AUTUMN 2025
Butty The
Award-winning Bruce Boats The Trust’s Bruce Boats have an awardwinning season
A New Boat for The Trust Read about the boat joining our Bath and Bristol Branch
Welcome Who's who President: Rob Dean CMG
Dear Members, Another boating season completed and much news from the Trust in our Branch reports! I hope you’ll enjoy reading them. Plans are well underway for our 75th celebration and you’ll see reference to this included throughout the Butty - as well as the logos designed for this milestone! On the back page, we’ve included a note requesting your memories of the Kennet and Avon Canal. This is not just a request for memories from those involved in the restoration but from anyone who has memories of this beautiful and historically important canal, whether you’ve been involved with our trip boats or just been a keen canal photographer over the years. You’ll also see we’ve included a page of incredible pictures from the K & A past provided by our archivist, Elaine Kirby, - we’d absolutely love to have any more images like that this that you may have. We’re very keen to really make the best of this magazine, The Butty, in our 75th year. So if you do have articles or photos you’d like to contribute, or perhaps you’d like to volunteer to be part of creating our magazine that we send to all members, we’d love to hear from you. You don’t necessarily need to have experience of creating a magazine before as we’re very happy to provide training. You can email me to get involved at the email address below or our Chair, Graham Puddephatt, at chair@katrust.org.uk All that’s left from me is to say I hope you keep well and warm over winter and we’ll be back in the Spring with more news from across the Trust.
Vice presidents: Rt Hon Lord Benyon Bill Fisher David Lamb Michael Corfield Michael Goodenough Terry Kemp David Copley Trust council: Graham Puddephatt, Chair chair@katrust.org.uk Jerry Dixon, Hon. Treasurer fd@katrust.org.uk Graham Snook Mike Bailey, H&S Ali Cannon Robert Dunton Terry Mundy Paul Hanson Michael Corish Dee Nix Office: Helen Flavin finance@katrust.org.uk Phoebe Restorick admin@katrust.org.uk
With very best wishes, Jen Smith-Furmage Editor
Get in touch 01380 721279 thebutty@katrust.org.uk /KACTrust @kennetandavoncanaltrust
K&A Canal Trust, Devizes Wharf, Couch Lane, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1EB
The Trust is a registered charity, No. CC209206, and a company limited by guarantee registered in England, No. 726331
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In this edition Capturing the canal
3-4 Chairman’s Letter An update from Trust Chairman, Graham Puddephatt.
15
5-17 Branch Updates Updates from our Branches (and their boats!) as we end our 2025 season.
18 Devizes Wharf Building An update on our plans for the Devizes building
20
23
Locks on The Canal Alison Cannon continues her locks series with County Lock
22 Taking a Waterbus Down The River Edmund Cannon shares news on the Trust’s newest boat!
24
21
The Newbury Float An article from museum curator, Terry Mundy
25 Memories of the K & A Images from the Trust Archive
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Chairman’s Meanders The long hot summer led to concerns about water
the potential to provide comprehensive water
supply as early as June. In recent years shortage turned
management be it flood or drought.
to drought with cruising and lock restrictions, however this year with full water closures across the system
In the last couple of months, I have been privileged to
Wilton reservoir showed 80% capacity and so the
attend the memorial services for two stalwarts of our
Kennet and Avon got off comparatively lightly. In
waterways, both in their own way incredibly moving, and
contrast the Oxford was closed, so cutting off the route
inspiring, when the details of their influence and
to the North. Tysley had visited the K&A but now found
accomplishments are recognised. David Dare and his
itself south of the closures and had to resort to being
sterling work in the boating world with his desire to keep
lifted out at Caversham to be taken by lorry to Calcutt
the waterways navigable and Tim West in bringing the
boats on the Grand Union in order to continue the Tour.
world of waterways to a greater audience. A sad Loss to the inland waterway’s community.
Due to changes in water management by the EA many
As we are going to press, we have heard of the passing of
of our waterways are struggling due to now having
Prunella Scales, keen K&A supporter, Vice President and
abstraction licence costs levied on CRT, even on the
Tim West’s wife. This is yet another sad passing of a
original historic water sources. This is a new and
canal stalwart.
substantial charge that could put river fed navigations in peril unless some further funding can be found. There
Next year is the 75th Anniversary of the forming of the
does need to be some sense brought into play on this. I
restoration organisation to save the Kennet and Avon
know the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust are being asked
Canal. Initially as the Kennet and Avon Canal Association
to pay an abstraction fee by EA when we are
in 1951 to become the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust
‘Abstracting water’ from Wilton water by running the
eleven years later.We are the organisation that originally
Crofton pumping engines. This is essentially the same
lobbied government and authorities and later worked with
water that CRT would usually move, and now have to
British Waterways to re-open the Navigation. We have
pay the EA for, when Crofton isn’t using the nineteenth
then continued to Promote, Protect, Preserve and
century engines on steaming days.At our recent meeting
Educate about our wonderful waterway.
the Hydrologist agreed this was a strange anomaly but highlights the issues and additional costs and strains
We are planning to celebrate along the length of waterway
that CRT are facing with a diminishing central funding.
from Bristol to Reading. The centre point of this will be to
I understand that The Mon and Breck are teetering with
take one of our disabled access boats from Bristol
similar issues.
Floating Harbour to the 2026 Reading Waterfest. This commemorates the journey of Tim West and Prunella
There needs to be serious thought about the funding of
Scales, who were the first to make this journey when the
our waterways, and all that is provided to the nation
navigation was reopened in 1990. Tim & Pru have been
beyond boating and navigation. It provides an
vice presidents of our Trust for many years. I’m told by
environmental “green arm” inside the most urban of
Bill Nicholson (IWA and WRG) that Mikron Theatre’s
environments, but in this context our waterways have
narrowboat Tysley was the 1st boat to reach Thatcham in 1990 as part of the celebrations staged by the Reading and Newbury branches.
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We will stop at a number of K&A notable locations to hold a series of celebratory events. These are still very much In plan at the moment. We plan to carry multiple passengers from different background. School parties, community groups, KACT Members and Volunteers and VIP guests and invited Local TV and Radio to join us on the journey. Along the way we hope to announce other projects and initiatives that will further enhance the waterway experience. Reading Waterfest will be an important part of this celebration on the 27th June 2026. We will keep folk updated via our Website as events and timescales become defined. Hope you all enjoy the coming Christmas celebrations check the web site for our Santa Trips and look forward to some exciting activities next year for the Kennet and Avon 75 celebrations. I hope you will be able to join us for some of the events. If you would like to volunteer to help with some of the local events or feel you could help on a wider level please feel free to contact your branch chairs or contact me directly. Graham P
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Reading Branch Updates We had a good start to our trip boat season and Matilda hit 1000 passengers carried by 24th August. It was a first and a nice milestone to reach, we expect to be over 1200 passengers when we move up to The Cunning Man at Burghfield for October and Halloween. Catching the last moments of the season before the river reminds us who’s boss. This seasons trips concluded with a few weeks in Burghfield by the Cunning Man where we ran some Halloween trips complete with resident spooky story teller. If you fancy joining us next year, you can book a trip on Matilda via our web site.
Matilda Too ready for her Halloween trip!
Just to keep things interesting Burghfield lock gates that had been listed for winter replacement /repair for the last two years started to fail, and were put on a restricted and
The date of Waterfest in June was adjusted slightly later to provide more predictable water conditions, however this year we found ourselves surrounded by
assisted use until some remedial work could be put in place. The boaters getting to Waterfest had an adventure just getting there!
three locks in a perilous state. The EA’s Blakes Lock the first lock of the Kennet navigation had a splintered balance beam and showed little sign of being fixed, however with the help of the local EA staff the beam was held together with straps and with care it survived the oncoming Waterfest Traffic. At the other end of Reading, County lock had dropped a balance beam and the others were in poor repair due to carpenter bees eating the interior of the wooden beam over the last few years. I can remember watching the flights of bees when operating the lock for some of our Cream tea charters, as they scurried into the holes and cracks in the timber. It is noticeable that many of the lock beams have not been given a regular protective coat of paint since their installation! The previous high-water levels had stopped the planned work on the locks so leading to the crisis.
Waterfest was well-attended event despite the challenges this year. The weather and water conditions allowed us to have two cavalcades of attending boats. Our electric powered accessible boat Diana on show and she was also giving trips to community groups and disabled passengers for a week before and after Waterfest. We were lucky to have Mikron perform at the new Huntley Wharf Plazza area and nb Purley Queens owner played on the floating stage as “Daughter of the Water” before heading up the ever-popular ‘Dolly and the Clothes Pegs’ on the main stage. This year’s BIBC Trophy- Mayor’s choice boat was awarded to Diana the accessible Bruce Boat and accepted by Ali Cannon Skipper on behalf of the team. The Anvil Blacksmith demonstrated their craft and we had Candida a sculptor demonstrating her art and giving folk an opportunity to try their hand with a chisel and mallet.
Ten days before Waterfest it was decided that the beams needed urgent replacement. The CRT Opps team did amazing work to get the beams replaced before the boats started to arrive.
We used a new area with sightlines along the length of the of the waterway giving a good spot for a cup of tea and the Mayor a good viewing stage to watch the cavalcade go past. The traditional Duck race finished off the day with Tamsin rousing the crowd before the ducks were loosed into the water from mid water off the floating platform.
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On a sunny evening a little after Waterfest we were
It has a great description of her journey through the
sitting enjoying the swallows’ aerobatics and two chaps
Oracle in Reading and from a training perspective her
appeared at our gate asking if we had any knowledge
description of nearly “cilling” her boat in a lock and the
of a fire! After some interrogation it was determined that
awareness needed to keep the boat and crew safe.
the blaze was somewhere to the west of Southcote lock
This is a much better awareness briefing than any dry
104. My wife jumped up and guided them over to the
training handbook.
tow path. After a few hundred yards they found a tree
In November we have Canal Photographer Kev Maslin
ablaze. The two men stood next to the waterway with
who will share his Chasing the Boats presentation with
no container to hand. Sidonie ran back to the house
us. I became aware of his pictures when I saw a photo
and chivvied us up to find buckets and containers. The
of a boat that we had journeyed on as part of the BCN
best of which were earnestly carried back to the
Easter cruise…then realised I was standing on the
firemen. The Fire engine was moved to Burghfield
counter! Should be a good evening.
bridge and colleagues joined complete with ghost
We continue to have Branch meetings on the 3rd
buster style kit to extinguish the burning tree.
Tuesday of the month. These are held at The Cunning Man Pub in Burghfield. We do also run a Zoom session
The Tea room has been working well and has seen a
so folk can join and enjoy the speaker and join in the
good number of cake liking visitors. In the Wash house
discussion.
we have added some more artifacts and have acquired
Keep well and look after each other.
a “Copper” to install in the Autumn. We have been
GrahamP
fortunate to be given a Victorian Range which will replace the damaged and rusted one that has been in place for as long as can be remembered. This has been donated by Andy Hulley We are planning to install it in the next few months. Our 1st of the new “winter meetings” in September featured Adam Comerford CRT Hydrologist who spoke on the issues that they have in managing the water levels and the various assets that are essential to keep the levels up. It was a fascinating talk and highlighted much that goes unseen to the waterway users.
Our October meeting featured Jo Bell the first Waterways Laureate who spent time on the K&A on her boat “Tinker”. Her new book discusses not only her life on board but her interests in Thomas Telford and John Rennie and her affection for Tom Rolt and his book Narrowboat. For me there are echoes of Narrowboat for the 21st Century in this…well worth the read. Autumn 2025
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Newbury Branch Updates Well the weather really changed! We were worrying over there being too much water in the river Kennet in the early part of 2025 and now we have had a dry Summer and the river flow is still very low. Over the Summer we experimented with 3 trips some days and 2 public trips on Fridays. This was a great success – customer numbers for the Summer were up. Even though the river flow is low at present we are still not planning for Christmas trips this year as the disappointment for customers when we can move the boat due to the river being in flood is too great. This means that the last trips of the year will be at the end of October.
Cannons on deck for pirate trips!
We ran several popular themed trips – Pirate Trips in August and “Creepy Cruises” in the run-up to Halloween. We also had great success with Friday night Beer and Gin Tasting trips – most of them sold out. We expect to run more Friday night trips next year. For the eagle eyed - BBC Evening News watchers may have spotted the below – Alexis Green presenting the weather in front of the Jubilee!
We welcomed some new volunteers this season and we now have 3 new Helms, so well done to those who completed the training. We have an end of season celebration booked for early November and are starting the preparation for A late night back from the Gin Tasting trip!
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Hungerford Branch Updates It has been a strange year; overall passenger numbers have been significantly lower, with occasions when crew have outnumbered customers. It has also been hard to fill the crew roster at times and a hard core of volunteers have had to do a lot of last-minute filling in. On the plus side, several new volunteers have qualified as crew and inside crew and claim to be enjoying working on the Rose! Passenger feedback on TripAdvisor and social media has been very positive and we remain Hungerford’s number one attraction. Charters have kept ticking along and although not as numerous as last year there has been a wide variety of reasons for charters, varying from birthdays, wedding anniversaries, WI Groups, school trips, disabled groups, church groups, music groups and a couple of slightly unusual ones. A Jane Austen Society wanted to visit Kintbury
Water levels were significantly low for several weeks during the summer and the unofficial winding hole at which we turn the boat on our shorter morning trips became unusable. On one attempt to turn, the Rose became immovably wedged and was fortunately rescued by half a dozen passing walkers who managed eventually to pull her free. We are now preparing for the ever popular (with crew as well as passengers) Santa cruises. Generations of locals and families from further afield remember these trips with affection. As you know, next year marks the 75th anniversary of the K&A Canal Trust. Although how this will be celebrated in Hungerford remains to be finally decided, but we are very grateful for the enthusiastic support and participation of the Mayor and Council, the Town and Manor of Hungerford and the Hungerford Historical Association.
around her 250thAnniversary year because of her family connection with Kintbury. We took them on The Rose and they came in full period dress. Another group; of campanologists (Church Bell Ringers); wanted to ring at Bedwyn then use the canal to get to Hungerford. We duly obliged with what proved to be a very tight timescale to get back for our afternoon trip. This has been an incredible year for canal side willow growth and gallant (or foolhardy?) volunteers have gone on tree cutting missions, without which the canal would have become impassible. Autumn 2025
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Bruce Branch Updates Another good season for Bruce Boats, the highlight being getting to grips with Diana’s electric motor, and the lowlight being a spate of boat issues in July resulting in a high number of callouts. Fortunately our engineer was able to attend to these and enable hirers to continue on their holiday – well done Paul! One of the groups affected was Spiral Sussex, an organisation which offers holidays to adults with learning difficulties, who hired both Diana and Hannah for two weeks.Their clients were very impressed with the accessibility of the boats, and despite the issues encountered they have already booked again for next year. We again took Diana to Reading Waterfest, and were delighted to be awarded the Mayor’s Choice: Most Inspirational Boat. As well as running trips out onto the Thames on the days either side, at the last minute on Waterfest day we agreed to run trips around the island. This was great fun and enabled about 70 people to experience first hand what our accessible boats have to offer.
We collected some other awards this year too:the John Gould Award for the team who made the electric motor happen, Wales Prestige Awards: Boat Hire Company of the Year (we have a number of hirers from Wales), and Southern Enterprise Awards: Best Accessible Tourism Package 2025. This is all down to the hard work of our volunteers who not only crew day trips, but spend many many hours cleaning, checking and maintaining the boats to a high standard every Friday and Saturday morning.If you would like to join this awesome team please do get in touch! It was a great year for youth boating, too, with Lady Hilda almost fully booked at weekends and school holidays. We were able to run five Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Residential courses, training 30 young adults in boating skills leading to the NCBA Boat Handling Certificate.
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Crofton Branch Updates This summer has been extremely busy both behind the scenes and with visitors. Steaming Days We have had two private steamings this year, both celebrating special milestones for the individuals who booked them. Both days were very successful. Our Steam Experience days have also been successful. Steam Experience guests join us on a normal steaming day and are offered a privileged and unique experience. Our guest usually joins us at 7am to help light the boiler, they then have breakfast with the crew and spend the rest of the day working at different locations, for most, the highlight being the opportunity to drive the engines. We had 14 standard steaming days and steamed for Drive it Day in April. Some of Crofton’s friends came along to make these days particularly special. Highlights included; Half of One, a folk duo have visited us twice to play for our visitors our friends from Newbury Astronomy Society hosted an evening’s star gazing during our September evening steaming. Verity, a beautiful Showmans Tractor, came back to Crofton after an absence of
Non steaming days We have non steaming open days on most alternative Sundays through the summer and are open on Saturday winter workdays as well. These have a moderate attendance but we are finding more and more passers-by will drop in on a Tuesday workday. We do not charge on workdays, but do ask for a donation. Given a private tour, which most of our visitors get, most are more than happy to oblige and are often very generous. Railway 200 We took part in the Railway 200 celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway on 27th of September 1825. Crofton was owned by Brunel’s Great Western Railway (GWR) for almost 100 years during which tenure many changes were made. The exhibition of tools, maps, images, a video and stories relating to GWRs tenure, was held in the Side Boiler House was well received by both visitors and volunteers alike.
several years. (Picture of Verity shown on next page) Autumn 2025
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Biofuel trials Crofton has been using coal for over 200 years to fire the boilers and make steam to drive the engines. We will continue to do so for as long as we are able to obtain suitable fuel. However, it is clear that coal is becoming more difficult to obtain, the quality is not always good and it is becoming ever more expensive. To reflect our heritage and stay as close as possible to the way Crofton has always worked, we have been conducting a series of trials with various alternative fuels. Some, such as Ecoal have proved disappointing and have been discounted as alternatives. This year’s trials have focused on burning briquettes made from crushed rape seed, a byproduct of the rape seed oil industry. The briquettes have a high calorific value and have been used with some success over a
for a cup of tea and a slice of cake. This “passing
number of trial days culminating in a full day trial
traffic” is important to us since many will return when
on the last day of this season’s steaming days.
they have more time and will also pass on the
This trial was a success; boiler pressure being
message about Crofton to friends and family.
sustained over the whole day. However, there is much more to learn, from handling and storage
Children at Crofton
to the best way to fire the boiler. We will
At Crofton we offer a series of different trails related
continue these trials next year, but we do see a
to our history, wildlife, and sensory experiences.
possible future using this alternative fuel should
The very popular amazing water lifting machines
coal become unavailable.
continue to fascinate children and adults alike. Built on a massive scale from scrap wood these
The Smithy Tea Room
machines demonstrate the different ways water can
The Smithy Tea Room was officially opened at
be lifted, from simple pump to Archimedes screw.
Easter and has had a very busy and successful year. Visitors really enjoy the look and feel of the
Our relationship with some 50 schools continues to
room, and more importantly the tea, cake and
be built and next year, we will offer a special Steam
nibbles on offer. We have found some visitors
Punk day. This will provide fun activities but also be
who use the Tea Room are simply dropping in
in line with National Curriculum requirements.
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Once more, following a great deal of research, we Gift Aid
decided to go for a satellite internet system. The
How we encourage people to give us Gift Aid
system was installed on site and the results were
has been a subject of much discussion. After a
very rewarding indeed. We now have two POS
thorough investigation of the rules, one of our
systems and credit card machines to deal with busy
volunteers put together a, simple to use,
times. Our volunteers have quickly adapted to using
ticketing system or a Point of Sale (POS), where
the new system and we have much shorter queues!
we can print tickets, and electronically collect Gift Aid information. For steaming and nonsteaming open days we now issue a one-year pass to Crofton, irrespective of whether
Join the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust
someone is gift aiding or not. We have found more people are Gift Aiding and enjoy the opportunity to come back. For our front of house team, collecting the information is quicker and simpler. For Helen, in K&A Finance, it is also simpler and much less time consuming to claim the money from HMRC. Using this system, we can also collect information about where people heard of us, very helpful for future marketing plans, for example a frequent reply is “I live locally and have never been before”, there is a lesson for us right there.
Members receive Two copies of Trust Membership magazine, The Butty, a year Free Entry to Crofton Beam Engines (or discounted entry for special events)
Internet Being in the middle of rural Wiltshire has many advantages, having internet access fit for the 21st century was not one of them! When we started using electronic card machines, we found they simply could not find
Opportunity to attend and vote at our annual AGM katrust.org.uk/support-us
enough signal to work reliably. This caused considerable embarrassment for our Front of House team and some frustration for those in the rapidly growing queues. Our internet access for volunteers was similarly appalling. Autumn 2025
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Twilight edition - Sept 2025 A local visitor attraction wasshocked today by the news that Mr Terry Gray, longstanding captive at Crofton Pumping station, discovered dirt on his overalls. “I cannot understand it” said Mr Gray “this whole area used to be a haven of tranquillity but now just look what happens when you aren’t expecting it”. Mr Gray had been undertaking his normal duties pointing out what should done in the engine house to anyone that would listen when this unprovoked event occurred. “This will involve washing my overalls now” commented Mr. Gray, “I was hoping to keep them in pristine condition to pass on to the Museum of Mr. Gray looking shaken immediately after the discovery of Crofton Artefacts as the record holder for the longest dirt on his overalls. serving clean overalls. My legacy is now in tatters”.
The marks on the pristine overalls that ended his quest to hold the record and immortality in the Crofton Museum of Artefacts
Following the discovery, forensic evidence has been collected for later analysis. The authorities will not reveal the time of the event in case it jeopardises the enquiries but talk of a reward to discover the perpetrator is rife amongst the volunteers in case there is cake and tea on offer. “We will not have heard the last of this episode” fumed Mr. Gray. “If it can happen to me then it can happen to anybody and that is totally unacceptable. The reporter managed to interview other captives of the museum. One, who wished to remain
anonymous, commented that his attempt at the record for clean overalls failed along time ago. It is rumoured that there is a member of this gated community that is deliberately contaminating overalls. “We have not caught them yet - but when we do there will be questions to answer” commented my interviewee. The matter has been reported to the senior management who were unavailable for comment at the time. “They just buy us off with tea and cakes thinking that will stop us questioning these events. The standards are slipping and heaven My anonymous interviewee knows what the public think” The case continues.
with his sad story of failure to make the record
Devizes Branch Update Once again as the days get shorter and nights draw in, here in Devizes we can look back to a very successful and enjoyable season. The exceptional summer weather brought more people out to the wharf and online bookings increased as well. Several quiz and music nights with their fish and chip suppers were very well attended. Yours truly had a go at being a quiz master on the final one of the season. It was great fun, with most of the quiz teams promising to come back next year.(Thanks to Don, the regular quizmaster for trusting me with his impeccable format).
However, just as everything was coming together,
Private charters and two pirate trips also boosted our
we recently had a furry intruder who decided to
passenger numbers.
chew through the main water pipe! This resulted in the office being flooded and the ceilings coming
A new initiative, the brainchild of Pete, one of our
down. Once again our amazing
skippers, was to set up a regular hour-long trip for our
volunteers are working hard repairing the damage
local senior community on a Tuesday morning. It
as the rooms dry out.
gave them the chance to gather on the KV for tea, biscuits a friendly chat and an hour cruising on the
We are well into planning our part for the 75th
canal. After a slow start attendance picked up and as
anniversary next year. Our event date is 6th June
a result this trip will now be a regular weekly event in
and promises to be a great family day out on the
our calendar next season.
wharf, with music, food ,beer and boats….all the essentials.
As well as all the activities on the KV, Devizes
Finally, before we put the KV to bed for the winter
volunteers have been busy renovating our wharf
we will be chasing ghosts
building, including painting all the exterior woodwork.
and ghoulies on a Halloween trip and in
A local Stonemason has repointed the back wall, and a brand-new hanging Museum sign has been purchased. The wharf building, including the museum continue to be used by local community groups for various classes and a rehearsal room for the local theatre.
Autumn 2025
December several Santa cruises are already being booked. It has been a great year, and we are looking forward to an ever more exciting season in 2026. Season’s greetings from all at Devizes.
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Bath and Bristol Branch Updates 2025 has been a year of two halves for B&B Branch. In the first half of the year we continued our activities supporting the adoption agreement for the stretch of river covering Lock 1 to Lock 7, particularly at Hanham Lock. On June 1st Saltford Guides assisted with planting flowers to make the lock look much more attractive. Especial thanks to Holly and Paul for providing refreshments and also helping with gardening throughout the year. Further along the canal we have also been litter picking on the towpath. The second half of the year became much busier because KACT was given the opportunity to purchase the waterbus “Sir John Knill”, based at Bathampton. For many years the Bath & Bristol Branch has been the only branch with neither a boat nor a building, so this is a very exciting development. Originally from Poland, SJK is an electrically powered catamaran, able to operate entirely from solar power on a sufficiently bright day. This means that it can carry crew and twelve passengers almost silently and with negligible environmental impact for boat trips or charters. It is also wheelchair accessible. We are currently in the process of agreeing the sale, following the boat’s trip to Keynsham for its out-of-water survey (see article elsewhere for a description of this adventure). We have also started recruiting and training new volunteer crew, having attended Bathampton Village Show. Autumn 2025
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Bradford on Avon Branch Updates We’ve had a busy year in Bradford. By the end of the year we’ll have done 105 trips in total, 52 of them routine trips, 53 lucrative charter trips, including 6 special trips run as a sideshow to the 250th Jane Austen Festival in Bath. We lost only one routine trip to adversity; this was due to a failure of the drive coupling that links the gearbox to the propshaft (see photo). For a long time, we’ve had a problem with this unit, the bolts on the shield ring and the hex bolts within kept on loosening despite our best
The crack BMac Maintenance Team descended on the stern like locusts, and we reckoned that we could carry out a DIY in-water replacement of the coupling in a few hours. A unit was found mailorder in Birmingham, at a cost of about £640. The delivery delays would have meant that a number of trips would have to be cancelled. Fortunately The Boatyard in Hilperton had one in stock, and for sale at considerably less cost. The coupling was swapped out in a morning with no great difficulties, and has run perfectly since. The replacement also cured the mysterious “clunk”, so we can only assume that the old coupling had been on its way to failure for some considerable time.
efforts at locking them. There was also what we thought was a separate issue of a distinct “clunk” when engaging forward drive, which defeated all analysis, both amateur and professional. The outer casing is attached to the gearbox output, and houses a bonded rubber core, which in turn contains a keyed sleeve that mates with the output propshaft. The problem came to a head when we were ¾ of our way out to Dundas, our longest trip (5 hours return). Right under Limpley Stoke road bridge, with our Skipper at the helm, she reported horrendous noise and a loss of drive. Wallowing in the middle of the canal under the bridge arch, and with another boat oncoming, the mate descended into the engine room to wield a spanner. He rapidly tightened the bolts in the gloom of the compartment, and the trip was completed successfully. Next morning though, another mate was looking at the problem, and spotted the cracked casting of the unit (see photo). Autumn 2025
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Bradford on Avon Branch Updates - continued Prior to the start of the 2025 season, we embarked on a focussed drive to recruit some new volunteer crew members. As a result, we welcomed 18 candidates onto a taster trip aboard Barb. Most of them signed up, and after EST they’ve been featuring on our crew rosters
Tickets were sold out; the crew all dressed in Regency clothing, and a veritable tour de force of guiding, catering from the Canal Trust Café, guest hospitality from the entire crew, and the usual excellent boatmanship, meant that all the trips were widely enjoyed and praised. It will be less frenetic next year, we’ve been promised!
Prunella Scales
throughout the season. And what a pot of treasure we uncovered with this cohort. A
The Trust was saddened to hear that Prunella
number are already earmarked for escalation
Scales has died at home in London. Well known as
through the ranks to Mate or Skipper, and a
a stage actress, and as Sybil in the popular TV
good number have also become deeply
series Fawlty Towers. She was a Vice-President of
engaged in Barb-life, and are making a real
the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, along with her
contribution to our team in addition to crew
husband Timothy West. This was awarded in
duties. A lot of work for the more experienced
recognition of the work and support for the aims of
hands to get everyone up to speed, but a really
the Trust.
good outlook for the future.
They were the first to cruise the length of the waterway between Bristol and Reading following
Once again Barb got involved with the annual
its Restoration in 1990. This cruise was filmed and
Jane Austen Festival in Bath. This year it was
became the incentive for the popular “Great Canal
the 250th anniversary of Jane’s birth, so a very
Journeys” TV Series bringing inland waterways to
special festival for the several thousand Janeites
the public eye. They maintained their affection for
who came from all around the world. The
the Kennet and Avon, and for a long time they
organisers like to offer a range of sideshow
moored their boat in one of the marinas in
events, so that attendees can see other parts of
Newbury.
the country that are not the magnificent Georgian City of Bath. After our 2 trips last year, Barb was contracted to run 6 trips of 30 passengers each, over 3 days. The trip included a train ride from Bath, an escorted walk around scenic Bradford on Avon (led by a Barb volunteer in full Regency Dandy outfit), and a breakfast or afternoon tea on board Barb whilst heading off down the K&A to Avoncliff Aqueduct and back. Autumn 2025
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Devizes Wharf Building Tourist information - We have had discussions The Trustees agreed to progress the offer from
with Devizes Town Council about the potential to
Wiltshire Council of a Community Asset Transfer
making available a tourist information space. This
of the Wharf building to the Kennet and Avon
was withdrawn by the Town Council some years
canal trust with a 125-year lease at a peppercorn
ago, but was seen as being a valuable resource
rent. This will allow The Trust to repair, update
that should be re-established, at a recent ‘Tourist
and develop the building, as the longer lease
Futures’ workshop.
arrangement enables us to justify to the Charity Commission any substantial spend as beneficial
Museum - The museum would benefit from a
to The Trust. It will also allow The Trust to apply
refresh and updating to become more interactive.
for grant and fund-raising opportunities that are not currently available due to the short lease. The
Meeting rooms - We have identified a small
Devizes Wharf building has been used as The
meeting room that will be available for hire to
Trusts headquarters for some 50 years; indeed,
community groups and classes. The larger “John
The Trust was involved in restoring the building
Rennie room” will be updated and avaible for hire
back to use from a derelict building in the 1960’s.
for exhibitions, school visits, wedding receptions, birthday parties, as an events venue, and to host
We have been discussing our ideas with local
larger groups to the museum. We plan to install
people and organisations to get feedback. We
multimedia facilities, to allow projection and
held an open day to allow Wiltshire Council and
sound presentation, and to refurbish the toilet
Devizes Town councillors the opportunity to look
facilities.
at the building. Our Branch Chair and the Curator of our museum have been giving tours to visitors as the opportunity arises The Future - Initial projects identified; Archive - To bring The Trust’s Archive into the building, which is currently sited in a temporary building in the CRT yard at the top of the locks. This will give the opportunity to bring the Museum and Archive together, making a better resource, allowing for researchers to sit and interact with both the Archive and Museum. We intend to interconnect the rooms to create the archive, and convert our existing office space into a hot desk area and archive library. Autumn 2025
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Café - We intend to develop a small café area and local information point for boaters and other visitors. Local groups & meetings including visitors to our museum currently use the “War Room” for this purpose. Community use - Canal and River Trust and White Horse Boats use the space to store equipment and supplies to enable them to continue to maintain their business. The building is also very busy with regular hirings such as ·Lacerta yoga Monday evening ·Boxercise Wednesday evening ·Messy Play Thursday morning term time ·Local Art group Friday mornings
Kennet And Avon Canal Trust Headquarters The Wharf, Devizes
·Park Run Saturday morning ·Hosting evening hirings by Wharf theatre for their rehearsals.
Autumn 2025
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Locks on the Canal County Lock (Lock 106) You may have wondered at the small drop of Reading’s County Lock – just 14 inches, according to the Nicholson Guide – but did you know that it was almost removed altogether? Here is its story; In the late nineteenth century, Reading had a problem with sewage. It was not alone. The recently-discovered link between Cholera and dirty water meant that cities all over the country were looking to separate waste from drinking water. In London, sewers were swiftly and efficiently built.In Reading, the situation was complicated by a high water table and frequent floods. Some houses discharged sewage straight across the towpath! What was to be
The 1889 Lock Keeper, drawn by Hester Butson in the Lock to Lock Times
done? Council meetings from the late 1860s
The new lock, completed in 1875, had a wooden
were dominated by possible solutions. Most
footbridge over the weir to connect with the lock
involved lowering the river, and thus the water
house.
table, to enable new sewers to function properly.
Howard Williams, in his Diary of a Rowing Tour,
Perhaps County and Blake’s locks could be
recorded on 19th August 1875 that the lock was “a
dispensed with, and the Kennet lowered to the
brand new one, only very recently finished.”
level of the Thames?
Howard had an argument with some bargemen as to who should go through first: the bargemen
Eventually, both locks were kept but the river
summoned the lock-keeper, but by the time he
was deepened and straightened and County
arrived the rowers were already through. A few
lock was rebuilt on the opposite bank, a
months later, a barge got stuck between the gates.
shallower version of its former self.
A complaint was made that the lock had not been built big enough for the boats which used it. The
The original County Lock, built in 1723, would
response? It was not for the Council to make a
have been turf-sided like the others on the
more expensive lock that they were compelled by
Kennet.It was later rebuilt in brick, and had a
the owners of the navigation to provide (some
depth of about four and half feet. It was where
things never change!) – although they did make
the weir now is, with a lock house next to it.
alterations later to afford larger boats an easier passage.
Autumn 2025
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For many Victorian pleasure boaters arriving from the Thames, the lock was the first introduction to canal life. No windlass?The lockkeeper would sell one.No canal pass? He would sell that also, and dispense the regulations of the canal company (which, at this date, was the Great Western Railway). Hester Butson, having planned a canoeing trip over a bank holiday weekend in 1889, was not impressed: The company does not allow anyone to go on the canal on Sundays; and you’d be summoned and fined if you tried. This was crushing.We implored, we swore, we entreated, we almost wept; but an ancient individual, who with much circumlocution issued our pass, affirmed that the G.W.R. Co. was very strict, so we had to only decide on Newbury, and after then see what we could do. Accordingly, with many ceremonies, a pass was made out, authorizing us as a “canoo” to travel to Newbury
Gate Repairs, June 2025
on the canal at our own risk and subject to the company’s laws, and a crowd from the neighbouring wharves assembles to see us go through the lock, the ancient clerk himself coming down to shake his forefinger, and tell us it was very wicked to work on Sunday. We can be grateful that no such restrictions exist today!
Autumn 2025
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Taking A Waterbus Down The River By Edmund Cannon As described in our branch report, Bath and Bristol Branch is in the process of buying the waterbus Sir John Knill (SJK). Having put together a proposal to operate the boat, trustees said that we needed a survey before going ahead: at that point the adventures (or should that be nightmares?) of Bath & Bristol Branch started. SJK is about 8’ 7” above the waterline or perhaps that should be 2.6 metres as the boat is Polish. Either way, it is too tall to fit into any dry dock on this end of the canal and attempts to find a suitable launching trailer closer than Warsaw proved unsuccessful. How would we manage a survey? We concluded that the boat would have to come down the River Avon to be craned out at Keynsham. There were just two problems: the boat was still too tall
to pass under bridge 193 and Kelston Lock (lock 5) was closed due to fire damage! Having measured the low bridge and the height of the boat very carefully, we calculated that we could get underneath by adding an additional half ton of weight plus the full crew. We brought a car load of black water barrels from Devizes, filled them with canal water and were reassured that the height of the boat was lowered by as much as we had expected. Having contacted CRT to book our passage through Kelston Lock, we finally set off from Bathampton on a lovely October morning. However, it was not long before we hit a snag! Meeting extra crew at Bath Top Lock 13, we discovered that the short pound just beneath the lock was almost empty. katrust.org.uk | 22
After Kelston Lock 5, we thought things would be By now we had met the remaining members of crew and were also being helped by CRT volunteers. After a short delay we were able to descent the Bath Lock flight. Having gone through Bath Deep Lock 8/9, the following pound was relatively full of water and we approached bridge 193 with some trepidation. The bridge is curved, slopes to one side, at an angle to the canal edge and asymmetrically placed over the canal. With all crew on board to maximise weight, Ali Cannon steered the boat underneath while I checked there was clearance. As you can see from the photo: there wasn’t very much!
straightforward, but we had not reckoned on Swineford Lock 3. The lower gates leak so much that it is impossible to fill the lock, despite the fact that there is a piece of wood nailed to one of the upper gates so that the upper gates never close properly. The only way to fill the lock was to have the entire crew try to push open one of the upper gates to let in a bit more water. Eventually we managed to let in just enough water so that we could push open the gate by brute force. After Swineford there were no more obstacles and we merely had to get to Keynsham boatyard and moor up. After a long day, the battery was still 98% charged, demonstrating just how effective the solar panels are. A week later we did the whole journey in reverse! Thank you to the all of the volunteers that helped with both journeys. The survey has proved satisfactory and we are now moving ahead with the purchase. B&B Branch has already started recruiting new volunteers to form crew for the boat when it starts to operate in 2026. If you know anyone that might be interested, please contact bathandbristol@katrust.org.uk to find out more.
We then entered the River Avon and made our way down to Kelston Lock 5, where our passage was booked for 2 o’clock. CRT staff were waiting for us and helped us through, operating the nearside lower gate very carefully (the whole thing looked as if it could fall apart any minute). Autumn 2025
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The Newbury Float In 1794, work started on the centre section of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which would extend the Kennet Navigation to Bath, thus providing a through route between London and Bristol when completed in 1810. The new canal used the stretch of the River Kennet under the bridge at Newbury to gain access to Newbury Lock, the first lock on the new section. Due to the bridge over the canal pre-dating the canal, there was no towpath under the bridge and as boats were horse-drawn they would have to tie up just before the bridge. The horses would then be taken across the road to the other side of the road bridge and back down onto the towing path. The boat towrope was then attached to a device called a Newbury float and floated back under the bridge on the current. When the float reached the moored boat, the towrope was retied to the boat, which was then towed under the bridge and into the lock by the horses to start its onward journey. The float was then taken back over the bridge to await the next boat. The grooves worn into the side of the bridge by friction from the wet and gritty towropes can still be seen to this day. Article and photo by Terry Mundy, Curator of Devizes Museum Artwork by Dru Marland
Autumn 2025
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Memories of the K & A
From Kennet and Avon Canal Trust Archive Images provided by Elaine Kirby
Kennet & Avon Canal Trust 75th Anniversary Next year is the 75thAnniversary of the forming ofthe restoration organisation to save the Kennet and Avon Canal. Initially as the Kennet and Avon Canal Association in 1951 to become the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust eleven years later. We are the organisation that originally lobbied government and authorities and later worked with British Waterways and others to re-open the Navigation. We have then continued to work to Protect and Preserve our wonderful waterway and Promote and Educate the waterways environment to the public. We are planning to celebrate along the length of waterway from Bristol to Reading. The catalyst for this will be taking one of our disabled access boats from Bristol Floating Harbour to the 2026 Reading Waterfest. This commemorates the journey of Tim West and Prunella Scales, who were the first to make this journey when the navigation was reopened in 1990 (Tim & Pru were vice presidents of our Trust for many years). We will stop at a number of notable locations along the navigation and hold a series of celebratory events. These are still very much in plan at the moment. We intend to carry multiple passengers from different background. School parties, community groups, KACT Members and Volunteers and VIP guests and invite Local TV and Radio to join us on the journey. We will have a rota of crew members so many of our volunteers can take part. Along the way we will announce other projects and initiatives that will further enhance the waterway experience. Reading Waterfest will be an important part of this celebration will be on the 27th June.