IWA Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch newsletter – Shroppie Fly Paper – Spring 2021

Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch Newsletter Spring 2021

SHROPPIE FLY PAPER

Front cover : Lock gate on the Llangollen Canal by Alison Smith

THE BRANCH COMMITTEE

President

Michael Limbrey 01691 654081

michael.limbrey@waterways.org.uk

Chairman

Michael Haig 07801 415573

michael.haig@waterways.org.uk

Secretary

Philippa Bursey

philippa.bursey@waterways.org.uk

Membership Sec.

Dawn Aylwin 01691 830403

dawn.aylwin@waterways.org.uk

Treasurer & Welsh Liaison Officer

Alan Platt

alan.platt@waterways.org.uk

Webmaster

Alan Wilding

alan.wilding@waterways.org.uk

Newsletter Editor

Andrew Smith

andrew.smith@waterways.org.uk

Committee Members

Susan Wilding Graham Russell

susan.wilding@waterways.org.uk graham.russell@waterways.org.uk

NW Region Chairman

Sir Robert Atkins robert.atkins@waterways.org.uk 01995 602225 or 07770 254444

Heritage & Planning

Peter Brown

iwa@peterquita.co.uk

Publicity

Phil Pickin

phil.pickin@waterways.org.uk

Branch Web pages https://waterways.org.uk/shrewsburynorthwales https://www.facebook.com/shrewsburynorthwales If you would prefer to communicate with the branch in the traditional way, please write to the chairman c/o IWA Chesham address at foot of page Shroppie Fly Paper is the newsletter of the Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch of The Inland Waterways Association (IWA). IWA is a membership charity that works to protect and restore the country's 6,500 miles of canals and rivers. For further information contact any committee member.

Copy for Shroppie Fly Paper is very welcome, preferably by email. Photographs may be in any common computer format or as prints. Please supply a stamped addressed envelope if you require photographs to be returned. ‘Letters to the Editor’ intended for publication are invited, as are comments for the Editor’s private guidance. Copy and letters submitted for publication may be edited.

The Inland Waterways Association may not agree with the opinions expressed in this branch newsletter but encourages publicity as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as official policy unless stated otherwise. The Association accepts no liability for any matter in this newsletter. Any reproduction must be acknowledged.

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 Road, Chesham HP5 1WA Tel: 01494 783 453 Web: www.waterways.org.uk

THE EDITOR'S CUT...

It is now over a year since the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown. You may remember that last year’s Spring edition of the Shroppie Fly Paper was online only as the printer could not access his premises.

I hope I don’t jinx anything by saying that there are now signs that we will all be able to access the waterways more easily this summer. While things might not be entirely back to normal, activities are starting to happen again and planning is underway for various events.

Our branch is planning the return of our annual lock wind for early August.

That is always a fun event and a key fundraiser for the branch. We hope to bring you details in the Summer edition. We will be appealing for produce to sell at the lock wind nearer the time!

We have updated our branch banners ready for any events that we are able to attend. You can see the new look on Page 15.

We are also planning a branch calendar for 2022. There has been a good response to our email appeal for waterways photographs and we hope to have the calendar available for sale at events and local businesses this summer.

We are delighted that Philippa Bursey has now filled the vacant branch secretary position. You can read about how she got involved with the waterways on page 10.

On a personal note, the combination of lockdowns, living in Wales and having a boat moored in England meant that my wife and I did not manage to get to our boat at all over the winter. We hope to get there later this month and are already planning a summer cruise. On that front we were very pleased to see that repairs to the collapsed culvert near Bridge 80 (see page 13) on the Shropshire Union were completed just before Easter. The upgrade to the Wrenbury Lift Bridge (page 7) will also make life easier there, especially for single handed boaters.

Stay safe everyone and hope to see you at an event this summer!

Andrew Smith

Next copy date: Friday, June 18, 2021 1

IWA SHREWSBURY DISTRICT & NORTH WALES BRANCH DIARY 2021 After all the cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is good to see some new dates appearing in the diary for this year. Obviously they will be subject to conditions at the time and it will be well worth checking before travelling to any events.

To reduce travelling and cost many of the branch business meetings now take place online. If you would like to join us online, please contact our Chairman at: michael.haig@waterways.org.uk Date(s)

Event

See page

April 29—May 4, 2021

Roving Floating Market, Whitchurch

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June 6, 2021

Shrewsbury River Festival

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June 14, 2021

Branch Committee Meeting (online)

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June 26-27

Braunston Historical Boat Gathering

23, 25

July 16-18, 2021

Gnosall C’Fest

Back cover

July 24-25, 2021

Gathering of Historic Boats, Audlem

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Summer 2021

Rebuild Schoolhouse Bridge

23

Aug 9, 2021

Branch Committee Meeting (online)

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Aug 28 -30, 2021

IWA Festival of Water - Worcester

25

Sept 8, 2021

Montgomery Canal Triathlon

21

Oct 11, 2021

Branch Committee Meeting (online)

-

Dec 13, 2021

Branch Committee Meeting (online)

-

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FROM THE STEERER Thank you to those branch members who joined our Zoom video meeting on February 8th for our first Virtual Annual General Meeting. For those who didn’t manage it, I will try to distill my presentation into this résumé.

For my chairman’s report this year, thanks to Zoom I was able to share my computer screen with all the meeting attendees, so I thought a good way to highlight some examples of the wide range of things that the branch had been doing in 2019 and 2020 would be to take members on a quick tour of the waterways in the branch area.

Before we start, I think it’s interesting to appreciate just how many miles of waterways and locks we have in our branch area. I’ve said before, and I think you’ll agree with me, that we are extraordinarily lucky as a branch to have three major canals of great rural charm: the Shropshire Union, both the main line as far north as Barbridge and the Middlewich Branch, the Llangollen and the Montgomery. If we add the canal restorations of the Newport Branch and Shrewsbury Canal, we have 120 miles and 71 locks in navigation, with a further 46 miles and 31 locks not yet navigable.

We straddle both CRT’s West Midlands and North West Regions, with the boundaries at Bridge 74 on the Shropshire Union above Audlem, and at Povey’s Lock on the Llangollen. Almost ¾ of the navigable mileage in the branch area lies in CRT’s West Midlands region. CRT’s administration is split further in our area as its Wales & South West Region deals with non-operational matters on the Llangollen from Chirk and on the Montgomery from Llanymynech.

Shropshire Union

In a normal year there are a good number of waterside festivals we can attend – we managed six in 2019 – and three of those were on the Shroppie. It was the 15th anniversary of the Norbury Canal Festival in 2019, but a little-known fact is that the first one, in 2004, was organised and run by this branch before, later, SNCT took on the responsibility.

In July we went to the first ever canal festival at Gnosall, and we rounded off our festival season with the Boat Share Show at OverWater Marina. We had some success in attracting new members at these events, though sadly not as many as in 2018. Needless to say, there were no festivals anywhere in 2020, and we are still waiting to see what might take place this year.

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Also in 2019, in mid-July we were delighted to see the return of the landmark wharf crane in Audlem, after a full five months under repair. Though I say so myself, we mounted a persistent campaign lobbying CRT first about the crane’s poor state of repair and then pressing for progress on its refurbishment. So, I think the branch can take some credit for ensuring that the ‘problem’ wouldn’t lie forgotten ad infinitum.

Further north on the Shroppie, around Nantwich, some of our local members have been very busy lobbying CRT to maintain the visual and built environment and assisting CRT with small tasks.

So, for instance, we’ve had extra dog waste bins installed by CRT, though it’s an ongoing battle to ensure that Fountains empty them to schedule! We’ve been trying to get to the bottom of the rather alarming looking cracks on the towpath at the Aqueduct, and have been assured that there isn’t an issue with the embankment’s stability, although they can be a visual concern to walkers and boaters.

We’ve also lobbied hard on vegetation control with some success, both in getting action on trees overhanging the canal and towpath, and in getting the winding hole cleared near Bridge 91.

Middlewich Branch

We’ve been active on the Middlewich Branch as well. HS2 came back to haunt us last year with another consultation regarding the enormous rolling stock depot planned next to the canal at Wimboldsley, near Stanthorne. The latest plan is to expand the size of the depot still further and increase the number of crossings of the canal from two to three, which will traverse the canal between the listed Bridge 25 and Bridge 26, by the moorings at Park Farm.

This will cause massive disruption for the Middlewich Branch and its users, both during the years of construction and then in daily use. We replied to the consultation, feeding our views (and dismay) into IWA’s coordinated response which was delivered to the Department for Transport in early December.

At Barbridge, boating readers may recall that CRT removed the boaters’ waste compound in 2020 as the road access bridge to the site could no longer cope with the refuse lorries. Since then, we have had a number of conversations with CRT North West about alternative locations where facilities could be provided.

We proposed a site at CRT’s Waterside Moorings at Stoke Hall Lane, but a decision is stalled at the moment due to an ongoing national review of boaters’ facilities that CRT is undertaking.

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In 2019 we moved our lock wind to Cholmondeston Lock from its former home at Hurleston, which wasn’t fully operating due to the difficulties at the bottom lock. The change of venue turned out to be very successful, with much better access by road and, of course, the volunteers appreciated Venetian Marina’s café, toilet and parking facilities.

Llangollen Canal

At Ellesmere, both the poor, neglected warehouse and the CRT yard have been high on our radar in the past two years.

We wrote to Shropshire Council regarding the warehouse, asking them to take enforcement action on the building’s then owners, Pochin Developments Ltd, to prevent the loss of this heritage asset. Sadly, the situation was complicated further when Pochins fell into administration around the end of 2019. However, recent information about a (very flawed) planning application on the land behind the warehouse suggests that a possible new owner may be about to show themselves Then last summer, CRT unexpectedly held a public consultation for local residents on alternative uses for the historic maintenance yard, which is naturally a concern as the yard is a rare example of a 200-plus year-old canal building still being used for its original purpose. I took part in a presentation CRT made to IWA’s national Heritage Advisory Panel in February and was reassured to learn how sympathetically CRT is looking at possible future activities that could be included within the site.

In the summer we joined representatives from CRT and British Canoeing for a safety trial using canoes through the Chirk and Whitehouse tunnels. You’ll probably remember that we’ve worried about the safety of unpowered craft using the tunnels for a number of years, so it was good to finally get the trial and reassuring to discover that canoes can outrun powered canal boats and that head torch lights can be seen from one end of the tunnel to the other. CRT is busy improving the signage at the tunnel entrances and updating its safety information.

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On the Montgomery Canal we pushed hard over 10 months to get CRT’s agreement to extend the opening hours at Frankton Locks from 2 to 4 hours daily, in the hope that this will encourage more boats to explore the Monty.

There is a capacity limit of 2,500 boat movements a year at the moment, but in recent years the annual figures have been only around 1,100, so there’s plenty of scope for an increase.

Canal Restoration

As readers know, we’re committed to supporting our local restorations in any way we can. In practical terms, this is usually by financial support. We announced in the AGM Treasurer’s Report that, at the end of 2020, the branch made a donation of £5,000 in support of the Schoolhouse Bridge project on the Montgomery and we wish the team lots of luck and success with the build this year.

We have also donated another £1,000 to help SNCT with the rewatering of the basin at Wappenshall Wharf, on top of our previous grant of £3,000. Work there was coming along very well before the latest lockdown, so we hope that as restrictions ease the SNCT volunteers will soon be back in action.

A few other activities deserve a mention. We’ve had two parliamentary receptions recently, in May 2019 and January 2020. They gave us good opportunities to build valuable relationships with our local MPs, and led to us being asked to brief Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams in advance of his adjournment debate on canal restoration on the Montgomery. Craig kindly name-checked us during his speech, so we’re even in Hansard!

We’ve also had two successful years selling IWA cards and calendars at the charity card shop in Shrewsbury, and we displayed at a waterways exhibition at the town’s Abbey Station in 2019.

Social Activity

We’ve managed to keep some social activity going despite the restrictions in 2020. We held our 2019 Autumn Dinner at The Boathouse restaurant in Ellesmere, when we learned all about electric boating – a very topical subject indeed! We held our popular annual Quiz Nights both years at the Narrowboat pub at Whittington, while members enjoyed our traditional New Year walks at Whixall Mosses in 2019 and at Queens Head in 2020.

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More recently, we’ve hosted two wellreceived webinars on Zoom, the first describing the work taking place to open up and restore the Uttoxeter Canal and in the second, Richard Parry and Daniel Greenhalgh gave us an update on CRT’s position after the initial lockdown.

Finally, I would like to say a huge “thank you” to everyone who has helped the branch over these two such different years. To my colleagues on the branch committee and also to all the other volunteers who have helped on festival stands, provided produce for sale at our lock wind, and volunteered to help at the Shrewsbury card shop and elsewhere. Thank you to you all. There are, of course, plenty of other opportunities to help us as restrictions ease so do please contact me if you could offer a little time to support the work of IWA. (The full presentation is available on the IWA website at https:// www.waterways.org.uk/branch_news/a-virtual-tour-of-waterways-inshrewsbury-north-wales) Michael Haig, Branch Chairman

WRENBURY LIFTBRIDGE UPGRADE The Canal & River Trust has upgraded the historic canal lift bridge in the village of Wrenbury, near Nantwich, to give it modern safety controls.

The £150,000 project which started at the beginning of November 2020 was completed a week before Christmas and will result in much easier operation for boaters on the Llangollen Canal, as well as introducing extra security measures for motorists using the single track road bridge between Nantwich Road and Cholmondeley Road.

The manual swing arm barrier, which stops traffic during a boat crossing, has been replaced by an automated drop-arm barrier at both ends of the bridge. New waterside safety fencing has been erected and a new bridge control pedestal, installed on the towpath side, will make it much easier and safer for boaters to raise the automated lift bridge.

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MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

We are delighted to welcome the following people who have either transferred to the branch, renewed their membership, or joined as new members since the Autumn/Winter edition. Now that lockdown is coming to an end, we look forward to meeting you all. 

Mr & Mrs Austin from Condover, Shrewsbury

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Mr Brice from Wilmslow

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Mr & Mrs Brooks from Ketley Bank

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Mr & Mrs Hawkins from Ludlow

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Mr Pickin from Pontesbury Hill

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Mr Poole from Telford

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Mr Rex from Bridgnorth

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Mr Tilbury from Lilleshall

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Mr & Mrs Owen from Andover

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Mr Walker & Mrs Robinson from Oakengates, Telford

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Mr Whittaker from Talybont

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Mr Wilkes from Nantwich

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Mr Wright & family from Gnosall

The branch will be organising a lock wind during the first weekend in August; apart from being great fun and meeting boaters and walkers this event is one of our biggest fundraisers. However we can't do it without you so please get in touch if you can help for a few hours. More details will be in the summer edition.

Dawn Aylwin

SHROPPIE FLY PAPER BACK ISSUES ONLINE!

Did you know that you can access back issues of this magazine at issuu.com?

The link to find issues back to 2009 is https://issuu.com/waterwaysassoc/stacks/ ff499dbd5f2941bba5e738cf88c600d6 But if that’s too much to type in, try this shortened version! https://bit.ly/2Pn5arf

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REGION CHAIRMAN WRITES Unsurprisingly, all is mostly quiet on the active waterways front. Yet IWA Branches throughout the country have been working hard to keep in touch with their members through webinars and online social events etc. and yours is no exception.

And the commitment goes on, whether by letter, social media campaigns or public pressure. Objectives can still be achieved if the right people are contacted, whether within CRT or local authorities.

This is actually an ideal time to think about the future, particularly in the context of the environment. What with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) taking place this summer in Glasgow under British chairmanship and the rising public interest in climate change with all its ramifications, IWA and its membership can take a local lead. Of course, promoting the waterways and their use is a priority for us but better management of canals, towpaths, flora & fauna and public information is always beneficial. And isn’t it about time we thought long and hard about electric boats rather than diesel?

IWA has just appointed a new CEO, Phil Hornsey. Following the retirement of Neil Edwards last August and an interim CEO in Sarah O’Grady until December, the Trustees have taken on someone with a watery background (the British Rowing Association) and a fund of new ideas. Early days yet, of course, but let us welcome him to his new position and await his proposals and new style of management.

It almost goes without saying that the commitment of your branch, its Officers and Members is second to none. But you do deserve thanks for your efforts and enthusiasm and I offer those thanks warmly.

Look out for others and take good care of yourselves

Sir Robert Atkins—Chairman, North West Region

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WHY I VOLUNTEER

When it was suggested that I write a piece to introduce myself and explain why I volunteer for the IWA myriad thoughts sprang to mind, but, as I’m sure you don’t want to read a complex, philosophical analysis, I’ll keep it simple - I volunteer for the IWA to give something back. In a comparatively short boating career, the inland waterways have given me so much enjoyment that I simply have to do what little I can to help ensure that they have a brilliant future as well as a fascinating past.

Though water featured through much of my life – I was both born and educated by the sea and grew up with a river at the end of the garden – it was not until I was nearing retirement that, wholly by accident, I discovered narrowboating.

But it was not actually the discovery that was accidental.

In my inimitable style, while rambling on the Burren (in the west of Ireland) I had fallen and done some severe damage to the ligaments of my foot.

Meanwhile, my partner had had hernia repair surgery so, being unable to hike the hills of south Shropshire, we headed for Ellesmere to saunter around the lake and stroll along the towpath. Standing on the bridge over the entrance to Blackwater Meadow Marina the look of longing on my partner’s face evoked an exchange that, for all its brevity, was one destined to totally change our future.

Me: “You want to do this, don’t you?” Him: “Yes.” Me: “Then we shall do it!”

Suddenly, I had a plan for my then much dreaded retirement and my partner had a project.

We never got to take out the hire boat we had immediately booked; our own boat “found” us and in the intervening six years we have invested lots of time and energy in getting her just the way we want; we have spent each summer cruising extensively and have even achieved a number of silver propeller challenge locations (including one that has only just been added to the list).

We’ve had interesting times, magical times and even some scary times, we’ve met many wonderful people and, by using the “tradesman’s entrance”, seen a whole new aspect of the towns and cities we’ve visited, and my initial enthusiasm remains - to take up narrowboating was a wholly impulsive, lifechanging decision and one that I have never once regretted.

We had joined the IWA as soon as we became boaters and, last year, when I saw that new trustees were being sought I applied as I believed my experience working in a not-for-profit membership organisation might prove useful.

Slightly to my surprise and certainly to my delight, I was appointed but, sadly, within a matter of a few months my circumstances changed; another charity of which I am a trustee needed more help so, applying the LIFO (last in, first out) principle, I had to resign from the IWA board.

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However, having been assured that I could do the job properly while cruising, I was ultimately persuaded to stand for membership of the branch committee and, again building on elements of my work experience, I took on the job of branch secretary.

I am very much the new kid on the block with a huge amount to learn; I just hope I will be able to bring something to the party and make a contribution to the waterways I have so rapidly grown to love.

Philippa Bursey

RED DIESEL ANNOUNCEMENT IS A WIN FOR BOATERS

The announcement in the Chancellor’s Budget of 3rd March that government will retain the use of red diesel for both private and commercial boats is fantastic news for the inland waterways. IWA has lobbied government about this issue for many years and it will be very much welcomed by boat owners, freight operators, boatyards and waterway based fuel suppliers.

The announcement coincided with the publication of the conclusion of last year’s Treasury consultation into the use of red diesel. This confirms that the current arrangement for private boat owners will continue, where they are able to use red diesel and pay their fuel supplier the difference between the red diesel rate and the white diesel rate on the proportion they intend to use for propulsion.

The document also confirms that all commercial boat operating industries will be able to continue to use red diesel, which is great news for inland waterways freight and getting more traffic off the roads.

The decision overturns the announcement from HMRC last July, which stated that privately owned pleasure craft would not be able to use red diesel from April 2022. Boat owners will welcome this change of plan, along with boatyards and boat-based fuel suppliers who would have had to invest in new equipment.

This is a successful outcome of our campaigning for many years around red diesel use and taxation. If there is a slight disappointment, it is that Government hasn’t gone further in encouraging the supply and use of alternative fuels such as HVO, although it paves the way for more sustainable fuels in the future without all the unnecessary expense of moving over to white diesel in the meantime.

Alison Smedley IWA Campaigns Manager

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NANTWICH AREA NEWS Nantwich Two Day Moorings

In recent years the lengths of “Two Day” moorings on the Nantwich embankment have become a major overstaying problem. With many boats remaining in the same place for most of the year, in the peak season there is often little room for visitors to stay and enjoy Nantwich - one of CRT’s Hot Spots. During the winter mooring relaxation period, boaters take advantage of the embankment’s free moorings - rather than paying to use the adjacent ‘paid for’ Winter Mooring site.

Despite regular discussions with CRT’s mooring enforcement team, so far there’s not been any noticeable improvement. One recent small success though is that the ‘Two Day’ mooring signs on the totem posts will be changed. With effect from April 1 they will become ‘Two Day All Year’ - in an attempt to exclude boats from mooring on the embankment all winter. This new restriction will only work with targeted enforcement!

Green Flag Award

As reported in the last newsletter, twenty miles of the Shropshire Union Canal from Wardle Lock on the Middlewich Branch to the top of the Audlem flight have been annually awarded Green Flag status since June 2017. Despite constant lobbying there’s never been any official signage erected to commemorate this prestigious award.

The good news is that this spring CRT plan to hold a ‘media’ launch at Nantwich services, including erecting an official Green Flag and signs. A similar flag and signs will also be erected in Audlem.

Towpath Cracks

Following their latest inspection CRT’s engineers have again confirmed that, despite cracks in the towpath near the Aqueduct having widened, there is no problem with the embankment’s stability. The cracks and the ‘heave’ in the ground are now considered to be a pedestrian safety hazard, therefore the towpath is being relaid in two stages from the first week in April.

Photo courtesy of Graham Russell

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Audlem Culvert Near Bennett’s Bridge 80

On January 15 a mysterious whirlpool appeared in the Shropshire Union canal by bridge 80 - near OverWater Marina. The photo shows evidence of the Coriolis effect in the northern hemisphere!

The canal was immediately closed with stop planks between Bridges 79 and 82 and similarly the marina entrance in order to protect the moored boats. CRT initially thought that there had been another breach in the Shroppie but, following the installation of coffer dams either side of Bridge 80 and the draining of the canal, a large hole was found in a culvert. This has turned out to be a major and costly repair.

By early February an access road had been laid across adjacent fields and pumping had been installed either side of the coffer dams to maintain water levels north of the closure.

By the end of the February a design for the repair had been agreed and engineers were on site starting to build a new culvert and adjacent wash walls.

The canal re-opened for navigation on 31 March just in time for Easter. Good news for this very busy part of the Shroppie.

Graham and Susan Russell Photos on this page courtesy of Janet Maughan, OverWater Marina

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GATHERING OF HISTORIC BOATS, AUDLEM 24/25 JULY 2021 Subject to Covid 19 restrictions ending in late June, the annual Gathering of Historic Boats will take place at Audlem on the Shropshire Union on 24/25th July 2021. As we go to press, there are already 27 ex-working boats booked in and more are expected.

There is free entry for spectators and plenty of free parking. More details are available at http:// www.audlemmill.co.uk/ historicboats.html.

(photo courtesy of Ian Saunders)

A SHROPSHIRE UNION MISCELLANY A new publication by Peter Brown This is a compilation of some seventy articles about the history of the Shropshire Union system, written during the last twenty years mainly for the magazines of local canal societies.

Lightly edited with a few corrections made, they supplement the author’s major history of the system, The Shropshire Union Canal: from the Mersey to the Midlands and Mid-Wales, which was published in 2018.

As far as possible, duplication has been avoided.

112 pages, A4, softback 48 black & white illustrations Price: £10 plus £2.50 p&p Payment by cheque to: P J Brown, 34 Waterside Drive, Market Drayton TF9 1HU Payment by inter-bank transfer: Send an email stating your name & address to tf9@peterquita.co.uk, and you will be sent the bank details.

NOTE: All profits from sales of this book will be donated to the Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch of the Inland Waterways Association, to be used for the restoration of the Montgomery Canal.

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OUR NEW LOOK Back in the old days – prepandemic – when our branch used to have a presence at many summer events, our long serving, bright blue and white, IWA, pullup banners could easily be spotted, strapped to a narrowboat or gazebo.

Things moved on and after IWA adopted the new, three-colour, propeller logo we sometimes appeared with both new and old livery alongside each other but that mixed messaging won’t be happening again because we’ve not been idle during lockdowns and have spent some of our time re-designing our graphics to include the current IWA logo, colours, fonts and invitations to join.

Of course, the canals haven’t changed and, if you’ve been used to telling visitors to our stand about the ‘stream in the sky’ and the long, deep cuttings, you’ll see that Pontcysyllte and Woodseaves are still featured. So are other attractive venues from around our wide patch, including Triathlon canoes on the Montgomery, Norbury Junction, start of the Shrewsbury & Newport, and Hurleston Locks, start of the Llangollen.

And now there is also a huge improvement for when you’re taking your audience on a whistle-stop tour of local canal geography because we’ve been able to include the Imray map of navigable and other waterways within our branch. Its many valuable details are bound to spark questions.

And while they’re taking in all that excitement, visitors will not be able to miss the bright red invitations to join our organisation! Anyway, that’s the theory.

It’s about ten years since we first adopted pull-up banners, both of them gifted, in place of the old rigid display boards that we used to lug around and we’re hoping these new ones, which incidentally have been economically incorporated into the existing cartridges, will be long serving too.

There is also potential use through the winter because, in the past, we’ve been able to book them into public libraries, along with some leaflets, as a useful static advertisement for IWA. Alan Wilding

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TO LOCK UP OR TO LOCK DOWN? ‘Remember what I told you, ground paddles first and leave the bottom gates open!’ Those few words came from Les Platt one Sunday evening when I was about to take my chances going down the Tyrley locks solo for the first time. It was late July 1968 as I remember. We had spent half an hour chatting about his carrots and green beans, marching down alongside the locks in perfectly straight lines. Sculptor was still moored opposite the winding hole, looking sad and uncared for, perhaps destined for Northwich and disposal. I also remember thinking what an idyllic life he must have had…….little did I think that one day, fifty years later I might end up perhaps re visiting those halcyon days!

When I was asked if I might like to perhaps record or recall the experiences of a lock keeper at Grindley Brook nobody could possibly have expected the extreme circumstances that we faced this last year. To be honest, nine months on I really am starting to question whether some boaters need locking up rather than me locking them down.

John and I had a late start in July but we ended up putting nearly forty boats a day through the staircase. In recent years that figure has been around thirty, so we did a seven month season’s boat movements through in three and a half months. You can imagine that led to quite an exciting and extraordinary few weeks.

We have a strong volunteer presence at Grindley Brook and it goes without saying that their contribution is invaluable. I may be speaking out of turn but the reality is that CRT would struggle on a daily basis if it were not for the support of volunteers, not just here but all over the system. All boaters expect and look forward to a safe and enjoyable passage through the locks and generally are not concerned about the status of those helping and mostly their experience with the operatives is seamless. If they see any of us appearing in our blue uniforms they know they are in good hands. However, there have been a few steerers and helpers that know the job better than we do and don’t hesitate to point out our short comings and where we are going wrong!

That is perhaps a good place to start if I am to give you a slice of daily life on the locks. Many, many years ago, as I recalled earlier, I used to take my boat up to Tyrley Locks at a weekend from Drayton and invariably met up with Les Platt who was the incumbent lock keeper. He was old school, his care and attention to his garden, to say nothing of his locks, were a sight to behold. Never mind his lock keeping skills and experience, Les held court on the bridge and was happy to share his memories and experiences with anyone that was prepared to listen.

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I have never forgotten those days and on the odd occasions when personally I have had a less than enjoyable locking experience I always thought back to the days on the Shroppie and Tyrley in particular. So our philosophy has always been to set out to provide the best, most efficient, safe and enjoyable experience we can for even the most hardened crews! This last year has certainly challenged that ethos and stretched one’s tolerance levels!

Because of the sheer volume of boats wanting to go through it has been the waiting times that have exercised most people’s minds and caused the most anxiety. Those of you familiar with Grindley Brook will know that we try to regulate passage according to the volume of traffic and this usually means three boats up and three boats down but even this can alter depending on both water levels and boats waiting. The biggest problems we have faced have been as a result of folk not reading the information boards or simply being impatient.

A lot of the preconceptions about boaters have gone overboard and briefly it is worth discussing exactly what has actually changed and why. I suppose one of the most obvious conclusions over the years has been the supposed difference in behaviour between the more experienced boaters and the hirer, usually only out for a week or so. I have never fully subscribed to the criticism levelled at the supposed novice boaters.

Almost without exception the instances of raised tensions, daft and dangerous actions and refusal to accept that the lock keepers are there to help and not hinder have mostly come from those that should know better. In the debate about hirers and private boats the excuse offered up is always focussed on the levels of tuition afforded by the hire companies or rather the lack of it. This may well be true but certainly, perhaps because the socio cultural profile of hirers is changing, it has been a complete pleasure to welcome the hire boats and their crews, sometimes encountering locks for the very first time. Eager to learn and enthusiastic but always respectful of the role of the lock keepers, we make sure that once they are on their own they should

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be safe and ready for an entirely new experience. I suspect I might be upsetting a few folk out there but the intolerance shown toward hirers has always been around. Perhaps some of it could be justified but I have the feeling that boaters that have had the cut to themselves for many years are now starting to resent the sudden influx of newbies. It is always going to be busy on the Llangollen but it has been the compression of the season that has highlighted any shortcomings that may temporarily occur.

‘I’ve been on this canal twenty years or more and I’ve never had to wait like this before,’…………….’why have you only let one boat up and then put six down?

Don’t you read your own signs?’ That is the most popular rhetoric we have faced, coming from crews that have come up the flight and just sat there under the bridge, opposite a sign that extolls boaters to let the lock keeper know they are there. I personally don’t have x ray eyes so unless someone comes up to tell us, we have no idea they are there, so we put boats down. Similarly we have had boats pull up at the top of the locks, we set the flight for them and they don’t move…..usually they are either emptying their toilets, even having a shower…..they haven’t read the signs! So, some advice…if you turn up at the locks, make sure the lock keepers know you are there and especially if you are at the top, don’t just stand there holding the ropes, you could be there a long time!

It’s all good fun and I sometimes describe it as a bit of theatre, humour, a fair amount of pathos…..as lock keepers we try to ensure that the boaters leave our care having had a good experience, more confident of doing it themselves, looking to come back again. A final shout for the volunteers…….I think we are all aware that, for a multitude of reasons, CRT is increasingly relying on the goodwill of volunteers. They don’t have to be there, they do it because they want to, because they enjoy helping folk…they are the oil that lubricates the machinery!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again this year, please come and have a chat to us and a moan if it’s justified!

Chris Chambers, Grindley Brook

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ELLESMERE c1910 Christopher Jobson of the Ellesmere Society recently showed me this photograph taken from a postcard of about 1910. The scene is unfamiliar in that it does not show the Shropshire Union warehouse.

On the left are the wharf buildings of W Broomhall.

He is described in Kelly’s Directory as ‘Coal, corn & cake merchant, lime, flour & salt, blood & bone manures etc’, but evidently he was a builders’ merchant too. On the right is the gas works (Fred Ashley, manager). This dates from 1832, a relatively early year for a small town works. The building in the distance to the left of the bridge was originally a boat-builder’s, with a timber yard adjacent. It is not absolutely certain, but at the date of the photograph this is probably the premises of David Thomas — ‘timber merchant, sawyer, wheelwright, blacksmith, cart & wagon builder etc; every description of english & foreign timber kept in stock; portable saw mill, taken any distance’. Through the bridge can be seen Beech House, the original offices of the Ellesmere canal Company.

But the canal feature of special interest is that signal by the bridge. A minute of the Shropshire Union Committee dated 13 November 1895 reads: ‘Erection of signal at junction of arm at Ellesmere to indicate to boats passing when required to call at the warehouse for traffic approved, cost £12.12s.0d.’ At this time the Shropshire Union was the main carrier on its canal. The warehouse at the end of the arm had been built by the estate of the principal local landowner, the Earl of Bridgewater, probably shortly after the canal was fully opened in 1805, and was acquired by the Shropshire Union in 1905.

Peter Brown

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A MONTGOMERY STORY

In a time when the moon and stars were young and our branch was much, much younger IWA was looking to support the Montgomery Canal in a way that it had not supported any other restoration. Two of us were invited to a meeting with the national chairman and the leader of WRG (who was to leave his name on a lock on the canal). What, we were asked, would be the new branch's position on the Montgomery Canal? You could hear them asking, were we just interested in boating? Given our answer IWA commissioned consultants to come up with a plan to restore the Four Miles: the dry section to the road blockage at Queen's Head, which now includes that new lock. It proved to be more than volunteers could do in those days – though that might be different now.

Further south the Seven Miles were being restored with support and funding from the Prince of Wales' Committee, with SUCS volunteers working with British Waterways to reopen the canal from the then blocked bridge north of Welshpool to the still blocked bridge at Arddleen. HRH was about to fly in by red helicopter to admire that project when the branch chairman was invited to meet with the chairmen of BW and the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council. Would we, they asked, form a trust to take on the work of the steering committee that had overseen the restoration of the Prince of Wales section?

IWA has always been a permanent member of the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust which emerged from that meeting.

Over the years IWA, through our branch, has been active with other Montgomery organisations in promoting the canal: for many years the branch was joint organiser of the famous Montgomery Dinghy Dawdle; a generous legacy from a branch member led to the first nature reserve at Aston; and the branch was involved in events such as the National Trailboat Festival at Welshpool (in the Association’s jubilee year 1996), Monty ‘08 (– I won’t tell you which year!) and Making Waves in 2015. Today, as the Montgomery offers the intrepid boater two silver propellers, IWA joins SUCS and the Friends of the Montgomery Canal as part of the Restore the Montgomery Canal! group.

Restore the Montgomery Canal! has focussed on Schoolhouse Bridge. The bridge was very low on the CRT list of priorities and without such an intervention would have remained an obstruction to restoration for many years.

The success of the Restore team in raising funds and planning the bridge reconstruction has been beyond what any of us would have imagined. It has been hard work. The design of the bridge, overseen with huge energy by Roger Bravey of Manchester branch, supported by other IWA members, has involved many online meetings, hundreds of detailed drawings and pages of text. When it starts, the reconstruction of this vital bridge – supported by the recent donation from the branch and a £70,000 grant from IWA’s Tony Harrison Legacy Fund – will involve volunteers in what may be the fastest bridge construction IWA has ever been involved in.

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Some have asked if volunteers will come forward to rebuild the bridge. Just look at what volunteers have achieved: at Welshpool when Montgomery restoration started and across the system, from the Stratford and Pennine waterways, Basingstoke and K&A, to today's hopefuls in the Cotswolds, Chesterfield, Lichfield and our own Shrewsbury & Newport. Our challenge is to build a complete bridge in a few months. Volunteers have come forward and helped prepare the site and we regularly receive offers from others who want to help – we could do with more of course.

And when will the main work start? That depends on the paperwork. After over two years discussing the engineering details with the Council we are hopeful of the final approval soon. Sadly, however, for various reasons our urgings to start work on the agreements went unheeded for many months.

Today we are dealing with solicitors for the four adjoining landowners, Shropshire Council and CRT. All have been most generous in their support, but we do have to satisfy everyone that the bridge will be built to navigable standards, to highway standards and with all the appropriate rights for each.

The Council and CRT teams are putting in a great effort to finalise the different documents – which will end up at over one hundred pages in all – but we did lose those many months and it will still be a while before work can start.

Actually, as CRT has to apply for DEFRA consent when its agreement is ready, I am not sure when the start will be.

Did I realise what would come from those meetings with John Heap, Graham Palmer, Sir Frank Price and David Wain? Of course not. Will I be proud of the achievement when one troublesome obstruction to the canal is cleared away?

You bet! Who will do the next one? Now there’s a question!

Michael Limbrey

OTHER MONTGOMERY NEWS

 The Montgomery Canal Triathlon – which must be the biggest canal event in the branch area – will take place on 4 September. About a hundred places are already taken by last year’s entrants who held their entries over.

It remains to be seen what conditions will be in September and whether more could be accommodated then. The organisers always need help with stewarding so it will be great to see IWA members supporting the event.

More details/updates on https://themontgomerycanal.org.uk/friends/ montgomery-canal-triathlon/.  The recent listing of Bridge 80 brings to 128 the number of listed structures on the canal. The Montgomery is believed to have more canal-age structures, locks, cottages, warehouses, aqueducts etc etc than any other canal. It would be very valuable to assess the number and condition of these structures: how many are ‘at risk’? Are any missed as Bridge 80 was?

How many will survive for future generations? Are there IWA members who could help?

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 SUCS work parties resumed in March. Their most challenging exercise has been to place water-filled intermediate bulk containers where there has been subsidence: these compress the underlying peat, drying it out so the canal and towpath can be built up to proper height.  Planning is under way for the length between bridges 85 and 86, south of Crickheath Basin, to include a new fixed bridge for the farmer’s accommodation crossing. SUCS have already cleared scrub for a survey.

Will this length hold water or will it need lining like the canal to the north?  Notices at Schoolhouse Bridge record an order made by the Department for Transport at the request of MWRT subsidiary Montgomery Canal Reconstruction Ltd to stop up highway rights where the present highway is wider than the new bridge will be.  A partnership established with leading councillors of Shropshire Council, CRT, MWRT and the Montgomery Canal Partnership focusses on restoration of the final two miles to Llanymynech. This led to a presentation to the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, a funding organisation for Shropshire and Herefordshire, both of whom know the canal.  The Shropshire partnership has also arranged an updated review of the benefits of the final restoration in Shropshire in today’s circumstances with contributions to the cost from the Council, CRT, Friends of the Montgomery Canal, MWRT and the Council’s contractors Balfour Beatty. At the Council’s request Balfour Beatty will also assist by assessing the cost of works.  A meeting last September with the Leader of Powys County Council was followed by a presentation to the Growing Mid Wales Partnership, a provider of investment funds for the counties of Powys and Ceredigion, which was well received. This will be followed by a review of costs and benefits arranged by the Council and CRT.  CRT Enterprise officers in Wales and West Midlands respectively are keeping a careful eye on funding opportunities which may come from Westminster’s Levelling-up and Shared Prosperity Funds which replace EU funding across the UK.  CRT obtained £245,000 from the Welsh Government SMS Natura 2000 fund for channel clearance work in February and March and the provision of a weed-cutter for use by TRAMPS (Welshpool adoption group) volunteers.  The Welsh section of the Montgomery and the Mon & Brec will benefit from a partnership of Powys County Council, CRT and others running a £1 million Canals, Communities and Wellbeing partnership, funded from the Welsh Government’s Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing fund.  CRT is planning repairs to Vyrnwy and Aberbechan Aqueducts and will need to find funds. Both are essential to assure a water supply for the canal as a Special Area of Conservation.

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 Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams commended the contribution of volunteers when he named the Montgomery Canal as a pet project in the House of Commons St David’s Day debate. Another project he named was the Pant & Llanymynech bypass: though no route has yet been published, we know that a previous proposal would have crossed the canal near Waen Wen. While we need to ensure navigation wherever a crossing may be, does anyone agree that the restored wide at Waen Wen would be one of the most attractive places on the whole canal? What would a trunk road do to it?  David and Suzie Lewis of New House Farm, Crickheath, have been very generous in the help they have given to the Schoolhouse Bridge project.

They have launched a camping experience on their family farm with ‘oodles of hospitality and a few little luxuries for a personalised camping adventure, at the intersection,’ they say, ‘of wild, green, nature and convenience.’ The environment is a major part of their management policy and they will use part of the profit from the venture for re-wilding. We have always said that one of the benefits of restoration is the opportunity for tourism and tourismrelated businesses and the canal is one of the local features they offer their visitors. More at www.wildcontentment.com  Finally, we think we might be able to take the Restore the Montgomery Canal! appeal to events this summer. As you can see we have great ambitions for the future, built on what the appeal has achieved so far. One event we have been to is Braunston Historic Boat Rally. It’s outside the branch area, but is a great canal event: could you spare some time on 26 or 27 June?

Michael Limbrey

Recent events at Schoolhouse Bridge Top-left: In September, WRG NW visited to clear canal bed at the bridge site Bottom-left: In November contractors installed the water main diversion (picture R Bravey) Bottom-right: TRAMPS volunteers and friends cleared hedgerows before the nesting season (picture C Bushnell)

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SHAPING THE CUT AT THE ‘HELL HOLE’!!

MONTGOMERY CANAL RESTORATION WORK PARTY 19th -21st MARCH 2021 Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers resumed work in March, continuing the restoration of the 330 metre dry section of the Montgomery Canal, at Crickheath. When finished, this will link the national network of canals, to the winding hole at Crickheath, which is in water.

The monumental task, just before Christmas, of substantially overbuilding an area of subsidence affecting both sides of banking in the middle of the section, was completed.

A massive pumping out programme ran throughout the weekend to remove thousands of gallons of rain and ground water, so that machines could operate at both ends of the project.

The emphasis has now shifted to preparing a smaller section of the channel, next to Crickheath winding hole, which has also suffered from subsidence, in readiness for remedial treatment.

Other tasks were undertaken, in what proved to be a very successful session.

The very sloppy bed of the channel at the end near Pryce’s Bridge, which has been dubbed, ‘The Hell Hole’ was levelled off and stabilized with grouting material, as preliminary work, towards shaping the channel, in readiness for lining with layers of waterproofing materials, and blocks, in the summer.

Another team was involved in removing unwanted sections of newt fencing, installing new sections to cope with boundary changes and repairing damaged parts.

To compensate for time lost due to Covid restrictions, there will now be two work parties per month until Christmas.

Further on down the canal towards Llanymynech, another restoration group, “Restore the Montgomery Canal!”, are hopeful of beginning work on installing a new road bridge near School House in Long Lane in the coming months.

Fred Barrett

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BRAIN OF MONTY QUIZ 2020 The official Brain of Monty 2020 is SHEILA HAYWARD Sheila was the clear winner but was closely followed by Dave & Ros Koring who came second, Colleen Edwards third and Graham Wood fourth. Well done all of you.

Question 1 posed the most difficulty and I have to admit that I don't understand the clue either but it was the 2018 winner's tie-break question so I felt honour bound to include it. No prizes guessing the one person who got it correct!

I googled all answers that differed from the checklist and if it matched the clue then it was marked correct. For example there appears to be rather a lot of mountains known as a 'cursed mountain'. However the question asked for a single mountain not a range of mountains so not all the answers fitted the clue.

The person who submitted question 32 was obviously an Archers fan because of course Mrs Snell has a Doberman called Monty but Monty Snell is also a goalkeeping hockey player so he was also marked correct. However if your answer to question 38 'A blue and so literary chat' was Elizabeth Montagu then it was marked incorrect as a chat is a bird not a human!

Thank s all for taking part especially if you sold copies of the quiz and/or sent a donation. Just to remind you the judge’s decision is right even when wrong!

Previous Winners:      

2018 - Shaun Fisher from Pant, Oswestry 2016 - Susan Wilding from Shrewsbury 2014 - Sue Russell from Church Minshull 2012 - Susan Moden from Aylesbury 2010 - Hilary & Mike Bibb from Banwell 2008 - The Buss Family from Chester

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES!

Dawn Aylwin

IWA membership is more fun if you take part! Could you help at any of these events? If so please contact us (details on inside front cover) 

Shrewsbury River Festival: 6 June



Braunston Historical Boat Gathering: 26-27 June



Gnosall C’Fest: 16-18 July



IWA Festival of Water - Worcester: 28 - 30 August

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PLANNING A CRUISE?

The information below from CRT may be useful if you are planning a cruise in or near our branch area.

Frankton Locks

Summer 2021 Season Opening Times: 9 am - 12 noon daily Booking can be made in advance up to 10:00 on the day of passage. A return passage must be booked a maximum of 14 days after entry on to the Montgomery Canal.

Please arrive at the locks anytime between 9am and 12 noon. There will no passage outside of the opening times. If you have any questions, then please call on 0303 040 4040

Harecastle Tunnel

Summer 2021 Opening Times: (1 March 2021—30 Oct 2021).

Open passages are available from 8am to 12 noon, Monday to Sunday. Unbooked (Open) passages must arrive at the tunnel portal between 8am and 12 noon. There is no guarantee of passage for arrivals after 12 noon unless pre booked online at https://licencing.canalrivertrust.org.uk Bookable passages are available Southbound (Kidsgrove to Tunstall) at 2pm and 4pm and Northbound (Tunstall to Kidsgrove) at 3pm.

For tunnel enquiries please email eventsnorthstaffs@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Anderton Boat Lift

Summer 2021 Operating Times 16 April—2 May: Lift operating 4 days a week Fri & Mon 10:00—16:00 / Sat & Sun 10:00—17:30 3 May onwards: Lift operating 7 days a week Mon to Fri 10:00—16:00 / Sat & Sun 10:00—17:30 Bookings can be made using your online account or call 03030 404040 Mon-Fri 08:30—17:00 and Sat & Sun 10:00—14:00

Bridgewater Canal

An agreement between CRT and the Bridgewater Canal Company means that boaters can now spend up to ten days cruising away from their home navigation free of charge. There are no restrictions about how far you can travel, but you will need to book your passage online and return to your home navigation authority within the ten days. You can revisit the other authority’s water again after a 28-day period. Holiday hire boats, whichever waterway they are based on, will have unlimited access across both navigations.

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IWA ANNIVERSARY QUIZ. On Feb 24th West Midlands Region held a quiz as part of the celebrations for the 75th Anniversary of the IWA. Helen Whitehouse, the WM Regional Chair contacted the branch to ask if we wanted to take part, and although it was at short notice a team was found by Philippa Bursey and she volunteered to lead us into battle, Having just raised her hand to take over as branch secretary, Philippa is showing an unusual enthusiasm which doubtless she’ll recover from; she led a team also containing Dawn and David Aylwin, Michael Limbrey, Fiona Pearson and myself.

Zoom quizzes can be either frivolous or serious: - this one was serious.There were over 60 questions, split into rounds as usual, and they were put to us all, after which we were split into our own ‘rooms’ where we compiled a group answer, and were then taken though the answers. The question master was Ian Fletcher, who I first met some years ago with the late Mike Carter when they were planning a convoy across the Mersey from the Boat Museum to the Albert Docks, and he belongs to the class of boater who bravely goes where no boater has gone for a long time.

The questions were all canal related, e.g. identifying locks and other structures, paddle gears etc. There were no digressions into art or popular culture that those participating in our annual branch quiz are used to, so we did wonder whether the event was sticking to the spirit of the dictum that the IWA is not a boaters’ organization.

Being organized by W Midlands, the accent naturally was on their local waterways, and that and the fact that as it ran for nearly three hours, some of us were beginning to flag, is our excuse for coming in 6th out of 8 teams. That was disappointing as we had our eye on the booby prize of a cleverly crafted wooden windlass.

Notwithstanding our exhaustion it was a highly enjoyable evening and many thanks to our neighbouring region for organising it; hopefully depending on the pandemic regulations easing, we will still be able to have our own quiz sometime this year.

Alan Platt

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MAKING BETTER USE OF LEGACIES AND REDUCING THE TAX BILL?

Most of us know that if you gift-aid your subscriptions/donations to charities they can claim back 25% more from the Inland Revenue. Many will also be aware that money or anything else left to charity in a Will is exempt from Inheritance Tax. Readers may also know that if 10% or more of what’s taxable (the “chargeable estate” after exemptions) is given to charity, the rate of Inheritance Tax is reduced from 40% to 36% - that’s on the whole sum, not just what’s given to charity. But did you realise that even if nothing was left to charity in a Will, the beneficiaries can sign a Deed of Variation to make donations, or increase the amounts, and so reduce the tax bill?

There was a time when your parents died in their 70s and left you money when you were young enough to need it. Not so much nowadays, it seems. With parents going on into their 80s or even 90s, all too often by the time you get your inheritance, you wonder whether you now need it – or, at least, need all of it. Of course, personal circumstances vary from family to family but it is noteworthy that legacies are becoming an increasing source of funding for charities. There have been some for the Montgomery Canal – most recently, one of £70,000 for the Schoolhouse Bridge Appeal from an IWA member and earlier a six-figure sum which helped fund the original Aston reserves.

It’s also noteworthy that children often arrange for their parent’s home to be sold. They’ve got their own home by now and don’t want to move back to where their parents lived. So the house sale means a cash windfall – which is also subject to Inheritance Tax (subject to exemptions at lower levels).

Let’s look at an example. Sam is the child of a parent who dies; the other parent died earlier. Sam’s parents had a house worth, say £550,000 and they also had various investments of some value. Let’s assume that the taxable value (after the usual tax reliefs etc) is £500,000. With inheritance tax at 40%, that means £200,000 for the Government and £300,000 for Sam.

Photo on this page by Denis Farmer show inspection of the work on the Aston reserves in 1993 and the newly established reserve in 2002

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Sam doesn’t need all the money and has always been a waterways supporter, gift-aiding subscriptions to a favourite waterway society (but this isn’t essential for Will varying). Sam doesn’t want to sit on all this money and see another 40% go in tax on their death. They would like to give away half of their inheritance. They sign a Deed of Variation to their parent’s Will agreeing that and naming the charities they wish to get the money totalling £250,000 (half the gross inheritance before tax). This reduces the tax rate to 36%, charged only on the remaining £250,000.

Result? Only £90,000 for the Government, £160,000 for Sam and £250,000 goes to charities.

If they hadn’t varied the Will and given half their (net) inheritance to charity, then the Government would have got £200,000, Sam would have got £150,000 and the charities would have got (only!) £150,000.

Result of varying the Will? Charities better off by £100,000 – and incidentally Sam by £10,000.

Of course, Sam doesn’t have to be so generous. Maybe they have grandchildren they want to help – but not too much as they want the grandchildren to earn their own way through life. There’s still some left for charities.

Maybe you’re wondering what this article has to do with you. Well, you are interested in the inland waterways – or else you wouldn’t be reading this.

Maybe YOU might be interested in varying a Will so you can direct money to a waterways charity – such as this branch of the IWA, making it clear, if you wish, if there’s a special project you would like to support or whether you leave that to the branch Committee to decide.

(If you are thinking of making your own Will, you could simplify things by naming a waterways charity to receive a proportion of your estate - even 1% makes a difference and makes your wishes clear. You can talk to your solicitor or Will writer about how this can be done - they usually just need the organisation’s name and registered charity number e.g. The Inland Waterways Association, charity number 212342).

Naturally, this article isn’t proper professional advice. But you may wish to ask your solicitor about it. By the way, Deeds of Variation need to be dealt with within two years of the death.

John Dodwell

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