NATIONAL CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN
IWA WATERWAYS AUTUMN 2009 ISSUE
RECENT MONTHS have seen British Waterways launch a public debate on its vision for how it hopes to operate in 2020 and a more immediate consultation on the reorganisation of their waterway units as part of a major cost saving review; this would see it reduce its employees by 100 giving rise to annual savings estimated at £10 million. Whilst the reorganisation aspects seem to give benefits in both monetary and operational aspects, the longer-term vision to join the third sector seems highly aspirational, yet is short on the detail of how it will get there or what it will look like when it reaches its goal. Until BW knows more about the form of the entity it wishes to become and how it expects it to be funded, it is difficult to fully debate the topic I fear. However, I would encourage you to attend one of the remaining meetings that BW directors are holding with their stakeholders when this topic will come up (see also ‘Twenty Twenty Vision’ – pages 6-8). In 1974 the IWA National Rally was held at Nottingham on the River Trent and it attracted over 600 boats. One of its objectives was to draw attention to the nearby Grantham Canal restoration and I do hope that, 35 years on, our 2009 National Festival at Redhill, at the confluence of the Soar and Trent rivers, will also focus on this restoration and those of the Derby Canal, the Cromford Canal, the Melton Mowbray Navigation, the Sleaford Navigation and the reinstatement of the Foxton Inclined Plane. So do please try to visit our Festival to find out more and to support these restorations. A new rail station at East Midlands Parkway has recently opened and a kids go free deal is available or, for those driving with SatNav, simply enter postcode NG11 0EE and take advantage of the proximity of the site to Junction 24 of the M1. As well as the likelihood of a general election, 2010 will also see us celebrating the centenary of Tom Rolt’s birth. When he met the 31-year old Robert Aickman at Tardebigge in August 1945 he was 35. Do you have confidence that two young men in their early 30s would have the vision and commitment today to lead others on a campaign of the same magnitude? I wish I did, but I fear that even if they tried, older sceptics like myself might not take them seriously and might even try to undermine them. IWA needs to harness and nurture its younger members and to increase their numbers, but do we make it easy for them to find roles that challenge and enthuse them? I leave you with that thought.
Contents 6
TWENTY TWENTY VISION We assess BW’s plans to move into the third sector
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AUTUMN 2009
37
NEWS
What the press are saying about the world of the waterways
News and views from around the waterway network
20
IWA NATIONAL FESTIVAL & BOAT SHOW We preview the waterway event of the year
22
OUR WATERWAY HERITAGE Visit a canal museum this autumn!
30
AGAINST ALL ODDS Restoring the Wilts & Berks Canal
WATERWAY CUTTINGS
38
RESTORATION UPDATE From the Droitwich Canals, the Pocklington Canal and the Cotswold Canals
43 INBOX 44 DIRECTORY
Readers’ Letters
Who’s who at The Inland Waterways Association
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Waterway Images
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COVER PICTURE: The Ellesmere Port Boat Museum’s historic narrowboats Gifford and Shad at Bunbury Lock on the Shropshire Union Canal.
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