Ouse News Autumn 2019

Great Ouse Branch

Ouse News - Autumn 2019 Newsletter covering the Great Ouse and tributaries Contents: Branch Committee

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Branch News

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Chairman’s Corner

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Regional Chairman

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Water Safety

p7

Stowe Country Park p8 ‘End of an Era’

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River News from EA p15

Photo courtesy of Environment Agency See report on page 15

Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways.

Book Review

p23

CO Alarms

p25

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the Great Ouse Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers.

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Great Ouse Branch Committee: Chairman: Keith Alderton Tel : 01366 727236 Secretary: John Hodgson Tel : 01234 344884 Treasurer: Enid Hodgson Tel : 01234 344884 Ouse News Editor: Carole Alderton Tel : 01366 727236 Membership Officer: Peter Webb Tel: 01353 658581

Volunteer Coordinator: Gail Mead Tel: 01359 232603 Member: Stephen Foote Tel: 01763 838936 Member: Derek Bradley Tel: 01353 661601

We are a small, friendly group and would welcome another committee member to help us organise meetings and events. Please contact the editor.

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Branch News Winter Meetings are at 8.00 pm at the North Lodge Pavilion, North Lodge Park, Milton, CB24 6UD. T HURSDAY 24 TH O CTOBER

2019

An illustrated talk about the Boat Safety Scheme by Graham Freeman, outlining the reasons for each check and showing some of the horror stories he has found.

T HURSDAY 28 TH N OVEMBER

2019

This will be an illustrated talk by Hugh Howes on Milling Dynasties and their Watermills in this Region.

T HURSDAY 27 TH F EBRUARY

2020

An illustrated talk by Richard Thomas on The Royal Gunpowder Mills, beside the River Lea at Waltham Abbey.

T HURSDAY 26 TH M ARCH

2020

This will be our branch Annual General Meeting, together with an update from the Environment Agency.

We welcome the following new members to the branch. We hope you will introduce yourselves to us when coming to an event or meeting: Stuart & Wendy Fisher

Members who have moved to the branch: Peter & Audrey Hedges

For our ‘Away Day’ in the spring we have booked a trip on the Bedford & Milton Keynes boat John Bunyan from Bedford on the River Great Ouse. This will take place on Sunday, 26th April 2020, casting off at 1.00 pm.

The trip will include refreshments and a talk by a B&MK representative.

Please watch this space for further details.

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Chairman’s Corner Autumn seems to have come with a bang this year, with a rapid end to the short Indian summer. Regrettably, we have not had much chance to use our boat this year, but we did manage to get away for two weeks in September and enjoyed a round trip from Blisworth to Aylesbury and back during the best of the hot spell.

Unfortunately, we have been tied up for the past few months closing down Ely Boat Chandlers Ltd. The liquidation process has now been completed, the residual stock sold off and the premises put on the market. It is sad to see a local business of some 45 years standing ceasing trading, but I am afraid that it is a sign of the times with changing supply and purchasing patterns relentlessly squeezing out the local independent retailer. However, we have had great fun running the business for the past 16 years and thank all our loyal customers for their support over that time.

Many members will have noted that there has been a great deal of discussion of late about the appropriate speed at which to pass moored boats. I am sure that we have all had our mooring pins ripped out by inconsiderate (or perhaps inexperienced) boaters at some time or other, but fortunately such events are few and far between. You will always find that there are some people, particularly residential boaters, who are vociferously of the opinion that a blanket ‘pass on tick-over’ rule should be adopted at all times and take every opportunity to scream ‘slow down’ at anybody who dares create the smallest of ripples on the water. I sometimes wonder if such people would be a lot happier if they lived on dry land!

It has been said that if you passed every moored boat on the Grand Union at tick-over speed it would take three months just to travel from London to Birmingham. On many navigations there are stretches of moorings comprising of sheet steel piling topped by Armco barrier where boats can moor securely using ropes passed through piling-hooks or chains. Likewise, craft can moor securely using rings or bollards where provided.

Ouse News Page 5 In such circumstances I would suggest that passing boaters should moderate their speed accordingly, but slowing down to tick-over speed would seldom seem to be justified. Passing boats moored against a soft bank using pins requires a greater degree of caution. However, the owners of such moored craft can make their boats much more secure if they deploy at least one ‘spring’ (diagonal) line in addition to the normal fore and aft ropes.

My message is ‘don’t adopt a rigid rule, but use your common sense and behave courteously at all times’. This is a fairly controversial issue that is deserving of greater debate – please write to the editor if you have strong views on the subject.

We have once again organised a varied programme of lecture meetings during the winter months (see page 3) and I look forward to meeting branch members and their guests at North Lodge Pavilion.

Keith Alderton

News & Views Do you have an article, comment or photo you would like to share? We would be very pleased to receive it! Contact the editor: carolealderton@waterways.org.uk

Ouse News Page 6 Chris Howes, Eastern Region Chairman: Facilities - have your say !

We all know that here in the East we have some of the most beautiful navigable waters in the whole country; even if perhaps we sometimes seem to try and keep this incontrovertible fact secret from boaters on the rest of the system. But, there is one big question - are we the best provided region with services for boaters - water points, Elsan disposal, pump outs, rubbish disposal, reycling, getting rid of waste oil?

During the last year, the IWA has been undertaking its nationwide ‘Gaptracker’ survey. This aims to establish the areas most lacking in provision, or where there are the greatest gaps between services. Navigation authorities, including the EA and MLC, have said that they will welcome the findings of this survey, and the IWA will lobby for them to take appropriate actions to remedy deficiencies.

At the recent IWA Annual Meeting, we were given a presentation of the results so far. These results suggest that either our region enjoys the best provision of facilities, or we are the worst at replying to surveys.

Clearly, we don’t want our Navigation Authorities ‘resting on their laurels’.

So I would be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to think about where they could ‘do better’.

Please spread the word about the ‘Gaptracker’ survey and report any issues to do with facilities (either existing facilities or locations where you think new facilities are required) via the website survey. Click on News & Campaigns and scroll down the menu to Gaptracker - Facilities for Boaters.

Ouse News Page 7 Cambridgeshire Water Safety Partnership I reported in the spring that the IWA Great Ouse Branch had joined other interested parties in the Cambridgeshire Water Safety Partnership. Since then, a lot of work has been carried out regarding the provision of information/throwline boards at strategic places around the County. A number of older boards previously installed at particularly hazardous locations have already been replaced with ones to the latest design. Several country park authorities, including those at Milton and Ferry Meadows are actively considering installing the boards around their lakes.

In addition, consideration is being given to providing throwlines to riverside pubs/ businesses and training their employees how to deploy them. The equipment would be kept inside the buildings and a notice prominently displayed on an outside wall informing the public of its availability.

The CWSP is aware that there are a number of lakes and old gravel pits in our region; many of which are often in remote, inaccessible locations. When incidents occur in such places, those involved are often unable to explain to the rescue services exactly where they are. It is, therefore, proposed that smaller notices or engraved plaques be fixed to gate or fence posts giving details of the location using the international ‘what3words’ system. The Fire & Rescue Service will reconnoitre the area around each location and pre-plan the best access route for rescue vehicles. This system would also appear to be eminently suitable for remote moorings such as those provided by the EA, GOBA and Friends of the River Nene.

Ouse News Page 8 The Partnership would be pleased to consider suggestions as to where location plaques or throwline stations could be effectively installed. The partnership’s efforts would seem to me to be highly commendable and fully deserve the support of boating organisations.

Those members with smart phones could well consider downloading the ‘what3words’ app, details of which can be found at ‘what3words.com’.

You never know when you will find yourself in an emergency situation when speed of response will be critical to a successful outcome!

Keith Alderton A walk beside the Lark at West Stow Country Park While enjoying a pleasant walk recently we recalled how, as new members of the IWA in the early nineties, we had been there on a branch outing. At that time the branch had recently commissioned a feasibility study on restoring the navigation along the Lark to Bury St Edmunds. (I wonder if anyone has a copy of the report?)

The river is overgrown in places, but where we could see it the water ran clear over gravel. Otters returned to the river in the nineties and have now been restricted to the river course by some strong enclosing fencing around the lake, to protect the fish population.

The lock here, being crescent shaped, is fascinating; but unlike on our earlier visit, is now fenced off. There are also the remains of two structures either side of the lock, one in what appears to be very good condition; were they staunches?

There are level sandy paths around most of the park, with choices of walks.

There is a café, and you can visit the Anglo Saxon Village – especially interesting when the “Saxons” are at home.

Jean Webb

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Ouse News Page 10 End of an Era At the end of May this year we sold our boat Arachne; thus ending many years of enjoyment on the rivers and canals of the UK. We have always enjoyed being on the water and started with a canoe which we launched in Reach Lode. The canoe was even taken on the car roof to Wales for one holiday, but was never used as the sea was too rough and the rivers flowed too fast !

We first went on the canals in 1971. We went with another family and our respective daughters of 3 months and 6 weeks and our 9 month old puppy.

We went to the Llangollen Canal starting at Trevor. We had the decision to either go over the aqueduct or turn sharp right through the narrow bridge to Llangollen. Surprisingly I managed to navigate the bridge perfectly. At that time the canal did not have concrete edges, so stopping was just by going aground on the shallow edges. In glorious June weather we reached the town, then walked to the Horseshoe Falls. On our return we encountered the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Again I had to steer as our friend’s wife wanted her husband to stay in the cabin with her. Over we went, with me steering and also hopping off to take photographs! There was a super bakery beside the canal then so we decided to stop for some bread. I was in control and without thinking tried to stop us on the shallow sections; unfortunately it had deep water so we smashed into the rear of another hire boat sending their breakfast items flying !!! We got known as “The Nappy Boat” because the nappies were hung up on a line in the bow . Our dog would not walk the gang plank until, on the very last day, we cast off to find him looking at us from the bank!

It was another 17 years before we started hiring again with another family; 4 adults and 4 teenage children. We had many holidays with them, mainly in the Autumn half term but once in July on the French canal in Burgundy.

Over the years we had different combinations of youngsters, until it was just the adults left.

Ouse News Page 11 In 1991 we purchased our first boat. A cathedral hull 16ft day boat ‘Sam’ with a small cabin and 25hp outboard. The toilet and the camping stove were hidden in the rear seat and the cabin had a small bed. We had some fun times exploring the Great Ouse and its tributaries; we hardly saw any narrowboats then. For our two week holiday we took Sam through the Middle Levels and up the River Nene to Oundle before returning.

After belonging to the IWA for a few years I was “persuaded” to join the committee of the Cambridge (now Great Ouse) Branch in 1994!!

By 1995 we wanted more luxury so we purchased a Norman 20 ‘Live Wire’ that had built in toilet and cooking facilities. More cruising of the Great Ouse and Nene was undertaken, until in 1998 we took her along the River Nene to the canals to be sold.

As we enjoyed our hire boat breaks we started to look forward to spending more time on the canals, so we started looking at narrow boats. What an experience it was looking at boats on brokerage. Finding the boatyards by car involved driving down some very bumpy, dusty roads or tracks.

Then, when the boats were found some were left in a disgusting state. One that had had the power switched off still had milk, now solid, and other items in the fridge. Some had been abandoned still with newspapers and other objects around.

Ouse News Page 12 We visited boat shows and builders and finally came to decide on a new Sea Otter Narrow boat. Though short, (they only built 26ft at the time), it was trailable and the builders would do a trailing service for a very reasonable fee. Their boats are made of aluminium, so maintenance is minimal with no need of bottom blacking, anodes and no rust problems. We were allowed to design the layout. So after many discussions they started the build in late 1998.

In March 1999 Arachne was delivered to us. After a few trips we then made use of the towing service and had Arachne taken in July to Henley on the River Thames. In the 2 weeks we fell in love with that river. First we went downstream to Teddington.

Around Kingston on Thames we rescued a boat called Ben Gunn which had teenagers on board with a flat battery and towed them back to Hampton Court. The following year we saw in the papers that it had caught fire and was owned by Chris Tarrant. Newspapers variously described it as a 20ft or 40ft luxury ÂŁ20,000 motor cruiser!

We went all the way to Lechlade and then back to Benson to be towed home by road. In those days all locks were manned and the lockkeepers on the lower end beyond Windsor wore uniforms with gold brading !

As we were working, our two week holidays were always on the boat and by being towed and leaving the boat in marinas etc were able to cover the country. In 2001 we attended our first IWA festival at Milton Keynes.

In 2005 redundancy and death of John Peel the year before, made us decide to sell our house, downsize to Ely and make the commitment to spend our summers on the waterways whilst we could still enjoy them.

Ouse News Page 13 So in May 2005 we did our longest trip - up to the Leeds & Liverpool canal. We were still in “Hire Boat” mode and travelled all the connecting canals we could. The following years we learnt to slow down and enjoy visiting places nearby. Our house had not sold by the time we had left so it was interesting trying to contact agents and solicitors as we moved. Finally it sold, so we left the boat in Doncaster, caught the train back, moved our possessions into storage, found a house to buy, then went back to the boat.

By the time we arrived at Fradley Junction, documents for the house sale (needing to be signed) had arrived at our friend’s house who lived nearby.

In 2007 the IWA festival came to St Ives, so the Branch helped with the organisation. We enjoyed the comradery so much that we became part of the set up team spending 3 weeks on site. Hard work with long hours but great fun. This came to a sudden halt when a week before the 2011 festival at Burton I fell into the canal and broke my ankle.

This year (2019) Arachne was 20 years old and we decided to sell.

Several reasons influenced this:- Arachne would soon have to have a survey to get insurance and the engine had done 6000 hours, so something would soon break. Also there could be other expenses like a new fridge, and rear canopy, and perhaps a repaint! I, in particular, feel that life on the water is not as good as years ago. People living on boats these days are just using them as accommodation (many are not respecting boating etiquette) - not that I blame them as housing is so expensive. CRT and the Environment Agency do not have enough staff or the funds to maintain or police the waterways.

We only advertised it on the Sea Otters Owners’ web site whilst we were on the way up the River Nene. We had 3 enquiries, one had a family so it was too small and another was a time waster. The third already had a SO and wanted one for their son, but after initial emails things went quiet. So we found a very nice broker who offered to sell and we got our asking price, but as he had a wedding taking place in the boatyard could not take it until the following Monday.

Ouse News Page 14 Then, on the Saturday, we had a call from the son’s parents who said they would like a viewing on the Sunday. Father, son and a driver arrived in Blisworth at 15:15. After a trip along the canal (during which the driver’s car keys fell from his pocket into the middle of the canal !!) a sale was agreed and by17:00 the money was in the bank.

We asked what they wanted to do with the boat and were told the son was going to take it back to Manchester. So, as the forecast was for heavy rain and the car was nearby we packed all items we wanted into the car and by 19:00 we said goodbye to Arachne, leaving 3 people beside the boat waiting for car keys.

The next Thursday we were contacted by friends who had just gone through Blisworth. They said that Arachne was across the canal with its bow over the overflow weir – they had called CRT but would I contact the new owners! The following Wednesday we were contacted by more friends who said they had just had Arachne pass them on the Bridgewater Canal!

A “canalplan” trip of 9 days at 7 hours a day had been completed in less than 6.

We hope the new owners will enjoy Arachne as much as we did in the 20 years. Our log books gave the following details -5929 hours, 1,987 nights, 14,617 miles, 7,805 locks and 4,551 lt diesel @ £3,184.83.

Peter & Jean Webb Peter and Jean Webb were awarded the Robert Aickman Trophy for ‘The most meritorious continuous journey from May 2015 to the Northampton Festival of Water ’. The journey in their narrowboat Arachne involved visiting Liverpool, crossing over the Pennines twice, clocking up over 1200 lock-miles on the way from their base at Fox’s Marina in March.

Ouse News Page 15 River News from the Environment Agency Waterways Operations Team Leader (Gt. Ouse and Stour Navigations) A Fresh Approach! Waterways Workforce I have now worked at the Environment Agency, and within the waterways team, for the last 16 years since 2003 and not long after the Waterways Team was established.

Since that time there have been many changes (mainly for the good) especially in the early days with the safety of our Waterways Sites being vastly improved to prevent harm to people. Latterly, especially in the last decade since austerity, many have had a less positive impact on our waterways.

That said, a developing change that I have been actively involved with over the past few years is one I am firmly supportive of, and believe it is the start of a fresh approach to managing and maintaining our waterways. It’s not rocket science, but once in place will hopefully start to make all the difference to our staff and you, our customers, out there on our navigable rivers.

From April 1st 2020 we hope to have in place a small, but perfectly formed, WaterwaysWorkforce that will lay the foundation to build upon going forward. This will start to bring some of our regular river maintenance works back in house and under direct control of theWaterways Team, which we believe will have significant benefits and will be a first for theAnglian Waterways. Although works have historically been carried out in house within the Environment Agency when resources were plentiful, the Anglian Waterways itself has never had its own dedicated workforce which it will gain over the next few months. These are small steps and, initially, we will be recruiting 8 full time positions across the Great Ouse and Nene navigations to specifically undertake our annual amenity works.

Ouse News Page 16 These include the regular grass cutting of our lock and mooring sites, vegetation control, sign cleaning and painting at our sites. However, we view this as the first tentative step in a direction where we will start to take on more tasks - bringing more back in house and saving money, time and resources that are currently spent on appointing contractors to carry out much of this work.

You may have seen our first and only waterways Conver Weed-boat on the Old West River this year; something we hope to secure more of into the future. This boat was staffed with waterways operatives and deliberately stationed at Hermitage Lock so that it could be deployed and utilised on the Old West River as and when it was needed, to keep it clear and navigable throughout the boating season. If you can cast your minds back to two summers ago and in 2018 the Old West River suffered significantly from Azolla floating weed. Certainly, from the feedback I’ve seen, this was largely avoided this summer just gone with our Waterways Weed-boat being deployed regularly with only lifting forks and weed bucket to keep the channel clear. Imagine what could be achieved with increased numbers of operatives and a larger fleet of weed boats! At the same time, this also meant the wider weed-boat Environment Agency fleet was freed up to undertake the regular scheduled cut with less interruptions. This ensured the navigation cuts could be achieved as early on a possible, following the end of the birds’ nesting season. The above example is just one of which we are pushing to see more and more of going forward and where we want to see a fresh approach taken to our waterways within the wider Environment Agency; especially now that we know our waterways are to reside within the Environment Agency for the foreseeable future until the Government deems any CRTtransfer viable and affordable Paul Separovic

Ouse News Page 17 Looking Good! New Long Term Rented Denver Moorings For those of you who visit Denver on a regular basis to use the facilities there, or pass through to go onto the Relief Channel or the Tidal River and onto Salters Lode or the Wash, may have noticed the development of our East Bank moorings over the summer.

We have developed the Denver East Bank Long Term Rented Moorings to double the capacity up to 30 berths on a new floating pontoon arrangement. This development will allow us to grow our income from our leisure moorings which we also have located at Upware. This has steadily increased from a base income of around £15,000 per annum in the early 00’s to close on £200,000 annually to day over all our Anglian Waterways; and it is still growing thanks to developments like Denver.

The Denver facility also fits into a wider vision for the site that has been developed in consultation with the local community and which we would like to progress towards. This is good news, not just for those who moor at Denver, but for all boaters, as all the revenue generated from Environment Agency long term rented moorings gets ploughed back into managing and maintaining our navigations.

Ouse News Page 18 It also reduces the gap between what registration income generates and the actual cost spent on the Anglian Waterways on a yearly basis; which reduces waterways reliance on Grant in Aid and moves AnglianWaterways a step closer to achieving its longer term vision of becoming sustainable. If further movement towards obtaining more income from other sources keeps building momentum then it could also reduce the likelihood of further significant registration fee increases which are needed at present in order to bridge the wide funding gap.

The new mooring berths are being snapped up and bookings are now being taken for when the facility opens to boaters later in the autumn. The next phase of works at Denver to replace the tidal side lock landing stage gets underway early in 2020.

If you would like further information on any Environment Agency long term rented mooring sites then please visit; https://www.visitanglianwaterways.org/moorings-on-anglian-waterways where you can submit an online enquiry form for any of our Anglian Waterways mooring locations, or you can call 03708 506 506 Mon to Fri 08:0018:00 and ask to be put in touch with the Anglian Waterways Moorings Team.

Paul Separovic

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Going, going, gone! Waterways Enforcement & Vessel Seizures As a part of the Environment Agency’s Navigation Authority role and responsibilities we enforce navigation registration laws. We prosecute those that fail to comply with the law and even have the powers to seize vessels should a perpetrator choose not to register their boat and if the court approach has already been tried and failed to make them comply. Every year our prosecutors bring dozens of cases in front of the courts resulting in tens of thousands of pounds of costs, fines, victim surcharges and compensation being demanded by the courts from those that fail to comply with the registration law, and leaving them with a criminal record.

Registration compliance has increased over the years since the Waterways Team was established within the Environment Agency, yet a small minority still persist and blatantly refuse to abide by the law and we know this causes the vast majority of genuine law abiding boaters amongst you much frustration.

Ouse News Page 20 However, the Environment Agency is not simply accepting, or happy with a higher rate of compliance, and we are utilising all the powers we have to drive this up even higher. We are looking at new ways and fully testing the powers we have to do more. For the past few years now, the Environment Agency has been seizing un-registered, abandoned or illegally moored vessels, removing them from the water and then where possible recovering the costs we can through sale and disposal of these seized vessels. This course of action is not something we do lightly due to the costs and effort involved in getting to the point where a vessel can be seized. However, we are looking to fully exercise these powers to resolve problematic boats at source; and if their owners refuse to register them then we can and will take them away.

Those that are new to boating, or are not aware of the registration requirements have no need to worry as, although this is no defence in law, the Environment Agency will always work with boaters to assist them in complying with the registration requirements. If you work with us we are understanding and will allow you reasonable time to enable you to get registered, which I am happy to say is the vast majority of the boating community we come across.

However, those that think they are above the law and are happy to flout registration law, waterways byelaws and pay no attention to the courts, should be very concerned, as it may only be a matter of time before they could lose their boats and either have to pay our costs for the removal in order to get them back, or we will sell and dispose of them to recover our costs.You can register your boat or find out further information either online at www.gov.uk/register-a-boat or by calling our boat registration team on 03708 506 506 Mon to Fri between 08:00–18:00.

Anyone can also look up the registration status of a vessel online by our open data registration information at: http://bit.ly/2ncWN5D-EnvironmentAgency-Registered-Boats-Online-Checker where, if a vessel shows within this data sheet, which you can filter to the information you need, you’ll know it’s registered.

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Many reports each year are received of unregistered vessels which turn out to be registered but are just not displaying their registration. Although this is an offence in itself it is a much lesser offence than failing to abide by the law and we rightfully focus our efforts on the latter. Please also note that the dataset is only periodically updated and is not a live system; so there may be occasions where a vessel could be registered but not showing within the dataset. If you are ever unsure please report the sighting to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 at any time.

Paul Separovic

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(Authorised to examine all private boats and in addition, residential boats provided they are fitted with a gas bubble tester)

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Book Review

by Stephen Foote

Attention all Shipping!

by Charlie Connelly

‘Good evening. This is the Shipping Forecast for the next 24 hours issued by the Meteorological Office at 0600 GMT today. The general synopsis – high, Biscay 1013 slow moving with little change. Low, Hebrides 997 expected Bailey 994 by 1300. The area forecasts for the next 24 hours: Viking, Forties, Cromarty……….’

Many of us are familiar with those slow and solemn tones from our radios shortly before the six-o’clock news. One of the great British institutions, the Shipping Forecast, is still broadcast on Radio 4 (formerly the BBC Home Service – remember?!) at published times and on ‘long wave’ too. Anyone still have a radio that can get ‘long wave’? The author of this extremely readable book had been captivated by the Shipping Forecast since his childhood and hit on a plan to visit every one of the areas identified in the shipping forecasts. As another reviewer put it – ‘one of those simple yet brilliant ideas’.

And he did it. His book is an amusingly presented account of his journeys in pursuit of this objective. He begins in Greenwich where he explores the origins of the shipping forecasts and the pioneering work of Captain Fitzroy in devising a scheme which attempted to reduce the horrendous loss of shipping due to unexpected bad weather. He visits the Headquarters of the Met. Office in Bracknell, Berkshire to meet the man who, at the time, was chiefly responsible for generating the Shipping Forecast and the slightly mysterious and ominous words spoken by the announcers.

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Then his quest begins. He acknowledges that some of the ‘sea areas’ do not have any land-fall and concludes that none the less, a visit to them, either by sea or by air, would be a mission fulfilled. He visited them all; hence the book!

One could be forgiven for thinking that his accounts might be jazzed up a bit – but it makes for a light-hearted and informative read. The writer’s style is fun and engaging; not quite, in my view, in the class of Mark Wallington – the all-time best of the humorous travel-writers. But good for all that.

So – not strictly speaking an ‘inland waterways’ book but a lovely read and at least it concerns boats, waters and weather – three issues close to the hearts of all inland waterways enthusiasts.

And having mentioned Mark Wallington, next time maybe we’ll take a look at one of his waterway travel accounts.

‘Attention All Shipping – a Journey Round the Shipping Forecast’

by Charlie Connelly Published Abacas in 2005 ISBN 0 349 11603 2

Ouse News Page 25 BSS Requirement for Carbon Monoxide Alarms A reminder that as from April 2019 there is a requirement under the Boat Safety Scheme to install carbon monoxide alarms on most boats used on the inland waterways. The new regulations have been introduced as a result of the realisation that CO can not only be present from the malfunction of heating/cooking appliances within the boat, but also from outside sources such as the exhaust from generators and engines on adjacent boats.

This hazard has unfortunately resulted in a number of well publicised fatalities in recent years.

All Boat Safety Scheme Examiners have undergone training as to the interpretation and application of the new rules and should therefore be in a position to give you detailed advice. However, here is a brief synopsis of the requirements for those who have not yet had their boats examined.

Please note that the regulations apply now and it would not be wise to wait until your next BSS examination is due before complying.

The main safety objective of the BSS requirement is that vessels having one or more accommodation spaces be provided with one or more approved CO alarms. An accommodation space is defined as ‘a space surrounded by permanent boat structure in which there is provision for any of the following activities: sleeping, cooking, eating, washing/toilet, navigation, steering’. Spaces intended exclusively for storage, open cockpits with or without canvas enclosures and engine rooms are not included.

The number of alarms required is dependent upon the layout of the boat and whether or not a solid fuel stove is present i.e.

1. At least one alarm must be present on all applicable boats.

2. An alarm must be present in each accommodation space that contains a solid fuel stove.

3. An alarm must be located within 10m of any door that links accommodation spaces.

Ouse News Page 26 An alarm installed under (2) could well also satisfy requirement (1). Requirement (3) reflects the maximum distance that you can realistically be expected to hear an alarm sounding through a closed door. It therefore follows that an additional alarm would be required if the distance is greater than 10m.

Alarms can be located on a shelf as long as it is always in open view and not obstructed by curtains etc. Wall mounted alarms should not be fixed directly over a combustion appliance and must be at least 150mm from the ceiling.

All alarms must be certified by either the British Standards Institute or the Loss Prevention Certification Board. Alarms should therefore show either the BSI Kite Mark or LPCB logo and be marked BS EN 50291. However, alarms made by BRK, Dicon, Ei Electronics, Fire Angel, FireHawk, First Alert, Honeywell and Kidde are deemed to comply whether or not they are marked, as all of their products have always been made to the correct standard.

The condition of the alarm is also important and must show no sign of damage and be either within the manufacturer’s specified replacement date or not more than 10 years old. Some alarms display a sticker for you to fill in showing the installation date yourself. Alarms should be tested by pressing the test button at regular intervals.

All of this may seem to be rather complicated and so I have compiled these notes as an indicative guide that will hopefully help you understand the basic requirements of the regulations. You can obtain further information by logging on to the BSS website at https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/co.

Keith Alderton Boat Safety Inspector

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Bridge Boatyard Bridge Road Ely, Cambs CB7 4DY

email info@bridgeboatyard.com Website www.bridgeboatyard.com Telephone 01353 663726

Moorings in marina and on riverside in historic Ely. Close to rail station.

Repairs and servicing Engineering and glassfibre workshops Slipway Suppliers of diesel, gas and coal Authorised Nanni dealership Gas safe engineer

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The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee.

Registered in England No 612245.

Registered as a charity No 212342. Registered Office: Island House, Moor Rd, Chesham, HP5 1WA. Phone No 01494 783453.