navvies 183

Navvies

Celebrating30yearsof canal restorationbyWaterwayRecoveryGroupvolunteers

No 183 Oct-Nov 2000

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 184: November1st.

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In this issue:Camp report Let's get it Over with! 4WRGWear Buy your WRG Tshirts & vests 5Camp reportsWalthamAbbey, Mont, Wilts& Berks... and moreOver... 6-13KESCRG the 'Navvy who came to dinner' 14-16Logistics sent your trailer-packing pics? 17Diary camps and working parties 18-20WRG Works! reporting from Pant, Over andLichfield plus 4 pages of colour photos 21-28Letters to the editor 29-31Past present and future ofWRH 32-37BITM at Lichfield 38-39Bookshop auction of canal books 40-41BITM again on the Stover Canal 42-43Bits & Pieces including the Boat Club 44Noticeboard 45Infill more bad jokes about pants 46-47

And next time......reports from those Canal Camps that didn'tquite make it into this issue. Plus progress re-ports on the Dig Deep scheme including brand-new work-sites on the Cotswold and Wilts &Berks canals, the new Camps Booklet for 2001,the return of 'Bankside', a full-page 'Last Ditchcartoon... and the first ever WRG Opera!

Cover photo: WRG Works! (1): the first boat is craned into the completed Over Basin ready for thereopening. (Martin Ludgate) Inset left: WRG Works! (2): installing the bentonite lining in the LichfieldCanal at Darnford Lane. (Martin Ludgate) Inset right: WRG Works! (3): scrub-bashing on Reunionweekend on the Pant Dry Section of the Montgomery Canal (Martin Ludgate) Back cover left: Camp0014 on the Mont: rebuilding the storm-water overflow tail-race at Maesbury. (Lou Kellett) Back coverright: Camp 008 on the Basingstoke: reinstating the lockside path at Lock 3 after reconstruction of thebywash. (Martin Ludgate) Back cover bottom: Camp 20 at Waltham Abbey: some of the WRG andIWA/NWF volunteers who made the National Waterways Festival such a success. (Martin Ludgate)Below:Camp 17 on theWilts & Berks: the abutments for the second liftbridge at Foxham have been builtand work is about to begin on the main task for the camp - shuttering up and pouring the wing walls. Ifthe shuttering looks a slightly familiar, that's because it came second-hand from Over! (Luke Walker)

Contents

ChairmanWRGWorks!

Our 30th anniversary celebration "WRG Works!"went very well despite a somewhat hesitant start:as the rest of the country gasped for petrol wemanaged to turn out over 60 volunteers to giveyet another bit of the Montgomery Canal a seri-ous bashing. We can only hope that this will givea further push to the Monty as it has been badlyhit recently by the sudden removal of major fund-ing for works below our beloved Aston locks. Weshall return next February to complete the workswe could not do as so many volunteers wereforced to sit at home staring at their cars parkedon the drive.

Then it was onto Lichfield where a very differentjob was waiting for us. Lining the canal with claymatting, this was a new technique to us andmuchwas learnt by an eager team led by Izzy. Ourthanks to John and Jan for their excellent prepa-ration (and for those who enjoyed it we might bedoing quite a bit of it next year). Yours truly wasstupid enough to try and squeeze a committeemeeting into the end of the Lichfield Camp - Iwon�t be doing that again.

After that it was off to Over where it was busi-ness as usual i.e. �yes, you can enjoy yourself ina minute chaps but before you do can you justshovel these stables clear� (quick cultural refer-ence there).

And I have to admit that the time I spent at Overwas very, very strange. I felt distinctly uncomfort-able to be on the site without a hard hat, let alonein a suit. Even more strange was to be able to goup toAdrian Fry and say �Are there any jobs needdoing� and get the reply �Er, no I don�t think so,just relax for a while�.

The actual opening was very much the Hereford-shire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust�s event butmake no mistake we got all the recognition wedeserved. Certainly during the reception everyoneI spoke to was very impressed and some goodcontacts were made. In particular we should thankour good friends Swan Hill and CJL for all the helpand co-operation they have shown, especiallytowards the end as the deadline approached.

A very special mention must go to our �man onthe ground�* Adrian Fry who managed to inspireus all to give up what seemed like every freeweekend to work till the light gave out. His abilityto deal with a big site problem is legendary. Theman has a very rare talent and I for one am quitesure that all that pomp and circumstance on thatsplendid Friday afternoon would not have beenpossible with Adrian�s unstinting efforts. Our sin-cere thanks to him.

Project officers

So to return to one of the themes of my speechat Over. Currently waterway projects are facing amountain of work and I genuinely believe that tomake real progress on this they are going to needsome paid help. Yes the �new BW� are being veryhelpful on a lot of schemes, and once a projectgets its huge lottery grant then it will have plentyof support. But how many restoration societiesdo you know who are trying to run multi-millionpound projects on the proceeds of coffee morn-ings and jumble sales whilst their volunteers meetin evenings and weekends?

This is not a cheap attempt to create �jobs for theboys� as I am pretty sure that most volunteerswould be lousy project officers. But someone hasto represent the local societies at meetings, dothe donkey work, raise the funds, check out thefacts and figures and look after the seeminglyendless paperwork that volunteers naturally shyaway from. It is true that the appointment ofProject Officers is an area that has in the pastbeen fraught with problems but we need to learnfrom our mistakes and make progress.

Accommodation

And while I am on the subject of problems thatdo need to be addressed one thing that WRGWorks! did show up was that getting good ac-commodation is getting harder and harder. Wehope to set up a group to wrestle with this trickyproblem: if the Hall is decent then it will be wellused by the community and so they are unlikelyto want to rearrange their schedules for us; if isnot decent then we don�t want to stay there ei-ther. A top-flight accommodation can be up to£750 a week so you can understand the localsocieties hesitation in spending their hard earnedmoney on such things. I hope to write more onthis in the next issue.

So what has this year proved ? Well it has provedwe can still meet a challenge. And with a lot of ef-fort from the 'little people' in the background wemanaged to run awhole batch of successful campsin spite of Over andWRGWorks taking somuch ofour resources. My thanks to you all.

The pressure we have been under this year hasbeen very great and I thank you all for not cracking.

Mike Palmer

CampsCouldthis'Navvies'bethelastonereporting fromOver for awhile?

Camp 0011 - Derby... Over:"The writing is on the wall for Over"

This note is a plea for help as we have all beencaptured and sold into slavery.

We were not aware of what was to happen to us.The site, a canal basin, was some distance southof Derby but we were prepared for a little workand the Duke of Edinburgh volunteers neededto do a residential project.

In fact it was not until the camp had started thatwe began to realise the full extent of our prob-lem.

I am convinced that our slave-masters have takenfalse names - �Fry and Penny�. They cannot bereal names: they sound like amusic hall act; how-ever they are true professional slave drivers.

Each day we are taken to work in a minibus. It isescorted by a black staff car (now red). The siteitself is surrounded by a high wire fence and ouraccommodation miles from any civilisation.

We are forced to lay bricks, over 10,000 a week!We have to dig out huge amounts of clay andcreate patches of garden. Will these gardens beour final resting-place?

Today we discovered another secret. Hidden onthe flood plain are teams of �locals� who are forcedto clean bricks. They work so hard that they havea mountain of bricks for us to use.

Sam has decided to eat his way to freedom, buthas had no success yet. Ed tried to make a fewmistakes in the hope of early release but by Tues-day he had given up and is now supporting theteam. Peter and John began to build an escapeto the river, but this was stopped. The slave-mas-ters produced stop-planks.

We are now quite desperate: only one of the girlsin our party has been allowed to stay. The slave-masters insist on us getting a good breakfast and sheis co-operating with this. What has happened to theother girls? Are they being held for a harvest festi-val somewhere? Is someone doing harm to them?

The food is excellent but the 12-hour days arebeginning to affect morale. Most of us are begin-ning to enjoy ourselves. A real sense of achieve-ment and pride in a job well done is being felt.This is being fully exploited by the slave-masters.

If you know where we are please send help, butbe very careful - the slave-masters are alwayson the lookout for new blood and you could betrapped in their web.

Fred Towey

Slaves on Camp 0011 plot their escape - while keeping up a pretence that they are laying a wood-chip towpath surface at Over Basin. (Martin Ludgate)

WRGwear...moves from Stockport toMiddlesex... and to Sussex...

WRGwear moves south...

Helen 'Bushbaby' Gardner has taken over fromJim & Liz Lamen as the person you send off tofor your WRG T-shirts and other WRG clothing.

To order the latest in WRG fashions, simply fill inthe form (or copy it, if you don't want to cut upyour super-duper special issue of 'Navvies') andsend it to her at the address below....

Please send me the following item(s) of WRG clothing:(tick the appropriate box, or write the number of items wanted if more than one)T-shirts at £7.00 each (including postage and packing):

Vests at £6.50 each (including postage and packing):

Note: these are plain 'WRG logo' items; Canal Camps T-shirts should still be ordered from IWAheadoffice at Rickmansworth.

Red, large logo

Red, small logo

Black, large logo

Black, small logo

Small Medium Large Extra large XX large

Grey, large logo

Grey, small logo

Black, large logo

Black, small logo

White, large logo

White, small logo

Navy, large logo

Navy, small logo

Small Medium Large Extra large XX large

Name Address

I enclose a cheque for £ payable to "WRG Publicity Ltd".

Send your form and money to: Helen Gardner, n.b. 'Sussex', The Boatyard, RowdellRoad, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 6AG.

Any enquiries phone 07785 925164 (after 18:00) or e-mail [email protected]

Coming soon: sweatshirts and embroidered Rugby shirts. See next 'Navvies' for details.

Waltham Abbey Festival Camp

In thebeginning therewasa field, a river&somevolunteers; by the end, a very successful Na-tional Waterways Festival at WalthamAbbey.

If site wanted something doing, WRG were ei-ther about to do it, in the process of doing it orhad finisheddoing it. IfMitchor Judewanted some-thing doing the Volunteers were either about to doit, in the process of doing...well you get the picture.

A week prior to the camp starting, muscle-boundvolunteers were requested for the heavy liftingwork of putting up fencing & laying down track-ing. It soon became apparent that weather fore-casters often get the forecast wrong... well thefirst few days just confirmed the myth. The daythe tracking went down it was supposed to rain,so an early start was needed to get the job donebefore the heavens opened. However by 8ammost people had stripped off due to the fact itwas about 80 degrees and getting hotter. Thistrend followed for the rest of the National (almost).

Saturday and Sunday was spent setting up ourhome for the next couple of weeks: this year theaccommodation was slightly different, we had twomarquees - one for eating in and one for sleep-ing in. The reason being the problem of the�smooth-tailed squirrels�; this species ofmammal frequents the area, scavenging inbins for any scraps of food they can find.The Latin name for this type of creature is�RAT�, and there were plenty of them.

The camp started with the usual jobs of wa-ter-pipe and cable burying, marking out mar-quees and carpeting the pontoon for the float-ing exhibits, and carpeting some grass! Thepontoon was about 100m in length (I�m surethe team who carpeted it will tell you differ-ently), was put up way behind schedule, andwasn�t long enough. It was in fact about 10mtoo short so that EA who had sponsored thepontoon couldn�t moor their boat. A patch ofscrubland was cleared and carpeted espe-cially for them ,only for the pontoon to be ex-tended. Just how did Womble and Sam ex-plain their carpet burns when they got home?

Another of our jobs was from Campsite: a re-quest was received for 2 people at 10am onthe Tuesday morning to do a bit of raking, andthat the job would only take half a day or so...well being good WRG people we supplied 4people at 9am. By lunchtime, in a field resem-bling Dr Who�s Tardis, at temperatures of 28degrees, the majority of the camp could befound... if campsite ever ask for a job to be doneagain, beware!

Tuesday night saw a group take a trip to the cin-ema... well they attempted to... however the mainroad we needed to take was closed due to anaccident and not knowing where we were reallygoing anyway, it was decided that the cinemawasa no-go. Imagine the picture: large traffic queues,Mitch driving and Sam �I�ve had a drink� Dentnavigating from the back.... �Turn here�, said Sam,so we did, finding ourselves in another housingestate. It was only then that we realised that weobviously looked like we knew where we weregoing, as we�d formed a convoy of vehicles be-hind us!

Other jobs during the week included tables andchairs, banners, arena set-up, a bit of fencing,hole-filling, strimming and sign making. Harrietand her team did a grand job of making the signsfor the event, although the number of signsneeded increased as everyone suddenly neededa sign doing.

Thursday night arrived, and with thoughts turn-ing to previous Nationals where WRG work untilearly Friday morning, everyone was prepared fora long night.... however, something went wrongand most people made it into the beer tent by9pm in time for the Boaters Quiz; we then won-dered what we�d forgotten!

CampsWalthamAbbey: "TheBankHoli-day arrived andwith it the rain."

'Wheelie-bin Bob' keeps the site tidy. (Martin Ludgate)

Friday saw the site open, people queuedat the gate, and the weather was good- visitors were enjoying themselves. TheFestival was opened by Dr GeorgeGreener the Chairman of BW, who dur-ing his time at the Show insisted on see-ing the WRG accommodation; with lackof notice we were unable to hoover ortidy, so he saw it as it was! (we think hewas impressed). Friday night happenedand with it a fantastic firework display -there were plenty of ooohs and ahhhs,the display was certainly better than theMillennium festivities in London.

The Bank Holiday weekend arrived andwith it the rain (no change there, then!)

Saturday evening WRG were in the en-tertainment tent doing what they do best - goingon stage and performing, having not learnt theirlines and making it up as they go on. This yearwas the �Leon Stort Memorial Lecture� otherwiseknown as �Canals 2000 - the history of the worldre-told by WRG�. Daddy Cool gave a superb lec-ture on the history of the canals through the ages.Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble (aka Ralph &Toby) started us off, followed by the Roman Era.Bungle excelled himself (having spent the weekfixing things, breaking things then fixing themagain) as Glitter Bungle with a brilliant version of�Leader of the Camp�. The finale saw a futuristiccanal camp with Jude attempting to communi-cate with Martin played by a Martian.

Sunday saw more visitors on site and lots of jobsfor the volunteers. Car parks began to fill up,and most people managed a stint directing cars,and running around trying to find spaces to putthem; it was suggested that once the car parkswere full we use the forklift to stack the cars.Wheelie bin Bob did a great job of keeping siteclean and tidy: bins filled up, were emptied andfilled up again. Marcus and Tunji kept the arenarunning, sorting out the different events in there.If anyone wants any s**t, they did enough shov-elling to last a lifetime.

Records were broken, 9000 people attended andthe weather improved, extra car parking wasneeded for the Monday as it was believed morepeople would attend. In fact on theMonday 11,000people attended, the weather was back to 25C andeveryone was tired. The site closed to a marchingbandandeveryone involvedparading into thearena- an excellent finale to a great event.

Monday night saw a tired Jude & Mitch sat hav-ing a foot spa in the beer tent, well a bowl of hotwater to put their feet in - it was much needed,who knows the number of miles we�d walked.

Tuesday night was theme night WRG style, thisyears themewasAustralia, and a good oldAussieBBQ. Various people dressed up in some unu-sual costumes, and with a back drop of palmtrees, sand and rubber paddling pool the awardceremony began. We were joined by all the vari-ous departments who had helped put the eventtogether, Brian did a good job of cooking the foodfor all of us, and a good evening was had by all.Martin put together an excellent slide show andBungle again serenaded us this time with a ren-dition of �Jude�s Way�.

And so the site was taken down, it was done indouble quick time, so quick in fact that we wereable to pack all our equipment away and leave aday early. With no fencing to be taken down ourjob was made a lot easier, the tracking only hadto be stacked, and with Bob and his crew havingdone such a good job at bin clearing there wasn�tmuch litter to be picked.

There are one or two people who need ourthanks...

FirstlyAli and her team. Ali provided us with lotsof scrummy food, working at times in conditionshotter than the ovens she was using, at one timethe kitchen Portakabin needed to be hosed downto cool it off as the eggs were cooking in theirshells!

Secondly all the sandwich ladies who providedour lunch and the people who got up early tocook breakfast.

Thirdly all the volunteers who worked so hard intemperatures of 25-33 degrees, it was worth it,this is one of the best �Nationals� for a long timeand you were part of it. THANKS

Mitch Parsons

"I'm the leader of the Camp I am!" (Martin Ludgate)

Camps...and no-one's even calling it the'last everMontCamp' anymore!

Montgomery Canal Camps - Summer 2000.

Yet another of those occasions when I can�tread what I wrote in my diary �cos I wrote it inthe pub, and I�m trying to write this much laterwhen I can�t remember a damn thing.....

The first week of the Mont camps this year wasrun by myself and Andy �3� Burrows, and we�dlike to start with a huge �thank you� to almost allof the weeks campers.

The job was making a start on demolishing thetail-race for the storm-water overspill weir atMaesbury, together with replacing missing andcracked bricks in the weir, finding a couple ofleaks, and sorting out the overflow pan at theother end. Much of the stuff from which the tail-race is built is coping-stone-sized rocks, and sothere was a lot of rotating people around on thejob, trying to wear them all out equally. Somewore out quicker than others, and of course, itwouldn�t be a camp without a trip to the localhospital. That�s my one visit a year now, pleasedon�t anyone injure themselves in my presenceagain until January.

There were a lot of nicknames throughout theweek, with Helen from IWA Head Office earningthe distinction of two, moving quickly from thefairly offensive �IWA-spy�, to the more obscure�Helen Cornish Pasty Head�. MeanwhileKatherine was �Breast Parter Woman�, Nick was�Sick Boy�, Veronica�sMate was �surely those can�tbe real�, Jon was cutting the plants into comedyhairstyles, and Craig took every possible oppor-tunity to get up early and tidy things. For thoseof you that have met Craig, you�ll be glad to knowthat he has a twin brother and so a Craig will befeaturing in each Canal Camps Kit for next year�sseason.

Various people learnt to play with power tools,Andy and I both went swimming (much to amuse-ment of most people), and we discovered thatGCW�s immobiliser is also quite happy in thewater.

Meanwhile Peter was an absolute star and dem-onstrated the use of almost every power tool thatMeredith and I could hire from the flirty man atGriffiths, Al did her usual fantastic range of cook-ing, �BW Wynn� turned up when the Burco wasboiling, Jon went into the showers fully dressed,and �Normal Helen� leant an occasional air ofsanity to the general proceedings.

Friday night saw the traditional end-of-camp bar-becue, �Normal Helen� demonstrating the gentle artof a slightly surreal form of stroppiness, Craig prov-ing that he could use swearwords other than�Sugerlumps�, me, Harri T, �Meths� and Al fightingover Haloumi, and a general winding down of pro-ceedings, while fresh and enthusiastic people

turned up for the weekend.

Thanks again to everyonewho helped, you were all abunch of stars, and it wasgreat to see so many of youback at the Reunion. Cheersto Al for the cooking, to Craigfor stopping on for the week-end, to �Helen CPH� forputting up with so muchabuse, toAJ for random tech-nical support by phone, andto Jon for his comedy shirt.

Although we took down a fairsection of wall, we�ve still gota way to go, and we�ll be backat it again next year, soplease keep in touch.

Cheers again,

Lou and Andy."I'd like to hire an electric teaspoon", said Lou. And the hire-firm actu-ally knew what she meant! (Lou Kellett)

The next week......

This was the week that saw the laying of the con-crete base, and the putting back up of the wallsthat the previous week had taken down.

Blessed this week by a real brickie, we aimedhim at the spill weir with Jim and Rusty for assist-ants, and they promptly demonstrated the differ-ence between amateurs and professionals. Chris- you have to come back - you promised to showme how to carry bricks on my shoulder.

Less �D of E-ers� this week, but of a particularlyoutstanding quality, ranging from the silent drystone wall expert to the ballroom dancing onewho called me �Miss�. Marvellous!

The addition of Lichfield�s very own Liz Horton,Marple�s very ownMr.Asquith (plus car) and HarriT�s cooking set us off to a fine start. Clive turnedup and brought his �shy� mate Ian, so quiet thatwhen he couldn�t remember my name on site heshouted �Oi - Bird!!!� at the top of his voice, Bexturned up and brought her tippy-top portfolio ofwork, and AJ made it from the Land of WorkingToo Hard, only to discover a former almost-stu-dent of his on the camp.

While the brickwork went on apace, the stonewall putting back together went slowly but surely.

JP demonstrated the art of playingwith a very smallcomedy digger to Eleanor, and the art of trying toget the beavertail into gear tome. Malcolm demon-strated the art of bodging bricks back together so no-one would notice we�d taken them out to Claire andKate, and Chris and Jim cleaned everything andput it back up as fast as I could knock it down.

This week, it was the turn of Andy to provide tel-ephone technical support, and almost everyoneelse to provide telephone moral support. Rachelarrived for a stray day, and said the same thingas Becky �You look so much like my sister it�sfrightening�. I would like to state categoricallythat I am not a member of the Parr family (or amI, Sam?)

Standard Mont entertainments over the fortnightincluded the tour of Mont canal heritage (muchheckling included), the trip to the cinema to seethe men in leather skirts, and the odd half of bit-ter in the �Punch Bowl�, while I painted zebra-stripes on a fridge. By the end of the secondweek, most of what we�d taken down was backup, and true to the plan (written half way throughthe second week, as is standard) you couldn�ttell where we�d been for the most part.

Again, huge thank yous to everyone who helpedto make the week a success, Harri for cooking,Malcolm for the trip in his car, everyone whosorted out the slight �oops� when we sent the kitoff phone- and radio-free, Jim for not making aweekend at home before turning up at Over, Chrisfor the speedy brickieing, Mark for the commentabout the Dark Side when I was cooking break-fast, Laura for quietly getting on with being a fan-tastic waller, Clive for sorting the concreting, Lizfor not minding being taken to the camp via JP atthe launderette, JP for the digger/truck training,and everyone else for their hard work and will-ingness to learn, usually in a suitably randomway.

Big Fat Cheers from myself and AJ, we look for-ward to seeing you all next year.

Lou Kellett

The tail-race: sidesdemolishedand concrete floor laid... ...andwith sides rebuilt andwater flowing (LouKellett)

CampsWilts&Berks:"Weweredelightedat theamountthatwasachieved"

Wilts & Berks Canal 12th - 19th August, 2000

Only four old-timers (no offence meant, Luke) ar-rived at Foxham at the start of the camp, togetherwith five bright shiny new navvies, including one fromGermany, to learn how to build a bascule (lift) bridgefor a local Foxham farmer. Katy did a quick round ofinspection of the new arrivals, finishing with tail wag-ging furiously, which was a good start. Phill joinedus on Sunday evening after putting in the finishingtouches at Over.

The local volunteers, under Luke Walker�s supervi-sion, actually started the construction two or threemonths earlier.A cofferdamhad beenmade at eitherend of the bridge, and the U-shaped invert, with con-crete backfill and brickwork top, had been completed.

The first task on the camp was to start on diggingthe trenches for the wing walls. To a large extent, astart could be made using the digger bucket, buteach had to be shaped using hand tools, i.e. mat-tocksandshovels,whichwith heavyWiltshire claywasno easy task. However, everyone (which included twoor three local volunteers nearly every day of the camp)set to with surprisingly few grumbles, and the new-comers quickly discoveredmuscles which they didn�tknow were part of their anatomy.

The first two concrete deliveries were ordered forTuesday, and by then we were well ready with theblinding layers in the first two trenches, the re-barwas set in place, followed quickly in subsequentpours by the �kickers�.

By Tuesday or Wednesday, the shuttering, some ofwhich had been donated from the H&G site at Over,was erected for three of the wing walls; by the endof Thursday the concrete inside the shuttering wasalmost up to height - after much creaking and groan-ing when the concrete was poured into the narrowspace, which scared Luke to death - and a pour onFriday would have seen all three walls finished, andthe shuttering could have been removed by the endof the camp.

However, �the best laid schemes of mice and nav-vies...� as they say, and after a sunny dry start to theweek, the weather gradually deteriorated. Wednes-day and Thursday saw some very heavy showers,sending everyone scurrying into the van and kit-trailer, and Katy turned tail and fled all the way backto the accommodation, where Di (the cook) was wellshowered by the vigorous shaking of a wet dog.

It was amazing how when the worst showers came,Luke and Ben always seemed to be out collectingsomething in the LandRover - there were dire threatsthat Ben would have to be thrown in before the endof the week.... Friday was the worst of all - at leastonWednesday and Thursday we had still managedto find gaps in the weather for further concrete pours,but Friday was horrendous - the final pour had to becancelled, and everyone had to pack up work atlunchtime. To some people�s satisfaction, Ben finallygot a soaking, but it was very disappointing, as thevolunteers could have got more of a sense ofachievement by seeing three completed wing walls.

Luke and I were still delighted at the amount thatwas achieved, and saved weeks of work - at oneconcrete pour per week - by the local volunteers. Thetrench was dug for the fourth wing wall, and the blind-ing, base and kickers in, so hopefully all four walls willshortly be in place. We are still waiting for the finaldesign for the actual bridge, butwith the base finished,this should be aminor consideration! Tom, one of ournewnavvies, was a recent civil engineering graduate,andhisknowledgeproveduseful.Foran inexperiencedbunch of navvies, all showed good understanding ofwhat was needed at each stage. We also got a fewhundred yards of towpath cleared and the cuttingsburnt, and the plan is to dredge the section withinthe next 12 months (it is partially in water).

The Foxham Inn at least trebled their normal clien-tele over the week (as tends to happen in countrypubs where we have camps), where Gem (BathAles) was quite acceptable, with good old 6X to fallback on. We had several swimming/shower runs toChippenham, plus a visit to a two screen cinema -the party being divided between those who hadn�tyet seen �Chicken Run�, and those who had andwatched the alternative! On the Friday afternoon afterwe�d had to stop work, we all trooped off to Glouces-ter to the National Waterways Museum, where onecould spend several hours seeing everything. Theyhad an arrangement whereby Over navvies had aconcession, but agreed to make an exception for usalso, particularly as some of us had made somecontribution to THAT SITE!

It is nice to know that WRG�s efforts are appreciated.

My thanks to everyone who worked so hard to makethe camp a success, and to all the local volunteerswho put in extra days to work with us. Thank youalso to Di for keeping us well fed - her cakes par-ticularly disappeared remarkably fast!

On a final point,we�ve had quite a lot of newcomerson the three camps I�ve led this year (Stover, SleafordandFoxham),andall havesaid that theyenjoyed them-selves andwould like to comeonanother camp. If anyof you are reading this, I hope you do so - youwere allexcellent, andWRG needs people like you!Remem-ber, every camp is different, not only in location andpeople but in the work involved.Youmight even learnskills you didn�t knowyouwere capable of, and it looksgood on a c.v.

Rachael Banyard

Here�s how we (Over) did it

July and August saw an almost continuous WRGpresence at Over, as the legal deadline of the 24thAugust approached. The enormous quantity of workachieved is obvious, but what was just as satisfyingwas the incredible atmosphere on site that made itall possible, and the quality of the work produced,which often was better than professional. Over hasnot only shown what volunteers are capable of, butalso what contractors aren�t!

July 1-2

Thiswas actually an official LondonWRGdig, thoughit was hard to tell the difference, given the enormoussupport they have leant to virtually every dig duringthe last nine months!

The main job for the weekend was topsoiling andgrass-seeding the huge plateau that stretches fromthe slipway round to the old sewage works. Subsidi-ary jobs were to chase the rabbits off every timethey tried to eat the grass-seed, and pushing outthe dumper every time Tim got it stuck.

The second delivery of bullnose coping bricks waslaid on the main wharf wall, completing all of thelong limb. This included laying the special specialbricks for the right-angle at the end of the wall � thefirst bricks ever to arrive individually bubble-wrapped!Phill�s brick shit-house / diesel bund continued todevelop � though the suggestions of castellationsor a thatched roof weren�t taken up, it does now havea tiled roof.

And because it wouldn�t be a proper Over weekendwithout a birthday, we all boughtAdrian a lot of drinks,wearing out the old landlord in the process. Al cre-ated a fab JCB cake: in true H&G style, the weldshad fatigued and the boom had collapsed on to thecake board!

July 8-9

The following weekend saw WRG North-West re-turn, supplemented in the usual Over style. For oncewe were glad of a fairly small weekend though, as,with no road access on to the site because of theconstruction of the sewer across the lock entrance,organising work was a bit more tricky. Still, we man-aged to get Blue on to site using the velcro-arsehandling technique, as well as another three palletsof bullnose bricks.

Yetmore topsoil, grass seed and bullnoseswere laid,despite some very poor weather. I think it is the firsttime topsoil has been spread using the dumpy leveland bricklines (well actually, before Martin points itout, we used rakes as well). Our temporary com-pound was also finally cleared, moving all the stock-piled / hoarded materials down to the floodplain �entered on the jobs list in Fry Management Speakas �consolidation of resources�.

July 15-22: Camp 9

Originally, this was meant to be a week at Worces-ter, carrying on with last year�s installation of moor-ings. Last minute problems led to cancellation of thework, so Over gained another camp. Once again,we were lucky to have a very small camp, as theonly accommodation available at such short noticewas the diminutive Oxenhall Church Hall, whichproved to be very cosy.

Roger and Jen led this week, taking on one of the mosttechnical and vast concrete pours we have ever done.The upstream entrance to the entrance lock originallypassedover the divertedRiver Leadononanaqueduct.

Now with the river back on its original course, theaqueduct was used by the housing developers as aconduit for their services. The remains of the aque-duct had then been filled with crushed brick, and itwas between the remaining original brick piers thatwe had to span with a huge concrete slab.

The first four days of the camp went preparing thereinforcing and shuttering, following Roy Sutton�sdesign, in really hot weather.

Everything was going fine until we lowered in the re-inforcing, andwatched all the plastic spacers collapseunder the weight. Roger made a rush trip to Cardiff,returning with bags of stronger spacers, and wewerejust about ready for the four lorry loads of concrete.

CampsHereford & Gloucester: thefinal six weeks work at Over

Laying bullnose coping bricks - it's hard work... really!

In our spare time, we also put in a new access roadround the head of the lock, installed the stop plank,poured the extensions to the feature wall founda-tion, and watered the grass! Yet another very pro-ductive camp, with huge amounts of work beingachieved despite only having about 10 people onsite. Many thanks are due to Liz �Cake Fairy� Baileyand Sharon Bowden for making up huge meals forus each day, and to Adrian for remembering to col-lect them on most days!

Or, as the Camp Leader describes it...

"Thanks to everyone on the Not-Worcester camp at Over �you were all very entertaining and put up with very longhourson site andbeing starved (well,OK,not feduntilmuchlater on in the evening than you should have been!)withoutcomplaint. Thank you all. As for the midnight Tesco�s tripto get breakfast, it has to be one of the more bizarre thingsI�vewitnessedoncampsand itwill always stick inmymind.

"Far toomany hours spent on site, weather incredibly hot(perfect weather for large concrete pours � NOT!), a badPenny causing trouble despite its absence andwould havebeen used to bring the concrete to the correct level if ithad been present (!), and an accommodation that waspacked out! But the guys (that does include you, Aimee!)all kept going andwegot the necessarywork done ready forthe following brickworkweek. And just think�youwereall part of the team that constructed a huge pair of concreteY-fronts!!" [See p47 if you don't understand. ...Ed]

Just Jen

July 22-29: Camp 11

The following day, Camp 11 started. Luckily we werestaying back at Hartpury, as Fred and Tess had, asever, managed to draw large numbers of volunteersto the Derby Canal, and then bring them on whenthe work there had had to be cancelled. John Park,along with his apprentice, Barry, spent the weekbuilding the retaining wall and putting up with all thejokes about spelling mistakes.

The wall makes a huge visual difference to the ba-sin, andwas to be the focus to the opening ceremony.It also marked something new for the brickies tocomplain about: the colour of their mortar!

The lock wing-walls also started to take shape, build-ing on the previous week�s work quite literally. By theend of the week, the shorter brick layers had donethemselvesout ofwork. Backfilling of thesewalls alsostarted by hand (o.k., so we gave them a mixer).

The canal between the slipway and the old sewageworks was finally excavated down to bed level, andthe banks were profilled, using a biggish excavator.Finally, late one evening, we finally took out the damthat had been keeping water back in the woodedsection. This meant the entire basin now had a cov-ering of water in it, making a huge visual difference.

With the Keyway excavator working in the bed ofthe canal, Blue was kept working flat out to land-scape the excavatedmaterial, creating another hugeplateau, when not already hard at work removingthe ruts wherever Ed had last reversed the dumper.

July 30 � August 3

Just for a bit of variety, a whole five days went pastwithout WRG being on site. For the record, this timewas mainly spent in front of the washing machine.Work, however, continued on site. The Canal Trust�svolunteers worked flat out every evening cleaningbricks to complete the lock entrance with, placingtopsoil down either side of the towpath in the woodedsection of the canal, and building the breeze-blockshuttering for the back of the lock approach walls.

Camp 9 volunteers laying the concrete base forthe lock entrance....

...ready for Camp 11 to start the wing-walls.

page 12

August 4

You didn�t think we wouldn�t work on site did you?Worried by the size of the plateau we had createdthe previous week, we came down early to startexcavating topsoil from the floodplain in preparationfor the next day.

August 5-12: Camp 15

Adrian�s camp � but we all know that! This was theofficial camp of the year on the H&G, and it coin-cided with visits from Essex WRG and WRG NorthWest again for the first weekend, leading to a verycramped hall at Hartpury, with almost 60 people stay-ing on the Saturday night.

The weekend�s main job was spreading topsoil overthe plateau � well over 100 dumper loads of it. Workalso continued on the lock entrance, including cre-ating the �pizza oven� arches throughwhich the hous-ing development surface water will drain in to thebasin.

We spent most of the week mixing concrete to gobehind the lock approach walls and the feature wall.For the former (which just so happened to includetwo formers), the concrete had to be placed bybucket, while for the feature wall, we placed it usingthe bucket of an 803 attached upside down.Althoughwe were mixing concrete on site, we still had it de-livered on site by a ready-mix concrete company,but in kit form!

The base of the slipway was cast in concrete, againmixed by hand � allegedly to guarantee the correctslump, more likely because the budget was gettinga bit tight! Once the shuttering had been struck, thegranite sets were laid on a sharp sand base, pro-ducing a much more attractive finish than the con-crete originally proposed.

As a break from concreting, we also landscaped the

river banks, having first scrub bashed themand felledthe dead trees. This opened up views of the riverfrom the whole site, making a huge improvement.

The real excitement of the week, however, was thearrival of an eight inch �research and development�pump. It can be safely said Mr J. Palmer researchedand developed it.

The start of the filling of the basin was filmed byCarlton Television for the next series of Waterworld,or rather, the start, stop, can we do that again, start,stop, oh why won�t it start, oh no Mr Palmer hasproblems with his pipework, oh there it goes, oh canwe do it again but be more enthusiastic / coordi-nated / naff�

LWRG and loads of other people arrived for the lastweekend. The water rising in the basin caused acouple of problems, with some small leaks develop-ing which needed puddling, and with Viv managingto become the first person to fall in. Viv was closelyfollowed Clive, who didn�t fall in, but rather went into rescue Al�s rubber ducks.

On Saturday night, we had an barbecue on site, sit-ting on the grass, watching the water rise up thefinal few inches. It all sounds very romantic, but thiswas actually all just so we could work on longer in tothe evening, leaving site only when it got really re-ally dark!

Sunday saw the last concrete being poured behindthe feature wall. Thomas was put to good usepowering the electric flymo being used to cut thegrass we had put down only a few weeks before.Hasty placing of the slackboards along the back edgeof the wharf wall meant that we just had time to putdown the final surface on the wharf wall, before itwas time to leave site for the last time � 11 daysahead of the legal deadline.

The Conclusion

�We know that there were those who doubted thatwe would succeed � we cannot miss another op-portunity to thank all the WRGies; our equally ap-preciated H&G Canal Trust volunteers; and all thebusinesses who have made this all possible andproved the cynics wrong. Our sincere thanks toeach and every one who has ensured the successat Over�: Cliff Penny, H&GCT Council of Manage-ment, writing in 'The Wharfinger'.

So we did it. All the work required in the Section 106Agreement was completed, as well as quite a lotmore besides. Everything we did was to a muchhigher standard than was thought possible.And I�vejust had a phonecall inviting me to come and view acertain housing development near Gloucester calledStaunton�s Hill, where, apparently, there is a modelin the showhouse of a canal basin. A model of amodel?

Thanks.Marcus Jones

Camp 15 volunteers laying granite sets to form theslipway. surface (All photos by Martin Ludgate)

page 13

KESCRG...and 'the Navvy who came todinner'...

WRG isn't the only organisation that has beenrestoring canals since the 1970s.

Our friends in KESCRG have been organisingvisiting working parties carrying out volunteerwork on waterway restoration for almost as longas WRG.

And just like WRG, some aspects of KESCRGworking parties have changed... and some havestayed the same. As is apparent from this de-scription of KESCRG at work in the 1970s...

The Navvy Who Came to Dinner

(Being an absolutely true account of an Ameri-can�s first experience with canal restoration.)

1. Invitation Declined

After two narrowboat holidays I realized that notall canal restoration and main-tenance was carried out by Brit-ish Waterways Board. I learnedthat volunteers did much of thebest restoration. The Kent andEast Sussex Canal RestorationGroup was having a weekendworking party on the Basing-stoke Canal. I wrote one KenParish and received informationwhere to meet. The ManagingDirector of our English companyinvited me to spend the week-end in Richmond, but I refused,saying vaguely that I was goingto be in the country, �on a ca-nal.� His wife then invited me to a dinner party onSunday to meet some of their friends, and toldme to be there by 6 o�clock.

2. To Ash Vale

On Friday evening, dressed in my business suit,I took British Rail to Ash Vale and called thenumber Ken had given me. It was for a placecalled Victoria Hall. No answer. I called again. Noanswer. Had I gotten the date wrong? Was thenumber wrong? It was a dark night and raininglightly. Was the work party cancelled? Shouldn�t

I get on the train and go to Richmond? I checkedthe number and dialed once more. The phonerang and rang. A woman answered finally. WasKen Parish there? �Oh, he won�t be here untilpub closes,� was the cheery assurance. I calledthe pub and eventually Ken was brought to thephone. Over the uproar in the background, hesaid he�d be right down to pick me up.

A dilapidated, mud-covered van rolled into thestation with a clashing of metal and squeal ofbrakes. The three occupants looked at me. Ilooked at them. Then the van drove on aroundthe station forecourt. On its second pass, itstopped in front of me. Ken, Liz, and Taffy jumpedout. We looked at each other. Taffy barked at me.Ken asked if I was the American planning to workon the canals. When I said yes, he asked if I hadbrought any work clothes, as the work was �a bitdirty.�

We set off to the pub. The ancient van didn�t seemvery safe, but it was certainly full of tools andgear.

At the pub I met the navvies on the working party.They all seemed to be named Dave. If theyweren�t, I called them Dave anyway. One of theDaves, judging by his enthusiasm for real ale,seemed to be a not-so-secret agent for CAMRA.It wasn�t clear that Saturday would be a very pro-ductive day, based on the quantities of beer be-

ing consumed.

3. Hydraulic and Other Hammers

After a restless night on the floorof Victoria Hall, we navvies wereawakened early for a massivebreakfast prepared by Ken. Theprincipal feature of the meal wasbacon grease, clearly to give usplenty of energy. Ken�s confi-dence in his cooking was so highthat he ate absolutely nothing.

Since a jumble sale was sched-uled for the hall, most navvies

were quickly bundled into the van and hauled toLock 19. The three new members of the KES-CRG working party - two young girls and I -degreased the breakfast dishes, then we weretaken to the work site.

A large group, aged 7 to 70, was beavering awayin the rain. It appeared that a drier weekendcould have been selected for the working party.The three new members were handed a hy-draulic jackhammer, told to squeeze the triggerto operate it, and set to work battering down alock wall.

"Was KenParish there?�Oh, he won�tbe here untilpub closes,�was the cheeryassurance."

At first we took turns operating the hammer. By11 o�clock, it took two of us to handle it. Afterlunch, we had a brainstorm. All three of us wouldhandle the jackhammer together. At 3 o�clock, weswitched to a lighter Kango hammer. By 5 o�clock,the three new memberswere hammering atbricks with a hand ham-mer. The endurance ofthe two young girls as-tounded me.

After another fullevening at the pub, thehall floor seemed muchsofter. I slept soundlyand missed all the noc-turnal excitement. Taffyhad taken a few exerciseruns around the hall ontop of the sleepers, a cothad collapsed, deposit-ing its (female) occupant on top of a (male)sleeper, and one unfortunate individual had fallendown the three steps into the hall from the loo.Ken pronounced it �a quiet night.�

4. 16 Hours Minimum

On Sunday it was raining harder than ever. Oneof the Daves assured me cheerfully, �it�s reallybucketing!� It was good all the navvies werenamed Dave because it was impossible to tellthem apart under all the dirt and mud. I began tounderstand that the worse the weather, the morethe navvies liked it. If you were crazy enough torestore canals in your spare time, foul workingconditions made you certifiable.

I couldn�t move my arms above mywaist on Sunday. Ken considered thisproblem carefully and decided I couldpush a wheelbarrow, since that keptmyarmsstraight atmyside.The twohydrau-lic hammer girls were set to loadingbricks into barrows because their armsalso didn�t seem to work very well.

At the pub for lunch I met one MikeFellows. He seemed to appreciate theGuinesses I bought for him. He told methe canal would be open in five years. Later aDavetold me that Mike always made the same forecast,no matter how much work was accomplished.

Late in the afternoon it became obvious that Daveon the mixer had mixed enough mortar for the nexttwo days at least.A large gangwas put to work layingbrick in the bypass channel. To use up the mortar asquickly as possible, we adopted a policy of puttingmortar on everything in sight, including ourselves.

I had planned to get to Richmond by train andbus. Ken assured me it would be faster if theKESCRG van dropped me off on its way back toCanterbury. At 5 o�clock I began to worry aboutbeing late for dinner. I wondered why we

couldn�t leave. Mixer Dave told me we hadto work a full 16 hours to get the sponsor-ship benefits.

The rain continued, we worked faster andsloppier building the bypass in the dark, andwe got wetter and dirtier. About 6 o�clockwhen it was too dark to see, we dumped allremaining mortar behind the bypass walls.Mike said we had constructed the thickestbypass channel walls in England.

Before we could leave, a last long confer-ence seemed to be necessary. Liz said, �Notto worry, we�ll be in Richmond by seven."

5. Van Problems

We set off rattling down the road. We hadn�t gonefar when CAMRA Dave started shouting �Realale! Real ale!� in the gloom at the back of thevan. Other impressionable people in the back tookup Dave�s chant. The van took a sudden lurch tothe left and rolled into a real ale pub.

I decided to call my hostess. Kate seemed irri-tated at hearing that I wouldn�t arrive until 7:30,especially as I think she knew I was in a pub be-cause of the background sounds. She told methat drinks had been planned for 6 to 7, then din-ner at 7, but said she would extend the cocktailhour.

We set off in the rain. After tenmiles, the chant �Real ale!Real ale!� was again resound-ing through the van.

It seemed that CAMRADave�s and the other navvies�thirst hadn�t been slaked atthe first pub. The van againlurched to the left. When thepublican saw the wet, dirty,steaming gang that pouredinto his pub, his first reaction

was to beg for mercy and his second to call thepolice.

Now I was in a quandary. On one hand, I shouldcall my hostess to explain this new delay. On theother hand, I couldn�t think of anything at all tosay andmoreover the phone was right in the pub.I concluded the best thing to do was to join Daveand Dave and Dave and ponder this problem overanother pint or two.

"It was good thatall the navvieswere named

Dave because itwas impossibleto tell them apartunder all thedirt..."

"CAMRA Davestarted shouting�Real ale! Realale!� in thegloom at the

back of the van"

We stuffed ourselves into the van and set off oncemore. Liz said, �Not to worry, we won�t stopanymore.�

Unfortunately, as we approached Richmond,CAMRA Dave spotted a Brakspear pub. Agree-ment to stop was overwhelming. The van againtook a mighty lurch to the left.

Now I had to call my hostess. Kate asked whereI was, this time in a somewhat frigid tone. I ex-plained cheerfully that I was nearing Richmond,but that I was going to be slightly later, per-haps just an hour, than my last forecast. I hadthe inspiration to tell her we had been havingproblems with the van; that it kept lurching tothe left. I said I thought it was fixed now, and quot-ing Liz, announced �not to worry".

Realizing that I was indangerous and unreli-able company, Kate wasdetermined to send herhusband to get me. Imanaged to dissuadeher because she wouldlearn how right she was,and convinced her tokeep the cocktail hourgoing.

We left the pub and droveto Richmond without fur-ther delay because Daveet al were sleepingsoundly in the back of thevan, happily dreaming nodoubt of real ale.

6. Arrival at Richmond

We arrived shortly after8:30. I stumbled out of thevan with my suitcase and pushed the doorbell.Behind me, Ken, Liz, all the Daves, the two jack-hammer girls, the other navvies, even Taffy, wereeagerly awaiting the denouement.

The door opened suddenly. The look on Kate�s face took me a little aback. Her gaze changedfrom one of complete exasperation to one oftotal amazement as she first scanned me upand down, then eyed the occupants of the van.

�Sandy, what have you been doing?��Oh, restoring canals,� I replied blithely.

Gales of badly muffled laughter came from be-hind me in the direction of the van.A fierce glancefrom my hostess put an end to the levity.

�Just look at you. You�re covered with mud anddripping wet. You can�t come in my house likethat. Take those clothes off right here,� she said,stamping her foot in the entry. �Then you go inthe shower and get all that dirt off.�

Howls of laughter, unstoppable this time, camefrom the van. Taffy barked happily.

I stepped into the entry and managed a weakwave to my new mates from the KESCRG groupas they rattled away into the gloom. Obeying myhostess� strict orders, I stripped to my underwear,picked up my suitcase, and walked through thekitchen into the hall.

7. Dressing for Dinner

The lounge door wasclosed, but after threehours of cocktails, voicescame clearly through thedoor. I walked fast.

�I say, the American chaphas finally arrived.��Kate said he�s been on acanal.��Darling, nobody goes onthe canals in March.�

I walked faster to get tothe safety of upstairs.

�What do you mean, he�sbeen pub crawling forthree hours?�

I walked as fast as I could.

�Let�s go find this chap andsee what he looks like.�

To my dismay, the lounge door burst open. Theparty came pouring into the hail. They stared atme in silence.

Despite all the real ale, I had retained enoughpresence of mind to positionmy suitcase betweenme and the lounge door. It was difficult to hold ithigh enough because of my sore arms.

�Good evening,� I said amiably. Turning to go upthe stairs, I deftly switched my suitcase to theside facing the party. Thankfully the silence con-tinued as I reached the safety of the first floor.

But then I heard �I must say, Americans do dressinterestingly for dinner.�

Sandy Campbell

"Realizing that I wasin dangerous andunreliable company,Kate was determinedto send her husbandto get me. I managedto dissuade her

because she wouldlearn how right she

was..."

page 16

LOGISTICS & Co

"Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was akit and it had a home. It was rather an unusualhome because nobody lived there (although therewere times when it felt like I did!!). You see every-thing in that home was a thing that had been usedand abused by wrg volunteers and was broughthome to Logistics � 'restoring the kit that restorescanals' (M. Beattie)�"

But this year has been very different as the �home�has been essentially non-existent and things havebeen a tad loose at the seams and happened alittle more �on the fly� than usual. Seaside visitsare a thing of the past and we�re moving on.

And now that our main project at Over has fin-ished (for the time being) we�re looking forwardto possibly getting back to some form of normal-ity (for us at least!).

That said, we have another upheaval in the Lo-gistics camp with Lou getting a new job � HUGEcongratulations to you, Ma�am! We hope thatyou enjoy every minute. I suspect that a shedof purest green may feel a slight conversion inthe near future! So now the split will be a littleless on the northern side but certainly an in-creased East-West one. That divide was rein-forced in my mind when we were driving homefrom Gloucester on Sunday as we parted com-pany on the M42.

[Tip for drivers: Your long journey appears to takeless time when you play the same tape single allthe way home!]

Still, it seems to be working and I feel that con-sidering the circumstances it�s really not been toobad on the kit front this last year. If you think oth-erwise please let us know and we�ll arrange tohave Logistics in its entirety delivered to your doorwithin twenty-four hours � We�re nice like that!

Now themain camp season is over (not that damnword again!), with only the October camp and acouple of Christmas ones to go, we can get towork on restoring the kits to their former glory.

Kit C has long been due a complete overhaul(there it is again!!) so that has wended its way ina North-easterly direction to be worked on.Thanks to Spence at Barnsley for generouslyagreeing to the use of �19� for the trailer�s much-needed revamp.

The other kits meanwhile will bimble along whilstthe remaining camps happen after which hope-fully all will be, to quote a diminutive (only in ap-pearance!!) person at Head Office, tickety-boo.

I would like to take a little time to thank thosepeople who have helped us this year, par-ticularly Dr. Liz and Ian for doing van move-ments and offering a �hand� wherever theycould, Floodgates for numerous van move-ments, Bungle for repairing RFB�s trailer socket(after many people said they would but didn�t!),Al Moore for catering stuff and generally offer-ing to help with anything, and of course Mikeand Jude for being there and sorting lots ofthings!

If there is anyone else who has helped but beenomitted thank you as well.

And a huge THANKYOU to everyone that tookour stuff away from Gloucester after WRGWORKS, (and what a lot of �stuff� to get rid of!!� How many fridges/freezers can we get ourhands on?!!) namely Lou, Jude, Ian Hands, andFloodgates.

I t a l l happened! Wil l wonders nevercease?!

All I have left to say really is that I�m stillawaiting those photos of trailer packing\ forthat award � as yet I have received only one,so if you do have one even if it�s not beendeveloped yet could you please let me know- thanks.

The winner will hopefully be announced nexttime, photos dependent, so don�t delay!

Logistics gave a big yawn and settled downto work. And of course when Logistics goesto work, all their tools go to work, and theywork until another day comes when wrg findsanother thing and puts it in front of Logisticsand says the magic words again � (F.E.C.)

Just [email protected]

203, Abbeyfield Road, SHEFFIELD. S4 7AW

Logistics � �We will mend it, we will fix it, wewill make it bright and new.�

[Credits to Oliver Postgate for inspiration.]

LogisticsHave you applied for the kittrailer packing award yet?

page 17

Canal Camps cost £35 per week unlessotherwise stated.Bookings forWRGCanal Camps (thoseidentified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp0002') should go toWRGCanal Camps,PO Box 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114e-mail: [email protected]

page 18

DiaryCanal Camp and weekendworking party dates

Nov 1 Wed Navvies Press date for issue 184 Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266including Canal Societies Directory

Nov 4/5 LondonWRG �Droitwich Bonfire Bash� Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227Joint dig and bonfire/fireworks party with KESCRG and wrgNA, andvolunteers from Camp 0007 - and any other Canal Camps!

Nov 4/5 Essex WRG Lichfield & Hatherton Canals John Gale 01277-654683Joint dig with wrgNW.

Nov 4/5 wrgNW Lichfield Canal David McCarthy 0161-740-2179Joint dig with Essex WRG.

Nov 4/5 wrgNA �Droitwich Bonfire Bash� Ian Nelson 07973 640611with London WRG and KESCRG.

Nov 4/5 KESCRG �Droitwich Bonfire Bash� Answerphone 01622-858329with London WRG and wrgNA.

Nov 4/5 NWPG Thames & Severn Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586Dig Deep project at Golden Valley

Nov 11/12 KESCRG DATE CHANGED TO Nov 4/5Nov 11/12 wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

collection (Sat) & Plant maintenance (Sun)Nov 18/19 wrgBITM To be arranged (Probably Sleaford) DaveWedd 01252-874437Nov 19 Sunwrg Committee & Board MeetingsDec 2/3 KESCRG Wilts & Berks: Answerphone 01622-858329

Joint Christmas dig with London WRGand Saturday night party with a gypsy themeScrub clearance & stump pulling at Foxham & Dauntsey in preparationfor the Christmas WRG Camp. See p44.

Dec 2/3 LondonWRG Wilts & Berks: Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227Joint Christmas party dig with KESCRG (see p44)

Dec 2/3 Essex WRG Foxton Inclined Plane John Gale 01277-654683Hedge maintenance & Christmas Dinner

Dec 2/3 wrgNW Lichfield Canal David McCarthy 0161-740-2179Christmas Dinner & Dig

Dec 9/10 wrgBITM Buckingham Arm DaveWedd 01252-874437Cosgrove: Xmas Dig-without-a-party.Lots of winching. [Should that be �whinging�? ...Ed]

Dec 9/10 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586Dig Deep project at Summit Lock

Dec 16/17 wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper David McCarthy 0161-740-2179collection (Sat) & Plant maintenance (Sun)

Dec 19 Tue Navvies Issue 184 Assembly John Hawkins 01923-448559including Canal Camps 2001 booklet. Provisional date 19th or 20th.

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

Tel 01252 874437. e-mail: [email protected]. Fax: 0870-063-3713page 19

Dec 22-Jan 1Xmas Camp Basingstoke Canal Clive Alderman 07973 877380The "Alderman Brothers Christmas Camp": Scrub-bashing on theBasingstoke Canal, led by Gary & Clive Alderman, with cooking byKaren Alderman and Maureen 'I'm not called Alderman' Amos.

Dec 26-Jan1 Camp 0022 Christmas Canal Camp on theWilts & Berks Canal at Foxham and DauntseyWork: scrub-bashing, hedge-laying, towpath clearance, work on the newliftbridge at Foxham and lots of bonfires! Accommodation at FoxhamReading Rooms. Cost £35.Camp leaders Rachael Banyard (01249-892289) and Di Smurthwaitebut book via WRG Canal Camps please.

Jan 1 Mon Navvies Press date for issue 185 Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266Jan 6/7 wrgNW To be arranged David McCarthy 0161-740-2179Jan 13/14 NWPG Basingstoke Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586

Dig Deep project at WoodhamJan 13/14 KESCRG TBA (T&S again?) Answerphone 01622-858329

Dig Deep project at Summit LockJan 20/21 LondonWRG To be arranged Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227Jan 20/21 wrgBITM To be arranged DaveWedd 01252-874437Jan 20/21 wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

collection (Sat) & Plant maintenance (Sun)Feb 10/11 NWPG Thames & Severn Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586

Dig Deep project at Golden ValleyFeb 10/11 LondonWRG To be arranged Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227Feb 10/11 KESCRG Basingstoke Canal Answerphone 01622-858329

Dig Deep project at WoodhamFeb 17-24 Camp 0101 Winter Canal Camp: venue to be decidedMar 1 Thu Navvies Press date for issue 186 Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266Mar 3/4 LondonWRG To be arranged Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227Mar 10/11 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586

Dig Deep project at Summit LockMar 10/11 KESCRG To be arranged Answerphone 01622-858329Mar 24-25 IWA/WRG National Cleanup Weekend: date and venue to be confirmedApr 7/8 NWPG Basingstoke Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586

Dig Deep project at WoodhamApr 7/8 KESCRG Wilts & Berks Canal Answerphone 01622-858329

Dig Deep project at Summit LockMay 1 Tue Navvies Press date for issue 187 Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266May 5/6/7 NWPG To be arranged Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586May 12/13?KESCRG To be arranged Answerphone 01622-858329Jun 9/10 NWPG Thames & Severn Canal Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586

Dig Deep project at Golden ValleyJun 9/10 KESCRG To be arranged Answerphone 01622-858329

These working parties take placeregularly on a weekly/monthly basis1st & 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 CCS Dixon's Lock Mick Hodgetts 01246-4541632nd & 4th Saturdays CCT Thames End George Smith 01285-8616394th Mon of month, 6pm CMT London Canal Mus. Martin Sach 020-7625-7376Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 02961st weekend of month D&SCS Various sites Doug Flack 01332-8742391st & 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 01432-358628Wed/Thu/Fri H&GCT Over Paul Brown 01386-4438262nd & 4th Sundays 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 Lock 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 TrustCCS Chesterfield Canal SocietyCCT 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 at The Mad Hatter pub, inStamford Street, London SE1. Tim Lewis020-8367 6227. Venue subject toalteration at short notice - please check.NWPG: 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

A continuous series of events from September16th to 30th marked WRG's 30th anniversary.

Starting with a Reunion Weekend scrub-bash atPant on the Montgomery Canal, then proceed-ing to Lichfield for a week spent waterproofingthe canal at Darnford Lane, and culminating inan Official Reopening and party at Over, theevents were collectively known as 'WRGWorks!"

Here's how it went.....

Pant Reunion weekend, Montgomery Canal

While the rest of the country panicked over thelack of fuel, I sat at home feeling smug about thefact that I had a full van and two weeks off work,and the knowledge that I�d have almost as muchfun with ten people there as one hundred. In theend, (well, almost, very late harvest festival auc-tion night, anyway) about 55 people turned up - atouching number of them without fuel to get homeagain, but who decided to risk it anyway. We allcrammed somehow into West Felton Village Hallfor the night, even with the inordinate amount ofbeetroot we�d purchased at the Auction.

Next morning, everyone packed their stuff up,then went to site to start hacking things down,obviously in an environmentally friendly way, be-ing careful not to chainsaw the badgers. Those ofus that weren�t at site were frantically transferringkit to the cheery and colourfulMarchesSchool, whodidn�t seem to mind being buggered about at all.The first thing the blessed caretaker said whenwe turned up was �I�ve got the kettle on�.

Later, down on site, I ran like a headless chickenfrom one end of site to another, covering about 7miles during the day, and talking to a random se-lectionofVIPsaboutwhatwewere trying toachieve.You�ll be glad to know that our efforts on the canalare much appreciated by the local vippery, and Icould tell them truthfully that we�d made it fromas far away as Glasgow and Portsmouth.

The site was divided into sections and allocatedto groups who then reallocated themselves as isstandard, and did an astonishing amount of workthroughout the day.

Ralph�s gang, on a section next to a taped offarea, where instructed not to go past the end ofthe hazard tape. The resulting line across thebed of the canal was one of the straightest I haveever seen in my life, and instantly recognisableas the work of Mr. Bateman, right down to thehalf-removed tree!

Saturday night saw an outstanding meal, and apractice WRG birthday cake. I apologise to Bun-gle for shooting him, especially after he�d rescuedmy dress from the back of the trailer like that.....(also apologies to the people of West Felton, whohave probably never before been confronted withthat particular combination of LandRover, BeachBoys, dress and panic at that time of day).

Sunday: lots more hacking and slashing wenton on site, while I sat in various vehicles trying tostring together a job application form on an hourand a half�s sleep. Everyone disappeared Sun-day evening, leaving me, Harry, Toby, Chris andJim to move back to the village hall, and checkon all the bonfires in the morning, before dispers-ing our separate ways. (mostly to Lichfield).

Huge thank-yous to everyone who managed toovercome the fuel crisis to get there, and for thoseof you that didn�t we�re planning a further week-end probably in February, to finish of the otherhalf of the job.

Special thanks to those of you that brought yourchainsaws and put up with me trying to remem-ber what we could and couldn�t cut down, to eve-ryone who turned up without enough fuel to gethome because I�d told them it would all be OK, toeveryone who helped with the catering, to myfour campers from the first week of summer, toeveryone who turned up early and stayed late,and to everyone who was nice to me on Sunday.We did a fantastic amount of work in difficult andcomplicated circumstances, and I think we madea damn good start to proving forWRG�s 30th birth-day that we are still an outstandingly effectivebunch of people in the face of random adversity.

Big Fat Cheers,

Lou Kellett

As soon as the Mont Reunion weekend wasover, the 'WRG Flying Circus' packed away itsBig Top, re-caged its performing animals, bump-started its Transits, mixed its metaphors andheaded for the Midlands....

The Lichfield "WRG Works!" week

The fuel crisis of the previous week that had re-duced the numbers at the Reunion also castdoubts on the Lichfield week, and at one pointwe even considered cancelling it due to a possi-ble lack of volunteers. But we didn't - and withhindsight, we certainly made the right decision.

After the traditional 'slash and burn' style con-servation work of the Pant weekend, the Lichfieldweek was a complete contrast..... We didn't destroy anything all week (wellhardly!) We actually spent the time doingconstructive work. (Not that Pant wasunconstructive - it was constructive in adestructive sort of way, if you seewhat Imean....Oh never mind!). Wemoved from very traditional WRG volunteerwork on the Mont to the latest materials andmethods on the Lichfield.. A high-intensity weekend's work for a largenumber of volunteers was followed by a muchsmaller group carrying out a week-long project- but no less effectively.

But the eventual result will - we hope - be exactlythe same: a dry section of canal re-watered, andre-connected to the national waterways system.

Those of you who were on the 1997 trainingweekend at Darnford Lane will no doubt remem-ber the dust-bowl conditions there, with sandblowing everywhere, ruining the editor's photosand making the sandwiches crunchy. Well suf-fice it to say that that sort of material doesn't makefor a terribly watertight canal bed, so before thecanal can be re-watered it needs to be re-lined.

The traditional method for lining canals is a layer ofpuddled clay, but it's bulky stuff, a pain to transport,and if you let it dry out it will crack, and the canalwill leak. So various modern lining materials havebeen developed as a lightweight alternative.

ManyWRGies who have been around since 1993will remember using such materials on the Mont,where a butyl rubber liner was used to line thefive ponds that form the Aston Nature Reserve.

Now butyl rubber has its advantages... includingthe ability to makemini-skirts from the offcuts (askJude) or (so it is rumoured) that when it's laid ontop of nice squishy mud like at Aston, amorousbut impoverished couples find it an adequatesubstitute for a water-bed.

But it also has its disadvantages: it comes in rollsthat are so heavy you need a large excavator orcrane to lift them; it's easy to damage it, and notso easy to repair the damage (I won't repeat whata certain member of IWAFinance Committee saidwhen I mentioned that I'd accidentally stuck aStanley-knife through it!)

And welding the sections together is a job thatproceeds at a snail's pace... quite literally. (Weld-ing speed: 2 minutes welding time plus 15 sec-onds setup = 2m 15s per 300mm length of join,or approx. 0.00497 mph [source - ML working atAston, 1993]. Snail speed: 2m 20s to cover330mm or approx. 0.00527 mph [source - Guin-ness Book of Records 1998* p36 World SnailRacing Championships at Congham, Norfolk: all-time record by 'Archie' the snail]

So the Lichfield project used a different liningmaterial: bentonite. This is a type of clay thatswells up to several times its size when it comesinto contact with water. So if the bentonite canbe laid in the canal bed in such a way that it isconstrained so that it can only expand laterally, itwill not only form a watertight seal; it will actuallyself-heal if any damage occurs, as the clay willexpand to fill the hole. It can also be joined to-gether simply by sandwiching a layer of powderedbentonite between the overlapping edges of thesections. Far quicker than welding: Archie willhave to put in some hours at the local gym if he'sgoing to keep up with the pace.

Somuch for the theory -what about thepractice?

First the bottom of the canal was excavated to about300mm (1ft) below finished bed level. Then each rollof bentonite liner was lifted into place using the same5-tonne excavator, and unrolled across the canal.

Incidentally, if you're wondering what excactly abentonite liner looks like: it comes covered in syn-thetic fibre fabric on both sides to constrain it, andit looks for all the world like... carpet! This led toinevitable suggestions that if wewere carpeting thefloor of the canal, we might like to wallpaper thesteel piling sides, and while we're at it, how about aceiling rose under the liftbridge?

Anyway if Mr Mac tries to sell you any carpetsquares on the WRG NorthWest sales stand, justcheck if they have a squishy clay-like interior be-fore you part with any money... [continued on p27]

..in pictures

Above and left: "Destructive in a constructive sortof way" - the Pant dry section of the Mont emergesfrom the undergrowth. Below left: Lunchtime at theMont Reunion, with Mr Mac's ever-popular tea van.Below right: the first of a series of birthday cakesmakes its appearance at the Mont Reunion. Bottomleft: Lichfield: unrolling the Bentonite liner... Bottomright: ...and joining thesections togetherwithbentonitepowder.Overleaf:The finishing touchesare applied toOver Basin ready for reopening. Inset: the samescenesixmonthsearlier. (PhotosbyMarrin Ludgate)

Top: Lichfield: covering the liner. Above:Over: prettifying the site cabin.Right: erect-ing marquees. Below: Timothy West andPrunella Scales perform the Official Open-ing. Below right: The WRGWaiters at theVIP lunch. Photos by Martin Ludgate.

On the steel-piled towpath side, a layer of claywas puddled-in at the base of the piles, then theliner was laid on top of it and cut off with a fewinches to spare, then this was turned up againstthe piles and bentonite powder was poured downbetween liner and piles.

On the traditional-profile sloping earth non-tow-path side, the liner was run all the way up thebank, then the end was cut off with a few feet tospare and this was buried in an anchor trenchdug along the top of the bank.

The 300mm of earth that had been excavatedfrom the bed was then replacedas a covering layeron top of the liner - apart from the short sectionwhere a streamculvert passes under the canal withinadequate clearance for it to be excavated to300mm below bed level; here the liner was cov-ered with a shallower layer of Readymix concrete.

Finally, the non-towpath bank was protected witha honeycomb-mesh material with the hexagonsof the honeycomb filled with soil in the parts thatwill be above the intended water line, and withdry-mix concrete in the parts below water level.

And so it proceeded. By the end of the week, a 50metre length of the canal had been dealt with, andan earth-and-polythene dam had been built at theend of it, so that once the stop-planks have beenput in under the liftbridge it can be re-watered.

And now - like the canal - I'd like tomake this reporta little less dry. So at this point I'll mention somevarious not-strictly-work things about the week...skip this if your more interested in bentonite thanparty-nite.... The accommodation for the week - 'CruckHouse', a building that was already 400 yearsold when the canal was built!. The Thursday night quiz in a nearby pub - myteam (which would have been called 'DIM' -short for Dan, Izzy, Martin - but Elizabeth Hortoncame to the rescue and turned us into 'DIME')were narrowly pipped at the post by a team of'Big Scary Monsters' led by Nina.. The Saturday night quiz - I was only told aboutit about 3 hours earlier. "So what?" I hear youask. Well, it turned out I was the quizmasterand had 3 hours to invent a quiz! Anyway,congratulations to the winners 'The SlaveMonkeys' for knowing that Montgomery Burnsis a character in 'The Simpsons' and nothing todo with waterbeds and canal-linings. And thankyou to 'TT', 'Elvis Lives', 'Aardvark' and 'TheSodding Bollocks Team' (I wonder if you canguess who was in their team?) for taking part.Also the bizarre game of 'Pictionary' afterwards.. The amazing curryathon, also onSaturday night- thanks to Jude and Al for the cooking.

. John,Janandthelocals:thanksforsupportandcake!. Toby's cooking during the week - a sort of WRG-meets-Ready SteadyCook, turning out deliciousgrub from whatever ingredients were to hand.. Dan & Izzy: thanks for planning and leading it.. The girlies' attempt to spend even longer in theshowers than Stevie B. (They failed). My introduction to Tequila. ('nuff said)

OK, that's enough of that - back to the plot...

Originally it had been hoped that we would beable to finish the week on a high point, by re-watering the section of canal; unfortunatelytheEnvironment Agency couldn't be persuaded tolet us have any of their jealously-guarded sup-plies of the wet stuff until an 'abstraction licence'can be granted - maybe in November. Given thaton the Sunday it was chucking down rain hardenough for us to have to abandon work (when itwas infuriatingly close to completion), one mightalmost suggest that (a) the EA are being a littletight-fisted about it and (b) if it carries on, by No-vember we'll probably be able to tell the EA whatthey can do with their precious water as we'll havefilled the canal with rain!

Anyway, 50 metres may not seem a great lengthof canal - even of a relatively short canal like theLichfield. And at this rate it will take about 200Canal Camps to re-water the entire canal!

But to a large extent the point of the exercise isto test out a somewhat experimental method oflining on a trial length of the canal. Those whoremember Aston Nature Reserve will probablyalso remember the controversy concerning thenew methods used by contractors to line thenearby Frankton-Aston length of the Mont, andthe suggestions in some quarters that it mightnot be a terribly clever idea to commit oneself tousing an untested restoration technique over toolong a length of canal. (Although there have notin fact been problems with this length) TheL&HCRT aren't taking any risks - once watered,the 50 metres will be given time to show up anyproblems before the next section is lined.

And as for the 200 Canal Camps - well, hopefully(a) with practice, the rate of progress will speed upand (b) contractors will do most of it anyway.

But I'm sure enough WRGies like working onthe Lichfield enough to give them 200 CanalCamps if that's what it takes!

Martin Ludgate

As Lenny Kravitz would no doubt have said (ifhe'd been taking part inWRGWorks)"It ain't overtill it's Over", and so the WRGWorks Caravan setsail once more (if you were at Lichfield on the Sun-day you'd realise that wasn't much of a mixed meta-phor at all!), this time for its final destination inGloucestershire....WRGWorks at OverIt is difficult to adequately describe the transformationthat has taken place at Over Basin on the Hereford &Gloucester Canal over the last few months thanks toour volunteers (not forgetting the H&GCTvolunteers)- so I won't try to. Just look at the photos on the previ-ous pages, and if you don't agree that it's pretty amaz-ing... well your copy of 'Navvies' is probablymissing afew pages and you're wonderingwhat I'm on about....Anyway, despite all this, therewere still a few bits andpieces that needed to be dealt with before it could beopened - and just like the 'old days' (ie Spring 2000)Adrian had a list as long as your arm of jobs thatneeded to be done before Friday. Only this time thedeadlinewasn't aReadymix concrete pour at 10am; itwas an influx of members of the public, followed by aparty of dignatories to declare it Officially Open.So I found myself digging a hole in the ground for aman-hole while elsewhere people erected mar-quees, tidied up the towpath surfacing, worked oninstalling and painting the Bailey Bridge that nowgives access over the lock-head onto the site,launched BOATS, installed water and electric serv-ices, floored marquees, negotiated the purchase ofhogs (roasting for the use of), prepared the WRGcatering for the VIPs, erected publicity displays,made signs, built seats for the trip-boat, put upJackson Security Fencing (see - just like a real ca-nal festival!) and generally tidied up the site to geteverything looking good for the opening.And just like the 'old days' London WRG got stuckin a traffic jam on the way out of London,Ali baked acommemorative cake (to commemorate WRGWorks, not London WRG getting in a jam!), the ac-commodationwas full to overflowing, we had tomoveall our kit out of the hall one evening to make way forthe line-dancing... all the bricks I had to use to buildthe manhole were different shapes and sizes andneeded cleaning... and we finished everything justin time for the deadline.And so Reopening Day dawned...Once the formalities of the opening speeches wereover and done with, we got onto the real business ofgetting stuck into theWRG-prepared-and-servedVIPBuffet Lunch.... (in case you hadn't guessed, the au-thor was one of the VIP guests!)...but seriously folks......the speeches from HGCT, WRG and IWA repre-sentatives gave full credit to the volunteers who'dturned a muddy hole into a canal basin...

The Swan Hill boss not only credited the voluntersbut got a plug for his houses in as well... and Timo-thy West and Prunella Scales declared that it wasopen, and toured the basin by boat, just to prove it.In the afternoon another tradition going back to the earli-est days of the WRGOver Project was observed: wepacked everything in the accommodation into vans,moved it several miles and unloaded it again in the newaccommodationataschool theothersideofGloucester.Then we returned to Over for an evening involving ahog-roast (plus vegetarian hog), the drinking-dry ofthe bar tent's supplies of Old Hooky and a disco thatwent on into the small hours and featured variousDJs including Gav and Spencer (complete with side-ways baseball cap) andWRGNorthWest performingto the strains of 'TheStripper'... (did that really happenor had I just drunk too much Old Hooky?) Followingyet another tradition, the drinking hours were as flex-ible as a certain pub in Hartpury used to be under theprevious management, and my last memory is of abunch of us sitting outside the school at about 4amcongratulating Lou on her new job with a bottle ofchampagne and a poetry-reading session!Saturday featured the Restoration Games, in whichteamsof volunteers (one fromHGCTand6 fromWRG-London, NA, NW,WRGski, a whole team of Ians and awhole teamofAls)competedatsomeevendaftereventsthan theBoaters' Games at the 'National, with the samelevels of bribery, corruption and cheating. All in all, itmade the Sydney Olympics look squeaky-clean.WRGNA were the stars of the games - they cheeredloudlywhenthejudgespenalisedthem,booedwhentheywereawardedpoints,cheatedevenafterthey'dbeenelimi-nated, and part-way through they took up synchronisedswimming in the basin instead... butWRGNWwere thefinalwinners. Itwasallconductedinaspiritofgoodsports-manship,as isobviousfromthese comments overheardfrom some of the losing team members..."Why did they give the prize to the oldies then?""Becausemost of themwon't be around for the 40th."Saturday - and thewhole ofWRGWorks - came to anend with another evening bash, this time at the ac-commodation, featuring more good food, a couple ofspeeches (and adeserved standing ovation forAdrianfor his part in theOver project) and finally a slide showof Over from me that went on so long that we didn'thave time for a disco. (sorry!) The night ended out-side the school again, but this time with beer andcheese instead of champagne and poetry.Well done and thanks to those who made it a suc-cess, including Jude and Al and all who helped withthe catering,AJ for givingmeaboat ride (and formas-terminding WRG Works!, by the way), Ian & Liz forthe games,Harry for flying in fromSydney to be there,and then flying back again,Adrian& Liz for organisingus, Gav for the disco, Pete & Co for the hogroast, theWRG Waiters team for the VIP lunch, to those whostayed sober to ferry the rest of us around in mini-buses on Friday evening, and to all the people I'veforgotten. As Adrian put it "the list of people whowe need to thank for helping is the list of peoplewho were there."

Martin Ludgate

Letters"...the most exhausting £35spent in my recent history..."

page 29

Dear Sir,

Having read the otherwise accurate report ofcamp 0007, at which I was a new wrg-ite (is therean official term for such a person?), I felt I had topoint out one particular misreport. For after all,the �attention to detail� theme was somewhathammered in- we had a trade delegation fromthe United Arab Emirates visiting the site, orsomeone like that who was important enough toget Mike Palmer into a suit....

The aforementioned error was regarding themoremundane matter of sandwiches on the first day -it was not Lisa and Brian creating the trays ofidentical sandwiches, although they might havebeen elsewhere on accommodation, doing thingsyou do when not on site and not supervisingsandwiches for four inexperienced but enthusi-astic blokes were engaging in this task:myself (thisisn�t just a lame attempt to get my name printed,honest), Steve C of later mobile phone dilemmas,Simon Babes and Nathan Nelson of whom con-versation about is now kept in low whispers.

Anyway, I�m sure we asked someone if there wasany vegetarians about and they can�t have saidthere were coz we sort of didn�t do any.

Besides, the concept of Mike Palmer being avegetarian (we had just met, after all) wassomewhat akin to imagining a rather angry,hairy, irate and distinctly grizzly bear, thunder-ing into some unsuspecting campfire barbecuescattering campers, tents and all manner ofthings far and wide with the objective of steal-ing the tofu burgers.

Other than this, I would like to take this opportu-nity to thank all people concerned for what waspossibly the best value and most exhausting £35spent in my recent history (and thats coming froma student). With particular thanks to Ian & Liz fortaking custody of my bag that decided it likedDroitwich soooo much it needed to stay after Ileft, and I hope my hard hat continues to servewell on whatever camp it eventually ended up in.

Yours,Kelvin JR

Dear Martin

Though a Navvies subscriber for over 20 years,I have to confess to never having attended awork camp or otherwise physically assisted thecause, apart from letters to newspapers puttingthe canal restoration case and sending mymagazine copy to various friends to publiciseWRG�s work.

Today I visited the canal basin at Over with mywife and we were highly impressed by the sightof the basin in water and by the high quality ofthe brickwork and the finish of the moorings.

It is all a great credit to WRG and to the manyvolunteers who made it possible. Well done!

Robert Spratt,Gloucester

Dear Martin,

Please may we say a big Thank You to everyoneat the National for making Jim�s 60th birthdaysuch a brilliant day for him.

Good on yer, mate for the barbie & shivoo onTuesday evening - especially the slide show.

Altogether a smashing weekend. Well done toeveryone, particularly Ali, Mitch, Jude and theirmany helpers.

See you WRG Working,

Liz and Jim Lamen

Letter to Mike Palmer from Richard Drake:

Dear Mike,

Please pass on my thanks to all who contributedto the success of the �National� at Waltham Ab-bey. As always the red shirts were much in evi-dence and the work they did was obvious for allto see. It never ceases to amaze me that thereare members of wrg who can turn their hand toany task that may turn up.

In particular I wish to express my thanks tothose who gave me personally support, help-ing with the luncheon on the Friday and theNational Chairman�s At Home sessions on theSaturday.

Well done everyone.

Yours sincerely

Richard Drake,IWA national chairman

Letters...on the National Festival andNational Trailboat festival.

Dear Martin,

NationalWaterwaysFestivalWRGBITMThanks

I would like to thank everyone who came andhelped on the BITM stall at the National Water-ways Festival at Waltham Abbey:

Sue Burchett plus NABO members who coveredlunch time Friday.

Bill Crockett who helped Friday, Saturday, Sun-day and gave BITM one of those skill gameswhere you try to pass a metal loop along a bendymetal wire trying not to make an electrical con-nection that sounds a buzzer. We sold lollies for20p, with a free go on the game and a secondlolly if you made it to the end without soundingthe buzzer; this proved very popular.

RayBevan,MatttWilson, David James and Familywho gave assistance Saturday, Sunday andMon-day. A special thank you to Mattt and Ray forstaying behind late onMonday to help pack someof the leftover stuff into boxes, and to David Paicewho help me dismantle the stall in the blazingheat of Tuesday morning.

We were visited by various BITM members, toname a few Eddie and Chris Evans, Ian andAnneSmart, Nick and Anna Stainer, Bernard Hughes,Mike and June Paice, Neil Evans andAnn Ridley.Thank you every one who donated items fromtheir lofts for sale.

Due to a cockup on our behalf regarding not send-ing in the booking form, we almost did not have astall. Thank you Jerry for finding us space.

Trade was slow on the Friday (normal for theNational), it was also slow on the Saturday(Rain). Sunday was much better; however, Iwas worried that we now had more fresh itemsof donated stock than we had sold! I needn�thave worried, because Monday was a stonkerof a day.

Thank youDaveWedd for assistingmewith trans-ferring the catering boxes betweenmy living roomand the van.

A big thank you to Ali Moore, Jenny Worthing-ton and Maureen Amos, who slaved away inthe WRG Catering hut producing those deli-cious meals that Jasmine and I ate readily.Thank you to Judith Moore and Michelle Par-sons who permitted Jasmine and me to usethe WRG camp facilities.

Thank you to the WRG campers for providing mewith lots of washing up Friday, Saturday, Sunday,Monday nights and the various people whohelped with drying up.

And finally thank you to Jasmine, my 5 year olddaughter who kept everyone entertained andbehaved ever so well considering the very longdays, for helping with the washing up by collect-ing the dirties, also for bringing me pudding toeat at the sink.

We turned over approximately £178, less £25 forthe lollies, making a profit of £153. All that�s leftto do is to hump the remaining stock up the stairs,up a loft ladder and into my loft for storage nextyear and refill the van with the tonne of equip-ment ready for the next dig.

Yours,

Graham Hotham

Dear Martin,

Thank you for printing my photo of the NationalTrailboat Festival at Ashby in your last issue. I�veno idea what the chap on the viaduct is doingeither, I was concentrating on the coracles (no-one fell in though).

As some of your readersmay have read the ratherlack-lustre description of this Festival in a rivalmagazine may I say how much I enjoyed thisevent.

We were particularly fortunate in being allocateda towpath-side pitch for the BITM publicity standso every time I looked up there was somethinggoing on.

The coracle maker opposite us encouraged peo-ple to try his craft, local canoeists demonstratedtheir skills on and in the water, the radio-control-led narrow-boats were amazing, steam-launch�Chantilly� and water-bus �Rosebud� ran regulartrips from end to end of the restored section, the�Elizabeth Rose� added her familiar touch of col-our and character to the proceedings, the Wil-derness Boats gleefully demonstrated their ma-noeuvrability and at frequent intervals the newswing bridge was opened for boats or closedagain to allow people across the cut.

As I wandered round the site I could hear mu-sic (folk, jazz, oompah or classical) from differ-ent directions yet none of them were so loudas to clash with each other.

There were a few clashes of arms on the farside of the Moira Furnace where the SealedKnot were demonstrating their swordsmanshipbut this too was very good-humoured.

A traction engine and various stationary steamengines added their quota to the festival at-mosphere - I was particularly taken with apumping engine which assisted �Charles� inproviding water for a young lady�s shower-bathand wondered if JP could work on this idea toaugment the sometimes limited village hall fa-cilities available to Canal Campers. [You obvi-ously don't remember the makeshift shower inthe old Gents' urinals in West Felton VillageHall, or you'd be wary of making such sugges-tions! ...Ed]

The local radio & tv stations gave the eventexcellent coverage, to judge from the steadystream of visitors, and the sun shone all week-end!

It was great to see this stretch of the canal backin water (BITM had joined in with several ofthe work-parties), to paddle our canoes fromend to end, and to see a working (and verynecessary) swing bridge where I last remem-bered seeing a rough causeway.

Congratulations to the Ashby Canal Associa-tion for their achievements so far, I look for-ward to sharing future re-watering celebrations!Some young Scouts on car-park duty chattedto us enthusiastically about their plans for ca-noeing from Moira to Snarestone when this iso-lated stretch is one more connected to the restof the canal network. I hope to doing the samething myself though I imagine wrg may be in-vited to the Ashby for a few more working week-ends before that happy time!

Meanwhile if any 'Navvies' readers are visitingthe Ashby area, do get yourself a copy of �TheLocals� Guide to the Ashby Canal and its Sur-roundings� by Douglas Maas. Published byInland Waterways Books (1 Bridge Cottages,Snarestone DE12 7BY) in association with theAshby Canal Association it is an eclectic col-lection of facts, history, legend and practicalinformation the like of which no conventionalcanal guide can quite match - and all proceedsgo to canal restoration.

Stella WentworthwrgBITM

Letter to Neil Edwards fromTonyHarmsworth:

Dear Neil,

On behalf of the Joint Management Committee,the Canal Director, and myself, could I ask you topass on our sincere thanks to the IWA�s Water-way Recovery Group for the sterling work theyhave carried out during August at the Basing-stoke Canal Work Camp.

The work, mostly undertakenon theWoodham flightof locks, has been of enormous help in ensuring thatthe work of installing the pump back scheme, by con-tractors, later this year will proceed smoothly.

The renewal of the collapsedundergroundby-washat Lock 3 was essential to the safe operation of thecanal and thiswas completed on time and at reducedcost largely due to the professionalism of the WRGand the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society.

Would you please pass on our thanks to MikePalmer for his efforts.

Yours sincerelyTony Harmsworth

Waterway Manager, Basingstoke Canal

Dear Martin

On behalf of the Lichfield and Hatherton CRTwe would like to thank everyone who helped dur-ing the WRG Works week at Darnford.

The fuel crisis did not prevent 19 or so from com-ing during the week to waterproof our trial 50 me-tre section which we almost completed . If the ben-tonite lining works as intended the knowledgegained whilst installing it will be useful elsewhere.

Particular thanks to Izzy who led the camp and toDan for setting it up. It was a very successful week.

We hope you enjoyed the party on Saturday andlook forward to seeing you all again.

Yours,John and Jan Horton

Lichfield &Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust

Letters"...the professionalism ofWRG and SHCS..."

WRGpast...1970:"Canalswerebeingrestored,whether 'they' liked it or not."WRG: past, present and future

As you may have noticed, this issue marksWRG's 30th birthday. And although we're moreinterested in showing that WRG is still at the fore-front of canal restoration, rather than reminiscingabout our long and (sometimes) glorious past, wedo feel that a look back at what we were doing andwhere we were going at roughly ten-year intervalsthroughout the history of the organisation woulddemonstrate how WRG has changed, and how ithas stayed true to its origins.

So here is the first 40 years of WRG. That'sright - I said forty!

1970 and all that...By the start of 1970 there were already 23 work-ing party groups across the country, many with alocal canal as their project, but several committedto travelling wherever they could be most useful.

The restoration movement had achieved startlingsuccesses. The Southern Stratford and theStourbridge had been open for some years. Op-eration Ashton, and the first mechanised big digsat Marple and Welshpool, had been feats of or-ganisation and publicity. The Upper Avon scoredanother first, building big new structures on vir-gin ground.

This was supposedly a good time for the water-ways. The new commitment by Government toamenity use, shown by the Transport Act 1968,was matched by increasing public recognition ofthe benefits the waterways could bring. Yet thiscommitment was not backed by resources, anda long list of waterways (the �remainder�) had beenplaced in the too-difficult pile, their closure retro-spectively legitimised. BWB was now forbiddento invest in their repair for navigation, and LocalAuthorities were not at all sure they wanted them;�regeneration� had scarcely been invented. Morepublic money was actually being spent on fillingin urban canals than on restoration. There wasjust a year left of the three-year period for evalu-ating the Remainder waterways, and they weredeteriorating rapidly.

BWB was not necessarily against restoration, butthought volunteers of little use. On the Erewashand at Dudley, for example, BWB allowed volun-teers to work, but not to use tools more powerfulthan thebowsawor thegrapnel. TheUnions tendedto see restoration as a threat rather than an oppor-tunity. Much of the waterways movement itselfthought that volunteers were of limited ability. ButGrahambelieved that volunteers could doanything,and that no restoration could happen without them.If a canal needed dredging, you needed not grap-nels but diggers; which meant you needed money.

The revolution which Graham Palmer led was moreof a process than an event, but its outward sign wasan astonishing tower of scaffolding at the GuildfordNationalRally in1970announcing thenewname �wa-terway recovery group�, beneath it glowering a bor-rowed lime-green Hy-mac. Photographic displaysshowed that all over the country, canals were beingrestored, whether �they� liked it or not; and that morecouldbedonewithreal tools.Thepublicwasimpressedas, eventually, were the authorities. We also became�poker-faced militants�, but that was a bonus.

Some of the projects under way in 1970 havelong since been completed; others are still goingon: but none has been abandoned. Groups suchas the Peak Forest and Bath & Bristol K&A/ SWIWAnot only kept up punishing schedules on theirown projects, but travelled to help others as well.

WRGMilestones: the 1970s1970: WRG founded at Guildford IWARally1971: Droitwich Canals restoration starts. First

lettermoaning about 'humour' in 'Navvies'.1972: First Canal Camp: Stratford Canal.

Ashtac Big Dig on Ashton Canal.1973: 600 volunteers at Droitwich Big Dig.

First LondonW.P.G. dig on theBasingstoke.1974: Ashton, Lower Peak Forest, Caldon,

Upper Avon all reopen. First Mont Camp.1975: First XmasCamp: Stratford. 'Navvies' cover

showsSteamdredger 'Perseverance' startingwork on Basingstoke Canal. London IWAWorking party becomes LondonWRG.

1976: "1000ft of Jubilee track and skips acquired foreventualworkonMont."(Themonorail?!?)Chris Griffiths leads 1st Huddersfield dig.PFCS Mobile becomes WRG North West

1977: Basingstoke Big Dig. Sleaford andWilts& Berks restorations proposed.

1978: Great OuseNavigation reopened. Navviessong book 'Ancient andBizarre' published.WRG runs the 'National' at Titford.

1979: 'Winter of Discontent' - industrial actionby Trade Unions stops volunter work onBW canals. WRG starts work on Frank-ton-Queens Head length ofMont.

WRGpast...1980: "The Transit: if you wereluckythereardoorswouldclose..."

At Bath, we had fun clearing out the locks atWidcombe, ready for BWB to fit new gates. Onthe Upper Avon, work was transferring fromGeorge Billington Lock to Pilgrim Lock, which washand-made from concrete blocks, and by far thebiggest structure built by volunteers. At Marple,the locals kept going all the time, with flying visitsfrom afar, tolerated by BW even when they usedrailway signal posts as temporary balance beams.There was a certain amount of discreettraspassing on the Basingstoke. Groups withoutmuch visiting help that year included the Caldon,Montgomery (fighting a bypass as well as to savea canal), Chesterfield, Erewash, Pocklington andBuxworth Basin. The Midlands IWA were clear-ing the Soho Loop. In September there was abig dig at Park Head by Dudley Tunnel, featuringStan with his banjo. Regular visits were made bymany groups to the Stratford, which was stillowned by the National Trust and needed a lot ofhelp. The winter of 1970/1 saw that programmeunder the direct control of WRG, and a lot wasdone, including interesting construction jobs aswell as lock-clearing.

So much work needed a great deal of organis-ing. Local groups had their own excellent lead-ership, but all regarded Graham Palmer as theirchief. He travelled all over, chauffered by MikeDay in his firm�s car and a constant haze of ciga-rette smoke. Long sessions in the pub were fol-lowed by crashing out on someone�s living roomfloor, a non-stop process which welded navvieseverywhere into a national force.

Graham�s original idea, from which everythingelse grew, was 'Navvies Notebook', then as nowthe liveliest of the waterway magazines. This in-volved further quantities of smoke, and muchpatient work with scissors, paste and Letraset -and eventually an ancient IBM golfball � beforebeing printed illicitly in the Stock Exchange.

Navvies was chronically short of money. Gra-ham was determined to keep the cost as low aspossible for those who turned out to do the work,but now it was clear that muchmore was needed,for equipment and plant hire. It was also time tobuy the first vehicle (a decrepit Workobus which Iwas ashamed to be the first to damage) and todream of buying diggers. So money-raising gotmore serious, and more effective, with extraordi-nary efforts all over the country, including the leg-endary Mr and Mrs Mac.

And so in the few years either side of 1970 therestoration movement made quantum leaps inorganisation, mechanisation and effectiveness,and became recognisably a young version ofwhat it is today.

Nigel Stevens

The 1980s...The early 80�s started with a similar �crew� of peo-ple in the hot seat. Graham Palmer as chairmanand editor of �Navvies� with Mike and Meg Day car-rying out print duties; all ably assisted by John Felixand Colin Butler - and of course many others.

However in the very early 80�s the �thud� of a copy ofNavvies fallingon thedoormatwas tending tobecomefairly irregular because of Graham�s commitment to�proper�work and other problems; he decided to relin-quish his position. Alan Rowe then became editor ofNavvies andAlan Jervis became chairman.

Also at around the same time the decision wasmade to go forward as a Limited Company, withall of the extra paperwork that this would entail,but it was really necessary to deal with VAT etc.Alan Rowe stayed as editor of Navvies until the100th edition in December 1985, Bill and SallyThompson then took on the task for the remain-der of the 80�s with the number, and size of theeditions varying through out the years. Once �Nav-vies�was printed itwasall collated,stapledandfoldedbyhand,andthenput intoenvelopesduringaneveningat a factory in Finchley; at least nowwehaveour ownmachines to do some of this, although these stillhave to fed the paper etc.

Generally in the earlier years there were not manyweek-long camps, with all of the work being com-pleted during weekend work parties: some timesthis could involve more time being spent on re-establishing the work site from the previous visitthan actually getting more work undertaken.

The type and quality of machinery varied con-siderably. (No change there then!) But at leastdumpers now have four wheels all of the samesize! Smalley excavators were used where per-mission could be gained for access, and then inmid �86 the Case Skid Steer was offered on a�Sponsor basis� to be used for advertising etc, andthen handed on to WRG - this machine is still do-ing good work. Obviously there were pumps inuse (and yes, J.P. was there then). Other piecesof plant have gradually been bought into use astime has passed and finances permitted.

WRGpast...1990:"theemergenceofLogisticsand the efficient supply of tools"

During this time the main form of transport wasthe Transit van - if you were lucky there may havebeen a bench seat to slide around on, or you couldwedge yourself between all of the kit. These vehi-cles were always kept in tip-top condition with therust buggnawingaway continually. If youwere verylucky then the rear doors would actually close andtherefore help to keep the bodywork in place.

Also during this time there wasn�t any limitationon the age of the people who attended the workparties, nor any such thing as driver authorisa-tion and WRG licences, and bobble hats wouldalways be worn rather than hard-hats; and so astime has progressed there has been consider-able progress in all aspects of safety at work. [notto mention sartorial elegance! ...Ed]

During the 80�s, Alan Rowe also ran the WRGSales Stand that was taken around all of the �Ral-lies� (as festivals were then called), selling paintedware, tea towels and many other items to raisefunds for waterway restoration.

A look at the names of canals being restoredduring the 80�s seems fairly similar to those cur-rently under work (Montgomery, Wey & Arun,Droitwich, Thames & Severn...), but there aremany others now being mentioned that weren�teven started then (H&G, Lichfield & Hatherton),and of course others (Basingstoke, Kennet &Avon) that are now back in use.

John Hawkins

...and so to the 1990s...1990 will probably be remembered as a year ofexpanding Canal Camps, centrally booked week-ends and the introduction of the driver authori-sation scheme for plant and transport.

However amore significantmilestone for the read-ers of �Navvies� might be the purchase of whatwas called in the committee minutes �a desk toppublishing system�. Alan Jervis had just takenover as editor of �Navvies� and soWRGwasmov-ing to the forefront of technology!

The exact sites being worked on today may notbe exactly the same as 10 years ago, but most ofthe canals will be familiar, e.g.: Wey &Arun, Cots-wolds, Montgomery, Wilts & Berks, Sleaford andDroitwich.

1990 saw the arrival of a �brand new� (to WRGthat is) fleet of vans with the benefit of Country-side Commission grant and support from IWAbranches. This was the first timeWRGhad ownedfour relatively modern vehicles for carrying vol-unteers to the expanding programme of CanalCamps. The fleet was on show at the NationalWaterways Festival at Gloucester - the first ofmany annual panoramic photos and inauguraldents to the vans. To the Canal Camp, the sitewas probably better known for the rather largebath at the rugby club that could accommodatea whole Festival sized Canal Camp at once. Ifnothing else, this shows that Festival CanalCamps have grown a little in recent years.

WRGMilestones: the 1980s1980: Union opposition prevents volunteer work

on all BW canals except Mont. 'Not YetNavvies 79' spoof issue published duringlengthy gap between 'Navvies' issues.

1981: WRG Stamp bank re-launched by Mal-colm Bridge. No 'Navvies' for 11 monthsdue to ill-health of Graham Palmer.

1982: Alan Jervis becomes WRG Chairman; AlanRowebecomes'Navvies'editor. WRGbecomes'WRGLtd.' John&Tess take over printing'Navvies'. Martin joins LondonWRG!

1983: First WACTWey & Arun Camp. FirstKESCRG Basingstoke Canmp. WRGacts as booking agency but doesn't runany of its own camps for two years.

1984: Stratford Blitz over winter 1984-5 at-tempts to clear backlog of maintenance.JP takes over running WRG Plant. NeilEdwards takes overWRGCamps.

1985: SueWatts takes overNavvies Subs -whichgets a computer! 100th issuepublished: "It ismyprivatehope thatweshall not see 'Navvies'200..." (AJ) . BillThomsonbecomes editor.

1986: Mr. and Mrs. Mac receive the IWACyrilStyring award for tea-brewing and waste-paper collection above and beyond the callof duty. Works starts on Barnsley Canal.WRG acquires Case skid-steer loader.WRG BITM formed.

1987: Biggest Canal Camps programme to date:12 weeks on 7 sites including first NationalWaterways Festival Camp: Hawkesbury."Happy 21st birthdayMKP" (Navvies 108)

1988: Death ofWRG founder Graham Palmer.Work starts at Aston Locks on Mont. StJohnsLocks (BasingstokeCanal) opened.First WRG Camp on H&G Canal.

1989: Lock work on Basingstoke completed.WRG Training launched. First photo byTim Lewis on 'Navvies' front cover!

WRGpresent"...The benefits of waterways arenow accepted by almost all..."

Whilst welcoming new vans, 1990 was time tobid farewell to old friends who had been regularfeatures in the minutes of WRG meetings - themonorail, the Droitwich dragline and the longreach Smalley, no doubt still mouldering in amysterious grave near the Wey & Arun.

Not unconnected with the growth in volunteersattending Canal Camps was the emergence ofWRG Logistics and the efficient supply of toolsand catering equipment to a gleaming standardnot previously experienced.

Other arrivals ten years ago, were the annual IWAcanal clean-up (WRG�s contribution being on theWalsall Town Arm), the purchase of the first ca-tering-sized cooker for large camps, WRG NorthEast and Navvies Anonymous (the original nameof �WRG Flying Squad� being veteod by theWRGboard as promoting the wrong image).

WRGMilestones: the 1990s1990: Kennet &Avon Canal reopened. Alan

Jervis takes over as 'Navvies' editor.Driver Authorisation Scheme launched.WRG NA and WRG NE formed.

1991: 1000volunteers at biggest everWRGBigDigonWilts&Berks.Basingstokereopened.

1992: WRG 'Barnsley Blitz' as part of 1st IWANational Cleanup weekend. WRG rescuestheWakefield 'National' from disappearingin a sea of mud. Dig Deep Initiativelaunched at the Wey &Arun Reunion.

1993: AstonNatureReserve built - probablyWRG'sbiggest singleproject todate. Martinbecomes'Navvies' editor. EssexWRG formed bymembersof IWAChelmsfordworkingpartyafter completeion of Chelmsford basin.

1994: FirstWRGCanal Camp in Ireland. World'sfirst plastic liftbridge installedonStroudwater.

1995: 'Dig 95' 25th anniversary big dig onThames&Severn. MKP replacesAJ asWRGchairman.MontPhase1opening includingnewGKPlockandunveilingofGKPmemorial. FriendsofAlanThorpe appeal.

1996: IWAGolden JubileeAppeal is launchedat the Earls Court Boat Show and buys'Blue' the excavator (named after BITM'srecently deceased canine chairman).Monorail finds retirement home. WRGNAget a web-site. First WRG Panto happens.

1997: IWAappeal buys us 4 Transits, includingour first ever brand-new van, RFB. FirstWRGTrainingWeekend. Aston Lockscompleted - but not opened yet! First BCNCleanup dig. Victory (at last) at Latton.

1998: TheWey &Arun Loxwood Link opens.The Female Flyboat Run. First WRGCamp in Scotland - Forth & Clyde Canal.

1999: Bugsworth Basin reopens. The 'Long Haul'boat-pull. Start of WRG work at Over.

As 1990 drew to a close, the traditional wintercamps were taking place on the Wey & Arun andMontgomery Canals and plans were beinghatched to celebrateWRG�s 21st anniversary witha Big Dig....

Neil Edwards

Forward from 2000...Looking back on thirty years it seems that wehave always had a battle to fight with someone,somewhere. Often it was BW, sometimes gov-ernment and occasionally the IWA!

Things are very different now, but I think I wouldbe wrong to say they are any easier, very differ-ent certainly but not any easier. Put simply it isalways easy to fight someone in a suit when theysay �No�, but a lot harder to put your case whenthey say �Yes, but�.�.

The benefits of waterways in general are nowaccepted by almost all of those we have tried toinfluence. (You know things have changed whenyou go to America and hear a property devel-oper quoting Tom Rolt!)

However the individual benefits (�you want thiscanal restoring right here, right now�) are just asdifficult to promote. Nigel�s comments on the 70sgive us a frightening vision of what happens whenimpressive words from the government are notbacked up with adequate resources.

But I am not supposed to be summing up thesituation now, Mr Ludgate says I am supposedto be looking forward.

Well as a link between the past and the future Ican say we will still be very dependent on yoursupport. The previous articles have all highlightedmajor steps forward as a result of sizeable gifts:the first Smalley, a new computer, the creation ofa van fleet. These are certainly memorable andtheir effect was great - but what about those yearswhen we didn�t buy some new bit of kit? On allthose �business as usual� days we were sup-ported by you, the legendary armchair supporter.

WRGfuture"...abigstepforwardwasanex-cavator;now it�sahandbook..."

It�s not a particularly well-hidden secret that manypeople who can afford to give more for their �Nav-vies� subscriptions do so, but what is less wellknown is the essential contribution that thesesmall amounts make. While it may be the gift ofthousands of pounds that buys the pump, it�s the'Navvies' subs that put the fuel in it (and buy thenew starting handle because we left the last onein the shed!!) So for all those that have added alittle extra in the envelope every year, my sincerethanks and please do understand that you haveplayed a very real part in every success you readabout in navvies.

So while I am in the process of thanking our sup-porters we must thank Waterways World for sup-porting our Canal Camps programme for somanyyears and I am pleased to say they will again besponsoring our Camps brochure.Wemust alwaysbe grateful to the local societies who help us outwith storing vans, etc.Andwemust always remem-ber to thank our (adopted) parent, the InlandWaterways Association, who continue to supportour core activities with a very generous grant.

All of that took a lot longer than I expected, whichjust goes to show that you can (a) never escapethe past, (b) never try and hide an appeal for moremoney and gifts in a �thank you� bit, and (c) neverwrite a short article while listening to a Genesisalbum.

Into the future...I shall try and get back to the future. I think thatthe increasing perception amongst the public thatwaterways are now �in safe hands� will have anadverse effect on our activities, but to complainabout that would be churlish. Whilst WRG hasalways done best when fighting as the underdogwe have also done pretty well when working withother organisations. So, while it may be deadlydull to suggest it, I think partnership with otherswill be increasingly common in the future. Thisdoes not mean that, when required, WRG will beafraid to stand alone, deliver passionate WinstonChurchill speeches and lead the volunteers intobattle, but hopefully these days will be few andfar between.

In a similar way we have to face the fact that it isimportant that TheWaterways Trust will be a suc-cess. For those that don�t know about The Wa-terways Trust (TWT) I hope to get them to writean article for navvies soon. TWT offer a chanceto move restoration into a much bigger dimen-sion. By this I don�t mean that they take overWRGor anything like that. Much more that I hope wewill complement each other; currently too muchof WRG�s time is taken up dealing with �yes wecan restore your bridge but no we can�t look af-ter it afterwards� or �in order to make this projecta success we have to help raise the funds�. TWTappear to be proposing they occupy that posi-tion and as such I look forward to working withthem.

With regard to WRG itself I can see no greatchange in the organisation beckoning. The ar-rangement of having some autonomous regionalgroups together with some centrally organisedevents, supported and protected by a legal Boardand communicated to by this very magazineseems a remarkably robust structure.

But Nigel�s comments that WRG was much moreof a process than an event still applies and I amsure that should change be necessary, then itwill occur.

Rest assured that as Chairman I am very awarethat volunteers have no reason to keep comingback other than they agree with what is beingdone. If we don�t get it right then collapse is cer-tain.

We have learnt lessons, such as our over-de-pendence on Duke of Edinburgh's Award volun-teers in the 90s. Equally Mick Beattie was cor-rect when he pushed for more training. We havealready tried to target more varied groups to im-prove the mix of volunteers. Training will bestepped up to ensure that our volunteers are bestprepared for the jobs that face them.

We will continue to push for the highest stand-ards, especially by use of the Practical Restora-tion Handbook on all the sites that we visit. (It isa sign of the times that in the 70s a big step for-ward was an excavator, whilst now it�s a hand-book! Still - that�s life.)

As for the actual nature of the work it is beyondme to predict this. After the immense strain ofOver I would love to be able to say that lots ofdevelopers are now piling resources into restor-ing all our favourite sites and next years pro-gramme consists entirely of easy lock chamberclearances on rural canals with nice pubs (re-member how simple life was on the StratfordBlitz?). But it doesn�t seem very likely does it?

WRGfuture"...if we don�t get it right thencollapse is certain..."

So the work will be amix of projects big and small.It seems everybody is bringing out their own pri-ority listings at the moment. But for everyone outthere with a waterway that needs restoring: restassured, we will still try and help you no matterwhere you are in anybody�s list so long as thework, beer and chocolate cake is OK.

It would be unforgivable for me not to thank theWRG Board and committee, both official andunofficial, past and present. It is also necessaryto remember my predecessors Alan and Graham, both of whom believed that �volunteers can doanything�. They were right then, they still are and I truly believe they will be in the future.

Best of all it has been the most tremendous fun. Long may it continue to be so.Mike Palmer

2001: Last ever Mont camp:Lottery funding packagepays for all remaining work.

2002:WRG driver authorisationscheme accepted by CITBas equivalent to profes-sional qualifications.

2003: First Canal Camps on thenewBedford-GrandUnionand Broads-Fens canals.

2004:WRGforms professionalconstruction firmWRGProLtd. in co-operationwith theWateways Trust to under-take non-volunteerwork.

2005:WRG (assisted by IWA)buys its first all-brand-newfleet of Ford Transit vansandminibuses.

2006: 'Navvies' celebrates 40years with all-colour issueillustrated with hologramsand scratch 'n' sniff pictures.

2007: EU harmonisation makes iteasier for UKWRGies towork on restoration abroad.WRG forms WRG-Europeoverseas arm.

2008: Jude becomes IWAchair-man.

2009: Government brings in newrules about trailer-towing.Nobodycanunderstandthem.(but nobody cares becauseevery work site has its ownfully-equipped on-site toolkit now, thanks to sponsorsBoddingtons, JCB and'WaterwaysPlanet'magazine)

WRGMilestones: the 2000s?The Good... ...the Bad... ...or the Unlikely?

2001: Last ever Mont camp: natureconservationinterestspreventany further work.

2002: Health&Safety legislationmeansWRGvolunteerscan'toperateplantwithoutprohibi-tively expensive CITBprofessional qualifications.

2003: Last camp on any canal -impossible to obtain insur-ance cover for sleeping onvillage hall floors, cateringby untrained cooks, unquali-fied camp leaders etc.

2004:WRG reduced to carryingoutlabouring jobs forprofessionalconstruction firms.

2005: Ford stops making Transitsas so few drivers have thespecial licence to drive them.

2006: 'Navvies' subscriptionincreases to £1.60 per year.

2007: EU harmonisation makes itharder for UKWRGies towork in UK - becausenobody in Brussels orStrasbourg has heard ofvolunteer canal restoration.

2008:Marcus becomes WRGChairman.

2009: Government brings in newrules about trailer-towing.Nobodycanunderstandthem.(butnobodycaresbecausenobody'sallowed todriveavananymoreunless theyhaveaspecial licence,amedicalexamevery2weeksandmembershipof the Freemasons)

2001: Last everMont camp:WelshAssemblyvotes torebuild itfor 1300 tonneEurobarges.

2002:WRGisappointedbygovern-ment tohelp improveCITBtraining up toWRG standards.

2003: 'Canal Camps' renamed'WRGforceworkingWeeks'as theword 'camp' is deemedto imply sleeping in tents (orhanging out with gays.)

2004:WRGPLCfloated on theStockExchange, takenoverbyVirgin and sold toMicrosoft.

2005: Ford produces a limited-editioncommemorativeWRG35th anniversaryTransit inauthentic rust-spottedWoolworths' Poppy Red.

2006: 'Navvies' sued for libel byBW;editor sent down for 10yearswith hard labour. (spends itworkingonBedford-GUandappliesforsentenceextensionso he can finish it)

2007: EU requires all Camps tohave at least one volunteerfrom each member state.

2008:Mick becomesWaterwaysOmbudsman.

2009: Government brings in newrules about trailer-towing.Nobodycanunderstandthem.(butnobodycaresbecauseWRGhavebeenexemptfromalldriver rules since 'Navvies'threatened togopublic aboutJohnPrescott, theTirforwinchand the sanitary station.)

WRG BITM on the Lichfield Canal:July 2000

6.30 Friday evening: I arrive homewith Jasmine,after collecting her from Cathy the child minder,on route from work. Having done a hard days of-fice job, its was time to go into blue-arse-fly mode -Cook dinner - Pack Jasmine's weekend kit for astay at Grannies - Pack my kit for a stay in a villagehall - Pack the BITM van with both kits - Checktyres, lights, fluids and sanity - Then eat dinner.

Around 9.00 pm: I phoned Sue Burchett fromoutside Jasmines grandparents' house, to say Iwason my way. 45 minutes later, I arrived in Readingto pick up Sue, Mike Paice and Ben. After loadingSue�s kit, Mikes kit and the dogs kit we set off forLichfield. Mike got the widow seat, Sue got themiddle seat and Ben got the top of the catering kit.

Ash to Lichfield is about 140 miles, 22 of themknocked off in the trip to Reading, this left 120miles to go. No Friday night pint, ho-hum. Anyway, we got there around midnight.

We were greeted at the door by a number of ea-ger, friendly and familiar faces keen to unloadthe van. As they were gasping for a cup of teaand toast, in a matter of moments, all the cateringkit was in the kitchen, our personal kit in the halland the van shut tight for the night. What followedwas theusual teaand toast orgy, backgroundmusicprovided by a variety of air bed pumps. Then lightsout, into sleeping bag and off to sleep.

Morning came with a cup of tea in bed (Nice), thenbreakfast prepared by Mike (Sue got a lie-in).

After breakfast, I got on with the first and mostimportant job of the day, preparing the site brewkit, making sure it has tea bags, milk, coffee, sugarand water - then making sure it goes into the vanalongwith the cups. The next most important taskis to get the van to site at Darnford Road Lock.

Darnford Road is an impressive site, with its re-stored lift bridge and newly excavated canal bed- ready for lining. Assembled on site ready, to gowas an array of machinery, Kevin Angus, who isnow with us in spirit only, would have been in hiselement. One JCB, two dumpers, one very newlooking excavator, one compressor and piling rig.And there was Muriel, a Murrell dumper. This isan unusual beast, large fat tyres at the back, smallthin tyres at the front, large skip on the back thatlifts on hydraulics and tips backwards. A cab atthe front. The cab is laid out much like any otherdumper, steering wheel, seat and pedals in theusual places. However, the engine is mountedbelow and to your left, therefore the gear selec-tor was slightly behind and to the left. Gearchange was by way of three ratios and a forward-reverse selector. This means it has three speedsforwards and the same three speeds backwards.Despite its size and age (NO hydraulics to assiststeering), I found later that it was very easy touse. (Steering in tight spaces, the exception, re-quired Neanderthal arms).

First job on site - was to cut the vegetation back,thus allowing a clear view of the working area,where we had to drive some piles later. Then wehad to cut back the hedge, allowing enoughspace for the excavator to run along the top ofthe bank. During hedge cutting, came our firstbrew. By now the sun was beating down on usand we had worked up a good thirst. RachaelBanyard, Di Smurthwaite, StellaWentworth, DaveWedd, Mark Gribble, John Cheesbrough, JeffHall, Ian Lockhart, Ray Bevan, Mattt Wilson andMike Paice - got stuck in with various cuttingimplements.

Once the undergrowth was cleared, we foundsome very large pieces of cast iron. These werelifted away by excavator. It required several peo-ple round each piece in order to attach the chainsand lifting strops, with the smaller pieces, liftingand tipping them into the bucket.

By lunch time, a good bonfire was going and thehedge had been trimmed. Despite placing thebonfire down wind, with its very green and smokyfuel, Sod's Law came into action and the windswitched, sending the smoke in every direction,except down wind and down site.

page 38

WRG BITM...playing with Muriel atLichfield...

'Muriel' at work on the Lichfield. (GrahamHotham)

From the top of the bank, using the excavator,Stella and I pulled the heaps of soil up the bankshaping it into a canal profile.

Beyond the lift-bridge Barbara, JohnCheesbrough, Tony and Mark continued the taskof hedge tidying.

After morning tea, I tracked the excavator over tothe other side of site, from where I very carefullyexcavated and filled the dumpers with soil, oper-ating under high voltage electricity lines. JohnHorton drove Muriel and Stella drove the yellowdumper. Once enough soil had been transferred,the excavator was tracked back to the top of thebank, from where I continued profiling.

Later that afternoon, a special ceremonywas held.Aplaque commemoratingKevinAnguswas rivetedby Kevin�s family onto the newly driven piles.

After the final tea break, people began to driftoff. However, our work was not over - when Sue,Mike and I left site, we had to go back to the hall,finish the final cleaning up and load the van withthe catering equipment. This was done in dou-ble quick time. I then drove back to Reading,delivering Sue, Mike and Ben to Sue�s house.Then onto Ash to collect Jasmine and home forfood, a bath and sleep.

Graham Hotham

After lunch, some of us continued to feed thebonfire, playing the game �guess the direction ofthe smoke�. One of the dumpers was soon em-ployed as the distance from fuel to fire increased.Two people filled the dumper, John Cheesbroughdrove the dumper to and from the fire and oper-ated the tipping mechanism. Mark Gribble and I,using kebs, pulled the hedge trimmings from thedumper skip, onto the fire, as quickly as possi-ble, thus enabling John on the dumper, to re-treat rapidly, before becoming a kippered. In themean time, the piling operation progressed.

I was pulled out of the bonfire operation to driveMuriel. I spent the rest of the afternoon potter-ing from one end of site to the other with 20 tonneloads of soil. Rachael Banyard operated the ex-cavator filling Muriel and another much smallerstandard dumper driven by Stella Wentworth. Ifound one problem with being in an enclosed cabwith imaginary glass windows - that bonfire - de-spite giving it a very wide berth, it still succeededin filling the cab with dense eye irritating smoke,which refused to leave in a hurry. It certainlymadethe task of reversing the machine to the excava-tor all the more interesting.

That evening Kevin Angus�s family arrived, Tina,Retha, Matthew and Catherine, also Tony andBarbara Hinsley arrived. About twenty of us tuckedinto a wonderful dinner prepared by Sue Burchett.After dinner we held ameeting to elect a newChairPerson and accept a sum of money donated inmemory of Kevin Angus our late Chair Person.

Later a number of people wandered to the pub.The pub was busy due to it being the end of themusic festival. Ahuge fireworks display took placein the meadow east of the cathedral, which wecould see from the hall.

On Sunday, after breakfast, we continued workon site from where we had left off.

We had some equipment problems, the compres-sor did not want to start. After inspecting variousbits to do with fuel delivery to the engine, JohnHorton contacted one of the locals, who whiskedin a replacement. We also had problems start-ing Muriel. This was due to several gallons ofwater sitting in the bottom of the diesel tank. Thetank was drained of water, the fuel lines, pumpand injector system were emptied of mayonnaiseand then bled. Dave Wedd�s and John Horton�scars were used to boost the battery, to start theengine. After a bit of fiddling around John and Ieventually managed to get it going.

Mike Paice, Ray Bevan, Mattt Wilson, Jeff Hall oper-ated the piling machine, whilst DaveWedd lifted it upand down into position over the piles, using the JCB.

page 39

The BITM piling team at Darnford Lane (GrahamHotham)

BookshopAnother auction of second-handcanal books for WRG funds

The 12th WRG Auction of Old Canal BooksOver the past few months we collected more water-way books for fund-raising. As usual, we have de-cided that the best way to sell them off is to auctionthem through the pages of Navvies - with all the pro-ceeds going to help fund WRG�s Canal Camps. Allthe books (except where stated) are in good condi-tion. The reserves suggested are the minimum thatwewould accept and are approximately half the priceyou might see from a specialised book dealer. Youare invited to make your bids (in multiples of 50p

please). Simply list down the Lot number (the number on the left hand side) and the price you are preparedto pay for each book or other item being auctioned. The bidder offering the highest price for each lot getsthe goods at the price bid. In the event of two equal bids, the first one received wins. All proceeds go toWRG, so you can afford to be generous. All bids should be sent to Neil Edwards (WRGAuction), WRG/IWA, P O Box 114, RICKMANSWORTH, WD3 1ZY to be received no later than November 15, 2000.Successful bidders will be notified shortly afterwards. Delivery / Postage and packing is extra, at cost.

Lot Title / Author (or other description) Pages Date Reserve1. Royal River Highway � A History of the Passenger Services on the 320 1985 £7.00

River Thames. Frank L. Dix (Hardback - near new).2. Race Against Time � How the Waterways were Saved. David Boulton. 270 1990 £5.00

Story of the campaign to save the Inland Waterways. (Hardback - as new)3. Navigable Waterways � L.T.C. Rolt. The revised edition of Rolt�s 239 1985 £6.00

classic study of industrial archaeology. (softback � near new).4. Through Broadland By Sail and Motor � Arthur. H. Patterson. One man�s 141 1930 £6.00

thoughts and experiences cruising the Broads. (Hardback � no jacket).5. Exploring England by Canal � David Owen. (Hardback - near new) 208 1986 £5.00

Practical information for both the beginner and more experienced boater.6. Canal Cruising � John Hankinson. (Hardback - near new). A complete 112 1974 £3.00

guide for the beginner covering all aspects of boating.7. The Canal Age � Charles Hadfield. History of Britain�s canals and what 233 1969 £5.00

the canal age meant. Autographed copy. (Hardback � near new).8. The Somersetshire Coal Canal and Railways � Kenneth R. Clew. A 176 1970 £18.00

detailed look at the coal trade on this historic canal. (Hardback -near new).9. The Thames & Severn Canal � Humphrey Household. (Softback) 258 1987 £4.00

Wide-ranging chronological study of a waterway.10. London�s Waterways � Martyn Denney. (Hardback � faded cover). 192 1977 £4.00

Detailed survey of the history and structure of inland navigation in this area.11. Walking London�s Waterways � Bryan Fairfax. (Hardback � near new) 172 1985 £3.00

Selection of walks ranging from 1 3/4 to 12 miles, with maps.12. Canals in Colour � Anthony Burton. History of canals supported by 100 176 1974 £3.00

photographs by Derek Platt, of which 68 are in colour. (Hardback � near new).13. Water Highways � David E. Owen. An account of cruises on the canals 139 1967 £3.00

of Cheshire and its neighbouring counties. (Hardback � no dust jacket).14. The Ups and Downs of a Lockkeeper � Jake Kavanagh. The hilarious 103 1991 £2.00

antics of lock users as told by a lockkeeper. (Softback � good as new).15. How Britains Waterways Are Used � John Merrett. (Hardback�near new) 148 1958 £3.00

Simple informative story of the need and use of Britain�s waterways.16. Surrey Waterways � P.A.L. Vine. Chronological story of local waterways 96 1987 £4.00

up to the present day. Includes many photographs. (Hardback � near new).17. Waterways Restored � P.J.G. Ransom. A detailed look at restoration 179 1974 £3.00

projects covering 21 waterways. (Hardback � near new).18. The Canals of Southern England � Charles Hadfield. Detailed history 383 1955 £8.00

about every canal in Southern England. (Hardback � no dust jacket).19. Thirteen Rivers to the Thames � Brian Waters. Fully dimensional 180 1964 £4.50

survey of the Thames and its tributaries. (Hardback � tatty jacket).20. The Trent & Mersey Canal � Jean Lindsay. Detailed account of the 182 1979 £8.00

history and importance of this waterway. (Hardback � faded cover).21. Canal Books � Mark Baldwin. A guide to waterways literature with 96 1984 £5.00

advice for collectors, scholars and enthusiasts. (Softback � near new).

22. Wandering Wind � B.B. Children�s book about the canal adventures of 122 1957 £3.50Bill Badger and his friend Izzybizzy, (Hardback � slightly tatty cover).

23. County of the Thames � Annan Dickson. (Hardback � tatty cover). 148 1948 £4.00Complete guide to the Thames Valley, includes photographs.

24. Canal Architecture in Britain � British Waterways Board Publication. 40 £1.00Introduction to buildings & structures, Large format. Includes colour photos.

25. Know Your Waterways � Robert Aickman. Guide to England�s navigations 132 1963 £2.00by one of the founders of the IWA. (No jacket � ex library copy). Temprint Press.

26. Know Your Waterways � Robert Aickman. As above but published by 129 1960�s £4.00Geoffret Dibb Ltd. (No jacket).

27. Exploring Canals � Geoffrey Whittam. Guide book covering both 96 1968 £3.00canals of Britain & abroad and their history. (Hardback � near new).

28. Motor Cruising on the Thames � Geoffrey Essenn. Covers all aspects 80 1951 £3.00of cruising on the Thames. Includes maps. (Hardback � no jacket).

29. Stratford Upon Avon & Warwick Canals � G. Elwin & C. King. Guide to 45 1981 £3.50the towns and Villages on these waterways. (Softback � A4 Size).

30. Braunston to Brentford - G. Elwin & C. King. Guide to the towns and 56 1980 £3.50villages, describing historic features on this waterway. (Softback � A4 Size).

31. Black Country Canals. From the archives of the Black Country Museum. 30 1984 £3.50Many photographs with supporting text. (Softback � A4 size, as new).

32. The B.C.N � Robert May. Collection of photographs with supporting text 40 £3.00charting the history of the B.C.N. (Softback � A4 size, as new).

33. Through the Dutch and Belgian Canals � Philip Bristow. 39 Dutch and 206 1988 £4.0020 Belgian routes described, planned and illustrated. (Softback � as new).

34. Through France to the Med � Mike Harper. Comprehensive guide for 224 1983 £4.00any yachtsman navigating through the med. (Softback � near new).

35. Rickmansworth, Chorleywood & Croxley Green � Edmund Parrott. 128 1996 £4.00Selection of old photographs including parts of the Grand Union. (Softback).

36. Exploring Britain�s Canals � Paul Atterbury. A journey along some of 190 1994 £5.00Britain�s famous canals. Many colour photographs. Large format. (Hardback).

37. The Canals Book 1969 � Waterways Series. Scarce copy of the navigator 145 1969 £4.50guide directory. (Softback � tatty cover).

38. Report on Continental Waterways � A Contemporary Study. Prepared by 77 1975 £2.50IWA Inland Shipping Group. (Softback � A4 size, good condition).

39. Rivers and Canals � R.W Purton. Introduction for the younger reader 72 1972 £2.00explaining various aspects of waterways. (Hardback � near new).

40. Navigational Guide to the Shannon � IBRA. Charts 1 & 2. Covers 1991 £3.50Killaloe to Athlone. Scale 1:50 000. Folds out, glossy finish.

41. Wessex Waterway � Kenneth R. Clew. A guide to the Kennet & Avon 64 1978 £2.50Canal, lock by lock and includes maps/photos. (1Hardback, 1 Softback).

Below are a selection ofmaps varying in age and format that have been grouped together to be sold as one lot.42. Three maps: the Upper reaches of the River Medway, Kennet & Avon £3.00

Canal, River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation.43. Three maps: the Upper reaches of the River Medway, Basingstoke Canal, £3.00

River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation.44. Three maps: River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation, IMRAY £3.00

Map of Inland Waterways of England & Wales, Basingstoke Canal.The following lots are all original copies of IWA�s early Bulletins � the very small format � each packed withnews and information of the day, and nearly all are in excellent condition.45. Bulletin No 68 � features Civilised Transport & How to Start a Bolinder 99 1963 £2.0046. Bulletin No 69 � features Four Men in a Boat & The Underwater Telescope 80 1963 £2.0047. Bulletin No 70 � features �The Hawton Interim Report� & �Imperium� 92 1964 £2.0048. Bulletin No 71 � features Godalming Rally & Chairman�s Yearly Report 82 1964 £2.00The next lots are all original copies of British Waterways Inland Cruising Booklets. Most are in excellentcondition and contain many maps and photographs.49. Booklet No 5 � Cruising on the Shropshire Union Canal 52 1960�s £2.0050. Booklet No 6 � Cruising on the Oxford Canal (1 old 1 date shown) 44 1966 £2.0051. Booklet No 9 � Cruising on the Grand Union Canal � Part 2 38 1966 £2.0052. Booklet No 10 � Cruising on the Grand Union Canal � Part 3 2nd Edition 41 1963 £2.0053. Booklet No 11 � Cruising on the Macclesfield Canal (1 copy 1961) 30 1965 £2.00

WRG BITM Dig Stover Canal4th - 8th August 2000 (or panic stations...)

As secretary of the Stover Canal Society, I waswear-ing two hats when it came to planning this dig.

It all seemed relatively straightforward:

a) Book accommodation.b) Decide work programme.c) Get it agreed with the Stover Canal Society

Committee.d) Get it agreed with Teignbridge District Council

and Railtrack (the owners of the canal).e) Arrange to borrow/hiremachinery as necessary.

OK, so there were one or two minor complications,such as how to get machinery to site - Graving DockLock is half a mile from the nearest road, the towpath too narrow and overhung with trees to take adigger, and access across the fields from one endnecessitated going under a railway bridge too low totake a digger.We also had limited financial resourcesfor hiring equipment. However, Rachael and JedSmith, our Committee �machinery man�, felt confi-dent all these problems could be overcome.

So, I found a relatively comfortable room for sleeping12, and a nice big kitchen (at that point only10had toldDavetheywerecoming,and itwasa longwayformostofBITM). Rachael�s work programme was approved bythe Committee back on 20th June.All right so far.

I wrote to the Council with thedetailedplans, as they�darranged the necessary permissions for us before theWRGcamp in February. Rachael found that we couldborrow two pumps, so that we could pump out thelock prior to removing the silt. Jed said that he couldbring a digger in (and operate it) from his employersfor £40 a day, and planned to put in two heavy ironskids down into the dry dock, drive the digger down,where it could sit on the edge and scoop the silt out ofthe lock (we also hoped to borrow a dumper, so thatthe silt could be carted away for dumping in the field,forwhichwehadobtainedpermission).We�d obtainedtwo pairs of waders, so that our stalwart BITM nav-vies could then wade into the lock and shovel s..t intotheholewhichwas the furthest thedigger bucket couldreach, to repeat the process.

When we had cleared the lock, we could then starton clearing silt out of the dry dock, and assess thepossibility of removing the tree stumps without dis-turbing the stone too much.

The sides of both lock and dry dock were huge gran-ite slabs, and it was assumed that the base of thedry dockwould also be pavedwith these slabs. Therewas also a relatively small task in the work pro-gramme of extending and repairing a bridge over afeeder stream near Graving Dock Lock.

That was when things started to go slightly pear-shaped. Firstly, theCouncil wrote back tomeand saidthat I would have to write direct to Railtrack to get thenecessary permission, and they gaveme the nameofaman in Bristol. Ten days later, he wrote to me to saythat he�d passed my letter to a colleague, who wouldcontact me direct. Over the weeks that followed, ourChairman got increasingly panicky, as we neededsomething in writing. After four weeks, I rang the col-league,who turnedout to be inSwindon, andhehadn�tbothered to even read my letter. I managed to per-suade him to give it priority, and after a lot of ques-tions as to our intentions, he faxed through the per-mission - except that nomachinery would be allowed�

Half an hour later, I had a telephone call from theEnvironment Agency. It had come to their ears thatwe were intending to restore the canal, and howcould we even contemplate such a thing?The canalwas part of the River Teign (only in their eyes - itisn�t, and doesn�t touch the river at any stage), andwas also part of the flood plain, and if the canal wasrestored, we would flood the whole of Newton Ab-bot! I pleaded that if the canal was dredged, and alsoall the bywashes and feeder streams, thewaterwouldbe channelled, and reduce the possibility of flooding.However, he insisted that I�d got it all wrong, and saidthat they would have to insist that we didn�t do anywork at all on the actual canal, and could only dopath clearance work over the weekend. He alsoasked whether I had discussed our plans with Eng-lish Nature, as this was equally important.

By now, I was really getting worried. There was noway that there would be enough work to occupy allof BITM for four days with just path clearance (bythen 20 had booked - where were they all going tosleep - in my flat?), and this was only five days be-fore they were due to arrive. In addition, Sue couldn�tget there until late Saturday night - very late, as itturned out, due to the train breaking down. Luckily,I�d baked several large cakes in advance for theWilts& Berks camp on the following week, so they camein handy for this weekend instead!

I rang the Countryside Rangers to ask if they�d gotany additional work they wanted done, as we onlyknew of a short stretch of path that needed clearingof low hanging branches (under which walkers werehaving to limbo dance), but they had no suggestions.

I rang English Nature then, and more trouble. Was Iaware that great crested newts - a protected spe-cies - had been reported in and around the canal,and if we were going to do any work in the area, wewould have to have a herpetologist working with usat all times? What was a herpetologist? How doesone go about finding one, particularly at short no-tice? My turn to start panicking.

WRG BITM...struggling with officialdomon the Stover Canal...

After many telephone calls, I eventually managed toget in touch with one who worked for an environ-mental concern in Exeter. Another panic when sheexplained that they charged £400 per day to comeout. I pleaded poverty, and said that we were all vol-unteers, working for nothing, and she agreed tomeetme on the Monday evening after work, in her owntime, with no charge, and have a look at GravingDock Lock with me. Fantastic. Even better, when wecouldn�t find any newts, she agreed to contact Eng-lish Nature and say that it would be all right for us togo ahead and work in the dry dock.

It was finally all agreed onTuesday evening, two daysbefore BITM were arriving. Our Chairman was stillnot happy, and wanted to cancel it all even at that latedate, but Rachael insisted that she would take full re-sponsibility, and we were going ahead anyway...

Of course, after all the nervousness, not to mentionhysteria, everything went extremely well. We con-structed a ramp with a hired scan deck out of thedry dock, the silt was dug out and barrowed up theramp and spread, andwe started on the tree stumps.The bottom of the dock turned out to be cobbledrather than large paving blocks. One stump in par-ticular turned out to be very attached to where it hadlived for the past 50-60 years, and took a great dealof persuading, accompanied bymany grunts, groans,and curses (Stevie B. was there by then), before itcame heaving out of the ground. All of the stumpson the base of the dock were removed, leaving onlytwo growing out of the side wall. Fortunately, I�vebeen on a few cobblestoning courses, and I thinkmanaged to replace the uprooted cobbles to coverour vandalising.

WRG BITM"Is there a herpetologist inthe house?"

We found two parallel trenches, about 6� deep, 6�across, and 12 ft. long, which we thought would havehad long pieces of timber in to form a cradle for theboats to sit on while being repaired. As the timberhad long since rotted away, the stones would havefallen into the trenches without support, and we usedsome thin bits of timber left over from the bridge toform a shuttering, and filled in between with soil, atleast as a temporary measure.

The bridge was finished superbly, and the Rangerwas delighted at our professionalism! The regularwalkers on the path were very relieved that they nolonger had to limbo dance, and were very impressedwith the dry dock clearance. It is a really beautifulstructure.

So, no work on the canal itself but still a really goodweekend, and the Canal Society have got them-selves a showpiece to help persuade the Obstruc-tors to let us at least repair the locks, and the Soci-ety are very grateful to BITM for all they achieved.

Di Smurthwaite

Stover Canal: the drydock built into the side of Graving Dock Lock, seen atfter intial clearance duringFebruary's Canal Camp (Rachael Banyard) and after the August BITM dig. (Di Smurthwaite)

Bits & PiecesChristmas and New Year work.Andanother newcanal society.

WRG Boat Club News: The social gathering atWaltham Abbey went well, and I hear that a goodtime was had by all the members and prospectivemembers there, I will try not to sulk but thanks to abig coc... piece of mismanagement by a member ofBW staff we didn�t get to bring their working boat tothe 'National', as was planned. I didn�t get along tohelp much at all, only managing to be there one daytravelling by trainl! Still we got three new club mem-bers over the weekend.We�ve won a few - a further three have contactedme by post to join during the last few weeks. We�velost a few - one couple sadly giving up their boatanother two not renewed for last year.Don�t let this happen to you - Subscriptions arenow due so give us yer money!How do you spot a fellow WRG Boat Club memberwhen travelling around? If you look closely youshould spot the burgee on the window but as I usu-ally only send one it may be hard to find. How abouttreating yourself to a flag type burgee. Only a few ofthe original ones left.A new batch has been orderedor you could buy another sticker.Now to the busy social calender -Coming up soon will be the Easter Tour, The Com-mode Doors Cruise, Guest Entertainment Eveningand ofcourse the Laying Up Supper (or it can takethe form of laying bricks or hedge laying who�s go-ing to be picky about WHAT gets laid)TheBring-a-Boat weekendmay have been and gonealong with these other activities by the time you getto read this.TheAGM will be held at that weekend too so I hopeas many members as possible are able to attend.See you all soon

XXX SadieLou Kellett would like to thank everyone whohelped her in her quest for applying for a job recently:"you were all thoroughly fab, helpful and generouswith brain power, time, clothes, brooches, alcohol,Uncle Joe�s Mint Balls and congratulations. You�llall be welcome to come and visit when I knowwhereit is I�ll be living."...and congratulations from the Editor to Lou for get-ting a job that will bring her into contact with theMontgomery Canal in a professional capacity (asopposed to this summer�s camps, which brought herinto contact with it in a rather more physical way!) -I�m sure we�ll get it reopened soon now!Shrewsbury andWhere? Anew society is be-ing set up with the aim of restoring as much as pos-sible of the "Shrewsbury & Newport Canal" i.e. theShrewsburyCanal fromShrewsbury to its junctionwiththe Shropshire Union Newport Branch and the New-port Branch from there to the Shroppie main line.Full details as soon as we have them; meanwhilee-mail [email protected] for info.And finally the government have just announcedanother £19.75M for BW to carry on reducing thecanals' maintenance backlog. Good news - it makesit more worthwhile restoring more canals if some-one can stop the existing ones from falling apart.

Comingsoon (1): theDroitwichBonfire Bash, withLondon WRG, KESCRG, WRGNAand hopefully lotsof this summer's Canal Campers, on November 4-5.If you haven't already booked in, do so now: contactEddie Jones on020 8684 7741,mobile phone: 07850889249, e-mail [email protected] or see theWRGweb site http://www.wrg.org.uk for a booking form. Ifyouwant transport in LondonWRG'sminibus (departFriday 7pm fromWaterloo) please contact the editor.Coming soon (2): KESCRG and London WRGChristmas Dig on December 2-3 on the Wilts &Berks Canal, working on scrub-bashing and stump-pulling at Foxham and Lyneham and featuring Un-cle Ken'sMadParty Games (this timewith aGypsytheme), Real Ale by London WRG and Brian andMaureenAmos's super-duper Christmas food!!!Please book in advance - send a cheque for £12 (pay'KESCRG') with your name & address and a note ofany dietary requirements to:Brian&MaureenAmos,13 TrosleyAvenue, Gravesend, Kent. DA11 7QN.Coming soon (3): Christmas and New YearCamps. As well as the Alderman Brothers Camp onthe Basingstoke (details appeared in issue 182 butsee Diary on p19 and note that this camp now runsoverChristmasDay for thosewho really want to avoidthe relatives!) , there will be an 'official' WRG Campon the Wilts & Berks Canal. If you want to go onthis one, please book via IWAHead Office as usual.Work will include more scrub-bashing and stump-pulling type work plus hedgelaying and hopefullysome work carrying on building the lift-bridge thatwas started on the summer camp.Note the dates are 26 Dec - 1 Jan and the cost is£35 and not as stated elsewhere. Volunteers wel-come - especially ones who can cook! (see below)Apologies that despite this being the biggest everissue of 'Navvies' we still haven't quite got room foreverything. So you'll have to wait till next time foranother episode of the (n)ever-popular serial 'Bank-side', a whole-page WRG 30th birthday com-memorative 'Last Ditch' cartoon, a Dig Deep up-date and a report of what London WRG and KES-CRG have been up to lately.New on the WRG Web Site by the time youreceive this we should have lots more pictures of allthe WRG Works! events and all of the summer'scanal camps.Cook wanted for the Wilts & Berks Xmas / NewYear camp: contact Rachael Banyard (01249892289) if you can help.

Registered in Englandno 1599204

Directors :

John Baylis, MalcolmBridge, Roger Burchett,Ray Carter, ChristopherDavey, Helen Davey,Roger Day, RichardDrake, Neil Edwards,John Hawkins, JudithMoore, Michael Palmer,Jonathan Smith.

Secretary:

Christopher Davey

VAT reg. no : 285 1387 37

terest. Nothing printedmaybeconstruedaspolicy or anofficial announcement un-less so stated - otherwiseWRG and IWAaccept no li-ability for any matter in thismagazine.© 2000 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 711114

Navvies ProductionNavvies is published byWaterwayRecoveryGroupLtd, PO Box 114, Rick-mansworthWD3 1ZYandis available to all interestedin promoting 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-

Editor : Martin Ludgate35 Silvester RoadEast DulwichLondon SE22 9PB020-8693 3266Subscriptions / circulationSue Watts15 Eleanor RoadChorlton-cum-HardyManchester M21 9FZPrinting and assembly:John & Tess Hawkins4 Links Way, Croxley GrnRickmansworth, HertsWD3 3RQWatford (01923) 448559

TheWRGCanalCamps mobilephones:

07850 422156 (A)and

07850 422157 (B)

Noticeboard

For up-to-date information by e-mail aboutcanal restoration matters, subscribe to the:

Canal Restoration Mailing ListTo subscribe, simply send a blank e-mail to:[email protected] you've subscribed, any message yousend to [email protected] sent to all the other subscribers.

New on the 'net...Chris Spencer's new e-mail address:[email protected] web site for a canal that hasn't been built:http://www.bedford-mkwaterway.freeserve.co.uk/A new web site for theMelton & Oakham:http://www.waterways-society.co.ukLeeds & Liverpool Canal Society site:http://townsleyb.members.beeb.net/llcs/index.htmLapalCanal Trust site:http://www.lapal.org.uk

WRGOMETER? ? ??

person-days work byWRG so far this year

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.

Directory update....The Wooden Canal Craft Trust is now the"Wooden Canal Boat Society" at 5 OakenClough Terrace, Limehurst, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL7 9NY. Tel.no. 0161 3302315.Full directory in the next 'Navvies'.

'WRGometer'figure in thisissue for daysof volunteerwork done sofar in this our30th birthdayyear - as Idon't have thefigures formost of thissummer'scamps yet.But I'll carry

Unfortunately we don't have a

on chasing you camp leaders for num-bers and get a proper total next time.

MAGAZINESCollection of Waterways World - almost completefrom 1978 - available for a donation to canal resto-ration. Contact Tim Boddington on phone 01625-573376or [email protected] individual back-issues of all canal magazines(all proceeds toWRG) contact SheelahLockwood:phone 01908 675255.

page 45

Alan Jervis has a new mobile phone:07968 586326

Seen at the 'National' at Waltham Abbey...

...a fire engine, on display and on standby in caseof emergency.

"So what?" I hear you ask, "Is this going to beanother tortured pun about quantities of heatemanating from National Waterways Festivals?"

No, sorry, no NWF mickey-taking this time (Ohall right, if you insist - see opposite.) Instead, mayI draw your attention to the small paper disc in thebottom right hand corner of the window. What isit? It looks almost like... it couldn't be, could it...

It is! It's a BW licence - for anAvon Inflatable boat!But why? Are the Fire Brigade experimenting withinflatable fire-engines? Or maybe they figured thecheapest way to get the fire engine into the 'Na-tional' was to register it as an unpowered boat?Or maybe it carries an inflatable boat for use atwaterside fires - and it has to be properly licensedin case it's on a BWwaterway? I can just imagineit: flames ripping through Gloucester WaterwaysMuseum, members of the public diving from theupstairs windows into the docks, and a chap ingreen overalls demanding to see a boat safety cer-tificate, details of home mooring and a certificateof insurance for the rescue boat.....page 46

InfillBritish Waterways 'underfire' again?

Mrs. Smeaton’sGuidance

for Correct Comportmentof Ladies and Gentlemen

attendingVoluntary Working Partieson the Inland Waterwaysof these Islands of OursAs Imentioned when I penned the last of

these notes for our little journal, I am alwayshappy to domy best to answer such queries asyou the readers might ask from time to time....

DearMrs Smeaton,Iwonder if you could assistmewith

asomewhatdelicateanddifficult situationencounteredona recent canal camp?

Whilst appreciating, and indeed en-joying, the convivial �après-dig� whichoccurs at the accommodation, I wouldlike someadvice as to the correctmethodof obtaining an acceptable level of noiseon such occasions as thosewhere one hasretired to early, often to cook breakfastfor these self-same noise-makers!

Many thanks in anticipation,Yours faithfully�Sleepless in South Cerney�My reply to you, dear �sleepless�, is that

you should reward the virtuous and punish theexcessive by serving up a traditional CountryHouse / Empire breakfast consisting of cur-ried kedgeree, bloody kidneys, etc. The hearty,healthy sleepers will thank you for this, whilstthe otherswill give due consideration tomend-ing their ways.

This would not, of course deter any veg-etarian rowdies - if such can be imagined!

Failing the deterrent solution, you couldgive ear-plugs a wee try.

Alternatively next time, simply wait upuntil the right level of inebriation has beenreached amongst the assembled throng, ask fora volunteer to make breakfast (you will oftenfind that such volunteers are surprisingly easyto come by at this point in the proceedings)pack them off smartly to bed, and take overthe seat next to the Glenfiddich.

Yours ever,

Mrs.E.Smeaton

Shurely Shome Mishtake...

To save time re-typing those 'Navvies' contribu-tions that are sent in on printed paper rather thanby e-mail or on computer disk, the Editor uses acomputer scanner, and OCR ('Optical CharacterRecognition') software which can recognise theprinted words in the scanned image, and turn itback into a text file.... Or at least that's the theory.

Usually it's fine. Sometimes if the print isn't veryclear, it makes the odd mistake. Very occasion-ally it comes out with something really inventive -in the case of a fax received a few months agofrom Cotswold Canals Trust I reckon it's somemajor improvements on the original.... The Cotswold Canals are being restored as a"Waterway for Oil".. "Bovid Fletcher" has been to talk to the localsabout it.. It did well in the report by the "InclinedWaterwaysAmenityAdvisory Council" - indeed,it is listed as being of "Notional importance".. The Waterways Trust may be interested inbacking the project, following their successwith the "Undertone Lift"..... ...not to mention that great provider of jobs forthe unemployed: the "Rochdole Canal".... ...that's the one where all the funders havepledged to work together on the project withthe local "Carol Society".. You'll be able to read all about it in future in the"Notional Press"

Seen in the back window...

...of a Reliant Robin in East Dulwich.

And finally, still on the subject of Pant... following my comments last time about thePant dry section and the possibility of some future Pant-wetting... it would appear that given that theNumber One problem of this bit of canal is water-retention (it's had a leak, so to speak) this isunlikely unless some way of waterproofing can be installed... maybe what it needs is a Pant-liner...

InfillHaving trouble with ourWRG-water-Works...?

One of the many rejected designs for a WRGWorks logo.

And still on the subject of Pant(s)...

One can't help noticing that as mentioned bycamp leader Jen (see p12), the end-productproduct of Camp 11 at Over did look remarkablylike a huge pair of concrete Y-fronts.

waterwayrecoverygroup

JOCKEY Y-FRONT JOCKEY Y-FRONT JOCKEY Y-P A N T s

O v e rLichfield

Overheard at Waltham Abbey...

"Don't you mind spending all day shovellinghorse-dung from the Cavalry Display out of theentertainments arena?"

"No, not at all. After all, it makes a nice changefor WRG to be digging the shit out of NationalWaterways Festivals..."

navvies 183

Documents

wrg opera

canal camps

editor martin ludgate

martin ludgate inset

wrg andiwanwf volunteers

camp reportswalthamabbey

stover canal

martin ludgatebelow