BEAR ESSENTIALS The Newsletter of : -
IWA Warwickshire Branch Issue No. 40 – August 2014.
All Roads Led To Stratford
We’ve been using the phrase ‘The Year of the Bear’ – to cover the many events planned to take place in and around our county in 2014. Well now - more than half way through the year - I think that it would probably have been better to have called it ‘The Year of The Paintbrush’! In this edition you will read of projects for which a number of you deserve praise for helping to smarted up our ‘patch’. Our members’ involvement in the Stratford River Festival – whether the peripheral events described below, or the successful manning of our large Branch marquee on the ‘Rec.’ - ably led by Richard Sanders and Greta Russell – also goes to show just how diverse our Branch’s collective talents are. Editor:
This year, with so many extra boats visiting Warwickshire – notably to Stratford, with its River Festival and its anniversary celebrations; and to the boat rally on the GU at the Black Buoy Cruising Club, near Knowle, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Association of Waterway Cruising Clubs - we’ve made a special effort to spruce up our ‘patch’, and to make it even more welcoming to all our county’s water-borne visitors. In addition to taking part in regular CRT work-parties both at Hatton and
Ian Fletcher.
at Lapworth; we’ve undertaken two specific projects, which were noted and appreciated by boaters on their way to Stratford. The first of these was the refurbishment of the ‘finger-post’ at Kingswood - reassembled at Easter – see above.
Stratford Festival - on Friday June th 27 . By a happy coincidence this was 100 years to the day, the anniversary of Robert Aickman’s birth. See page three for further information and images on both these stories.
The second (see below) was repainting of the lock at Harvington on the river Avon – carried out along with repairs to the adjacent Aickman Memorial. This project was completed and ‘handed-back’ to ANT just one week before the
This year the River Festival was special for several reasons, among th th which were the 50 & the 40 anniversaries of the re-opening of the southern Stratford Canal and the Upper Avon respectively – and of course the Aickman centenary. These were all celebrated in a wow - factor ceremony, reminiscent of some of David Hutchings’ famous 1964 and 1974 extravaganzas, on th Friday July 4 , and complemented by a remarkable ‘restorationretrospective’ exhibition held on Stratford’s Waterside. Lack of space prevents further details here of these celebrations – widely reported in other media. But much credit for the organisation of these two nationally significant events must go to two of our branch members - Roger Clay and Clive Henderson.