achieved in the current funding crisis and our discussion ranged from Pennywort to User Group Meetings and from dredging to volunteer work parties. One piece of good news is that limited dredging is currently taking place in Leicester and this will include the notoriously silted pound below Limekiln lock.
Not all of my cries for help fall on deaf ears! We are indebted to Martin Gilding for agreeing to take on the duties of Branch Secretary for David Hastie, while the latter is on an extended family visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Sadly, David has decided not to stand for re-election when he retires by rotation at the forthcoming AGM, so we’ll be urgently seeking a new secretary. I’m afraid my efforts to persuade Martin to take on the job permanently have not succeeded due to his other commitments and prolonged absences. LATE NEWS: Riverside Housing has once again promised to sponsor valuable cash prizes for the decorated boat competition at the Leicester Festival (5th/6th June). There is no particular theme this year and now is the time to get thinking and planning your entry!
John Evans.
Aegre March 2010 Page 26
Valerie Holt MBE Congratulations to Val Holt of Nottingham and Derby Branch for her award of the MBE in the New Years Honours List; the award was presented at Buckingham Palace in February. Val has been the Executive Secretary of the Institute of Fisheries Management for many years and the award is for her services to fisheries and the environment. Val worked for the Institute as a volunteer as she worked for the Environment Agency and its predecessors for thirty years until her retirement a few years ago. During her time with the National Rivers Authority, and later with the EA, Val encouraged the co-operation of all the volunteer groups involved with the River Trent; unfortunately the Agency has failed to continue that co-operation. Val first appeared on the waterway scene with the late George and Janie Champion at the 1970’s boat rallies on the Trent Embankment in Nottingham, occasionally appearing as Valerie Vole. Val and her partner, Mike, now spend much of the summer on their narrow boat. Val is the current Chairman of Nottingham Wildlife Trust and in the past has helped the IWA East Midlands and the Friends of the Cromford Canal with ecological projects. John Baylis