Navvies 249

Issue No 249October-November

2011

Issue No 249October-November

2011

waterwayrecoverygroup

waterwayrecoverygroup

volunteers restoring waterwaysvolunteers restoring waterways

navviesnavvies

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

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

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

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

Navvies is published by Waterway RecoveryGroup, Island House, Moor Rd., CheshamHP5 1WA and is available to all interested inpromoting the restoration and conservationof inland waterways by voluntary effort inGreat Britain. Articles may be reproduced inallied magazines provided that the source isacknowledged. WRG may not agree withopinions expressed in this magazine, butencourages publication as a matter of inter-est. Nothing printed may be construed aspolicy or an official announcement unless sostated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept noliability for any matter in this magazine.

Waterway Recovery Group is part of TheInland Waterways Association, (registeredoffice: Island House, Moor Road, CheshamHP5 1WA). The Inland Waterways Associa-tion is a non-profit distributing companylimited by guarantee, registered in Englandno 612245, and registered as a charity no212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89.

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, JohnBaylis, Mick Beattie, James Butler, SpencerCollins, Christopher Davey, George Eycott,Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Judith Palmer,Michael Palmer, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2011 WRG

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all the latest news of WRG's activities

Chairman MKP explains about camp kits 4-5Coming soon Autumn digs, Christmas digs,Winter digs and more 6Camp reports Chesterfield, Montgomery,Cromford and Mon & Brec 7-1940 interviews James Butler answers thequestions 20-23Diary canal camps and weekend digs 24-26Letters Lining methods on the Mont, and(would you believe?) the K&A again 27Progress a roundup of news fromrestoration projects around the country 28-37More camp reports Eisey, Inglesham, andthe Welsh Trailboat Festival 38-43WRG BC Boat Club update 44-45Noticeboard Canalway Cavalcade needs you!46Infill Dewane Smiff meets the WormholeRecovery Group 47

Contributions...

...are always welcome, whether handwritten,typed, on CD-ROM, DVD or by email.

Photos also welcome: digital,slides, prints. Please state whether youwant your prints back. Digital pics arewelcome as email attachments, preferablyJPG format, but if you have a lot of largefiles it is best to send them on CD-ROM orDVD or to contact the editor first.

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

Press date for issue 250: Novemb er 1st.

Subscriptions

A year's subscription (6 issues) is availablefor a minimum of £3.00 to Sue Watts, 15Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy,Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques payable to"Waterway Recovery Group" please.

This is a minimum subscription, thateveryone can afford. Please add a donation.

ContentsIn this issue...

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sAbove left: Southland Lock taking shape on the Wey &Arun and Above all that was to be seen there beforework started (see progress report, p32). Left puttingthe finishing touches on Eisey Lock (see camp report,p42-43). Below: rebuilding the gauging narrows onthe Cromford (see camp report, p15-16). Front cover:London WRG continue the camps’ good work on thenew Staveley Town Lock, Chesterfield Canal (photo byMartin Ludgate). Back cover (clockwise from top):first section of lined channel on the Mont nears comple-tion (John Hawkins); London WRG and WRGNW fillgabions on a joint Lichfield dig (Martin Ludgate); re-building stonework on the Mon & Brec - see ‘interna-tional phrase book’ p17-19 (Nikki Packer); constructionbegins on Inglesham Lock: report next time (Tim Lewis)

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Chairman’s Comment

Canal Camps Kit The last few commentshave all been a bit “airy-fairy” long-termvision stuff so, just to ring the changes, let’shave something practical and hopefullyinformative for anyone who encountersCanal Camps kit.

Theory: The Canal Camps kit hasevolved tremendously over the years and Idon’t think we have ever explained the logicbehind these changes. You all get to use thekit so you should know why we supply thethings we do (and more importantly why wedon’t supply things we don’t). Then hopefullyyou will understand why we get worked upabout seemingly trivial things. So let’s startwith the basic thinking:

How many navvies can a camp kitsupport? The theory assumes that a “typi-cal” Canal Camp is 17 people, but with up to25 people on site and it can feed up to 30volunteers.

Er… seventeen, twenty five,thirty? The reason we pick 17 for a CanalCamp is that (a) experience shows that actu-ally it’s not a bad number, any bigger thanthat and the technical jobs tend to get trickyto coordinate and (b) our vans have nineseats so just one driver can shift 16 othersaround on a night out with just one doublehop. But 17 is just a guideline, if the campleader wants to go bigger than that then wewon’t stop them…

Which is why we make sure the tooltrailer can support twenty five people on site.It’s got hard hats, hi-vis vests, etc. for thatmany because we assume a few day workersand the odd visitor or two. In fact, becauseone camp might be demolition, then the nextcamp might be bricklaying followed by jun-gle bashing, etc, if you actually add it all upthen 101 navvies can be equipped from justfrom one trailer – assuming you can find asite that needs clearing, excavating, demol-ishing, rebuilding and landscaping all at thesame time! But remember there are still onlytwenty five hard hats...

So how do we get to 30 for eating?I know our reputation for food is good butsurely we don’t attract that many hangers ondo we? Well the reasons we go for 30 are alittle more practical. Put simply it means thatthe cook can store things in bowls in thefridge, you don’t have to wash up the lunchkit in order to your evening meal, it allowsfor a few breakages, that sort of thing.

The kit lists: We have changed the kitlists quite a lot recently and it’s all beenabout trying to (a) help the leader planthings, (b) minimize the effort involved inpacking things up and (c) minimize thechances of leaving stuff behind.

Because we rely on “The Right Tool forthe Right Job”; without it we can’t do our jobwell or safely. The camp leader will haveplanned the work expecting the correct mix oftools and if they don’t arrive then it may have aserious impact on a camp. So it is importantthat we check the kits carefully each time theymove on otherwise not only do we stand tolose a lot of equipment that may well bedifficult to recover or replace but it may wellmean wasted time during the next week.

In order to help the planning processthe Site Kit List is arranged in “functional”groups so that leaders can easily see whattools they are getting for each activity. Thishopefully makes things simpler but, as withall simple systems, it’s important to under-stand how it is supposed to work so pleasedo take a minute to read the front page ofthe new Kit lists as you will find it speeds thepacking session up.

We have put the kit lists on the websiteso that not only can the leader see howmany shovels they are getting but the cookcan work out whether the village hall cookerwill take one of our grundy tins (they are40x26cm by the way).

As I say the camps kit has and alwayswill evolve. We tend to make the big changesjust before the start of the summer season,based on the results of the Camps feedbacksurvey and the Leaders training day plus anyother comments – so please don’t hold back.

ChairmanMKP on the camp kits

Mike Palmer explains how a

standard WRG Canal Camps

tool and catering kit

provides for 17, 25 and 30

people simultaneously...

There is a lot of thinking that goes into evensmall changes we make. For example…

Fuel and jerry cans and funnelsand stuff: The way we have dealt with thishas been a bit haphazard in the past. Putsimply nobody really cared about dodgy fuelstorage tanks on sites in the middle of no-where. However, both the EA and HSE arerather more concerned these days, both interms of fire risks and pollution risks. Let’sface it we are not going to get any browniepoints for restoring the canal but pollutingthe local stream are we?

So if fuel is stored on site then it shouldbe done properly. If it’s going to be a longterm site then the local society should beputting in a properly secure bunded tank. Ifit’s a more temporary site but one that willstill use a lot of fuel then probably a towablefuel bowser will be a better option. They arenot expensive to hire (not compared to fillingthem up anyway!) and they do their jobmuch better than any messing about withjerry cans.

So that leaves only the very temporary,remote site that isn’t going to use much fuel.And that’s what we have the jerry cans for –not for mass storage of fuel but just fortransferring small quantities into equipment.

So we now supply two 10litre jerrycans marked up as “site diesel only”. Whatexactly does that mean? Well it means whatit says. As you know there is red diesel andwhite diesel. On site we should use reddiesel coz it’s cheaper. However, as discussedabove, the costs and effort of having a fuelstore is such that sometimes for just a quickjob it’s more appropriate to just go to thelocal garage and fill up the jerry can. Yes it isa little pricier but it may well be the cheapestand easiest way of doing it. The kit on sitewon’t mind and it really does depend on thesituation. So that is why it is labeled sitediesel only, because we don’t know what has

been in the can it’s very important that wedon’t ever use it for the vans.

So that’s the diesel situation – whatabout the fuel-can that comes with thebrick-saw. Here the confusion is whether it isneat unleaded or pre-mixed two-stroke. So wehave added a reversible label tag that allowsyou to show which it is, please make sure itaccurately reflects the contents!

Finally, the kit now comes with threedecent funnels. Please use them – not onlywill it save on wasting fuel but it will make itsafer as the fuel doesn’t pour all over yourhands, the exhaust, into the local water-course, etc. Pretty much all my project plansnow say “all fuelling will take place fromapproved containers using funnels awayfrom watercourses once engines have cooleddown”. It’s the minimum that EA, HSE, etcwill expect to see.

Gazebos: At least one camp reportalludes to the gazebos’ irritating habit ofblowing away if you don’t secure them. Notonly this embarrassing but it often results in(expensive) damage – they are quite easy todamage. Just because it seems lovely weatherwhen you sent it up, that doesn’t mean it willstay that way and its too late to do anythingonce its blowing down the towpath. (and yesit does take 4 people to pack them up – useany fewer and you will damage them).

Publicity banners: just a remainderthat every van has a publicity banner that notonly gives details of how to contact us butalso acknowledges that we are part of (andour funding comes from) IWA. They shouldbe stored in the overhead locker and thereshould be tie-wraps with them. Put ’em up –who knows who might read them.

And finally: I haven’t had time towrite it up yet so next issue you can lookforward to an article entitled “How the Chair-man really cocked up on site this summer”

Mike Palmer

A gazebo and a WRG/IWA banner both in evidence at Inglesham Lock. Make good use of them!

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Coming soonAutumn camps, winter camps, spring camps...

22-29 October: Chelmer & Blackwater and Grand Western camps

By the time you read this it may be too late but just in case it isn’t, there’s an extra OctoberCanal Camp on the Grand Western Canal being run by WRG Forestry. There’s also a regularWRG camp the same week on the Chelmer & Blackwater which has been fully booked forsome time but it might be worth checking in case anyone’s had to cancel their booking. Foreither of these camps, contact head office on 01494 783453 or [email protected].

London WRG / KESCRG Christmas Party dig: Wilts & Berks 3-4 December

We will be working on the Seven Locks flight on the Wilts & Berks Canal, removing treesfrom the towpath and canal bed below Lock 2, and preparing the hedgerows for hedgelaying There will also be plenty of stump pulling, so bring your Tirforing arms! The accom-modation will be in the shiny new Sheldon School in Chippenham, where we will be tuckinginto a marvellous 3 course Christmas feast on Saturday evening prepared by Bungle andEddie. Saturday evening will have a Real Ale theme, not least because there will be severallocal brews on offer, plus of course some cider. There will be a fancy dress competition withprizes not to be missed, so come dressed as your local ale or your favourite brew. Martin Lwill be hosting a beer themed quiz, so make sure you do plenty of research into the subjectbefore the weekend! The price for the whole weekend will be £16. Please send your cheques(payable to KESCRG) to Eli Mathieson, 1 Hurst Lane, Fernhill Heath, Worcester WR3 8RR.

26 Dec to 1 Jan: New Year on the Mont...

This year’s WRG New Year Camp is on the Montgomery Canal. Work will mainly be scrub-bashing, carrying on from our 2009 and 2010 Reunion weekends clearing the canal towardsPant, and maybe other work depending on the weather. Leader is Gary Summers, assistedby Mel Parker with George ‘Bungle’ Eycott cooking. It’s booking up fast, so if you want tocome, contact Head Office soon. Please note: we’re sorry we can’t allow dogs on this camp.

...or on the Wilts & Berks

As usual the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust will be holding its own Christmas / New Year camp,working in the Dauntsey / Seven Locks area on anything from hedgelaying to scrub-clear-ance depending on the weather. Accommodation will be at the tried-and-tested FoxhamReading Rooms, and anyone interested should contact Rachael Banyard on 01249 892289.

February Camp, Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

The first Canal Camp of 2012 will take place on the Chelmer & Blackwater on 11 to 18 Feb-ruary. We hope to have the Haybay barge for accommodation. More details in the next issue.

BCN Cleanup

The annual BCN Trolleyfest is still six months away, so we won’t have full details and a book-ing form until the next issue or the one after that, but we do have a date - 21-23 April - anda site. We’ll be returning to the Walsall Canal, but this year for the first time we hope to workon the Walsall Town Arm as well as the main line. This makes it particularly suited to thosewho would like to arrive by boat, as there will be moorings available in Walsall Basin.

And finally Canalway Cavalcade

The annual IWA festival at London’s Little Venice will once again be taking place over theMay Day holiday weekend. No doubt nearer the time we’ll be appealing for volunteers tohelp with the running of the event, but in the meantime if you’d like to be on the organisingteam, check out the job advert on page 46 and see if any of the jobs appeal.

Camp reportChesterfield Canal week 1

At Staveley, work has begun on

a brand new lock. We bring

you the first report on what

looks like being an important

project in the coming months...

Chesterfield Camp Report

John Baylis said ‘I’m impressed’ [1]. Thisquote should, on its own, tell the story ofweek one on the Chesterfield camp. Anyonewho knows John, or has tried to cadge anextra cable tie or two from the Tardis atNationals, will be aware of how difficultcompliments are to come by. But how was itachieved?

The work at Chesterfield was to start onthe building of the new Staveley Town Lock(no. 5a) which is required to drop a half milepound below the level of a railway line. Thishalf mile contains what looks to be an excit-ing series of future projects for the CanalTrust’s own work party and WRG camps andweekends – the lock has to be finished, theaccess bridge over the lock tail has to bebrick clad, the wash walls have to be built, along elaborate side weir has to be built andthere is then the small matter of lock 5b toreturn the canal to its original level.

After arriving at the rather unearthlyhour of 1:15 (AM I should add) courtesy ofthe van and trailer movement from Basing-stoke, setting the hall and nipping down tothe site for a final once over, it was time forfirst time leader Steve Baylis and myself togreet our wonderful batch of volunteers –including many regulars, several newbies, 2from abroad and unfortunately (for her) onlyone DoE. The highlight of the arrivals wasSujee (our South Korean friend) arrivingaround the corner, apparently having pulledher suitcase all the way from home…

Arrivals all accounted for, we plungedinto the health and safety briefing. Plunged,and promptly drowned – not only does Stevelike to go on, but as it was a contractor-runsite the health and safety requirements wereeven more stringent than normal. Praise isdue to all for staying awake, and then re-membering (almost) everything that wassaid. We did learn the French for hard hatthough, as Arnaud (our Parisian friend) didhave a habit of forgetting that particularpiece of PPE…

Sunday saw a small group of volunteersgo off to help the locals building what hasbecome known as the ‘Great Wall of Staveley’– which the camp last year was working on.It has progressed apace since the last timeWRG visited, and by the time you read thismay well have water in it!! The rest of us setup site and started laying blocks, with sometaking time out to learn to use the bricksaw,mixing and setting out.

The bricks for the lock, wing walls andthe bridge cladding (which we conservativelyestimated as totalling about 35-40 000) arekindly being donated by the local brickworksfrom their seconds pile – subject to us sort-ing and removing whatever we want. Thisresulted in a good portion of the group beingdeposited to the brickworks on Monday forbrick sorting (a debate to be had: Sorting v.Cleaning, which is worse?) and transporting.The first load of bricks back allowed Steveand myself the chance to figure out how thevarious corners should be laid out: cue Rich-ard on the bricksaw.

Having shown us his wood removal skillson Sunday when dismantling shuttering,Charlie then built us four stop plank guidesto brick around – these were so effective thatthey are now being stored ready for whenthe locals come to build other grooves infuture. The highlight of the day, however,was teaching Arnaud how to say shovel withthe correct northern pronunciation.

By Tuesday the blockwork was nearlycompleted on both sides, bar the ends whichcouldn’t be done until the foam for the ex-pansion joint arrived (more on that ongoingsaga later). This meant it was time to startbricklaying, and the group split into teams totake ownership of their section of wall.

It was about this point that we startedasking the question ‘What will Mike Chase bedoing next week?’ as we looked on track tofinish the two weeks work before we left.This was slightly hampered by the rain arriv-ing on Wednesday morning. Having beenwarned about the quagmire the site becameon rain, we nevertheless ventured down to

try it out. It didn’t last long however, as werealised that if we were gaining an inch ofmud with every step it probably wasn’t worththe struggle, and so pushed the van off siteand took a morning off at the accommoda-tion.

By the afternoon the sun had come outand dried the mud out, so we headed backfor more bricklaying. Having not started untilafter lunch we worked a little bit later, whichspawned from Graham: ‘The good thingabout working late is that dinner just comessooner’. By the time dinner came round,Steve was so tired that he made his shortestever leader’s speech: ‘Everything’s wonderful’,though he did try explaining pancakes toArnaud eliciting ‘We like your “crepe” French’from Chris.

Still lacking an expansion joint, the offside wall was rapidly stepping back and Liv(our DoE’er) was getting concerned shewouldn’t have time to finish it before the endof the week. Apparently a mix up on deliver-ies had delayed it this time. Brickwork wasstill managing to progress at such a pace thatwe ran out of bricks, and the bricksaw hasbeen used so much it protested and brokedown. However, even a little lunchtime rainfailed to dampen the mood and we nearlyfinished the bricklaying, despite some of thecouncil visitors expressing that they ‘didn’tknow the WRGies did brickwork’.

Friday finally saw the arrival of theexpansion joint courtesy of Geraint thelocal (who by this point in the weekwas starting to concentrate quite seri-ously on the ‘nice problem’ he had ofus having done all of the followingweek’s work as well), and so the of-fending corner was rapidly bricked up,although as it wasn’t quite finished Livdecided she would have to stay to thestart of the next camp to complete it(but at least having now started thebricksaw we were prepared to sign offher DoE book – even if Steve couldn’tmanage to distinguish between ‘in-competent’ and ‘incontinent’). Lastminute tidying up and the obligatorycamp photo and we were at an end.

With such a busy week on site,we didn’t do a huge amount in theevenings. Thanks to Mike Chase fortaking a group on a tour of the canaland to Chesterfield Canal Trust forhosting the last night barbecue at therecently completed Hollingwood Hub.

Aside from that evening activities tended tobe more relaxed (i.e. the pub, jigsawing –apparently ‘the brickwork is the easiest bit’,and UNO – the latter probably not quite sorelaxing owing to my new method of play-ing, which is to lose as badly as possiblewithout cheating).

An excellent week, and one of the bestmixes of people I’ve ever encountered on acamp. A huge thankyou to Lynne Cater andMaureen Barton for cooking some wonderfulfood (including a rather hot chilli that myDad particularly enjoyed the leftovers of),Geraint Coles and Selwyn Jones for beingvery helpful locals, Steve Baylis for an excel-lent first time leading, and our volunteers:The core bricklayers of Mike Chase, ChrisFinn, Charlie Forbes & Liv Vernon; the mix-ing stalwart Phil Parkes (who also managedto make the tea at the same time!) aided fora time by Stuart Thackeray; the new masterof the bricksaw Richard Thomas; and thebrickwork supporters of Arnaud Gourion,Sujee Han, Derek Hills, Tony Morris, GrahamParkes, Patricia Scott and Alistair Webster.Thanks for a brilliant week, putting up withmy random singing and even more for join-ing in occasionally!

George Rogers[1] I should, in the interests of accuratereporting note that John did add an adden-dum to his statement. The full quote was‘I’m impressed – with almost all of it’

Wing wall and stop plank grooves take shape

Georg

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ogers

Chesterfield Canal Campweek 2, 9-16 July

I guess we were unfortunate really, to sufferboth a broken finger and a broken leg. Part-way through the second week at Staveley,Hannah trapped her right index finger undera block while putting it on the wall - a hospi-tal x-ray soon confirmed that she had brokena bone. The other misfortune was a brokenleg - more about that later.

Our camp, with Mike Chase at thehelm, followed on from Steve Baylis’s previ-ous successful week, described by GeorgeRogers elsewhere in this issue. As well asMike C, George R, Chris Finn and ArnaudGourion (all staying on for the whole of week2), we ‘carried over’ Steve Baylis and OliviaVernon into part of the second week. Wewelcomed John Foley, and our cook for theweek, Jenny Black – each handy in moreways than one, as they both have van tickets.We also had rather more DoEs than last week(‘Liv’ plus 6 new faces), together with someof more mature years. The DoEs wasted notime getting to know each other, amidst theirI-pods, I-pads, I-books and I-don’t-know-what-else.

We were staying once again at theStable Block of Staveley Hall. Thankfully, wehad the use of the whole of the main block,including the big hall as our dormitory –unlike last year, when a camp-full had tosleep in the small block across the yard. Oursleeping area this time was about 5 timesbigger in area, so much better.

After Jenny’s Sunday breakfast, wewalked to site, as the Basin and Lock are only5 minutes or so from our accommodation.We knew that last week’s progress had beenspeedy - to the surprise of those who hadscheduled the work for us. Today, with alimited quantity of bricks, Olivia worked onthe east side, assisted by Geraint Coles’ sonCallum, and by Arnaud. Meanwhile, Georgecontinued work on the west wall withHannah and Sarah. ‘Slop’ (mortar) was pro-vided by Martin, assisted by Andrew.

Chris took Lloyd, Fred, John (V) andVinnie up beyond Hall Lane Bridge to workwith the Locals, laying more blocks on thewash wall which was the scene of last year’sStaveley Camp. ‘Liv’ later showed others howto use the brick-saw, as she was going toleave after finishing the east wall.

On Monday, John F took the first ofmany brick-pick teams (involving most of us

in turn) and made several van runs to Phoe-nix Brickworks at nearby Barrow Hill, whichhad offered us as many bricks as we wanted- free - from their reject pile (a mound as bigas two or three fair-sized houses!). Thebricks were generally in reasonable condi-tion, most having at least one good end orface - which was convenient, as we werebuilding the walls in English Bond (alternatecourses of stretchers and headers).

The sizes and colours varied somewhat,which all agreed made good ‘Heritage’ rawmaterial, i.e. they didn’t look all the same,‘clean’ and modern. However, the desirable ‘no-frog’ bricks were mixed with a roughly equalquantity of ‘three-hole’ bricks, which are not sogood for building impermeable walls for locks...

The weather and the progress wereboth good. George, Sarah and Hannah wereby now well on with constructing the secondcorner of the entry for the siphon pipe(which equalises the levels of the two poundseither side of the new, lowered, pound whichwill take the canal under a railway – this isthe reason for the two new locks). Chris wascompleting the other end of the same wall,with others filling in between.

By the end of Tuesday, we had both wingwalls almost complete, to the surprise anddelight of the site engineers and Geraint Coles.

Camp report...followed by week 2...

Assembling shuttering for the concrete backfill

As a result, Mike diverted the efforts of most ofthe bricking teams onto starting the two blockpaddle culverts at the head of the lock.

In the middle of the week, John Foleyhanded over his ‘baton’ (hastily improvised fromscrap timber!) to John Hawkins - who fortunatelyhas a van ticket too, so the brick runs couldcontinue. (The extra bricks were stored for protec-tion in the site container for later use). John’sassistance with ministering to the sick (brick-saw) is also gratefully acknowledged!

Wednesday evening saw us invitedalong to a meeting of the Locals and sup-porters, chaired by Geraint Coles. This (80-strong!) gathering began and ended at TheAngel Inn, Killamarsh, with a walk in be-tween, punctuated at strategic points byGeraint’s explanations. This walk took us upthe Norwood flight, comprising several setsof staircase locks, mostly at present in asorry state or infilled. At the top of the flight,we paused by the old bricked-up west en-trance to Norwood Tunnel. Geraint then tookus briefly up higher, under the M1 via afarmer’s ‘accommodation’ underpass, whichwill, it is envisaged, also be the means ofgetting the (culverted) canal under the mo-torway. This underpass is made with high-alumina cement, and is due for major atten-tion soon – it is hoped that the canal-relatedmodifications can be done at the same time,thus reducing the overall cost. He explainedthat the proposed route will then cross thesite of a former mine, (already having anembryo canal channel, provided by thosemaking good after the mine closure), beforedescending to use the (sound) eastern end of

Norwood Tunnel to regain its old route.Back at Staveley Basin next day, we had

been told that a concrete pump was to be onsite on the Friday to pour the concrete sidewalls of the lock tail bridge being constructedby Killingley, the contractors. We decided totake advantage of the pump and do our firstlevel of backfilling. This meant transferringseveral DoEs, plus Gray and Ruth, onto adapt-ing discarded timber to improvise shuttering.This was overseen by George, with furtheradvice offered by the contractors.

We estimated that we would need 5 to6 extra cubic metres of concrete for ourback-filling. The pump and concrete mixerwagon duly arrived on the Friday, and after asuccessful pour at the lock tail bridge, wecommenced our own fill. There was almost adisaster caused by a partial collapse of theshuttering on the east wing wall, but the daywas saved by some hasty reinforcement withextra timbers (and, it has to be said, with aton or two of ‘escaped’ concrete on the out-side of the shuttering).

After each day’s work, we took advan-tage (thanks to Derbyshire County Council)of the showers in the Fitness Suite atStaveley Leisure Centre. This was nearSainsbury’s, less than ten minutes’ walk fromThe Hall. Then, following Jenny’s excellentevening meals, we read, did jigsaws, at-tempted some of the fiendish ‘mechanical’puzzles Chris had brought, and ponderedsuch vital questions as “How many Hariboscan you put in a Haribo sandwich?” (Answer –it depends on the size of the bread...). Georgealso investigated the behaviour and fate ofjelly-babies when immersed in Coke, and did alittle research into the effect of said fluid oncoins of the realm. (The Coke was pronouncedundrinkable afterwards, in both cases). On theFriday evening, we rounded off with a repeatof last week’s barbecue with the locals (and aPowerPoint presentation by Geraint aboutthe remainder of the canal) at the recentlyopened Hollingwood Hub. He also proudlyshowed us round the new Chesterfield CanalTrust HQ/office in the refurbished Lock-keeper’s cottage next to The Hub.

On the whole, then, it was a satisfyingand successful week. Oh – and that brokenleg (blamed on a sudden and violent gust ofwind) – does anyone know an orthopaedicsurgeon who fixes gazebos?

For lots of pictures before, during - andafter - our fortnight, see http://bit.ly/eVrthu

Chris Finn

Work begins on the block-built paddle culverts

French letter found inPorthywaen Silver Band Hall

One of our French volunteers from week1 on the Montgomery left this draft ofher letter home in our accommodation.Our leader has translated it and thoughtit might be of interest to our readers...

Dear Mama and Papa,I am having a good time, making lots of newfriends and picking up new skills. I havelearnt how to use a bush cutter and how tomove stones from one place to another. Ican now mix lime mortar which looks verysimilar to the porridge they eat here forbreakfast. They even let me build part of astone wall but only a bit around the backthat will be hidden by earth eventually.

The English work in a strange way.They dig holes and then spend a long timestanding around them discussing what to do.They work very slowly. For example, two ofthem took all day to build a very smallflight of temporary steps. Today we arefinishing a stone wall that has taken themfour or five years to build. Worst of allthey only work for an hour or so beforethey want a tea break. Then they sitaround drinking tea and eating lots of cakeand biscuits whilst talking about the mostboring things possible such as cricket,canals and the weather. The English alwayswant to talk about the weather.

Whilst I already knew that the Englishdid not dress well, I have been shocked bywhat I have seen here. It seems the fashionis to wear a red tee shirt (the older andmore faded the better) and shorts to showoff your muddy legs. Some of the men alsodress like this. They all think it acceptableto wear these outfits to the pub as well as onsite. Don’t worry Mama, I have shown themthat it is possible to wear even a yellowsafety vest and red hard hat with style.

Papa, most of the men on the camp areyour age or even older. They are generallyvery nice although some of them are a bit

strange. One of them gets up very early andis very loud whilst everyone else is stilltrying to sleep. His shirts are even louderthan he is. Yesterday, I caught him taking aphotograph of my bottom. He said it was anaccident but I don’t believe him. No wonderhis wife booked him on this holiday as abirthday present.

There are only two young men on thiscamp, one is addicted to crisps and one onlyseems interested in playing with his ‘digger’all day. However they all seem to like me –especially after my tee-shirt got wet whenwe went canoeing one evening. There is alsoanother French girl so there is someone tohave a decent conversation with.

The food in England can be unusual.One morning we had croissants, porridgeand baked beans all served on one plate.We make our own lunch and people heretypically have tinned tuna and salami (to-gether) in their sandwiches. Surprisingly,they seem to like courgettes even more thanwe French do. They even put it in chocolatecake!! (It did taste very good.)

I am enjoying the English beer verymuch. However, I can’t understand why alltheir beers have such strange names - mostof them seem to be named after animals.Unfortunately most English men want todrink three or four litres of beer eachnight as quickly as possible. When they dothis they talk complete rubbish very fast,so I just smile and nod at them.

My English is improving very fast. I amlearning lots of new words and phrases frommy English friends which I put in my littlenotebook in case I need them. However, Ihave marked some words and phrases with anasterisk as I can tell by their giggles that Ineed to be careful when and how I use them.They seem to forget that we French gavethem their phrase for ‘double meaning’.

The tea break is finally ending and soI will say goodbye.

Your loving daughterSee overleaf and the letters pages for slightlymore factual reports from the Mont ...Ed

Camp reportMontgomery Canal

“The food in England can

be unusual. One morning

we had croissants,

porridge and baked beans

all served on one plate.”

Camp reportMontgomery Canal

“Shantelle produced

her whip and

suddenly digging the

trench seemed like

the easier option”

Week 2 on the Montgomery

After sad farewells to the residents of camp 1it was time for a rearrange: Helen Gardner(Bushbaby / Bush) swapped her apron forthe leader’s hard hat; Nina and Michaelpicked up the tongs where she’d left off andHelen Temple (Long Tall Helen / Long Tall /LT / LTH / or Long Short as Adrian called herone day???) was promoted from plain oldvolunteer to able assistant. Off down to sitewhere Digger, Paul Shaw, Harri Girl and AJwere able to do a handover to us, the Hel-ens, and Adrian. Digger and Paul had spenthours learning which machines would cutwhich bit of the profile most efficiently and itwas vital that their learning was passed on.

Our current project on the Montgomeryis to line a historically leaky section of canalnear Crickheath in a way that will be water-tight, flexible, and preserve its historic ap-pearance. Week 1 had been spent roughprofiling a 100 metre section and perfectprofiling a 10 metre (or so) section – theclassic trapezium look (flatbottom about 4 m wide andthe sides graded to approx 1in 2, depending on the widthof the canal, with a depth ofwater around the 1.5 mmark). Week 2 was to installa land drainage channelstraight down the bottomand then, after a final polishon the sides, install the first6 metres of liner. Not justliner though – a complexlayering to rival Vienetta: aprotective layer of heavyduty terram (or fuzzy felt aswe called it), then the water-proof clay-based rawmat,followed by soil (with nostones in it) followed byblocks. We’d have liked tohave started directly fromPryce’s bridge where Shrop-shire Union Canal Society will

get to, but there was the small matter of aculvert to deal with. Week 1 had exposed theculvert so that British Waterways could have alook and come up with a design, and then weavoided it and worked the other side of it.

Work quickly began on the land drain-age channel (trench, terram, pea gravel,porous pipe, more pea gravel, wrap theterram and then cover with soil) and it fairlysoon proved its worth – as it was extendedout beyond the clay, we found the watertable. JJ was very excited about the landdrain – well someone had to be. The nexttask was to dig an anchor trench on the bankon both sides in order stop the liner scootingstraight back down into the canal – it wasagreed to try and dig this by hand and to oursurprise the campers tackled this task enthu-siastically. It was only Alan D that was mut-tering about the barbaric nature of the joband even Victorians didn’t have to do this butShantelle produced her whip and suddenlydigging the trench seemed like the easieroption.

Profiling the channel with excavator and tracklaying dumper

Meanwhile back at the com-pound Peter J was involved in mas-terminding an idea so great that itwould rival Frankenstein and hismonster. The soil had to be free oflargish stones and the stuff comingout of the bed proved to be far fromstone-free – a gardener’s sieve wasjust not going to cut it. So Peterspent the day designing a ‘riddling’machine – ‘sifting’ or ‘sieving’ con-fused us and ‘riddling’ just soundeda bit more – er – educated. Thedesign formed and then modified,off they went to explore the delightsof Oswestry’s industrial estate to buythe bits.

Two days later (and with helpfrom Bob, Rex and other Peter)‘Rosemary the Riddler’ was ready tobe unveiled. A four-legged frame –standing about the same height as akitchen work top - that you suspenda dumpy bag underneath. The tabletop is a grid fashioned from roadpins (‘lamp irons’ for you old peopleout there – they’re called road pinsthese days) to exactly the right size(50mm). The small excavator (inour case manned by Hamon) dumps a loadon top, moves away and then 3 operatorscan massage the soil through. The lid thenlifts up manually on a hinge tipping away thebig lumps, stones and roots – Rosemary isthen pulled away to another spot leaving afull dumpy bag ready to be lifted by machineto a dumper (Rosemary was cross braced on3 sides only leaving the ability to move heraround the full bag). Brilliant. Genius. Andmore efficient than doing it by hand – 4-5dumpy bags per hour with 3 people as op-posed to 3 dumpy bags in a day with 6people (though Angela enjoyed the chat ofthe manual riddling – we’re sure it wouldhave been short lived).

Polishing the sides involved choppingroots and pulling stones out and then fillingthe sides - the liner wasn’t going to likesharp things or voids. There were varyinglevels of enthusiasm for this task but it wasbeautiful when done.

Bryan the rawmat man came along onWednesday and inspected our prep. – wehad a little more to do on the trench andsides, and also getting the materials in place,so we agreed to do the liner the next dayleaving Wednesday to not be as chaotic as

we thought it might. The relaxed nature of the day meant we

could train some more people on the trackeddumpers and others got a few minutes ofinstruction on the small excavator –Catherine was just a little bit excited – just alittle. Rolling out 16 m of fuzzy felt tookmany more people than you would think –and that’s definitely a case of ‘measure twicethen cut once’.

Thursday saw the return of Bryan therawmat man and all hands to the site towatch, learn and assist. We rolled the fuzzyfelt down one slope and up the other, carpet-ing the Mont, and lined it up straight andwith plenty of spare to sit in the anchortrench (though I couldn’t resist telling Alan Jhe’d cut it short). Next to cut the liner instrips and place it on top of the fuzzy felt. The clay liner needed jointing and Bryan waswith us to show us the best ways to do thisand also how ‘versatile the product is’ – wemade sure Andy was paying full attention ashe’d be doing it again the next week. Againthe ends were placed in the anchor trenchesand then the trenches filled. Brian, ex-hausted from ‘more work than he’d done inyears’ but really encouraged by our enthusi-

Unrolling the clay based liner on top of the terram’

asm pootled off at lunchtime leaving us tostare at the concrete blocks whilst tuckinginto soup and sandwiches. Time to load theconcrete blocks – not an easy task and itrequired a mid-load stop and group massageof shoulders and further bribery of ice lol-lies. LTH, JJ and Mike painstakingly placedthe blocks on end to give us an idea ofheight and to support soil on the slopingsides. Time to get the soil on quick – wecouldn’t leave the bed exposed overnight (orthe first bit of the sides) and it was all exca-vators and dumpers involved in transportingand laying soil down. About 7pm Alandeclared that there was enough soil and wecould level it the next day – time to go backand enjoy a Spanish evening – the squashbottle skittles designed to pacify a disap-pointed Daniel was of limited value so wewent to the Lime Kiln that we really liked i.e.the pub.

On Friday it was a case of more soil,compact it and more soil – repeat to fade. We installed some webbing at the top of theslope to support the coir rolls when they getinstalled (to make it green) but unfortunatelythe other concrete blocks hadn’t arrived sowe didn’t quite see a complete section fin-ished – leave that to week 3 to work out (butwe did dig another trench which we thoughtwas very nice of us).

We also had quite a cultural week witha visit to the lime kilns at Llanymynech(where Ju kissed the metal man - well itworked for Bush 3 years ago), a trip to

Pontycysyllte Aqueduct and maybe the puband a glorious evening canoeing fromMaesbury along a bit we’ve done already toRedwith watching the sunset. We were muchdrier than the week before, much to Connie’srelief, but that wouldn’t have been difficult. We finished the week off with a BBQ chezMala and Alan J – thanks for the candles.

Thanks to Shantelle our MUP; Nina andMichael for feeding us so spectacularly; AlanJervis for his support and pedantry, MKP forhis work behind the scenes making thishappen, Peter A for educating us and thosewho stayed on late from both camps.

Love, Helen Bush and Long Tall Helen

- “All is dross that is not Helena”(Christopher Marlowe). But we don’t quiteagree with him – our volunteers were fab.

The ‘small matter of the culvert to deal with’

Laying lines of blocks on edge and filling between them with soil

Camp reportCromford Canal

The first canal camp at a new

worksite: rebuilding a gauging

narrows (where cargo boats

were ‘gauged’ and tolls charged

per ton) on the Cromford Canal

Cromford Canal Camp

The Cromford camp offered work on a canalin water — something of a rarity! The planwas twofold: firstly to replace theDerwentside spill-weir with one much widerand, secondly, to begin the clearance andrestoration of the gauging narrows at Saw-mills. With so much promise, we had toabandon the weir (access problems) andfocus all the volunteers on the Sawmills site.

We opened on Saturday evening withthe staples of any canal camp: introductions,site visit, safety talk, dinner and a visit to thelocal pub. Sunday morning arrived and wemade for site, breaking into groups to hackback the overgrown weeds. Tea break washindered by a faulty Burco — a commontheme early in the week. By early afternoon,teams from both end of the narrows had metsomewhere in the middle and, come the endof the day, the site had been cleared. Thanksto Sue, our fabulous cook, we had a roastdinner on Sunday evening; this was wellreceived by everybody, especially Bryonywho enjoyed a *very* healthy second por-tion (“I’m eighteen, I can eat anything!”).

Monday began early because we weresharing with a booking at 8.30am everyweekday. We had a small fried breakfast in aroll (to save washing up), tidied up and leftfor site about 8.10am.

The work on site was to carefully(!) teardown the remains of the off-side wall and todig out the mud behind so that the concretefootings for the new wall could be laid. Itwas amazing how much mud had accumu-lated at the bottom of the narrows as, afterremoving the obvious stones, there were stillseveral courses buried below ground-level. Most of the day was consumed excavatingstone, starting at the far-end (where the wallhad mostly collapsed or been consumed bynature) and working back towards the moreintact section. We left site about 4.30pm withone van having an extra passenger, George,who had actually driven to site and forgottenabout his car!

Evening activities for Monday included atalk from Pat (chairman of the canal society),recovering from over-eating at dinner, drink-ing at the pub, drinking at the hall and play-ing cards (or a combination thereof).

We started Tuesday (early again) exca-vating the stones from the end of the walluntil we hit rock bottom (ahem), at whichpoint George took a reading of the level andSteve and his team began assembling thewooden frame for the first step of the con-crete footings. The excavation team thenmoved to the next couple of metres of walland resumed digging. Further up the nar-rows, Will, Simran and Adam dug downthrough the dirt by the stop-plank grooves,looking for the base of the narrows, whichturned out to be about 0.5m below.

Kymm and Tom started mixing concretefor the footings as the finishing touches wereput to the wooden frame. As each loadarrived, George and Bryony were vibrating itby hand using rakes to remove air pockets.

We also started pulling the tree stumpsout of the wall courtesy of the Tirfor andsnatch block John had brought. There wereonly four or five in total but it took most ofthree days to remove them. They had rootsgoing everywhere – into the bank behind thewall, down into the ground below, andthrough the wall (some of the worst as theyhad grown around the stones and held onwith a vice-like grip). The first tree wasstubborn and barely moved as the Tirforcame to full tension but once we changed thedirection of pull and added the snatch (pul-ley) block it started to come out.

Tuesday evening’s activities were drink-ing at the pub (naturally) or a rather warmevening of bowling featuring some novelmethods of launching the ball.

Site on Wednesday was a hive of activ-ity: John, Colin, Chris and I were still work-ing on the tree stumps; Tina had a groupworking on digging out more of the old wall;Steve J had a team building shuttering forthe next level of footing; Kymm and Tomwere mixing mortar and concrete; George

was giving crash courses in levels to anyonewho was interested; and everyone else wasshifting stone and building up the wall. Bythe end of the day we had laid the penulti-mate footing and the beginnings of a wallwere appearing.

Thursday saw much of thesame as Wednesday, with theaddition of Steve B who organisedthe stone laying. By lunch we hadpulled out the last tree stump, sothe tirfor group disbanded to mixconcrete and to lay stone. As theafternoon progressed the wallincreased in height, with the farend reaching full height by the endof the day.

On Friday we worked likecrazy to mix all the material and tolay as much stone as possible —while still leaving site early! Maybeit was the prospect of BBQ dinnerwhich did it? The stone layers hadfinished the bottom course of walland had brought a significant sec-tion of wall to full height by the endof the day. It was a usual day formixers, trying to time things so thata new mix was just ready as thelast batch ran out. Martyn C madeseveral trips for extra materials tokeep us going throughout the day.

We finished a bit early to givetime for cleaning tools and pre-BBQ shopping. Presents werepurchased and beer was bought,and we headed to George’s housefor a BBQ and get-together withsome of the locals. After somefood, the DofErs lit a fire and wesat around drinking responsiblywhile presents were exchangedand silly speeches were made.

And somehow we ended upat Saturday, cleaning the hall andsaying our good byes. When I leftthe trailer was still in the car parkand not going anywhere fast due to,presumably, a stuck brake disk. Iwould guess they managed to sort itout as I never saw any mention ofthe National missing a kit...

Some thanks are in order:firstly to Sue, who cookedthroughout the week; secondly toGeorge, for juggling the role oflocal with that of camp leader; to

the van drivers — especially Martin, whomade countless trips for extra sand or lime;and finally to all the volunteers who achievedso much within the week we had together. Itwas brilliant.

Dave Salisbury

First dismantle the remains of the wall...

...then cast a new concrete base...

...before rebuilding the wall

Mon & Brec Week 2or

The WRG International Phrasebookin English, Spanish, French & Welsh

Recently WRG summer camps have becomerather international, attracting volunteersfrom all around the world. Learning Englishin the classroom will never prepare you forthe language you’ll use on a canal camp. Thesecond camp on the Mon and Brec tookinspiration from this and present The WRGInternational Phrase Book, absolutelyuseless in most circumstances, but essentialon a Canal Camp.

Contributors: Claire, Matlide, Mush-room, Nikki, Harri and Jokin.

On Site:

English: This mortar is too dry!Spanish: Este mortero está demasiado seco! French: Ce mortier est trop sec!Welsh: Mae hyn morter yn rhy sych!

E: This mortar is too wet!S: Este mortero está demasiado mojado!F: Ce mortier est trop humide! W: Mae hyn morter yn rhy wlyb!

E: Make your own mortar!S: Haga su propio mortero!F: Fait ton mortier toi meme!W: Gwnewch eich morter hun!

E: The minibus lock is broken.S: El bloqueo del minibús está roto. F: Le verrou du minibus est cassé. W: Mae’r clo bws mini ei dorri.

E: Who took my wire brush?S: ¿Quién tomó mi cepillo de alambre?F: Qui a pris ma brosse métallique? W: Pwy gymerodd fy brwsh gwifren? E: Where is my mattock?S: ¿Dónde está mi azada?

F: Où est ma pioche? W: Ble mae fy fatog?

E: We need to get the scaff up.S: Tenemos que conseguir la Scaff hasta.F: Nous avons besoin de monterl’échafaudage. W: Mae angen i ni gael y sgaffa i fyny.

E: We need to take the scaff down.S: Tenemos que tomar la Scaff abajo.F: Nous avons besoin démonterl’échafaudage.W: Mae angen i ni gymryd y sgaffa ilawr.

E: You need to pack the gazeb at the back ofthe van.S: Usted necesita para empacar la glorieta enla parte trasera de la camioneta.F: Vous avez besoin d’emballerle barnum à l’arrière de la camionnette.W: Mae angen i chi pecyn y pabellcysgod yng nghefn y fan.E:You need to pack the gazebo at the frontof the van.S: Usted necesita para empacar el miradoren la parte delantera de la camioneta.F: Vous avez besoin d’emballerle barnum à l’avant de la camionnette.W: Mae angen i chi pecyn y pabellcysgod ar flaen y fa.n

E: You need to shove the gazebo up your arse.S: Tienes que empujar el gazebo en el culo.F: Vous avez besoin de pousserle barnum dans ton cul. W: Mae angen i chi gwthio i’r pabellcysgod eich ass. E: I know we’re just shovelling water but atleast we get to wear waders while we’redoing it.S: Sé que somos sólo una pala de agua, peroal menos tenemos que usar botas (largopesca welloington botas), mientras que loestamos hacienda.F: Je sais que nous sommes juste en

Camp reportMonmouthshire & Brecon

Do you know the

Welsh for ‘Your

vegetation is

blocking my sump’?

Well, you do now...

train de pelleter l’eau, mais aumoins on porte des cuissardes pendantque nous le faisons.W: Rwy’n gwybod ein bod yn unigrawio dur ond o leiaf i ni fynd i wisgorhydwyr tra byddwn ni’n ei wneud yn.

E: Faster, faster!S: Más rápido, más rápido!F: Plus rapide, plus vite! W: Cyflymach, yn gyflymach!

E: Your vegetation is blocking my sump.S: Su vegetación está bloqueando misumidero.F: Votre végétation bloque mon puisard.W: Mae eich rhwystro llystyfiant yn fyswmp.

E: If in doubt, do the bat dance.S: En caso de duda, hacer la danza demurciélagos.F: En cas de doute, faire la danse deschauve-souris.W: Os ydych yn ansicr, yn y ddawnsystlumod. E: There is no problem which cannot besolved by jumping in the mud.S: No hay problema que no puede serresuelto por saltar en el barro.F: Il n’y a aucun problème qui ne peutêtre résolu en sautant dans la boue.W: Nid oes unrhyw broblem na ellir eidatrys drwy neidio yn y mwd .

E: I haven’t heard from the guys on the toplock for about 4 days but I’m sure they’re OK.S: No he oído hablar de los chicos en lacerradura superior por cerca de 4 días, peroestoy seguro de que estás bien.F: Je n’ai pas entendu le gars de laserrure dessus pendant environ 4 joursmais je suis sûr qu’ils sont OK.W: Nid wyf wedi clywed gan y guys ar yclo ben am tua 4 diwrnod ond rwy’nsiur eu bod yn iawn.

At the Pub:

E: Why is this Sambuca pink?S: ¿Por qué esta rosa Sambuca? F:Pourquoi ce Sambuca est-il rose?W: Pam mae hyn yn binc Sambuca? E: This is half a pint of gin, I asked for adouble!

S: Se trata de un cuarto de litro de ginebra,le pregunté por una habitación doble!F: C’est une demi-pinte de gin, j’aidemandé un double! W: Mae hwn yn hanner peint o jin,wnes i ofyn am dwbl!

E: Would you like to play corks?S:¿Le gusta jugar corchos?F: Aimeriez-vous jouer aux bouchons? W: A hoffech chwarae cyrc?

E: Do you have darts? I’m a classy girl.S: ¿Tiene dardos? Soy una chica con claseF: Avez-vous des fléchettes? Je suisune fille chic.W: Oes gennych chi dartiau? Rwy’nferch classy.

E: Do you have any Guinness on tap?S: ¿Tiene alguna Guinness de barril? F: Avez-vous de la Guinness à lapression? W: A oes gennych unrhyw Guinness ar tap?

E: Does anywhere in Wales have any Guin-ness on tap?S: No en cualquier parte de Gales tieneGuinness de barril?F: Est-ce que partout au pays de Galles ily a de la Guinness à la pression?W: A oes unrhyw le yng Nghymru yncael unrhyw Guinness ar tap?

E: Can we borrow some washing up liquid?S: ¿Se puede pedir prestado un pocodetergente?F: Peut-on emprunter du liquidevaisselle? W: Allwn ni fenthyg rhywfaint o hylifgolchi llestri?

E: Yes, I am wearing my pyjamas to the pub.S: Sí, estoy usando mi pijama a la taberna .F: Peut-on emprunter du liquidevaisselle? W: Ydw, rwy’n gwisgo fy pyjamas i’r

In the Accommodation:

E: The right tool for the job is a dessert spoon.S: La herramienta correcta para el trabajo esuna cuchara de postre.F: L’outil idéal pour l’emploi est unecuillère à dessert.W: Mae’r offeryn cywir ar gyfer yswydd yn llwy bwdin.

E:Why are we covered in glitter?S: ¿Por qué estamos cubiertos de purpurina?F: Pourquoi sommes-nous couvert depaillettes? W: Pam yr ydym yn trafod yn gliter?

E: Frank has fallen asleep with a lolly-pop inhis mouth.S: Frank se ha quedado dormido con unlolly-pop en la boca.F: Frank s’est endormi avec unesucette dans la bouche. W: Frank wedi syrthio i gysgu gyda loli-pop yn ei geg.

E: ‘Mushroom’ is slaying flies with a flip-flop.S: ‘Mushroom’ es matar moscas con un flip-flop.F: ‘Mushroom’ est en train de terrasserles mouches avec sa sandale. W: ‘Madarch’ yn lladd pryfed sydd âfflip-fflop.

E: ‘Mushroom’ needs more Tabasco andmore Hobgoblin.S: ‘Mushroom’ necesidades Hobgoblin Ta-basco más y más.F: ‘Mushroom’ a besoin de plus de Hob-goblin et de plus de Tabasco.W ‘Mushroom’ mae angen mwy o sawsTabasco Hobgoblin a mwy.

E: No, not Tabasco, Hobgolin and mushrooms,Tabasco and Hobgoblin for ‘Mushroom’!S: No, no, Tabasco, Hobgolin y setas, Ta-basco y Hobgoblin de ‘Mushroom’!F: Non, pas du Tabasco de la hobgoblinet des champignons, Du tabasco et dela hobgoblin pour ‘Mushroom’!W: Nac oes, saws Tabasco, Hobgolin amadarch, saws Tabasco a Hobgoblin argyfer ‘Mushroom’!

At Tea Break:

E: Is the Burco lit?S: Es el Burco iluminado?F: Est-ce que le Burco est allumé? W: A yw’r goleuo y Burco?

E: How do you light the Burco?S: ¿Cómo la luz del Burco? F: Comment allumez-vous le Burco? W: Sut ydych chi’n goleuni y Burco?

E: Ow! The Burco has burnt off my eye-brow!S: ¡Ay! El Burco ha quemado mi ceja! F: Aïe! Le Burco a brûlé mon sourcil!

W: Ow! Mae’r Burco wedi ei losgi oddiar fy llygad-ael!

And Finally!

E: Oh no! We have left the phrase book inthe pub, we need to write a new one.S: ¡Oh, no! Hemos dejado el libro de frasesen el pub, tenemos que escribir una nueva.F: Oh non! Nous avons laissé lelivre de phrase dans le pub, nous avonsbesoin d’en écrire un nouveau. W: O na! Rydym wedi gadael y llyfrymadroddion yn y dafarn, mae angen ini ysgrifennu un newydd.

But seriously folks...

From the leader: I should add that twocontributions obviously lost in the firstphrase book were…Q: “what’s the record number of Supermar-kets needed to obtain all the ingredients for aClaire meal?” Answer - three but only be-cause there isn’t an Asda and we couldn’tfind a Lidl.Q: “What’s this called, Claire” translated intoFrench, Spanish, Welsh and Serbo-Croat.Why Serbo-Croat? Because that’s obviouslywhere the recipe originated.

The work itself was a continuation of weekone’s tasks (see previous Navvies) plus muchprogress on lock gate construction - all ofwhich our local friends Richard, Heidi andGareth seemed to appreciate - well they saidthey want to see us again. Usual social activi-ties were augmented by a bat survey alongthe Five Locks Flight near Cwmbran. We alsomanaged to lock the keys in the van.Nikki, as Assistant Leader, was a tower ofstrength - she was here, there and every-where with her exhortations, encouragementand threats. The phrase “faster, faster, faster”was not used, to the best of my knowledge,in the context that many of you may havebeen imagining. Claire was very imaginativein all her offerings. Bob continued hisMUPping, joined by a succession of all toofleeting appearances by such stalwarts asPete Fleming, Hamon Stewart, Rob Daffernand Welsh Phil, while we also discovered thefresh talents of Liz, the Brothers Leonard,Rachael and Harriet. The authors mentionedabove completed a motley but happy andeffective crew.

Frank Wallder

WRG at 40Forty views for forty years

“What kind of work do you

like doing on site?”

“Anything but bricklaying”

- James Butler answers

the questions...

40 Views for 40 Years

The tenth in a series of articles to celebrate WRG’s 40th(-ish) birthday by capturing the viewsof people who have been involved in various capacities.

James ‘Postie’ ‘Jimmy’ Butler – someone you might thinkof as ‘new – not been around much’ but then you think aboutit and realise he’s actually been digging for donkeys’ years. Ifyou’ve led a canal camp in the last 3 years you were probablycollared by him. James kindly found the energy after a WRGCommittee meeting to talk to me.

Q: How and when did you first get involved in canal resto-ration?A: It was when I was about 12 or 13, I went to a caravan and boatingexhibition at the NEC with my parents and I saw a leaflet there for WRG.Then over the years I wanted to do it but I wasn’t old enough. Thenwhen I turned 17 my Dad said “you need to go on holiday - why don’tyou go on one of those canal things you were on about”. I was a bit shy at the time so my Dad said “go on –I’ll pay for it – you go”. That was it really and I went onto the Montgomery.

Q: Who were the leaders?A: Jude and Bex [Becky Parr], Lou Kellet cooking. It was working on the overflow bypass, rebuilding ofthe stone work.

Q: What were your thoughts at the end of that first week?A: “I’m worn out” was the first thought I had! I thought why was I doing it? – why was I stood in a fielddigging clay out into a wheelbarrow? But then I sort of thought – actually – it’s good fun – it wasn’t taxing onthe brain. It was good to get out there and do something completely different away from home life and Ienjoyed it.

Q: What was your next step?A: I went to the Bonfire Bash, which was down on the Mon and Brec – that was all very daunting. Iturned up hoping to see people from the camp that I did but I recognised one person. But from there I metother regular WRGies and got persuaded to join London WRG. I got sucked into London WRG. Thefollowing year, because I enjoyed the weekends I then did six weeks of canal camps in the summer. It wasall over the place – I didn’t realise at the time but I ended up following kit A round all the country. Did theNational – did two weeks on the Mon and Brec. I can’t really remember where they were I just know onthe back of the tshirt I can go “I did that one, that one, that one”.

Q: Six weeks in one summer is quite a long time – what was your motivation?A: I just wanted to enjoy what I’d done previously. Cheap holidays – work said I could have the time offso I just went and did it.

Q: Did you carry on doing the weekends?A: Yeah – haven’t done many this year – time really – thoroughly enjoy doing weekends. It’s nice to havethe mix of going on a canal camp where you meet lots of new people and then weekends where you knoweveryone, just turn up and go on site and just crack on with it because everyone knows what they’re doing.

Nig

el Lee

Q: How many years have you been involved?A: 2002 was my first camp – so nine years.

Q: Do any sites in particular stick out for you?A: I used to go to the Mon and Brec all the timebecause it’s really really nice scenery nice down there.And I like to say ‘I’m going abroad’ (going to Wales)!

Q: What kind of work to do you like doing onsite?A: Anything but bricklaying. I don’t mind barrowing –things like that. Sometimes it’s nice to be in a machine fora day or so, sometimes it’s nice just to be out cleaningbricks in the sun and chatting to people. A variety of skills– I find it boring to do the same thing day in day out.Bricklaying’s not my forte – I don’t mind doing stoneworkbecause you haven’t got to get things exactly level,whereas if bricks don’t go quite level, you can see it.

Q: You’ve led canal camps – how did thatslippery slope start?A: It started with Adrian Fry phoning me up one timeand going “do you fancy being an assistant on a canalcamp” – I was going “errrr – not really – it’s not my kindof thing”. Then he phoned up again another time going“are you really sure you don’t want to do it? WRG willpay for you to do it – they’ll pay for your canal camp”.And I went “yeah”, he twisted my arm and after a lot ofphone calls he managed to persuade me. I ended upassisting and thought – well – I’ve done assisting – howhard can leading be? So I went on and led – I’ve lostcount how many years now.

Q: Then you took the step of finding canal camp leaders – what persuaded you that was agood thing to do?A: I blame Moose [Dave Hearnden] for that one. I mentioned to him maybe I was thinking about it –he’d go “you should do it, you should do it – you’d be perfect for it. You do lots of camps you know lots ofpeople. You should do it. If not I’ll rip your nuts off.” So I said “OK – I’ll do it”.

It was enjoyable because of the sense of achievement at the end of year going “yeah – I found all theleaders – it’s brilliant”. But also at the same time, the year catches up on you. March/April time you think“ah – got loads of time left to find the last few leaders” and then before you know it it becomes May and “ah,it’s June when the first leaders are needed” – it’s daunting – you’ve got a month left to find them. It getsslightly stressful over the two months trying to find the last few leaders. Generally everyone’s really good andsays “I’ll lead a camp for you”. It was rewarding at the end of it.

Q: You joined the WRG board fairly recently?A: Two years ago I think. That was an off-the-cuff type of thing really. Mike Palmer asked me if I everthought about being on the board and I hadn’t really thought about it. I ummed and erred about it and then Isaw my name in Navvies and I thought “well – I am now then!!”

Q: How’s that experience been so far?A: It’s been fine – it’s not much different from going along to committee meetings – it’s just the committeemeetings are a bit longer. In general, being on the board doesn’t entail that much more compared to what Iwas doing anyway.

Q: Driving vans – did you have to go through a special process?A: Yeah – for towing trailers I had to do my DVLA B+E test. I’d been towing caravans before anyway

A favourite site: the Mon & Brec

Mart

in L

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so it was fairly easyish to go through. I had to gettrained up, obviously, by WRG. I got my van ticketwhen I was about 18/19 I think so I was quite young – Imanaged to get vans and trailers at the same time.

Q: What would you say to anyone who is under25 that’s wanting to drive vans and trailers?A: First of all get yourself confident on driving vans ifyou can – I was quite lucky because I was a postie so Iwas driving vans day in day out anyway so I was usedto that. Because of the insurance factor on WRG Iwould say get your face known on camps quite a lotfirst. Me doing six weeks each summer – I’m guessingWRG thought it’s sensible for James to have his ticketso he can take van from camp to camp rather thanfollowing in his car everywhere. Just get your faceknown, go on camps quite a lot and just try and get asmuch driving experience behind you as possible – thatway WRG will look on you favourably. As opposed toif you just turn up for one weekend each year, WRGaren’t going to pay the extra money on the insurance.

Q: What did your Dad think about how in-volved you’ve got?A: He was quite proud of me – before he passedaway – I hadn’t quite managed to get on to the board atthat point but even so from seeing me as a shy person who he was forcing to go on a canal camp to me outon a camp leading them, leading volunteers – he was quite shocked by the change that I’d made.

Q: Are there any particular moments you remember leading canal camps – particularlyfunny or hairy?A: Wasn’t particularly funny or hairy but it was one year on the Mon and Brec when it was really, really,really hot and we even had gazebos up trying to keep us cool (cheap old Tesco value gazebos) but eventhose started to melt on site it was so hot. So we were on site at 7 and coming off at 11 or 12 o’clock andthen going to the local lake and swimming in that all afternoon just to try and cool down.

Q: What would you say WRG was good at?A: WRG is very good at - once they find people - actually keeping people; people coming back year afteryear. And then slowly promoting them on to assistant leader and then them becoming a leader – slowly takethem through the stages and train them up. WRG’s very good at training.

Q: What would you say WRG is not so good at?A: Promoting more people onto the committee. It would be nice to see some new faces with new ideasrather than see the select few people all the time. A lot of hard work goes into organising camps and every-thing in WRG – there’s lots of people out there who enjoy going on the camps every year and have therewards – it’d be nice to see other people putting in a bit of effort to, in a way, say thank you.

Q: What do you think stops people coming onto the committee or getting involved in themeetings?A: I think it’s the word ‘meeting’. People just think of meetings and just think ‘boring’ – everyone’s goingto be sat there, serious all the time - it’s far from it. I quite like them just from going along – you get to knowwhat’s happening in WRG. Rather than hearing rumours you get to know what the truth is. There’s always laughsas well which breaks up serious topics – somebody chucks a comment in which makes it all light-hearted.

Q: So you enjoy the committee meetings?A: I don’t look forward to them going “oh yeah – great – it’s a committee meeting coming up”. I don’t sitthere at home going “I really don’t want to go”. Sometimes I do but that’s because I want to lie in bed a bit

James serves up food on the BCN Cleanup

longer. Most of the time, when you get along, you chat to various people before and after the meeting as well– it’s a nice time to catch up with people. Some people you haven’t seen for a few months.

Q: Has anyone inspired you?A: I think I’d say honestly Moose has. He’s inspired me and also given me the kick up the bum to actu-ally make me do various things. For seeing him – the Nationals, camps and Cavalcade and go on to be ‘Site1’ at the National – just watching him go slowly up the ladder in a way has inspired me that why don’t I do abit more? Like for example the leader finding – he said I’d be the right person and gave me the kick to do it.I do thank him for doing that – it has increased my confidence – it’s extra things I can put on my CV whichhelp me in jobs.

Q: What’s the most useful skill you’ve learnt and who taught it to you?A: I wouldn’t say it’s a skill but my confidence level is the thing I’ve found most useful to me. When Istarted I was really shy and wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Now I’m a lot more confident and I do just putthat down to WRG. Also my camp leader skills – I put that on my CV and when I go to an interview most ofthe time people just ask me about canal camps. My current job I had an hour and a half interview – it wasonly the last 5 minutes that we spoke about work history, the rest of the time was spent talking about my skillswhen leading.

Q: Do you have any classic ‘do you remember the time when’ stories?A: Definitely at the start of the Chesterfield canal – we were all sat around chatting on the first day andLady Essex (also called Naomi Harger), she ran into the hall, said “right – where are the loos – I need awee”. She came back and said “right – gin pimms anyone” – she hadn’t even brought in any of her beddingor anything. It’s the only canal camp where people weren’t sat around nearly in silence – everyone straightaway bonded.

Q: Are there any areasyou think WRG should begetting more involved in?A: Possibly new canals, forexample, the Daventry. Tryingto promote new canals – atthe end of the day canalrestoration’s great, but to havenew canals as well... It’s notrestoration but it’s our skillswe can put in. It’s still thesame goal – it’s creating acanal that people can boat on.

Q: How do you seeyour future within WRG?At the moment I see it just ona plateau – if I try and climbthe ladder too much more I’mgoing to be doing things that,at the moment, I don’t thinkI’d enjoy and I think I’d endup running away. For myfuture I’d like to step back abit and enjoy canal campsfrom a regular volunteerperspective. At the moment I’m so into leaders and everything else I don’t feel I can open my eyes to seewhat WRG actually is. I feel like I need to step back, go back to the bottom again. That way I can say ‘ooh– hang on a second – I’ve seen something on camps which I think is either outdated or I’ve seen a reallygood idea – let’s take it on and go forward with it’.

Interview by Helen Gardner

For the future: Daventry’s first canal bridge awaits its canal

Mart

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Navvies diaryYour guide to all the forthcoming work parties

For details of diary dates beyond the end of this list ple

Oct 22/23 London WRG Somersetshire Coal Canal

Oct 22-29 Camp 2011-21 Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Oct 22-29 WRG Forestry Forestry Camp on the Grand Western Canal - Nynehead

Oct 29 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Oct 30 Sun EAWA/NWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal: Honing

Nov 4-11 WAT Wendover Arm: ‘Seven-day weekend’ work party

Nov 5/6 NWPG Basingstoke Canal: Construction or clearance work

Nov 5/6 London WRG Cotswold Canals: Scrub bashing at Inglesham. Joint dig with KESCRG.

Nov 5/6 KESCRG Cotswold Canals: Scrub bashing at Inglesham. Joint dig with London W

Nov 5/6 Essex WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Nov 6 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings: (also tool maintenance on Saturday 5th)

Nov 13 Sun EAWA/NWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal: Bacton Wood

Nov 19/20 wrgBITM Somersetshire Coal Canal

Nov 19/20 London WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Nov 19/20 wrgNW Hollinwood Canal

Nov 27 Sun EAWA/NWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal: Bacton Wood

Dec 2-8 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend

Dec 3/4 wrgNW Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal: also Christmas Meal.

Dec 3/4 London WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Scrub bashing. Xmas Party, joint dig with KESCRG

Dec 3/4 KESCRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Scrub bashing. Xmas Party, joint dig with London

Dec 3/4 Essex WRG Foxton Inclined Plane: Christmas dinner at Robert Monk Hall

Dec 10/11 wrgBITM Thames & Severn Canal: Xmas Work Party. Jungle bashing in the Eisey

Dec 10/11 NWPG Thames & Severn Canal

Dec 10 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Dec 11 Sun EAWA/NWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal: Briggate

Dec 26-Jan 1 Camp 2011-22 Montgomery Canal: Christmas Camp

Dec 26-Jan 2 WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Trust Camp: Working at Seven Locks, Accom: Foxh

Jan 7/8 wrgNW Droylsden to be confirmed

Jan 14 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Jan 21/22 wrgBITM To be arranged

Feb 4/5 wrgNW Cromford (or Droylsden) To be confirmed

Feb 11-18 Camp 2012-01 Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Feb 18/19 wrgBITM To be arranged

Feb 18 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Mar 3/4 wrgNW Cromford or Chesterfield to be confirmed

Mar 17/18 wrgBITM Chichester Ship Canal

Mar 24 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Apr 21/22 wrgBITM To be arranged

Apr 21-23 WRG/IWA/BCNS BCN Cleanup on the Walsall Canal: see future Navvies for details and b

Canal Camps cost £56 per week unless otherwise stated. Bookings

for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 2013-01'

should go to WRG Canal Camps, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham

HP5 1WA. Tel: 01494 783453, [email protected]. Diary compiled

by Dave Wedd. Tel: 01252 874437, [email protected]

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

01494-783453 [email protected]


David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

David Revill 01603-738648 [email protected]

Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]

Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 [email protected]


WRG. Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

) Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]


Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]


David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 [email protected]


Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]


G Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

WRG Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

y area. Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Bill Nicholson 01844-343369 [email protected]




ham Rachael Banyard 01249-892289












booking form 01494-783453 [email protected]

Once per month: pls check BCNS BCN waterways Mike Rolfe 07763-1717352nd Sunday & alternate Thurs BCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Mon and Wed CCT Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby 01453-836018Every mon am Thu pm CCT Cotswold (E end) John Maxted 01285-861011Various dates CCT Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract 07986-351412Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Every Tue & Wed C&BN Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale 01376-334896Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 02964th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-26572nd weekend of month GCRS Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield 0115-989-21282nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010Wednesdays H&GCT Over Wharf House Wilf Jones 01452 413888Weekends H&GCT Hereford Aylestone Martin Danks 01432 344488Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 0161-427 74021st & 3rd Sunday KACT Bradford-on-Avon Derrick Hunt 01225-8630662nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Paul Shaw 01524-356851st, 2nd, 4th Sun + 3rd Sat LHCRT Lichfield Sue Williams 01543-6714273rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-374370Last weekend of month MBBCS Creams Paper Mill Steve Dent 07802-973228Two Sundays per month NWDCT N Walsham Canal David Revill 01603-7386482nd & last Sundays PCAS Pocklington Canal Paul Waddington 01757-638027Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird 01394-3807652nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt 01225-863066Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Dave Wedd 01252-874437Last weekend of month SCS Stover Canal George Whitehead 01626-7754982nd Sunday of month SNT Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby 01522-8568101st weekend of month SUCS Newhouse Lock Mike Friend 01948-880723Every Tuesday morning TMCA Thames & Medway C Brian Macnish 01732-823725Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657Wednesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot John Smith 01903-235790Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Peter Jackman 01483-772132Sundays mainly WACT Loxwood Link Kev Baker 02380-861074Thursdays WACT Winston Harwood Grp Tony Clear 01903-774301Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols 01403-7538821st w/e (Fri-Tue or Fri-Wed) WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-8745362nd Thursday of month WAT Drayton Beauchamp Pete Bowers 01255-504540Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Please send any additions corrections or deletions to diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

Abbreviations used in Diary:BCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCBN Chelmer & Blackwater NavigationCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustDCT Droitwich Canals TrustEAWA East Anglian Waterways AssociationECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyKACT Kennet & Avon Canal TrustKESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. Group

LCT Lancaster Canal TrustLHCRT Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n TrustMBBCS Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal SocietyNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupNWDCT North Walsham & Dilham Canal TrustPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietyRGT River Gipping TrustSCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietySCS Stover Canal SocietySNT Sleaford Navigation TrustSUCS Shropshire Union Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm TrustWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

Mobile groups' socials: phone to confirmLondon WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig. 'StarTavern', Belgrave Mews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094NWPG: 9:00pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap', Westend of Friar St. Reading. Graham Hawkes 0118 941 0586

Navvies diaryCanal societies’ regular working parties

Lettersto the editor

Dear Editor

The Montgomery Canal: Two CanalBed Lining Methods – An Impression

Both WRG and Shropshire Union Canal Soci-ety are currently involved in digging out andrestoring sections of the bed of the Mont-gomery Canal Pant Dry Section, SUCS under-taking the stretch between Redwith Bridge(83) and Pryce’s Bridge (84) since 2008, andWRG having started on the section southfrom Pryce’s Bridge to Crickheath Bridge (85)this summer, 2011.

I was fortunate to have a place as avolunteer on the second of four week-longWRG canal camps this summer [see campreport, pages 14-16] on this section of theMont and found it interesting to compare thetwo methods employed in lining the canal,although was not fortunate enough to see acompleted WRG section by the end of ourweek.

Ignoring the extensive piling topped bya batter wall on the towpath side in the SUCSsection, both methods involve careful shap-ing and preparation of the canal floor andbanks in preparation for laying a Bentonite-type clay liner, both have a land drain in thecanal bed below the clay liner and both havea geotextile lining between the sand/soillayer and the concrete block overburdentopping and, to a greater or lesser extent, acushioning layer between the shaped bed ofthe canal and the clay matting. Both meth-ods also require trenches above the waterline in which to anchor the clay matting andlinings.

The land drain is designed to controlany groundwater during construction andcertainly in the SUCS design is to be sealedoff every 20m or so when the canal lininghas reached that point, so that if a leak doesoccur in the canal lining a continuous path toa culvert and associated drainage ditch isavoided.

SUCS have chosen a design whichinvolved laying an 85mm layer of sharp sand

over the clay matting topped with a 215mmthick, dense concrete block overburden madeup of 215x148x440mm blocks laid dry butgrouted on completion. A sketch with detailscan be seen on their website in thefundraising section under ‘Barrow of Boul-ders Appeal’. In the event placing, levellingand compacting the layer of sharp sandproved to be ‘a time consuming nightmare’,so a change of specification to replace thesand with cushioning geofabric was soughtand eventually agreed.

WRG are experimenting using a300mm deep layer of recycled excavated soilover the clay matting with a 75mm thickdense concrete block overburden made up of75x215x440mm blocks laid dry. I cannot becertain of the finer detail as I have no accessto a drawing on-line and so am having torely on memory.

At the water line SUCS have boulderslaid on 100mm (or perhaps 148mm) denseconcrete blocks laid flat whilst WRG haverolled coir matting anchored at the waterlineas a base for vegetation.

The striking difference between the twomethods is that using soil reduces the re-quired volume of dense concrete blocks byabout two thirds and does away with theneed for a more expensive cushioning layerof geofabric under the blocks, with quite anattendant saving in cost. Using soil meansless material has to be imported from else-where but a serious drawback is that com-pacting it, especially on the sloping banks, isboth time consuming and probably unreli-able in that it is very difficult to achieve aconsistent and even amount of compaction.The process could also be very much at themercy of the weather. Final grading/levellingof the sloping soil surface ready for thegeotextile layer and concrete blocks mustalso be difficult. Compacted soil will alwayscompact further with time and the success ornot of the process will first begin to becomeevident in the spring when it will be possibleto see the degree of surface deformation thissummer’s finished concrete block work sur-

WRG or SUCS: a

comparison of two

methods of lining

the Montgomery

Canal...

LettersThe Montgomeryface has suffered over the winter. Then therewill be the need to assess whether the de-gree of deformation is acceptable. Thecompaction process also requires heavymachinery to operate on the area of the laidclay matting with an attendant risk of unseenaccidental damage to the clay matting.

Both designs seem suitable for beingundertaken by volunteers but my impressionis that using soil requires the investment ofconsiderable more digger and tipper time.

Both designs produce a finished surfacelining which is solid but flexible, but thedegree of impact resistance of the WRGmethod given the thin layer of blocks at75mm must be governed by whatever physi-cal properties the soil layer below takes upafter long immersion in water i.e. whether ittakes up the consistency of hard mud or soilsoup.

Overall it would seem that with theSUCS method, once the canal bed has beenfinally prepared for the matting to be laid,the process to completion is then a low riskpath, especially given that there is no loosematerial to be laid, compacted and levelledon the slopes. There must certainly be someaching backs though after placing all thoserather heavy concrete blocks by hand.

On the other hand with the WRGmethod the final preparation of the canal bedfor lining is not the end but rather the begin-ning of a relatively difficult and uncertainprocess of building up, compacting andgrading/levelling the 300mm soil layer,requiring the continuing involvement ofheavy machinery. The prize though, if suc-cessful, is a substantially lower outturn costper square metre of lined canal bed.

So, if I were a site manager I wouldcertainly prefer the SUCS method but on theother hand if I were the one trying to raisethe money and having to write the chequesthe WRG method would merit very seriousconsideration, especially considering thetough financial years ahead and the method’s‘greener’ credentials.

On a different note, just these two

Pant-lining by numbers...

1

3

4

2

The WRG method: first profile the bed...

...then install a land drain in the bottom.

Unroll the geotextile membrane...

...followed by the waterproof bentonite lining

Letters...and the K&A again

projects on two small sections of one canalmust go to show how much long term dedi-cation and expertise there is in canal restora-tion projects by individuals and groups andre-emphasises yet again what a huge differ-ence individuals and dedicated, enthusiasticgroups can make.

J J PriceA Novice Volunteer

Dear Martin,Following on from Peter B. Jones’s letter inIssue 248, I think that one last comment isnecessary about the Bill de Leie letter. WhilstBill is a member of the Stover Canal Society,he is not on the committee, and indeed hasnot lived in Devon for several years, havingleft before our excellent work party organ-

iser, George Whitehead,joined us.

Bill and his familylive on his boat, andare continually cruisingthe waterways, so Ishould imagine that heis bound to form opin-ions and make com-parisons betweencanals. He has just asmuch right to voicethose opinions as havethose who disagreedwith him. As a resultof the recent corre-spondence in Navvies,we have all learnt a lotabout the K & A, andthe trials and tribula-tions about running amajor navigation. I’msure that this can onlybe useful, particularlyto those who are work-ing to restore canalswhich will eventually bepart of the navigablenetwork

Di Smurthwaite

5

6

Place two lines of concrete blocks on end

...then soil, followed by blocks (see back cover)

By contrast the SUCS method uses a fabric in place of the soil

ProgressCromford and Ashby

Our regular roundup of progress

on canal restoration around the

country begins this time in the

East Midlands, where there seems

to be a lot happening now...

Friends of the Cromford Canal

A big thank you to the Waterway RecoveryGroup canal camp who have just finished aweek working on the Sawmills GaugingNarrows [see camp report pages 17-18]. Agroup of 17 volunteers, from as far north asDundee and as far south as Watford, led bywebmaster George Rogers and assisted byDavid Salisbury, commenced on the removalof tree roots and rebuilding of the off sidewall. In total, approximately 10 metres of

wall was completed to just below copingstone level, and around 10-15 metres wasprepped ready for continuation by the FCCwork parties.

A big thank you to the following: Sue &Steve Johnson for being cook and MUP (MostUseful Person) respectively, Rob Lockwoodfor permission to work on the land, Gill &David Hirst for allowing us to use their toiletand the locals at Sawmills for being so freewith their water and encouragement.

See the before and after pictures to getan idea of how much theyachieved.

It is hoped that work willcontinue from late September. Ifyou would like to help out, it isexpected that there will be oneweekend work party per month -contact George Rogers [email protected] formore information or to expressinterest in helping out. The workwill be a mix of pulling down thenext stretch of wall, stone sorting,concreting and rebuilding - so agreat chance to learn new skills.

Ashby Canal Trust

Snarestone RestorationWorks: The Ashby Canal restora-tion has made a start on extendingnorth from the present Snarestoneterminus. Leicestershire CountyCouncil / British Waterways / MayGurney have constructed a stopgate chamber, stop planks, windinghole and a 100m off-line naturereserve at the current terminus ofthe Ashby Canal. Further worksinclude a short extension to thecurrent canal, removal of the spoilheap, site clearance and building apermanent slipway. The canal isexpected to be extended furtherthis year as funding becomes avail-able.

What a difference a week makes! The gauging narrowson the Cromford before and after the Canal Camp

ProgressDerby and Lichfield

Meanwhile the Derby & Sandiacre

Canal Society is celebrating

getting planning approval, while

on the Lichfield they’re looking

beyond the A51 crossing...

Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society

At the planning meeting held by DerbyCity Council from 6pm on 7th July 2011 theOutline Planning Application was approvedin an unanimous decision. Committee Chair-man Robin Wood said the application wasthe best thing the committee had consideredfor a long, long time.

Derby City have taken the lead role incoordinating the application and so it wasexpected that S Derbyshire and ErewashCouncils would also approve their sections.

Erewash Borough Council unanimouslypassed the outline Planning permissionapplication. HOORAY!

Finally in a spirited discussion at SouthDerbyshire District Council on 23 August wereceived the final piece of the outline plan-ning jigsaw. Our application for outlineplanning permission to restore the finallength of the canal was eventually approvedwith only one vote against. The discussionwas generated due to the possible optionsfor the first 400 metres of canal, and willneed to be carefully dealt with to ensureconcerns are addressed at the detailed plan-ning stage.

The next step is a review of the masterplan and a meeting has been called for 9thSeptember of key Trust and Society meetingcommittee members to review the next stepsand draw up a master plan for funding anddevelopment. The challenge is to maintainthe initiative to get a stretch into water asquickly as possible and to use the manyoffers of practical help made by members.

The Trust and Society is looking topromote this success locally on Radio and TVas well as through the Derby Telegraph. Wealready have a strong Society membership,but now is the time for those interested tojoin. Increased membership demonstratesthe community’s desire to achievethe restoration and provides funds which canbe matched with grants, etc to fundrestoration and gives a greater pool of volun-teer labour for the Society’s work parties.

Offers of help are welcomed and we areactively looking to raise our profile now wehave the credibility of the successful applica-tion. New members will be particularly wel-come at this time of increasing activity.

Lichfield and Hatherton Canals

Work has continued on Pound 26 on theLichfield Canal at Tamworth Road, mostly inmonitoring water loss and identifying leaks.Progress is now encouraging and suggeststhat the problems can soon be overcome.

Discussions are under way with theEnvironment Agency to agree extractionlevels as EA has ruled that moving waterfrom the old “Big Pipe” (a storm water drainlaid in the bed of the canal after abandon-ment) to open channel represents extraction.The design of the weir at the A38 turn(where the canal will divert from its originalcourse to take a new route under the mainroad) will take this into account. Work hascontinued on the wall and new channel fromthe turn to the A51 and design work hasstarted on the retaining walls.

Detailed design work has also contin-ued on the Darnford Park project (to create anew length of the diversionary canal routebeyond the A51 as part of a public park) andcostings from contractors have been com-missioned. The whole scheme is dependenton the District Council and the ForestryCommission obtaining funding for the Dia-mond Jubilee project.

The Trust must also find a source ofincome to fund its part of the work. Muchcan be done by volunteers but the re-rout-ing of a foul sewer must be done by profes-sionals.

The Trust’s JCB3c has been attacked byvandals and will probably now be offered forsale as a collector’s item. Material displacedby the work on the Chasewater Dam hasbeen moved to Tamworth Road by courtesyof Hills Contractors of Aldridge. This will beused in the base of walls being constructedin Pound 27.

ProgressWey & Arun Canal

Wey & Arun Canal

Another Wey & Arun lock restoration is nowwell underway. The contractors have been onsite to excavate Southland Lock chamber,insert piling, and pour the concrete walls andbase. That leaves plenty of work for the Wey& Arun Canal Trust’s volunteers, building thecills and facing the walls in brick, amongnumerous other tasks.

Southland is the first brick lock to berestored on the navigable section, the othersbeing stone – Loxwood Lock, which used asimilar method of construction, was a newstructure, added in order to achieve thenecessary headroom under the LoxwoodHigh Street; while Rowly Lock (Lock 17,which was rebuilt some 20 years ago) is on adifferent length of canal on the other side ofthe summit.

As with all the brick locks on the canal,there were very few visible remains atSouthland. The plans were originally torebuild Southland in a slightly different loca-tion, in order to address nature conservationissues, but an agreement was negotiatedwhich made it possible to rebuild the lock onits original site, so the sandstone base couldbe re-used.

A vast number of locally hand-maderustic bricks have been ordered, not only forSouthland, but for Gennets Bottom, which isthe next lock up, and for the new parapetsfor the Loxwood High Street bridge. Thebridge has been the subject of localfundraising efforts to supplement WACT’sown input; sufficient has now been raised tostart work on one side. Work has alreadystarted on the thankless task of cutting thebricks to achieve the desired Flemish GardenWall bond pattern.

Also in Loxwood, work has begun onthe new information centre which will replacethe ‘black shed’ behind the Onslow Arms. Asubstantial donation has allowed the prefab-ricated building to be ordered fromFordingbridge Engineering of Fontwell. Thisis an energy-efficient, low-carbon eco-struc-

ture. The uncompromisingly non-traditionalappearance proved somewhat controversialwhen the proposals were shown to the localcommunity, initiating a debate about howappropriate, or not, it is to try and recreatean old-style canal building where none ex-isted previously, for a purpose that neverexisted when the canal was in operation, andto building regulations and environmentaland access standards that were never evendreamed of two centuries ago.

However, planning permission has beengranted, and I for one am certain that oncethe natural roof has ‘taken’ and the timberssuitably weathered, the new building willblend into the landscape in a way that a brickshed could not.

Plenty goes on elsewhere – our visitingcampers have started preparatory work forour next lock restoration project, and othervisitors have been involved in some of themuch-needed maintenance that is alwayscontinuing; Northlands lift bridge in thiscase.

Visiting groups will have a chance toget involved in some exciting work at theNorthern end, near the junction with theWey, and for which a new Northern WorkingGroup has been set up. The actual route thecanal will take here is still subject to anumber of options, and a study has beencommissioned to establish the best compro-mise.

Finally, Lordings Waterwheel was readyin time for its inauguration on 11 Septemberby local MP and government minister NickHerbert. This unique structure, which liftswater 3m from the river to feed the canal,was ‘discovered’ 10 years or so by the lateWinston Harwood.

Winston managed to establish how thewheel must have operated, and set to de-signing and building a replica to prove histheory. It worked, though not particularlyefficiently or reliably, and after the mainspindle of Winston’s wheel broke last year, a‘professionally improved’ version began totake shape, with the help of a volunteerchartered engineer.

The present wheel uses a lot of Win-ston’s original parts, plus many profession-ally-made upgraded components, and per-forms rather better – certainly better than the19th-century original would have done. Thereopening is being marked by a small boatrally.

Bill Thomson

ProgressSUCS on the Montgomery

...and on the Montgomery the

Shropshire Union Canal

Society take a break from

channel lining to do some

fencing and towpath work

Shropshire Union Canal Society

We were graced with good weather for thewhole weekend of our August work party. This was something of a mixed blessingsince one of the main tasks was work on thetowpath and such glorious weather made itvery popular with walkers. Additional tow-path traffic was also generated by the muchanticipated start of work by WRG on thePryces Bridge to Crickheath section. ManyS.U.C.S. volunteers went for a crafty snoopat the goings-on next door and vice versa.

The towpath works involved erection ofthe new safety fence and levelling and finalsurfacing of the towpath surface. Like mostgood ideas the fence is simple, consisting ofstakes attached to the piling and a horizontalstrut into which eyebolts are fixed. Rope isthreaded though both the Netlon materialand attached to the stakes via the eyebolts. Progress was such that some 200 m of fenc-ing was finished during the weekend.

The other towpath gang were equippedwith a most ferocious looking, and veryheavy, diesel roller. This was used to com-pact stone dust which formed the final surfaceof the towpath. The stone dust wastransported from the compound bya combination of small dumpersand wheelbarrows – a time con-suming and strenuous task.

The channel shaping workagain made good progress. Thechannel bed and towpath side areshaped to 145 m from PrycesBridge and the larger offside bankto 115 m. There is certainly plentyof channel available for the liningoperations which will commenceshortly.

On Sunday it was very pleas-ant to be able to welcome JulieSharman, the BW Head of Enter-prise North & North Wales. Shespent several hours with us on atour of the site and also lent a handwith the towpath works.

Safety fence construction and (below) complete

Towpath surfacing in progress

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ProgressLancaster CanalLancaster Canal Northern Reaches

August Work Party: Trevor Cotton led thecharge for this mid week work party whichcleared the ground for the 4-day combinedwrgNW/Lancaster Canal Trust work party dueto take place on the 9th-12th September.There were several different projects whichwere addressed, but the priority was StaintonCrossing Bridge as September’s work partyrequired a road closure and therefore it wasimportant that the work was all completedwithin the long weekend.

On arrival at Stainton however, workparty volunteers were asked to stay in theparking area as a TV production companyworking on behalf of the BBC were filmingthe Millness to Stainton Bridge section of thecanal from the Trust’s trip boat, Waterwitch.They then went on to film a few members ofthe work party clearing vegetation in the drycanal bed beyond Stainton Crossing bridge.The resulting item will appear in a pro-gramme on BBC 2 next February aboutBritain’s heritage. The piece on the LancasterCanal Northern Reaches is likely to result in5-7 minutes of the final programme.

Once the film crew had given the allclear, members of the work party startedto clear the bridge of ivy and brambles onboth sides and along the parapet, allowingthe September work party to immediately

erect scaffolding and start the main work oftaking down the parapet walls to removesapling growth which has been dislodgingthe stones.

Steve Valiant, who was on holiday inthe area, but is normally to be found work-ing for the National Trust on the Wey Naviga-tion, suggested that the tree alongside thebridge should also be cut back. Trevor, ourcertified chain saw operator, had bigger ideashowever. He wanted to make it “disappear”.Steve therefore lopped all the smallerbranches clearing the way for Trevor’s chain-saw and by the end of the day the tree wasdown. It only remains for the stump to betreated to prevent re-growth and stop itsroots further damaging the bridge wing wall.

In parallel to working on StaintonBridge, Richard Trevitt led a small group thatwere looking at the required work on theStainton Aqueduct. The stream that runsunder the canal, Stainton Beck, has graduallyaltered its course and is now underminingthe aqueduct’s wing walls on both sides ofthe canal. The plan is to bring in a smalldigger to re-align the stream bed so thatwater runs directly through the aqueduct.

In addition, the Trust plans to underpinsome stones on one side which are currentlyhanging with no visible means of support.Should this stone fall, further loss of thewing wall could result, with even the possi-bility that the canal might be breached. Giventhe potential seriousness of this occurring,the September work party was due to pushsome bags of concrete under this stone tosupport it until such time as a more majorreconstruction can be undertaken. At themoment the water in the stream is low, but ifthere is some heavy rain this winter furthererosion could occur.

Problems to sort at Stainton Crossing Bridge... ...and Stainton Aqueduct

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Wendover Arm Trust

July Working Party: Final profiling of bothbanks and the bed for almost 100 metreswas completed ready for installing the water-proof lining in August. The last base of themooring wall was poured and the formworkremoved, cleaned and stored in the LongMarston garage pending the next wall build.

August Working Party: On the Fri-day before the working party preparationswere made in getting plant delivered andmaterials ready for a flying start with BITMover the first weekend. This proved verysuccessful in that all the Bentomat lining wasquickly laid thanks to the assistance of theBITM team. Not only was the Bentomat laidbut a team at Little Tring who were keepingthe works supplied with materials were ableto cut further supplies of 20m lengths ofBentomat ready for bottom lining. Manythanks BITM.

Hollow concrete blocks were laid at thebottom of the Bentomat on the banks fol-lowed by solid concrete blocks with coir rollsalong the top. This work was completed by thesecond Saturday morning. Progress on liningwas so good that Saturday afternoon andSunday were spent profiling the towpath bankfrom the completed lining to the mooring wall.Final profiling was completed next to themooring wall so that surplus concrete frompouring the wall sections with ready-mix canbe used to form the bank from the end of thewall to blend the bank into the finished wall

Surplus concrete from the wall pourswas used to complete a small piece of pipecapping (covering the pipe laid in the canalbed which carries the water supply feed untilthe canal is rewatered) at the manhole pastBridge 4A and also tipped at the end of theStage 4 mooring wall where the bank hasbeen removed for wall construction andneeds some solidity to support the final bankprofile before lining.

Roger Leishman, Restoration Director01442 874536

[email protected]

ProgressGrand Union Wendover Arm

The Wendover Arm Trust’s

volunteers continue to make

good progress on rebuilding the

dry section of the Arm as a

waterproof channel

Above: mooring bay and Below: completedchannel with concrete blocks and coir rolls

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Sussex Ouse

Summer progress by Sussex Ouse Restora-tion Trust on the restoration of Isfield Lockhas been steady after, as previously reported,getting off to a great start in the spring.

But the target restoration for 2011 wasalways going to present a bigger challenge tothe volunteers due to the extent of demoli-tion and re-build required. And as the end ofthe working season draws ever nearer thereis now a race against time to complete the5m section of the western wall of the cham-ber. Only the next few weeks and continuedgood weather will tell whether the target forthis year is reached.

Access to the site is limited once Sep-tember arrives for not only does the localEstate prevent access through the pheasantbreeding woods but vehicular access be-comes impossible or difficult across thealternative route across the fields. Materialsrequired therefore have to be delivered tothe site in advance and in anticipation oftheir requirement.

Additionally the western approach wallis undergoing restoration and to enable this

to proceed a 20m alder tree had to be re-moved.

WRG tree experts were called upon andduly attended to fell the obstacle to allow thecontinued repair of the wall.

If you want to help out or want to getinvolved in the restoration under projectmanager Paul Morris contact Ted Lintott on01444-414413 or [email protected]

Terry Owen

WRG Forestry deal with a tricky alder

Isfield Lock chamber wall rebuilding in progress

ProgressSussex Ouse

Down in the Deep South, the

Sussex Ouse Restoration

Trust’s volunteers continue

their complete rebuild of

Isfield Lock...

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Hazel – The Work Begins!

Having successfully slipped 1914 Runcornnarrow boat Hazel on July 8th, boatbuildersStuart Hughes and Chris Leah, assisted byvolunteers, eagerly got stuck in to the hugetask of rebuilding the aged craft. First theboat had to be jacked up to a comfortableheight for working and carefully levelled andstraightened. Work then began on makingmoulds to bend the new planks round andadzing down an oak log to make a newstempost. The original stempost has beencomprehensively patched up over the last 97years and it came out in several parts, whichhad to be carefully pieced together to pro-vide patterns for the new one.

It has been an interesting archaeologi-cal exercise as parts of the old boat havebeen dismantled. One of the problems thatoccurred as the boat was slipped was thatbottom boards started to drop off. This wasbecause many of them weren’t attached tothe keelson. It looks likely that, when theboat was converted in 1951, bottom boardsfrom another boat were fitted but only nailedinto the bottom strakes rather than the solidfixings normally used.

By the end of August, moulds andstempost were nearly finished, thenew keelson was ready and in theboat and some bottom boards (madefrom greenheart that was once thedeck of a salvage ship) fitted. Therudder has gone to Reg Thompson’sworkshop at the Warwickshire FlyboatCo so that he can make a new one.

Elsewhere at the WCBS, recy-cling trips still take place on the firstSunday and first Monday evening ofeach month. The charity shop inAshton-under-Lyne is busy, but inneed of more volunteers. In particu-lar, we are particularly short of week-day van drivers to do collections anddeliveries for the shop. If you wouldlike to help please ring 07931 952037 or email [email protected].

ProgressWooden Canal Boat Society

...while in the north,

WCBS gets stuck into the

massive job of completely

rebuilding a 1914 wooden

narrow boat

Above: the new keelson is installed. Below:carving of the new stem post is under way

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CBS

Forking good time atThe Welsh Waterways Festival

Ah the beautiful Welsh valleys, the craggyrocky outcrops, the awesome waterfallscascading like mares’ tails in the wind, thetumbling streams in tree-enclosed gorgesthat excite the imagination of Jurassic Parkand pre-historic times, all opening out on tolush green pastures in the valley floors withyouthful rivers madly zig-zagging their waydown to the sea. What makes all of this?Precipitation in its liquid form, rain and lotsof it? It was the unlucky throw of theweather dice that in the middle of the driestspring over in the east of Britain that thewest side was trying to make up for it overthis Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

One had to admire the stoic enthusiasmof the organising team, our hosts atYnysarwed Farm, and the festival attendees.The latter included the small but perfectlyformed band of WRGies who came to sup-plement the local team on the show supportservices and, in a new initiative, performsome acts of canal restoration at a lock siteadjacent to the festival site. The concept wasto bring the public along the towpath fromthe car park, past the work site so they couldsee restoration in action, engage with theteam in their natural environment rather thanjust seeing it on a poster and a nicelypressed red T-shirt! It also provided addedvalue by indicating the intent and progress torestore the next phase of this section of theNeath & Tennant Canal while showcasing thework ethic and capabilities of WRG.

Our accommodation was at theResolven Scout Hut about 3 miles away fromsite. The galvanized steel fencing, gates anddoor security screen initially gave the impres-sion of Fort Knox without the prospect ofgold inside. Fortunately the gold was there inthe form of our really nice Scout hosts andthe spacious facilities including proper bedsfor those who wanted them. Rachael gra-ciously volunteered to prepare the eveningmeal for Helen, Frank, Andy, Martin D, Colin

and myself. We sat down to eat with the faintpitter- patter of rain on the sheet steel roof,sadly a sign of the weather conditions to come.

Thursday morning peering out of thekitchen window, rain and that kind of hang-ing, clinging rain clouds. Heading off to sitewas one of those “what are we doing here?”moments quickly dispersed by the procure-ment of chocolate biscuits and cake from thelocal store. Leaving Resolven we were pleas-antly surprised to see and avoid the latecoming of the “Hawk master” (but I had lefthome before 6am-JH) as he was looking tofind the accommodation. Arriving at thefestival site and meeting Colin “the organ-iser”, the site, unsurprisingly was too wet todrive the van & trailer on to our showgroundpitch so the gazebo and the all-importantBurco were barrowed onto site.

The camp was set up and the Burco lit,and the volunteer staff refreshment centrewas established for the festival. The optimis-tic forking of the initial puddles started.Immediate success. “Bye bye water”. Get-ting off site early allowed an interestingadventure to find the nearest Tescomegastore which ended up with the circum-navigation of the Neath ring road and a visitto the really nice Lidl establishment, well atleast the van and trailer were easily accom-modated in the spacious car park. It wasmeant to be, and I’m sticking with my storydespite the input of my Sat-Navvy Frank!

Friday the sun shone, the valleys were ahappy place; we managed to get the traileron site to our pitch. The wheel indentationsin the turf were a sign of things to come.

All those little jobs around the site wereaccomplished; with a team dispatched toassist some trailboats launch, while Frankwas still forking off around the site, this timewith a site radio in hand, multi-tasking at itsbest. The car parks, nay demolition sites,were carefully checked for objects that wouldpuncture tyres and holes that would just be atad inconvenient to visiting cars. Directionalsigns were put up to guide the expectedcrowds along the towpath. A trip into Neathbefore lunch to pick up Dave Salisbury fromthe railway station was much helped by theprevious day’s tour! After the eventual ar-rival of Mr. S, the errant Tesco metropoliswas found, more shopping purchased and asa bonus we found Halfords close by andprocured some liquid gasket for MalcolmBridge to fit the replacement exhaust to thekit generator that had fallen off during the

Camp reportNeath & Tennant festival

Easter Camp. A double bonus, there was asecond Lidl store on the same retail site, joy!On the way back to the accommodation atthe end of the day we explored a reallybeautiful waterfall on the outskirts ofResolven, alas no alleged ghost under thewaterfall just nature in the raw to remember.

Saturday rain at first. Part of the teamwere dispatched to assist the M&B unloadtheir sectionalised trip boat and make twohalves become one. The reward (or maybea QA check) being a lift back to site in thetrip boat. Vehicles were limited from goingonto site so the WRG van became the mag-netic poster hoarding right next to the en-trance bridge to the site and a most excellentlocation to advertise our little enterprise. Littlejobs were done around the site by the rest ofthe team; Frank continued forking around theshowground along with a few others whocould get their hands on any tool that had aspiky thing on the end of a long handle. TheIWA funding recognition board was erectedon wooden posts by the restored bridge (weknow where the rubble had been buried!).

After lunch the clearance of the under-growth from the next lock up was started.With the nature of the soil the saplings wereable to be pulled or levered out without theneed for a Tirfor, just as well as we didn’thave one! By the end of the day we hadopened up the over grown entrance to thefenced in lock and started exposing theupper wing walls. Those in the showgroundhad their afternoon brightened by the sightof the shepherding demonstration’s “flockette”of sheep, with little doll jockeys strapped ontheir backs, making a run for it through theshowground after breaking out of the arena.Next job, secure the arena crowd barrier!

Sunday’s weather was like the previousday. Puddle forking was high on the agenda.Alas the heavy soil was getting less conduc-tive to absorbing the further heavenly offer-ings, but our little “forker” Frank’s never-say-die attitude glowed in the sporadic sunshine.Work at the lock clearance moved on apacewith a start being made at the tail end wingwalls, as well as continuing at the upper end.Coping stones were exposed from the soiland vegetative cover, and the pile of sap-lings, Japanese Knotweed et al grew evertaller and wider. A lesson learned by Mr. Swas: never under estimate the ability of anuncontrolled mattock to take itself intodeepish water. Fortunately with a pair ofchest waders, a bit of wet groping around

and much amusement of the watchersabove, the said mattock was recovered.

Monday, heavy rain during the earlyhours saw much water on site. Frank wasdistraught, no amount of forking would sortthis out. First job was to rescue the contentsof the NW WRG stall and move them into thebig trading marquee on slightly higher ground.With that done, and an errant local car pushedto safety, the team headed off to the lock. Thetowpath side was finally cleared and over 50%of the offside completed, including openingup a really nice stone spillway. All that isneeded now are few WRG week long campsand the lock will be fit for purpose!

Returning back to the showground, themain event of the afternoon was the tractorpulling; mainly tractors pulling the exhibitorsand traders off the site including the WRG kittrailer! The normal site pack up was quicklydone including getting all of the crowd bar-rier ready for collection, as it was needed inSwansea for the victory homecoming thefollowing day by their play-off winning foot-ball team. Pack up and clear was so wellorganised by the local event organisers thatwe were able to sort our kit and accommo-dation early on Monday morning and departfor home in time for tea and buns.

My thanks to everyone associated withthe event including to the local team, Colin,Peter, Margaret, our hosts at YnysarwedFarm, Rachael Banyard who assisted with thecooking and chief MUP John Hawkins. Forthose looking for a Canal Camp on a stonelock restoration with awesome views, whichwill be quickly integrated into the active canalsystem and a very warm welcome from thelocals, Resolven on the Neath & TennantCanals is the place to go.

Martin Thompson

The lock begins to emerge from the undergrowth

John H

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Camp reportNWPG at Eisey LockAnother NWPG camp at Eisey Lock

Thames & Severn Canal

Its 2011 and NWPG have been running asummer canal camp in association with WRGfor 20 years. Its also 30 years this year sinceNWPG held its first work party at NewburyLock. Our first camp was at Lee Farm Lockon the Wey & Arun, re-building a brick lockthat had been derelict since 1880. This yearwe were doing the same thing but this timewith a lock that last saw a boat in the 1920’s.

This was our fourth consecutive visit toEisey Lock, situated in the flat valley of theUpper Thames about 3 miles east ofCricklade. It should also be our last as by thetime you read this Martin Thompson or JohnHawkins will have sent in their report advis-ing of their camp’s successful completion ofthe work. [see following pages ...Ed]

NWPG were tasked with continuing thegood works of KESCRG’s June camp andLWRG’s wet July week-end. As the campleader, my over-ambi-tious objective was tofinish all the structuralre-building of the lock,clear the lock, fold myarms and with a proudsmile say “where next?”This was not to be, ofcourse, as my imagina-tion had as usualgrossly under-estimatedthe amount of workneeding to be done andthe amount of timerequired to do the jobproperly. That’s not tosay that our team ofexcellent volunteers didanything other thanwork flat out.

So the team… 20of us full-time with thesome part-time addi-tions. A good mix

of young, middle and extended middle, maleand female, experience, enthusiasm andwillingness to learn and try new things - allthe key ingredients for a good camp. Somehad worked on the lock before; for othersthe whole experience was completely new.By the Tuesday morning everyone had foundout both what they liked doing and whatthey were quite good at – both tend to gotogether, fortunately!

I must mention some names. Josie – areturning volunteer – soon reminded me thatshe really doesn’t like bricklaying but lovespointing (yes some people do!). She thenspent the whole week in the bottom of thelock. Ably assisted by Christine who dividedher time between bricklaying and pointing,they completed the waterline pointing for thewhole of one side of the chamber and the cillbow wall as well.

As well as Josie some others spent thewhole week doing the same job. I think that

Eisey Lock: the coping stones go on

Ala

n Cavender

Ashton Keynes targeted by

Facebook riot incitement!

Eisey Lock almost finished!

(not sure which of these is

the more shocking...)

they were happy in their work. Bryan wasoffered the digger keys on day 1 and wasstill in it on the following Saturday long aftereveryone else had gone home. Karl workedreally hard all week on the re-building of thelower off-side return wall only to be frus-trated in not being able to see it finished –the job was too big. George and Grahamtook on the finding, placing and levelling ofthe coping stones which became increasinglydifficult as all the best stones had alreadybeen used up. They were followed by adedicated team of “brick underfillers!” whosejob was to brick up the often large voidsbetween the top of the brickwork and theunderside of the coping stones. Sian, Chris,Christine, Olivia and Tegan get a mentionhere. Quietly over-seeing the whole job, MrMike Fellows with his quality controlledpointing trowel.

Having started by mentioning names I’llstop now before I feel obliged to list every-body. There were others of equally hardworking stature. In NWPG they are known asthe “B” team and comprise the brick cutters,mortar mixers, brick, sand and lime suppli-ers, bonfire burners, dumper drivers, brickcleaners. They get moanedat by the skilled trades butthe camp wouldn’t operatewithout them. As a part timemember of the team myself Imust sing their praises.

Sue who has cookedfor us for almost every oneof the 20 years of NWPGcamps did us proud again.Each year she comes back todo this most crucial task andwe are all eternally grateful.She tells me that for somereason appetites were downthis year – perhaps anotherconsequence of the eco-nomic downturn?

This was the week ofthe riots and if some of thecamp team hadn’t boughtnewspapers then I suspectwe could have remainedblissfully unaware of theworld outside. Except that onTuesday evening on ourreturn from site to sleepyAshton Keynes, we noticedthat all the coaches in thedepot next to the hall had

mysteriously disappeared. A quiet word withone of the drivers told us that they hadreceived a Facebook alert that some of thelads from “down the village” were going totrash the coaches and they had had to hidethem away! Deciding not to install panic inour volunteers we quietly covered this infor-mation and went off on our evening boat tripas if nothing had happened. Of course onour return nothing had happened and thecamp and the coaches returned to normalthe next day.

As intimated at the beginning, we didn’tfinish the lock but had a really good crack atdoing so. The off-side chamber wall copingswere placed, levelled, mortared in and backfilled with soil. Much pointing was done,including the paddle hole tool store. Thelower flank and return walls on the offsidewere progressed to about 2 courses fromcoping level and many tree stumps and logswere removed from the canal down to RucksBridge.

Thanks to everyone. Where will NWPGbe next summer? I don’t yet, definitely notEisey, but we will be somewhere.

Bill Nicholson

Ala

n Cavender

Olivia and Tegan on mortar-mixing duty

Camp reportEisesham or Inglesey?

Eisesham or Inglesey?Cotswold Canal 13-20 August

Confused? Not as much as the volunteers wereon week one of the trio of Inglesham camps

Well it was a variation of “If you don’teat your savoury you don’t get your sweet”,in this case “if you don’t finish Eisey Lock youcan’t get your just desserts at Inglesham”.Not quite as extreme as that, but it had to bedone. Helping out our good and true localCCT PM Jon Pontefract didn’t give us anysecond thoughts. It gave us the opportunitynot only to complete one Thames and Sev-ern Canal lock, but also be there at the startof the restoration of the iconic eastern gate-way to the T&S system at Inglesham. Gloryhunting, nooo; just a happy victim of cir-cumstances! NWPG it could have been you!!!

Being an interested observer/day visitorduring the KESCRG and NWPG weeks atEisey, the need for a little additional assist-ance from the first week of the IngleshamCamp became a reality. It tied in nicely withthe sequence of work at Inglesham andallowed the folks to experience both ends ofthe restoration spectrum. So what was leftto complete: a small number of copingstones to be installed at the tail end, somebrick work on the lock walls and wing walls,landscaping on the off-side, scaffolding toremove from the chamber, the debris of thewall reconstruction to be removed from thechamber floor, potentially some pointing upand isolated brick removal at low level after thedebris was removed, relocate the Heras fenceon the off-side, remove some stumps andexcavate out of the by-wash lagoon were themain tasks. Inglesham was a little simpler,prepare the site and start exposing the upperstructures in the forebay and by-wash areas.

The story continues with the help ofexerts from a draft report submission fromTasterella in italic...

Camp leaders: the heroic and patient RAF Martinassisted by the wonderfully musical George Rogers.Champion cook Mandy Morley, ably assisted by newcook-in-waiting Alan. And of course the ever-smiling

Steve i/c driving and admin.MUPs were John Hawkins, Bob Crow and Rob

Brotherston i/c’s of coping and brickwork, Navy Bryan[subject to much ribbing from a certain TC!]i/c the excavator and dumper

Teacher Chris was i/c camp morale, plus the everimportant task of casting teachers in a favourable light andcracking the whip on the scunge shovelling. Of whichmore than 32 tons we guesstimated got removed by sheerelbow grease and wheelbarrows. This scunge was theblack decayed vegetable matter plus honest-to-goodnessCotswold dirt and brick bits and mortar, all of whichaccumulated at the bottom of the lock. Plus a hundredand five froglets, all liberated by Katrina.

Everyone pitched in shovelling thescunge and the whole thing gained momen-tum as the day went on, a two day plus taskdone in half the time, awesome effort by allconcerned. As Navy Bryan responding to thejesting from the lock floor, said “he’d handledevery bit twice, once in the excavator bucket,once in the dumper down to the tipping site”!

Eisey is now very nearly totally finished. Thebottom layers on the inner lock chamber walls werechecked for any faulty bricks and dodgy or ‘hollow’sounding ones were replaced! Copingstones were placedand repositioned and finally cemented in behind with thehelp of M’s muck mixer Rachel; Chris from NorthDevon, Eddie and Vince all helped with these tasks.

Scaffolding taken out, and ably stacked by Katrina,George, Roger, Rick and me. Supervised by George.

Our hosts CCT have been renovatingEast End Depot barn and were planning onlaying 6m³ of ready mix concrete as part of anew machine shop. Being a bit light of manuallabour, WRGies ably assisted the local team onthe Tuesday, to complete the first pour.

Evening entertainment included trips out to theMikron Theatre Company performing ‘Hell and High Water’at a mysterious location on the River Severn called the‘Old Coalhouse Inn.’ This was followed by a rapturous‘songs from the shows’ on the trip home, which was lessthan enthusiastically endured by Iain, Vincent and John.

Another evening we watched the last HarryPotter from a very acute angle, Fillippo (our Italianguest) enjoyed that.

The very popular prequel of Planet ofthe Apes meant our other cinema groupbeing distributed around the less popularseats also with up and across viewing!

The world’s slowest driver led the everextending traffic queue from Cirencester toStroud as we took an early Wednesday after-noon off to visit the opposite end of the canal,our late arrival exasperated by a major diver-sion in Stroud, best laid plans and WRGieleaders! Lesson learned for the next two camps.

The boat trip on the ‘Perseverance’ at SaulJunction was another memorable evening with aninsightful commentary on the water, an excellent talkby Clive at the CCT visitor centre; and lovely kindladies attending to our needs.

Hospitality par excellence. The routearound the Saul Marina gave volunteer Eddiea chance to check the wellbeing of his littlecruiser moored there, amid a certain level ofheckling led by a certain TC - “boat on a rope,bath size “ was cruel! It is a very nice littleboat, as little boats go. The return trip to“home” enabled the new A46 canal bridge inStroud and Gough’s Orchard Lock sites to bevisited with a short stop off at the Tunnel Innat Sapperton to quench a late evening thirst.

Accommodation entertainments in-cluded for the first time a K’NEX big wheelkit, and the traditional jigsaws, backgam-mon, dominoes and Connect Four (cananybody beat TC on a one off game?).

So what did we do at Inglesham?Inglesham got scrub bashed and strimmed (led

by Peter), Chris, Huw, Rachel and I pulled out hugestalks of Himalayan Balsam which made weird triffidlike noises and seemed malevolent.

Heras fencing was erected in the rain,along cleared boundary lines, a mountain ofvegetative matter accumulated ready forbonfiring. Stone, brick and rubble was col-lected and sorted. The clearance of the filled inlagoon downstream of the by-wash culvert wasstarted, large lumps of concrete blocks werefound and cleared along with broken remainsof some vintage bottles. The latter was a signof more to come in the following weeks.

Then on the last day Iain and Huw movedfences (and repositioned fences), bricks were sortedand excavated and moved into delightfully serriedranks by Martin Danks (who took over Jenny’s bedplace when Jenny left on Wed night, which was a sadloss as she is ace). The spill weir or D shaped thingywas excavated and earlier in the week Roy of the redjumper inspected culverts and made notes, then put ona different red jumper and drove away.

An interesting visit by a local councilor onthe first evening initiated by concerned con-stituents to find out what was this group withred vans, finger boards with “Waterway Recov-ery Group” written across them and takingover their beloved village hall were up to. Aftera pleasant chat, in which I had extolled thevirtues of our little hobby, she bade fond fare-well clutching a copy of our WRG volunteer“Who we are” leaflet and with a leaving com-ment that she was actually elected on the “anticanal vote”! The thought that canal users are a

mixture of the Vikings, Boadicea on water andGlastonbury rolled into one is quite perplexing.

On the positive side, among the generalinterest in what we are doing, one gentlemandrove up and thanked us for our efforts andhanded over a case of Strongbow, another islooking to join up with CCT as a volunteer andthe landlord of the local hostelry was very pro-canal and was most welcoming on our visits.Our presence in Kempsford and the village hallhopefully has brought them monetary benefits,elevated the visibility of the canal restorationmovement, and promoting its reality of the“Second Coming”.

Inglesham looks ready for the next stage of itsrejuvenation and Eisey is awaiting the rubber stampwhich says ‘complete’. The anti-canal contingent atKempsford will be shivering in their boots now that wehave shown our impressive abilities.

Many thanks to my assistant George,Mandy and Alan the cooks, all the MUPS, ourtop Jon P (making light of the protective castaround his foot) and to everyone on thecamp for making it another great camp tolead. It may have been Eisesham orInglesey but I hope the pleasure of the finalEisey cleared lock and photo will last long inthe memory and whet the appetite to bethere during and finally at the end of theInglesham lock restoration. In the nextcouple of years we’ll hear “one more campwill do it.” Honest.

Martin Thompson

Applying finishing touches at Eisey

John H

aw

kin

s

WRG BC Newsfrom WRG’s Boat Club

The Boat Club reports from its

AGM at the IWA National...

and wonders where to hold

it next year when there

isn’t an IWA National...

As I write this I can gaze at The NEWbit at the top end of the navigable Ashbycanal. Two newly opened Droitwich canalsand another ‘new’ bit in one year is verycheering! They are all set here for starting onthe next length very soon.

Well another AGM has come and goneand I am still your secretary!

The AGM, held at Burton Festival thelast week in July, was well attended and aboat club success. I think this is true of theFestival as a whole, so hopefully somemoney was raised for restoration.

Before the meeting got underway apunch was made in The Bowl, now named‘The Roger Jeffries Memorial Trophy’ (wellthe punch was in a plastic bowl I had used toline the trophy with - after I had polished allthe silver I didn’t think it would improve theflavour) First the punch was enhanced by theaddition of some ‘Finely Cut Lemons’ compli-ments of Jim Lamen.

When all present had a drink, the toastwas drunk - ‘To Roger Jeffries and absentfriends’.

Apologies were received from anumber of members. I’m sure that othersnot attending would have sent theirs but

were confused by the change of Festival date!Next came the memory test as the

minutes of last year’s meeting had beenin Navvies last year! Of course everyone hadread them but their memories needed a bitof prodding.

Matters Arising Included discussionover the donations made as in both casesthey were £50 short of that previouslyagreed. The Treasurer had also mentionedthis in her report so we decided to discuss itwhen that was read.

Officer’s Reports: the CommodeDoor and AWCC Rep. Lynne reported thatshe has been busy in a number of ways.

As a volunteer lock keeper she hascertainly seen the better side of BW employ-ees and the worst side of some boaters.Many are exceptionally badly behaved and illmannered. Luckily this does not include anyclub members!

In her dual role she has attended manymeetings on our behalf. The AWCC are mostinformative and helpful. They keep us up todate on issues and Erica our AWCC regionalsecretary has been most efficient in supply-ing information, especially the latest on ‘TheCharity’ and the planned new High Speed

railway that could havedisastrous effects on thecanal network.

Treasurer Ann wasnot absent because she wasspending our money, shesent her apologies and awritten report but not theannual accounts as the yearend for the club is 1st Sep-tember. She will email theseto the officers and anyoneelse who wants them. (Letme know if you do, bysending me an email then Iwill also have your presentaddress)

Ann suggests we paythe two x £50 to IngleshamLock Appeal and The Mont’sNew destination for this year: Droitwich during the reopening

Mart

in L

udgate

‘Barrow Load of Boulders’, ASAP (the short-fall from last year). Then once all subs are inwe should have enough money to makefurther donations of about £200 (if eveyonecoughs up!) We then make two £100 dona-tions, one early in the year and another later,when we have more idea of expenditureduring the year.

This was discussed and all agreed. Theopinion of the meeting was that we sendfurther donations to Inglesham Lock Appeal.

Secretary Membership has fallen thisyear. Three of those leaving were throughnon payment of subs. If you haven’t paid bythe time you read this YOU will be a lapsedmember!

I still need to know who wants to re-ceive the AWCC Handbook. Alert, the AWCCmagazine is now available by email, again letme know, preferably by email, if you want toreceive this.

We now have window stickers availablefor £1.50 + postage, and of course Lynnehas club Burgees selling at £10 + postage.Please use these to show your membershipso we know each other when out and about,also please remove them from your boatshould you sell it.

Election of officers Unusually wewere not inundated by offers to take on thework so the ‘usual suspects’ remain. MikeChessher was appointed as club researcher.His main job being to locate canal restorationprojects where we can get boats along soclub members can help; campaign criusesand rallies; events raising funds for restora-tion etc.

Future plans werediscussed, the main onebeing that as there will beno ‘National’ next yearwhere will the AGM be held?All agreed that it should beat either a campaign rally ora WRG working weekend wecan get boats to. Well thesort of event Mike will befinding out for us. It willalso depend on the availabil-ity of members who canattend. Will membersplease send me theirthoughts on this.

Most of the AGM busi-ness being completed mem-ber Vaughan Welch thengave us a very interesting

talk on the Droitwich canals, details of theopening, including problems met and solu-tions found. He also told of of future plans.

Award of the Roger Jeffries Me-morial Trophy. Lynne gave a short historyof one member’s achievements and CV so wesoon guessed that this year’s recipient wasVaughan Welch, especially for his amazingdedication and hard work leading to theopening of The Droitwich Canals. A mostdeserving recipient.

As the meeting drew to a close I wasdelighted that Tom Jeffries came to chat andexpress his wish to continue to be involvedwith the club. His support is very muchappreciated.

Other business. The next BCNCleanup will be held 21st - 23rd April (notethree days next year). It will be in Walsallwhere there are moorings for about 12 boatsin the Town Wharf.

It would be great if the club could beinvolved. If there is a chance you can bethere please contact Dave Pearson [email protected] (or me)

There will be a campaign/ fund raisinggathering on the Mont next year. Space isvery limited, so you will need to book assoon as you can. You need to contact David& Dawn Alwyn at [email protected] forinformation and booking form. If you havebeen before, worked on the Mont or other-wise been involved mention this.

xxx Sadie Heritage07748186867 (text is best if we’re boating)

[email protected] Station Road, Whittlesey, PE7 2HA

Destination for next year? Walsall will host the BCN Cleanup

Dere

k P

ratt

CANALWAYCANALWAY CAVALCADECAVALCADE

Little Venice, London W2 5thð7th May 2012

Applications are invited for the following vacancies on the organising committee:

Entertainments Manager & Assistant Role & Responsibilities: Source entertainers, schedule

performances and provide logistics support during the event

Public Address Manager Role & Responsibilities: Make public information

announcements during the event, co-ordinate a team of announcers and create a rota in preparation for the event

Waterspace Manager & Assistant Role & Responsibilities: Book in boats attending the event,

organise moorings, co-ordinate two pageants. Support and learn alongside the current manager to assume

the role in 2013

All roles are committee posts and require attendance at monthly meetings at a venue near Kings Cross, London.

Applications for full job specifications should be made to:

Jerry Sanders 3 Wharf House

Barton under Needwood Staffs DE13 8DZ

Telephone: 07788 204442 Mobile: 07970835523

Email: [email protected]

NOTICEBOARDMoving house

Liz Wilson has moved to: 19 WidfordHouse, Colebrooke Row, Islington,London N1 8DD.

If you move house, don’t forget totell Navvies your new address

Lost Dragline Bucket!

Many years ago the ErewashCanal Preservation &Development Assn. made asmall, probably aluminium,dragline bucket about 700mmx 450mm x 30mm which wasdesigned to be pulled by hand.After years of lack of use,Mick Golds lent/gave this toanother canal society but wecanít remember who. We nowmay have a use for this and ifanyone has any recollection ofit could they please let me orMick Golds know of itspresent whereabouts. Thanks.John [email protected]

Dial-a-camp

To contact any WRGCanal Camp:

07850 422156(Kit ‘A’ camps)07850 422157(Kit ‘B’ camps)

Advance notice: Leader Training Day...for 2012 will be May 12.

Thanksto Chris Griffiths of Stroudprint for

continued assistance withNavvies printing

Congratulationsto

Gilly and Steve Liputon the arrrival of Gail Iris on 17 September

also toNicky and Ollie Revel

on the arrival of Kaelyn Jane Louisaon 11 September and finally to

Alice Bayston andAnthony Carveron their marriage

Scenes you seldom see on a dig:No 10

“I’ll have whatever guest ale doesn’t have asuggestive name, please”

InfillWormholes?

Our agony aunt Deirdre will be back next time (if the parole board approves it)

The following fragment spewed out ofthe editor’s computer unexpectedlywhen he inadvertently rebooted it witha system date in the 22nd century...

Dewayne Smiff walked into the Earth elevatordeparture lounge and looked around, a fewpeople were sat around drinking and or ‘con-

“Dig Baddy couldn’t make it so I had to fill in”“He’s not ill is he”?“No, something came up, that’s all.”“Oh good, is Dongle with you?”“Yes, but listen: I must go - they’re only

allowing us enough air for one shot at the lockas it’s so big. But you take care, and I’ll seeyou at the bonfire do”.

“OK take care and happy locking”“You too, bye!”“Bye!”Dewayne watched Kyre intently watch

the big man walk back behind the barrier andsaid to himself “No chance there, then.”

“Sorry?!” said Kyre.“Oh nothing. Uh Mouse!?”“Oh it’s a reverse thing we do, like worms

are small but wormholes in space are so big.”“Ah! so what does ‘WRG’ mean then.”“Oh Wormhole Recovery Group of course...”

nected’ staring vacantly while surfing the net by way of their implanted terminals. He beganto walk over to his usual spot by an old airlock but discovered that it was partitioned off by asemi-transparent barrier behind which were people wearing what appeared to be red space-suits.

“Weird” he said, turning to throw himself wearily into a chair by a table. “Why is sub-space travel so tiring” he wondered aloud.

“Perhaps it’s something to do with circadian rhythms” said a woman sitting nearby.“But it’s practically instantaneous and you’re asleep most of the time” he said.“Yeah there is that, you spend more time lying down and getting up off the couch than

you do actually travelling. I prefer wormholes myself. My name is Kyre by the way”.“Oh sorry. Dewayne, Dewayne Smiff. Uh wormholes?”“You going far Dewayne?”“No just groundside. You said wormholes.”“Yeah much better way to travel, a lot slower, and you get to see more”“I thought they’d closed them all”“Not all of them and we’re opening up more and more of them all the time. This place

was built for one” she said waving her hand at the terminus they were in “but they welded theports shut back in the Sixties. I’ve been helping at the other end on Mars for a couple of weeksat a camp...”

“A camp!” interrupted Dewayne, “Surely you can’t camp on Mars”.“No the name is just some old Earth tradition. We just...”Kyre was interrupted then as the nearby barrier was pulled apart by a very large six-

limbed red alien which walked over to them and stuck out one of its four upper limbs and saidin a reasonably human voice “Kyre! how are you! great to see you!”

“Mouse!” said Kyre putting her arms around what DeWayne could now see was a (stilllarge) human halfway in or out of a bright red spacesuit and wearing a red t-shirt with theletters ‘WRG’ on it, “I didn’t know you were here!”

Navvies 249

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Transcript of Navvies 249