IWA South Yorkshire & Dukeries Branch, Keels & Cuckoos, November 2012

South Yorkshire and the Dukeries Branch

Newsletter Issue No.12 November 2012 Published on behalf of the South Yorkshire and the Dukeries Branch Committee by M.H. Fielding, 1 Vicarage Way, Arksey, Doncaster, DN5 0TG Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the IWA, or of the Branch Committee but are published as of interest to members and others.

The Inland Waterways Association is a registered Charity No. 212343

CHAIRMANS CHAT

COMMITTEE MEET

Please note the branch AGM will take place on Wednesday 20th February 2013 at Strawberry Island Boat Club. Full agenda in the February edition.

I would like to extend a warn welcome to nay new members who have joined us since our last edition, I do hope you can make it to one of our meetings.

Once again we attended the Staniland Regatta at Thorne Yacht Club. The weekend went well but the attendance was not as good as last year, this was party due to other events being held in the area.

The December meeting will be our Christmas Social once again being held at Strawberry Island Boat Club, starting at 8.00pm when we have pies and peas and then join the Christmas quiz. Please let me know if you wish to attend my contact details are on the back cover.

By the time you read this we will have had another canal clean up. I will update with any interesting highlights in the next edition.

We are trying tom arrange a meeting with Canal & River Trust ( formerly BW) to discuss what can be done to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Sheffield And Tinsley Canal which will be in 2019. I f you have any ideas of celebrating this occasion please let me or any co0mmittee member have the. Tentative contact has already been made and it is hoped to start some meetings next year.

Mavis Paul SY&D Branch Chairman Cover picture

Where it all began; the commemorative plaque at Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal where Rolt met Aickman.

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Wednesday 16th Jan Wednesday 20th Ma Wednesday 15th Ma Wednesday 17th Ju Wednesday 18th Se Wednesday 20th N

EDITION February May August November

Mo

All dates are sub beyond our control.

Please ensure a ted to the editor Way, Arksey, D thus ensuring the m date.

Thank you Malcolm Fielding Editor Keels and Cuc

2013 DIARY COMMITTEE MEETINGS Wednesday 16th January Wednesday 20th March Wednesday 15th May Wednesday 17th July Wednesday 18th September Wednesday 20th November

SOCIAL MEETINGS Wednesday 20th February (AGM) Wednesday 17th April Wednesday 19th June Wednesday 16th October Wednesday 11th December

CANAL CLEAN UP Sunday 17th April Sunday 27th October KEELS AND CUCKOOS EDITION February May August November

COPY DATE

PUBLICATION DATE

Monday 14th January Monday 15th April Monday 15th July Monday 14th October

Friday 1st February Wednesday 1st May Thursday 1st August Friday 1st November

All dates are subject to alteration or cancellation due to circumstances beyond our control.

Please ensure all copy for publication in Keels and Cuckoos is submitted to the editor at elliemalc@aol.com or by Royal Mail to 1 Vicarage Way, Arksey, Doncaster, DN5 0TG before the published copy date, thus ensuring the magazine can be e-mailed or posted on the publicity date.

Thank you Malcolm Fielding Editor Keels and Cuckoos

South Yorkshire and the Dukeries 3

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WORD SEARCH In the grid are the names of thirteen lost canals of Great Britain.

They may be vertical, backwards, forwards, diagonal or horizontal. Answers elsewhere in the magazine and are single words.

Good luck

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The branch were gatta held on the days with more rather quiet. Ot weather was better o Still we were able few more people. gazebo which wa to our old

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Did you know Bristol Harbour is called a Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and is not affected by the state of the tide on the River Avon.

Claverton Pumping Station uses power from the flow of the river to pump water from the River Avon into the Kennet and Avon Canal.

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We give a warm w or transferred to the Miss J Lincoln from

The branch

Did you know Horatio Hornblowe ern Canal (includi Hornblowe and the Alt

Water from the But middle of the Butterley

NEW MEMBERS We give a warm welcome to our new members who have joined or transferred to the branch recently.

Miss J Lincoln from Doncaster

STANILAND REGATTA The branch were again invited to attend Staniland Marina Regatta held on the 1st and 2nd of September. We had two quiet days with more interest on the Saturday with Sunday being rather quiet. Other exhibitors said the same although the weather was better on Sunday.

Still we were able to help spread the waterways message to a few more people. It was also the first time we had used our new gazebo which was a great success and improvement compared to our old one.

The branch Stand at Staniland Regatta, Thorne.

Did you know Horatio Hornblower travelled to London along the Thames and Severn Canal (including the Sapperton Tunnel) in the historical novel Hornblowe and the Altrops written by C,S,Forester Water from the Butterley Reservoir entered the Cromford Canal in the middle of the Butterley Tunnel.

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THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM The National Arboretum at Alrewas is special place that remembers those who have served, and continue to serve, our nation in many different ways. Created in 1997, some 50,000 trees have been planted there and over 200 dedicated memorials established on the site. The Arboretum is a living tribute that will forever acknowledge the personal sacrifices made bt the armed and civilian services of their nation.

If you are boating on the Trent and Mersey Canal consider stopping at Alrewas anywhere around bridges 46 to 48 to visit The National Memorial Arboretum on Croxhall Road. It is situated about one mile to the east of the village. Take the A513 towards Tamworth, cross the railway line and Croxhall Road is about a quarter of a mile down the road. The Arboretum is well signed posted. If travelling by car take the A38 from Derby or Birmingham directions and turnoff at the A513 towards Tamworth and then as above.

The focus, however, is not totally military. For example there is a large area devoted to police who have fallen whilst on duty, other areas are given over the fire, rescue and ambulance services. National charities that represent those who have died in particular circumstances, including children and people killed in road accidents can also be found in the Arboretum grounds. The River Trent forms the northern boundary with fields and the road forming the remainder.

The site is wheelchair and walker friendly with a small restaurant and shop onsite.

NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM Telephone 01283 792333 www.thenma.org.uk

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ANOTH

Boaters and w gation cannot h the area has d the 1960’s was the demolition build the proto pleted and ope mainly becaus source, was d though oil for th was delivered number of yea banks. Severa gone but on O a !,500 MG Ga proximately 25% lar appearance Keadby Canal nea

Thorpe Marsh before demolition

ANOTHER WATERWAYS LANDMARK GOES Boaters and walkers on the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation cannot help but notice that another well known landmark of the area has disappeared. Thorpe Marsh Power Station build in the 1960’s was finally totally demolished on 19 August 2012 will the demolition of the remaining two cooling towers. Approval to build the prototype station was given in 1959 and it was completed and opened in 1967. It did not have a long production life mainly because of its prototype status. Coal, its main power source, was delivered by road and rail and never by water although oil for the two emergency Rolls Royce Avon aero engines was delivered by water. It was progressively demolished over a number of years because the possibility of rupturing the canal banks. Several proposals for future use of the site have been and gone but on October 31 2011 the Government gave approval for a !,500 MG Gas fire power station to utilise the site this will be approximately 25% smaller that the original on and will have a similar appearance to Keadby Power Station on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal near Keadby.

Thorpe Marsh before demolition

Thorpe Marsh after demolition 7

FROM THE ARCHIVES Preamble from the front page The following is the outline of a scheme put forward for your consideration by the West Riding County Council and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company, the object of which is the closing of parts of the Dearne and Dove Canal and the substitution there for of a system of main arterial roads.

The date of this document is unknown but from other correspondence in the file it appears to be circa 1934.

Cont; from issue11

At the time that the Dearne and Dove Canal was made there were no other means of transport for the local industries, and there is no doubt that the construction of this canal was the principal means of developing the industries of this area, and of the mining industry in particular.

No records exist of the volume of trade prior to the transfer in March, 1895, but in 1896 over 228,000 tons of coal passed over this section of the system. Since that date, however, there has been a continuous and heavy fall in the traffic, due in the first case to the opening up of new collieries eastwards of the Barnsley area and now extending into Lincolnshire; by the working out and closing down of several of the older pits in the area and by the fact that this section had been constructed to take a smaller standard of vessel than the main waterway of the connecting systems. Two branches, acting as feeders to this section, have already been out of use for some years and the traffic on the portion still open has become practically negligible.

In the preamble to the 1793 Act it was put forward that “Whereas the making >>> a Canal>>> will open an easy Communication between several valuable Coal Mines and the Towns of Rotherham and Sheffield and the Port of Hull, 8

and several County of Yor tate the Conv Iron, Corn, and o In addition to is noticeable t ing down of fa though there i canal, i.e., fro der and from nal, on the oth is proposed t marked in rec the rule for mo canal.

Editors commen It seems rathe of the Dearne was completed.

This is easy to in an intensive ing a basicall foreseen at th lem in the futu mining compa of coal under laughed them company coul of mine worki drastic fashio company who companies.

and several parts of the East and West Ridings of the County of York, and the County of Lincoln,>>> and will facilitate the Conveyance of Timber, Stone, Lime Stone, Lead, Iron, Corn, and other Articles>>>“ In addition to the decline of the coal traffic over this district it is noticeable that general traffic has decreased by the closing down of factories throughout the length of the canal. Although there is still considerable tonnage at each end of this canal, i.e., from the Barnsley district on to the Aire and Calder and from the Wath district on to the main S. & S. Y. Canal, on the other hand, over that section of the canal which it is proposed to close, the decline in traffic has been most marked in recent years, so that it is the exception rather that the rule for more than 4 cargos a month to use this length of canal.

Editors comment It seems rather presumptive to say but it seems that the fate of the Dearne and Dove Canal was sealed even before it was completed.

This is easy to say with hindsight especially with it being built in an intensive mining area. The technology of the day, being a basically a primitive science, it could not have been foreseen at the time that subsidence would be a major problem in the future. I am sure that if it was suggested that the mining companies had been told that they must leave pillars of coal under the route of the canal they be would have laughed them out of court. On the same footing the canal company could not have seen that building their canal on top of mine workings would in time affect the canal in such a drastic fashion. All in all a lose/lose situation for the canal company who after all came to the area after the mining companies.

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2011 BRANCH OFFICERS Chairman Mavis Paul 0114 2683927 mavis.brian_paul@btinternet.com Vice Chair Colin Crofts 01302 841619 cjcrofts@aol.com Secretary Malcolm Fielding 01302 873127 elliemalc@aol.com Treasurer Pat Davies 01709 526725 patdav@fsmail.net Minutes Dennis Cozens 01302 845336 dennis.cozens@waitrose.com Publicity Dave Scott 0790 0272434 acp2004naburn@hotmail.com Planning Colin Crofts 01302 841619 cjcrofts@aol.com Membership John Shaw 0114 2582535 Member Mary Crofts 01302 841619 cjcrofts@aol.com Social Vacant Sales Vacant If you would like to join the Branch Committee please contact any of the above people.

WORD SEARCH ANSWERS Shrewsbury Nutbrook Barnsley

Louth Montgomery Bradford Aberdare Swansea Derby Oakham

Grantham Cromford Neath

Copy date for February issue is Mon; January 14th 2013 10