BEAR ESSENTIALS The Newsletter of : -
IWA Warwickshire Branch Issue No. 53 – January 2019.
Bouquets and Brickbats for CRT The work by CRT- W.Midlands to eliminate nine years of neglect on the northern GU, between Napton and Radford Semele, by both former BW and CRT-SE’s management - continues apace. Winter weather may not be conducive to lock-painting, but it hasn’t stopped towpath repairs and vegetation control continuing - as seen here right and below. .
Above images by Sue Blocksidge - CRT
The above picture shows (from right to left), CRT volunteer Pete Oakley pointing out to CRT-WM Director Adnan Saif, local MP Jeremy Wright, and CRT’s CEO Richard Parry, the poor state of the towpath alongside the Stockton Flight – while to the left your editor chastises his local MP over his concrete mixing ability !
This high-level / VIP support for the above CRT October workparty in particular is a welcome sign of its commitment to righting a long-time wrong; but so is the much lower profiled, but in many ways more important, appearance of this work-boat and chipper. For several weeks now, the boat and its volunteer crew – including Nick Nicholson at the helm – have been working their way west from Radford Semele to Napton. Here above you can see the team in action above Wood Lock in early December, and by the time you read this they should be in the vicinity of Bascote. As they progress, they’re not only cutting back the offside vegetation, as seen above, but also tackling the equally badly neglected towpath vegetation. Their rate of progress so far has been at about ‘a mile a month’. However, if more volunteers were prepared to join the team – particularly for the towpath work – then progress towards Napton could be faster. If you’re interested in helping here then please talk to Nick at our meetings, or alternatively contact CRT’s local Volunteer Leader, Tom Pierce, on 07825-420947 - or e-mail him at:- thomas.pierce@canalrivertrust.co.uk.
As has been said by others before, one of IWA’s main roles today is to be a ‘critical friend’ of CRT. Here in BE, I’ve always been prepared to shower them with bouquets or brickbats as required. To the left is my bouquet – now read on. In December’s Towpath Talk, CRT’s Chief Exec. Richard Parry stated that: “Boats and boating remain firmly at the heart of what we do” - and I firmly believe that he believes that. However, in practice, not all departments within the organisation appear to be ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ – particularly when it comes to property disposals. We live in a dynamic world, and in any organisation it makes sense to liquidate assets that are no longer relevant, to reinvest to meet present and anticipated future demands; and I am sure that we all understand CRT’s need to regularly review its property portfolio. However, sometimes those assets contain boaters facilities – which the new tenant or owner doesn’t want on-site. Their use should be safeguarded or alternatively replaced. But for a furoré, we’d recently have lost facilities at Blowers Green, then we did lose facilities at Fazeley – albeit then inadequately replaced; and now we find toilet facilities at Hillmorton closed to all. Come-on CRT, don’t just talk about wellbeing, act on it! Take these important loss of facilities issues to ‘the heart of what you do’ - and do so, not just for boaters, but for all your stakeholders. Editor:
Ian Fletcher.
A New Lock at Hillmorton !
As
Bear Bones:
Bear in Mind:
An outline of upcoming activities.
Ian’s Chaireport.
Our New Year & Spring Programme of Activities. Unless otherwise stated all evening events take place at:
The Sports ConneXion, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Coventry CV8 3FL All evening meetings start at 7:30 pm. Sunday, January 6th 2019:
A Walk in the Offchurch Area.
Meet at 10:00 for 10:30am.at the Greenway car-park Offchurch, CV33 9AU. - for a scenic, 5½-mile circular stroll to Newbold Comyn - returning via the canal and Greenway. Those wishing to conclude with a lunch, back at The White Lion in Radford Semele, please confirm with Pat Rudeck on arrival.
Friday, January 11th 2019: Branch Annual Dinner. 7pm - The Queens Head, Bretford, CV23 0JY Although most tickets have now been sold, a few places may still be left. For the latest info. phone Ian Lauder on: 01788 – 567600.
Sunday, February 3rd 2019:
A Walk in the Packwood Area.
Meet at 10:00 for 10:30am - Parking Priory Close/Station Lane, off Rising Lane, Kingswood, Lapworth. B94 6JG. 4 mile walk with available 2½ mile option. Lunch at Tom o’ the Wood, Rowington, please confirm on arrival.
Wednesday, February 13th 2019: Supporting West Midland Boaters by The Reverend Richard Alford, and CRT’s Welfare Officer, Sean Williams. Richard and Sean will discuss the role that they play in assisting distressed, sick and disadvantaged boaters.
Wednesday, March 13th 2019:
Branch AGM: - followed by:
‘Travelling the River Great Ouse’ After the brief formalities of the meeting, we’ll join Richard and Jackie Sanders aboard Mad Hatter – as they continue to explore the backwaters of Bedfordshire.
Week End April 6th & 7th 2019:
Lock Painting at Radford Semele.
Meet from 9:30 for a 10:00 am start (till 1:00pm). Park off the Radford Semele to Offchurch road by Bridge 34, Grid Ref: SP351650. Please wear appropriate clothing.
Wednesday, April 10th 2019:
The Grantham Canal -
Its History and Restoration. By David Lyneham-Brown. As the Chief Executive of the Grantham Canal Society, no one is more competent than David to tell us of developments on this rapidly progressing restoration.
Sunday, April 14th 2019:
An Ashby Canal Walk. from Sutton Cheney Wharf
10.30am at Sutton Wharf café, Wharf Lane, Sutton Cheney CV13 0AL
Additional Work Party info.* CRT-WM Towpath task-force. st
A) 1 nd B) 2 rd C) 3 D)
Monday & Wednesday of each month Thursday & Friday of each month Thursday & Saturday of each month The last Friday of each month
- Hatton. - Stratford - Lapworth - Stockton
*Note: For the most up-to-date information on Branch work-parties (and all other Branch activities) see our Branch page on the IWA web-site.
<< www.waterways.org.uk/warwickshire >>
Our annual puzzle of “find a route through CRT’s winter stoppages” provided hours more fun than usual on this year’s November cruise. We gave up on the South Oxford - after BADSEY ran aground several times. The GU was deeper - but its overhanging trees, made steering 72’ round blind bends quite exciting for oncoming boats. Nevertheless we had an enjoyable time - and did get to some great Branch events. Here’s an update on the presentation our Hillmorton canal heritage volunteers gave to the Branch in February – describing our exciting project, with the help of WRG, to restore 140-metres of canal as an educational heritage mooring; and how CRT-SE halted work - pending an archaeology survey. With survey completed the CRT manager had resigned, so no one would make a decision, as they all had redundancy notices - pending re-organisation. We then thought we’d received some encouraging news. But that ‘light at the end of tunnel’ proved to be from ‘a widebeam coming the other way’! Richard Parry said Old Mortonians should await the appointment of the Regional Director - as we were now West Midlands responsibility. After months of meetings and emails, they said they’d no budget for additional volunteer management! So we emailed the new Director, begging his intervention; this resulted in their unbelievable proposal that we can be classed as ‘independent contractors’ - building a commercial marina by leasing the basin at an undisclosed rent. They would waive Marina Consultation fees of just short of £10,000, but in a cruel twist, we’d have to pay their Works Manager to draw “the design” - which may, or may not be approved next year ! We think that:- (a) James Brindley, whose last stretch of canal this was, and Isambard Brunel - who created the basin by his canal shortening got the design about right in the first place, and it just needs repair and maintenance to re-open, and (b) No group of CRT volunteers can commit to pay CRT fees to restore their own canal. They say “you couldn’t write it” – but I just have.
Ian Lauder.
Bear-faced Lines:
Some random snippets from around our patch.
New Moorings at Emscote:
Another Grand Union Grapple:
As with projects such as the Hatton off-side towpath, our Branch is always looking to improve boaters’ experience in our area. Consequently we decided to provide mooring rings on the northern GU, near the Avon aqueduct at Emscote. Not only is this probably the most pleasant overnight mooring location between Leamington and Warwick, but it also gives access to excellent riverside walks. Our plan was approved by CRT - who provided all the materials for their installation. The longest part of the whole process involved getting permission from Fibreway - whose communication cables lie under the towpath here. Test pits had to be dug, and the site was scanned to find the precise line of the cables
Eleven brave Branch members endured more wet weather in mid October, to undertake our latest cleanup in Leamington – on the section between Sydenham Rd. (Bridge 37) and Clemens Street (Bridge 40). They were joined by an enthusiastic group of some 40 local volunteers, comprising:Scouts from the first Sydenham troop, the Warwick University Ladies hockey team, members of the Leamington community canal group, and other local residents. Steve Lambert and Ralph Gaskin of CRT oversaw the operation, and provided the tug and hopper to remove the rubbish.
On a very wet early October weekend volunteers installed 11 rings on each side of the aqueduct. Pre-measured cubic holes were dug out behind the existing coping, bricks were installed around the edge of each hole, which was then filled with concrete - to hold the mooring rings. The intended two day installation actually took four - due to both poor weather, and a limit on the size of the volunteer group that could safely work at any one time. After 48 hours the concrete had cured, and visiting boats soon started to use them.
Although only a couple of years since our last visit to this area, our ‘haul’ was again impressive, including:more than 30 bicycles and 10 trolleys, plus an assortment of tyres, railings, a microwave, an engine block, a sofa, a heavy pump valve, a large reel of orange cable, a sewing-machine, a keb, a child’s rocking horse - and a street sign for Clemens Street!
Person of the Period: Our ‘Pop’ award this time must go to Nick Nicholson – seen here using a telescopic polesaw to remove some hard to reach off-side vegetation on the GU – (for further info. see page-1). Within minutes he’d converted it into a boat-hook, to pick up stray cuttings, and a few minutes later (please don’t tell CRT!) he’d even used it as a long-shaft for manoeuvring all while in charge of the boat ! Truly resourceful actions: who ‘sez’ men can’t multi-task !
New Branding Material: In the summer the Branch received new promotional materials - incorporating IWA’s new logo and branding. This includes:- a large banner, a ‘pop-up’ banner, hi-vis wear, badges, tabards, literature and collecting tins. The pop-up banner, incorporating a waterways map, is a great asset – as it can stand at the front of, or inside, a marquee or venue building. The material is ‘eye-catching’, and the map in particular has proved to be a great ‘draw’ – as we found on its initial outing at Saltisford in September. (see right).
Saltisford Event: Our new brand material is seen here being put to good use at the annual Heritage Open Days, at Saltisford Canal th th Centre - 8 & 9 of September.
Bear with us: Notice of Warwickshire Branch Annual General Meeting: The 2019 AGM of Warwickshire Branch will take th place at 7:30pm on March 13 at: The Sports Connexion, Ryton – on – Dunsmore, CV8 3FL AGENDA 1. Apologies for absence. 2. Approval of minutes of the last AGM, and any matters arising from these minutes. 3. Report from the Chairman. 4. Financial Report. 5. Election of members of the Committee. 6. Any items requested by members of the Branch provided the Branch Chairman or Secretary is notified of the item prior to the AGM. Any member, regardless of their length of membership, who feels that they can contribute to the work of the committee is welcome to volunteer for election; this is normally for a term of three years. This can either be done in advance of the meeting by contacting the Chairman or Secretary, or at the start of item 5. above - when the Chairman may seek interest from the floor. No formal nominations are required.
Gap Tracker -1: Aware of both long-standing gaps in service facility provision - and more recent ones due to closures of existing facilities - in the summer, the Association launched a campaign to highlight such gaps. Since then, many hundreds of responses have been received, as a result of which it has become apparent that gaps cannot be judged on an IWA Branch by Branch basis, or (more importantly) on a CRT Unit by Unit basis – because, in the case of the latter, the biggest gaps seem to come when crossing the boundary between one CRT Unit and another. On the face of it service provision in Warwickshire is ‘not-bad’ – most gaps are within a 5 hour cruise, but some are between 5 and 10. However, in the wider west midlands the story is not so good. A number of journeys are between 10 and 15 hours, and one is more than 20 hours ! Armed with such data we can now start to negotiate with CRT for improvement at a national level.
A Round-up from further afield. Weedon Ordnance Depot: th
On Sunday November 18 , a large party of Branch members, and their friends, enjoyed one of the most fascinating visits that the Branch has ever organised. Thanks to some imaginative planning by Richard Sanders, our walk along the Grand Union canal in Northants, was preceded by a visit to the formerly inaccessible Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon Bec. A volunteer-manned Visitor Centre is now open there from Wednesday to Saturday, between 10am & 4pm. However, by special arrangement, and for a modest donation to the Trust running the Centre, Richard persuaded our guide, Chris Salaman (far right in picture below), to open specially for our party.
After an informative introduction at the gatehouse, we then enjoyed an excellent tour round much of this previously inaccessible, Grade II* listed site – with its canal connection going back more than 200 yrs to the time of the Napoleonic Wars. For further details google: < Weedon Ordnance Depot. >
Gap Tracker -2: As well as quantifying cruising time between facilities we are also monitoring the quality of that provision and this includes not only chemical toilet (Elsan) emptying, but also rubbish recycling and disposal. In the case of Elsans, we have already noticed a difference in the interpretation of Water Regulations by the old BW/CRT-Central Shires Unit – who removed, but did not re-install, rinse hoses when instructed to do so. This problem means that most former CRT-CS facilities are not as clean as those elsewhere. With their demise - and replacement by CRT-WM, the problem is being gradually resolved; but if you discover missing hoses anywhere then please tell the local CRT Unit’s management directly, but please copy us in to your correspondence. IWA may not agree with opinions expressed here in this newsletter, but encourages its publication as a matter of interest. Nothing herein may be construed as a matter of policy, or an official announcement, unless otherwise stated. The Association accepts no liability for any of the material contained herein. Editor: Ian Fletcher, 4 Village Hall Cottages, CV47 9QH Phone :01926 – 815 413. E-mail : Newsletter.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk For local contact on all other Branch activities please e-mail: < info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk >
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For up to date info. between BE editions visit our web page: < www.waterways.org.uk/warwickshire > Please inform Head Office of any e-mail address changes.