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Page 1: Navvies 187

Training weekend report & photos

Droitwichcamp report

Summercamps

preview

...and theAnderton

sponsoredabseil!

Navvies

waterway recovery group

Volunteers restoring waterwaysNo 187 June - July 2001

Training weekend report & photos

Droitwichcamp report

Summercamps

preview

...and theAnderton

sponsoredabseil!

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Contributions......are always welcome, whether hand-written,typed, on 3½" disk (please include hard-copy)or by e-mail. Photos also welcome: slides orcolour or b/w prints. Please state whether youwant your prints back; I assume that you wantslides returned. Computer scanned photos alsoacceptable, either on disk or as e-mailattachments, preferably JPG format. Send themto the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, SilvesterRoad, London SE22 9PB, or e-mail [email protected]. Press date forNo 188: July 8th.

SubscriptionsA year's subscription (6 issues) is available for aminimum of £1.50 (please add a donation if pos-sible) to Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques to"Waterway Recovery Group" please.Visit our web site http://www.wrg.org.ukfor all the latest news or WRG's activities

In this issue:Chairman what's MKP on about? 3-4Training weekend report 5Canal Camps preview the very latest news 6-7Cavalcade report from Little Venice 8-9Camp Report Easter at Droitwich 10-11Bookshop auction of canal books 12-13Directory of WRG and canal societies 14-15Diary camps and working parties 16-18Letters to or from the editor? 19ProgressDig Deep 20Brick-cleaning by machine! 21Dig reports NWPG, BITM, LWRG 22-25Logistics whose kit is it anyway? 26AndertonAbseilMartin's for the high jump! 27Bankside discovers tachographs 28-29Bits & Pieces 30Noticeboard 31Backfill 32

And next time......hopefully there will be reports and photos fromthe summer's first Canal Camps. Please do try toget them in by the press date, because (a) there'sa chance that if your report appears in theAugustissue you might just tempt a few more people tobook on for the camps that haven't happened yet(b) the following issue tends to be very tight forspace and (c) youdon't reallywant to readFIVEDroitwich camp reports in October do you?

Cover photo: This year's training weekend involved more training in manual skills - levelling, bricklaying andscaffolding - unlike the previous years' which have tended to concentrate on vehicle and machinery operation- see p5 for report and photos. (Martin Ludgate)Below: The beginning of May saw the culmination of over 25years work when the Huddersfield Canal reopened. Although not without teething troubles, it is a remarkableachievement in restoring an 'impossible' canal. And although the recent work has not concernedWRG, beingdoneby contractors and funded from theNational Lottery, it would never havehappenedwithout the early inputfrom Huddersfield Canal Society - and WRG - volunteers. The Mayor of Huddersfield is seen cutting thetape, where a new tunnel passes under a factory that blocked the route in Huddersfield. (Harry Arnold)

Contents

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ChairmanChairman's Comment

It�s started !

The first Canal Camp of the season has alreadyhappened over the Easter week with vital investiga-tion and preparation for the reconstruction of theDroitwich Junction locks. If Marcus has managed tosqueeze a break from his very busy revision sched-ule then you should have a Camp report in this edi-tion. However a brief summary would be: lots ofbricks, concrete, digging and wallowing around inan awful lot of sticky, smelly mud together with tripsto fine country pubs. For more pictures and com-ments from the Easter Camp see our web pages -www.wrg.org.uk.

Now as the chap in charge of ensuring decentprogress over the Summer camps I should move onfrom this by saying that all of this means that Droit-wich is now fully prepared and will be a great sitethis summer. However I really want to thank all thosewho attended and gave their all (in fact Glen andAdrian are still looking for their alls). There was agreat atmosphere and I truly thank everyone one ofthe 35 or so people who attended, it would be greatto see you again this summer.

Two additional points of note: This camp benefitedfrom regular visits fromBritishWaterways chapswhowere keen to see if they could help in anyway andshow us tricks of the trade they had picked up, andwhile the rest of the country seemed to be drenchedDroitwich played its usual good weather card andwe enjoyed working in shorts and T shirts. I canpersonally guarantee both BW and the weather willbe at least as good this summer.

And a final special mention to newcomers Brian andSue who fitted in a treat (much to their despair Ishould imagine).

So whether you are a newcomer to Waterway Re-covery Group or an experienced Camper comingback for another year you will be very welcome andthe time to book is NOW. Head Office reports thebookings are coming thick and fast as our sites areopening up and the recent hot weather has remindedeveryone of the fun in the sun they had last year.The Canal Camps committee reports that the plan-ning is all going to plan (but then they would say thatwouldn�t they?) So send your bookings in now toavoid missing out on the fun.

As part of this preparation for the summer we ranthe Training Weekend where instruction was givenon a wide range of skills. My special thanks to allthose who gave time to patiently pass on their expe-rience in so practical a manner (even the First Aidtraining had a practical session!). A report appearon Page 5, along with a load of embarrassing pho-tos, however I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.The Bank Holiday was rounded off by a days filmingfor our new safety video. This will be out on generalrelease but there will be a few gems missing fromthe finished product.

I can�t quite decide onmy favourite out-take but thereare a selection on the back page, and don't worrySpencer - no one else could say 'lesiglation' either!

Come and see us

Some events that we will give you a bit of warningabout. If you live in the Midlands (or even furtherafield) and are still not entirely convinced that WRGis for you then we will be hosting a display stand atthe Inland Waterways Exhibition in Birmingham on30th June/1st July. Come and see us and we willgive you a fairly truthful description of what this dig-ging lark is all about and you can see if we are thesort of people you would want to spend a weekendwith.

Also for those IWAmembers whowant to knowmoreabout us we shall have a fair sized presence at theIWA AGM. The organisers of this years AGM atBanbury wish to make it a bit more of a �mini festi-val� over the weekend and want the event to leave alasting legacy.

Therefore as a thank you to IWAwe shall be puttingin somemooring facilities for boaters to use for yearsto come. So if you are interested about where someof your IWA subscription money goes, then comeand see us there on 29th September

New Blood

In an attempt to add a little new blood to the WRGBoard we have appointed four new Directors.

"Who are these new top brass type people?" I hearyou ask. Well I�ll give you the descriptions we gaveto IWA Council when seeking their appointment -see if you recognise them?

XXX is a highly valuable team member of WRG,and in particular NavviesAnonymous and Logistics,In the past year XXX has taken over the running ofthe WRG Logistics group. XXX currently overseesthe maintenance and expansion of all WRG�s campkits, vans, trailers and specialised equipment. XXXis also an excellent plant operator and instructor whohas contributed many hours to our training week-ends and camps.

YYY is one of WRG�s most professional plant op-erators, particularly in the field of large plant andcomplex construction projects. YYY has providedconsistent support to local projects such as the Li-chfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust andthe Barnsley Canal Group with advice, workingweekends and plant operation. YYY is also very goodat encouraging new assistant leaders to join ourcanal camp teams.

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ChairmanCan you guess who the newWRG board members are?

ZZZ�s outstanding project management of the OverBasin project in 1999-2000 was rewarded with theChristopherPowerPrize this year. ZZZbringsexcellentproject planning and implementation skills, plus strongsite and engineering knowledge to the Board of WRG.

Therewasneverany timetocomplete the fourthdescrip-tion. But suffice it to say that when his name was men-tioned all Council members said �Oh yes, we all knowhim�. For the answers to these four �whoisits� see theinside back cover, compare it to the rather shorter listin issue 186 and work our who the new ones are.

WRGVehicles

Enclosedwith this 'Navvies' is an insert regarding newregulations that affectanybodywhodrivesorwhowantstodrivewrgvehicles.Pleaseread itcarefully foryourownprotection. We are not doing this for fun these are reallaws that may result not just inWRGgetting into troublebut with you being fined. There are many, many excep-tionsandclauses to the rules, however we have delib-erately tried tomake our guidelines simple so that youcan easily see how to stay within the law.

And whilst on the serious subjects

One of our sites recently was the scene of what couldhave turned out to be a very serious accident. Themistake was made in two parts. The first part wasthe common error of �the wrong tool for the job�,however the main mistake concerned nothing morecomplex that someone passing a scaffold pole tosomeone without thinking of the safest way to do it.The result was a crushed finger and a trip to Casu-alty for the person concerned. So the important les-son to learn is always stop and think �is this the cor-rect way to do this?�, even (especially) for the sim-ple, little jobs.

Give a man enough rope

Also included in this Navvies should be a sponsor-ship form for our Abseil from theAnderton Boat Lift.While this is not a WRG event as such, all the vol-unteers are WRG chaps.

It is a little unusual for us to run activities where theprinciple reason is to raisemoney for someone otherthan ourselves however I am sure you will agreethat the restoration of the Anderton Lift is a veryspecial case and one that will benefit us all. So youhave two ways to give: either fill in the sponsorshipform with a non-specific donation or read the articleon page 27 and decide who you wish to sponsor. Oryou can just wait until any of us see you in the nextfive months.

I hope to see you all over the summer (probably witha sponsorship form in my hand).

Mike Palmer

'Navvies': is it worth it?The above question has been asked several times recently...Firstlyby the editor,who is getting thoroughlypissed-off, as getting anyone towrite for 'Navvies' is gettingmoreand more like getting blood out of a stone - and is wondering if he should find something marginally lessfrustrating to do instead.... like clearing horse-crap from theAugean stables, or kick-starting theNorthern IrelandPeace Process, or squaring the circle, or getting BW to accept that narrow boats are 7ft wide, not 6ft 10in...Of course, eventually he always ends up with shedloads of quality copy for 'Navvies' and once he's finallysent it off to the printers he invariably decides that it really is worth doing. But with the emphasis on'eventually' - and that leads to the same question being asked...Secondly by theWRGcommittee. Twoweeks after the press date for this issue, no contributions had beenreceived... except for Graham of BITMwho'd sent his stuff in sopronto that the editor had clean forgotten thatit had arrived!As usual, everyone sent things in late because they knew itwould beOK - or because they thoughtthey were too late and it would be in plenty of time for the next issue? Who knows? Anyway, problems at theplatemakers plus other commitments by our volunteer printers meant that this timewecouldn't just pull the stopsout as usual to get themag out on time. The only alternative to it appearing amonth late - and too late for the firstfew weeks of the Camps programme which this is normally our last chance to tell you about - was to pay aprofessional printer to do the job. The committee believed itwasworth it this time - butwe can't afford to do thisregularly. So in an effort to bemore realisticwewill be shiftingour press date aweek later to the 8thof themonthand we will be doing our best to stick to it - and we will be relying on our contributors (including youMike!) to do so too. In themeantimewe hope that in the special case of this issue, you readers think ourmoneywas well spent: we have our doubts, though, because that self-same question is apparently being asked...Finally by the readers. The number of subscribers has been in decline for some time and is now at its lowestsince 1988. Why? What's wrong with 'Navvies'?What do you want to read about that isn't in it? Constructive,helpful suggestions to the editor, please andwe'll print them on the Letters page and do our best to act on them -always remembering that someonewill have to actuallywritewhat youwant to read.... No, what the hell - anysuggestions at all to the editor please, so long as they arrive by the press date - we're desperate!

MartinLudgate

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TrainingThe WRG Training weekend2001

TheWRG Training weekend

One benefit of the delays in production of this issueis that we have (just!) had time to squeeze in a fewwords about our Training Weekend at Droitwich.

This differed in several ways from the ones we haveheld before:

Firstly, there was a change of emphasis in the train-ing provided - which has tended to be fairly machine-orientated in previous years. This year we felt it wastime for some more training in manual skills - suchas bricklaying and scaffolding - and a correspond-ing reduction in the amount of plant-based training.

Secondly, the work involved significant amounts of'real' work that will actually contribute towards therestoration of the canal. In the past, we have feltindebted to the local canal society for giving us theuse of their site for a weekend of activities of nodirect benefit to them. (but some indirect benefitswhen ourmore highly-skilled volunteers come toworkon their canals later on) At Droitwich, one of themain jobs for the summer is the rebuilding of the top1m of the brickwork of lock 3: this work is depend-ent upon the scaffolding that was erected as a train-ing exercise under the expert supervision of MickBeattie. Similarly the demolition and bricklaying con-tributed to the restoration of the lock and sidepond.

Thirdly the training weekend took up the first twodays of a three-day bank holiday weekend: this gavethe opportunity for several volunteers to stay on andtake part in the filming of the newWRGSafety Videoon the Monday.

But one thing that hasn't changed fromprevious yearsis that we are indebted to Ali 'Womble' Bottomleyfor organising the whole thing, to the instructors forgiving up their time to help, to the catering team, toDCT and the local organiser (in this case MKP!) forproviding us with a site, and to the trainees for turningup and not complaining when the odd little hiccup oc-curred - such as the dumper breaking down in themiddle of the road as soon as we got it off the wagon!

I hope everyone who took part found it useful.

Martin Ludgate

The novice bricklayers began by building dummywalls as an exercise (Top: Martin Ludgate), whilethe ones who'd done it before got to work on a realwall (Above:Martin Ludgate). Scaffolding-out of lock3 took place throughout theweekend andwas almostcomplete by the end. (Below left: Alan Lines) Al-thoughmuchof the trainingwas inmanual skills, therewas somemachinery in use - such as 'Blue' the exca-vator, seenherewith the traineeoperator learninghowto use the bucket to steady themachine on a gradient,(Below centre: Alan Lines), while 'Blue' and thedumper were useful for filming the safety video on theMonday (Below right: Tim Lewis). Space does notallow illustration of all the training, which also includedvans, trailers, FIrst Aid, Safety /risk assessment, Tir-for winches, pumps, bricksaws and breakers.

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CampsThe final preview of this sum-mer's Canal Camps

Canal Camps 2001By the time you receive this issue of 'Navvies'the beginning of themain summer Canal Campsseason will be less than a fortnight away. As wego to press, the bookings are coming in steadily butit looks like there will still be room for last minutebookings on most of them.So in the hope that we'll be able to persuade a fewmore of you to show up and help to turn what lookslike being a good Camps season into a really brilliantCamps season, here is a final 'preview' giving the lat-est information on all the Camps. By the next 'Nav-vies' we'll bemost of the way through the Camps pro-grammeand you'll be reading the first CampReports,looking back and remembering what a good time youhad... or kicking yourself for not going onanyCamps...Camp 0101: Droitwich Junction Canal 7-16AprilToo late - you've missed it! Superb week, lots ofwork done, had a great time and set things up forwhat should be a good summer at Droitwich. Seereport on pages 10-11 and think about booking forone of the other five Droitwich Camps, starting with...Camp 0102: Droitwich JunctionCanal 23-30 JuneAdrian Fry and Ian Wingfield will lead the first of thesummer's Droitwich Camps, with work concentrat-ing on cutting out and replacing damaged brickworkjust below the coping stones on the chamber of Lock3. As the locks are about 15ft deep, that meanssome scaffolding work first - unless we get somevery tall volunteers! Accommodation is at the refur-bished Droitwich Sports Pavilion. And at the end ofthe week, we hand over to...Camp0103:DroitwichJunctionCanal30June-7JulyGavMoor andZoe 'Bubble' Rogerswill take over for asecondweekatHanbury Locks, and theLock 3 cham-ber work hopefully be progressing from the demoli-tion to the rebuilding phase. Accommodation at theSports Pavilion again. Alternatively, the same weekwill see the first non-Droitwich camp of the year, on...Camp 0104: Cotswold Canals 30 June-7 JulyMartin Ludgate is generously being allowed a weekoff from editing 'Navvies' so that he and Ian William-son can lead a week on the Thames & Severn CanalatValleyLock,near thevillageofChalford in theGoldenValley in deepest, picturesquestGloucestershire. Seep23 for a report of how London WRG got on thererecently. We'll be working on brickwork and stone-work repairs to the lock, plus towards the end of theweek some of us will be helping set up the CotswoldCanals Trust's Saul Junction boat and beer festival.

Our accommodation is at Selsley Scout Hall -perched high on the valley side with probably thebest view available from anyWRG accommodationin the country... and a 5 minute walk to the Bell Inn!And speaking of convenient hostelries...Camp 0105: Montgomery Canal 7-14 JulyA return to last year's work site at Maesbury and toour traditional accommodation atWest Felton VillageHall (opposite the 'Punchbowl Inn'). Leaders are LouKellett andAndy Burrows, and the work will be carry-ing on the reconstruction of the historic tail-race chan-nel carrying excess water from a storm-water over-flow weir to a nearby stream. This means knockingdown the stone channel walls then laying a concretebase and rebuilding thewalls using the original stone.But for those who prefer brickwork to stonework...Camp 0106: Wilts & Berks Canal 7-14 JulyRachael Banyard and Paul Mann lead a week oflock chamber rebuilding work - plus some possiblemachine work with excavators - at the Seven Locksflight of (you guessed it!) seven locks, in rural Wilt-shire near Lyneham, where serious rebuilding workis just beginning. Accommodation is at the FoxhamReading Rooms. Meanwhile back on the Mont...Camp 0107: Montgomery Canal 14-21 JulyA second week of work should see the bulk of thework completed on the rebuilding of the Maesburyspillway and tailrace. Accommodation once againis at our traditional WRG venue of West Felton Vil-lage Hall. Alternatively that week you can forsakethe WRG traditions and head for a brand new site...Camp 0108: Melton & Oakham 14-21 JulyMarcus Jones & Matt Taylor invite you to attend theinaugural project of the Melton & Oakham Water-ways Society, who over the course of the week willbe installing a slipway along an attractive stretch ofthe River Eye to allow trail boat access through theheart of Melton Mowbray.... Famous as the home of the Pork Pie. A major manufacturing centre for Pet food &Crisps (so Marcus tells me). Birthplace of our very own Mr Spencer Collins. Andnot located inLeamingtonSpaassuggestedby the 2001 canal camps brochure map!

Due to the nature of the work, numbers are severelylimited (where haveweheard that before?!) butwhereelse can you stay in a pair of newly refurbished hotelmanagers flats attachedtothe3starhotelascanalcampaccommodation? Sohurryupandbooknow! But ifyou'retoo late and it's fully booked, there's always...Camp 0109: Cotswold Canals 14-21 JulyBack on the Thames & Severn in the Golden Valley,the NWPG group will be running a week's camp aspart of their commitment to the restoration of ValleyLock as a Dig Deep project - see p20. So they'll betaking over where Camp 0104 left off, and hope-fully there should be some serious progress on re-building the main chamber walls. Accommodationwill once again be at Selsley Scout Hall with a viewover half of Gloucestershire. Then the followingweekshould see the completion of our current project on...

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Camp 0110: Montgomery Canal 21-28 JulyThe third and final week will hopefully complete therebuilding of the storm water overflow and tailraceat Maesbury, bringing the reopening of this sectionof canal (including 'our' locks at Aston) one stagenearer. Alan Jervis and Harriet Thompsett are theleaders, and the accommodation once again is atWest Felton VillageHall. Meanwhile, another projectthat we started last year and are returning to thisyear, is on...Camp 0111: Sleaford Navigation 21-28 JulyOnce again Rachael Banyard and Di Smurthwaitewill be leading the Sleaford Camp, and once againthe accommodation will be at Sleaford Rugby Cluband the work site will be at Cogglesford Lock. Aswellas carrying on last year's work on the bywash, a tem-porary dam will be built across the lock head to en-able stop-plank grooves and sills to be installed readyfor themain lock chamber rebuild to begin. Then thefollowing week we move to another major lock re-building project, also in the East of the country...Camp 0112: Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation28 July - 4 AugustMatt Taylor & Judith Gordonwill be leading this campnear the attractive town of NeedhamMarket, return-ing to Creeting lock after a year away from an oldfavourite. Amajor concrete pour at the beginning ofthe week to the base of the lock and the installationof 5-metre long ground anchors to the chamber wallswill reverse the current deterioration and strengthenCreeting lock for the future. The remainder of theweek will concentrate on the demolition & rebuild-ing of various sections of brickwork both in the cham-ber & the adjacent accommodation bridge.Fans of brick cleaning need not apply thanks to Ips-wich IWA brick cleaning machine, and volunteerswill be well catered for by our very own cook HelenGardner at the purpose built Somersham village hallwith adjacent showers. Another 'old favourite' sitethat we're also working on that week is...Camp0113: BasingstokeCanal 28 July - 4AugustThe work on the Woodham Backpumping project isnow nearing completion, with the pipes laid and thetowpath reinstated above them and the pumps in-stalled and about to be commissioned.So this Camp - led by the KESCRG group as part oftheir commitment to Dig Deep (see p20) - will befinishing off fitting-out the pumphouse and landscap-ing the site around it, and starting work on the nextmajor project at the next flight of locks at St Johns.The accommodation is at Mayford Village Hall. Andthen, after a four-week break we return to...Camp0114:DroitwichJunctionCanal 4-11AugustThis time it's Marcus Jones and Rick Barnes's turnto lead a week at Hanbury Locks, where the mainchamber walls at Lock 3 should be nearing comple-tion and work will be moving on to demolishing andrebuilding the lower wing walls. As usual the ac-commodation is at the Sports Pavilion. Alternativelyif you're into construction rather than restoration,there's another week on the...

Camp 0115: Basingstoke Canal 4-11 AugustWith the Woodham Backpumping scheme more orless complete, work will be concentrated on the startof the next phase in creating an all-year water supplyfor the canal - the St Johns backpumping scheme.The main jobs will be to construct the inlet - a pump-well and pipe - at Lock 7 at the bottomof the flight, andreplace the collapsed bywash at Lock 11 at the top ofthe flight. Once again the accommodation will be atMayfordVillageHall. Also inSurrey thatweek, there's...Camp 0116: Wey & Arun Canal 4-11 AugustThe Wey & Arun Canal Trust's own volunteers willbe leading this camp, which will be working on re-building a flood-damaged storm-water overflow, andcarrying on the towpath rebuilding work that NWPGhave been doing (see p22) on the summit of thecanal near the Surrey / Sussex border. Then thefollowing week it's back once again to the...Camp0117: Droitwich JunctionCanal 11-18AugustAnother Droitwich Camp, another set of leaders -Spencer Collins and Rob Daffern - as the workprogresses towards completion of the locks. Theworkwill be mainly on the tail of Lock 3, where demolitionshouldbecompleteand rebuildingwill giveour brickiesa challenge, as thewalls have to be finished-off with anice even slope laid in big blue bullnose coping bricks.Or as a change from our main site for 2001, there'sthe first-ever Camp on a brand-new site for us...Camp 0118: Wendover Arm 11-18 AugustThe WendoverArm Trust have just built a brand-newroad bridge just beyond the current limit of the naviga-ble length of the Arm, and we'll be helping them toreinstate the section of canal beyond. This involvesconstruction of canal walls in reinforced concrete andbackfilling them, to provide a canal channel that won'tsuffer from the leakage problems that plagued it in thepast. There should also be some landscaping andhedgelaying to do. Accommodation is in Tring ParkCricket Club and the leaders are Roger Burchett andJen Leigh. And then we take a complete break fromcanal restoration because it's time for...Camps 0118-19: Milton Keynes Festival20-28 and 23-31 AugustAs usual we're helping the InlandWaterwaysAssocia-tionwithsettingup theworld'sbiggest InlandWaterwayseventtheNationalWaterwaysFestival,providingsiteserv-iceswhile it's running,andtaking itdownafterwards. Thisyear it's inMiltonKeynes, theaccommodationwill beon-siteandthe leadersare IzzyGascoigneandAndiKewley.The 'National' is usually the end of our main summerseason, but not this year - there's still...Camp 0120: Droitwich Canal 8-15 SeptemberBilled as the 'Silver Fox Camp', the two leaders RogerBurchett and Steve Barrett are doing their best to attractfellowgrey-haired(andgrey-bearded)WRGies.Butdon'tworry ifyoudon'thavegreyhair -oreven ifyoudon'thaveany hair at all - you'll be equally welcomeon aweek thatshould see the entire lock-rebuilding project at HanburyLocks nearing completion.

Martin Ludgatewith contributions from Matt Taylor

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Little VeniceFergus the cat reports fromCanalway Cavalcade...

Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice

Every year IWA runs the Canalway Cavalcade at Lit-tle Venice in London over the May Day bank holidayweekend, and as usual this year KESCRGvolunteersprovided the Site Services team for the festival.

As you may or may not have noticed the editorhas been having a teeny-weeny bit of difficultyin persuading people to write reports for 'Nav-vies' recently, and Canalway Cavalcade was nodifferent fromanyother event in this respect. Theway in which it does differ from other events isthat eventually hegaveup trying topersuadepeo-ple to write, and asked Helen 'Bushbaby' Gardn-er's cat Fergus to write something instead...

I�ve just come back from Canalway Cavalcade atLittle Venice and thought I�d give a cat�s-eye view ofthe festival...

The weekend started off particularly badly for me:onThursday evening I was accostedbyAuntieEmma,lockedonher boat, bundled into the cat basket, hauleddown the tow-path and left locked up until we�d gotso far away from the bank there was no way Iwas going to jump. It was a terribly undignifiedexperience and therefore I was forced to sit un-der the bike on the roof, scowling until we arrivedat Little Venice 2 ½ hours laters and 2 bottles ofwine lighter. Mum, Dr Liz and Ian went off to thepub to join the others and I took the chance toembark on amajor exploration. Weweremooredat the grass-site and on the first night were next to'Fulbourne' and 'Shirley'. 'Fulbourne' is lookingreally quite smart with her matt varnish; the backcabin was particularly enticing so I jumped in...but discovered I was in bed with Eddie Jonesand attempted to make a quick exit. It was atthis point that I discovered that I couldn�t jumpback up the way I�d come and had to be escortedout. After sniffing round I decided to settle downand sleep with Matt in the hold because therewas no way I was going back to my own bed.

Friday: due to the trauma of the journey the pre-vious evening I felt it necessary to recover bysleeping most of the day back onMatt�s bed. Itwas all going well until that stupid big cat from'Shirley' called Tip-Cat decided to explore too,discovered me, went berserk and tried to hidebehind the kitchen cupboards - I knew he wasnever going to fit. This resulted in ME beingthrown out. All I was doing was sleeping.

Meanwhile onsite things weregetting a littlemore interestingthough - themarquees weregoing up; tradersarriving;thePirateClub boats thatwere being usedas volunteer ac-commodationarrived; stallswere beingerected. Harryand Dave Parishweredoingaster-ling jobonputtingthe power in, IanandTobygotall thewayto thefire-extinguishershopwith-out thebits thatneededreplacingandDrLizandDorothydidtheirbest tokeepthetradershappy. Lotsmore boatsstarted arriving and chaos soon hit the pool.

PS My stupid sister is under the duvet cover.

Saturdaywas the first day that the public were on siteand the site and services teamwere ready before thepublic - apart from a trip to the island. It was all veryexciting for about a coupleof hoursbut toomanypeskypeople kept paying attention to me and I got bored oflooking downmy nose so I went and hid in the front ofRowan (Chris Spencer�s boat) - I managed to sleepfor a good few hours before I was discovered. Appar-ently London WRG�s entry in the boat pageant wasreally good and not too many people were disturbedby Matt and Rupert�s 'Paddington BARE'!

LondonWRG'swinningentry in thePageant featured 'Padding-ton Basin' (photo byAlison Smedley), the editor - seen receiv-ing theprize - as 'PaddingtonStop' (AileenButler), 'PaddingtonStation' (Alison Smedley) and 'Paddingrton Bare' (Tim Lewis)

"The marquees were going up"(Martin Ludgate)

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Itmusthave impressedthe judgesbecausewefoundoutthenext day that they�dwon in their class. I havediscov-ered thekitchen- I tried toblagasausageoutofMaureenbut she didn�t take kindly to it. I�ve also met that LouKellettwoman - I amnot thedevil�s personal envoy -wellthat�swhat Iwantyoutobelieve. I�vemadeamentalnoteto avoid Mouse, Tigger and Millie the lurchers - I don�tneed thatmuchexercise at thatmuch speed.

PSMystupidsisterhasmigrated fromtheduvet tounderthe sofa but is now in the bottomof thewardrobe.

Sunday - found the bar today but theywouldn�t serve me, so had to make dowith the slops bucket. Harry and Mumfound the bar too - bit of a surprise actu-ally becauseneither of themcould standup when they got back from the partythey�d been too in the afternoon. It wasa fairly normal smooth running day onsite - 'Mole' fell in the canal in the after-noon to cheer everybody up. The greatthingwas that he didn�t even get his hairwet. LizWilson sprained her ankle laterin the day but fortunately she could puther shoe back on the next day. I�ve alsobeen saying 'hello' to the traders but Ican only stomach so much petting.

PS My stupid sister is still in the wardrobe.

PPSSundaynightwasquiteproductivereally -managedto get a bit of hunting in - not bad for central London. Ittook me quite a long time to get that mouse into theportaloo - I was evenmore grateful when it was Lou thatfound it in themorning - shewas very impressed.

Mondaywas the last day of the festival and the sur-prise of the day was that the editor came second inthe boat handling. (the surprise being that he wasn�tfirst, of course...) It was quite quiet earlier in the daybut it picked up in the afternoon and was apparentlywas really quite fun (I was asleep). After the publichad gone it was time to dismantle the site and theidea is to get most of it done on the Monday night.

I decided to keep out of the way - there was a goodchance I would get packed up with amarquee. Theyfinally finished at 10 pm and were grateful for thebarbecue. Starting to get a bit homesick - quite gladwe�re going back tomorrow.

PS My stupid sister is still in that wardrobe.

Tuesday: got back to our home mooring - it was ahorrid journey. I was not in the mood for boating - Ijust wanted to sleep and it was too noisy. We leftsite with a handful of people finishing off the clear-ing up. So glad to be back, time to go and checkthat the 'Black Horse' and all mymates are still there.

PSMy stupid sister has been hauled out of the ward-robe and promptly caught two mice.

That�s quite enough fromme - might consider goingagain next year if I can be bothered.

Fergus(aka Two Arse the Cat)

Now Mum wants a word...

Just wanted to say fromme andEd-die: thank you very much to every-one who turned up and pitched in,especially Maureen and Brian forcooking, Ian for taking over frommewhen needed, Harryand theelectricsteam, the waterspace team, the tradeteam, anyone who did carparks!, thebar staff and those who stayed till thebitter endonMondaynight(excusethepun- thanks for thebeerToby). Canal-

wayCavalcade is a very important event for KESCRG -the money we gain from the weekend pays for our an-nual insurance. So, thanks again, it was a great week-end and see you next year.

Helen GardnerAnd finally from Eddie...

May I reiterate Helen's thanks to all those whomadesuch a sterling effort over the weekend. Very smoothis all I can say, hopefully we will be asked back againnext year. Cheers,

Eddie Jones

The author planning his next article. (Helen Gardner)

Tobystartsworkon theRealAlebar,apopularnew featureofCavalcade -sopopular that it ranout! (MartinLudgate)

Fergus's 'Mum' steers theworkboat. (Martin Ludgate)

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CampsEaster at Droitwich: 'just likestarting Over'?

Droitwich Easter Camp

It all seemed just a bit too like Over! Just a fewmiles up the M5,the same faces,another big projectwith a huge com-mitment fromWRG, loads ofbricks to shift, plantgetting stuck,and� Well, I bet-ter stop there be-fore I get in to trou-ble comparingDavid and Mike!

With over 25peeps appearingat various points

(including two brilliant newcomers: Brian andSue), and the camp running for ten days overEaster, work really got off to a good start. Per-haps more impor-tantly, it gave us agood opportunity totry out the pro-posed repair tech-niques and BW anopportunity to getused to workingalongside us and tofind out quite howmuch materials wecould get through!

The first job was toreplace a culvertrunning from theoverflow at thehead of lock 3 intothe side pond. Weexposed the origi-nal collapsed brickculvert, and dugholes for the thrust blocks, then waited for thereplacement plastic pipe, and waited, and waited.Many thanks to Mr Collins� Barclaycard, we even-tually obtained the pipe ourselves a couple ofweeks after the camp, and it is now in place.

An initial attempt at pumping out the chamber oflock 3 and the pound below down as far as therugby club was soon abandoned as the channelwas so choked with reeds. We decided to put apiling dam across the bottom of the lock, and thenran up a huge phone bill trying to track down somepiles and a compressor with a tow ball hitch. Manythanks to John Horton for coming to our rescuewith his re-serve stock ofpiles that�slarger thanBW�s!

With the lockthen pumpedas dry as wecould, thechamber clear-ance couldeventually goahead, muchto the horror ofthe local sportscentre whoseshowers wereclogged daily.

First attempt to drain lock 3 forclearance: shame the stop-planks proved to be too long!

BW showed us how to installtop ground paddle frames.

Clearing vegetation from the lock 3 copings.

Eventually a piling damwasbuilt,enabling lock 3 to be pumpeddry(ish)and thechamber cleared.

Replacing the top 1 metre of the lock 2 lower gaterecesswall: a trial run for the lock 3 chamber wallswhich will be dealt with on the summer camps..

Page 11: Navvies 187

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CampsBook now for one of the fiveremaining Droitwich camps!

All the camps this year at Droitwich will includesome training from BW. We had instruction in thefitting of ground paddles, as well as guidance onrebuilding the tail wall of lock 2 which will get prop-erly underway when we have a large enoughstock of the specially sized bricks (they are in thekiln at the moment!).

Perhaps the biggest job of the week was extract-ing 'Blue' (our excavator) from the pound betweenlock 2 and lock 3: weeventually replacedthe scary timber rampwith a proper onemade fromall the rub-ble the demolitionwork was generating.

In the evenings wemanaged to occa-sionally get a bit fur-ther than the 'Rail-way', going to Li-chfield for their excel-lent Canal Forum,and to the 'Tom o� theWood' at Rowingtonso that Mike couldhave a bath!

Thanks to Mike for everything, Jen for all the driv-ing and for not flipping when the ring main went,Jude and Harri T for doing loads of the cooking,and everyone for loads and loads of really topquality work.

Marcus Jones

Above: we built an awning over the lock 3 side-pond wall so Phill could carry on bricklaying in therain. Then the sun came out. Below left: one jobbegun on the camp and completed since was toreplace a collapsed bywash culvert at lock 3 usingheavy duty plastic pipe. Below: drilling holes forsteel rods to tie the corner stone of the lower wingwall at lock 3 into the concrete backfill behind thebrickwork. Bottom: the same wall complete at theend of the camp. All photos by Martin Ludgate.

Page 12: Navvies 187

page 12

BookshopAnother auction of second-handcanal books for WRG funds

The 13th WRG Auction of Old Canal BooksWehave been given a collection of canal books fromthe collection of the late John Ellis Griffith Morris byhis daughter Margaret Burnett, andwe have decidedthat the best way to sell them is to auction themthrough the pages of Navvies - with all the proceedsgoing to help fund WRG�s Canal Camps. All thebooks (except where stated) are in good condition.The reserves suggested are the minimum that wewould accept and are approximately half the priceyou might see from a specialised book dealer. You

are invited to make your bids (in multiples of 50p please). Simply list down the Lot number (the number onthe left hand side) and the price you are prepared to pay for each book or other item being auctioned. Thebidder offering the highest price for each lot gets the goods at the price bid. In the event of two equal bids,the first one received wins. All proceeds go to WRG, so you can afford to be generous. All bids should besent to Neil Edwards (WRG Auction), WRG/IWA, P O Box 114, RICKMANSWORTH, WD3 1ZY, oralternatively by e-mail to [email protected] to be received no later than July 15, 2001. Successfulbidders will be notified shortly afterwards. Delivery / Postage and packing is extra, at cost.Lot Title / Author (or other description) Pages Date Reserve1 London�s lost route to Basingstoke / PALVine 212 1968 £15

History of the Basingstoke Canal. Limited edition numbered copy signed by the author. (Hardback - good cond)2 Inland waterways of England / LTC Rolt 221 1966 £5

General book on the waterways originally published in 1950 including history of the canal-building era, descrip-tion of working boats and boatmen and the state of the canals as they then were. (Hardback - no dust jacket)

3 The horse on the cut / Donald J Smith 184 1982 £5All aspects of canal boat operation in the days before powered craft (Hardback - good cond)

4 Narrow boat painting / AJ Lewery 144 1979 £5History and description of the distinctive traditional paintwork of the English narrow boat. (Hardback - good cond)

5 Lost canals and waterways of Britain / Ronald Russell 272 1982 £10Invaluable practical guide for anyone exploring the remains of Britain�s derelict canals (Hardback - good cond)

6 London�s lost route to the sea / PALVine 267 1973 £8History of theWey&Arun and connected waterways that linked London to Portsmouth (Hardback - good cond)

7 The Shell Book of InlandWaterways / Hugh McKnight 493 1981 £5General reference and complete gazetteer of all navigablewaterways inBritain and Ireland. (Hardback - good cond)

8 Waterways sights to see / Charles Hadfield 144 1976 £360 interesting places to visit around Britain�s waterways (Hardback - not dust jacket)

9 A caravan afloat / CJ Aubertin 155 1982 £5Reprint of a classic 1916 account of travels around the canals by an eccentric in a horse-drawn craft (softback - fair cond)

10 History in camera: Canals and waterways / Michael E Ware 88 1987 £4Photographic history of the canals in cargo-carrying days (softback - fair cond)

11 Stroudwater andThames&Severn canals towpathguide /MichaelHandford&DavidViner 224 1984 £5Brief history and detailed walkers� guide to the �Cotswold Canals� - albeit perhaps a little out of date thanks to 17years of restoration progress! Interesting historic photos of the canals before they closed. (softback - fair cond)

12 Wessex waterway: a guide to the Kennet &Avon Canal / Kenneth R Clew 64 1978 £2.50Complete lock-by-lock guide to the entire Reading to Bristol route, written when restoration had reached aboutthe half-way stage towards complete reopening. (hardback - good cond)

13 Landscape with canals / LTC Rolt 188 1984 £4SecondvolumeofRolt�sautobiography,includinghisinvolvementinthestartoftherevivalofthecanals(softback-faircond)

14 Canals in towns / Lewis Braithwaite 146 1976 £6Asurvey of the 1/3 of Britain�s canals that run through urban areas, and the author�s views on how the plannersshould treat them in the future - some of which have since come true! (hardback - good cond)

15 Tom Rolt and the Cressy years / Ian Mackearsey 107 1984 £5Famous waterways author Tom Rolt�s travels in the late 1930s to early 1950s in his boat �Cressy�, and hisinvolvement in the sometimes turbulent beginnings of the revival of the canals (softback - fair cond)

16 Gloucester Docks: an illustrated history / Hugh Conway-Jones 181 1984 £5History of the rise and decline of the docks, including the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal (softback - fair cond)

17 A short history of the narrow boat / Tom Chaplin 46 1985 £1.50Themostdistinctive traditionalBritishwaterwaycraft and thepeoplewhooperated them. (softbackbooklet - goodcond)

18 Waterways Museum (Stoke Bruerne) guide book 32 1975 £1Brief waterways history and guide to the exhibits (softback booklet - fair cond)

19 Canal barges and narrow boats / Peter L Smith 32 1979 £1Descriptions of the variousBritish cargo-carrying craft. One of the �ShireAlbum�series. (Softback booklet - fair cond)

20 The Shroppie - Portrait of the Shropshire Union Canal / Thomas Pellow&Paul Bowen 84 1985 £3Allyoueverwanted toknowabout thehistoryof theShroppie. CompactA5sizewithb/wphotos. Softback -goodcond)

21 Canals and canal architecture / John Vince 32 1976 £1Boats, locks, bridges andcanalsidebuildingsdescribed. Oneof the �ShireAlbum� series. (Softbackbooklet - fair cond)

Page 13: Navvies 187

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22 Canal architecture / Peter L Smith 32 1986 £1Architectural features of canals and canalside buildings. Oneof the �ShireAlbum� series. (Softbackbooklet - fair cond)

23 Old Docks / Nancy Ritchie-Noakes 32 1987 £1Construction andoperationofBritain�s historic docks. Oneof the �ShireAlbum�series. (Softbackbooklet - goodcond)

24 Waterways heraldry / Dennis Hadley 32 1977 50pPictures and interpretations of the official seals of the old canal companies. (Softback booklet - good cond)

25 Narrow boat / LTC Rolt 212 1980 £2Reprint of the 1940s classic describing a tour of the canals in 1939, which was responsible for the beginning ofthe revival of the canals (Softback - fair cond)

26 British canals: an illustrated history / Charles Hadfield 362 1979 £4The standard history of Britain�s canal system, by its most well-knownwaterways historian. (softback - fair cond)

27 Basingstoke Canal restoration / Dieter Jebens and David Robinson 47 1985 £4Photographic record of progress to date on one of the main volunteer projects of the 1980s. Includes rare photoof young Ken Parish! (softback - fair cond)

28 Lock keeper�s daughter: a Worcestershire canal childhood / Pat Warner 160 1986 £3.50Autobiographical account of a girl growing up on theTardebigge lock flight in the 1920s-30s. (softback - fair cond)

29 Canal / Anthony Burton and Derek Pratt 96 1976 £3The historic fabric and architecture of the waterways as seen in the 1970s. (softback - fair cond)

30 From stem to stern / John M Hill 60 1989 £4.50Practical guide to all aspects of traditional narrowboat signwriting anddecoration. (Softback, spiral-bound - fair cond)

31 A pictorial history of canal craft / Peter L Smith 135 1979 £4Illustrateddescriptionsofallmain typesofcargocraftonriversandcanalsofeachregionofBritain. (hardback -goodcond)

32 A canalside camera: 1845-1930 / Michael E Ware 96 1975 £3.50Over 100 historic photographs of all aspects of the waterways (Hardback - good cond but dust jacket slightly faded)

33 The waterways of Britain / Anthony Burton 176 1983 £4.50Individual descriptions organised by region of all the waterways that were then navigable or under restoration.Many photographs, some in colour. (Hardback - good cond)

34 Bridges and aqueducts / Anthony Sealey 192 1976 £5One of a series of large-format books on architecture; covers all types of bridges - road rail and canal, British andoverseas (Hardback - fair cond)

35 Victorian and Edwardian boating from old photographs / NeilWigglesworth 128 1987 £5Over 100 historic photographs of all types of boat from coracles to paddle steamers, on rivers lakes and the sea.(Hardback - near new cond)

36 Narrow boats at work / Michael E Ware 144 1980 £6Photographs of cargo-carrying narrow boats from the 19th century to the 1970s. (Hardback - good cond)

37 Paint roses and castles / Anne Young 128 1988 £6Step by step guide to traditional narrow boat decoration. (Hardback - good cond)

38 A pictorial history of canals / DD Gladwin 144 1977 £3200 old and new photographs, with the author�s sometimes whimsical captions. (Hardback - fair cond)

29 Hampshire Waterways / PALVine 96 1990 £5Pictorial historycovering theBasingstokeCanal,AndoverCanal, ItchenNavigationandothers. (Hardback -goodcond)

30 Journeys of the Swan / John Liley 192 1983 £15Lively,oftenamusingaccountof theauthor�sadventurestouringtheneglectedcanalsystemofthe '60s(Softback-faircond)

31 Victorian and Edwardian canal from old photographs / DD Gladwin 120 1976 £4.50Pictures of every aspect of the canals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Hardback - good cond)

32 Southern InlandWaterways / Derek Pratt 128 1982 £4Pictorial record of the Thames and its surrounding waterways (Hardback - good cond)

33 Kent & East Sussex Waterways / PALVine 96 1989 £5Historic pictures of theMedway, the SussexOuse and other more obscure south-eastern waterways including thedelightfully-named Reading Sewer. (Hardback - good cond)

34 Collection of old IWABulletins in �mint� condition from late 1950s through the 1960s to early 1970s. Nos 54(May 1957), 55, 56 then 65 (October 61) through to 114 (September 1975). A superb history of the salvation ofthe waterways, in a �blow by blow� account. £18

35 Similar collection to above, but from no 66 (April 1962) through to 114 (September 1975). Condition of someeditions not quite so good, but none-the-less, an invaluable reference £15

36 Your Book of Canals / P J G Ransom 80 1977 £1.50Straightforward introduction to the inland waterways, with some good photos. (Hardback � good cond)

37. National Geographic Magazine July 1974 (featuring �Exploring England�s Canals� � 35 page article with goodphotos) and November 1978 (featuring �Where the River Shannon Flows� � 28 page article with evocativephotos byAdamWoolfit). Fair cond. £4

38. Collection of BW�s staff magazine �Waterways�fromNo1 (September 1955) through to No 144 (September 1969),but not complete. 106 issues. Mixed condition, but some almost �mint�. Seldom offered to collectors. £30

39. Collection of duplicates from the above. 40 issues, mostly from the late 1960s £540. Report on the Ken Canal Survey 1897 � 98 by C E Dupuis (Executive Engineer). Original 29 page foolscap

report, in covers, with hand colour map and three photographs proposing the construction of the new canal inIndia. Never seen offered before. Must be worth a lot more than the reserve of... £5

Page 14: Navvies 187

BARNSLEY, DEARNE &DOVE CANAL TRUSTSpencer Collins9 Thrush StreetWalkleySheffield S6 5BQ0114 2853 044

BIRMINGHAM CANALNAVIGATIONS SOCIETYJeff Barley17 SunnisideWalsall Wood,W Midlands01543 373284Web site: http://www.bcn-society.org.uk/

BUCKINGHAM CANAL SOCSteve Morley33 Hambleton GroveEmerson valleyMilton Keynes MK4 2JS01908 520090Web: http://www.olio.demon.co.uk/bcs/index.html

BUGSWORTH (IWPS)Ian EdgarBrowside FarmMudhurst LaneLyme HandleyWhaley BridgeHigh Peak SK23 7BT01663 732493Web site: http://www.brocross.com/iwps/index.htm

CHESTERFIELD CTMick Hodgetts31 Pottery LaneWhittington Moor,Chesterfield.Derbyshire S41 9BH01246 454163

CHICHESTER CSJohn CooperJaspers, Coney RoadEast Wittering, ChichesterWest Sussex PO21 8DA01243 671051

COTSWOLD CTNeil RitchieThe Chapel HouseSandford RdChurchdownGloucestershire GL3 2HD01452 854057e-mail: [email protected] site: http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/

DERBY & SANDIACRECANAL SOCIETYDoug Flack23 Thoresby CrescentDraycottDerby DE72 3PH01332 874239Web site: http://www.derbycanal.org.uk/

DIG DEEP INITIATIVEAlan Cavender10 Vicarage RoadMaidenhead, BerkshireSL6 7DS01628 629033

DORSET & SOMERSETCANAL STUDY GROUPDerrick Hunt43 Greenland MillsBradford on AvonWilts BA15 1BL01225 863066e-mail: [email protected]

DROITWICH CANALSTRUSTVaughan Welch29 Dice PleckNorthfieldBirminghamB31 3XW0121 477 9782Web site: http://www.worcs.com/dct/home.htm

EREWASH CANAL P&DAMick Golds73 Sudbury AvenueLarklands, IlkestonDerbys DE7 5EANotts (0115) 9328042

FOXTON INCLINEDPLANE TRUSTc/o Mike BeechFoxton Canal MuseumMiddle Lock, Gumley RoadFoxton, Market HarboroughLeicestershireLE16 7RA0116 279 2657Web site: http://www.ipresent.co.uk/foxton.html

GRAND WESTERNCANAL TRUSTDenis Dodd, Wharf CottageNynehead, WellingtonSomerset TA21 0BU01823 661653

GRANTHAM CANALRESTORATION SOCColin Bryan113 Hoe View RoadCropwell BishopNottingham NG12 3DJ01159 892248

HEREFS & GLOUCS CTc/o The Lock Cottage, OverGloucester GL2 8DB01452 332900Web site: http://www.h-g-canal.org.uk

KENT & EAST SUSSEXCANAL REST. GROUPKen ParishEastwood FarmhouseUlcombe RoadUlcombe, MaidstoneKent. ME17 1ET01622 858329e-mail:[email protected] site: http://www.btinternet.com/~kescrg/

LAPALCANAL TRUSTPO Box 5236, HalesowenWMidlands B63 3NNWeb site: http://www.lapal.org.uk

LICHFIELD & HATHERTONCANALS REST'N TRUSTJohn Horton,32 London Road, LichfieldStaffs WS14 9EJ.01543 262466or Denis CooperGorsey Lane FarmGorsey LaneLittle Wyrley, PelsallWalsall WS3 5AJ01543 374370Web site:http://www.lhcrt.org.uk/

NEATH & TENNANT CSMalcolm Smith37, Blaen Cwm, LlansamletSwansea. SA7 9NLSwansea (01792) 74991

NWPGGraham Hawkes27 Lawrence Rd,Tilehurst, ReadingBerks RG30 6BH0118 941 0586E-mail:[email protected] site: http://www.geocities.com/nwpg2001/nwpg.html

POCKLINGTON C.A.S.Paul WaddingtonChurch House, Main St.HemingboroughSelbyN. Yorks YO8 7QE01757 638027 (eves)01405 763985 (days)Web site: http://www.pocklington.gov.uk/PCAS/default.asp

SCARS (SANKEY CANAL)Colin Greenall16 Bleak Hill RoadEccleston, St. HelensMerseyside WA10 4RW01744 731746Web site: http://www.scars.org.uk/index.html

SHREWSBURY&NEWPORTCANALSTRUSTSteve Bean4 Arscott, PontesburyShrewsbury SY5 0XP01743 860488e-mail: [email protected]: http://www.sncanal.org.uk

SHROPSHIRE UNION CSGeoff Munro198, Oldbury RoadRowley Regis, WarleyWest Midlands B65 0NW0121-561 5747Web site:http://www.shropshireunion.co.uk/index.htm

SLEAFORD NAV TRUSTSteve Hayes10 Chelmer Clo,N Hykeham Lincs LN8 8TH01522-689460Web site: http://www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/

SOMERSET COAL CSBob Parnell34 Wedgewood RoadTwerton, Bath BA2 1NX01225-428055Web site: http://homepages.enterprise.net/rtj/SCC2.html

SWANSEA CANAL SOCClive Reed34 Ynysmeudwy RoadYnysmeudwy, PontardaweSwansea. SA8 4QD01792 864637

SURREY & HANTS CSPeter Redway1 Redway CottagesSt. John's Lye, Woking.GU21 1SL01483 721710Web site:http://www.basingstokecanal1.freeserve.co.uk/

THAMES & MEDWAYCANAL ASSOCIATIONJennifer Watts108 Old Road EastGravesend DA12 1PFWeb site:http://www.tmca.cwc.net/

WENDOVER ARM TRUSTRoger Leishman7 Hall Park, BerkhamstedHerts HP4 2NU01442 874536Web site: http://www.nsa.dircon.co.uk/wendover.htm

page 14

DirectoryWRG and canal society workingparty contact details

Page 15: Navvies 187

WEY & ARUN CTJohn Ward32 Badgers HollowPeperharrow Rd, GodalmingSurrey GU7 2PX01483-52712407971 336535 (mobile)Web site:http://www.weyandarun.co.uk

WILTS & BERKS C.A.G.Peter Smith76 Dunnington RoadWootton BassettWilts SN4 7EL01793 636597e-mail:[email protected] site: http://www.wilts-berks-canal.org.uk/

WOODEN CANAL BOATSSOCIETY5 Oaken Clough TerraceLimehurstAshton under Lyne OL7 9NY0161-330-2315

IWA IPSWICHColin TurnerCornerways, Elm LaneCopdock, Ipswich IP8 3ET01473-730586Web site: http://www.purbrook.demon.co.uk/iwa/

WRG: GENERALENQUIRIESPO Box 114, RickmansworthHerts WD3 1ZY01932 711114e-mail:[email protected] site:http://www.wrg.org.uk

WRG NORTH WEST -MANCHESTERMalcolm Bridge (see below)

WRG NW - LIVERPOOLRoger Evans10 Long Lane, MiddlewichCheshire CW10 0BL01606 834471

WRG NW - ENQUIRIES/PAPERCHASESDavid McCarthyWoodstock, 14 Crumpsall La.Manchester. M8 5FB0161-740 2179Web site:http://www.downstream.mcmail.com/wrgnw.htm

WRG BITM & DIARYDavid Wedd7 Ringwood RoadBlackwater,CamberleySurrey GU17 0EY01252 874437e-mail:[email protected] site:http://www.wrgbitm.org.uk

WRG NA (1)Ian Nelson6 Lahn Drive Droitwich SpaWorcs WR9 8TQ.01905 798 6760973 640611 (mobile)e-mail:[email protected] site: http://www.wrgna.co.uk

WRG NA (2)Spencer Collins(see below)

LONDON WRGTim Lewis6 Downs Road, EnfieldMiddlesex EN1 IPA020 8367 6227e-mail: [email protected] site: http://www.danevans.co.uk/lwrg/

LONDONWRG: ENQUIRIESLesley McFadyen(as per Martin Ludgate below)

WRG EAST MIDLANDSJohn Baylis (see below)

ESSEX WRGJohn Gale, 12 Wakefield Ave,Billericay, Essex CM12 9DN01277 654683

WRG MONTGOMERYAlan JervisDacre House FarmDacre, HarrogateHG3 4ES07968-586326e-mail: [email protected]

WRG BOAT CLUBSue Burchett152 Great Knollys StReading RG1 7HB01189 503268Fax. 07970 099052e-mail:[email protected]

IWA/WRG STAMP BANKSteve & Mandy Morley33 Hambleton GroveEmerson valleyMilton Keynes MK4 2JS01908 520090

CANAL CAMPS MOBILES(A) 07850 422156(B) 07850 422157

'NAVVIES' EDITORMartin Ludgate35 Silvester Rd, East DulwichLondon SE22 9PB020 8693 32660777 947 8629 (mobile)e-mail:[email protected]

WRG PLANTMalcolm Bridge (see below)OR John Palmer53 Southwood RoadStockport, Cheshire

WRG LOGISTICS (1)Lou KellettPen-y-Bryn BungalowLloran Uchaf, MoelfreOswestry SY10 7QT01691 791463e-mail:[email protected]

WRG LOGISTICS (2)Jen Leigh (see below)

CANAL CAMP BOOKINGSc/o Ian WingfieldPO Box 114, RickmansworthHerts WD3 1ZY01932 711114e-mail:[email protected] site:http://www.wrg.org.uk

WRG DIRECTORS

CHAIRMANMike Palmer3 Finwood Road, RowingtonWarwickshire CV35 7DH01564 785293e-mail:[email protected]

TREASURERRoger Day, 5 Merton RoadSlough Berks SL1 1QW

SECRETARYNeil Edwards,16 Tyneham CloseAylesbury HP21 9XAe-mail [email protected]

SITES GROUP & PUBLICITYJudith Moore3 Finwood Road, RowingtonWarwickshire CV35 7DH01564 785293e-mail:[email protected]

page 15

WRGPRINTJohn & Tess Hawkins4 Links Way, Croxley Grn,Rickmansworth WD3 3RQ01923 448559

CENTRALLY BOOKEDWEEKENDSHelen Davey5 Heathfield Close, MidhurstW Sussex GU29 9PS01730 814670

TRANSPORT MANAGERRoger Burchett(See Sue Burchett above)

DRIVER AUTHORISATIONMalcolm Bridge3 Heather Bank, LittleboroughLancashire OL15 0JQ01706 378582

IWA CHAIRMANRichard Drakec/o IWA, PO Box 114Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY0151 608 4562

OTHER DIRECTORS

Jen Leigh203 Abbeyfield Rd, PitsmoorSheffield S4 7AW0114 2423789e-mail:[email protected]

Mick Beattie22 Bridgewater AveAnchorsholme, BlackpoolLancs FY5 3NA01253 864034

Adrian Fry, 31 Griffon CloseElmore Lock, QuedgeleyGloucester GL2 4NQ07976 640962e-mail: [email protected]

Spencer Collins9 Thrush Street, WalkleySheffield S6 5BQ0114 2853 044e-mail:[email protected]

Chris Davey5 Heathfield Close, MidhurstW Sussex GU29 9PS01730 814670e-mail [email protected]

Ray Carter56 Oakdene Drive, TolworthSurbiton, Surrey KT5 9NH

Jonathan Smith, 23 HardingsChalgrove, Oxford OX44 7TJ01865 891 370

John Baylis215 Clipstone Rd West,Forest Town, Mansfield,Notts NG19 0HJ01623 633895

UpdatingthisDirectory:pleasehelp!We do our best to keep the 'Navvies' direc-tory up to date. However, we rely on peopleto tell us that they have moved house, or thattheir canal society has a new Work Party Or-ganiser, or that their web site or e-mail addresshas changed.Please send updates to the editor: they will ap-pear in the 'Noticeboard' in issue 188, and be in-cluded in the next full Directory in issue 190.

Page 16: Navvies 187

Canal Camps cost £35 per week unless otherwiseBookings for WRGCanal Camps (those identifiedcamp number e.g. 'Camp 0102') should go toWRGCamps, PO Box 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114. Email: [email protected]

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DiaryIMPORTANT NOTE: access to some sites may still be affected by Foot & Mouth Disease. Please checkJun 16/17 wrgBITM Sleaford NavigationJun 16/17 D&SCS Derby & Sandiacre Canal: Borrowash Bottom LockJun 23/24 IWA/WRG BCN Marathon Challenge: 24-hour marathon cruise on Birmingham�s canals.Jun 23 Sat wrgNW Waste paper collectionJun 23-30 Camp 0102 Droitwich Canal Camp. Leaders: Adrian Fry & Ian WingfieldJun 30/Jul 1 LondonWRG To be arrangedJun 30-Jul 7 Camp 0103 Droitwich Canal Camp. Leaders: Zoe Rogers & Gavin MoorJun 30-Jul 7 Camp 0104 Cotswolds Canal Camp on the Dig Deep project at Valley Lock, Chalford, andJul 7/8 KESCRG Wey & Arun CanalJul 7 Sat Essex WRG StowmarketJul 7-14 Camp 0105 Montgomery Canal Camp at Maesbury. Leaders: Lou Kellett & Andy BurrowsJul 7-14 Camp 0106 Wilts & Berks Canal Camp at Seven Locks, near Lyneham. Leaders: RachaelJul 8 Sun Navvies Press date for issue 188Jul 12 & 16 wrgNW Tameside Canals Festival: Erection & removal of swing bridge over narrows atJul 14/15 wrgNW Tameside Canals Festival: wrgNW Sales StandJul 14-21 Camp 0107 Montgomery Canal Camp at Maesbury.Jul 14-21 Camp 0108 Melton & Oakham Canal Camp, installing a slipway at Melton Mowbray. LeadeJul 14-21 Camp 0109 Cotswold Canal Camp led by NWPG. Dig Deep project at Valley Lock, ChalforJul 15 Sun wrg Committee & Board MeetingsJul 21/22 LondonWRG Lichfield CanalJul 21/22 wrgBITM Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project at Chaddington Lock.Jul 21 Sat wrgNW Waste paper collectionJul 21-28 Camp 0110 Montgomery Canal Camp at Maesbury. Leaders: Alan Jervis & Harriet ThompJul 21-28 Camp 0111 Sleaford Canal Camp at Cogglesford Lock, Sleaford. Leaders: Rachael BanyaJul 28-Aug 4 Camp 0112 Ipswich Canal Camp at Creeting Lock. Leader: Matt Taylor & Judith Gordon. CJul 28-Aug 4 Camp 0113 Basingstoke Canal Camp led by KESCRG. Dig Deep project installing backpuAug 4/5 NWPG To be arranged: possibly the Montgomery CanalAug 4/5 Essex WRG Cotswold CanalsAug 4-11 Camp 0114 Droitwich Canal Camp. Leaders: Marcus Jones & Rick BarnesAug 4-11 Camp 0115 Basingstoke Canal Camp on the Dig Deep project installing backpump systemAug 4-11 Camp 0116 Wey & Arun Canal Camp led by WACT. Repairing storm-water overspill on theAug 11/12 LondonWRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project at Summit Lock, Wootton Bassett (to beAug 11/12 wrgBITM Wendover ArmAug 11-18 Camp 0117 Droitwich Canal Camp. Leaders: Spencer Collins & Rob DaffernAug 11-18 Camp 0118 Wendover Canal Camp. Channel and winding-hole construction at Little Tring.Aug 14 Tue Navvies Issue 188 Assembly (provisional date)Aug 20-28 Camp 0119 NWF Canal Camp. Providing site services for the IWA�s National Waterways FAug 23-31 Camp 0120 NWF Canal Camp. Providing site services for the IWA�s National Waterways FeSep 1/2 Essex WRG To be arrangedSep 8 Sat Navvies Press date for issue 189

Page 17: Navvies 187

e stated.by a

GCanal

uk

Please send updates to Diary compiler:DaveWedd, 7 RingwoodRd, Blackwater, Camberley, Surrey GU17 0EY.

Tel 01252 874437. e-mail: [email protected]. Fax: 0870-063-3713

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k with work party organisers for ALL working parties to find out whether the details below are correct.DaveWedd 01252-874437 [email protected] Flack 01332-576037

Scrutineers wanted. Helen Davey 01730-814670 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected]

setting-up for the Saul Junction boat gathering and beer festival. Leaders: Martin Ludgate & Ian WilliamsonAnswerphone 01622-858329 [email protected] Gale 01277-654683 [email protected]

Banyard & Paul MannMartin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

Dukinfield Junction David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

ers: Matt Taylor & Marcus Jonesrd, on the Thames & Severn Canal

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] 01252-874437 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179

psettard & Di SmurthwaiteCook: Helen 'Bushbaby' Gardnerump system at St Johns, near Woking.

Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected] Gale 01277-654683 [email protected]

m at St Johns, near Woking.e summit level.e confirmed) Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected]

DaveWedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

. Leaders: Roger Burchett & Ali BottomleyJohn Hawkins 01923-448559 [email protected]

Festival at Milton Keynes. Leaders Izzy Gascoigne & Andi Kewley. Cost: £40estival at Milton Keynes . Leaders Izzy Gascoigne & Andi Kewley. Cost: £40

John Gale 01277-654683 [email protected] Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

Page 18: Navvies 187

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NOTE: some work may still be affected by Footand Mouth: please check with organisers.1st & 3rd Sunday of month BCG Elsecar Spencer Collins 0114-285-30443rd Sunday of month BCNS Jeff Barley 01543-3732842ndSunday& followingWed. BCS Cosgrove Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-454163Mon & Wed mornings CCT Cotswolds Dudley Greenslade 01453 825515Every weekend (Sat OR Sun)CCT Cotswolds Neil Ritchie 01452-8540571st Sunday of monch CCT Cotswolds: summit MarkWelton 01453-872405Wednesday evenings CCT Cotswolds: East end Keith Harding 01451-8601814th Mon of month, 6pm CMT London Canal Mus. Martin Sach 020-7625-7376Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 02961st & 3rd Sundays GCRS Grantham Canal Colin Bryan 0115-989-22482nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432-358628Wednesdays H&GCT Over Ted Beagles 01452-522648Saturdays H&GCT Over Maggie Jones 01452-618010Sundays H&GCT Over Paul Brown 01386-443826Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 01663-7324931st Saturday&3rdWed. IWA Ipswich Stowmarket Navigtn. Colin Turner 01473-7305862nd weekend of month IWA SBC Maesbury, Mont. Barry Tuffin 01691-670826/492nd weekend of month K&ACT John Rolls 01189-6663161st Sunday of month LHCRT Lichfield John Horton 01543 2624663rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-3743702nd & last Sundays PCAS Paul Waddington 01757-6380272nd Sunday of Month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of Month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Bob Parnell 01225-428055Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Peter Redway 01483-7217103rd Sunday of month TMCA David Rouse 01474-362861Approx 15th of month WACT Mid-Week group Colin Gibbs 020-82417736Every Sunday & Thursday WACT Devils Hole Lock EricWalker 023-9246-3025Thursdays fortnightly WACT Maintenance Unit Peter Wilding 01483-422519or for general information on Wey & Arun contact their office on 01403-7524031st weekend of month WAT Little Tring Roger Leishman 01442-874536Every weekend W&BCAG Peter Smith 01793-852883Every Sunday W&BCC Dauntsey / Foxham Rachael Banyard 01249-892289Please send any amendments, additions and deletions to Dave Wedd (address on previous page)Abbreviations used in DiaryBCG Barnsley Canal GroupBCNS BirminghamCanal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustCMT Canal Museum Trust (London)DCT Droitwich Canals TrustD&SCS Derby & Sandiacre Canal SocietyGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWA SBC IWA Shrewsbury & Border CountiesIWPS InlandWaterways Protection Society

K&ACT Kennet &Avon Canal TrustKESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. GroupLHCRT Lichfield & Hatherton Canals

Restoration TrustLWRG LondonWaterway Recovery GroupNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietySCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationW&BCAG Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity GroupW&BCC Wilts & Berks Canal CompanyWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm Trust

Mobile groups' social evenings(please phone to confirm before turning up)London WRG: 7:30pm on Wed 10 daysbefore each dig. Usually at the Jugged Hare,Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, but pleasecheck with Tim Lewis 020-8367 6227 ore-mail [email protected]: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at theHope Tap, West end of Friar St. Reading.Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

DiaryCanal society regularworking parties

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Letters'Navvies' ain't what it usedto be...

Dear Editor

I have become increasing disappointed with thestandard of much of the content of 'Navvies' lately.

A couple of years ago there was a flurry of corre-spondence concerning the use in the magazineof basic Anglo-Saxon words not regarded asgenerally acceptable in polite company thesedays,and Canal Camp reports that were mainly con-cerned with excessive alcohol consumption, in-jokes and off-topic stuff about who was doing what with who in the back of a Transit on the last night.

But not any more. Letters of complaint are now few and far between - basically because there isnothing in 'Navvies' worth complaining about any more. Where once there was little more thanscandal and gossip, now there is nothing but restoration news and views. Health and Safety aware-ness has replaced drunkenness and debauchery; in-jokes have been replaced by information; Ed-die Jones's pants have been replaced by a slightly newer pair.

Even the standard of incompetence and embarrassment potential has declined, as 'foot in mouth'has been replaced by 'foot and mouth' in the list of WRGies' concerns.

Come on guys! If I wanted to read about the latest Health & Safety legislation I'd go to the HSE website. If I wanted to read long, boring, 'serious' articles about canal restoration I'd readMartin Ludgate'scontributions to 'Waterways World'. If I wanted to read about the intricacies of trailers and tacho-graphs... well, I'd probably keep quiet about it because otherwise the nice young men in the cleanwhite coats might turn up with a one-way ticket to the funny farm...

I didn't subscribe to 'Navvies' to read about canal restoration; I subscribed because I wanted to beregaled with tales of drunkenness and incompetence on Canal Camps, in-jokes and lavatorial humour,brushes with the Law involving the Camp Leader's underwear and a girls' school flagpole, juicy gossipabout sleeping-bag swapping on the last night, whether NJF or MKP gives a better ride and so on....

So let's have less restoration news and more jokes about toilets and camp catering disasters (pos-sibly the two may be linked?). Let's replace the Navvies Directory with a 'who's had who' of the WRGregulars. Let's replace Marcus's boring tables of camp info with a "Bar chart" showing how muchbeer each camp consumed.

And perhaps Logistics can stop telling us how to pack trailers and give us what we really want... such assome handy hints on how to get trifle out of underpants, or how to explain to Hewden Hire why thedumper's fuel tank is full of Wadworths 6X, or perhaps a list of VD clinics within easy reach of Elsecar.

Come on - let's show them we're still 'mad, bad and dangerous to know', and try to make 'Navvies' amagazine worth writing in and moaning about again!

Yours,Janet Shipstone

Assistant leader, Thames Berks & Andover Canal Camp 2000

PS: Oz Collingwood - if you're reading this, my apologies about the incident with the goat and the Elsanon the last night at Sodding Chipbury. Gordon Drake - don't worry: they usually heal up in about 3 weeks.Henry Banks - hope the court case went well. Matt Young - you miserable bugger, we bought every pintof beer in your pub, didn't we? And anyway you said the ceiling was due to be replaced soon! JohnTetley - next time, please clean up the JCB cab afterwards. Anyway, love to you all (except Matt Young),and I'll see you on the next one... and don't forget the beetroot and the ear-trumpets! XXX Janet

Youmight think that the above letter is a complete fabrication. It might occur to you that maybe the editordidn't actually receive any letters at all for this issue, and that this is his way of filling up an empty letterspage and trying to wind up a few people and hopefully get them to write something for the next onebecause he's pissed-off at having to hassle people all the time for contributions and sometimes endingup writing half of the sodding mag. himself. You might think that - but I couldn't possibly comment. ...Ed

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ProgressBasingstoke, Thames & SevernandhopefullysoonWilts&Berks

Dig Deep Report

The Dig Deep initiative is a scheme involving fourmobile working party groups � KESCRG, WRGBITM, London WRG and NWPG � operatingmainly in the South of England. The idea is thatby adopting certain projects on various canals,we can co-ordinate our efforts and give a jointcommitment to a certain number of working par-ties on each project, which will help enable thelocal canal societies to commit the necessaryresources to the projects.

The 2001 programme has been severely affectedby foot andmouth. The worst affected site isSum-mit Lock on theWilts &Berks. Access to the lockis across a field close to farm buildings in an areawhere they have been cases of F & M. NWPGheld their Christmas 2000 work party at the siteandcontinued theworkof dismantling the lockwalls.These are now almost down to lower water leveland it is intended that the lock will be re-built as areinforced concrete structurewith brickwall facings.

LWRG visited in February but the site was floodedand their June visit has also been cancelled ashave all Dig Deep visits since February. It ishoped that the visiting groups will be able to ar-range additional replacement dates later in theyear. I gather that there will be a significant inputinto the project from local volunteers of W&BCAGwho plan to work at the site mid-week.

As has been written elsewhere, Valley Lock atChalford on the Thames & Severn reopened forbusiness in lateApril. BITM picked up where KE-SCRG and NWPG had left off in February start-ing the reconstruction of the upper gate recesswalls, continuing work on the by-wash and com-mencing at the bottom end of the lock, and Lon-don WRG made further progress in May, concen-trating on rebuilding the bywash weir and uppergate recesses. The forthcoming June work partywill focus on clearing silt from the chamber usingthe CCT Jones crane. A decision will then need tobe taken as to how the off- side wall is to be demol-ished and re-built without the adjoining gardendescending into the chamber. This will no doubtbe the key task for the two weeks summer campsplanned for July. I am reliably informed that theworksite is dry in the summer months � something I willbelieve only when I see it! Marcus Jones is theproject liaison officer for Dig Deep on this site.

Woodham on theBasingstoke has been foot andmouth free and has been able to absorb a numberof work parties that have had to be postponed onother canals. Much work has been completed byall four Dig Deep groups (and local volunteers) onrebuilding and repairing the towpath from the pump-ing station at Lock 1 to the outfall at Lock 6.Again thishas been made more difficult by some very wetweather at times particularly on the section betweenlocks 2 and 3 which had to be reinstated with hardcore before re-surfacing. This task fell primarily toKESCRG and BITM who unlike NWPGmanaged tokeep their equipment both dry, fuelled and vertical!Anyway the work is now complete and I suspect thatthe pumpsmayhavebeenswitchedonorwill be verysoon. Thanks toPeteRedway for arranging the addi-tional weekends and keeping the Dig Deep pro-gramme going. During the summer the project willmove back to St Johns Locks - 15 years after vol-unteers completed their reconstruction.

Dig Deep reps meet on 12 June to discuss fu-ture plans and drink beer. I suspect 2002 will bemore of the same although I hear that a certainSussex canal may be submitting a project.

For further details about any of the projects or DigDeep generally, contact Alan Cavender on 01628629033 or e-mail [email protected]

Bill Nicholson

Basingstoke Dig Deep project: towpath surfac-ing (and dumper training) in progress below lock6 at Woodham on a BITM / London WRG week-end. Photo: Martin Ludgate

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Brick cleaningAt last - an end to brick-cleaning misery!

Brick Cleaning

We do not see much in the pages of Navviesabout the WRGies favourite job of brick cleaning.Perhaps that is as well: we don�t want to depressthe troops, do we?

So here is a heartening brick cleaning story...

At Creeting Lock, on the Ipswich and Stowmar-ket Navigation, we had a very daunting pile ofbricks that needed cleaning and were makingvery slow progress: something had to be done tospeed things up, improve morale, and stop thecries of �OH NO NOT BRICK CLEANINGAGAIN!?�

The first attempt at mechanising the process wastomake a rotary wire brush: this was fine for lightlysoiled bricks and for finishing off after the bolsterand lump hammer treatment. Our real break-through came when we realised the potential ofa SDS hammer drill with a rotation stop feature.This turns it into a mini-breaker, and fitted with a35mm chisel bit it cleans bricks very fast and withfewer breakages.

A bench of suitable height and someone sortingthe brick pile keeping themachine-operators sup-plied with dirty bricks to the breaker and lightlysoiled to the wire brush results in an output of800-1000 bricks a day. When one of our mem-bers turns up with his own SDS drill and joins inthe fray the wire brush operator gets over-whelmed.

The good news is that we have finished that pileof bricks - all clean, sorted and ready to lay. Thebad news is that we have more demolition to do,which will produce more bricks to clean - but therule now is �If you knock it down you clean it�.

If you are interested in our method, the require-ments are:1. A shaft rotating at 3 to 4 thousand RPM with anM14 thread at one end to mount the brush: thedrive motor that we are using is an ex Qualcastlawn mower motor of 300W rating, doubleinsulated. For safety sake you will require abaffle fitted above the brush because debrisflies off in all directions. Goggles and stronggloves should be worn and a dust-mask if thebricks are dry. The wire brush must bedownwind of all other personel.

2. 2. An SDS Hammer Drill that must have arotation stop feature and a 35mm chisel bit.

3. A power source.

The SDS Drill was purchased for £100 fromWickes.

The rotary twisted knot cup brush £14 and the35mm chisel £11.30 from Screwfix Direct. Phonenumber for Screwfix catalogue is 0500 414141 -but be warned that once you ask for one theykeep coming!

Colin Turner

Left: the rotary wire brushmachine ready for use.Above: the same machine with its safety coversremoved, showing the mechanism. Photos byColin Turner

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Dig ReportNWPG raise the profile of theWey & Arun Canal

NWPG on the Wey & Arun Canal: 4-6 May

Dig Deep are having a year off from theWey &Arun,so in order to maintain contact with one of NWPG�sfavourite canals we booked our annual 3 day week-end on that canal.

Now the W &A is perhaps the most inaccessible ofall canals, even at the best of times. Given the wet-test 12 months since 1766 plus Foot andMouth, theprospects of the weekend being diverted to the Bas-ingstoke were pretty good. But it was not to be - andvery fortunately about 10 days before we were dueto go, Surrey County Council lifted their ban onmanypublic footpaths and Forestry Enterprise allowedaccess back into Sidney Wood.

I last visited SidneyWoodonaWACTsponsoredwalk(The �Poddle�) in about 1998 raising money for boththe Trust and NWPG�s brick-saw. I recall wanderingthrough the woods until my instructions told me that Iwas following the line of the towpath. So dense wasthe jungle that I could not tell whether I was headingnorth or south. What I do recall however was a largeembankment falling down steeply to a stream, whichthe canal appeared to cross on a culvert.

Returning to the site thisMay all was explained. I hadactually beenwalking in the opposite direction (south)to that which I thought and the canal, whichwas com-pletely overgrown, is now clear, holding water and to-tally transformed. Not only that but the clearance ex-tends some ¾ mile south to the head of what wasLock 16. Our main job was to repair the towpath overthe aforementioned embankment/culvert which hadsubsided as a result of the winter rains. Oh no, notmore towpath raising? We had surely escaped fromthe Basingstoke to get away from this!

To aid us in our work we were providedwith a 2 ton Kubota and a ¾ ton minidumper: it seems to have taken yearsfor this very obvious item of canal res-toration equipment to come to the fore.The bank raising work at the culvertsite was going to first require the in-stallation of retaining boards along theback and front edges. These were tobe tied together by wires. through thetowpath So we left the main team toget on with this task whilst myself andtwo Petes (Bunker and Turville) set offwith the plant to remove tree stumpsleft in the bed of the canal.

150 years of neglect have left the mark on the banklevels of the canal. At some points you can see thelevel of the bank sloping downwards along the ca-nal. This problem was being confirmed by WinstonHarwood - WACT�s surveyor - who was checkingthe levels of this section of the summit with the wa-ter level at Tickners Heath. As the two are not yetlinked (there is about 400m of hostile landowner inbetween) the water levels in the two sections aredifferent. So much so that Winston was estimatingthat the embankment on which we were workingwould have to go up by about 2 feet!

One of the other jobs, whilst off down the towpath,was to repair some of the holes left by Forestry En-terprise when they felled all the trees at the towpathedge. Foolishly we did this before taking the dumperacross the gap to where we wanted it to be. Resultonemachine with its engine sat firmly on soggy clay.Undeterred and with many years experience of suchsituations we left it and went off to carry on withpulling tree stumps.We collected the dumper on ourway home with the aid of the excavator.

Accommodation for the weekend was at the verycomfortable Plaistow Village Hall � the one withshowers and electrically operated kitchen hatch!(which was broken by the time we left). The pub,The Sun, would not be enjoyed by those who preferlager, loudmusic (or anymusic) and company. Apartfrom the local cricket team who joined us on theSunday night, we had the place to ourselves. How-ever the Gales� beer was well kept and didn�t runout... like what normally happens to us when work-ing on that other Surrey canal...

We completed a day & a half�s stump pulling and pro-filingandall theboardsacross theembankment. Largequantities of clay were placed behind the boards tosupport the raisedsection�thiswasback-breakingworkfor a Group with a lengthening age profile! There isplenty more work to do on this very attractive sectionof theWey&Arun and I would recommend any grouplooking for somewheredifferent togo togiveJohnWarda call. [and don't forget the Camp on 4-11 Aug ...Ed]

With apologies to Pete Redway ( we love your canalreally).

Bill Nicholson

Raising the towpathwith clay and retaining boards. (Bill Nicholson)

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Dig Report"Tim amazed us all when heput the camera down..."

London WRG digging deep at Valley LockThames & Severn Canal: 19th-20th May

80 degrees inside the van made the usual Fridaytraffic almost unbearable: any weight I�d recoveredsince returning from India I sweated off that after-noon. Started well by doing the weekend shoppingin the morning, but by the afternoon a visit to checkthat Marcus still had his nose in his college books,and a last minute check of the emails found thenumber of volunteers had doubled from 7 to 14! Stillmade it to Waterloo, even if they now send you thewrong way round the roundabout ...well it has beena year! But nearly didn�t make it to the 'Bell' as thoseof us still awake in the front seat will testify.

I�d been forewarned about the prospect of a cham-ber clearance under three feet of water, and so itseems had everyone else, being unable to find aspare hiding place in the van for my own wellies! Allbut Andi seemed grateful to BITM for clearing thewellie depth silt from beneath the KL15 crane. Be-sides which we managed to convince Neil that ourefforts would be better employed reconstructing thebywash and head of Valley lock.

Now there�s a lovely word....reconstruction - and itseems most of LWRG are equally well acquaintedwith its old friend....demolition! So as Saturday wasspent measuring, photographing, then breaking outthe upright weir stones, we were glad to find that wewere quite literally pulling apart the supporting brick-work. Hats off to Rick & Richard who judging by theconstant sound of bolster vs mortar, or should thathave been vs gunmetal, didn�t quite have it so easypreparing the offside gate recess for Phill to re-brick.

A baking hot Sunday and after a morning spent re-placing the supporting brickwork, the resetting of theweir stones progressed rapidly after lunch, leavingonly one more for NWPG to lift into place and therest to grout. Tim amazed us all when he put thecamera down for the afternoon and took up a trowel,and even surprised himself by raising the entranceculvert brickwork a fewmore courses.We're not surewhether the journey of a very large tree down thesteep valley sides had anything to do with the ar-rival of the chainsaw team at the end of the day, butTenko & Graham did a fine job of knocking up tim-ber supports to protect the freshly laid weir stones.

My thanks toeveryonewhocamealongover theweek-end, I knowourworkwas greatly appreceiated byNeiland the countless visitors to Chalford taking advan-tage of the attractive surroundings via the re-openedtowpath. Not only were we seen as an alternative tothe local book stall, but you can be sure we took theirminds off the fact that now it's not just their water billsthat they receive through their gas supplier... after afailed experiment by Severn Trent Water left 16 milesof Transco gasmain through the valley a little damp...

Matt Taylor

See some of you on theWRGCanal Camp at ValleyLock on June 30-Jul 7? ...Ed

Above:dismantling thebywashweir (MartinLudgate)Below: repairing thebrickwork. (KenBailey) Bottom:reinstating the weir crest stones (Lesley McFadyen)

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Dig reportWRGBITM and LondonWRGon the Basingstoke

A Slippery Weekend on the Basingstoke CanalLondon WRG / BITM: March 24/25 2001

With Foot And Mouth Disease hitting the headlinesand restoration work on canals running through ru-ral areas placed on hold, the Basingstoke Canal wasone of the few projects where work could continue.BITM was booked for March, as part of their normalprogram; LondonWRGwere �FootAndMouth�d Off�their weekend. They joined forces with BITM to workon the Woodham Back-pumping Scheme.

Theweekend kicked off as usualmeeting in the near-est pub to the accommodation. This time theWheatsheaf 200 yards from theWestgate Centre inWoking. The pub got a thumbs down vote due topoorly kept beer and having to wait for long periodsat the bar until the staff could be bothered to comeout of the back room and serve us...

The Westgate Centre accommodation wins athumbs up vote. Dishwasher, comfy seats, hotwater, decent kitchen, close to shops, good park-ing, next to canal, and a tank full of goldfish -what more could a Weekend Navvy require?

Work: Peter Redway had laid on plenty for us todo. In the car park at lock 2 - 100 tonnes ofcrushed concrete, 80 tonnes of grade 1 lime-stone, 2 excavators, 2 dumpers and a roller. Onthe towpath below the bridge at lock 6 - 80tonnes of grade 1 limestone and a heap of clay.In the car park between lock 3 andWest ByfleetRailwayStation - 1 excavator, 2 dumpers, 1 roller.The purpose of all the materials and equipment:to repair the towpath where the contractors hadlaid a pipe under it. The pipe will carry canalwater from below lock 1, pumped to the top ofthe flight above lock 6. The idea being to recyclethe water so the canal can stay open all year:previously, water supply problems caused thecanal to close during the Summer months.

June Paice and Di Smurthwaite got us all off to agood start with breakfast.GrahamappointedMar-tin Ludgate andRachael Banyard as site leaders.

Martin�s task - to plug a leak in the canal bankabove lock 4 with clay, and lay towpath from lock4 back to lock 6. His team consisted of PhillCardy operating the excavator, DavidMiller driv-ing the large dumper, DaveWedd training DavidJames, Ray Bevan and Mark Gribble in the artof dumper driving.

Rachael�s task - to scrape off liquid mud and laytowpath from lock 3 back to lock 2. Rachael�s teamconsisted of Ed Walker, Clive Gunner, Steve Paice,Andrew Nice - experienced in dumper and excavatordriving -withBarbaraHinsley, LesleyMcFadyen,MikePaice, Richard Thomas, Rosa Johnson and TonyHinsley - experienced in shovel and rake driving.

On site we had to take precautions against spread-ing FootAnd Mouth Disease. We sprayed disinfect-ant on the plant andmachinery and dipped our bootsin the stuff, before going on site.

From the car park, the teams split in opposite direc-tion along the tow path.

Rachael's team got stuck in, clearing the mud offthe towpath between locks 2 and 3.

Martin�s team got the machinery stuck.

First Martin parked the roller out of the way, it slidsideways and got stuck. Theymade several attemptsto pull it out forwards and backwards using a dumper.

They eventually pulled it out sideways: that�s the wayit went in, so that's the way it came out!

David Miller got the big dumper a little bit stuck, thenPhill Cardy got it really stuck.

Andrew Nice came to the rescue and got it unstuck.

Steve tries not to get the roller stuck. (Martin Ludgate)

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Dig ReportRachael's team got stuck-in;Martin�s team got stuck....

By lunchtime, Dave Wedd had taught Ray Bevan,David James and Mark Gribble how to drive dump-ers, and they had learned how not to get them stuck.Rachael's team laid several yards of towpath. Mar-tin's team had dumped six tonnes of clay into thecanal (intentionally) and two tonnes down the em-bankment (unintentionally).

Lunch was served at lock 3 - Sandwiches, Cakes,Crisps and Biscuits. The weather was warm, theLock and Lock Cottage providing a nice location toeat. There was lots going on whilst we munched -builders were loading a lorry with scaffolding, whichthey had removed from the Lock Cottage. Lots ofpeople were out walking. The bridge over the Lockbusywith people, walking, between the houses northof the canal and the shops south of the canal.

During the afternoon, both teams made significantprogress.

Phill didn�t want to leave his machine, he would havehappily worked on into the night, puddling the clay,dropped earlier into the canal, to seal the leak. Everyone else had deserted him and they were waiting inthe car park.

Back at the hall, exhausted navvies fell into comfyarm chairs and waited for feeding. Di and June busyin the kitchen, cooking a feast fit for a king. Mugs oftea steaming on the table, newspapers spread outfor reading and conversation bubbling, on all man-ner of subjects. Once in those chairs, it was hard toget out again.After operating shovels and rakes, ourlimbs and backs had stiffened.

After dinner a large number of keen drinkers tod-dled off to town, aWetherspoons Pub. The pub waspacked, - situated in themiddle ofWoking�s clubland.However, we had no trouble finding tables and seatsto sit on, as the natives preferred standing. MikePaice challenged the dress code, however they onlynoticed at leaving time - they did notlike his sleeveless top. The pub re-ceived a thumbs up vote, good beer,cheap prices and a pleasant atmos-phere.

On Sunday, we lost Mark Gribble andgained Stella Wentworth.

Lesley, Graham and Stella joinedMar-tin�s team. (They didn�t get stuck).

Phill Cardy loaded the dumpers usingthe excavator; David Miller drove theroller; David James, Ray and Martintook turns on the dumpers; Stella,Dave Wedd, Lesley Mc Fadyen andGrahamHothamoperated spades andrakes. They laidmany tonnes of gradeone lime stone, to form a new towpathsurface, between locks 4 and lock 5.

Andrew Nice joined Rachael�s team(They got the machinery stuck).

Andrew loaded dumpers, Ed Walker scraped mud -using the excavator; Rachael, Steve Paice, thenlater Ed drove dumpers; Clive Gunner, BarbaraHinsley,MikePaice, RichardThomas, Rosa Johnsonand Tony Hinsley - shovelled and raked, to form atow path surface between locks 2 and 3.

Rollers do not like mud, it took a long time and agreat deal of care by Rachael�s team to get theirroller along the towpath to where it was needed.StevePaice got the dumper stuck twice and it neededa tow with the other dumper.

Mid afternoon, we started clearing up. All the ma-chines needed cleaning and disinfecting, they weregathered together and cleaned at lock 3, ready forthe hire company to collect. We did our bit for theneighbours, one of them wanted their drive rolled,so we obliged.

I would like to say thank you to every one that came.To Peter Redway of the Surrey and Hants Canalsociety for organising all the work, accommodation,plant and materials. To Di Smurthwaite and JunePaice for feeding us. To Martin Ludgate and Rach-ael Banyard for being team leaders. I for one verymuch look forward to another day where BITM andLWRG can play another game of Stuck In The Mud.

Graham Hotham.

Unfortunatelyspacedoesnotallow the inclusionofGraham'sother report,from theW&B, entitled 'BITMand the Iraqi supergun'. (GrahamHotham)

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Logistics"I will gladly deposit Logis-tics outside your abode..."

Whose kit is it anyway?

Another Logistics article for Navvies already (andit�s late � sorry Martin) � where is the time going?

On occasions it seems (like the last time!) I am in-spired to write something but all too often divine in-tervention eludes me. It is very difficult to report onthe same kind of work that happens in a new andexciting way every issue of Navvies � some wouldargue if it ever was!! It is due to this and the fact thatNavvies is yourmagazine that I thought it would bekind of fun to do this in a �Whose line is it anyway?�style, i.e. people can write to/ring me and suggestwhat object/film/type of film/tv programme/person-ality/any or all of the above (!) they would like me toinclude or use the style of and I�ll see what I cancome up with! Could be very interesting?! Thenagain, I suspect I won�t hear a dickey-bird becauseI rarely get any response from requests I make!Mugs, Burco lids, tea-towels, polypropylene �

We have already had the Easter camp at Droitwichwhich was very successful. The �Fleximats� got theirfirst outing � a little thin as I suspected but theyproved useful and will be more hygienic (and muchlighter!) than the large catering boards. Please canyou help to prolong their life and not use too muchpressure to cut and chop things as our knives areVERY sharp and there is no need. By the way, thetwo white boards are there to support the fleximatsif there is need for a solid surface, not to chop ondirectly. The brew box idea seems to work too.

The main camp season is upon us and it�s panicstations here at Logistics. Not much time to finishsorting stuff at all! But just remember you are luckyto get anything!! I have tried to get everything in or-der but it feels like a losing battle a lot of the time.Just when you think things are coming togethersomeone breaks or loses some more kit, finds an-other leak, or wants a general whinge about the stateof it. All I can say is if the latter is the case you wantto think very carefully as I will gladly deposit Logis-tics in its entirety (minus myself, thank you verymuch!) outside your abode, or perhaps make thingsvery difficult for a camp. 'Idle threats', I hear youmut-ter - well just you try it. I may not command the samepresence as Mick but don�t make the mistake thatyou can take me for granted and take the Michael!!

I would like tomake a plea as I do every year: pleasecan everyone involved inmixing and using concrete/mortar remember to keep a bucket/source of water

to hand and put tools used in it as soon as they putthem down as I have spent a lot of time grinding offvarious items to reduce their weight by half!! It is nomore of a hassle to put a shovel down in a drum fullof water than it is to put it down beside it.

When filling in kit lists please use a cross (�X�!!!!!!!)when checking stuff in and out - many of you stillinsist on using a tick. Don�t put any mark in thecolumns where the item is missing. And do fill themin (correctly would be nice too!!) please, I don�t printthem off for my health you know! As I�m sure I saidlast year, don�t blissfully ignore any missing items�go and look for them!!! Particular favourites for be-ing left behind are hard hats, mugs (are usually leftin machines or in fact anywhere on site!), brick kitbits, and lids. It is often a good idea to check thetools when you are finishing on site on the Friday(so remember to take the tool kit list with you) as itmeans everyone can scout around for the missingbits � well, it�d be nice to think you would do!

Talking of hard hats - if somewhat indirectly - if youthink it�s funny to smear handprints and blobs of painton them, think again � you may be offended when Ipersonally charge you for the expense of a replace-ment! Get the picture?!

Thanks to everyone who helped to clear up after theTraining Weekend and huge thanks should go toWomble for sorting it out for us � you�re brilliant. Nowthere�s someone else you should never take forgranted!

I have volunteered for tea towel duty, or so it wouldappear (there are at least twenty of the blessedthings on the line as I write!). Am I talking to myselfor does anyone actually take note? I can feel anexperiment coming on in the next issue �

Right then, where�s that brush?

Logistics � Ever so slightly* more bad-temperedand pissed off than usual.

Just [email protected]

*See Navvies 184, Pg.13.

Harri finds a job that's nearly as interesting as brick-cleaning: hard-hatwashing. SeeJen'scommentsaboveabout people who smear paint on them! (Alan Lines)

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AndertonSponsor someone to abseildown Britain's only boat-lift!

Anderton Abseil

Over the last few issues of �Navvies� there hasbeen the odd mention of the Anderton Boat LiftAbseil. Well here�s a bit of an update....

The Anderton Lift near Northwich in Cheshire isthe only working boat-lift in Britain... or it was, untilit failed in theearly 1980sand investigation revealedthatmajor rebuildingwas needed - costingmillions.

The appeal for the last £250 000 towards restoring it to working order has gone well but there�s stillsome way to go and WRG would like to contribute to this - so 20 WRG volunteers will abseil downthe lift - provided they raise enough sponsorship. And that's where you come in.

If we raise our target of £10 000, then WRG become a Gold Patron. As a Gold Patron WRG will haveits name listed on the roll of honour for others to see for years to come - not to mention the fact thatwe�ll have made a major contribution to saving a unique relic of the Industrial Revolution.

You can sponsor an individual or sponsor the entire group with the enclosed insert - and please tickthe 'gift aid' box if you're a taxpayer: this raises an extra 28%. Updates will appear in �Navvies�,showing how much money we've raised towards the target.

It�s a tall order [50ft 4in tall, as it happens! ...Ed] to raise this amount of money so please help bysponsoring one or all of the 20 abseilers and help them each achieve their £500 individual target.

Here�s the list of the lucky people who will be jumping off the Lift...

· Spencer Collins Dave Wedd· Sue Burchett Ralph Bateman· Mike Palmer (we put his name down to go first!) Lou Kellett· Harry Watts Jen Leigh· Dave Parish Izzy Gascoigne· Viv Thorpe Nina Whiteman· Martin Ludgate Matt Taylor· George "Bungle" Eycott Paul �Mole� Cattermole· Glen Shoosmith Katherine Davis· Gav Moor

As you will see, there are only19 names on this list. By the timeyou receive this, we hope to havethe twentieth volunteer - and wewill include his/her name in theinsert if we have it in time. But ifyou want to take part and yourname isn�t on the list, please getin touch with me: if the last placehas been taken we can hold youin reserve in case anyone dropsout... so to speak!

Date of Event is SUNDAY 7th Oc-tober 2001 so note it in your di-ary and even if you aren�t goingto Abseil, please come alongand help out. Accommodationhas been booked in the villageand there is a good local pub bythe Lift.

Spencer Collins Anderton Lift: who wouldn't pay to see the Editor jump off it?

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BanksideBankside BanksideMoorings

written byBruce Tunnelwritten byBruce Tunnel

OzCollingwood,CampLeader on theThamesBerks & Andover Canal Camp, was sitting on abench outside Sodding Chipbury village hall at thestart of the Camp, surrounded by a large number ofplastic crates, all of which appeared to be full to thebrim with sheets of printed paper.

�What�s all this then�, asked his assistant leaderJanet Shipstone, �morewaste-paper for theWRGNorthWest collection?�

�No, it�s a computer printout of all the new roadvehicle regulations that have just been brought in. Iwas going to download the whole lot from the DVLA�sInternet site - but then I worked out that it would becheaper and quicker for me to pay them to deliver acopy from Swansea! Now I�ve just got to read throughthe whole lot before next Sunday�s WRG Committeemeeting and work out exactly which of the regulationsapply to us, and how we�re going to deal with them...starting with this nonsense about having to fit tacho-graphs to all the vans if we�re going to be able to carryon using them to tow trailers. There are 184 exemp-tions to that one - and 2175 exemptions to the exemp-tions...�

Janet could sense that Oz was not going to be athis most useful for this particular Canal Camp. Butshe figured that there were enough other experiencedvolunteers present that the fact that the Camp Leaderwould be spending every waking hour (and probablysome sleeping ones too) reading road vehicle regula-tions was not likely to be a major problem.

And she was right. The work - installing gabionbank protection on the Spaglingworth to Bolminsterpound - progressedwell,with only the odd spot of botheron the Wednesday evening when Mark Robinson gotleft behind on site because somebody had accidentallywired him into a gabion... and nobodymissed him untilit was his turn on the washing-up rota that evening.

The catering was up to the usual high standard...�I must say the catering�s really been up-to-

scratch this week!��Well, a lot of that�s down to the foot-and-mouth

disease.��What? Youdon�tmeanwe�ve been buyingmeat

from diseased animals...�

�Good heavens no! But haven�t you heard - sincethe outbreak started they�ve banned all pig-farmers fromfeeding their animals on pig-swill. So there�s gallonsand gallons of the stuff being thrown away... or therewas, until our Camp Cook found out!�

The evening entertainments went well - apartfrom one slight problem thanks to �Gordon-I-broke-my-nose-three-times� Drake getting the list of �toolsneeded on site� mixed up with the �evening entertain-ments schedule�in the camp�s paperwork... theWRGiesconsulted the list, noted that �tonight�s entertainment�was �wrecking bar� and set to work on the saloon ofthe Floundering Arms pub...

But all in all, it was a successful week, andthroughout it Oz sat at a table in the back room of thevillage hall, ploughing through reams of Vehicle Li-censing rules and exemptions, until he finally emergedblinking into the daylight on the final Saturday, just intime to introduce himself to his first-time campers asthey departed for home.

The following day he was doing his best to ex-plain the regulations to theWRGChairmanMikePalmer*,Robert Burtonwood theWRGvehicle manager and therest of the committee at the WRGmeeting...

�So let me get this right - we only need tacho-graphs on vehicle-plus-trailer combinations weighingover 3.5 tonnes. Well, that�s OK isn�t it - we hardlyever load that much in.�

�No - it�s not how much they�re carrying, it�show much they�re allowed to carry: 3.5 tonnes Maxi-mum Permitted Mass or MPM. Of course it used to becalledMaximumGrossWeight orMGWbut someblokein DETR figured he could get a couple more staff allo-cated to his office by instigating a �ChangeAll TheAb-breviations�programme... or CATAfor short... anyway,it means that as our vans have aMPMof something like3499Kg, that means if they tow any trailer at all, they�llgo over 3.5 tonnes. Unless you can find a trailer thatweighs less than a kilogramme! And I know Logisticshave been trying to reduce the weight of the kits, butthat�s less than the weight of one lump-hammer!�

�OK, but surely there�s an exemption to thetachograph requirements for private non-commercialuse.�

�Well, yes, but I�m afraid it doesn�t apply to us.You see, even thoughwe�re a non-profit companywe�restill a company - and the exemption only applies toprivate owners.�

�Ah, but... what about if the vehicles are ownedby the volunteers themselves, not byWRG. We couldalways sell the van and trailer to the driver at the startof the journey and buy it back at the end. It would be agood incentive to drive them carefully, because if theygot any dents or scratches we wouldn�t pay somuch toget them back...."

* See back page regarding how real people can get to appear in 'Bankside'

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"Yes - and of course therewill always be about £5depreciationonany journey sowe�ll alwaysmakea slightsurplus on any journey,whichwecanput towards replac-ing the van and trailer in a few years time...�

�No, I�m afraid that won�t work. You see, it�snot just the ownership of the vehicle, it�s what it�s be-ing used for that matters. And under the definition of�work� that some judge came up with in a test case incourt, anything that�s �for the greater good� counts as�work�, whether or not anyone gets paid for it.�

�OK, are there any exemptions that might applyto us?�

�Well, there�s an exemption for �vehicles usedfor carrying animal waste or carcasses not for humanconsumption�... would the catering trailer qualify?�

�I don�t think we�d better draw too much atten-tion to it, even if it does.�

�I guess you�re right - and I suppose the sameapplies to the exemption for �vehicles used in connec-tion with sewerage�. OK, how about �vehicles con-structed before 1 Jan 1947 and vehicles powered bysteam�?�

�No, I don�t think even the oldest members oftheWRG fleet would qualify."

�Ohwell, how about �vehicles used by local au-thorities in connection with needs of the elderly or in-firm�?�

�I suppose the �silver fox' camp on the Droit-wich might count - after all, the canal�s leased by thelocal authority. But that�s not going to help us with therest of the Camps programme, unless the EU finallybring in the new regulations that they've been threaten-ing for ages, and we have to push the lower age limitup to 65...�

�Well what about this one - there�s an exemp-tion for �vehicles used in emergencies or for rescue�.After all, we�re always going on about how we rescuecanals from dereliction.�

�Nice try, Oz, but I�m not entirely sure that thejudge would see it that way. Are there any more?�

�Well, there�s always �circus and fun fair vehi-cles�. Do you think we�d qualify as a circus? After all,we�ve got plenty of clowns, a fair-few stunt-drivers andseveral performing animals...�

�Good idea - but it doesn�t really fit in with themodern image that we�ve been trying to cultivate re-cently as a responsible, serious, dedicated organisationrather than a bunch of jokers...�

�Have we? Oh. Well, it looks like there�s noth-ing else for it - we�re going to have to fork out to fitthese blasted tachos on all the vans. But hang on -there�s one other exemption that might apply... there�sone that applies specifically to BritishWaterwayswhenthey�re working on canal maintenance.�

�So we could always flog all our vans to BWand rent them back...�

�No, they would have to be �used� by BW, notjust �owned�by them. Wewould have to makeWRG asubsidiary of BW. And we might as well be: after all,our parent body the IWA are now �BW�s partners� - Iknow that�s true, because I read it in the NABO news-letter. But would we have to paint all the vans green?Or could we get BW to change their own colours tored - after all, it�s months since they last changed theircolour scheme - they must be due another changesoon...�

�By the way, Oz�, interjected Mike, worried atwhere this discussion was leading, �all that paperworkfrom the DVLA - how did they deliver it?�

�In a long wheelbase Ford Transit and a bigtrailer.�

�Was it by any chance equipped with a tacho-graph?�

�No, of course not. They�ve got an exemption.��Of course they have - it�s that one about

whether it�s �for the greater good�, isn�t it? Thatshould exempt pretty much anything that the civilservice does...�

�Oh no, they�ve been very careful to define eve-rything their own office does as �for the greater good�-in fact their definition of what they do takes upmost ofthe first 200 pages of the documents. No, they�ve ex-empted themselves when delivering paperwork to thepublic under �vehicles used in connection with refusecollection and disposal�...�

His voice tailed off as he realised that nobodywas listening any more.

Theywere all looking out of thewindow into thecar-park, where a rather agitated-lookingGordonDrakewas running around pointing an air-gun at the sky, fir-ing off shots apparently at random.

�What the hell�s going on, are Gordon?� de-manded Oz, opening the window.

�Well, you know what you said about trailersthat weigh less than one kilogramme...�

�Gordon, I was joking!��Oh,� said Gordon, rather crestfallen, as he fired

off a volley of shots.Oz looked up in the direction that the Gordon�s

gun was pointing. He was just in time to see the CanalCamps kit �B� trailer, with several thousand small he-lium balloons tethered to the roof, as it disappearedinto the clouds.

�On second thoughts�, he said, returning to themeeting, �perhaps we should get ourselves exemptedas a circus after all...�

To be continued...

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Bits & PiecesVans: AdditionalAfter having written a huge amount in the last issueof 'Navvies' on Vans a few points slipped the net sohere are some I�ve remembered!Please don�t use any engine oil from the other vanswhen topping up VOJ�s oil. Due to it�s high efficiencyengine it takes 5W-30 oil. Likewise with the coolant� it has to be the specific radioactive-looking orangestuff. I have a bottle so let me know when it could dowith a top-up please.Since 'Navvies' 186, we have had tachos fitted in VOJand RFB � details on the use of should be includedwith this issue. Thismeans that when towing youmusthave a disc in and also means we all have to be awarethat theremaybeanother persons disc in the tacho soshould check this before we drive off with each van.Another �happened since Navvies 186� is that we nolongerhaveto tune into theCosmostofillVOJ!Yes,mira-cles apparently do happen and we now have a dieselfiller valveasopposed to the unleaded variety. Hooray!Thanks very much to those of you who have offeredyour driving services for campmanoeuvres over thesummer � we await leaders begging now. There re-ally isn�t as much time left to organise it as you think.It�s OK � that�s all!

Just JenPS a disclaimer! 'Just Jen' would like to apologiseto everyone for the "in-ness" of the WRGNA reportlast time. It appears that it was so "in" that even peo-ple who attended the weekend didn't get it!! So thoseof you who feel neglected by "in" jokes relax in theknowledge that no-one is laughing! Mr andMrsCock-up are fictional characters and any likeness to anyonein real life is coincidental. Apologies should also begiven to the scrub-bashing team who worked up onTamworthRoad as theywere omitted from the report.

Former IWA National Chairman Audrey SmithOBE presents a cheque from Kent & East Sus-sex IWABranch to KenParish of KESCRG to funda new tool trailer. Also pictured is Tony Green-wood of the IWAbranch sales stall teamwhowereresponsible for raising most of the money.

More reopeningsOn page 2 is a photo of theHuddersfield - but that's notthe only onewe can tick off the 'jobs to be done' list...In Scotland, another east-west link across Britain -the Forth & Clyde - carried its first boats for nearly40 years during the late spring Bank Holiday week-end. Like theHuddersfield, it has largely been lottery-fundedandprofessionally-restored in recent years, butlike the Huddersfield it wouldn't have got anywherewithout a small group of determined amateurs start-ing work, at a timewhenmany saw it as a lost cause.How long before we're saying the same about theH&G,Wilts & Berks, Barnsley, Melton &Oakham...?Meanwhile in Ireland two new waterways haveopened - the delightfully-named Boyle Canal andSuck Navigation, guaranteed to please both boat-ers and fans of Fungus the Bogeyman...We hope to have pictures of all three next time.Crew required...Jim and Liz Lamenwould like someone to help bringtheir 36ft (two-berth, three if they're friendly or onesleeps on the floor!) narrow boat back to Middlewichafter the National Waterways Festival (which takesplaceover theAugustBankHolidayweekend inMiltonKeynes). Phone 0161 494 5957 if you can help.And speaking of the 'National'...TheWRGentertainments are a bit different this year:we're doing a couple of slots in a whole evening ot'Old time music hall' style entertainment on the Sat-urday night - although as usual there is likely to be abit of a WRG twist to it! Phone "Doctor Liz" William-son on 01844 351549, mobile 07711 955 973 or e-mail [email protected] if you fancy helping.Camps latest!See the WRG web site http://www.wrg.org.uk for thevery latest on this year's camps - including somemorephotosshowing this year's sitesand thework thatwe'regoing to be doing - plus information onwhether campsstill have places free on them, and a booking form.Coming soon-ish...TheWRGReunion 'BonfireBash'on theBasingstokeon3-4Nov, ledbyIanandLizWilliamsonwithJudeinchargeof catering. Booking form in 'Navvies' 188, or to beat therush there's already one on the WRG web site!And finally...My thanks to all the contributors to 'Navvies', eventhose who haven't always quite made the press date!Hope to see you all on a Canal Camp this summer...and (on the basis that it isn't worth being in a positionof power if you don't abuse it occasionally!) I'd like topoint out thatTHEBESTCAMP of the entire summerwill beCamp 0104 starting June 30 on the Thames &Severn. Most scenic location of anyCanal Campsite,excellent support from local canal society, good ac-commodationwith superb local pub, showersandviewof half of Gloucestershire (not from the showers!),variety of interesting work, led and fed by Martin, Ian,Liz and Hannah who brought you the utterly brilliantCamp0009atDroitwich last year...SEEYOUTHERE!

Page 31: Navvies 187

Directors :

John Baylis, MichaelBeattie, Malcolm Bridge,Roger Burchett, RayCarter, Spencer Collins,Christopher Davey,Helen Davey,Roger Day, RichardDrake, Neil Edwards,Adrian Fry, JohnHawkins, JenniferLeigh, Judith Moore,Michael Palmer,Jonathan Smith.

Secretary:

Neil Edwards

VAT reg. no : 285 1387 37

Nothingprintedmaybecon-struedaspolicy or anofficialannouncement unless sostated-otherwiseWRGandIWAacceptnoliability foranymatter in this magazine.© 2001 WRG ltdISSN 0953-6655Waterway Recovery GroupLtd is a subsidiary of the In-landWaterwaysAssociation(a registered charity).Registered office:3 Norfolk Court, Norfolk Rd.Rickmansworth WD3 1LTtel : 01923 711114Registered in England no1599204

Navvies ProductionNavvies ispublishedbyWa-terwayRecoveryGroupLtd,PO Box 114, Rickmans-worth WD3 1ZY and isavailable to all interested inpromoting the restorationand conservation of inlandwaterways by voluntary ef-fort inGreat Britain. Articlesmaybe reproduced in alliedmagazinesprovidedthat thesource is acknowledged.WRG may not agree withopinions expressed in thismagazine, but encouragespublicationasamatterof in-terest.

Editor : Martin Ludgate35 Silvester RoadEast DulwichLondon SE22 9PB020-8693 3266

Subscriptions / circulationSue Watts15 Eleanor RoadChorlton-cum-HardyManchester M21 9FZ

Printing and assembly:John &Tess Hawkins4 LinksWay, CroxleyGrnRickmansworth, HertsWD3 3RQ 01923 [email protected]

TheWRGCanalCamps mobilephones:

07850 422156 (A)and

07850 422157 (B)

NoticeboardChange of (e-)address...Leo & Angus MacKenzie have moved to:49 Fisher Gardens, Knaresborough, N. YorksHG5 8BD. Phone: 01423 797339...and will welcome visitors to that address(I'm told there are lots of good pubs nearby),expecially visitors who arrive equipped withpaintbrushes and walpaper-scrapers.However they would like any post to be sent to:17PastureStreet,ChapelAllerton,LeedsLS74QXLeo will also have a new e-mail addresssoon; in the meantime please use this one:[email protected] Teanby&PhilipWalker havemoved to:10 Abbey Mews, Pontefract N YorksWF8 1TD. Phone: 01977 699665Alan Lines has a new e-mail address:[email protected] Kewley has moved to:...somewhere in Acton, west London.Address details next time; in the meantimering her new mobile phone 07976 294222Matt Taylor has a new mobile phone:07870 627484If you move house, don't forget to tell'Navvies': write to Sue Watts (see belowunder 'Navvies Producution') or e-mailEdd Leetham [email protected].

S t a m p sw a n t e d

Send all your used post-age stamps, cigaretteand petrol coupons andold phone cards to IWA/WRG Stamp Bank, 33,Hambleton Grove,Emerson Valley, MiltonKeynesMK42JS.Allpro-ceedstocanal restoration.

MAGAZINESFor back-issues of all canalmagazines including 'Ca-nal Boat', 'Canal and Riverboat', 'WaterwaysWorld','Navvies' and 'Waterways' (all proceeds to WRG)contact Sheelah Lockwood: phone 01908 675255.

page 31

WRGWearComplete WRGwear catalogue - including'fashion' shots of the Editor, Ed Walker,Spencer Collins, 'Bushbaby', Marcus etc.plus order form now available on the WRGweb site http://www.wrg.org.uk.

Photos wanted!If you go on a Canal Camp and get some decent photo-graphs, please remember to send some to the Editor.

We'd like them for 'Navvies', for the WRG web site, forthe WRG Publicity display, for next year's Canal

Camps booklet etc. etc. etc.Please tell us whether you want them back afterwards.See page 2 for the editor's address and e-mail.

Page 32: Navvies 187

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BackfillYoutoocanappearin'Bankside'...if you change your name...Seen at Droitwich...

"Various options for the location of the new lock are being tried out."or

"We are investivating the possibility of pre-fabricating sections oflock-chamber wall for later assembly by forklift."

or"WRG takes its commitment to National Barbecue Week seriously."

or anything else you care to suggest!PS thanks to Andy Jones for the captions. Photo by Martin Ludgate

'Bankside': walk-on roles available...

Thank you to Dave Mack for noting the namingconvention for characters in the 'Bankside' serial(in case you hadn't noticed, all characters - ex-cept those that have survived from earlier serials- take their surnames from breweries past orpresent), and pointing out that in view of the Palm-er's Brewery that was featured on the back pagelast time, Mike is now eligible to appear as a char-acter in the series. So he appears in this issue.

A quick search for otherreal-life people involved inthe canals and eligible fora walk-on part in the se-rial suggests that RickAnsell, the variousSmiths, boatbuilderRogerFuller andWRGiesRalph and KayeBateman had betterwatch out... not to men-tion that well known duo(blameKenWhapples forthis one!) of Matt andLuke Taylor-Walker...

Spotted on the K&A...

...by Andy Gleeson: aBW lock safety sign say-ing "do not open gate-paddles until the lock ishalf-full." On a lock thatonly has gate-paddles.

Pass the bucket, thismay take some time...

HIghlights from the forthcoming WRG safety video...

(a) Bungle telling everyone to "keep their equipment in good working order and always use protection"(b) Jonathan Smith pleading for everyone to remember to "keep a nice and shidy tite..."...plus something unprintable and unlikely to make it into the final version involving Marcus and a helmet...


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