grapevine, issue 45, july 2016

16
www.waterways.org.uk/chiltern Chiltern Branch Newsletter Spring/Summer 2016 Chiltern Grapevine Issue 45 The trailer was presented to WAT at the September Restoration Day in 2015, which was the end of their season. WAT are now commencing their events pro- gramme for the 2016 summer and it has already vastly improved the ease of managing an event. Our first outing was to ‘Wendover Cele- brates’ in the Wendover Campus, the trailer was towed onto the field by WAT volunteer Peter Lockett. The team were assembled waiting to erect the gazebo, which was done quickly. The trailer then disgorged its contents: - tables, chairs, banners, presentation boards, leaflets and fund raising games. All kept neatly in plastic boxes. The interior of the trailer had been cus- tomized by John Reynolds, this was to help with the order of erection and taking down of the gazebo. We could remove this first and store it last, without upsetting any of the other items. This came into its own, on the Monday Bank holiday at Aldbury Village Fair, when the skies darkened about 3pm and many stands shut up shop even though the punters were still enjoying the fair. Watching the clouds gather, we started to dismantle the presentation board displays and packed up the leaflets. All were stowed quickly in the trailer with any tables and chairs not in use. This left our fundraisers sell- ing grand draw tickets and promoting our nail game until only the gazebo roof was left above their heads. At this point we decided the threat of rain was imminent and quickly stowed the last items and packed up the gaze- bo. I gave one of the volunteers a lift back to Wendover, and as we motored along about 4pm the heavens opened and we were hit with a terrible hail storm. By this time John Reynolds had towed the trailer back in the dry to its garage where it is housed. In the past the poor events manager had to arrive at the gar- age, pack his car with all the separate items and then make Thank you to Chiltern IWA Cont’d on page 14 John Reynolds, with the finished trailer.

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Page 1: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

www.waterways.org.uk/chiltern

Chiltern Branch Newsletter

Spring/Summer 2016

Ch

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Issue 45

The trailer was presented to WAT at the September Restoration Day in 2015, which was the end of their season. WAT are now commencing their events pro-gramme for the 2016 summer and it has already vastly improved the ease of managing an event.

Our first outing was to ‘Wendover Cele-brates’ in the Wendover Campus, the trailer was towed onto the field by WAT volunteer Peter Lockett. The team were assembled waiting to erect the gazebo, which was done quickly. The trailer then disgorged its contents: - tables, chairs, banners, presentation boards, leaflets and fund raising games. All kept neatly in plastic boxes.

The interior of the trailer had been cus-tomized by John Reynolds, this was to help with the order of erection and taking down of the gazebo. We could remove this first and store it last, without upsetting any of the other items. This came into its own, on the Monday Bank holiday at Aldbury Village Fair, when the skies darkened about 3pm and many stands shut up shop even though the punters were still enjoying the fair.

Watching the clouds gather, we started to dismantle the presentation board displays and packed up the leaflets. All were stowed quickly in the trailer with any tables and chairs not in use. This left our fundraisers sell-ing grand draw tickets and promoting our nail game until only the gazebo roof was left above their heads. At this point we decided the threat of rain was imminent and quickly stowed the last items and packed up the gaze-bo.

I gave one of the volunteers a lift back to Wendover, and as we motored along about 4pm the heavens opened and we were hit with a terrible hail storm. By this time John Reynolds had towed the trailer back in the dry to its garage where it is housed.

In the past the poor events manager had to arrive at the gar-age, pack his car with all the separate items and then make

Thank you to Chiltern IWA

Cont’d on page 14

John Reynolds, with the finished trailer.

Page 2: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 2

Chairman's Ramblings

CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

Sorry this issue of Grapevine is so late but until we find a volunteer to be the Editor of Grapevine, this will happen when I have more urgent priorities!

Back in May we again had a successful weekend at the Rick-mansworth Festival, where we worked closely with Middlesex Branch and Wendover Arm Trust, running a combined stand. Chiltern Branch also ran WoW activities and these

proved more popular than ever; for this to continue we will need additional volunteers next year. Thanks also to Liz Norris for a super fund-raising effort running the Jum-ble Sale at Rickmansworth.

In June, Beryl and I joined one of the BCNS Explorer cruises, organised by Marie and Stuart Sherratt; this was a real eye opener as we had not realised just how much green space there is and how many good qui-et places there are to moor. The cruise included over-night mooring at Pelsall, the location for the 2016 IWA Festival of Water; we also made a walking visit to the Bradley Works and saw lock gates in the

making and those completed sets ready for installation during the stoppage season. On the penultimate evening we all went to The Pie Factory for dinner; the pies were excellent, the company even better; only downside was that Beryl wouldn’t let me order the Desperate Dan pie; just because it weighed in at 4lb!

More recently we attended the River Mersey Fes-tival in Liverpool docks area and then the IWA Campaign Festival at Eldonian Village, Leeds an Liverpool Canal. Our arrival in Albert Dock was via Ellesmere Port, the Manchester Ship Canal and then as one of a convoy of 14 boats to cross the River Mersey. A really great experience and very much the best way to arrive in the docks. We had only ever spent a couple of hours in Liverpool before; so 5 days in the Albert Dock was rather special; it was very easy to understand why Liver-Peddler punching the tide!

Pelsall– home of 2016 IWA Festival of Water

Page 3: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

S PRING/SUMMER 2016 Page 3

Diary & Notices

PLEASE Sign up for IWA Chiltern e-News The hardcopy version is normally available at our evening meetings.

pudlians are so proud of their city and it’s history! However, part of the history proved to be my downfall; this as I tripped crossing a bridge over the entrance to Al-bert Dock and dislocated a shoulder; after an hour and half waiting for an ambulance I was finally taken to hospital by in the CRT minibus by a staff member (Rob). He and others were quite surprised when Beryl and I departed Albert Dock for Eldonian Vil-lage, via the Liverpool Link, at 0800 the following morning! After the Campaign Festival we moved Peddler to Scarisbrook Marina, where she awaits our return later in July. The plan had been to go to Leeds via the L&L but is now not to be this year; later this month we will instead take the L&L Leigh Branch, then the Bridgewater back to the Trent and Mer-sey canal and again take a another rest! You will find the new programme card for our branch meeting with this issue of Grapevine; once again Colin has put to-gether a very interesting programme and we hope to see many of you during the Autumn and Winter months. Copy Date

for the next issue Please send news items, articles, pho-tographs and advertisements to the Editor by 5th October 2016.

Dave Chapman

Safe arrival in Albert Dock

Chiltern Branch Meetings 8pm start unless shown. Start again in September; see Programme card. Chiltern Branch weekend Away 30th Sept2016 – 2nd October 2016. New Members: we welcome Mr C Sargeant, Mr A Manders Mr and Mrs M Cartner Mr P & Mrs L Bassett Mr A Wallace Mr R Robinson Mr J Anderson Mr J Rushbrook Mr D & Mrs E Baddeley Mr I & Mrs M Batt Wendover Arm Trust http://www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk/

4th September 2016 - Wendover Arm Res-toration Day at Drayton Beauchamp

Canal and River Trust

11th September 2016 – Two Arms on Two Legs - A Half Marathon to be organised by CRT on parts of the Aylesbury Arm, Grand Union Main Line & Wendover Arm.

Rickmansworth Waterways Trust

The Trust again gave Chiltern Branch a donation of £500 ; this was really by way of thanks to John Brice who each year organis-es the mooring for the festival

Chair Cont’d

Page 4: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 4

From the Region Chairman

CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

Spring is coming and the waterways are once again alive with the sounds of birds and boats moving along them. I hope you are able to get out and join us at some of the wa-terway events around London this year. In May we have Cavalcade then the Ware Festival and a trip round the Bow Back Rivers, sorry the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in July.

I thought this month I would write about some of the work of the National Navigation Committee, sometime referred to as Nav-com, and the campaigning they do. Perhaps the most important campaign we have run since that which resulted in the formation of Canal and River Trust (C&RT) is that to have the Environment Agency (EA) Navigations transferred to C&RT. When I have been out and about some people have questioned the need for this campaign as, at present, there is little sign of a problem except for a back log of dredging. They also point out that the EA staff are doing a very good job keeping their navigations working. These are very good points with which I agree totally. But under the surface all is not well. There are disturb-ing reports that on the Thames it is impossible to get a boat over 60 foot beyond Oxford due to siltration on bends. In East Anglia all work has stopped on the Fenland link. In my opinion we have been lucky so far, when there is a major failure such as a lock, EA will struggle to find the money to repair it and this will result in a protracted closure or even an attempt to abandon the navigation. Our campaign is proactive trying to prevent the worst happening and it will be a good foundation when we have to react to a major crises in the future. On the posi-tive side we understand that C&RT and EA are carrying out an audit of some structures to identify issues and produce a financial model of the combined organisation for the C&RT’s trustees.

Another campaign we have been running is to look at the condition of winding points across the canal network. We have produced a “standard” design for a winding hole to be used by restoration groups or where new ones are needed. We have also carried out a survey of the condition of winding points across the country. With Ray Gill, the Middlesex branch planning officer, I recently meet London C&RT to discuss the situation in the London area. We quickly established that there was not a definitive list of official winding points in the London Region. IWA and C&RT sat down together to produce a list, omitting the Bow Back waters as these are still under the control of the Olympic Legacy Organisation. We used a number of sources and where three or four of them agreed the winding point it was added to the list. Secondly where two sources agreed and IWA and C&RT felt a turning point would be useful at that point it was added and finally where there were several turning points in a short pound or close together on a longer pound we chose the best/safest one to be the official Winding Point. We hope to be able to publish this list in the near future so that both organisations can monitor the condition and ensure that these winding points remain available in the future. Your branch will soon be involved in a similar exercise for the Grand Union North of London.

If you would like to know more about national campaigns of think you would like to get more involved please get in touch.

Paul Strudwick IWA , Chairman London Region

Twitter Paul@greenboater

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Spring It was great to meet a number of you at your AGM in March and to talk to you about the changes within CRT. Since the AGM, I have had a fab day out boating on Oxford canal with Victoria Prentis MP, and Colin Garnham-Edge from Twyford Wharf Narrowboats. Hav-ing visited the Open Day during the stoppage in Banbury last De-cember, Victoria was keen to explore her constituency from the water. It was also a perfect opportunity for me to see a bit more of my patch too. We set off from Tooley’s in Banbury on ‘Dancing Duck’ and enjoyed a leisurely cruise to Cropredy and back, with Victoria meeting constituents along the way. There was also plenty of time to talk about the importance of volunteering to CRT, plans to tackle the green tunnelling on the S Oxford working with Banbury Canal Partnership and opportunities for community groups to get involved. Victoria was excited to learn that businesses could have a ‘Corporate Adoption’ and scout groups a ‘Pocket Adoption’ of their local waterway. We also discussed the need to get more young people involved and local youth organisations that we could potentially work with. So all in all an enjoyable and productive day. I mentioned briefly at the AGM that there is a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to improve the boating experience. The South East Waterway Partnership Boating Sub Group has been reviewing current provision of Customer Service Facilities against our customer service standards to help inform future investment priorities. With the help of Ian Fletcher of IWA Warwickshire, Brian Saunders of IWA Oxford Branch & Kathryn Dodington, we have also been the assessing winding holes in the South East region with the aim of agreeing an ‘official’ list and establishing what maintenance works are required. Thanks to the efforts of Sarah Brown, Development and Engagement Manager, we have been successful in securing funding through Tesco Bags of Help scheme. Foxton Locks is to receive £12k for a community orchard and picnic benches; and £8k has been awarded to remove graffiti from two bridges in Oxford and replace it with murals designed by local schools. Inspired by her success, Sarah is keen to apply for future funding rounds. So if you have any ideas for enhancing your local canal environment, Sarah would love to hear from you: [email protected] Summer Well the summer season has kicked off and is well and truly underway. Crick Boat Show was a huge success with a record number of visitors attending the show. The Canal & River Trust marquee was buzz-ing all weekend and our fundraising team signed up a record breaking 55 friends. The Brindley costumed character went down a storm and really knew his stuff. Big thanks to Vinci for generously agreeing to sponsor the temporary bridge this year and next. Despite poor weather, a total of 67 historic narrowboats and some 7,000 visitors attended the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally. On the Sunday the new Canal Poet Laureate, Luke Kennard, joined the Nutfield for the boat parade. Inspired by the day, Luke wrote a sonnet in praise of the Hadley, winner of the Nurser Award for the best historic narrowboat. Luke will also be writing a poem to commemorate the Nutfield’s 80th birthday on 22nd July. For those who like a challenge, there is still time to sign up for ‘Two Arms on Two Legs’ – a half mara-thon planned for 11th September, which will incorporate the Wendover and Aylesbury Arms. If the idea of a half marathon terrifies you, there is also a 10k and family fun run plus free Wednesday lunchtime run-ning sessions in Aylesbury to help you get in shape. We have also teamed up with Bounts, the fitness app, to reward people who are training along the Grand Union Canal in Aylesbury with vouchers for a variety of national high street shops such as John Lewis and M&S. For enquiries please contact Joe Sammon at [email protected] or on 01908 351940. Events are a great way to encourage visitors to our waterways but one of the great challenges for the Canal & River Trust is how to monetise the visitor experience. Having a tourism background, I jumped at the chance to be part of a national pilot project to develop Destination Management Plans (DMPs) for key sites. Creating a DMP involves working with stakeholders and agreeing a shared vision and action plan for the sustainable development of a destination. As part of the pilot, plans have been developed for seven

Canal and River Trust—SE region

Page 6: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 6 CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

.We had visited the Chesterfield Canal on the IWA Week-end Away in 2014, so we knew that it was being restored by a very proactive and well run Trust. They even took on organizing the Festival a year early when the date became va-cant. We slipped in at

Stavely Basin on the canal, this section up to the centre of Chesterfield is owned by Derbyshire County Council and already benefits from a completely new built lock. This is all ready to continue through to the Hartington Harbour a winding hole dug out the other side of the North-ern Loop Road Bridge. At the time of the festival this had been delayed due to the continuous rainfall this winter. This recent restoration work was all completed with volunteer labour. As we arrived the first boat to use the lock, was de-scending, this privilege was given to one of the Chesterfield trip boats who then turned in the canal at the bottom, the current limit of the navi-gation. This gives a cruising section from St Helena’s of 5 miles with 5 restored locks. A cruise was organized for Monday headed by the trip boats, all the seats had been sold during the show. The flotilla of boats were locked through by the Trust members, what a treat, all we had to do was take photos. Because we are Wilderness boats (we are known for going to the end of the earth) in this case it was through the flood lock and up the River Rother as far as possible. Gently doing it as this is shallow uncharted waters,

and not wishing to bend our props. Not to be confused with the other River Rother in East Sussex that goes out to sea at Rye, and coincidently was the venue for the 2013 Trailboat Festival. Clay Cross is the source of this Rother, and guess where it terminates … Rother-ham! The Chesterfield Canal Trust

IWA NATIONAL TRAIL BOAT FESTIVAL

Below the new lock

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S PRING/SUMMER 2016 Page 7

raise a proportion of their funds from the 3 trip boats. Two of these operate on the lower section of the Chesterfield Canal and had to be craned into the basin. The Trust also owns Python a re-stored BW working boat, this was also craned in and cruised this section of the canal for the first time. The crane and transport costs were high and took much of the proceeds from the continuous trips during the 3 days, but it was worth it for the publicity of showcasing the beauty of their canal. The Trust received sponsorship from a Gardening Centre close by, they were intrigued by this until they found out that the Gardening Centre had a reptile section, which sold Pythons!

The weekend weather was good so the crowds came. The trail boats were moored outside of the basin, to leave room for the canoe club to give the public a chance to try their sport. Also the obligatory boat han-dling competition was taking place in the other half of the basin. On Saturday evening we all entered the illu-minated boat cruise, with the public watching from the basin and many bridges. Local support is high, we were touched by how many people thanked us for coming and cruising boats on their canal. Chesterfield Canal Trust volunteers had been working

in extremely hard and wet conditions this winter to get the canal ready for the festival. When we arrived on the Thursday, they were still laying gravel on the trackways though the site. If you stopped to talk, they gave you a spade or rake. Overall the Trust were very happy with the Festival which advertised their canal so well. Numerous families walked from the Tapton cen-tre, all saying this would be the first of many occasions and the Hollingwood Hub did an ex-

tremely good trade in refreshments from the walkers and cy-clists passing by. We retrieved the boat on the Monday evening and drove to Scarisbrick Marina to launch and continue our holiday on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, destination Liverpool for the Mer-sey River Festival and the Eldonian Village Festival during the following weeks. Other members of our trail boat club launched on the lower reaches of the Chesterfield and would be cruising this section over the next week.

Article and photos from John Brice

at CHESTERFIELD 28th – 30th May

Page 8: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 8 CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

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S PRING/SUMMER 2016 Page 9

Dave Chapman, the Branch Chairman, has mentioned that he is attending the IWA’s National Campaign Festival, which is to be held at the Eldonian Village in Liverpool this year. Eldonian Village is built on the site of the former Tate & Lyle factory. It occurred to me that many will have forgotten or be unaware of what was happening about 50 years ago. In the mid-60s, like most urban water-ways, the Liverpool Section of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was closed off, stop-ping pedestrian access by the general public. Despite this, children still managed to get onto the canal and use it as a playground, and some ended up in it. Because of the lack of access, adult rescuers were often thwarted and there were regrettably some drownings; on each of these occasions the vociferous MP for Bootle, with a lot of local support, called for the canal to be filled in. Consequently, the Mersey Motor Boat Club (MMBC) and the local Branch of the IWA organ-ised twice yearly Campaign Cruises fully supported by the then British Waterways Board.

These weekend cruises were well supported. The attend-ing boats would gather at the Lydiate Moorings of the MMBC and travel in convoy through Maghull, Aintree, Litherland and Bootle into Liverpool with BWB staff operating the well secured swing bridges and the Lither-land Lift Bridge, which still existed at the time. Some of the boats would go down the four Stanley Dock Locks into Stanley Dock (see picture by C. J. Clegg of a later trip in 1977 by his family on their narrow boat Admiral accompanied by Nick Bostock and family on Unicorn), and have a spin round before returning up the locks and completing the return journey. There was always an over-night stop somewhere en route. The Cruises often coin-cided with the Grand National at Aintree and, if that was the case, the boats would be moored prior to the race for the crews to have a good view of it from Canal Turn. It has been acknowledged that these Campaign Cruises helped to save this section of the canal. In 1968, Liverpool was chosen as the site of the IWA National Rally (see picture by C.J. Clegg). National Ral-lies in those days were very much campaigning events. During that year, the Transport Act 1968 was passed, which helped to save the canal system as we know it for future generations. Prior to the Act, many of the canals that are very popular today were at risk.

Reflections — Judy Clegg

Liverpool National Rally. (1968 CHRIS Clegg)

Admiral & Unicorn Stanley Dock Branch, Leeds & Liver-pool Canal. (Chris Clegg 1977)

Page 10: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 10 CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

Hello to all the Chiltern IWA recipients. The plan is to enclose two books of Grand Draw tick-ets with your magazine so that you can take the opportunity not only to win some of the prizes, but also support the Wendover Arm Trust in their continuing efforts in restoring the canal. The Wendover Arm Trust Grand Draw 2016 this year is again to raise further funds for the con-tinuing restoration of the canal. The restoration is carried out by a dedicated team of volun-teers, many of whom are Chiltern Branch members. They meet for seven days each month to continue restoring the route of the canal now working from Drayton Beauchamp towards Little Tring.

Let me update you all a bit, if you are not familiar! Last year the latest section of the canal was re-watered. Nature has taken her hand and the seeded banks are now green with grass and other sundry plants. Pictures on the WAT website. The mechanical plant has moved operations towards Whitehouses, where CRT and their contractors have carried out works on the pipe-work and sluice to direct the ‘excess’ water (! At some time following further re-watering!) to the reservoir. The volunteers however are busy laying the reinforced concrete pipe capping. This is never seen again but is essential to protect the underground 18” salt-glazed pipe which is nearing the end of it’s lifespan. It has been there over 100 years. The capping is progressing towards bridge 4 and there is also the shifting vast amounts of spoil for the profiling of the canal, once the capping is completed.

In November 2015, the CRT, together with WAT prepared and submitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to use a contractor to speed the restoration along. The result of the application should be known shortly, but if it is successful, there will be more paper-work for the second phase of the application. It could be a very long process. Meanwhile, the volunteers continue with the invaluable work.

The prizes include the first prize of one weeks Boating Holiday, sponsored by Wyvern Ship-ping of Leighton Buzzard; a second prize of a Day Boat hire, sponsored by Lee Valley Boat Centre; a third prize of a Virgin Experience Day - a visit to the Shard; a fourth prize of £100 cash. There are many other valuable prizes to be won. These are shown on the Trust’s website – www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk , along with the latest information regarding resto-ration.

The Trust hopes you will sell these two books of tickets, returning the counterfoils and a cheque to the Promoter. If you can sell more tickets to your friends or at your workplace, then call Michael Wright on 01727-860137. Email [email protected] Your enquiry would be most welcome. The printing of tickets this year has been sponsored by Morgans Plant Hire and are priced at £1 each. The Trust is extremely grateful to all the sponsors The Draw will take place on Sunday 4th September 2016, during the Restoration Open Day, at Drayton Beauchamp, when it is possible to see the restoration volunteers in action and the progress that is being made. Visit www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk for full details of progress & more pictures.

Thank you in anticipation of your essential support.

Michael Wright - Promoter

STOP PRESS; By now you may know that CRT/WAT have passed Stage 1 of this bid and now proceed to stage 2; Stage 1 success releases funds to support work to prepare the stage 2 application.

Wendover Arm Trust Grand Draw - 2016

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Page 11 S PRING/SUMMER 2016

Page 12: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 12 CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

This year it’s the Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust, The Black Country Museum, the Ashby Canal and the Severn Valley Railway

Friday 30th September

08:00 Depart from Watford Junction Railway Station 08:30 Depart from Chesham - The Broadway 08:45 Depart from Amersham Gore Hill Bus Stop 09:00 Depart from High Wycombe The Swan Theatre 10:50 Arrive at the Dudley Canal Trust 11:00 Embark aboard the Trust's trip boat for a 2 hour cruise through the Dudley Tunnels com-plex.

13:15 Re-join coach for the short drive to the Black Country Muse-um for lunch. 14:00 At leisure to explore the displays and exhibits at the Muse-um. 16:30 Depart from the Black Country Museum. 17:30 Arrive at the Roman Way Hotel for dinner and overnight accommodation

Saturday 01st October

09:30 We will be met at the hotel by a member of the Ashby Canal Association who will act as our guide for the day. 09:30 Depart from the hotel for Swarkstone and the beginning of a day's exploration of the Ashby Canal's past, present state and future. This will include viewing restoration projects that have been completed and which are in progress. The detailed itinerary is in preparation by the Association and will be published well in advance of our visit.

17:00 Return to the Roman Way Hotel for dinner and overnight accommodation

Chiltern Branch 2016 Weekend Away

Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust

View from entrance to Dudley Canal into Black Country Museum

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S PRING/SUMMER 2016 Page 13

Sunday 2nd October

09:00 Depart from the hotel.

10:00 Arrive at Kidderminster Station for the Severn Valley Railway.

10:30 Depart from Kidderminster, travelling to Bridgnorth; via Bewdley, Arley, Highley and Hampton Loade . We will have freedom of the line tickets which will enable members to leave and board trains

as they wish throughout the visit. They should however, return to Kidderminster at the latest

aboard the service that leaves Bridgnorth at 16:10.

17:30 Re-join our coach at Kidderminster for the journey home.

THE COST

The cost of the weekend excursion will be £220 per person, based on two people sharing a twin or double room. The single room supplement is £30. The cost includes:- All coach travel, two nights accommodation on a half board (bed, breakfast and dinner) basis at 'The Roman Way Hotel' at Hatherton, Cannock..

A 2 hour cruise through the Dudley Tunnels complex

Entry to the Black Country Museum

A Freedom of the Line ticket on the Severn valley Railway

Buffet pub lunch on October 01st

Coach driver’s gratuity and a Donation to the Ashby canal Association

The cost does not include:- Travel insurance, morning coffees and afternoon teas if taken. Lunch at the Black Country Museum, Lunch or snacks on the Severn Valley Railway.

Alcoholic beverages; other items of a personal nature.

The cost noted above is applicable to a party of 20 members. Historically, Branch ‘Weekends Away’ have attracted an average of some 25 members and guests. It will be possible therefore to reduce this cost if more than 20 members and guests participate..

30th September to 2nd October 2016

Page 14: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Page 14 CHILTERN GRAPEVINE

Directions: Little Chalfont Village Hall is in Cokes Lane which runs south from a mini-roundabout junction with the main A404 road between Rickmansworth and Amersham. The hall is located by the Library and there is a Car Park. It is ap-proximately 600m from Chalfont & Lati-mer railway/tube station. Access to the hall is on the flat and so offers easy access. There are also toilet facilities for disabled members.

The Village Hall, Cokes Lane, Little Chalfont, Bucks HP8 4UD

Chiltern Branch Meeting Venue

Chiltern Branch meeting venue

destinations including Foxton and Stoke Bruerne in the South East. The aim has been to identify the best way to enhance the quality of the visitor expe-rience and generate revenue to contribute to the sustainability of the Trust. The DMPs will be used to help secure funding to take a range of initiatives forward. Some of you may have met Jacqui Flint, our new Volunteer Development Co-ordinator, as she has been out and about meeting volunteer lock keepers, adoption groups and canal partnerships to find out about the great work going on across the region. With over 150 VLKs this year, you can expect to see lots of familiar faces on the flights and also some new ones too. Jacqui is working closely with Sonny King, whose secondment to the Volunteer Team Leader role has been extended to cover Miriam Linforth’s maternity leave. We are also pleased to welcome our newest adoption groups to the Canal & River Trust family – the Red Lion at Nash Mills and Berkhamsted 53 Canal Support Group. STOP PRESS : Talking of new family members; welcome Lara Linforth, born on Saturday 9th July at 1:10pm weigh-ing 7lb 4oz

his way to the event, where help was wait-ing. At the end of the event the reverse happened. No wonder our events manager decided to leave in 2015.

In short we arrive with ALL ITEMS, we can fundraise till the last minute and we can manage on less volunteers. All a major help to WAT.

Jenny Brice, IWA Representative

Thank you to Chiltern IWA

Vicky Martin, Waterways Mgr, S E Reg.

Page 15: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

S PRING/SUMMER 2016 Page 15

The IWA may not agree with the opinions expressed in this Newsletter but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy or an official announcement unless stated, otherwise the IWA accepts no liability for any matter in this Newsletter.

The IWA is a registered charity (No. 212342) whose work is supported by member's subscrip-tions. The IWA campaigns for development of Britain's waterways for use by all.

Advertising Donation Rates

Back cover 50% extra

Members small ads £1 for12 words. Extra words 10p. Send payment with the adver-tisement to the Editor.

One Issue Four Issues

Full Page £50 £160

Half Page £30 £100

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NOTE: Photographs by article author or editor unless stated otherwise.

You don’t need to be on a Committee!

There are those who do and those who don’t get involved with volunteering. If you’ve never tried it you will never know what you are missing. It will liven up your life, get you out of the house, give you some exercise, expand your social life whilst making some new friends, and not least you will have some good laughs. You will benefit from all these things and more, plus feel good that you have achieved something that benefits not only yourself but also others on our waterways!

So why not come and join our festival team? preparing and exhibiting for the IWA at the Rickmansworth and Slough Festival in 2016.

We need helpers for setting up before and packing up after the Festival.

Can you help us with transport, do you have a van, MPV or trailer for transporting tents and jumble to and from the Festival.

Are you knowledgeable about the IWA or the boating and canal scene; we have a posi-tion for you on our IWA stand.

Have you got the gift of the gab, enjoy bartering to broker a deal; you will enjoy it on our Jumble stand.

WoW (Wild over Waterways) we need volunteers capable of helping with these children’s activities.

IWA Sales stand, selling IWA branded promotional goods, maps, canal books etc. require sales assistants.

If I have aroused your interest in any of the above mentioned activities please give me a call or send an e mail, then I or one of our team will get back to you with further details.

I am looking forward to your call; 07740 733241 or [email protected] Inland Waterways Association - Chiltern Branch

Page 16: Grapevine, Issue 45, July 2016

Your Committee

www.waterways.org.uk/chiltern

Chairman

01628 850842 07808 720555

[email protected]

Secretary

01438 238187 07977 374116

[email protected]

Treasurer 01923 232515 [email protected]

Programme Secretary 01932 248178 [email protected]

Fundraising & Waterway Events

01494 873298 07740 733241

[email protected]

Planning Officer & Membership Secretary

01628 526512 [email protected]

IWA representative to WAT (non-committee post)

01494 873298 [email protected]

Dave Chapman

Vacant

Ken Aylmer

Colin Bird

John Brice

Carolyn Leonard

Jenny Brice

Publicity Officer Vacant 01442 875818 [email protected]

Newsletter Editor Vacant Website Editor Vacant 01442 875818 [email protected]

Get Here: By Boat: Just pull up outside! By Foot: On the towpath opposite Bourne End Marina. By Car: Park near Bourne End train sta on and cross over the railway bridge, then turn right along the towpath, The Bounty can be found about 300 metres away.