Navvies 191

Navvies

waterway recovery group

Volunteers restoring waterwaysNo 191 February - March 2002

Therewill be

a restoredcanal opened

through herewith boats on it

infourmonthstime...

Contributions......are always welcome, whether hand-written,typed, on 3½" disk (please include hard-copy)or by e-mail. Photos also welcome: slides orcolour or b/w prints. Please state whether youwant your prints back; I assume that you wantslides returned. Computer scanned photos alsoacceptable, either on disk or as e-mailattachments, preferably JPG format. Send themto the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, SilvesterRoad, London SE22 9PB, or e-mail [email protected]. Press date forNo 192: March 8th.

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

In this issue:Editorial It's Good News Week! 3-5Chairman The importance of being trained 6-7Photos wanted for next year's brochure 8-9WRGNorthWest is 25 years old! 10-11Cromford a new worksite soon? 12-13Logistics and the kit schedules 14-15Cleanup book now for the Walsall... 16Stamp bank stamps and recyclables wanted 17Diary camps and working parties 18-20Letters to the editor 21-24Camps Christmas on the Wilts & Berks; NewYear on the Basingstoke 25-27Get Trained with IWA, WRG and BW 28-29Accommodation hovels we have known 30Coming soon events at Lichfield and Lapal 31Bankside the serial returns again 32Bits & Pieces and theWRG Boat Club 33-34Noticeboard 35Backfill MKP Fabrications! 36

And next time......a report from the Cleanup, a Dig Deep up-date, some forthcoming work on the Caldon Ca-nal, more on this year's Canal Camps... andwhatever else you send in... (maybe a load ofletters slagging-off 'Navvies'? I can but hope.)

Cover photo: It's true! These two lines of WRGies are standing approximately where the banks of theRochdale Canal will be when it's re-excavated through the site of the Failsworth Co-op in north Man-chester - and the entire canal is on schedule to be reopened on July 1st. Photographed by the editorduring the bus tour on the WRG North West 25th anniversary weekend. (see p8-9) Below: three milesaway and thirty years agoHarryArnold photographed 'Ashtac', the Big Dig that launched the restoration of theAshton and Lower Peak Forest Canals, leading to the reopening of the 'Cheshire Ring' in the mid-1970s.

Contents

page 2

EditorialToquote one of our glorious leaderMike 'MKP'Palmer's favourite phrases:

"It's all going terribly well"

Originally I was going write one of those long,boring, whinging editorials that I know you all lovereading, where I go on at length about how it'snot worth editing 'Navvies' if nobody's going towrite anything for it, and even when they do writeanything they invariably send it in so long afterwhat's laughably referred to as the 'press date'that I get grief from John Hawkins because themagazine's always late at the printers.... and if Iever actually sent it to press on the press datewith all the contributions I've received on time itwill probably consisted of a single sheet of paperwith "bugger all" written on it in big letters... whichshould at least help to fill the Letters Page nexttimewith peoplemoaningabout the bad language...

But then Jen's 'Logistics' piece (see p14) arrived(late I'm afraid, but at least she's got a good ex-cuse: she's been busy helping with the CanalCamps brochure that you will receive in this is-sue) and I thought she'd done such an excellentjob of moaning that any whinges of my own wouldpale by comparison.

So I thought I'd write something cheerful fora change. Because there's quite a lot to cheerabout right now.

Firstly, canal reopenings are in the news. Asmentioned elsewhere, as part of the WRG North

West 25th birthday party we were treated toa tour in two vintage double-decker busesof some current and recent progress on ca-nal restoration. And just like buses - youwait ages, and then all of a sudden two trans-Pennine canal reopenings arrive one afterthe other! The Huddersfield Canal openedlast year; the Rochdale is set to reopen onJuly 1st this year.

Thirty years ago (see photo opposite andmaps left) the Ashton Canal had only justbeen saved from the threat of elimination;now it's all set to become the central link ofover 70miles of formerly-derelict canals thathave been restored to navigation in Man-chester and surrounding areas. And therewill be more to follow, with the ManchesterBolton and Bury - and then what next?Maybe the Stockport and Hollinwoodbranches of the Ashton, or the Manchester& Salford Junction, or perhaps a couple ofnew canals to link Bolton or Bury with theLeeds & Liverpool Canal? Far-fetched?Maybe not, when you think of what's hap-pening elsewhere in the region...

Which leads us to the next bit of GoodNews...

The Ribble Link: Britain's first new water-way for about a century is set to open onJuly 12th, bringing the Lancaster Canal intothe national network for the first time. Also inthe north west, the official reopening of theAnderton Lift is set for March 26th. An a littlefurther afield, the restoration of theMillenniumLink - the Forth & Clyde andUnion canals inScotland - will culminate in the official open-ing by HM The Queen on May 24th of thebrand-new Falkirk Wheel boat-lift that re-connects the two canals together.

Manchester areacanals:1972

Manchester areacanals:2002

Manchester areacanals:2022?

Bridgewater

Man. ShipCanal

Stretford &Leigh branch

Stockportbranch Bugsworth

Peak Forest

Macclesfield

HuddersfieldNarrow

Hudd. Broad

Rochdale HollinwoodBranchMan. Bolton

& Buiry Irwell

Ashton

Bridgewater

Man. ShipCanal


BugsworthPeak Forest

Macclesfield

HuddersfieldNarrow

Hudd. Broad

Rochdale

Irwell

Ashton

Bridgewater

Man. ShipCanal


Peak Forest

Macclesfield

Hudd. Broad

Irwell

MANCHESTER

MANCHESTER

MANCHESTER

EditorialReopenings on the Ashbyand Montgomery Canals

But the good news isn't just about reopeningsof entire canals: a couple of significant shorterlengths of waterway have reopened recently.What will eventually be the northern terminus ofthe Ashby Canal at Moira is now open, with abrand new basin and a new lock (the first on thecanal) to take the restored length under a mainroad; the next stage will be to extend southwardsfrom there, to meet up with the current limit ofnavigation at Snarestone.

And on the Montgomery Canal, the opening ofthe Burgedin to Ardleen length has shortenedthe 'missing link' between the restored Englishand Welsh sections of the canal. A further nar-rowing of the gap should occur in the not-too-distant future with the reopening of the sectionthrough 'our' locks atAston, past our current work-site at Maesbury Spillweir, and into Maesburyvillage and beyond.

Still on the subject of the Mont and the 'missinglink'... at Maerdy, on the Welsh side of the bor-der, a new road-junction improvement schemewas planned, and unfortunately it didn't make anyprovision for the restoration of the canal - despitesuch provision being official government (or inthis caseWelshAssembly) policy these days. Ap-parently because the junction remodelling (a newroundabout) wasn't actually directly on the lineof the canal, and the existing culverted roadcrossing was to remain in use, that meant thattechnically the road scheme didn't impact on thecanal restoration. Although in practice it wouldmake future reopening of the canal far more dif-ficult and expensive, because the proximity of theroundabout would make reinstating the originalbridge unacceptable, it offered officialdom achance to weasel-out, to save a few pounds nowat the expense of far greater costs in future.

But then, just as I was sharpening my pen readyfor a blistering editorial saying exactly what Ithought of Cardiff welshing on its responsibilityto the future of its waterways... they changed theirmind! Thanks to a lot of campaigning and letter-writing by many individuals and all of the bodiesinvolved in the restoration of the Mont, the planshave been put on hold so that an investigationcan be made into whether the road scheme canbe altered to take account of the canal. Moregood news!

Recent reopenings: the Ashby Canal gets its first lock and a new terminus basin at Moira...

EditorialAnd four more new worksites to look out for...

You may have noticed that among all the currentreopenings that I describe above, there don'tseem to be many mentions of current WRG worksites. And you'd be right - mostly these are pro-fessional contractor-built schemes financed byLottery grants, local authority money or similar,not volunteer projects. But you can be sure thatall of them began as volunteer schemes (and I'mequally sure that all our current volunteer projectswill one day see multi-million pound funding andcontractors at work) - with the exception of theAnderton Lift, which we have contributed to in arather different way. Which is a sneaky way forme to get round to another bit of good news...

The Anderton Abseil has succeeded in its aim ofraising £10,000 towards the restoration of the Lift,making WRG a 'Gold Patron' of the appeal.

But meanwhile, back to some of the restorationschemes that do involve volunteers, and that don'tyet feature in the list of forthcoming reopenings.And in particular, three canals that we might wellbecome increasingly familiar with. Which is alsogood news for us, because they all look like be-ing interesting places to work...

The 'Mon & Brec' - the Monmouthshire and Bre-con Canal to give it its full name (oh, all right, theMonmouthshire Canal and the Brecknock andAbergavenny Canal to them their FULL name!) -has been chosen as the site for this year's BonfireBash weekend, and also sees its first Canal Campfor several years. Although the Mon & Brec hasbeenunderrestorationforanumberofyears,progressis accelerating andWRG involvement looks set to in-creasewith the start of work on the flight of locks onthe Crumlin Branch near Rogerstone. Apparentlythe flight is an absolutely stunning piece of engi-neering - and there are 14 locks, so there shouldbe enough work to last us some time...

The Grand Western Canal hasn't seen muchWRG involvement for 10 years - almost longenough for my headache from overdosing on thelocal scrumpy to wear off - but this year there aretwo weeks of Canal Camps there. The canal is afascinating piece of industrial history: it wasequipped with one inclined plane boat-lift and awhole series of vertical boat-lifts. We won't berestoring these just yet - this year's camps will beworking on restoring a cutting with towpath. Thisshould provide plenty of work (and training) fordumper and excavator drivers, and plenty of goodpublicity for the restoration - and may well be thestart of a greater involvement by WRG here too.

Another project that's been going for quite a while,but hasn't seen much WRG support for someyears, is the Grantham Canal. All this is set tochange this year. A flight of three locks atCropwell Bishop will give us some opportunitiesfor scrub-bashing, some traditional chamberclearance and later some lock rebuilding work.A Canal Camp is planned for September, butweekend working parties by regional groups willalso be welcome.

Finally, one to watch for the future. A new resto-ration scheme on a canal with lots of historic in-terest, plenty of good scenery and support fromthe local authorities and BW, promoted by an ex-

perienced canal society basedon the adjacent waterway: that'sgot to be good news. Readabout the Cromford Canal onp12-13, and watch out for somevolunteer projects starting therein the next year or two.

And that brings us to the last bitof good news - this is the end ofthis lengthy Editorial column.You won't have to read my out-pourings for another twomonths.And it's good news for me, too - Iwon't have to write another onefor two months... err... onemonth... errr... Blimey! it's onlythree weeks to the next pressdate!

Martin Ludgate...and the Mont opens from Burgedin to Ardleen. Photos by Harry Arnold

Chairman"The TrainingWeekend is foreveryone"

Ooops - me and my big mouth!

I said that it was dangerous to say in the Janu-ary issue that the Canal Camps brochure willbe enclosed and it certainly was. However thistime it definitely will be enclosed and I hope youlike it.

I mentioned last time how enthusiastic the com-mittee was about this year�s programme - I hopeyou can see why. A great range of work on inter-esting sites - book now to be sure. In particularnote the Droitwich Camp this Easter: this is theculmination of all our work last year and shouldsee the locks complete with paddle gear, gates,coping stones and lots of water in (hopefully) theright place.

We have carefully considered the replies toour 2001 feedback survey and there were sev-eral comments that there was not enough op-portunity for training. This is, of course, a peren-nial problem - there is always the trade off be-tween the short-term solution of "let those thatcan do it, do it" and the long term view of trainingpeople so that everyone can "do it".

So in this issue of 'Navvies' we hope to spend abit of time discussing the various possibilities fortraining with WRG.

For ages the only real opportunity was "on thejob", you came along and picked up tricks overthe years.

However to be blunt we found that we just weren�tlearning fast enough and so the Training Week-end was born. This is not just stuffy training lec-tures or building practice walls then knocking themdown again - it�s a fun weekendwere you can learnthe skills that give you access tomore work on site.

The details of this years event should be else-where in this Navvies (see p28) but please un-derstand that the Training weekend is for every-one; if you�re a volunteer with the Nitts and Stuffsnavigation and have never dug withWRG, or haveyet to go on your first Camp or you have beenaround for years and only seem to dig with WRG- the Training Weekend is for you.

The date is the 11/12th May and the locationis not quite confirmed yet but it will be in theMidlands. Accommodation and food will be pro-vided and it is always a real good time and agreat benefit. People feel more confident go-ing on their first camp knowing they have someuseful skill.

Still with training in mind, last year the IWAlaunched its Training Award

Now it has been pointed out that this is probablynot the best name for it as it sounds like it is anaward for people who have done some very goodtraining.

That is not the case - it�s an award so that peo-ple can do some training.

YES - IT IS £750 IN CASH FOR YOU TO DOANYTHINGYOU LIKEWITH.

Ok so that�s not exactly true, there are of coursea few conditions going with it (see page 29), butit is a cash award given every six months to allowyou to gain skills. Perhaps 'Training Scholarship','stipend' or 'bursary' would be more correct (butwe can�t change it now, we�ve got the formsprinted!)

So what sort of training would qualify for theTraining Award?

Firstly there are the real posh courses such asoffered by British Waterways� skills centre atHatton. Regarding heritage brickwork and thatsort of thing, £750 would get 1 person a City &Guilds Certificate in Heritage Skills or 15 peoplethrough a day�s course in brickwork repair.

Then there are all the other technical colleges,night schools, CITBs, manufacturers, voluntaryorganisations, etc. all over the country offering aqualification.

And don�t get stuck on the traditional skills -other areas are just as important - what aboutfirst aid? How about a night school course inquantity surveying? Food hygiene is essential.No one can go anywhere without an environmen-tal assessment these days - how about gettingthe qualifications for that?

And before you say that you couldn�t get thetime off work there are other ways - St Johnshave just launched their Lifesaver Plus course.An 18 hour course that will get you a qualifica-tion that means we can all work a little bit hap-pier on site and your project can be seen to beresponsible. The 18 hours can be done in avariety of ways - weekends, evenings, etc.

Chairman"Youhad tobeupby8.30or theWI sold your sleeping bag..."

Contact your local St Johns to see how they arerunning the course closest to you.

The first winner of the IWATraining Award wasGraham"Sparky"Robinsonandwehope to havea piece by him in thenext issueabout howhe's beenspending the IWA�s money to ensure that societiescan deal with trees responsibly - Tenko and Sparkyhave aWRG van during the winter months and theycan be seen dropping them all over the place.

So I hope I have stimulated a few thoughts ontraining - traditionally the reward for the volun-teer is looking back at a job well done. A littletraining makes this much easier.

Before I close, could I just make a plug for anevent to look forward to...

Our fundraising working party and 'Race Night'at Lichfield on the 21st April. Further details areelsewhere in this navvies - I hope to see you there.This, of course, follows on from our great successraising funds for the Anderton Boat Lift - see page35 for the final totals raised by all the abseilers.

And finally... Martin appealed for Accommoda-tion stories last time. A selection appear else-where in this issue, (see p30) but here are someof my own reminiscences:

Firstly I should establish my credentials by say-ing that I can remember St Gregory�s Hall beforethey installed the Acrow prop!

This was in the days when you had to be up andout by 8.30 on the Saturday morning otherwisethe ladies of the WI came in and sold your sleep-ing bag at the continual jumble sale that used torun and run. The early morning rush to cram eve-rybody�s goods into the cupboard over the kitchen(the once place they couldn�t reach!) was a joy tobehold. Those that were too slow had to buy theirwellies back from some old dear.

This was during the Stratford Blitz when accom-modations were limited only by Arthur Beeston�simagination. We enjoyed nights in dance studios,boats and on one particular weekend a derelictcottage alongside the Grand Union. This wreckhad very little roof and a major structural crackover the door.

There were only two good points to this par-ticular accommodation: a huge rangewhich PeteStockdale loaded up with logs so that it glowedthrough the night and a pub just over the bridge.

Given the draughty, damp sleeping space therewas really only one choice, WRG NWwent to thepub and got really, really drunk.

I must have enjoyed it I guess because 15 yearslater I moved in just next to this pub. And the der-elict cottage just over the bridge - well you won�tget any change from £300,000 these days.

(It�s no wonder people get interested in canalswith profits like that, eh?)

Mike Palmer

I'm afraid I cannot resist mentioning here that mycomputer took exception to the opening sentenceof Mike's piece: apparently he should have said"My big mouth and I". ...Ed

JimNorfolk

I'm sorry to have to announce that JimNorfolk, oneof the earliest members of Essex WRG died on thenight ofDecember 13th.Hewas also our oldestmem-ber, being in his 70s.Jim had not been out with Essex very often recently.He suffered from a heart attack a few months ago.While hewas being taken to hospital, he had a strokeand spent some time in hospital.He recovered enoughto attend the IWA Chelmsford Christmas Socialevening on December 13th but was found dead thenext morning.For some months, Jim's picture appeared at the topof the Restoration article in 'Canal Boat' magazineduring its early days. This was taken when he andMalcolm Bates had laid the coping stones at Wild-moorway Lock.EssexWRG remember with affection his legendary20:20 hindsight and his sense of humour, as well asdiscussions about Malcolm's pony tail and the ef-fect on cross-channel travel caused by the demise ofduty-free.Our sympathiesgoout to Jim'swifeBetty andhis sons.

DaveDobbin

Contacting the chairman:Mike Palmer, 3 Finwood Rd,Rowington, Warwickshire CV35 7DHTel: 01564 785293e-mail: [email protected]

PhotographsGet snap-happy this year!

WANTED: Your Dirty Photos

We can actually say, hand on heart, "With thisissue you will find your 2002 Canal Camps bro-chure enclosed." and be quite correct! But it is the camps brochure that prompts me to write this...

Why? Because every year we spend hours searching for photos that will be suitable to use in it andyou would not believe how difficult that is! It is also the case that we end up with only a few people�sphotos too, mainly Martin "Smile please?" Ludgate�s and Tim "Trigger-happy" Lewis�s. [...not to men-

tion Digital Alan Lines ...Ed] The problem with this is that you thenonly have pictures of the digs/camps that they attend.Weneedmorevariety! But they do both take very good photos�

Sowhen you�re having your annual spring clean (!) and are casu-ally flicking through all those camp photos you took last year,or even in previous years, that have been sat in a pile collecting dustsince you brought them back from the camera shop (that is normal,isn�t it?!) remember who would very much like to see them and letme know please. It is not only for the sake of more variety in thecamps brochures but also for our publicity stuff too! It is much easierto �sell� prospective campers the idea of what we do and what theycan expect to be doing if they come on a camp if we have smiley-facedphotos, showing people happy in their work, staring at them from dis-

plays... or picturesque scenes of locks in water (the list goes on)... rather than just talking to them.

Perhaps a few guidelines as to what we would like are required�

Or as Martin says, "there�s no point in having loads of photos taken miles away from the main subjectwith no-one wearing a hard hat and everything blurred!"

[Martin wasn't actually implying that there are any WRG sites where nobody wears a hard-hat - therearen't. But Sod's Law says that you never notice until you get your prints back that at the very moment

you took the photos, one per-son had momentarily takentheir hat off to adjust it... result:one unusable photo! ...Ed]

Firstly, subject matter. Fairlyobviously things to do with Ca-nal Camps are very muchneeded. In particular, accom-modation ones � keep it cleantho� please! � we never seemto have enough cooks picciesto choose from! Then there�sthe even more obvious siteones � as filthy as you like...well, some of them are boundto be when all that mud�s in-volved!

Wanted: photos showing 'teamwork'...

...and "smiley-faced photos ofpeople happy in their work"...

...and site photos "asfilthy as you like..."

...also "picturesque scenes of locks in-water"...

YOUR PHOTOCOULD BEHERE!

Teamwork is something that doesn�t always get shown in photos and is a veryimportant part of camps/digs. And of course they don�t have to be taken on anactual camp, they may have been taken on a weekend dig somewhere. Otherthings we�re on the lookout for are face/head & shoulders shots on site, vansand trailers (OK so there�s a 50% reduction in your chances of snapping one ofthose at present!!!), and canal details such as mileposts.

The best photos for our purposes have a good contrast of light and dark (forthe black and white inside pages) or are very col-ourful (for the cover) � the red t-shirt shot is al-ways a winner - see front cover of this years bro-chure!

Different views and angles are always wel-come too, even shots taken on the diago-nal! Maybe if you have a digital camera youcan afford to take several different versionsof the same shot. As you may notice (it�shard not to!), whilst idly thumbing through your copy of the campsbrochure, there�s a bit of a diamond theme running throughout.

You need only ask Martin for the hassle factor us designers add by"having an idea"... try cropping photos to fit! Basically any shapethat a photo will fit will do � it could be stars, triangles or hexagonsnext year! Is Mr Editor quaking at the thought of that? [I'm a duck, I'ma duck! Quack quack quack quaaaaaaack!!! Oh, sorry, did you say'quaking'? ...Ed]

Panoramic shots are another format I�d like to use more of so all ofyou with APS cameras get 'em out... please!

The main thing is that we have a HUGE selection of jolly/interesting (or just jolly interesting!) photos to pickand choose from and not haveto put one in because there was�no other option� or �all we hadleft�! So if you�re a budding DavidBailey get your finger out... and putit on your camera trigger.

Get snap-happy this year and sendmesome lovely pictures, or just root outlast year's or even ones prior to that ifyou think they�re cool! And I promise Iwill get them back to you quickly as longas you make sure I get your address.

You can send them to me c/o IWA Head Office, e-mail(quite small thoughplease just for an ideaof what they look like. Mycomputer cannae� takemuch more, Cap'n!) to [email protected] or CD-rom if you�refeeling flash(!), or even just let me know you have some and bringthem to show me at a camp or weekend somewhere!

Please make the effort... I know there are some smashing pho-tos out there!

SMILE!'Just Jen' Leigh

...accommodationphotos - is this whatJen means by"keep it clean"?...

...and remember Jen mightwant to crop photos to asquare, a diamond or evena hexagon...

...or whatever other shape takesher fancy next year...

All photos accompanying this articleare by the editor - except the dodgyoneofMKPin theshowerswhichwastaken by Alan 'the pervert' Lines.

NorthWestWRG NorthWest celebrate theirfirst quarter-century...

WRG NorthWest recently celebrated their Sil-ver Jubilee: their first 'paper chase' waste-paper collection of 2002 was followed by aparty at North Cheshire Cruising Club, thenon the following day by a bus tour of some ofthe restoration projects in the area. The fol-lowing report is taken fromNorthWest News...

The 25th Anniversary was a great weekend,starting with what must be the fastest paper-chase on record. With 3 vehicles and nearly 30volunteers, it was finished by 11.45 - before thechippie even opened. Saturday evening revealedunexpected cracks in the woodwork, allowing outsome faces we hadn�t seen for a very long time.Very enjoyable, if occasionally embarassing whenone didn�t recognise a guy with whom one hadshared the back of a Land Rover on Mont trips inpre-Transit days.

The main event was THE PARTY. The transfor-mation of the club-room by white tablecloths andgold trim was something to behold and, after en-joying our meal, we settled back to listen to somesongs of the 60s, well rendered by The Belmonts.

As the evening wore on, the band stepped up agear or two and the lubricants (various wines andspecially-imported real ales) took effect, thedance-floor became surprisingly well populated.With the sound of the final Chuck Berry rockerdying in our ears, the room was quickly tidied,sleeping bags appeared, and soon the world wasZ-shaped. They say that �nostalgia ain�t what itused to be� but the sonorous resonance origi-nating from below stairs reminded many of�Sleepless in Stratford� - and most other placeswe visited in the 70s!

Various old and not-quite-so-old faces seen atthe WRG North West 25th birthday party. (Andcan you guess what Mr Mac's trying to sell?) Allthree photos by David Kitching, who took someeven more dodgy ones that might or might notbe available for a suitable fee, payable in fer-mented malt beverages...

Sunday brought Mr. Mac�s bus trip, starring notone, but two, vintage buses. Our route took inthe re-opened Huddersfield Narrow at Stalybridgeand Uppermill, with glimpses of other locationsbetween, and then progressed to the Rochdale,starting at the A627(M) roundabout where a longculvert (England�s newest canal tunnel?) is be-ing inserted, returning to our starting point viathe M60 crossing at Chadderton, the FailsworthCo-op site, the Newton Heath shallowed sectionand Dale Street.

Thank you to:Mr. Mac - for having the idea and

that of the bus trip.Liz - for organising and

administering almosteverything.

Malcolm - for arranging the band,getting in the booze andplanning the bus route.

Jim (1) - for helping Liz andMalcolm

Tess & Co - for cooking breakfast.Brian - for fixing things at the

NCCC end, helpingprepare the room, etc, etc.

Hazel & Jill - for preparing the food.Barry, Keith & Noel - for staffing the barDavid, Dennis & George - owners/drivers of the

buses.Jim (2) - for general assistance at

NCCC.Lots of you - for washing & tidying up.

Highlights of the Sunday bus-tour: the recently-reopened Huddersfield Narrow Canal atStalybridge (top) and between Uppermill andDiggle (above); the soon-to-be-reopened Roch-dale Canal at Dale Street Basin, central Man-chester (below left) and at the site of the now-demolished Co-op store that had been built onthe line of the filled-in canal in Failsworth (be-low) Photos by Martin Ludgate.

CromfordA'new' restoration scheme inthe East MIdlands

Restoration: the Cromford Canal

So why did the Editor put quotation marksaround the word 'new' in the title above? Well,it's because the idea of restoring the CromfordCanal in Derbyshire (and a little bit of Notting-hamshire too!) isn't that new at all: two lengths ofit have already been restored. But now it lookslike there's a chance of the two restored sectionsbeing re-connected as part of a complete resto-ration of the 14½ mile main line of the canal.

Opened in 1794, the Cromford Canal ran fromLangley Mill to Cromford, and formed part of alocal network of waterways that connected it toNottingham, Derby and the Trent. It was a heav-ily-engineered canal, with 14 locks, two aqueductsand no fewer than four tunnels (in-cluding the 3000-yard Butterley Tun-nel) in its relatively short route.

It prospered for the first half of the19th century, carrying mainly coal,before selling out to the MidlandRailwayCompany in 1852, followingwhich traffic declined. By the timethe canal was abandoned by theLMS Railway Act of 1944 (inciden-tally the same Act that closed theMontgomery Canal) trade on thecanal had more-or-less ended, andButterley Tunnel was impassible.

By the early 1960s the rest of theCromford Canal had closed, alongwith the Derby, Nottingham andNutbrook canals - and the surviv-ing Erewash Canal was threatenedwith closure.

Following a successful campaign toretain the Erewash Canal, theErewash Canal Preservation andDevelopmentAssociation (ECPDA)restored the first lock and shortlength of the Cromford Canal in-cluding the Great Northern Basinat Langley Mill, to form a northernterminus for the Erewash: thisopened in 1974.

Meanwhile a second restoration scheme wasunder way at the other end of the canal: supportby the local IWA, the Inland Waterways Protec-tion Society (better known for their work at Bugs-worth Basin) and later the Cromford Canal Soci-ety, the length of canal from Cromford via theDerwent Aqueduct and Gregory Tunnel toWhatstandwell was restored and a horse-drawntrip-boat began operating on this section in 1977.

Unfortunately problems at both ends of the ca-nal prevented further progress: at the southernend the obstruction of part of the canal by open-cast mining, conversion of some of the locks intoa flood-relief scheme and the construction of Lan-gley Mill Bypass with no provision for navigationprevented extension beyond the first half-mile atLangley Mill; progress on the northern lengthground to a halt with the breakup of the Crom-ford Canal Society.

ECPDA has now formed a new group - theFriends of the Cromford Canal - with the aim ofrestoring the 'missing link' length from LangleyMill to Whatstandwell, and are appealing for sup-port for their proposals; physical support eventu-ally: they envisage that much of the work will bedone by volunteers.

CromfordCanaland connections

KeyRiver (navigable)River (disused)Canal (open)Canal (to be restored)Canal (closed)

River Soar

RiverTrent

Trent &MerseyCanal

ErewashCanal

Cromford Canal

Upper Trent (for-merly navigable toBurton)

Old routeof TrentNavigation

NottinghamCanal

NutbrookCanal

DerbyCanal

R. Derwent(formerlynavigable toDerby)

GranthamCanal

Cromford

Langley Mill

DERBY

NOTTINGHAM

ButterleyTunnel

DerwentAqueduct

GregoryTunnelHagTunnel

BucklandHollowTunnel

AmberAqueduct

Whatstandwell

N

So what has the Cromford Canal restorationgot going for it? Is it a realistic and worthwhileprospect for restoration? You won't be surprisedthat in the author's view the answer is 'yes' - buthere are the pros and cons...

The benefits:

The scenery: its supporters say "anyone whohas seen it will realise that this canal would rivalthat of the Llangollen or the Kennet and Avon inpopularity, and certainly for its scenic beauty".

The history: the upper part of the canal passesthrough the (Derbyshire) Derwent Valley, whichhas been made a World Heritage Site thanks toits contribution to the Industrial Revolution. Itpasses close to Butterley Ironworks - which builtthe ironwork for St Pancras Station - andArkwright's Mill in Cromford. And it'll be conven-ient for the Midland Railway Centre and the CrichTramwayMuseum.

The 'easy bits':

The northern length: already more-or-less navi-gable for the first few miles south from Cromford,and no real problems.

Ths southern length: apparently also no majorproblems... Yes, that's right - this is the length thatwas blocked by opencast mines, a new road andflood relief works. But a solution to the road prob-lemhasbeen found (seebelow) and the other prob-lems are seen as relatively minor, as the route ofthe canal is still available for reinstatement.

And apparently even the open-cast mining mightbe turned to the canal's advantage - a currentopencast site could provide a hole for spoil fromre-excavation of the canal to be tipped into.

The 'not-so-easy' bits:

The Tunnel:Butterley Tunnel, around 3000 yardslong, fell in around 100 years ago and is in a bitof a bad way. (Then again, so were parts ofStandedge...)

The central section:most of the other problemsare in the Ambergate-Butterley length. The Am-ber Aqueduct (which crossed a road as well asthe river) has been demolished. Other parts ofthe line in this area have been filled in and insome places built on. But Friends of the Crom-ford Canal reckon that none of these problemsare insurmountable.

So what next?

The first physical restoration work is likely to beat the southern end, extending northwards fromLangley Mill, including crossing the Langley Millbypass road. When this was built - as mentionedearlier, without any provision for future naviga-tion (which wouldn't be allowed now!) - it did makefull provision for a railway line. This was a shortfreight-only branch that linked the Midland MainLine to Moor Green Colliery; ironically the mineand the railway both closed shortly after the newroad was opened, leaving the brand-new bridgeunused. A short diversion from the original align-ment - including a new lock - will allow the canalto use the railway bridge.

The actual start of work is some way off yet, andwill depend on planning and finance, althoughseveral local authorities have expressed support,and the project has attracted the attention of Brit-ish Waterways (which these days is almost uni-versally regarded as good news - I rememberwhen it was seen by many as the 'kiss of death'for a restoration proposal!) and The WaterwaysTrust.

In the meantime, a public meeting about the res-toration of the Cromford Canal is scheduled for19:30hrs on March 13th at Ironville Church Hall.

For more information - and to offer your supportto the Friends of the Cromford Canal, becausethey need support for the restoration to get offthe grounr - contact Mike Kelley on e-mail:[email protected] or phone:01773 833425.

Martin Ludgate(with additional information fromMike Kelley and Brian Dominic)

page 13

Cromfordrestoration:the next step

ErewashCanal

NottinghamCanal(closed)

CromfordCanal

Langley Mill

Disusedrailway toMoor GreenColliery

Railway

New length ofcanal and re-placement lock

A610Bypass

A608

GreatNorthernBasin

Route oforiginalcanal tobe by-passed

Logistics"...This writing business. Over-rated if you askme..."

Umty-tiddly, Umpty-too

According to the last issue of Navvies, I�msupposed to be reporting on the latestlogistical news... um ...

Well, as Sparky puts it, "Nothing to report. Eve-rything�s fine."

But as Eeyore would say, "Noth-ing to mention. Not that itmatters. Nobody minds.Nobody cares."

And it is on that note thatthis article may just start(If Anybody�s Both-ered. Which I Doubt):

There is no news onthe trailer-front. NoSurprise. What�sgone is gone,whichever way youlook at it.

So a new one willhave to be purchasedfor Kit A to have ahome again. But I sup-pose we don�t have to.After all, wecan�t all havehouses (!).

"I�m not asking anybody,"said Just Jen, "I�m just tellingeverybody. I can dopainting andengraving of kit or we can playBrick Barbecue Jenga with a sledge-hammer. It�s all the same tome." But thenthe replaced tools won�t be allowed on their nextouting and they�ll sit in the corner and sulk. Pa-thetic, that�s what it is. And people will still whingeand moan about things but that�s how people are.

Some have e-mail addresses that don�t change,and some haven�t, and there it is. Perhaps now Ican be one that has. A mistake, no doubt, butstill, we shall see. Only don�t blame me if I�mwrong.

I have worked out the movements [see opposite]for both the vans and kit (assuming we have any).[There was a long silence.] Bungle said it wouldbe better to write it at the end of the year andthen there would be no changes. How Like Him!

However, as with every year, the Grand Plan issubject not only to the usual causes of blunders(plague, pestilence, acts of God etc.), but also tothe slightest hiccup, the ring main going, or themost blustery of days (and we�ve had just one ortwo of those of late!).

It should be noted, hitherto � hitherto � a longword meaning � well, you�ll see what it meansdirectly � hitherto, as I was saying, that NJF, oneof our minibi, is just getting on a bit and rumoursof her demise have been wildly exaggerated

(there�s life in the ol� gal yet!). It�s just whatwould happen.

If there's anyone interested (notthat there will be) I also havefridge freezer (thanksStella!) movementsmapped out, including allthe leftovers (nochange there then!)and bits that get trod-den on.

Like I said, Nothing toMention. Nothing Im-portant. This writingbusiness. Pens andwhat-not.Overrated ifyouaskme.Silly stuff,nothing in it.

Enjoy yourself. Somecan. I myself am look-ing forward to bore-dom.

The picture says it all...

Just Jen(with most humble apologies

andmuch gratitude toA.A.Milneand E.H.Shepard)

[email protected]

Mobile Logistics � "Mobile is just a state of be-ing in Transit."

...Next time (I�ll pre-empt my report this time!):Find out what you can make with a shower cur-tain, a piece of string and some milk bottle tops...Oh, and maybe (just maybe) an address will befound!

No Location Start date Finish date Kit Van Minibus

1 Droitwich Canals 23rd March 1st April B VOJ NJF

X Training Weekend 11th May 12th May A.B RFB.VOJ GCW.NJF

2 Grand Western Canal 22nd June 29th June B VOJ NJF

3 Grand Western Canal 29th June 6th July B VOJ NJF

4 Saul Junction Boat Gathering 3rd July 10th July C RFB GCW

5 Droitwich Canals 6th July 13th July B VOJ NJF

6 Wilts and Berks Canal 6th July 13th July A RFB GCW

7 Cotswold Canals (NWPG) 13th July 20th July NJF

8 Wilts and Berks Canal 13th July 20th July A RFB GCW

9 Cotswold Canals 20th July 27th July B VOJ NJF

10 Basingstoke Canal 20th July 27th July A RFB GCW

11 Mon & Brec Canal 27th July 3rd August B VOJ NJF

12 Basingstoke (KESCRG) 27th July 3rd August GCW

13 Ipswich & Stowmarket 3rd August 10th August A RFB GCW

14 Montgomery Canal 3rd August 10th August B VOJ NJF

15 Wey & Arun Canal (WACT) 3rd August 10th August

16 Sleaford Navigation 10th August 17th August A RFB GCW

17 Montgomery Canal 10th August 17th August B VOJ NJF

18 NWF - Huddersfield 19th August 29th August A.B RFB.VOJ GCW.NJF

19 Grantham Canal 7th September 14th September A RFB GCW

20 Lichfield & Hatherton Canals 26th October 2nd November B VOJ NJF

X Bonfire Bash - Mon & Brec 2nd November 3rd November A.B RFB.VOJ GCW.NJF

21 New Year - Basingstoke 26th December 1st January A RFB GCW

Canal Camps 2002: van, minibus and kit schedule

Note: this schedule comes with the usual disclaimers: (a) Logistics will not be held responsible forchanges to the schedule due to unforseen circumstances (b) Logistics will be delighted if somepeople help to reduce the chances of those unforseen circumstances being allowed to arise byvolunteering their services to help get the kits from one camp to the next and (c) when we say 'NJF',we hope that we really mean 'NJF's successor'!

CleanupThe National Canal Cleanupreturns to the Walsall Canal

Announcing the return of the annual BCN fish-ing contest......or "how can I win the dirtiestWRGie of the year?"contest. (Dave Dent hasn�t found an award in hiscupboard for that one yet, but it�s got to bemuch bet-ter thanbakinga cake, andmuchmore fun to judge)The 2002 National Canal Clean-up:Walsall Canal, Ocker Hill, Tipton:March 16th-17th

Well, after a year�s absence, partly due to foot &mouth (What? In Birmingham?Well, they do havefeet - and mouths that speak with funny ac-cents...) the annual BCN clean up has returned.This time we�re going to finish off the Walsall Ca-nal after we started, but didn�t finish, 6 years ago.Planned to take place over the weekend 16th &17th March centred on BW�s new(ish now) officeswhich we tried to dirty some years ago (obviouslywe didn�t try hard enough because they are go-ing to let us loose here again) alongside theWalsall Canal. Starting from Moxley and work-ing right through to Ryders Green; as well as justordinary canal, wemight have the odd lock poundon the Ryders Green flight to clear out as well.

Well known forAsda trolleys - that invade in suchquantities that they have actually supported aboat some way up a lock when it was emptied -there are bound to be many interesting findsaround here.Once again BritishWaterways are supporting withthe usual floating and road-based hardware, sup-ported by BirminghamCanal Navigation Society�swork-boat 'Phoenix' and, hopefully, by Dudley Ca-nal Trust. BWwill of course be supplying the usualgloves that you all appreciate.The overnight accommodation is expected to beMalthouse Stables in Tipton: please book in ad-vance using the form on this page. BW�s officeswill be the signing on point for day volunteers:these are located in Bayleys Lane, Tipton (A to Zmap ref 4B 44) and are less than ten minutesdrive from junction 1 of the M5. (Nearest railwaystation is Dudley Port).Full details of the final arrangements, the accom-modation and other information can be obtainedfrom BrendaWard at 9 Wylde Green Road, SuttonColdfield, West Midlands, B72 1HB (0121-355-6351) or by e-mail [email protected]. Advancenotice from volunteers would be most welcomed.And finally what has Foot and Mouth got to dowith it? Well last year, by way of a change, wewere going to clean-up Pant on the MontgomeryCanal but we had to cancel because of Foot andMouth. Sod's law - the only time you choose towork in the country something happens thatmakes you wish you�d kept to the towns.

VaughanWelch

waterway recovery group in association with BCNS and IWAI would like to attend the 2002National Canal Cleanup onMar 16-17 on theWalsall CanalForename: Surname:Address:

e-mail:Phone: Any special dietary requirements?I require accommodation Friday night / Saturday night / both nightsI enclose payment of £ (pay cheques to 'WRG') for food (cost is £8 for wholeweekend, basedon £1.50 for lunch each day, £1.50 for breakfast each day and £2 for Saturday evening meal)Do you suffer from any illness, such as epilepsy or diabetes, about which we should know, orare 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 (parent's signature also required if aged under 18):Please send this form toNational Cleanup bookings,WRG, POBox 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY

IWA / WRG Stamp Bank

The Stamp Bank aims to raise money for water-way restoration through finding amarket for thingswhich people normally throw away. Part of thetrick is collecting together bulk � if you haveenough of something, it can be worth a commer-cial organisation buying it � but sometimes it is acase of finding the right market.

Used postage stamps can be sold in differentways. For current UK issues, the value is onlythere in quantity � we can sell these by the kilo todealers if enough are collected together. Therarer the stamp, the greater its value and over-seas and older stamps are separated and soldto the trade or through philatelic organisations.The annual target for stamps is £1,000 and thishas been consistently exceeded for the past fewyears. Money from the sale of stamps is nor-mally donated to the restoration of the Mont-gomery Canal in Wales.

Although named Stamp Bank, we collect manyitems, and for some time we have been askingfor post cards and phone cards, as we are awarethat there is a market for these. Unfortunately,so far we have been unable to find someone withthe necessary knowledge to turn these into cash,other than older postcards, so the collectionmounts in anticipation of finding an outlet. If any-one can help, please get in touch!

Many people think that the old trading stamps -Green Shield and the like � are no longer anyuse, but this isn�t the case. The trading stampcompanies still exist and will exchange stamps forgoods � provided we can keep upwith the frequentchanges of address of the companies! We receivepart filled books and loose stamps and put thetwo together to obtain items which can then besold or used as raffle prizes to raise funds.

Vouchers which trade for items (remember 'Ti-ger Tokens'?) can be collected together to buyworthwhile items. Unfortunately cigarette compa-nies can no longer put coupons in their packets,but in the past we have bought substantial raffleprizes and even items like steel tapemeasures andspades which can be used directly for restoration.Just because a promotion has finished doesn�t nec-essarily mean the coupons are useless; if a suffi-ciently impressive quantity can be collected andthe right person in themarketing department found,a �good cause� can often receive goods suitable forselling or raffling at events. There are likewise out-lets for items of bric-a-brac � North West WRG,BITM and Ipswich IWA are all expert at relievingunsuspecting punters of their cash for all mannerof things on their sales stands at rallies, and do-nations of such items are always welcome.

How many people come back from holiday witha pocket full of foreign coins and find that thetravel agent will only exchange surplus notes?Stamp Bank collects such coins, and a contactin the Chichester Canal Society is able to makethe necessary exchange into somethingmore ap-propriate for spending in this country. Likewisediscontinued sterling coins and notes are ac-cepted.

Themain bulk item is scrap aluminium in any form� foil trays, milk bottle tops, drinks cans, ring pullstaken off steel cans, old saucepans and variousassorted items discovered on restoration sites!These are transported to York where the Pock-lington Canal Amenity Society have an arrange-ment with a local scrapyard to handle what wouldnormally be uneconomic quantities.

We have two new items for which we are actingas �post office� � used computer print cartridgesand die cast metal models.

Print cartridges can be sent to us to help theWilts& Berks Canal; a contact with a recycling organi-sation can turn them into cash. Likewise, a col-lector/trader is offering us cash for old metalmodels � Dinky Toys, etc � in any condition; oreven in bits! It�s time to turn out your old toy cup-board!

Please address all donations to IWA/WRGStamp Bank, 33 Hambleton Grove, EmersonValley, Milton Keynes MK4 2JS. Larger/heavieritems can be dropped off if you are passing; al-ternatively, given time I can usually arrange forsome devious means of transporting goodsaround the country � please call 01908 520090or e-mail [email protected]. Goodscan also be left in the Stamp Bank barrel at theNational Waterways Festival and other events;again, check for details.

The amounts raised may not be spectacular, butthere is often the need for small donations forminor projects and raffle prizes can be used to�unlock� greater sums. Stamp Bank is a �pain-less� way of assisting the waterways cause andall contributions are welcome.

Steve Morley

Stamp bankSave your stamps and recy-clables for canal restoration

Canal Camps cost £35 per week unless otherwiseBookings for WRGCanal Camps (those identifiedcamp number e.g. 'Camp 0201') should go toWRGCamps, PO Box 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114. Email: [email protected]

page 18

DiaryFeb 23/24 wrgBITM Wendover Arm: Jungle bashing at Drayton Beauchamp. Leader: Graham HothFeb 23/24 LondonWRG Basingstoke CanalFeb 23 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionMar 2/3 wrgNW Lichfield CanalMar 2/3 Essex WRG TBAMar 8 Fri Navvies Press date for issue 192Mar 9/10 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal: : Dig Deep project, rebuilding Summit Lock, Wootton BasMar 9/10 KESCRG Basingstoke Canal: Dig Deep project, installing backpump system at St JohnsMar 16/17 WRG/IWA National Clean-up: Walsall Canal: Southern end - based at Ocker Hill. Organis

See page 16 and please book using the booking form if you want overnight acMar 16/17 LondonWRG National Clean-up: Walsall Canal (see p16)Mar 17 Sun wrg Committee & Board Meetings at the Malthouse Stables, TiptonMar 23/24 wrgBITM Lapal Canal: Jungle bashing.

A massive clean-up along the mile-long infilled stretch from Weoley Castle to SMar 23 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionMar 23-Apr 1 Camp 0201 Droitwich Canal Camp: layinjg coping stones, rebuilding final wing-wall, backfilMar 29-Apr 1 WACT/Dig DeepWey & Arun Canal Easter long weekendApr 6/7 LondonWRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep project, rebuilding Summit Lock, Wootton BassApr 6/7 wrgNW Boat Museum, or Ribble Link: venue to be confirmed.Apr 6/7 Essex WRG To be arrangedApr 13/14 NWPG Basingstoke Canal: Dig Deep project, installing backpump system at St JohnsApr 13/14 KESCRG Thames & Severn Canal: Dig Deep project at Valley Lock.Apr 20/21 wrgBITM Wey & Arun Canal: Leader: Graham Hotham.Apr 20/21 LHCRT Lichfield Canal: Working party timed to coincide with LHCRT �Walk the line of t

and for assistance with marshalling the walk on Sunday. Accommodation at MaApr 21 Sun wrgNW Lichfield Canal Walk: Assist with organising Walk (Sunday only)Apr 27/28 LondonWRG Hereford & Gloucester Canal: Installation of water supply at Over BasinApr 27 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionMay 3/4/5/6 KESCRG Little Venice: provide site services for London IWA's Canalway Cavalcade festiMay 4/5/6 NWPG Wey & Arun CanalMay 4/5/6 wrgNW Wilts & Berks CanalMay 8 Wed Navvies Press date for issue 193May 11/12 WRGTrain WRG Training weekend:venue to be announced. See p14 for details and pleasMay 11/12 Essex WRG To be arrangedMay 18/19 LondonWRG To be arrangedMay 18/19 KESCRG To be arrangedMay 19 Sun wrg Committee & Board MeetingsMay 29 Wed wrgNW Possible help with Pennine Link Festival

e stated.by a

GCanal

uk

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

Tel 01252 874437. e-mail: [email protected].

page 19

am. DaveWedd 01252-874437 [email protected] Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected] Gale 01277-654683 [email protected] Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

sett Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected]. Answerphone 01622-858329 [email protected] by BCNS and IWA with the help of BW, Coombeswood Canal Trust, Longwood Boat Club and WRG.ccommodation. BrendaWard 0121-355-6351 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] Palmer 01564 785293 [email protected] 01252-874437 [email protected]

Selly Oak. Leader: Alec Gunner.David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

ling, landscaping and general finishing-off at Hanbury Locks. Cost: £45 for 9-day camp.Bill Nicholson 01844 343369 [email protected]

ett Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected] Gale 01277-654683 [email protected]

. Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected] 01622-858329 [email protected] 01252-874437 [email protected]

the canal� guided walk. WRG volunteers requested for site-work including bricklaying at Tamworth Road siteartin Heath Hall. John & Jan Horton 01543-262466 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected] Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179

val Answerphone 01622-858329 [email protected] Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected] McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected] Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

se book early! Ali Bottomley 0191 261 5913John Gale 01277-654683 [email protected] Lewis 020-8367-6227 [email protected] 01622-858329 [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]

3rd Sunday of month BCNS Jeff Barley 01543-3732842ndSunday& followingWed. BCS Cosgrove Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Mon & Wed mornings CCT Cotswolds Dudley Greenslade 01453 825515Every weekend (Sat OR Sun)CCT Cotswolds Neil Ritchie 01452-8540571st Sunday of month CCT Cotswolds: summit MarkWelton 01453-872405Wednesday evenings CCT Cotswolds: East end Keith Harding 01451-8601814th Mon of month, 6pm CMT London Canal Mus. Martin Sach 020-7625-7376Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 0296Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-26571st & 3rd Sundays GCRS Grantham Canal Colin Bryan 0115-989-22482nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432-358628Wednesdays H&GCT Over Ted Beagles 01452-522648Saturdays H&GCT Over Maggie Jones 01452-618010Sundays H&GCT Over Paul Brown 01386-443826Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 01663-7324931st Saturday&3rdWed. IWA Ipswich Stowmarket Navigtn. Colin Turner 01473-7305862nd weekend of month IWA SBC Maesbury, Mont. Barry Tuffin 01691-670826/492nd weekend of month K&ACT John Rolls 01189-6663161st Sunday of month LHCRT Lichfield John Horton 01543 2624663rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-3743702nd & last Sundays PCAS Paul Waddington 01757-6380272nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Bob Parnell 01225-428055Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Peter Redway 01483-7217103rd Sunday of month TMCA David Rouse 01474-362861Approx 15th of month WACT Mid-Week group Colin Gibbs 020-82417736Every Sunday & Thursday WACT Devils Hole Lock EricWalker 023-9246-3025Thursdays fortnightly WACT Maintenance Unit Peter Wilding 01483-422519or for general information on Wey & Arun contact their office on 01403-7524031st weekend of month WAT Little Tring Roger Leishman 01442-874536Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Peter Smith 01793-852883Every Sunday W&BCC Dauntsey / Foxham Rachael Banyard 01249-892289Please send any amendments, additions and deletions to Dave Wedd (address on previous page)

Abbreviations used in DiaryBCG Barnsley Canal GroupBCNS BirminghamCanal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustCMT Canal Museum Trust (London)DCT Droitwich Canals TrustFIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustD&SCS Derby & Sandiacre Canal SocietyGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWA SBC IWA Shrewsbury & Border Counties

IWPS InlandWaterways Protection SocietyK&ACT Kennet &Avon Canal TrustKESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. GroupLHCRT Lichfield &HathertonCanalsRest'n TrustLWRG LondonWaterway Recovery GroupNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietySCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal TrustW&BCC Wilts & Berks Canal CompanyWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm Trust

Mobile groups' social evenings(please phone to confirm before turning up)London WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days beforeeach dig. 'Jugged Hare', Vauxhall Bridge Rd,London, Tim Lewis 020-8367 6227 ore-mail [email protected]: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at the'Hope Tap', West end of Friar St. Reading.Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

DiaryCanal society regularworking parties

Regular monthly or weekly working parties:

LettersThe ups and downs of boatlifts...

Dear Martin

Anderton Lift Feature

I didn�t expect to have to write to 'Navvies' aboutsuch a subject, but we expect to read the �true�stories of restoration campaigns in your pages;not those derived from the �edited� versions thatthose latterly �officially involved� in schemes seemto think that it is to their advantage to put about.

The campaign for the reopening of the Anderton Lift did not start with the formation of the AndertonBoat Lift Development Group but was launched by the Trent & Mersey Canal Society: Almost imme-diately on the Lift�s closure, after we were �tipped off� about the extent of the problem by the thenlocal BW engineers.

I�m sure that some of your readers will recall the rallies at Anderton, public meetings in Northwichand the national petition � presented to the Prime Minister at No.10: all of which were organised bythe society and supported by WRG activists, IWA and waterway society members at the time.

Best wishesHarry Arnold

Without wanting to 'have a go' at Spencer Greystrong for what I thought was a very good articleabout Anderton - and I'm not blaming him at all if he used what turned out to be sources of incompleteinformation (in fact I should have spotted the omissions myself!) - I do agree very much with what Harrysays. Youmay recall me complaining in the past about press releases and publicity material that concen-trate on crediting the major players in the latter stages of restoration schemes when the big, high-profileengineering projects take place, sometimes to the complete exclusion of the earlier, less glamorous,volunteer phase - without which very few restorations have ever got started at all. With our improvingrelationship with BW, local authorities, TWT, EA and the other official bodies in recent years, I hadthought that this was becoming a thing of the past. Let's hope that in all the publicity accompanying thefour major (re)openings planned on Britain's canals this year, the contribution of the volunteer sector -particularly in the early days - is neither deliberately nor inadvertently ignored. ...the Editor

Dear Martin

Further to the excellent article in Navvies 190, may I add the following.

The Somersetshire Coal Canal Society website gives more information on Robert Weldon�s Caisson Lock:

http://rtjhomepages.users.btopenworld.com

There was another attempt to construct a boat lift with the Fussells Balance Lock on the Dorset &Somerset Canal. A drawing may be seen on the Dorset & Somerset Canal website which may beaccessed via the links from the above site.

This concept was developed by JamesGreen and used on theGrandWesternCanal at Nynehead, Somer-set, the remains of which have been conserved and interpreted by the Grand Western Canal Trust.

Derrick Hunt

Still on the subject of boat lifts, I'm afraid there's bad news concerning the four boat lifts still operating onthe original (hydraulic) Anderton system on the Canal du Centre in Belgium, one of which appears in thephoto on p6 of 'Navvies' 190. Unfortunately in January one of them suffered a major mishap - possiblythe first since the lifts began operating - when a caisson began to rise with a barge in it, without theguillotine gates having been closed. This resulted in serious damage to both the boat and thecaisson (see http://users.skynet.be/sky34301/lift_accident.htm for photos); the lift will be out ofaction at least for some months, and doubts have been expressed concerning whether it will everreopen - given that the new lift under construction nearby that will replace all four of the old lifts (as partof a scheme to enlarge the canal to 1300-tonne size) is finally nearing completion. ...Ed

Dear Martin

After being asked in �Navvies� 190 to renew my 33rd Armchair subscription I came very close totearing the orange slip up and binning a large quantity of waste paper. My bookshelves couldusefully reclaim the space taken up by 120 �Navvies� as I have spent most of my Post-Christmasbreak making up new shelving for the ever increasing piles of books.

What is it about Inland Waterways that seems to have been a problem right from the formation of theIWA and almost every other organisation related to it? I am probably as guilty as anyone in that I fellout with the IWA - at about the time I joined WRG - over its policy on Branch newsletters, preferringto put my subscriptions to a better use in terms of assisting waterways, but the continuing snipingwhich comes over in Navvies these days does nothing to forward that ideal.

Without any Armchair Subscribers the �Few� would have to spend more time raising funds and lesstime doing what they do best, (and I don�t mean moaning!) My back is complaining now fromassembling bookshelves and I would not be a lot of use on a building site at present. That is not tosay that I will never set foot on a working party as I am aware of the variety of tasks tackled. (I doread 'Navvies' from the comfort of my Armchair after all)

There must be as many varied reasons for not taking an active part in Restoration of Canals as thereare people who do, but that does not make the couch potatoes any less important. Neither are theymutually exclusive. If WRG does not want my subscription I am sure there are other additionalWaterway Societies which would be pleased to have my money. (I can think of two immediately asI had their literature stuffed into my hand at a meeting just before Christmas.)

Keep Navvies Black and White (unless sponsored). Use the subscriptions for what they are in-tended and resist the temptation to knock the less active subscribers. Keep the foul language whereit belongs (which is not in �Navvies�) and try to maintain a sense of humour.

Mike Constable.

Dear Martin

May suggest a cheap and effective two-colour process to solve your printing problems?

With the next edition of 'Navvies', you send every subscriber a cheap pack of felt tip pens. They thenfollow these instructions:

1. Use the red pen to colour in any vehicles or tee shirts.2. Use the brown pen to colour in everything else.3. Donate the rest of the pens to their local primary school.

'Navvies' in colour and great PR into the bargain. Brilliant!

Jon Sims

Dear Martin

As and armchair navvy who attended the Basingstoke Bash after a 10-year absence from sites, Iwas glkad to observe the continuity of behaviour inasmuch as Rhys Jones ended up in the canal -just as he did at Maesbury on the Mont (accompanied, as I recall, by a 'girlie' on that occasion) in1990.

Not wishing to 'add fuel to the fire' I won't comment on his letter in 'Navvies' 190, save to say that hiswas the first greeting I received on my reappearance in the ranks.

(And did I ever pay him back the fiver that I borrowed at Diggle?)

Yours.Mike Adamson

Dear Martin

Having read 'Navvies' since it was 'Navvies Notebook' I don�t think you need to use colour � thecontents are sufficient on their own.

Navvies always was (or were?) incestuous and I don�t think it matters if I do not know the in-jokesand who people are as long as the overall content is interesting. My need is to know what is goingon as well as being interested in how it is being done even if I no longer work. Please continuesupplying that need with humour and facts.

If you want a story about a hovel... [...then you'll have to turn to page 30 - I've snipped out David'sstory and added it to the selection that I've received so far. ...Ed]

You also refer to 'rust-buckets'. I was occasionally allowed to drive the first London WRG so-called'vehicle'. I was happily driving down the M1, in the dark, in fairly heavy traffic with a load of peopleand equipment and was in the middle of the junction with the M10 when all the van lights went out!!

Best wishesDavid Gibson

Dear Martin,

Most of the minutes of our local canal group (the Wilts. and Berks.) are already sent as e-mails. Whynot offer the distribution of Navvies via email as a PDF file for those who want it? That way peoplecould have it in colour and the distribution costs would be less.

If the website version was delayed by a month (I know it is delayed at present but I don�t know howlong for) then people would still be keen to pay their subs and get the 'in' news early.

Just a thought.George �Bungle� Eycott

Dear Martin,

After reading the letters from David B. Martin and Christine Johnstone (Navvies 190) Id like to makea suggestion. You asked for any thoughts, and here are mine...

Why not organise one or two �de luxe� camps (at �de luxe� prices) for the next Canal Camps season(i.e. 2003) to see if it will be supported by enough volunteers?

For myself, I must say that I don�t have any problems with the more basic accommodation. It�snormally just for one week - and after that I can enjoy my own bed much more!

Yours sincerelyBernd Schimansky

Dear Martin

I was quite excited to see I had not only been made plural in No 189 (Basingstoke Canal Campreport) but also Americanised. I am in fact Canadian but we still spell our name the correct way, don'twe George... sorry... Jorg? I live in the Czech Republic and have recently discovered a canal (veryshort) there. I don't know whether it needs restoring...

But my point is that for those who live far away it would be nice to have maps and plans of the canals,which would tell us far more about the canal than the grainy almost indecipherable photos that youinsist on reproducing.

Yours,Geoff (with a 'G') WIlliam (without an 's')

Dear Martin,

As a recent recruit to WRG I am prompted to write in response to two letters in 'Navvies' 190.Although an OAP living a long way away from canals, I am interested in all aspects of them: thehistory, the future and restoration.

Regarding the format of 'Navvies', I feel that everyone involved does a fantastic job within the budgetavailable. It is informative, hilarious, and does what it is designed for. Colour, whilst attractive, wouldconsume funds better spent on working parties. As you say, most people pay more than the mini-mum subs but are happy with the format. I would suggest that those pressing for colour either getsponsors or contribute the extra funds themselves.

Regarding working party accommodation: I am a gardening contractor and thus have all the chainsaws,brushcutters, long loppers etc and would love to get stuck in to some scrub-bashing, but being a lightsleeper, allergic to alcohol, and too old to sleep on the floor, I just read about it in 'Navvies'! Decentaccommodation however (which I would pay for) might tempt me...

Keep up the good work.Derek Horsnell

Some comments from the Editor on the points raised above and on the preceding two pages...

I hope that I have never implied that we don't value 'armchair' supporters: although 'Navvies' is andalways has been primarily aimed at the active volunteer (and we are less likely to change the maga-zine's content or style on the basis of threats to cancel their subscriptions by non-participants involunteer work) that doesn't mean we don't appreciate the input or listen to the views of those who don'tor can't get involved in the physical restoration work. And I think Steve Pitt's comment last time aboutArmchair Supporters was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, given that he is something of an armchair (oreditorial chair?) supporter himself; apologies if that wasn't clear from his letter. Our chairman MikePalmer certainly appreciates their contributions to our funds: as he said a few issues back "While it maybe the gift oif thousands of pounds that buys the pump, it's the 'Navvies' subs that puts the fuel in it. Sofor all those who have added a little extra in the envelope each year, my sincere thanks - and please dounderstand that you have played a very real part in every success that you read about in 'Navvies'."

On the subject of Canal Camps accommodation: from the letters received recently it does appear thatthe idea of a 'luxury camp' - with a better standard of accommodation at a higher price - might be a goer.Assuming, of course, that we can find such accommodation. Any suggestions? Any more people outthere who'd pay a higher rate for a week's canal restoration work with real beds to sleep in at night?

'Navvies' in colour? The consensus (or the nearest thing we are likely to get to a consensus) seemsto be that in general, the content is more important than the appearance - it's not possible to justifythe extra cost of colour printing, when there are so many other important things that we could spendthe money on - unless somebody comes up with some sponsorship specifically for colour printing ofsome pages of 'Navvies'. Speaking of which - we have had one kind offer to sponsor one issue peryear: we feel that the autumn issue is probably the best one, as it contains most of the reports fromCanal Camps and other summer events and would be likely to benefit most from a colour section.

One way to get colour at no extra cost - and actually save us money - might be to do what 'Bungle'suggests and get 'Navvies' (with most photos in colour) as aPDF file (typical size about 1.5 - 2MB) by e-mail.If you would be interested in receiving your 'Navvies' as PDF instead of by post, please e-mail the editor.

As far as the quality of the black and white photos is concerned, I think Geoff's description of 'almostindecipherable' is a little harsh in some cases, but I do realise that many of them aren't what you'dcall top class, and again this is mainly a result of our low-budget printing process. I also take thepoint about maps for people who aren't familiar with the canals - I feel exactly the same when I readarticles in other mags. I have included some maps in this issue, and as I am gradually building up aset of such maps of most of the canals we work on, it should be easier to include more of these infuture. But what do the rest of you think - would you rather I ditched most of the photos, and used thespace for more maps and more text? And remember that whereas most of the Camp Reports Ireceive come with some photos taken by the campers, I have to draw (or rather CorelDraw) most ofthe maps myself! (and Geoff - howzabout a map of that canal you found in the Czech Republic???)

And finally to Jon Sims: brilliant idea! Expect to see yourself appearing as a character in an episodeof 'Bankside' any time now...

Martin Ludgate

Wilts & Berks Canal Christmas Camp22nd - 31st December. 2001

The camp went very well, and we were verysatisfied with the amount of work achieved.

However, we did not get off to a very auspi-cious start. Brummie Ken arrived unexpect-edly on Friday night, so Di rummaged throughthe camp food kit, and emerged with someveggie sausages, which she put on the worksurface while she prepared some vegetables.Five minutes later, she turned round, andthere wasn�t a sausage in sight At the otherend of the kitchen, looking like a permanentfixture, and innocencewritten allover her face,our dog sat in her bed, happily licking her lips...Sorry, Ken.

Ken and I started on site early on Saturdaymorning, and the others were directed to-wards us as they arrived.

Our work was divided over the camp be-tween the two sites: up from Dauntsey Lock,and Lock 3 of Seven Locks at Tockenham.At Dauntsey, we were hedgelaying, thinningout the hedge, and stump pulling, and somehuge stumps were heaved out of the tow-path.

The main problem with working on this sitenow is the 1-mile trek up the towpath, carry-ing tools, although we had the Tirfor winchesalready up there in our Hospitality Suite (anold caravan). We also trashed our even oldercaravan, which was no longer needed, withbits of it being burnt, bits recycled (alu-minium), and bits that were still useful beingtransferred to another home.

At Seven Locks, it was too cold for bricklay-ing, but we got 13-14 cubic metres of con-crete poured behind the first chamber wall.

It isn�t possible to get a Readymix lorry upthe towpath, but we�ve acquired a very largeconcrete mixer, now known as �Jumbo�, andwith the help of our regular team of local vol-unteers, everyone worked flat out. When thefirst pour had set, and the shuttering bad beenyanked out, we drilled holes in the concreteand inserted re-bar to tie it to the original pour,which was now six months old.

The next task will be to lay a pipe along be-hind the wall to create a drain, and then theconcrete mixing starts all over again.

Lynne had to work over Christmas, and sheand Nick were only able to join us on Thurs-day evening, but we were treated to her hautecuisine for Friday and Saturday, which wasmuchappreciated by all. Di looked after us verywell for the rest of the time. On Christmas Day,we worked until lunchtime, and after a visit tothe pub, we relaxed back at the cottage beforeDi produced a full Christmas dinner, after whichwe retired, round the fire, well satisfied.

We decided to go to the cinema, with the obvi-ous choice of either �HarryPotter�or �Lord of theRings�. The Chippenham cinema was closedon theMonday (ChristmasEve), sowe troopedoff to themultiplex atSwindon: 12 screens. Fiveof them were showing �Lord of the Rings�, atstaggered half-hour intervals throughout theday, but every one was full, so it was �HarryPotter�, which was hilarious and enjoyed by all.We tried for the other one at Chippenham onFriday, arriving half an hour before the perform-ance, but itwasalready full.Weeventuallyman-aged to get in to see it on Saturday, after Dihad rushed in an hour early to join the queue!I think that those of us who were Tolkien ad-dicts enjoyed the film more than those whowere unfamiliar with all the weird goings-on.

Katy, after her initial disgrace, managed toenjoy herself, racing around getting wet andmuddy every day, and collapsing in an ex-hausted heap on my sleeping bag eachevening.

All in all, a good time was bad, and somesignificant progress was made on two siteson the Wilts & Berks Canal.

Rachael Banyardpage 25

CampsChristmas on the Wilts &Berks Canal

page 26

CampsNewYear on the BasingstokeCanal...

Camp 0123: Basingstoke Canal 26 Dec - 1 Jan

This year's WRG NewYear Camp was held onthe Basingstoke Canal. New volunteer Rachelreports...

I�ve been boating since I was 8, and felt the timewas right to put something back: I therefore joinedthe Waterway Recovery Group - but nothing pre-pared me for what awaited me...

Ratter than spend NewYear with friends and fam-ily, my friend Katie and myself thought the per-fect way to spend the festive season was injuringourselves on holly with a bunch of perfect stran-gers. Instead of sitting at home relaxing, eatingand drinking in a nice warm house, we spent 6days cooped up in a church hall. My apologiesto all whom had to suffer my snoring and the ech-oes of my duet with Martin of 'American Pie', plusmy talks with Katie at 1am...

Each day started must the same with the cries of"BREAKFAST" at 7.30am, to which we draggedourselves out of bed half-asleep, and joined theline of WRGies to see what delectable delightsawaited us. Breakfast consisted of toast, sau-sages, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and beans - amajor improvement on my student diet of over-sleeping and drinking out-of-date milk. We werenow prepared for the unknown....

Just to make things more interesting, some of the'scrub' needing 'bashing' was underwater (above),and some of the trees showed a certain reluctantto fall down (below). Photos by Alan Lines

page 27

Camps"...to cut down as many treesaspossibleandBURNthem!!!!"

Having dragged on our work clothes (4+ layers,gloves) and located some hard hats, we piled intothe minibus, which Dr Steve drove very capably tothe site. Our mission for the day was to cut downasmany trees as possible and BURN them!!!!! Notexactly, the plan was to scrub-bash, somewherealong the Basingstoke canal. This involved clear-ing brambles, holly and cutting down SMALL trees(got that, Lois?). Thiswas very entertaining: I neverexpected tree cutting could be such fun! Who saidmindless destruction wasn�t enjoyable?

Lois and I did however have a battle royal (suc-cessful) with one particular tree: Alan has thephotos to prove this. We were well fed and wa-tered during the day by Karen and her team (whodid a great job) with soup, sandwiches, cakes,crisps and fruit all available.

Thoroughly cream-crackered having discoveredmuscles I didn�t know I had, we headed back tothe hall and promptly collapsed on our beds. Afterand �invigorating� shower, we were ready for din-ner. This was another enjoyable meal (I don�teven get fed this well at home!). Katie and I puton the war-paint and partook of a little �light re-freshment� at the local inn, in company with therest of the group. This was the perfect opportu-nity to relax and get to know those we had beenworking with during the day. Last orders rangthrough our ears too soon and we trooped back.A few of us stayed up for a �night-cap�; Katie andI apologise for our lack of volume control on thefirst night (think we made a good impression).

New years eve was surprisingly different! Westarted �light refreshments� earlier and finishedlater. The NewYear's Eve party was fancy dress,on a 'Harry Potter' theme. We donned our cos-tumes, and by some magic I won in tandem withAlice, my dog. My creative skills are now in de-mand nation-wide (Lesley).

Katie and I would like to thank: Clive and family fororganising the camp and looking after us, Marsh-mallow Man (you know who you are) and Chris forthe endless talks, bloke-if-I-could-remember-your-name-maybe-Dave, for the trousers, Richard andTimmy for sheer muscle, Mim and Lois for beingmad enough to make this their first camp as well,Brian for the home-brew, Alan for the photos, Mar-tin for 'American pie', Alice for shopping centre fun,Dr Liz and Ian for roping us into other camps al-ready and everyone else we�ve forgotten.

We both had a terrible time, are still receivingcounselling and never coming back. Only joking- have been to a weekend camp already.

So sorry - you're not going to get rid of us thateasily!!

Rachael and Katie

NewYear:Rachael (left) Jenny&Dave (right) asHagridMcGonagall &Dumbledore respectively (Martin Ludgate)

TrainingThree ways to improve yournavvying skills...l

page 28

Get trained!

As Mike Palmer says in his Chairman's Page thistime: "the reward for the volunteer is lookingback at a job well done. A little trainingmakesthis much easier".

So we thought we'd use a couple of pages ofthis issue to give you some more informationabout how you, the 'Navvies' reader can get sometraining - whether you're a Canal Camper, a vol-unteer with a weekend group, someone whoworks with a local canal society... or somebodywho hasn't been out working on canals at all yet,maybe because you don't think you have anyuseful skills...

So here are three opportunities for training...

The WRG Training weekend:May 11th-12th - venue to be announced

The annual WRG training weekend takes placeover the weekend of 11th-12th May, at a venue tobe announced, in the Midlands. We'll be providinginstruction in all the usual areas: manual skills (egbricklaying), machinery operation (such as dump-ers and excavators), vehicles (minibuses, vans andtrailers), plus surveying / levelling, First Aid, andhopefully some more theoretical subjects too.

But rather than give you a long list of subjects thatyou can choose from, we're asking you to get intouchwith us and tell uswhat youwant to be trainedon - because (a) exactly what we can train youon depends on which site we end up using and(b) it also depends on what you want to learn!

So please contact Ali Bottomley at 27,Claremont Road, Spital Tongues, Newcastleupon Tyne. NE2 4AN, or phone: 0191 261 5913.

Training in surveying and levelling available at theWRG Training Weekend... (Martin Ludgate)

And please don't delay: there is a lot of organi-sation goes into the WRG training weekend, andthe sooner we know howmany people want train-ing and what they want to learn, the easier it is forus to plan theweekend so that everyone gets whatthey want out of it. So get in touch with Ali now!

The IWA Training Award

The InlandWaterwaysAssociation TrainingAwardwas set up in 2001 to assist with the cost of train-ing in skills associated with inland waterway res-toration.

Since the early years, restoration projects havegradually become more and more complex, re-quiring volunteers to operate large machinery,conduct extensive surveys and deal with increas-ingly demanding legislation, all to the very high-est standards. The IWA Training Award reflectsthis change and aims to promote a more skilledworkforce.

The criteria for the award are set deliberatelywide, and encourage applications from individu-als as well as canal societies who may wish toorganise training for a group of volunteers.

Although there is a list of �preferred areas� (seeguidance notes), applications will be acceptedfor any area of training.

The Award is presented as a bi-annual prize ofup to £750. Applications are welcome through-out the year, with deadlines for each award be-ing 31st March and 30th September

Any award will be granted to either the restora-tion group or individual concerned upon proof ofexpenditure (i.e. copies of receipts, invoices).

For an application form and accompanying guid-ance notes, please contact IWAHeadOffice, POBox 114, Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY or [email protected]

British Waterways Heritage Skills Centre

The British Waterways Heritage Skills Centre inthe former Grand Union maintenance yard atHattonYard nearWarwick offerspractical and theo-retical courses covering all elements of waterwayheritage conservation. All courses are open to thepublic and the centre welcomes members ofwaterway groups and societies including WRG.

The Heritage Skills Centre�s courses concentrateon applied, �hands on� training and include work-ing stone, mixing and applying mortars, mend-ing broken ironwork and repairing historic car-pentry.

Other courses cover environmental aspects ofwaterway conservation, including hedgelaying,towpath management and control of nuisancespecies.

All courses run for either one or two days andeach provides participants with a good level of�basic training�. A key aim of each course is toraise awareness of sustainability issues, in par-ticular the need to balance contemporary useswith natural and built heritage values.

Of particular interest to 'Navvies' readers, BWwillalso be inviting waterway volunteers and othersto a one day course, which will give an introduc-tion to waterway maintenance with regard to thebuilt and natural environment. This will provideWRG volunteers and others interested in water-ways with an insight into key areas such as veg-etation management, use of lime mortars, andpollution prevention. BWhope to hold this coursein March (exact date to be finalised) and to pro-vide it free of charge.

Most courses offered are being accredited by City& Guilds and participants on these will receive a�City & Guilds British Waterways Heritage Skillsscheme� attendance certificate.

The full list of heritage skills courses is as fol-lows. Non-BW people are welcome on allcourses, but those marked (*) are also being of-fered specifically for non-BW people:Basic masonry repairs (*) (2 days)Dry stone walling (2-4 days)Historic metalwork (*) (2 days)Cleaning and surface treatments (*) (1 day)Brick repairs and repointing (*) (2 days)Heritage and engineering (1 day)Lime mortars (*) (2 days)Rural carpentry (*) (2 days)Supervising conservation projects (1 day)Basic masonry refresher (1 day)Introduction to archaeology (1 day)Historic conservation (½ day)Advanced masonry (1 day)Painting historic structures (1 day)

For further details of British Waterways coursesand dates, and for details of the Environmentalcourses also run at Hatton, please contactKarenSlatcher on 01788 566003 or [email protected].

"BestDescribed

As

BASIC"

page 30

"BestDescribed

As

BASIC"Regular readers of the Canal Camps bookletwill recall that for many years the section on'Accommodation' included the followingwords:

"The standard of accommodation is best de-scribed as basic"

The same regular readers may or may not havenoticed that these words have been absent fromthe booklet for the last few years - mainly be-cause (despite the fact that it still isn't exactly luxu-rious - see the letters pages for discussion onthis subject) there are some rather better waysof describing most WRG accommodation nowa-days.

But at the same time as we look forward to fur-ther improvements in the standard of accommo-dation in future, we thought we might ask 'Nav-vies' readers to take a look backward to whenWRGies used to kip in the sort of dump that re-ally was 'best described as basic'.

Starting with the following reminiscences from JonSims...

"When you asked for nominations for the worst everaccommodation on canal camps the old bakery at StJohns on the Basingstoke sprang immediately tomind.But then you went and nominated it yourself. We tookone look and decided it was worth the drive back to ourold favourite, Victoria Hall at Ash.

This had a magnificently over engineered clock in thetower which worked itself up to a frenzy before strik-ing each hour. Those who had come along for a dirtyweekend (aswell as adirtyweekend)developed theknackof timing their performance to coincide with that of theclock so that the sound of one covered the sound of theother. Ah, what energy we had to spare in our youth!"

...and a memory from rather longer ago, thanksto John Dodwell...

"One of my memories is kipping down on the woodenfloor in the hold of narrowboat 'Laurel', an unconvertedJosher working boat in 1965 near Windmill End on theBCN. Of course, I hadn�t heard of airbags or collapsiblebeds and I can tell you that those boards were very hard,even through a sleeping bag. Thiswas afterwe�d cookedon primus stoves to get our supper. I recall that it was acold January night but we were that chuffed at being ona real boat that all the hardships seemed worth while.

Howdidwe come to get such accommodation?Wewererestoring the Stourbridge Sixteen Locks. Normally westayed overnight in the homes of local enthusiasts. Buton this occasion my brother Tim brought too manypeople up fromLondon and sowe had to find this basicaccommodation.

By theway,Alan Smith ,who ownedLAURELthen andstill does, reckons the bilge smell he has to endure origi-natedfromthatbadeggwe dropped at Sunday breakfast!"

...and from David Gibson...

"I can remember a night at H********n Village Hallwith Graham Palmer and Mr 'utchings. I had imbibedrather too well and spent most of the night in the toilet,whichwas next to the front door facing the village green.Iwas dying happily andmindingmyownbusinesswhenthe police burst in and demanded to know if I was incharge and proceeded to interview me about what wewere doing (mixed sleeping in the early seventies!). Ap-parently a neighbour had called the police because Ihad been exposingmyself due to the lack of curtains. Ieventually persuaded them to leave me in peace andthey walked round the main hall falling over bodies.Luckily we never did find out who had called them..."

Keep the stories coming in, please!

"All Canal Camps are provided with showers - eitherin the accommodation or nearby" (Martin Ludgate)

Saturday April 20th 2002: WRG Race Night

...at Martin Heath Hall, Christchurch Lane, Li-chfield (by the 'Bowling Green Pub') Starting at7:30pm.

For those who haven't been to a 'Race Night'before: it's just like a day at the horse-races, butfrom the comfort of your own home (or your tem-porary home in the village hall in this case!) witheight genuine races from various race-coursesshown on video, accompanied by a proper com-mentary - just like the real thing.

And just like real horse-racing, you get the chanceto blow lots of money on it... only unlike real horse-racing it doesn't go into the pockets of the book-ies, it goes to support a good cause... WRG andcanal restoration!

Proceeds will go to kick starting the new WRGVan Fund to replace our ageing minibus NJF andto the David Suchet Appeal to raise funds for theLichfield & Hatherton Canals. So come preparedwith some spending money to back your four leg-ged fancy and join us for a fun night - its veryaddictive!!

Also, it's bring-your-own-beer for the evening.There will even be a small prize for fancy dress!!

Sponsorship any one of the 8 races is availablebefore the event: Bids, minimum £25, to JudeMoore by 1st April 2002 (all details below).

The 8 highest bidders will be notified of their suc-cess and will have the privilege of naming therace (clean but amusing please!), watching it from'the Royal Box' whilst enjoying a bottle of Bubbly,munching on some elegant nibbles and they willpresent the winnings to the triumphant owner.Any individual, group or society can make a bid -the bigger the better!!

Horses for the first 7 races are on sale now at £5each, you get to name the horse and if it winsyou are guaranteed odds of 3-1 - thats £15 profitin cash!! Plus whatever you win by backing it onthe Tote.

The horses for the final race will be auctioned onthe night with 50% of the total raised going to thewinning owner or syndicate. - ooh the suspense!!

Plan for the weekend:

Overnight accommodation is available at thehall Friday (from 22:30ish) and Saturday. JohnHorton has plenty of work on site if you wouldlike to make a weekend of it and work will takeplace mainly on the Saturday.

Food will be provided by Jude as long as youbook in advance, (£8 for the full weekend) andwe shall hopefully have lots of local trust mem-bers joining us on the Saturday night.

Sunday will be spent helping Lichfield andHatherton Canals Restoration Trust with theirOpen day/walk along the canal: volunteers forminibus driving please - and Jan requests nice,clean, shiny people!!

If you would like to book for a fun weekend pleasecontact Jude Moore on 01564 785293 or 07711058898 or email: [email protected] make sure you clearly state how long youwill be staying for and which meals you require,and any diet requirements. [Such as 'I don't eatracehorse'? ...Ed] Cheques made payable to'WRG' and sent to Jude at 3 Finwood Road,Rowington, Warks. CV35 7DH.

See you there - Tally Ho!Jude Moore

Also coming soon: for those who can't make theBCN Cleanup (see p16) on March 16-17... or forthose who are so keen on clearing out the BCNthat they want to do it two weekends in a row...

Lapal Canal Cleanup: 23rd-24th March

Lapal Canal Trust (which is promoting the resto-ration of the derelict part of the Dudley No. 2 Ca-nal) is organising a clean up of the infilled line ofthe Canal in the Birmingham area over the week-end of 23rd and 24th March.

This is a critical time for the project. We hope tokick-start the restoration of the Canal in Birming-ham and generate a lot of publicity and interestin the face of a very real prospect that the Canalwill be severed by a proposed relief road in theSelly Oak area of Birmingham.

We need volunteers! Overnight accomodationcan be provided. Please feel free to e-mail me([email protected]) or contactWRG BITM who are supporting this event (seeDiary pages).

David Carson

Coming soonYou've heard of Derby Day...now it's Lichfield Day!

BanksideBankside BanksideMoorings

written byBruce Tunnelwritten byBruce TunnelCampLeaderAustin 'Oz' Collingwood glanced aroundthe group of assembled campers inBolminsterVillageHall, trying in vain to spot a familiar face.It was the start of the year's first Canal Camp on theThamesBerks andAndover Canal, and they looked likethe usualmix of volunteers - somemale, some female;mostly aged between late teens and late twenties, butseveral slightly older - but none that Oz recognised.It wasn't unknown for the majority of volunteers on acamp to be 'first-timers', but usually there were a few'old hands' around; still, the work was straightfor-ward - towpath-laying on the Spaglingworth toBolminster length of canal, and laying a concretedeck to strengthen a farm accommodation bridge. Aslong as the assistant leader Gordon Drake arrived,everything would be fine. There was no sign ofGordon yet, but that wasn't unusual: Oz wonderedwhat the excuse for his late arrival would be this time- some mishap or other befell him on the way to mostcamps, and his nickname of 'Gordon-I-broke-my-nose-three-times' gave some clue to his rather acci-dent-prone nature.Of course it was possible that the change of style inthe new Canal Camps booklet was partly to blamefor the lack of 'regulars'...Firstly there was the 'modern' style intended to attractnewcomers - and therefore more-or-less guaranteedto put off the old-timers. Oz remembered the com-ments in the 'Floundering Arms' pub when the firstbatch of themwere delivered:"They don't makeCampsBooklets like they used to...""I remember when it was just a grubby photocopiedsheet of A4 paper...""A4? Foolscap more like..."Not to mention the usual whinges about the choice ofphotos..."Look - that one wasn't taken on the Wey &ArunCanal at all, it was taken on the Arun Navigation...""And as for this one - doesn't the editor know thedifference between the Droitwich Barge Canal andthe Droitwich Junction Canal?""It's a disgrace, that's what it is... When I was a lad..."...although, to be honest, this time for once they hadsomething worth complaining about. And it wasmainly down to the designer's choice of more andmore unusual shapes of photo frames.

Circular photos had made their appearance two yearsago, last year diamonds, and this year the pictureshad had to be cropped into a whole selection of shapesappropriate to the dates of each camp (cross-shapedfor Easter, bell-shaped for NewYear, crescent-shapedfor Ramadan, pentangle-shaped for Halloween...) - itwas becoming harder and harder to find photographsthat were both appropriate to the subject-matter andthe right shape for the photo frame.The editor had been reduced to usingwhatever photoswould fit, and tweaking themwith his 'Corel PhotoPaint' software to remove inappropriate details ifnecessary. And he'd ended up having to use a few thatweren't canals at all: instead of just (as usual) pirating thebest ideas from theCathedralCamps,BTCV,NationalTrust and railwaypreservation societypublications, thistimehe'dnickedhalf theirphotos too! Mostly theywerefairlywelldisguised,but ifyou lookedcarefully the 'plant'photoappeared to showasteam-poweredvibrating roller,and the 'accommodation' hadcloisters anda spire...Finally, there was themove towardsmaking CanalCamps harder to get to. This might seem a strangeidea, but theWRG committee had decided that the bestway of ensuring a higher calibre of volunteers was tomake the directions so obscure that only themostintelligent of navvies would find their way at all. Thishad begun a year or two earlier with the 'London tubemap' style accommodation plans on theweb-site, andhad progressed on to giving the entire accommodationdetails in the form of a cryptic clue, a 'treasure hunt', ormaybe a word puzzle written in rhyme. For example...My first is in �shovel� and also in �spade�My second in �volunteer�, not in �unpaid�My third is in �dragline� and also in �dredge�My fourth is in �trees�, but never in �hedge�My fifth is in �brew-hut� and also in �tea-break�My sixth is in �site bog� but never in �pee-break�My seventh�s in �Tom� (whomightmake a farmer, yet!)My eighth�s in �Jervis� and also in �Palmerette�My ninth is a question, often asked in �Navvies�My last is in �shark� (which we all know that Gav is...)I�m a place that the oldies remember with feeling -Andwhat's thatbig thingthat'ssupportingtheceiling?...so maybe the lack of experienced volunteers wasbecause they were all too dim to find the camps!Oz finally gave up waiting for Gordon and begangiving his introductory talk to the volunteers..."The work for this week will include demolition, pile-driving, concreting, and some plant work - excava-tors, dumpers and vibrating rollers...""Demolition? Concrete? Pile-driving?" exclaimed asurprised volunteer, "I thought we'd be working withstained-glass windows and things like that...""Where are you going to find stained-glass on a canal?""Canal? Oz - I think you've come to the wrong place.We're working on Bolminster Abbey - this is aCathedral Camp..."

Bits & pieces...including the latest fromthe WRG Boat Club

WRG 14th Book Auction: the winning bids by Lot Number:1 £31.502 £14.003 £15.004 £9.005 £12.006 £32.007 £7.008 No Bid9 £3.5010 £5.5011 £11.5012 £4.0013 £3.00

14 £5.2515 £6.0016 £6.0017 £6.0018 £5.5019 £7.5020 £12.0021 £3.0022 £15.0023 £3.0024 £7.0025 £7.0026 £6.00

27 £12.0028 £6.5029 £6.5030 £12.5031 £6.0032 £7.0033 £7.5034 £4.0035 £10.00(2 copies £5 each)36 £5.5037 £5.0038 £5.00

39 £25.5040 £5.0041 No Bid42 £4.5043 £6.0044 £6.0045 No Bid46 £4.5047 No Bid48 £4.0049 £3.0050 £4.0051 £4.00

52 £1.5053 £1.5054 £3.0055 £4.0056 £2.5057 £11.50(2copies£10&£1.50)58 £3.0059 £3.0060 £3.0061 £1.50

Total £425.75

wrg bc: the WRG Boat ClubMany thanks to all who sent friendly messages andtheir news to me over the festive season. It wasgood to hear from you and to keep in touch. It quitecheered me up!

By the time you get to read this it will be little late formy Happy New Year wish, but I can wish you allGood Boating in 2002 Hopefully you will be able toinclude some dig venues in your itinerary this Year.There should be a few. The one on the Basingstokein September definitely appeals to me, and it is goodto have such advanced notice so I can plan ahead.(It might not seem like it, but I do have amaster planfor my travels, it is just that I get easily distracted!)You will need to do some planning to fit it in, as it isa bit �out of the Wey� AND you never pass it on theWey to anywhere else, but it will be well worth theeffort. I have not yet boated on the Basigstoke - dugon it, yes, but when I was knocking on the doors Iwas refused a licence as they were short of water atthe time.

NEW NEW COMING SOON Our logo and clubname plus (If you want) your boat name can beembroidered on clothing including fleeces, jacketsetc and even on bags. More details about what isavailable and how to order when we get prices.

Congratulation and best wishes toWRGNWon their30 years and toMrMac whowe all know is a smash-ing fellow and it is nice to think that �those on high�think well of him too.

XXX Sadie Dean

NWToolsmissing!A recent check has shown that a number of WRGNorth West's hand tools (yellow handles) aremissing. Of particular concern is the absence ofall four of our wrecking bars. If anyone knows thewhereabouts of any of this equipment, please letMalcolm Bridge (01706-378582; malcolm. [email protected]) or Jim Lamen (0161-494-5957;[email protected]) know.

Lost Property1 pair off-white, knitted gloveswith rubberised palms.Left in Mr. Mac's kitchen after the Paper Chase on19th January. Please ring 0161-740-2179 to claim.

DroitwichCanalsTrustSummerFestival...taking place from FridayMay 31st toMonday June3rd: a four-day beer andwine festival plus all the usualentertainments including DayStar Theatre, bath-tubraft race (all canal societies etc welcome to enter -the prize is a barrel of beer), 'shopping trolley race'and other events. Canal Societies are welcome tobring their stall, trail boats, games and anything thatwill give them publicity, raise a few bob for the soci-ety and enhance the festival: all at no charge.

More details from JonAxe of Droitwich Canals Truston0121-608-0296or e-mail [email protected].

Canal Camps Schedule update:In case you haven't noticed, there have been sev-eral changes in the Camps schedule between theinsert that appeared with the last 'Navvies' and theCamps Booklet that is enclosed with this one:

Camps5&6 have swapped numbers, as have 9&10.Extra Camp 15 added on the Wey & Arun Canal -and everything after that renumbered accordingly.Lichfield Camp 20 delayed 1 week to 26 Oct - 2 Nov.Camp 21 at NewYear now has a site: Basingstoke.

Bits & pieces'Inland Waterways Enter-prises'? What's that, then?�WRG Ltd is dead � Long live WRG�Waterway Recovery Group Ltd has ceased trading� but there is no need to be alarmed. It is just part ofan orderly restructure of The Inland WaterwaysAs-sociation�s subsidiary companies (of which WRG isone), for reasons of accounting efficiency, and Wa-terway Recovery Group (without the �Ltd� bit) will becarrying on just as before.

IWA restructured its subsidiary companies, with ef-fect from 31st December 2001. IWA(Sales) Ltd andNational Waterways Festivals Ltd also ceased trad-ing and the ongoing �businesses� of all three compa-nies have been transferred to a new company, In-landWaterways Enterprises Ltd. The new companyhas a single board of directors, but nearly all thebusiness of the company will be run through threedivisions, entitled �IWASales�, �National WaterwaysFestivals� and � Waterway Recovery Group�.

All of WRG�s activities will be managed by a groupof �WRG Directors� that will comprise exactly thesame people who were members of the board ofdirectors of the old company, WRG Ltd - althoughthey will no longer be company directors. All theactivities, assets, liabilities and ongoing commit-ments of WRG Ltd have been transferred. Apartfrom presentation of accounts and formal documen-tation, the activities undertaken by WRG will carryon just as before, and if we hadn�t told you, we don�tsuppose you would have noticed the change.

The reasons behind this restructure are primarilyones of accounting efficiency and to ensure WRGpays no more than the minimum amount of taxesrequired by the law. Any enquiries concerning thisshould be addressed to Neil Edwards at IWAHeadOffice (address at bottom of opposite page).

Last trip down the Ashton?Thank you to all who responded to my request in is-sue 189 for help in tracing a magazine article aboutthe final pre-restoration attempt to navigate the Ash-ton Canal in 1961. Unfortunately we still haven'ttracked down what I was looking for: several peoplefound a short piece in IWA'Bulletin' No 64 about it, butwhat I was after was a longer, blow-by-blow accountof the whole journey. Suggestions are that it mayhave appeared in either the Peak Forest Canal So-cietymagazine, or in 'Motor Boat andYachting', whichregularly included canal stories in the days beforethere were specialist inland waterways magazines.

New on the Net......some very old camp reports. Arthur Dungate hasbeen going through old copies of Surrey & HantsCanal Society's 'Basingstoke Canal News' andputting the articlesonhiswebsite - including theCampReports from the legendary KESCRG / SHCSCanalCamps of the 1980s. Follow the links from: http://www.basingstokecanal1.freeserve.co.uk

Lots of assorted stuff available!After the last edition of Navvies was published, I re-ceived an e-mail from a person who been readingabout the theft of the trailer and its contents...

"I may be able to help make up some of the loss andhelp provide other items. My work takes me to vari-ous building sites, scrap yards, workshops, etc andI have in the past been able to provide the CotswoldCanal Trust (of which he used to be a member) withchain blocks, slings etc." Various items are thenmentioned-"shackles, slings, water containers, shov-els, Dexion, threaded bar, aluminium chequer plate,numerous nuts and bolts and timber etc." If any-body is in need of these sort of items he needs tohave " a nice to get list" because he cannot re-visitthese sites or ask for items "to be put to one side".

n.b all of the items are removed with permisionfrom the owners of the property!

If anyone is interested in any of these items, pleasecontact me (see opposite page, bottom left)

John Hawkins

Answers to the quiz last time...1 Ribble Link 8 Kings Norton2 Bugsworth Basin 9 Ellesmere Port3 Hatton 10 Wakefield4 TardeBigge 11 Paddington Arm5 Bulls Bridge 12 The 'National'6 Shropshire Union 13 Foxton7 Northern Reaches 14 Limehouse

Thank you......to those splendid chaps at Land & Water dredg-ing contractors for sponsoring this year's CanalCamps booklet. If you want your canal profession-ally dredged, you know which company to ask.

Planning next year's Canal Camps?Already? Yes - if we're to get our 2003 Camps Book-let out on time, we need to start earlier. Mike Palmerwill have more to say about it in the next issue, but inthemeantime if you're involved in a canal society thatmight want a Camp next year... start thinking about it!

Get well soon......toEddieJonesofKESCRG,whopartedcompanywithhis appendix just as this issuewas going to the printers.

Directors of WRG:

John Baylis, MickBeattie, Malcolm Bridge,Roger Burchett,Spencer Collins,Christopher Davey,Helen Davey,Roger Day, RichardDrake, Neil Edwards,Adrian Fry, JohnHawkins, Jennifer Leigh,Judith Moore, MichaelPalmer, Jonathan Smith.

Secretary: Neil Edwards

VAT reg. no : 788 9425 54© 2002 WRGISSN 0953-6655

beconstruedaspolicy or anofficial announcement un-less so stated - otherwiseWRG and IWAaccept no li-ability for any matter in thismagazine.Waterway Recovery Groupis a division of InlandWater-waysEnterprisesLtd.,asub-sidiary of the Inland Water-ways Association (a regis-tered charity).Inland Waterways Enter-prises Registered office:3 Norfolk Court, Norfolk Rd.Rickmansworth WD3 1LTTel : 01923 711114Registered no 4305322

Navvies ProductionNavvies ispublishedbyWa-terwayRecoveryGroup,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 alliedmagazinesprovidedthat thesource is acknowledged.WRG may not agree withopinions expressed in thismagazine, but encouragespublicationasamatterof in-terest. Nothing printedmay

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

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

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

NoticeboardMOVING HOUSEAbigail Jones has moved to:47 Cross Oak Road, Berkhamsted HertfordshireHP4 3EH Tel: 01442 875540She says "Anyone passing through on the GrandUnion is welcome to drop in for a cuppa!"Steve Wyatt has moved to:3b, Olive Lane, Halesowen B62 8LS.Tel: 0121 602 2463 Mobile: 07976 566997Harriet Thomsett's phone number in Irelandwas wrong last time. It should be:00 353 21 4867661Izzy Gascoigne has moved to:27 Queen St, Kidsgrove, Staffs ST7 4AHIan Edgar of Bugsworth has a new e-mail:[email protected] Bailey of Cotswold Canals has a new e-mail:[email protected] Jeffries now has a home phone:01327 871 858

Any overseas volunteers?

Regular Canal Camper Bernd Schimanskywould like to make contact with any otherGermans (and others from abroad) who attendCanal Camps, to exchange information,thoughts and experiences.

Please e-mail him at:[email protected]:the final(?)totals...

Spencer Collins £502.13Dave Wedd £402.78Sue Burchett £834.78Ralph Bateman £763.28Mike Palmer £415.68Lou Kellett £304.28Harry Watts £491.28Jen Leigh £292.28Dave Parish £229.28Izzy Gascoigne £232.28Viv Thorpe £790.48

Nina Whiteman £321.28Martin Ludgate £605.78Matt Taylor £339.28George Eycott £414.28Paul Cattermole £219.92Glenn Shoosmith £988.28Katherine Davis £323.28Gavin Moor £222.28Joanne Smith £1143.94Rupert Smedley £163.15Total £10,000.00!

As you can see from the above, by chas-ing around for a bit of last-minute spon-sorship, we managed to exactly reach ourtarget of ten grand, making WRG Gold Pa-trons of the Appeal.In addition, each individual who took partis a Bronze Patron if they raised £500, or aSponsor of the Appeal if they raised £240.If you're feeling generous, there's still timefor you to make a donation to help more ofthe volunteers reach these targets. Pleasecontact Spencer Collins 07889 443397 ore-mail [email protected]

If you move house, please remember to askus to change your 'Navvies' subscription de-tails: write to Sue Watts (see below) or e-mailEdd Leethem [email protected].

BackfillAnd not to be outdone...

...the previous chairman of WRG seems to havefound something new to occupy him too!

Cowboys!

There has been the occasional suggestion in thesepages of a little bit of 'cowboy-builder' behaviour onthe canals... in particular by those involved in build-ing new roads and reluctant to provide navigablecrossings for canals under restoration:

"Oh, sorry mate - did I say £400 grand for a bridge?Nah, what I meant to say was £800 grand. And thenthere's the cost of a skip and the van hire, that'll be £1.2million all-up, cash on the nail, no questions asked..."

Thanks to Bob Kearney for sending in a workwearcatalogue with some suitable headgear for them...

Another of the WRG Chairman's profitablesidelines?

I am indebted to Izzy Gasgoigne for sending inthe following advertisment:

In case anyone is in any doubt as to whether the'MKP' in question is indeed our beloved chairmanMichael K Palmer, a quick look at their web-sitewww.mkp.co.uk tends to confirmour suspicions...

"...MKP evolved from the already successfulRyelandToolmakers... From this solid base of engi-neering expertise, steady growth has been achieved,and is on-going as MKP now competes and winsnew business at home and in the internationalmar-ketplace... A continuous growth has establishedMKPas a successful and competitive enterprisewitha turnover predicted to rise to over £11 million bythe year 2005... In April 2001, MKP received theQueensAward for Enterprise..."

PS I wonder if his 'Chairman's column' in thisissue counts as a piece of 'quality presswork'....or is it more of a 'welded fabrication'?

Meanwhile in the 'real' press...

I see from 'The Independent' that Roger 'don'trestore the Wilts & Berks' Scruton (see Editorialin issue 189) has been accepting money fromtobacco companies while writing newspaper ar-ticles in support of the use of tobacco products.So don't be too surprised if you hear that theW&BCT have switched their attentions to restor-ing lock No 6, or to constructing the originally-planned Marlboro branch of the canal...

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Navvies 191

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