Navvies 266

volunteers restoring waterways

navvies Coming soon: Bonfire Bash BOOK NOW!

Camp reports: Getting to the bottom of things at Inglesham

waterway recovery group

Issue No 266 August-September 2014

Navvies Production Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road, East Dulwich London SE22 9PB 020-8693 3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk

Printing and assembly: John & Tess Hawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 3RQ 01923 448559 john.hawkins@wrg.org.uk

Ralph Mills

Subscriptions: Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Rd., Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ

Navvies is published by Waterway Recovery Group, Island House, Moor Rd., Chesham HP5 1WA and is available to all interested in promoting the restoration and conservation of inland waterways by voluntary effort in Great Britain. Articles may be reproduced in allied magazines provided that the source is acknowledged. WRG may not agree with opinions expressed in this magazine, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy or an official announcement unless so stated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept no liability for any matter in this magazine. Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association, (registered office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA). The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.

ISSN: 0953-6655 Š 2014 WRG

Paul Rodgers

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, John Baylis, George Eycott, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Jude Palmer, Mike Palmer, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

Visit our web site www.wrg.org.uk for page 2

Contents In this issue... Chairman WRG: a ‘people’ organisation 4-5 Coming soon book for the Bonfire Bash! 6-7 Camp Reports from the Cotswold, Grantham, Uttoxeter, Lancaster and Swansea canals 8-21 London and BITM joint working party report from the Mon & Brec 22-24 Stover an archaeological dig 25-27 Diary canal camps, weekend digs, CRT and IWA one-day working parties 28-33 Progress our roundup from restoration projects all around the country - including a Cotswold Canals update 34-41 Raffle support your favourite project 42-43 WRG BC news from our boat club 44 Camp reports Inglesham (twice) and the Lancaster Canal 45-52 Brian Amos an appreciation 53 Navvies News fundraising courses 54 Infill including Dear Deirdre 55

Above: an essential part of any canal camp: unloading the tools from the van. as pictured on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal camp. (See camp report, page 50) Left: Getting deep down ’n’ dirty at Inglesham. (See camp reports, pages 45 and 48). Below: dig with a difference: an archaeological investigation into the littleknown Stover Canal in Devon. (See report, page 25) Front cover: Inglesham on the Cotswold Canals: work starts on the lock and tail bridge at last. (picture by Paul Rodgers). Back cover top: “All our own work!” - volunteers on the Uttoxeter camp show off their finished handiwork. (See report, page 13, picture by Martin Ludgate). Back cover, bottom: working on the bywash at Trebanos Locks, Swansea Canal. (See report, page 20, picture by Katrina Schonhut)

Contributions... ...are always welcome, whether handwritten, typed, on CD, DVD or by email. Photos welcome: digital, slides, prints. Please say if you want prints back. Digital pics are welcome as email attachments, preferably JPG, but if you have a lot of large files it’s best to send them on CD or DVD or to contact the editor first. Contributions by post to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or by email to martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk. Press date for issue 267: 1 September.

Di Smurthwaite

Subscriptions A year's subscription (6 issues) is available for a minimum of £3.00 to Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques payable to "Waterway Recovery Group" please. This is a minimum subscription, that everyone can afford. Please add a donation.

all the latest news of WRG's activities page 3

Chairman

Mike Palmer looks back on a bumper canal camps programme, at the people who made it possible, and at three people who helped make things happen in the past

“A people organisation”

Chairman’s Comment

Martin Ludgate

For at least the last two decades WRG has run approximately 15 Canal Camps during the summer. As I write this in early August we have already completed that many, and by the time you read this we will have completed 22 camps this summer. Now a 50 percent increase would be pretty astounding in any circumstances. But the important thing to realise is that it is just due to volunteers deciding to do more. Despite all of the very welcome renewed interest in restoration from IWA/CRT, it wasn’t down to press releases, conferences and media events. The extra effort came from people like you reading this now who just gave a little more: volunteers who realised they could find a few extra days to help lead a camp, or lay bricks, or drive vans, or bake cakes or any one of the myriad of jobs that make the difference between an OK camp and a brilliant camp. Whether that effort came from WRG or the local society hosting the camp it was “the people wot dun it”. Ah – but what about the money, all these volunteers don’t bring their own funding do they? Well, actually, in this case - yes. The only reason we were able to fund all the extra kit required was we had some money in the bank from a couple of sources – a few generous legacies from people who trusted us to spend their money wisely and lots of extra donations from the people who read Navvies. Again - it’s “the people wot dun it”. I’m not saying it’s been perfect: we had a few camps change leaders part way through the week (something we try to never do), and a few camps where the preparation wasn’t quite up to our usual standards.

Bill Walton greets Mike Palmer on arrival at his cottage on the newly restored Droitwich Canal

page 4

“Three people have passed away who, although they never grabbed the headlines, provided exactly the sort of support that has made all of this restoration stuff easy”

Chairman “The people wot dun it”

Worst of all, the first camps in South Wales got their tea-urn delivered at the start of the camp but the knob for the tea urn didn’t turn up till the following week! But every camp has achieved results and, in many cases, they have achieved great results. The weather helped, Jenny & Amber in Head Office have been fantastic and we probably got lucky in a few cases but what made this enormous step change in our activities possible was you – the people reading this now. The downside to being a people organisation is that you miss people when they are not there anymore. This summer three people have passed away who, although they never grabbed the headlines, provided exactly the sort of support that made all of this restoration stuff easy. Tony Harrison is a name that didn’t feature often in Navvies but his work did. Indeed as Hon. Engineer for the IWA his work probably affected every waterway that has ever been featured in navvies. One of the true indications of your standing in restoration is the acquisition of a nickname, and Tony ‘Bloody’ Harrison (TBH) certainly gained his. Not through his actual engineering work – he was a genuine genius at hydrology, but through his ability to carefully consider the detail of, well, anything really and hold you to account for it. He was able to analyse any proposal be it water transfer across Southern England, a restructure of the IWA membership rates, the project plan for a lock restoration or whether we should tax the van in June or July. Having Tony involved always made it harder to start something, but the end result was always superior thanks to his attention to detail and his insistence at constantly promoting the right way, not the easy way. To many people Bill Walton was the Droitwich restoration. The project had many fractious times but he was always there with a generosity of spirit that knew no bounds. Actually I probably should have phrased that as “was generous with the spirits” – many people have had the following conversation with Bill at the wrong side of midnight: “Hello Bill – just come to pick up the WRG van you’ve been looking after”. “Oh marvellous – come in and have a beer”. “Er, no thanks Bill – I’ve got to drive it to Grantham tonight”. “Ah, yes - just a whisky then?” I have lost count of the number of times Bill graciously hosted barbecues at the lock cottage for our camps, or that he prepared the trip boat for us in all sorts of unspeakable weathers. Nothing was too much trouble for Bill and I am so pleased that he has spent the last few years able to meet and greet people from all over the world as they passed by his lock cottage on a fully restored Droitwich navigation. Brian Amos was also someone who you couldn’t stop. A tremendous work ethic right up to the point each day where he stopped, uncorked a bottle and said “I’m quite pleased with the way this one has turned out.” And at that point experienced volunteers made their excuses and left. Because, for all of Brian’s many qualities, his home brew wine was lethal. Tenacious was one word that sums up Brian – whatever the job just give it to him and he would get on with it. [See also page 53 for a longer piece about Brian] Those who knew these people will miss them; those who didn’t should just be reassured that these sorts of people exist. I said above that these three helped make ‘all of this restoration stuff easy’; looking back I think that slightly misses the point. What they did was make it a pleasure – they were genuinely nice people and good friends and that is something that should never be overlooked. Hugs and Kisses Mike Palmer

page 5

Coming soon

Join us on the Chesterfield Canal on 8-9 November for a weekend of scrubbashing, partying and much much more...

Book now for the Bonfire Bash!

Reunion Bonfire Bash on the Chesterfield Canal, 8-9 November Book now for WRG’s big annual get-together and work party, which is coming to the Chesterfield for the first time. We’ve got loads of good work including: over a mile of tree and scrub clearance (and bonfires!) at Renishaw, Norbriggs and Spinkhill; repairing a spillweir at Renishaw; canal wall building at Staveley; and dismantling a stop-plank narrows at Spinkhill. We’re hoping for over 100 volunteers to really make a dent in this job list - and also to show everyone (especially the guys planning the HS2 railway that’s giving the Chesterfield some headaches) that we mean business when it comes to restoring the canal. And also to have a really good time together with a big party on the Saturday evening. So send off the form, and keep an eye on the WRG website and Facebook for the latest.

waterway recovery group Chesterfield Bonfire Bash 2014 I would like to attend the WRG Reunion Bonfire Bash on 8-9 November Forename:

Surname:

Address: email: Phone:

Any special dietary requirements?

I require accommodation on Friday night / Saturday night / both nights I enclose payment of £

(please make cheques payable to ‘WRG’) for food

(cost is £13 for the weekend based on £3 breakfast and evening meal, £2 lunch) How will you be travelling to the Bonfire Bash? Do you want to work with volunteers from one of this year’s Canal Camps or from one of the regional groups? If so, which camp or group? Do you suffer from any illness, such as epilepsy or diabetes, about which we should know, or are you receiving treatment or under medical supervision for any condition YES/NO If yes, please attach details on a covering letter. In the unlikely event that you should be injured, who should we contact? Name:

Phone:

Signed: Please send this form to: Bonfire Bash Bookings, WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA

page 6

Last of the summer camps... By the time you read this the main summer canal camps programme will be almost over but there might just be time to squeeze in a last-minute booking for one of the final few. In particular when we went to press there were still some places available on the Basingstoke Canal, where Adrian Crow and Maggie Eaton will be leading Camp 2014-22 on 30 August - 6 September, working on towpath improvements. Please contact Jenny or Amber at Head Office on 01494 783453 or enquiries@wrg.org.uk to check availability of places and to book your camp.

Wilts & Berks Machinery Training Weekend 13-14 September As mentioned in the last issue, for various reasons we decided not to run our usual late spring training weekend - however there will be a more limited plant-based training weekend at Dauntsey Lock on the Wilts & Berks Canal on 13-14 September. Run by the Wilts & Berks but with WRG support and anyone welcome to attend, there will be training on small excavators and dumpers (including both the ‘normal’ articulated type and the ‘old-fashioned’ rear-steer dumpers (a separate category on the WRG driver authorisation scheme). Booking essential: contact Jenny at Head Office on 01494 783453 or enquiries@wrg.org.uk.

Autumn Camp: Ashby Canal 26 October - 2 November A rare chance to build a bridge that might just see boats from the main canal network within a couple of years. The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal currently ends in a field somewhere just north of Snarestone in Leicestershire, but the long-term plan is to open it back to near its original terminus at Moira. The current scheme is to extend north from Snarestone in bitesized chunks, and the first short length is already open, but the next bit will need a bridge across it to maintain farm access. Our job will be the brickwork for this bridge - so bricklayers will be particularly welcome at the October Camp 2014-24, but so will any volunteers. Book onto it via head office or the website as usual.

KESCRG / London WRG Xmas dig: Thames & Medway 23-24 Nov “What’s this?” I hear you ask, “Christmas in November?” Well, yes - abandoning the timehonoured tradition of the first weekend in December, London WRG and KESCRG will be getting together for their annual major scrub-bash and festive shindig a couple of weeks earlier than usual, because that suits when the accommodation and work permissions are available for a first visit by these groups to the Thames & Medway Canal. Although it’s run jointly by these two groups, anyone and everyone is welcome to attend. We’re not sure of the exact booking details yet: we’ll include them in the next Navvies but in the meantime see the KESCRG or London WRG Facebook pages for further information, including the theme for the wacky Saturday Night fancy dress and fun & games that’s always an important part of these events. Incidentally the change of date means this now clashes with the IWA London Cleanup which London WRG had been hoping to support - but anyone who wants to attend the Cleanup on Saturday and then come down to the Christmas Party Dig for Saturday night and Sunday will be welcome - please tell us if you want picking up from a station.

And speaking of Cleanups... Firstly, don’t forget the Manchester cleanup on 4-5 October, supported by WRG and with accommodation available (book via Head Office). And secondly we’ve tentatively picked 1819 April for next year’s BCN Cleanup - and identified the Walsall and Rushall canals as possible sites. More next time. Finally, we hope to have information in the next Navvies about New Year canal camps. See the WRG website and Facebook group for further details of all canal camps.

page 7

Camp Report Cotswold Canals

It’s a bit of a ‘Cotswold Summer’ this year with five camps on two sites, so it’s appropriate that our summer began there. Bill Nicholson reports...

kitchen, dining area and lounge with its own beer fridge! It also has numerous sleeping pods in which to hide the snorers. This year The first and last! The first camp of the we also fortunate in that Kit B and RFB were already waiting in the old Unit 1 to unload main WRG summer camp season and yet another ‘last camp’ at Griffin Mill Lock. I and drive to site, so no traipsing around the think that I have said before that it’s not countryside. Our team comprised 21 hardy volunpossible to ever fully finish a canal restoration project, but this time as I hope my teers including Sue our cook (what would we report and photos indicate we left the site do without you?), 13 NWPG regulars and 7 recruits through WRG, three of whom had with very little left to do. This year my day job made a very good been to other camps and knew the form and four were Duke of Edinburgh Award volunattempt to scupper the now annual NWPG camp and so I was very grateful that we had teers new to canal restoration. We had four Jameses, three Mikes, two Smiths and one made the decision last autumn to spend this female (Sue!). I had fully intended that this year’s week on the Cotswolds Canals rather camp was not going to be one of those than our most regular venue – the Wey & ‘working to 9pm every night’ camps and so Arun. Grateful because everything at Stroud we started as we meant to go on by not is geared up for ‘turn up and go’ volunteers. Firstly Jon Pontefract, CCT’s and Stroud doing any work on the Saturday afternoon District Council’s excellent full time volunteer and, following our usual introductory barbeco-ordinator, is there to organise the plant, cue held on the forecourt of Unit 1, we admaterials and specify the jobs. Secondly the journed to the Stroud Brewery which is 10 accommodation is the now permanent and minutes down the road and highly recomready-to-move-in Unit 1 at Brimscombe Port mended to beer connoisseurs. with all the facilities including showers, Griffin Mill Lock had undergone a transformation since our initial site visit earlier in June, in that it now included two fine sets of top and bottom lock gates, fitted by the Hargreaves team from Calderdale. Our aim was to complete the rest of the work so that by the end of the week (apart from the paddle gear) the lock would look finished. The sight of the newly installed gates gave us a real incentive and motivation to do just that. The main tasks at the lock were to Yes, this really is where the site compound was until earlier this year remove the two earth Pictures by Bill Nicholson

NWPG at Griffin Mill Lock Cotswold Canals 5-12 July

page 8

dams; to extend the concrete bases for the gate quadrants and to clear the site of three years of equipment and general debris. Those familiar with the site will be aware that the dams were massive with the top area also used as a site compound. To assist us we had the use of two hired diggers and dumpers plus the little CCT digger and the beloved ex-WRG red rear wheel steer Setting out the gate quadrants dumper. We kept all of it fully occupied throughout the week. Excavated matebricks in stock. This then kept the ‘Mike’ team rial was first deposited on the off side bank busy and happy for the rest of the week by below the lock before moving to the section which time all four quadrants had been between the lock and the river. Just this bricked and pointed up – though this wasn’t single task took the whole week to complete, even on the job list! with the logistics and sequencing of the Another job was to build a brick pillar moving operation having to be very carefully in under the large stone in the top by-wash thought through. as the former had been cracked by the crane This, though, was not going to be used to install the gates. Job done. enough to keep 20 volunteers busy for the Those familiar with this site will rewhole week. The second main task was to member the railway culvert that drains into rebuild a section of the stone towpath the canal and sits on top of the off side lower (wharf?) wall between the footbridge and the wing walls. We decided that we couldn’t lock. This was in a terrible condition and complete the lock and leave this and the wall involved working from the canal rather than below it in the dilapidated state that it was. the towpath. Not ideal! However by using So Pete Turville and Graham Hawkes spent the Trust’s large pump to pump water into the rest of the week restoring both such that the river, it didn’t take long to lower the level they now look part of the restored lock. enough to enable the wall team to work from I mentioned earlier the task of tidying staging sitting on a mat of reeds. the site after three years work at the site. Those familiar with stonework on caThis was no small task. Scaffolding had to be nals will know the patience and skill needed taken down and removed to Brimscombe. to rebuild. We were lucky therefore to have Large numbers of very long 600mm plastic JJ and his dedicated team of three who spent pipe used to divert water away from the the whole week on this task. working site had to be dug up and removed. After about two days our efficient Stones had to be sorted and either saved or teams had eaten into the planned work. The buried. Large amounts of timber were burnt gate quadrants had been dug and extended although not before part of the electronics and the team were keen to complete the factory just across the river from the site had brick setts, and so this was agreed with Jon also burnt down. This latter event at one and the materials scraped together from stage threatened to shut down the whole various sources including a hot afternoon trip camp from Thursday onwards. As well as to Jewsons in Gloucester to nab the last filling the whole valley with acrid smoke (and

page 9

thus upsetting our early evening patio drinks) the police closed the main road and thus the access to the site. Undeterred (we had important work to do!) an advance party negotiated their way through the three police road blocks to Ham Mill Lane which was the last point of any access before the fire. One unnecessary and unpleasant consequence of the event was that it attracted a number of spectators along the towpath (which wasn’t closed) a few of whom decided it would be fun to upend the site toilet and to distribute the cement bags around the site. Fortunately the site plant was left untouched although the two hired dumpers never worked properly after the event with all sorts of fuel problems. So at the end of the week, the dams had been removed and the materials spread around the site. Water now meets the top and bottom stop planks. No one came back from site later than 8pm. Four brick quadrants look resplendent, top gate Repairing the culvert that drains the railway recesses were widened (because of the steeper angle on the mitre compared to the original, the gates wouldn’t fit), the culvert repaired, the wharf wall 80% completed. I think that we can just about say that the WRG input to this lock is finished. Roll on Bowbridge Lock! Thank you to the team we hope to see you again either on next year’s camp or even better on one of our weekend digs. We all enjoyed the week including the boat trip on the restored section and a skittles night at The Stirrup Cup at Bisley (won by the “I don’t do social activities” Pete Bunker!) Without naming individuals I must mention this year’s D of E volunteers who worked incredibly hard all week without complaint and it was great to have their energy and enthusiasm. Thanks, of course, to Sue who kept us fed and happy – a good camp definitely marches on its stomach and this was a good camp! Bill Nicholson A brick pillar to support the cracked stone above the bywash entry NWPG Camp Leader

page 10

Meanwhile over in Woolsthorpe on the Grantham Canal there’s a week of preparation work for their Heritage Lottery funded work on Locks 14 and 15

Camp Report Grantham Canal

Was it Lapham or Granpal Canal? an application for funding to the Heritage

Pictures by John Hawkins

Lottery Fund and this is now at the second This Camp was originally arranged to be on stage (meaning it’s been approved in princia canal at Lapal – a suburb of Birmingham; ple). Various other funding bodies have also but for various reason it could not take place been approached to top up the funding. at that location and so it was moved to the With these two locks open it will mean that Grantham Canal. more of the canal can be put back into water. The accommodation was Woolsthorpe Over the week several volunteers Village Hall, set on a slight hill but with worked on the compound carefully levelling virtually no mobile signal, although it did have superb views across to Belvoir Castle. Leaders Mike and Bex, with the Grantham Canal Society, had arranged along with the Canal & River Trust for various jobs to be undertaken. These jobs basically were on locks 18 and 17 (already restored but needing some attention) and also between locks 15 and 14 (currently planned for restoration), all on the Woolsthorpe Flight. After all the kit checks and safety video etc the first of Harri’s excellent meals was served. Harri had produced a The bywash at the start and (below) with its copers reinstated ‘folded menu’ for the week that was left on the tables – a great idea. Off to site for a tour of the various jobs, and then to start work. Heras fencing panels were collected from the Canal Society Depot (the ex British Waterways yard), and carried along the towpath to the site between locks 14 and 15 where a hard standing compound was to be constructed in readiness for a big push next year for the rebuilding of these two locks. Grantham Canal Partnership, supported by the Grantham Canal Society, has submitted

page 11

the area, covering it with a waterproof membrane and then stone spread and rolled. Lots of raking took place, as well as the use of a 360o excavator, dumper and (sometimes) vibrating roller. The work at lock 18 consisted of painting the top gates and work on the overflow by-wash. The paint gang, after lots of scraping and wire-brushing, set to by masking up some areas to ensure that any paint splashes /drops did not go into the water nor on any of the surrounding brickwork. CRT had reported that the missing coping stones (or as Mike called them ‘pebbles’) had been thrown into the canal by the weir crest. These were fished out using keb(s) and put to one side to dry for later re fitting. There were still some missing and so some slabs of stone, which we found along the by-wash, were cut to size using the bricksaw. After dampening the original stonework the copers were mortared back into place and re pointed using soft sand, sharp sand and lime mix. All of the areas that had been worked on were covered in wet hessian to slow the drying process. On Monday the component parts of the mix gave some concern; a truck arrived with soft sand and cement. We had already found three bags of 5.0 lime – which should have been 3.5, but still no sharp sand, and so our van collected the sharp sand and 3.5 lime from Travis Perkins. The work on lock 17 was to reset a corner coper on the quadrant area of the lock and repoint the concrete apron to stop the rainwater penetrating behind the other copers. Later in the week the Grantham Canal Society workboat was used to move their

dredger (an ex BW boat that they had purchased many months prior) down to the far end of the navigation - where the canal currently stops at the A1 embankment. The dredger was used to re-position some of the reeds in order to give more room for the trip boat to turn. During the week a certain game of football was being played in Brazil, and so on a couple of evenings a group of volunteers went to the Dirty Duck to watch the matches and to be ‘entertained’ by the local talent!! Every evening a van run was made to the showers at a sports centre in Grantham that Bex had arranged. A trip out to the local ten pin bowling alley was also booked a good evening. The shower run mid week got a bit more complex in that it also incorporated a boat ride on the canal society trip boat. The boat could only carry a certain number of people and so whilst one group enjoyed the boat the others were at the showers. We then all met up at Denton Wharf for the ‘change over’. Late Friday afternoon/evening, after all the trailer kit had been checked and strapped into the trailer we all enjoyed a ‘buffet style’ evening meal. Saturday dawned – maybe too early for some, a light breakfast and then the rest of kit sorted and packed. The hall was cleaned and left in a far better state than when we arrived. Thanks to Harri for the excellent range of meals. And finally thanks to MKP and Bex for what must have been a very frustrating week regarding the lack of control over deliveries. John Hawkins

The lock gate painting team at work

page 12

Next we head to Staffordshire for the Uttoxeter Canal and the first actual restoration work (following tree and scrub clearance) at Bridge 70

Camp report

Uttoxeter Canal 12-19 July

couldn’t find a mains override switch. So began a night varying from incredibly disturbed sleep for Shannon, Ed Will and Ian whose light never went off to only slightly disturbed sleep for the rest. The main focus of the camp was to create a 200m tow path, the pointing of bridge 70, clearing the vegetation off the top of the bridge, removal of stones from the canal bed and Himalayan balsam bashing. Day 1 on site: Our first day began with a safety briefing from South Staffs Water about the importance of not disturbing the area too much due to the level of the water table. Our first task of the day was to start off clearing the site (as much as we could) of Himalayan balsam, focusing on clearing enough for a 1.2m wide tow path. We set to

Pictures by Martin Ludgate

For me the camp started at Mid-day on Saturday. Harri Barnes had kindly offered to talk through the main pointers of being a WRG cook so I met her at Thorley Drive Pavilion in time to do the first shop. Emma (Our Camp Leader) and Harri were already there being shown around the accommodation being reminded what the vast amount of keys did. Thorley Drive was great, it had 4 ‘bedrooms’ (when I say bedrooms I mean football changing rooms, but still it was nice to be separated from the snorers of the group), 2 showers (I think the girls had the best one, apparently the boys’ was just a dribble, unless you just showered in the communal ones), and a large area for eating. The cooker arrived shortly afterwards, which was placed outside the kitchen window, due to the lack of air ducts in the actual kitchen. Harri didn’t seem to mind and the weather was so great all week it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Harri and I went off to sort the first shop in what I think must be the smallest Asda I have yet come across. When we got back with our mountain of rolls and chicken for that evenings dinner the van movement was complete and Mike Palmer, Pete Fleming (Assistant Leader), Adrian Sturgess and Martin Ludgate were all busy unloading the catering kit and setting up the hall. Once that was complete Martin went off to drop Mike off at the station and pick up Perisha up at Stoke, then returned for Ian and Will. By 5 o’clock everyone had arrived and were all sitting around the table getting to know each other. Emma and Pete did the Safety brief with the video and we all collected PPE from the designated bags. We then counted everything in the trailer and went in to have BBQ chicken and wedges cooked by Harri. When bedtime came around we all suddenly realised that the lights were automatic throughout the whole building and we

Uttoxeter Canal

The author with some freshly-bashed balsam

page 13

creating big piles that we were later planning on burning, along with other vegetation and wood we found on site. Vegetation also had to be cleared from around the bridge in order to gain access. Whilst most of the team set to pulling up balsam, I cleared an area with the brush cutter so Martin could start training Edward on the dumper. Adrian was already training Tom on the excavator. Adrian had kindly offered to join us for three days so that he could train enough people to get the job done, as excavator drivers were thin on the ground. I then trained Shannon on the brush cutter and slipped away to be trained on the minibus by Martin over lunchtime. We finished on site a little early today as Alison was taking us out on her day-boat that evening. We got back to the accommodation, quickly showered and ate and then headed off to Alison’s. I just want to say a quick thank you to Alison, Rupert and Peter for taking us out and showing all the new volunteers how to wind locks. It was a lovely evening which of course ended in the pub. Day 2 on site: The lights in our bedrooms had been sorted (by covering up the sensors) so we were all feeling a lot more refreshed despite the previous late night. Steve and Emma started putting pegs down for levelling the path so we could start on the towpath laying.

Adrian and Martin swapped trainees and I joined Ed on excavator training whilst Tom went onto dumpers with Martin. Perisha and Rachel began work on Bridge 70 which involved carefully chipping away the old cement mortar, brushing down to get rid of all the moss on the bridge and damping down afterwards. They were taught how to mix the mortar using a 3 limestone dust, 1 sharp sand, 1 soft sand, 2 NHL5 lime mix and them Emma taught them how to point the bridge. Andrew, David and Janet started work on the top of the bridge clearing the vegetation using trowels. This was a really important job to get done on this camp, as now we can see the work that needs to be done on future camps in order to restore the bridge to its former glory. Will and Ian set to on their fire which was touch and go for at the beginning due to lack of dry wood and paper to get the fire going. Pete and Adrian removed the concrete fence posts whilst everyone was at lunch and levelled the area off slightly using the digger so work on the towpath could now get going. Shannon and Jason working alongside Pete and Steve took the lead on laying the wooden edging for the towpath at the far end of the site. The method for the tow path consisted of: laying the edging; the dumper would then come and dump the crushed stone in between the edging; this would then be raked out and compacted using a wacker plate. Throughout the week nearly all volunteers were trained on how to use the wacker plate. We left site at around 5 and headed back to the accommodation. Emma left straight after site as she had to go on a course for 3 days and would be back Thursday evening to take over from Uncovering stone on top of the bridge

page 14

temporary leader Gary. When Gary returned from the station we all sat down for food and then a few of us headed into town for a drink and some games of pool. Day 3 on site. Everyone continued with the jobs they had been doing the previous day. Gary had bought with him the correct equipment for starting fires so that got underway and burned nicely throughout the day with Will and Ian feeding it occasionTaking out cement mortar and re-pointing with the correct lime mix ally. They then in the next lane. The quote of the night was continued to Himalayan balsam bash as the definitely Martin claiming he needed to ‘up area was carpeted with it. Shannon, Jason, his game’ and then bowling 1 pin immediEd and Tom continued with the towpath, ately afterwards. marking the correct levels and putting down Day 4 on site: Wednesday consisted pegs and then the boards. Martin trained me of me breaking away from the camp to do a on the dumper and then we started moving site visit up in Lancaster; however getting the aggregate up the track to be laid. We back to site on the Thursday showed me had to be very conscious of the public so Martin was our banksman for the week keep- how much everyone had got done the previous day. The bridge pointing was close to ing an eye out. The ground was really uncompletion and Andrew, David and Janet even and therefore the dumper driving did get tricky once or twice. Luckily we were able had made real progress with the top of the bridge. The towpath was coming on nicely to sort out the ground conditions by comwith Ed having driven the dumper that day. pacting the path a little more and making it That evening we had a lovely cottage more stable. pie. Everyone was feeling quite tired by this The girls continued on pointing the point I think so Harri, Rachel and Perisha bridge, brushing it with a hard wire brushes headed off to the cinema to watch the Transonce they had finished pointing the section formers, Andrew and David had enjoyed and then covering it in hessian sacking. bowling so much they went and did that Andrew, David and Janet continued clearing again with Janet and Tom. I think the rest of the vegetation off the top of the bridge as us must have gone to the pub... well as removing more Himalayan balsam Day 5 on site: We needed a real push from around the bridge. David also started today on the tow path so we all set to. getting the old cement mortar out and Rachel and Perisha really wanted to finish the brushing the moss off the bridge. This alpointing on the bridge so carried on with lowed Perisha and Rachel to work much that having almost completed the areas that more efficiently. That evening we all headed out bowling were accessible. Andrew and Janet continued with the top of the bridge whilst David carwhich was great fun. The two teams were ried on with vegetation clearance. Will and Rachel, Perisha, Janet, Tom, David and Ian were now trained on the brushcutter so Andrew with me, Harri, Martin, Will and Ian

page 15

they were taking it in turns to clear the Himalayan Balsam and cutting back the terram that was still visible on the tow path. Everyone else worked on the towpath continuing as they had done the day before, it was getting slightly tricky with driving the dumper and a few bumpy occurrences did take place however all was well and the towpath continued to wind its way down towards the bridge. Emma re-joined us in the evening after her course, so nearly everyone went down to the local Wetherspoons. Unfortunately Ian had forgotten his Id so a few of us headed to a very ‘local’ pub to play pool and get lessons from a local. Day 6 on site: Today was the final big push for the towpath. Alison came to help us for the day as Steve was otherwise engaged, although he couldn’t keep away for too long and ended up being back on site by mid morning. Meanwhile stones were lifted out of the bed of the canal by Pete and Tom which was no easy task. We continued with the towpath in one last push. With David, Janet and Andrew on the wacker plate, me on the dumper and everyone else raking out and continuing to put in the edging.

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to finish the tow path, however a group is currently being set up for a weekend dig on 27-28 September so it will be completed. That night Harri put on a great BBQ spread for us all, Steve, Alison and Family and Gary all came down to join us and a very lively game of rounders was played. A great end to a great camp. Thank you: I just want to say a big thank you to Emma and Pete for leading a great camp. Also to Gary for stepping in and allowing the camp to continue. I would also like to say thank you to Steve Wood who was on site everyday helping out and making sure all the materials and equipment we needed was there and to Alison for coming down on the Friday to help and for her support throughout all the planning. A big thank you for Harri for doing the cooking all week, you made it look effortless. The chocolate pudding was definitely my favourite although everything was delicious. And finally a big thank you to all the volunteers. I had a lot of fun on the camp and that was definitely down to all of you, so thank you. Amber Jenkins

Towpath construction work under way

page 16

Then it’s up to the far north for a week on the Lancaster, making good progress despite the rain on the project to re-water the next length of canal near Sellet

Camp report Lancaster Canal

without getting it wet. This resulted in a game of ‘dodge the showers’, but they manThe team arrived on Saturday in time for a aged eventually to cut 3 lengths. visit to the main site, and meanwhile Andy We soon found out that working on the had cooked a wonderful curry for us. Sarah’s Terraseal on the banks was impossible in the theme for the entertainment for the week rain, as it became extremely slippery. It was was quizzing, and we started with a round of suggested that if the canal couldn’t be reDingbats (good – I can do those) and Mr opened, the Lancaster Canal Trust could Men (absolutely no idea!). We were split into open a new ski-slope! two teams, which we kept for the rest of the The other job on the main site was to week. Team 2 started a winning streak… of lay a towpath. Hmmm, wackering type 2 one! MOT in the rain. Another bad idea. Work on The main aim of this camp was to the main site was stopped because of that, finish off the work started the previous week with the exception of profiling the bank, so by Jonathan, Jen and their team. The work we transferred to the secondary site to start had been to dig out 300mm from the bed of removing ivy from the second of 3 bridges the canal and 200mm from the sides, lay that needed some attention. Terraseal liner (effectively Terram coated with Monday was still wet, but we decided to a waterproof ‘gunge’) then cover over with try a different method to lay the liner. We soil again. The banks were to be additionally found that we could assemble the geogrid on lined with geogrid – a honeycomb of plastic the towpath, and install it from the top and sheeting – to stop the soil from slipping bottom without walking on the ski-slope. down into the bed. Sarah and I had been on We managed to find some dry-ish soil site since Thursday afternoon, and we also had Susan & Dave who were doing both weeks, so we’d been able to see what needed to be done, and the methods used. The site was nice and dry and the method for lining the canal looked easy enough… However, as we got onto site on Sunday, it rained, then it rained some more, and then it rained again. Peter, Andy, Chris and Ally went to the store to try and cut lengths of Terraseal Laying the honeycomb plastic material on the canal bank in the car park, Photos by Paul Shaw

Lancaster Canal 2-9 August

page 17

to cover it with so we could carry on. As it had stopped raining by lunchtime, Alan, Lynda and Dave G were able to finish off laying the towpath. In the meantime Dave J went off to play with his chainsaw, making use of his newly-acquired ticket. He cleared a tree adjacent to one of the bridges we were removing ivy from, so that access for the work would be much easier. By this time, we discovered that Florent (here from France, trying to improve his English) had written a poem to his girlfriend. We suggested he translate it into English, and we would help him with that. This proved to be a harder task than lining the canal! Various versions were considered, but either they didn’t rhyme or scan, so it was Friday evening before an acceptable rendition was found… On Monday evening we went to the Punch Bowl for their quiz. They obviously hadn’t remembered us from last year, so they allowed us back in. Team 2 then won a box of chocolates for the picture quiz, and team 1 won the cash prize for the quiz itself. One-all to the teams, but two-nil to WRG! Tuesday saw a drier day, but for various reasons nothing got done until 11am. After that though everything went really well and we had a very productive day. The work on the banks and the bridges continued apace, but without the ability to work in the canal bed we were being hampered slightly. We had also been expecting a delivery of six wagonloads of riddled subsoil to cover the lining with, but the contractors hadn’t been able to riddle it the previous day because of the rain, so that didn’t arrive. We had chips from the ‘Wee Chippy’ that night. It’s appropriately named, as it smells of… chips! It is quite small as well. They were a bit overwhelmed by our order, but Chris managed to chat up the lady behind the counter and she let him nibble her bits while he was waiting. That’s batter bits

page 18

Profiling the banks to the uninitiated (why what else were you thinking?). Meanwhile, Andy had rescued a frog that had found its way into the kitchen and hid beside the fridge. Brief consideration was given to cooking the legs in homage to Florent, but it really didn’t have enough meat on it! After the chips, Peter headed off with a busful to see the Lune aqueduct, Eric Morecambe’s statue on Morecambe Prom and the locks at Tewitfield. While they were away, Richard’s bed was ‘made’ for him – i.e. filled with toys! The clincher was the horse’s head on his pillow. Is there a message there? At breakfast on Wednesday, in answer to the usual question of ‘anyone want to change the job you’re doing?’ Sarah’s hand was straight up! Chris (one of our D of E ers) immediately volunteered to take over as assistant leader, but realised the error of his ways when everyone else started asking (im)pertinent questions. His usual reply of ‘whatever you think’ meant Sarah was giving him a lot of advice... The work continued pretty much as before, but with the first four loads of the subsoil. This meant working in shifts for the (mechanical) plant team of Jonathan, Dave, Susan, Sue and Andy so that we could move one load before the next one arrived. Meanwhile, Chris was ‘leading’ the (biological)

plant team consisting of Sarah, Lynda, Richard, Colin and Ally on the bridge, but a show of hands at the end of the day meant Sarah was reinstated. Jon (the other D of E er) sensibly kept his head down at this point, as he didn’t fancy the job. Thanks for trying anyway Chris - NB you’ve been tagged as a future assistant! The evening was – you guessed it – another pub quiz, this time at the Strickland Arms. Over dinner, Susan had agreed to drive one of the vans, and if necessary do a shuttle run to collect extra people. That was fortunate as Ally had gone Starting to look like a real canal... off for a bike ride with the key to EHP in her pocket! Team 1 again got the cash prize... On Thursday we had really good weather, so that allowed us to crack on with the jobs. We’d agreed that the winnings from the two pub quizzes should be used to provide refreshments for everyone, so that night we stayed in and drank the proceeds. Sarah had done a pub-style quiz of her own, and although she’d told us in advance that there were 43 questions, none of us had worked out why. It was only when we got to the end, and she said that the first characters of the answers spelled out a phrase, that we twigged! “Gosh, this is hard work!” Fitting in ‘Waterway Recovery Group Lancaster Canal Camp 2014’ meant a bit of rethinking on previous under my pillow… answers! We finished off with a boat trip along Friday saw the bridge completed and the section of canal next along from where scaffold down by lunchtime, so we all we were working. The Trailboat Festival will amassed on the main site to finish off and be on that stretch next May, and with a bit of clean up. It was good to get all the liner laid luck and good weather the local volunteers and covered on the canal banks, but a shame will have filled our section and connected the we couldn’t get into the bed to finish that two. Which reminds me – anyone fancy job. helping out on the Trailboat Festival? I looked at my site shorts, and thought This is the first call! there were another two years left in them. Thanks to the everyone in the fantastic Lynda, however, had other ideas and so they group we had that week, but as usual special were binned. Richard, on the other hand, mention to my assistant Sarah, and cook agreed with me, and so when I went to bed Andy. that night I found them carefully tucked Paul Shaw

page 19

Camp Report Swansea Canal

Next we head for South Wales, where Katrina Schonhut reports back from a week of stonework, lime mortar, carrying bridges around, and wielding big sticks...

CRT people appeared throughout the day, and we all felt sorry for the teenage kids who Saturday: Camp started for most of us in were forced to go litter picking with dad on the bleak surrounding of Neath station car their Sunday afternoon! park. I say most of us, because one by one Monday: Work on pointing along the we had three Italians drop out of coming, upper by-weir continued, helped by Swansea with less than 24hrs notice. Who knew our Canal Society (SCS) members and CRT. The reputation had spread so far? Only when lots Swansea week 1 camp had built three quarof people’s trains suddenly started running ters of a new approach wall to the lock, and late did we really start to worry what ruso the mortar on this was thoroughly mours had been spread about our camp! knocked back. After this, we continued to Actually at the accommodation, and rebuild the final few courses. Opposite the normal formalities over with, camp proper approach wall, we set about building another got off to a great start with cook Elaine wall! At the top end of the by-weir some ugly ordering in fish & chips and Chinese. It was concrete had been used to stabilise the bank. a genius idea and made a good first night. It The idea was a new wall would be built to was great to have the same leadership team hide the concrete on the bank. By the end of back from last year’s Swansea camp, as well the day we had laid the first course - but run as some old faces and lots of new WRGies. out of decent large stones. Monday evening (Number on camp: 14) and we lost Huw to a Spanish holiday. Sunday: We were able to get down to (Number on camp: 13) site, but unfortunately the morning’s work Tuesday: Was a scorching hot day, as was rather hampered by the requirement of was the rest of the week. Seemingly Bob and waiting for site to be handed over to us. myself only do scorching hot dry camps Despite us expecting this to be done at 09.30 (three in a row!). Following walking bridges it wasn’t till 12.30 the site was finally ours, up and down, pointing continued, although waiting on the right person to turn up. slowed down when we ran out of lime. Thankfully, with CRT permission some work Thankfully we got some more stone for our was able to be undertaken before the walls, so they were both able to slowly handover. We started on the by-weir of upper progress. Tuesdays are SCS work party days, Trebanos lock, clearing vegetation, knocking back old pointing, learning to mix lime mortar, clearing a pile of debris and getting the hang of pointing. To get to the by-weir in both upper and lower Trebanos locks we needed Youngmans board bridges, which we had to carry back and forth at the beginning and end of each day. They were super heavy! People were so enthusiastic though that they didn’t even stop for afternoon tea... Although, more probably the confusing weather may have been something to do with this!... The only bit of rain we experienced the whole week meant staying working Pointing in the by-weir under tree cover was desirable. Several

Swansea Canal: 19-26 July

page 20

so members helped us, as well as dredging rubbish and weed from the channel and litter picking. For a change from pointing, we went over onto Lower Trebanos lock and mixed and laid some gravel haunching to go behind the coping stones. The evening entertainment was a trip bowling, which Rob won. Wednesday: Another roasting day, in which taskmaster Bob worked us for 10hrs. The approach wall was finished with coping stones laid on top, and the second course of the new wall was laid. This wall was backfilled to stop it collapsing. We were on our best behaviour since the head of CRT Placing coping stones on the new approach wall was visiting Swansea for the day. The CRT guys had ordered a new bridge to get across to the by-weir, since the one we effective!) The youngsters decided to dress had been using for a week and a half appar- up as Lord Of The Rings characters on our ently wasn’t the right one. Unfortunately the return to the scout hut, and ran around the hire company turned up with another wrong grounds wielding big sticks for several hours, one, so nothing changed. Nonetheless the much to their amusement. society counted the visit as a success! We were Friday: For progress on the new wall, spoilt by SCS, who, as is their custom, put on the most productive day of the week. Nothlunch for us in the park. It was delightful and ing like a deadline to speed you up! The first very much appreciated. Bob even managed half of the wall, before the stop plank gap to blag a catering sized bottle of blackcurrant was finished with coping stones, to match squash off a local pub for free when we ran the opposite side of the by-weir. The second out of juice! The only other excitement was half got a third course, and is ready waiting Polly getting locked in the toilet when some- for SCS to continue building on top of. The one senior locked it from the outside and bricksaw emerged, but once again was being walked off with the key! In the evening temperamental, so after I got a brief go Emma left, having done half of both Swan(highlight of the week?!) it refused to work. sea weeks (Total number on camp: 12) On the lower by-weir lots more pointing got Thursday: With the bridge put across done, finished off by being knocked back, for (the worst job), the new wall continued, better weather proofing. Team morale was seemingly very slowly as we pondered over high, since it was not only a shorter day, but the right stones. On the lower by-weir, point- also the last day of carrying bridges! Following was started. The bricksaw made a brief ing all the packing up, most people headed appearance, to cut coping stones, but sadly it to the pub, where much fun was had. The stopped working pretty swiftly. Joe enjoyed seedy looking pub probably had never taken it whilst it worked! More CRT people kept so much in one night! Certain people got appearing, meaning we were awash with very little sleep! white safety helmets. All in all, a great week was had. Good In the evening SCS had organised to hard work got done, lots of amazing food take us all out to dinner in a local pub, which was consumed, and fun and laughter was was nice. Within minutes of entering, the had by all. Thank you for everyone for compub had a power cut, but it was still enjoying on the camp, and special thanks to cook able and nice to get normal clothes on. FolElaine for going well beyond normal camp lowing the meal they ran a quiz for us. Winners food; leader Bob for being his usual brilliant were rewarded with a bottle of bubbly and, self; and the indispensable Mr Coles for bizarrely, a tub of Swarfega each. Us younghelping make the camp run well in every way sters having never heard of it before took great possible. There is no way the week could delight in how wobbly and funny smelling it have been so great without all of you. was. (Although having tried it now... very Katrina Schonhut

page 21

Dig Report

“Can’t we have nice Tupperware like that in our kit?” “We don’t need any, we’ve got all those cracked margarine tubs.” Sophie describes the culture clash that is a joint London/BITM dig...

London and BITM in Wales

“Gosh they haven’t half got nice London WRG/BITM on Mon & Brec Tupperware,” I tell Helena. “Can’t we have June 19-22

Pictures by Martin Ludgate

nice Tupperware like that in our kit?” They know how to fill out a grant application “We don’t need any,” she tells me. in South Wales, that’s for sure. Lottery “We’ve got all those cracked margarine tubs.” money has pimped out the community cen“Some of their pans even have lids!” I tre at St Hilda’s church north of Cwmbran, tell London. “And not ones that look like making it some of the best accommodation someone reversed a van over them!” we’ve used. Heritage lottery funds have been A guy from BITM who’s vegan has hard at work on the canal too. I led a tricky brought his own hazelnut milk to drink. A camp at the flight of derelict locks by Torfaen lady who’s visiting from Austria has kindly four years ago and work has since moved on brought some hazelnut chocolate for the apace. It’s good to know that difficult week group. Also, we’ve got a guy who’s allergic wrestling with eels and pumps and bee to hazelnuts. Everyone thinks this situation is stings likely made some small contribution to hilarious, apart from the guy who’s allergic to getting the funds required to really get things hazelnuts. moving here. Dave Miller tells everyone - did you And move on is what it has done: big, know if you’re allergic to brazil nuts you sweeping, visible changes have occurred with shouldn’t have sex with someone who’s eaten more planned. An access road’s been built, brazil nuts? I say I’m going to quit work and welfare facilities craned in, scaffolding and write a murder mystery with this as the plot. Heras fencing round the locks suggests a It will be called The Nuts of Death. busy, active site where work continues BITM don’t have a red plastic box all through the week. I can’t fault the pointing covered in mud that they use for the brew work and the hedge laying’s beautiful. kit. Instead they use a clean cardboard box They take unemployed youths from the that they replace on each dig. Martin helped surrounding area and train them up in construction NVQs. It’s all being driven by a local called Heidi. “They come in pretty rough and ready,” says Heidi, “it’s fantastic to see the change in them.” London WRG are here for the weekend on a joint dig with BITM. On Saturday morning I help put the breakfast things away. We’re using BITM’s kitchen kit. They’ve got all different kinds of Tupperware and fancy knife sheaths. Also, their tea towels don’t look like they were purchased second hand from an animal The boys refuse to let themselves be stumped by the stump shelter.

page 22

them unload their van earlier. He reckons that they have a separate crate for every item in their kit. We all think this is a bit excessive but I can’t help but notice their teapot isn’t as dented as ours. Site’s a blissful place to be in the hot weather. We’re in raptures over the lottery-funded facilities. A water cooler! A loo that isn’t a bucket! A plastic chair with only one leg missing! We tell Helena she can go into labour any time she likes: we can boil water in the site kettle and they’ve probably got clean towels somewhere. Her baby’s not due for two months so I think we’re safe but Martin Ludgate quite likes the idea of taking more people home from a dig than we started with. Head Office wrote a separate risk assessment for her: the insurance people weren’t very happy but they said they couldn’t do anything because that would be Discrimination. My view is a pregnant woman who knows how to pace herself is a damn sight safer than a volunteer that’s a bit too cavalier about their own safety. Also, I’m enjoying going at her pace. BITM brought most of the tools so we didn’t have to bother. Their van is ferociously well-organised. BITM don’t just open the rear doors and throw all the tools in the back like we do: it’s all carefully ordered and ratchetstrapped down and there’s even a special shelf for wheelbarrows. Martin swears he saw a defibrillator in there. “Give over,” we tell him. “No – really.” Dave Miller confirms it. They keep it in a special Tupperware box. We marvel at this. BITM are the last people on earth that need a defibrillator. They’re none of them overweight and they hardly drink and two of them are on a no-fat diet. They’ve even got a vegan. “Why don’t we have a defibrillator in our kit?” someone asks. Martin explains that it’s because we spanked all the funds on that brushcutter. If you have a heart attack on a London WRG site at least you’ll be able to do it on a neatly-trimmed verge. London has a big tree stump to tackle and nothing makes us happier. It takes quite a team: one to work the Tirfor and at least half a dozen to stand round giving advice. Helena and I give as much advice as we can,

Fitting a ground paddle frame but we’ve got a nice little job clearing a bywash under a spreading oak tree. We manage to make it last most of the day as it’s nice and shady here. Lunchtime brings a cruel shock when someone opens one of BITM’s big Tupperware boxes. “Urgh, what’s this? Salad?!” At first I’m accused – they still haven’t forgotten that time last autumn when I tried to feed them spinach. But BITM all fall on it hungrily just like it was real food. London stand around in amazement, like Princess Margaret watching someone drinking from a finger bowl during a state banquet. Later Helena says to me incredulously “We’ve never got through a whole cucumber on a dig before, let alone two”. After lunch is over we continue working at a relaxed pace. Helena has a bit of a go at the tree roots with a mattock while the boys sit round and watch and I play with my phone until it’s time to go back to the hall. St Hilda’s community hall has done wonders with their big fat wedge of lottery money. There’s a huge kitchen with a fancy oven and a shower and loads of bathrooms

page 23

and plenty of space for sleeping and a small us. This culminates in a series of extravagant second kitchen upstairs with loads of storage stories of injuries he’s sustained through the room for all BITM’s Tupperware. To protect years. He started working with chainsaws this magnificent local resource the commuaged 14 but the worst he’s done was slice his nity centre has a high-security system based inside leg open from ankle to crotch. He had on keycodes and keyfobs. We manage to lose a friend, mind, who managed to cut his own the keyfob in Morrisons halfway through the legs off backwards. Chainsaw trousers are first morning. Later I lock myself in a corrionly protected at the front, see. Also he once dor and then the keyfob stops working com- fell out of a tree and broke both legs. These pletely so we can’t get in to the accommoda- stories were a lot funnier than they sound: tion at all. maybe it was the Welsh accent. “There’s ALWAYS some shenanigans We potter about a bit in the morning with the keys,” I sigh to Martin Ludgate. He while the boys carry on with their tree proposes to create a section in Navvies dedi- stump, which is putting up a noble fight. I cated to mishaps with keys. “We’ll call it do a half-arsed job of repointing a wall but Keynotes,” he says. really it’s too hot to do anything. We can’t use the kitchen Saturday Martin Ludgate and I take a stroll up evening because a male voice choir is having the towpath to see the next tranche of work. a concert. The plan is to get fish and chips Heidi’s already secured the next lump of and eat them in a local park. Martin Ludgate funding and the next half dozen locks are agrees to drive everyone to the park even lined up for restoration soon. It’s a very though he was hoping to make a start on the positive end to a weekend, knowing our 2 crates of beer he brought with him. We go work is going to be carried on with a weight a bit wrong four or five times on the way of funding and political impetus behind it. So there and end up briefly in a lovers’ lane. A often the small amount accomplished on a couple in a parked car look a bit nervous to weekend dig feels like lighting a candle in a see a big van of grubby menfolk pull up cavernous darkness. Instead the work we’ve looking urgent. They aren’t to know the van’s done here is part of something much bigger. full of the smell of hot chips and vinegar, and Normally we finish a dig knowing KESCRG we’re all starving. When we eventually get to will be there the next month, or there’s a the park it’s lovely, with the long evening camp planned over the summer. Instead we shadows thrown by the bandstand and the hand over at the Mon and Brec knowing the distant green hills. work will continue the very next day. It’s On Sunday morning we have the ingre- work that benefits the wider community and dients for a million different sandwich combi- leaves a legacy of skills behind. Highly recnations. There are 4 different kinds of ommended for a working party if you get the hummous but I’ve tried London on chance – the accommodation’s fantastic. hummous before and won’t be trying that Sophie Smith again anytime soon. Instead I make leftover bacon and leftover sausage and leftover gammon sandwiches, and chicken and ham. There’s so much chicken and ham that I make chicken and ham sandwiches, together I mean. Someone suggests making cold baked bean sandwiches but I pretend not to hear. Sunday is even hotter than Saturday. It’s so hot that at tea break our flapjack melts and turns back into porridge. Helena and I take things real slow. A local who’s been driving a forklift truck round site all weekend Repairing and re-pointing the lock head walls comes over and has a chat with

page 24

It’s only two miles long, and part of it closed over a century and a half ago - but there’s still plenty to be uncovered on the Stover Canal, as a Time Team style dig finds out...

Stover Canal An archaeological dig

and people involved in archaeological projects around the area. We had up to 20 The Stover Canal in Devon, near Newton volunteers per day, and all the excavations Abbot, is a short canal, two miles long, and were carried out by hand, in very hot was built in 1792 to carry high quality ball weather! clay from the Bovey Basin to the StaffordThere were three structures that we shire Potteries, notably to the Wedgwood were hoping to find, one that was already Factory from 1798 via the River Teign and by visible, and the other two that had been sea to Liverpool and the Trent & Mersey identified in old photographs, taken it was Canal. In 1820 the canal was extended to thought around 1900. By far the most excitmeet up with the Haytor Granite Tramway ing was the image of one of the original after receiving orders for Dartmoor granite to barges abandoned in the winding hole. build London Bridge, the British Museum and There are no other Stover barges still in the National Gallery. The junction with the existence, as far as we know, and we had no Tramway was at Ventiford, the head basin, means of knowing whether it was still there, and although the canal had two Grade II or would the soil have preserved it anyway? listed structures (both granite-sided locks), it was thought that the Ventiford Basin was the The Stover Barge most archaeologically interesting. Granite had ceased to be exported in 1858, even The barges were 50ft long and 14ft wide, though the clay shipments had continued and they were either bow-hauled or sailed until 1939, so the top section of canal had with square Viking-type sails down to the been abandoned for 150 years. River Teign. The Stover Canal Trust have been lucky The indentations in the ground are still in having a local archaeologist, Dr. Phil visible showing where the canal and the Newman, become involved with our ambiwinding hole had been, so at least we knew tions for the canal restoration right from the start, and he is one of our Trustees. Dr. Newman decided from the outset that no restoration at particular sites on the canal would take place until he had been able to conduct a detailed archaeological survey. The Archaeological Dig at Ventiford Basin was carried out from 10th-18th May, and the volunteers came from members of the Detail of the excavated remains of the Stover Canal barge Stover Canal Trust Pctures by Di Smurthwaite

Stover Canal Archaeological Dig

page 25

where to start our trench. As if to whet our appetites, by the end of the first day a line of rusty nails had been revealed, between 4 ins – 6 ins long and as thick as a finger. Over subsequent days, a cross-section of the wooden barge appeared, with the diggers having to excavate the fragile structure extremely carefully, using small pointing trowels. Gradually over the week further trenches were dug, revealing more and more of the structure. It was slow painstaking work, and it was not possible to uncover the whole barge, but another dig is planned for next year.

The Clay Cellar We were less successful in the search for the second hidden structure. It had been thought that there had been a clay cellar – a small building for storing clay – similar to several others further down the canal. Dr. Newman had identified the most likely location, and initial digging turned up some roof tiles, but the clay in that area was rock hard, and impossible to dig a complete trench by hand. We shall have to consider hiring a mini-digger next year.

The Crane Base The third structure was a large iron crane base, set in huge granite slabs for balancing. Two of these had slipped, which was hardly surprising considering they were supported on the rotting timber frame below ground. The crane base itself is more or less intact, and the stump of the wooden crane itself is also still there. We cleared vegetation all around so it is visible in all its glory to the many dog-walkers using the area.

The crane base

page 26

The finds laid out on the exposed canal wall

Further Investigations A noticeboard, erected by the local Council around 1990, stated that the Granite Tramway came into the Basin on the opposite side from the crane. This didn’t seem to make sense, so one of the early trenches was dug to try to prove one way or another whether the information was correct. No trace of the Tramway was found on that side, but as Dr. Newman explained, it is necessary to prove negatives as well as positives. The most likely path of the Tramway was along a raised bank on the same side and on a level with the crane. This will be investigated next year. What made this more likely was that after removing a lot of vegetation, we found that that most of the bank on that side was lined with yet more large granite slabs, giving added support to the bank. The mystery was that there was a gap of about

20 yards in the middle with no slabs. Had they been robbed? Careful scraping down of the soil on that slope found little mounds studded with flint pebbles, which mystified Dr. Newman. The other thing we found – and this turned up all over the site – was lumps and layers of micaceous haematite, again a mystery as it was not indigenous to the area (neither were the flint pebbles). However, it was known that the haematite had been mined up the Wray Valley, about 5 miles to the north of Ventiford. This material is fairly brittle, grey in colour, and sparkling, and was also known as Devon Sand or Pounce. It was apparently first used, in ground down form, to sprinkle over inked signatures to act as blotting paper and add a sparkle! Its main use than was to add to paint to make it rustproof, and this paint (known as MIO paint – Micaceous Iron Oxide) is still available today at £95 per litre. It was used on Sydney Harbour Bridge. We wanted to find out not only how deep the granite slabs went down, but to what extent the canal had become silted up, so a trench was dug across the bed. Somewhat to our surprise, we had to dig down more than six feet until we found both canal bed and the base of the slabs. The granite wall was quite impressive looking at the full depth. The puzzle was that on the towpath side the wall only went along about 40yds from the head of the basin, and from there, there was only a gently sloping bank down to the winding hole. We dug a trench, and there was no stone at all. Incidentally, we measured the width of the winding hole, and it was only 44 ft – to turn a 50 ft barge? One thing that we found is that working in a popular dogwalking area, people come along and volunteer information from long-stored or passed-down memories. Fortuitously, our Trust archivist, John Ellis, came on the last day of the dig to take photographs, and from his researches he had discovered that the flint pebbles were imported from Dieppe and carried up the canal for crushing for the Cut Bovey Pottery. He also knew that

the micaceous haematite had been carried down the canal for export. It had probably arrived in bags which could have spilt or split to account for the deposits all round our site. Another passing friend had worked many years ago in Dieppe, and remembered the flint pebbles being mined and exported to the UK, the bigger ones for power stations. Some of them were 12in across, and when split contained crystals which were extracted and sold to jewellery outlets. Dr. Newman said that the work had raised more questions than answers, but isn’t that what makes it more exciting? At least we achieved many of his aims, but he said that he had written the report in his head several years previously, but that had gone out of the window! How sad, though, that we then had to shovel all the earth back in to cover it all up again until next year! Di Smurthwaite

across the canal showing the granite wall

page 27

Navvies diary WRG and mobile groups Your guide to all forthcoming work parties

Aug 30-Sep 6Camp 201422 Basingstoke Canal: Towpath & brickwork repairs, construction of moor Aug 30-Sep 6Camp 201423 Somerset Waterways: Creation of landing stages Aug 31 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Aug 31 Sun RLRS Bridgewater Canal: Runcorn Locks Big Dig Fun Day 11am-5pm organis Sep 5-11 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu Sep 6/7 Essex WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: Including BBQ. Sep 6/7 KESCRG Thames & Severn Canal: Griffin/Ham Mill Lock, or Inglesham Sep 6 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection Sep 13/14 London WRG Cromford Canal Sep 13/14 W&B / WRG Wilts & Berks Canal machinery training weekend (see page 7) Sep 13/14 NWPG Wey & Arun Canal: Landing stage and towpath reinstatement. Possible ex Sep 14 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Sep 20/21 wrgBITM Somersetshire Coal Canal Sep 20/21 wrgNW To be arranged, possibly Montgomery Sep 21 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings: Rowington Sep 27/28 WRG Uttoxeter Canal: Finishing off towpath work from camp in July. Sep 28 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Oct 3-9 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu Oct 4/5 KESCRG To be arranged Oct 4/5 Camp MCH2014 Manchester Canal Cleanup Oct 4/5 W&B / WRG First Aid Course at Hinton Parva Village Hall near Swindon. £50 per pe Oct 11/12 London WRG Somersetshire Coal Canal Oct 11 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection Oct 12 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Oct 18/19 wrgBITM To be arranged Oct 25-Nov 1 Camp WRGFT2014 WRG Forestry Camp: to be confirmed Oct 26 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Oct 25-Nov 1 Camp 201424 Ashby Canal: Bridge construction work Oct 31-Nov 6 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu Nov 1/2 wrgNW To be arranged, possibly Pocklington Nov 8/9 KESCRG WRG Reunion Nov 8/9 Camp BB2014 Bonfire Bash - WRG Reunion: see page 6 Nov 8 Sat WRG Committee & Board Meetings: at Bonfire Bash Nov 9 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin Nov 15/16 wrgBITM To be arranged Nov 15/16 NWPG Cotswold Canals: Ham Mill Lock, Stroud Nov 15 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection Nov 22/23 KESCRG Thames & Medway Canal: Christmas dig with London WRG Nov 22/23 London WRG Thames & Medway Canal: Christmas dig with KESCRG

For details of diary dates beyond the end of this list ple

page 28

Canal Camps cost ÂŁ56 per week unless otherwise stated. Bookings for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 201422' should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, enquiries@wrg.org.uk. Diary compiled by Dave Wedd. Tel: 01252 874437, dave.wedd@wrgbitm.org.uk

rings

Ian Edgar sed by Unlock Runcorn Team. Roger Leishman John Gale Bobby Silverwood David McCarthy Tim Lewis

xcavation at Gosden Bill Nicholson Ian Edgar Dave Wedd Malcolm Bridge Mike Palmer Gary Summers Ian Edgar Roger Leishman Bobby Silverwood

erson plus food.

Rachael Banyard Tim Lewis David McCarthy Ian Edgar Dave Wedd Ian Edgar Roger Leishman Malcolm Bridge Bobby Silverwood Mike Palmer Ian Edgar Dave Wedd Bill Nicholson David McCarthy Bobby Silverwood Tim Lewis

01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk Seewww.unlockruncorn.org 01442-874536 rwleishman@gmail.com 01376-334896 essex@wrg.org.uk 07971-814986 bobby@kescrg.org.uk 01706-214696 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01844-343369 bill@nwpg.org.uk 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk 01422-820693 nw@wrg.org.uk 01564-785293 mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk 07973-654977 g.summers@summerborn.com 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk 01442-874536 rwleishman@gmail.com 07971-814986 bobby@kescrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01249-889249 rachael.banyard@wbct.org.uk 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk 01706-214696 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01442-874536 rwleishman@gmail.com 01422-820693 nw@wrg.org.uk 07971-814986 bobby@kescrg.org.uk 01494-783453 enquiries@wrg.org.uk 01564-785293 mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk 0161-427-7402 ian@theedgars.co.uk 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk 01844-343369 bill@nwpg.org.uk 01706-214696 07971-814986 bobby@kescrg.org.uk 07802-518094 london@wrg.org.uk

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

page 29

Navvies diary

canal society regulars

Canal societies’ regular working parties Every Tuesday BCA Once per month: pls check BCNS 2nd & 4th w/e of month BCS Thursdays Sep-Apr BCT 2nd Sun & alternate Thu BuCS Every Mon and Wed CCT Every mon am Thu pm CCT Various dates CCT Every Sunday ChCT Every Tue and Thu CSCT Every Tue & Wed C&BN Every Friday ECPDA Second Sun of month FIPT Thu and last Sat of month GCS 2nd Sat of month GWCT Tuesdays H&GCT Weekends H&GCT Wednesdays H&GCT Thursdays H&GCT Every Sunday if required IWPS Every weekday KACT/CRT 2nd Sunday of month LCT Every Wed/Sat/Sun LHCRT 3rd Sunday of month LHCRT Last weekend of month MBBCS Two Sundays per month NWDCT 2nd & last Sundays PCAS Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT 2nd Sunday of month SCARS 1st Sunday of month SCCS Last weekend of month SCS 2nd Sunday of month SNT Every Thu and Sat SORT 1st weekend of month SUCS Every Tuesday morning TMCA Every Sunday & Thurs WACT Mondays (2 per month) WACT Wednesdays WACT Wednesdays WACT Sundays mainly WACT Thursdays WACT Various dates WACT 1st w/e of month (Fri-Thu) WAT

Basingstoke Canal Chris Healy BCN waterways Mike Rolfe Basingstoke Canal Duncan Paine Aqueduct section Tim Dingle Buckingham area Athina Beckett Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby Cotswold (E end) John Maxted Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract Chesterfield Canal Mick Hodgetts Chichester Canal Malcolm Maddison Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale Langley Mill Michael Golds Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd Oxenhall Brian Fox Over Wharf House Maggie Jones Over / Vineyard Hill Ted Beagles Herefordshire Wilf Jones Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar Bradford on Avon Derrick Hunt Lancaster N. Reaches Keith Tassart Lichfield Terry Brown Hatherton Denis Cooper Creams Paper Mill Steve Dent N Walsham Canal David Revill Pocklington Canal Paul Waddington Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird Sankey Canal John Hughes Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt Stover Canal George Whitehead Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott Montgomery Canal David Carter Thames & Medway C Brian Macnish varied construction Eric Walker tidying road crossings John Empringham Tickner's Heath Depot John Smith maintenance work Ray Pick Loxwood Link Kev Baker Winston Harwood Grp Tony Clear Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman

01252-370073 07763-171735 01252-614125 01288-361356 01908-661217 01453-836018 01285-861011 07986-351412 01246-620695 01243-775201 01376-334896 0115-932-8042 0116-279-2657 0115-989-2128 01823-661653 01432 358628 01452 618010 01452 522648 01452 413888 0161-427 7402 01225-863066 01524-424761 01889-576574 01543-374370 07802-973228 01603-738648 01757-638027 01394-380765 01744-600656 01225-863066 01626-775498 01522-856810 01444-414413 01244-661440 01732-823725 023-9246-3025 01483-562657 01903-235790 01483-272443 02380-861074 01903-774301 01403-753882 01442-874536

If you have any additions / corrections / deletions to this list, please send them to Navvies diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

page 30

CRT towpath taskforce

Navvies diary

Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ maintenance working parties 2nd Saturday of month Audlem Shropshire Union Glenn Young see below 2nd Saturday of month Aylesbury Grand Union Miriam Tedder 07775-543990 4th Thursday of month Bath Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278 Alternate Thursdays Blackburn Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977 1st Sunday of month Burnley Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977 3rd Thursday of month Cheshire T&M/Macclesfield Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707 1st Saturday of month Chester Shropshire Union Glenn Young see below Alternate Saturdays Chorley Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977 2nd Tuesday of month Churnet Valley Caldon Canal Barry Keight 07919 560582 3rd Thursday of month Devizes Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278 Weds and Thurs Droitwich Droitwich Canal Suzanne Byrne 07900-276544 3rd Saturday of month Ellesmere Llangollen Canal Glenn Young see below 1st Saturday of month Fradley Trent & Mersey Tom Freeland 01827-252010 4th Thursday of month Gailey Staffs & Worcs Murray Woodward 07808-786772 1st Mon & Wed of month Hatton Grand Union Canal Murray Woodward 07808-786772 Last Sunday of month Hawkesbury Coventry/Oxford Miriam Tedder 07775-543990 2nd Friday of month Huddersfield Huddersfield Broad Claire McDonald 07920-295943 1st Thursday of month Knottingley Aire & Calder Nav Lucy Dockray 07767-383736 Alternate Thursdays Lancaster Lancaster Canal Matt Taylor 07780-222977 3rd Saturday of month Lapworth Stratford Canal Murray Woodward 07808-786772 Alternate Tuesdays Leicester Grand Union/Soar Tom Freeland 01827-252010 3rd Saturday of month London Grand Union/Lee Becky Williams 07799-436816 3rd Thursday of month East London Lee & Stort Navs Becky Williams 07799-436816 3rd Tuesday of month West London Grand Union Canal Becky Williams 07799-436816 4th Saturday of month Manchester Ashton / Peak Forest Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707 1st Thu and 3rd Sat Maunsel Bridgwater & TauntonSteve Manzi 07710-175278 2nd Thursday of month Newbury Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278 Alternate Wednesdays Preston Lancaster Canal Matt Taylor 07780-222977 Alternate Fridays Sefton Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 196365 3rd Saturday of month near Selby Selby Canal Lucy Dockray 07767-383736 Alternate Wednesdays Skipton Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977 Alternate Fridays Stoke Caldon / T&M Tom Freeland 01827-252010 Every other Wednesday Tamworth Coventry Canal Tom Freeland 01827-252010 4th Saturday of month Tipton BCN Murray Woodward 07808-786772 Alternate Thursdays North Warks Tom Freeland 01827-252010 Every Tuesday Wigan Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977 3rd Thursday of month Welshpool Montgomery Canal Glenn Young see below Contact details: All CRT co-ordinators can be emailed at firstname.surname@canalrivertrust.org.uk, eg steve.manzi@canalrivertrust.org.uk for K & A. If no phone number given, use CRT Tel: 03030 404040

Abbreviations used in Diary: BCA BCNS BuCS BCS BCT ChCT CBN CSCT CCT ECPDA FIPT GCS GWCT H&GCT IWPS KACT

Basingstoke Canal Authority Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc. Buckingham Canal Society Basingstoke Canal Society Bude Canal Trust Chesterfield Canal Trust Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation Chichester Ship Canal Trust Cotswolds Canals Trust Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc. Foxton Inclined Plane Trust Grantham Canal Society Grand Western Canal Trust Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust Inland Waterways Protection Society Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

KESCRG LCT LHCRT MBBCS NWPG NWDCT PCAS RGT SCARS SCCS SCS SNT SORT SUCS TMCA WACT WAT WBCT

Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. Group Lancaster Canal Trust Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n Trust Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society Newbury Working Party Group North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust Pocklington Canal Amenity Society River Gipping Trust Sankey Canal Restoration Society Somersetshire Coal Canal Society Stover Canal Society Sleaford Navigation Trust Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust Shropshire Union Canal Society Thames & Medway Canal Association Wey & Arun Canal Trust Wendover Arm Trust Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

page 31

Navvies diary

IWA branches...

Inland Waterways Association and other one-day working parties Sep 1 & 3 Every Wed Sep 6/7 Sep 6 Sat Sep 7 Sun Sep 10 Wed Sep 11 Thu Sep 18 & 20 Sep 20 Sat Sep 21 Sun Sep 23 Tue Sep 26 Fri Oct 1 & 6 Every Wed Oct 4/5

IWA Warks/CRT Grand Union Canal: Hatton, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm. Also Sat 6 IWA Chelmsford Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: With Essex WRG IWA Chester Shropshire Union Canal in Chester: Painting, weeding, litterpicking. IWA Northants Northampton Arm IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Painting, tidying & veg clearance 10am-3pm. IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Preparing for 40th anniversary of Caldon Reopening IWA Warks/CRT Stratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10amIWA Notts/DerbyNottingham: Meadow Lane Lock to city centre. Litter picking and canal IWA Northants Northampton Arm IWA NSSC Macclesfield Canal: Veg clearance & litter picking Congleton Station to IWA Warks/CRT Grand Union Canal: Hatton, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm. Also Sat 4 IWA Manchester Operation Manchester: Ashton and Rochdale Canals from Ducie St Pulling rubbish out of canal, & litter picking. 10am-4pm each day. Oct 4 Sat IWA Chester Shropshire Union Canal in Chester: Painting, weeding, litterpicking. Oct 4 Sat IWA Leics/CRT River Soar: Canal Cleanup through Leicester City Centre. Lime Kiln Oct 8 Wed IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Painting, tidying & veg clearance 10am-3pm. Oct 9 Thu IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Painting & veg clearance. 10am-3pm Oct 12 Sun IWA Northants Northampton Arm Oct 16 & 18 IWA Warks/CRT Stratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance & Oct 18/19 IWA Milton Keynes Grand Union Canal: Bi-annual canal cleanup, grappling items from Oct 21 Tue IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10amOct 24 Fri IWA NSSC Macclesfield Canal: Veg clearance & litter picking Congleton Station Oct 28 Tue IWA Northants Northampton Arm Dec 6/7 IWA ChelmsfordChelmer & Blackwater Navigation: With Essex WRG

Too much Diary? - your response My thanks to those who responded to my comments headed ‘Diary Diarrhoea’ in the editorial last time. Most felt that even though it now takes up six pages to include WRG, IWA, CRT and canal society dates, it’s worth continuing (so long as the cost and other resources aren’t excessive). Firstly it can still be very useful at times, especially when you’re away from easy internet access. But secondly it also helps to put across the message about the sheer quantity of volunteer work going on altogether on the canals these days. Meanwhile nobody has as yet risen to the bait by responding to my final question about whether Navvies itself is an anachronism these days. We will therefore continue to produce it... The Editor IWA branch abbreviations BBCW = Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire; Mcr= Manchester; Other abbreviations: CUCT = Caldon & Uttoxeter Canal Society; IWPS = Inland Waterways Protection

page 32

...and other one-day work

Navvies diary

For WRG canal camps and working parties see pages 20-21 path work. CRT Hatton yard 10am-3pm Sept. Martin Bird Roy Chandler 10am-4pm. Mike Carter Geoff Wood Kidderminster area David Struckett on 28 Sept. Alison Smedley path work. CRT Lapworth yard 10am-3pm 4pm Bob Luscombe clearance. Alison Smedley Geoff Wood Hightown Bob Luscombe path work. CRT Hatton yard 10am-3pm Oct. Martin Bird Junction. Alison Smedley Overnight accom available with WRG. 10am-4pm. Mike Carter Lock. Alison Smedley Kidderminster area David Struckett Alison Smedley Geoff Wood path work. CRT Lapworth yard 10am-3pm canal. 4pm Bob Luscombe to Hightown Bob Luscombe Geoff Wood Roy Chandler

01394-380765 07795-617803 07976-746225 07779-090915 07710-054848 07779-090915 07710-054848 01394-380765 07779-090915 07795-617803 07779-090915 07976-746225 07779-090915

07710-054848 07710-054848

info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk restoration@rivergippingtrust.org.uk roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk mike.carter@waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk david.struckett@waterways.org.uk alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk restoration@rivergippingtrust.org.uk alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk mike.carter@waterways.org.uk alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk david.struckett@waterways.org.uk alison.smedley@waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk info.warwickshire@waterways.org.uk miltonkeynes@waterways.org.uk bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk bob.luscombe@waterways.org.uk geoff.wood@waterways.org.uk roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk

IWA

Mobile groups' socials:

IWA work party at Congleton, Macclesfield Canal

please phone to confirm dates and times London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig. 'Star Tavern' Belgrave Mews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094 NWPG: 7:30pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading. Phil Dray 07956 185305

NSSC = North Staffs & South Cheshire Society; TMCS = Trent & Mersey Canal Society; RGT= River Gipping Trust; CRT = Canal & River Trust

page 33

Progress

Our regular roundup of progress on restoration projects begins with more progress on capping over the water pipe in the bed and re-lining the channel on the dry length of the Wendover Arm

Wendover Arm

Grand Union Wendover Arm

Pictures by WAT

May Working Party: Having prepared for the higher level pipe capping (installing the concrete capping over the pipe that was laid in the canal bed to carry the water supply along the dry section when the canal was closed) through Bridge 4A at the Wendover Arm Trust’s April working party the May working party completed the pipe capping through the bridge narrows with three ready-mix concrete pours. In May rough profiling of both banks on the Little Tring side of Bridge 4A was carried out in preparation for lining clear of the bridge and the bund to be installed for the next re-watering. June Working Party: The way ahead is now clear to line the canal up to Bridge 4A. As shown in the bottom picture there is not far to go. In Capping through Bridge 4A and (below) not far to meet up June enough of both banks were lined with Bentomat waterproof lining material, blocks and coir rolls laid and spoil placed above to enable another 20 metre roll of Bentomat to be laid along the canal bed and covered with spoil. A feature of the June working party was that the Sunday was a Restoration Open Day. It was fortunate that the work in progress on Sunday ranged from bank profiling to lining the canal bed with Bentomat and spoil, an excellent demonstration for the visitors who came from the event site at St Mary’s Church to see our volunteers at work. The event was also successful in raising funds and gaining new Trust members. Roger Leishman, Restoration Director 01442 874536 rwleishman@gmail.com

page 34

With a huge amount of our current work supporting the Cotswold Canals, Ken Burgin puts it into context and brings us up to date on what’s happening elsewhere in the restoration Cotswold Canals Project Update

Progress Cotswold Canals

this section of canal work, a new water feed and pipeline needs to be constructed and the canal needs dredging. The 2015 deadline is important because CCT is leading a new HLF bid for the 4 mile long Phase 1B section. This will connect Phase 1A to the rest of the network via Saul Junction and HLF want Phase 1A complete before this bid goes in. Phase 1B also has its challenges including an entire missing mile length which is crossed by the A38, the M5, major pipelines and optical cables – then at the boundary with Phase 1A, we have the now bridgeless South West - Midlands high speed main railway line. CCT has a strong group of technical volunteers and design solutions for all of the Phase 1B problems. These are now being refined and costed working with the various owners/authorities involved. Apart from the road crossings and any essential utility diversions, the plan is for the ‘missing mile’ to become a massive volunteer project. In addition to digging a mile of new canal, two new locks are needed, an infilled partially blown-up lock needs restoration and a new aqueduct is required.

Martin Ludgate

WRG is instrumental in the current progress being made on the Cotswold Canals project. With so many camps and visits taking place, it seems like a good time to provide an overview to put all this effort into context. The missing link between the Thames and the Severn is as glaring now as it was when the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames & Severn Canals were built in the 1770s and 1780s. Following closure in stages between 1927 and 1954, these canals suffered from the usual problems of land sell-offs, infilled lengths, bridge demolition and obstructions to the route – but not as badly as many others. The restoration has been championed for over 40 years by the Cotswold Canals Trust (CCT - which now has about 8000 members) and WRG has been involved in a long series of projects for nearly as long. At present, the main focus is on finishing Phase 1A by the end of 2015. This is a £20m project with substantial Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) money covering about 5 miles and has tackled some of the worst obstructions on the entire 36 mile route. British Waterways (BW, now transformed into the Canal & River Trust charity, CRT) were leading the project but pulled out in 2008 so Stroud District Council (SDC) courageously took on the lead role. The main volunteer work at the moment is centred around three locks just east of Stroud: Bowbridge Lock, Griffins Mill Lock and Ham Mill Lock. Griffins Mill Lock, now almost complete [See Camp Report, page 8], had its gates fitted in Phase 1B challenge: a bridge to replace this culvert under the railway July. In order to make

page 35

Paul Rodgers

ern end of the Thames & Severn Canal – it also owns the industrial estate built on top of Brimscombe Port. The redevelopment of the Port itself is awaiting more favourable financial conditions which could be in the form of better property prices, government grants for ‘brownfield’ (ex industrial) sites and/or accumulated income from renting out the current properties. In the meantime, the rather rundown 1960s offices that were built on the site of the original T&S Canal Headquarters has been made available by SVCC and done-up by CCT to provide office space for the canal project and also accommodation for visiting navvies. The near instant availability of accommodation does mean that the Cotswold Canals can Bridge offer a fallback worksite for when things don’t work out elsewhere for whatever reason. SVCC and CCT work closely together and one joint project is the Dudbridge Locks Hydro-electric scheme which was completed in 2013 and now generates income to help fund the largely volunteer-delivered maintenance programme. By the way, if there is anyone out there who is interested in becoming a voluntary SVCC trustee to oversee canal maintenance, please get in touch. Phase 2 is the eastern end of the Thames & Severn Canal starting at Inglesham and running 10 miles westwards, deep into the Cotswold Water Park. Although still some years from mega-funding, quite a lot of work has been and is taking place in a length where landowner co-operation has greatly improved. CCT owns Inglesham Lock and the first quarter of a mile of canal running inland from the Thames. WRG have taken on this project which is being funded from the IWA Tom Rolt Appeal. Several WRG camps this summer (see pages 44-48) should result in substantial progress. The other current restoration project in Phase 2 is Weymoor Bridge near Latton Junction where the fragmentary remains of a long demolished humpback bridge are being returned to a functional brick arch bridge - but one which can take

Phase 2 project: rebuilding Weymoor The Phase 1B project will deliver more than just canal restoration and is aiming to create a landscape scale environmental corridor. Quite apart from ticking more funding boxes, this is enabling the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to be an integral part of the bid consortium. If the bid is successful, as far as we are aware, CCT will be the first canal society to secure a really large HLF grant (others having been secured by BW/CRT or other statutory bodies). The hope and expectation is to get Phase 1B completed before this decade is out, so making Stonehouse and Stroud canal towns once again. Before looking to the further phases, it’s work mentioning the role of the Stroud Valleys Canal Company (SVCC). This was set up to take on the role that BW would have been taking on as owner/operator of the canal, and which might yet be taken on by CRT at some point in the future. SVCC has been set up as a VAT registered charity and has CCT, SDC, Gloucestershire County Council and the Company of Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation (the oldest surviving canal company with roots back to 1730) as its only four members. SVCC has a 999 year lease on the Stroudwater Navigation and owns the west-

page 36

Martin Ludgate

the weight of modern lorries. An Environmental Impact Assessment has been produced for Phase 2, entirely by expert volunteers, as a first step towards preparing the way for large scale grant applications, rewatering sections, and more imminent work where a gravel quarry operator is expected to put back a long infilled section as part of a planning obligation. Phase 3 is the substantial central section that includes Sapperton Tunnel. Partly because of the huge amount going on elsewhere and the need for more Team Leaders/Project Managers interested in this Phase 3 challenge: Sapperton Tunnel specific length, there is less going on in Phase 3 at the moment. million litres a day, would create a flow of The Cotswold Canals have been sugabout 1km/hour in normal lengths of canal gested as a means of transferring water from channel. If it happens at all, its likely to be the west of the country to the east so as to well into next decade. help overcome water shortages in and CCT is very grateful to the contribution around London. The prospects for this are the various visiting WRG and other groups certainly very much alive, although far from have made and continue to make to the certain, and Thames Water have recently project – it is essential and key to bringing commissioned work to look at the water back one of the finest canal routes in the quality and ecological effects of such a trans- country. fer. This follows an earlier study that found Ken Burgin no show stoppers but identified where furChief Executive, Cotswold Canals Trust ther work was needed. Such a transfer would ken.burgin@pikelock.com only operate when needed and even at 200 (and a long standing WRG member)

Cotswold Canals

Phases 1A, 1B, 2 and 3 Phase 1B: subject of HLF bid to be submitted 2015. Includes ‘missing mile’ with several potential major volunteer sites

Phase 3: less active at the moment.

Phase 2: includes current work sites at Inglesham and Weymoor

Phase 1A: includes current and recent work sites at Griffin Mill, Goughs Orchard, Ham Mill & Bowbridge locks

page 37

Progress

Next we head for the deep south to catch up on Isfield Lock, then up to Buckingham where another length of canal has now been rewatered

Sussex Ouse and Buckingham Good progress is being made down on the River Ouse at Isfield lock by the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust (SORT). Throughout the coming summer months the 2014 target to complete the rebuild of the west chamber wall and therefore the complete restoration of the lock chamber is firmly in the sights of the volunteer working parties. With only a small number of volunteers available, Ted Lintott, the project manager, has so far made the most of what has been a good spring and summer to push on with exposing and demolishing the remaining section of the wall in readiness for the re-build and back filling. Much of the spoil from the dig to expose the area to be rebuilt is being carefully positioned to raise the tow path and the adjacent public footpath to the north of the lock area. Another ground paddle has been restored and a new stop plank shelter built on the east side of the lock (see photographs) A good stock of original bricks has been cleaned and stacked in readiness for what will be the long task of rebuilding the complete depth of the lock wall over the remaining 5m section. More volunteers are always required and Ted would be very pleased to hear from you. Telephone him on 01444414413 if you are interested in helping. Terry Owen

page 38

pictures by SORT

Sussex Ouse

Restored paddle and (below) stop plank shelter

Buckingham Canal

novel seats at the site. Work was done by regular volunteers joined with a team building group from Network Rail. Bourton Meadow: Following work to assess the water top-up needs at the Bourton Meadow section, it has been recognised that the lining is not as watertight as expected. Investigations led by the contractors are now to be undertaken and a plan drawn up to remediate as necessary. The permanent solar powered top-up pumping authorised by the Environment Agency will not be installed until these remedial works are completed. General update: Following the Charity Commission approval of our change of status for BCS from an Unincorporated Charity to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), we are completing the transition from current status to a CIO on 1st August 2014. There are many advantages to this change. Amongst the key benefits are that BCS now becomes a legal entity that can enter into formal contracts and leases. It also provides additional protection for trustees and members of the Society. This is an important change for the Society as it opens up a range of potential opportunities for BCS to acquire access rights to the more inaccessible parts of the canal, as well as being able to purchase interests in land to support our renovation work. In addition, formal project plans are now being drawn up by a sub group following a project prioritisation review by the trustees. These will then be presented to various partnerships with County Council and Environment Agency amongst others for further progress.

BCS

Cosgrove: On Saturday 17th May 2014 at just after noon, after over 22 years of aspiration and perspiration for the Buckingham Canal Society, the moment came when the first drops of water were taken from the Grand Union Canal and piped into the Buckingham Arm. A pump was used to prime 2 x 30m (100ft) 75mm diameter (3in) suction hoses that had been passed through ducts under the deck of old Bridge 1. Once primed, the hoses were disconnected and the siphon just ran and ran – all very environmentally friendly as well. Over the next few weeks a number of site checks revealed some overtopping of the drain and subsequent early rewatering of pound 2. In addition there is some linear movement of water believed to be due to the clay needing to rehydrate. This seepage collected at about 200mm deep as designed in the buffer pound formed between the second bund and the farm crossing flowing through the ‘as designed’ drain into the rest of the canal bed westwards. We have subsequently (29 May) back pumped the water from the buffer pound into pound two. Overall pound 1 has dropped some 150mm in 3 weeks which is consistent with the water seen entering the buffer pound. Some seepage through the towpath bank was also seen when the level was higher than intended and we are now exploring the area of towpath where the bank had previously dropped towards the canal channel with a view to identifying fissures or animal burrows, as anticipated. Anything found will be remediated before raising the level further to repeat the cycle of wetting and observation. In summary, the process is broadly as expected and overall seepage through the towpath bank is a lot less than expected which is good news. Our thanks to CRT for all their help and support in achieving this milestone. Hyde Lane: The Hyde Lane nature reserve site has had the old lock gates that had been removed from the Volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers helped build the bunds chamber converted to form

page 39

Progress

Montgomery Canal

Shropshire Union Canal Society’s 2013 restoration season had concluded with the completion of the channel lining between Bridges 83 and 84. We told the Canal & River Trust (CRT) that the section would be ready for rewatering in early May, giving us the first 3 work parties of 2014 to complete the ‘finishing off’ jobs. Lichfield & Hatherton Canals The main tasks were rip-rap stone The main focus continues to be on the work installation on the offside bank, grouting at Tamworth Road in Pound 27 on the Liand capping along the base of the piling chfield Canal. Our skilled and hard-working and constructing a pond for newts. The team is making great strides towards waterlatter is intended as part of the compensaing this section. The ‘narrows’ at the access tion package for habitat that will be lost point for the planned waterways hub is close when work starts on the other side of to completion with our usual construction Bridge 84. method of concrete blocks faced by blue The work parties had a slightly surreal bricks. The towpath trail is well used and we atmosphere with the project so close to its are monitoring its usage very carefully. end after 6 long years. Whilst there was The ‘Feet of Clay’ appeal has brought a some hard work there was no panic to comsteady inflow of funds setting us up to use plete everything and although we worked puddled clay in Pound 27. Inevitably, the more right to the end of the 3-day May Bank Holiwe restore the more there is to maintain and day work party all the tasks were done. A we are hoping to recruit local people to monifew days later CRT’s engineer signed off the tor section such as that by the lift bridge and, work. The clay dam just beyond Bridge 83 hopefully, contribute to keeping the access was removed by CRT in late May and the top routes clear and structures in good condition. stop plank was lifted a fraction to allow the Elsewhere on the Lichfield we are taking close section to fill with water. note of the recent planning permission give to By the time of our June work party the Persimmon Homes and making sure that they channel was full, quite a sight! A number of live up to their undertakings. The application our gang took advantage of CRT’s permisfor traveller homes close to the aqueduct has sion to bring their boats onto the stretch; the been turned down by the government inspecnormal limit of navigation will remain at tor although this may yet go to appeal. Bridge 82 until water reaches the winding The AGM at the beginning of June was hole at Bridge 85, Crickheath. Our outgoing well-attended and we enjoyed an illustrated project manager led the boats with a barrel talk on the Shrewsbury & Newport scheme. of beer on his bow for later! We also had a good three days at the Crick Saturday was spent removing the safety Show which boosted our profile and income. fencing along the towpath and a variety of On the Hatherton we have been looking planting jobs on the offside. In the evening closely at the very demanding section at we had a party for all who had worked on Churchbridge where we have always known the section – and set about the barrel. we have to negotiate a complex route just On Sunday we began the next project west of the M6 Toll crossing. Matters are now with some fencing work beyond Bridge 84. complicated by the imminent electrification Work on engineering drawings has been of the Chase Line by Network Rail and we ongoing for some time and a project timing are working with them to ensure their overplan has been produced. head line equipment does not constrain the The issue of the newts in this area is culvert we will have to construct under it. not yet fully resolved but with CRT’s support There are again reports that the M54 will be we hope to have the necessary agreements connected northbound to the M6 which may in place early enough to be able to maintain require a rebuilding of carriageways, which our momentum. could be used to the advantage of the canal Detailed monthly accounts of the restocurrently blocked by the M6. ration work can be found on the Society Brian Kingshott website: shropshireunion.org.uk.

Lichfield and the Monty

page 40

Going the extra mile(stone)!

Progress Manchster Bolton & Bury which could eventually become a picnic area.” The June working party took place at the Ladyshore Bridge over the canal at the Little Lever / Radcliffe border. The volunteers’ goal was to uncover the bridge and the road leading past the site of Ladyshore Colliery to the old Lever Bank Bleach Works, now an area landscaped by Bolton Council. The area had become seriously overgrown over the years with brambles, nettles and grass, so much so that the bridge could hardly be seen and the road was reduced to a third of its width. The team enthusiastically set to the task and slowly uncovered the bridge. By the end of the weekend the whole area was clear, the bridge, with its distinctive blue brick (a feature of the MB&B canal) was back in view, footpaths leading to the area had been widened and stone laid down, repairs done to the stone sett surface, and a drainage channel to reduce rainwater flow over the bridge had been installed. The main working parties are held over a weekend each month. Anyone who has an interest in the canal or would like to help us will be very welcome. For more information please look at our website www.mbbcs.org.uk or look for Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Society on Facebook.

MBBCS

A canal milestone that went missing in the 1960s has been recovered by members of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Society, having originally been found and kept in a garage in Bolton by a canal enthusiast. The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal company installed quarter-milestones with the letter ‘M’ followed by the distance in miles from the start of the canal at the River Irwell in Salford. There were originally over 60 of them, and today 30 are still in place along the canal towpath. When the Salford line was filled in during the 1960s, several were removed and the Society have now recovered two. Last year we moved one from a garden in Bolton and recently we moved another from Bolton. M½ was formerly behind the Crescent in Salford, and M1 was opposite what is now the north end of Salford Crescent station; in both places the canal has almost totally disappeared. The Society is really interested in finding the other missing milestones; 10 of which were in Salford, 10 in Bolton and 8 in Bury. Some are no doubt buried; at least two are in the canal bed; others may have been removed - as we have seen, two ended up in Bolton. They are large pieces of sandstone and when out of the ground the larger ones measure 20 inches (50cm) wide, 10 inches (20cm) deep and 44 inches (1.1m) tall. They weigh about 660 lbs (300 kgs) so are not easy to move! If anyone can tell us about any other milestones, please contact our Chairman, Dr Paul Hindle, on 0161 723 1433. Meanwhile our regular monthly working parties have been concentrating on the area around the flight of six locks at Nob End, Little Lever, Bolton. In May our volunteers, as well as maintaining the Meccano Gardens, cleared the overgrown edges of Nob Bridge, leading down to Prestolee Road and then started to tackle the infilled and overgrown locks themselves. Working party Officer, Stuart Hammond commented “The area has been mostly neglected for several years and after our construction of the Meccano Bridge last year, enabling walkers and cyclists to once more cross over the canal by its original route, we are now concentrating on improving the locks area. This Phase 2 plan is a first step to reinstate the locks and we intend to excavate the whole flight to a depth of one metre, so that people can once more see the extent of the locks. We will uncover and landscape the lock side areas,

Have you got one of these in your garage?

page 41

Fundraising

With this magazine you will receive a set of raffle tickets. And unlike most raffles, when you buy a ticket you get to decide which canal your money goes to...

The IWA Restoration Raffle

donated by Waterways World, £100 worth of Midland Chandler vouchers donated by MidIWA has launched its 2014 National Waterland Chandlers, a Mac in a Sac waterproof ways Restoration Raffle. poncho donated by Stone Boat Building The raffle aims to raise at least £10,000 Chandlery Ltd, and even a signed framed to support a variety of waterway restoration photo of Sir Steve Redgrave donated by Sir projects with 100% of the raffle profits going Steve himself! to waterway restoration groups, and to a See opposite for a list of canal groups moorings improvement project on the that you can nominate. Cheshire Ring that will be carried out by IWA The raffle will be drawn on 16th January volunteers. 2015 at IWA’s Head Office in Chesham. The raffle gives you the option to nomiTickets cost £2 each and are in books nate an eligible restoration project of your of 5 tickets. One book has been included in choice on every ticket you buy. After the this issue of Navvies and you can buy tickets raffle has been drawn the nominations for online at www.waterways.org.uk/raffle or each project will be calculated and the order more books of tickets to be posted to money each restoration project receives will you by calling 01494 783453 ext. 611. be in proportion to their total nominations. For more information on raffle prizes, For example a project receiving 10% of the restoration projects and the terms and conditotal nominations would receive 10% of the tions see www.waterways.org.uk/raffle or money raised. contact the raffle organiser Toby Gomm at There’s a range of exciting prizes... toby.gomm@waterways.org.uk or 01494 783453 ext.611 The winner of the raffle will receive the We would like to thank Middlewich top prize of a two-week boating holiday Narrowboats, Wyvern Shipping, Cambrian Cruisers, ABC Leisure, Canal Cruising Com(or one-week in the school holidays) worth up to £1,700, donated by pany, Harper Collins Publishers, Sir Steve Middlewich Narrowboats. Redgrave and Stone Boat Building Chandlery for their generous support of the raffle. Second prize is a one-week boating holiday on a six berth narrowboat during June, September or October in 2015 worth £800 to £1,500, donated by Wyvern Shipping.

IWA’s Restoration Raffle

. .

Third Prize is a two night boating break for at least two people worth £559, donated by Cambrian Cruisers.

Other prizes to be won include two one-day boat hire trips donated by ABC Leisure and Canal Cruising Company, a set of Nicholson guides worth over £125 donated by Harper Collins Publishers, 2015 Crick Festival weekend tickets

page 42

IWA

.

Win a boat holiday... .

Every one’s a winner:

Fundraising

Amongst the many corporate members of IWA that are eligible to be nominated are the following waterway restoration groups: Ashby Canal Association Basingstoke Canal Society Buckingham Canal Society Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust Chesterfield Canal Trust Chichester Ship Canal Trust Cotswold Canals Trust Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust Friends of the Cromford Canal Grantham Canal Society Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust Kent & East Sussex Canal Restoration Group Lancaster Canal Trust Lapal Canal Trust Ltd Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust Melton & Oakham Waterways Society Monmouthshire Brecon & Abergavenny Canals Trust Neath & Tennant Canals Trust North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust Pocklington Canal Amenity Society River Gipping Trust The River Stour Trust Sankey Canal Restoration Society Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust Shropshire Union Canal Society Sleaford Navigation Trust Somersetshire Coal Canal Society Stover Canal Trust Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust Wendover Arm Trust Wey & Arun Canal Trust Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

The IWA Restoration raffle 13 20

23 5 9 4 8 25

24

15

10

1

26 19

16

14 21 11

18

7

17

22

3 30 32

27

2

12 31

29

6 28

Martin Ludgate

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

...and support a canal reopening

page 43

Camp Report Inglesham

2014 was the year that we finally got stuck into a project we’ve been looking forward to for a long while: rebuilding Inglesham Lock on the Cotswold Canals.

another work site. We collected a utility trailer and of course, the KESCRG trailer. “Can’t say it’s the last dammed Camp Digger and I then went to source certain we’ll do here… because it’s the first materials at the Alex Farm compound (I had dammed Camp...” a little go, under supervision, on the telehandler), dodge thunderstorms and shift I had been thinking how much I’d like to do bricks. We were joined by Stephen and Nic, a KESCRG Camp again and then my stalwart all the way from Inglesham in Nic’s Unimog, friend, Dr. Ed Walker, who has tolerated me with an enormous trailer. That’s the stop for a very long time now asked me to assist plank grooves (beautifully-made stainless the KESCRG Camp. How could I refuse? I steel items designed by Roy Sutton) collected packed up my trusty camping bus and headed then. Back at site, a glorious sight: Jenny to Didcot where over some Loose Cannon ales (yer actual Mrs. Digger), local site & project and a curry, we plotted our week. planner Rick Barnes, even-more-local airfield Saturday morning, nice n’ early, off we overlord Martin ‘RAF Base’ Thompson and went to find Digger (yer actual Mr. Jenny Your Very Own MKP, deeply engaged in site Black) and KESCRG Supremo Stephen Davis. clearance and organisation tasks, bonfire and We had three Transits to collect from all. Gloucester (Inglesham Canal Camps this year All of the above was before the Camp are on the almost-mythical Kit C circuit so we started. By the time I’d got back to Filkins, were hiring in our vehicles) and it was absopretty much everyone was on hand and tea lutely peeing it down. We swam to the delight- was ready to be drunk whilst Ed did the ful and charming Filkins Village Hall, parked up and levelled the camper in a rare moment of nice weather and then swam off to Gloucester where fortunately, two kombi-vans and a double-cab tipper (pike-eeey!) awaited us inside the voluminous SHB workshop. Then it was off to Brimscombe Port to meet local Paul who was soaked through already, having spent the early morning supervising a major (several tipper lorries major) sh*tRoy measures the stop plank groove ready for cutting to fit the steel channel shift going on at

Cotswold Canals: Inglesham 1

page 44

Pictures by Richard Worthington

safety talk & video thing, I did the be-nice-to-the-accommodation thing and our caterers Eli (first weekend), Rowena (much of the week) and Bobby (several breakfasts among other things) did the be-nice-to-the-cooks thing. Site visit sorted, we investigated whether the rather upmarket Five Alls – next door but one to the accomm!) would have us. They were most charming and made us feel welcome all week, I’d, er, imagine… A triumvirate of D-of-Eers hailed from deepest Suffolk, Rob, Baris and Aron. Chris from Reading had done this sort of thing before and enjoyed it (and he did, again) and Essex man Paul had done the National Trust thing before and was trying us out (I think he liked it…) Dave was up from Sussex and had done lots of forestry-type stuff before whereas Alex was only a few miles from home and could probably rip trees out without a Tirfor (no, we didn’t try this). Tony & Anne from The only South London are Ed Camp regulars (Tony always brings a fresh set of excruciating one-line jokes with him, the phased release of which can be fun when you’re trying to operate a barrowhoist) and then there were WRG/KESCRG long-termers like the unstoppable John ‘The Hawk’ Hawkins, Stephen, Mick, Richard Cool, Nigel (for two days), Jenny & Digger and me. So quite a nice mix, really. Oh, now I nearly forgot to add in Ian Williamson who had come to train some of us on barrow hoists on the Sunday, but then, HSS Hire did, in fact, completely forget to send us the barrow hoist. Or anything else we’d ordered. Except for the weights. The, er, barrow hoist weights. Enter Bungle, who scavenged the southwest for us and by Monday, appeared with a van full of kit and the ability to train on barrow hoists. End of Camp award, in absentia, was given! On site, a dam had been professionally installed and due to a rising Thames (see:

barrow hoist in Gloucestershire in action rain, above) was professionally and volunteer-ily tweaked during our week. Richard and team installed steps down to the water level. Someone – Ian Williamson I think – had had the inspiration to create and use a certain amount of by-wash to the dam and to syphon it into the inevitable agglomeration of silt that a lock last used in 1927 presents. This steady flow of not-too-much water sent the silt down the canal and left various teams of intrepid sh*t-shovellers (we rotated this less-than-enviable task) the chunky stuff to pick up and pop into the barrows. Baris qualified for a style award in this task with his physical manifestation of mind-overmatter lifting and shifting. Another team of people were locked into the barrow-hoisting and barrowing away of the crud up above the chamber and when I say locked, I mean it literally, in the case of the harnessed-in hoist operator. Meanwhile, sandbags were created

page 45

using two amazing devices called, umm, sandbag-fillering-things? You hold the yellow, plastic device, inserted into the sandbag, in one hand and your trusty sand-shifting shovel in the other and hey presto, one neatly-filled sandbag. Tie up. Repeat 2,000 times (yes, really, 2,000 – we did the next two Camp’s sandbagging quotas as well) and then perch on top of a car-sized sandbag pile for a team photo. Job jobbed. By mid-week, the crud level in the bridge ’ole was down to the extent that Roy Sutton could pop over and inspect the base onto which the stop planks could be placed and to everyone’s relief it was as expected: wooden and not in too bad a condition. Roy, very helpfully, issued a complete set of plans and methods (in writing) to install the new, metal stop-plank grooves (remember them?) and a complete shopping/hiring list of tools and materials (verbally, amazingly) to complete the task. Upon hearing it was curry for dinner, however, he vamoosed, albeit a happy man. I went off to Faringdon the next day to procure with the list and ended up at a lovely timber yard somewhere out on the A420. Anne, Alex and I gave interviews to BBC Radio Gloucester (I was live and didn’t talk complete bollocks - result!). Digger

continued his unstoppable sand-carting in the tipper. John, Richard and Dave set to with disc cutters to re-fashion the stop plank grooves. People ‘down below’ reached invert level throughout the bridge ’ole. And then we handed this lovely, well-planned work site on to the next Camp, Teacher Chris and Ian arriving to join us on the Friday night, in time for Martin Thompson’s splendid al fresco barbecue, Camp awards and hon. mentions and the by now inevitable adjournment to the Five Alls, not least to return a few glasses. Thank-yous are most definitely in order: Ed, for sterling planning and site leadership. Rick for a top-quality piece of project planning, everyone who contributed to the initial logistics and site readniness work, Bungle for getting us out of a hole, literally, with The Last Barrow Hoist in Avonmouth, Eli, Ro and Bobby for absolutely superb cookery, Martin T for the barbie and of course the lovely people of Filkins for hiring us their very, very nice village hall for a whole, uninterrupted week. Off to find pictures on the WRG Facebook, to look back on a vintage-quality KESCRG Summer Camp and hope that it went as well for the next two sets of Circuit C’ers. Mark ‘Mk2’ Richardson

The sandbag team produced 2000 - and somewhere to sit for the end-of-camp photo (inset)

page 46

here to there, or sorting them, or taking the despised ‘blue ones’ to Alex’s Farm. Rick Barnes had said these ‘blue ones’ were Not Right. (4c) Cutting out Bad Bricks from the wing wall and under the bridge, using an Arbortech or drill or plain old hammer and chisel. (4d) Laying bricks! John Hawkins, Rob, Inglesham week two 26 Jul-2 Aug and later Paul, Sarah (I think) and others. I · think 4 or 5 complete courses were laid after ‘’Brick Cleaning the Taster Way’’. the bad bricks had been removed, but someone will correct me on that point. Let’s get the technical talk over first: the Paul Rodgers took some simply wonweek before us had mostly unearthed and derful photos which made up for the lack of de-scunged the lock chamber. Thanks! How- any Alan Lines ones , although Alan did ever there was plenty more where that came come for a quick visit, I think no pictures from and gallant teams were down there were taken? He explained this by saying he shovelling sh... overloads of scunge and had injured his shoulder. My word, that rocks and bricks and etc, which were then camera must be heavy. hoisted by a man in harness, anchored to The stop planks and the groove for the ground . Usually Bryan aka Navy aka them were one of the main jobs for the Windy, as he works on a wind farm , not for week. This was completed and is now ready the other possible reason. for the planks to go in, which means the Chris (‘Teacher Chris’, leader hired dam made of a blue sheet (see photo extraordinaire) was his usual ‘cockney chirpy taken from River Thames) can go. Then all chappie’ self, ordering people to ‘milk him’ these hundreds of sand bags can go in. (bizarrely) and other quips. Teapot team at Inglesham included The rest of the crew were ‘making Alan, who told us that any word endlessly good’ the privately owned road to Inglesham repeated becomes funny, hence ‘teapot’. Lock, filling in 127 potholes with hard core He also hates Highworth, for some and then wacker-plating it flat. In the hot relentless sun, rather like in a scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai. Or, task two (b): bothering a willow stump which had refused to be Tirfored out some years ago, and using mattocks and various other tools, chipping away at it like so many angry termites. Any willow- botherer became known as ‘Stumpy’. Chief botherer being Alan, but he let the young ‘uns have a go later in the week and became ‘Swampy’. Task Three: moving a pile of detritus from lock chamber (that had been dumped on the place where it had been decided it would be good to park) and no wonder. As it had a hard core surface that I was partly responsible for creating, on a previous camp. This pile had to be sorted for small rocks (and larger ones) and then the wheelbarrows of sh.. shovel loads, squeakily wheeled... elsewhere. Task 4: Bricks. (4a) Cleaning bricks. Me mostly, but others joined in. These were old bricks and hopefully will be re-used, as some were probably 200 years old, possibly. (4b) moving bricks. From the tail of the Brickwork in progress under the bridge lock to pallets under the apple tree, or from

Camp Report

Pictures by Paul Rodgers

Inglesham again

page 47

weird reason, which seems odd as the Leisure Centre let us shower there quite happily (considering we must’ve blocked their drains up with lock chamber black filth). Other team members included Tom (Roger Moore when younger) from Rome; not Frome, as previously mis heard, but actual Rome, Italy. The barber shop quartet of D-of-E young ’uns, always smiling: Ben, Matt, George and Gemma. And lovely Sarah the singer of ‘Let it go’ from Frozen. David (Ambler) was the ‘six hour ‘ wait man for collecting the Arbortech. I think that’s what he said. Red-jumper-Roy was there for part of the week, laying down the law about angles and drawing highly technical sketches and diagrams. He also showed us how to wear your hard hat at a rakish angle and told Paul his ‘bottom was in the way’. Hamon came for the weekend, and was very smiley and good on the road filling. Problems: No tea except via a wee kettle. Rob almost got left behind on one evening as he simply will not come out of the hole. He also brought the world’s weirdest jigsaw of elephants out of focus,which featured in the foreground what Rob said were ‘rocks’ but were clearly what elephants leave behind when they have no access to an ‘Ab-Fab’ portaloo, jumbo sized. Of all the camps I’ve ever been on this one won the prize for folks being totally committed, enthusiastic, keen to learn, hard working, non grumbly and ‘filling the gaps’ where needed. Everyone spent the week vying for Brownie points from Teacher Chris. And I can honestly say it was a close run thing as the DoE young ’uns aka ‘the kids’ played a blinder both in the continental buffet they served up with panache ( a delicious form of quiche)... yummm.... and the work on site where they excelled in every task assigned them. So young to be so talented, and they can sing too! Sign here for bookings. Paul and Amanda won the VC for being top notch newbies, it seemed hardly credible they hadn’t had years of WRG experience. Sophie came to our rescue as there was no official cook. Her cakes View were truly epic, especially the ice

page 48

cream cake confection which must have more calories per inch than any in the Guinness Book of Records. She came for a ‘long weekend’ and even left us dinner for Tuesday; so we managed the last three evenings ourselves via fish and chips (pre boat trip from The Trout at St John’s Lock), RAF Martin BBQ on the Friday and the above-mentioned continental on the Wednesday. Everyone pitched in and we were a dream team, I can tell you, with John and Rob and Bryan (Navy Bryan) leading the way as MUPs. Quotes: TC : ‘I’m extremely pleased wiv the work they done’ Tom: ‘I’ve never scrubbed so many bricks’ Alan: ‘Teapot’. Questions: (thinking): ‘How did that lump of wood get in the pipe that was sucking out the water from the chamber?’ RAF Martin: (thinking) ‘I hope my week has such great folks’. And well done Tom and Valerie for getting all the BBQ stuff, and a big thank you to RAF Martin for doing the BBQ cooking. Amanda: ‘As Chris said at top of the week, he had three objectives: No injuries, have fun, and get some work done. All achieved in full, and the 2nd objective especially. Sarah and myself conquered our fear of ladders ( see photos) and were up and down like rats up a drainpipe’. Paul: ‘We got lucky with Chris as our leader. But don’t tell him I said so.’ Tasterella Taster

of the hired plastic dam from the boat trip

Down in South Wales it’s all happening on the Ty Coch flight of locks south of Cwmbran on the ‘Mon & Brec’. Ralph Mills reports...

Camp report Monmouthshire & Brecon

blunting of chain saw blades, and many envious glances at the nearby full-sized excavator that was busily engaged in conThis year, only a single WRG week on the structing an access road to the Ty Coch locks Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal... well, a compound. But in the end, a stump or three week and a bit actually, counting a long were extracted, and a big difference made. weekend in June. But a pretty good week[See page 22 for Sophie of London WRG’s and-a-bit: great people, great weather, great take on this weekend] surroundings and a goodly amount of work The week-long camp followed a couple achieved. of weeks later, with a team of young people Once again, activity was focused on the (I include myself, Bob Coles and Dave Amlocks at Ty Coch, near Cwmbran, North of bler within this category, as we are all young Newport Monmouthshire. This series of locks at heart) taking delivery of a shiny new WRG descends through rolling countryside from panel van and continuing where the midsumthe hamlet of Ty Coch to Pentre Lane, and is mer camp left off. More tree dentistry was in the middle of a restoration project funded achieved, a lot of tidying, and much demoliby a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. This means tion. My camps might not match the finessed that unlike many WRG camps there is a lot of associated infrastructure already in place, including two full-time managerial staff, a compound with storage and accommodation containers, tools and equipment. This has many positives and a few negatives, but once again (it was my sixth visit) I thoroughly enjoyed my humble input into the grand scheme Work on the bullnose wall and (below) at the end of the camp of things on the Mon & Brec. The midsummer weekend camp, inspired and energised by Martin Danks, involved folks from The Bit in The Middle, the London Group, a handful of locals and me. We spent three warm and sweaty days attacking several humungous tree stumps, which involved much grunting, much Uncredited pictures by Ralph Mils

Monmouthshire & Brecon 20 - 22 June, 5 - 12 July

page 49

construction skills of others, but we are jolly good at demolishing things. We had a record number of Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award candidates this year, who without exception knuckled down and worked very well alongside the ‘normal’ volunteers. No wasp Spill weir retaining wall before the camp... attacks this time, just a significant number of hungry horse flies, and no blood-letting (as usual), though in future it might be borne in mind by those watching others hammering at stones that they too might benefit from protective eyewear. In almost perfect weather (we had only ...during (with millionaire hard at work)... a couple of short sharp showers) we got a lot done, getting within a course or two of finishing the Ty Coch Lower Lock bullnose, more than half completing the nearby spill weir retaining wall, putting some final touches to said weir, making good progress on a ...and after the camp. new quadrant for Ty Cock Upper Lock and son would scoff at us, but we weren’t stonemabeginning the restoration of the retaining sons, and of course included people who wall around the spillway outfall of Brake through no fault of their own had never held a Lock. The mostly dry weather didn’t, howcold chisel before (although there was plenty of ever, prevent some splendid examples of hammering and chiselling going on). muddiness, with Camille leading the way. At the end of the week there were If there were any frustrations this year, several jobs that although unfinished, could they were that the stone supply we were have been completed by a subsequent camp, using wasn’t wonderful and that a single which would have benefitted the project and week isn’t long enough. been satisfying for the volunteers. Plus of The mix of large and irregular stones results in constructions that tend to resemble course, selfishly, I enjoy spending a second week on the canal as a humble volunteer, a rockery, and are more exhausting to hanleaving the leading to someone else! dle. And these great chunks of tough igneMy excellent Assistant Leader, Ayushi ous rock weren’t a raw material that was easy to trim to size. Of course a true stonema- Vyas, enthused and energised a fine bunch

page 50

Martin Ludgate

gramme aimed at showing them hard at work in the canal mud as volunteers for the day. In the end they proved to be good at posing for cheesy photographs and sipping tea in the shade, but I wouldn’t have chosen any of them as volunteers on my camp! I think for me the highlight was the sight of a The lower wing wall with BITM attackng a stump on the June dig... couple of pretty useless lottery millionaires being bossed around by some of the youngest WRG volunteers! We held our final evening picnic up at Cwmcarn Forest, where a couple of hardy (crazy?) volunteers plunged in and swam in the murky waters of the reservoir. It was the end of a happy and ...and with rebuilding under way on the July camp productive week during which we of volunteers. The old hands, Bob Coles and managed to break a shovel and a pointing Dave Ambler, and slightly less old hands like hawk, but returned the van unscratched... Ralph Mills Brian Mannion, set great examples to the rest of the crew, who worked uncomplainingly and with initiative and commitment. We all lived happily together in the salubrious, if this year rather cramped, accommodation at St Hilda’s church hall, Griffithstown and were privileged in having two cooks, Tanvi and Kavita, who not only created a succession of excellent meals but also, through their charm and exuberance, raised the spirits of end-ofhard-day weary volunteers. Everyone made good use of The Open Hearth pub, just down the hill from the church hall, and appropriately beside the navigable stretch of the canal. Expensive beer though! Pontypool Leisure Centre had upgraded their showers, no doubt just for us. The last day was enlivened by the presence of multiple lottery millionaires, who “Mud, glorious mud!” ostensibly were there to star in a TV pro-

page 51

address). Unless I hear otherwise, I will assume all agree that the minutes are a correct record of the meeting. Matters arising from these minutes – please let me know. Officers’ reports – Commode Door & club representative to AWCC; Secretary; Little Treasure(r). Allocation of funds and/or donations wrg bc news July 2014 Election of officers – How we go about For those who didn’t manage to get to the this in a virtual manner again I have no Rally in Chester I’m sorry to tell you that you idea. Existing club officers, Lynne, Ann, missed a really good event! It was very well Mike and Sadie, are willing to continue but organized, lots going on, lovely weather (for it would be handy to have another memmost of the weekend), excellent food, and ber. Anyone wanting to be a club officer much information for everyone interested in this is your chance! The involvement will be canals: AND there were plenty of visitors! Most minimal, just passing on information and of us were busy for some/all of the time but maybe attending a meeting now and then we did have a super impromptu evening on should no one else be available and reportthe Saturday, attended by most of the club ing back afterwards. The qualifications members that were there and others from the needed might include; being willing; a good Rally. What talent we have within the club! sense of humour and of the ridiculous; able Many thanks to Ken and Barbara for leading to provide/open a bottle of wine (easy now the entertainment, but not forgetting Malwith screw tops); keen on canals and specolm and Eric’s contributions and, as they cifically restoration (what on earth are you said at the Music Halls, ‘Chiefly Yourselves’! doing being a wrgie if you’re not?) The most important reason for our Future plans – Suggestions please!!! attendance at Chester was that it was a Roger Jeffries Trophy aka ‘The wrg bc Campaign Rally. I think that the people of Bowl’ – this has always been used (filled Chester and the surrounding area are now in with punch provided by me) to toast no doubt as to the importance of the canal in absent friends. Please toast our absent their midst and the strength of feeling regardfriends but sorry you will have to provide ing improving the access to the River Dee! your own drink with which to do it! While so many members were there, we had a short discussion about the AGM. As Any other business - Please advise. so few can be present at Shackerstone it was So that is the planned agenda for our AGM, suggested that we have a ‘virtual AGM’. I probably of a virtual nature, all comments have no idea what this means, is it someand advice gratefully received. thing to do with the fact that virtually no The only way that we can keep in members will be present? (Apologies to the touch, as we are so spread out and any spare stalwart few that will be.) time/energy is usually spent ‘playing in the I suggest that we/you contact me somemud’ at some restoration or other, is via the how with your thoughts. Here is an agenda: internet or editions of Navvies - what would No apologies for absence as most mem- we do without it! PLEASE see that I have bers will be, and who knows which ones your latest email address and mobile phone are ignoring a ‘virtual meeting’? number, as sometimes I use text messages. It was really good to see members at Minutes of the previous AGM – These Chester and have time to chat and socialise. can be found in the December/January Navvies issue 262 If anyone thinks these are A shame we will not be able to meet in numbers at Shackerstone but those who are NOT an accurate report of what happened they should have said so sooner! What? Are there will do their best to keep the spirit of wrg bc alive. there some members who can’t remember Best wishes and happy boating exactly what was written? OK I can send xxx Sadie Heritage you a copy if you have lost yours, just let 0774818686 7 sadiedean@msn.com me know (and ensure I have a current email

WRG BC

News from our boat club

. . . .

. . .

. .

page 52

Brian Amos, one of a kind I can’t remember exactly where and when I first met Brian and Maureen: the Ladywood Flight on the Droitwich in the early 1990s rings a bell, when they appeared along the footpath to say “hello” and find out what we were up to. They very soon became stalwarts on both KESCRG weekend working parties and camps, with both Maureen and Brian working on site. Brian proved to be an able bricklayer and there were many weekends on the Droitwich with the two Brians (Brian Gower being the other) plugging away repairing the locks as we moved down the Ladywood Flight. Brian specialised in bricklaying and over the many years he came out with KESCRG has left a lasting contribution to no end of restoration projects. Brian could be a little accident prone: I remember he managed to fall off the side of a lock at Ladywood into an empty chamber, but somehow escaped unscathed. And Land Rover ‘DOK’ still has green paint on the floor after Brian kicked over an open tin he had left in the footwell as he got into the passenger seat... Although an enthusiastic driver Brain was not always as accurate as some, as the various scars and dents on his Fiesta demonstrated - and who can forget the driving gloves? Two particular incidents come to mind: The first was on the Wey & Arun behind the pub at Loxwood. We were laying out the car park and access track to Brewhurst lock in preparation for lowering the lock, and Brian was on the roller. I had gone off site to collect something or other and when I got back was asked if I could fix the beacon which had been on top of the roller’s roll bar. Looking at the vast area, devoid of any tress, I asked how it had happened. A lone tree stood some distance away on the opposite side of the car park to where we were working. Brian had somehow driven under it while turning round… Not only did Brian volunteer with KESCRG, but along with Maureen he was a regular at the IWA National festivals for many years, which led to another mishap. We were at Chester where there were a couple of trucks on loan from the local council. One of them had a non-car-type gear layout with first gear at bottom left, and reverse opposite it at top left. They were parked backed up against some Heras fencing, the other side of which was Brian and Maureen’s Caravan. You can no doubt guess what happened when Brian went to set off in first (not!) – the truck shot backwards and shoved the top of one of the fence panel uprights through the side of his caravan. I am glad it wasn’t me that got the tongue-lashing

In memory The unique Mr Brian Amos from Maureen! Brian and Maureen eventually decided after many many years of working with KESCRG that the long-distance travelling and kipping on a village floor was getting too much, and so would only come and see the group it we were working close to their home in Gravesend. Some would have hung up their boots, but instead Brian and Maureen became very actively involved with the Thames & Medway Canal restoration. Here are some thoughts from the team on the KESCRG August weekend dig at Wendover: “Obviously the first thing to spring to mind being the quantity and dubious quality of the alcohol generally involved”. “On my first camp I vividly remember being warned (possibly by Ian Williamson) that I should never accept the offer of one of Brian’s special brews ... which I subsequently managed to studiously avoid for many years. Though the home brew was apparently very good at persuading people to buy shares in the 100 club ...” “False teeth falling out when the worse for wear?!” “Brian sat on the back of n.b. Tarporley being the nerve centre of Little Venice on the radios.” “Being woken in the morning by a cup of tea carried on a tray. And if you didn’t acknowledge the offering, a jolly hard kick in the ribs!” “Probably the main thing though is the fact he was always smiling, always incredibly welcoming and always had a story to tell.” I couldn’t hazard a guess at how many KESCRG weekends I ran with Brian (and Maureen) in attendance but they wouldn’t have been so successful without the ever helpful presence of Mr Amos. Brian along with Maureen are the sort of people you knew you could rely on, always there if they had said they would be, usually the first to arrive and often the last to leave, having helped me tidy the hall away and sort the catering kit, always cheerful and always good fun to have around. Mr Amos - One of a kind. Our thoughts are with Maureen and the family. Thoughts from the current KESCRG volunteers pulled together by Eddie Jones

page 53

Navvies News

School, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich. For more information contact Julia Tinker Julia.tinker@canalrivertrust.org.uk or Geraint Coles g.coles@ucs.ac.uk.

Ties and tying the knot

Brick ties

Following on from John Hawkins’ article in Navvies 265 about stainless ties being fitted to old brickwork using two-part resin, Luke Restoration skills courses Walker has been in touch to say that he has a WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways stock of about 100m of the stainless spiral Association and the Canal & River Trust have material... got together to organise some waterway Jon Pontefract of the Cotswold Canals restoration skills courses. They are intended Trust wants some for Griffin’s Mill Lock, but if to help not with practical skills but the bethere’s any other projects out there needing hind-the-scenes stuff that restoration projects some of this material, please contact me. need in order to make progress, and are It’s also useful for pinning coping mainly aimed at those involved in waterway stones together, for example at restoration societies and trusts. Steppingstones Lane Bridge on the Wilts & The theme of the courses this year is Berks at Shrivenham. “Are you Funding Ready?” and will focus on I bought a minimum order quantity getting your group ready for major funding. some years ago so I could supply canal 25 October 2014: “Are you funding trusts needing smaller quantities. So far, I’ve ready? Part One: Managing Canal always managed to get material to the Projects from idea to active waterprojects needing it without delivery charge, way”. Content will focus on the project so the stuff is available at the same unit price planning and management skills required to that I bought it for. take a project from initial brainwave to a Contact luke.walker@waterways.org.uk deliverable scheme which is likely to be funded. It will work thought the key develGoing for a song... opment stages and how these are evaluated by external bodies. If you happen to be anywhere near Morley, 17 January 2015: “Are you funding Yorkshire on Tuesday 7 October, you might ready? Part Two: Finding the right be interested in dropping in at the Folk Club Governance & Financial Structures for where former WRG volunteer and self-conyour project”. Content will explore the fessed ‘very ancient navvy’ Darryl Foxwell will different types of governance and financial be providing 45 minutes of songs and poems management structures which can be used in relating to canals and canal restoration which waterway restoration and the potential benwill form the first half of the evening’s enterefits, costs and restrictions of each. In so tainment. It will feature a poet, musicians, doing it will examine the expectations of singers and the assembled audience. major project funders. The club opens 19.30, the performance March 21st 2015: “Are you funding starts at 20.00 prompt, and ends around ready? Part Three: Keeping the lights 23.15. It’s £3 for members and £4 for nonon – approaches to making a waterway members, and there’s a bar in the room with sustainable”. Content will examine the very reasonably prices. implications of the demands of major The address is Morley Folk Club, Morley funders that a project must be sustainable in United Services Club, 27 High Street, Morley the medium to long term. It explores LS27 9AL. See www.morleyfolk.org different approaches to achieving long term sustainability and how these might be Congratulations... implemented. The courses will be held at the CRT ...to Mr & Mrs James and Katy-Felicity Butler Office at Hatton Locks, Near Warwick, on their marriage on 25 August. And felicitaand led by Dr Geraint Coles from the Herittions to Martyn Worsley and Michelle age Futures group at Suffolk Business Litchfield on their forthcoming wedding.

page 54

Dear Deirdre I have some concerns about the

Infill

location of a camp I’ve been asked to lead. The canal we’ll be visiting is notorious for hosting disastrous camps – you know, the kind that floods before you even get there and then the towpath collapses and the dam fails and the plant hire company can’t get down the narrow track and it rains so much you can’t get a concrete pour done. I’m not usually superstitious but is there such as thing as a cursed waterway? - JB, Bristol

Deirdre writes I agree that some waterways do seem especially cursed. A few years back I put in a serious proposal to Head Office to have some sections of the Basingstoke exorcised. I must say I was very disappointed by their lack of interest in the idea. As HQ won’t offer advice in the event of hexes, jinxes and execrations, you’ll just have to take matters into your own hands. Personally I won’t lead any camp that occurs over a full moon or is located near a crossroads. I also strap a rabbit’s foot to my hard hat and carry a horseshoe in one hand the whole time. It interferes with your barrowing but I think it’s worth it. Some more experienced leaders anoint the waterway with holy water when they do the site visit. You can get this on Amazon. Have good camp! Do you have a question for Deirdre? You can email it to deirdre@wrg.org.uk

Let’s talk about sox... Spotted on the Barbour website by one of the WRG board, who suggested that “instead of having to hold them up with garters, any old tatty bit of blue nylon string will do...” Let’s hope they don’t have any holes in them, as I gather they can only be mended in the stoppage season...

On your bike... Our name turns up in a few unexpected places. Including - as pointed out by Brian Evans of Southampton Canal Society - on the TV commentary on the Tour de France! Apparently while commentating on a helicopter view of the peloton during Stage 2, with the action near Hebden Bridge and the Rochdale Canal in view, Phil Ligget mentioned WRG “and the wonderful job they do”.

If you thought Gas Street Basin was uninspriring... A couple of issues back I asked whether Boring Canal Road in Patna, India, was the least inspiring waterways related name in the world. Well, of course it isn’t - how could I have forgotten the USA’s one and only Dismal Swamp Canal? But on to cheerier things. Also in the USA for the romantically-inclined there’s the Love Canal. Afraid it doesn’t quite live up to its name, though: it was abandoned, filled with toxic waste, and later described as “one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history”. Oh well, let’s try the Jolly Canal in India, famous for the... err... Jolly Canal Massacre...

page 55

page 56