Milepost201305

Some of the Salterhebble Working Party on 18 May Inside you can find… p2 Chairman’s thoughts p4 A Two-Hatted Usergroup pp6,7 Working Parties pp10-11 AGM minutes pp9,13 Outings of the Branch Stands …and so much more

May 2013 West Riding Branch

Chairman’s Thoughts The Branch has been busy since our last newsletter. Details of social meetings, outings, and the events we have attended are on the following pages. If you have missed any of these due to not hearing about them in time, our best way to let you know of future events, especially at short notice, is via email. Please let me have your email address if you haven’t done so already. If you would prefer a text message on your mobile phone, then please let me know: if there’s a demand for this, we will set up a twitter account and send instruction on how to receive the messages on your phone. I would love to offer to telephone members individually: all I need is some volunteers to do the phoning!.

We have completed our first towpath working-party for several years. Front cover is a picture of the local newspaper doing its photo opportunity at Salterhebble; more pictures online at http://tinyurl.com/pjs-pra51 We weren’t put off by a bit of rain, especially since the weatherman had been predicting downpours all day. It would have been good to have more passers-by to ask us what we were doing, but hopefully when they do venture out, they will see what we achieved. We hope to return to Salterhebble on Saturday 27 July when we might be able to do some painting and will certainly be able to bash some Himalayan balsam, which is an invasive species taking over large areas of towpath.

Our next working party is an evening event, on the second Friday in June, 14th, in Leeds, meeting at 6pm at Office Lock. We hope to do some tidying of the (new) towingpath and painting of Mile Posts. This will only be for a couple of hours – you are most welcome just to come and say hello. The poster is available to download via the West Riding page of the website www.waterways.org.uk There are reports on where the stand has been, and thanks to those who man it; we need more people to help.

The minutes of the AGM are our centrefold pull-out, and repeat the appeal at the meeting for someone to find speakers for our open meetings. Alistair and Kate Sayles have done this job wonderfully for seven years for which we give them our grateful thanks. The programme is complete up to the end of the 2013-14 season; we can fill the slots from our local members until December 2014 (eighteen months from now) but if we are to continue to have speakers and Open Meetings, we need a volunteer to be thinking of what subjects to cover and which speakers to invite. More details are on page 19.

We welcome the help of David Mack who volunteered to look after the West Riding part of the IWA website for us. While all our helpers are most welcome at our (friendly) committee meetings, it’s not essential to attend them or to, formally, be members of the Branch Committee.

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My todo list (volunteers to do any of these, most welcome!)

• Assemble MilePost • Arrange adverts for MilePost • Find Speakers • Check Planning Applications • Get members to provide raffle prizes and Organise Raffle • Ring new members to welcome them • Organise working party in Leeds and Put up posters • Organise working party at Salterhebble and Put up posters • Attend Open meetings and write Reports for MilePost • Support Barnsley, Dearne and Dove Canal Trust • Set up text messages system for Branch activities • Etc. Have you any ideas about what the Branch should be doing?

All thoughts to me, please elaine@waterways.org.uk or 07980 953880 Throughout the year, and particularly at the next AGM I will be asking for more volunteers to help to run the Branch. The IWA is a membership organisation. This means that we can only do as much as we, the members, will do. For example, Ian Moore, our (much-appreciated) Secretary represents us at many external meetings during the year, and there are many Branch tasks that we could do in addition if there were volunteers to do them. Remember, there is no need to be on the committee! Please consider what you might take on and let me know. We all want the IWA to continue to be a useful organisation.

Have a really good summer. I hope to see you around the system, at one of our working days and at Thwaite Mills Boat Gathering 29 and 30 June.

Elaine Scott, Branch Chairman

Last date for contributions for the next issue: 31 July 3

A Two-Hatted Usergroup It's a six-monthly gathering; CRT's users from across NE region head for Fearns Wharf in Leeds to nibble some CRT biscuits, to compare notes with other users, to check CRT's progress on the maintenance of our waterways and ask them about Customer Service.

Jon Horsfall, CRT NE waterways manager, was keen for an update on the Waterways Partnership, the new group that the CRT charity has set up to advise, to cajole, and to encourage extra waterways funding. Jon asked us (Partnership “us”) to speak about our recent meeting in Leeds with the CRT trustees and senior management.

This was my first metaphorical hat of the evening: easy enough to shed my IWA waistcoat to stand up to say that: - trustees and guests are better-fed on upmarket-nibbles than the usergroup is - but forgiving that for a moment, the Partnership has decided for itself …

- it's not an alternative NE management ...

- and it's not an alternative usergroup.

- It has a distinctive vision of what the NorthEast waterways can do -… and we challenge ourselves, CRT and the whole of the Region to find ways to achieve them - including more freight for which we have the waterways, and we need more oomph from industry, government, (etc) to achieve it - connections, both physically, outwards towards the European Continent and a potential new one with the Rother Link …

- … and to inspire and utilise more community involvement - and we need more boats. I had spent two hours that fine and sunny afterEaster morning walking from Leeds to ArmleyMills and back along the L&L towingpath and had passed how many moving boats? They guessed it: none.

Then it was IWA-waistcoat-on-time for this story from the previous (Easter) weekend.

H's narrowboat was heading for Llangollen. It wasn't me phoning CRT and I wasn't trying to make a debating point, but H phoned CRT's new contact number 03030404040 on Maundy Thursday: this was correctly put through to the local CRT office who advised that H's plans might be disrupted by work currently going on in Chirk tunnel, which might not be complete that day. When H needed to decide, he was advised to call the out-of-hours number 08004799947 for the latest information.

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We moored in the Whitchurch Arm, and H needed to choose when to visit the Montgomery (before/after ChirkTunnel to Llangollen). The Emergency Operator on 08004799947 said was an emergency line, and that office calls would be answered 8am-6pm on the Tuesday after Easter. H quoted his advice to ring this number and he was eventually called back by a duty-engineer with news that Chirk was open. But it shouldn't have needed his persistence. To be fair to the Ambulance Service (who run the service for CRT), the CRT website says: “Contacting us in an emergency: You'll always be able to contact us between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. However, you may find that something happens which means that you urgently need to contact us. [on] a dedicated 24 hour emergency contact number. 0800 47 999 47 If lives or property are at risk or there is danger of serious environmental contamination then contact this number immediately. Examples include: serious injury or a fatality, a fire or explosion on a boat, a dangerously damaged lock, bridge or tunnel, ...” And there's nothing about a blockage to navigation qualifying as an emergency. A fallen-tree which closes the canal can wait the three days until the Tuesday-after-Easter. And the website's not just a bureaucratic mistake: I made this comment to CRT before it was live, and it's still like this.

Continuing to the Usergroup “The greatest use is at holiday times and at weekends, when users need to contact CRT with all sorts of information, only infrequently in an emergency. Customer-Service isn't Customer Service when we happen to be in our office: it's needed when the customers need to use it. CRT want to know when the paddle has broken, even when the other paddle can keep the lock struggling-by. Having the new 03030404040 changes the situation from just local-office numbers; it's intended to be on all the notices over all the network for all telephone contact by CRT users. However organised behind-the- scenes, (new annual-hours contracts with CRT staff and outsourcing to the emergency services?), it needs to give a useful customer-response all the time. CRT just don't get it. Jon, you need to sort it out“ IWA-Waistcoated-person sits down to applause from the Users. Very gratifying support!

H did book his passage down the Montgomery. As you might (not) guess, on weekdays you call 03030404040 for the booking line and on Bank Holidays and weekends you call the Anderton Lift. If you have looked up the stoppage notice before you set off, that is.

Peter Scott (the unwaistcoated) CRT NE Partnership member Peter Scott (the IWA-waistcoated) NE Region chairman

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Salterhebble Working Party On Saturday 18 May the Branch held its working party at Salterhebble locks. The plan was to clear vegetation and paint various items of canal furniture to improve the look of the place. We were also intending to tell the passing masses using the towingpath about the IWA and CRT. It was all arranged, the Calder Navigation Society brought their boat, Savile, to give boat trips to the workers and any passers-by; CRT arranged the equipment, Shire Cruisers lent us a boat for tea and coffee making, the Branch had volunteer waistcoats and put up our threesided stand. The first job was to put up the signs to let people know that it was an IWA working party around the site.

All that was needed was good weather, like Friday had been and Sunday was forecast to be.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t playing, and it was overcast with showers all day. This was better than the downpour forecast for all day, but still enough to keep the public away. Not daunted, we had our safety briefing and got to work. It was of course sufficiently warm to cause a dilemma – be overheated inside outdoor rain-gear or be wet without it..

Painting was off, so we split into groups to clean cobbles, remove debris from the cut, and clear the towingpath. With breaks for tea and coffee we worked hard until 3:45. The Calder Navigation Society volunteers used nbSavile to remove debris from the cut up to the end of the canal towards Halifax.

Passers-by were few and far between, but our best compliment came from a passing cyclist who having passed us in the morning said “Well done, it’s a lot better now” on his way back in the afternoon.

It was fun and as I said earlier, we have a date Saturday 27th July 10am-4pm to complete the work, do the painting (weather permitting) and do some balsam bashing. Keep your fingers crossed for better weather and come join us if you can.

Elaine Scott 6

Leeds - the First Mile The First Mile of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal above Office Lock Leeds has had many Thousands of Pounds spent on its towingpath during a stoppage early in 2013. The comparison is from before and after the works: the jogger is not the same, but the intensity-of-purpose is similar.

The not-very-helpful sign below, at the beginning of the works, not only failed to provide a map, but also failed to say to where the bemused towingpathwalker might need to find their alternative route.

Join us at our Workparty Friday 14th June, meeting at 6pm Leeds at Office Lock See Chairman’s Thoughts on p3

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Oddly Oddy Your boat is at the bottom of Oddy two-rise staircase and the instructions on the sign say: Penning up 1 Before entering lock use gate paddles to set up locks before entering top chamber. Set up locks so that the top chamber is full & the bottom chamber is empty (water level with the canal below).

2 Use gate paddles to fill or empty chambers as required 3 Open tailgates ensuring all paddles are closed and enter bottom chamber.

4 Open top chamber ground paddles slowly in stages to allow water to pass under crafts hull & fill bottom chamber only. Open gate paddles when the water has risen above paddle height on gates.

5 When water in both chambers has levelled, open middle gates, close all paddles, & enter craft into top chamber. Close middle gates 6 Repeat step 4 with head gate ground paddles then gate paddles to exit lock & enter canal.

Close all paddles and head gates.

How could we better to tell a novice user how to operate a two-lock staircase?

My ideas are here: http://tinyurl.com/pjs-tho39 PeterScott

Recycling collections at Branch Meetings What we collect and what we do with it all Stamps When the stamps have been sorted they go to the Shropshire Union Canal Society to help fund work on the Montgomery Canal Aluminium ie cans and foil. When sufficient has been amassed the aluminium is transported to York, where the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society has an arrangement with a local scrap dealer who is prepared to pay for what, to him, are small quantities Foreign Coins and Banknotes If current, these can be collected together and sold to someone visiting the appropriate country. If old, they can be sold to dealers, or as a last resort can be melted down! The main recipient of these is the Chichester Ship Canal Trust in Hampshire Coupons. Such as vouchers given by petrol companies.

Empty Toner and InkJet Cartridges For funds towards the restoration of the Wilts and Berks Canal Old mobile phones Also for funds of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust Please collect what you can and bring them to meetings .

Ellen & Ailsa Sayles

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Other outings of the Branch Stands – the smaller stands Saltaire On the 19th April approximately 30 people gathered for "A bit of a do" at a Saltaire social club. The main organisers were the Friends of Kennet, and the event was also supported by the wider Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society, Canal and River Trust and the IWA. Obviously most of the talk was about canals and boats but there was also an excellent spread of food and we were entertained by Eddie Lawler, “Bard of Saltaire” who had a number of waterway inspired songs. The folk group Wooden Hill performed a number of classic and local songs. Through the evening we completed a quiz with questions relating to the Leeds Liverpool Canal; much to their surprise the IWA team were awarded first prize. It was an enjoyable evening embracing wider waterway interests.

South Pennine Boat Club, Mirfield On Saturday 4 April Mike Tucknott, Peter and Elaine Scott took the flag (and the smaller stand) to Mirfield as part of their Pirate Day. We had a good time. There were various stalls of bric-a-brac, jewellery and cakes, a barbeque, a real ale bar and lots of childrens’ activities. As well as competitions and boat trips from nbSavile and the Calder Navigation Society, we were entertained by the Halifax Gilbert and Sullivan Society singing, appropriately, songs from Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore. And when more refreshment was required the superior place to go was Batty’s (normally the club house), where waitresses in lacy aprons served tea, coffee, a selection of highly desirable cakes and cream scones. (Not to be completely confused either by the allusion to the nearby Battyford or the similarly named teashop in Harrogate) It was good to meet some IWA members who cannot attend our open meetings.

Dowley Gap It snowed and the Open Day was postponed. A fortnight later the weather relented and over two thousand visitors walked through both the locks and aqueduct, exhausting our supplies of maps-ith-membership-forms, which were much more popular than earlier versions. Mike Tucknott did sterling work directing visitors away from the knee-deep mud in the aqueduct.

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IWA WEST RIDING BRANCH Minutes of the 2013 AGM held at 9pm on Friday 12th April at South Pennine Boat Club.

Present 23 members 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Peggy and Alastair Furniss, Katie, Alastair, Ellen and Ailsa Sayles, Rob and Trish Laing, David Shuttleworth, Garth Robinson 2. MINUTES OF THE 2012 AGM held on Friday 13th April at South Pennine Boat Club, as published in May 2012 MilePost were accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting.

Proposed by Liz Pinder Seconded by Tim Field 3. MATTERS ARISING: None 4. BRANCH CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Committee members: Chairman: Secretary: Treasurer: Membership: Minutes: Members:

Assisted by:

Meeting co-ordinators: Badges, stamps and raffles: Telephone Contact:

Elaine Scott Ian Moore William Jowitt Chris Pinder Liz Pinder Peter Scott Mike Tucknott Alistair and Katie Sayles Ellen and Ailsa Sayles Alastair Furniss

Elaine thanked all the committee for their work during the year, all our speakers who have entertained us, all the members who have supported these meetings and the South Pennine Boat Club for making their excellent facilities available to us.

Elaine reported on Branch activities, mentioning a selection of meetings attended, including CRT User Groups, Aire Action Leeds, Rochdale Canal Linear Park Group, Leeds Voice Environment Forum. Branch officers had spent time on Planning Applications, notably Black Pit Lock, the Salterhebble Canal Access Ramp, and Wakefield Road at Sowerby Bridge. The Branch had sent a Letter of Support for the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme Funding Bid. The branch stand and displays were taken to Skipton Water Festival, the Leeds Waterfront Festival at Thwaite Mills, and CRT's Dowley Gap Open Day at which a hundred membership forms were taken by visitors, probably attracted by the 2012-format including a map of the waterways.

Other waterways events attended included the Bulhome Lock Open Day and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in nbFulbourne.

A select gathering of members walked along the Barnsley Canal in a joint meeting with the Barnsley Dearne and Dove Society.

The branch has plans to attend a Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society event in Saltaire (Fri. evening 19 May 7.30pm) and taking the tabletop display; the Skipton Waterfront festival Sat/Sun/Mon 4-6 May, taking the gazebo; also South Pennine Boat Club Rally & Open Day Sat. 4 May with the display boards; and the Thwaite Mills Boat Gathering Fri. Sat. Sun. 2810

30 June. This event will include putting up market stalls on Friday, a barbecue on Friday evening, a boaters and helpers’ quiz on Saturday and clearing up on Sunday evening.

This year we have a Towingpath working group at Salterhebble on Sat. 18 May 10am to 4pm, for weeding painting etc, and Leeds – the first mile of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on Fri. evening 14 June from 6pm onwards, meeting at Office Lock.

5. REGION CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Peter Scott reported on the regional effect of the HighSpeed2 phase two railway proposals, particularly the effect on the Dearne and Dove restoration proposals and those on the Chesterfield.

Peter had been selected, in a personal capacity rather than as an IWA officer, as a member of the CRT regional Partnership. At his recent presentation to the Usergroup he emphasised the Partnership was NOT an alternative management and it was NOT an elite user-group, It was there to Inspire, to Encourage, to Challenge the whole Region to support its waterways. At the visit to Leeds by the CRT Trustees and senior management in March 2013, the Partnership had outlined its emerging vision, and the feedback was positive.

On IWA nationally, Peter mentioned that we have a new national chairman (who is to visit the branch in the autumn: hence or otherwise we have a new enthusiasm for appealing to boaters, and a new focus on campaigning for our National Festivals. Peter noted our farewell to Jo Gilbertson, who has left Head Office for a new job elsewhere.

Peter noted his twitterfeed, accessible from the IWA website: he currently has 66 (enthusiastic?) followers and the challenge for the next year is to match Steven Fry's.

(That's 5,683,546 at the last count!)

6. TREASURER’S REPORT Accounts are kept by IWA Head Office, and we do not need a resolution to accept the accounts. A Summary is attached William mentioned that Magazine Costs and Capitation payments are similar, and that using head office to print and send Milepost is reducing costs for each posting to 31p. More sent by email would still be a benefit. We have to decide about attending the National again; we have possible costs for Thwaite Mill, maybe £340, and a good-weather-weekend may again meet those costs from donations. We also need to identify some specific good projects to focus our funds and our fundraising on.

7. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE Noted that we need, not necessarily as Committee members: a Speaker Finder (for Sept 2014 etc meetings); a Milepost compiler (not now needing to find printers nor to put all the copies in envelopes); a Website editor; a Workparty organiser; someone as Leeds Waterfront Festival liaison. There are also the responsibilities as Navigation officer and Planning Officer which would benefit from specific assistance.

Proposed that to be appointed until 2016 AGM: Peter Scott and until 2014 AGM: Liz Pinder (shorter period at Liz's request). This was unanimously agreed. Dave Mack volunteered to be Website Editor.

8. MEETING CLOSURE With thanks to those providing nibbles, Elaine closed the meeting at 9.45pm

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Income and Expenditure Account 2012 Expenditure Income £ £ Capitation 776.93 0.00 Donations 209.78 235.00 OpenMeetings/Working parties 0.00 50.00 Events / fund-raising 0.00 45.00 Magazine 0.00 564.71 Trading 540.71 107.81 Lotteries & raffles 234.00 0.00 Bank interest & charges 21.48 0.00 Officers' expenses 0.00 0.00 Other 20.00 0.00 TOTAL 1,696.01 1,846.72 Surplus/(deficit) for the year 800.38

2011 Income Expenditure £ £ 846.80 0.00 242.00 510.00 0.00 245.00 0.00 45.00 0.00 909.58 357.56 137.14 210.10 0.00 19.55 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 1,696.01 1,846.72 (150.71)

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Balance at 31 December £2,471.35 £1,637.22 Notes Capitation – the monies we receive from IWA centrally to fund the magazine MilePost.

Donations Expenditure: main donations to Skipton Waterway Festival Fundraising – income is booked to trading. The Thwaite Mill Boat Gathering contributed £300, more than compensating for the loss of income because there was no National event in 2012 William Jowitt Treasurer

Airedale Cruising provides skippered day cruises on board a 57ft traditional narrowboat on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal through beautiful Yorkshire Dales scenery. Cruises start and end in Skipton (N.Yorks) with plenty of nearby parking and good public transport links.

Couples, or groups of up to 8, may charter the boat (with skipper) and either bring their own food/drink or enjoy lunch in a friendly canalside Inn. Full details of cruise options, costs, available dates etc on website. http://www.airedalecruising.info/ Please note: All discounts and offers are entirely at Airedale’s discretion.

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Outings of the stand – the larger one went to Skipton Over three days 4th to 6th May Liz and Chris Pinder took the West Riding gazebo to the Skipton Waterways Festival.

Despite some challenging weather on Saturday, the event went well and a good time was had by all the members who turned up on the various days.

As usual, there was a lot of interest in Chris’ fender-making demonstration.

All the usual entertainment was there, live music, very good food stalls, craft stalls and lots of boats.

As well as the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society with Kennet there was the Horseboating Society with Eland and CRT maintenance boat.

There were trips along the Springs Branch on the Pennine Cruisers boat Sam.

As part of the celebrations the local church tower was open for visitors to climb the tower.

This gave a chance to see the bells and take some more unusual pictures of the festival.

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John Dodwell, Canal & River Trust Trustee Extract from remarks at West Midlands User Group Tuesday April 30, 2013 The English and Welsh waterways are split into 11 waterway units. Each has about 80 staff of which about 75% are bankside staff. Each has a budget of about £5m a year to deliver day to day maintenance and customer service. The more complex projects and major dredging are managed by centralised specialists through the Major Works Programme.

Each waterway unit has three types of team - the monthly Inspection teams; the Construction teams which attend to the planned schedule of works for the year and the Customer Operations teams who generally deal with water control and planned preventative maintenance, and it is they who respond to phone calls. The Trust has just completed a consultation exercise with the bankside staff about moving to annualised hours. So, for example, the Customer Service teams will work more hours in the summer when there are more visitors and Construction teams will work more hours in the winter when the waterways are quieter, making it easier to complete repairs.

The Trust manages about 10,000 major infrastructure assets – the aqueducts, embankments, cuttings, culverts, tunnels, bridges, reservoirs and locks. They are inspected each month. Their condition is assessed from A to E with E being worst. They are also assessed according to consequence of failure on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest consequence – e.g. multiple deaths likely. You’ll be pleased to hear there is nothing categorised E5! Over the last 10 years, the percentage of all these structures in the D and E category has come down from 30% to under 17%. About 15% are Ds, only 2% are Es. This grading helps to prioritise risks and plan repairs efficiently. It avoids one area repairing category B items when there are category D items elsewhere.

Recent significant challenges include the £2m Dutton breach on the Trent and Mersey (re-opened at the beginning of May) whilst also dealing with the planned work to reline part of the bed of the Mon & Brec (£1m); part of Netherton Tunnel’s roof (£1.5m); and rebuilding Cooper Bridge Weir (£2m). Each year, the Trust allocates £2m for contingences. Sometimes, it’s not needed and can be reallocated. Two years ago, it was – to cutting back trees etc. This year, the Dutton breach and the Mon & Brec took it; fortunately, the Trust was able to find the extra £1m.

2013-4 will be a tight year; the Government sum is fixed for the moment but our costs go up. Our other income – from rents, from boats, from utilities – looks like holding up. The Trust is planning to spend about the same amount on maintenance etc

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Volunteers Last year nearly 400 applied to be volunteer lockkeepers and about 300 were accepted. 99% of them are returning for 2013; and we have another 450 or so applicants to join them this year. Nationally, about 75% of the volunteer lockkeepers stayed on to be winter volunteers for other work. We’re seeing more volunteers coming to help the workforce. This is a good example of the sort of culture change that is taking place as the workforce become more and more confident about working with volunteers. In some cases, volunteers are working alongside the bankstaff – and I welcome that. By the way, the staff have been told that no-one will lose their employment because of the use of volunteers – and that’s important to volunteers too.

I’m told there’s a list of some 45-50 thousand defects to do at any time and about 20% are the highest priority from a safety or customer service point of view. That leaves about 35-40 thousand defects in the “nice to do” category. That’s where volunteers can bring real value and I don’t just mean simple tasks. You will have heard about the two bridges on the North Oxford that have been awaiting attention. Last autumn contractors renewed the foundations and then IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group did the brickwork superstructure The number of volunteer groups is encouraging as the Trust now has 130 active groups. Some have been working on the waterways for years; some are new. The other day, Vince Moran, the Trust’s Operations Director, said there’s almost nothing that volunteers can’t do – given the time. Now, there’s another marker of the change from the old BW days.

John Dodwell also wrote (not quite as recently): The arrival of the BACAT ship in London in the early days of March represented the fulfilment of a dream that the Freight Services Division Manager has had for about ten years - or should one call it a nightmare in view of the problems? There can be no doubt that they have struggled manfully to bring this project to fruition.

Having found no interest from British shippers (British shipping also missed out on the start of the container ship) they finally found the required depth of vision and faith in a Danish shipowner.

The BACAT ship is now in service, operating between the Humber and Rotterdam. It carries ten BACAT barges, each capable of carrying 140 tons and three LASH barges, each with a capacity of 365 tons. The ship calls at the Humber every 2½ days. It will call at Middlesbrough every 10 days. In a leaflet the virtues of the new system are under a heading “Rotherham to Rotterdam” (This is gently Hansard-edited to allow a guess at the date of writing.

Answers to peter.scott@waterways.org.uk by 31July2013 please) 15

In case you missed it….. (reviews are asked for at each meeting – like buses they come along in company) January: “A Year on Fulbourne - more than a Jubilee” by David Mack David Mack started with the narrowboat’s working life and history, and followed the 2012 itinerary of which the highlight was the Jubilee Pageant.

Originally built for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company in 1937 as a cargo boat, Fulbourne had seen conversion into a holiday boat with a wooden cabin over part of the hold.

However the present consortium of owners were keen it should be returned to its original design and livery, with tarpaulin covers under which it is possible to survive with camping-style accommodation, and the boatman’s cabin has been carefully restored.

Fulbourne was one of only 40 narrowboats chosen to take to take part in the Jubilee event, and early 2012 involved a move from Aylesbury to London for rehearsals as an 8 by 5 formation team. The big day started for the crew at 630am, and did not end until 9-30pm. It was not helped by the weather (especially in the latter part of the day) but the enthusiasm of crowds at every vantage point on both sides of the river provided ample compensation. Each boat was presented with a flag which Elaine Scott had brought to the meeting for us to see.

The boat had then travelled north for the summer including the gathering of historic boats at Braunston reuniting Fulbourne with the butty Angel. A trip into Liverpool showed the new route through to Albert Dock and the variety of engineering solutions needed in re-establishing the link.

The trip along the Rochdale Canal from the west, over the summit and on through Hebden Bridge and Sowerby Bridge as far as the Halifax Arm. Calder & Hebble locks prevent a boat 71ft 6in long travelling any further and so it returned over the Pennines to start the long journey back to Aylesbury.

Geoff & Val Auty David Mack : The Adventures of Fu(lb)ourn(e) (part 2) The mystery of the brackets will be revealed in due course........

David gave a brief history of Fulbourne, including some pleasing black and white shots. David mentioned the various liveries that the boat had, before settling down to the current (?) wartime austerity colours.

Herein the bracket mystery. Whilst the boat seems to have been named after the village in Cambridgeshire, road signs resolutely leave out the terminal ‘e’.

However, the railway signal box proudly had it. Could a narrow boat really be named following railway tradition? Heresy! Anyway, Fulbourne it was, and is, at least until the engine room doors are opened. The austerity livery didn’t run to painting duplicate letters, so the open doors truncate the name!

Onto matters on the water. David explained in entertaining detail three of Fulbourne’s adventures in 2012. First was the proud membership of the Diamond 16

Jubilee flotilla. The beautiful summer’s day of the rehearsal was contrasted with the gloom and drench of the actual day itself – captured in many a rain-drenched slide. Still, the crowds were great, participants in high spirits despite incipient hypothermia and visits to East India Dock and the Thames Barrage amongst others were highlights.

Fulbourne then headed north to avoid the predicted great drought of 2012 (yes really) and adventured through the backwaters of the Rochdale Canal, Liverpool docks when the Tall Ships were in town and Manchester. Despite thoughts of grim industrial wasteland and the insistence on escorted navigation, both trips were pleasant enough with a wide variety of intriguing lock mechanisms to be encounters, and some ominous seeming concrete tunnels to be endured.

A most entertaining and well-illustrated evening : thanks to David for showing so many slides and talking so knowledgeably about it all.

David Lewis February: BOCM barge traffic on Yorkshire Ouse 1937-87 by Laurie Dews, The talk was introduced by David Lewis who had met Laurie as part of an local history research project, and had published a book of Laurie’s memories. Laurie didn’t need any electronic aids for this talk; he is an expert on his material, primarily his family and working life on the Humber.

We were enthralled by the stories, and Laurie’s powerful delivery of them. He could have gone on talking for much longer, and we could have sat there listening to him all night. Between us we did manage one question (about the problems of navigating the Selby Bridges) and that generated a good stream of memories and links to other tales. Had we tried another, all night wouldn’t have been long enough.

David Lewis brought copies of Laurie's book to sell and CDs of Laurie telling tales. The CDs have sold out but if you would like a copy, David says he will provide them. Contact Elaine.

March : The World War II boatwomen by Mike Constable Mike Constable spoke about the Second World War boatwomen and the books by those who took part, which are all a good read (try eBay!) "Maidens' Trip" by Emma Smith "Troubled Waters" by Margaret Cornish; "The Amateur Boatwomen" by Eily Gayford and "Idle Women"

by Susan Woolfitt.

It was the last of these which took its title from the (undoubtedly) ironic interpretation of the IW (for “Inland Waterways”) warwork badge that was available for the women to wear, although Mike disputed whether there was any contemporary use of the term “Idle Women”. It is occasionally suggested that the professional boaters, many being reduced to two-person crews by the war, used it to emphasise the lesser individual effort needed by the three-woman crews.

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April: Cooper Bridge Weir Replacement by Sam Colley (and Branch AGM) Jon Horsfall, CRT NE Operations Manager wasn’t able to attend the AGM this year, and he persuaded Samantha Colley to talk to us instead; Sam has recently joined CRT as one of the North East’s engineers and spoke about the renewal of Cooper Bridge Weir, on the Calder and Hebble Navigation at the junction with the Huddersfield Broad Canal. She gave a clear and interesting description of the works involved.

At the end of her talk she offered to give us a site visit to see the work in progress. …

Cooper Bridge Weir visit: Monday 29th April … and after some date-negotiation between everybody, seven members attended the visit which was a sufficient number to show our interest in the project. Our guides were Linda Milton, the CRT engineer and project manager with Peter Downes from May Gurney the main contractor. The weather was kind. We had an interesting talk with pictures and plans in the site office, a walk around the works and returned to the site office for a welcome hot drink and more questions. We all enjoyed the visit, which lasted about 2hrs, and many thanks to Linda and Peter.

Historically and currently the weir is for navigation, which is why CRT are funding the project at a cost of about £2m. The weir has been there since at least 1763 as denoted by a stone that was found during the works. Originally it was stone and timber and later capped/repaired with concrete in the early 1900's.

Over recent years there have been several breaches, causing reduced water levels in the navigation upstream. Temporary repairs were carried out by dumping stone into the breaches. This project is a complete rebuild starting in May 2012 and is due to complete this summer. Access to the site for heavy machinery was a challenge including the restriction caused by a low railway bridge. The rerouting of a power cable caused an unforeseen expense of around £20,000.

Each side of the river bank had to be stabilised with steel piling and stone. A piled coffer dam allowed the area of the main weir to be drained and the old weir removed. This reduced the width of flow by about three quarters which caused some fooldingproblems with the heavy rainfall last year.

The new weir is 29m wide, has 6 steps each of about 0.5m deep. The overall depth of the structure is about 4m and is made from about 1000 cu metres of concrete, most of which was mixed on site. There is an approx 2m wide fish and elver pass at one side comprising of 2 slopes with a 5m long resting-pool between. A proper canoe pass had been considered but funding was not forthcoming so only a narrow slope at the opposite side to the fish pass has been provided.

Malcolm Webster Linda answering our questions

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People who help run the Branch 2013 / 2014 Chairman (CM) Elaine Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH 0114 230 1870 07980 953880 elaine.scott@waterways.org.uk

Secretary (CM) Ian Moore 2 Eric Street, Bramley Leeds LS13 1ET 07989 112581 westriding@waterways.org.uk

Treasurer (CM) William Jowitt 35, Lowfield Crescent Silsden BD20 0QE 01535 657256

Membership Secretary (CM) Chris Pinder 152 High Street Yeadon Leeds LS19 7AB 01132 509371

NE&Yorks Region (CM) Peter Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH 0114 230 1870 peter.scott@waterways.org.uk

Minutes Secretary (CM) Liz Pinder 152 High Street Yeadon Leeds LS19 7AB 01132 509371

Committee Member Mike Tucknott 4 Royds Avenue Birkenshaw Bradford BD11 2LD 07885 951099

Speaker Finders Katie & Alastair Sayles 32 Pymont Drive, Woodlesford, Leeds LS26 8WA. 0113 393 4517 kandal@btinternet.com

Telephone Contact Alastair Furniss 0113 253 9401

Badges, Stamps & Raffle Ellen & Ailsa Sayles

Website David Mack

Speaker Finder – could you volunteer for this job?

"Speaker Finders" the role involves contacting possible speakers, giving details of the venue and circulating the season's programme to waterways publications.

The sources for locating speakers come from IWA members, waterways publications and previous speakers. Most of the work is done by email and we try to work a year in advance. There is no requirement to attend the meetings but it is helpful for both yourself and the speaker if you are able to come.

We have done this job since 2006 and are able to pass on details of our previous speakers for the whole of the period to the new job holder.

Katy and Alistair Sayles (This is the first of a series of articles seeking more volunteers to keep the Branch going into 2015 and beyond)

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Programme of Events for 2013- 2014 All meetings take place at 8pm (7.30pm for coffee and a chat) on the second Friday of the month in the clubhouse of the South Pennine Boat Club, Wood Lane, Mirfield WF14 0ED. Directions on the web site http://www.southpennineboatclub.co.uk/ Friday 3th September 2013

“Water Management within the Canal & River Trust” by Adam Comerford

Friday 11th October 2013

“Confessions of an ex-IWA Magazine Editor" by John Greenway

Friday 8th November 2013

"The IWA: past, present and future" by Les Etheridge, IWA Chairman

Friday 13th December 2013

Christmas Social and Members’ entertainments

Friday 10th January 2014

“Apollo” by David Lowe

Friday 14th February 2014

“Seesaws, slopes, slides and structures” - the principles behind canal science and engineering

by Geoff Auty

Friday 14th March 2014

“The Work of the RNLI” by Colin Senior

Friday 11th April 2014

AGM and entertainment

Talks arranged by Alastair and Katy Sayles, contact details see p19 All the meetings are Open and everyone is invited. We are pleased to welcome any member of the public and members are encouraged to bring their friends. To find out more about the waterways or the IWA, join us at one of our meetings or visit the website The views expressed in this publication are published as being of interest to our members and readers and are not necessarily those of The Inland Waterways Association or of its West Riding Branch.

The Inland Waterways Association campaigns for the Conservation, Use, Maintenance, Restoration and Development of the Inland Waterways, which are part of our heritage, and are there for the benefit of everyone.

The Inland Waterways Association Registered in England no 612245 Registered as a Charity No 212342 Registered Office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA Tel: 01494 783453 http://www.waterways.org.uk 20