Lee & Stort Recorder Autumn 2017

Autumn 2017 Our Ware Festival bookings this year were perhaps a little slow getting off the ground, possibly due to the uncertainty regarding passage through Brick Lock. However, in the event, a good number of boats turned up and supported the usual decorated boat parade, and the boat handling – not to mention the notorious quiz night.

The boaters’ plaque was designed partly in memory of Les Hunt, who died a year ago, showing a black background, and the name ‘Les’. A commemorative plaque has been affixed to the bench at Ware,

which Craig can be seen industriously polishing.

After many years as manager of Springfield Marina, Guy Boulton will retire at the end of October.

Steve Bragger, who is currently the manager at Stanstead Abbotts Marina, will run both marinas.

In the future it is planned to offer the same level of service at both marinas. At present there are plans to add a chandlery, and to increase the variety of service work carried out at Springfield. Items that are available from the chandlery at Stanstead Abbotts, can now be collected from Springfield.

Due to the increasing pressure on mooring spaces in the Lee Valley area, Lee Valley Trust are working with the Canal & River Trust, to try and create more mooring spaces to alleviate the congestion on the river.

Lee Valley Marinas are also trying to increase capacity of spaces available for boats to be worked on out of the water. Lee Valley is updating services as we move towards the 2020s.

Steve Bragger is a rising radial lock, located on the Bow Back Rivers, and was constructed in 1933/34. It is the only lock in Britain with rising radial gates at both ends. British Waterways were hoping to restore it as part of the upgrade to Bow Back Rivers which took place for the London 2012 Carpenters Road Lock in the 1970sGames, but the gantries which enabled the gates to be raised were demolished to accommodate a wide bridge giving access to the main stadium.

After the games, most of the overbridge was removed. Funding for the restoration of the lock was in place by early 2016, and it was brought back into use in 2017.

Unlike a conventional ‘lock’ where the gates open across the canal, in a rising radial lock the gates roll up and over, out of the water

to allow the boat to pass underneath. Carpenters Road lock is now open again.

The next time you are visiting The Olympic Park, take time to visit this lock. With a bit of luck you may even see a boat pass through. I am sure you will be very impressed with the fine restoration work that has been carried out.

Carpenters Road Lock in 2017 Another London 2012 legacy project.

(Nah, just a pictorial dairy1 of the trip to Little Venice) Dear Diary, Day One: Started excitedly. Was Brick Lock going to be open? Would I miss my very tightly controlled BW slot? Best get there night before to be sure. Good plan, will do.

Day Two: Arrive at Brick Lock, nobody there. So much for the tightly controlled schedule and its dire warnings. Slip through the lock un-noticed (what will that do to their schedule? Mind could I trust BW to run an errand?) Nice bit of ppointing, tho.

Day Three: Get away early, must remember Dobbin moors at Rammey now (not like last year’s senior moment, waiting for them at Broxbourne!) Can see why authorities dislike the new Obike ‘ride and dump it where it suits you’ scheme. Enfield Lock has its first dead Obike, lying on its back, all forlorn like a forgotten dog.

Such a cheap way for the lads to get new wheels. Can see Halfords cycle shops going to the wall (wall space for them at Enfield!) [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2017.jul/12/londonsfirst-dockless-hire-bike-scheme-launches]. Wonder why the lads left it on

the stand, then again when out ion the smoke mugging not a lot of call for standing still, must check with IWA chairman. Wide beam coming up, West gate wouldn’t open fully, Dobbin slipped out East gate. Still, easily sorted, when wide beam charges gate, it saw sense and swung itself fully open.

Alfie’s lock gets worse by the day, almost impossible to empty and swing the bottom gates. Left the obligatory Bounty Bar. Can see the neighbourhood is going down hill2.

Confirmed this by asking a new local resident chatting to an indigenous neighbour, who so agreed.

Must pop back to Stonebridge estate on the way back; see if the yoghurt pot is for sale, bit of TLC will shine it up like a dream, methinks. Still got its nav lights an’ all. Wonder if the chimney is thrown in, mooring a tad industrial, I suppose. Getting hard to moor this side of Vicky Park, probably slip in the Ducketts – always room for a little one. Terry presses on, but Dobbin (and Terry) returns.

Handy for the pub and supper – as well as the ice cream over the bridge.

Day Four: Easy run from here.

Handy to meet a vicar at the lock, mind you cut him off from his travelling companion. Nostalgia; this is the lock that Shacklock felt would hold four boats if one of them reversed in. After failing, it was reversed out again (I wonder how??). Did a mix’n’match all the way to Camden Flight. Nostalgia revisited at Islington, there was Shacklock’s boat. Must alert John she is still cruising after a fashion.

Little Venice: Usual chaos on arrival, a good festival, lacks the informality that it once

enjoyed as a bustling crowded street market, with boats, boaters and visitors all jostling for space on the towpath.

Banny - of course.

1

It’s like a diary, but with more stops for cappuccino.

2 Mel Brooks claims (Sun interview 2017) it would be impossible to make the cult & iconic film Blazing Saddles.

PC brigade has killed humour.

Each year your region raises around £2000 from various sources, the main ones being a donation from the profits from the London Walks organised by North and East London Branch and the London Region 200 Club.

At this April’s Chelmsford Branch social I had the pleasure of handing over a £1000 donation from the Region, to Roy Chandler of Essex Waterways (one of our subsidiaries). This is going towards the cost of an outboard motor for their recently rebuilt ex WRG work flat.

The work flat will help us continue to maintain the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation which runs through a largely unspoilt part of rural Essex and connects the county town of Chelmsford with the tidal estuary of the river Blackwater at Heybridge Basin The London Region 200 Club serves a dual role: it lets IWA members have a 'little flutter' with the chance of winning a cash lump sum.

It also offers distribution of profits to the Region to further our work. If you would like to join there is more information on the website at: https://www.waterways.org.uk/branches_regions/london/club200 Paul Strudwick

We did (almost) the full length of Old Father Thames this year and, on the way, stopped on the visitor mooring just above Osney Lock in Oxford. As we settled down for the afternoon there was a knock on the roof and we were asked if we “could help get a boat back under the

bridge”. Now the chap asking the question was mid-way along asking each of the dozen or so boats making the same request – as well as anyone else he could accost - so we joined the merry throng heading for the next (upstream) bridge.

When we arrived, we found a cruiser – not an especially long or wide one, but with a fairly high and completely immovable superstructure that was about 4” higher than Osney bridge. The owner admitted that “he had had a few people on board when he went under”, but I suspect the water level might have gone up a bit in the meantime.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we loaded 19 men, women and children onto the cruiser and managed to get under the bridge with millimetres to clear. (It does beg the question whether the skipper should have achieved his Boatmaster license before proceeding, but we’ll pass on that).

But what does that prove? Well Archimedes’ Principle states that the upthrust (buoyancy) of a floating object is equal to the mass (weight) of water displaced. Now, if the cruiser was, say, 7m x 2m at the waterline and we displaced an extra 0.1m (4”), and the density of water is 1000kg/cubic meter, then the mass of water we displaced was 1400kg. If the average person weighs, say, 75kg (12 st.) we would then have needed 1400/75 = 18.7 people.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find 0.7 of a person (although it being the afternoon of a boating day, there may have been one or two who were half cut already) and, in any case, we needed a bit of clearance. So, if ever there was any doubt, Archimedes was right – bathrobe or no bathrobe.

Mike Newman

The

took place

once again at the beginning of July. Another success. The theme for this year, was ‘Flower Power’ and we had hippies and flowers everywhere!

The quiz night was its usual riotous success, and was again won by Rammey Marsh. (Is that any surprise as they had about 30 in their team!!!)

I am writing to express the thanks of the Wendover Arm Trust to all the L&S members for their support of this, and previous, year’s Grand Draw. The total raised was again about £4000, which will add to the funds for the restoration. This is a great amount towards our Restoration Fund. The first prize was won by Mr & Mrs Lovelock and was very much appreciated.

It was a great day on Sunday 3rd September, with a considerable crowd of people arriving to view the work being carried out to demonstrate how things are progressing. The weather was not too kind with the tea and cakes only just lasting the day.

The Mayor of Tring Town Council, Councillor Gerald Wilkins, joined us and watched the short video of restoration in the church, with other visitors, before making the draw of the ten winning tickets.

The Trust has recently arranged two day boat trips from Cowroast to the winding point at Little Tring this year. The second trip involved both day boats from Kerrnal Cruisers on the 13th September for 12 people plus a crew of 4 WAT volunteers. After the walk from Little Tring to the work site, the people returned to the boats for a sumptuous lunch served on the boats. It is planned to have more trips up the Wendover Arm next year from Cowroast, so watch our web site or for announcements via the press releases.

The Lottery funding is progressing and CRT is working towards the next stage of approval, so that is more good news.

The full list of Grand Draw prize winners is available on the Trust website: www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk Best regards, Michael Wright, Grand Draw Promoter. 2017

Further work is taking place at Rammey Marsh CC, to replace the mooring walkway. Brian is doing a grand job – very ably supported by Graham!!

Well, it looks like you are stuck with me as Region Chairman for another three years! Over the past six years, much of the London Region’s time, has been spent on trying to find solutions to the number of boats overstaying on moorings and not continuously cruising. Whilst this problem has not been solved, London Region has done all it can. The baton has been picked up by the Canal & River Trust (CRT). We still need to keep an eye on their progress; offer support when necessary, and make suggestions on how things could be improved, but there is little more we can do at the moment.

The question that now needs to be addressed is, ‘what can we do, in the next three years, to make IWA London Region more relevant to all waterway users in the capital?’ IWA’s purpose is for the public benefit, to advocate the conservation, use maintenance and development of the inland waterways of the British Isles… …and promote their fullest use for appropriate commercial and recreational purposes. So, what should we be doing to deliver this in London?

In my opinion, the first thing we need to do, is to make IWA London Region more relevant to waterway users. As you know I have long wanted IWA to engage more closely with the live-a-board boating community. There are other groups such as anglers, cyclists, rowing clubs and local residents where we have little idea what their views on the future of the London waterways are. The

problem is, how do we do engage with boaters who are not IWA members and find out the views of the other users?

The last region committee meeting considered these questions and agreed that it was important to make IWA London Region more relevant to all waterway users in the capital. It was generally felt that initially we should concentrate on the boaters in the region.

After a lively discussion it was agreed we would initially tackle five areas: Residential Moorings. Since producing ‘A Proposal for Reducing Overstaying Boats in the London Area’ five years ago there has been little progress on establishing additional, small, residential mooring sites. It was agreed we should retake the initiative and produce a guide on how to establish a small residential mooring site.  Social Media. We should try and get more members to engage on social media especially on groups like ‘London Boaters’. We should think about how we can encourage people to be proud of being IWA members on social media.

We have a new Facebook page to keep you informed of what is going on in the Region. Why not follow us on https://www.facebook.com/iwalondon/  Local Guides. It was agreed that there was a need for local guidance, to help people mooring in a new area for the first time, find local facilities. We decided that we would try producing a leaflet that could be given out on the towpath and also accessible through the Facebook page. Ideally these could be self-financing through advertising for local businesses. It was agreed that Middlesex Branch would trial this concept for Perivale.  Education. It was believed that the average time that many people lived on board a boat in London was between 14 and 18 months. Concern was expressed that many of these people would leave with a jaundiced view of the waterways.

One possible solution was to try and help people understand how to look after their boat better. There were several

centres doing suitable courses but could we help increase the number of places available? ďƒ˜ Boaters Open Meeting. It was agreed to hold an open meeting in central London to help us get to understand better the needs of London Boaters and how IWA could support them. I hope this will take place in October. Details will be published on the London Region Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/iwalondon/.

At the heart of any changes must be you the association’s members. Over the next few months I will be working with your local branch committee and the region committee to try and start to deliver some of these ideas. But we would love to have your views and ideas. How do you want to see your local branch and the London Region develop? Can you help us with any of the initiatives? Are there other things you think we should be doing and would you be prepared to lead these? One thing is certain, with our small number of active members, we need to work smarter rather than harder. That raises questions like, is our branch structure the appropriate one for the 21st century? How do we increase our use of social media so that you feel more engaged in what we are doing?

If you have any ideas please let your branch committee have them. Alternatively I am always pleased to hear from you. I might not always agree with everything you say but I will always take your ideas into account.

In my opinion we need to change what we are doing, become more relevant to all waterway users; because, if we continue to do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got. In our case, that is falling numbers of members and an erosion of our influence.

Paul Strudwick, Chair Person London Region The Inland Waterways Association paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk August 2017

Little Venice Cavalcade back in May:

Ware Festival in July:

Cally Arts I live in a flat right on the canal and have been working on the canal side since 2003. In that time Cally Arts have raised over £250,000 of funding to make improvements. Obviously this has meant working with a range of partners over the years, including the Trust, and in 2016 I formally adopted a 500 metre stretch from York Way to Islington Tunnel.

There’s a range of volunteers who work on the adoption, we have 5-10 at the moment. Everyone’s different, but all their work makes a positive impact. The Trust’s volunteers will also help us on dedicated events.

And we’ve had plenty of different projects. We’ve created a nature garden on top of the Islington Tunnel, for example. It was an abandoned bit of overgrown waste land. Now, thanks to a lot of effort, especially from Annie, it's an area with insect-loving plants supporting species like bees and butterflies. We also grow fruit, herbs and vegetables which are shared out with local people. Relax and escape the city We’ve worked closely with the local council to fund a number of community areas along the stretch too. These are now great places to relax and escape the city. We’ve recruited help from local school children to design community-led art. And through Cally Arts we’ve had some amazing art works and murals put up. Our next plan is to develop one area into an outdoor gym.

It takes time to find these funding streams, apply and then ultimately deliver a project, but they do make a huge difference.

Another example that we funded was after securing around £65,000 of Section 106 money to build a series of floating reed beds, that are ideal for supporting local wildlife.

The stretch is right in the heart of King’s Cross, and that brings challenges too. Whether it’s graffiti, anti-social behaviour or making

sure our work helps to manage congestion on the towpath – we have to factor everything in to designing and delivering our projects.

There’s also the complication of the land along the towpath being owned by different organisations. Sometimes it means dealing with the Trust, other times with the local council or the National Grid.

I know the projects we’ve done have been really well supported so far and we’re really keen to do a lot more in the future.

In short, all life goes on in our open spaces, where people relax, meet, play, exercise, learn and work.

The annual Beer Festival held at The New Inn, took place over the weekend in mid-September. A few boaters from Rammey Marsh CC made the effort to moor up at Roydon, and drink their way raucously through Mary’s selection of beer.

The live music, the BBQ and the Hog Roast, on respective nights were enjoyed, and a good time was had by all.

is all set for its annual on Friday 1st December 2017. Refreshments and entertainment will be on offer, as well as craft and charity stalls, plus the lighting of Christmas illuminations. Town centre roads will be closed 6-10pm.

Usually an enjoyable evening.

Branch begin (or have begun) again in October: October Is the Ver Navigable? - Paul Foster th 13 November Gunpowder on the Lee – Richard Thomas A study of the manufacture and conveyance of gunpowder and other military explosives in the valley. th 11 December Mince Pies & Mulled Wine 8th January 12th February 12th March Branch AGM 9th

All meetings are at The New Inn, Roydon, CM19 5EE at 8.00pm.

It is a year on from the untimely demise of Les Hunt.

His sister, Daisy, invited a few people from each of his interest areas, to share in the scattering of his ashes. This took place along the River Stort, aboard the Canalability boat where Les had been a volunteer. Light refreshments on board were provided and enjoyed.

Each of us scattered a few of the ashes, and communed briefly with his memory, and as expected, it was a very emotional trip.

Finally, we (from the IWA), presented Daisy with a selection of photos from over the years, in which Les appeared, depicting the various aspects of him.

R.I.P. now, Les.

Committee Members Chairman Craig Haslam m: 07956 848 025 e: boatyboy96@hotmail.com

Secretary, Membership Secretary Mike Jones m: 07976 517 749 e: mike.jones10@ntlworld.com

Treasurer Carole Beeton m: 07905 701 948 e: robandcarole@msn.com

Joint Events Officers Banny Banyard Terry Stembridge m: 07860 669 279 m: 07709 205 498 e: banny@tesco.net e: terrystembridge32@btinternet.com Magazine Editor Monica Hawes m: 07943 169 800 e: monicaforboats@hotmail.com

Tony Plunkett m: 07944 678 228 e: tplunkett@hotmail.co.uk

Mike Newman George Cutting h: m: 07721 654 410 m: 07887 540 398 e: georgecutting@btinternet.com e: mike.newman2@btinternet.com The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this newsletter, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy, or an official announcement unless otherwise stated.

IWA accepts no liability for any matter in this newsletter. The IWA is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee. Registered in England no 612245. Registered Charity no 212342. Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783 453. Web: www.waterways.org.uk