T OWING PATH T OPICS
March/April 2013
Newsletter of the North Lancs & Cumbria Branch of The Inland Waterways Association
A NEW MAGAZINE?
Inside This Issue
In common with the vast majority of voluntary organisations in the country the Inland Waterways Association has been looking closely at its costs. This is true of the organisations both centrally and in its branches up and down the country. Your branch, North Lancs and Cumbria, has been no exception to this as the money that has been passed from head office to support the work of the branch, particularly the production of a magazine three times a year, has been reduced and is scheduled to reduce further over the next couple of years. At the same time as this reduction in money it has become apparent that a number of the people we have relied upon to keep the branch fully functional over many years are having to slow down and do a little less. One of these people who have kept us going for so long has been our magazine editor, Janet Dunning. She has produced Towpath Topics for the last thirteen years, some forty editions and way over a thousand pages of content. No mean feat! She clearly deserves our grateful thanks.
A New Magazine?
1
Gill Faulkner – A Legacy
1
Leeds & Liverpool Canal Clean UP
2
Skipton Waterways Festival
2
So, to the point of this ramble. The branch committee has agreed to try a new
The IWA in the North West
3
Discovering Britain Canal Walks
3
Steve’s Bargaion Box
4
Can You Help?
4
Campaign Rally 2012
4
format for the regular magazine and to use head office facilities for printing and distribution. The thought, at this stage, is to produce only two full twenty-four page magazines each year and make the number up to three with a much smaller newsletter such as this one. All copies of the magazine are also published on the North Lancs and Cumbria branch pages of the IWA website at www.waterways.org.uk. However, before final decisions about content, type and numbers are made, we would value feedback from many of you. Does this approach seem sensible to you? Would you be happy with two full magazines and a newsletter each year? This should save some of the costs and allow us to spend more on campaigning and supporting the work along many of the waterways in our area. Do you agree that this is the approach we should be taking?
GILL FAULKNER - A LEGACY. Gill Faulkner and her husband David have been involved in the waterways over many years and are known to many branch members. As reported in the last edition of Towing Path Topics Gill passed away last year but as in life thought of the waterways in our region. Gill made a bequest to the branch to be spent at their discretion and after some consideration plans are being made to
provide visitor moorings on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal adjacent to Bagganley Lane Bridge, Chorley. Discussions with CRT included the provision of mooring rings, and notice boards which would provide information about nearby shops and facilities which are not obvious when cruising/walking that stretch of canal. The timescale for this work has not yet been agreed but we hope that the mooring facilities will be available during the summer.