Whilst boating down the Cheshire Flight (Locks 41-66) of the Trent and Mersey Canal over New Year we noticed that 4 of the duplicated chambers were closed and padlocked, but only 2 of these navigation restrictions were mentioned in the Notices and Stoppages section of the CRT.
Lock 60 towpath side chamber was correctly listed as closed, as was Lock 64 offside chamber. However Lock 42 offside chamber and Lock 61 towpath side chamber were NOT listed despite all 4 paddles being locked shut on each of these chambers. We contacted CRT and asked them to add these other 2 chambers to the notices.
reopened on 2nd January after being repaired). Lock 42 towpath side has been added as we requested. Lock 61 towpath remains closed and was NOT added despite our request.
I would be interested to hear whether other people have had better luck when reporting closed duplicate chambers to CRT.
And yes, I did report the broken bottom paddle on lock 51 (which had no “CRT aware” notice attached), and was told that they already knew about it but didn’t have a fix-date yet.
Whilst boating back up the Cheshire Flight (Locks 66-41) at the start of May we noticed that 6 of the duplicated chambers were closed and padlocked, but only 4 of these navigation restrictions were mentioned in the Notices and Stoppages section of the CRT website.
This time Lock 63 offside chamber was correctly listed as closed (leakage), as was Lock 60 towpath side chamber (wall movement), Lock 45 towpath side chamber (sunken boat), and Lock 42 offside chamber (suspected obstruction). However Lock 64 offside chamber and Lock 61 towpath side chamber were NOT listed despite all 4 paddles being locked shut on each of these chambers. We again contacted CRT and asked them to add these other 2 chambers to the notices.
So, Lock 64 offside was listed in January but is no longer listed despite still being closed (the CRT website claims that it
Anyway, what is in this issue?
As well as all the usual news and reports on past events and working parties (and the doings of Sonning, of course), we have quite a few future dates for your diaries.
In particular see the centre pages (pp 1213) for news of 3 events in May and June as well as a list of dates for our next season of talks.
I can even add here an extra event which is just on the border of our branch. This will take place in Middlewich over the weekend of 20-21 June. No, it isn’t “Middlewich FAB” which seems to have died. Instead it is a new event called “Midsummer Middlewich” which has all the folk singing at pubs as usual, plus stalls on the main street and the Salinae field by the canal (which is where the Trent and Mersey Canal Society will be). We will even have Anne Chetwyn’s lucky dip for children raising funds for our IWA NSSC branch. See you there ?
Roger Evans
It’s the Saturday before “press day” and if I don’t get on with this report now, there’s a serious risk it will be very late, because it has a lot of competition for my attention. Three large beds on the allotment need digging over; the bathroom needs redecorating after a refit…
And I’ve just bought the paperback of the latest “Thursday Murder Club” novel. I’ve enjoyed these, not least because it’ s good to see older people depicted as bright and capable, when they are frequently under-estimated as neither –something which Richard Osman’ s protagonists often use to their advantage.
While most of our committee are still a little younger than the members of the Thursday Murder Club, there are some who celebrated their 80th birthdays some years before the IWA itself and none of the current committee are as young as I was when I joined in my early forties. We’re certainly not the only charity or voluntary organisation
struggling for younger recruits, however. Times change and there are demands on the time and money of young families that did not exist twenty, thirty or forty years ago.
It probably doesn’t help though that, outside of the waterways community, there is great confusion about the roles of the IWA and CRT. I am due to give a talk marking the 80th anniversary of the IWA to the North Staffs Pensioners’ Convention, who are a very active group of older people who could give the Thursday Murder Club a run for their money when it comes to sharp minds, determination and deduction. Despite s a good job I proof-read their quarterly Grey Power magazine for them, as I was originally to be listed as “Sarah Honeysett from the Canal and River Trust”!
It’s hardly surprising that there is such confusion among the general public. On the first weekend in May, we were in London meeting friends from the USA and a posse of Honeysett relatives at the Canalway Cavalcade festival, a major event right in the heart of our capital city. Our guests assumed that, to put on such a show, IWA must be the organisation that managed the waterways. Explaining the actual relationship was tricky:
• Me: “IWA is the charity that campaigns for the waterway network. CRT are actually responsible for its management.”
• US buddy: “And the CRT? Are they an agency of the state, or are they a private enterprise?”
• Me: “They’re a charity too.”
• US buddy: “So, a charity is responsible for managing the canals – but not your charity?”
Chair’s Report
Explaining the often complex relationship between the two, of co-operation and joint working, but also holding to account, took a little longer!
Despite the confusion, Cavalcade was a great hit with all of our friends and family and also gave me, Jon and even Sonning Bear a very welcome opportunity to meet several IWA staff members I’ve been in touch with by email but not previously met in person. (Sonning sends “hugs” to Paula and Verena.)
You can get a day return fare to Euston from our area using London Northwestern rail services for about £40, then hop on a bus or tube to Paddington from there. Perhaps we should organise a group expedition next year for members not planning to make the journey by boat, weather and engineering works permitting?
Sonning helps out at Cavalcade – find out more in the next edition of Knobsticks
More lost heritage on the Caldon Canal
Photos: Sarah Honeysett
Easter Gathering of Historic Boats at Ellesmere
50th anniversary
This year we were again at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port with our historic narrow boat “Skylark”.
The historic boats gathered in Chester on Maundy Thursday with boat owners catching up with people they had maybe not seen over the winter, in the traditional way (yes, a pub or two might have been involved!).
On Good Friday the boats set off bright and early along the 8 mile long pound to Ellesmere Port. Once there, some boats winded (in strong winds!) and reversed into the top basin, while others headed
down the two narrow locks to moor in the lower basin.
A few others moored in the flight of wide locks that is parallel to the narrow locks, giving plenty of interest for visitors to the museum over the Easter weekend. Over 30 historic narrow boats were visiting, in addition to the various boats that are based at the museum all the time.
This year’s gathering carried extra significance. The National Waterways Museum is celebrating 50 years since its founding, and the site was alive with special exhibitions, archive displays, and evening entertainment for boaters. The museum ’s collection from working
Historic narrow boats in the top basin at Ellesmere Port for the Easter Gathering
Easter Gathering of Historic Boats at Ellesmere
boats to dockside machinery — felt especially poignant in this anniversary year, reminding us how much has been preserved thanks to decades of volunteer effort and community support.
For anyone who hasn’t visited recently, the Boat Museum is well worth a trip.
The museum is open 10am–4pm, Tuesday to Sunday (and seven days a week during the school summer holidays), making it an excellent day out for families, enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys a wander among beautifully restored boats.
Article & Photos: Alison Smedley
The anniversary celebrations continue throughout the year, and the site offers a fascinating look at the history of the Shropshire Union Canal, the Manchester Ship Canal, and the people who worked them.
Yet more boats lined up in the lower basin
Under Threat!
Just when we appear to have a period of calm when we can concentrate upon our renovation and design proposals, along comes a third party to challenge our ambitions.
Whilst we are very keen to welcome development of the old Co-op bakery site which used to front onto much of our old canal on its western side, we are disturbed by the recent proposals of MCI Developments to construct many houses turning their backs on our conservation area and at a much higher level.
Planning application 26/FUL/00157 is for 100 houses, that is 53 units less than the application of Eden Vale Properties of some years ago. An important factor of the latest proposal is that BPT were
not consulted. It was in fact BPT who called for a meeting with MCI Developments from Wigan. At that meeting, with great assistance from Amavir, BPT raised their objections over five key issues:
• Orientation of housing
• Lack of active frontage
• Great level differences
• Lack of canal integration
• Newport Lane re-alignment
We were able to demonstrate the level difference in the attached drawing [SEE: Picture Top of next page]. It was also of note that our canal project could not be identified in any of the drawings/reports to the best of our knowledge. Thus BPT, IWA, PHS & CRT have all responded negatively to this application.
Bridging the Gap
Realising that all the residents of the new housing development will, of course, want to get to our new community centre in the redeveloped warehouse, but will be unable to cross our canal, we may need a footbridge at the end of Luke Street [SEE: Picture below]
Showing Off
Now that we have cleared the area at our junction with the Trent and Mersey to reveal in all its splendour the Tom Edwards huge display of our canal in its heyday, we have been giving thought to displaying our future proposals for the basin & warehouse in the same area. [SEE: Picture Far Left] We should be pleased to hear your thoughts.
Work Parties
Very few this year because of the dreaded “wet stuff” but of late we have made great progress now there are more of us. Always happy to welcome newcomers, but please let me know first. See my contact details on the back page.
Dave Broome
Cheshire Locks
January 15th
Cancelled due to bad weather
February 19th
Cancelled due to bad weather
March 19th
Thanks to great weather conditions and our enthusiastic (as ever) volunteers we made great progress at lock 41 on our first visit of 2026. There were 8 of us in attendance on Thursday and 4 of us were present on the follow-up visit on Friday. In addition, 2 of us carried out an impromptu session 2 weeks beforehand.
We concentrated our efforts on the towpath-side lock which had been inaccessible on our previous visits due to ongoing paddle repairs.
We also made great strides in prepping and painting the extensive metal fencing by the offside lock as well as starting work on the lockkeepers building plus some vegetation tidying.
All in all, a very successful series of tasks. Some work remains to be done including prepping and painting the old lamp stand plus some final bits and pieces on the locks themselves.
However, we'll definitely complete Lock 41 on our next visit and should be able to move onto Lock 42 where, as usual, there is lots of work to be done and keep us occupied in the coming months.
We logged a total of 88 volunteer hours over the 3 visits.
April
16th
We had a great turn-out of 9 volunteers on the day and the weather was very kind. This meant we were able to finish Lock 41 at long last. In fact 2 of us returned the following week just to paint the numbers on the lock gates. [See bottom right photo on next page]
The lock, lockkeeper's building and surrounding fence and lamp post now all look pristine as I'm sure you'll agree from looking at the photos.
Additionally, some of the team were able to make a good start on Lock 42 which
we will be concentrating on for our next 2 or 3 tasks - it's in a pretty poor state.
We logged 56.5 volunteer hours altogether.
Article & photos: Tony Walker
North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch
Thank you to everyone who supported our 2025/26 socials season, by joining us on our Friday evening meetings, buying raffle tickets and sales stall goodies, and showing their appreciation for our speakers. If you attended, I really hope you enjoyed the talks, which largely focused on Stoke-on-Trent in honour of its centenary as a city. We will be meeting again from October 9th 2026, when we will move on to a range of new topics and speakers, but we also have several summer events to look forward to first.
By the time you are reading this, we may already have one or even two of these behind us, as it’s the Etruria Canals Festival over the weekend of 30th and 31st May (with my hunt for the Lost Festival Garden of Stoke-on-Trent on May 29th), followed by the Middleport Pottery’s Canal Festival over the weekend of 13th and 14th June. Look out for reports and pictures in our Autumn Knobsticks.
On Saturday 19th September the Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club is holding a familyfriendly social at the Boat Club in Endon. IWA members are very welcome to attend.
IWA members are also welcome to join the Trent and Mersey Canal Society’ s Christmas Dinner at the Red Bull in Church Lawton on 4th December 2026, and to attend their monthly social gatherings, which take place on the third Friday of the month between October and April at the same venue. We will include further details in our autumn edition.
A draft timetable for our 2026/27 programme is included – please note this is only a draft at this stage and some slots may be swapped around to better suit the speakers. Can I please ask IWA website editors and other waterways publications not to publish this list yet!
The plan at present is to focus talks in 2027 on the Trent and Mersey Canal, as it will be celebrating 250 years since its opening that year, with talks about the canal and key features and historic buildings and structures alongside it – as long as I can find suitable speakers. In the meantime, enjoy the summer!
So, here is the PROVISIONAL list:
October 9th – Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust Update
November 8th – Cheddleton Flint Mill
December 11th –“Peaky Boaters” with Rupert and Alison Smedley – narrow boats on the wide screen
January 8th – Steve Wood’s life afloat
February 12th – to be confirmed (T&M-focussed topic likely).
March 12th – AGM
April 9th – T&M mileposts project, with Roger Evans
Sarah Honeysett
Admission to AGM/talks is FREE Donations to waterway causes welcome! Refreshments available.
Non-IWA members are very welcome
Venue (unless otherwise stated): Stoke on Trent Boat Club Endon Wharf, Post Lane, Endon STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST9 9DU
For further information contact: Sarah Honeysett (01782 772295)
sarah.honeysett@waterways.org.uk or visit the branch webpages at: www.waterways.org.uk
Logos – Past and Present
During a recent sorting out of clothing that either no longer fits, is wearing out or just plain out-of-date, the IWA logos featured. I felt a trip down memory lane coming on! The logos I’ ve come across are both National and Branch. The first is on the T-shirt worn by our lucky mascot bear.
The teddy was bought at the National Rally in 1995 [Ed: at Chester]. At this time, Alan had been in the Treasurer’ s post for just over a year. The logo on the T-shirt is a bit of a mystery in origin. Does anyone have any ideas?
The next logo features our branch when we were still Stoke-on-Trent (formed in 1974).
IWA is in white and the sword is there.
[See top photo on next page]
The next one also features us, but this time we are NSSC.
The IWA bit now has pale blue in it and the sword has gone. The removal of the sword caused some upset at the time! I am told that this logo proved unsatisfactory due to it being “inconspicuous” in photographs or when seen from a distance.
[See middle photo on next page]
Last (but for how long?) is the current logo.
This is very different. It caused “quite a ” at the time, but now seems to have been around for ages! Time does pass so quickly.
[See bottom photo on next page]
Article & Photos: Anne Chetwyn
The Boating Adventures of Sonning Bear
Boating Bears at Ellesmere Port
Last year, Huddlesford Bear and I went with our human guardians to Chester, to see the historic narrowboats there ahead of the Easter Boat Gathering at Ellesmere Port.
It was very exciting seeing the boats working down the staircase locks at Chester, and they made quite a spectacle gathered in the basin below the railway bridge. We had both put our overalls on, in case we needed to help with any boating jobs, but the humans seemed to have everything under control.
We had time to visit the city of Chester too and, being Small Bears, discovered that there are some very good cake shops there. In fact, we thought one particular cake shop might be trying especially hard to appeal to Small Bears!
This year, we asked our human guardians if we could see the Easter Boat Gathering itself and visit the National
The Boating Adventures of Sonning Bear
Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, and they agreed.
They decided we would go by train and, at Crewe, human guardian Grizzly was delighted to find that we would be travelling to Chester on one of the new Class 807 Evero trains. We were pleased too, when we found they came with proper seats for Small Bears, with a great view out of the window!
walk under the motorway and needs better signage from the railway station.
We changed trains twice more to get to Ellesmere Port, using bright yellow Merseyrail units to get from Chester to Hooton, then Hooton to Ellesmere Port. Human guardian Polar carried us in her bag as she and Grizzly walked to the museum – they said it wasn’t a very nice
When we arrived, we were thrilled to find there was a café, with pasties, scones, cakes and hot chocolate – and that our friends Mrs Alison and Mr Rupert were already there with their boat Skylark.
The Boating Adventures of Sonning Bear
We had important work to do - testing the cake - before we could go to explore the museum and look for the boats, but it was very good indeed, so we could report to our friends that the café at the National Waterways Museum is very suitable for Small Bear visits.
around the basin where most of the boats had moored.
Then we went to talk to Flower, the boat horse, who was going to be showing how horses pulled boats before humans invented engines to do the work instead.
We were very keen to see all of the boats after that, but found it was very windy
So windy, in fact, that Polar was afraid we would be blown into the water if we came out of the Bear Bag to have our pictures taken with them. So we were only able to peep out to see them, but they looked very colourful and cheery in the sunshine.
Afterwards Polar took us to see some indoor things, so that we could get out of the bag and stretch our paws.
The Boating Adventures of Sonning Bear
There is a row of cottages on the far side of the site which have all been decorated and furnished as they would have been in different times since they were built. The earliest one, from Georgian times, seemed quite poor but in the Victorian era house we found the table laid for tea!
After checking that the cups and saucers were made in Stoke-on-Trent, as Hanley Bear had taught us we should, we were about to tuck in to the scones – but then human guardian Polar picked us up and told us the scones weren’t meant for Small Bears but were only for show.
So we went for a look around the main museum building, where we found plenty of things to see and even some things we were allowed to climb on.
We enjoyed exploring NB Friendship and found a boat horse made from “Granny Squares” of crochet that we could pretend to ride.
We were having so much fun we lost track of what the time was. “It must be nearly time for Flower the boat horse to tow Gifford!” Huddlesford said.
Summer 2026 Page 19
The Boating Adventures of Sonning Bear
So Polar gathered us up and took us back outside to see Flower at work.
Then we watched how boats were turned (“winded”) before they had engines. That looked like very hard work for the boatmen!
Human guardian Grizzly had found a sunny spot out of the wind to sit and listen to the jazz band who were playing during the afternoon, so he was happy, and Polar was very busy with her big camera all afternoon. All too soon, it was time for those of us who weren’t there on historic boats to leave the site, because the museum was closing.
On the way back to the station, we looked back over the museum and saw
the city of Liverpool in the sunshine, across the Mersey.
“We are going back that way on the train,” Grizzly told us. We caught another of the bright yellow Merseyrail trains up through The Wirral and through a big tunnel under the Mersey to get to Lime Street Station, then caught a train back to Crewe which went over the Mersey again, at Runcorn, and crossed the River Weaver twice too.
We were very tired by the time we got home, so the other Bears had to wait until morning to hear about our adventure. I have been to another canal festival by train since this trip, but maybe I will tell you all about that in my next Knobsticks article.
Article: Sonning Bear
Photos: Sarah Honeysett
VisitEngland graded 2-8 berth quality narrowboats. Weekly hire and short breaks available. Wide choice of excellent routes; E.g. Four Counties Ring, Caldon, Cheshire Ring. Beginners and experienced crews welcome; Full tuition given.
Please ring for a brochure or visit:
WWW.CANALCRUISING.CO.UK 13th-14th June
North Staffordshire & South Cheshire contacts
If any of the roles shown as vacant interest you, please contact Alison Smedley for further information.
President Roger Savage roger.st21@gmail.com
Chair
Sarah Honeysett 01782 772295 sarah.honeysett@waterways.org.uk
Our Branch runs 3 work parties each month, helping to maintain and restore our local canals :-
• Cheshire Locks (Trent & Mersey Canal, Kidsgrove to Wheelock) (jointly organised with the Trent and Mersey Canal Society) 3rd Thursday of each month (except December), 10am to 3pm. Contact: Tony Walker Phone: 07708 320470
Email: walker.tony31@gmail.com
• Uttoxeter Canal (held in partnership with Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust). Regular work parties have been re-launched on selected Sundays from 10am to 3pm.
For a list of future dates please contact: Alison Smedley Phone: 01538 385388 Email: alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk
• Burslem Port, Stoke-on-Trent (working in partnership with Burslem Port Trust)
We have changed our regular fortnightly dates to weekly. Meet every Friday on Luke Street at 10:15 subject to the weather! Contact: Dave Broome before attending Phone: 07974 966253 Email: dave.broome@burslemport.org.uk
See the IWA website www.waterways.org.uk under “Events” for dates. Volunteers are advised to wear stout shoes and old clothes, and to bring waterproofs (and a packed lunch and drink if staying all day).
