHANDLERY NEEDS

OIL, FUEL, AIR FILTERS & BELTS ENGINE SPARES, ANTIFREEZE & COOLANTS BATTERIES, INVERTERS, ELECTRICAL SPARES FULL RANGE OF DECK & CABIN FITTINGS ALL SPARES & CONSUMABLES

HANKOOK BATTERIES

ELSAN PRODUCTS

ENGINE LANE, STOURPORT, WORCS DY13 9EP 01299 877223 enquiries@starlinenarrowboats.co.uk Open: Mon/Fri (8am-5pm) Sat/Sun (10.30am to 2pm) Emergency breakdown: 01531 632003 - 7 days a week

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 39

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Only LeeSan truly specialise in toilets Toilets, Tanks, Hoses, Clips, Gauges, Deck Fittings, Vent Filters and everything you need plus Advice & Guidance

Providing the best seat onboard .....

Hempsted Historic Dry Dock 50% OFF DRY DOCK SPACES E AVAILABL !

W O N CALL

UP TO

ANODES W ALL HULL BL ITH & ANTIFOUL ACKING ING. FOR A QUOT CALL ATION TODAY

• Hull Blacking & Antifouling • Fabrication & Repairs • Painting & Sign Writing • Electrical • Plumbing and Gas • Paint and Boat Care • Inboard & Outboard Servicing • Fenders and Ropes • Engine Spares & Repairs

Visit us and see the largest Indoor working dry dock and well stocked Chandlery on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal You’ll find us just 1 mile along the canal from Gloucester Docks or at

338 BRISTOL ROAD, GLOUCESTER GL2 5DH sales@leesan.com T: 01295 770000

Email: office@hhdd.co.uk www.hempsteddrydock.co.uk

Discover Our Idyllic Retreat & Enjoy Summer With an abundance of wildlife, peace, tranquillity and our experienced team on hand, you can relax and enjoy your own little piece of heaven.

Secure your berth on the Llangollen Canal, the most beautiful canal in the country!

Call 01270 524571 or email sales@swanleybridgemarina.com Swanley Bridge Marina, Springe Lane, Swanley, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 8NR - www.swanleybridgemarina.com

01452 415430

40 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

The UK's

 Expert Advice

Cassette Car

We can provide expert advice gained from years of hands-on practical experience, many of our staff own boats themselves and some even live aboard.

Transporting cassettes with our handy carrier

Real Shops

 Real Shops

� Strong PVC material

With Midland Chandlers you have the benefit of dealing with a long established benefit of dealing with a long established company with four bricks and mortar company with three four bricks bricksand andmortar mortarshops shops and a large central distrbution and a large shops and acentral large central distribution distribution centre.centre.

� Solid zipper for easy opening

centre.

� Easy to clean bag with glazed washable with no shrinkage

 Prompt Service

� Makes transportation & stora

With substantial stocks and industry leading service levels, we aim to despatch all items in stock within 48 hours of payment to ensure you receive your order promptly.

� No need to keep the original

With Midland Chandlers you have the

� Strong carry handles on the

Also available for our Porta Pot

Ovens & Hob

Cook up a storm with o

Braunston

Preston Brook

Willington

 01788 891 401

 01928 751 800  WA4 4BA

 01283 701 445  DE65 6DW

 NN11 7HB

Shop over 5,000

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 41

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

s No. 1 for Canal & Narrow Boat Equipment Lighting Sleek and stylish lighting for the nights that are drawing in.

rrier Bags

s is easier than ever bags

g & closing bag

d finish interior and machine (max 40 degrees)

age of the cassette tank discrete & less handy carton box

tti range F324 & F322

bs

Available from our stores

our range of ovens & hobs

Simply place your order online and select one of our 3 stores to collect from!

Visit our website for more information!

products online www.midlandchandlers.co.uk

   

42 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Your needs . . .

Seagoing

Saildrives

Inland Waterways

Marine Generating Sets

Spares & Support

• 5 year self-service warranty*.

• 36 years of customer centred focus, listening to needs & delivering long term value solutions.

• Full hydraulic drive and hybrid propulsion options available.

• Specialists in customer advice & support at all points of a products life.

• NEW Beta 14 E-Drive, 14kW constant electrical propulsion power.

• Superb after-sales service via our network of approved engine installers and service centres.

• Super silent acoustic housings, 3.5 or 5.0 kVA travel power & bow thruster options available.

• Extensive range of 14 to 98 HP keel cooled propulsion engines with mechanical or hydraulic gearboxes.

• Keel cooled Generating Sets 4 to 58 kVA with or without super silent acoustic housings.

. . . our tailored solutions

delivering reliability and peace of mind

• REDUCE CO2 BY 90%! Having conducted performance tests on HVO fuel Beta Marine have concluded it is compatible and can be safely used continuously without engine modification. If other FAME bio fuels are used or mixed we strongly advise to make use of our alternative fuel kit option. Available for new or retro fit-able to existing engines. *Recreational use, terms & conditions apply.

www.betamarine.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1452 723492 Email: sales@betamarine.co.uk

WHEREVER YOU GO, YOU CAN COUNT ON EBERSPACHER TO KEEP YOU WARM

DIESEL HEATING FOR BOATS Servicing Spare parts Technical Help System Design

HYDRONIC HS3 D4E HEATER This latest heater is now in stock. 4.3kW output and only 1.3kW at low, ideal for narrowboats.

Kits from £1695.00

LEADING UK SUPPLIER OF EBERSPACHER HEATERS & SPARE PARTS

HYDRONIC D4WSC EXCHANGE SERVICE For only £535.00 receive one of our factory reconditioned units when you send us your old, non functioning D4WSC or D5WSC*.

*Service exchange T&Cs apply

CALLSTART APP

Control your heater through your phone

Easy installation. Simple on/off.

Run time settings. iPhone & Android SMS notification. £159.00 SIM not included.

Espar Ltd T 01752 491900 web@espar.co.uk www.eberspacherdirect.com www.espar.co.uk

PRODUCTS & SERVICES 43

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

S

TR

E

AY E TH

WHARF

Coventry Canal

Lichfield

LT

D

Your One Stop Shop for all your boating needs Steelwork | Stretching | Chandlery | Timber Work | Shot Blasting asting Mechanics | Boat Safety | Electrics | Paintwork | Gas Safe | Cranage C

Highest Quality work at a Traditional Working boatyard

7

DAY CALL OUT

Bottom Blacking | Full DIY service available 3 day slip, undercover plus 3000 psi hot wash £317.00 + VAT Telephone 01543 414808/07824 848444 office@streethaywharf.co.uk www.streethaywharf.co.uk

Kingfisher Marine Electrical Live it – Install it – Sell it – Support it

Live aboard Narrowboaters British Marine Trained (BMET) Installations in Gloucestershire Nationwide Delivery Specialist advice Victron, Sterling, Solar Batteries (Sealed, AGM, Gel, Lithium) and so much more!

Free delivery over £75

Check out Narrowboat Electrician on Youtube

info@kingfisher-marine.co.uk www.kingfisher-marine.co.uk

ON BOAT HAVEN T R E H T O Facilities include:

Moorings, Slipway Hull Blacking & Maintenance Workshop, Brokerage Gas / Diesel / Coal / Pumpout Engine Repairs & Servicing

Opening Hours:

Monday - Friday 9am - 1pm Saturday 10am - 1pm Closed Sunday

Mobile: 07581 459309

Email: info@othertonboathaven.co.uk Otherton Boat Haven Ltd, Otherton, Penkridge, Stafford ST19 5NX

44 INSURANCE & FINANCE / PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Over 10,000 claims paid to 100% owner satisfaction

£40,000 £50,000 £60,000 £70,000 £80,000 £100,000 £150,000

from from from from from from from

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

£72.00 £85.00 £99.00 £107.00 £115.00 £155.00 £235.00

Lowest rates for qualifying owners www.newtoncrum.com

Narrowboat insurance made easy

01424 718800

64 years of excellence, providing better boat insurance.

Get a quote in 20 seconds On cover in 2 minutes Low on-line premiums

Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority # 307035

THE BOSUNS LOCKER KIT

A Multi surface polishing & cleaning kit for larger marine craft up to 75 ft. long. The Bosun’s Locker Kit has all the products in one kit to deal with most marine surface problems and restore them to how they should look & quickly.

The different surfaces of your boat tend to suffer in differing degrees from weather. It does not matter if your boat is in England, Scotland, Wales or overseas, weather is the key to 90% of boat surfaces breakdown.

The Bosun’s Locker Kit has all the products in one kit for you to deal with most marine surface problems and restore them.

Get the App - craftinsure.com/app

FIRST FOR WINTERISING YOUR BOAT

craftinsure.com 03452 607888

THE BOSUNS LOCKER KIT IS JUST £56.00 Plus P&P Do you have questions about this kit?

Call James on 01299 896117 Or Order directly on www.bulletpolish. co.uk (In the Marine dropdown menu)

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

www.bulletpolish.co.uk

Call us about our Hull Epoxying Deals. Dry Dock, Shot Blast & 2 Pack Coating from only £1995.00 +VAT

Fully serviced berths available up to 60’ at fantastic rates d n a y b p o t s On-site Chandlery & Brokerage Why not n Narrowboat services including Re-plating, Fabrication and Fit-Outs ge In join us at the Bar Diesel, Gas & Solid Fuels e m o lc e w Full boat shot blasting and painting services for a warm Covered dry-docking available up to 70’ x 16’ and home cooked Narrowboat & Cruiser lifting & Hardstanding Storage s y a d 7 CCTV & WiFi on site Pub & Restaurant on site food. Open Boat Sales (new and used) Outboards r la u g e r h it a week w o Now taking drydock bookings for 2024! entertainment to Staniland Marina, Lock Hill, Thorne, Doncaster DN8 5EP ●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

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Tel: 01405 816992 • www.stanilandmarina.co.uk

On the Stainforth & Keady Canal, convenient for all waterways in the north

BUSINESS NEWS 45

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Boat review Services

Green-fingered Kings crowned Aquavista in Bloom champions

AQUAVISTA has announced Kings Waterside & Marina as the Outstanding Overall Site winner of its Aquavista in Bloom 2023 awards, sponsored by Towergate Insurance.

The competition was launched in April with the company inviting its 29 inland and coastal marinas to accept the challenge of creating some stunning floral displays around their marina. The goal? Simply make their marinas bloom with bursts of colour to provide lovely environments for their customers, visitors and crew to spend time in this summer.

There were three award categories: Outstanding Tubs and Borders, Outstanding Hanging Baskets and Outstanding Overall Site. A winner was chosen for each of the company’s three regions – North, Midlands and South – making nine winners in total, announced at Aquavista’s national managers’ meeting. Prizes, trophies and certificates were awarded by Elisa Hadland, head of partnerships at Towergate Insurance.

As the overall winner, Kings Waterside & Marina also won a pizza party for crew and customers to celebrate their win.

A special extra prize was also awarded to a moorer from each region to recognise their outstanding contribution to the competition.

Mark Wanless, operations director at Aquavista, said: “It has been fascinating to watch the progress of this campaign over the past few months. Our crew and customers take immense pride in the aesthetics of their marinas.

“Our marinas look full of colour, and I have also been delighted to hear and witness our communities coming together to support this initiative – from community herb gardens to building boat-shaped planters using recycled materials. I could not be prouder of our crew teams and our brilliant communities here at Aquavista.”

Elisa from Towergate Insurance added: “Towergate are really proud sponsors of the Aquavista in Bloom campaign. It has been great to see so much effort and creativity from all the marinas and their teams, including upcycling materials to make unique flower displays. The array of colours are beautiful and create such a community feel.”

P46 Holidays & Leisure P45 Technical

P48-49 P50

Suzuki on board as headline sponsor for BoatLife 2024 BOATLIFE has announced that Suzuki will be the headline sponsor for the February 2024 show.

With its global leading marine propulsion technology, Suzuki has a legacy of engineering cuttingedge outboard motors that provide boaters with superior performance, fuel efficiency and reliability.

Attracting boating enthusiasts, industry professionals and visitors new to boating, BoatLife offers a platform for showcasing the latest advancements in marine technology, boating accessories and on-water recreational activities across sectors from powerboats to inland and fishing.

Mark Beeley, head of ATV & Marine for Suzuki GB, said: “This event aligns perfectly with our vision of promoting an active and enjoyable boating lifestyle while being mindful of the advancing prerequisites for sustainability.”

As well as showcasing its latest marine technology, Suzuki Marine will exhibit a range of outboard motors. Its team of experts will host informative sessions, providing valuable insights into

marine propulsion, maintenance and eco-friendly boating practices.

There will also be special show offers on selected products.

Themed days

The introduction of themed days aims to infuse a new level of energy and an immersive atmosphere to captivate visitors. These will be: Thursday: Innovation – A platform to showcase cutting-edge technologies and revolutionary products that are shaping the future of boating.

Friday: Wellness – Explore the synergy between health and boating, ranging from relaxation to fitness on the water.

Saturday: Discover Boating – A dedicated day to introduce newcomers to the sheer joy of boating and watersports.

Sunday: Sustainability – Spotlighting eco-friendly practices, products and initiatives that contribute to the safeguarding of our precious marine environment.

For more information visit www.boatlifeevents.com

Category winners:

Kings Waterside & Marina manager Paula Hewitt (left) and Elisa Hadland, head of partnerships at the awards’ main sponsor Towergate Insurance.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED

North – Overall Site: Kings Waterside & Marina; borders and tubs: White Bear Waterside & Marina; hanging baskets: Hull Waterside & Marina.

South – Overall Site: Bath Waterside & Marina and Caravan Park; borders and tubs: Poplar Waterside & Marina; hanging baskets: Portavon Waterside & Marina.

Midlands – Overall Site: Wigrams Turn Waterside & Marina; borders and tubs: Brinklow Waterside & Marina; hanging baskets: Kings Bromley Waterside & Marina.

Overall site winner of Aquavista in Bloom, Kings Waterside & Marina.

Moorer Rob Sutherns is pictured with marina manager Paula Hewitt and the awards.

Emergency equipment presented to canalside pub

MINE hosts at canalside hostelry The Lime Kilns, Gary and Jill Buswell, were recently presented with an AED (defibrillator) and Emergency Bleed Kit by the Jowett Car Club.

As part of the club’s centenary celebrations, the Midland Section donated this emergency equipment in appreciation of the pub’s hospitality for many years.

The Lime Kilns is situated on the busy A5 Watling Street trunk road just south of Hinckley, Leicestershire, on the bank of the Ashby Canal.

This emergency equipment will provide the local and wider community with a potential lifesaving facility. Many leisure boaters use the canal and moor at pub for refreshments and the towpath is used by many walkers throughout the year.

Craig Ainge, secretary of the Jowett Car Club Midland Section, presenting the defibrillator to Gary Buswell of The Lime Kilns.

The Midland Section of The Jowett Car Club has previously raised funds for the Air Ambulance Services and last year, funds were raised for The Guide Dogs.

Subsequently the section is proud to have a dog named Jowett.

Jowett Car Club Midlands Branch members celebrate the club’s centenary. PHOTOS SUPPLIED

46 BOAT REVIEW

September 2023

Look how far we’ve come

Words and photos: Phil Pickin

CHOOSING an original name for a boat can sometimes cause a lot of headscratching as there are many tried and tested names that are regularly seen on the system.

Kingfisher, Swan and permutations of these are familiar to many, but there can’t be many Moles on the waterways. The small animal that is the bane of many a gardener isn’t the first name that comes to mind, but that was the choice of Dean and Keely Crowther when they needed to come up with something suitable for their new 58ft 6in narrowboat built

by Knights Narrowboats of Nantwich, Cheshire.

The couple, who currently live in Yorkshire, have an extensive history both of hiring and of being shared owners of a narrowboat for around eight years before opting to buy their own. The decision to have their own boat was promoted

by Dean’s early retirement, something he’s hoping to encourage his teacher wife Keely to emulate in the near future.

It was Keely’s love of the work of artist, illustrator and author Charlie Mackesy and his story of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse that provided the unusual boat name and the inspiration for the artwork on the boat. These designs were provided by the couple’s daughter Emily and based on the book illustrations. Images from the book also adorn the interior of the boat, as does the well-known quote on the stern that many will remember from the awardwinning animated adaptation screened last Christmas.

The Mole does not just have an unusual name, but the colour scheme too is unconventional and eye-catching, resulting in a clean, smart and modern look complemented by the black window surrounds, the black roof contrasted by the chrome mushroom vents and the black stern canopy.

The squared-off stern, which is currently proving to be popular on new builds, helps provide a significant amount of usable additional space, ideal for the couple’s pair of miniature

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Useful space on offer at the stern.

A familiar image. dachshunds. The layout of this area also provides space at the top of the stairs to help the dogs with access, and the Knights team have also added an additional step down into the boat to allow for ‘shorter canine legs’.

It was noted, before getting aboard, that the living area was a little smaller than might be expected as the layout has been adapted to make room for the large bathroom; more on this later. But if the living area is smaller, it doesn’t feel cramped.

This impression could be as a result of the omission of the back of the seat at the dinette on the lounge side to provide a feeling of more open space. The dinette is raised to provide space for a wine rack, and the TV screen in the lounge area has been mounted without a TV unit which also helps with a feeling of space.

The walk-through galley is well equipped with an integrated fridge and freezer. A black composite sink has been fitted to one side with a similarly styled three-burner hob fitted to the other. Both sides have Halifax Oak worktops and splashbacks, and all of the handles etc

Just some of the eye-catching graphics.

The bathroom has a large rectangular shower area screened by a glass panel.

The full-width bed with infill to both sides. are a brushed nickel effect. A high-level oven with a microwave above completes the galley, which has been fitted with a good range of cupboards, drawers and overhead storage wherever possible.

Beyond the galley, you enter a very impressive bathroom that would not look out of place in a conventional domestic setting, and this was the intention. According to Dean, the couple had a few issues with being able to keep bathrooms in other boats they’d used clean and tidy, so the couple opted for a large wet room layout in The Mole.

Space in the bathroom was also needed for the washer-dryer, which is discreetly housed behind a cupboard door next to the rectangular wash basin.

The room comprises a large rectangular shower area screened by a large glass panel. On the floor is a charcoal grey shower tray, opposite which is a Thetford C223 cassette toilet. Some will be hesitant about having a wet room on a boat, but Dean assured me that he’d used the shower, and it was ‘as good as the one at home’.

Leaving the bathroom, you come into the bedroom that houses a fullwidth bed with infill to both sides.

Reading lights have been fitted above

The comfortable lounge area.

The well-equipped galley. the bed, and full-height oak wardrobes are located on both sides of the room, either side of the door. A small dressing table has been included.

Access to the bow is possible via a pair of glazed front doors to which a blind has been fitted. Hardwood surrounds have been fitted to both porthole windows in the bedroom, as they have to all of the windows throughout the boat. These surrounds complement the solid oak trim used throughout the boat and the engineered oak flooring.

This trim works well with the T&G-painted cabin sides and the lacquered oak panelling below the gunwales. Dark grey radiators are fitted throughout and powered by a Webasto Thermotop Eco 5kW heating boiler.

Further heating can be provided by a multi-fuel stove in the lounge if required.

Glazed steel side doors have been fitted to both sides of The Mole, and a small, non-opening roof light has been fitted above the galley. These, together with the sizeable windows and the whitepainted ceiling panels, should ensure there is plenty of daylight available.

During the evenings, lighting is provided by a significant number of LED downlighters and below-gunwale lighting. Electrical power is provided by a 3000W inverter charger powering a number of 240v sockets, many with USB charging ports. The battery bank, comprising 4 x 125 amp AGM/Gel leisure batteries and 1 x 110 amp starter battery, is charged by a 175 amp alternator, one of a pair fitted to the engine.

Additional power is provided by the 640W flexible solar panels fitted to the roof. These panels are very discreet, matching as they do the black textured paint used on the roof area. Chrome mushroom vents and other external fittings work well with the smart colour scheme chosen.

It is good to find out that provision has been made to enable changes to be

made in the future to enable The Mole to be a hybrid boat. Dean feels that the technology behind hybrid and electricpowered vehicles is still somewhat in its infancy, and given ‘another few years’, we will see significant improvements.

Unfortunately, his experience with a hybrid car has only gone to reinforce that view, but provision has been made to convert their boat in five or six years’ time.

Mr and Mrs Crowther are delighted with their boat and can’t praise the Knights Narrowboats team highly enough, and looking at their new boat, it is easy to see why. The Mole is well up to Knights’ usual high standard, and it is obvious that Glen and the team have gone that extra mile to accommodate all of the wishes of their clients.

The Mole will call a mooring in the south Midlands ‘home’ and provide very comfortable accommodation for the couple when they visit their son, who lives in the area.

SPEC SHEET

Length: 58ft 6in Beam: 6ft 10in Shell: 10/6/5/4 Style: squared cruiser stern with extended front cabin Engine: Beta 43hp (keel-cooled) Power: twin alternators (45 amp starter, 175 amp domestic) Transmission: PRM 150 hydraulic gearbox with Vetus stern gear and three-blade prop Bow thruster: Vetus 75

Builders:

Knights Narrowboats, Units 4-5 Aqueduct Marina, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 6DX Tel: 07825 817444 Email: knightsnarrowboats@gmail.com www.knightsnarrowboats.com

SERVICES 47

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Weather contributes to a quiet summer and electrical faults

OVER the last seven months, River Canal Rescue (RCR) has responded to around 28% fewer callouts than previous years.

In 2022, the breakdown and emergency assistance firm responded to 130 major incidents (involving submerged, partially sunken or grounded craft, plus salvage work) and 3411 general callouts, such as electrical, fuel and engine issues, flat batteries, overheating and gearbox failures.

Managing director, Stephanie Horton, attributes the low numbers to the economic downturn, its impact on finances and the damp weather, which she believes is also behind electrical faults being the top reason for callouts. “It’s been an odd year with a quiet summer, despite some peak days,” she commented, “and the weather has not helped.”

In general, RCR receives around 500 calls a month asking for help and advice, so below are tips on how to prevent a part failure and what to do if it does:

Electrical

Faults are mainly caused by lack of attention to electrical connections.

Wires coming away or corroding is a common fault, so visually check for loose connections or disconnected wires before your journey, and use a water-resistant

spray or petroleum jelly to stop damp getting into electrical components like isolators and block connectors.

Overheating

When the cooling system fails, your engine overheats, and if not identified and remedied quickly, it can cause extensive engine damage. Overheating is caused by a build-up of air in the marine cooling system which eventually causes the coolant flow to stop. To prevent this, periodically bleed the air from the system.

If your engine overheats, feel the top and bottom of the water tank; it should be hot at the top and cool at the bottom. If it isn’t, you have an air lock. To release the air, locate and loosen the bleed screw on your skin tank.

If you don’t have one, or you have a raw water-cooled system, run the engine for up to an hour with the expansion tank cap off to allow the air to escape as it travels though the cooling system. If you do attempt this, keep topping up the water as the air creeps out, and do not leave the engine unattended.

If you find a leak on your cooling hose, check if the hose needs replacing as it can become hard or disfigured over time. If the hose is sound, repair the leak and

top up the cooling system (bleed as above).

Morse control cables

There’s rarely much warning before this part fails, and when it does it can take you completely by surprise, often resulting in collisions with locks, banks or other vessels. However, there are a few actions you can take to help prevent a failure.

Inspect and ensure the cables are not touching hot surfaces, and are routed so there are no tight bends or kinks. Oil or grease the cable connections, especially if the controller’s exposed to the weather or left for a period of time.

If the throttle controller becomes stiff or sticking, it may be a sign that a cable failure is imminent.

Always carry a spare cable!

The gear and throttle cables are interchangeable, so by having one on board you’ll save yourself time and money. Finally change your cables every five years as they don’t last forever.

Battery failure

The most common types of batteries on the inland waterways are lead acid batteries. With these, you need to regularly check their acid levels and top up with distilled water when required.

To identify if a battery is

Ditch the map, it’s on the app!

Covering all UK waterways Route planning Request RCR advice or Assistance Offline access to all POI’s

deteriorating – which means it needs servicing or changing – look out for bulging on the battery walls and a white crust on the terminals (this indicates the batteries are gassing). You might also need to frequently charge them.

Always replace the battery bank completely; it’s a false economy to replace one battery at a time as this will only compromise the new battery life. So replace the starter bank (usually one battery), the domestic bank (typically three or four batteries) and the bow thruster bank (one or two batteries).

When checking batteries, always remove the lid from the battery box to allow any gases to disperse, and ensure they don’t come into contact with any bare wires, metal zips, watches etc as these can cause a spark and if gases are present, can result in an explosion.

To protect against damp and corrosion, spray the terminals and electrical connections with WD40 or a similar product.

Alternator belts

An alternator drive belt (also known as a fan belt) should be checked and replaced regularly.

It has two distinct shapes. A V-belt has small ridge-like teeth and usually drives the starting system,

alternator and water pump; a flat belt is flat with a number of grooves encompassing it and drives the domestic alternator.

To check the belt’s tightness, pinch it between your finger and thumb (around halfway up the longest point between the pulleys) and push against it. There should be about half an inch of play. Adjust via the tensioner bracket if there’s too much or too little movement.

To check its condition, while belt removal isn’t necessary, it will make the task easier. If checking in situ, pinch the belt between finger and thumb and twist 90 degrees until you can see the inside wall of the belt. If it’s shiny, cracked or has a groove, it’s ready to replace.

The belt size is usually printed on its top side where you should also find its dimensions. A sequence of numbers such as 10x1025, 10x900, 11.5x1000, 13x1200, 1100A, 950B, 1350C, relate to width and length. For example 10x1025, 10=width in mm and 1025=length in mm. The letters A, B and C relate to width, A=10mm B=11.5mm C=13mm.

Once you’ve been shown how, it’s easy to replace a belt.

Engine mounts

Engine mounts are easy to maintain if you know how to

look after them. However, they can cause catastrophic damage if they’re adjusted incorrectly or not checked regularly. The engine mount is a rubber shock absorber, and the engine leg, a metal bracket.

It basically comprises a rubber base with a threaded bar through the centre, usually with two or three nuts for adjustment. The engine mount typically bolts to the engine bearer, with the threaded bar extending through a hole into the engine leg.

It’s common to find a single nut under the leg, and either one self-locking nut or two nuts above the leg. The bottom nut is used to set the adjustment height, and the one/two nuts above lock the mount into place, once the correct adjustment has been set.

Once the mount is fitted, maintenance is easy; check once a month and ensure the bottom nut is tight up against the underside of the leg. If it isn’t, tighten the bottom nut up to the leg. Never touch the top bolt as this will affect the engine alignment. It’s also worth asking an engineer to take a look in the winter to see if they’re worn or if your engine’s out of alignment.

As always, River Canal Rescue engineers are on hand to help 24/7, for boaters requiring assistance – visit www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk

FREE APP

48 HOLIDAYS & LEISURE

September 2023

01606 833668 Middlewich, Cheshire

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Take a well-being break afloat

Puffer Steamboat Holidays Cruise the sea lochs and canals of Sccotlan nd’ss Wesst Coast in an oriigin nal steam powered Clyyde Pu uffe fffer.

Tel: 07780 936407 Visit: savethepuffer.co.uk

Fox Narrowboats

Enjoy a break on the Cambridgeshire Waterways Day Boat Hire

Our day boat hire lets you meander along the Fenland Waterways. The boat can hold up to 10 people.

It has a galley complete with hob, fridge, cutlery and crockery, along with a toilet plus indoor & outdoor seating areas. Collection from 9:30am, returning by 6pm.

IT’S well known that spending time in green space connecting with nature is good for our mental health and well-being.

Recent research by the Canal & River Trust confirms the combination of green and blue space with wildlife experienced by visitors to the inland waterways gives an extra well-being boost.

Britain’s 3000-mile network of inland waterways flows through some of our most beautiful and unspoilt countryside, including National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).

Drifters has published a guide to its top eight well-being destinations for autumn 2023: Navigate the Peak Forest Canal to Whaley Bridge – on a week’s holiday from Drifters’ base at

Stoke-on-Trent, hirers can travel along the Trent & Mersey and Macclesfield canals to connect to

the Peak Forest Canal, and its terminus at Whaley Bridge. The Peak Forest Canal is said to be one of Britain’s most scenic waterways, running through beautiful countryside on the edge of the Peak District National Park. The journey to Whaley Bridge travels 39 miles, passes through the Harecastle Tunnel and 13 locks, and takes around 20 cruising hours.

Explore the Staffordshire countryside and Cannock Chase – on a short break from Kings

Orchard on the Coventry Canal in Staffordshire, holidaymakers can cruise to the beautiful waters at Tixall Wide and back, observing wildlife and passing through the Cannock Chase AONB along the way. The journey there and back covers 32 miles, passes through 10 locks (five each way) and takes around 16 hours.

Cambridgeshire Narrowboat Holidays

On our Narrowboat holidays, you can relax on board in the cosy living space and discover the beautiful Fenland countryside. Visit Peterborough, Ely, St Ives, Huntingdon or Cambridge.

Our Narrowboat holidays can be taken as a week, weekend or mid week break. We can also supply :#%BGD 6#8? @#:>"8&A. !:G8AG $8:: =A 8? ?@G #E3$G, C=D 6#8?A D8%BG ED#' 7-1 6GD?@ 8%" 8DG 8<8>:86:G through Spring, Summer & Autumn.

Moorings

C=D '8D>%8 @#:"A 7** 6#8?A, 0#%-DGA>"G%?>8: :G>A=DG '##D>%BA $8% 6G let on a daily or long term basis. We can accommodate boats up to 70ft.

We also offer a range of services from slipway, with hoist and cradle E8$>:>?>GA 8A (G:: 8A E=::& F=8:>3G" G%B>%GGDA E#D AGD<>$G. DG!8>DA ) '#">3$8?>#%A. 8 $@8%":GD& 8%" DGE=AG ">A!#A8:,

;G:+ *9524 127//* Email: holidays@foxboats.co.uk Web: www.foxnarrowboats.com Fox Narrowboats Ltd. 10 Marina Drive, March, Cambs, PE15 0AU

Oakwood Marina 01606 331961 glamping@oakwoodmarina.co.uk g l www.oakwoodmarina.co.uk G+

We have 25 acres of rolling Cheshire countryside, why not come and get away from it all by spending time in one of our beautifully furnished bell tents, or camping with your own tent or campervan.

The Wilder family, who own the place, have an attitude to the campsite that befits their surname. Grazed by cows in some parts and cut just once or twice a year for hay, the meadows are otherwise left long and wild in summer. A few footpaths have been conscientiously mown in between pitches to help guide you around the fields and over to another lake attached to the canal that’s a wildlife hotspot and a good place to watch for herons.

THIS PROJECT WAS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL FUND FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE 49

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023 Drift through the prehistoric Vale of Pewsey to Hungerford – on the Kennet & Avon Canal from

the holiday hire base at Devizes. On a week’s break, boaters can cruise to the historic town of Hungerford, passing through the beautiful Vale of Pewsey, part of the North Wessex Downs AONB. The journey there and back takes around 40 hours, travelling 54 miles through 106 locks (53 each way).

Glide around the Breacon Beacons – isolated from the main canal network, the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park. Stretching 35 miles from Brecon to Cwmbran, this peaceful waterway, with very few locks, offers incredible mountain views. From Drifters’ base at Goytre Wharf, near Abergavenny, holidaymakers can cruise to Brecon and back on a week’s break.

The journey takes boaters through Georgian Crickhowell, with its fascinating 13th century castle, and Talybont-on-Usk with wonderful walks to the waterfalls at Blaen y Glyn.

Cruise to the Aylesbury Vale – from Gayton Marina on the Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire, boaters can travel south to the Aylesbury Arm and into the Vale of Aylesbury, part of the Chilterns AONB. The journey to Aylesbury, which passes through a series of canalside towns and villages, including Stoke Bruerne with its canal museum, and Marsworth next to Tring Reservoirs, travels 44 miles, passes through 41 locks and takes around 22 hours.

Float through the Dee Valley in North Wales – from Chirk on the Llangollen Canal, on a short break boaters can float through the Dee Valley AONB to the pretty Eisteddfod town of Llangollen, passing over the UNESCO World Heritage Status Pontcysyllte Aqueduct along the way.

The journey to Llangollen and back takes around eight hours, travelling 14 miles, with no locks.

Travel through the Yorkshire Dales to Skipton

– on a short break from Barnoldswick, boaters can head north-east along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to Skipton and back. This breathtaking route includes extensive views of the Yorkshire Dales.

The journey to Skipton travels 13 miles through the Yorkshire Dales, passes through 15 locks and takes around 10 hours. Once there, boaters can moor in the centre of town, visit shops and restaurants and explore the 900-year-old Skipton Castle.

Drifters Waterway Holidays offers more than 550 boats for hire from 45 locations across England, Scotland and Wales.

Hire prices for 2023 start at £590 for a short break (three or four nights) on a boat for four, £815 for a week. Tuition is included in all Drifters’ holiday prices.

For more information about Drifters boating holidays call 0344 984 0322 or visit www.drifters. co.uk

THE BRIDGE INN

The Leigh Arms • Moor at Bridge 208 on the Trent & Mersey Canal • Real Ales served • Children’s play area • Traditional British and Authentic European Dishes

Little Leigh Steam party Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th October

Helen and her staff at The Bridge Inn, offer a warm welcome to Boaters.

Dog Friendly, Food Served 12pm – 8pm daily.

Brewood, Bridge 14, Shropshire Union Canal.

Function Room available.

Coin operated laundrette available.

01902 903966

The Tudor Arms Situated adjacent to Patch Bridge on the Gloucester/ Sharpness Canal

The Leigh Arms, Warrington Road, Little Leigh, Northwich, Cheshire CW8 4QT. Tel 01606 853327

Serving Real Ales and Home Cooked food all day 14 Guest Rooms suitable for one night or more and ideal for visiting friends and relatives

www.leigharms.co.uk

01453 890306 enquiries@thetudorarms.co.uk www.thetudorarms.co.uk

Cruise to the historic town of Hungerford.

Take a Thames boating holiday to the edge of the Cotswolds – on a four-night break from the

narrowboat rental base on the River Thames at Oxford, holidaymakers can travel west along the River Thames to the pretty market town of Lechlade, situated in an AONB on the edge of the Cotswolds.

The route passes through 22 miles of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire countryside, past Kelmscott Manor, once the Cotswold retreat of William Morris, and through 14 locks (seven each way).

It takes around 17 hours to cruise there and back.

Drift through the beautiful Vale of Pewsey.

NARROWBOAT HOLIDAYSin

across Great Brita

Choose from 9 stunning starting locations across England, Scotland and Wales and a wide choice of modern boats, sleeping from 2 to 10 guests.

Enjoy a short break or longer holiday, no experience is necessary, full coaching is provided.

Find out more

black-prince.com

01527 575115

SAVE

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WITH DISCOUNT CODE TT2024 *Save 10% on any short break or longer holiday taken any point during the 2024 season. This offer is valid on all classes of boat and all bases, subject to availability. This offer can be applied on top of any existing discounts. Book by 30th September 2023.

50 TECHNICAL

September 2023

www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Keeping your water tank clean River Canal Rescue advises on domestic water tank maintenance.

LEISURE marine domestic water tanks are typically constructed of three types of material; plastic, stainless steel or mild steel, each with differing maintenance requirements and associated risks.

The highest risk material is mild steel – it reacts with oxygen to produce rust which drastically depreciates the water quality and creates an environment for bacteria to develop.

While the bacteria is not known to be dangerous, if a bacterial infection takes hold, it can give the water a foul smell and taste. When inspecting the tank, the bacterial infection will take the form of slime attached to the sides.

Plastic tanks offer greater protection from bacterial infection however, dependent on material and age, they will start to release toxins into the water when they begin to break down so it’s important to replace plastic tanks in accordance with their shelf life.

They’re also more likely to absorb or hold any chemicals added to purify the water. For example, the chemical in purifying tablets used to flush the system may remain in the water for a year or so and while these toxins are not dangerous, a chemical smell and taste will persist.

The lowest risk material is stainless steel – this offers protection from rusting and bacterial infection and as it doesn’t retain toxins, it avoids persistent foul smells and tastes.

Domestic water tank maintenance

Sometimes the inside can be a serious project to refit!

Is it a bargain?

Words and photos: Ben Sutcliffe-Davies

Use hot water to flush out a plastic tank. differs by material. Stainless steel tanks require a purification cycle of at least once a year. To do this, add a purifying tablet to a FULL water tank and leave to activate for the advised time period.

Once purification has occurred, turn all the taps on and drain the system as much as possible. This will ensure purification flows through the system.

Next, refill and flush the tank twice more to evacuate any residual chemical within the system (with the taps on and a running hose pipe in the tank).

Steel tanks need an annual purification cycle. PHOTOS: FIT OUT PONTOON

Mild steel tanks require the same purification cycle as a stainless steel tank but they also need deep cleaning every three to five years. This entails removing the inspection cover and power washing the inside. Do not sand down or rub the rust off – rust is not dangerous and the power washer will remove any loose rust and debris build-up. Do not paint the inside of the tank (unless specialist paint is used) as this will leach toxins into the water.

Plastic tanks also require a yearly purification cycle, but instead of using chemicals, they should be cleaned out manually using hot water. If the tank is inaccessible a hot water flush will suffice.

If a chemical is the only method available, regularly flush the system with fresh water. Furthermore, do not allow water to stand in the tank for long periods of time as this will increase the build-up of toxins in the water.

Finally, filtration is advisable for any domestic water tank. A filter will remove any debris or sediment, drastically improving the water quality and consistency, and there are also filters that can remove toxins. Filtration however, does not replace the need for tank maintenance and if this is neglected, water will be foul smelling/ tasting even if filters are installed.

Battery supplier to launch new catalogue at show ECOBAT Battery will be using the Southampton Boat Show (stand J337) from September 15-24 to launch its latest and most comprehensive product catalogue.

This will feature some entirely new brands and emerging battery technologies, as well as additions to the company’s existing ranges, and also includes an enhanced technical section, to complete the package.

New to the Ecobat Battery portfolio is EcoFlow, a portable power storage (PPS) specialist, that has a wide range of products that offer an alternative power storage solution to the traditional 12-volt battery. An EcoFlow van will be demonstrating the Delta2, River2, Powerhub,

Wave and Glacier, all key products in the EcoFlow range. There is, however, still a role for the traditional 12-volt battery and among the brands in the Ecobat Battery portfolio is Rolls Battery, the name behind a range of deep cycle lead acid batteries that have been the choice of serious boaters for

more than 60 years.

Its AGM-S Series VRLA batteries offer deep cycle performance, increased capacity and extended cycle life in a rugged, sealed, shockand vibration-resistant ABS case designed for added durability, and are ideal for use in a wide range of marine applications.

A selection of Ecobat batteries. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Ecobat Battery will also be exhibiting several other marine ranges featuring batteries that are suitable for starting requirements, dual purpose and equipment demands etc, that are available in a number of technologies, from standard lead acid to EFB, AGM and lithium.

The brands featured will include Lucas, Exide, Numax, Ecobat Lithium, Pylontech and Optima, and the Ecobat Battery team will be on hand to guide visitors through the options and help them identify the right battery for their requirements.

For information visit: www.ecobat.com or www.ecobatbattery.com

EVERY so often I get approached by a hopeful potential buyer who is looking for a bit of a bargain.

I regularly deal with insurance claims and occasionally get asked to dispose of a burnt-out vessel.

Taking on any insurance write-off is not for the faint-hearted; over the years I’ve seen a good mixture of firedamaged craft from basic galley fires to multi-fuel stoves really setting fire to a narrowboat along with inverters, vessel battery banks, a mixture of lithium batteries for battery banks like scooters and bikes plus the obvious gas bottles all going bang!

Often the insurance companies will then regularly write off craft for a mixture of reasons that are predominantly down to the cost of rebuilding/repairing. Sometimes it is obvious that no matter how much is spent on repair the vessel won’t be safe; that’s an important point to remember.

So a few things I’d suggest if you are the slightest bit tempted; firstly, TAKE OFF THE ROSE-TINTED GLASSES! Other tips include: Obtain as much background as possible to what has happened:

Try and find out what the craft has experienced and if there was any inspection by a surveyor for the insurance. Often asking for some information on any structural issues may help build a better understanding of what’s entailed to rebuild or refit the craft.

With fire damage both steel narrowboats and GRP river craft can be seriously weakened

from heat; steel buckles quite spectacularly and in GRP boats the resin burns very quickly and what’s left will go brittle. Be aware that heat in a fire within a cabin goes upwards so items like decks and superstructures may not externally have any obvious structural damage but from the underside could be seriously weakened.

Think carefully about what is an affordable budget: When looking at

a rebuilding project, working out an affordable and realistic budget and also considering a proper affordable budget by realistic costings for the potential worst-case scenarios is really important. Consider potential costs of an engine replacement, full rewiring or full strip out and rebuild. Often the stripping out can be more costly than initially envisaged too. Likewise on the flipside also consider the end-game market price as frequently I see the bargains at the end of the rebuild cost more than comparative craft on the marketplace without a written-off history. After all it’s why insurance companies regularly decide to write vessels off.

Is it safe?: Before investing what could be thousands make sure whatever you invest is viable and going to make a safe boat at the end of your project rebuild.

Do not hesitate in getting proper advice from a marine surveyor and see if they are interested in being involved in periodic inspections and documenting the repairs for helping get insurance etc. And if the surveyor says don’t… do take his advice.

Ben Sutcliffe-Davies celebrated 40 years in the marine industry in September 2018. He started boat building with his father and uncle and initially built wooden craft; over time he has also built craft in GRP, steel and aluminium. He has been a marine surveyor for more than 20 years and is now a fellow and full member of the Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association (YDSA) as well as of British Marine and the Inland Boat Building Association.

Fire caused by an inverter that had been left on for four years.

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

51

52 BUILDERS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Tel: T el: 0151 0151 298 298 9602.

9602. sales@collingwoodboatbuilders.co.uk sales@collingwoodboatbuilders.co.uk www.collingwoodboatbuilders.co.uk www.collingwoodboatbuilders.co.uk 72 7 2 St St JJohns ohns R Rd, d, L Liverpool iverpool L L20 20 8 8BH BH

ONLY £1K DEPOSIT TO SECURE YOUR BUILD SLOT

THINKING OF BUYING A BOAT? VISIT OUR FACTORY AND SEE OUR FULL RANGE OF BOATS!

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EURO 60 X 12’6

HOXTON 70 X 12’3

SHEARWATER 60 X 6’10

SAL 60 X 12’6

BUILDERS 53

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

01270 525040 www.knightsnarrowboats.com Units 4-5, Aqueduct Marina, Church Minshull, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 6DX

BOOK A BUILD SLOT FOR 2024 AND GET 3 MONTHS FREE MOORING

Bespoke Built or Shroppie Range Exclusivelyy brokered at Aqueduct Aq queduct Marina

Get in touch today to discuss your dream narrowboat

FOLLOW US ON

• Narrowboats • Widebeams • Dutch Barges • Bespoke • Offering Shells & Sailaways

Lee and Garry welcome all their customers, whether first time owners or old friends, a quality shell built to your specifications at affordable prices

Now you can find us on facebook, search

‘X R&D Boatbuilders’

Come and see us at Unit 67, Road A, Boughton Industrial Estate, Boughton, near Newark, Notts. NG22 9LD D Call 01623 863576 or Garry 07830 720879, Lee 07723 021798 Our website is packed full of images of past and current builds, visit: www.xrandd.co.uk

50 years combined experience

54 BUILDERS

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Jonathan Wilson Boatbuilders Ltd Just Superb STEEL BOATS Sailaways & FULLY LINED Sailaways

Also Fully Electric Sailaways with market leading technology managed and warranted systems for peace of mind Narrow, Widebeam and Dutch Barge available We have secure widebeam moorings with parking in the HEART OF SHEFFIELD CITY, 5 mins walk to Sheffield train station & city centre

For more information, please call J Wilson on 07815 904721 or L Wilson on 07815 900670

LOUIS AND JOSHUA BOATS 57’ Jonathan wilson hull traditional bow and stern to include, 1 set of side doors, front and rear doors, Sliding hatch, stern tube, 4 anodes, 2k epoxy primer.

All hull variations and extras available on request.

Basic • Vetus 40HP engine or equivalent with starter battery • Primed with Jotun Epoxy 2K primer • 5 chrome mushroom vents • 5 Caldwell single glaze windows with 4 Portholes Total = £42,737 plus VAT Basic Plus – includes all above • Fully battened • 30ml of spray foam • 3 ton of ballast • 25ml hardwood insulated floor Total = £47,307 plus VAT

Savvy Sailor – includes all above

• Sides and roof lined with accents of American white oak or equivalent • Front and rear bulkheads • Bathroom and bedroom walls to customer spec • Solid oak doors • Porthole and window solid oak reveals Total = £60,307 Plus VAT Captain Suite – includes all above • Full electric to include Victron inverter or equivalent, water pumps, down lights, under gunnel lights, USB ports, double socket fronts and light switches

• 12v and 240v distribution panel • 4 x 110a leisure batteries • 300W solar panel system with a smart Victron MPPT controller ( 2 panels) • Full plumbing system to include, 4 radiators.

• 5kw diesel heater • 55L twin coil colarifier with 240v immersion heater • 600L stainless steel water tank Total = £75,957 Plus VAT OPTIONAL EXTRAS • 2k spray applied paint work, 1 colour £6,000 plus VAT 2 colour £8,000 plus VAT 3 colour £10,000 plus VAT • Semi traditional stern £2,000 plus VAT • Square back £2,598 plus VAT • Bow thruster £2,750 plus VAT • Cruiser stern £1,298 plus VAT

Fullfits from £133,000 + VAT Stanilands Marina Lock Hill Thorne DN8 5EP 07725 979108 07815 904721

BUILDERS 55

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

t

JD NARROWBOATS LTD  We understand this is a life changing decision, so we welcome you to visit our working boat yard to see what we can offer you prior to looking elsewhere.  Top quality materials used, from the shell to the fit out

Bespoke Boat Builders Narrowboats & Widebeam

 We work with the customer throughout each stage within the boat build and happily discuss the process step by step  Only 20 mins from Willington, 5 mins from Sawley Marina.

Why not come and see what we can do for you OPENING TIMES Mon-Fri 8.00-4.30 Sat 9.00-3.30 Sun By Appointment

Sailaways  Full Fit  Repaints  Repair  Servicing Dobsons Wharf, The Wharf, Shardlow, Derbyshire DE72 2GH

3

We have

boats in build

Call Workshop: 01332 792271 or Mobile: 07952 378679 jdnarrowboats@gmail.com  www.jdnarrowboats.com

From Hull only to fully fitted narrow & wide beam boats built to your own design 57ft cruisers fully fitted from £130,000 Aintree Beetle range starting from £43,000 PLEASE CONTACT US FOR A QUOTE

WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD YOUR DREAM www.aintreeboats.co.uk 0151 523 9000 | info@aintreeboats.co.uk Units 14-16, Brookfield Trading Estate, Brookfield Drive, Aintree, Liverpool L9 7AS

56 BUILDERS / BROKERAGE

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

BOATS URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR BROKERAGE OR PURCHASED OUTRIGHT HERMANOS Here we have Hermanos, a 36ft Cruiser built by Springer. With a Lister SR2 engine to provide propulsion. Hot water will be supplied by a Morco Gas Boiler which is yet to be fitted. Solid fuel stove located within the saloon. Brand New electrical systems comprising of a 12v, 240v landline, 5kw inverter, 1 starter & 4 leisure batteries. Within the galley area we can find a 2 burner hob with glass cover. The bathroom offers a Thetford Cassette toilet, vanity basin and a shower cubicle in need of finishing. With accommodation offered as a sofa bed and convertible dining table area. BSC 2027.

Blacked January 2022.

£24,950

TOOTING III a wonderful 54ft Trad built by Branson in 1991. Propulsion provided by a Isuzu

28hp engine. Hot water supplied by a Morco and Calorifier whilst central heating is supplied via a backboiler, along with an onboard Morso Squirrel stove. Electrical systems comprising of a 12v, 240v, Pure Sine wave 600w inverter, 1 starter, 3 leisure batteries and 3 solar panels. Within the galley you can find a Vanette cooker and a Waeco fridge with freezer compartment. Following onto the walkthrough bathroom you can find a shower with potential for a toilet and sink to be fitted. 2 berths in the form of a double bed with potential for additional berths in the saloon. Side Hatch. BSC 2026. Blacked 2023.

£39,950

TRANQUILLITY a stunning 58ft Semi-Trad built by Heritage. Propulsion is provided by a

Barrus Shire 45hp engine and a Vetus Bow thruster. Hot water is supplied via a calorifier / immersion /Webasto and central heating via a Webasto. Within the saloon we can find a Hamlet solid fuel stove.

Electrical systems comprising of a 12v, 240v landline, 3000kva 120amp charger /inverter, 1 starter, 4 leisure and 1 bow thruster battery along with 2 solar panels each with 150kw. In the galley we can find a Stoved cooker and hob along with a Fridgemaster fridge and Microwave. The walkthrough bathroom offers a Cassette toilet, vanity basin and a shower. 4 berths over an extendable double bed to the stern and a sofa bed within the saloon. With a side hatch, cratch and pram cover. BSC July 2023. Blacked 2020.

£89,950

BLUE FINCH 57ft by 10.6ft Widebeam Cruiser built by ABC Boats with a professional fit out in

the popular reverse layout and with the benefit of 2 cabins. Hot water by Rinnai. Solid fuel stove in the saloon. Barrus Shire 50hp engine and PRM 150 gearbox. Electrical systems comprising of a 12v, 240v landline, a Victron Energy MPPT 100 150 inverter, 2 x 1100w solar panels, 1 starter & 8 leisure batteries.

6 berths over a fixed double in the first cabin, a fixed double in the second cabin and a sofa bed in the saloon. The bathroom contains a cassette toilet, a small urinal, a shower and a vanity basin. The galley is equipped with a Candy LPG cooker, 4 ring hob a fridge and solid wood worktops. BSC May 2027.

Blacked 2022. Serviced April 2023.A spacious boat with a fantastic layout. An ideal live aboard

£110,000

NOW OPERATING FROM 10 MARINAS NATIONWIDE BOAT SALES LTD

Email: enquiries@nationwideboatsales.co.uk www.nationwideboatsales.co.uk Tel: 01889 881960

BEAUTIFUL BOATS BUILT TO LAST Established in 1974, Colecraft have gained the experience and expertise to ensure that the boat we build for you will last for years to come.

All our boats are custom designed and built to individual requirements.

Boats are built to order to any stage of completion – from a bare hull or superstructure to luxuriously fitted and finished.

We build narrowbeam and widebeam boats for private and trade customers and are possibly the largest supplier of steel shells to other boat builders/fitters.

Our latest trip boats include Crusader Comunity (Widebeam with Hybrid propulsion - full MCA certification), Electra (Narrowbeam with electric propulsion - 12 passengers) and Kingfisher Mark (Widebeam with electric propulsion 12 passengers).

Our welders are coded to meet MCA requirements.

BROKERAGE 57

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

I N T R O D U C I N G

W AT E R LO D G E Let's go Discover a new way to live on the water.

Waterlodge luxury floating homes are now available to buy at six of our unique and special Aquavista marinas.

Sitting on the roof terrace of your new Waterlodge, you'll enjoy special waterside views at Crick, Cropredy, Buckden, Ripon, Poplar or Sawley. As well as luxury living, you'll find a friendly waterside team always on hand to help and a vibrant community – on the water.

To find out more about Waterlodges at our marinas, please call 01455 249000, email boatsales@aquavista.com or visit aquavista.com.

58 BROKERAGE

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Tel: (01788) 891373 Fax: (01788) 891436

Braunston Marina Ltd The Wharf Braunston Nr. Daventry Northamptonshire NN11 7JH

On the Internet: www.braunstonmarina.co.uk Email: sales@braunstonmarina.co.uk

FOR SALE CHISWICK

FOR SALE £78,000

71ft 6” /21.82m Trad Style, Hull by Harland and Wolf –1937, F/O 2006, 2/4 Berth.

MELITA

REDUCED VICTORIA

FOR SALE £49,950

52’(15.85M) – Semi Trad 1996 – Hull by Michael Cull F/O by Lockhart boats, 2 berth, Trad engine midships.

THE HIGGLER

REDUCED £27,000

33’(10.05M) Cruiser Style 1993 – Hull by TT marine owner F/O, 25HP Beta diesel engine, warm air heating, 2 berth

WIBBLY WOBBLY

£129,950

60ft /18.3m Semi Trad Style 2014, Hull Tyler Wilson, F/O by Milburn Boats, Reverse Layout & Hybrid Engine, 2/4 Berth,

FOR SALE

FOR SALE SHORTWOOD

£39,950

57ft /17.38m Trad Style 1990, Hull By Colecraft, F/O by Len Beachem, 2/4 Berth

UNDER OFFER DIGNITY

£19,950

30ft /9.15m Cruiser Style 1985, Hull & F/O by Delph Marine, 3 Berth

£31,500

40’(12.2M) Cruiser Style 1991, Hull by D J Clark, F/O Bromsgrove,2/4 berth, Lister STW2M diesel engine.

SAM TOO

£64,950

57ft /17.37m Trad Style 2005, Hull & F/O by Ledgard Bridge, 2/4 Berth

THERE ARE MANY GOOD REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER LETTING US SELL YOUR BOAT.....

Here are just two:  

We have a proven record for high and quick turnover of boat sales founded on our famous and prominent location An excellent and efficient purchasing procedure for our buyers backed up by our comprehensive boatyard facilities and services, and attentive, caring staff.

CONTACT OUR SALES TEAM FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

BOATS URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR SALE THIS SEASON

• Moorings • Narrowboat Sales • Steelwork by Arrangement • Chandlery • Pump Out • Laundrette • Diesel • Calor Gas • Dry & Wet Docks • Blacking • DIY Facilities • Engine Repairs & Servicing • Painting & Signwriting • Rope Fenders • Refits & Alterations

BROKERAGE 59

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Buy, sell, or part exchange today!

Featured Boat of the Month...

lakelandleisureboatsales.co.uk

NEW - BEATRICE | 58’ CRUISER STERN | £199,000 Saul Junction Marina

Roydon Marina

Discover Beatrice, a beautifully hand-crafted 58ft cruiser stern narrowboat by Kingsground, offering luxurious contemporary accommodation. Featuring double-glazed thermal break windows that frame stunning scenic views, Beatrice boasts a captivating reverse layout, elegant kitchen, cosy dinette, and a warm lounge area with a multi-fuel stove. Rest peacefully in the fixed double bed and enjoy modern convenience in the walk-through bathroom. With a reliable Beta Marine 43hp engine, Beatrice promises both sophistication and comfort for your waterway adventures. For sale at Roydon Marina, Essex.

Call Sonia on 07534 655702 for viewings or more details.

OTTER | EX-DAY HIRE BOAT | £29,995 Discover the Otter 31ft Cruiser Stern Narrowboat - a versatile ex-day hire boat with boundless potential. Whether you seek a delightful day boat for unforgettable adventures or an exciting renovation project, this vessel has you covered. Its open plan layout offers endless possibilities, complete with 2 x gas burner hob, sink, and drainer, as well as ample seating for 10. Don’t wait - seize this opportunity and set sail towards your dreams today!

Sold as seen, Otter is currently at Saul Junction Marina, Gloucestershire.

Call Julie for more information or to book a viewing on 07748 036638.

Barton Marina

Caen Hill Marina

NEW - LOUIS JOSHUA | 58’ TRAD | £190,000 BLUE DRAGON | 55’ CRUISER STERN | £39,995 Introducing Blue Dragon, a 55ft cruiser stern narrowboat with a distinctive reverse layout.

This is a one-of-a-kind vessel built by Brunel Boats Bristol. Blue Dragon started as a 45ft boat but was extended by an additional 10’ft to provide extra space, making it perfect for those seeking spacious onboard living.

Currently for sale at our new partner marina Caen Hill Marina, in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Call Steve on 07354 902085 for more information on this vessel, or to arrange a viewing.

This Brand New Louis Joshua 58ft Narrowboat is a stunning vessel with a Barrus engine, reverse layout, open-plan galley and lounge, L-shaped dinette, fixed double bed, and a brand new walk-through bathroom with shower and cassette toilet. Accommodates 2+2 with a pull-out bed, and all the bells and whistles you need for your adventures.

The Louis Joshua 58ft Narrowboat is a true gem, offering all the desirable features you could imagine. Embark on unforgettable weekend getaways or venture on extended adventures, knowing that this vessel will make your dreams come true. With its impeccable design and attention to detail, this narrowboat ensures a remarkable journey on any waterway.

Call Mike on 07513 708099 to arrange a viewing at Barton Marina, Staffordshire.

Great Haywood Marina

Shakespeare Marina

MAD HATTER | 31’10” SEA OTTER | £59,995

COLLINGWOOD LINED SAILAWAY | 60’ | £95,950

Introducing the extraordinary Mad Hatter, a true marvel among boats. Prepare to be enchanted by its captivating features and exceptional craftsmanship. This 31ft Sea Otter vessel is the epitome of elegance and functionality, designed to elevate your boating experience to new heights. The Mad Hatter is ready to set sail with a comprehensive cruising kit, including essential equipment like a steel plank, barge pole, windlass, ropes, landline cable, padlocks, and so much more. Nothing is left to chance, ensuring that your journey is smooth, secure, and filled with excitement. Currently based at Great Haywood Marina, Staffordshire. Call Dave on 07354 902086 for more information or to arrange a viewing.

Introducing the perfect floating sanctuary with our 60ft Collingwood Lined Sailaway. This brand new narrowboat offers a reverse layout design, with windows strategically placed to provide stunning views throughout. With all electrical, heating, and plumbing work completed, it’s ready for your personal touch. Featuring a spacious cruiser stern, future galley and living area, walk-through bathroom, and a cosy double bedroom, this sailaway is an ideal project for customising your own fabulous boat. Start your boating adventure and make this blank canvas your very own masterpiece. For Sale at our new partner marina, Shakespeare Marina, Warwickshire. Call Claire on 07354 902085 to arrange a viewing.

9

BOAT SALES OFFICES

07534 655702

07354 902086

07585 956804

07748 036638

07513 708099

SHAKESPEARE: 07354 902085 | CAEN HILL: 07354 902084 | DEGANWY (COASTAL BOATS): 07935 010167

60 BROKERAGE

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

LARGE CHOICE OF

WIDEBEAMS NARROWBOATS DUTCH BARGES

NEWLY LISTED WIDEBEAMS AVAILABLE FROM £100,000

COLLINGWOOD HOXTON 70' X 12' 03" Price from £189,950 | thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

WIDEBEAMS

COLLINGWOOD METROFLOAT 60' X 12'

WIDE BEAM NARROWBOAT 57' X 10'

NEW BOAT TO ORDER thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

'Allegria’ thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

'Midnight' stourportboatsales@tingdene.net

‘Andantino' pyrfordboatsales@tingdene.net

£198,950

£139,950

£130,000

£129,950

BARGE JOHN HARKER HUMBER KEEL

SAGAR MARINE MINI-LUXE

BARGE BRANSON THOMAS DESIGN

NOTTINGHAM BOAT CO 70' X 12'

'Sidney Billbrough' uptonboatsales@tingdene.net

'Lady Macbeth' thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

'Second Wind' thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

'The Jupiter’ thamesboatsales@tingdene.net

£199,950

£199,950

£189,950

£199,950

SEA OTTER 46' NARROWBOAT

NARROWBOAT 58' CANALCRAFT

NARROWBOAT 45'

SEA OTTER 21' NARROWBOAT

‘Wey Otter’ pyrfordboatsales@tingdene.net

‘Windlass Girl' pyrfordboatsales@tingdene.net

‘Calliope' pyrfordboatsales@tingdene.net

‘Tranq'ille' pyrfordboatsales@tingdene.net

£71,950

£51,950

£29,950

£32,950

VIKING CANAL BOATS WIDEBEAM

COLLINGWOOD 64' X 10'

£89,950 NARROWBOATS

NEW AND USED BOATS AVAILABLE FROM 10 UK LOCATIONS

BERTHING AT ANY TINGDENE MARINA GUARANTEED* WITH ALL CRAFT SOLD!

SPECIALIST WIDE BEAM AND NARROWBOAT SALES OFFICES Walton Marina | 01932 221689 Hartford Marina | 01480 274707 Pyrford Marina | 01932 343275 Upton Marina | 01684 593111 Stourport Marina | 01299 827082 Thames and Kennet Marina | 01189 477770 *subject to availability

Tel: 01933 551622 boatsales@tingdene.net www.tingdeneboating.com

BROKERAGE 61

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

David Mawby Ltd NOTTINGHAM LANE, OLD DALBY, LEICESTERSHIRE, LE14 3LX

T: 07721 382619 E: davidmawbyboats@gmail.com W: www.davidmawbyboats.co.uk

Quality River and Canal Motor Cruisers are available to view by appointment at our Leicestershire indoor showroom. Over 20 years experience and 2,500 boats sold.

VIKING 23

£18,995 VIKING 22

Length 23ft, Beam 6ft10ins, Built 1991, 4 Berths, cooker, shower, toilet, hot and cold water system, 12 and 240 volts electrics, CREAM LEATHERETTE CUSHION COVERS WITH BLUE PIPING, NEW FLOOR CARPETS, NEW HEADLINING, powered by a Honda 15Hp 4 stroke outboard engine, Bsc 2027, all original gelcoat (not painted), hull polished and new antifouling, includes new mooring ropes, clean fenders, etc, FREE DELIVERY within 250 miles or local mooring available

£28,995

Length 22ft, Beam 7ft8ins, Built 2007, 4 Berths, cooker, fridge, shower, cassette toilet, warm air heating, fridge, 12 and 240 volts electrics, NEW CANOPY, powered by a Honda 30Hp 4 stroke outboard engine, Bsc 2027, all original gelcoat (not painted), hull polished and new antifouling, includes new mooring ropes, clean fenders, etc, FREE DELIVERY within 250 miles or local mooring available,

New Viking Cruisers

Show Boats Now Available to view at our indoor showroom.

Prices From £39,995.

Including Outboard Engine PLEASE CALL FOR LATEST OFFERS

VIKING 20

£22,995

Length 20ft, Beam 7ft4ins, Built 2003, 4 Berths, cooker, fridge, cassette toilet, shower, hot and cold water system, 12 and 240 volts electrics, recent new canopy, powered by a Tohatsu 15Hp 4 stroke outboard engine, Bsc 2027, all original gelcoat (not painted), hull polished and new antifouling, includes new mooring ropes, clean fenders, etc, FREE DELIVERY within 250 miles or local mooring available,

Wanted

Modern Inland Waterways Cruisers, Viking, Atlanta, Shetland, Mayland, Dolphin, Norman, etc, must be in original condition.

Cash waiting for right boats.

Please call David on

07721 382619

As the Viking Motor Cruisers Premier Agent we are delighted to announce the arrival of the NEW VIKING 26 WIDE BEAM GOLDEN CROWN EDITION to celebrate 50 years of Viking Motor Cruisers. With new easy access lift out cockpit sides, new open plan cabin layout, 2 tone cockpit upholstery and warm air heating as standard, along with the usual fittings including cooker with hob, grill & oven, fridge, hot and cold water system, shower, cassette toilet, 12 & 240 volts electrics, 6 berths, and a 30Hp 4 stroke outboard engine.

Priced at £64,995.

Book your viewing now on 07721 382619.

David Mawby Narrowboat Sales are open by appointment at Shardlow Marina, London Road, Shardlow, Derbyshire, DE72 2GL

SPONDON

£57,995

Length 57ft, Beam 6ft10ins, Built 2007 by Colecraft and fitted out by Streethay Wharf, Cruiser Stern, powered by a Nanni 50Hp Diesel engine with hydraulic drive and hydraulic bow thruster, 1 owner from new, reverse layout, with galley at stern, pullman dinette, large shower room, Reflex diesel stove and Webasto diesel heating with radiators throughout the boat, Victron 2500 inverter charger, 12 and 240 volts electrics, washing machine, dishwasher, etc, Bsc 2027.

GRANDE CULO

£179,995

60ft by 12ft Dutch Barge style Wide Beam, Built 2018 by Soar Valley Boats and fitted out by Andrew Taylor, Classed as cat C, powered by a Beta Marine 115hp Diesel engine (only 670hrs from new), Bow Thruster, over 800w of solar panels, 5 Berths with 3 bedrooms. Spacious, light and airy living accommodation, along with the benefit of a large collapsible wheel house which gives a superb additional dining area. Multifuel stove and Diesel central heating, Bsc Feb 2024. This boat would provide a superb home on the water. Lying away from our sales offices, so viewing by appointment

LITTLE TINKER

£51,995

Length 57ft, Beam 6ft10ins, Built 2008 by Elton Moss, Trad Stern, powered by a Beta Marine 38Hp diesel engine, Standard layout, open plan living area with free standing furniture, solid fuel stove with back boiler, galley with stainless steel sink and drainer, fridge, full gas cooker, microwave, bulkhead mounted cabinets and ample storage, side hatch for additional light and ventilation, the boat has a cross bathroom with shower over corner bath, cassette toilet, and vanity unit, bedroom with 2 single berths, built in wardrobes and drawer units, central heating radiators, 12 and 240 volts electrics, Bsc June 2025,

Narrowboats URGENTLY required for brokerage or outright purchase.

(Free valuation, free storage, fast payout on completion, competitive rates, terms apply) Please contact David on 07721 382619

Website: www.davidmawbyboats.co.uk

Email: davidmawbyboats@gmail.com

62 BROKERAGE

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Alvecote Marina Narrowcraft Boat Sales – Dry Dock - Repairs

The No.1 choice for hull blacking -Taking full boat painting bookings for 2024

BOATYARD SERVICES

• Engine and Heating Servicing • Breakdown Callout and Repairs • Gas, Electrical and Plumbing Specialists • BSC’s & Safety Examination Work • Engine Sales and Installation • Traditional boat painting • Specialists in Historic engines and craft • Boat Brokerage

MOORINGS

• Marina Moorings • Long and short term Moorings • Coal, Gas, Diesel & Pumpouts

DRY DOCK

• Bottom Blacking • Anode Replacement • Cabin Painting • Welding • Surveys

GREAT DEALS ON EBERSPACHER REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT

BOAT OF THE MONTH

MERCURY

£39,950

71.5 ft by 7ft 1926 Horse Boat/butty built by W. J. Yarwoods and Sons. A rare craft that will make a fantastic home or a comfortable, enjoyable cruising boat. New 8mm steel bottom and footings 2018.

Hull 2 pack coated June 2018. BSC until June 2026.

ENGLAND’S GLORY

RUFUS 3

£49,950

LOCKDOWN

£64,950

JUST ARRIVED. 57ft, 1992. A lovely traditional styled narrowboat built by the highly sought after builder Jonathon Wilson. Traditional engine room with Beta BD3 Tug engine.

£65,500

70ft, 1989, Mike Haywood. A beautiful 5 + 2 berth boat , that will appeal to the traditionalist. Lister FR3 in own engine room, Back Cabin, Lots of built in extras.

SHUGLEY

£54,950

57ft, 1991, North West Narrowboats. A reluctant sale of a very well cared for craft, one owner from new. Mitsubishi engine, solar panels, central heating, recent hull survey. 10/6/4 steel spec.

New just arrived, 65ft semi-trad, 2007 built by Liverpool Boats, immaculate internal with new bathroom and kitchen, Isuzu 42 engine, last blacked 2020. BSC March 2024.

VISIT US AT Alvecote Marina, Robeys Lane, Alvecote, Tamworth B78 1AS Tel 01827 898585 narrowcraft@alvecotemarina.co.uk Tuesday - Saturday 08.30 - 17.30. Sundays & Mondays by appointment

For latest info and offers, follow us on twitter @AlvecoteMarina ON THE COVENTRY CANAL - ONLY 5 MINS FROM J10 M42 BY ROAD

www.AlvecoteMarina.co.uk

BROKERAGE 63

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

Reliable central heating and hot water for boats of any size

www.dieselheating.com

JACK FROST

£47,000

2004 45ft - M+P Steelcraft hull with first owner fitout. Boat Safety Until August 2026.

BEATTY

D L SO

£45,000

1991 50ft - R & D Fabrications hull and fitout. Powered by a Beta 43 with a PRM150 Gearbox. Beatty is nicely fitted out boat with plenty of bed space. It has gas cooking and water heating in a well spaced galley. The Beta 43 was fitted by Cowroast Marine in May of 2018 Boat Safety Until August 2026

ALICE MAY

£27,000

ED C U RED Alice May - 1984 51ft - Arkwright Hull and owner fitout. Powered by a BMC 1.5 with a PRM160VR2 Gearbox. Boat Safety Until April 2023

SINE NOMINE

£80,000

D L SO

Sine nomine 2016 52ft S.M. Hudson /Wharf House Narrowboats Ltd this Tug style boat was one of the last S.M.Hudson Built and was unfinished at his death the fit out was subsequently completed by Wharf House Narrowboats. Powered by a Beta 43 engine with a PRM 150 Gearbox.

OLD ROSIE

£55,000

D L SO

2004 49ft 10 - Liverpool Boats hull and fitout. Powered by an Barris shire 3 Cylinder with a PRM150 Gearbox. Boat Safety Until November 2023

Peaceful Canal Boat Moorings in the Heart of the Country

Facilities include: Water points, electrical outlets, pump-out, sewage disposal, perimeter lighting, floodlit car park, 24hr security, picnic/barbecue area, uploading at your boat, fuel, repairs, chandlery.

MARINE ENGINES

BMC Specialists

Specialists in servicing, rebuilding and spare parts for BMC. Our respected quality re-manufactured BMC 1.5 and and 1.8s marinised for keep cooling from £2820 If it’s BMC we have what you need Call us now!

GEARBOXES

• PRM 125 D2 • PRM 150D2 • PRM 280 D2 A range of high quality re-built gearboxes are also available.

ORDER ONLINE FOR NEXT DAY DELIVERY

www.calcuttboatsshop.com

Open 24/7 for all your BMC and Hurricane spare parts and all your other chandlery needs online.

T: 01926 813757 E: boats@calcuttboats.com www.calcuttboatsshop.com

Tomlow Road, Stockton, Southa m, Warwickshire. CV47 8HX

64 BROKERAGE

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

ASH BOATS LTD

For all enquiries please ring Stephen Harral 07771 510154.

W NE TING LIS

Ref 1498

NANETTE £99,500 60 x 10ft by Jazzymaid Boatbuilders 2017 cruiser stern.

Aft galley, spacious living area, bathroom, forward bedroom.

Masses of storage cupboards/ drawers etc. Bow thruster, washing machine, aft canopy etc.

W NE TING LIS

Ref 1496

DAWN RUN £52,500 50ft trad 1996 by Evans and Son with a lovely varnished wood interior, well designed to make the best use of space.

Aft bedroom, forward living.

Exceptional condition throughout.

Ref 1492

W NE TING LIS

Ref 1497

Ref 1480

CARMEN £26,500 Delightful 38ft cruiser style narrowboat, unusual in that it has had one owner form new in 1975. Full maintenance/cruising log with original invoices. Solid Sabb diesel engine, aft cabin with convertible seating/ berth, central galley and shower room, forward cabin with further seating/ berth. BSC and good condition for year.

WATER LILY £29,500 47ft cruiser style, early 1980s by Harborough Marine. Full interior makeover recently completed plus full exterior repaint. Aft galley, forward living. Light and airy interior, ideal for short breaks.

Ref 1493

Ref 1495

www.ashboats.co.uk

MANRIQUE £98,000 58 x 10ft sailaway by Orchard Marina 2019 with trad stern and high quality owner fit-out. Good spec, with plenty of storage and bedroom aft, shower room, galley with breakfast bar, side doors etc opening to the spacious forward living area.

Ref 1494

Ref 1490

BRITANNIA £15,500 28ft Creighton centre cockpit cruiser. Complete refit from an empty shell recently completed and now offered in immaculate condition. A great example of this popular classic canal/river cruiser.

3cyl Volvo Penta diesel inboard, survey available, new BSC

BERYL OF BRIDGEWATER £39,500 50ft cruiser style narrowbeam.

Victory Boatbuilders, floor and ballast in, windows and portholes, reverse layout planned. Yanmar Shire 45. Lots of additional equipment including solid fuel stove and solar panels

steve@ashboats.co.uk NEW CONCEPT PREM 57 £139,500 NEW BUILD. Due for completion Sept ’23. 57ft cruiser style, reverse layout, very high quality fit-out, high spec and beautiful paint finish. Some buyer input welcome.

QUEENIE £59,950 50ft narrowbeam, cruiser style with lovely cedar T&G lined interior. Aft galley and forward bedroom, bathroom with cassette wc. Well equipped (Canaline 42) and very good condition. Well built by Nick Thorpe, 2014

D L O S Ref 1481

CANAL BROKERAGE IN CHESHIRE.

BETTY BLUE £45,000 70ft Braidbar trad from 2001.

Beta 43hp (only 200 hours use), 2-pack epoxy on hull in 2014, 3.0kw Victron inverter, Heritage range cooker (diesel), 4 x new batteries, open plan living space.

Poor paintwork

L’EAU -T- CUISINE £90,000 71 x 12’6” Restaurant boat. “ Highly advantageous Finance package offered to purchaser.” Licensed for 60 diners or 70 non diners. Well equipped and well maintained.

Ref 1458

LE SA EED R AG

NABANA £34,500 55ft cruiser style, sound hull and engine (CB Marine 1.8) but boat needs plenty of TLC. Aft bedroom, forward living. Diesel Reflex stove for heating, New BSC on sale. A worthwhile project Ref 1491

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BROKERAGE 65

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

NORBURY WHARF Limited

New stock arriving shortly

Traditional boatyard, with traditional values

REF 10516 - Duchess 69 foot cruiser stern narrow boat. £42,950.00.

REF 10530 - Fergus.

40 foot cruiser stern narrow boat. £39,950.00

REF 10529 - Defiant 60 foot tug style narrow boat. £63,995.00.

REF 10532 - John Henry 50 foot traditional stern narrow boat. £39,950.00.

REF 10533 - Countess Rose.

55 traditional stern narrow boat. £59,950.00

REF 10534 - Conway.

53 foot tug style narrow boat. £35,950.00

Your Boat • Our Expertise Over 28 years of experience selling individually inspected, well presented boats from your own mooring anywhere in the UK, or from our base at North Kilworth Marina, LE17 6HY

Whether you are buying or selling our website is packed with information and updated daily

Arriving shortly: 40 foot cruiser stern narrow boat. £41,500.00.

Please visit our website for a full list of boats currently For Sale

The Wharf, NORBURY JUNCTION Staffordshire ST20 0PN Tel: (01785) 284292 • E-mail: info@norburywharfltd.co.uk

www.norburywharfltd.co.uk

Standard fee of 6% + VAT with a loyalty discount for returning customers

01788 822 115 • admin@abnb.co.uk

Expert advice and guidance when buying and selling your Narrowboat At Swanley Brokerage we take pride in our professional approach and unrivalled reputation in selling narrowboats for our clients.

Our friendly and experienced Brokerage team ensure our clients sail smoothly through the buying and selling process.

If you would like to find out more about what we can offer please call 01270 524855 or email sales@swanleybrokerage.co.uk Swanley Bridge Marina, Springe Lane, Swanley, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 8NR - www.swanleybrokerage.co.uk

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September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

Need a Survey or Boat Safety Examiner?

Dave Freeman

Over 25 years experience on the inland waterways

Marine Surveys & BSS Examinations For a Competitive Quote & Prompt Service

Tel 07918 677782

Covering all Areas Based Bridge 69 Trent & Mersey Canal dave.freeman@boatsafety schemeexaminations.co.uk

Alan Buckle Boat Safety Scheme Examiner

Independent friendly service Covering the Midlands and surrounding areas.

07856 686363

bsswithalan@gmail.com

Rob Dickinson BSS Examiner & Gas Engineer

Leisure -Live on Board & Commercial Craft Gas Installation, Service & Repairs Tel. 01270 812086 Mob. 07831449236 email. menderman@live.com Areas - 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10

Services

is an independent company providing professional and comprehensive support services to Narrowboats and Inland Waterways vessels.

Based in Northamptonshire we are ideally placed to offer our services.

Our services include: • Hull condition, Pre-purchase, Insurance and Valuation surveys.

(Accredited YDSA member) • Marine consultancy.

Northamptonshire and surrounding areas.

AREA COVERED: 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14

07903 945196

NIGEL CARTON BSS

Completely independent.

Good rates and a friendly service.

Areas covered:

2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 Call: 07989 388109 Email:

nigel.carton@btinternet.com

RHYS KILLIN Dip.S.C.Sur

BSS Examiner BSS Examination from £160

Covering areas 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Tel 07748 861795 rhys_k1@yahoo.co.uk www.rhyskillin.co.uk

Narrowboat Surveyor

& Boat Safety Examiner

Michael Clarke

Dip.S.C. Sur AMIMarEST Areas covered: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 • A Friendly and Professional Service • Fully Qualified & Insured • Ultrasonic Pre-purchase & Hull Condition Surveys • No travelling Charges - All areas covered Northampton based

01604 858 868 07944 856 351

boats@jgmarine.co.uk www.jgmarine.co.uk

info@northernstarmarine.co.uk www.northernstarmarine.co.uk

• Boat Safety Examinations inc. commercial craft • All gas repairs & fittings

TO ADVERTISE HERE CALL TANIA ON 01507 529489

Offering over 30 years experience WITHIN A 30 MILE RADIUS OF BIRMINGHAM

Thomas Tighe 07973 321997 tomtighe@hotmail.com

MARK

EDWARDS MABSSE

Boat Safety Scheme Examiner All classes of vessels examined Landlords’ Gas Safety Certificates Caravans, RV’s and domestic properties

Tel 07970 384047 Areas covered: 2, 4, 5

Cetec Marine Est. 1992

A friendly and professional fully insured service Steel, GRP & Timber craft Pre-purchase surveys Insurance surveys Valuations Ultrasonic Testing Phone Chris Holmes 07860 254369 01784 464899

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Areas Covered 10, 12, 13, 14, 15

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info@monarchmarine.co.uk 07836 210 656 www.monarchmarine.co.uk

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Phone: 07720 424396 Email: robert.hurst.bss@ btinternet.com Areas Covered 9 & 10

BSS Examiner, Marine Surveyor & Marine Technical Consultant

67

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

BALLAST

BOATS WANTED

CANOPIES

GRIT BLASTING

HEATING

BOOKS

BOAT BUILDER

CANALIA

INSURANCE CANOPIES

BOAT PAINTERS

COURSES

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

BOATS WANTED

GRAPHICS

68

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

INSURANCE

MOBILE MARINE ENGINEER

MOORINGS

SERVICE & REPAIRS

LED LIGHTING

MAIL FORWARDING SERVICES

LIGHTING

SERVICES

69

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

SERVICES

SERVICES

TRANSPORT BY ROAD

WINDOWS

TRANSPORT BY ROAD

70 READER ADVERTS/NEWS EXTRA

September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

READER ADVERTS Battle to tackle aquatic weeds Selling your boat is FREE for private readers of Towpath Talk For Sale

42FT STEEL NARROWBOAT Tug style with Gardner 4LK engine, PRM 160 gearbox with twin prop, 7HP Bow Thruster Sleipner, traditional boatman’s cabin, toilet, shower, hand basin, 3 berth, recent survey, location Bridgewater Canal, Leigh, Lancashire £28,500 Tel. 07860 166810.

50FT NARROWBOAT with traditional stern, needs some attention, engine is in good working order, can be viewed by appointment, £30,000 Tel. Wilf 07542 280581.

NARROWBOAT 28ft individually designed cruiser style narrowboat, comfortably fitted out for cruising, fully equipped and ready to cruise, well maintained and serviced, BSC till 2024, blacked in May and in good condition, £28,000 ono Email. paulcrooks60@yahoo.com 50FT NARROWBOAT this boat has been renovated, there is still a small amount to do, everything needed is on there, it has a full safety certificate, manufacturer Neil Hudson, Liverpool £45,000 Tel. 07724 894387.

NARROWBOAT 1/12th share for sale in narrowboat Serenade, £1000, managed by BCBM Shared Ownership Boating, contact for further details Tel. 01773 775153.

ALBIN 25 motor cruiser, 1970s Swedish design, moderately good condition, needs some work to finish restoration (electrics, stove and some upholstery etc). Out of water survey 2019 (and hull anti-foul painted). Boat Safety Certificate Nov 2021. Licensed with CRT, insured. Situated Stourport-on-Severn. Engine: Perkins 4108, fitted in recent years.

Used on River Severn, G&S Canal and at sea. Length: 25ft, Beam: 8ft 6in, Draft: 2ft. Air draft: 6ft + small mast = 8ft 6in. Accommodation: Two vee berths in forward cabin, plus boards to make double bed. Two small single berths in aft cabin. Cockpit: two seats at console, plus bench seating around sides and removable table.

Anchor, with chain and winch (with handle), ready for action. Ropes and fenders included. 12v and 240v electrics. Two batteries. No gas installed at present. A spirit stove is available for installation if required, or advice available if wanting to refit gas. (Place for 2 burner stove if required), £6500 ono Tel. 07976 746225. Email. dstruckett@aol.com

EX LIBRARY BOOK: ’The Canals of Yorkshire and North East England, Volume 2’ Part 2, 1790-1845 (continued). Part 3 1845-1972. Appendices: 1 Summary Facts about canals and navigations of Yorkshire and the North East. 2. Principal engineering works, £2 plus postage Tel. 01132 693672.

PJRice88@hotmail.co.uk

Parts For Sale ANCHOR 12.5kg and chain, unused, £50 phone for photo.

Two life jackets, £25 each Tel. 07391 026244.

LUCAS brass headlamp 10in dia; make superb traditional tunnel lamp, ring for more info Tel. 07737 147284. North Yorkshire.

METAL MOORING stakes for cabin cruiser on the river, secure your boat, three in total 15.5”x2 1 x 25”. Titan wet and dry vacuum cleaner mains, £30. Wanted man and van and trailer, min 20ft to take cruiser from Cambs to Northampton NBC Tel. 07791 034695.

WINDLASS for use on river, new locks steel, £15. Three steel used mooring stakes, £30. Wet & dry mains vacuum cleaner, £30. 6 litre fuel tank permeable, green, £10 Tel. 07791 034695. Cambs.

Miscellaneous

SHELTON: share for sale in Shelton, £2400 and £150 per month, turnaround day Friday, forward open plan saloon with free standing arm chairs, wall mounted TV and sold fuel stove, galley mid dinette, dinette converts to double bed, bedroom 1 master rear cabin with lengthwise double bed, wardrobe, toilet en suite and wash basin Tel. 01270 811500.

Email. info@bcbm.co.uk

Wanted 45FT NARROWBOAT with pump-out toilet, with no work to be done Tel. 07946 133980.

Hertfordshire.

FISHING BOOKS: Salmon, Trout, Fly, Know-How, 11 hardbacks, good readable condition, no tears or missing pages, tight lines, bargain, £20 Tel. 07946 664749.

GRP STORAGE BOX with side opening doors (lockable), originally for car but would make excellent boat roof storage box, length 4ft 6in, width 3ft 3in, depth 1ft 2in, capacity of 12 cu.ft. colour cream, £50 Tel. 07738 177509.

PERSONAL NUMBER PLATE: FL04TS X used to have the reg on work van but reducing number of vehicles so reg now surplus.

We have the retention documents ready to transfer. Also have for sale: FL04TS U; U B04TER; H B04TER, £900 Tel. 07715 377789.

WARMER, wetter summers brought about by climate change are making the fight to stop waterways from becoming choked by invasive weeds more challenging, according to the Canal & River Trust.

Its annual summer programme has seen volunteers, staff and contractors working to remove the weed before it clogs up canals and destroys native wildlife.

CRT chief operating officer Julie Sharman said: “The changing climate, with hotter summers becoming more common, is making this natural phenomenon even more of a challenge.

“A recent decision by Government to cut future funding for the nation’s canal network is going to make winning our battle against aquatic weed even harder. We run regular

A narrowboat carves a path through the weed. PHOTO: ALISON ALDERTON volunteer parties where people can get involved in all sorts of tasks to care for their local waterway, including removing weed, and we’d welcome any help in keeping our canals alive.”

Aquatic weeds like duckweed, floating pennywort and azolla grow extremely quickly. Azolla can double in size every three days, while some of the fastest-growing weeds can double in size within a matter of hours.

Left unchecked, the weed causes problems for boats, rowers and

anglers. It starves water plants of light, sucks up the oxygen fish need to breathe and, in turn, is damaging to much-loved species such as kingfishers and otters.

Warmer summers are increasing the growing months for invasive aquatic weeds, causing canals, rivers, ponds and pools to turn a vibrant shade of green.

Forming a mat across the surface of the water, the weed accumulates unsightly litter and, while not directly harmful, people, dogs and other animals have been known to mistake it for grass and ended up in the water.

Hotter weather and fiercer storms are making the problem worse.

Weed likes high temperatures, along with plenty of rain that washes nutrient from the surrounding area into the waterways.

Art students design canalside mural THE Canal & River Trust and students from Stokeon-Trent College have created a mural along the Trent & Mersey Canal to highlight the issue of plastic pollution in the nation’s waterways.

Designed by final year art, design and graphics students, the aim of the artwork is to highlight the trust’s #PlasticsChallenge campaign to remove plastic and litter from the canal and towpath and prevent it ending up in our seas and oceans.

Each year, an estimated 14 million pieces of plastic rubbish end up in and around the nation’s canals and rivers, with around 500,000 pieces flowing out into our oceans.

The #PlasticsChallenge

The mural created beside the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke-on-Trent. PHOTO: CRT campaign, supported by players of People’s Po stc o d e L o tt er y , encourages local people and boaters to pick up any litter they see while exploring their local canal.

The final mural design concepts were created by student Xavier Mordi and were brought to life

by Grega Greaves from Creative Arts North Staffs.

The artwork can be seen along the Trent & Mersey Canal at Cliff Vale, an

area of the canal near to the Cauldon campus and depicts a canal scene with a mermaid character being surrounded by pieces of plastic.

Julianne Joyce, from Canal & River Trust, said: “The mural is looking great next to our canal and really adds a pop of colour. The wall used for the mural used to get graffitied, so the artwork has further enhanced the canal environment.

“I was really impressed at how hard the students worked on coming up with designs to highlight our #PlasticsChallenge campaign. As a charity, we want to work with local people and community groups to help us improve our canals. Projects such as this one really make a difference to the thousands of people who visit and spend time on our canals every year.”

College principal and CEO Lisa Capper commented: “The canal network is a hugely significant part of Stoke-onTrent’s celebrated industrial heritage which is why we are thrilled our students have helped to brighten up the area along the towpath for boaters, leisure seekers and other users of the network.”

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Looking up through a rail-built tree sculpture.

The Sky Train.

Crannog-like bird hide.

Nothing boring about Boora

LOUGH Boora sits in the open windswept landscape of the Co Offaly peatlands which border the banks of the Grand Canal.

For years between the 1950s and the late 1970s this land was industrially harvested by Bord-na-Móna after they drained the original lough here. The black peaty landscape was crisscrossed by tiny narrow gauge bog-train tracks where snaking trains of peat clattered across the moonscape transporting the black gold to local power stations.

Jump forward a few years and with peat harvesting now ended, the importance of these environments has come to the forefront of the fight to preserve our planet. Lough Boora and its surroundings, now known as the Lough Boora Discovery Park, have a wealth of sculptures erected by artists from all over the world.

Drawing inspiration from the local site where art meets nature and utilising materials such as defunct industrial items, both natural and worked stone as well as wooden structures, the open-air sculpture park has walks through raised bog with fine views of the Slieve Bloom Mountains to the south and is a great place to visit at all times of the year.

One of the large-scale sculptures is the Sky Train, a rusty old industrial engine with a train of open creel-type wagons, sited on a mound of earth, celebrating the machinery and people who once worked here. Another industrial

The stone pyramid.

Pollagh and its church on the Grand Canal. PHOTOS: ALISON ALDERTON

Offaly Peatlands.

Rail-built tree sculptures. sculpture features a repurposed tubular tippler that forms a bridge across a narrow waterway.

Over time, the weathering effects of nature have softened the sculptures, adding an oxidised patina with

Cruisers fulfil promise to revisit River Suck

Freeman Cruisers Ireland in Ballinasloe Harbour, River Suck.

PHOTO: GRAHAM BARTLETT/IWAI

Tippler bridge.

FREEMAN Cruisers Ireland have revisited the River Suck and Ballinasloe Harbour for a second year running.

Assisted along the river navigation and through Pollboy Lock by Waterways Ireland staff, they were met by members of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) River Suck branch on reaching Ballinasloe Harbour, the terminus for navigation.

The group went on to spend a fun-filled weekend of events which included a competition for the best dressed boat, a pub quiz, barbecue and more. All participants received a medal embossed with the Freeman Cruisers logo – a new addition to this year’s event.

Freeman Cruisers Ireland, which began on Whatsapp and developed into a Facebook group, held its inaugural gathering of the fleet on the River Suck in 2022 and vowed at the time to return.

That promise has now been fulfilled and is greatly appreciated by the local community who are focusing on promoting the lesser-known River Suck navigation, the Suck Valley and all the area has to offer to the wider public with events such as this.

If you are interested in joining Freeman Cruisers Ireland please contact Robbie Corrigan by calling or texting on: +353 (0) 857 031 932.

colonising plants blending them into the landscape. A stone pyramid rises incongruously from the earth with ferns growing from its crevices amid surrounding steel trees constructed from old bog-train tracks.

There’s a variety of things to see and do at Lough Boora Discovery Park. It is a family-friendly environment with a host of free activities for all ages. With picnic, play areas and a fairy trail, all accessible for buggies and wheelchair users, the myriad of off-road trails can be enjoyed by all.

Lough Boora is a haven for nature and a prime location for visitors to spend as much time as they wish with walks ranging from 20 minutes to four hours. Several lakes in the park are available for angling with tench, perch and pike

being the target species. Just to the north of the park lies Loch Clochan which is a put and take trout fishery with fish mainly taken on nymphs and muddlers.

Encounter some of Ireland’s threatened wildlife species, including the native grey partridge and impressive numbers of migrant birds who make their home in the park. There is a bird hide in the form of a crannog dwelling, reached by a raised walkway.

Frogs can be heard sounding their croaks and splashes throughout the wetlands along with the fleeting hum and buzz of insects as they busily explore the rich mixture of flora. The park contains nationally and internationally important mammals, including the common Irish hare, which can be seen in large numbers.

Nocturnal badgers and bats rarely leave evidence of their activity, while the timid deer and herds of wild goat keep to the grasslands and conifer forests.

In 1977, a prehistoric site was discovered at Lough Boora. Excavations

revealed a temporary settlement dated to the Mesolithic (middle Stone Age) era which contained a series of fire sites littered with discarded stone tools left behind by foraging groups of human hunter-gatherers. These stone tools included stone axe heads, arrow heads and blades and have been dated to between 6800 and 6000BC. This landscape will always be intrinsically linked to the Grand Canal and the heritage barges which once plied the waters transporting peat but it now attracts new visitors and is a real draw to those who are keen to gain a better understanding of our environment.

What was once considered by many as a boring, flat, black, lunar landscape is far from that, indeed there is nothing boring about Boora!

Useful information

Find out more about the Lough Boora Discovery Park at: www.loughboora.com

Riverside towns prove to be winners IRELAND’s Best Kept Towns is an all-island competition which the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council initiated in 1995.

It helps to raise the profile of both the SuperValu TidyTowns and Northern Ireland’s ‘Best Kept’ competitions, and therefore helps improve the standard of towns and villages across the island of Ireland.

Riverside towns fared well this year with the overall title of Best Kept Town being awarded to Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, ROI, which also scooped the Best Kept Small Town category.

The town of Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, NI, was named as Ireland’s Best Kept Large Town.

All entrants were marked against strict adjudication criteria that included cleanliness, the outward appearance of buildings, the presentation of roads and public facilities and the natural environment.

The castle overlooks the river at Enniskillen. PHOTOS: ALISON ALDERTON

Boats moored along the Carrick-on-Shannon riverfront.

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Free green space on the doorstep of millions

MORE Canal & River Trust waterways are among the latest recipients of Green Flags awarded by Keep Britain Tidy in the UK. With a further 53.5 miles, around 600 miles now hold the international quality mark for parks and green spaces.

CRT chief executive Richard Parry said: “These Green Flags showcase the breadth of what the waterways have to offer – free, accessible green space on the doorstep of millions. Our historic canals are places in our towns and cities where people can relax, get close to nature and feel the health benefits of spending time by water.

“This impressive number of Green Flags is a testament to everyone who works or volunteers with the trust, including those in the community who play such a vital part in helping to look after their local canal.”

The entire 46-mile Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal has been awarded a Green Flag for the first time, along with the Stourbridge Canal and Town Arm, also in the West Midlands.

These are added to the trust’s existing Green Flag stretches, which range from once unloved stretches of urban canal that have been transformed into pleasant, wildlife-rich places in the centre of towns and cities like Manchester, Sheffield and Walsall, to more rural locations such as the Kennet & Avon and Monmouthshire & Brecon canals.

The spread of Green Flags reflects both the increasing importance of the waterways as vibrant green spaces in the nation’s towns and cities and their long-standing value in providing popular, accessible beauty spots across the country.

However, the nation’s canals are facing

Some of the regular Wednesday volunteers involved, from 18 to 80, around the flagpole at Gloucester Docks. PHOTO SUPPLIED

More waterways have achieved Green Flag status. PHOTOS: CANAL & RIVER TRUST a dual crisis, with climate change taking a costly toll on the historic network in the form of more frequent extreme weather, and with the Government recently (July

10) announcing deep cuts in funding for canals in the future. The trust is calling on people to support their local waterway and help #KeepCanalsAlive.

The quintessentially British sight of a narrowboat on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.

Coronation gardens for food and nature

TOWPATH

TALK

A NEW initiative was launched recently which pays tribute to His Majesty, King Charles III’s long-standing commitment to the natural world and the environment – Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature.

Organised by The Wildlife Trusts in partnership with Incredible Edible, Garden Organic and the NFWI (National Federation of Women’s Institutes), the scheme aims to encourage people and communities across the UK to live sustainably and help wildlife recover by growing food and creating space for nature in gardens, on balconies and in shared greenspaces.

Coronation Gardens for Food and

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Encouraging people to live sustainably by growing food.

PHOTO: ALAN PRICE

Nature is a three-year programme which hopes to enthuse millions of people to grow their own food in wildlife-friendly gardens by providing advice and an opportunity to pledge their garden on a map. Its legacy is expected to last far into the future. The initiative has been kick-started by a grant of £247,834 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Gardens can play a big role in giving nature a boost while also enabling people to enjoy seeing wildlife and grow their own food. Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature aims to encourage people to use existing gardens, rooftops and shared greenspace, as well as to create new ones.

Evidence highlights the

huge health and well-being benefits to people from regular contact with nature. It shows that people are concerned about the environment and want to take action to help. Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature hopes to empower and inspire people and communities to share the joy of gardening across the British Isles.

People can find ideas, advice and pledge their garden on a map at www. mycoronationgarden.org

Green Flags spell good news for waterways volunteers TWO popular destinations – Gloucester Docks and Hollingwood Hub – are among the latest recipients of Green Flags awarded by Keep Britain Tidy in the UK. The award has been described as a credit to the hard work of the Gloucester Docks volunteers that it has been awarded for urban docks rather than the usual park or open space. It also links with the involvement with Young Gloucestershire and students from Gloucestershire College.

This is the seventh year in a row that

Hollingwood Hub has received this prestigious award.

Chesterfield Canal Trust secretary Rod Auton said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received this award once more.

We are so lucky to have a group of hardworking and reliable volunteers who look after the gardens at Hollingwood Hub throughout the year.

“We know their work is much admired by our thousands of visitors, both the regulars and those who happen upon this beautiful place by accident. I

A volunteer working on the garden where visitors take selfies of themselves in front of the flower boat beside the Chesterfield Canal.

PHOTO: CHESTERFIELD CANAL TRUST

have lost count of the number of people I have seen taking selfies by our flower boat.”

He added: “We are also very grateful to the volunteers who run our boat trips, our paddlesports hire and who work in our information centre and shop, not forgetting the staff of the fabulous Katey’s Coffee Shop.

“We have been very pleased with the number of companies that have come to help recently as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility schemes. We would welcome further offers.”

The popular Hollingwood Hub with Katey’s Coffee Shop and the Chesterfield Canal Trust information centre and shop.

PHOTO: CHESTERFIELD CANAL TRUST

Plants along the towpath – September Our gardening correspondent Lee Senior concludes his bi-monthly series for this season.

THERE is an increasing chill in the evening air as nature continues its unstoppable and inevitable march towards autumn and winter. There is plenty to look forward to outdoors despite the shortening days.

In wild hedgerows across the land, berries are forming on such venerable favourites as crab apple (malus), damsons, hawthorn and sloes (blackthorn). Over the past few weeks, we’ve been enjoying early blackberries and elderberries. On peaty scrubland and moorland the low growing bilberry provides dark blue, purply berries, similar to blueberries which they are

closely related to. of conkers of course. Many of Our own gardens us have wonderful childhood are not to be memories playing this simple game. A conker is tied to outdone with the a piece of string and each likes of cotoneaster, player hopes their opponent’s dogwood (cornus), conker breaks first after taking honeysuckle, hypericum (St John’s it in turns to strike each other’s conker! Timeless fun. wort) and pyracantha p ro d u c i n g an For early autumn flowering abundant number delight, in the wild and our own gardens, the humble of multi-coloured berries. buddleia comes into its own.

The horse chestnut Multi-coloured It is nicknamed the butterfly tree produces the berries include bush with good reason as the unmistakable conker hypericum otherwise attractive flowers offer one of (horse chestnut known as St John’s the best late summer nectar seed) inside those wort. PHOTO: LEE SENIOR sources for butterflies and other familiar prickly outer insects. The perennial autumn capsules. The inedible and toxic conker sedum is another reliable late summer can be used to play the familiar game flowering favourite.

SCOTTISH WATERS with Cicely Oliver 73

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Winter works on the Crinan FOLLOWING feedback from boaters and other stakeholders, the Crinan Canal will stay open until October this year before closing for winter works.

Last transit entry to the canal will be on October 21, with the canal closed to transit boat traffic from 5pm on October 25. The planned reopening is mid-May 2024.

Work will focus on the

installation of new gates at Crinan sea lock (Lock 15) with Locks 15, 14 and Crinan Basin drained and possible lowering of the water level in the pound between Locks 13 and 14.

While the canal will be closed to through navigation, it will remain open for boat movement between Ardrishaig and Lock 13 at Dunardry.

Previous lock replacement during winter works on the Crinan Canal. PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

Community-designed tiles being added to the base of the bridge’s spire.

Emergency repairs to Hillhead Bridge SCOTTISH Canals has undertaken essential repairs to Hillhead Bridge on the Forth & Clyde Canal in Kirkintilloch, temporarily closing the bridge to boaters.

The work was completed earlier than expected,

Scottish Canals rebrand with new website A NEW, easier to navigate website has been launched to enhance and improve Scottish Canals’ marketing, sales, customer engagement and operational efficiency.

It has a new logo which has been designed in-house and rebranding will be gradually rolled out across the network, with signage updated over the next five years.

Visit the new-look website at scottishcanals.co.uk

John Paterson, Scottish Canals CEO, launches the new logo, with a backdrop of the Kelpies, the 30m-tall horse head sculptures located in Helix Park, alongside the Forth & Clyde Canal. PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

with the bridge reopening to navigation in early August.

Investigation revealed corrosion to the control cabin, making it unsafe to operate following damage to the road barriers.

Nicholson publishing team takes to the water THE Collins publishing team responsible for the bestselling Collins Nicholson canal guides took inspiration from the canals for their summer social, with a boat trip on board the Forth & Clyde Canal Society’s (FCCS) Voyager.

They boarded at Cadder Wharf, not far from their offices in Bishopbriggs, for a 11/2-hour cruise along the canal and into Glasgow, disembarking near the Clay Pits for a walk into the city’s West End and a celebratory meal.

The FCCS was originally formed to campaign for restoration of the canal. It continues to support, promote and use the canal, with three vessels available for charter.

Boat trips are enjoyed by many different groups from schools, charities, youth and community groups, to family parties and, of course, publishers.

Book a boat trip or find out about membership of the society at forthandclyde.org.uk

Voyager awaiting the Collins team at Cadder Wharf.

PHOTO: AMY TOWNSEND-KENNEDY

canals as part of their summer deployments.

HMS Charger transited the Crinan while HMS

HMS Blazer locking on the Caledonian Canal. PHOTO: ROYAL NAVY UNDER CROWN COPYRIGHT

Doors Open Day offers a tour of bridge artworks A PART of the annual Doors Open Day, Make It Glasgow is offering a guided tour of the community artworks commissioned for Stockingfield Bridge, including the centrepiece, the Beithir.

In Scottish mythology, the

Blazer travelled the Caledonian. Charger is one of the navy’s smallest vessels and the crew’s skills were tested with just a foot spare sideways and four inches beneath the keel at the canal’s narrowest points.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “Part of the P2000s’ (fast patrol boats) role as training ships for Phase 2 trainees, Royal Navy reservists and University Royal Naval Unit students involves transiting through these canals to provide an opportunity for valuable training in line handling,

navigation, safety and communication.

“More than that, the canals provide a unique opportunity to engage with the public.

Both ships invited members of the public aboard for tours, as and when the programme allowed, providing the opportunity to answer questions about the Coastal Forces Squadron and the Royal Navy in general.”

HMS Blazer has now returned to Portsmouth having visited 30 ports in France and around the UK and covered 2480 nautical miles.

Beithir is a serpent and one of the family of monsters that includes the Kelpies (already stationed at the eastern end of the canal). Join the tour and you’ll also have the opportunity of decorating a tile for the Beithir’s body.

Lambhill Stables will be

running boat trips along to the bridge and a local walking history tour from its base on the Forth & Clyde.

The event takes place on September 15 and 16. Go to glasgowdoorsopendays.org. uk for more details and to make a booking.

Awards on the Lowland canals STOCKINGFIELD Bridge, on the Forth & Clyde Canal, has won Project of the Year, under £20 million category, at the 2023 Construction News Awards.

The judges commented: “This project is more than just a bridge – it’s a generous and ambitious project that improves people’s lives.”

Scottish Canals’ opening ceremony for the bridge is shortlisted for the Best Event category of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations regional PRide Awards 2023, the winners to be announced in November.

Bowline Viaduct

Alex Hyne, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, recently presented a National Railway Heritage Award plaque to Scottish Canals for the

Alex Hyne, managing director, Scotland’s Railway presents the NRHA plaque to Tricia Hill, head of placemaking, Scottish Canals.

PHOTO: NETWORK RAIL

Swapping life on the ocean wave for the canals

ROYAL Navy patrol boats HMS Blazer and Charger recently visited the northern

PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

restoration of the Bowline Viaduct at Bowling.

He said: “The restoration is a wonderful way to repurpose and preserve an important railway structure.”

Opened in 2021, the disused railway swing bridge at the western end of the Forth & Clyde Canal has been transformed into a linear park and walking/cycling route, connecting the towpath with the National Cycle Network and onward to Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park.

Travellers’ Choice

The Falkirk Wheel has earned a 2023 Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice award. The awards are given to attractions, accommodation and restaurants which consistently earn great reviews and are ranked in the top 10% of listings on the reviews website.

Stockingfield Bridge and the viewing platform.

PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

Water safety event in Falkirk

FOLLOWING last year’s inaugural event, a Water Safety Open Day was held at the Kelpies and Helix Park in July.

The accidental drowning rate in Scotland is double the UK average, and July the month with most fatalities.

Organisations including

Water Safety Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland and Scottish Canals joined to raise awareness of water safety, increase understanding of the potential dangers around water and what to do in an emergency, while

Fun and games on the day. PHOTOS: PAUL WATT PHOTOGRAPHY

encouraging people to take part in water-related activities in a safe and enjoyable way.

In an emergency do not enter the water to try and help – look for a throw line or life ring and call 999 or 112. Visit watersafetyscotland.org.uk for safety advice.

Demonstrations included dog rescues by the Scottish Newfoundland Rescue Dog Club.

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Days Out – London Little Venice Words and images: Coolcanals, Greenwood and Martine O’Callaghan

Phillippa

This series picks locations for great days out near some very special canal highlights – anything from the perfect spot for gongoozling (watching boating activities) to an idyllic towpath stroll past extraordinary waterways heritage sightseeing, or perhaps a short boat trip and even a bit of souvenir shopping.

The canals are full of heritage and engineering wonders, and are also a calm haven for a wide diversity of wildlife and birds.

You’ll also see boats on the move and breathe the balm of water in rustling green surroundings.

LITTLE Venice is the quiet pool of water in the heart of London, where the Regent’s Canal meets the Grand Union Canal Paddington Arm. The Regent’s Canal sets off from this residential oasis, with tree-lined roads bordering the gentle water. Named after the Prince Regent (later King George

The Waterside Cafe and bridge.

IV), when it opened in 1820, it was the world’s gateway to more than 2000 miles of inland waterways across Britain.

Built to connect the Midlands, London’s Docks and the seas, it runs from Little Venice to Limehouse Basin and the River Thames. Grain stores, coal yards, gas holders, steam engines and ingeniously repurposed buildings sit all along the canal. Former industrial warehouses have become homes for artistry and modern skyscrapers sit alongside Victorian warehouses, historic boats alongside contemporary narrowboat homes.

Today, the towpath curves with the pool and gives London its laziest tea break with a view. Boat trips run from here, a boat cafe is moored at one end and there’s even a Puppet Theatre Barge.

Just under a Grade II-listed bridge, the former tollhouse is now home to Canal & River Trust offices and a stroll along the towpath passes moored narrowboats.

Stucco-clad Regency housing creates the mood and architectural calm order gives this urban canal perfect grace.

Little Venice is the city’s secret oasis, where the rush hour is a distant concept, water and boats slow the pace... and nature does its own thing.

One of the trip boats.

The Canal & River Trust office at Little Venice.

DAYS OUT/ANGLING 75

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023 Wildlife at Little Venice.

The Towpath Angler Our monthly look at the angling scene TOWARDS the end of July I spent a week away with family celebrating two milestone birthdays (not mine!).

Since getting back it seems things have changed very little since last writing insofar as the amount of work I seem to be putting in at club level is concerned.

Last Friday, for example, I spent almost 13 hours at my desk. While I appear to be getting on top again I still feel as if I am in a one step forward, two steps back zone at the moment. Still, I suppose it keeps me out of mischief.

Mid-July saw the summer meeting of the Canal & River Trust’s Fisheries and Angling Advisory Group. These always have a very full agenda and the one for this meeting included a couple of things of particular interest to me.

Unfortunately Sod’s Law ruled and commitments at home meant I could only join on a Teams link. Nonetheless it was a most productive meeting with some very interesting discussions.

As I suggested last month the current and future position of the Let’s Fish initiative figured massively in the debate. A number of possible options were considered and, while there is still no absolutely clear solution, I believe the way forward is maybe starting to develop.

A variety of towpath issues were also raised providing even more material for the upcoming inaugural meeting of the Towpath Advisory Group. I can certainly guarantee that the agendas for its early meetings will be bursting at the seams.

Once the group is established I plan to consult with as many of the trust’s angling club customers as I can to ensure I remain fully up to date with things. I guess the other representatives will do much the same.

Championships

Narrowboats lined up for the famous Canalway Cavalcade.

FACT FILE

London’s docks to the new industrial Midlands.

Robert Browning

Canalway Cavalcade

The poet Robert Browning, who used to live in a house overlooking the Regent’s Canal, is thought to be the first to give Little Venice its name as he compared his London view to Venice.

In turn, the small island in the middle of the Pool of Little Venice is called Browning’s Island after him.

Trade

Trade is the key word in London, growing on the strength of its position in global trade, linked by the River Thames to the sea and the world beyond. The Thames played its part in the fortunes of the British Empire – but for trade to work efficiently across the country, Britain had to build a network of trade routes. A manmade water road was Britain’s answer. London’s canals, including the Grand Union Canal and Regent’s Canal, were built to link

Every May Bank Holiday, Little Venice goes mad, with hordes turning up for the famous Canal Cavalcade, organised by the Inland Waterways Association. Boats cram side by side, stalls line the waterside, a special waterside festival feeling grips the crowds, and this normally calm and tranquil oasis becomes a hive of boats and bunting. www.waterways.org.uk Location

Little Venice, London OS Grid ref: TQ262818 Canal: Grand Union Canal Paddington Arm and Regent’s Canal How to get there By train

Nearest London Underground and mainline stations are Warwick Avenue and London Paddington

Transport for London www.tfl.gov.uk By bus

Traveline 0871 200 2233/London Buses www.tfl.gov.uk By car

Best to use public transport in London

On foot

The towpaths in and around Little Venice are always busy with walkers and cyclists Boat trips

Jason’s Trip Boat, Little Venice www. jasons.co.uk London Waterbus Company, Little Venice www.londonwaterbus.com Moorings

There are visitor moorings in and around Little Venice Local Tourist info

London Tourist Info www.visitlondon.com Canal & River Trust Use the Canal & River Trust website to find specific local information www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

August saw the first of the Angling Trust Divisional National Championships taking place – Division 1 – on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal which has hosted numerous similar events over the years.

Having fished it myself more than once I know it can be very good, particularly if you happen to draw on one of its famous bream shoals, but equally it can be a real heartbreaker.

There will be almost 50 teams taking part, most of whom will have invested countless hours of practice with the intention of determining tactics that might just give them the edge over their opponents. That said, as so often happens, a team which goes with the approach of fishing each peg as they find it may well finish in top spot.

The canals will see plenty of activity this year as they are also being used for the qualifying events for the World Club and Feeder Championships.

Division 2 is set for late September

David Kent

mostly at the Cheshire end of the Shroppie. Of course this is a more conventional canal and will see totally different methods to the Gloucester.

As it is a new venue I am really looking forward to seeing how it performs. I know the local clubs will do a great job as hosts.

The ongoing unsettled weather is doing nothing for the sport. Having been away I have not received much information about results, tactics and the like. One thing I picked up just before the holiday and again since getting home is that worm seems to be the bait scoring well on a wide selection of venues.

It is a bit unusual at this time of year but the evidence speaks for itself. Catches of bream across the board as well as carp on some of the commercials are all down to worm.

Clearly I might need to put some in my bait bag going forward. It is a bait I rarely use so I honestly do not have confidence in putting it on the hook but it seems I may have to overcome my apprehension and give it a go.

Talking of my outings, I had a couple of decent results just before the holiday and then last Sunday I finished fourth on a venue I had not fished for almost a year which, while it did not generate a brown envelope, gave me considerable satisfaction.

The early part of the match was especially hard and none of my usual methods showed any signs of working.

However I have been experimenting of late with a method quite foreign to me and on Sunday I fished it seriously in match conditions and, for the most part, it worked. I was really chuffed.

Clearly I will persevere with this method, making refinements, in the hope I can confidently use it again when conditions demand it.

Despite the funny weather I reckon the fish are there to catch right now so suggest you look at the forecast and plan a session to suit. Keep your approach simple and only feed in accordance with the number of fish you estimate are in your chosen swim.

It does seem that while the necessity to feed little and often to get bites is clearly there, sometimes a more aggressive approach will be best.

Tight lines.

New appointments to advisory group THE Canal & River Trust has made two new appointments to its Fisheries & Angling Advisory Group (FAAG) which helps with advice on fisheries issues.

Paul Edwards is a keen angler and current secretary of Shropshirebased Hodnet Angling Club and a member of Bay Malton Angling Club. He has a commercial background

in sales and marketing and has driven the implementation of various modern systems for Hodnet AC. Richard Gibbs is a Level 1 angling coach and has held numerous administrative positions within fisheries and angling organisations, i n c l u d i ng b e i ng appointed the first secretary of the Grand Union Canal Anglers

Consultative and being the fishery officer for the Tring Anglers for many years.

Aretiredpoliceofficer, he brings experience of the challenges of e n f o rc e m e n t of legislation and environmental crime more generally.

Each appointment is for an initial three-year term and is an unpaid voluntary role.

76 WET WEB

September 2023

The Wet Web

By Helen Gazeley

NOW thoroughly established as the month for Heritage Open Days, September means history.

Launched with around 700 events in 1991, the festival now hosts more than 5000. Everywhere in the country, it seems, has something to contribute and, wherever you currently are, it’s certainly worth checking local canal societies for special events.

Buckingham Canal Society has a heritage-themed treasure hunt and a hedgerow recipe walk. You might also just have time to enter the society’s photo and writing competitions. The closing date is August 31. There’ll be an online gallery of entries throughout the festival. Find more information in the Summer 2023 newsletter (www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk/ events-and-news).

Huddersfield Narrow Canal has collaborated with Discover Huddersfield on a towpath walk from Marsden to the Standedge Tunnel, the highest, longest and deepest in Britain. On the way you’ll learn the history of the canal and railway. There’s also the possibility of making the return journey by shuttle boat, which runs between Marsden Station (Lock 42) and Standedge Tunnel Visitor Centre every weekend to the end of October.

The Worcester, Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society is running its annual guided walks around the top lock section of the Tardebigge flight. Visitors are taken to the

current wharf and sites of past quays, quarries, rail tracks, lime kilns, as well as the site of the Experimental Perpendicular boat lift, now replaced with a double-depth lock.

The Canal & River Trust is also doing its bit. Diglis Island in the Severn at Worcester will open for visitors to see the renovated Victorian workshop where lock gates were once made and find out about the recently completed fish pass. And in Coventry, the Grade II listed weighbridge office will open to visitors, with guided walks around Coventry Canal Basin.

For more CRT events, search ‘heritage days’ on the charity’s website (canalrivertrust.org.uk).

There are a host of other events in the city. Find them

Inspirational individuals on Scotland’s canals

listed on Coventry City Council’s website (www.coventry.gov.uk/ heritage-open-days/heritageopen-days-2023-coventry).

Rich pickings

Chester, like Coventry, is another city to offer rich pickings for a busy day out. Plenty of tours and exhibitions are scheduled over the month. If you can’t join canal and industry historian Stewart Shuttleworth on a walk along the canal on September 12, then perhaps you could explore King Charles’ Tower, taking a rare opportunity to overlook

The education space at Diglis Island will be open over the Heritage Open Days. PHOTOS: RICHARD JOYCE

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eams for 2019 k’s TTop TTeams T k’s Towpath Talk a s, we bid farewell awn AS A new decade dawn t th to 2019 with the results of our Towpath Top Team award which has been k Top Talk r r. running throughout the year.

With four teams shortlisted for the final with vote it was a veryy close-run contest t volunteers ty the Grantham Canal Society taking the title by a short head.

Such was the support also for from Crusader Community Boating first Blisworth that we are awarding our a rd – something Community Boat awa f the we had alreadyy been planning for r r. coming year. of Commended are the Friends the River Nene and the Waterways Buck.

Fiona and Chaplaincy’s Martin Award presentations to our finalists

are revealed

r The r. will take place in the new year. off a winning team receives the hire 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 four Chandlers at Braunston and all finalists will receive a £100 donation towards their volunteering organisation the from Mortons Media Group Ltd,

alk.

Tal tth T publisher of Towpath Our thanks go to the readers who rose of to the challenge of finding a group a gone that extra ave unsung heroes who have f their local stretch off towpath, mile for a association or ays canal or river, waterways a our judging ave community boat – and gave shortlisting the of job panel a difficult four finalists.

• Continued on page 2

found on a boat moored Ouse bodies t achievemen f nd 100-dayCommunity of two men were fou probe Action Network (UCAN) THE bodies Boats gunshot were called UPPERMILL Y k city centre. Emergency services after starting in Yor investigating damage to narrowboats POLICE are Officers were after gunshots were fired in Cambridge. a December 5, at around 10.15pm, ay, called on Thursday, f m shots fro after nearbyy residents reported hearing near boats on the what was believed to be an air rifle the window of one River Cam. Photographs off holes in a since been published. One resident ave of the boats have the Chesterton told reporters thatt shots, coming from moored at Browns side of the river, were fired at boats on for about five Field, Fen Ditton, and this went no injuries were minutes. Cambridgeshire Police said reported and enquiries were continuing.

achieved its 100-day volunteering milestone 2300 hours of out in 2015. This included more than who, according voluntary work achieved by local people to, crafting to UCAN, “care about, and are committed environment”. and maintaining our beautiful local and for the positive Thanks were given to all supporters, work parties will feedback from the community. The next 8 and 20. The usual be on January 4 and 23, and February on Moorgate bridge canal the at 10am is point meeting Killan on 01457 Street but this can change. Contact Peter l.com peterkillan@hotmai or 878361

at around 8pm to Lendal Bridge on the River Ouse said officers on December 4. North Yorkshire Police f two men for attended “after concerns were raised with their touch in their 60s who had been out of bodies. Fire .” Upon arrival officers found the family.”

The deaths and ambulance services both attended. although did ‘unexplained’ were being treated as a post-mortem not appear to be suspicious and men had not The place. take examination was due to alk went to press.

Tal tth T been identified when Towpath

11/12/2019 10:17:16

coast-to-coast between Morecambe and Whitby and from Land’s End to John O’Groats. You can find out more of Bash’s story on YouTube (search for the Green Mile Man) or at justgiving. com/page/bash-quest

Up the fish pass on Diglis Island in the River Severn at Worcester.

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the canal on the spot where the king watched his defeated army return from Rowton Moor.

Climb another tower – attached to St Peter’s Grade I listed church in Stourbridge – on September 16 and you’ll be invited not only to continue up the steep spiral staircase to admire the panoramic views at the top, but to have a go at bellringing.

And if you’d like a bit of heat and flame with your heritage, the original blacksmith’s forge next to Dobson’s staircase locks (Lock 42) on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal will be fired up, giving demonstrations in surroundings hung with canal paraphernalia.

With so much on offer, there’s likely to be something to appeal. But if a heritage visit is off the cards, from September 9 Heatherfield Heritage intends to show a video or livestream online every day, exploring various aspects of canal boaters’ lives in Bonnets to Boats: the Arts of the Inland Waterways (www.heritageopendays. org.uk/visiting/event/ bonnets-to-boats).

Check the Heritage Open Days website for days and times of events (www. heritageopendays.org.uk).

Coastal kayak Bash Wright: the Green Mile Man. PHOTO COURTESY BASH WRIGHT

BASH Wright, aka the Green Mile Man, is on a Caledonian Quest – a challenge to prove to disabled people that anything is possible.

To raise funds for two charities, the SSAFA (the Armed Forces charity) and Talking2Minds, double amputee Bash will canoe the Scottish canals as part of his journey of almost 1000 unassisted miles, starting in Edinburgh and finishing in Inverness.

Bash has already pushed himself, without assistance,

Nick Ray has been on a yearlong kayak around Scotland’s coast, using the Lowland canals to cut across central Scotland.

He is an advocate for mental health and suicide awareness. Many thousands have followed his latest adventures on social media, enjoying his commentaries and photos as he’s explored the coast and candidly shared his experiences.

Nick’s current journey has coincided with his 60th birthday in August this year: the 28th of the month being his start date in 2022 and, in 2023, the finish. You can follow Nick’s journey via lifeafloat.co.uk

Nick Ray paddling towards the caisson to take a turn on the Falkirk Wheel. PHOTO: SCOTTISH CANALS

New section of canal bought

by Wey & Arun Canal Trust THE Wey & Arun Canal Trust has acquired the Gennets Farm section near Loxwood in West Sussex and south of Gennets Bridge Lock which it restored in 2018.

After the purchase

of the Bonfire Hanger section of the canal in May this year a continuous length of about 1.5km/one mile is now in trust ownership. This is in addition to the length of about 5km/three

miles in the centre of Loxwood, where the trust runs its public trip boats and has a canal centre, which is leased on a long-term basis.

The latest acquisition is a tribute to the work

of the trust’s teams, especially the Eric Walker Group which has transformed the Gennets Farm section in recent years and continues to open up more restoration opportunities.

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The purchase will enable a causeway to be removed from across the canal.

PHOTO: WACT

TALKBACK 77

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023 Your chance to write to us on any towpath topic: Towpath Talk, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email editorial@towpathtalk.co.uk

Make towpath users aware of lack of funding

AS A recent canal volunteer I spend 90% of the time maintaining footways and picnic areas which are mostly used by non-paying members of the public to walk or cycle on.

I would like to suggest that if there is a funding cut then a lot of these areas and footways are not maintained, with

notices posted as to the reason why.

Maybe then the general public who use these areas will protest to the Government as to why this valuable amenity asset is not being funded.

Peter Gilbert East Markham, Nottinghamshire

Call to create a ‘dad’s army’ of lengthsmen WHILE cruising the Shropshire Union from High Offley to Brewood I was struck by the prolific growth of vegetation on the canal side of the towpath.

T h e re is a proliferation of ash saplings, many as high as 15 feet.

The canal was designed to be kept free of vegetation on the towpath bank to facilitate the ropes from boats. It should be kept this way not only because of tradition but because of safety and maintenance.

These trees mean that boaters cannot moor or alight safely and most importantly they damage the sides of the canal.

Left uncut they will create much more work and expense when they eventually need to be removed. They may also

attract objections to being removed by wellmeaning rewilders.

I propose that the Canal & River Trust appoints a ‘dad’s army’ of volunteer lengthsmen to deal with this and other problems.

An appointed volunteer lengthsman would be responsible for maybe a mile of their local canal.

Duties could include pruning the canalside vegetation, reporting structural problems and dangerous holes, clearing litter and monitoring dog mess. They could also act as observers for problem boaters and canal obstructions, pollution etc.

The amount of time and effort would be rewarded by a % discount on their boat licence.

I believe that this would be a way for

boaters to take a pride in their local stretch of canal and prevent the need for costly future maintenance and repairs.

I know that there are schemes to reopen lost canals and many worthy volunteers invest much time and effort.

The truth is, however, that we are finding it difficult to maintain the canals we already have.

Unless we create ways of using volunteer labour to help maintain what we have we will create more maintenance headaches by opening new stretches of canal.

I look forward to being appointed a volunteer lengthsman at High Offley.

Duncan Davis By email

Editor’s note: A ‘mum’s army’ of lengthswomen too!

You only drown once!

I WAS pleased to see your article in Towpath Talk (News, Issue 211, May 2023) mentioning the need for life preservers.

I have boated for a number of years in small boats and more recently on narrowboats. Despite lock notices on the Thames it is still rare to see people on boats on rivers and canals wearing lifejackets/life preservers. You only drown once!

At three rallies recently, Rickmansworth, Braunston and Henley, along with a handful of others, we were

very much the odd group out. Before I am told that canals are shallow, they are not when a lock is full or even sometimes when it is empty, to say nothing of muddy canal bottoms.

Perhaps adults are happy to risk their lives but they should not put their children at risk. I wear a lifejacket. There are many different types. They are not restrictive and are perfectly comfortable.

Please can we see a bit more water safety sense by people who enjoy boating.

Elizabeth Pamplin By email

Take back what is still a national treasure

IT IS now 11 years since the Canal & River Trust took over from British Waterways. And I don’t think it’s an understatement to say it’s a failed experiment.

Over the last 11 years we have experienced the loss of a skilled and knowledgable workforce replaced with subcontractors, many with no knowledge of navigation or the waterways infrastructure, and the total abdication of control of vegetation to assist boat movement.

There has also been a vast increase in stoppages throughout the year often by ‘boat damage’ or ‘vandalism’ when in most cases it’s lack of ongoing replacement or maintenance.

We see an organisation that has grown its fancy titled management

and reduced its hands-on workforce.

And rebranded with all those, in most cases unnecessary, blue signs!

Now they need our help. Why would we ever want to throw more money their way? More new vehicles, more

new management and major towpath surfacing plus of course more blue signs.

Take it back to Government while it is still, what’s left of it, a treasure.

Brian D Jarrett Nb Autarky

How long will it be before more of our canals and rivers end up looking like this?

Every picture is worth a thousand words – what can you say about this? All over the system we are seeing this ‘butchery’ of the canal infrastructure. This was taken at the top of the Glascote locks on the Coventry Canal near Tamworth. PHOTOS: BRIAN JARRETT

Family photographs recall bygone days BOATER and wildlife photographer Grant Hebblewhite, who featured recently in Towpath Talk (Character, Issue 212, June 2023) writes: “I found these lovely old photos of my Nan and Grandpa taken in the 50s, I expect at Stoke Bruerne. The butty is still around apparently.

“It used to carry the two different names Northolt and Northwich, one either side of the fore cabin and the other either side of the stern cabin.”

The photographs brought back timely memories of Grant’s

Out of bounds to boaters FURTHER to the letter from Paul Handley (Talkback, Issue 214, August 2023) about the winding hole at Tyrley on the Shropshire Union Canal, the Canal & River Trust has now issued the following notice: The winding hole at Tyrley Wharf, which is a private mooring site not belonging to the trust, is no longer available for public use.

Please do not attempt to wind at this location, which we are removing from our maps.

Alternative winding holes are available to the north at Market Drayton (south of Bridge 64) or south at Goldstone Wharf (north of Bridge 55). Goldstone Wharf can be reached from Tyrley without passing through any locks.

grandparents, his grandmother having been born on July 28, 1910. She liked narrowboats and had a blue painted footstool with the name Jupiter on it, now in Grant’s possession.

Built for the Fellows Morton & Clayton fleet in 1898, Northwich is now on dry land at the National Waterways Museum, Gloucester, awaiting restoration.

Grant, who lives on board nb Ever After, mentions the photos in his latest video in which he had a long chat with Terry Cavender of the Buckingham Canal Society about its restoration plans.

See https://youtu.be/ZXy5K8kkqPc Do you have any memories of Northwich – or Northolt? Please let us know at the address above.

The decorated footstool bearing the naamee Jupitter. PHOOTOO: GRANT HEBBLEWHITE

Grant’s Nan and Grandpa holding Northwich’s tiller.

Northwich awaiting restoration at the National Waterways Museum, Gloucester. PHOTO: TONY ALDRIDGE

78 LAST WORD

September 2023

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Where did that word come from?

John Souter continues his series exploring the origins of commonly used boating terms.

MANY of you may be familiar with a lot of the terms that boaters use. But have you ever stopped to wonder where the words we are all too familiar with actually originated from? Here are more examples of words whose origins may hopefully inform you, and in some cases perhaps, even surprise you.

Fore (or fore-end) draft (also draught, air draft, water draft)

IN THE simplest sense this is the distance between a lowest-most point and a highest-most point. When used in the context of air it is measured in height as in above the waterline, and in the context of water the measurement is referred as depth below the waterline.

Air draft: The height of a boat as measured from the waterline to the highest fixed point on the boat. A useful measure to know to avoid hitting low bridges etc!

Water draft: The amount of the hull that is under the water, usually measured at the aft at the skeg (lower rudder housing). A useful measure to know when water levels are lower than normal and there is danger of grounding.

It’s thought the word comes from the 1the century Old Norse ‘drahtr’ which in itself is thought to have evolved from Germanic origin.

Dredging

The excavation or removal of silt, mud etc, usually at least in part under water, invariably to keep waterways open and navigable. A dredger is any device or machine which is used to do such excavation from water. If a crane or

Dredging Gloucester Docks. PHOTO: CANAL & RIVER TRUST Fender

A protective pad or buffer, usually soft but solid, used to protect a boat from external damage e.g. when mooring up or going through locks. Fenders were traditionally made of rope but are now also widely made from rubber or plastic.

The word is thought to have been first used with reference to boats circa 1300 and is a shortening of the word ‘defender’ coming from the Old French ‘defendeor’ which meant ‘one who protects from injury’.

Flight (of locks)

Fenders protecting the stern of this historic narrowboat.

PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

other equipment to be used is mounted on a vessel then the whole vessel is normally referred to as a dredger.

The word dates from the late 15th century Old English ‘drecq(e)’ which developed into Middle English via the Scots ‘dreg-boat’, or ‘boat for dredging’.

It could also come from the Old Norse word ‘draga’ meaning ‘to drag on the ground’.

A series of locks raising or lowering passage from one river or canal level to another in a way similar to climbing stairs to get from one floor to another, hence also the term staircase locks.

The use of the word as it is attributed to ‘a series or set of stairs between one landing and another’ is believed to originate from the 1730s.

The derivation of the word could come from the Old English word ‘flyht’ meaning ‘flying’, as in birds ascending or descending in flight, although the more recent spelling is attributed to an alteration being made in the late 14th century to the Middle English word ‘fliht’.

The Foxton staircase flight of locks on the Leicester Line. PHOTO: JANET RICHARDSON

Getting the message across NABO general secretary Peter Braybrook comments on some more topical issues.

IN APRIL I wrote at the very end of my piece: “Let us make our opinions known. Let anyone and everyone know that we will not let our canals go without more than a whimper!”

The campaign has started.

FundBritain’sWaterways was formed earlier in the year at a meeting of NABO, AWCC, IWA, RYA and about 30 other boating and canal organisations and the list is growing almost daily.

Boat clubs, cruising clubs, yacht clubs, canal societies, user groups are all affiliating to this campaign.

The list is possibly up to about 50 now and encompasses many thousands of people interested in preserving the waterways of Britain. The first Campaign Cruise to Birmingham has been held and made a lot of noise in the centre of Birmingham for a few hours.

But that is just the start. A petition has been launched and we are busy circulating that to as many people as possible to take our voice directly into Downing Street. Another Campaign Cruise, this time to Westminster, is planned for the autumn.

It has been noted that there are not usually many MPs and Lords sunning themselves on the terrace of the Palace of Westminster in November but we hope that we can show that concerned boaters are out there whatever the weather and get it in the papers and on the TV. I have been talking with boaters and volunteers about the funding situation. There are so many who still have not heard of the Government's announcement and the news that by 2042 the Government will have ceased funding the Canal & River Trust completely.

In the years running up to that the trust has indicated some canals will need

to be closed. We do need to keep getting this message out to our colleagues to add their voice and signatures. This withdrawal of central government from its obligations to keep the canals open for commercial and cruising traffic as envisioned by the government of the day in the 1968 Transport Act is so plainly short-sighted.

As one cannot delegate a responsibility without giving the authority to exercise it one cannot delegate a duty without the funding to fulfil it. Taking the benefits of the canals and rivers in welfare and health without contributing to them amounts to having your cake and eating it. The proverb says this does not happen. You cannot have it both ways.

Swingeing cuts

Alongside the FundBritain’sWaterways campaigns which concern all Britain’s waterways, CRT has launched its own Keep Canals Alive campaign. Many of its customers and supporters will be putting their weight behind that too.

Environment Agency and Scottish Canals have also had swingeing cuts to funding for navigation.

Apart from the long-term issue of financial provision we are also interested in the immediate problems of the waterways. We have noticed many stoppages caused by lock failures. Most of them have been sorted out within a

The campaign has started. week without undue inconvenience to boat owners but each of these failures does have an effect on the local economy and the experience of hire boaters and others who may have to amend their holiday plans because of an unexpected navigation closure.

CRT has embarked on a review of its maintenance and operational methods and would love the opinions of boaters to help them improve. NABO believes that we should continue to report all problems that we find as we cruise.

The more information that we can provide the better. If you go aground unexpectedly, let them know. If a gate will not open or the lock will not fill let them know.

We have also heard that more savings will be made by more use of volunteers.

We have seen an appeal for volunteer structure surveyors to inspect locks and

bridges. I wonder whether anyone else is worried by this development.

I am a retired mechanical engineer who had almost 30 years’ experience in the construction and maintenance of power stations.

Could I turn my hand to checking out a few 200-year-old piles of bricks, cast iron troughs and some old oak frames? I don’t think so.

We have heard that some mowing contracts will not be renewed and volunteers used instead. It has been also suggested that boaters will be encouraged to carry tools to help out when they can.

The do-it-yourself approach to mooring bank vegetation clearance is not to be discouraged but I don’t really want to carry a long-handled shovel to clear away enough silt to get my boat to the bank. I am against do-it-yourself dredging.

I am also unlikely to have a set of screwed poles and different rake and tool heads to fit on them on board to clear the bywash culverts and lock gate cills where debris is gathering to prevent efficient operation. I still expect the navigation authority to provide these necessary items and the skilled operative to use them.

What happened to the ‘lengthsman’?

The ratio of employees to volunteers is now about one to three. What would we do without you?

Thank you all for your hard work and enthusiasm in helping bring sunshine to our summer.

www.towpathtalk.co.uk September 2023

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September 2023 www.towpathtalk.co.uk

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