Lichfield Lines Issue 45

See inside for our fantastic range of activities over the next few months The Inland Waterways Association is a membership charity that works to protect and restore the country's 7,000 miles of canals and navigable rivers.

www.waterways.org.uk/lichfield

Issue 45 Autumn 2023

Lichfield Branch

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Lichfield Branch

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Inside This Issue •

A View From The Helm

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•

Forthcoming Events

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Walks and Meetings till April 2024 •

Recent Activities

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Recent Walks, Festivals and Meetings •

Recent News

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Response from Andy Street—Mayor of the West Midlands to the letter from Our Chairman Adrian Wedgwood •

Christmas Dinner Menu

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•

News from the Restoration Societies

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Planning Matters

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•

Editorial Notice

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The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this magazine but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy, or as an official pronouncement, unless specifically identified as such.

The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee. Registered in England no. 612245. Registered as a charity no. 212342 Registered Office: Unit 16B, Chiltern Court, Asheridge Road, Chesham HP5 2PX Tel: 01494 783453 Web: www.waterways.org.uk

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A VIEW FROM THE HELM The deadline for Lichfield Lines content being whilst I'm away 'boating' the Cape Cod and Chesapeake & Delaware canals (Silver propeller challenges?!) amongst other places in Canada & the US on Fred Olsen's mv Balmoral & won't be back in Blighty until the very end of October means I'm writing this missive ahead of time.

Much has happened in the last few months & there's much more to come.

Top of the List was the Future Fun Britain’s Waterways Campaign Cruise in Birmingham organised by IWA leading over fifty waterways related organisations supporting the Canal & River Trust's demand that DEFRA provide sufficient funding to maintain our canals & navigable rivers.

Helen Whitehouse, our Regional chairman and known to our members for running our sales table at Branch meetings was interviewed promoting eloquently the wider benefits of our canals in the substantial National & Regional media coverage.

IWA was formed in 1946 to campaign for the protection of our canals - little did we realise we'd have to do it all again in 2023!

The Fund Britain's Waterways Group is over 90 organisations united in the campaign to ensure that beyond this Parliament and long into the future there will be sufficient, guaranteed grant funding to retain the huge environmental, economic & social benefits that Britain's 7,000 miles of inland waterways provide to us all.

Neil, my indefatigable deputy, & I together with all Branch chairmen 'met' Sarah Niblock our new chief executive for the first time at a Zoom meeting. I'm shocked to report that she has since resigned from IWA. This is the second new CEO this year who has left IWA within weeks of joining.

This is a very disturbing situation. IWA as a powerful campaigning group needs stability & strong strategic leadership at the top of our team & the present turmoil must make it more difficult to attract the talent required.

I raised that & the potential damage to IWA's reputation at IWA's AGM in Stourport.

In answer to my question the Trustees acknowledged they had made a big mistake, principally that the role was not capable of being part-time despite funding not being available for a full-time job.

A Working Group has now been established to review IWA's structure & funding.

Clearly the Association's limited resources must be prioritised. It cannot continue as before and has to adapt to present circumstances and must change. The Working Group will examine all options and report to Trustees within 3 months. After which

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we are promised clear communication of the way ahead.

Guided by Phil Sharpe, our Branch Secretary & Planning Officer, many of us lobbied our local MP's in support of CRT's bid for sufficient grant funding to maintain our canals. Most received a 'standard' response and reminder that MP's protocol meant they could only react to issues in their constituencies.

I also lobbied Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, a very influential and extremely active figure in Midlands politics. His encouraging response is featured elsewhere in this magazine. (see Page 9) Lichfield (including Burntwood & parts of East Staffordshire) MP & chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Waterways Group, Patron of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust & Branch member Sir Michael Fabricant attended our meeting on 20th September. See Page 8 for report.

Our Lock Wind at Barton Turns was successful most notably for the number of locals from Barton's wider community that came to find out what IWA was about. (See Page 7 for report) The Ashby Canal Association recently opened a new stop gate part funded in memory of the late Jerry Sanders, a stalwart of our Branch who lived at Barton Turn.

Next we were heavily involved in this year's IWA's National Festival of Water held at Pelsall in our area - that's two years running we've hosted a National event! See Page 7 for report.

Vice-chairman Neil Barnett, after completing compulsory CRT training on how to operate a lock!!, is now a volunteer lock keeper at Fradley Junction & has had outstanding success recruiting volunteers for his off-side vegetation clearance work Jerry Sanders parties and persuading some to join IWA! Thanks to Neil our Branch events now feature in the principal waterways Press.

Lichfield Lines newsletter & Website editor Pete Gurney, Social Media editor Richard Curtis, Neil & I met recently for a 'brainstorming' at Kings Bromley Marina to put together a plan to attract members and a wider audience to our Branch meetings.

We'll be exploring new avenues & improving existing opportunities. Our meetings are open to all including members of the public.

Phil Sharpe, our Planning specialist does sterling work identifying & commenting on Planning applications affecting the canals & environs received by the 17 Local Authorities (including three County Councils) in our Branch Area. He is also the Planning Lead on HS2 for IWA. Congratulations to Phil for his extensive work on the impact of HS2 on the canals in Cheshire where his suggestion of an alternative route that would be less expensive to construct & less intrusive on the canals is being

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considered by HS2.

To my amazement my campaign to attract new members, visitors to events & volunteers was highlighted by the editor of Towpath Talk in her September edition. She has apologised for the typo in my name!

This Lichfield Lines contains information on our Christmas Lunch on 10th December again at Darnford Moors Golf Club - please come to this splendid social event and meet up with friends old & new.

Christmas Greetings & Best Wishes for the New Year from Maz & I to you all.

Adrian Wedgwood Chairman IWA Lichfield Branch Forthcoming Events Thursday 9th November 2023—Guided Walk—"Radford Bank and the Staffs. & Worcs. Canal."

This is an easy 5½ mile walk with no stiles along the towpath, grass paths and pavements. There is one gentle incline when we first leave the towpath, and a steady descent back down to the canal in the latter part of the walk.

From the pub car park, we turn left onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire towards Baswich, leaving the canal by bridge 103. Here there is a short climb on a green track up to the Stafford suburbs of Weeping Cross and Wildwood, which we pass through on pavements. Thereafter, we descend along a further green track down to the canal, which we re-join at bridge 96, alongside Stafford Boat Club. From here we return to our starting point with fine views across Radford Meadows.

Meet 10:15 for a 10:30 start on Thursday 9th November 2023 in the car park of The Radford Bank Inn, Radford Bank, Stafford ST17 4PG. Wednesday 15th November 2023—Meeting November’s talk will be given by Stephanie Horton, Managing Director of River Canal Rescue, on the “Trials and Tribulations of Boating”. RCR are the emergency service of the waterways and attend numerous disasters throughout the year varying from minor engine breakdowns to major sinkings and strandings. She will have some interesting tales to tell.

Sunday 10th December 2023—Christmas Dinner Our Christmas dinner will again be held at Darnford Moors Golf Club. The event last year was well received and this years will no doubt be the same.

The Menu is in the centre page of the magazine.

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Contact Sue Gurney with your booking and payment on 01785 255101 or sue.gurney@waterways.org.uk or at the Branch meetings by end of November 15th at the latest.

Please meet at 12:30 for a 1:00pm start at Darnford Moors Golf Club, Darnford Lane, Lichfield WS14 9JG Monday 1st January 2024—New Year’s Day "Huddlesford and the Coventry Canal."

This is an easy 4 mile walk on level ground, with 0 stiles. Leaving the pub car park, we walk along a lane as far as Huddlesford Farm where we turn right to bring us to Cappers Lane. We walk into Whittington and join the Coventry Canal at Whittington Bridge, from where we follow the canal back to our starting point.

Meet 10:30 for a 10:45 start on Monday 1st January 2024 in the car park of The Plough Inn, Huddlesford Lane, Huddlesford, Whittington, Staffs. WS13 8PY. Contact Clive Walker at clive.walker@waterways.org.uk Wednesday 17th January 2024—Meeting Our first meeting of 2024 will be Nik Antona (National Chairman of CAMRA) and Jane Eason (Head of Campaigns) on “CAMRA, 50 years of Success—Now Addressing New Challenges” Wednesday 21st February 2024—Meeting February’s meeting will be continuing the subject of beer with Dr Harry White & Laura Waters on “Saving the Brewing Heritage of Burton”

Some of the Brewing Heritage of Burton

Wednesday 20th March 2024—Meeting As usual our March meeting will be preceded by the Branch AGM. Following the formalities Branch member Margaret Beardsmore will show us some of her superb photos with a talk entitled “Photographing the Cut”.

Wednesday 17th April 2024—Meeting Our last meeting of the season will feature Nick Haynes from the Friends of President giving us up update on “Steam Narrowboat President”. President is currently undergoing an extensive refit the most expensive part of which is a new boiler. This is

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currently out for tender so it is hoped to get the boat back on the water by summer 2024.

Recent Activities Sunday 6th August 2023—Lockwind On a cool but pleasant Sunday in August the Branch held a lockwind at Barton Turn lock. The idea was to promote awareness of IWA and raise money for the Branch by helping boats through the lock and selling them items from the stall, mostly home made cakes! Thanks

to the volunteers who made cakes and helped on the day we made a good contribution to Branch funds. After the lockwind the volunteers sat down at the pub’s outside area and enjoyed excellent food also made by volunteers—thanks again. Having the Barton Turns pub right by the lock helped enormously as we could use their facilities and enjoy a cold beer with our food.

Photos Margaret Beardsmore Saturday-Sunday 19th-20th August 2023—Brownhills Festival Organised by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust (L&H) this two day festival is a wonderful community event. When we visited on the Saturday it was very busy with many boats attending and lots of local people wandering up and down the towpath looking at the many stalls. The Branch were not directly involved but there was an IWA stand promoting the Festival of Water the following week.

Saturday-Monday 26th-28th August 2023—IWA Festival of Water This year’s Festival of Water was held at Pelsall North Common, an excellent site we

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have used before. The weather was reasonably kind and the Sales Stand sold lots of books, maps, clothing and other boating related merchandise.

We also recruited a few new members. There were lots of boats, numerous stalls selling and promoting all sorts of things. Several food stalls kept us supplied with nourishment and the music offering in the marquee kept everybody entertained. The bar did well also. A great event attended by many members and a lot of local residents. We had some very favourable comments from many of them!

Boats at the Festival of Water

Tuesday 7th September 2023—Guided Walk—Carlton and the Ashby Canal

Due to the low turnout (and in part due to the extreme heat) I decided not to proceed with the walk as planned, and I did an impromptu local walk around Carlton instead for those who turned up.

I will reschedule this walk as described for a new date in 2024.

On the plus side, we enjoyed a very good meal at The Gate Hangs Well, the ambience and decor of the pub was pleasant, and the landlady, who had phoned me the day before to confirm the booking and had laid out a large table for us, was very accommodating and understanding about the change in the number of diners. She says we are very welcome to return next year, which is good news.

Clive Walker Wednesday 20th September— Meeting A double bill of influential speakers that evening resulted in a very special packed meeting of 40 members & visitors - back to how it was before Covid.

Irrepressible leader of IWA's Waterway Recovery Group Mike Palmer (& designer of News Studios for the BBC) entertained & informed us with examples of WRG's successful camps this year that were almost back to normal with 6 weeks on the Cotswold Canal & 2 weeks at Lichfield.

The main difference was that most

Local MP Sir Michael Fabricant

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volunteers were of 'mature years' arriving by car & setting up their own private bedrooms in the Village Halls! Next year's expanded programme of camps should return to being populated also by students arriving by train with a single rucksack of essentials & a floor mat!

Sir Michael Fabricant MP brought us first up to date on HS2 - a matter of great interest to those living in or near Lichfield where the massive works to create the Handsacre Link from Birmingham to the West Coast Mainline are creating chaos.

Michael was also very critical of CRT’s management appeal for increased funding beyond the £735million government grant up to 2027.

He claimed CRT had been offered £401million 'up front' for 2027 to 2037 so it could be invested to provide additional income. After which CRT would have to be self funding as required when devolved from the constraints of the British Waterways Board.

Evidently appeals for additional funding were 'falling on stony ground' as CRT had failed to provide Civil Servants & Special Advisers to politicians with evidence of where & on what the extra funding would be spent. They had 'received little evidence and the business case just wasn't there'.

Adrian Wedgwood Tuesday 3rd October 2023—Stroll The latest in our programme of short walks took place in October.

Blessed with a fine and sunny autumn day, our small group set off from the Stags Leap pub on the outskirts of Rugeley for the 2.5 mile walk.

Led by local resident and branch committee member Derek Beardsmore, our walk included the infamous ‘Bloody Steps’ by the aqueduct followed by a walk along the towpath through Rugeley and back via the former residence of the ‘Rugeley Poisoner’ Dr Palmer, followed by a pleasant walk through the historic grounds of the Old Chancel and adjacent churchyard. The walk ended with a very enjoyable lunch at the pub.

Recent News As mentioned in his report “View From The Helm” Adrian contacted Andy Street, the elected Mayor of the West Midlands and an influential figure in the Midlands.

This was his reply.

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Dear Adrian, Firstly, many thanks for your email on the future of our waterways, and apologies for my delayed reply. As you would expect, given the recent announcement by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) this issue has been one of my top priorities and it was important I had conversations with the relevant bodies before deciding on next steps.

I have now had a meeting with both Richard Parry, CRT’s CEO, and Adnan Saif, their Regional Director for the West Midlands. The meeting was frank, and we have begun structuring how we might tackle this important issue together.

Additionally, one of my advisors has been in touch with your own CEO, Sarah Niblock, to discuss next steps with the IWA. I very happily provided a message of support for your recent Festival of Water where I understand you continued to push your campaign.

CRT’s announcements have caused much alarm, particularly in Birmingham.

For years our region's canals have supported communities and fostered innovation, and as such I will do everything in my power to ensure that no part of the network is consigned to history.

I wholeheartedly agree Andy Street Mayor of that the importance of the the West Midlands region's canal network cannot be disputed.

Birmingham, for example, has relied upon its canal network for decades, whether in its original use as a connector of industry or the incredible benefits it now provides to residents, commuters, and visitors to the city. As you mention in your letter, our canal network is also integral to our landscape and environment and is particularly important ecologically. The survival and reconditioning of our network have allowed nature to flourish in circumstances normally reserved for far less populated locations.

Of course, the canal network also has clear economic benefits. We see, for example, the success of the Brindley Place development which has proven that the canal network – rather than hindering development – can entirely complement it. The site is now a setting for communities to come together and enjoy the canal whilst also helping to provide attractive jobs through adjacent restaurants and support for cultural organizations through markets and musical events.

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I share your belief in the importance of our canal network and I will continue to do all I can to support it. I have huge respect for the work of the IWA to safeguard this precious network, and I am absolutely committed to support you in any way I can.

I will continue to work through these issues with CRT, and will no doubt remain in regular contact with the IWA on this critical issue. And, of course, should it become necessary I will not hesitate to raise this issue directly with DEFRA. Thank you once again for contacting me, and for the incredibly important work you are doing to advocate for our canal network.

Best Wishes Andy Street News From the Restoration Societies Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust L&H are holding their autumn social on Friday October 27th at 8pm. The venue will be Whittington Village Hall. The evening will include the draw for the annual raffle and a finger buffet. Tea, coffee, bottled and soft drinks will be available. You are welcome to bring your own drinks. Cost is £20 including the buffet.

A woman’s story of the Boatmen’s Strike: Written and performed by Kate Saffin and Janul.

There is much written about the strike – the role the union played, the company’s dastardly pay cuts, 50-60 boats in Braunston, an influx of children to the local school, but nothing about what it might have been like to be a boatwoman in the middle of all that muddle. A woman used to being on the move, managing her family, shopping, meals, washing, cooking, steering, sewing, knitting… what was 14 weeks at a standstill like for her?

In an exciting new collaboration with long-time boater, musician and songwriter Janul, this new show explores how Eliza, a woman on a working boat, might have felt to be at the heart of this historic campaign.

See lhcrt.org.uk for the full details.

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Ashby Canal Association As mentioned in Adrian’s “View From The Helm” the Ashby Canal Association recently opened a new stop gate and bridge at Snarestone. This was partly funded by a legacy from Branch member Jerry Sanders. Unfortunately, the official opening date clashed with the IWA Festival of Water so we were unable to attend. See ashbycanal.org.uk for the full story.

Planning Matters This report summarises the more important of about 30 planning matters dealt with between mid-July and mid-October 2023, a slightly quieter period than usual but with some significant developments.

On the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at Acton Trussell we objected to an elevated steel and glass balcony extension very close to the canal as being visually intrusive and inappropriate adjacent to the canal’s Conservation Area. There was a previous consent for an oak framed balcony and this design but at a reduced width would be more appropriate.

On the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood, the café and farm shop at Canalside Farm provide valuable facilities for canal users and locals alike, and parking for walkers to access the canal. A proposed extension to the café with its decking and terrace by 10 metres alongside the canal using the same design and materials is proposed. Adjacent to this, a picnic area with grass and landscaping replacing the existing canalside car parking will be an enhancement. There will also be a ‘Market Place’ building linking the café and shop, a rear extension to the shop, and replacement of part of the glasshouse by relocated parking. This was all supported in principle, but we asked for elevation drawings showing the changes as viewed from the canal, which were subsequently provided and show a satisfactory overall appearance.

At Bromley Hayes, where consent to convert the closed garden centre to a base for Land & Water was given in 2021, a further application to replace existing buildings with more suitable ones, which was refused, has been refused again on Appeal. The reasons given include taller buildings having more harmful appearance than the existing ones and lack of evidence of safeguarding the noise environment of Kings Bromley

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marina residents, even though the site is well away from and well screened from the canal and marina.

At Kings Bromley Marina, the application for change of use of 75 of the moorings to residential was disappointingly refused, mainly on the grounds that the site is remote from facilities and reliant on road transport. This despite the fact that there have in practice been around 50 long-term liveaboard boats there for many years without any problems. The new marina owners Aquavista did themselves no favours by failing to admit this so the application was treated as being the same as for 75 new houses in a rural area.

Aquavista have now applied to vary the original planning consent to remove the 120 day per year residence restriction from the inner basin, but substitute a requirement for each boater to register a permanent address. This may provide a ‘loophole’ for some with a land-based address used for mail, voting, passports, GP registration etc. but others could be evicted. We consider this would not be equitable or workable.

They should remove the time limit condition, leaving it to agreement between individual moorers and the marina as to how often and for how long they can occupy their boats residentially. The Council should recognise the increasing need for such residential moorings, the constraints on marina locations, and the existing use, and not seek to micro-manage people’s lives by forbidding or limiting residential use of their boats.

Near Horninglow Basin in Burton-on-Trent, two plots of land which had consent in 2019 for detached houses have in fact become gypsy and traveller sites, with applications now submitted for 6 mobile homes on each site.

By the Coventry Canal at Mancetter Wharf, south of Atherstone the Rothen Group have developed the basin and adjoining land into a major base for their canal contracting business. We supported their application for a new office building but expressed concern about the unsightly 5 storey high stacks of work boats close to the

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canal bank and questioned if these had prior permission.

The Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Plan Review, Publication Draft has been published, and all but one of the changes we requested at the Preferred Options stage in June 2022 have been made. The Strategic Housing Site Allocation at Tuttle Hill (Judkins Quarry) now limits building heights near the Coventry Canal to 2 storeys. The Cemetery allocation at Marston Lane Bedworth includes a 10 metre stand-off from the Coventry Canal. The Historic Environment Policy includes progressing Conservation Area designation of the Coventry and Ashby canals within the Borough. The proposed canalside housing site allocations on Tomkinson Road Recreation Ground and at Knebley Crescent Woodland that we objected to have both been deleted. Also, four canalside housing sites in Warwickshire Branch that we commented on with their agreement, at Marston Lane and Acacia Crescent Bedworth and at Hawkesbury Pump House, have all been deleted, and housing at Hawkesbury Golf Course will be limited to 2 storeys facing the canal across a 10 metre landscaped buffer zone as we requested.

However, in between these consultation stages, the Faultlands Farm employment site was given consent for an extremely large warehouse building with offices very close to the canal, not complying with the earlier Plan consultation requirement to set development back from the canal with a landscaped buffer zone, and this very intrusive development has now been built.

On the Ashby Canal opposite The Barge moorings at Wykin Bridge, an application for a house to replace a small bungalow at Basin Bridge Farm would be largely screened by the existing towpath hedge.

At Stoke Golding a proposed single storey home just south of the Wharf would be screened from the canal by existing sheds and the boatyard polytunnel.

At Gallows Lane near Measham adjacent to the restoration route of the Ashby Canal an application for up to 64 holiday lodges may be acceptable in principle but had a number of issues. A corner of the site includes land protected by the Transport & Works Act Order for temporary use as a road diversion for construction of a bridge over the Ashby Canal restoration route, and this should be left undeveloped as open grassland until the canal construction is completed. The plans should show the canal route adjacent to the site boundary and a footpath connection should leave space for the planned canal footbridge. The recently established canal towpath can provide a traffic-free route into Measham, with funding for improvements from the development, and the canal will be an asset for walking, cycling, jogging, angling, nature watching, canoeing, paddle boarding, etc. as there are no recreational facilities proposed on the site. We said that the plans should be amended and the developer should work with the restoration promoters to resolve these issues and produce a mutually supportive scheme. The application was later withdrawn, but may come back with amendments.

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On the Lichfield Canal we have been pleased to support a detailed application by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust for their continuing restoration work between Gallows Wharf on London Road and Lock 24 south of Tamworth Road. This includes all engineering, earthworks and environmental work to re-create the channel, install a lift bridge, and build a new Lock 24 relocated to the west of Cricket Lane.

The HS2 (Crewe – Manchester) Bill Select Committee’s First Special Report referred to our written evidence on the subsidence risk to the Trent & Mersey Canal and proposed local route diversion to avoid Billinge Flash, and required HS2 to respond to all the questions we asked. The Promoter’s Response document says they will write to the Select Committee with a response to IWA’s points, and will carry out further ground and remote sensing investigations at Billinge Flash. They will also publish a summary of the ground investigations by the end of the year, and thereafter biennially.

However, this has all been overtaken by the announcement by the Prime Minister on 4 October of cancellation of HS2 Phases 2a, 2b and HS2 East.

In Lichfield Branch the cancellation of Phase 2a removes the threat of disruption and noise to Great Haywood Marina and its semi-residential boaters. The future of the Trent-Sow HS2 Group and its HS2 funded environmental projects is now uncertain.

Although the main Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal towpath improvements between Great Haywood and Milford have been completed a proposed extension may be in doubt.

Cancellation of HS2 East will enable the Ashby Canal restoration at Measham to proceed as part of the stalled Measham Waterside housing development. It also removes a crossing of the Coventry Canal at Polesworth.

Phase 1 through to Handsacre will continue so the works affecting the Lichfield Canal have not changed, with construction of the replacement Cappers Lane canal bridge and the canal diversion under Cappers Lane Viaduct expected to continue, although the timescale is uncertain. But the Trent & Mersey Canal bridge at Fradley and the grade separated junction at Streethay are clearly no longer needed.

Elsewhere, the cancellation of Phase 2b removes the threats of disruption and noise to the Middlewich Branch and adjacent moorings, and to three Trent & Mersey Canal crossings, Oakwood Marina, and possible subsidence of the canal around Billinge Flash.

Confirmation of the East Midlands to Leeds route abandonment will simplify the Chesterfield Canal restoration at Staveley which no longer needs a deepened lock and an extra lock.

Finally, I no longer expect to be called to put our case for better noise protection for canals to the Select Committee, which may be discontinued along with the current Bill.

Phil Sharpe—Planning Officer

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Editorial Notice Lichfield Lines is the newsletter of IWA Lichfield Branch, it is produced 4 times a year to keep members informed about our forthcoming public meetings, walks, work parties and other activities, to provide reports on recent meetings and events, and to include articles of general interest to our members.

The editor, Peter Gurney, welcomes articles, letters or photographs of waterway activities in our Branch area which can be emailed to pete.gurney@waterways.org.uk (Please note there is a 35MB limit for emails with attachments sent via this address).

The copy date for the next newsletter will be 15th January 2024, for publication in February.

Advertising Lichfield Lines is posted or emailed to about 350 Branch members. It can also be read and downloaded by anyone from the Branch website pages.

If you would like to publicise your waterway related business to our members, and others that read the newsletter online, we can offer advertising space at the following rates: Full Page - £20 inc VAT per issue

Half Page - £10 inc VAT per issue

Please contact the editor to discuss artwork and layout.

By advertising you will help to sponsor IWA's charitable activities and reach potential customers who are all committed to the waterways.

The IWA has a range of corporate members some of whom offer discounts to members. The discount details can be found on the IWA website at https://waterways.org.uk/benefits Corporate members in our area are— Lichfield Cruising Club 2000 Ltd Stafford Boat Club Ltd Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust Ashby Canal Trust Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust Canal Transport Services Ltd River Canal Rescue Ltd Midland Chandlers Norton Canes Boat Services Ltd Lakeland Leisure Estates Ltd

Longwood Boat Club Ashby Canal Association Tamworth Cruising Club Ash Tree Boat Club Countywide Cruisers (Brewood) Ltd Elite Furnishings Waterways World Ltd Birmingham & Midland Marine Services Hargreaves Narrowboat Trust Stafford Riverway Link

Please mention the IWA when contacting any of these Corporate Members.

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Your Committee Chairman Tel: 01283 713125 Email: adrian.wedgwood@waterways.org.uk

Adrian Wedgwood

Vice-Chairman Tel: 07808 846434 or 07481259955 Email: neil.barnett@waterways.org.uk

Neil Barnett

Treasurer Tel: 01785 255101 Email: sue.gurney@waterways.org.uk

Sue Gurney

Secretary & Planning Officer Tel: 01889 583330 Email: phil.sharpe@waterways.org.uk

Phil Sharpe

Volunteer Coordinator & Membership Tel: 07808 846434 or 07481259955 Email: neil.barnett@waterways.org.uk

Neil Barnett

Navigation Officer Tel: 07847 470112 Email: derek.beardsmore@waterways.org.uk

Derek Beardsmore

Social Secretary

Position vacant

Ex Officio: Region Chairman also Branch Sales and External Talks (noncommittee posts) Tel : 01543 491161 Email: helen.whitehouse@waterways.org.uk

Helen Whitehouse

Non-committee posts Newsletter and Website Editor Tel: 01785 255101 Email: pete.gurney@waterways.org.uk

Pete Gurney

Walks Coordinator Email: clive.walker@waterways.org.uk

Clive Walker

Social Media Editor Email: Richard.curtis@waterways.org.uk

Richard Curtis

Branch Contact Address Email: lichfield@waterways.org.uk

IWA Lichfield Branch 34 Old Eaton Road, Rugeley WS15 2EZ

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