IWA Chelmsford Branch Newsletter January 2013

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Chelmsford 1970 by Charles Stock

Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways Disclaimer: The IWA may not agree with opinions expressed in this Newsletter but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed herein may be construed as policy or official announcement unless stated otherwise. The IWA accepts no liability for any matter in the Newsletter

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Content From the Editor From Your Regional Chairman Christmas Social 2012 Working Party News Heybridge Basin Autumn Canal Camp

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Little Baddow Mill House Food For thought Chelmer Apartments Social Scene Concerts Just for Fun Committee Update

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From The Editor The ancient people measured time in cycles called Baktun of 394 years each and with the winter solstice of 21/12/2012 marked the end of the Mayain 13th Baktun.

As we follow on from 2012, using the Georgian calendar (the difference between the Georgian and Julian calendar has increased by three days every four centuries) it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the new age of 2013 and wish you all the best of success in all your endeavours within the year.

Your membership is very important we need your continued support to the Chelmsford Branch and Inland Waterways Association but most importantly for the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation which is operated by the Inland Waterways Association.

We would like to increase our contributors to this Newsletter please make time to look out your photos, articles and ideas and send them in for our next newsletter, the closing contribution dates are as follows Spring 21/02/2013 Summer 21/06/2013 Autumn 21/08/2013 For those on e-mail please send your input to chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk. Those without just give me a call to arrange for collection. 07837 576464.

John G Carlaw

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From Your Regional Chairman With dark evenings drawing in it is time to reflect on what we have achieved in London Region Inland Waterways Association over the past year and to look forward to next year. 2012 has been a busy one for all the branches in the London Region, as well as for IWA nationally. In July we saw the launch of the new Canal & River Trust (CRT). IWA’s campaign certainly ensured that their financial settlement is more generous than it could have been.

This year London Region has, as it does every year, held the largest IWA rally of the year at Little Venice. It has had a successful campaign to keep Commercial Road Lock open throughout the Olympic period. This was followed up by using our volunteers, who were originally intended to act as harbour masters for the expected hundreds of visiting boats, to assist in manning the lock as well as the control points around London. The efforts by IWA volunteers have been well received by CRT and all the boaters they came in contact with. We also hosted the National AGM at Chelmsford with members coming from all over the country to visit our Region.

Finally in December the region produced its proposals for reducing overstaying boats in the London area. The region committee have proposed a new regime of mooring in London based on a mixture of greater enforcement and self-regulation where this can be achieved. The proposal was developed in response to the increasing number of craft appearing on the waterways system around London and resultant congestion, visual impact, shortage of permanent and visitor moorings, and problems with security, policing and waste disposal in the area. If you want to read the proposal, it can be found on the IWA website under London News.

So much for the past, what have we got coming up next year? Actually it is already looking as though it is going to be another very busy one. IWA Festivals have decided to use the boating events in the region to create an IWA Summer campaign throughout the capital's waterways. The Cavalcade, Rickmansworth, Ware, Angel and Slough festivals along with the National Boat Festival at Cassiobury Park will all feature. They will be looking at our branches to help run linked events, talks and displays, theatre performances, discovery tours, sponsored walks, clean-ups, pub tours and brewery trips, street parades and anything with a theme, or a location, or a story around the London waterways.

During the next year we will need to build on our initiative to try and find a solution to the problem of the overstaying boats in London. The challenge will be for us to help CRT to do this in such a way that it does not just spread the problem over an even wider area. This is on top of our on-going campaigns, supporting the Festival of London Waterways and the new problems that will inevitably come up and will require our attention.

If you think you have some time to help us next year, please contact me.

Paul Strudwick

Christmas Social 2012 We where entertained by Keith Leedham with his award winning slide sequences. The sequences consisted of breathtaking Scottish scenery including moody skies, snow covered beaches and dramatic background music. There followed several short pieces including a canal holiday, marshland and freshwater birds, 1960’s Mods and Rockers and an interesting look at shoppers at the Bluewater Shopping Centre, a day in the centre of Bath and so much more.

No wonder his sequences have won awards!

It was a lovely evening and we all enjoyed a splendid buffet including Christmas cake made by Sylvia Cox. This was a nice end to the IWA Social year.

Chris Chandler

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Working Party News The weekend of December 1st and 2nd saw the Chelmsford Branch working party getting together with Essex WRG for a joint working party on the Chelmer & Blackwater. Both groups were low in numbers, but, together there were adequate people.

The job was to cut back vegetation that was beginning to encroach on the towpath and the stretch in question was from Hall Bridge towards Heybridge Basin. A previous Essex WRG working party had started the job and we were following on from there.

As work got underway branches of overhanging trees and the thickets of brambles were cut down and transported to the bonfire that had been started.

As the towpath is also a public bridleway we had to be careful of pedestrians particularly when using the chainsaws, hedge cutters or strimmers. In fact if the pedestrian had a dog we turned the motors off.

As mid afternoon came we had to stop feeding the bonfire because we had to let it go out overnight.

And then a little later we loaded the tools and most of the volunteers on to the Buddy to cruise back to the basin. We left a very small group watching the bonfire as it died. Once the Buddy was unloaded it returned to site to collect the remaining volunteers, arriving back at the Basin in the dark. Essex WRG then retired to the barge Haybay which was our accommodation for the weekend and had our annual Christmas meal, while the Branch volunteers returned home.

We all assembled at the Basin at nine o’clock and loaded the tools and our various lunches on to the Buddy – our work boat and transport for the day. We then had a mile and a half cruise to the work site.

The advantage of the Buddy is that it has a ramp at the front, so that one can drive bow first into the bank and unfold the ramp, which makes getting on and off much easier.

Sunday followed the same procedure. Some different members of the branch joined us, and, as the day progressed some of Essex WRG volunteers that lived further away departed.

All through the weekend members of the public that passed through the site (and on both days we had someone who had walked from Chelmsford – 14 miles) were very complementary about our work.

Now that the path is no longer shaded by the vegetation it is hoped that it will dry out a little. That is, if it ever stops raining!

Essex WRG are hoping to have a working party jointly with London WRG on the Chelmer on 2nd and 3rd February, but this has still to be confirmed. No date has yet been set for the next Chelmsford Branch working party.

John Gale

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The new timber edge to phase two was fitted and mooring bollards installed along the whole quayside. The timber posts to this phase were also installed and as there had been no ground disturbance on this section, the concrete edge path was also commenced.

Heybridge Basin North Quay Work on the steel piling to the first phase of the North Quay improvements at Heybridge Basin started just over a year ago and the contractors completed the piling by Christmas 2011. Essex Waterways own staff and volunteers were to complete the phase one work with the installation of new electrical services to the moorings, new concrete edge path, mooring bollards, timber posts and resurfacing of the car parking area. This would be followed by a phase two which involved providing a new oak timber capping to the earlier steel pile edge along with matching concrete edge path, mooring bollards, timber posts and resurfacing. This would create a safer and smarter quayside with additional parking space.

I have reported in an earlier issue that work progress was slower than anticipated due to the wet summer and volunteers being busy coping with the rapid grass growth along the whole Navigation as well as other jobs.

The quayside path is now complete (apart from one bay where redundant services need to be moved), and the car park has been resurfaced. On this day of writing, the Electricity Supply Company is due to connect a new electricity supply to the area and thus enable the final electrical connections to be made and thus the whole project to be completed. This has been a long and major project which has resulted in a much improved and safer water frontage for all users. It is really good to see it completed.

On completion of the new phase one piling the bank had to be left to consolidate and dry out.

New service ducts were laid and the new timber posts to separate the parking from the quayside path were installed, but the path itself was left with a temporary finish as the disturbed ground was still prone to settlement.

Our thanks go to Essex & Suffolk Water and Essex County Council for assistance with funding the improvements and to all our volunteers who have helped with the project during the year. A special thank you has to go to Bob Barron, our volunteer for all the complex electrical installation.

Roy Chandler

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The work for the week was vegetation management, or Scrub-bashing as it is often called

by WRG publicity.

Autumn Canal Camp The fourth and final Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camp on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation took place at the end of October and beginning of November. Accommodation for this camp was at the Plume School in Maldon, as the usual Haybay barge was not available. There were several of our “regulars” amongst the sixteen or so on the camp as well as a fair contingent of Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme participants. They were joined by some of our “locals” which is how they seem to refer to our regular local volunteers.

The first day, Sunday, is often seen as a settling in day, involving safety and equipment talks. This was spent at Hoe Mill Lock, where the work was unloading the work barge Julie which had arrived laden with rubble from the brickwork repairs being undertaken upstream at Little Baddow Mill House (see separate article).

This section of the Navigation had not received attention for many years and there were numerous large trees, particularly willows on the non tow path side, some of which had partially fallen and regrown obstructing the Navigation channel.

Removing these proved difficult as the permanent immersion of the fallen willow branches had encouraged dense root growth below the water.

The tow path had also been neglected and bank side brambles had encroached onto this, forcing walkers further from the original line and the water edge.

The group soon set into a working rhythm and their efforts were complemented by all the walkers and ramblers that passed by. Removal of the brambles allowed the sun and breeze to reach the tow path and dry the mud, whilst the wider cut of the vegetation provides space to walk clear of the muddy eroded path. The work has created a more user friendly tow path and waterway and will allow new growth to quickly regenerate.

The rubble was placed upon the embankment of the lock cut to reinforce a potentially weak area.

Enthusiasm was such that Julie was swept out ready for reloading with branches from over hanging trees to be taken for disposal.

By the end of the week the water level in the Navigation had risen and the flow over the gates at Ricketts Lock prevented its operation. The small workboats therefore had to be returned downstream to Heybridge Basin, an interesting variation in the daily working pattern.

Monday saw the arrival of Michael, Navigation Senior Lengths Man, who was to take Julie down to the main worksite below Ricketts Lock. For the rest of the camp, the WRG vans delivered the main group of volunteers and tools to Ricketts Lock, while a chosen few took the smaller Raider and Buddy workboats from Hoe Mill to the site each morning and returned these again in the evening.

Our thanks go to James and Maggie, camp leaders, Bob Crow for chainsaw operation and Michael for chainsaw and Julie operation and being Essex Waterways’ man on the Camp!

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Little Baddow Mill House It is over a year since I reported on brickwork repairs to the sluices, tunnels and former mill races at Little Baddow Mill and I said that further work is likely to be planned here for next year. This further work to the downstream bridge has now been completed.

Little Baddow Mill House is one of several locations along the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation where the property was previously owned by the Navigation Company but was sold in order to pay debts. With many of these sales, the responsibility for maintaining the banks and waterway structures remained with the Navigation. In most cases these banks and structures were in a much neglected condition and Essex Waterways has been undertaking repairs to these since it took responsibility for maintaining and operating the Navigation in 2005.

At Little Baddow Mill House many of the brick retaining walls were covered in ivy and their extent and condition could not be established until this was removed. This was the case with the downstream tunnel which also forms the access bridge. Preliminary investigations last year when ivy was removed showed that both this and large tree roots had penetrated the wall, destroyed the footings, and fractured the tunnel. In addition trees growing on the bridge had dislodged the parapet wall and this was potentially unstable. A major rebuild was required, hence the need for a return visit and a new budget!

The series of photographs show the project before, during and after the completion. This is another part of the waterway that is within a private garden and this structure is not seen from the Navigation or by its users.

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Food For Thought With the Christmas festivities coming to a close now is a chance to walk off all those mince pies and extra slice of Christmas pudding. What better way than to get out on the towpath and burn those calories off and use up that turkey you have. Here is a little recipe to make that will make that walk along the towpath something to look forward too.

Turkey, Smoked Bacon and Sweetcorn Chowder 30g / 1oz Butter 120g / 4oz of smoked bacon diced 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 large potato, peeled and cut into small chunks 750ml 27fl oz turkey stock (made form the carcass of the turkey) 300g / 12oz of turkey, cut into small chunks 150g / 5oz of fresh, canned or frozen sweet corn niblets 150ml / 5fl oz double cream 150ml / 50z full fat milk 1 tbsp corn flour, blended with 1 tbsp cold water 3 spring onions, finely chopped 2 tbsp chopped parsley Salt and black pepper Serves 4 - 6 Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and gently fry the bacon. Add the onion and potato and cook slowly for a further 2 minutes., stirring continuously and taking care not to brown.

Then add the stock to the saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce to a low heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just soft.

Add the turkey, sweetcorn, cream and milk to the pan and cook gently for a further 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, blend the corn flour with the water and add to the saucepan, stirring until thickened.

Then add the finely chopped spring onions and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper if a little too thick add a little more turkey stock.

Serve with toasted bread.

So with minimal use of all those kitchen gadgets here is some food for thought. Open the wine and get cooking.

If you have tried and tested dishes that you would like to share then please send on to chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk .

John G Carlaw

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Chelmer & Blackwater Apartments

Social Scene

In 1992-93 IWA Chelmsford Branch spearheaded the restoration and reopening of the derelict Springfield Basin, on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation, in Chelmsford town centre. This was soon followed by a series of new waterside developments incorporating apartments, shops, offices, restaurants and a new marina basin, all encouraged by a series of Planning Briefs produced by Chelmsford Borough Council. All these developments provided public access around the Basin, probably for the first time.

January 10th Darren Tansley Essex Wildlife Trust Water Vole Recovery Project February 14th Denys Harrison The Story of Heybridge Basin March 12th Region AGM at Hillingdon Canal Club HQ, Uxbridge Wharf, Uxbridge March 14th AGM plus members pics etc (bring your memory sticks or cd) April 11th C Barltrop A live aboard view of the Olympics and the exclusion zone

Since that time, Chelmsford has become a city and IWA through its subsidiary company, Essex Waterways Ltd, has taken responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the 14 mile Navigation.

Springfield Basin is just minutes from the city centre and it remains a very popular location to live and play and this is confirmed by the commencement of another new development of 48 one and two bedroom chic waterside apartments by Taylor Wimpey. Indigo Wharf will incorporate residents parking and cycle storage and a secure dinghy store. The new wharf frontage will also provide moorings with services which will be available through Essex Waterways and will have cruising access to the whole length of the Navigation.

Concerts In 2012 a successful Saturday lunch time concert was held at the United Reform Church, Market Hill, Maldon, for the benefit of the Branch and Essex Waterways. A further concert has been arranged for Saturday January 19th at the same venue, when David Preston will play Beethoven’s Midnight Sonata and Chopin. This is timed at 12:30 am to allow for teas and cakes before the start a 1.00pm concert start. This concert is in aid of RNLI. All are welcome.

A further concert is planned for February or March in aid of IWA and EWL which will feature our own committee member. Watch for further details online.

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Just For Fun

Snow In Idiom

SUDOKU

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It is said that a snowflake is winters butterfly and is one of Gods most fragile creations that never falls in the wrong place. Each snowflake is unique, just like you and me. An avalanche begins with a snowflake.

But look what they can do when they stick together.

When working try not to get overloaded or snowed under, as it could have a snowball effect and grow larger.

Fill in the grid so that each row, column and 3 x 3 block contains the numbers one to nine (1 - 9) 2 5

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Be aware of being tricked or confused by a snow job or be snowballed into something as you may not have a snowballs chance in hell. We all try to be as white as snow or pure as driven snow.

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Just remember what Bing sang

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Oh the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful And since we have no place to go Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Branch Committee If you have any topics or subject that you wish to bring to the committees attention please use the contact details below John Gale:

Vice Chairman & Treasurer.

24 Longleaf Drive, Braintree CM7 1XS

Paul Strudwick:

London Region Chairman.

Paul.strudwick@waterways.org.uk

Chris Chandler:

Secretary.

Chris.chandler@waterways.org.uk

Roy Chandler:

Planning and Conservation.

Roy.chandler@waterways.org.uk

John Carlaw:

Newsletter and Membership.

Chelmsford.news@waterways.org.uk John.carlaw@waterways.org.uk

Mike Huggett:

Publicity.

Mike.huggett@waterways.org.uk

Stephanie Mason:

Refreshments.

None

Jean Maxwell:

Social and Fundraising.

Jean.maxwell@waterways.org.uk

Kirsten Smith:

Youth.

None

Adam Wyllie:

Branch Web Editor.

Adam.wyllie@waterways.org

IWA Chelmsford Web Address

http://www.waterways.org.uk/chelmsford

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