Branch Chairman’s Jottings Branch Chairman’s Jottings Branch Chairman’s Jottings Branch Chairman’s Jottings

byBernardMorton byBernardMorton

As we are fast approaching the beginning of August, I am wondering what has happened to our summer! We are hearing daily/hourly about the scorching weather around the Mediterranean whilst we are “enjoying” below seasonal temperatures and a lot of rain. The experts blame the position of the jet stream and/or global warming – who knows!

Our boating trip “up north” had us experiencing all sorts of weather. Initially, it was quite cold and we were digging out jumpers and gloves. Then we had a couple of weeks of sunshine and temperatures in the high 20s/low 30s before it turned cooler and showery.

It was quite an eventful trip though shorter than we had initially planned. Our departure was delayed for about a week but it was perhaps our most leisurely boating trip ever – which we’ve decided was so enjoyable and to be repeated in future! We got as far as Lincoln but decided against heading for York and Ripon as we were rather unimpressed by the tidal Trent. We encountered a sunken boat in the Kegworth Lock (the old sitting on the cill as the lock emptied problem!). Despite rumours of it being a 2-3 day delay, CRT and RCR acted really quickly with it being removed by about 6am the following morning – we were hoping to view the process but by the time we woke up the boat was gone and the lock reopened.

FUNDING CUTS FOR WATERWAYS. The 10th of July was a dark day for our waterways. This was when the government announced plans to shave 5% off its grant each year for the ten years, starting from 2027 (when existing funding arrangements cease). Thus, CRT’s grant will drop to £50m in 2027 and will shrink to £31.5m by 2036. The impact of inflation has been ignored and CRT claim this will mean a real-term reduction in excess of £300m over the ten years.

Reaction to the announcement from CRT and IWA was swift and angry. Richard Parry, CRT Chief Executive, called for public protests against the funding decision and launched a campaign called #Keep Canals Alive urging the public to email their MP to demand an urgent rethink. Worryingly, he went on to warn that some canals would probably close due to the reduction in funding.

IWA, which had already launched a campaign called Protect our Waterways back in March, has now established an action group called Fund Britain’s Waterways which aims to bring together all organisations and individuals with an interest, whether business or personal, to “campaign collectively for an increase in Government funding of our inland waterways to avert their decline and to promote awareness of the huge economic, environmental and social well-being value they provide”.

If you are reading this, I am assuming that you care very much about the future of our inland waterways and would implore you to follow and support the campaigns by CRT https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/our-campaigns/keep-canals-alive and IWA https://waterways.org.uk/fund-britains-waterways .

ARM ADOPTION ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. As mentioned briefly in last issue’s jottings, we are looking forward to celebrating the 10th Anniversary of our Branch’s adoption of the Northampton Arm. There is much to celebrate. The idea of adoption first arose when Sandie and I brought our boat up from its moorings on the River Nene and we saw first hand the state of decline of the Arm. Approaching Lock 17 from the Nene, it was impossible to see the mooring bollards on the lock landing. To access these, your crew had to fight through nettles, thistles etc to secure the boat. The area around the lock was littered with litter and debris (broken glass, drug paraphernalia etc. from rough sleepers who had colonised the area over the years. All the way up the Arm there were problems and difficulties with lock operation and shallow water, overhanging vegetation making it an awkward and rather unpleasant journey.

At our next committee meeting, we reported what we had found, and the idea of a Branch adoption began to form. CRT had just announced its plans for small group adoptions and they welcomed our approach – though initially they wanted to limit us to litter picking and maybe a bit of lock painting. How things have changed over the 10 years! I like to think that the professionalism our adoption co-ordinators, Mike Butler and Geoff Wood, have demonstrated over this time has greatly impressed CRT and they have allowed us to expand our involvement such that we now do a lot of vegetation cut back, by-wash clearance, hedge laying, towpath improvements and much more.

So, we invite you to join us on Sunday 3rd September from 12 noon to 3pm at the Memorial Garden by Lock 6 & 7 to help us celebrate. There will be refreshments available so if you would like to attend, can I ask that you let Sandie, our Branch Sec, know via sandiemorton@gmail.com or 07917 163860 to help with catering arrangements. Invites have gone out to CRT staff, the press and local dignitaries and to our present and past volunteers.

ANNUAL BRANCH DINNER. As mentioned in the last issue our Annual Branch Dinner will take place at The Boat Inn, Stoke Bruerne on Saturday, 2nd December 2023 (apologies for any confusion created by there being different dates quoted in May’s issue). Menu and booking details are on page 11. A booking form is included with postal copies and on our website. We hope that you can join us for what is one of our few opportunities to meet in person and socialise.

BRANCH MEETINGS. After a somewhat variable season in terms of attendance at our talks for autumn 2022- spring 2023, we decided to try another season and to attempt to increase our publicity efforts to attract more people, both members and non-members.

Lynda Payton, as our Meetings Organiser, has again found some different, imaginative speakers/entertainers. We have kept to a mix of afternoon and evening meetings which seem to attract different attendees, and which can only be a good thing. For further information, please see page 4.

As I said in my last Jottings, it will be a case of “use them or lose them” I’m afraid! So, there’s a lot going on for our Branch presently. I hope we get to meet up with many more of our members face-to-face over the coming months – either at our 10th Anniversary event or when our Branch meetings resume in October. If you have a holiday planned, I hope you have an enjoyable, relaxing time whether its on or around our inland waterways or further afield. If you find yourself with some time on your hands, please look at the campaigns by CRT and IWA and think about what you can do to support these. There is a clear and present danger to the future of our waterways from which so many people enjoy great benefit whether they are boaters, cyclists, walkers, fishing people, paddleboarders and canoeists/kayakers.