navvies 222

navvies

waterwayrecoverygroup

volunteers restoring waterways

Issue No 222April-May

2007

navvies

waterwayrecoverygroup

volunteers restoring waterways

Issue No 222April-May

2007

In this issue:

Camps preview

Getting trolliedon the BCN

In this issue:

Camps preview

Getting trolliedon the BCN

Visit our web site www.wrg.org.uk for

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NavviesProductionEditor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road,East Dulwich London SE22 9PB020-8693 3266

Subscriptions: Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road,Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ

Printing and assembly: John & TessHawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green,Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 3RQ01923 448559 [email protected]

Navvies is published by Waterway RecoveryGroup, PO Box 114, Rickmansworth WD31ZY and is available to all interested in pro-moting the restoration and conservation ofinland waterways by voluntary effort in GreatBritain. Articles may be reproduced in alliedmagazines provided that the source is ac-knowledged. WRG may not agree with opin-ions expressed in this magazine, but encour-ages publication as a matter of interest. Noth-ing printed may be construed as policy or anofficial announcement unless so stated - other-wise WRG and IWA accept no liability for anymatter in this magazine. Waterway RecoveryGroup is a division of Inland WaterwaysEnterprises Ltd., a subsidiary of the InlandWaterways Association (a registered charity).

Inland Waterways Enterprises Regis-tered office: 3 Norfolk Court, Norfolk Rd.Rickmansworth WD3 1LT. Tel : 01923 711114Registered no 4305322

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, JohnBaylis, Mick Beattie, Malcolm Bridge, SpencerCollins, Christopher Davey, Helen Davey,Roger Day, Neil Edwards, George Eycott,John Fletcher, Adrian Fry, John Hawkins,Jennifer Leigh, Judith Moore, Michael Palmer,Jonathan Smith. Secretary: Neil Edwards

VAT reg. no: 788 9425 54ISSN: 0953-6655© 2007 WRG

all the latest news of WRG's activities

Editorial Martin has a rant about BW 4Chairman if he sends it in in time 5What�s next? training and Cavalcade 6-7What�s next? Canal Camps preview 8-9Cleanup Report from the BCN 10-11Logistics Whose kit is it anyway? 12-13WRG South West at two years old 14-15WRGBC Boat Club news 16Outdoor Show WRG meets Bill Oddie 17Diary camp and working party dates 18-20Letters What do you think of Navvies? 21-23Progress roundup of the latest news 24-29BITM at Latton and Wendover 30-32News and book auction results 33-34Noticeboard save your stamps for WRG 35Backfill What�s Bungle up to now? 36

Contributions...

...are always welcome, whether hand-writ-ten, typed, on CD-ROM, DVD or by email.

Photos also welcome: digital, slides,colour or b/w prints. Please state whetheryou want your prints back; I assume thatyou want slides returned. Digital pics arewelcome as email attachments, preferablyJPG format, but if you have a lot it is prefer-able to send them on CD-ROM or DVD.

Contributions by post to the editorMartin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road,London SE22 9PB, or by email [email protected].

Press date for issue 223: May 1st.

Subscriptions

A year's subscription (6 issues) is availablefor a minimum of £1.50 to Sue Watts, 15Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy,Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques to "Wa-terway Recovery Group" please.

Please note that this is a minimumsubscription which doesn�t cover costs but iskept low so that everyone can afford tosubscribe. Please add a donation if you can.

ContentsIn this issue...

Above: Coming soon: Little Venice (see p6)Left: Book now for the Training Weekend (seep6) Below: WRG SW on the Grand Western(report on p28-29) Cover: The BCN Cleanupyields another trolley (report on p10-12)

Welcome to the new-look Navvies

As I hope you�ve already noticed we�vegiven Navvies a bit of a make-over, for thefirst time in several years. There have alsobeen some changes in the way it�s produced:John Hawkins of WRG Print has got a shinynew printing press, which means that (a)hopefully we�ll be able to do things ourselveslike colour covers and full-page front coverpictures which in the past have meant theadded expense of using professional printers,but also (b) it�s a bit of a learning experiencefor John right now, so please bear with us ifthe results aren�t quite perfect yet.

Anyway we hope you like it (especiallythe larger print size, as requested) but if youdon�t, please feel free to give us your construc-tive comments on how we can improve it.

EditorialWorking on BW canals

Working with BW

Those who have had the dubious pleas-ure of listening to me sounding-off on vari-ous waterways topics may know that I�m nota great one for bashing British Waterways.It�s not that I�m an admirer of everything BWdoes, or scared to criticise BW when appro-priate. It�s just that I don�t follow the �Thoushalt hate the British Waterways Board withall thy heart and with all thy soul and with allthy mind and with all thy strength� mantrathat folks from various parts of the water-ways movement seem to have based theirbeliefs on at times. Unpopular though such aview may be, I do believe that in some as-pects BW has changed for the better over theyears. For example in its attitude to restora-tion which went from unsympathetic, via aperiod of voicing its support in principle butputting all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles inthe way in practice, to the genuinely helpfulattitude on the Droitwich five years agowhere BW staff provided all sorts of help andexpertise at Hanbury Locks even though thecanal was as yet not part of the BW network.

No, I prefer to target my criticism of

Derelict lock on the Grantham Canal: an ideal volunteer project - if only BW would trust us

BW where I think it�s deserved.A couple of weeks ago I attended a

Northern Canals Association meeting,hosted by the Grantham Canal. Now theGrantham has some serious onbstacles tocomplete reopening - in particular a majorroad blockage at the Nottingham end whichwill almost certainly mean a lengthy diver-sion. But it also has many miles of relativelyunobstructed waterway, some locks alreadyrestored, several more to restore whichwould make excellent volunteer projects,and an IWA trailboat festival nextmonth which should give the projecta big boost. Clearly it�s a project witha lot going for it, where volunteerscan make a big impact - or it shouldbe.

But unfortunately we were toldthere is little chance of canal societywork-parties getting going on restor-ing the canal�s locks again, and ourchainsaw experts in the WRG For-estry Team have been told theyaren�t welcome on a potential projectthere. Because BW doesn�t trust thevolunteers to do the job safely.

Of course it�s right for BW to beconcerned for volunteer safety on itssites - especially in the light of avolunteer fatality last year on theCotswold canals (albeit we will neverknow whether it was an accident ornatural causes). And that�s why BW isdeveloping a system of accreditationof volunteer groups which haveshown that they have put suitableH&S procedures in place. And apolicy of on-site supervision of thosegroups which haven�t reached thisstage yet.

But then I hear that despitetheir splendid job at Foxton Incline,WRG FT can�t be trusted at Granthambecause they don�t work in forestryfull-time, so BW can�t be sure they�reup to scratch. (And the BW chainsawbods who I recently saw clearing afallen tree from the cut - very com-petently and safely in the face of alot of moaning from boaters abouthow slowly they were taking it - dowork with chainsaws every day oftheir lives, do they?) And that onereason for keeping us off theGrantham is that the local BW man-ager has an accident-free record of

over two years and doesn�t want to riskblowing it by letting volunteers loose on herpatch. And that IWA has been in disputewith BW for almost six months on the sub-ject of BW trying to get volunteer groups tosign legal indemnities before it will allowwork to go ahead - with no sign of a resolu-tion.

That�s not BW showing a responsibleattitude to H&S. It�s arse-covering. And BWknows it.

Martin Ludgate

Not to be trusted: WRG Forestry Team at Foxton

Jen

Leig

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What�s next?Training and a couple of festivals, that�s what!Get trained!

By the time you read this issue of Navvies the WRG Training Weekend on May 12-13 will bejust a few weeks away. And as we go to press, we still don�t know exactly what we�ll betraining you to do... because lots of you haven�t yet told us what you want to learn!

However we will definitely be offering:. Piling: on a real site on the Saltisford Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Vans and trailers. First Aid. Dumpers and small tracklaying excavators

Other than that, it�s down to you: we hope to provide lots more training including useof digital tachographs (as fitted in all our vans that can tow except RFB), catering, and brick-laying - plus setting up for bricklaying. But unless you tell us what you want, it�s unfair toask our instructors to give up their weekend when their services might not be needed.

The site will be in the Hatton area again, and overnight accommodation is available onFriday and Saturday nights at (note change from the last few years) Rowington Village Hall.

To book yourself in for some training and overnight accommodation, just contact AliBottomley on [email protected], 0191 422 5469 or 07719 643870.

But before the Training Weekend happens, it�s...

Little Venice again

Just a quick update on where we are with plans for The Little Venice Canalway Caval-cade, which you all know and have marked in your diaries already... but just in case youhaven�t it�s the 5th, 6th and 7th May 2007. For those who have no any idea what is Cavalcade,here�s some info to help you poor people:

Little Venice is a place in London close to the Paddington Railway Station. Where theRegents Canal meets the Grand Union Paddington Arm, the water widens out into an openspace called Brownings Pool, which has a tiny island in the middle. On the May Day bankholiday weekend every year, IWA holds a rally here: so far this year we have 90-plus boatsbooked in and these will be moored inthe pool. Most of them will have buntingand flags etc flying, so the whole scenewill look very colourful.

Part of the purpose of the event is topromote the waterways in and aroundLondon, and lots of other things basedaround the capital�s canals such as theLondon Canal Museum. On the towing pathwe will have stands from lots of canalsocieties and other groups, and varioustraders of all kinds... and London WRG.

OK hopefully you�ve got the idea ofwhat the event�s about - now this is whatwe need to help to run it. I�m after volun-teers to help run the Site and Services, sowe can put up the Market Stalls, put out Canalway Cavalcade comes to Little Venice

tables and chairs, take traders to their allocated space etc. and generally keep everythingrunning smoothly before, during and after the weekend.

Accommodation is slightly different from what you might be used to at, say, the Na-tional Festival, in so much as we use boats to sleep on. I will be on site from Tuesday 1st

May and the accommodation will hopefully arrive either the 1st or the 2nd, then from Wednes-day onwards suppliers will be bringing in such things as the marquees, tables, chairs - andthat�s when we get busy.

Before people cry out �Why no mention of beer?�, yes we are having beer, should havebetween 10 and 20 real ales, cider and other drink. All the beer etc should be coming byboat, but I�m sure Site and Services will be involved with the Beer Tent somehow!

Anyone interested in helping please call me on 07961 922153 or even better drop mean email on [email protected]

Dave �Moose� HearndenAnd when you�ve recovered from Little Venice it�s time for...

Saul Festival 2007 including �Folk on the Water�

For those who don�t know, Saul has become a major event in the folk music calendarbut it is not just about good music, there is lots of real beer, boats and stalls. In fact every-thing you need for a good festival. As a bonus, every penny raised (and there are lots ofthem) goes to the Cotswold Canals Trust to help restoration. This is like doing the National,but because it is smaller we also get to do some of the more specialist jobs that on biggerevents get done by contractors. Everything from building the bar and chiller room to helpingwith the big barge Sabrina (which becomes a theatre for the event).

As many of you will know, supporting the Saul Canal Festival is a WRG South Westcamp, but you don�t have to be a regular wrgSW volunteer to help - the more the merrier!The team is being assembled, Adrian Fry leading, Lauren Spurling ably assisting, Bunglebungling and new for this year, Eli cooking. The only person missing from this team is you!Because the event has grown, so has the camp and so this year it will run from Tuesday26th June through to Wednesday 4th July and will cost the princely sum of £48. So stopthinking about it, write out a cheque payable to wrgSW, fill in the form and post it with thecheque to: Cath Coolican-Smith, Apsley Mews, Whitchurch, Ross-on-Wye HR9 6DJ

Waterway Recovery Group South West in association with Cotswold Canals Trust

I would like to attend the 2007 Saul Festival Canal Camp on June 26th to July 4th

Forename: Surname:

Address:

e-mail:

Phone: Any special dietary requirements?

I will be joining the camp on and leaving on

I enclose payment of £ (pay 'WRG SW') for food (£48 for whole week; £6.00 per day)

Do you suffer from any allergy or illness, such as epilepsy or diabetes, about which we shouldknow, or are you receiving treatment or under medical supervision for any condition? YES / NO(If yes, please attach details)

In the unlikely event that you should be injured, who should we contact?

Name: Phone:

Signed:

Please send this form to Cath Coolican-Smith, Apsney Mews, Whitchurch, Ross-on-Wye, HR9 6DJ

What�s next?Camps 2007: Way out West!

The first part of this summer�s activities will see our volunteers headingwestwards to Devon, Wiltshire, South Wales and Mid Wales for some interesting work insome attractive rural locations.

The canal camps programme kicks off in the south west corner of the UK with twocamps on Lord Rolle�s Canal. (23rd-30th June, 30th June-7th July) This is a followup to lastyear when we ran two camps here, restoring the offside wall of the Sea Lock where the canalleaves the tidal River Torridge. Therefore, not surprisingly, this year we will be restoringthe nearside wall of the lock. As per last year the locals will have installed the scaffoldingprior to the WRG camps so we will be able to get to work on the lock wall straight away.There�s also a wharf wall above the lock which is in need of repair. While we�ve been awaythis winter the locals have been experimenting with casting coping �stones� and there will bea few more of these to make and a number to install.

Lord Rolle�s canal is located in a stunning location near the small village of WeareGiffard and within walking distance (along the Tarka Trail, a disused railway line) fromBideford. The accommodation is on-site in a converted barn and has power showers, anundercover BBQ - and even beds! And just like last year, Spencer Collins will be running thesecond week of this project.

Meanwhile the second canal camp circuit will be getting started a long way furthernorth, as WRG returns to the Montgomery Canal for two canal camps (23rd-30th June, 30th

June-7th July). Despite something of a tradition of camps on the Mont being billed as �TheLast Ever Mont Camp�, Mike Palmer has so far not said these camps will be the last ever Montcamps, possibly because there is the potential for a big project on the Mont in 2008. (watchthis space!) The first camp will be run by Mike Palmer and Bex Parr, then Harry Watts andHelen Temple will take over for the second week. They may be experimenting with tech-niques involving excavators in preparation for next year�s potential project. However themain job for this year will to rebuild a wharf wall in stone near Redwith Bridge.

This is a waterway with a lot of heritage interest, and so the work will all be done usingtraditional techniques and lime mortar, and the stone will be sourced locally from a disusedwall further along the canal. We will be staying at Llanymanech Village Hall which comeswith good recommendations from WRG NorthWest.

Following its exploits on Lord Rolle�s Canal, the southern camp circuit will head a shortdistance back up the M5, but stop before it leaves Devon for a week on the Grand WesternCanal. (7th � 14th July). Accommodation as usual for the Grand Western will be the excel-lent Burlescombe Village Hall which is very conveniently sited a short walk from theAyshford Arms. This camp will be run by Phil Rodwell and Alice Bayston and we have afantastic level of back up from the local canal trust and the Devon County Rangers. Thework for the week will be to continue the restoration of Lowdwells Lock which was startedlast year.

One of the main tasks will be to install a dam (piling, with an enormous amount of claybehind it to add support) above the head of the lock so that the chamber can be drained andinspected. Other work for the week will include taking down one wing wall ready for recon-struction and possibly starting to rebuild the other. In addition to this the rangers will un-doubtedly have many other little jobs that need doing.

Back in Wales, the Mont camps will be finishing and the kit will travel south to the Monand Brec for a three week project (7th � 14th July, 14th � 21st July, 21st � 28th July) RobDaffern and James Butler will be running the first week and NWPG the second. We will beworking on the section of the canal�s Crumlin Arm between the bottom of the FourteenLocks flight and the junction with the main line at Malpas, and the majority of the work will

In the first part of ourpreview of the 2007 Canal

Camps programme,Adrian Fry gives us the

lowdown on what�shappening this Summer...

What�s next?Summer Camps - part one

be focussing on construction at Lock 3.Tasks will be varied and there is thepossibility of formal training in heritageand environmental restoration tech-niques. .James and Rob say they willbe doing the usual extensive range ofsocial activities including a visit to theNewport Transporter Bridge.

Continuing its gradual retreat fromthe West Country, the other camps circuit will transfer from the Grand Western to SevenLocks near Lyneham on the Wilts and Berks for two weeks. (14th � 21st July and 21st � 28th

July). The first week will be the KESCRG Camp run by Mark Richardson and Kate Penn, the2nd week will be run by Rachel Banyard and Luke Walker. Work will be continuing on Lock 4rebuilding the whole of the offside wall using a brickwork front, blockwork rear and concretefill in between, helping to maintain the rapid rate of restoration on this flight of locks. Ac-commodation will be at Foxham Reading Rooms.

That takes us up to the end of July. The second half of the Canal Camp season will seeus returning to the Cotswold Canals for the first time in a number of years, to work onRucks Bridge, which needs its parapet walls rebuilding. It�s also likely that this camp willmake a start on the restoration of Eisey Lock, both these sites are at the Latton end of thecanal (away from the pressures of the BW-led Phase 1a restoration).

But in case you thought the eastern half of the country was missing out this year, wewill also be running camps on the Grantham and Chesterfield canals and the Ipswich &Stowmarket Navigation - plus an interesting and very high-profile project to build a windinghole and slipway on the Sleaford Navigation. And as always the summer camp season willculminate in the IWA National Festival, which this year is at St. Ives in Cambridgeshire,where �Moose� (Dave Hearnden) and Paul Shaw will be running the show.

For full details of the rest of the summer�s camps, see part two of this preview in thenext issue of Navvies.

Adrian Fry

Cotswold project: Rucks Bridge on the Thames & Severn needs new parapets

BCN CleanupReporting from the darkest Walsall CanalEvery year, volunteers descendon the Black Country canalsarmed with grappling hooks,intent on dragging outeverything that the locals areequally intent on throwing in...

It was the year of the leg. It startedwith Dippy Claire�s: the knee gave out just asit was meant to carry her into the van goingto site from the signing-in point at Ocker HillYard, so she spent a restful weekend in theaccommodation via a checkup at the localA&E.

The next leg belonged to a passingcyclist on the first day of a fitness regimewho came off her bike after viewing the workof Moose�s team. Luckily Moose was there toorganise the emergency services. Unluckilythe leg was at right-angles to itself and obvi-ously broken. We later heard that she�d beenoperated on the next morning and was grate-ful to those around for their help. Even so,Moose and Joyce (local but staying with us)had to write and sign statements for BritishWaterways in case an insurance shark gets toher later.

The third leg was �Flash� Gordon�s,causing his disappearance between tableswhen it tangled with a chair leg (the fourthleg?) in the rush for dinner. And of coursevarious were somewhat legless on Saturdaynight.

On the other hand many arms wereneeded to pull out of the canal tractor tyresfull of mud as well as the whole gamut ofevery other sort of tyre. Tim�s team cleared alock of fifteen supermarket trolleys - andfound another 28 in the surrounding lengthsof canal. And of course the usual selection ofironmongery was found - bicycles, push-chairs, bits of car, a window frame (large),goal posts (larger), a cash register and asafe. It was obvious that since we had lastbeen there two years earlier the good burgh-

ers of the area had thrown the chore ofironing to the winds, and the ironing boardsinto the cut. Three were found that I heardof! The total scrap heap this year came toabout 70 tons.

Softer finds were clothing includingalmost an entire man�s outfit (but luckily noman) fished out by the BW boss, a drownedfalcon (tagged and obviously owned bysomebody), and a live crayfish. The latterwas not quite so soft and blackly slimed inthe characteristic BCN way, but still tookseveral washes to determine that it was anAmerican one and therefore to be discour-aged. But no-one had the heart to kill it oreat it, so back in the canal it went! Oh dear...

This year�s local publicity for the eventmust have been good because I�ve never hadso many local people ringing me beforehandfor details, staying with us in the accommo-dation or turning up on the day. More than30 of them on Saturday, and one familyfound it so much fun that they came back formore on the Sunday.

The accommodation was the now usualcosy youth centre at Willingsworth School.But ten fewer sleepers, and one snooker

Another �Good Year� for the cleanup

table folded away, meant no-one had tosleep on or under the table this year. A fewenthusiastic locals chose to join in everythingincluding meal, quiz, and sleep-over. Theysaid they�d do it again - but with ear-plugs.

Eli and Maria, i/c catering, found asurfeit of lasagne and sultanas in the kit. Ona waste-not-want-not-everything-must-gobasis the scrumptious evening repast was(guessed it?) lasagne followed by apple andsultana crumble and treacle sponge. Accom-modation-baked cakes the next day musthave finally finished off the sultanas.

Beer was on tap, courtesy of Nic, andthe pub quiz courtesy of Martin mixed thevarious folk from all over England into a jollyand competitive whole. (not to mention abunch from Wales who were even more jollythan the English, thanks to something involv-ing 30 men in a field with odd-shaped balls)

Many thanks to all the above, plus thedrivers and other helpers out - and to KES-CRG for kindly loaning their cooker for theweekend and letting us play with their supernew trailer.

The slime will still be black next yearbut nobody seems to mind - thank you all forall the work you did both on site and back atbase and being so smiley about it all weekend.

Aileen Butler

Top: �It�s mine!� �No it isn�t, I got it first!�Above: another heap of scrap heads for theskips. Below: �Any any any old iron?�

LogisticsWhat is logistics?

Have you missed having alogistics article in the last fewissues of Navvies? If the answeris yes, just read on and seewhether you really did�

It has come to my attention recentlythat it seems I need to remind all you campleaders (new and old� all of you!) out thereabout the fact that Logisticsis (and always has been Ithink you will find) incharge of the kits andtrailers, and contrary toseemingly recent popularbelief I do actually need toknow when you are plan-ning on picking up kit. Myreason for needing to know(and it is on a need-to-know basis) is partly due tothe fact that I don�t needmy time wasting by anyoneelse and it would be verydull if I�d driven down tothe containers to sort outkit only to find it had al-ready disappeared! Youmay need to pick up theother trailer to the one youthought you were going tohave and you will need toknow where to pick saidtrailer up from, as assum-ing it�ll be parked up at thecontainers is just a f*�# -upwaiting to happen.

I�m not so worriedabout this during the maincamp season betweencamps because at the endof the day it is up to you tosort out between your-selves once you know whatcircuit your kit and vehiclesare on. With this in mind,

please note that it is I who sorts out what kitand vans go where (although admittedly atthe moment it is going to be a little morechallenging as we currently only have twovans and two trailers� oh, and a numberplate!) and the list does not materialise byitself! Plus I feel I need to stress there arereasons why I plan it like I do so don�t gochanging it at any whims you may haveplease!

The Definition of Logistics - I thinkyou will find it is �the art of moving andsupplying troops and equipment.� AdmittedlyI would never attempt moving our �troops�although sometimes the van movementsmay assist with this by default. In fact thedefinition in the Oxford English Dictionary isvery similarly �The activity of organising themovement, equipment, and accommodationof troops.� So when you find yourself short

�I�m enjoing this!� - Alice cleans the griddle

of a particular piece of kit or something isbroken, please let me (not anyone else)know. There is no North/South divide whenit comes to Logistics, contrary to the rumourmill, other than the main one of I�m �up here�and camps are predominantly �down there!�It�ll make no difference to my phone whereyou are and you will find my number in thecamps phones under �Logistics� (strangethat!!).

For camps outside the main season orat the start or tail end of it, please could youcontact me in plenty of time beforehand togo through the finer details of your camp�slogistical stuff? If you don�t manage to getthrough and speak to me please text yourcomment/query and I�ll get back to you assoon as I can.

Please remember that if you need as-sistance in finding someone to move vansand trailers around for your camp, or youare one of those people who can assist (un-less Mr Butler can work out how to do thelot!) you only have to call Logistics and we�llsee what we can do. Please note that thingsdo change and although the likelihood is thatthings will stay as they are on the grand vanplan there are moments when changes arenecessitated (like vans being taken out ofservice� for more attention than just a serv-ice, or sold, or there are great floods in theSouth or� the list could be endless!). That iswhy it�s important that everybody who has acamp to run gets in touch with me. And itreally doesn�t add much to your planning ifyou�re thinking I�m trying to make work foryou � you never know, it may even makeyour life easier!

Somewhere along the way memoriesseem to have been wiped and this informa-tion has not been retained� the above is notnew information, I am merely re-iterating sowe don�t have a repeat of a few former in-conveniences: the trailers are and alwayshave been Logistics� domain, and when it�s todo with movement all vehicles come undermy remit � let�s face it, the trailers aren�tgoing anywhere far by themselves (unlesswe take them back to Droitwich!!!).

Talking of trailers, I have to thank Alicefor coming over and helping me with mun-dane jobs at the containers like packing andpacking and packing (is there an echo inhere?!!!)� of the kit trailers, and cleaning thegriddle (which she appears to love!). Theimprovised apron caused huge (and much-needed) amusement, particularly the �cross-

your-back gaffer tape, and actually workedrather well � see photo. And lots of thanks toTom & Rachel (as ever) and The Bayston�sfor impromptu and very warm hospitality �much appreciated!

Thanks also to Mr Lines and Smudge& Taz for being the only ones who stillsend me cds of photos - but then seeing asmy design services seem to be no longerrequired I guess I don�t need any� butthanks anyway!

I tell you, it really does make me won-der in this age of communication that we livein � our communication skills are worse thanever! People assume more and more� theythink that �so-and-so� has received/read theiremails� never assume that emails are thatefficient! There are so many �glitches� in thewhole system - so don�t bank on it! And notall of us sit at a desk all day. Just rememberthose points when you feel the need to getirate with someone for not returning theiremail dated the whatever of the othermonth. There is every chance they may nothave even seen it! As I�ve said before, com-puters are the work of the devil and theyhave done little to disprove it!

And finally to those who write sarkycomments back at me on the paperwork (kitlists) - don�t! I can laugh as well as the nextperson at something amusing but when youreceive thirty-odd copies of the same dubi-ous comment it gets really quite tiresomeand the reason why there is such a commenton each and every kit list is because there aretoo many people out there who can�t seem touse the eyes God gave them � a cross is allI�m asking for, not a tick or a dash or what-ever the hell some of those symbols are�Jesus would�ve known the difference!!!!!!

You see, you�ve missed my articleshaven�t you?! Well, I know it will have madea couple of you smile anyway.

An Anonymous LogisticianWho can be reached (if it�s working!) on

[email protected] by the generally more efficient snail mail way:

45, Glebe Road, Sheffield. S10 1FB

LogisticsHave you missed it?

WRG SouthWestOur newest regional group is two years old!

South West News

wrgSW is now over two years old � inits current formation at least, though thanksto the Navvies archive, I�ve learnt that therewas an an attempt to set up a south westgroup in the early 1990s � did that ever tocome to anything?

Since the last update in Navvies 213,we�ve been working our way around therestoration projects in the region. Now Icome to look back, we do seem to haveattracted quite a range of varieties of inclem-ent weather� We�ve been to the Herefordend of the H&G several times, including anOctober weekend when we had to scrape alayer of ice off the dumper seats in themorning before we could get on with finish-ing the cycle path at Aylestone Park. We�vealso done some scrub clearance on theYarkhill section and solved the problem ofthe smoking stove at the village hall, with abit of prodding and poking. We spent afrosty Saturday on the Wilts and Berks, con-tinuing with putting up the compund fence at

Shrivenham.Our May Bank Holiday long weekend on

the Grand Western was wet, but we suc-ceeded in exposing the offside wing wall ofLoudwells Lock ready for rebuilding andclearing a load of vegetation down at thewharf. However, the weather was only partlyto blame for the final scoreline:�shrub one,Land Rover winch nil�� In complete contrast,we spent one of the hottest weeks of theyear providing a site and services teamalongside wrgNW for the Saul festival, wherewe also had a plant stall, which may becomea regular fundraising venture for the group.

More recently, we have been involved inthe first work in Phase 1A of the restorationof the Cotswold Canals. Gough�s OrchardLock is the first lock down from (or last oneup to, depending on which way you look atit!) Brimscombe Port, which will be the ter-minus of this section of the project. Wesupported WRG Forestry Team while theyremoved large willows which were growingin the line of the canal and the followingweekend did some smaller scale scrub bash-

WRGSW attacking the lower wing wall at Lowdwells Lock on the Grand Western

ing of our own. The next stage will be toexcavate a large quantity of spoil from thecut and the chamber, and then move on torepairing the brickwork of the lock itself.

We�ve been gradually accumulatingtools and catering kit, and by the time youread this, should be in the process of fittingout a trailer to put it all in. Many thanks to allof you who bought raffle tickets and toBarrus for providing the prize. Thank youalso to wrgNW for their donation.

Anyone is more than welcome to comeand dig with us � we define the south westin very broad terms, as volunteers over thelast year have come from an area stretchingfrom Plymouth to Cleethorpes. In the nextyear, we hope to hold joint digs with LWRGand KESCRG, and will again be supportingthe Saul festival in June. Our dig dates arelisted in the Diary, with contact details for theweekend organiser. It may be possible toarrange lift shares if necessary. We shouldhave a web site before too long, and alreadyhave a mailing list: contact Jenny at HeadOffice ([email protected]) to beadded to the electronic version, or give me aring on 07745 752045 if you�d prefer toreceive information in a more old fashioned

way! Also, as Gav is going to be otherwiseoccupied for a while (many congrats to himand Alison and baby Jennifer!), please directany queries regarding wrgSW to me on thatnumber or at [email protected].

Harri Thomsett

Goughs Orchard Lock emerges from the scrub

The WRG South West Raffle raised over £1200 towards our new trailer. The traileris an Ifor Williams BV85 and by the time Navvies is posted we will be busy fitting it out

to carry all our kitto digs.The win-ning tickets weredrawn by ChrisCoburn (secondfrom right in thephoto).

The winners were:

1st prize: P Dutson(wins Airdeck 270inflatble donatedby BARRUS)

2nd J Topley (wins1 case of wine)

3rd J Arnold (wins£30, donated byWRGNW)

WRGSW are grate-ful to everyone

who entered, to Barrus for donating the top prize and to WRG NW for the third prize.

WRG BCOur very own boat clubWRG Boat Club News March 2007

I hope you have all managed someinteresting wrging and boating this winter.We have been boating around the MiddleLevel. The highlights being the raising of theformerly notoriously low Ramsey Hollowbridge, and a gathering of boats and boaterson March 3rd in support of SOW (That�s �SaveOur Waterways� - nothing to do with PigDyke).

Well is seems that spring is nearly here,but as I write we are unable to set off on StrawBear to go up the Nene because it is in flood.*

Aha I thought, lots of people will becoming in this direction for The National,perhaps I can be of help if I tell them whatto do should the situation arise when theyare travelling this way.

I have today spent a �jolly� time tryingto get information about the state of the riverby phoning the Environment Agency. This cantake some time and infinite patience, but I willstick with it until, if possible, I find a numberfor you that will give direct access to a personwho can impart the information needed.

[several hours pass]Well I have now spent much time on

this project with no success. There are nolocal office numbers available so all calls arediverted to 08708 506506, an office in Shef-field where, after the usual lottery of num-bers, you may get to talk to someone whowill either connect you to a river inspector orgive you a name and number to ring. One Iwas given was for an inspector on The GreatOuse, but as he didn�t answer the phone, Idon�t know if he would have information onconditions on the Nene or not.

The Nene does go into flood after periodsof heavy rain, and on these occasions the riveris closed to navigation as some locks are �re-versed� (the top mitre gates are chained backand then the guillotine tail gate is opened sothat the lock acts as a weir) to enable the extrawater to discharge downstream. When thishappens a notice is usually attached to the toplock of the Gayton flight, warning boaters of

what is ahead. However on some occasions thenotice gets left there after the river is reopened.This can be most frustrating and being able tomake a simple phone call to clarify thingswould be a great help.

When the �seasonal� inspectors areworking again I will find out the phone num-bers of those covering each section of theNene, so should you need to get informationfrom them when you are journeying this way,you will be able to phone me for the numbers.

I have been asked about mooring placesfor leaving boats before or after the event.Most boat clubs on the Nene are AWCC mem-bers, none of those on the Great Ouse are.[...although you can take out a membership ofthe useful Great Ouse Boating Associationwhich provides members moorings on theriver and its tributaries ...Ed]

Moorings are being provided near Ely,you will receive more information about these.

If you need to leave your boat for anylength of time I advise the Middle Level as a saferhaven that the Nene- see above re flooding!

To other club business: Lynne hasattended a meeting for us and will probablyhave attended another by the time you get toread this. I plan to attend the AWCC AGMwhere I hope to be able to collect AWCC book-lets for distribution to members. It is lookingdoubtful that I will get there by boat*. Reportson these meetings will be circulated.

Lynne did tell me of some scary reportsfrom the Fire Service about incidents onboats. Please check you boat for safety andyour smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

Just to clarify a popular misconception� I will not be just popping over to the GreatOuse from my home moorings to get to StIves, as you can gather from the above I amheading for the canals first.

We plan to take Lynx to Saul and lookforward to meeting other members there andelsewhere as we travel about.

We have a lot of boat work to do thisyear so our travels will be a bit curtailed!*

Hope you have all made a good start tothe year and are flying the boat club flag! (Newones available from Lynne at only £10 each)

XXX Sadie Dean* I eventually spoke to a man, at present theNene is the highest it has been for seven years.I remember the awful floods then. It will takeeight to ten days for the water to clear and thatis if it doesn�t rain again. Heavy rain is forecasttomorrow and will last at least two days. Ohyippee, should I build an ark?

WRG gets outdoors and dirtyat the Outdoor Show!

Over the weekend of March 17-18when lots of you were braving the bikes andprams of the BCN, a bunch of WRGiesbraved bikes, ramblers, Bill Oddie, and �She-wee� sales representatives to promote theWaterway Recovery Group at the OutdoorShow at the NEC.

The event was a great success andthrough our �win a canal camp� competition wegained over 250 new contacts�we have evenseen a few canal camp bookings from the showalready! Hopefully Alice�s personal �quality selec-tion programme� will also bring in some newfaces to WRG over the summer months!

Thanks to some begging by Viv weeven got Bill Oddie to draw the winner of ourcanal camp competition (although he doeslook slightly bemused by the whole affair!).

The stand looked amazing thanks toMKP�s new found artistic talents and to Paul(IWA�s Finance Manager�s husband) whoprinted up the panels free of charge! With atouchscreen, the internet, plasma screen andslide show our stand competed well withothers around us and we did a brilliant job inpromoting WRG and all its great work!

WRG Publicity...at the Outdoor Show

In a new venture for the WRGpublicity team, we took ourdisplay to the national OutdoorShow at Birmingham�s NEC.Jenny Black reports...

Everyone played a vital visual role inpromoting WRG throughout the show (andin the bar� helped by the great positioningof the stand) and hopefully contacts withother organisations such as the Guides andOutward Bound / Environmental Unis willstrengthen camp bookings and encouragepeople to get outdoors and dirty in 2007!

A big thank you to Jude, James B,Alice, Kate, the Tweedles, John Hawkins,Dave Moore, Viv, MKP, Harry and Paul for alltheir help!

Jenny Black

Above: Bill Oddie draws the winning ticketBelow: part of the WRG display

Please send updates to Diary compiler: Dave Wedd, 7 Ringwood Rd, Blackwater,

Navvies diaryYour guide to all the forthcoming work partiesApr 21/22 wrgBITM Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project

Apr 21/22 NWPG Wey & Arun Canal

Apr 28 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

May 1 Tue Navvies Press date for issue 223

May 4/5/6/7 WAT Wendover Arm Canal: Local work party, capping the pipeline and lining th

May 5/6/7 wrgBITM Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice: BITM Sales Stand only

May 5/6 KESCRG Wendover Arm Canal: NOTE Sat/Sun only, Monday off.

May 5/6/7 Essex WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Joint dig with wrgNW. Seven Locks flight.

May 5-7 wrgNW Wilts & Berks Canal: Dauntsey. Joint dig with Essex WRG

May 13/14 WRG WRG Training Weekend

May 19/20 London WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project

May 19/20 wrgBITM Rickmansworth Waterways Festival: Site Services, plus BITM Sales Stand

May 19/20 NWPG Mon & Brec Canal: Dig Deep project

May 19/20 wrgNW Hollinwood Canal: (provisional)

May 20 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings

May 26-28 wrgBITM Wendover Arm Festival: Site Services, plus BITM Sales Stand

May 27/28 KESCRG Wendover Arm Festival Bhaji stall

Jun 2/3 wrgSW Mon & Brec Canal

Jun 2/3 Essex WRG To be arranged

Jun 9/10 London WRG Mon & Brec Canal: Dig Deep project

Jun 9 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

Jun 14 Thu wrgNW Catering for World Canals Conference

Jun 15/17 wrgNW Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival: Sales Stall

Jun 16/17 wrgBITM Mon & Brec Canal: (provisional) Dig Deep project

Jun 16/17 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project

Jun 23/24 KESCRG Sussex Ouse

Jun 23-30 Camp 0702 Lord Rolle�s Canal Camp: Stonework on the Sea Lock at Weare Gifford

Jun 23-30 Camp 0703 Montgomery Canal Camp: Stonework, rebuilding wharf at Redwith bridge

Jun 26/Jul 4 wrgSW Saul Junction Festival: Site services

Jun 30-Jul 7 Camp 0704 Lord Rolle�s Canal Camp: Stonework on the Sea Lock at Weare Gifford

Jun 30-Jul 7 Camp 0705 Montgomery Canal Camp: Stonework, rebuilding wharf at Redwith bridge

Jul 1 Sun Navvies Press date for issue 224: including Canal Societies directory

Canal Camps cost £42 per week unless otherwise stated. Bookingsfor WRG Canal Camps (those identified by a camp number e.g.

'Camp 0701') should go to WRG Canal Camps, PO Box 114,Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY. Tel: 01923 711114.

Email: [email protected]

Camberley, Surrey GU17 0EY. Tel 01252 874437. email: [email protected].

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

he canal Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]


Eddie Jones 0845-226-8589 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

Jenny Black [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]




Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]



Harri Thomsett 07745-752045 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179






[email protected]

e [email protected]

Cath Coolican-Smith

[email protected]

e [email protected]

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

Canal Societies� regular monthly orweekly working parties

Please send amendments to DaveWedd (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 01246-620695Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 0296Last Sunday of month EAWA N Walsham & Dilham David Revill 01603-7386484th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike 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 Sue Williams 01543-6714273rd 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 01948-880723Every Tuesday morning TMCA Brian Macnish 01732-823725Every 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 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' socials(please phone to confirm before

turning up)London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days beforeeach dig. Usually at 'Star Tavern', Belgrave MewsWest, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094NWPG: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at the'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading.Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

Navvies diary

Lettersto the editor

Dear MartinI am one of WRG�s �armchair supporters�. I am also an �armchair supporter� of a

dozen or more similar organisations - not all of them canal-oriented.All produce newsletters of various sorts. All have strengths and weaknesses. I read

them all from cover to cover. But I�d just like to say that Navvies stands out from the pack.It has it all. The incredible range of material, the different styles, the serious and the light-hearted, the stuffy and the vulgar, the ponderous and the incomprehensible... no othernewsletter from any one else remotely approaches the sheer energy and verve of Navvies.And on every page there is the burning commitment to the cause of waterway restoration -however it is expressed.

Please don�t try and change any of it. Navvies is just wonderful just as it is.Yours sincerely

David SmithDear Martin

I don�t, for the most part, have a problem with the Camp Reports nor with the generaltone and content of Navvies but I do think that Nick Bailey has a point that you would beunwise to not take on board. I disagree with you that Navvies should be primarily for thoseactively involved in restoration, I don�t think it should favour any one group but shouldappeal to all. It is very important to realise that today�s armchair supporter could be tomor-row�s active volunteer but only if they are enthused by Navvies rather than put off.

By and large I find that the Camp Reports describe an environment where a great dealof hard work is done by day in a friendly and inclusive atmosphere, with a great deal of funhad by all �after hours�. New people seem to be welcomed. This is surely just the sort ofmessage to get across to encourage new volunteers. Where things go wrong, and it is justone such example that seems to have irritated Nick Bailey, is when the report gives the im-pression that it was all play and no work amongst a cliquey group of private pals. I�m notsaying that this is a true picture of the real camp - that isn�t important - what matters is theimpression received by a potential volunteer.

I don�t think you should be censoring reports but I do think that report writers need tobear in mind who will be reading them and for what purpose. It is important that theyconstitute a record of WRG�s activities for the future (and that includes the fun side) andappeal to those who are thinking of getting involved. They should be entertaining andshould not get too mired in blow by blow accounts of every brick cleaned but, as with mostthings in life, there is a balance to be found. Most writers get it right but I do think that Nickis right to point out that, occasionally, some people seem to be losing sight of the point ofwriting the report at all. If my impression of a particular leader from their previous CampReports was that, as a newcomer, I was likely to find myself gatecrashing someone else�sprivate playground I would probably steer clear of their future camps. Surely that can dono-one any favours?

RegardsAndy Overton

Dear MartinWell I fell for it - the old �write something provocative in the editorial so I get lots of

letters to fill the magazine� Editor�s trick.I seem to recall that back in my youth I wrote to you in a similar vein to Nick Bailey. I

can�t remember the responses I got but it doesn�t really matter anyway because the subjectof censorship is far more important than the opinions of a few readers.

About the only reason I can think of that MIGHT warrant your blue pencil is if the

A full letters section this time,thanks perhaps to last time�s �stirthem up� editorial? And is thereany consensus on what CampReports should be like?

report contains something that might be construed as offensive to an individual or group ofindividuals. The fact that I might not like the style of a report, or that it contains too many�in� jokes for my taste is certainly not grounds for censorship or even editorial �adjustments�.

As we all know, actually getting people to write anything for publication in a magazinelike ours is hard enough and if we are going to start telling people how to write their articleswe will soon end up with either no magazine at all or one that is filled with stuff that nobodywants to read.

I think your �feelings� are just about right. If there is any censorship then it should beself imposed. Make your contributions interesting for everyone, not just the 30 odd peoplewho came to your camp. (Did I mean 30 odd people?? As most of them are very odd, Iprobably did.)

Perhaps we should also remember that receiving your copy of �Navvies� every couple ofmonths isn�t compulsory. If you don�t like reading it then you can keep your £1.50 per an-num and invest it in something more meaningful like half a pint of best bitter.

Spencer Greystrong

p.s. I still think you�re the best editor of Navvies we�ve had for the last 81 issues (atleast until we can find some other mug.)

Dear MartinAfter reading Nick Bailey�s letter (Navvies, issue 221) I was left wondering how your

correspondent would define constructive criticism and whether we were, in fact, playing forthe same team.

I, too, pay well in excess of the £1.50 asked for a Navvies subscription, but not in thebelief that my subscription goes straight into funding waterway restoration. Nor do I haveany concept of it being a �membership fee�. I remember being set straight on this latterpoint on my first canal camp: �WRG has no �membership� as such - it is a co-ordinating bodyof willing volunteers with a group of subscribers to its magazine,� I was told by a seasonedregular.

That was in 2001. Now I�m a regular with quite a few Canal Camps, an awful lot of digs, acommittee position with KESCRG, editorship of KESCRG�s email newsletter and a motley selectionof dig and Camp reports published in London WRG News and Navvies under my belt.

So that�s �whoever Mark Mk2 Richardson is�. Those who get out there regularly knowexactly who I am, and all about my slightly leftfield (but certainly not �clever�) take on life.Readers of two specialist car magazines may also have heard of me, as I�ve been a publishedfreelancer (as in: paid) in the past, too.

I have never, ever, been accused (let alone publicly) of writing �drivel� and I bitterlyresent it.

With regard to the Camp report�s content, read the text. The first half informs the widerreadership of what we had to do last October and how we did it. Everything that needed tobe said was said; it was a comparitively simple Camp, with the only complication beingsourcing appropriate bricks and how this was eventually done is covered in the report. Noone who was not on the Camp, or had never been on a �Smudge Camp�, would have both-ered reading the second half. Would they?

Yours sincerelyMk2

PS After this little episode, I will think twice before volunteering to write for Navvies in the future.

SirOn behalf of the KESCRG committee, I hearby nominate a Special Service Award for

the maximum amount of personal publicity for the KESCRG 30th anniversary year to ourgroup secretary of the past 2 years - Mark �Mk2� Richardson.

Viv WatsonVice-chairman KESCRG

also WRG cook, WRGNW youth divisionand general volunteer in the restoration movement since 1991

Dear MartinIn the last edition of navvies you talk about Derek Cochrane being a lone voice in the

wilderness. He was one of a few! Derek is of the old school and BW will be much worse offfor his leaving: the experience that BW have lost over the past couple of years must add upto many hundreds of years.

Derek was / is a great supporter of the Mon & Brec Restoration and gave us a lot ofhelp and leadership during his time in the job. I think he will go on assisting various resto-ration schemes in his retirement.

Another character that BW have lost - but the wider restoration movement havegained - is Richard Dommett MBE. Richard retired in 2004 and is now a tireless worker forthe Mon & Brec Canals Trustand the Somerset Waterways.WRGies visiting the FourteenLocks site will already have metRichard.

This is a situation whereBW have lost out and the resto-ration movement have gained.Thank you to Richard andDerek, oh and to you BW foryour short-sightedness!

Chris MorganDear Martin

I hope that you can findroom for this letter as it is notabout a WRG camp or even aWRG dig, but it is about whatwas very much a WRG occa-sion.

Mavis and I, throughNavvies, would like to say a bigthank you to all the membersof WRG who worked so hard tomake the wedding of Judithand Mike such an enjoyable andmemorable day. We would likealso like to say a big thank youto everyone who turned out tocelebrate the event with us. Itwas great to meet so many ofthe friends we have made overthe years.

We have never seen somany wrgies so well turned out- you all scrubbed up reallywell.

Jude�s Mum and Dad(a.k.a. Mavis & David Moore)

Lettersto the editor

�This is a situation whereBritish Waterways has lostout and the restorationmovement has gained�

Mr & Mrs Palmer

Our regular round-up of thelatest progress from around thesystem kicks off with a reportfrom the Lichfield Canal

Work has continued at the TamworthRoad Locks site in Lichfield using both theTrust�s own volunteers and visiting Groups.Most recently we have welcomed LondonWRG, WRG NW and Newbury Working PartyGroup, all of which put in excellent work.

Lock 24 has now been infilled andprepared for landscaping. A pair of BWdonated lock gates have been installed at thetail to give a cosmetically good impressionfrom the road - until such time as a decisioncan be made on whether and how to restorethis lock.

Much bricklaying has taken place inPound 25 and below Lock 25 in MrsAttwood�s garden. The Canal Walk on Sun-day 22nd April has focussed attention onmaking all work sites as attractive as possi-ble. Bricks and recovered stone have beenmoved to storage. There has also been workon the trees with removal of old ones andpreparation for replanting.

The garage which stood above thebywash on Lock 26 has been removed readyfor work on the channel once designworkhas been completed. All this is dependent on

agreement with Severn Trent Water for theremoval of the land drainage pipe whichcurrently runs along the canal bed, and ascheme for temporary rerouting down Pound27. The Trust is now consulting its engineer-ing advisors on the best method of rebuild-ing the long wall down to the A38 crossingbelow Lock 26. This will be the next majorproject for visiting groups and the localvolunteers. This will form a mooring placefor visiting boaters wanting to walk intoLichfield, and so design is more critical thanusual.

The whole area from the head of Lock24 now presents a pleasing appearance withclear evidence that the canal is heading forfull restoration with the possibility of a lim-ited rewatering in the not too distant future.Although the Trust has a heavy financialcommitment to the culverting work whichwill take the diverted canal under Birming-ham Road (and which is being carried out aspart of the construction of the new LichfieldSouthern Bypass), it is confident that it cancontinue funding active restoration on thepresent scale.

Brian Kingshott

The garage built over the Lock 26 bywash: now you see it... and now you don�t!

Dav

id M

iller

Progresson the Lichfield Canal

With gates (albeit temporary ones) in Lock24, it starts to look like a real canal

Lesl

ey M

cFad

yen

..and after the end of the camp, with water in the canal... and bricks!

Progress...and the Grantham...

Grantham Canal update:Bridge 19 Cropwell Bishop

Following on from the possibly confus-ing reports [See letters pages ...Ed] from theBridge 19 camp last October on theGrantham Canal at Cropwell Bishop, Notting-ham in the previous Navvies I will attempt towrite a very small update from the CanalSociety perspective so you can see how nicethe site looks and what a good job we man-aged to achieve.

This old swing bridge site is situated in

what is normally the dry section of the canal.But since Thames Water had all their droughtnotices printed in water soluble ink the bedof the canal has changed - along with thefact that Colin and I inserted a board into thepaddle fitted to the dam at the top of lock 11to retain any water that might collect.

Just after the camp finished and therains came, the section collected a gooddepth of water. As you will see from thepictures that is not a narrowboat travellingthrough with a full load of bricks on board -it is the stock of bricks that BW gave us touse for repairs, only for us to find that theywere huge Imperial size ones that were fartoo big compared to the Grantham�s originalold English size. So yes you�ve guessed itthey are a complete waste of time - but lookvery impressive sitting in the middle.

The pictures show what a good job wasmade of a very difficult site in so far thatthere were five different sizes and types ofbricks in situ. I have tried to show beforeand after shots for comparison.

Martin DayBridge 19 with work in progress...

Mar

tin D

ay

Mar

tin D

ay

Progress...the Mon & Brec...Monmouthshire & Brecon Canals

Its now over four and a half years sincethe intrepid wrgies first got involved with usin South Wales.

Lock 21 at the top of the Fourteen LockFlight stands testament to the skill and com-mitment of the WRG organisation and itsvolunteers. Since completion of the lock thetop pound to Ruskin Avenue has beendredged and made �navigable�. The sectionhas been invaded by Canadian pondweed,which inhibits the propeller of the trip boat,and so induces many pleasurable hours ofbow hauling!

On the main line in the Torfaen Bor-ough, Ash Tree Bridge and the area around itwas brought back to life by two camps ofWRG and KESCRG in 2003.

This section is now awaiting water: amajor leak is currently being fixed by con-tractors for Torfaen Council (March 2007).

Work at the Fourteen Locks site has

carried on with much valued visits by variousgroups attending to bywashes and culverts,and also helping with site fencing and thecreation of safe walkways around the site.This won much praise from locals and theNewport City Council because of the extraaccess for all it gained.

On the lower Crumlin Arm the Trusthas been able to continue the work on locks3 and 4 with regular one a week workingparties by our very own �Ant Hill Mob�: thisgroup of retired citizens are really gettingstuck in on Tuesday�s come rain or shine, ledby our very own Richard Dommett.

Recently the Trust was able to take partin the opening of another obstruction atBettws Lane. This will eventually allow boatsto travel to Tamplin Lock by Ash Tree Bridge.We have everything crossed now for Septem-ber and the results of our Big Lottery LivingLinks bid, which could see the tricky andexpensive section restored from therethrough Cwmbran to the start of the naviga-ble length at Five Locks.

Thanks to all volunteers who havecome to Wales (rain or shine!) to make ourproject that little bit easier.

We will always welcome new volunteersto join the �Ant Hill Mob� at Lock 3, pleasecontact Richard Dommett on 01873 832153for more information.

Chris Morgan

Official opening of Bettws Lane Bridge on the Mon & Brec main line

Vaug

han

Wel

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Progress...Wey & Arun and Stour...

WACT: living life on the �edge

In early December, volunteers from theWey & Arun Canal Trust planted 6,000 hedg-ing plants along a 1,500 metre stretch of thecanal near Pulborough. Undertaken at thelandowners request, the huge task tookthree-and-a-half days and involved forty-three people, some of whom worked on allthe days.

The plants were mainly hawthorn and blackthorn, which volunteers quickly learned torecognise and deal with carefully as they have very sharp thorns. Other species were ran-domly placed along the hedge to give variety. Each plant was firmly heeled-in to the groundand a bamboo stake, to help keep it upright when the wind blows, was pushed in alongside.A plastic guard was then wound round the plant to help prevent it being nibbled by rabbitsand other small creatures during the first years of its life.

Maintenance Manager David Jessop was delighted at the response to his request for volun-teers. Although most workerscame from Sussex and Surrey,there were others from as far asBuckinghamshire and even oneperson from France. �It was apleasure working with such acheerful, hard-working group ofpeople. They used their initiative insorting out what was needed andjust got on with the job�, com-mented Richard Watson, one ofthe organisers. This task followson from the erecting, during thesummer, of a post and wire fencealong much of the same stretch ofthe canal, by members of the Wey& Arun Canal Trust�s Mid-WeekWorking Party, led by PeterJackman.

The fence and hedge nowprevent sheep from going intothe canal and mark a walkingcorridor through this peacefulpart of Sussex.

Essex / Suffolk Stour

Just a brief report this timeto say that work proceeds, butslowly, on the restoration of thelock at Stratford St Mary. Wehave a work party at the lock onthe third Saturday of eachmonth, to which all volunteersare welcome: contact JohnMorris on Tel: 01473 822612 oremail: [email protected].

For more information andlots of photos, see websitewww.riverstour.com/Stratfordlock First boat through the Wey & Arun�s rebuilt Brewhurst Lock

Progress...Wendover Arm...

Wendover Arm Trust report

The past year has been a turning pointin the Phase II section of the restoration,which runs from the end of the restoredlength at Tringford to the end of the dry partof the canal at Drayton Beauchamp near theA41 crossing.

We have been assessing the pro-gramme and estimate for Phase II based onexperience to date and the final design. Theexperience to date has exposed several prob-lems:. Gabions are not practical but the alter-

native of hollow concrete blocks withcoir rolls along the top is more expen-sive � coir rolls alone will add £50,000to Phase II.

. Current winter weather conditionsmean that final profiling and liningwith Bentomat cannot be done duringthe winter months. Even bulk excava-tion and pipe capping (covering thepipeline which carried water throughthe dry length of canal) is sloweddown in winter by dumpers having todrive more slowly in the very muddyconditions. We are now having toexperiment with using tracked dump-ers when the conditions are verymuddy but these cost over threetimes as much as a wheeled dumper tohire.

.. The pipeline capping is in places underthe offside bank, requiring tipping afterexcavating for the capping to make upthe profile. This means leaving the spoilfor about six months to consolidatebefore it can be profiled and theBentomat laid without fear of subsid-ence.

. Working at Drayton Beauchamp hasmeant an even greater overhead thanfirst envisaged � excavators take atleast 45 minutes each day to travel toand from Little Tring; an overhead of

nearly 20% on an eight hour day andwe only have a seven hour day at bestduring mid-winter. This travelling isnecessary for security and refuellingfrom our secure diesel storage at LittleTring.

.. The extended nature of the work inprogress together with the distancefrom Little Tring and extensive use ofhired plant means that work has to beplanned very carefully against the avail-ability of volunteers. If at all possible,volunteers are asked to let Ray Orth ormyself if they are coming to a workparty at least two weeks in advance.Another thought is that work wouldspeed up if there could be a week daywork party between our monthly workparties to strike and re-erect formworkfor the pipe capping and reinforcedconcrete mooring walls. This wouldrequire some form of transport fortools and small materials, a problemwhen the VW Transporter cannot usethe road along the canal bed in muddyconditions.

Until the first length is in water laterthis year, it is difficult to finalise cost andtime estimates for Phase II but there will bea substantial increase on our initial estimatesand timescale.

Despite the difficulties over 100 metresof pipe capping has now been completedand the slab for sealing the first manhole hasbeen cast ready for placing in position.Meanwhile blinding work has commenced inconjunction with the west offside wing wallof Footbridge No. 4. Work on the west endwalls at Bridge 4 was due to continue at theMarch work party, while at Footbridge 4a allwing walls are now cast and back fillingshould have commenced at the March workparty.

For more information see the WendoverArm Trust restoration website managed byOliver Revel http://wendovercanal.org.uk/

Roger Leishman

The Wendover Arm Trust havestarted relining the Phase Two

length of the Arm - and arefinding some tricky challengesfacing them as work proceeds

Progress...and finally the Wooden Canal Boats Society

Wooden Canal Boat Society

We�re expecting to have a Hymac on theHeritage Boatyard site at Stalybridge ready tomake a start on excavating the slipway onFebruary 14th.

Most of our volunteer time is currentlytied up in running our new huge charity shopon Stamford St in Ashton under Lyne. This isbringing in enough money to enable us torun the society on slightly less of a shoe-string, but at the moment it means that wedon�t have much time for working on theboats. Anyone in Greater Manchester whowould like to work in the shop should con-tact me on 07931 952 037 or the shop on0161 330 8422.

We�d also like to hear from someonewho enjoys entering information into acomputer. There are about a million sale-able items that we want to list on ourwebsite as well as selling some things onEbay. A lot of our work at the moment isabout turning an avalanche of donatedgoods into the avalanche of money that�sneeded for restoring wooden boats.

Recycling trips continue to run on thefirst Sunday and Monday of each month(except in May when it�s the second Sun-day and Monday). Sunday trips departPortland Basin at 9.30am and Mondaytrips from the same place at 6pm. All arewelcome: ring the above numbersfor fur-ther details.

A canal through here soon: the JCB in the picture has just started clearance work for reinstate-ment of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in Salford as part of the Middlewood development

John

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WRG BITM...on the Wendover and at Latton

BITM Digs 2007

The two digs we have had so far thisyear have seen a pretty healthy turnout, andwe�ve achieved most of our objectives.

In January, we were on the Bucking-ham Arm, and not only were there 25 of us,but we were augmented by a contingent of10 from Birmingham University ConservationGroup. So it�s just as well that CosgroveVillage Hall is fairly roomy.

Rachael divided us up into three teams,as the local Society had lined up a variety ofwork for us along about half a mile of thecanal. They wanted us to dig into the bigdam where the bridge used to be, to seehow much of it was still there, and our ge-ologist Simon took charge of that team.There was also some strimming/brush cut-ting and scrub bashing, and a bit of tirforing,

with Mike Paice as our team leader. A fur-ther project was to erect two informationboards at either end of the Arm, with holesto dig and concrete the posts in under Gra-ham�s supervision.

However, the �best laid schemes ofmice and men can gang astray� (sorry if I�vemisquoted), and things did not go quite toplan. Within five minutes of arriving on site,Mike had spotted a huge willow growing onthe side of the cut, which, as he pointed out,would have to come out sooner or later, sowhy not while we had plenty of manpower?Simon soon discovered that most of thebridge had long since disappeared, so histeam and Mike�s joined up to work on thewillow, which took most of the weekend! Ittook 3 five-tonne tirfors, pulling from differ-ent directions, to pull the tree down on itsside on the canal bed, so Ian could start

BITM get to do some serious Tirforing...

chainsawing bits off to be carted away forburning.

Before the day was out, it had seen offIan�s chainsaw, so he had to borrowRachael�s, and it still took some hours toreduce it to manageable hunks, and then theefforts were got underway to try to pull thestump out. Usually, Mike has his personaltwo-edged Scandinavian super-sharp axe, ofwhich he is very proud, as it has demolishedmany a tree in double-quick time over theyears. Unfortunately, he had forgotten it thistime, so it was a case of tackling the hugeroots with mattocks and bowsaws, and fi-nally on Sunday most of it was removed.(see inside cover photograph Navvies 221)There was also a fallen tree across the tow-path half a mile down, which was sawn upand burnt.

Erecting the boards didnot take too long, so Grahamwas mostly able to superviseany scrub bashing etc. Jamesdid some brush cutting onSaturday, while I struggledwith large clumps of brambleson steep sloping banks onboth days. Quite a few sap-lings were uprooted andplanted in gaps in the hedge.

There was a cold windblowing on both days, but atleast it was dry, and the suneven managed to pokethrough once or twice. Apesky Jack Russell fancied ourMina, and was not put off bythe difference in height, anddefied capture by James forquite a while.

Our February dig was afirst for us, in that we werenot just working on two sites,but on two different canals!Latton Basin was on the NorthWilts, just at the old junctionwith the Thames & Severn,whereas Rucks Bridge andEysey Lock were actually onthe Thames & Severn.

Rachael led the NorthWilts, and Simon the Thames& Severn. Before everyonearrived they sat down anddivided the 24 expected vol-unteers into two groups, as

far as possible providing an even list ofexpertise for either site. Tirfors would beneeded at both sites, (although the EyseyLock local work party had cut many of thetrees down to ground level), but there weretwo colossal and awkwardly-shaped ashstumps at Rucks Bridge. Obviously yetanother challenge for Mike, so he was defi-nitely allocated to Simon�s team.

I was at Latton, so I have had to pickSimon�s brains on how that panned out.Once again, three tirfors were needed foreach stump. This time, Mike had remem-bered his Famous Chopper, and set to on theroots of one, with wood chips falling like rainon the surrounding countryside, not to men-tion on the rest of the group, busily engagedin uprooting a thicket of blackthorn saplings

...Jack and Mattt take the strain...

that covered the canal bank.Ian�s chainsaw, now repaired, was

felling trees up at the lock, with brash andlogs fuelling bonfires on either side of thelock, and this continued on Sunday. Simon,Mike, Ian II and Phill tackled a fallen willowdown by the bridge that, being willow, hadwell rooted itself in the cut, and it only suc-cumbed to a twin-tirfor approach after it hadbeen sawn in half. Ian, Mike and Simonseparately endeavoured to test the conceptthat the water in a wet-suit provides insula-tion against the surrounding cold, but wereonly able to demonstrate that this does notapply to wellies. Or socks. Or trousers.

Meanwhile, at Latton, the main chal-lenge was two very large trees growing onthe aqueduct. One of them was double-forked, with two large trunks, which weattached a rope to so Rachael could cut themseparately to fall onto the bed of the canal,and the branches were cut up and burnt on alarge bonfire along with a number of smallertirfored stumps from the area. The trunkswere cut up into logs and stacked, but therootball took three tirfors, and a lot of puff-ing, panting and straining, before it wasuprooted.

The other large tree was much more ofa problem. The base of the trunk turnedout to be about 4 ft. across, once Rob and Ihad demolished part of the stone wall toreveal the roots, some of whichwere almost as thick as the fivemain trunks on the tree. We knewthere was a thick root runningalong the outside of the wall ineither direction, and Rachael hadthought that if she cut throughthose the tree would hopefully fallforward into the water below, butonce we found there were manyequally thick roots running backacross the aqueduct, that obvi-ously wouldn�t work. I startedattacking one of these roots withan axe, but the occupants of thenearby Lock Cottage were worriedthat if we couldn�t actually fell it,and control the fall, it could causea lot of damage, or even blowdown later in strong winds.Rachael had to restrict herself toremoving two of the trunks tolighten the load, and leave DougSmall, the local work party leader,to decide where to go from there.

While Mike enjoys a big macho chal-lenge, Dave Wedd likes a different sort ofchallenge, using different sorts of skills,which are usually undertaken in close prox-imity to water. This time, it didn�t involve acanoe, but he clung on spider-like to thevertical wall of the aqueduct, removingdogrose, bramble and ivy from the stones.A few of us leaned over the parapet and tookbets as to whether he�d fall in, but he disap-pointed us, probably because he had a ropeattached to some part of his anatomy formost of the time!

We are really lucky, in that June, ourregular cook, copes uncomplainingly nomatter how many of us there are. She�salways up with breakfast underway before 7a.m., and if Mike�s on the dig he makesporridge and brings a cup of tea round toeveryone to turn them out of their sleepingbags. Quite a few BITMites are natural earlyrisers, and we are mostly on site between8.30 and 9.00 a.m. June has all the lunchready, including home-made cakes, by 1p.m., and we�re even provided with bigboxes of home-made cookies for our teabreaks, and a delicious meal in the evening.

Our May dig is on the Wilts & Berksthen in June we�re on the Mon & Brec: newvolunteers always welcome: see the Navviesdiary pages for details.

Di Smurthwaite

�It doesn�t look quite so big now it�s out�

Navvies NewsJoin the new WRG forum

If you�ve got anything that youwant to share with the rest ofWRG (other than infectiousdiseases) please feel free to sendit to �Navvies News�

The Oxford Social

A group of WRG regulars based in theOxford area have started meeting socially inthe pub on an occasional basis. Any Navviesreaders in the vicinity are welcome to joinus. The regional groups LWRG, KESCRG andwrgSW are currently represented among ournumber, but we�d love to see anyone, activedigger or armchair supporter!

At the moment, we�re meeting approxi-mately monthly, on a Wednesday eveningfrom 7.30pm in the Eagle & Child pub onSt Giles in the centre of Oxford. The pub hasseveral real ales on tap and does a goodselection of reasonably priced food, served til9pm.

Please contact me by email [email protected] or phone07745 752045 if you�re interested, and I�llmake sure you�re added to my list to be toldabout the next meet.

Harri Thomsett

Book auction results

The successful bids in the book auctionin Navvies 220 were as follows:-

Inland Waterways of Europe £6.00British Canals: an illustrated history £10.00Bradshaw�s Canals £50.00Waterways Postcards £8.00Waterways Heritage £6.00Narrow Boat Painting £25.00Pleasure and Leisure Boating £10.00Canal and River Cruising £5.00The Navigators £5.00Inland Cruising £5.00

The books not listed above were unsold.

WRGie Words II

The original WRGie Words online dis-cussion forum having gone a bit quiet,mainly because of technical problems withthe site taking a long time to load (or some-

times, people failing to get in to it at all), areplacement forum WRGie Words II has beenset up using a different host.

Jonathan Price has once again kindlyoffered to set it up, but unfortunately he hasno way of transferring all the membersacross from the old forum. So anyone whowants to join in the jolly discussions on alltopics to do with WRG (and quite a few thatare nothing to do with WRG - there�s a spe-cific part of the forum tor those) shouldregister on the new site at http://wrg.ipbfree.com/index.php.

And of course it�s open to everyonewho wasn�t on the old forum, too.

Graham�s walk for Julie

Graham Horn of NWPG lost his wifeJulie to cancer towards the end of last year.Here he shares with us his plans for how heis to commemorate her life...

The time has come to launch �my longwalk for Julie�. Which means I am looking toyou and all your friends and colleagues forsponsorship, money, dosh. The short storyis that I am walking the Macmillan Way (290miles across England) in April/May, raisingfunds forMacmillan Cancer Support and theDuchess of Kent House Trust, in memory ofJulie.

Thanks to my good friend Phil (whocan do websites) you can read all about ithere www.walkforjulie.org.uk. And thanks toother good friends Alison and Martin, youcan send sponsorship forms back to theiraddress (100 Westwood Road, Tilehurst,Reading, RG30 5PP) so that letters don�t pileup at home whilst I am away.

I hope that the two organisations willreceived half of the sponsorship each, but Ineed to present two forms to you, and youcan choose which one to fill in. So they areon the website. Please print them off andinvite your own friends and colleagues tocontribute as well. Perhaps they can sponsorYOU to walk for a day. And take a look at

that competition.How can you not enter that? There will

a worthwhile prize (don�t know what yet) butit might be: 1st prize one day walking withGraham, 2nd prize 2 days walking withGraham.

And yes, please come and walk withme. Or join me for an evening (Ihave lots ofB&Bs and pub meals to get through). Orhelp me spread the word. However you canhelp I will be very grateful, so by all meansget in touch.

Best wishes and thank youGraham Horn

What can you buy for £4,873.19?

The answer is: a reasonable repair jobon a Transit after you�ve crashed it. I�m notgoing to embarrass anyone by namingnames, but that�s how much the total bill toour insureres was for repairs to RFB (and thevehicle it hit) in a fairly low-speed collisionworked out at. And don�t just think �Oh well,the insurers will pay - that�s why we haveinsurance�. That�s also why our premiums(premia?) are so high.

So drive safely, folks!

And speaking of driving...

Most of your WRG driver authorisationcards will expire this year or next year.

When we re-vamped the scheme a few

years ago we deliberately set an expiry dateso that we wouldn�t end up with a databasefull of people who are authorised to drivevehicles but who we never see on digs anymore. Or a lot of people who we do still see,but who haven�t driven some of the types ofvehicle on their card for so long that they�veprobably forgotten how to drive them.

So check your card to see if it�s about torun out, and remember you will need a copyof your driving licence, signed by an ap-proved WRG signer-of-driving-licences,before you can renew it. And don�t wait untilyou�re sat in the cab of an excavator in themiddle of one of this summer�s camps beforeyou realise that you�re no longer insured todrive it because your card just ran out.

Hoppers for sale

...or possibly available on free loan to agood home. Two dredging hoppers, both70ft long, are available. One is a GrandUnion rivetted type, recently rebottomed, re-tanked and reinforced with extra knees; theother is a 1992-built deep-sided hull with aworn tank-lining and dollies in need of atten-tion.

Any sensible offers above the scrapprice will be considered - or free loan. Theyare currently gathering rainwater and leaveson the Coventry Canal.

Contact Martin Guest on 01482 888054or 07990 685123 if you are interested.

Thank you to Steve Hayes for this photo of a rather different lock rebuilding project: con-structing a second chamber at Esna on the Nile to relieve congestion at the existing lock

Contacting the chairman:Mike Palmer

3 Finwood Rd,Rowington, Warwickshire

CV35 7DH

Tel: 01564 785293

email: [email protected]

Congratulations...to

Gav and Alison Mooron the arrival of

Jennifer Grace Mooron 2/2/7 weighing 7lb 3oz.

Online Navvies subscriptionsDon�t forget: You can now take out or

renew Navvies subs online atwww.waterways.org.uk/Restora-

tion/index.htm or atwww.iwashop.com/ecommerce/

products.asp?cat=126

Navvies Directory updateThe Cotswold Canals Trust�s contactdetails have changed to: 44 Black JackStreet, Cirencester, Glos GL7 2AA.Tel: 01285 643440,Website: www.cotswoldcanals.comemail: [email protected]

Grantham Canal contact Colin Bryan�s aemail is: [email protected]

Dorset & Somerset Canal contactDerrick Hunt�s email is:[email protected]

Full directory will next appear in issue224: send any updates to the Editor.

Stampswanted

Send used stamps,petrol coupons, phonecards, empty computerprinter ink cartridges toIWA/WRG Stamp Bank,33 Ham-bleton Grove,Milton Keynes MK42JS. All proceeds tocanal restoration.

WRGwear ordersHelen �Bushbaby� Gardner hastemporarily run away to the

other side of the world to getaway from organising WRGwear

WRG logo clothing. We hopethat she will return soon but inthe meantime any orders may

be subject to some delay.

Dial-a-camp

To contactany WRG

Canal Camp:07850 422156(Kit �A� camps)07850 422157(Kit �B� camps)

NOTICEBOARD

Boat share for sale

One or more shares arelikely to be available in the

well-known traditional ex-workingnarrow boat Fulbourne, owned by aconsortium of WRG volunteers and

other waterways enthusiasts.

If you are interestedcontact Tim Lewison 07802 518094

Congratulationsto Harri �Harri T� Thomsett

andRick �Rick B� Barnes

on their engagament

Lost propertyLost at Mike and Jude�s wedding: one silverSony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 digital camera,

without a case.If you accidentally took it away with you,

please contact Wen & James Carrington [email protected]

BackfillDoes anyone read Navvies at all?

BW cuts start to bite...

The reductions in Government grants toBritish wateways are clearly starting to havean effect on the maintenance budget. Notonly has £5m of major works had to bepostponed indefinitely from the canal sys-tem�s winter engineering programme thanksto Government department DEFRA�s �cretin-ous� (*) levels of incompetence, but indi-vidual maintenance projects have had to bescaled-down too.

In the case of the stop-gates on theFoxton Incline upper approach arm, I amreliably informed that this scaling-down hastaken the form of supplying a set of 13ft 8inlock-gates for a 14ft wide canal.

(*) It�s been called that in the House of Com-mons, so it must be true!

A profitable sideline?

A discussion among WRGies of thewaterway funding crisis led to some helpfulsuggestions about what could be done toraise more cash for the canals. And we thinkwe�ve hit on a good idea...

Apparently an easy way of fleecing(sorry catering for the needs of) railwayenthusiasts is the �driver�s eye video� - a DVDof a section of railway line, shot fhrough thecab-windows to give a view that�s not gener-ally available. (at least since the demise ofthose old 1950s diesel units where you couldbag the front seat and look out through therear windows of the cab and over the driver�sshoulder at the track ahead) I am given tounderstand that these are popular enoughthat over in Germany a TV station has beenknown to give its entire night-time scheduleover to �virtual cab-rides� of popular bits oftrack.

So let�s do the same for the canals. Butas it would take a lot longer to get round thewhole network at 3mph with a video, we�llstart by just doing �steerer�s eye videos�s ofall the most popular canal tunnels.

Oh, perhaps I should have mentionedthat this particular brain-wave was dreamed-up towards the end of a London WRG ses-sion at the Star Tavern, where the Fuller�sAles really are most excellent...

And speaking of beer...

How many people noticed that the �Nexttime� section on the Contents page of Nav-vies 221 consisted of the following?

And next time: We really haven�t aclue what we�re going to include. Becausethis issue�s so late going to press that all thethings we were hoping to report in issue 222have made it into 221. But as we suspectnobody reads this paragraph anyway, we�lloffer a free pint to the first person to show acopy of this page to the editor while onlicenced premises.

Not many of you, it appears, given thatnobody claimed their pint. And I�m sorry,you�re too late now. But it confirms my sus-picions - and you�ll see that there�s no �nexttime� piece in this issue.

Captions wanted

This issue�s caption competition in-volves George �Bungle� Eycott driving WRGPlant�s box-bodied Land Rover (also knownas �The Pasty Wagon�) - and rather a lot ofwater. Suggestions to the editor, please.

navvies 222

Documents

wise wrg

directors of wrg

silvester road

eleanor road

wrg south west

john hawkins

john fletcher

john tesshawkins