50 years of restoring waterways
navvies
1966
–
2016
Look!
New van!
First
summer
camp
reports
waterway
recovery
group
Issue No 278
August-September
2016
Intro
Bill Nicholson
Camp photos
Gordon Brown
Ashby
Wey & Arun
Lapal
Hugh Humphreys
Alan Lines
We
We have
have
three
reports
three reports
from
from camps
camps at
at the
the
start
start of
of the
the summer
summer in
in
this
issue.
Here
are
some
this issue. Here are some
pictures
pictures from
from the
the rest
rest of
of the
the
summer’s
summer’s camps
camps -- we
we hope
hope
to
to include
include reports
reports next
next time.
time.
So
please
get
writing
them...
So please get writing them...
Alex Melson
Stover
page 2
Cotswold
Visit our web site
www.wrg.org.uk or find
Waterway Recovery Group
on Facebook for all the latest
news of WRG's activities
Production
Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road,
East Dulwich London SE22 9PB
020-8693 3266 [email protected]
Subscriptions: Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Rd.,
Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ
Printing and assembly: John Hawkins, 4
Links Way, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth,
Herts WD3 3RQ
01923 448559 [email protected]
Navvies is published by Waterway Recovery
Group, Island House, Moor Rd., Chesham
HP5 1WA and is available to all interested in
promoting the restoration and conservation
of inland waterways by voluntary effort in
Great Britain. Articles may be reproduced in
allied magazines provided that the source is
acknowledged. WRG may not agree with
opinions expressed in this magazine, but
encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as
policy or an official announcement unless so
stated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept no
liability for any matter in this magazine.
Waterway Recovery Group is part of The
Inland Waterways Association, (registered
office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham
HP5 1WA), a non-profit distributing company
limited by guarantee, registered in England
no 612245, and registered as a charity no
212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.
Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, John
Baylis, George Eycott, Helen Gardner, John
Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Jude Palmer, Mike
Palmer, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.
ISSN: 0953-6655
© 2016 WRG
Contents
In this issue...
Chairman’s Comment
4-5
50th anniversary: ‘50 we made earlier’ 6-9
Van Appeal fundraising update
10
WRGBC Boat Club News
11
Camp Reports Grantham, Wey & Arun,
Monmouthshire & Brecon
12-20
Letters welcoming DofE volunteers
21
Dig report London WRG on the S&N 22-23
Diary WRG, IWA, CRT, canal societies’ work
party dates
24-29
Stover archaeological dig
30-31
Progress our regular roundup
32-36
Camp leading coping with split sites
37
Directory WRG and canal societies 38-41
Navvies News
42-43
Paperchase 40 years of NW history 44-45
Infill What to do with Himalayan Balsam 46
Outro Inglesham update in pictures
47
Contributions...
...are welcome, whether by post or email.
Photos welcome: digital, slides,
prints. Please say if you want prints back.
Digital pics are welcome as email attachments, preferably JPG, but if you have a lot
of large files it’s best to send them on CD or
DVD or to contact the editor first.
Contributions by post to the editor
Martin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road,
London SE22 9PB, or by email to
[email protected].
Press date for issue 279: 1 September.
Subscriptions
A year's subscription (6 issues) is available
for a minimum of £3.00 to Sue Watts, 15
Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy,
Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques payable to
"Inland Waterways Association" please.
This is a minimum subscription, that
everyone can afford. Please add a donation.
Cover Picture: Lock 15 on the Grantham Canal - and a new van! See report from first of
four camps, p12 (Emma Greenall). Back cover (top): opening of Ashby Canal’s new Bridge
61, where we worked last summer (Gordon Brown). Bottom: first boat through Lower Brake
Lock, Mon & Brec. Camp report p18, official opening of the flight in early 2017. (Bob Coles)
page 3
Chairman
About those new vans...
“Thanks to you we now have two
great vans that already have done
several thousand miles and
transported over a hundred
navvies to and from sites”
Chairman’s Comment
Despite the fact that it is over a year since you have had a ‘comment’ from me you will no
doubt be pleased to hear that I don’t intend to go through everything that has happened
over the last twelve months. This is, of course, mainly because our esteemed editor Martin is
doing his very best to recognise and celebrate what has happened over the last 50 years so
it seems rather lame for me to compete with that. But I will, of course, try and sneak in a
few personal highlights.
By the time you read this most of our summer camps will be finished, with the honourable exception of a few remaining weeks for Circuit A at Inglesham. But Circuit C has definitely finished which was the circuit with our brand new vans. They have done four weeks at
Grantham, a week at Lapal and then two weeks on the Shrewsbury & Newport. So quite a
baptism of fire (though all in the Midlands I note - we shall have to arrange some visits to,
say, the Wey & Arun or the Lancaster as soon as possible).
So there are three really big Thank Yous that relate to this successful summer circuit.
Thank You No 1 is quite obvious – thank you to everyone who has given to the Van
Appeal. Thanks to you we now have two great vans that already have done several thousand
miles and transported over a hundred navvies to and from sites, all doing vital work.
Thank You No 2 relates to the fact that this is Circuit C – for many, many years we just ran
two circuits and it takes a really big effort to jump that to three circuits. Three years ago the
WRG board decided to try it and it has taken a huge effort from many people to make it happen.
Thank You No 3 is something that only I saw. While we did buy the vans brand new
and all the coachwork was done for us, there was still the finishing touches to be completed.
So I was there when Bungle and his Dad laboured late in the evening carefully measuring up
and cutting steel work to fit it into the back the very night before the vans were due to go
out on Camp.
Which seems to me a
good summary of why WRG
still works: a strong mix of
lots of people working
together to compete a big
plan, but only succeeding
because of some last
minute thrashing from a
few dedicated volunteers
AND a much larger group
of supporters. It’s been that
way for as far as I can
remember and it works. My
considerable thanks to you
all, whatever part you play
in that tableau.
Just to nip back to the
vans themselves; they seem
to be very well received.
There are a few new foibles
compared to the old TranCompleting the fit-out of the new vans
sits (opening and shutting
page 4
the doors is… well… different), but overall I think
they are already becoming
part of the family. Certainly
on my camp at Grantham
they were in use morning,
noon and night.
And just to complete
the vans you may be wondering what we are doing
to raise the rest of the Van
Appeal total. Well, we are
very close to the target but
there is still a way to go,
so we are currently thinking of having a weekend
this autumn with a racenight in the evening and a
sponsored walk the followThe Chairman enjoying leading his Grantham Canal camp
ing morning (or perhaps the
other way round – we
haven’t quite worked that out yet). This should give us the focus to finish the appeal off in style.
We haven’t quite got the details sorted out yet but we will let you know as soon as we can.
Also on the subject of fundraising, the wife and I spent pleasant Sunday morning
strapped to a boat in early June. The Chesterfield Canal society were running a sponsored
boat pull, using their lovely traditional boat Dawn Rose. Basically, two of you pay £50 towards their charity for the privilege of being able to raise funds for your charity. So Jude
and I spent the morning tramping down a section of towpath while various members of the
CCT spoke encouraging words such as “it’s not so bad once you get a bit of momentum
going, is it?”. Jude and I handed over to Sarah Frayne and Paul Ireson for the afternoon and
we were very glad. Whilst it certainly raised a sweat, the lovely CCT friends made us all very
welcome and it was a fantastic way to see bits of canal I haven’t seen before. I do hope they
continue to run it as a regular event. It’s a good fundraiser and one that should keep building year on year as its profile grows. If you do see it advertised again then go for it – it’s a
great way to raise funds for your particular restoration scheme and theirs.
But to get back to the summer - the big change for this year was that we decided that
wearing eye protection would be the norm on our Canal Camps. By and large I think it’s
passed into being without too much issue. We do have a bit of a problem in that, while the
wrap-around models for those that don’t wear spectacles are fine, we struggled to find a cost
effective model of over-specs that was comfortable enough for long term use. The end result
was that we rather overspent our budget, but it seemed that most people appreciated the
model we found so that’s the main thing.
So the personal highlight? It was, of course, actually running a camp. This year Bex
Parr and I went for a week at Grantham and it was utterly brilliant. Yes it helped that we had
great weather, and that we were the last week of a run of four, and that we had the lovely
Mark Owen to look after the site for us, and Andy B our cook was ultra-flexible when we
didn’t come off site till seven thirty. But what really made it was what always really makes it:
wonderful volunteers. A perfect mix of young and old, experienced and first-timer – all
keen and willing and, more than anything, truly great company.
I have deliberately decided to finish on this happy note to complement the article from
Martin in this issue. Because Martin’s article is full of truly impressive figures about what we
have already achieved in the last 50 years and that is indeed worth celebrating. As we set out
next weekend (or whenever) for our next dig we should be proud that we have achieved so
much. But to have achieved all of that and spent (almost) every moment of it laughing and
smiling in great company is nothing short of a miracle.
Hugs and kisses
Mike Palmer
page 5
50 years of Navvies magazine 1966-2016
“We will never be able to raise £50m for canal restoration”
I heard those words, or something like them, spoken at a recent waterway restoration meeting. It was a comparison between the sizeable wedges of cash needed to restore the more
difficult canals we’re now working on, and the relatively modest sums that the canal trusts
and WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association can hope to raise. But it got me
thinking. Not just because of the opportunity to use that magic number ‘50’ yet again in this,
the 50th anniversary year of Navvies magazine. But it does sort-of relate to that anniversary,
and to the ‘looking back, looking forward’ theme that we introduced in the last issue.
But first, a quiz question: what do Sedgwick Aqueduct, Bignor Bridge and Baylham
Lock all have in common?
The answer is that they’re all structures on derelict canals, and they’ve all been restored, all with a major contibution by volunteers including WRG. But there’s more than that.
Unless you’ve been involved in canal restoration for a while, you may well not have heard of
them. That’s because although their restoration was substantially completed some years ago,
you’re unlikely to be turning up to watch an official reopening or cruising your boat through
any of them for a little while yet.
And that’s because it’s the nature of canal restoration (not to mention Sod’s Law) that
there are very few canal projects where you can start at one end and work your way through
to the other, restoring and opening sections of waterway in a logical sequence. No, far more
likely that you’ve got a motorway crossing at one end and the landowner from Hell at the
other, and you have to start somewhere in the middle where you can get permission to work
on a length that’s a practical proposition for volunteers to reopen. Sure, there may be no
obvious way forward for linking it up to the rest of the world in the short-term. But that’s
OK, because at some point over the many years that you’ll be working on the canal, the
motorway will need rebuilding, the landowner will return to the place from whence he came,
and that chunk of canal that you’ve opened in the middle will be a ‘showpiece’ section that
will be the catalyst for getting the likes of the National Lottery on board for the necessary
funding for the harder bits to join it all up.
We’ve seen it happen - on the Rochdale Canal, the Huddersfield Canal, the Droitwich
Canal - and we’re optimistic that it will happen again with the linking-up of the isolated
restored bits of the Montgomery, the Cotswold Canals, the Grantham, Ashby, Wey & Arun
and more.
Their time will come: the restored Sedgwick Aqueduct (Lancaster Canal)...
page 6
...Boxwell Springs Lock
Looking back, looking forward...
But there’s more to it than that. Those are just the more ‘obvious’ isolated restored
lengths that you may have heard of because there have been official openings, there are
trip-boats operating, you can walk the towpaths and so on. There are plenty more restoration schemes which haven’t reached that point - or individual projects which haven’t reached
the linking-up stage, even though other sections of the same canal may have done. But
they’ve all been felt to be worth working on - quite possibly at the time, they were the only
project that it was felt possible to get permission to work on - and they are patiently waiting
for the canal to return, and their moment of glory to come. (Well, for all I know, if locks and
bridges have feelings, they could equally easily be waiting very impatiently, thinking “When
are all those bloody boats that I was promised going to show up?” But I digress.)
The three structures I mentioned above are all in this category. There are many more.
They might not see boats for many years, but they are already helping the cause: from a
practical point of view (sooner or later they will get linked into longer stretches) but also a
‘political’ one in terms of making the case for further restoration or protection of the route in
local planning policies by putting down a marker that the canal is being restored.
And yes, you’ve no doubt guessed, I’ve put together a list of 50 of them to mark our
50th anniversary, and to tie in with ‘looking back, looking forward’: here are 50 structures
we’ve already restored over the 50 years Navvies has been around, whose time will come
sometime in the next 50.
I can, of course, hear the alarm bells ringing and the sceptics and cynics collectively
rising to their feet. Yes, I do know that all these 50 structures need maintaining so they don’t
fall derelict again during the long years waiting for the waterways to reopen. And yes, I
know that not all canal societies have always done this as well as they might - in fact the
need to maintain what’s been restored has been a hard-learned lesson for the restoration
movement at times. But that’s for another discussion (feel free to start it on the letters page).
What I want to concentrate on here is the positive side. Imagine that those 50 structures had to be professionally restored today. I’ve no idea what they would cost, but let’s
take a conservative guess at £200,000 each on average. Why that figure? Well, a recent
feasibility study for a restoration project suggested £300,000 per lock for contractor restoration of a flight of locks - but (a) that included gates, which in many cases won’t have been
fitted to these ‘restored but unused’ structures as they would decay before they were needed,
(b) my list includes a fair number of smaller bridges which probably won’t cost as much as a
lock and (c) I don’t want it to look like I’m exaggerating!
(Cotswold Canals)...
...and Little Hill Farm Bridge (Buckingham Canal)
page 7
50 years of Navvies magazine 1966-2016
That means that my list of 50 structures represents the equivalent in kind of a £10m
investment by ourselves (the restoration movement, including canal societies, WRG, KESCRG, NWPG, IWA and anyone else) in the future of canal restoration.
But that list simply consists of the first 50 I could find, off the top of my head and with
a quick ask-around. I’m pretty sure we can find double that if we try. That’s 20 million. And
that’s just structures: there are all the lengths of recreated channel too. Oh, and the times
that the restoration movement has persuaded a local authority to put in a bridge, a housing
developer to reinstate a channel (or even to build a lock!), or a road or railway builder to
make provision for navigation.
So might the £50m figure perhaps not be so unrealistic after all? Let’s not be unfair to
ourselves. Perhaps there really is the equibvalent of £1m worth of completed-but-hidden
volunteer waterway restoration work out there for every year of Navvies magazine’s existence. So next time somebody casts doubt on whether we can raise sums like £50m for canal
restoration, just point out that in effect we almost certainly already have. And in the meantime, let’s crack on with the next £50m worth.
Martin Ludgate
“Here’s one we made earlier” x 50
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Buckingham: Little Hill Farm Bridge
Chesterfield: Miners Crossing
Cotswold: Boxwell Springs Lock
Cotswold: Wildmoorway Lock
Cotswold: Eisey Lock
Cotswold: Rucks Bridge
Cotswold: Cerney Wick Lock
Derby: Borrowash bottom lock
Derby: Ullickers Bridge
Gipping: Bosmere Lock
Gipping: Creeting Lock
Gipping: Baylham Lock
Grantham: Cotgrave Lock 7
Grantham: Cotgrave Lock 8
Hatherton: Saredon Mill Bridge
Hatherton: Bridge 8
Hereford & Gloucester: House Lock
Hereford & Gloucester: Ellbrook Aqueduct
Lichfield: Fosseway Lock 18
Lichfield: Darnford Liftbridge
Lichfield: Tamworth Road Lock 25
Lichfield: Tamworth Road Lock 26
Lancaster: Sedgwick Aqueduct
Montgomery: Carreghofa upper Lock
Montgomery: Carreghofa Lower Lock
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
Montgomery: Brynderwen Lock
Montgomery: Byles Lock
Montgomery: Newhouse Lock
North Wilts: Moredon Aqueduct
North Wilts: Moredon bottom lock
North Wilts: River Key Aqueduct
Pocklington: Top Lock
Sankey: New Double Locks
Sussex Ouse: Isfield Lock
Thames & Medway: Milton swingbridge
Uttoxeter: Bridge 70
Wendover: Bridge 4
Wendover: Bridge 4a
Wey & Arun: Rowly Lock 17
Wey & Arun: Bignor Bridge
Wey & Arun: Lee Farm Lock
Wey & Arun: Haybarn Bridge
Wilts & Berks: Lock 3, Seven Locks
Wilts & Berks: Lock 4, Seven Locks
Wilts & Berks: Dauntsey Lock
Wilts & Berks: Foxham Top Lock
Wilts & Berks: Foxham Liftbridge
Wilts & Berks: Elephant Liftbridge
Wilts & Berks: West summit Lock
Wilts & Berks: Steppingstones Bridge
Please note: this highly subjective list is based on the editor’s knowledge and experience (a
large part of which has been with London WRG and therefore in the southern half of Britain)
plus a quick ask-around, rather than any attempt at a comprehensive list from across the
country. Its purpose is to illustrate just how many of these completed projects there are. If
you, the readers, can find twice or even three times as many, featuring various canals not
even mentioned here, then I won’t be at all surprised. In fact I’ll be disappointed if you can’t!
page 8
50 55 56 how many? from 50...
50 from 50: another update...
Our ‘50 from 50’ list and map in issue 275 (featuring 50 waterway restoration projects that
WRG and its predecessors had worked on in the 50 years since Navvies issue 1 was published in 1966) continues to attract additional suggestions from readers.
In addition to the 5 extra entries that I mentioned last time, we’re now up to 57 having
had two more, starting with the following from Roger Savage of the Burslem Port Trust...
I think you have forgotten the week you spent in the Drill Hall whilst working on the
Burslem Arm, when the wash wall was uncovered. Working parties continue regularly on the
Burslem Port site.
Thank you Roger: yes I had forgotten it, even though I was there. Meanwhile Edd Leetham
has our second, less happy, addition...
Before Liverpool WRG was subsumed into wrgNW it worked on another navigation that
wasn’t in your list - the River Derwent in Yorkshire. OK, it was an abortive restoration that
fizzled out when the riparian
landowners got heavy and said
“we don’t want no boats on our
river”, but there was a society
actively attempting to restore it
and at the time we visited they
had high hopes. I still like to think
57
that one day, once the Pockling53
ton Canal is reopened, local opinion will change and boats might
get a bit closer to Malton.
Thank you Edd, and also to Brian
Andrews who made a similar
point about the Derwent. Brian
also adds:
56
51
I am very interested to read of
52
new prospects in the offing and I
54
am sure that I can add one or two
more that we can look forward to
in the future; it is not long since
you raised the prospect of the
Bradley Locks Branch in the pages
of Navvies and I believe that the
proposed Bedford & Milton Keynes Canal is nearing the point of
starting construction. Both of
55
these are exciting future projects.
I am sure that there are
others yet to come, but perhaps
we need to complete a few others
in the meantime and ensure that those we have restored remain navigable.
WRG has much to do in the future if our beloved waterways are to remain in action!
page 9
Appeal update
First two vans in use!
Our appeal to raise £120,000 to
replace our fleet of four van /
minibuses is well into 6 figures and
the first two vehicles are in service
- but we need a final push...
Van Appeal Update
As promised in the last edition, we now have photos of the two shiny new vans which are
already out doing the rounds on canal camps around the country. They are settling into
WRG life well and we’ve had no accidents with height barriers… yet!
With the appeal total at just under £110,000 we are still a small windfall away from the
completing the campaign and purchasing the next two but we are getting ever closer all the
time - so here are a couple ways you can help us get there...
The Guess the Miles Competition still has a few weeks left to run, so for those who
have not entered yet there is still time to get in with the chance of winning that Van-tastic
hoody! See the last Navvies or click ‘guess the miles’ on waterways.org.uk.
On 11 September, IWA’s fundraising officer Sarah Frayne will be participating in the
Canal & River Trust’s ‘Two Arms on Two Legs’ event (a half-marathon and 10k race taking
place along the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union), with all money raised
from the sponsored run going towards the appeal. Lookout for the fundraising page, which
will be going up in the next few weeks (we’ll tell you about it via the WRG Facebook group
and IWA website) or if you want to get involved in the event yourself, you can find more
details on CRT’s website canalrivertrust.org.uk.
You will also spot WRG at the Festival of Water in Pelsall on the Birmingham Canal
Navigations at the end of August, hosting the ever popular ‘Drive a Digger’ and hopefully
collecting some donations along the way!
Sarah Frayne
Volunteers on the first Grantham Canal share an end-of-camp photo with the two new vans
page 10
WRG BC
What kind of boat do you
need to be a member of
WRG Boat Club? And what
do you need to be a
member of its committee?
Our own boat club
I recently received this message from Sue...
WRG Boat Club news July 2016
A ‘boat’ covers all sorts of floating transport;
we don’t have any ocean going liner owners
amongst our membership, but that’s probably because they count as ships and don’t
use canals much (Gloucester & Sharpness
maybe?).
Why do I mention this - because I have
recently been asked by a canoe owner if they
were eligible for club membership? Of
course you’re welcome! If you have a vessel
and can visit the canals, (especially recently
restored bits), you are very welcome to apply
for membership. I often wish I had some
kind of trailable boat so I could visit the bits
that are at present cut off from the main
system.
I am sorry to have to pass on the news
that Ann Ridley has died. She had been
very ill for several years and had moved
from her boat to a mobile home on a very
good friend’s farm in Kent. Her ex-partner
John looked after her for the last seven
months.
Ann helped on the Wey and Arun restoration and had a varied life on the canal
system. She helped me on numerous occasions, cooking for volunteers, these times
were always fun and I will miss her. - Sue
Ralph Mills
I also remember Ann and the fun we had on
and off WRG camps. At one stage she and
John moved their boat to the Middle Level so
we saw more of them then. We last met
when they were off to a new mooring ‘up
North’. Their boat was towing another, upon
which was a huge generator, as the mooring
they were taking had no electricity supply. I
assume that they had booked a very long
mooring to get away from the noise of the
generator. A sad loss of another great ‘Character’ from WRG past. Our best wishes go to
John.
The Club AGM will be upon us, maybe
before you get to read this. I would like you
to consider this sobering thought – we are,
the club officers, getting older and in my
case a bit decrepit. I won’t say ‘Dotty’ as you
will all think ‘Hmm nothing new there’. We
need some new officers – please consider
joining the merry band – you will need a
sense of humour, or possibly of the ridiculous. It wont take up much of your time so
please consider volunteering.
I hope that we will get to hear of lots of
visits to new canal bits and various digs that
are accessible by boat.
Oh, being an optimist is another essential for club officers!
xxx Sadie Heritage
236 Station Road Whittlesey PE7 2HA
Canoes are great for exploring canals under [email protected]
tion, as this pic at Ty Coch on the Mon & Brec shows
01733 204505
page 11
Camp Reports
Grantham Canal
Camp 201612, Grantham Canal
The four weeks of camps on the Grantham
canal in 2016 were to be based at lock 15
and continue the restoration which commenced last summer when exploratory investigation works and construction of a new
spill weir were undertaken. However the
investigation works uncovered significant
structural issues which have resulted in the
demolition of the majority of both the lock
walls to invert level. Over the winter the local
Grantham Canal Society group and Canal &
River Trust trainees have completed the
excavation and demolition of the lock walls,
laid the new concrete foundations and commenced the rebuild of the chamber walls.
The plan for the WRG summer camps:
progress the rebuild of the chamber walls, in
particular the brick facing.
Week 1 was led by Emma Greenall,
assisted by myself with Harri Barnes and Paul
Ireson making up the catering team (Harri
cooking until Tuesday morning when she
had to go back to work but preparing meals
Reporting from the first of four
consecutive weeks’ work at Lock
15 - the one the canal society
started restoring and ended up
demolishing last year...
and baking for the rest of the week). 13 of
the camp were new volunteers. Accommodation was Cropwell Bishop Memorial hall.
Saturday: In a slight change to the normal
camp programme owing to the hall kitchen,
toilets and car-park being used for an event,
a small team of Emma, Paul, Steve Barrett,
Nigel Lee and myself arrived with the aim of
getting the site prepared to a suitable position so that the new volunteers would have
areas to be trained in brick laying. Several
courses of bricks were laid in the ladder
recess and pillars started at points along the
wall to enable string lines to be set-up. Harri
also arrived and spent the afternoon shopping.
After a successful afternoon on site the
team returned to the hall for fish & chips after
which most went to the pub for the evening
while Nigel and myself went back to site to
meet Bungle who was delivering the WRG
digger, getting back to the pub by closing time.
Sunday: The day started slightly earlier than
planned for those sleeping in the main hall,
Grantham Canal Fact File
Length: 33 miles
Locks: 18
Date closed: 1936
The Canal Camp project: Rebuilding Lock 15 on the Woolsthorpe Flight
Why? This is part of a major Heritage Lottery Fund backed project by Grantham Canal Society with
support from the Canal & River Trust to restore locks 14 and 15 of the seven-lock Woolsthorpe flight.
Unfortunately it turned out to be in a much worse state than had been realised, so what had been
expected to be a restoration has turned into a demolition (completed in winter) and rebuild job.
The wider picture: You’ll see mention in the report of CRT heritage trainees: the work is being
used as a skills training exercise for the Society and CRT to help provide a pool of volunteers for
the next stage, locks
Nottingham
River Trent to Newark
Woolsthorpe
12-13. In terms of
To Shardlow
Proposed
Locks 12-18
progressing the
diversion Redmile
restoration, it’s also a step towards
Grantham
Original route Cropwell
creating a 10-mile restored length to
obstructed
The Long
Redmile - an in the medium term,
Canal Camp
Pound
completing the Long Pound to Cropwell.
Restored
site: Lock 15
Get that open, and someone might just find the cash to
length
deal with the diversion needed to connect the canal back to the Trent.
page 12
Emma Greenall
when the early
morning sun
flooded through the
high level windows
which didn’t have
any curtains! After a
quick bacon and
egg roll breakfast,
vehicles were
moved to the hall
car-park although
the new vans
needed to wait until
some minor adjustments had been
completed to the
bunting hung above
the gateway! Nigel,
Steve and Paul went
off to site to continue progress on
Tricky job: bond the new chamber wall to the existing gate recess brickwork
setting out the
brickwork, whilst
the others waited for the volunteers to arrive periods in other areas.
mid-morning. Camille had a short wait at
Other tasks included making a start on
Grantham station owing to the message not
clearing the debris from the bottom of the
getting through to us that he had caught an
chamber in preparation of the scaffolding
earlier train.
which would arrive the following week. Paul
After a safety brief and quick lunch,
and a few others worked to infill the brickeveryone jumped in the vans and we went to work on the offside wall and gate recess intersite where Mark, the CRT site manager gave
face. The holes in the previously poured coneveryone an induction and PPE was distribcrete infill on the off side were drilled in prepauted. Steve took a group to demonstrate the ration for the shear connecting bars to be
plant and equipment that was on site and the installed later in the week by Patrick and Tom.
risks associated with this before moving on
This task progressed much faster than anticito teach mortar mixing. Nigel and Paul led a pated and was complete before lunchtime.
session of training on brickwork before the
Ollie and Iris were trained by Steve on
groups swapped over so that everyone expe- the excavator that culminated in the loading
rienced all activities. Progress continued with of a number of dumpy bags with sand from
mortar being mixed and bricks being laid
the stockpile. Iris also had a go on the dumper.
until around 5pm when we returned to the
accommodation. The advanced party reTuesday: We woke to rain however this had
mained on site for an extra hour or so, mak- soon stopped before we arrived on site. More
ing progress on the ladder recess and pillars. of the same – mortar mixed, materials
Nigel left after dinner having only come moved and bricks laid. Steve did some excaup for the weekend to help get the brickwork vator training. Some bricksaw training was
started, and most went to the pub for the
done with James and Patrick, so a supply of
evening.
cut bricks was readily available for use in the
ladder recess and odd infill sections. A vanload
Monday: The main task of bricklaying on
went swimming in Cotgrave in the evening.
the towpath side main wall continued with
Bethan, Mae, John, Tony, and Ryan whilst
Wednesday: Brickwork continued to
the supporting functions of brick movement
progress with all the associated activities in
and mortar mixing were undertaken by
addition to other tasks to ready the site for
Camille and Jack. Andy took up position on
the concrete pour which would be occurring
the ladder recess where he would remain for tomorrow. These tasks included the gluing in
the majority of the week interspersed with
of 88 steel reinforcement bars to the holes
page 13
drilled earlier in the week on the offside
concrete infill and the drilling of the holes on
the towpath side. The final shutters were
erected and secured at the rear of the infill
on the towpath side which required some
modifications to be made to the means of
access. Ollie, James and Max painted the
shutters with mould oil.
Bethan spent some time on the digger
under the instruction of Steve.
On the offside the final course of brickwork facing for this lift was completed before
excess bricks were moved to the towpath
side for use. Sufficient materials were loaded
out to allow the brickwork to be continued
on the towpath side wall whilst the concrete
pour was being completed on the offside
before the final task for the day of installing
the 88 shear bars on this side. With four
courses remaining on this wall to complete
the lift, everybody could see that the target
was achievable especially after Andy completed the ladder recess to level.
undertaken by James, Ollie, Tony and Patrick
to prepare, repair and start repointing of the
remaining heritage brickwork at the tail of
the lock with lime mortar. Tom was trained
on the excavator.
Emma Greenall
Friday: Bricks continued to be laid on the
wall with great progress being made through
the day so that the target level was achieved.
Heritage repairs continued at the tail of the
lock with two substantial areas being completed by the end of the day.
The shutters were stripped from both
sides and stacked at the ends of the infill slab
in preparation for use again on the next
level. Work then started on infilling behind
the wall and creating a new safe access onto
this level to load out materials for the coming weeks. A start was made on setting some
blockwork pillars to assist with the following
camps work.
The majority of works were completed
by mid afternoon allowing time for the kit
clean and check and end of camp photo.
Thursday: The day of the concrete pour.
In total for the week; 13 courses of
Mae left early to go to an interview with CRT facing brickwork were laid the full length of
for a Heritage Trainee position. A select
wall which is estimated to be around 3000
group left for site straight after breakfast to
bricks, 68m3 of concrete poured, 10t of sand
get to site early and ensure everything was in used in mortar mix.
place and ready for the first load arriving at
9am. When they arrived the pump was alSaturday: As the site kit had been cleaned
ready set up in position over the offside, so
and checked on the Friday all that was left to
final checks were made of the shutters and
do was clean and tidy the hall and vans as
brickwork on the other wall started.
well as checking the catering kit. This all
The first load arrived just after 9am and progressed well, with mother nature helping
the 6m3 was quickly pumped into place
with the washing of the outside of the vans.
before the next load arrived. The pump
operator placed the concrete in such a way
that it meant there was limited shovelling
and raking required, thus greatly reducing
the heavy work that was expected for the day
with only the final tamping needing a
number of people to complete. John,
Bethan, Andy and Martin completed this and
also floated the edge next to the blockwork
to allow easy laying of the next course.
The offside took until around 11:30 to
complete before the pump moved to the
towpath side. The brickies had to be occasionally moved from their spots whilst the
pour was progressed however progress was
still made so only 2.5 courses remained to
be completed at the end of the day.
Total of 68m3 of concrete was poured
with the final 3 barrow loads that brought
the final corner to level being gained from
Steve instructing on the excavator
the material left in the pump. Work was also
page 14
Next it’s down to Dunsfold on
the Wey & Arun for the first of
two weeks of putting the
finishing touches on the brand
new Compasses Bridge...
Camp Reports
Wey & Arun Canal
Camp 201611, Wey & Arun Canal nent accommodation at Brimscombe Port.
However, we were fortunate that after
NWPG at Compasses Bridge
Two years on and two years off, that seems
to be the NWPG modus operandi for WRG
summer camps. Given 2016 is the Bicentenary of the opening of the Wey & Arun Junction Canal it is appropriate that NWPG returned to our old stamping ground in early
July (our first ever camp was at Lee Farm
Lock in 1990). Our last two camps were at
Stroud where we were tasked with substantially finishing off Griffin Mill and Bowbridge
Locks. This year we were asked to finish off
a full spec road bridge at Dunsfold Aerodrome except that in this case ‘finish off’
would normally amount to about 4/5 full
weeks of WRG camps. Helpfully the Trust has
set an opening date of 2nd October so there’s
no escape. The canal formally opened here in
1816 so, of course, we’ve got to do the same
for the bridge in 2016. The race is on...
You can’t underestimate the ease of
running a camp on the Cotswold Canals, and
in particular the benefits of the semi-perma-
searching high and low for accommodation
over the winter months, our old staple,
Kirdford Village Hall was available and that
they were prepared to let us have it for two
weeks non-stop and without any daytime or
evening interruptions. Wonderful!
We did have to enhance the facilities a
little so the first job on Saturday morning
was to position the portaloos, or ‘Turdi’ as
they affectionately came to be known, and to
bring down the Canal Trust’s mobile shower
unit and plumb it in. Gazebos were erected
on the grass area alongside the hall in the
optimistic hope that the weather was going
to so nice that we would all want to eat
outside. A small team went off to site to start
the all-important task of preparing a large
hole into which 104 tons of concrete would
be pumped as a base for the north side wing
walls where previously the road dam was
located. More of that later.
Camp volunteers new and old drifted in
during the day. It was great to welcome back
Wey & Arun Canal Fact File
Length: 23 miles
Locks: 26
Date closed: 1871
River Wey to
the Thames
Shalford
Bramley
The Canal Camp project: Completion of the new Compasses
Dunsfold
Bridge, carrying the access road to Dunsfold Aerodrome
Canal Camp site:
Compasses Bridge
Why? The original bridge was replaced by a fixed causeway in the
1930s. Reinstating the bridge connects together two already
restored sections of canal to create a mile-long navigable length.
9
Loxwood
The wider picture: Having spent some years concentrating on the
Restored Loxwood
length through Loxwood known as the Loxwood Link, the Wey &
Link section
Arun Canal Trust has more recently launched its ‘three sites
Newbridge
strategy’ aiming to spread activity onto the northern sections. One of the three
sites is the Loxwood Link, a second is at the north end (aiming to open up
navigation from the River Wey), and the third is the Dunsfold section.
See pages 32-33 for an in-depth report of WACT’s current activities
and future aims along the whole of the Wey & Arun Canal.
Tidal River Arun Pallingham
to the coast
page 15
Pictures by Bill Nicholson
Kieron, Shaun, Christine
and Harry from last
year’s camp and new
volunteers Johanna,
Justin and Colin.
Johanna being the
granddaughter of Graham Baird who many
WRGies will recall as
being our well respected engineer at
Haybarn Bridge and
Brewhurst Lock back in
the early noughties.
We kicked off the
week with the new
camp safety video (in
which son-of-Nicholson
plays a disturbingly
large rôle) and our
Applying the finishing touches to the south side wing wall copings
usual welcoming first
night camp barbecue
before being reminded that Kirdford is a bit
established elsewhere on other tasks. Objecof a squeeze if you try and fit more than 20
tive two was to complete all the brickwork on
people in it. I blame the large fishing beds
the south side of the bridge including the
that seem to be standard sleeping kit these
long brick copings on top of the wing walls. I
days. Long gone are the days of the rug or
had about two days in mind for this. Rob
Karrimat.
Brotherston was given one and assistant
And so to site... Safety talk first of
camp leader Graham the other. Five days of
course, paperwork signed and the teams
solid brick laying later the job was done were established. Now no NWPG camp
giving us a useful idea as to how long it will
would be complete without objectives. In
take on the north side with an opening cerfact the more outrageous the objective the
emony planned for 2nd October!
more likely it is to be set! This year’s outraAlan, Mike, Steve M, Pete T and JJ
geous objective one was the aforementioned carried on with brick cladding the bridge
104 tons of ready-mix - that’s an awful lot of facing walls ably assisted by trainees Chrissie
concrete. Worse still, site manager Dave had and Colin. Again this kept them busy for the
arranged for it to be delivered from 1.00pm
rest of the week (a camp leader’s dream!)
on the Tuesday leaving us 2½ working days apart from one and a half courses on the
to get the hole ready. Compasses plant sueastern flank wall which Steve finished off
premo Andy took on the job of digging the
during the second camp.
Trust’s 13 ton excavator down into the earth
Objective three: On the west bank of
with the muck being off loaded into two ten
the canal we had to build a 15m long retainton dumpers for a trip down the airfield to
ing wall to help secure the bank and thus the
Mount Dave. Earlier in the month in just one garden of one of the mobile homes above.
day Andy had removed the totality of a
Contractors has already installed soil nails
NWPG summer camp’s work namely the
and a team lead by chippie George Whitegabion ramp down to the canal. Unfortuhead spent three days (including a late night
nately it had to go, not least to enable us to
on Monday) fixing a steel cage around which
build a vehicle ramp down into the canal to
a timber box was put in place and secured.
get materials in (and out). Remember NiThe latter was critical given the many tons of
cholson Rule of Canal Restoration No 1: you concrete that would be pumped into it and it
always restore a section of canal at least
was to the team’s credit that it didn’t move
twice before boats can use it.
an inch and probably a lot less. Another of
Whilst all this hole digging (and follow- those tasks that someone might say “why are
ing that, installing the steel re-inforcing
doing this?” but essential in keeping the
work) was going on, teams were getting
project as a whole on track.
page 16
Objective four was to keep everyone
and got hotter by the end of the week. As for
not doing objectives one, two and three
our objectives, the base for the new wing
busy. There was certainly no shortage of
walls was in and block laying started; the
other work. We are not only trying to link
south side brick laying complete (just about),
two sections of previously blocked canal for
a large retaining wall built and hundreds of
boats but we also have been building a new
tons of spoil moved down to Mount Dave.
road and security entrance into the airfield.
Can’t complain at that.
More drains were installed, manholes
My thanks goes out to all 25 volunteers
built, verges landscaped and fences erected.
who to a man and woman got stuck into
9 brickies needed a constant supply of mortheir work, including Johanna and Justin
tar (which of course is always too wet or too doing their D of E, Sue our cook for keeping
dry) and bricks. Thanks to Dave’s expertise in us so well fed during the week, to Steve
scaffolding we had the benefit of a fine walk- Saunders for installing and enhancing the
way and steps that led down to the fully
shower caravan and to site manager Dave
scaffolded out area under the bridge. We had (and his family who put up with his abto raise it early on in the week but by the last sences) who has put in so many extra hours
Saturday the whole lot had been dismantled
and helped to raise volunteer canal restoraready for re assembly back on other side.
tion to a new semi-professional level.
A short diversion off into social activiNow - over to you son for a report on
ties. A note for next year’s camp planners the sequel...
don’t allow me to plan any social events! The
Bill Nicholson
skittles night planned for Tuesday turned out
NWPG Camp Leader
to be on Thursday - fortunately
I found out before we trooped
off to Wonersh. The Wednesday
night boat trip was ominously
short of a boat and crew until
Chairman Sally, Captain Julian
and crew man Richard turned
up to rescue us and we set sail
for Southlands Lock half an
hour late. Apparently two boats
had been booked for Rob’s
camp the following week and
none for ours!
It was fortuitous that
skittles was not on Tuesday the 104 tons of concrete arrived but as usual with ready
mix it was late, and the job
was only finished at around
6pm. We did have the services
of an elaborate concrete
mixer/pump with an enormous long boom and pipe
extensions to reach both into
the hole and George’s retaining
wall. Everyone was ****ered
and the most that could be
reasonably asked of the team
was to get back to hall, eat
food, open a beer and collapse. So that’s what we did.
So we got safely to the
end of week. The weather on
the whole (given the record so
Completing the reinforcing ready for the big concrete pour
far this summer) wasn’t bad
page 17
Camp Reports
Monmouthshire Canal
Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
Camp 201610 at Ty Coch
There has come a moment on each of the
canal camps that I have led, when the final
hugs and handshakes have been made and
the last volunteer has left, when the washing
has been collected from the launderette, the
van keys have been handed to the leaders of
the following week and a hush has descended over the now-deserted church hall.
Although this moment is tinged with slight
melancholy at the seventeen or so farewells I
have just taken part in, it is overwhelmingly
a few quiet minutes of supreme pleasure.
There is of course an element of a
considerable load of responsibility being
lifted from my shoulders, mixed with the
satisfaction that the first aid kit was only
raided for a couple of band-aids and some
sun-block. I’ve managed to get everyone to
the end of the week in one piece, with all 72
limbs still connected and fully functional. It
sounds quite daunting when you put it like
that… phew!
Ty Coch Locks are almost
finished, and gearing up for an
opening later this year. Ralph
Mills reports from the last camp
on a favourite site of recent times
But there are two significant measures
of my week that I take note of and (hopefully) revel in. The first is the succession of
departing volunteer smiles and the repeated
assurances of “see you next year!” as they
head off to the railway station, are retrieved
by relieved-looking parents or duck into their
cars. The second barometer of my week’s
activities is the height of reaction of the
‘locals’ – Richard Dommett and Heidi Carey,
representing the Monmouthshire Brecon &
Abergavenny Canal Trust and Torfaen
County Borough Council respectively, as they
survey what my ad hoc team of people, most
of whom met for the first time just a week
ago, have achieved. Well, the quote I shall
take away with me after this week was
“There’s no way we could have done what
you’ve done!”
In a way it was a strange week. As it
nears the end of a three-year Lottery-funded
scheme, the project at Ty Coch combines
satisfaction at what has been achieved with
anxiety at what still remains to be done
before the coffers ring hollow. For those who
Navigable to
Brecon 35 miles
Mon & Brec Fact File
5
Length under restoration: 15 miles Locks: 50 Date closed: 1930-1962
The Canal Camp project: Building a new access pathway to a visitor
site at the Ty-Coch lock flight.
Crumlin Arm above Cwmcarn
buried under new road
Cwmcarn
Why? The locks have been the subject
of a restoration project. They are
almost complete, and this year’s work
anticipates the site beoming a major attraction.
Cr
um
lin
Five Locks
3
3 Cwmbran
4
Road built
on canal line
Canal Camp
site: Ty-Coch
New link
proposed
r Usk
Rive
The wider picture: There are proposals to reopen
Ar
south from the navigable limit at Five Locks into
Malpas
m
Fourteen
Cwmbran town centre. Opening that length as well as Ty-Coch
Locks
locks will bring pressure to bear on the authorities to reinstate
Newport
the intervening (very.tricky) one mile section where a road was
Original route through
built on the route. This in turn would make the case for
opening the Crumlin Arm and a new route to the River Usk. Newport obliterated To the Bristol
Channel
page 18
across the timber-strewn site, much sawing
and trimming, and the barrowing of chips
from one far end of the work site to the
other. My watch-words became ‘sinuous’,
‘sinuosity’, ‘sinuousness’, as the path snaked
sensuously and seductively amongst the
trees beside the lock.
The great thing about this activity was
that it could involve everyone in one big,
merrily chatting group. I’m not sure how
much path the locals had expected us to
create, but I have a feeling that we exceeded
their targets! I’m also not sure about the
looks of grim anticipation on the faces of the
young women who were expertly wielding
machetes as they busily sharpened stakes
suitable for any number of episodes of Buffy
the Vampire Slayer.
My memories of the week include having a miserable cold for several days and
probably infecting everyone else (sorry!).
Approximately half the camp also suffered
from hayfever, so it was a week filled with
the sound of snuffles. I established an officecum-boudoir in a cupboard crammed to the
ceiling with brightly-coloured plastic playgroup toys, a peculiar environment to wake
up to as the sunlight poured through the
Crosskeys Methodist church hall windows.
We’d returned to Crosskeys after an absence
of a couple of years, much to the delight of
the church: it offers cosier accommodation
Ralph Mills
have seen the locks and pounds progress
from a muddy jungle to almost boat-readiness it was great to see the canal in water,
with ducks swimming where just last year we
were dragging out rubble and old bricks.
Indeed, just a week or so before we arrived
this year, a boat passed through Brake Lock.
Admittedly it didn’t get very far either up- or
down-stream, but the public relations point
had been made.
This meant that, unusually we didn’t
spend much time actually in the canal. Yes,
we slaughtered plenty of undergrowth,
hauled all sorts of tangled rubbish from
long-neglected hedgerows, and managed to
exercise some newly-learned pointing skills,
but there wasn’t any slurping around in that
wonderful goo that lurks at the bottoms of
locks, the hauling about of impossibly large
chunks of limestone or the extracting of vast
tree stumps. The one lock that we might
have attacked was being hung with Richard’s
patent steel ‘flat-packed’ lock gates, and we
wouldn’t want to get in the way…
Instead, we did something completely
different. The canal is already seen as a
valuable community amenity, and is much
used by walkers, fishers and cyclists (the
latter, who achieve supersonic speeds as they
pass the site, are the biggest hazard on this
stretch). The area to the east of the lower
locks is to become a picnic spot, and we
were tasked with
creating a pathway that will give
access to a scatter of seats and
benches. So, in
just a few days,
the team excavated over 100
metres of pathway, laid weedcontrol fabric,
edged it with
pegged-down
timbers and
covered it with
wood chips.
Although
this sounds
reasonably simple, it involved a
lot of heavy
digging, the
hunting out of
Pegged-down
suitable wood
timbers for the edge of the pathway
page 19
Scott who were just as energetic and useful
this year as last; Joe Atwill and Laura
Gilmore, without whom a canal camp
wouldn’t be complete; Huw Stenner, who
was always to be found hard at work in the
thick of the team; our ‘spy’ from IWA head
office, Sarah Frayne, who threw herself into
her first-ever canal camp with admirable
gusto; Frenchman Romain Uzureau, who
overcame the defeat of his home country in
the football to prove himself an absolutely
valuable member of the team, although I
never did get to pronounce his surname
correctly; and finally, but not least, our visitors from Birmingham via the Midwestern
US, Pooja and Meghna Vaida, who enthusiastically and happily joined in the fun, whatever tasks came their way.
My final feelings, as I handed the keys
to Steve and Chris for week two, was of
gratitude to everyone who took part in my
camp, sadness at the end of an era at Ty
Coch – who knows what will happen there
next – but also excitement and anticipation at
the prospect of new adventures somewhere
on the Mon&Brec, starting in 2017, and of
sharing them with superb people!
Ralph Mills
Ralph Mills
plus proximity to The Philanthropic Inn just
down the road. Entertainment for the week
was handily provided by the football on the
pub TV.
As usual, my wonderful Assistant
Leader, Ayushi Vyas, worked tirelessly
amongst the volunteers, while I merely
lounged in the sunshine, barking orders. I
owe her many thanks for being a perfect
right-hand person. This year I was lucky
enough to have two fantastic and lovely
cooks – Tanvi Vyas and Kavita Purohit – who
cheerfully and creatively invented great
meals throughout the week and met the
challenge of having two vegans on the camp
without batting an eyelid (the vegan food
was so good that we had to fight to keep the
others from eating it before we reached the
serving hatch).
In a sense I had life easy – with Bob
Coles and Ben Thompson on my camp I was
guaranteed reliable helping hands at every
turn. In truth, it was a dream team. A couple
of superb DoE candidates, Daniel Pocock and
Stefan Zaqueu, who definitely earned gold
stars; Colin Fisher was back again, and was
always quietly and busily at the centre of
things; other returnees Todd Elliott and Jim
Laying the path: note the restored lock complete with gates in the background
page 20
“Don’t forget that for most
people attending a canal camp,
this is a weeks holiday” - are
being we welcoming enough to
our young volunteers?
Letters
...to the editor
Dear Martin
Deirdre raised the subject [Navvies 277, p50], and indeed pointed out that our Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award volunteers have an obvious reason for coming as they are there for that
last signature. However if we look after them they’ll come back. And not to put to fine a
point on it (just look: consider the average age of your canal camp - and then consider the
drop in it the DoE’ers have brought about) without new blood we will simply die out. Every
Volunteer organisation is struggling for numbers, and we have a direct route that throws
new people at us. Why do some see this as problem?
Sure: some are hard work, at least on day one, but that can be true of every volunteer
that turns up. It has nothing to do with age. All to do with attitude. I would suggest the ‘old
hands’ have a duty to be welcoming to all, after all there will be plenty of time to catch up
and talk over past glories. There are plenty of trite sayings, but teams don’t just happen.
They require work from every member, but some may just need a little encouragement to
enable them to give their share over the week.
Don’t forget for most people attending a canal camp, this is a week’s holiday. Having a
good time is important. And looking back on the Friday night surrounded by friends, new
and old, with the knowledge of work done should send everyone home on a high. Any
signature is a bonus.
Gavin Darby
As I’m sure Gavin and almost all of our readers realise, Deirdre’s column is largely tonguein-cheek - and in this case the mickey-taking was aimed not at the DoE volunteers but primarily at the ‘old hands’ - and at the attitudes of a handful of them to younger volunteers. I
agree entirely with Gavin’s comments about being welcoming to new volunteers - and I feel
the majority of WRG’s volunteers of all ages and levels of experience do too (however much
leg-pulling might go on) - but I think it’s worth repeating, as a reminder to everyone.
Note the reference to leg-pulling and ‘almost all our readers’ - we did also have a communication from somebody not directly involved in WRG who had taken the piece by Deirdre
rather more at its face value and was suitably unimpressed by our attitude. We replied
putting the record straight, but I did wonder about how to avoid such misunderstandings...
Now you’ll be relieved that I’m not about to tell contributors to drop the piss-taking and
parodies and write plain English. Self-deprecating humour is part of the essence of WRG and
Navvies; it can be a good way of putting serious points across as well as entertaining readers; I
couldn’t bring myself to edit such a dull magazine if we cut it all out; and Deirdre would probably
tell me to get stuffed before going off to write a hilarious column for Undertakers’ Monthly.
However, whilst as editor I accept that ‘the buck stops here’ and Navvies is my responsibility, I will suggest to contributors that (especially in spring editions when we often have a
fair number of new readers) they consider the possibility that somebody who isn’t up-tospeed on WRG humour might read it. If necessary, do just a tiny bit more to make it a little
more blindingly obvious (as it might seem to the initiated) that you’re having a laugh. And
that might even mean making the parodies more extreme! [Editor stands back and waits for
a flood of camp reports comparing WRG with the Spanish Inquisition / Gestapo / Al Qaeda]
Finally, on the idea that ‘this is a week’s holiday’. Having been on a worksite where the
H&S induction included a ban on shorts, short sleeves, and mobile phones on site (thereby
removing two traditional holiday objectives of getting a tan and some photos), I couldn’t
help wondering how long it will be before a ban on speaking to work-mates disposes of the
third objective of getting some new friends. Am I in danger of becoming a “We never needed
hard hats in my day” type grumpy old man, or have I got a point? Discuss.
The Editor
page 21
Dig Report
London WRG on the S&N
Featuring “Pete’s clever
method of hanging the
bentonite roll from a
scaffolding pole off a digger
and unrolling it like loo roll“
was accomplished by some diplomatic
Shrewsbury & Newport canals
London WRG weekend, 18-19 June WRGies negotiating with local car drivers.
Pictures by Martin Ludgate
A team also set to work excavating a
Thanks to an astonishing turnout of volunFrench drain. [Fun fact! French drains aren’t
teers, London WRG got a ton of work done
so named because they were invented in
on the Shrewsbury & Newport canal this
France – they are named after Henry Flagg
June. 25 of us, plus some locals, turned out
French, an American, who popularized them
for the weekend and we had a lot of heavy
in his 1859 book Farm Drainage]. The idea
machinery to help us. We worked at such a
was to excavate a trench to the brook, lay
pace that I couldn’t believe how much we’d
pea shingle and then run a narrow pipe
already got done by first tea break.
through the channel for drainage. The trench
The site at Forton, just east of Newport, needed to be dug to a depth that was greater
was chiefly characterized by the number of
than the reach of the available diggers. We
hazards it appeared on first impressions to
solved this problem by digging twice: first a
present. Volunteers had access to a wide
broad trench to gain access for the digger
array of dangers including death from above, and then a much more narrow trench for the
death by heavy plant, death by fire [I was
pipe itself. With a keen machine operator
there, and can reassure you that Sophie’s
behind the wheel, this task was accomplished
exaggerating ...Ed], as well as many other
very quickly.
ways to injure themselves using hazardous
We’d laid several rolls of bentonite
substances and pointy tools, plus an alarmmatting (to make the waterproof lining for
ing number of stinging insects including
the restored canal channel) at our dig the
bees, horseflies and a wasp the size of a
previous October but one of these subseman’s thumb. In
the end, not a
single mishap
occurred despite
the rather cramped
site layout and
multiple risks.
A visiting tree
surgeon brought
down an enormous elm without
incident and the
stump was very
quickly removed
using a digger. We
burnt the branches
and root crown as
best we could and
whisked the logs
off site. This manoeuvre was complicated by the
need to close the
road during the
Preparing to unroll the waterproof bentonite matting
operation, which
page 22
quently proved to have been
faulty, and the matting in one
particular section had slipped
down the slope. We managed
to repair this section using
Pete’s clever method of hanging the bentonite roll from a
scaffolding pole off a digger
and unrolling it like loo roll
down the slope. At the same
time, an industrious team of
workers braved nettles and
angry bees to repoint large
sections of the bridge. As a
bonus, we also managed to
complete some repair work
on the coping bricks that had
shifted forward and needed
mortaring back into place.
We were joined for
dinner on the Saturday night
by some of the locals, who
very kindly put £100 behind
the bar of local pub ‘The
Phez’ for us to enjoy. Dinner
was notable for an experiment where we made garlic
bread using massive thick
round loaves instead of the
usual French sticks. Everyone
seemed to agree it was an
improvement on the usual
way of doing things with a
more slender loaf. Foodwise, the weekend was also
characterized by an abunRe-pointing stonework on the towpath under the skew bridge
dance of ‘And’ cake. These
included: rhubarb and custard cake, cardamom and orange cake,
that it took some of us nearly 7 hours to get
chocolate and raisin flapjack, and date and
home.
ginger cake. The latter was kindly donated
We enjoyed the weekend so much that
by the locals.
we agreed to try to come back in the auOne Sunday we made a short expeditumn, so look out for London WRG dates in
tion to the other end of site to find the hidOctober and November [It’s provisionally
den aqueduct/viaduct. It’s an impressive
scheduled for 15-16 Oct ...Ed]. The S&N has
piece of historic architecture, incorporating
always proved to be an enjoyable canal for
three tunnels and allowing both a road and
us to work on and well worth the long jourthe canal itself to pass over a slow flowing
ney from London.
river. It’s also a very picturesque little spot
Sophie Smith
with a lazy pool of water, wild roses and
water lilies. It’s very easy to overlook this
New volunteers are always welcome on
curiosity even if you’re working on the site at London WRG digs, and you don’t have to
Forton for an extended period of time, so
come from London or anywhere near (most
volunteers are advised to seek it out.
of us don’t). See the Navvies dates list, folThe weather held out until the minute
low the links to regional groups and London
we were packing away. It was just as well we WRG from wrg.org.uk, or look at the London
got away in good time – rotten traffic meant WRG Facebook group for more details.
page 23
Navvies diary WRG and mobile groups
Your guide to all forthcoming work parties
Aug 20-27 Camp 201630
Aug 27-Sep 3Camp 201631
Sep 1
Navvies
Sep 2-8
WAT
Sep 3/4
Essex WRG
Sep 3/4
KESCRG
Sep 3 Sat
wrgNW
Sep 3-10
Camp 201632
Sep 10/11 London WRG
Sep 10-17 Camp 201633
Sep 17/18 NWPG
Sep 17/18 wrgBITM
Sep 18 Sun WRG
Sep 21 Wed wrgNW
Sep 24/25 London WRG
Sep 24/25 wrgFT
Sep 24/25 wrgNW
Sep 30-Oct 6WAT
Oct 1/2
KESCRG
Oct 8/9
NWPG
Oct 8 Sat
wrgNW
Oct 15/16 London WRG
Oct 15/16 wrgBITM
Oct 15/16 wrgNW
Oct 21-29 WRGFT2016
Oct 22-29 Camp 201634
Nov 1
Navvies
Nov 4-10
WAT
Nov 5-6
BB2016
Nov 5/6
wrgFT
Nov 5 Sun WRG
Nov 12/13 NWPG
Nov 12 Sat wrgNW
Nov 19/20 London WRG
Nov 19/20 wrgBITM
Dec 2-8
WAT
Dec 3/4
Essex WRG
Dec 3/4
KESCRG
Dec 3/4
London WRG
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals
Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock
Press date for issue 279
Wendover Arm: Pipe capping & bank shaping, and profiling & lining
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation
Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock
‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection
Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock
Basingstoke Canal
Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock
Wey & Arun Canal: Dunsfold Summit
Wey & Arun Canal: Sidney Wood towpath
Committee & Board Meetings: Rowington Village Hall
Ad Hoc Meeting
Lichfield Canal: To be confirmed
Cotswold Canals
Lichfield Canal: Joint dig with London WRG
Wendover Arm: Seven day weekend Fri-Thu
To be arranged
Cotswold Canals: Lower Wallbridge Lock
‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals: To be confirmed
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: Accom on Haybay
Montgomery Canal: To be confirmed
Uttoxeter Canal
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation
Press date for issue 280
Wendover Arm: Seven day weekend Fri-Thu
Bonfire Bash: Venue to be arranged
Bonfire Bash
Committee & Board Meetings: at Bonfire Bash
Wey & Arun Canal: Dunsfold Summit
‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection
Blists Hill Museum: Ironbridge, Shropshire
Grantham Canal
Wendover Arm: Seven day weekend Fri-Thu
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation
Wey & Arun Canal: KESCRG/London WRG Xmas Party
Wey & Arun Canal: KESCRG/London WRG Xmas Party
For details of diary dates beyond the end of this list ple
page 24
Canal Camps cost £63 per week unless otherwise stated. Bookings
for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 201630'
should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham
HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, [email protected]. Diary compiled
by Dave Wedd. Tel: 01252 874437, [email protected]
Martin Ludgate
Roger Leishman
John Gale
Bobby Silverwood
Barry McGuinness
Tim Lewis
Bill Nicholson
Dave Wedd
Mike Palmer
Malcolm Bridge
Tim Lewis
Malcolm Bridge
Roger Leishman
Bobby Silverwood
Bill Nicholson
Barry McGuinness
Tim Lewis
Dave Wedd
Malcolm Bridge
Martin Ludgate
Roger Leishman
Mike Palmer
Bill Nicholson
Barry McGuinness
Tim Lewis
Dave Wedd
Roger Leishman
John Gale
Bobby Silverwood
Tim Lewis
01494-783453
01494-783453
07779-478629
01442-874536
01376-334896
07971-814986
0161-681-7237
01494-783453
07802-518094
01494-783453
01844-343369
07816-175454
01564-785293
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
07802-518094
[email protected]
01422-820693
01442-874536
07971-814986
01844-343369
0161-681-7237
07802-518094
07816-175454
01422-820693
01494-783453
01494-783453
07779-478629
01442-874536
01494-783453
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
01564-785293
01844-343369
0161-681-7237
07802-518094
07816-175454
01442-874536
01376-334896
07971-814986
07802-518094
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page
page 25
Navvies diary
canal society regulars
Canal societies’ regular working parties
Every Sunday if required
Every Tuesday
BBHT
BCA
Bugsworth Basin
Basingstoke Canal
Ian Edgar
Chris Healy
0161-427 7402
01252-370073
Once per month: pls check BCNS
2nd & 4th w/e of month BCS
BCN waterways
Basingstoke Canal
Mike Rolfe
Duncan Paine
07763-171735
01252-614125
Thursdays Sep-Apr
2nd Sun & alternate Thu
BCT
BuCS
Aqueduct section
Buckingham area
Tim Dingle
Athina Beckett
01288-361356
01908-661217
Every Mon and Wed
Every mon am Thu pm
CCT
CCT
Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby
Cotswold (E end)
John Maxted
01453-836018
01285-861011
Various dates
Every Sunday
CCT
ChCT
Cotswold Phase 1a
Chesterfield Canal
07986-351412
01246-620695
Every Tue and Thu
Every Tue & Wed
CSCT
C&BN
Chichester Canal
Malcolm Maddison 01243-775201
Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale
01376-334896
Every Friday
Second Sun of month
ECPDA
FIPT
Langley Mill
John Baylis
Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech
01623-633895
0116-279-2657
Thu and last Sat of month GCS
Tuesdays
H&GCT
Weekends
H&GCT
Grantham Canal
Oxenhall
Over Wharf House
Ian Wakefield
Brian Fox
Maggie Jones
0115-989-2128
01432 358628
01452 618010
Wednesdays
Thursdays
H&GCT
H&GCT
Over / Vineyard Hill
Herefordshire
Ted Beagles
Wilf Jones
01452 522648
01452 413888
Every weekday
2nd Sunday of month
KACT/CRT
LCT
Bradford on Avon
Derrick Hunt
Lancaster N. Reaches Keith Tassart
01225-863066
01524-424761
Every Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun
3rd Sunday of month
LHCRT
LHCRT
Lichfield
Hatherton
Hugh Millington
Denis Cooper
01543-251747
01543-374370
Last weekend of month
Two Sundays per month
MBBCS
NWDCT
Creams Paper Mill
N Walsham Canal
Steve Dent
David Revill
07802-973228
01603-738648
Weekly
Every Wed and 1st Sat
PCAS
RGT
Pocklington Canal
Dick Watson
Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird
01759-305025
01394-380765
2nd Sunday of month
1st Sunday of month
SCARS
SCCS
Sankey Canal
Combe Hay Locks
John Hughes
Derrick Hunt
01744-600656
01225-863066
Last weekend of month
2nd Sunday of month
SCS
SNT
Stover Canal
Sleaford Navigation
George Whitehead 01626-775498
Mel Sowerby
01522-856810
Every Thu and Sat
1st weekend of month
SORT
SUCS
Sussex Ouse
Montgomery Canal
Ted Lintott
David Carter
Jon Pontefract
Mick Hodgetts
01444-414413
01244-661440
Every Tuesday morning
TMCA
Most days, please contact WACT
Thames & Medway C Les Schwieso
Wey & Arun Canal Northern office
01634-847118
01483-505566
1st w/e of month (Fri-Thu) WAT
Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman
01442-874536
If you have any additions / corrections / deletions to this list, please send
them to Navvies diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)
page 26
CRT towpath taskforce
Navvies diary
Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ maintenance working parties
1st Wednesday of month Anderton Lift
Weaver
Glenn Young
see below
2nd Saturday of month Audlem
Shropshire Union
Glenn Young
see below
2nd Saturday of month Aylesbury
Grand Union
Jacqui Flint
07584-156424
4th Thursday of month Bath
Kennet & Avon
Steve Manzi
07710-175278
Alternate Thursdays
Blackburn
Leeds & Liverpool
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
Every Thursday
Brighouse
Calder & Hebble
Becca Dent
07717-618850
Last Sunday of month Burnley
Leeds & Liverpool
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
3rd Thursday of month Cheshire
T&M/Macclesfield
Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
Last Saturday of month Chester
Shropshire Union
Glenn Young
see below
3rd Thursday of month Devizes
Kennet & Avon
Steve Manzi
07710-175278
1st Saturday of month Fradley
Trent & Mersey
Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
4th Thursday of month Gailey
Staffs & Worcs
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
Every Tue or Wed
Gloucester
Glouc & Sharpness Caroline Kendall 01452-318023
1st Wed & Fri of month Hatton
Grand Union Canal Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
Last Sunday of month Hawkesbury
Coventry/Oxford
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
1st Saturday of month Hemel Hempst’d Grand Union Canal Jacqui Flint
07584-156424
2nd Friday of month
Huddersfield
Huddersfield Broad Becca Dent
07717-618850
1st Thursday of month Knottingley
Aire & Calder Nav Becca Dent
07717-618850
Alternate Thursdays
Lancaster
Lancaster Canal
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
3rd Thu & Sat of monthLapworth
Stratford Canal
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
Alternate Tuesdays
Leicester
Grand Union/Soar Wayne Ball
07766-577947
1st & 3rd Sat of month London central Various
Nadia Payne
07468-716075
3rd Thursday of month London East
Lee Navigation
Nadia Payne
07468-716075
3rd Tuesday of month London West
various
Nadia Payne
07468-716075
4th Saturday of month Manchester
Ashton / Peak Forest Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
1st Thu and 3rd Sat
Maunsel
Bridgwater & TauntonSteve Manzi
07710-175278
2nd Thursday of month Newbury
Kennet & Avon
Steve Manzi
07710-175278
Alternate Thursdays
North Warks
Ashby
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
Alternate Wednesdays Preston
Lancaster Canal
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
Alternate Fridays
Sefton
Leeds & Liverpool
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
3rd Saturday of month near Selby
Selby Canal
Becca Dent
07717-618850
Weds every 4 weeks
Skipton
Leeds & Liverpool
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
Alternate Fridays
Stoke
Caldon / T&M
Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
Every other Wednesday Tamworth
Coventry Canal
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
4th Saturday of month Tipton
BCN
Sue Blocksidge
07917-585838
Every Friday
Todmorden
Rochdale Canal
Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
Every Monday
Walsden
Rochdale Canal
Steve O’Sullivan 07887-684707
Every Tuesday
Wigan
Leeds & Liverpool
Matt Taylor
07780-222977
Contact details: All CRT co-ordinators can be emailed at [email protected], eg
[email protected] for K & A. If no phone number given, use CRT Tel: 03030 404040
Abbreviations used in Diary:
BCA
BCNS
BuCS
BCS
BCT
ChCT
CBN
CSCT
CCT
ECPDA
FIPT
GCS
H&GCT
IWPS
KACT
KESCRG
Basingstoke Canal Authority
Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.
Buckingham Canal Society
Basingstoke Canal Society
Bude Canal Trust
Chesterfield Canal Trust
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation
Chichester Ship Canal Trust
Cotswolds Canals Trust
Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.
Foxton Inclined Plane Trust
Grantham Canal Society
Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust
Inland Waterways Protection Society
Kennet & Avon Canal Trust
Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. Group
LCT
LHCRT
MBBCS
NWPG
NWDCT
PCAS
RGT
SCARS
SCCS
SCS
SNT
SORT
SUCS
TMCA
WACT
WAT
WBCT
Lancaster Canal Trust
Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n Trust
Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society
Newbury Working Party Group
North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust
Pocklington Canal Amenity Society
River Gipping Trust
Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Somersetshire Coal Canal Society
Stover Canal Society
Sleaford Navigation Trust
Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust
Shropshire Union Canal Society
Thames & Medway Canal Association
Wey & Arun Canal Trust
Wendover Arm Trust
Wilts & Berks Canal Trust
page 27
Navvies diary
IWA branches...
Inland Waterways Association and other one-day working parties
Aug 20 Sat
Aug 20 Sat
Aug 23 Tue
Aug 23 Tue
Aug 23 Tue
Aug 24 Wed
Aug 25 Thu
Aug 27 Sat
Sep 3 Sat
Sep 3 Sat
Sep 4 Sun
Every Wed
Sep 8 Thu
Sep 10 Sat
Sep 10/11
Sep 11 Sun
Sep 14 Wed
Sep 15 Thu
Sep 17 Sat
Sep 20 Tue
Sep 20 Tue
Sep 22 Thu
Sep 24 Sat
Sep 27 Tue
Sep 27 Tue
Oct 1 Sat
Oct 8 Sat
Oct 9 Sun
Oct 9 Sun
Oct 12 Wed
Oct 13 Thu
Oct 14/15
Oct 15 Sat
IWA Lancs&Cumb Lancaster Canal: Himalayan Balsam Bash, Haslam Park
IWA Manchester Venue to be confirmed, Greater Manchester area. Veg clearance, etc.
BCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, meet 9am-1pm
IWA Northants Northampton Arm: Painting, veg clearance & litter picking
IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm
WBDCS/IWA BBCW Worcester Birmingham Canal: Tardebigge Lime Kilns 9:30am-3pm
IWA NSSC
Macclesfield Canal: Congleton Station project. Veg clearance. 10amIWA Chester
Shropshire Union Canal: Chester area, painting & veg clearance. 10amIWA ChelmsfordChelmer & Blackwater Navigation
IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm
IWA Northants Northampton Arm: Painting, veg clearance & litter picking
RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm
IWA NSSC/CUCT Uttoxeter Canal: Work party at Bridge 70, Crumpwood. 10am-3pm
RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm
WBDCS/IWA BBCW Worcester Birmingham Canal: Tardebigge Lime Kilns 9:30am-3pm
IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section
IWA BBCW
Staffs & Worcs Canal: Painting, tidying & veg clearance
IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance. 10amIWA Manchester Venue T.B.C.: Greater Manchester area. Veg clearance, etc. 10amBCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, meet 9am-1pm
IWA Northants Northampton Arm: Painting, veg clearance & litter picking
IWA NSSC
Macclesfield Canal: Congleton Station project. Veg clearance. 10amIWA Chester
Shropshire Union Canal: Chester area, painting & veg clearance. 10amBCP/IWA Oxford Oxford Canal: Banbury Canal Partnership, meet 9am-1pm
IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm
IWA NSSC/BPT Burslem Arm: Luke St, Middleport, Stoke on Trent. 10am-3pm
RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm
IWA Lincs/SNT Sleaford Navigation: Various work on navigable section
IWA Northants Northampton Arm: Painting, veg clearance & litter picking
IWA BBCW
Staffs & Worcs Canal: Painting, tidying & veg clearance
IWA NSSC/CUCT Uttoxeter Canal: Work party at Bridge 70, Crumpwood. 10am-3pm
IWA Milton KeynesGrand Union Canal: 6-monthly Clean Up, Fri and Sat
IWA Manchester Venue To be confirmed, Greater Manchester area. Veg clearance, etc.
IWA branch abbreviations BBCW = Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire;
Other abbreviations: BPT = Burslem Port trust; CUCT = Caldon & Uttoxeter Canal Society;
CRT = Canal & River Trust
Mobile groups' socials:
The following groups hold regular social gatherings
London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig at the 'Rose & Crown' Colombo Street, London
NWPG: 7:30pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading.
page 28
...and other one-day work
Navvies diary
For WRG canal camps and working parties see pages 20-21
Wendy Humphries
10am-4pm
12:30
4pm
3pm
4pm
12:30
4pm
10am-4pm
Colin Garnham-Edge
Geoff Wood
Steve Wood
Bill Lambert
Bob Luscombe
Mike Carter
Chris Chandler
Steve Wood
Geoff Wood
Martin Bird
Robert Frost
Martin Bird
Bill Lambert
Chris or Steve Hayes
David Struckett
John Brighouse
Colin Garnham-Edge
Geoff Wood
Bob Luscombe
Mike Carter
Colin Garnham-Edge
Steve Wood
Steve Wood
Martin Bird
Chris or Steve Hayes
Geoff Wood
David Struckett
Robert Frost
Philip Strangeway
07763-561572
07710-554602
07976-805858
02476-726924
07710-054848
07795-617803
01245-223732
07976-805858
01394-380765
07743-628091
01394-380765
02476-726924
01522-689460
07976-746225
07808-878317
07710-554602
07710-054848
07795-617803
07976-805858
07976-805858
01394-380765
01522-689460
07976-746225
07743-628091
07710-554602
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mcr= Manchester; NSSC = North Staffs & South Cheshire
RGT= River Gipping Trust; SNT = Sleaford Navigation Trust; TMCS = Trent & Mersey Canal Society;
in pubs.
Please phone to confirm dates and times
SE1 8DP.
Contact Tim Lewis 07802-518094
Contact Phil Dray 07956-185305
page 29
Dig report
Di Smurthwaite reports on a dig
with a bit of a difference - an
archaeological excavation of the
Stover Canal and its unique
feeder, the granite tramway
Stover archaeological dig
Archaeological Dig, Stover Canal
they will quickly disintegrate now it has been
uncovered, and will have to be discarded,
but at least we have stunning photographs to
preserve for posterity.
The other thing of interest that was
uncovered was an area of granite tramway
rails that were used to bring granite from
Dartmoor down to the head basin. We knew
that there were some rails on the offside of
the canal leading to a large crane, but these
are now underneath a railway. During the
past year, Devon County Council have been
constructing a cycleway alongside the canal,
and fortunately for us they contacted the
Stover Canal Trust to tell us that they
seemed to have uncovered some lines of
granite. They then agreed to move the
cycleway over to allow us to reveal quite a
considerable length, with four sidings. Presumably these were needed to park some of
the 1 ton trucks while others were being
unloaded into the barges. Are granite ‘rails’
for a tramway unique in canals? [I’ve never
heard of another one example anywhere
Two years ago, I wrote an article for Navvies
on an archaeological dig held on the Stover
Canal in South Devon. We have just completed our third – and final – dig, and at last
uncovered all the barge that had been abandoned in around 1900, and I thought the
resultant photograph merited another brief
report. At around 50 ft long and 14 ft wide,
the barges were quite big, and carried 20
tons of freight, and looking at the photograph it seems even more astonishing that
they were sailed down the canal with a
square viking-type sail (or bow hauled). We
are only just starting to restore the upper
part of the canal, and one imagines that the
area must have been much less wooded than
it is now to get any wind into the sails! Did
any other canal have boats that were propelled by this method, and would it perhaps
work better with a wide barge than with a
narrowboat? [As I understand it, the
Stroudwater and the Droitwich Barge Canal
were both used in
the early days by
barges travelling
under sail when
possible - and I think
they would have
been square sails in
those days; can
anyone confirm this
and/or suggest any
others? Incidentally I
don’t think the Chesterfield ‘cuckoo’
narrow boats would
count, as I think they
only used sails when
they went out onto
the River Trent ...Ed]
Unfortunately,
it would be very
expensive to do a
Mary Rose type
preservation on the
The granite ‘rails’ uncovered at Ventiford, including a set of points
barge timbers, so
page 30
...Ed] - These are “L” shaped to
guide the truck wheels. We also
found the foundations for a long
wall of one side of a clay cellar, a
stone building in which the ball
clay was stored before shipment.
We are very lucky in that the
local clay works, Sibelco, have
agreed now to come and dredge
the basin and the winding hole
where the barge had been abandoned, and to take the dredgings
away to fill one of their old quarries, all at no cost to ourselves.
We can then get our first stretch
in water by building a dam below
the winding hole, and lining the
base of the canal, but we have to
rely on winter floods as the EA
won’t allow us to take much from
the brook which used to feed the
canal.
Di Smurthwaite
The barge, completely excavated
Clearing silt from Ventiford Basin
Dartmoor
Tra
mw
ay
Teigngrace Lock
Ventiford
Graving Dock Lock
Teignbridge Lock Teignmouth
Jetty Marsh Locks
al
an
rc
ve
Sto
Stover Canal
and
Haytor Granite Tramway
Ha
yto
rG
ran
ite
Newton
Abbot
Teign estuary
R. Teign
page 31
Progress
Wey & Arun
A forthcoming bridge opening and
anniversary celebration, progress
on the next lock rebuild, and a
dilemma about how to take the
canal back through Bramley
is the Trust’s largest restoration scheme so
far in Surrey (the restored length through
With volunteers busy on the final stages of
Loxwood being in Sussex). A special working
construction work at the new Compasses
party was set up for the task, with huge and
Bridge in Alfold, Wey & Arun Canal Trust has continuing support from WRG teams.
launched a ‘last push’ appeal for funds to
The bridge will be officially opened by
finish the project. The Trust is seeking to
local actor Penelope Keith on Sunday 2 Octoraise £120,000 from its members, supportber, as part of a weekend of celebrations
ers and the general public to complete a
marking the Wey & Arun Canal’s bicentenary.
scheme which will allow a significant section Events begin at Pallingham, West Sussex, at
of the canal to be opened for navigation by
the canal’s junction with the River Arun, the
small boats.
day before, when a baton relay – carrying a
Apart from facing brickwork and trainscrolled copy of an original canal company
ing walls, work still to be done includes
share certificate – sets off to follow the route
landscaping and building a public viewing
of the waterway. A small boats rally will be
platform, at a project that will raise WACT’s
held on the Saturday at Loxwood, where
profile along the northern stretch of the
horse-drawn barrage excursions and chilwaterway in Surrey.
dren’s entertainments are planned, with a
Situated on the canal’s Summit Level at historical display staged in the Canal Centre.
one of the entrances to the Dunsfold Park
Small boats and canoes will also be
aerodrome and business complex, the bridge plying the newly navigable stretch of the
waterway at
Compasses
when the ‘baton’ arrives on
the Sunday.
The formal
bridge opening,
at the site of
the combined
Arun Navigation and Wey &
Arun Junction
Canal being
declared open
in 1816, is at
noon, followed
by refreshments for all.
In the afternoon, celebrations move on
to the canal’s
junction with
the Wey Navigation at Gun’s
Mouth in
WACT volunteer removing the old concrete causeway by the new Compasses Bridge Shalford. Small
Pictures by WACT
Wey & Arun Canal
page 32
boats will be
travelling up
through Guildford as the
bells of
Shalford and
St Nicolas
churches ring
out to replicate the commemorative
peals of 200
years ago. The
celebrations
conclude at
Dapdune
Wharf in
Guildford with
a traditional
English tea for
WACT members at the Sea
Cadet Hall,
replicating the
meal held at
that location
WACT volunteers pouring concrete for the top cill of the new Gennets Bridge Lock
for canal
company
directors in 1816.
canal around Bramley village in the Cranleigh
Apart from the Compasses project,
Waters river and following the route of
WACT’s three-sites strategy continues apace
Downs Link path, the line of the defunct
at Gennets Bridge Lock, on the West Sussex- Guildford to Horsham railway.
Surrey border and on Phase 1 of the Bramley
If the Downs Link route is chosen, the
Link restoration.
aqueduct will have to be completely rebuilt,
Thursday and Sunday Group volunteers as the canal will be routed across it. The
are laying facing bricks on the concrete shell river route will have a good water supply, be
of Gennets Bridge Lock, completing
attractive to boat owners and have the poblockwork, working on the cills and contential to provide flood alleviation measures
structing a new bridleway bridge. The work- in the area. But there are multiple land owners are also assiduously checking and repair- ers, some of whom are against the canal
ing the fence which is excluding great crested following the river. There would be restricted
newts from the lock.
public access, so no towpath, and working in
The Environmental Impact Assessment water would make construction more costly
for the first phase of the Bramley Link,
and riskier. The Downs Link route has just
Shalford to Gosden Meadow, has been comone owner – Surrey County Council – conpleted, with no unpleasant surprises, but the struction would take place in the dry and
Civil Engineering Design Study has exposed
there are fewer environmental constraints.
a potential problem with a gas main crossing
However, the canal construction would
the proposed line of the canal. Land acquisi- be complex, some sections would have to be
tion and lease negotiations are continuing for single width, it would be difficult to maintain
the re-creation of the waterway, including the public access to the popular long-distance
entire Gosden Aqueduct, and flood study
path during construction and crossing Station
work is now being completed.
Road, Bramley could present problems.
Decisions on how the canal will be
The estimated cost of building Phase 1
routed along Gosden Meadow will be afof the Bramley Link is £2.9million, around
fected by the choice of the Phase 2 route, for half of which will be sought through an
which there are two options – taking the
application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
page 33
Progress
Wooden Canal Boats
Wooden Canal Boat Society
Hazel: She is up and running as a wellbeing boat, providing time on the waterways
for people with stress, depression and related problems. So far she has mostly done
day trips but she visited Ellesmere Port at
Easter and made a journey to Middlewich for
the Folk and Boat festival. More crew are
needed and particularly people to promote
and fundraise for the project.
Forget me Not: This 1927 Lees & Atkins
boat is providing all the motive power for
both recycling trips and Hazel trips. She was
docked at Ashton Packet boats in December
and January to have her bottom recaulked
and skeg refitted etc.
Southam: Feeling neglected she decided to
sink recently. Now floating again and with
the engine cleaned out Southam is likely to
be the focus of much work in the autumn to
get her up and running as an alternative tug
to Forget me Not. Apart from essential work
on the hull, including replacing some planks,
work will focus on completing the interior fit
out and improving the engine room. We’re
particularly keen to find someone to complete the re-assembly of her big ex-army
range. At present the gearbox is out awaiting
attention.
Lilith: Likely to be the next candidate for
major work at the heritage boatyard, though
at present we don’t know when. It’s now 41
years since her restoration started and the
stern end needs doing again. For the time
being, CRT bureaucracy is getting in the way
of using the boatyard. So she soldiers on, aged
114, carrying goods on the recycling trips.
Queen and Elton: Waiting their turns for
restoration.
Recycling trips: These take place on the
first Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of each
month except when these coincide with a
page 34
bank holiday. Volunteers meet at Portland
basin at 9.30 AM for the Sunday trips and 6
PM for the weekday trips, summer and winter. After about an hour’s boat trip volunteers
collect clothes, bric à brac etc. from houses,
before enjoying the return boat ride. Currently these are worked by Forget me Not
and Lilith.
Canal clean ups: Using Forget me Not as a
work platform and transport for recovered
rubbish WCBS and CRT volunteers have
worked together to clear central Stalybridge
of shopping trollies, bikes etc. There’s currently a lull in this because of a change
round of personnel in CRT but more work of
this nature is likely to take place before too
soon.
The Bolinder engine: This is currently in
bits at Tameside College but changes there
make it unlikely that they will complete its
restoration. Offers of help invited from vintage engine enthusiasts.
The Charity Shop: Poor takings as a result
of the decline of Ashton Town Centre had
put the future of this in doubt. Things have
picked up lately though and we’re looking at
ways of developing the business which creates an income stream that is vital to keeping
the boats going. The shop always needs
more responsible, reliable volunteers for jobs
like sorting and pricing donations, serving
customers and particularly driving the van
for furniture collections and deliveries.
Making Craft Items: Most of the wood
removed from Hazel during her rejuvenation
has been saved and is being cut into small
sections, cleaned up then painted and sold as
genuine fragments of Hazel. These have
gone very well and the funds raised have
helped towards the running of Hazel. We’re
now running out of completed items, but we
have a huge stack of wood. Imaginative
solutions invited.
Selling stuff online: This seems to be the
favorite route for our re-usable goods business to take. Lots of items that get collected
on recycling trips or donated to the shop
won’t sell in the shop, but almost anything
will sell online. We’ve been doing this successfully for several years but to expand it
we need more volunteers. The great thing is
that you don’t necessarily have to live near
Tameside to do it, just have the use of a
computer and a little bit of knowledge. If you
can’t collect things to sell locally we can
probably arrange to get them dropped off.
Promoting the WCBS at Waterway Events
etc: Hazel has been to a couple of events this
year and has met with a good reception. There
are lots more events. We can’t take a boat to
everyone but the more that we attend, even
just as an information stall and to sell Hazel
sponsorships, the better known the project
becomes. We just need to find more people
able and willing to take on organising this.
Give us your boat! A few times over the
years we’ve been given unwanted boats to
sell to raise funds (the first one back in 1992
paid for Southam, at £525 our most expensive boat, purchased from BW of course). In
the last couple of years these have kept our
accounts in the black. While it’s unlikely that
anyone will give us their £100,000 gin palace, there are sometimes circumstances
where someone just wants a boat taken off
their hands without them having to bother
with the hassle of selling it. We can do that
wherever it is on the waterways. Sorry
though, we can’t take on any more knackered wooden boats!
Planting trees: The post-industrial landscape around the Ashton Canal summit is
gradually being transformed into oak woodland thanks to WCBS volunteers. 2014 was a
good year for acorns and the ones that we
collected then have now become little oaks
ready for planting out. This will take place
during next winter. As well as looking beautiful, capturing carbon and providing habitat
for a huge range of wildlife these trees will
be around to provide wood for future generations of wooden boats in the 22nd and
23rd centuries. You have to think long term
with wooden boats!
Stay on Hazel: Hazel’s main job is to provide time travelling in the canal environment
for people facing mental health issues. So far
the feedback that we have received for doing
this has been brilliant. The biggest challenge
that we face is that many of the people who
we want to help are stony broke. Unfortunately, even with volunteers, running Hazel
costs money. That’s why, in between trips,
we’re making her available as self-catering
accommodation for up to 10 people. She can
be towed to a range of different locations on
the Ashton, Peak Forest or Huddersfield
Narrow canals to suit your requirements. So,
if you need to stay somewhere nice but in easy
reach of central Manchester, get in touch.
Heritage Boatyard: Without the Heritage
Boatyard at Knowl St, Stalybridge we couldn’t
have rejuvenated Hazel for her new role as a
well-being boat. Each of the five other boats
will need to go to the yard for major work in
the next few decades, though minor
dockings are currently undertaken at Ashton
Packet Boat Co in Guide Bridge. For this
reason we need to ensure its long term
survival and development.
At the moment we’re facing challenges
from CRT bureaucrats, who currently won’t
even let us moor there for cabin repairs, and
from local government cuts. The long term
vision is to turn it into a place where people
can be trained in the skills of wooden
boatbuilding and the public can view the
work in progress. The current work is mainly
a post-Hazel sort out which involves cutting
up all the unwanted wood, ready to return it
to the atmosphere via various stoves, and
clearing out surplus tools and materials
mainly, you guessed it, to be sold online.
The situation for wooden boats around
the system is getting pretty dire. We frequently get requests to take on and save
more boats. It’s very tempting, but, sadly we
have to say ‘no’. Six wooden narrow boats is
quite enough, thank you. Unfortunately this
response usually spells doom for the boat in
question as there are so few people who are
able and willing to put in the time and
money needed to reverse the decline.
In the Wooden Canal Boat Society we’re
tackling that problem and finding new roles
for the old boats. What we need is more
people able and willing to take on little bits
of the task in hand. The rejuvenation of
Hazel has shown what is possible. Without
the WCBS it’s unlikely that any of the six craft
would still survive today.
Contact:
General enquiries: [email protected]
Hazel enquiries:
[email protected] 07860 944 969
Volunteer enquiries:
[email protected] 07872 073 071
Other enquiries:
[email protected] 07931 952 037
page 35
Progress
On the Wendover Arm,
they’re pressing on with
installing concrete pipecapping... and finding bottles
of mysterious substances...
Wendover Arm
groove when lining. The galvanised stop
plank grooves were cast into the walls when
I am very pleased to report that good
the narrows was constructed. We will be
progress has been made by Wendover Arm
using the usual 150mm/6" of concrete
Trust’s volunteers on the Stage 4 pipe capthrough the bridge narrows as at Bridge 4A.
ping (casting a concrete cover over the canal
Lining at Whitehouses: After discuswater supply pipe buried in the dry canal
sion with CRT it is agreed that the towpath
bed, prior to reconstructing the channel
side of the lining through Whitehouses will
above it) between Whitehouses and Bridge 4 be standard other than the 300mm/12" spoil
during May and June and is rapidly apover the Bentomat will be replaced by
proaching Bridge 4 from where the photo
150mm/6" concrete for the length of the
was taken.
wharf wall, and the pipe capping will be
At the June working party we received
150mm/6" higher than normal (as for bridge
a delivery of 18 rolls of Bentomat waternarrows). On the offside/wharf side we have
proof bentonite lining material, the first
been concerned that there is not navigable
delivery since 2008!
depth over the brick foundation that extends
On the Saturday and Sunday of the May under the settling tank behind the wharf
working party we were joined by KESCRG.
wall. CRT have come up with a very practical
They excavated the underground chambers
solution; it is to build a pseudo weir along
recently found at the back of the site during
the edge of the shallow water that will prowhich they uncovered many bottles etc. that
trude above water level and prevent craft
contained unknown substances. It transpired grounding and also include some screened
that a former occupant of Whitehouses Cotapertures in the weir wall for the water to
tages was a chemist and when the contents
pass through into the three culverts and
of one bottle fizzed on the floor it was deprevent debris entering the culverts and
cided to treat this as hazardous.
settling tank.
At a meeting with the Canal & River
Roger Leishman, Restoration Director
Trust they said that they would arrange for a
01442 874536,
specialist contractor to test the contents of
[email protected]
the various containers and
dispose of them accordingly.
They asked the Trust to take
them all to our site at Little
Tring which we did in June
in plastic containers specially
bought for the purpose
Bridge 4 lining and
stop planks: I recently met
CRT civil engineers to discuss the restoration and, on
requesting details of the king
post slot for the stop planks,
was told that a slot is no
longer required. Hence we
will only have to ensure that
there is a horizontal bed
level concrete strip from stop
View from Bridge 4, with new pipe capping visible not far away now
plank groove to stop plank
WAT
Grand Union Wendover Arm
page 36
So you’re leading a two site canal camp?
It happens: a month or so before the start of your
camp, and you’re suddenly working on two sites
separated by ten miles of road / two miles of
towpath / a Welsh valley – here are a few tips that
have helped me over the years...
Leader: Find a good assistant leader or
MUP (‘Most Useful Person’ - typically an experienced ‘old hand’ willing and able to help the
leaders out) who you can trust one of the sites to.
The camp will work a lot better if you’re not
bouncing between both sites as it’s guaranteed
you’ll be on the wrong one at the wrong time.
Drinks: Beg / borrow / hire another gas
Burco – you’re going to be having separate tea
breaks and lunch all week, so you’re going to need
a second one. While on that subject you will
obviously need two brew kits and more (possibly
smaller) containers of milk/tea etc than are
present in the standard camp kit.
Minibuses: Assign a vehicle to each site for
the week – this means the tools for the site can
stay in the van and people know which van to get
in each day. I find an A4 label on the dashboard
with the site name on it works well.
Tools: Some thought is required in advance
here. Have you got enough tools for both sites to
work? Do you need another mixer / more barrows
/ a second First Aid kit / another generator?
Sorting the kit across the two vans on the Saturday
afternoon works well as you can start quickly on
the Sunday. A bit of forward planning will stop
most of the “all the buckets are on the other site”
problem. An extension to this is the “wrong plant
keys on site problem” – best way of sorting this is
to store the keys in the site specific van.
WRG does have a central stock of more
tools, kit and specialist equipment if you need
anything over and above the normal camp kit but
it can be more convenient to use the canal society’s
tools or hire in locally as it may make the logistics
easier. Confirm this with your local contact and your
duty director/head office if needed.
Food: Plan your lunch – depending on how
you run your camp and where the sites are in
relation to each other it may be worth one site
taking lunch with them in the morning to save the
cook going round both sites to deliver. If one site
has a significant longer ‘commute’, then further
planning around site leaving times, showers,
dinner and evening activities will be required.
Transport: A third vehicle – with a van on
each site you will need a third vehicle around to do
kit & materials pickup/drop off or to stand in as the
emergency vehicle on site while a van is off on runs.
People: it’s worth trying to prevent a ‘your
Leaders
Leading multi-site camps
site, our site’ mentality. Best ways of doing this
are to make sure you update the whole camp on
how both sites are doing (‘parish notices’ in the
evening?) and move volunteers between the sites
so everyone has buy-in on all the jobs. More
thought may be required about volunteer numbers
on each site depending on the amount of work
each day, and you may need to hunt out more
‘useful people’ to do all the training you may need.
Remember, it is a requirement of the DofE
scheme that groups of friends are split up – multiple sites gives you an ideal opportunity to do this
but can complicate your personnel issues. On
plant-heavy sites you will obviously have to spend
more time doing training if you do move volunteers around - limiting the changes to one person
per day can optimise the training-to-work ratio.
Communication: make sure you have
phones with reception on both sites (and a good
number of the volunteers have phone numbers for
the other site!) or WRG radios if the range is low
enough (<1 mile).
Paperwork: you (or the locals) will need to
generate two sets of project plans and other
paperwork, probably with two completely different
sets of directions to A&E, emergency contacts
and risk assessments.
Remember to keep your duty director and head
office in the loop as to the plans, particularly if they
have changed from what was originally intended, as
they may think of something you have missed or may
be able to help with the planning if needed.
Overall, running a multi-site camp is perfectly possible but more planning than usual is
required, the key to success (as ever with canal
camps) is to delegate!
Ed Walker
with additions by
Gordon Brown & Richard Worthington
This is an updated version of an article that
first appeared in Navvies in 2013. For more
information and assistance for leaders and
would-be leaders, there will be another
Leader Training Day in spring 2017. Contact
Ed ([email protected]) for more information and with any requests for topics that
you would like to see covered.
page 37
Directory
Canal Society and WRG contacts
ASHBY CANAL ASSOC
Cyril Blackford
48 The Ridgeway, Burbage
Hinckley LE10 2NR
Tel: 01455 614816
[email protected]
BARNSLEY, DEARNE &
DOVE CANAL TRUST
June Backhouse, 39 Hill St,
Elsecar, Barnsley S74 8EN
01226 743383
www.bddct.org.uk
BASINGSTOKE CANAL
SOCIETY
Duncan Paine, 52 Kings Rd
Fleet GU51 3AQ
01252-614125
[email protected]
www.basingstokecanal.org.uk
BCN SOCIETY
Jeff Barley, 17 Sunnyside
Walsall Wood, W Midlands
01543 373284
www.bcn-society.org.uk
BUCKINGHAM CANAL
SOCIETY
Athina Beckett
2 Staters Pound, Pennyland
Milton Keynes MK1 5AX
01908 661217
email: [email protected]
www.buckinghamcanal.org.uk
BUGSWORTH BASIN
HERITAGE TRUST
Ian Edgar
Top Lock House, Lime Kiln
Lane, Marple SK6 6BX.
0161 427 7402
[email protected]
www.brocross.com/iwps/
index.htm
page 38
CALDON & UTTOXETER
CANALS TRUST
Alison Smedley
Hazelhurst Cottage
Denford, Leek ST13 7JT
01538-385388
[email protected]
www.cuct.org.uk
CHESTERFIELD CANAL
TRUST
Mick Hodgetts
31 Pottery Lane
Chesterfield S41 9BH
01246 620695
chesterfield-canaltrust.org.uk
CHICHESTER SHIP CT
Linda Wilkinson
1 Chidham Lane
Chichester PO18 8TL
01243 771363
www.chichestercanal.co.uk
COTSWOLD CT
Bell House, Wallbridge Lock
Stroud GL5 3JS
01453 752568
[email protected]
www.cotswoldcanals.com
FRIENDS OF THE
CROMFORD CANAL
George Rogers
28 Drury Avenue
Spondon
DE21 7FZ
[email protected]
www.cromfordcanal.org.uk
DERBY & SANDIACRE CS
Doug Flack
23 Thoresby Cres, Draycott
Derby DE72 3PH
01332 576037
www.derbycanal.org.uk
DIG DEEP INITIATIVE
Alan Cavender
53 Derwent Drive,
Maidenhead SL6 6LE
01628 629033
[email protected]
www.dig-deep.org.uk
DORSET & SOMERSET
CANAL SOCIETY
Derrick Hunt
43 Greenland Mills
Bradford on Avon BA15 1BL
01225 863066
[email protected]
www.dorandsomcanal.org
EAST ANGLIAN
WATERWAYS ASSOC
David Revill
43 Kings Road
Coltishall, Norfolk
NR12 7DX
01603 738648
[email protected]
EREWASH CANAL P&DA
John Baylis
215 Clipstone Rd. West
Forest Town, Mansfield
Notts NG19 0HJ
01623 621208
[email protected]
ESSEX WATERWAYS LTD
Graham Brown
Paper Mill Lock
North Hill
Little Baddow
Essex CM3 4BT
07966 375351
[email protected]
www.waterways.org.uk
FOXTON INCLINED
PLANE TRUST
c/o Mike Beech
Foxton Canal Museum
Middle Lock
Gumley Road
Foxton
Market Harborough
LE16 7RA
0116 279 2657
[email protected]
www.fipt.org.uk
RIVER GIPPING TRUST
Martin Bird
29 Melton Grange Rd, Melton
Woodbridge IP12 1SA
01394 380765
restoration@rivergippingtrust.
org.uk
GRAND WESTERN CT
Hugh Dalzell, 1 Town Hill
Culmstock, Cullompton
Devon EX15 3JQ
01884 849255
[email protected]
GRANTHAM CANAL SOC
Ian Wakefield
0115 989 2128
ian.wakefield@
granthamcanal.com
www.granthamcanal.com
HEREFS & GLOUCS CT
c/o The Wharf House
Over, Gloucester GL2 8DB
01452 332900
www.h-g-canal.org.uk
KENNET & AVON CT
Derrick Hunt
(as per Dorset & Somerset)
www1.katrust.org.uk
KESCRG
Eddie Jones
‘Little Orchard’
Berryfields, Fillongley
Coventry CV7 8EX
0845 226 8589
[email protected]
www.kescrg.org.uk
LANCASTER CT
Keith Tassart
24 Kings Crescent
Morecambe LA3 1HX
01524 424761
www.lctrust.co.uk
LAPAL CANAL TRUST
26 Loynells Road, Rednal
Birmingham B45 9NP
01785 713862
or Hugh Humphreys
07970 765554
www.lapal.org
LICHFIELD & HATHERTON
CANALS REST'N TRUST
Sue Williams, Norfolk House
29 Hall Lane, Hammerwich
Burntwood WS7 0JP
01543 671427
[email protected]
Hatherton: Dennis Cooper
01543 374370
www.lhcrt.org.uk
NEATH & TENNANT CS
Ian Milne
16 Gower Road, Sketty,
Swansea SA2 9BY
01792 547902
MANCHESTER BOLTON &
BURY CANAL SOCIETY
Steve Dent 07802-973228
www.mbbcs.org.uk
MONMOUTHSHIRE
BRECON &
ABERGAVENNY CT
Phil Hughes
14 Locks Canal Centre
Cwm Lane, Newport
NP10 9GN
01633 892167
[email protected]
www.mbact.org.uk
NWPG
Bill Nicholson, 17 Clifford Rd
Princes Risborough HP27 0DU
01844 343369 / 0779
1097773
[email protected]
www.nwpg.org.uk
POCKLINGTON C.A.S
Paul Waddington
Church House, Main St.
Hemingborough YO8 7QE
01757 638027
ROLLE CANAL AND NTH
DEVON WATERWAYS SOC
Adrian & Hilary Wills
Vale Cottage, 7 Annery Kiln
Weare Giffard, Bideford
EX39 5JE
Tel: 01237 477705
[email protected]
www.therollecanal.co.uk
SALTISFORD CT
Budbrooke Road
Warwick
CV34 5RJ
01926 490 006
[email protected]
www.saltisfordcanal.co.uk
SANKEY CANAL
RESTORATION SOCIETY
John Hughes
01744 600656
www.scars.org.uk
SHREWSBURY &
NEWPORT CANALS TRUST
Bernie Jones
01743 709601
07971 016322
[email protected]
www.sncanal.org.uk
SHROPSHIRE UNION CS
David Carter
01244 661440
[email protected]
www.shropshireunion.org.uk
SLEAFORD NAV TRUST
Steve Hayes
10 Chelmer Close
N Hykeham
Lincs
LN8 8TH
01522-689460
email: [email protected]
www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk
SOMERSETSHIRE COAL
CANAL SOCIETY
Derrick Hunt
43 Greenland Mills
Bradford on Avon
BA15 1BL
01225-863066
[email protected]
www.coalcanal.org
RIVER STOUR TRUST
John Morris
2 Stockton Close
Hadleigh
Ipswich IP7 5SH
[email protected]
www.riverstourtrust.org
page 39
STOVER CANAL SOCIETY
George Whitehead
26 Northumberland Place,
Teignmouth TQ14 8BU. Tel:
01626 775498
[email protected]
www.stovercanal.co.uk
WEY & ARUN CT
The Granary, Flitchfold Farm
Loxwood, Billingshurst
West Sussex RH14 ORH
01403 752403
[email protected]
www.weyandarun.co.uk
STRATFORD ON AVON
CANAL SOCIETY
Clive Henderson
The Bridge House
Church Lane, Lapworth
Solihull B94 5NU
01564 783672
[email protected]
www.stratfordcanalsociety.org.uk
WILTS & BERKS CT
George Eycott
Knowle House
1 Ham Road, Wanborough
Wiltshire SN4 0DF
07771 775745
[email protected]
www.wbct.org.uk
SUSSEX OUSE
RESTORATION TRUST
Ted Lintott
4 Farm Cottages
Parkfield Way
Haywards Heath RH16 4TB
01444 414413
[email protected]
www.sxouse.org.uk
SWANSEA CANAL SOC
Clive Reed
17 Smithfield Road,
Pontardawe
Swansea SA8 4LA
01792 830782
THAMES & MEDWAY CA
David Rouse
60 Sun Lane
Gravesend DA12 5HL
01474 362861
[email protected]
www.thamesmedway.co.uk
WELL CREEK TRUST
Mrs C Mansell,
1 Tramways
Outwell PE14 8PZ
[email protected]
WENDOVER ARM TRUST
Roger Leishman
7 Hall Park
Berkhamsted HP4 2NU
01442 874536
[email protected]
www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk
page 40
WOODEN CANAL BOAT
SOCIETY
173 Stamford St Central
Ashton under Lyne OL6 7PS
0161-330-8422
[email protected]
www.wcbs.org.uk
WORCESTER, B’HAM &
DROITWICH CANALS SOC
Bill Lambert
[email protected]
WRG CONTACTS
WRG ENQUIRIES,
BOOKINGS, DRIVER
AUTHORISATION,
Jenny Morris, IWA
Island House, Moor Road
Chesham HP5 1WA
01494 783453
[email protected]
www.wrg.org.uk
WRG NORTH WEST
Malcolm Bridge
89 Rishworth Mill, Rishworth
Sowerby Bridge HX6 4RZ
01422-820693
[email protected]
www.wrgnw.org.uk
WRG NW: PAPERCHASES
Barry McGuinness
b.mcguinness1@
googlemail.com
0161 681 7237
www.wrgnw.org.uk
WRG BITM & 'NAVVIES'
DIARY
David Wedd
7 Ringwood Road
Blackwater
Camberley
Surrey GU17 0EY
01252 874437
[email protected]
www.wrgbitm.org.uk
LONDON WRG
Tim Lewis
5 Herongate Road,
Wanstead
London E12 5EJ
07802 518094
[email protected]
www.wrg.org.uk
WRG EAST MIDLANDS
John Baylis
215 Clipstone Rd. West
Forest Town
Mansfield
Notts NG19 0HJ
01623 633895
[email protected]
ESSEX WRG
John Gale
24 Longleaf Drive
Braintree
Essex
CM17 1XS
01376-334896
[email protected]
www.wrg.org.uk
WRG FORESTRY
Clive Alderman
30 Primley Lane
Sheering
Bishops Stortford
CM22 7NJ
07973 877380
[email protected]
IWA/WRG STAMP BANK
Steve & Mandy Morley
33 Hambleton Grove
Emerson valley
Milton Keynes
MK4 2JS
01908 520090
[email protected]
Canal & River Trust volunteer coordinators
East Midlands
Kennet & Avon
Manchester & Pennine
North East
N Wales & Borders
North West
London
South East
S Wales & Severn
West Midlands
Wayne Ball
Steve Manzi
Steve O’Sullivan
Becca Dent
Glenn Young
Matt Taylor
Nadia Payne
Jacqui Flint
Caroline Kendall
Sue Blocksidge
CANAL CAMPS MOBILES
(A) 07850 422156
(B) 07850 422157
'NAVVIES' EDITOR
Martin Ludgate
35 Silvester Rd.
London SE22 9PB
020 8693 3266
0777 947 8629 (mobile)
[email protected]
'WRGWEAR' CLOTHING
Helen Gardner
27 Broadacre
Comberbach CW9 6QD
07989 425346
[email protected]
WRG BOAT CLUB
Sadie Heritage
236 Station Rd. Whittlesey
Peterborough PE7 2HA
01733 204505
07748 186867 (mobile)
[email protected]
WRG DIRECTORS
CHAIRMAN
Mike Palmer
3 Finwood Road Rowington
Warwickshire CV35 7DH
01564 785293
[email protected]
WRG PLANT
George Eycott
Knowle House
1 Ham Road, Wanborough
Wiltshire SN4 0DF
07771 775745
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
PUBLICITY
Judith Palmer
3 Finwood Rd, Rowington
Warwickshire CV35 7DH
01564 785293
[email protected]
WRGPRINT
John Hawkins
4 Links Way, Croxley Grn
Rickmansworth
WD3 3RQ
01923 448559
[email protected]
IWA CHAIRMAN
Les Etheridge c/o IWA,
Island House Moor Road,
Chesham HP5 1WA
les.etheridge@
waterways.org.uk
TRANSPORT MANAGER
Jonathan Smith
23 Hardings Chalgrove
Oxford OX44 7TJ
01865 891 370
[email protected]
OTHER DIRECTORS
Rick Barnes
11 Lawns Park
North Woodchester
Stroud
GL5 5PP
07976 748345
[email protected]
John Baylis (see above)
Harry Watts
18 Furneaux Avenue
London
SE27 0EG
07889 237834
[email protected]
Helen Gardner (see above)
Dave Hearnden
Chellowdene
Outwell
Wisbech
PR14 8TL
07961 922153
[email protected]
Please help us to keep this
directory up to date
If you spot any errors or omissions or know of any changes
please pass them on to the editor. The next full directory
will appear in issue 281, but any corrections received
before then will also be included as a news item in the
first available issue. Thank you for your assistance.
page 41
Navvies News
Good news for Chesterfield?
By the time you read this, the summer canal
camps programme will be almost at an end,
but it’s only a few weeks until the Autumn
Camp on the Chelmer & Blackwater
Navigation on 22-29 October. The work
will involve lots of scrub-bashing to keep the
towpath clear, and once again we will have
our favourite floating (well, at high tide)
accommodation the Haybay barge, complete
with beds and showers. Please book via the
WRG website or Head Office.
Then it’s really not very long until the
festive season kicks off with the London
WRG and KESCRG Christmas Party dig,
which this year is on the Wey & Arun Canal on 3-4 December. This is followed on
26 Dec - 1 Jan by the New Year Camp.
We’ll have more information about both of
these (and any other festive camps and
weekends) in the next issue of Navvies.
Tony Harrison legacy
You may recall a couple of years ago Mike
Palmer reported the sad news of the death of
Tony Harrison, former Inland Waterways
Association Restoration Committee Chairman, honorary hydrology consultant, and
provider of useful technical advice to canal
restoration projects all over the country.
Tony bequeathed £200,000 to the
waterways, and IWA is inviting organisations
to put forward projects for consideration.
They needn’t be for canal restoration projects
- they just need to be “consistent with IWA’s
charitable objectives”, with the winner(s)
being decided based on the most good that
they will do for the inland waterways.
If your canal society or other group is
interested, please apply by email before 31
October to [email protected].
Moving house
Congratulations...
If you’ve been following the Chesterfield
Canal restoration over the last few years,
you’ll probably be aware that it’s been under
What, no reunion / Bonfire Bash? threat from the new HS2 high speed railway.
In particular, for five miles from Staveley to
Killamarsh its route runs along or close to
I’m sure you’ll have been wondering if we
the length of the canal currently under restowere ever going to announce where this
ration, and it looked like it would obliterate
autumn’s Bonfire Bash / Reunion major getthe canal and undo a lot of our good work.
together and working party would be. Well,
The Chesterfield Canal Trust and our
I’m afraid the bad news is that despite lookparent
body the Inland Waterways Associaing at various possible sites, WRG has unfortion have been putting a lot of effort into
tunately struggled to find anywhere with
enough of the right kind of work and suitable getting either the railway plans changed to
protect the canal, or a replacement canal
accommodation for the number of people
route built as part of the railway work. These
that it would be likely to attract.
efforts look likely to have been rewarded,
The good news is that rather than
because (as part of a possible change to the
simply scrapping it, WRG is looking at the
alternative of holding a final major ‘big push’ way that the new line will serve Sheffield), a
new route for HS2 is proposed which would
fundraising weekend which could bring in
bypass this section of canal entirely.
the rest of the money needed for the Van
It still crosses the canal once - where
Appeal to hit its target - probably combining
the canal is in Norwood Tunnel, so HS2 Ltd
a sponsored walk with a Saturday evening
say this won’t be a problem. In fact the canal
event, on the weekend of 5-6 November.
If we have the information in time there restoration won’t be using the tunnel at this
point (because it’s been destroyed by coal
will be an insert in this issue - and if we
don’t, it will be publicised via wrg.org.uk and mining) so some kind of new crossing will be
needed, but shouldn’t be too difficult.
also via the WRG Facebook page.
Fingers crossed the new route is adopted,
and
well
done to all who supported the canal.
Coming soon...
Tom Jeffries has moved to Lower Farmhouse,
Newbold Grounds, near Staverton NN11 6JZ.
page 42
...to Helena and Krzysiek Rosiecki on the
arrival of Maryla Phyllis on 2 August.
All hands to the pump!
Remember Bungle’s advert for assorted
ancient plant free to a good home? Well
here’s one pump that obviously found a very
good home. My thanks to Terry Cavender of
the Buckingham Canal Society for these pics
of a 3” Johnson diaphragm pump with Lister
engine before, during and after its rebuild by
their plant guru Alan Mynard.
Navvies 50th anniversary quiz: the answers
2015: He got an MBE
2014: The WRG North West sales stand
2013: Manchester’s canals
2012: Hereford & Gloucester Canal
2011: Droitwich
2010: Worst ever accommodation
2009: Montgomery
2008: Brick
2007: One wall
2006: Abingdon
2005: Froghall
2004: The WRG Calendar
2003: Hollinwood
2002: Ribble Link
2001: Anderton Lift
2000: Lichfield Canal
1999: Stover
1998: Melton & Oakham
1997: the ‘Severn Wharfs’ in the WRG Panto
1996: Rudyard feeder
1995: Graham Palmer
1994: Ireland (Ulster Canal)
1993: London Canal Museum
1992: Dig Deep
1991: Wantage Big Dig, Wilts & Berks Canal
1990: Tapton
1989: Little Venice Canalway Cavalcade
1988: Nature conservation stopping restoration
1987: Frankton
1986: WRG BITM
1985: Yorkshire Derwent
1984: Stratford
1983: ‘The New Navvies’
1982: Wey & Arun
1981: Market Weighton
1980: Williams Bridge, Montgomery Canal
1979: Basingstoke
1978: Wilts & Berks
1977: Basingstoke
1976: Ellesmere Port
1975: Well Creek
1974: Upper Avon
1973: Droitwich
1972: Ashtac
1971: The word ‘Notebook’
1970: ‘waterway recovery group’ first appeared
1969: Basingstoke
1968: Operation Ashton
1967: Stourbridge
1966: River Stour
PS if you missed the quiz in the last issue, you could try guessing the questions from the answers...
page 43
Head of the household David McCarthy
(“Mr. Mac”) was employed in the banking
sector, which was considered a laudable
profession, rather than now, as a laudable
criminal activity. It was not, therefore, long
before he realised that Tom had unwittingly
stumbled on a useful source of income generation for the embryonic WRG(NW).
Initially the collection of paper was on a
piecemeal, word of mouth basis but then, for
Thirty Odd Years
possibly the only time in the group’s history,
Brian Lomas reflects on a wild Paper Chase... they made a clear and unambivalent decision
when they agreed to formalise the process.
The announcement that The Independent
Thus the unsuspecting residents of
and The Independent on Sunday would no
Crumpsall wore informed, through the distrilonger be producing print editions was rebution of 1,700 leaflets, that once a month
ceived by myself, as someone who still enthey would be greeted by an assortment of
joys reading a paper paper, with resigned
street urchins demanding waste paper at a
disappointment.
godforsaken hour.
Newspaper sales over the last twenty
The date set for the first collection was
years have plummeted, which makes the fund
in January 1978. As I then didn’t know the
raising efforts of Waterway Recovery Group
location o’f Woodstock I agreed to meet the
(North West) through the recycling of old
other volunteers, who had been cajoled into
newspapers all the more remarkable, especially helping out with the promise of a free fish and
since Councils are now in on the act.
chip dinner, outside the nearby Labour Club. A
In 2015 WRG(NW)were awarded the
long wait on a very cold Saturday morning
John Heap salver from the Inland Waterways then ensued. By the time the van arrived even
Association (WRG’s parent body and a prime my boots had turned blue. A vaguely apolomover in the restoration of our waterways)
getic looking Mr Mac got out of the van and
for their outstanding contribution to fund
just said, “l know, I know. Jump in.”
raising for the Association. Whilst readers
The van, which was known as the
might recall a previous article which ap“Black Pig” because it was black and was a
peared in these pages which loosely acpig to drive, had been playing up. Little did I
knowledged the role played by the WRG(NW) know that would become a trait synonymous
sales stand in fund raising, and the ad hoc
with WRG vehicles for many years to come.
provision of refreshments, the horrible hisFortunately on that first morning the
tory of the Paper Chase has yet to be told.
cantankerous Black Pig and I soon warmed
So, for those not already in the know here is up and within a few hours we were done and
a brief résumé.
dusted. As we surveyed a great mound of
The Paper Chase was the brainchild (or
paper in the back yard of Woodstock, which
curse, depending on your point of view) of
awaited transhipment to a nearby paper
Tom Cook, one of the founding members of
yard, a boisterous contentment was evident.
WRG(NW) in 1977 - a group formed in the
But I don’t think any of us thought that we
afterglow of the restoration and reopening of
would still be at it nearly 40 years later, or
the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals in 1974.
that we would have shifted 4,000 tons of the
Tom, whose bedroom apparently constuff in that time.
tained more magazines than bed, decided to
During that time the price of paper has
pacify a concerned mother by disposing of
gone up and down like a yo-yo and there is
the magazines before the magazines disno longer such a thing as a free lunch (now
posed of the joists. Much to Tom’s surprise
£2 a go). Nor do we still barricade the
the local paper yard who relieved him of the McCarthy household with paper. We now
magazines also paid him for the privilege.
have a more civilised alternative whereby we
News of Tom’s unexpected windfall soon
fill a conveniently placed skip with more
reached the hierarchy of WRG(NW) and an idea paper than it should reasonably hold.
began to germinate in the halls of power, i.e.
There have, of course, been a few
Woodstock, home of the McCarthy family in the hiccups along the way: the odd skip that
North Manchester suburb of Crumpsall.
North West
The Paper Chase story
page 44
failed to turn up; the odd house that has
disappeared (RlP 115 - 117 Chudleigh Road
- demolished when they were in danger of
following their gardens down Bowker Bank);
and the odd mass desertion of volunteers at
lunchtime (which in the days of old meant a
late finish and afternoon tea at Woodstock
for those remaining).
But how do you sum up something
which has gone on almost as long as my
working life?
If I had to describe the Paper Chase in
one phrase it would be “always the same;
always different”.
It still begins and finishes in much the
same place in Crumpsall, but the route taken
between the two has remained as nebulous
as ever, and still gives rise to arguments in
which people are often heard asking “has
anyone done...?” Indeed, many a good fish
and chip lunch at Woodstock has in the past
been interrupted by a telephone call from a
local informing us that we had “missed
number...”
But these are minor gripes and over the
years the funds raised (£100,000 and counting) have been used in activities which in the
North West alone has seen the reopening of
the Rochdale and Huddersfield canals and
the restoration of Bugsworth Basin. More
recently WRG has joined forces with the
Hollinwood Canal Society to assist in the
upkeep of the canal.
But, aside from being a means to an
end, the Paper Chase has also become an
important social event for those involved in
WRG(NW) particularly those who, for whatever
reason, do not attend working parties. It has
remained a constant, a social glue with greater
adhesive qualities than Mike Chase’s
porridge.
Yet I would guess, for many of
those involved in the Paper Chase, it
just kind of happens ... a vague idea
that it is approaching confirmed by a
telephone call from Mr Mac, who
would euphemistically invite potential
volunteers for a fish and chip dinner.
But behind the scenes liaisons
were being made to ensure when
we turn up there is somewhere to
put the paper (the skip), somewhere
to put the skip (the pub car park),
somewhere to eat our fish and chips
(the church hall), and somewhere to
dunk our biscuits (an assortment of
mugs that have somehow eluded
the clutches of Antiques Roadshow). All this
is apart from special provisions that are
made for the Christmas Paper Chase (mince
pies, etc.) and any co-incidental birthdays
(more confectionery).
Sadly, I have to report that the culinary
delights of 400 paper collections have taken
their toll, and many of the
WRG(NW)stalwarts now have waist measurements that resemble their age. More worrying, most of us have cholesterol levels that
would be the envy of any fried Mars bar
eating Glaswegian. Possibly worried that the
health time bomb he had unintentionally
created would at some point place unbearable demands on the A&E Department at
Crumpsall Hospital, Mr Mac stood down in
2015 as Paper Chase co-ordinator. A typing
error then resulted in Barry McGuinness (the
other Mr Mac) assuming the role.
Whilst Barry was still trying to work out
how this had happened, and why, given that
the position comes with a mandatory 35 year
term, he would not now be able to retire
until 2050, Mr Mac quietly slipped away and
moved to a luxury bungalow in Rossendale.
Stories that the auditors are still poring over
the accounts of WRG(NW) are greatly exaggerated. Mr Mac still graces us with his
presence at the Paper Chase, directing operations from his camper van and pointing out
what we have done wrong - comments we
willingly accept, and ignore. As the great jazz
musician Sun Ra once said, “lf you can’t get
it perfectly right, get it perfectly wrong.”
Brian Lomas
In compiling this piece Brian is grateful for the
additional information provided by Mr Mac.
page 45
Infill
Deirdre’s back, in slightly more serious mood...
Dear Deirdre Perhaps you can help me out with a philosophical question. If we take out
every single brick in a horribly derelict lock, can we really say it’s a ‘restoration’? Surely it
becomes a complete rebuild?
J.T., Frome
Deirdre writes I’m generally hostile to philosophical questions as they tend to
distract people from getting on with site work, but I suppose it’s worth clarifying. WRG’s approach generally is to conserve, which means to hang on to as
much original material as possible. That’s why there’s so much bloody brick
cleaning!
Strictly speaking, a restoration would involve restoring your lock to its
original condition. If you were really purist, that probably means laying each
brick one at a time with lime mortar just like the original navvies would have
done. But that would often be almost impossible for volunteers to achieve
within a reasonable timeframe. Depending on the project it’s likely that the site
director will advise you to backfill using concrete and other materials such as
plastic water pipes may also be used during the build. As it’s a lock intended for
modern use there will also be a few changes to bring it up to standard. For
safety reasons and practicality, this will include adding a ladder into the lock
chamber where there probably wasn’t one before.
That’s what makes WRG a bit different from, say, the National Trust. Their
mission is to preserve. That means trying to stop their structures decaying any
further, rather than restoring them to their original state and working use. If
the bricks on your lock are too decayed to reuse, then we will replace with new
brick as part of the restoration. We’ll also reuse the old brick where we can and
not just to save money on materials – it also preserves the character of the
original lock. Tempting though it is, we’ll stop short of replacing the whole lot
with cement blocks even though this would save a lot of time! That’s what
makes these kinds of projects a restoration rather than a rebuild, even though
we might not get to reuse much of the original material.
Attention, balsam bashers!
With the onset of the annual balsam-bashing season in early summer, our parent body the
Inland Waterways Association was once again leading volunteer working parties all over the
country’s canals and rivers, pulling up thousands of the dreaded invasive Himalayan Balsam
plants which threaten to drive out our native species and then die back in winter, leaving the
banks of the waterways exposed and weak. But this year there’s a difference: rather than just
leave the plants to rot down, they’ve come up with a recipe for turning them into wine!
Balsam wine recipe: Take a litre of balsam petals and 250g chopped raisins, put them in
a suitable fermenting vessel (home brew bin, domestic bucket etc), add juice and zest of two
lemons, and just enough boiling water to cover them. Add 1kg sugar, and when it’s cool add
wine yeast and yeast nutrient. Cover and leave for two days. Strain into one-gallon demijohn, top up with cold pre-boiled water, add an airlock and leave it until fermentation has
ceased (this could be three months). When clear, rack (syphon) into a clean demijohn, taking
care not to disturb sediment. After another three months bottle it. It will improve for six
months, so should be ready for drinking during the next balsam-bashing season.
page 46
Outro
Inglesham progress
Meanwhile
Meanwhile
at
at Inglesham
Inglesham
there’s
been
there’s been some
some
good
good progress
progress on
on the
the early
early
stages
stages of
of rebuilding
rebuilding the
the lock
lock where
where
the
the Cotswold
Cotswold Canals
Canals meet
meet the
the Thames.
Thames.
This
is
how
it
looked
before
2016’s
This is how it looked before 2016’s camps...
camps...
Jet-washing
Jet-washing the
the walls
walls
All
All scaffolded
scaffolded out...
out...
The scaffolding crew
Coping
Coping stones
stones are
are
numbered
numbered and
and removed
removed
...ready for pointing to start
page 47
page 48