navvies 217

N a v v i e s

waterway recovery group

Volunteers restoring waterwaysNo 217 June - July 2006

Contributions......are always welcome, whether hand-written,typed, on 3½" floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD or byemail. Photos also welcome: slides or colouror b/w prints. Please state whether you wantyour prints back; I assume that you want slidesreturned. Digital / computer scanned photosalso welcome, either on floppy / CD-ROM / DVDor as email attachments, preferably JPG format.Send them to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35,Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or emailto [email protected]. Press date forNo 218: July 1st.

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

In this issue:Chairman�s comment 4-5Camps preview the second half of thesummer Canal Camps programme 6-9Camp Reports Easter on the Lichfield and theWIlts & Berks, plus Canalway Cavalcade 10-17Diary Canal Camp and working party dates18-20Progress roundup of the latest news fromrestoration projects around the country 21-25Camp Report from the National Campaign Rallyon the Basingstoke Canal 26-27Logistics accommodation bucket abuse! 28-29And now it can be told how it allstarted - with piano-smashing 30WRGBC WRG�s own boat club 31Obituary the late great Bill Crockett 32Letters the mysterious Blaenau Navigation 33Navvies News do you want to cook for 140? 34Noticeboard 35Backfill A strange story from the USA 36

And next time.......we hope to include some camp reports fromthe first of this summer�s Canal Camps, the lat-est news on our autumn activities including theBonfire Bash, a Dig Deep update, and the fulldirectory of WRG and Canal Society contacts.

Contents

Cover photo: London WRG rebuilding the towpath wall above Lock 26 at Tamworth Road on a section ofthe Lichfield Canal that was buried in somebody�s garden until last year. (photo by Martin Ludgate) Below:Latest addition to the WRG fleet - a new 9-seater. The number plate commemorates the late Ernie H Pull

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Editorial

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When we�re not restoring canals...

...we seem to spend quite a lot of time working atboat rallies, waterways festivals and similarevents. In this issue you will find reports from TheInland Waterways Association�s National CampaignRally on the Basingstoke Canal, and one from IWA�sCanalway Cavalcade at Little Venice in London - plus the odd photo from the National Trailboat Festivalon the Northern Reaches of the Lancaster Canal. And elsewhere in this issue there is an article encour-aging you to come along and help at the National Waterways Festival at Beale Park on the Thames. Andin the last issue was an appeal for volunteer help at the Cotswold Canals Trust�s Saul Festival.

You might wonder why we spend so much time at festivals when we could be digging out derelictcanals, rebuilding locks, restoring bridges or all the other jobs more usually identified with WRG. Well,if it ever got to the point that we were spending more time on festivals than digging canals, you�d havea point. But if you look at the events listed above, nearly all of them have a direct relevence to waterwayrestoration. The Trailboat Festival is part of the campaign to reopen the disused Lancaster Northern Reachesand re-connect them to the rest of the waterway network. The Campaign Rally has a major role in the fightto save the Basingstoke Canal (one of the biggest volunteer restoration projects of the 1980s and wheremany of our current volunteers cut their teeth) from possible closure, which would be a disaster for therestoration movement. Saul raises the profile of the Cotswold Canals - and also raises a lot of money forthe restoration work. This year�s National Festival will be just down the road from the Wilts & Berks JubileeJunction project - with the opportunity to provide a lot of good publicity for the Wilts & Berks restoration.Even Canalway Cavalcade, which isn�t directly linked to any restoration projects, raises money forwaterways - and also provides London WRG with a chance to do some fundraising and recruiting.

So by supporting these events with volunteer labour, we�re helping them to raise money to support theprojects that we work on - which keeps us supplied with useful work, and keeps the restorationsmoving forward. And that�s quite apart from the fact that by supporting festivals we are helping ourparent organisation the IWA, which supports us with an annual grant each year.

Except when we�re building barbecues...

Those who view WRG�s festivals activities with suspicion might look even more dubiously at some ofour recent activities on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation, where London WRG recently spent aweekend - among other things - building brick barbecues for boaters. Not exactly mainstream resto-ration activity, even if it did mean we could keep our hand in at bricklaying. But once again there�s apurpose to a not-terribly-relevant seeming job. The Chelmer, scene of one of our earlier successeswhen volunteers completed restoration of the top end of the navigation in the early 1990s, nearly wentbankrupt recently and was only saved by an IWA takeover. It now needs a lot of work to put it on a securefooting - and keeping boaters on-side on a waterway where there are precious few boaters� facilities isan important part of this. Get them to support the navigation (and by the end of our weekend several ofthem had come out to help us) and it could be a real success story. Don�t, and you�ll end up as popularas BW are among many of the more cynical of boaters. If that means canal restorers building barbiesthen so be it - and Doug Beard will welcome any help if your group has a spare weekend.

So I guess what I�m saying is: yes, restoration is what we�re about, but sometimes work that mightappear only very vaguely connected with restoration can also make a lot of sense in the long run.

When we are restoring canals...

Fear not - there is still lots of real restoration work for us. See the article on pages 6-9 for the very latest onthis summer�s Canal Camps - you�ll find an excellent variety of work, including bridge repair (Wilts &Berks), lock restoration and rebuilding (Mon & Brec and Wey & Arun and this year�s new site, Lord Rolle�sCanal) and building a brand new junction (Wilts & Berks). And when you�ve decided which camp to go on,send your booking form off straight away! And once you�ve been on one of these excellent camps, youmight just feel inspired to write me a camp report for Navvies! In which case, the sooner you write it, thebetter. Not only will it still be fresh in your memory, but we might even squeeze it into the next issue.

And finally...

My thanks to Robert Goundry and David Thompson for responding to my appeal for help with restora-tion progress reports from canal societies for Navvies. This issue includes the first results of theirlabours - a 5-page progress section covering an interesting range of projects. I hope you like it - we�lldo our best to make these reports a regular feature of the magazine.

Martin Ludgate

ChairmanCampaign rallies: �Do notassume that mud equals disaster�

Chairman�s Comment

No time for much waffling and navel gazing in thisissue, you will be pleased to hear, as life is verymuch the traditional blur just before the main sum-mer Canal Camps season takes off.

The good news is that we have picked up our newvan D16 EHP (see photo on p2) and managed toget it sign-written and ready for its first outing in un-der a week (many thanks, as ever, to Neil Ritchie atContract Signs, who at one point was offering tomeet us at a motorway junction to sticker the sidesof the van �so long as it wasn�t raining too hard�!).The biggest problem was that the new all-singing,all-dancing DIGITAL tacho-graph was supplied with-out an instruction manual resulting in much scratch-ing of heads as �euro-friendly icons� and �helpfulinteractive user dialogues� were puzzled over.

Those that knew Ernie Pull (who is commemo-rated in the number plate) will no doubt find it ap-propriate that EHP�s first official outing was at theBasingstoke Campaign Rally at Brookwood. Ac-tually EHP could only look on from the sidelinesas it was far too shiny to actually take on site,and, to be honest, it was such a mud-bath thatdumpers and Land Rovers were more the orderof the day - I finally extracted the marquee con-tractor�s trailer late on Tuesday afternoon by pull-ing it out with a 7-tonne excavator.

But as with all the best rallies, do not assume thatmud equals disaster. This was a campaign rallyafter all and some determined political barrackingmeant that there was plenty of discussion going onat the official opening (including amongst a ratherbemused selection of French mayors on an ex-change trip from the Canal d�Orleans), and plentyof campaigning amongst the local populace.

Additionally there was a decent turn-out from theboaters who realized that just by showing up theyhad done their bit and settled down to show thatthey didn�t come for the bright lights and fancyentertainments, just the ability to moor up andenjoy a sociable drink with new and/or goodfriends. My thanks to all those who worked so hardto get things set up and keep them runningsmoothly.

London WRG build a barbecue (see editorial on page 3)

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An extra pleasure was the party to celebrate 40years of the Surrey and Hants Canal Society �good to see lots of familiar faces there, all usingthat special selective memory that we all appearto get when we approach 40!

One of the other jobs for our new van will be dur-ing the National Festival at Beale Park where itwill pop across to Essex, collect the new memo-rial stone to our founder Graham Palmer and de-liver it up to Oswestry ready for its installation byGraham Palmer Lock on the Montgomery Canalthis autumn (exact date to be announced). Againfor those that know of Ernie�s early work with Lon-don and Home Counties Working Party Group thisis a very appropriate job for EHP.

And just to complete this looking back at �the waywe used to dig� I rushed back from a site visit toLord Rolle�s Canal to take part in the IWA Dia-mond Jubilee dinner at Stratford. It really wasrather good and my compliments to the Arnoldfamily. It was a great chance to reminisce andrevel in the history of the IWA with lots of dirty laun-dry on display.

Some of you may well have heard somerumblings regarding costs at the National Festi-val. It is true that in order to try and be fair andequitable to all the different groups of volunteersthat work at the National we have managed to getourselves in a bit of a pickle regarding the issueof the wristbands that allow access to the siteduring the festival. Whilst we really are trying towork this out, it is unfortunately the case that (be-cause the system was applied before this prob-lem was spotted) we will have to run it this year.For those booking on the full camp this will notaffect you at all; however for those just bookingfor a few days, it will mean you may have to pay a

few extra pounds.This decision wastaken with all thebest intentions,and as the situa-tion is still fluid wewill try and put anupdate on thewebsite outliningthe situation.

Finally my thanksto everyone whogave a donation inmemory of Bil lCrocket - themoney is now sit-ting in our bankaccount and atthe next meetingwe will try to thinkof a fitting way ofusing it (hmmm -just how manytoasters can webuy?)

Hope to see youon site, or a bigfield in BealePark, this sum-mer.

Hugs and kisses

Mike PalmerA job for this summer�s Canal Camps: Lock 2 at Allt-yr-yn on the Mon & Brec

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Chairman�we have managed to getourselves in a bit of a pickle...�

Camps preview...in which Liz promises open-plan showers on Camp 0607...

What are you doing this summer?

Hopefully the answer is that you�re going ona Canal Camp or two. So to help you decidewhich one(s) to go on - and maybe, just maybe,to get your booking forms in soon - here�s thethird in a series of �Camps Preview� articlesto give you the latest on what�s happening.

This time we�re concentrating on the second halfof the summer. But first, here are a few bits oflate news about the first few camps which we cov-ered last time...

OK let�s get the bad news out of the way first:sadly due to the expected work not being avail-able, the Chichester Canal Camp (0603, sched-uled for June 24 - Jul 1) has had to be cancelled.But the good news is that the splendid leadershipteam of Spencer Collins and Steve �Big Boy� Barretthave been persuaded to take on running Camp0605 the following week on Lord Rolle�s Canalinstead. And anyone who booked on Camp 0603will also be offered the option to switch to Camp0604 on June 24 - Jul 1, also on Lord Rolle�sCanal with Chris Wicks and Alice Bayston incharge.

And speaking of Lord Rolle�s Canal, the workhas been confirmed as being a fort-night of pressure-washing, re-point-ing stonework, dismantling and re-erecting scaffolding (not becausewe�re put it in the wrong place, butbecause we�ll have finished one sideand want to start on the other) on anold tidal sea-lock by the Torridge es-tuary, in deepest rural Devon.

Another bit of bad news is that Camp0607 (scheduled for the Wilts &Berks Jubilee Junction project onJuly 8 - 15) has also got the chop.But the work�s been rescheduledand we�re confident that we cancomplete it in the remaining threeweeks starting with Camp 0605 onJuly 1 - 8, when your leaders are EdWalker and Liz Wilson, so let�s hearwhat Liz has to say about it...

We�ve got a very full program of work to keep usbusy, and are looking for lots of willing volunteersto help with towpath laying and fencing � plus therewill be lots of opportunities to operate big ma-chines including dumpers, excavators, rollers anda skid steer loader. We are particularly lookingfor instructors for these machines, even if youcan only attend for one or two days!

Accommodation is on-site and boasts the heightof modern luxury open-plan living including show-ers, sun-patio and panoramic views of the adjoin-ing rugby field. The fully equipped kitchen comeswith all mod cons including a Harri T and even adishwasher! We also have a full social calendarincluding Cider Farm Tour & Tasting (Woohoo!!),Punting in Oxford, and some jolly good outdoorRounders/Frisbee/Football/BBQ activity.

And don�t forget we�ve also got a fortnight of camps(0608 and 0610, July 8 - 15 and July 15 - 22) onthe Mon & Brec in South Wales led by RobDaffern and James Butler, followed by a thirdweek on the same site (July 22 - 29) run by ourregional group WRG BITM (please book this weekvia BITM rather than using the normal booking form- see p18-19 for details). There�s been a slightchange of plan: we�re not working on the Four-teen Locks flight, but a mile or so further downthe canal at Lock 3, near Allt-yr-yn, in an area ap-parently known as �Little Switzerland�. God knowswhy - I don�t recall seeing any cuckoo clocks,cheese with holes in, skiing or lonely goatherds -but it certainly is a really attractive part of the coun-try, especially when the sun shines. Which, de-spite what you might have heard about the Welshweather, is actually quite often. We�ve got a stonebywash channel to rebuild, and a lock-chamberto patch up, on a bit of canal that could see someboats on it in a very short time.

Boats through here by August 30th! The Jubilee Junction site

Liz

Wils

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And now for the rest of the summer...

...and we�ve got a couple of serious constructionjobs planned for the later part of the camps pro-gramme. We�ve already mentioned one of them(the Wilts & Berks Jubilee Junction); the otheris on the Wey & Arun Canal.

Last year we spent three weeks in the blazing heaton the Wey & Arun building Sussex�s biggest sun-trap - otherwise known as the new Loxwood Lock.This is part of a major project to get the canalback under the B2133 main road, which crossesthe canal only a couple of feet above water level.By building a new lock, we can drop the canal lowenough so that it fits under the road. Clever, eh?But what happens when you get to the other sideof the road - another new lock to bring it back upagain? No, that would play havoc with the canal�salready not-too-plentiful water supply. So instead,the entire canal is being dredged out about 1.7metres (or about 5ft 6in) deeper for a few hundredyards (or slightly less than a few hundred metres)until it arrives at the top of Brewhurst Lock. Thislock will have to be reduced inheight by about 1.7m to matchthe new level of the canal - andthat�s our job for this summer.

Rebuilding the lock chamberwalls, top sill, ground paddleculverts, gate recesses andeverything else involved in turn-ing a deep lock into a shallowone is a pretty serious con-struction job. This one will re-ally show the folks who thinkwe�re not to be trusted with any-thing more complex than litter-picking and grass-mowingwhat volunteers are actuallycapable of.

The first week (Camp 0609,July 15 - 22) is led by ourfriends in NWPG, the followingweek (0611, July 22 - 29) byKESCRG with Ian Williamsonand �purple� Steve Davis at thehelm, and the Wey & Arun Ca-nal Trust will be in charge forthe final week (0613, July 29 -Aug 5). But please note: youdon�t have to be a regular vol-unteer with any of these groupsto attend �their � camp - allcamps are open to anyonewho wants to join (and anywayhalf the folks involved in thesegroups seem to turn up onWRG camps as well!)

Oh and the good news - just in case the weath-er�s the same as last year, there are some treesaround Brewhurst Lock to shade us from the heat.And accommodation as usual is at Kirdford Vil-lage Hall, very convenient for the Foresters Armsand... well, it doesn�t really need to be convenientfor anything else, does it?

After that, we�ve got a choice between the Wilts& Berks and... err... the Wilts & Berks! So, notmuch of a choice there, then? On the contrary: itwould be difficult to find two more contrasting vol-unteer projects anywhere on the waterways...

Camps previewRaising the profile of volunteersby lowering the bed of the canal

Brewhurst Lock: our job is to reduce its height by 1.7 metres

WA

CT

Camps previewThe Wilts & Berks: build a newjunction or rebuild an original bridge

At Abingdon, Camps 0615 and 0617 will be carry-ing on from where Ed and Liz left off on the IWADiamond Jubilee project to build a new canal junc-tion where the Wilts & Berks Canal meets theRiver Thames near Abingdon. The original routeof the canal goes right through the middle ofAbingdon, which unfortunately means that it�sbeen fairly seriously built on during the 90 yearssince it shut. But a mile or two to the south of thetown is some nice open countryside where itwould be relatively easy to build a new canal -and there are even a couple of former gravel quar-ries that would make nice mooring basins if youlinked them together with new bits of canal.

So that�s what we�re doing - digging out a newlength of canal to connect the first of these floodedquarries to the Thames. There will be a lot of ex-cavation, some steel piling by the actual junctionand also some more environmentally friendly bankprotection along the line of the canal, plus layingtowpaths, putting up fencing and signs, and gen-erally making it look like a real canal in time for theofficial opening on August 30th - that�s right: twomonths after the major work begins, the first boatsare due to arrive. Scary or what?

Camp 0615 on August 5 - 12 is led by Harry Wattsassisted by Corinne Watson, then Izzy Gascoigneand Nina Whiteman take over for Camp 0617 onAugust 12 - 19. The accommodation will boastthe same luxury facilities as described earlier byLiz - apart from the lack of a Harri T in the kitchen.Instead, a Helen G will be installed for the first week,then a Mark B (the real chef!) will be plumbed-infor week 2.

Meanwhile some twenty miles further west alongthe same canal at Steppingstones Bridge, a verydifferent project will be under way. The bridge is, notto put too fine a point to it, buggered. No, I take thatback - it�s well buggered. The arch has either col-lapsed or been demolished, one abutment has sub-sided, and the other needs major rebuilding - whichwill be the main job for Canal Camps 0616 on Au-gust 5 - 12 (led by Mike Palmer and Becky Parr)and 0618 on August 12 - 19 (led by Adrian Fry).

This is the absolute opposite to the Jubilee Junc-tion job: rather than building something new, we�rerescuing an 18th Century brick arch bridge fromthe last stages of decay. The Wilts & Berks haslost many of its original structures, and manymiles of its restored route will be on completelynew alignments where the old line has been ob-structed. All the more reason, then, to try to re-store those original structures that do survive,rather than simply trashing them and rebuilding inconcrete.

In many ways the two W&B projects are comple-mentary. And both are equally important in con-tributing to the eventual reopening of the canal,and in demonstrating what volunteers can achieve.

The bywash of Mon & Brec Lock 3 at Allt-yr-ynSteppingstones Bridge on the Wilts & Berks

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Camps preview...and Moose says �Get yourbookings in� (but don�t we all?)

It wouldn�t be a Camps season without an IWANational Festival Site Services camp, and thisyear it returns to the Thames at Beale Park withDave �Moose� Hearnden and Ed Higgins in charge.So over to Moose for some details...

Hi all, yes it�s me again. YES I am on thescrounge. Now Little Venice has been and gone,I�m now starting to bring my skills(!) to bear on theNational. Yes the one at Beale Park, betweenPangbourne and Reading: the Inland WaterwaysAssociation�s National Festival. Obviously I amafter volunteers - we always need volunteers!

But firstly for those who cannot understand why we(ie WRG) are working on this festival, here�s onereason. We in WRG spend quite a bit of moneyworking on restoration projects. Who pays for theprojects? Well, sometimes they might be supportedby National Lottery money, some money mightcome from a Heritage organisation, while other fundsmight be raised by a Canal Society. And a chunk ofit could well come from the IWA funding through therestoration grants and appeals that they run. And asuccessful National Festival can raise a lot of thismoney. So remember that without the IWA and Fes-tivals such as the National, there might not be the cashto keep us working on restoration projects - not tomention the support of IWA through insurance etc.

Another aim of the Festival is to bring local aware-ness to what people have on the doorstep. Howmany of us have a museum or some piece ofhistory near where we live, but never been to havea look at it? Bear in mind that this year�s Festivalis very close to the Wilts & Berks Canal whichneeds local support to match the volunteer workand funding that WRG and IWA can bring, andyou can start to understand why this and the otherfestivals are so important.

This year it�s the 60th year of IWA, and it would benice to get some lapsed WRGies out of the armchair: out with the zimmer frame and come downand have a get together in the festival. So with Jude�shelp we are planning to have a gazebo/marquee,set away from our normal position near the IWAstand) which can be used as a meeting point for usred shirts. If we have enough volunteers we will tryand have some Wrgies perhaps cleaning plant -the dumper, Blue etc and when that�s all done weperhaps can clean the tools of our trade from the kittrailers. The aim is to give a place for WRGies to beable to relax for a short while, if we have the heatwavethere will cold drinks (squash, no beer!) to refreshyou. (so I can get more work from you!) If it�s notso warm we�ll have a Burco for tea and coffee.

The work will be the usual National Festival work -fencing, banners, tables and chairs etc - and asusual the more volunteers the easier it will be.

Hopefully my next comment will relieve somepeople: car parking this year (again) is beinglooked after by our own Adrian Fry. I know he hascontacted some people regarding helping in thecar parks, but remember you still need to book infor accommodation (ie through Head Office).

I will be running the �team system� again as usedlast year and at Burton: it seems to work and mostpeople seemed happy. It would be nice to get thelapsed WRGies (with or without zimmer frames)working on site - last year two WRGies who hadn�tbeen seen at a festival since 2000 (?) suddenlyappeared. I must admit I did have to show �Little�Ben and Spence how to lift fencing blocks, butafter a day they got the hang of it.

Now the important bit that some Wrgies seem toforget... Please book in through Head Office. Itmakes it much easier for us to organise the camp.If you are not sure of how much time you can givethen give rough dates etc to Head Office, so weknow you are coming. You can pay in cash at thefestival but do at least tell us you are coming. And ifanyone is thinking of bringing a tent or caravan,then book early. I have several people who havealready booked in caravans and tents, so to avoiddisappointment please get in early and request apitch as there is only limited space. Only 3-weekworkers will be allowed awnings on the caravans.If you do not book in your caravan or tent in ad-vance, you will have to use the sleeping marqueeor camp in the camping field.

For those interested I might have a little advancejob for a few people on the weekend of 5th and 6th

August. The work is setting up the moorings onthe river for all the hordes of boats that are com-ing. Over 75 mooring planks are needed: the IWAWater Space team will be doing most of the workbut like most things a couple of volunteers will notgo amiss to spread the workload out. Not sureabout over night accommodation: the WRG Com-pound will not be up and ready at this time, butthere might be space on a boat. I will look into it ifwe have some takers. The work will involve work-ing near water, so life jackets will be provided.

For more details contact me on [email protected] or Tel: 07961 922153.

Camp reports...reporting from the Easter campat Tamworth Road, Lichfield

Camp 0601: Lichfield Canal

This was not the greatest camp in the world:This was just a tribute...

Saturday

The camp began in a flurry of not very much ex-citement at all. The Kit was counted (despiteAlice�s assurances that she packed the trailer �onlylast Thursday� things were missing), vans andtrailers checked, food bought and Thermarests,sleeping bags and airbeds abound.

Catherine (the bright-eyed,bushy-tailed, enthusiasticDofEer) says: It is mildlyscary, to say the least comingto a camp where you know no-body. But everybody immedi-ately includes you and putsyou at ease. It just remains to

be seen if I can last 10 days of hard work.

After receiving sage health and safety advice fromleader Phil and � via video � Mike Palmer, thecamp moved en masse to the KESCRG accom-modation. (It should be pointed out at this junc-ture that KESCRG were working on the same siteover the weekend. They also had rather nice ac-commodation, with what we hoped was a work-ing oven.)

Needless to say Eli produced a marvel from thekitchen which was enjoyed by all. After a brief in-terlude to sing �Happy Birthday� to Martyn, all pro-ceeded to the Bowling Green public house, wherethe rest of the evening passed in a happy haze ofalcohol and conversation.

Sunday

With what will surely be the most enthusiasm ofthe camp; we awoke with the bare minimum offirst morning hangovers.

The weather was bright and clear on site as eve-ryone set about their day�s work. This is of courseuntil Alice chose to sport sunglasses, when a dayof intermittent hail, sleet and rain set in.

Despite all, work progressed well throughout theday. Excavation of lock 24 progressed apace whilstconcrete was poured and levelled with unprec-edented zeal. As the day drew to a close lock 24was secured and the excavator returned � underthe expert guidance of Spencer - to the compoundby DofEer Kate.

Kate (enthusiastic - thoughdisappointingly lacking inbunny ears - DofEer) says:No one died! [NB The authorwas of course hoping for a nice�Aren�t canal camps great!�type comment. Sadly onewasn�t forthcoming.]

After another fantastic meal from Viv � the cheesymash being a particular hit � a vote was taken onthe week�s activities and the camp moved ontothe Fountain public house.

Here Viv was kind enough to introduce Spencerto a charming and eloquent � though inebriated �local who was willing to share his thoughts onsuch issues as piranhas, Koi carp, genealogy,local history, frogs (eradication thereof) and thefiner points of civil engineering health and safety.Needless to say this particular gentleman wasnone too impressed when Spencer proceededto describe his accent as �posh� and concludedthat that Man City and Man Utd were one and thesame football club.

Upon returning to the accommodation Ed was todiscover that the DofEers were somewhat lessinnocent than they first appeared and was ledhorribly astray as the evening progressed.

Monday

The day began with Ed suffering the after affectsof the previous evening�s meanderings from thestraight and narrow.

Onsite the brick work proceeded well and a startwas made on re-pointing the chamber of lock 25.

Up on lock 24 the team uncovered a series oflarge coping stones. After much toil, digging,scraping and pulling two were liberated by the endof the day. Only another 11 to go!

So back to the accommodation to clean up, eatand get ready for the bowling alley in Burton. WhichEd assured us was �chuffing grim!�.

After a �mystery tour� approach to navigation byAlice we arrived at the bowling alley; as promisedit was �chuffing grim�. Despite the less than salu-brious surroundings a good time was had by all.

Tuesday

A day of unrelenting rain put paid to any hope ofbricklaying. Catherine and Kate cheerfully en-dured a day brick-cleaning in the brew hut whilstwork continued clearing lock 24.

Due to an unfortunate sequence of drink spillageincidents Ed was presented with a �Tommy Tippy�child�s drinking cup. Once he had mastered thesucking technique, it happily ensured that mostof Ed�s beverages made it safely to his mouth.

After returning from site the opportunity was taken� whilst we went to shower - to use the swim-ming pool at the local leisure centre. We returnedmuch aggrieved to have been outdone by theWilts and Berks camp that had been to a swim-ming pool with a wave machine!

Before decamping to the pub the camp receivedan enlightening presentation on the restoration ofthe Lichfield and Hatherton canals.

Wednesday

Work on site finished at lunch today to allow us tovisit the Marstons Brewery. A fantastic tour wasrounded off in grand fashion with a pint or two inthe bar. Alice had indeed successfully or-ganised a piss up in a brewery!

We moved swiftly from the bar to the Cov-entry canal where we picked up a hire boatand enjoyed a leisurely cruise to the �Plough�.Being Viv�s night off as cook, a fish supperin the car park was the order of the day.

That evening Mark discovered the delightsof the DofEers� company.

Thursday

This morning Mark and the DofEers wereelected to help Viv in the Kitchen!

The rest of the camp returned to site andcontinued working.

Come the evening the DofEers won the pubquiz � it would appear that in the modernage knowing who to phone is more impor-tant than knowledge!

Friday

Despite the arrival of Chad and Nick, workcontinued apace on site. Two coping stoneswere removed from lock 24 and thanks toChad and Nick the tents were erected fortomorrow�s BBQ!

Phill and Anthony continued their sterling work onthe wing wall of lock 25.

Unfortunately we had to leave site early to use thelocal showers � which closed early over the holi-day. Alas this meant a rather pleasant evening inthe centre of Lichfield in a rather picturesque pubgarden. It is indeed a hard life on a WRG camp!

We then went back to the hall for our Curry Night.

Unfortunately we lost DofEer Kate tonight, thoughshe vowed to return for the final night party.

Saturday

Up at lock 24 the day was taken up removing aparticularly awkward and heavy coping stone.

The repointing of lock 25 continued as did build-ing up the height of the pound wall between locks24 and 25.

That evening we proceeded to Eric�s (Presidentof the local Society) back garden. Here we en-joyed � courtesy of Viv and Mark � a lovely BBQ.We also had the pleasure of meeting up with Sueand Roger Burchett with a nice shiny newly paintedboat Nackered Navvy.

Bricklaying on the wall between locks 24 and 25

The day also saw the arrival of vibrant pink T-shirtsfor Viv, Catherine and Ed. They sported a ratherfetching motif inspired by our local friend fromSunday night in the �Fountain�.

Sunday

Today Chad and Ed awoke without a hangover;apparently a first for a WRG event. This led tosome unusually efficient work from the pair whoreclaimed the bricks that had been spewed fromlock 24.

Adrian, Richard and Phil continued excavating lock24, today without the annoyance of coping stones.

The rest of the camp continued building up thepound wall between locks 24 and 25.

Late in day Adrian gave Ed, Alice and Chad animpromptu lesson in how to use an excavator.Whilst Ed and Alice proved to be quick learners,Chad was all speed and no skill.

Work was abandoned with great haste to allowthe camp to make it to the showers before theyclosed for the holiday.

After much sorting of tools and scrubbing of vehi-cles, �beer o�clock� was called and the final nightparty began. This heralded the arrival of Kate whohad not only kept her promise to return but hadalso brought cake!

Acknowledgements

Phil �the bitch�Rodwell � for organis-ing a fantastic camp!

Alice Bayston � for or-ganising all the eveningfun and frolics.

Viv Watson and MarkBrooks � for all ourcracking food.

Martyn Worsley � mostuseful person.

Jude�s Mum � for pro-viding us with cakes forlunch everyday.

Catherine Bufton,Phill Cardy, EdHiggins, Richard Tho-mas, Anthony Tidey �for making it all the waythrough the camp.

Garry Clarkson, Laurence Herniman, KateSmith, Richard �Chris� Tyler, Gav Moor, �Boy�Viv Thorpe, Spencer Collins, Adrian Fry, MikePalmer, Martin Ludgate, Nick Bennet, ChadReed and Steve Johnson � for giving us thetime they had.

Retrieving buried coping stones from Lock 24

Viv and Mark, providers of �cracking food�, in action on the barbecue

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Camp 0602: Seven Locks, Wilts & Berks Canal:�One down, one (nearly) ready to go�

You will, no doubt, be familiar with the Seven Locksproject on the Wilts & Berks by now: it�s part ofthe Dig Deep initiative this year, London, KESCRGand BITM have held digs there, and last year�sOctober Canal Camp took place on the same site.It�s a Good Thing: you can come back and seewhat progress has taken place - and progressitself is unusually dramatic by canal restorationstandards, because work has been concentratedon Locks 2, 3 and 4.

So for an extended period of ten days (taking inthe Easter Bank Holiday weekend) The OtherEaster Camp took place, with the express inten-tion of laying waste to Lock 4, among other things.The leaders were to be Jo �Smudge� Smith and(fiancé!) Dave �Taz� Tarrant but Dave had recentlyscored himself a promotion and with it came adifferent work rota, so Yours Truly deputised wherenecessary. This mainly meant driving van RFBaround and filling things up with the usual varietyof fuels: dumpers take diesel, the brick saw takes2-stroke, the genny takes petrol and the volun-teers take tea, sarnies and cake. The cook wasHarri T and the cakemaker in chief was Di.

Lock 4 has been declared unstable and is to berebuilt in new brick. The old bricks coming outhave been piled up and are gradually beingcleaned off and stacked onto pallets, as the locallandowner has an idea that theymight just sell on the architec-tural reclamation market. Anarmy of navvies (some of whichwere already veterans of thechamber �s clearance onSmudge-n-Taz�s camp last Oc-tober) reduced the walls downto waterline level (where a scaf-folding deck had been installed)and passed the bricks up to an-other army of brick cleaners andsorters. This was repeated ona daily basis until It Was An Ex-Lock.

Meanwhile, at Lock 3, hugequantities of concrete backfillwere poured into the trench be-tween the permanent blockworkshuttering and the brick lockwalls and the finishing toucheswere put to the brick coping atthe tail end. Di also managed thestonework and clay-puddling jobwhich saw the bankside mar-ried up to the wing wall on thetowpath side.

The concreting was, to put it mildly, a backbreak-ing task as the lack of a small excavator meantthat the aggregate had to be hand-loaded up intoa dumper. After mixing, the concrete was droppedinto a barrow and as a two-man lift brought thebarrow up onto the retaining wall another personbarrowed the mix into the trench. This happenedbarrow-by-barrow for about three days.

Lock 2�s clearance continued, on the top end of it(the rest is under the road and the tail is still bur-ied) with several enormous stumps coming outand bringing quite a few bits of wall with them.For reluctant stumps, we were fortunate to haveJonathan Todd on our camp. Now really, Jonathanshould be cloned, drilled and added to each Kit,as when heavy, repetitive work needs doing, hewill dispatch it with unbelievable ease and comestraight back for more. There was one occasion,however, when even Jonathan went to fetch a ma-chine, thus achieving stump removal and partialdemolition of Lock 2 in one go.

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Camp reports...and the Other Easter Camp atSeven Locks on the Wilts & Berks

Lock 2 at Seven Locks: Tirforing stumps out

Camp reportsMk2 learns a lyrically-simplisticsong about sausages...

The Camp featured a wide range of ages andbackgrounds from the Uni types to retired per-sons and the likes of me escaping office jobs.Robert Brotherston did his best to produce ex-cellent brickwork on the wing walls by day andeat everything in sight by evening; boatowner andW&B regular Jeremy became rather stuck to theconcrete job; a gang of three first-timers fromWorcestershire had a go at anything (until we discovered that one was an ex-civil engineer and a masterbricklayer!); Tim and Nick Snow put in a visit and once again became the formation concrete mixing team;John ate a dodgy pasty; Dennis did anything that came his way until it beat him (but he�ll be back, I reckon);and Becca and Mark once again gave Lock 4 their all.

Candi, wearing Ed Higgins� red t-shirt (Ed was on The Other Easter Camp at Lichfield), mainlyconcentrated on Lock 4 (and shouted instructions to anyone who was listening from deep within) andHelena developed similarly strong leadership skills (but without the vocals) as she team-led the re-moval of the offside wall. Backing these two up was former paddler Paul, chuckling away as ever.Quietly and gracefully, another new recruit called Louise tried a number of things and found time to teachme the words to her lyrically-simplistic song about sausages. In return, I taught her mine. Richard playedwith tirfors in Lock 2, bricks in Lock 4 and an MP3 player in the van, whilst Rowena made fire, played withbricks and plugged her minidisc player into the van when Richard�s MP3 wasn�t already there. What thesetwo don�t know between them about cheesy music could be written on a postage stamp.

Sideshows during the week included a trip to the permanent traffic jam called the Air Balloon rounda-bout, after which we snatched the last hourin Gloucester Waterways Museum. Thiswas followed by piling into Costa Coffeefor a very civilised caffeine fix and a fish-n-chip restaurant for, well, fish & chips. Thiswas rounded off with a visit to Over Basin, aprevious WRG project of renown. There wasthe obligatory Skittles & 6X Fest at the pubwith half a tun for a porch (never can re-member its name; must be the 6X) and wealso looked in at the White Hart at Lyneham� excellent beer and quite possibly the onlybuilt-in Twister mat in a pub � and the Fox-ham Inn, round the corner from the Read-ing Rooms which formed the accommo-dation. Oh, and several jigsaw puzzleswere completed, though one remainedsans sky!

We rounded off the Camp playing gamesand giving many thanks to Harri T for cook-ing for us and Di for making a us cake everyday, as frankly, without them, we neverwould have made it to the end.

Mark �Mk2� Richardson

Lock 3 at Seven Locks: finishing the wing walls

Lock 4 at Seven Locks: the chamber walls come down

Camp reportsMoose reports from the LittleVenice Canalway Cavalcade rally

We don�t just restore canals...

WRG volunteers often get involved in help-ing to set up, run and take down various wa-terways festivals and other events aroundthe canal system. These may be official WRGcamps (like the one planned for the IWA NationalFestival at Beale Park on the Thames this August- see page 9) More often they are �unofficial� campsthat don�t appear in the Camps booklet but whichwill be advertised in Navvies (and are sometimessupported by one of our regional groups), and atwhich all volunteers will be no less welcome.Recently we have been involved in three of these:the IWA�s campaign rally took place on theBasingstoke Canal, while the National TrailboatFestival went to the Lancaster Canal NorthernReaches this year. And in London, there was theLittle Venice Canalway Cavalcade. Dave �Moose�Hearnden reports...

Cavalcade 2006

This was the second time I was leading the vol-unteers for the Little Venice Cavalcade Festival.(Let it be known it is dangerous to get intoxicatedat a meeting of WRGies otherwise you might findyou have volunteered for all sorts of things. In thiscase it was Bonfire Bash 2 years ago - time justflies by!)

I think before I start this report I have an observa-tion. Why is it that even after several emails andarticles in Navvies, people still book in within aday or two of the event starting? I am for ever say-ing book in either through Head Office (forthe National Festival) or through me (in thiscase for Cavalcade). I want everyone to turn upand enjoy themselves but at places like CanalwayCavalcade where accommodation is at a pre-mium I cannot magic an-other boat out of thin air.For those who have neverblessed the Cavalcadewith their presence, theaccommodation is onboats, so I have to workout what accommodationI have - and how manyvolunteers have bookedin with me? Now you willunderstand the problem.I also had a problem thatwe believed that the mainaccommodation boatwould take about 12 Vol-unteers but as proved thisyear that was not thecase, and it would ac-commodate only 7 in to-tal. Why, I don�t know.

No one is saying if you have not booked in you can-not come, but please think of the poor leaders - justtry and give us as much warning as possible. Evenif you only provisionally say you will be arriving.

Now on to the important bit: the camp report butremember this was an unofficial camp...

Most people turn up at the camp, by car, train orbus/coach, but because the accommodation isin boats Maria and I turned up in our narrowboatDaisybob, which means the journey that wouldtake an hour by car from Stanstead Abbotts to theGrand Union Paddington Arm (right next to Pad-dington railway station in London) took ratherlonger. A cruise from our mooring at StansteadAbbotts on the River Lee to Waltham Abbey took3½ hours, then three boatloads of people fromSawbridgeworth on the Stort joined us. They in-cluded Gary, an old WRGie, (now with more greyhair), also Colin who helped Gary to bring his boatalong last year and liked it so much decided tocome back for more. Also an old chestnut in AndyHubbard who was last seen at the National last year(and before that at Waltham Abbey 2000 National)and is now a trained paramedic, plus his girlfriendJacky came along for the fun! And on the last boatwas Mouse yes that�s right MOUSE. (So manypeople got confused with MOOSE and MOUSE.)

Bungle at the controls of �Opportunity�

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Then on the Tuesday before the festival we took10 hours to get from Waltham Abbey to Padding-ton Arm arriving a little after 19:30hrs. This in-cluded stopping at the Pirate Club, (a children�swater activities centre), to load our accommoda-tion boat with items left there for storage.

Once I had arrived at Little Venice I had to make adash to go to a meeting, leaving the others to sortout their own food etc, Maria would be travelingby train as she had to work during the day, andmeet me at the meeting. Meeting over, it was backto the boat for me, to start preparing for the festi-val. Wednesday was a day of settling down andsorting out odds and sods, and the rest of the vol-unteers would start arriving.

Thursday was the start of everything happening.�Site 1� gave us an early alarm call so we were upfor the marquee man, who started putting up hismarquees by 7.00am, and we helped unload 185chairs, 27 wooden trestle tables and 14 roundwhite garden tables into a empty shop unit. Thissounds easy but it was a lift and a long walk in thebowels of the Paddington Central area. The fenc-ing arrived but we could not put up the compounduntil Paddington Basin had received their copy ofthe Health and Safety file, including all the risk as-sessments etc. but there was a delay..

Bungle, that very nicechap, was bringing ahired-in trailable gen-erator for the festivaland we had an agree-ment that it would bein a car park under-neath the towpath(yes it is really hollowunderneath the tow-path by the Padding-ton Central area).Bungle was due to ar-rive about 15:30hrsand in the morningthings changed andwe had no place toput said genny. Witha bit of frantic diplo-macy on PaddingtonCentral�s side and ourSite 1 speaking toMonsoon�s securitywith 5 minutes tospare we were giventhe go ahead. I hadjust received the OKthat we could use thespace when Bunglephoned up saying hewas there.

Also I was told we could start putting up the com-pound, so up went the fencing, tables and chairs,then our boat and the Pirate Club boat could beunpacked as that had now arrived.

Martin Ludgate from LWRG turned up with somecatering kit that I had asked for including first aidkit etc.

Things started to look good.

Friday dawned and Jenny our cook turned up(Maria had been cooking and being Site 2 andWRG 2 all at the same time)

The Tardis-shaped portaloos turned up and wereunloaded. You know when the loos turn up everything will be fine? Sometimes spanners are thrownin the works

During Friday it was a case of some traders com-ing in, banners and signs being put up. One prob-lem was we had no PLT (stands for �poxy littletrailer�), which has in its bowels fire extinguish-ers, 4-wheeled trolleys, 12 market stalls and morebanners. PLT was to have arrived on Thursdaybut Malcolm Bridge, who was bringing it down fromthe darkest depths of the north, had a slight leakon his radiator on his car, and being unable to geta replacement had to wait while they repaired his.

The pool at Little Venice full of boats for Canalway Cavalcade

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The PA man came in the afternoon, to rig up thePublic Address system for the weekend. Andyhelped him set up, and cable-tie everything down.The PA boat was connected up when it was fi-nally in position in the pool.

Three volunteers were sent off to Laburnum BoatClub to fetch the boat Opportunity, calling atCamden Market to pick up six market stalls onthe way back.

They were back by about 15:00hrs so after aquick cup of tea it was time to load up Opportu-nity with security fencing and to take it to the BWsite.

By this time the Waterspace team were organ-ising boats arriving from the visitors� mooringsand being placed in position in the pool, but theBW site is right were these boats were pass-ing. A quick call on the radio and it was clearedso Opportunity went with crew to move anderect fencing.

Oh what a fun time was had by all: traders hadstarted to come in, only a select few, but it wasenough. PLT and Malcolm arrived

Saturday morning arrived it was very cold but at07:00hrs we then had an influx of traders andmarket stalls had to be put together. The normaltables and chairs etc had to be delivered. At10:00hrs the festival opened, and all the volun-teers went back to the compound for a well earnedcup of tea.

All that was left was litter picking and the oddsand sods, e.g. moving tables and chairs. Then atthe end of Saturday, a bit more litter picking andtidying away things that might go missing over-night.

Sunday morning: as my alarm went off I couldhear the rain bouncing off the roof of the boat.Oh well, we had to start, and after a quick litterpick and placing out the chairs and tables itstopped raining and the sun could almost beseen coming out just as the show openedagain.

I was asked by Commercial if we could movefive market stalls, as the situation they were inwas not the best and it was decided we had abetter position for them. These stalls weremoved very quickly and were set up in time forthe traders to come back and load their wareson top.

Monday was jut the same: it was raining whenmy alarm went off but the rain stopped almost asthe show opened.

After the rush of closing the event, taking backthe items that go walkies like tables, chairs, fireextinguishers etc (and helping Malcolm and Bun-gle to do a kit check on the �pasty wagon� LandRover as it was reloaded) we had the normal endof camp BBQ in the compound. We invited othervolunteers who had helped to make the festival asuccess; some of these people I will be workingwith for the National. Shame we were so late.

Packing up the event was almost identical to set-ting it up except in reverse. Three people went offwith Opportunity and market stalls and then ar-rived back by train. Volunteers started leaving fromMonday evening, with the last departing Tuesdayafter lunch.

Several things come out of this festival:- Hurri-cane Bob from LWRG can be slowed down: justkeep giving him work, and slowly he slows down.Tay - even though he was up first with Adam fordirecting traffic - kept smiling. (or was he thinkingof ways to get his own back on me?) The lot fromSawbridgeworth could be convinced to work lateon site, so everyone else could go for their Chi-nese meal. (Sorry Maria & I could not make it -maybe next time). Rick and Taz are very activelitter pickers. I think Shelia had warned Jerry (himfrom Commercial) that he was not to throw hisradio to the fish this year, because he was madeto sign for it (in blood!). Bruce (Shelia�s other half,who are the parents of Elanor) who helped Bun-gle and Malcolm with the electrics.

I was a bit worried because while on Daisybobhaving my yearly bath my boat was rammed byanother boat not once but a couple of times. As-suming it was Bungle up to his normal driving Idecided to have words with him later, but forgotabout it. I was reminded about the incident byBruce saying he has been awarded his first WRGticket for boats - I asked when did he take this,and worked out it was while I was in the bath...

I must thank all the volunteers: those from WRGand those from Sawbridgeworth. We were shorton numbers but everyone with very few excep-tions worked their cotton picking socks off . Peo-ple like Elanor kept coming up to me asking forthe next job, or saying �you know where we are ifmore jobs come up�. As I write this drinking abeer, I raise my glass to you all. Thank you.

It leaves just to say thank you London WRG forthe loan of the catering kit etc and big thanks goto Jenny the cook for all her hard work, all the othermembers of the Cavalcade committee. All youneed to remember is it�s a joint effort, next yearwill be easier, won�t it??? And a big hug for Maria.

Moose

Canal Camps cost £42 per week unless otherwise stated.Bookings for WRG Canal Camps (those identified by a campnumber e.g. 'Camp 0604') should go to WRG Canal Camps,PO Box 114, Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114. Email: [email protected]

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DiaryJun 24/25 London WRG Wilts & Berks (to be confirmed)

Jun 24-Jul 1 Camp 0603 CANCELLED (was Chichester Ship Canal Camp)

Jun 24-Jul 1 Camp 0604 Lord Rolle�s Canal Camp: Leader: Chris Wicks, assistant: Alice Bayston

Jun 30-Jul 2 wrgNW Saul Junction Festival: Work party & Sales Stand

Jun 30-Jul-2 CCT Cotswold Canals Trust Saul Festival: see www.junctionevents.org.uk

Jul 1/2 KESCRG Wey & Arun Canal: Dig Deep project at Brewhurst Lock

Jul 1/2 wrgSW Saul Junction Canal Festival: Helping with Site Services

Jul 1/2 Essex WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project on the Seven Locks flight

Jul 1-8 Camp 0605 Wilts & Berks Abingdon Junction Camp: IWA Diamond Jubilee project: Leader:

Jul 1-8 Camp 0606 Lord Rolle�s Canal Camp: Leaders: ???????????????

Jul 1 Sat Navvies Press date for issue 218: including Canal Societies directory

Jul 6 & 10 wrgNW Tameside Canal Festival: Swingbridge erection (Thu) and dismantling (Mon)

Jul 8-15 Camp 0607 CANCELLED (was Wilts & Berks Abingdon Junction)

Jul 8-15 Camp 0608 Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal Camp: Bywash construction near Fourteen Lo

Jul 9 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings

Jul 15/16 London WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project at Seven Locks

Jul 15 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

Jul 15-22 Camp 0609 Wey & Arun Canal Camp: Brewhurst Lock (Dig Deep) project at Loxwood (led &

Jul 15-22 Camp 0610 Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal Camp: Bywash construction near Fourteen Lo

Jul 22-29 wrgBITM Monmouthshire & Brecon Summer Camp: Dig Deep project near Fourteen Loc(led & supported by wrgBITM)

Jul 22-29 Camp 0611 Wey & Arun Canal Camp: Brewhurst Lock (Dig Deep) project at Loxwood (led &

Jul 29-Aug 5 Camp 0613 Wey & Arun Canal Camp: Brewhurst Lock project at Loxwood (led & supported

Aug 5/6 London WRG Derby Canal

Aug 5/6 wrgSW Wilts & Berks Canal

Aug 5/6 Essex WRG Tool maintenance and catering trailer construction at Braintree.

Aug 5-12 Camp 0615 Wilts & Berks Abingdon Junction Camp: IWA Diamond Jubilee project: Leaders

Aug 5-12 Camp 0616 Wilts & Berks (Steppingstones Bridge) Camp: Leader Mike Palmer and Becky P

Aug 5-13 WAT Wendover Work Week: Bentomat lining

Aug 12 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

Aug 12-19 Camp 0617 Wilts & Berks Abingdon Junction Camp: IWA Diamond Jubilee project: Leaders

Aug 12-19 Camp 0618 Wilts & Berks (Steppingstones Bridge) Camp: Leader: Adrian Fry, assistant: ???

Aug 22-30 Camp 0619 IWA National Festival Camp at Beale Park: Leader: Dave �Moose� Hearnden, as

Aug 26-28 KESCRG National Festival: running Bhajee Stand

Aug 26-28 IWA National Waterways Festival: Beale Park, on River Thames near Reading

Sep 1 Fri Navvies Press date for issue 219

Sep 9/10 NWPG Mon & Brec Canal: Dig Deep project at Fourteen Locks

p Please send updates to Diary compiler:

Dave Wedd, 7 Ringwood Rd, Blackwater, Camberley, Surrey GU17 0EY.

Tel 01252 874437. email: [email protected].

page 19

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

[email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

[email protected]

Eddie Jones 0845-226-8589 [email protected]

Gavin Moor 07970-989245 [email protected]

Dave Dobbin 01702-544096 [email protected]

Ed Walker, assistant: Liz Wilson [email protected]

[email protected]

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

cks: Leaders: Rob Daffern and James Butler [email protected]

Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]


David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

& supported by NWPG) [email protected]

cks: Leaders: James Butler and Rob Daffern [email protected]

ks Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

& supported by KESCRG) [email protected]

by WACT) [email protected]


Gavin Moor 07970-989245 [email protected]

Dave Dobbin 01702-544096 [email protected]

s Harry Watts and Corinne Watson [email protected]

Parr [email protected]

Roger Leishman 01442-874536

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

: Nina Whiteman and Izzy Gascoigne [email protected]

??????????? [email protected]

ssistant Ed Higgins [email protected]

Eddie Jones 0845-226-8589 [email protected]

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected]

DiaryCanal Societies� regular monthly or weeklyworking partiesPlease send any amendments, additions anddeletions to Dave Wedd (address on previous page)3rd Sunday of month BCNS Jeff Barley 01543-3732842nd Sunday & following Thurs BCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Mon & Wed mornings CCT Cotswolds Dudley Greenslade 01453 825515Every weekend (Sat OR Sun) CCT Cotswolds Neil Ritchie 01452-8540571st Sunday of month CCT Cotswolds: summit Mark Welton 01453-872405Wednesday evenings CCT Cotswolds: East end Keith Harding 01451-860181Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 0296Last Sunday of month EAWA N Walsham & Dilham Kevin Baker 01362-6998554th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined PlaneMike Beech 0116-279-26572nd weekend of month GCRS Grantham Canal Colin Bryan 0115-989-22482nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010Wednesdays H&GCT Over Wharf House Wilf Jones 01452 413888Weekends H&GCT Hereford Aylestone Martin Danks 01432 344488Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 01663-7324931st Saturday & 3rd Wed. IWA Ipswich Stowmarket Navigtn. Colin Turner 01473-7305862nd weekend of month K&ACT John Rolls 01189-6663162nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Will Warburg 01931-7133171st, 2nd, 4th Sun + 3rd Sat LHCRT Lichfield Phil Sharpe 01889-5833303rd 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 01483-7217101st Sunday of month SNT Haverholme Lock Dave Pullen 01673-8622781st weekend of month SUCS Newhouse Lock Mike Friend 01948-8807233rd Sunday of month TMCA David Rouse 01474-362861Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657Tuesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot Colin Gibbs 020-8241-7736Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Peter Jackman 01483-772132Wednesdays WACT Loxwood Link Peter Wilding 01483-422519Tues, Thurs & Sats WACT Winston Harwood Grp Laurie Wraight 01903-721404Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar)Keith Nichols 01403-7538821st w/e of month (Fri-Mon) WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-874536Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Peter Smith 01793-852883Every Sunday W&BCC Dauntsey / Foxham Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Abbreviations used in DiaryBCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustDCT Droitwich Canals TrustEAWA East Anglian Waterways AssociationECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyK&ACT Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

KESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. GroupLCT Lancaster Canal TrustLHCRT Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n TrustNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietySCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietySNT Sleaford Navigation TrustSUCS Shropshire Union Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm TrustWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal TrustW&BCC Wilts & Berks Canal Company

Mobile groups' social evenings(please phone to confirm before turning up)London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days beforeeach dig. Usually at 'Star Tavern', BelgraveMews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094 oremail: [email protected]: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at the'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading.Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

Progress...on the Ashby NorthernReaches and the Basingstoke...

Ashby Canal

Restoration of Ashby Canal has progressed byleaps and bounds over the last year, with a newstretch restored, and approval given to reinstatea further 3 miles between the current terminusand Measham.

May 2005 saw the official opening of a further re-stored length of Ashby Canal, between Moira andDonisthorpe. The 700 yards of canal toDonisthorpe completed reconstruction in theMoira area, giving a navigable link of nearly 1.5miles between Donisthorpe Woodland Park, MoiraFurnace and Conkers Waterside.

Later in the autumn came the long-awaited newsthat work could now start on the Snarestone -Measham section, bringing the prospect of a fur-ther 3 miles restored by 2010. On 14 Septem-ber the Secretary of State for the Environment,Food and Rural Affairs approved the CountyCouncil�s application for a Transport and WorksAct Order to restore the canal - particularly sig-nificant because it is the first time this legislationhas been used inthis way.

The new and re-instated canalwill run for justunder 3 milesfrom the currentcanal terminusto Measham,where it will ter-minate at a newwharf. FromSnarestone to apoint near theformer IlottWharf, the canalis to follow theformer course ofthe Ashby Canalwith a newacqueduct overthe GilwiskawBrook. The newcanal will thenleave the route ofthe old canal tocross farmlandto join the trackof a disused rail-way line to Measham, crossing the High Streeton an aqueduct, sited where the old railwaycrossed the road. Once in Measham, the canalis to leave the disused railway line and rejoin theformer line of the Ashby Canal and terminate at anew wharf.

The order requires that works are ready to pro-ceed within three years and be substantially com-pleted within a further two years.

February 2006 saw preparatory work begin on thenew phase, with a range of studies and investiga-tions set in motion. These include trial pits andtest borehole drilling to establish the ground con-ditions for this major project, independent hy-drological studies to establish water resources,an ecological study, an archaeological survey byLeicester University, along with ongoing designwork by the County Council. The County Coun-cil is leading the canal restoration project, with

grants and contributionsfrom many local and na-tional organisations -among them the IWAwhich has provided£8,000 grant towards thesite investigation works.

The Ashby Canal Asso-ciation run regular workparties in support of therestoration. Details ofcurrent activities are avail-able from Rod Smith - seeNavvies Directory for con-tact details.

Basingstoke Canal(Surrey & Hants CanalSoc)

Brookwood: Work Par-ties for the year have con-centrated on theBrookwood Hospital Site,in preparation for theCampaign Rally in May.

Visiting Groups and Soci-ety Volunteers have been

working on the site since May 2005, completinginfrastructure and canal clearing in April 2006. 800metres of old chain link fence have been removed,moved by barge and off loaded into skips. An ac-cess strip needed clearing before machinery couldbe used for post removal and extraction.

Test borehole drilling for the Ashby extension

Improved access into the Park from the canal wasnext on the agenda, a ramp was constructed atthe halfway point with rails and revetmentsretaining the slope and providing a safetybarrier around the seepage culvert. Otheraccess points not requiring safety railswere constructed.

The very hot and dry conditions in June2005 were not ideal for surfacing the in-formal path along the north bank of thecanal with stone. Path formation, stonelaying and rolling teams moved along thepath, dumpers supplied the stone to thelaying teams from the jetty area. A total of400 tonnes of stone was laid over twoweekends in very hot and dry conditions;the stone had to be kept damp and thevolunteers required frequent supplies ofcold drinks.

A permanent 20-metre jetty has been con-structed from re-cycled felled timber fromDeepcut. The BCA provided the woodfrom the sawmill at Deepcut and our vol-unteers constructed the jetty early thisyear completing it in March. The site hasa Siberian climate in winter; cold hands resultedin nuts and washers falling into the canal andslower progress than we would have wished.

February and March provided the opportunity forbank side clearing, HSBC Volunteers andSwingbridge coppiced the low growth. WRG BITMcleared the mature and overhanging trees markedfor felling, also winching out stumps from thebank. Tug and barge-supported tree removal andlater clearance of overhanging growth from thechannel; Newbury Working Party and SHCS vol-unteers carried out this work.

St Johns: The pump installation at St Johns wasscheduled to start on 8th March; our volunteersare working on the flow meter chamber construc-tion so that the pump contractor can install themeter required by the E.A.

The pump will be powered by a generator for theduration of the Campaign Rally with electricity andtowpath works following in August/September.

Grantham Canal

The 29th-30th April bank holiday weekend saw thecombined team of Essex and Northwest WRGtogether with the local GCRS team decimate thefast-regrowing willows left in the bed after the 2004Bonfire bash on the Grantham Canal. Special per-mission had been obtained from BW for just thesetrees, as we were working within nesting season.

Just within welly depth but with the help of the oddYoungman board, the combined group made im-pressive progress along the section.

Our thanks from GCRS to Lynne (who sadly wasburgled at home whilst away on the camp!) andthe rest of the team (including Mr Mac and hisbrew expertise). We look forward to meeting youall again later in the year.

Colin Bryan

Stop Press: Bonfire Bash accommodation con-firmed. With kind permission of Trudy Brothwell,Head teacher, St Hugh�s CE High School,Grantham NG31 7PX.

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals

Trust volunteers have now completed Phase 1 ofthe clearance work at Wappenshall Junction,which lies at the joining of three historic canals �the Shrewsbury, the Newport Branch and theTrench Branch. The latter was a tub boat canalthat linked the industrial heartland of Ironbridge andsurrounding towns and villages with the nationalwaterways network.

page 22

Progress...and the Grantham, Shrews-bury & Newport and Sleaford...

Clearing stumps from the Grantham Canal bed

Over 150 man-days of hard toil have been ex-pended on the old Junction area, and it shows.The clearance work will prevent any further dete-rioration of this historic site, and has revealed theextent of the canal antiquities that still remain �ready for restoration and regeneration of the area.To mark the completion, a group from the Staf-fordshire IWA, led by Alison Smedley, made aformal presentation of a cheque to the S&NCT �the money to fund tools, hi-vis waistcoats and afirst aid box for the working parties.

On Friday 24 March, twenty volunteer workersbraved the cold, wet & highly un-springlikeweather to make a start on the clearance ofLubstree Wharf, just to the north of Leegomery,Telford, which is the terminus of the Humber Armand still has water for 200 yards. Fourteen of theworkers were trainee pilots from the DefenceHelicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, whilethe other six were stalwarts from previous work-ing parties at Wappenshall Junction.

Sleaford Navigation

Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership has offeredthe Trust a substantial proportion of the moneyneeded for its Head of Navigation project to re-create the waterway�s terminus in Sleaford includ-ing a new turning point and liftbridge. The Trusthas also discussed the possibility of obtainingWREN funding to make up the balance needed.

The new lift bridge installation will be project man-aged by the County Council Highways Depart-ment who are the owners of the current bridge,and already progress is being made with prelimi-nary sketches being shown to the EnvironmentAgency before being submitted formally.

page 23

The Trust hopes that the new bridge, which willbe much wider than the old one and thereforebetter for wheelchairs and pushchairs, will be inplace by the end of this year or early 2007. TheTrust have also been in discussion with WRG witha view to volunteer construction of the WindingHole and Slipway in the Summer of 2007. As yetthe talks are at an early stage but there do notseem to be any major problems so far.

In addition, the Trust is absolutely delighted thatthe restoration of Navigation House won a com-mendation in the Waterways RenaissanceAwards.

Group photo and cheque presentation to mark thecompletion of the S&N Wappenshall clearance

The low-level footbridge over the head of the Sleaford Navigation and its planned replacement

River Stour

Stratford St Mary Lock Restoration: After sev-eral years of deliberation and discussion, workstarted in 2006 on restoring the lock at StratfordSt Mary on the River Stour, a navigation since1705 that runs along the Essex / Suffolk border.

There are currently three working locks on the navi-gation: two restored by the River Stour Trust , andthe third a completely new lock built for the Trust.

page 24

Progress...plus the Suffolk Stour, SussexOuse and Sankey Canal...

Unlike the other former lock sites on the river, onlyat Stratford is there any substantial structure re-maining. When this lock is restored navigationwill be possible from the barrage at Cattawade(where the freshwater river joins the estuary)through the locks at Flatford and Dedham and thelock at Stratford to the confluence of the riversStour and Brett.

We have decided to do as much of the restora-tion as possible using volunteers. The progressto date is as follows:

. On-site meetings and discussions with theEnvironment Agency and the local waterCompany (Essex and Suffolk Water) - it wasthe forerunner of the water company thatlast restored the lock - in 1928.

. Three Saturday work parties with averageattendance of 15, mostly members of theTrust but also Ipswich IWA members.

. Many other smaller ad hoc work parties.

. Tool store on site (with many tools).

. Mess Room on site (caravan) cleaned out,awaiting checking and connection of gashob for brew-ups.

. work boat providing ferry service to lock fromWaterworks site.

. safety rails erected around whole lock.

. most tree felling accomplished on site - in-cluding clearance of main channel (whichwas blocked by fallen and overhangingtrees).

. tree stumps removed.

. sandbag dams above and below lock con-structed (to allow pumping out of lock andto protect volunteers).

. redundant power post removed.

. some spoil removed from just above andjust below one of the lower gates - but gatenot opened yet.

. lock sides cleared.

. some armorblock on the spillway cleared.

For further information please contact John Mor-ris, 01473 822612, [email protected].

The Sussex Ouse in brief...

The Trust has managed to agree with local land-owners that it should begin work on Isfield Lock,and work is scheduled to start on 13 May 2006.Additional volunteers are needed if the project isnot to turn out to be very slow!

Sankey Canal

The Society continues with its work to re-move debris from the canal and tidy up itssurroundings. At a recent working party inSt Helens the following were recovered fromthe canal:-

· 16 supermarket trolleys

· 6 bikes

· 2 pushchairs

· 1 computer

· 1 fisherman�s umbrella

· Various bits of fishing tackle

· and, believe it or not... 1 horse�s skull!

Some of the debris is pictured above!

Wey & Arun Canal

Next phase of the Loxwood Road Crossing:Many readers will be aware that in order for therestored canal to pass under the B2133 main roadthrough Loxwood, it is necessary to lower thecanal by 1.7m from the existing Brewhurst Lockon the south side to a new lock on the north sideof the crossing. The new lock is now at an ad-vanced stage of construction and the Trust mem-bers� thoughts are turning to the next phase ofwork � lowering the canal bed and towpath andalso the lowering of Brewhurst Lock to accom-modate the new water levels.

Agreement has been reached with a local land-owner to use the spoil arising from the excava-tion to raise the ground levels in a field adjacent tothe canal. The timing of this operation is depend-ant upon the harvesting of oil seed rape in the field,and then relies on dry weather for the movementof the spoil. The work on Brewhurst Lock will uti-lise the resources of three visiting groups of vol-unteers - KESCRG, NWPG and the WACT campteamp - who will spend their week-long summercamps in July working on this project, followed byweekends through the autumn, with the aim ofachieving an adapted working lock by Christmas.

The alteration work involves reducing the depthof the lock by 1.7 m by demolishing the copingsand upper stonework, and completely reconstruct-ing the upper cill area to suit the new water levels.

Progress...not forgetting the Wey &Arun Canal

The Trust is taking the opportunity also to lengthenthe lock to meet modern design parameters. Thewalls will be faced with site-made precast blockshaving a Fittleworth stone aggregate which givesa good match to the original coursed stone con-struction, and these will be backed with massconcrete. Probably the most time consuming taskwill be to extend the ground paddle sluices andthe associated vertical shafts which will accom-modate the new ground paddle gear.

At the Onslow Arms end of the lowered pound itwill be necessary to undertake some structuralwork to the banks to support the higher groundlevels and provide space for moorings. So thecoming months will witness a good deal of activ-ity on the canal as this major project takes an-other step towards completion.

All we need then is a new bridge to carry the HighStreet over the canal!

Graham Baird

Tripboat �Zachariah Keppel� in Brewhurst Lock. By Christmas, this lock will have been rebuilt 1.7m lower

Mar

tin L

udga

te

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO��Parking onthe field

Or: �WRG support the campaign rally on the Bas-ingstoke Canal�

Although many of you may think at my age I shouldremember the good old days of campaign ralliesI have actually only ever seen pictures and heardfond tales of fighting the weed and debris to reachthreatened corners of the system for a rally. (Al-though I have just got used to calling the National aFestival.) So when MKP sent round a messageabout supporting Pete Redway at the rally inBrookwood Park near Woking on the funding-threat-ened Basingstoke I thought it might be a worthycause to help over a Bank Holiday weekend.

I duly dropped a daughter off to prepare onionswith KESCRG for Wendover and drove to Sur-rey. On arrival I was politely informed the site wasvery wet so there was no parking on the field, buthaving persuaded the gateman I was there for thewhole 3 days I was allowed to park on the tarmacoutside the new sports hall which was the verycomfortable accommodation: hot showers in allrooms, actually, �home�, �away� and �referees�changing areas, and a digibox telly in the lounge.

I was met by a slightly flustered WRG Chairman,who having been told he needed to prepare for hisspeech at the forthcoming opening ceremony, wastrying to find clean - or at least less muddy - attire,and have a shower. He is next scheduled for one inJanuary 2007 for some reason that currently es-capes me. Well there is a drought order in the South.

I left Mike to his washing activities, donned my bootsand trudged onto site quickly appreciating thepremise..NO NO NO NO NO NO NO�Parking onthe field. A combination of 2 weeks� rain, a newlymown area of rough terrain, and pre-rally vehiclemovements, had resulted in a boggy site. Moosewas even having to be circumspect, if that is not acontradiction in terms, with his mini-tractor and trailerbut eventually had to be pulled out the mud by Rachelon the dumper, when he became over-ambitious.Moose of course blamed the fact the Kubota had grasstyres for the owner�s croquet lawn, which were notsuitable for rather this site�s more testing conditions

Jude was promoting WRG in what she believedwas the WRG tent, however it was later to be-come at various times, the Entertainments tentfor that popular group Leepers Kock sorry Keep-ers Lock, the changing room for the Irish Danc-ers (the organisers were sending them into thebushes behind the generator), the lunch room, thebar (thanks for the barrels Pete), a refuge for toadsand creepy crawlies, and an overnight storage unitfor exhibitors� wares.

Meanwhile the opening ceremony was underway,with a relatively clean MKP awaiting his momentwhilst the IWA Chairman and local dignitaries ac-companied by their French counterparts fromOrleans, made their speeches. The only thing wasthe French gentleman spoke no English so thelocal Society Chairman casually announced hewould translate, only to realise his �O� level school-boy French could not cope. Vive le/la EntenteCordial. Fortunately a member of the crowdstepped forward and saved the day. That wasthat and MKP had been fooled, he was not re-quired to speak he was just needing a showerafter several days wallowing in mud setting upelectrics and tents, as needs doing at these things.

The rest of Saturday went steadily with a smat-tering of people enjoying the small array of stallsmanned by their enthusiastic volunteers. Unfor-tunately the rain came just as the young IrishDancers were in mid routine but they soldieredon as the staging wobbled under their energeticjigging.

The rain helped spice up the mud and increasethe resemblance of the exits to the Somme, whichmade getting the coffee and ice cream sellers�vans off site even more of a challenge. Thankgoodness that Pete Redway�s son had a custom-ised Range Rover with extra suspension that coulddig deep ruts but still extract heavy vehicles. Thatwould help for Sunday!!!

There were an increasing number of referencesto Wakefield and Burton.

After ferrying stallholders back to terra firma weretired to a feast prepared by Jude and Helen whofed us admirably despite there only being a grid-dle and a baby Belling cooker. The evening wasspent in front of the telly with idle banter and remi-niscences.

Sunday was a better day; sun cream was dulyapplied before getting the stall holders back overthe mud and the coffee van and ice cream man insitu. The sun brought out the public, the ice creamvan did good trade, safe in the knowledge the Vin-tage tractor had volunteered to replace the dumperas his recovery vehicle at the end of the day.

page 26

Camp reportSupporting the IWA CampaignRally on the Basingstoke Canal

Much of the day was spent helping set up theSurrey & Hampshire tent for their 40th anniversaryparty� it was best that way as you should nevertrust an octagenarian lady with a gas Burco. Moretoads were rescued from under the sleepers thatwere used to stop the chairs and their users dis-appearing completely into the mud.

It did not rain all day perhaps because the localchurches (no Sign of the Vicar of Dibley) held theirservice in the middle of the site, but more peopleand the churning of the ground the previousevening had made the mud more hazardous. Thevintage tractor man duly rushed over to the icecream van at the closure of the day, and not with-standing his protestations that he still had cus-tomers, attached his ropes. Once the van wasup to its axles in mud the front wheels of the trac-tor started to lift of the ground. It was left to theRange Rover to effect a recovery, increase thedepth and number of ruts and thereby enhancethe resemblance to the Somme.

After another super supper we were all back onsite to marshall the crowds for the illuminated boatparade. That all went smoothly except for thesmall boat that found the winding point too nar-row and tried to sink a moored boat by ramming-rumour abounds the steerer went to United Dair-ies rather than Specsavers for his night sights.An effort was then made to empty at least one ofthe barrels of beer.

Monday lived up to the weather predictions: it be-gan to shower heavily as stall holders came onsite. One pair of chaps who had toys made mainlyfrom cardboard decided enough was enough andbeat a hasty retreat to save their stock becomingtoo soggy and unsaleable. For me their parting wordssummed up the spirit of the event: �We have nevertaken more than £75 in a day so we are over themoon to have taken over £100 on both days.�

The ice cream man surprisingly reappeared de-spite the black clouds and the fact he had beenup half the night cleaning mud from his van, butwisely took �advice� he should stay on the tarmacby the toilets rather than attempt to reach the site.

Despite some heavy rain and even hail stonesthe event continued and the weather even relentedlater on so a few more folk ventured out. The high-light of the event came late morning when we wereasked to go and meet a trail boater who havingbooked and cancelled twice had decided to comeat the last minute. As it was quiet on site we all 8went along plus Bob (London WRG) who hadpopped in for a look around. We duly stopped thetraffic to allow this IWA sticker carrying chap andwife to back onto the slipway.

He then proceeded to entertain/annoy us by slag-ging off WRG�s attempt at help at Lancaster wherehe had put his boat in the water at Easter,and bysuggesting to Bob who had covered up his WRGT shirt and did not look as muddy as the rest ofus, that he did not need the help of an interferingmember of the public, despite the fact ten sec-onds earlier Bob had shown him how his strapholder came undone. He tried to generally orderus about as if we were there for his sole benefitand when this met with limited success was veryrude shouting instructions to his long suffering wifeas she helped reverse the car and trailer downthe slip way. He eventually accepted a sugges-tion that by going forward the boat would besnatched into the water we left him to it, reassur-ing him publically we would be around to help ex-tract him, although privately vowing to be verybusy when that time came. He may still be afloat!!!Basil Fawlty eat your heart out.

Breakdown went smoothly; everyone got off sitewithout incident and by the time I left about 6.30all but the IWA marquee were down and the kit

trailer was al-most packed.

Overall a great3 days showingyou do not haveto have a supersite to have funbut with someenthusiasm andpurpose onecan raiseawareness ofthe need to keepthe waterwaysopen and main-tained.

Brian Bayston

page 27

SH

CS

Some of the 140 or so boats that attended the Basingstoke Campaign Rally

The Price of Fish �

It seems like a long time since I wrote anything forNavvies so I wanted to jot something down foryou before the main camp season starts. I needto remind you all of the normal boring annual things(regardless of if you choose to remember or evenread them at all!). Please don�t forget the usualplea from me to keep the kits as clean and tidy asthey should be when you receive them. In par-ticular there is all the brick kit and anything used

to mix muck or concrete including the cement mixers please � one of them was terrible but thanks toEd on the Lichfield Easter camp for sacrificing his toothbrush and tidying it up into a much better statethan when it went out!

At the end of the day it�s equipment for YOU to use, so please just take a little time to think about thevolunteers five weeks on who have to use it!

Please keep it clean and mortar/concrete-free! Can I also ask that you don�t clean the vans with the kit (orvillage hall!) mops please? I know reaching the high bits can be tricky but get something to stand on or justtake them to the nearest jet-wash (which is by far the better option anyway although not always the mostpractical if you�re out �in-the-sticks�!). We have a couple of very shiny vans at the moment so please try tokeep them that way by not scratching the paintwork with grit-filled mops! Thank you.

I grow tired of having to repeat myself (and I�m sure lots of you are bored of hearing/ reading it!) but Ialso have to remember that there are some people who won�t have read many Navvies issues yet!

I�d also like to draw your attention to the cost of various items in the kits so you may begin to appreci-ate what the upkeep of the kits entails (but don�t worry, I�m not going to list the entirety of the kits/costper item� it would use up most of this Navvies issue!).

But I really wanted to start with saying a few �thank-yous�. Thanks to Alison and Alice for coming overto mine for a weekend to help with kit-sorting prior to the Easter camps, and again to Alice for joiningme at the containers to �finish off� the kits immediately before those camps. A huge thanks to ourfriends John and Jan at Lichfield for letting us park VOJ and Kit B in their drive both before and after thecamp � much appreciated (and lovely to see you!)!

Thanks to both Easter camps for sending me postcards. I look forward to receiving lots more in thesummer when you�re all out having fun! Thanks to Harry and Bungle et al for servicing the trailers sothey�re now safe to tow � much needed and appreciated. And finally (for now), thanks to Bungle forPAT testing and all things electrickery-related � you all thought I was bad � not a patch on Bungle withhis toaster issues! Not that I blame him. At least someone else gets a glimpse of what I have to put upwith�

Which leads me neatly on to the cost of stuff: How, I hear you ask? Well, Bungle was whinging abouttoasters in the last issue and toaster elements were one of the items I was going to mention. I�veactually said it before but toaster elements cost over five pounds to replace every time someonesticks the knife in! Please use the toaster tongs provided and preferably don�t jam the bread into theslot in the first place. Ta.

After sorting the kits for Easter I came across an interesting thing� now don�t get me wrong, I wantyou to use the eyewash that�s provided but could I make a small request please? Could you try to refillthe white container in the (site) First Aid boxes with the bottle that�s nearest to its �use-by� date please?I understand when there�s an emergency you�re going to reach for the nearest bottle (of eyewash!)and that�s fine � an emergency is an emergency! It�s just that I found spare bottles of eyewash invarious places and ended up having to throw at least four out! Which at five pounds a bottle is justsilly and needless wastage.

Over the last few years I�ve included a couple of boxes of spare eyewash in the back of the vans (VOJand RFB) to remove the hassle of you trying to replace any used ones during the season. Pleasecould you all try to help us reduce this waste. Thanks.

page 28

LogisticsRemember why they are called�accommodation buckets�?

Now�s my favourite bugbear� accommodation buckets! Not the buckets themselves but the fact thatsomeone always manages to sneak them onto site! THEY ARE NOT FOR SITE THAT�S WHYTHEY ARE ACCOMMODATION BUCKETS! This year you should find new ones supplied, but bewarned I will stop including this item in the kits if you insist on taking them to site! Some (a certaincolour!) of these cost nearly five pounds too as opposed to your average builders bucket which isabout a pound! It has also come to my attention that the sack trucks (fridge-moving things for thosewho don�t know!) have been on site too. There was definite evidence of cement dust in with the mudon their wheels so please don�t do it! Please please please keep things meant especially for theaccommodation off site (yes, that means all those brushes too!)!

One item that does spend a lot of time on site as well as off is the mugs, and they get a lot of use too!Over the years countless mugs disappear into the canal aether, numbers dwindling as soon as theyset base on camp. But fingers crossed, you should have some brand new mugs appearing at a canalcamp near you soon - hope you like the new variety!

Now for photos � Things on this front are definitely better than they were before the digital camerareally took off but that doesn�t mean you can rest on your laurels! Oh no! I want you all to take lots andlots of groovy pictures and then send me them however you wish (details below). Thank you muchly.Any budding David Baileys or Harry Arnolds (!) out there? Get snapping! Thanks to Smudge and Tazfor the first cd of pics of the year! And I know there�s another one waiting for me from Lichfield too.Smashing, Guys!

I couldn�t finish without a mention of the passing of our favourite garden gnome, Bill Crockett! Alas, theToast Baron is no more. We�ll miss him lots, but remember him we shall.

On that gnote�

Happy Digging!Just Jen

wrg logistics, 45 Glebe Road, Sheffield. S10 [email protected]

page 29Caught red (or rather, blue) handed - using the accommodation bucket on site!

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN(The conception of WRG)

News about the forthcoming campaign Rally onthe Basingstoke Canal put the brain into recall:we had sort-of been there before.

In 1970 the Surrey & Hampshire Canal Societyhad been formed for about two years. An IWA Na-tional Rally was announced for Guildford, to be heldin the July of that year: one objective was to publi-cise the restoration of the Basingstoke Canal.

At the same time there was some discontent (byworking party/restoration members) with some ofthe IWA�s policies. I can remember going to theAGM in London with 16 proxy votes. Afterwards weadjourned to a pub around the corner where we wentinto huddles from which emerged the embryos ofthe Narrow Boat Trust and a Navvies Group.

I was responsible for oganising a Surrey and Hants�Working Party�stand atthe rally. We were in thefield, around the cornerout of the way. So wehad a lot of space.Some of the lads wereat work making paddlesfor lock gates, there wasa display of lock hard-ware, and prime positionwent to a large excava-tor on loan from DragonPlant of Guildford. Aweek before the event,more instructions fromFinchley control (Gra-ham Palmer�s place).The object and directionhad now changedsomewhat - �Get a Scaf-fold tower and somehoarding boards!!�Fortunatly the builder atShalford Water Workscame up with thegoods.

The Stand was assembled a couple of nights be-fore, and then I reported back to Palmer Towers.�Got to have a name �says he �and a logo�. Halfhour later another call �Waterway Recovery Or-ganisation�. So we started to think about signs,when the night before the event another call said�No - It�s the Waterway Recovery Group �

The Rally was a great success from all points ofview. The public spent money like it was goingout of fashion. When the London Group arriveddown in a couple of Dormobiles,one had two pi-anos in it. Apparently somebody had the idea of acharity Piano smash...

In those days, old pianos were two a penny andpeople had problems in disposing of them. ThePiano Smash consisted of two teams with sledge-hammers, breaking the pianos up small enoughto pass through the middle of an old Mini car tyre.

Word got around about this and we asked �canwe have it in the arena as an attraction on the lastday?� Alas problems... Preservation, Environ-ment, History... and all these things don�t just ap-ply to canals, they also apply to pianos accordingto the IWA/Rally hierachy. Lots of meetings and itwas cancelled.

The irony was that we then had to dispose of thepianos. There was a small Coucil dustcart thatvisited site every day, so we attempted to put themon it. Too big. Smash them up to get them on thewagon. Easy. All done.

Jim Woolgar

Where it began: the WRG display at the Guildford National Rally in 1970

page 30

And now itcan be told...A smashing time in Guildford!

WRG BC News May 2006

We were all saddened to hear of Bill Crockett�sdeath. Some club members, other WRGies and Iattended his funeral. He was a great bloke and aninspiration to all of us who lack �yoof�. There ismore about him elsewhere in this issue, so I willjust say that we miss him, his positive outlook andsense of humour.

I do apologise to all those that have been expect-ing communication from me as the boat club sec-retary. I epitomise our motto �incompetence at itsbest� *, and have managed to get all relevant pa-perwork in the wrong place when I am somewhere else and need it.

Patience dear members and prospective mem-bers, everything comes to he who waits� even-tually...

Saul Festival: Lots of members will be attendingthe festival, not all will be coming by boat. If youare there, please fly the flag and come and say�Hello�. If there are enough of us free, at the sametime, then we can have a sociable get together.

Beale Park IWA National Festival: We have ablock booking for those who managed to get formssubmitted in time. I look forward to seeing manymembers there. Please form an orderly queue asyou rush to offer help! I am hoping to be able tosort out the day, time and possibly even the venuefor the AGMwhile I am atSaul (butnote* above). Imay be able tochat to Impor-tant Peoplewho �knowthings� whilewe are at thefestival.

Lynne, ourC o m m o d eDoor has at-tended a smallgathering ofmembers, al-beit inadvert-ently, but thesei m p r o m p t uget-togethersare a greatidea. Consultyour lists ofmembers andsee what youcan do.

We are having a very busy year, so far, travellingbetween Lynx on The Shroppie (Where we had amost enjoyable gathering of friends and their work-ing boats at Norbury for May Day) and getting StrawBear to and along the K&A, not to mention otheractivities. Is it any wonder that I am even morebefuddled than usual?

Oh and another thing - those planning/wanting tocruise between Sharpness and Bristol. MalcolmBridge is unable to make the trip so won�t be or-ganising things. You will need to do this for your-selves after all. Sorry.

I look forward to hearing from members who gotto other exciting events this year.

Please send communications in PLAIN TEXT [email protected]. Empty wine bottleswith notes in are not acceptable, full ones and achat are!

xxx Sadie Dean

page 31

WRG BCThe latest news from WRG�sown boat club

Are you coming to Saul Festival?

Da

vid

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ObituaryThe late great Bill Crockett,destroyer of toasters

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you thatBill Crockett died on 5th April.

Those of you who have joined WRG during thelast 5 years won�t have known Bill which is a pityas he was a real character. He retired from toolmaking at 65 years and after a couple of weeksdecided to �do something to stop myself goingcrackers�. He tried various sorts of voluntary workbut wasn�t too impressed by their organisation.He then booked on one of our camps on theMont...

He was a bit concerned to find it was run by �twoyoung attractive females� (Jude Moore and RachelParr). At the end of the first day he decided that allwas very OK. I first met him on his next camp atBude. We got on and he fitted in well although hewas approaching 70 and the majority of the oth-ers were late teens early twenties. At the end ofthe camp Mick Beattie (the leader) told Bill to lookafter himself and he hoped to see him next year.Bill replied � Don�tworry I�ll be here.I�m saving theheart attack justfor one of yourcamps�! That�sthe first time I�dknown Mick stuckfor words...

Bill duly arrivedthe next year atBude. We used tobe woken at 7.30by the Pogues onMick�s ghettoblaster. On theTuesday Billwoke us up at7.25 with JimmyShand on a windup gramophone.It sounded aw-ful, mainly be-cause he�d notwound i t upproperly so thespeed varied.

I could tell many stories about Bill. The time hechristened Jude�s new BMW (he had helped toget rid of one and a half litres of scotch). The timehe lost his wrist watch and so on.

He attended many camps and quite a few BITMweekends over the seven years he was active inWRG. About 5 years ago he had to stop due toprostate cancer. That was eventually got undercontrol, but by then he�d developed heart prob-lems. The last time he came to a WRG campwas a visit to Beale Park festival three years ago.He�d got his �electric go-cart� as he called it. Afterhe�d had a brew he found someone (Jen) had putWRG stickers on it. Well, it was brand new & red!He was really pleased and when I saw him lastyear the stickers were still there.

He had a pacemaker fitted last June and was muchbetter physically (He�d never changed mentally).He was thinking of visiting some camps butthought that at 80 he�d not be able to do much.This wasn�t to be. His health deteriorated duringthe winter and he died of kidney failure.

He was a real mate, always cheerful and full offun. I phoned him in March he sounded still thesame old Bill. Cheerio mate - you�ll be missed.

PS He never did tell us how to cook a six coursemeal in a six slice toaster without blowing a fuse!

Roger Burchett

Bill at the National Festival at Beale Park in 2003

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LettersBlaenau Locks, MKP�s sanity andDavid Stevenson�s bank balance

Hi Martin

The picture on the back page of Navvies 216 [seebelow] brought back memories.

I spent one Christmas in the tunnel mess on theFestiniog Railway deviation helping to prepare forblasting for the new Moelwyn tunnel. The Christ-mas event was organised by the Northern Group,which numbered among it�s members some refu-gees from the Dudley Canal Trust (remember1973 :Tunnel Reopening At Dudley - TRAD?)

One of the leading lights from the DCT was ChrisChitty, who I think bore some responsibility for thelock 57 notice. The sign was situated near a lakeformed in the peat by excavating for the Southapproach cutting to the new tunnel. Apparentlyquite a few visitors were taken in due to the prox-imity of the hillside!

Chris was well known for his reworking of tradi-tional songs to fit the navvying context - The Leg-end of Brian Boru was not to be missed. Therewere other eccentricities at tunnel mess, includinga sign from Oxford Circus underground station onthe wall. My brother and my Mom were both DudleyCanal Trust and Northern group members.

I have forsaken subterranean Dudley to look afternuclear power stations in Canada, but the canalconnection remains as my brother still builds ex-ceedingly good narrow boats in Stourbridge. Keepup the good work with Navvies, I enjoy readingabout restoration progress even if no longernearby.

Andrew Harris, Whitby, Ontario

Dear Martin

Mike Palmer: is he mad or what?

Judging from Navvies No 216 Mike is right at thestart of his Chairman�s column in thinking that itmight be time for a change at the top.

He finishes his piece with musings on the BCNCleanup where people had grafted for hours todrag crap out of the canal, eulogising that it was�nice� to meet some boaters there who �wantedto put something back�. Yes, lovely, throw it allback in, why not? Was there well camouflagedirony there or has he flipped?

Some mistake, surely?

RegardsAndy Overton

...and thank you to Frank Wallder for a slightlyless subtle contribution along the same lines. ...Ed

Dear Mr Martin Ludgate (WRG and bar)

Do you realise that your organisation was respon-sible for the near early demise of an admittedlyelderly, but still quite active, former IWA NationalChairman?

Imagine the effect of having to open an envelopeat Breakfast time, which read:

** RENEWAL DUE** £2957.00David Stevenson NAVVIES

I was unsure whether to open the envelope orconsult my Bank Statement first.

Please do not scare me like that again and Yes! Iwill renew my subscription, when I have got over

the shock!

David Stevenson

Do not fear. The 2957 is yourNavvies subscriber number,not the amount you are ex-pected to pay (although wedo appreciate it if you add adonation) Nor is there anytruth in the rumour that weare attempting to bring aboutthe demise of David or anyof our other older subscrib-ers in the hope of receivingfurther legacies. ...EdA little-known Welsh lock flight (see Andrew Harris�s letter above)

Navvies newsCooks, brick-ties and a MikronTheatre performance

How about cooking for 160 people?!

Something I have tried to do whenever I have ledcamps and similar is to bring new people on: ei-ther to encourage new people to be assistant lead-ers - and later, to lead camps themselves - or tohelp with the National Festival. Mostly I have beensuccessful. But I have not so far helped to en-courage someone to become a cook...

I have always been lucky with cooks for my camps.At the Xmas bash, Maria has always volunteered;for Cavalcade Jenny Wilson has volunteered with-out me having to get her drunk first, and for theNational I always have managed to sweet talk andwith a lot of convincing, Al Moore has agreed,with poor Neil being dragged along..

But with Al�s help, I have a plan. If anyone wouldlike to have a go at assisting in the cook house fora National, please let us know. Because I know itcould be daunting cooking for so many (about 160over the week-end) so whatwe are pro-posing is this: ifyou volunteerthen you willwork with Al(and hopefullyNeil, Al�s otherhalf) in thekitchen from(say) midmorning. Youwill help withshopping andplanning etcand preparingthe main meal,and hopefullyunderstandingdifficulties withme as aleader! (Howthe workchanges onsite can cause�challenges� forthe cook!)

Then we would hope taht the new volunteer will becapable of cooking breakfast the following morning.Obviously this can only work if you can work with Al,(you can guess what cooks are like in their kitchen)and Al can work with you, the new volunteer cook.So to that end if anyone who would like to have ago,please let me know, and I will speak to Al.

Dave �Moose� Hearnden

Stainless steel brick ties

You might remember from issue 215 that LukeWalker of the WIlts & Berks Canal Trust was hav-ing trouble buying helix-shaped tie material usedfor tying new brickwork into old walls in anythingother than unfeasibly large quantities. Luke hasnow bought a vast amount of this material andwill supply it in smaller amounds to other canalgroups, subject to them being able to arrangedelivery from a (canalside) location in Warwick.Contact him on email: [email protected].

Mikron Theatre at �The Wood�

A WRG-supported performance by Mikron Thea-tre Company as part of their 2006 tour of the wa-terways is once again booked for the 23rd July atThe Wood pub, Rowington, Warwickshire (MikePalmer & Jude Moore�s local). BBQ, beer andred t-shirts in the beer garden - please let Mikeand Jude know if you plan to come along as book-ing tables is highly recommended after last year!!

Another festival that WRG volunteers have supported recently was the IWA Na-tional Trailboat Festival, held this year on the Lancaster Northern Reaches at Easter

Ste

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Directors of WRG:

John Baylis, MickBeattie, Malcolm Bridge,Spencer Collins,Christopher Davey,Helen Davey,Roger Day, NeilEdwards, George Eycott,John Fletcher, AdrianFry, John Hawkins,Jennifer Leigh, JudithMoore, Michael Palmer,Jonathan Smith.

Secretary: Neil Edwards

VAT reg. no : 788 9425 54

© 2006 WRGISSN 0953-6655

Nothing printed may be con-strued as policy or an officialannouncement unless sostated - otherwise WRG andIWA accept no liability for anymatter in this magazine.

Waterway Recovery Groupis a division of Inland Water-ways Enterprises Ltd., a sub-sidiary of the Inland Water-ways Association (a regis-tered charity).

Inland Waterways Enter-prises Registered office:3 Norfolk Court, Norfolk Rd.Rickmansworth WD3 1LT

Tel : 01923 711114Registered no 4305322

Navvies ProductionNavvies is published by Wa-terway Recovery Group, POBox 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY and is availableto all interested in promot-ing the restoration and con-servation of inland water-ways by voluntary effort inGreat Britain. Articles maybe reproduced in alliedmagazines provided thatthe source is acknowl-edged. WRG may notagree with opinions ex-pressed in this magazine,but encourages publicationas a matter of interest.

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

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

Printing and assembly:John & Tess Hawkins4 Links Way, Croxley GrnRickmansworth, HertsWD3 3RQ 01923 [email protected]

NoticeboardContacting the chairman:Mike Palmer, 3 Finwood Rd,Rowington, Warwickshire CV35 7DH

Tel: 01564 785293

email: [email protected]

page 35

Congratulations...to Stephen and Ruth Davis...

on the arrival of Samuel Isaac weighing justunder 9lb 4oz.

Steve says �We are safely back at home tryingto work out how to make him work. Ruth won�t

let me take the cover off...�

Photos on http://family.jero.co.uk/c960629.html

Stampswanted

Send used postagestamps, petrol coupons,old phone cards, emptycomputer printer ink car-tridges to IWA/WRGStamp Bank, 33 Ham-bleton Grove, MiltonKeynes MK4 2JS. All pro-ceeds to canal restoration.

Online Navvies subscriptionsDon�t forget:

You can now take out or renew Navvies subsonline at www.waterways.org.uk/restora-tion/index.htm or at www.iwashop.com/

ecommerce/products.asp?cat=126

Directory updatesA few changes to the canal society contactaddresses that appeared in the last NavviesDirectory in issue 215. There are new work-ing party contacts for:

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust: TamHazan, email [email protected].

Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust: Paul Morris,Farmcote, Nettlesworth Lane, Old Heathfield,Heathfield TN21 9AP, Tel: 01453 863683.

River Stour Trust: John Morris, 2 StocktonClose, Hadleigh, Ipswich IP7 5SH, email:[email protected]

The next full directory will appear in issue 218.Updates to the editor by July 1st, please.

Boat for sale

Claire Moynihan of WRG BC is selling her well-known narrowboat Blackadder. If you have£35,500 (or near offer) and are interested,contact her on 07971 183971 or by email [email protected].

Dial-a-camp

To contact anyWRG Canal

Camp:

07850 422156(Kit �A� camps)07850 422157(Kit �B� camps)

Backfill

page 36

WRG sweatshirt trumps US Security!

by Jeremy Frankel

As a number of you know, I have been living in theUnited States for the past eighteen years. Eversince that fateful day, September 11th, 2001, thiscountry has been living under a heightened threatof potential terrorist activity. There are many moreCCTVs observing our every move, and of course,many, many more security officers on patrol.

During the first two weeks of April of this year, Itraveled from Berkeley, California, where I live, toSt. Louis to work on a professional genealogy project.While I was there took some time out to see theMississippi River (yeah, they say it backwards overhere) and the newest lock just north of St. Louis, atAlton - a 1200 ft monster; took ten years to build anda billion dollars worth of concrete and rebar!

After touring the lock, a friend and I were driving downthe Illinois side of the river (east bank) heading backto St. Louis. We stopped opposite the downtownarea so I could get a photograph across the river ofthe famous Eads Bridge, which had recently re-opened with a light rail running across the lower deck.

I jumped out of the car, ran across two tracks,ducked under a yellow caution tape and up onto awooden platform that surmounted the concretelevee wall. I snapped a couple of shots and as Iclambered back down, there, waiting on the roadwas a security van and two beefy guys loadeddown with their typical security paraphernalia; darkglasses, walkie-talkie radios, handguns, flash-lights, etc.

One of them approached me with the obvious in-tention of either arresting me or giving me a rightdressing-down, when the front of my jacket flappedopen to reveal the magic phrase �Waterway Re-covery Group� on my nice blue sweatshirt. His sear-ing glare glanced down to read those silver words.

All of a sudden the security officer�s demeanourshifted several gears from one of hostility to thatof �Gee, well, if only you had called us ahead oftime, we would have taken you around!�

Naturally I pulled out my best British accent andwith profuse apologies and bucketfuls of assur-ance that I would certainly contact them the nexttime I was in town, I jumped back into the car andmy friend floored the gas pedal.

So let this be a moral to ya all! Always pack aWRG sweatshirt, cos you�ll never know when it�llcome in handy!

Jeremy G Frankel, Berkeley, California, USA

Captions wanted...I wonder if any of you can suggest any captionsfor a couple of pics, the first of which, send in byTas Kay...

...appears to involve �Dippy Claire� and one of thebig plastic barrels we use to store the hard-hatsin. While the other, taken by the editor...

...features Liz Wilson, a tea mug and some sheep.And yes, it was taken in Wales - on the Mon & Brec.

Suggestions to the editor please.

Next time...

We hope to bring you the WRG version of thenovelty hit single from a few years ago Every-body�s Free to Wear Sunscreen. In the mean-time here�s a challenge: can anyone re-write eitherDesiderata or the poem If by Rudyard Kipling (*)with a WRG theme? If so, send your words in!(*) Probably the only major literary figure ever to have been named after a canal reservoir. But that�s another story.

navvies 217

Documents

basingstoke canal

lancaster canal

diary canal camp

summers canal camps

london wrg

canal society contacts

section ofthe lichfield

national waterways festival