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LinkMembers Quarterly Journal - Issue 138 - Autumn 2001Members Quarterly Journal - Issue 138 - Autumn 2001

PenninePennineLink

239 Mossley Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, OL6 6LNTel: 0161 339 1332 Fax: 0161 343 2262EMail: [email protected] Website: www.hcanals.demon.co.ukVolunteer Co-ordinator - Frank Smith Office Manager - Robert Gough

Huddersfield Canal Society Ltd

David Sumner 4 Whiteoak Close, Marple, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 6NTChairman Tel: 0161 449 9084

Trevor Ellis 20 Batley Avenue, Marsh, Huddersfield, HD1 4NAVice-Chairman Tel: 01484 534666

John Sully 19 Kingfishers, Orton Wistow, Peterborough, Cambs. PE2 6YHTreasurer Tel: 01733 236650

John Fryer Ramsdens Solicitors, Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2THCompany Secretary

Keith Gibson Syke Cottage, Scholes Moor Road, Holmfirth, HD9 1SJHCS Restoration Ltd Tel: 01484 681245

Jack Carr 19 Sycamore Avenue, Euxton, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 6JRWest Side Social Chairman Tel: 01257 265786

Josephine Young HCS Ltd, 239 Mossley Road, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancs., OL6 6LNMembership Secretary Tel: 0161 339 1332

Brian Minor 45 Gorton Street, Peel Green, Eccles, Manchester, M30 7LZEditor, Pennine Link Tel: 0161 288 5324

David Finnis Fall Bottom, Oliver Lane, Marsden, Huddersfield, HD7 6BZPress Officer Tel: 01484 847016Allan Knott 64 High Street, Godley, Hyde, Cheshire, SK14 2PU

W.Side Boats Co-ordinator Tel: 0161 343 6400Robert Reed 82 Bourn View Road, Netherton, Huddersfield, HD4 7JZ

E.Side Boats Co-ordinator Tel: 01484 661066Vince Willey 45 Egmont Street, Mossley, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancs., OL5 9NBBoats Officer Tel: 0161 339 1332

Alwyn Ogborn 14 Stanhope Street, Mossley, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancs., OL5 9LXSpecial Events Co-ordinator Tel: 01457 833329

Allen Brett 31 Woodlands Road, Milnrow, Rochdale, Lancs., OL16 4EYGeneral Council Member Tel: 01706 641203

Neville Kenyon Meadow Head, Tottington, Bury, Lancashire, BL8 3PPGeneral Council Member

Keith Noble The Dene, Triangle, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX6 3EAGeneral Council Member Tel: 01422 823562

Alec Ramsden 16 Edgemoor Road, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD7 2HPGeneral Council Member Tel: 01484 662246

Ken Wright Bridge House, Dobcross, Oldham, Lancashire, OL3 5NLGeneral Council Member Tel: 01457 873599

2 - Pennine Link - Summer 2001

Summer 2001 - Pennine Link - 3

PennineAutumn 2001 Issue 138

Link

Once Upon a Time 7Restoration Chairman Keith Gibson gives a‘behind the scenes’ potted history of the Societyfrom its formation to the final push.

Royal Seal of Approval 14Brian Minor describes the day’s events when HisRoyal Highness came to Marsden and officiallyopened the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Canal Society Link Day 34The Society says a big ‘Thank you’ to itsmembers with a special day of site visits, boattrips and entertainment.

Safe & Friendly Cruising 40Part two of ‘Some thoughts on boatingetiquette for the experienced and lessexperienced boater’.

Common Sense & Humility 48Keith Gibson tries to bring a sense of balanceto the varied reactions to the re-openedNarrow - awaking from its enforced slumber.

Reviews 51Ken Wright casts his eye over Mike Lucas’s newbook and BW’s guide to the Canal and turns hisear to the celebratory concert at Saddleworth.

Editorial 4Chairman’s Report 5The Years in Between 13Horseboating News 21Letters to the Editor 22IWA News 32HCS Presentation 33Historic 1939 Article 36HNC’s First Day Hire Boat 392001 Photo Competition 42Crossword - 34 40What the Papers Said 44Harwood’s Grand Canal 50

Cover Photo: Huddersfield Daily Examiner


EditorialWell - after theLord Mayor’s showcomes - me!!

Congratulations toKen Wright for thatmarvelous end ofparty edition of

Plink, full colour and with everything toshout about, congratulations and thanksto him for the standard of this magazineand for the accolades it received underhim. I hope I can get somewhere nearthat standard. Thanks to Ken for theadvice and tips he has passed on to me.

Due to this ‘promotion’ from FestivalsOfficer to Editor, I was one of the groupfrom the Society presented to PrinceCharles on the 3rd September. (See page14) Being there really under false pre-tences, I gave the Prince a copy of the lastPlink edited by Ken to read on the wayback to London.

One thing that has astounded me is thenumber of letters you have written to themagazine, please keep them coming, it isnice to know that you care so much aboutthe canal and its future, this is really theonly way the Council can find our whatthe ordinary member of the Society wantsus to do. You can e.mail these to me ifyou wish, saves the cost of a stamp!

A few brief words about me for those ofyou who have not run into me at CanalFestivals or other gatherings. I have been amember of HCS for 19 years, I wasn’t inat the beginning mainly because I didn’tknow anything about the aims of theSociety until fellow second row HughWainwright brought me down to theAshton Canals Festival in 1982. I joinedthe Society at that weekend although I

have only the haziest of memories aboutactually joining due to the problem ofneeding to check on the activities ofCAMRA at frequent intervals.

I have played Rugby for most of my life,currently being president of veterans clubEGOR for whom I still turn out. I am veryinvolved in Rugby administration, beingon the Lancashire County Cup committeeand Secretary to a league in South Lanca-shire and Cheshire.

I have had a bus pass for a couple of yearsbut am still working part time, my wifekeeps frightening me with a list of the jobsthat want doing round the house when Ifinally stop, so I keep on going!

My wife, Ann, was also on the Festivalcommittees at various times and mydaughter Fiona was Sales Officer for theSociety until the arrival of the two Grand-children curbed her activities. George, theoldest, was at one time the youngestindividual member of HCS

I am somewhat non politically correct.Over the years articles I have written forthis magazine have been bowdlerised bythe various editors to avoid universalcastigation and gatherings of ladies andothers outside the offices waving bannersand throwing stones. I have no doubthowever that as Dr Bob is still keeping awatchful eye over the production some ofmy articles will be toned down for humanconsumption. Incidentally can I say that Iam highly delighted that Bob Gough is stillwith Plink as Assistant Editor, it is hisdraughtsmanship and use of electronicmethods that makes the pages easy andinteresting to read, as well as his eye for agood picture.

cont’d ...


Chairman’s Remarks

cont’d ... One theme I will be pushing forthe first few issues is one I want your helpwith. This is the simple one of where dowe go now? The canal is open, boats aremoving, I have been through the tunnel(although I haven’t yet got the ‘T’ shirt!),what is the future of the Society. Do wego along en masse and join Margaret andJohn Fletcher in their efforts to restore theManchester Bolton and Bury Canal, or dowe form a new Society to restore theManchester and Salford Junction canal -now that would be FUN! Restorationwould only mean demolishing GranadaStudios, part of G Mex and tunnellingunder the Bridgewater Hall!

My personal thoughts are that we go backto our beginnings and become a pressuregroup once again. There is a lot wrongwith the restored canal, locks that cannot

take full sized boats, lock gates that needrefurbishment, pounds that need dredgingand towpaths that need maintenance. TheSociety still has a vital role in pushing thevarious official bodies whose responsibilitythese jobs are, to make sure they aredone. Over the past few years the Societyhas of necessity become a partner with allthese official bodies to work together inensuring restoration. I do not think weshould sever all these links, quite thecontrary, but I do think we must be ableto stand back and point out our friends’problems. If they do not recognise thequiet word in the ear, then a full scalecampaign needs to be waged.

I await your feelings on this future of theSociety with interest.

Brian [email protected]

From the firstthrough passage onthe 9th of April, tothe official openingon the 3rd ofSeptember, wehave seen celebra-

tions along the whole Canal. Each eventhad its own character. Councillor AnnDenham, Mayor of Kirklees, opened thenew tunnels in Huddersfield from herown boat ‘Ogley’ on the 1st of May,Councillor Christine Wheeler, Mayor ofOldham, performed the opening cer-emony for the Canal in Saddleworth onthe 18th of May and George Greener,Chairman of British Waterways, openedthe Standedge Visitor Centre on the 25thof May. Certainly the most spectacularopening event was the StalybridgeRennaisance Festival on the 28th of May,

which celebrated both a reopened canaland rejuvenated Town Centre.

Our turn came with the Society’s LinkDay on the 21st of July when we invitedevery member to a long celebrationcentred around Tunnel End. I felt that thenatural venue for ‘our day’ must be at thenew Visitor Centre. Over 270 membersattended and with coach trips to key sitesled by council members, trips into thetunnel for every attendee, a barbecue andentertainment; the day was deemed agreat success. Perhaps the most histori-cally significant event of the day was thefirst public through tunnel trip from Eastto West and then West to East.

British Waterways’ contribution to thesuccess of the day was to make the VisitorCentre ‘open house’ to the Society andmaking the new passenger module


available for our exclusive use. DavidFletcher (BW’s CEO) was as excited as Iwas to undertake this first official throughpassage. I am very grateful to DerekCochrane and his team for ensuring thatthe day ran smoothly and was such asuccess. The contribution and enthusiasmof his Tunnel End team matched our thrillof celebrating what has become a uniquestory of 27 years of campaigning.

After only three weeks notice of theevent, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles,opened the whole Canal on 3rd Septem-ber. He arrived by Royal train at Marsdenand after greeting our trip boat crews atLock 42, the Royal party, led by DavidFletcher, walked to the Visitor Centre. Hewas introduced to all our partners andafter briefly meeting members of Council,I accompanied him with Chris Wilkinson,Judith Donovan, David Fletcher andDerek Cochrane for a very short trip intothe Tunnel.

David Fletcher welcomed His RoyalHighness to the Huddersfield NarrowCanal and reminded him that in the next12 months, more miles of canal will havebeen opened than in any period ofhistory. The Prince of Wales paid tributeto our organisation and noted that theTunnel now links, by navigable waterway,two sections of Yorkshire. A splendid day.

This opening is not the final event. InOctober, Kirklees Council will celebratethe Canal with festivities (yet to beannounced) and next year, the IWANational Rally will be held on theHuddersfield, following our rally inStalybridge. So, 2001 has seen our dreamcome true. Next year will see the first fullyear of operation of our Canal. There areteething troubles to overcome. Therehave been some minor difficulties tonavigation. But it is OPEN!

I thank all members past and present foryour support. We have seen the Impossi-ble Restoration completed. Without you,the Canal would have been lost foreverand the Tame and Colne valleys poorerfor that. The canal system will grow by10% over the next year or so. Withoutthe example shown by the Society, it isdoubtful if some of the schemes wouldhave happened. More will follow, andyou can be justly proud of your contribu-tion.

However, we still need you. We have aunique role to play in our Alliance withBritish Waterways and we can now allenjoy the fruits of our labours. I hope tosee many of you again over the comingyears.

David Sumner

STOP PRESSWe are delighted to report that onceagain Pennine Link has won the Tom RoltAward for the best Canal Society and Trustmagazine for 2001.

The Award was presented at this year’sIWA National Rally at Milton Keynes andSociety Treasurer, John Sully, was on handto accept the accolade.

It is of special significance to our previousEditor, Ken Wright, who now has theunique status of winning the Awardoutright three years running.

Members can be forgiven for thinking thisis becoming something of a habit as theSociety has won, or jointly won, the TomRolt Award a total of eight times in the tenyears of entering.

Bob Gough


Once Upon a Time ....As members may be aware, HCS Restoration Ltd Chairman,Keith Gibson, is currently working on the second draft of hisbook about the history of the Huddersfield Canal Society.Keith’s notes give a fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ account ofthe Society’s role in achieving the impossible! Once upon atime, a Canal Society was formed .....

1974 - HCS formedBob Dewey approached the Chairman ofInland Waterways Association (IWA) WestRiding Branch, Margaret Sinfield. Shearranged meetings with Bob, JohnMaynard and Ralph Kirkham. Theydecided to form Huddersfield CanalSociety (HCS) with John Maynard asChairman and Bob Dewey as Secretary.First step - a public meeting at the ZetlandHotel, Huddersfield attended by a largenumber of people, particularly ex-PeakForest Canal Society types who had beeninvolved in restoring the Peak Forest andthe Ashton Canals, and who wanted tostart digging as soon as possible. Butvolunteers could not restore the Hudders-field Narrow.

They saved the canal from further de-struction. How?

Publicity - Dave FinnisEvents - Festivals etc. People such asPeter Freeman (who invented ‘TheDiggles’) etc.

Constant news exposure led to largeSociety membership, and political clout.

Local authorities (LAs) embodied canalprotection in their planning policies.Here, I think that they were almostknocking on an open door: The LAs weredesperate for something to relieve

problems of the valleys, and had fewother brilliant ideas; then Inland Water-ways Amenity Advisory Council (IWAAC)produced a report recommending theyadopt this policy. That, possibly morethan HCS, might have persuaded them.

1979 - A Change of gearHCS became a Company and a registeredCharity. John Maynard was replaced aschairman by Chris Farrar. Decided ondemonstration projects at two key loca-tions:

Restoration of the locks atUppermill - by volunteers.

Restoration and opening of thecottages at Tunnel End as a VisitorCentre.

Took time to organise - work started in1981.

Uppermill - meetings with British Water-ways (BW) (David Pyrah was influential inallowing ‘an exploratory dig’), withGreater Manchester Council (GMC),re future maintenance, and with theParish Council (including a public meetingin Uppermill Civic Hall) under the controlof David Sumner. When work started,Graham Maskell was in charge of workingparties, with Laurence Sullivan, TrevorEllis, Bob Dewey and others as regular


workers. I even handled a spade occa-sionally (not very effectively!)

Tunnel End Cottages - similar process ledby Trevor Ellis with Bob Dewey and others- persuaded West Yorkshire CountyCouncil to take on the project in partner-ship with HCS, although the Society’sinvolvement naturally reduced as theCentre became established.

The Job Creation SchemesDavid Sumner persuaded me to take onthe task of developing larger restorationschemes. At a time with 3 million unem-ployed, Job Creation schemes were theobvious way to go. They were being usedelsewhere, but not on BW canals. Butfirst I wrote the Jobs Report, calculatingthat a restored canal would create about260 jobs (mainly related to work on thecanal, boats and serving boaters etc.).This was the key to gaining credibility.

Marsden - SlaithwaiteI produced a glossy report recommendingrestoration from Marsden to Slaithwaite,with help from Dave Finnis (photos), andSue McBride (graphics) based on a surveycarried out by me, Dave Finnis, BobDewey, Trevor Ellis and Eric Crosland. Iwrote letters to Kirklees Planning, WestYorkshire Recreation & Arts (who weneeded to set up the scheme), to all MPs,MEPs, Local Councillors, and members ofthe appropriate committees at Kirkleesand West Yorkshire. David Sumner andTrevor Ellis led the lobbying, Dave Finniscycled the length of the canal with JohnSully, then Chairman of West YorkshireRecreation & Arts Committee, who thenorganised a trip to see the similar schemeon the Rochdale for West Yorkshire andKirklees members. HCS’s proposals wereagreed to remarkably quickly, and work

started that eventually reached right downto Huddersfield.

Ashton - StalybridgeA much more contorted history. DavidSumner (or a substitute such as me!) wasattending the Tame Valley Officers Work-ing Party on a regular basis, and talking toplanners, especially at GMC, and thethought developed that this stretch mightbe possible for volunteers after Uppermill.Waterways Recovery Group (WRG) wereasked to investigate a ‘Big Dig’ approach.Alan Jervis worked out what had to bedone and costs - but this had to beabandoned because water supply had tobe maintained to the Peak Forest andAshton canals, and I set about writing asecond glossy report, with Alan providingthe technical information and photos.Similar publicity, lobbying etc. led byDavid Sumner, led to GMC deciding tocarry out the scheme using Derelict LandGrant (DLG) money. Long discussionsbetween them and Department of theEnvironment (DoE) - failed. John Hey(Tameside Council Manpower ServicesCommission (MSC) co-ordinator) wasdesperately looking for projects, and wasintroduced to David Sumner by DuncanMcIlroy (Tame Valley Warden). From thismeeting developed the Tameside CanalsDevelopment Association (TCDA) - aninformal grouping of Tameside Council,Peak Forest Canal Society (in its dyingstages) and HCS. A Tameside Councillor,Frank Ruffley was Chairman (and stayedwith us for a long time after leaving thecouncil!). David and myself were HCSrepresentatives. I produced reports andwork programmes. Steve Whitby ap-pointed as Manager. Work began on PeakForest Canal, and on valley environmentalprojects, but we were not able to start on


the Huddersfield Narrow until AlecThomson (BW Special EmploymentSchemes Manager - and an ally) was ableto negotiate with BW unions to allow asecond MSC scheme to start, and GMChad agreed to enter into a maintenanceagreement. All this took time, duringwhich I agreed with GMC planners thatthey would put in €45,000 pa for plant/materials costs etc. Eventually workstarted, and the canal was restored toAshton. To take on this more demandingwork, a Company was required -Tameside Canals Ltd (which was set up asa subsidiary of HCS).

Uppermill infilled stretchAs part of the Uppermill scheme, BobDewey arranged design of, and planningpermission to build, a new channelbetween Wool Road and the BrownhillVisitor Centre, where the canal had beeninfilled for road widening. I scratchedaround to try to get grants (my file ispretty thick!) with a lot of encouragingnoises, but no real success, until suddenly,out of the blue, during discussions reAshton-Stalybridge project, GMC offeredto take over the scheme. They did, and itwas finished shortly after they were‘Thatchered’ to death.

Diggle - Locks 31 & 32WI obtained permission for volunteers tomove to these locks after Uppermill.They became almost a lifetime obsessionto Trevor Ellis who managed their restora-tion, with such HCS notables as EricCrosland. A long process, because theywere largely rebuilt, unlike the ‘cosmetic’approach at Uppermill, and becausevolunteers were thinner on the ground,feeling less needed now work was movingahead on the canal.

The Joint CommitteeJim Saunders of WS Atkins approachedthe Society with a suggestion that a CostBenefit study was needed to bring in realmoney. He knew that we were thinkingon similar lines, because he obtainedcopies of my earlier reports whilst re-searching for the study they were doingon the Montgomery Canal. It was con-venient for him to meet David and myself,usually at The Old Bridge in Holmfirthwhere he stayed when doing other workfor Atkins in this part of the world. Wesaw this as an opportunity to get the twoCounty Councils, and three DistrictCouncils together. Jim wrote a glossyreport for this meeting (with some helpfrom David & me). Chaired by BW ‘oldschool’ Director of Leisure, Bob Cotton,who, despite his natural wish to playdown any BW involvement, saw that itwould be better if the Local Authoritieswere more involved. It was a success inthat it led to the forming of the Hudders-field Narrow Joint Committee - but didn’tget Jim the work he hoped for.

The GMC GrantAll of this needed money. The Societyhad accumulated rather more than mostsimilar societies from Festivals, sponsoredwalks, pub crawls etc. and sponsorship(lock gates, “Benjamin Outram” etc).Enough for us to feel confident we couldtake over TCDA as Tameside Canals Ltd.- but not enough to achieve real progressunless the GMC grants continued. Idiscussed this with Steve Ankers (GMCplanner), and (probably more important!)David Sumner talked to Councillor PeterScott (Chairman GMC Planning). It wasagreed that GMC would endow a Trust tocontinue work. I produced a 5 yearprogramme based on assumption that


MSC schemes continued. GMC costedbridges, and we agreed on a figure of€1.2m which with interest, could pro-duce a useful amount of restoration.Their legal people eventually concludedthat they could not legally set up a Trust,and that the only possible recipient wasHCS. So - a few days before the demiseof the County Council we received acheque. That was the key to everythingthat followed. Ex- County CouncillorsJohn Sully, Allen Brett, Peter Scott & GarthPratt came on to HCS Council - to‘safeguard’ the money. (John and Allenare still there!)

Wakefield RoadWest Yorkshire County Council also left anendowment, in the form of the restorationof Wakefield Road Bridge - a 6 lanehighway bridge was always going to be amajor obstacle - so this present, largelythe result of John Sully and Garth Pratt’smachinations at the County Council, wasa huge benefit.

The Benefits Study & StalybridgeAfter the County’s disappearance, I beganthe first of many west side Work Pro-grammes (now with increasing help fromSteve Whitby) that were put to the JointCommittee (as the Job creation schemeregimes changed), Tameside Canals beganwork between Stalybridge and Mossley,and we persuaded the Committee that weshould invest some of the GMC money ina Benefits Study that could be used asindependent evidence (unlike my Jobsreport that was clearly partial). L&RLeisure Consultants were appointed byHCS, and eventually produced a report -that more or less confirmed what I hadsaid - but I couldn’t get them to look atthe jobs and benefits likely to result from

an improved waterside environment(which irritated me, as I thought I hadwritten the brief for their appointment toinclude that!) They also suggested theStandedge Experience in some detail, andthat HCS needed full time staff (which weknew!). At the same time, Jim Saundersgot a partial reward for his efforts whenHCS appointed them to look at theoptions for a route through Stalybridge.Not surprisingly, Tameside Council chosea version of the River Route (they couldn’trisk alienating Delta Metals, and MillwoodRubber - two large employers whosebuildings blocked the route of the canal.)

Employment TrainingThe Job creation schemes ran into difficul-ties as government put more and moreemphasis on training, and less on massag-ing the unemployment figures. Kirkleesside stepped the issue as much as possi-ble, by having few trainees, and findingthe money for full time staff, we couldn’tdo that with Tameside Canals, where thepolitical clout of being one of the largestand most successful MSC schemesmattered in Tameside - so we were sooninto training in a big way, even filling aroom in our office with computers toteach computing skills, because we had toprovide a range of skills to stay in thegame. But this was costing the Society -work slowed on site as we were divertingstaff to training, and the wage bill wasastronomical. European money seemedthe answer - if we could get it.

Mike ThompsonDavid Sumner and I realised that wecould not do all that was needed to applyfor European money without the full timehelp suggested by L&R’s report.I approached Mike Thompson, an ex-


colleague who had been the CountyPlanning Officer in South Yorkshire beforebeing forced into early retirement. Hetook on the task with energy and wisdomunseen before in HCS whilst it relied onvolunteers, befriending the appropriatepeople in the DoE regional office, andgiving them confidence in the Society.Then we appointed Frank Smith - as ageneral factotum etc. Mike ‘trained’Steve Whitby in the black arts of grantapplications. Between them they broughtin relatively small sums (by later stand-ards) but enough to keep work going.

Standedge TunnelMike’s biggest achievement was to get theOve Arup survey of the tunnel off theground. Again by getting it 50% Europeanfunded, and with money from the SportsCouncil - so the local authorities and theSociety did not have to dig too deep intheir pockets. This took him several yearsof quiet slogging away - and noisy inter-vention, such as presentations to MPs inthe House of Commons (aided andabetted by David Sumner).

The Oldham MSC schemeOver a period of five or six years I negoti-ated with Oldham planners to start asecond west side MSC scheme - based onsurvey work done years before by a groupI had set up under Peter Freeman, that wehad been discouraged from producing asa third glossy report at the time becauseBW clearly would not have a thirdscheme on the canal. Eventually this ledto the start of work on a small scheme inGreenfield (with HCS paying for plant &materials) - but it was a failure, becausethey simply could not get trainees in‘wealthy’ Saddleworth. Eventually weagreed to merge the two schemes, and

change the name of Tameside Canals Ltd.to HCS Restoration Ltd. I took over asChairman shortly afterwards, when FrankRuffley’s health took a turn for the worse.

Derelict Land GrantChanges to the rules allowing DLG to beused for canal restoration made re-opening almost a certainty. Between us,Mike Thomson, Steve Whitby and myselfsorted out what had to be done, who topersuade, and talked to the DoE and thenwith Oldham and Tameside who acceptedyet another work programme we hadwritten. That really was it - except theDLG scheme was transferred to a newquango, English Partnerships, and theywanted more up to date proof. So I wroteanother brief for consultants, and Coopers& Lybrand were appointed by the Societyto look again at the benefits. This time,there were things to see on the ground,and they interviewed developers andlandowners, and produced an astoundingnumber of jobs as being likely to result.

So we got the money for the Diggle flightof locks, road bridges in Saddleworth etc.But not much in Kirklees, where theCouncil didn’t want the Society to ‘help’(or meddle?), and where the DoERegional Office were putting their moneyinto coalfield regeneration. In fact mostof the DLG we got in Kirklees wasobtained by the Society! The KirkleesMSC scheme reached the end of its life -but hadn’t quite finished work. Lock 24Eat Slaithwaite was unfinished, as was Lock1E. Kirklees appointed HCS Restorationto tackle Lock 1, and, then Lock 23E, andwe obtained DLG to complete Lock 24E(which was a sod, with its guillotine gate! -Ken Wright spent hours and hours withBW engineers, and our consultant tryingto sort it out!) I actually cut the tape! -


Probably the one and only part of thecanal that will be formally opened by anHCS member!

The Millennium Scheme

As time went by on the DLG schemes, theSociety depended more and more onSteve Whitby and professional advisorslike Mike Thompson (although Mike wasnot too keen on being paid - he thoughtwe had better things to do with ourmoney.) How to go for the big schemeswas the next issue. The Lottery had comeinto being, and English Partnerships madeit clear that they would not grant-aid100% of the large schemes. We looked atwhat was possible, and decided to have acrack at the Millennium lottery - inagreement with the local authorities andBW. But EP jump-started us (and theRochdale) to go for the first round,whereas we wanted a few more monthsto develop the bid in the second round.It was a shambles! For the first time, wewere not properly prepared. Tamesidedid their own thing with a bid forStalybridge, and HCS submitted a bid forthe rest of the canal. Failed - not enoughdetail. Funnily enough the almost identi-cal Rochdale bid succeeded! (A differentcase officer at the Millennium Commis-sion!) So we tried again with a jointapproach, and Tameside eventuallyabandoning the Stalybridge River route -with a lot of heavy weight lobbying.The huge amount of number crunchingwas done by Steve Whitby who, quitecorrectly, said that this would mean theend of his job. Consultants for everythingyou can imagine were appointed - theHCS money came in very useful, andeventually we succeeded. Then we hadto spend another two years on reports,surveys etc., etc. to get English Partner-

ships to honour their ‘informal offer’ tomatch Millennium Commission money.Apart from attending loads of meetings(with Ken Wright chairing the engineersgroup), lobbying and writing cheques,HCS was sidelined now - the big boystook over! And the rest, as they say, ishistory!

David Sumner and I are on the CanalCompany Board - where we hear whatwas in the papers the week before, andhave no more real say in what happensthan our colleagues the Councillors.But that was inevitable I suppose.The saddest thing was that, despite a lotof effort by Ken Wright and myself, wecouldn’t keep HCS Restoration going, andhad to sack most of our staff, includingSteve Whitby - who probably put as muchas anyone into the Millennium bid.

Keith GibsonChairman, HCS Restoration Ltd

Footnote:

An important thing that needs to bestressed is that, despite arguments androws, HCS was a team effort. What DavidSumner did best, or Mike Thompson did,or Steve Whitby did, or Ken Wright did, oreven or I did, could not have happenedwithout a large membership giving usclout, without huge amounts of publicityand PR, and without Festivals and tripboats etc. ensuring the message got acrossto the public, politicians and fundingagencies, which allowed us to realise theImpossible Dream.


Ken Wright sorts out a bit of history.

An awful lot of the media hype since there-opening of the canal in May, andincluding the BBC video, has centred onthe “€30 million cost of restoring thecanal” and generally giving the impressionthat it all started with the grant of Millen-nium money in December 1996.

Let me remind you, as if you need thereminder, that a great deal of work wasdone in the years between l982, whenthe first bits of exploratory digging beganin Uppermill, and Millennium “boomtime” in 1997/98.

I have no doubt many will want to correctme but this is my list of that now oftenforgotten great effort. And remember, ALLthe work listed here was carried out in aperiod when people in high places werestill certain, in their own minds, thatthrough navigation would never fullymaterialize.

The motivation was to provide work inJob Creation Schemes, where the labourcame very cheaply. And the necessarydrive came from Ian Preston on the Eastside and Steve Whitby on the West side.Also a large amount of work was done byour own volunteers, where the labourcosts were even less!

The Years in BetweenThis makes the theoretical cost of restor-ing the canal more like €50 million, whichother restoration groups might bear inmind when doing ‘back of an envelope’estimates!

THE LIST

ALL lock restoration except:- East Side 1, 2, 3.- West Side 4, 5, 6, 7, 21, 24.

ALL dredging except:- East Side, Huddersfield end.- West Side, Wade Lock to Mann’sWharf; Diggle.

Bailey Street Bridge, StalybridgeStaley Wharf and channelHeyrod channelGrove Road BridgeScout Tunnel to Lock 12 landslipMann’s Wharf Bridge renewalFrenches Bridge renewalWool Road concrete channelWool Road slipwayTranshipment WarehouseTunnel End CottagesGuillotine Gate (23E)Pack Horse Bridge (23E)Milnsbridge BridgeWickes’ Channel, HuddersfieldWakefield Road Bridge, Huddersfield.

Ken Wright



A Royal Seal of Approval

Well, the canal is definitely nowreopened! On Monday the 3rdSeptember, HRH Prince Charlescame to Tunnel End, walked downthe towpath, had a trip into thetunnel and unveiled a plaquecommemorating the event.The opening was organised by BritishWaterways and was done at very shortnotice as a gap in HRH’s schedule cameup during a visit to Yorkshire. Securityconsiderations also mean that notice ofvisits is generally kept to a minimum. Thesize of the Visitor Centre and the numberof organisations that had to be repre-sented kept the number of guests down.It was finally decided that 7 members of

each group, the three Local Authorities,the Millennium Commission, EnglishPartnerships, British Waterways, engineer-ing groups and of course HCS, should bein the presentation group. Volunteer Co-ordinator, Frank Smith, submitted severalbrief biographies to BW and they decidedthat our group should consist of ChairmanDavid Sumner, Vice Chairman Trevor Ellis,Restoration Chairman Keith Gibson, PressOfficer David Finnis, Membership Secre-tary Josephine (Jo) Young, Volunteer Co-ordinator, Frank Smith (with a foot in bothcamps - BW & HCS) and me, PennineLink Editor, Brian Minor.

On the waterfront ... a crowd looks on as Prince Charles isshown along the towpath (sadly foregoing the

Society’s Water Taxi, Ed) on the right fromMarsden Station to Standedge Visitor Centre.

Photo by kind permission of Huddersfield Daily Examiner.


Volunteer Society Boat Crew (left to right) Mark Nield, Bob Reed and Ronnie Rose are presented to HRH Prince Charles.

You never know who you’ll meet on the towpath!Mr & Mrs Wood aboard their narrowboat ‘Mary Ellen’ can’t believe their good fortune in meeting Prince Charles.

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After walkng the towpath, the Prince is clearly impressed by Vinnie the Vole’s fish that got away!

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The Prince, entourage and media head for cover in the Standedge Visitor Centre

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The day startedvery early, as theRoyal visit was dueto commence at9.30, it meantevery personofficially invited tothe opening had tobe at the VisitorCentre by 9.00a.m. and forsomeone like me,with a 32 miledrive to get there,meant the alarmwas set for some-what before 6.00a.m. The day waslike all Marsdenweather - wet!Prince Charles wasdue to arrive at Marsden station by theRoyal Train and the line at the station wasbeing patrolled by what looked like halfRailtrack’s staff! The Canal Society’s boatcrews were running two newly paintedtrip boats and all the crews were in theirnew all-weather gear and looking verysmart. I got a lift to the VisitorCentre in one of the boatsas I didn’t fancy atowpath walk in thepouring rain. Wesigned in at theCentre and weregiven a namebadge, an itiner-ary and a com-memorativeplaque. The plaquewas in a very swish boxwhich I felt was a little bitunnecessary. We were told not to standwatching the door for HRH to come in as

he didn’t likepeople looking asthough they werewaiting for him!The Royal Trainwent past theVisitor Centre - allten carriages of it -and 15 minuteslater HRH plusLord Lieutenantplus Kirklees Mayorand a host of BWand security peoplecame walkingdown the towpathwith umbrellas up.The Prince spoketo many of thepeople waiting inthe rain outside the

Centre before coming in and joining us.

With a cup of tea in his hand he circu-lated, shook hands with everyone andspoke to each group for several minutes,Frank was wearing an Army Regimentaltie, which the Prince recognised, I gavehim a copy of the last Plink and he

seemed to be impressedwhen I told him that it

was produced every3 months. Heseemed to bevery well briefedon what washappening andseemed toenjoying himself

with us. Theimpression he left us

with was that he is thesort of guy who would be good

company to have a couple of beers with!

As read in the best circles;Prince Charles with Pennine Link and tea.

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The Prince, always keen to meet the public, negotiates a seaof brollies and waterproofs. Undeterred by the Marsden

weather, the crowds enjoy the opportunity to get close to HisRoyal Highness and maybe have a word or two.

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Leaving the Visitor Centre, the Princewalked to the cottages, talking to as manyof the crowd as he could and shakingevery outstretched hand, this, still in thepouring rain. He boarded the tunnel boattogether with Chairman David Sumnerand BW’s C.E.O. David Fletcher and

The Prince boards British Waterways’ passenger module for a short trip into the Standedge Tunnel and once on board (below),BW’s trip guide Fred Carter (far left) checks on his special passengers, left to right, HRH Prince Charles, David Sumner, BW

CEO, David Fletcher and BW NW Region Manager, Derek Cochrane.

sundry large securitymen, one of whomstood on the back; Iwarned him to keephis head down in theTunnel! Earlier in themorning, policefrogmen had checkedin the Tunnel forobstructions. A shorttrip, with full com-mentary from BW’sFred Carter, took himinto the Tunnel.

After returning, theparty went on to the foot bridge where acanopy had been set up courtesy of theNational Trust, a speech from DavidFletcher (containing a quick mention ofHCS) a reply by the Prince, who had beenwell briefed by the Lord Lieutenant,saying that the Tunnel lead from one part

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of Yorkshire to another,greeted with rapture by theYorkshiremen in the crowdand stony silence by usLancastrians! He thenunveiled a plaque which willbe fixed to the Visitor Centrewall in the future. Then awave to the crowds, into awell polished car and away,approximately half an hourlater than planned.

The whole day had been a super exampleof well behaved informality with thePrince and the good crowd enjoyingthemselves. The only blot was right at theend when several of us tried to photo-graph the plaque unveiling, the securitymen became a little heavy handed, in factI thought I was going to have my collar feltat one stage! I think that this was causedby positioning the ‘getaway cars’ too nearthe plaque, if they had been 10 or 15yards further up the lane there would

have been no problems. Even the TVpeople had to do a little bit of re-enact-ment to film the actual unveiling.

The whole morning had been wellorganised, the canal is well and trulylaunched, thanks to the staff at the VisitorCentre and of course thanks to our RoyalVisitor - but can I remind him that whenhe becomes King he also takes the title ofDuke of Lancaster!

Brian Minor

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The Prince unveils a waymarkerto commemorate the officialopening of the HuddersfieldNarrow Canal before BW’s DavidFletcher presents him with aframed watercolour of TunnelEnd and, poised on top of thep.a. speaker to the left, a weightyblock of Standedge rock(Millstone Grit) suitably labelledfor the occasion!


Horseboating Society NewsSue Day, Chairperson of the Society writes:

Achievements 2001 on theHuddersfield Narrow:1st horsedrawn cargo since 1940’s:Load - 3 ton girder, bricks and beerNb Olive with Bonnie/Queenie

1st boat passage since 1948:Nb Maria with Bonny/Queenie

1st cargo over the summit and throughStandedge Tunnel since 1921:Nb Lilith with Queenie

1st horsedrawn hotelboat sincerestoration:Butty Castle with Bonny/Queenie

A Special Edition of the Hudders-field Daily Examiner:The local newspaper has produced aspecial supplement devoted to theHuddersfield Narrow Canal. The largefront cover colour picture is of nb Mariaand Queenie with crew. Copies can beobtained from the Examiner Office:01484 430000 for 70p and p+p. (Wealso have a stock at the Society offices, Ed)

Talks:Sue Day gave a talk from her wheelchair(recovering from a broken leg, Ed) at theSaddleworth Museum abouthorseboating. Thanks to all those whohave helped by sending slides and videoto make this possible. Proceeds went tothe Horseboating Society.

Future Horseboating Talks:2001

November 2nd, Sue Day atIWA, Stoke-on-Trent, Red Bull, 8pm

November 16th, Sue Day atBoat Museum Society, Ellesmere Port BoatMuseum, 7.30pm

December 10th, Sue Day atIWA Manchester, Dukes 92, Castlefield,Manchester, 8.00pm

2002

February 6th, Sue Day atTudor Cruising Club, Ukrainian Club,Audenshaw, Manchester

February 12th, Sue Day atIWA Chester, Ellesmere Port BoatMuseum

For further information about joining theHorseboating Society, please contact theMembership Secretary, Ray Butler, on0161 221 3062.

Intrepid horseboating woman, Sue Day, isforced to put her feet up after her

unfortunate leg breaking accident on thetowpath. Others may say she is taking her

role as Chairperson a little too literaly!Bri

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Letters to the EditorFirst one this issue from founder memberMargaret Sinfield enclosing press cuttings.

I expect you’ll get umpteen cuttingsidentical to these, but better lots thannone. Plink is excellent. It keeps us farflung folk up-to-date You do a splendidjob; please keep it up.

Best wishes,Margaret Sinfield

Praise for my predecessor Ken, hope youwill still be saying nice things about Plinkafter I have done my worst! Incidentallymany thanks for the cuttings, to everyonewho sends them in, a big ‘thank you’.I cannot see every paper and am boundto miss something in the ones I do see.

Dear Mr Wright,

Many thanks for several years ago drawingour attention in Plink to cruises on theManchester Ship Canal. Yesterday weeventually got round to making the trip onMV Royal Daffodil and had a mostenjoyable time. As you retire from beingEditor I hope you find time to go boating(In Capitals) - it does seem that that aspectof things often takes a back seat in mattersof canal restoration.

N. Sutcliffe (1883)

Yes, Mr Sutcliffe, now that Ken has beenput out to pasture we all hope he indulgeshimself a little. I went on the Ship Canalcruise a few years ago, it was veryenjoyable, a one way trip to Liverpool andthen back by coach to Manchester.

Now something rather more disturbingfrom our founder Chairman

Dear Sir,

May I first of all congratulate the organisersof Link Day. I had a really enjoyable timeand met many old friends; well done all.(Even got the weather right!)

On a more serious note and followingMike Lucas’s piece in issue No. 137. Mikewrote to BW regarding the width of WadeLock and received a reply which- amongstother things - stated “The cost of restoringthe canal to 7ft 1 in would be €20M “ Iwould like to know how this figure wascome by; is it an inspired guess or acalculated estimate. After all, the locks upto Wade lock were passed by Tyseley andwithout doing a detailed survey, we do notknow what is involved. Is a completerebuild required or only one wall, or is itjust an odd high spot knocking off.

The letter from BW also states “As youknow the Canal Society established 6ft10ins as the optimum dimension back in1974” I was more involved in the Societyin those days than I am now and have norecollection of any such arrangement. Anyway would the mighty BWB (as it was then)have taken any notice of our fledglingSociety? Actually this was the time that theywrote to us and said “I am afraid that therecan be no question of restoring this canalfor through navigation”. Can BWsubstantiate their claim?

Finally do we now meekly accept BW’stacit decision to do nothing about ourNarrow canal or work towards the eventualrestoration to full width so in the futureALL Narrow Boats can freely cruise ourunique waterway?


Tameside Festival 1999

What do other members think?

What are the Council going to do?

Yours faithfully,J.K. Maynard

I have seen copies of e.mails between Kenand members of user groups (unfortunatelynot for publication) where BW have saidthat they have restored to 7ft 4ins, but thatHCS only restored to 6ft 10ins. ALL lockrestoration done by HCS Restoration Ltdstarting with Lock 2 in Stalybridge was doneunder the eagle eye of BW and to theirspecifications. Tyseley certainly had noproblems in passing through the locksrestored by the Society on the way toUppermill. Wade Lock was restored bycontractors under the control of BWengineers.

[email protected] writes

After the canal opening I was lookingforward more than usual to the next issueof Plink. I had been around inHuddersfield on opening day andafterwards and it seemed to me that HCSmembers would be getting a proper reporton the shambles which unfolded.

Of course, the opening is a fantasticachievement which is rightly celebrated inthe Celebratory Issue, but can we be told aproper tale about the problems?

On opening day there was hardly anywater and the progress of the openingboats was extremely slow. Many boatscould not get past the first lock andmoored overnight. Their water completelyvanished during the night and they werehigh and dry in the morning. TheHuddersfield Examiner reported that BWhad said that this was because boats wereonly travelling upstream and that therewould be no problems in normaloperation!

I work at Turnbridge and have spoken tomany boaters who have told terrible talesof water shortage, narrow places and adearth of facilities between Aspley andTunnel End. It appears that very littlethought has been given to the question ofwater supply.

I know that vandalism has always been aproblem, but could we members be toldabout it?

Alec Ramsden wrote an excellent letter tothe Examiner soon after the openingcomplaining, quite rightly, that the openinghad been conducted by the Great andGood and that HCS appeared to havebeen completely ignored.

He was also very critical of BW until theopening was imminent. Should this letternot have been printed in Plink becausemany members will not have seen it.

I have been to Tunnel End at Marsden andit was terribly disappointing. The”professionals” had clearly moved in and Ithought the exhibits very poor. There was aindifferent video about the canal,concentrated exclusively on ThomasTelford if I remember rightly. What about“The Impossible Dream”? If there was anymention of HCS in the displays I failed tosee it although there was a smallunmanned tent outside.

All in all, a real let-down for the Societywhich is absolutely tragic.

Do any other members have the sameviews about the lack of recognition of theHCS, and about the lack of information inPlink, or am I a lone, miserable, carping,old bugger?

Best regardsJohn Brierley, Huddersfield

John, you are not. There are many thingswrong with the reopened canal and it is nogood glossing over the faults. Every


member would like it to be perfect, but thetime scale of the final days of restorationmeant that many things were somewhatrushed. It is up to us to keep having agentle push at the authorities such as BWto get everything right, we can only do thecorrections through them and probablyfriendly co-operation will have betterresults than trying to bang heads.

[email protected] writes:

Sorry it’s taken so long to say a big thankyou to everyone who helped organise themembers day.

Linda and I had a great day. The coach tripwas excellent, it was so much easier to beescorted to all the sites with no worriesabout finding our way around an area stillnot fully familiar to us from Nottingham.Special thanks to our guide Frank Smithwho, if he’s made redundant would makea splendid tour guide.

We liked the trip into the tunnel, it was abit short but then the full three hourswould, we think, be too much on thosehard plastic seats, perhaps boaters areadvised to take a cushion from their ownboat.

The bar-b-q was excellent, please conveyour appreciation to the caterers. Westayed in the area for a few days and onSunday had a full day at the museum ofphotography at Bradford. Then Mondaywe returned to Huddersfield, where Lindalooked at the town shops and market whileKen took the train to Marsden and walkedback along the canal.

Ken and Linda Brockway,Nottingham

‘Thanks to Ken and Linda for yourappreciative letter, I thought everyoneinvolved in the organisation did a great job.(See article on page 34 )

Linda Lilley writes:

My family and I recently travelled along thelength of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal,on board our boat Sante. We left ourmoorings at Sawley and cruised up theTrent and Mersey, Macclesfield and PeakForest to reach your canal and thencontinued home along the HuddersfieldBroad, the Calder and Hebble, Aire andCalder and the River Trent. The journeytook us about a month (including a detourto Lincoln) and we had a great time.

We think that you have a marvellous canal- the scenery was stunning, the locks (manystone mason marks to see) and paddle gearwere most interesting and everyone wemet was so helpful and eager to talk abouthow the canal used to be and how thingshave changed. The men who took theboats through the tunnel were very kind,my 5 year old son was in tears as theytowed the boats through and the ‘tug man’cheered him up by suggesting we took aparticular timed trip boat into the tunnel,to see the headlights of the convoy. Wedid have a few problems with low water,stiff paddle gear, leaking gates and lack of‘rubbish facilities’ - but the BW staff werebrilliant and these were only minorproblems and did not distract from theglorious scenery and the ‘special feel’ wegot from travelling on such a recentlyopened gem of a canal. Our boat wentthrough the tunnel on 4th August and theman at the Marsden end told me we werethe 200th boat through (I think that wasreally to shut me up as I’d asked whatexact number we were!)

We’d be interested to know if and whenyou have some plaques for completing theHuddersfield Narrow, or certificates orwhatever! We just feel that it was such afantastic experience that we’d like to havesome other permanent reminder as well asthe many photos we took.


Sorry about such a long letter, but there isso much to say about the HuddersfieldNarrow. Good luck with everything, andwell done for all that you’ve done already.

Linda Lilley, Derbyshire

P.S. Do you allow ‘foreigners fromDerbyshire’ to join the Huddersfield CanalSociety?

Thanks Linda for the letter. After theproblems that, according to the Press, havebefallen all the boaters on the canal, itmakes us feel it was all worth while ingetting a letter like yours.

Council is discussing an ‘end to end’plaque and hopefully we will have somenews about one shortly. In the meantime,we do still have a good stock of the ‘StaleyWharf’ plaque, which was produced in1996 for boaters who made it to the thenlimit of navigation. At €6 incl. p&p, wewere pleased to receive your request fortwo plaques, Linda, and hope they havearrived safely.

As for members, we have them in mostparts of the world and Derbyshire, in spiteof their police force’s hatred of motorists,isn’t all that foreign! I will ask Jo Young tosend you a membership application form.

Ed Thickbroom writes:

First congratulations on the reopening ofthe Huddersfield Narrow. Very well done,

a triumph for enthusiasm over apathy.

I am an engineering student atHuddersfield University and have beenfollowing the restoration over the last twoyears with interest.

The problems with vandalism on someparts of the canal and the ongoingmaintenance could, I believe, be helped bya Sponsorship Scheme. This schemealready operates in Birmingham.

Essentially local people and organisationssponsor a section of canal, not necessarilyfinancially, but by investing time in thecanal, cleaning rubbbish, keeping an eyeout for vandals and other problems.

I have a British Waterways’ publicationwhich covers the scheme. I would beprepared to sponsor the canal from theUniversity up to the first tunnel at Bates, asI spend most of my working week alongthis section.

I will be joining your Society as soon as thenext installment of my student loanappears in a few weeks time!!

Again congratulations and very well done.

Ed Thickbroom ([email protected].)

An interesting idea Ed, which correspondsin part to our Volunteer Bureau activities:viz. the Canal Liaison Team. We will beinterested to see British Waterways’publication which will give us some insightsinto their sponsorship scheme.

The Stamford Group are delighted to beassociated with the Huddersfield Canal

Society and wish them continued success

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IWA NewsAugust 8th: IWA has given a grant of€8,000 to the Wilts and Berks Canal.This will help to fund a project officer.

Christmas card and gift list sent to me. Itincludes a card of the canal at Uppermill(at €3.30 for 10). Fame at last!

The IWA AGM is at Banbury in conjunc-tion with the Banbury boat gathering overthe weekend of September 28th, 29thand 30th.

The August bulletin gives various changesof personnel, well known local boatbuilder and Brass Band enthusiast, KevinWadsworth of Warble Narrow Boats hasbeen appointed as a new director toNational Waterways Festivals Ltd.

A new acquisition at Ellesmere Port, to berestored, is a West Country Keel used tocarry coal to Yorkshire Power stations.

An interestingstatistic is that oftheir membership;66% are boatowners, but only33% are interestedin restoration work.Must say thatstatistic surprisesme - over twothirds of the IWA membership are notinterested in restoration - yet all the boatowners I know are rational intelligentpeople, they cannot possibly NOT beinterested.

IWA has awarded a €3,000 grant to theDerby canal to help fund a navigableculvert near Wilmorton College Derby.

Report from the Manchester Branchnewsletter that next year will see thereopening of the Anderton Boat Lift andthe Rochdale Canal, the opening of theRibble Link, a Mersey River Festival, aRiver Weaver event and a Festival tosupport the Commonwealth Games (mainstadium between the Rochdale andAshton Canals)

In the same issue are the remarks of theRegional Chairman (who is also a mem-ber of HCS) John Fletcher about thereopening of the HNC ‘for those whoattempt it this year I caution them toremember what it was like trying to fightacross the Kennet and Avon Canal the firstyear that was open. Canals need regularboat traffic for a period before they bed in,even without the problems of innovativedesign which site constraints have forcedon this particular restoration. There are still

several sites Ineed to visit but Ihave been instru-mental in passingto the managersreports of difficul-ties and as a resultthe men in greenhave been sortingout initial difficul-

ties - with the greatest of good humourand courtesy’.

Rather interestingly, I see that the meetingof 8th April 2002 will be ‘The ImpossibleRestoration’ with the speaker being BW’svery own Julie Maund and she will bedescribing the restoration of the Hudders-field Narrow.

Brian Minor


A Grand Change of HeartAlthough this year’sSociety Annual GeneralMeeting at the WoolRoad TranshipmentWarehouse followed itsusual order of business,Council member, AlecRamsden (on the right),took advantage of theoccasion to make aspecial presentation tothe Society’s firstChairman, JohnMaynard.

John was presentedwith a framed letterfrom the BritishWaterways Board (below) dated 31st May,1974, in which the then Chief Estate Officer

A. J. Brawn gave a less than encouragingview on the possibility of restoring the

Huddersfield Narrow Canal ina reply to Bob Dewey,Secretary of the fledglingHuddersfield Canal Society.

But times and attitudes change,and after a long, hard struggle,the spirit of partnership haswon through.

British Waterways, inpartnership with the localauthorities of Tameside,Oldham and Kirklees, and theCanal Society, under theauspices of the HuddersfieldCanal Company, have managedthe final €30m project tocomplete the restoration of theNarrow to through navigation.

A grand change of heart thathas enabled the Society torealise its Impossible Dream.

Bob Gough

“I am afraid there can be noquestion of restoring this Canalfor through navigation ...”


Canal Society Link DayThe opening of the canal wascelebrated by the Society with a ‘LinkDay’ on the 21st of July.All members were invited, though there wasthe proviso that only 250 could beaccommodated. In the event some 270people paid their €5.00 and joined in the fun.This €5.00 was the best value I have seen for avery long time! The event was heavilysubsidised by the Society and one or twonameless sponsors.

It started with a gathering at Marsden railwayStation, where we were met by a fleet ofcoaches. The VIP’s and some of the Councilmembers (of whom I was one) were to go thefull length of the Tunnel, other coaches tookSociety members on a tour of the canal withguides who knew what had happened at eachplace and knew (most) of the answers.

I was on the return trip from Diggle toMarsden, so our party waited whilst the firstgroup was taken to Tunnel End for theinaugural trip in BW’s Passenger Modulethrough the tunnel. While they were goingthrough, we were first taken to Huddersfield,were Garth Pratt gave us chapter and verse ofthe building of the Wakefield Road bridge.On, then, to Slaithwaite where we walked thelength of the restored canal through the villageand had a cup of tea at the MoonrakerFloating Tea-room. Back into the coach to the

summit, pausing to look (from the road) at therestored Red Brook Engine house and then onto Wool Road for a quick inspection andfinally to Stalybridge for a walk up through thetown, accompanied by Pete Rawson fromTameside Engineers’ Department. Interestingly,our party counted amongst its number someof the original Society members; firstChairman John Maynard, original SecretaryBob Dewey and Derek Walker, who did theoriginal survey through Stalybridge. Derekpointed out that the Canal had actually notbeen put in the position he hadrecommended twenty odd years ago!Then off of to Diggle for the tunnel passage.

The trip took three and a half hours and I haveto say that Fred Carter (BW) has really foundhis niche as guide on the trip!

We were about half an hour late arriving andthought we would have missed the speeches,but David Sumner must have realised this anddelayed things slightly, thereby saving ourdisappointment! The Marsden Band weredriven into the Warehouse by the elements,but they were excellent entertainment bothinside as well as out.

The BBQ was rather slow in service; I thinkthe caterers hadn’t realized that everyonewould want feeding at the same time. Thisled to an enormous queue and some ratherunderdone kebabs! However, everyone wasfed, finally and sufficiently. Even though therain fell on us, most people wore clothing forthe climatic conditions and kept smiling rightto the end. The beer brewed for the occasion,‘Standedge Admiral’, was excellent and I havenothing but praise for the bar staff whoworked so hard to stem the thirsts during theevening.

The beauty of the day was the chance to meetand talk to so many of the ‘ordinary’ membersof the Society who through distance or lack ofopportunity have not been as closely involvedas they would have liked. The fact that youwere supporting in spirit mattered when theSociety talked to local authorities or to

Society members inspect the new Lock 4W in Stalybridge andhave the added bonus of a boat in transit.

Ken

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Government Departments. No politicianwants to alienate over a thousand voters on anissue like this! Your tacit support meant thatwe always negotiated from a position ofstrength. Also, what a lovely lot you all are!People had arrived from all over the country,I spoke to one member from Norfolk who wasstruck by the lack of graffiti in Huddersfield.

I was offered, for Plink, pictures of Americancanals, I talked to Company Directors and toPensioners, but the best thing about the daywas the number of youngsters who werepresent. Getting the next generation involvedis the most certain way to make sure that thecanals are never again allowed to be forgotten.

Praises to Bob Reed who was the co-ordinatorof the whole event, a super job, well done.Thanks to Frank and Bob from the office, forworking on their days off, thanks to Alan Knottand the guys from the boat crews for ferrying

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Below: Worth waiting for. A convivial queue for the barbeque.

up and down, thanks to the various coachdrivers who seem to have enjoyed their dayout and thanks to the BW staff at Marsden forentering into the spirit of the day.

Brian Minor

Vinnie the Water Vole is on hand to see the VIPs safely on to BW’s passengermodule for the inaugural Tunnel through trip from Marsden to Diggle.

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Something of a ‘Rogues Gallery’ ! Left to right: PresentChairman, David Sumner; first Chairman, John Maynard; firstSecretary, Bob Dewey; Society stalwarts Dave Finnis (currentPress Officer) and Garth Pratt.


Many thanks to Mrs Sylvia Potter of Greenfield who found this cutting from, we think, theColne Valley Reporter, amongst some old papers and sent it to us. The photo illustrating thearticle appears to have been ‘doctored’ - the portal in the centre background and the profileof the excavated cutting seem to have been drawn in - perhaps for emphasis.

10 - THE REPORTER, FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1939

This photograph (reproduced from the L.M.S. Magazine), showing the construction of Stanedge Tunnel,is believed to be one of the earliest railway photographs ever taken.

The Story of Stanedge TunnelRegarded as a superb example of the pluck andforesight of British engineering enterprise,Stanedge Tunnel is still a fascinating subject.Unlike some famous tunnels Stanedge is uniquein that actually four tunnels - three railway andone canal - have been bored through the hillfrom Diggle to Marsden.

These four tunnels are almost in line with eachother over a great part of the length and theStanedge tunnel is practically the third longestrailway tunnel in Great Britain.

For many years yet it will remain one of thegreatest feats of British engineering skill that hasbeen promoted and carried to a successful issue

because of the enormous task of carrying awaterway through Stanedge hills.

THE WATERWAYS OF ENGLAND

Towards the end of the eighteenth century theboom in canal building in England wassignificant of a great trade revival and a generalawakening to the fact that it was possible tocarry large quantities of merchandise from onetown to another by water at a much cheaper ratethan by road.

The waterways of this country became arecognised medium for the transit of everyvariety of goods. Canals were linked up withnavigable rivers and rivers with seaports and the


outer world. The making of the canal in ColneValley was undertaken by an enterprisingcompany known as the Huddersfield and AshtonCanal Co.

Up to the year 1811, all boat traffic on the canalterminated east and west at the respective wharfsof Marsden and Diggle, and as a consequenceeach place became a depot of considerableactivity.

Warehouse Hill basin, as its name implies, wasthe local dockyard in Marsden, and WarehouseLane with the old Snailhorn Bridge pointing inthat direction was the main artery of business.

PACK HORSES IN USE

When goods were destined for Lancashire, packhorses and carts were called into requisition tonegotiate the intervening distance over theStanedge hills.

The conveyance of commodities was mostlaborious and added greatly to the cost of transit.

So congested did the traffic become that theproblem of cutting a tunnel large enough toallow boats to go through became most urgent.

After much inspection and investigation byexpert engineers, a provisional draft of theproposal was presented to Parliament andreceived the Commons sanction in 1794. Asupplementary Act was found necessary andpassed through without opposition in 1880.

However on closer investigation these Actsproved insufficient and a third appeal was madeto Parliament resulting in the Act of 1804, whichcleared the way once and for all for the work tobe carried through to completion.

BORING UNDER STANEDGE

To face the prospect of cutting a hole 3 miles171 yards in length, and large enough to allowboats of fair tonnage to travel through, requiredgreat confidence and determination on the partof the promoters.

The excavators had to work mainly with the oldfashioned implements of pick and shovel, aidedby an unlimited supply of gunpowder.

Enormous quantities of rock had to be blastedand carried out load by load to each narrow exit.

The vast masses of debris brought from thebowels of the earth on the Marsden side weretipped into a great hollow not far from thepresent railway station. The heaps eventuallysettled down and to all intents and purposesbecame part and parcel of the surroundingcontour. A row of houses are now built upon thesite.

AN EERIE EXPERIENCE

Both entrances to the canal tunnel are arched forsome considerable distance, and further in-sections remain in a natural rocky state, givingone the impression of gigantic caverns.

In one place so large is the quarried space that aboat can turn round or allow another to passwith ease.

These dark mysterious openings produce aneerie feeling in the traveller’s mind and he is notsorry when he has safely emerged into the lightand warmth of open day.

WALKING ON THE ROOF

The boat has to be propelled by a very primitivearrangement. Whenever the arch shows itself themen in charge lie upon their backs and walkalong the roof of the tunnel, thus securing a slowbut perceptible motion.

In other places a boathook comes in handy forpressing against the rocky sides and in otherparts the craft has simply to crawl by the impetusof its own weight, or the swell of the water.

With a couple of good ‘leggers’ as the boatmenare called, the trip can be made in about three-and-a-half to four hours.

The water tunnel was actually commenced in1794 and completed in 1811 at a cost of£217,000. It was opened for traffic on April 4th1811, and was in continuous use up to the periodof the late war.

LOSS OF LIFE

The entrance to the tunnel at Marsden is 436 feetabove the canal water level at Huddersfield and656 feet above sea level.

This gradient necessitated the building of manylocks.


The canal is fed from a number of reservoirs inthe neighbourhood, notably the Haigh, TunnelEnd, Redbrook, Swillers (Swine Clough),Cuppoth (Cupwith) and Sparth. A large waterfallof 480 feet from the surface at Redbrookcontributes some 27 gallons per minute to thegrand supply which further serves anotherpurpose by clearing the railway tunnel of smokeand so promotes a much needed ventilation.

During the period of the tunnel’s constructionthere was a serious loss of human life. In an oldregister belonging to a church we find this entry:

“June 5th 1803 - The death of one GeorgeSparth, a respectable member of society, whowas killed in the tunnel in an instant by anexplosion of gunpowder, and one, ThomasWhitehead, of Puleside, who was killed at thesame time.”

Upwards of 1000 persons attended theinterment. Surely this was a record attendancefor a funeral in those days.

THE RAILWAY TUNNELS

From 1811 to 1845, the water tunnel didsplendid service as the principal route betweenEast Lancashire and the West Riding. Muchheavier merchandise could be transferred byboat than by road, and as a consequence heavytrade flourished.

Ultimately with the advent of the railway fromLeeds to Manchester in 1849, the canal businessbegan to lose its prestige, and soon its glorieswere eclipsed.

To stop all competition the railway companyeventually purchased the waterway from theoriginal owners at a very heavy cost, and sodiverted practically all the goods traffic, andfurther secured a much more rapid andvoluminous exchange of merchandise.

When the railway came to be built, Stanedge hadto be penetrated again, this time with a singletunnel on the south side. This great undertakingwas commenced in 1845 and opened for trafficon November 1st 1848 at a total cost of£202,688

The full length is exactly three miles 66 yardsand is as straight as an arrow.

NINE FATAL ACCIDENTS

The entire undertaking was contracted for, andnine fatal accidents occurred during itsconstruction. A pilot engine always ran beforeevery train to see if the way of the tunnel wasclear.

The enormous increase of railway traffic soonbrought about a severe congestion and a secondsingle tunnel was decided upon on the northside, parallel with the first.

This tunnel was also built by contract from afirm in Carlisle. They began the work in 1868and completed it in 1870. The total length isthree miles 59 yards, or seven yards shorter thanits sister tunnel. The cost of the undertaking was£121,500. Four shafts allow for the escape ofsmoke at different places.

The third and last railway tunnel is a double one,and was constructed by the L & N.W. Railway.They commenced excavations in 1890 andcompleted their magnificent task in 1894. Thelength is three miles 62 yards.

No hills or mountains in any part of the worldhave been so bored through at a given point asthese old Pennines which form the backbone ofEngland.

A rather fascinating cutting featuring the datedspelling of ‘Stanedge’. The writer rather gothimself in a little bit of a twist over the dates,giving the impression that the tunnel was aafterthought. However the rest is factual as faras I can see. It also illustrates the irony that thecanal tunnel enabled the much speedierconstruction of its nemesis, the railway tunnels.One interesting thing is the report of the funeralof George Sparth described as a respectablemember of Society, but no such such descriptionwas given to his fellow sufferer in the sameexplosion Thomas Whitehead. One wonderswhat poor Thomas had done or not done!

Brian Minor


HNC’s First Day Hire BoatWe’d said we’d do it for years.We’d both successfully run day boatsseparately elsewhere, so why not run onetogether, now we were both living near theHuddersfield Narrow Canal? Was it a sillyidea, with all the locks, and the wet climate?But then this canal wasn’t restored just forlooking at, it was restored for people to use,and what better way of using and enjoying itthan with a self-steer day boat? The timehad come for Ed and myself, Dick, to stoptalking about it and just do it!

When Ed approached British Waterwaysthey were nervous of first-time hirers usingthe locks. But I’d done it before, atWarwick (wide locks, busy canal!) andfound that with simple, positive, patientinstruction, novice hirers coped just finewith the locks. So, after numerous lettersand months of waiting, we were givenpermission. Tameside MBC have been verykeen on our project from the outset.

Now we needed a boat! John Pinder ofBromsgrove built the shell, and Guy Holdingat Portland Basin Marina fitted it out, withassistance from us and many others.Choosing a name was tricky, AILSA beingearly hot favourite, but OTTER finally gotour vote.

Last minute jobs piled up. We’d advertisedfree trips on the first Sunday in August atArmentieres Square, so the boat had to bethere, in spite of the rain as we left Ashton,and the cooling system needing topping upevery twenty minutes! (Now sorted!) As ifby magic, the sun appeared as we arrived inStalybridge, as did the local folks, in fact234 of them, necessitating 22 (short) trips.

Mike Marshall, Deputy Project Manager forBritish Waterways, has given us a two-months trial with ‘Otter’. He is keen to seethe newly-restored canal being used.‘Otter’ is the very first day boat to beoffered on this canal. She represents aninvestment in your waterway of around€15,000, so please come along and try theboat and the canal for yourself.

‘Otter’ is 32 feet long, with a toilet,washing-up and cooking facilities, and alarge covered open seating area at the front,equipped with table and chairs, andprotected by versatile canopies. Hires runfrom 9.00am to 6.00pm, from ArmentieresSquare, Stalybridge, and are for up totwelve people on a self-steer basis. Pricesinclude tuition in operating the boat and thelocks. So far, most hirers have cruised up toRoaches Lock and back; and thoroughlyenjoyed themselves! Happy boating!

Dick Amende & Ed Mortimer

Enquiries: 0161-303-7635Below: Dick Amende pilots ‘Otter’ through Stalybridge.Below Right: On board the ‘Otter’ with its spacious seating.

40 - Pennine Link - Summer 200138 - Pennine Link - Autumn 2000

A boater’s dream or claustrophobe’s nightmare?

Safe & Friendly Cruising - Part 2Our celebratory Issue 137 was a littlepushed for space, and certain articles hadto be put on hold, but now here is thesecond of three articles reproducing, infull, “Some thoughts on boating etiquettefor the experienced and less experiencedboater”. This time it’s “bridges” and“working locks”.

Bridges

Racing an oncoming boat to be firstthrough a bridge is rarely productive - youwill probably both have to stop, or worse,you will crash. Much more relaxing togive way and signal the other boat tocome through. You’ll soon learn to judgewho is nearest the bridge and thus haspriority! Alternatively, use the rule that theboat nearest the towing path, and there-fore with the deepest water, gives way.On rivers and canals with a current, boatstravelling upstream should give way tothose coming downstream.

Working Locks

Locks offer some of the best opportunitiesfor contact with other boaters. Some ofyour most memorable and useful conver-sations will be with others using the lock.Proper and efficient operation helpseveryone. At busy times be aware theremight be a queue to use the locks andactively enquire rather than pass otherswho may be queueing. Leave plenty ofspace (at least 70’) behind you for thenext arrivals at lock landings to moorsafely.

Whilst waiting to use a lock after someoneelse, why not have a couple of your crewgo to help at the lock. It makes for a

friendly few minutes, it shares out thework and they will enjoy the company -they may even learn something! Offeringto help a (slow) solo boater will usually beappreciated and will help you along too!If you are helping someone, try not totake over the entire job and make sureyou are not just passing on bad habits!Open top paddles slowly.

Beware those who say ‘we’re in no hurry’or ‘I’ve all the time in the world’. They’llprobably want you out as fast as possibleand work the paddles like dementeddemons (do you do it yourself, perhaps?)!

Always try to share wide locks betweentwo (or even more!) narrow beam boats -it makes less work for a start! If one crewseems to be less proficient, use theopportunity to share your experienceproductively. There are no rules aboutwho goes in first - you can’t close thegates until you are both in! Some thoughtsare - full length boat first and get behindgate, boat with bow thrusters first - it mayhave more control over bows whilst thesecond boat comes in; longest boat first;steel boat before fibreglass etc. Discussyour options with each other and have aplan, especially for a flight of locks. Thenyou’ll be efficient, safe and have fun!Don’t force on people the idea of travel-ling through a broad flight roped togetherside by side (‘breasted’) - hire craft arenot insured for it - and it can look likeshowing off! It is not much quicker, andanyway, who’s in a hurry?

If a flight is busy in your direction, resistthe temptation to re-set the lock for yourboat to use if there is an oncoming boat acouple of locks away. You will only wastewater and probably get into a queue in


the next pounds where you’ll get in theway of other traffic. On some flights, youcould even flood or drain the pound. Ifyou see a boat coming, leave the gatesopen for them - it is a courtesy and lesswork for you!Better still,actively look fora boat coming,even to theextent of goingto a nearbybend to look. Itis no fun havinga lock gateslammed inyour face whenit was ready foryou! Always letan oncomingboat use yournext lock if it is set for them, even if theyare a couple of locks or several hundredyards away.

If you can, travel a flight of locks with atleast one crew member working ahead soapproaching boats will know you arecoming - this saves water and can avoidaccusations of stealing locks where in factthe other boaters did not know you werethere. Do not work more than one lockahead to avoid delaying an oncomingboat unnecessarily, unless the next coupleof locks are already in your favour. Whereintervening pounds are short, ensure thelock below is filling as the upper one isemptying, it saves water.

Normally you should close paddles andgates, unless there are specific instructionsnot to do so. Keep the boat well forwardof the top cill going down and be awareof the danger of the front fender foulingbeams or handrails of gates as the water

rises or falls. Do not push open any gateswith the boat; wait until water levels arethe same on both sides of the gate.

Except at signed moorings, don’t moor inbetween locks on recognised lock flights;

it can lead towastage ofwater. On anarrow lockflight thiscreates anobstruction tonavigating abutty(unpoweredboat normallytowed by amotor boat)which is usuallypulled by a long

rope from lock to lock in the traditionalway. If you have no option, please beconsiderate to such craft and keep yourroof adornments (especially aerials) downduring daylight hours.

On rack and pinion mechanisms, set thesafety catch before starting to wind apaddle. Never leave windlasses on paddlegear if you are not winding the paddle -they can fly off and damage limbs andheads (bystanders as well as yours). Neverjump down on to a boat from a lock side -if you slip you could be squashed. Alwayshave at least one person attending theboat to ensure it does not get caught oncills etc. Avoid contact with either set ofgates. An unwatched boat is usually theone where an accident could ensue. Thesteerer should stay in control of the boat.

Next time - supervision of children anddogs, engines and generators, ropes,tunnels, going aground, meeting boats,etc.


2001 Photographic CompetitionWAS THERE EVER MORE OPPORTUNITYFOR TAKING EXCITING PICTURES OFOUR CANAL?!

* BRIGHTLY COLOURED BOATS* CANALSIDE EVENTS* STANDEDGE VISITOR CENTRE* EVEN MINOR DISASTERS!* AND VINNIE THE WATER VOLE.

This, the first notice of the annual photocompetition, is a bit on the late side due tolack of space in our “celebratory” issue. Wehad to set aside several regular items to fit inall the extra bits so, with only this for awarning, GET SHOOTING or dig out thosepiles of waterway pictures and have a go!

The rules are the same as for last year,waiving the place and time rules of previousyears. Any inland waterway shot,worldwide, from daguerreotype to digitalwill qualify - the only other criterion beingthat the photographer must be (or directlyrelated to) a member of HCS.

And, once again, member ANTHONYCARTER from ARCADE PHOTO SERVICES,IMPERIAL ARCADE, NEW STREET,HUDDERSFIELD has generously offered aPAIR OF BINOCULARS as the major prize,to go with the Challenge Shield, replica andcertificate.

Other winners will receive cash prizes andsigned certificates. The size of the cashprizes will be determined by the number ofentries, so the more the merrier!

RULES

Prints only, black & white or colour - winningentries will be published in Pennine Link inblack and white. Minimum size 6” x 4”,maximum 8” x 6”. Any canal-related subject isacceptable in the following categories:-

a) Huddersfield Narrow - Seniorb) Huddersfield Narrow - Junior (16 or under)

c) Other waterways - Seniord) Other waterways - Junior (16 or under)

HOW TO ENTER

1. Send your prints (maximum 5 per person ineach category) to:-

PHOTO COMPETITIONHUDDERSFIELD CANAL SOCIETY239 MOSSLEY ROADASHTON-U-LYNE OL6 6LN

2. Include details of the photographs (captionsif you so wish) and age of the photographer if16 or under.

3. Include your name and address and thename of the HCS member you are related to.

4. Include return postage if you want yourprints back.

5. Include P.O. or cheque (payable toHuddersfield Canal Society) totalling 50p foreach print submitted.

6. CLOSING DATE:

FRIDAY 16TH NOVEMBER 2001

PRIZES

The judge will again be Geoffrey Hope, PastPresident of Oldham Photographic Society whowill write a critical comment for each printsubmitted.

There will be a winner and a runner-up in eachof the four categories a) to d) and each willreceive a certificate and a cash prize. There willalso be certificates for “highly commended”and “commended” categories.

The overall winner will receive the Pennine LinkChallenge Shield for one year, a replica tokeep, a pair of binoculars and signedcertificate.

All winning prints will be published in PennineLink, with the Judge’s comments.

Any queries to:- The Organiser, Ken Wright.Tel: 01457 873599


Canal Crossword - 34

Across9 Where the railway crosses the Basingstoke canal finda connection between fire waste and a valley (7)

10 Find a coot run on a canal hugging the hillside (7)

11 On the approaches to Leek see the hills from whichthe water for the Macclesfield canal is gathered (7)

12 Loan put a strain on the finances of the SomersetCoal canal in reaching their proposed terminus (7)

13 Smaller version of Offa’s offering, crossing theLlangollen canal at bridge 15 (5,4)

15 A lot removed from the side of a flatboat (5)

16 Arrows partner plays a part in pulling a horselessboat (7)

19 No winds blow at the junction of the Wilts andBerks and the former North Wiltshire canals (7)

20 Sing to your flowers and recite an ode to yourbattery (5)

21 It could secure the boat or it could help the Montyrise a few miles north of Welshpool (5,4)

25 Townies living on the Chesterfield canal nearDrakeholes tunnel (7)

26 And write a Limerick about a mighty river (7)

28 Shorten a lock and aflood lock near Wakefield (7)

29 Inland island of the lowerTrent (7)

Down1 Waterborne without beetas a cargo in such a boat (6)

2 Frustrate efforts to place arower’s seat across the boat(6)

3 In which to performablutions at the western endof the Kennet and Avon (4)

4 Eye Mrs Liver Bird from theferry (6)

5 Where to place a drunkensailor in need of hosing down(8)

6 Aunt’s lino I used to keepthe boat warm (10)

7 Marine industrial unit? (8)

8 Get in a pickle on the Trentand Mersey south of Burton(8)

14 Ten reasons given fornavigating the tunnel on the Ashby canal (10)

16 Between Doncaster and Thorne find a lock, ajunction and a bridge which share a name in part withthe author of Dracula (8)

17 Near Maesbury Marsh on the Monty find sheep hairby large weight (8)

18 Scholarliness (no liars please) applied to monsterstudies (8)

22 His MBA achieved at a centre of sportingexcellence on the Thames (6)

23 On the Nene below Northampton go public,educationally speaking (6)

24 Linen basket Basil missed whilst joining the Thamesat Reading (6)

27 Towpath yet to be finished beside an Irishnavigation (4)

Solution on page 53


What the Papers SaidI’m sure members are worldly-wise enough toknow that the media do love the ‘doom andgloom’, so they will take these mixed pressclippings in the spirit of a newly opened canal;besides, is your glass (or canal) half empty orhalf full? Ed.

Colne Valley Chronicle in MayTogether with some other local papers, theChronicle had a letter from former PressOfficer of the Society Alec Ramsden beingvery critical of the guest lists at all the variousopening ceremonies. He also critised BW forstopping the Society holding a celebratoryFestival in Stalybridge last May. There was afollow up with a letter from Alwyn Ogbornagreeing with Alec and particularly over theproposed festival (he was Chairman of theorganising committee).

Huddersfield Daily Examiner - May 14thPledge from BW to increase the moorings andfacilities on the canal after boaters hadcomplained. It is unfortunately part of a fiveyear plan and boaters want them now. Onelady from Brighouse complained about thewater shortage that meant she was groundedin Slaithwaite.

Oldham Chronicle - May 16thStory of exhibition at Saddleworth Museum,‘Horse Boating, the Forgotten Transport’ atwhich Society member Sue Day would be inattendance with her horse-drawn boat.

Stalybridge Reporter - May 17thArticle and picture about the plight of MikronTheatre getting stuck in Uppermill. Their boatis an ex-working boat probably 7 ft wide. Thisis now too wide for the restored Wade Lock.The company had to go to the venue inGreenfield by van and then had to get helpfrom the Society to dig out a winding hole.Quote from Alan Stopher, project manager,‘The maximum dimension guaranteed by BWis 6ft 10ins width ways, unfortunately Mikron’sboat proved too big for the canal’

Oldham Chronicle - May 18thPreview of the BBC programme on the story

of the restoration and how it would bebroadcast on both sides of the Pennines. (I wasin Wales at the time and missed it! Ed)

Oldham Chronicle - May 21stAccount of the official opening of the HighStreet bridge in Uppermill with good picturesof ‘Pennine Moonraker’ breaking the tape.Nice comments from Mayor of Oldham.Quote from Chairman David Sumner‘Sometimes dreams do come true’.

Oldham Chronicle - May 23rdAccount of opening of Standedge VisitorCentre by Lily Turner (daughter of DavidWhitehead, the fastest legger through thetunnel).

The Times - May 26thYes the Old Thunderer knows where we are!Short article on the tunnel reopening and theVisitor Centre at Marsden. There was also aleading article on the canals renaissancegenerally, though they do give the impressionthat most of the restoration is the result ofwork by BW.

New Civil Engineer - May 31stMention of the reopening of the tunnel andthe work done by contractor AMCO. All thedimensions were metric, so I didn’t reallyunderstand it! length of tunnel is given as5,200 metres and is part of the 32 Km Canal.It mentions clearing out 2 metres of silt whichmy grandson informs me is just over 6 feet.

Oldham Chronicle - June 4th Full columnwrite up of the play ‘Argy Bargy’ put on at thetranshipment shed by the Oldham ColiseumCommunity players. The reviewer mentionsthe €30M set for the play!

Oldham Chronicle - June 7th has long articleand photograph of Frank Smith and DavidFinnis at Uppermill asking for volunteers forjobs around the canal. Text says that Frank isthe first person in England to be employedjointly by BW and the Society - I didn’t knowthat such an employment existed in Scotland,Ireland or Wales either!


Colne Valley Express & Chronicle - June 29thHas a front page article bemoaning the lack ofloos on the restored Canal under the headingof ‘Valley Loos Blues!’ It quotes Kirkleescouncillor David Ridgeway saying “The publictoilets in Slaithwaite are awful and appalling”A graphic description of the state of the toiletsfollowed! Councillor Ridgeway went on to say“I have received from British Waterways ashrug and they have walked away”

Frank Smith (HCS) replied saying that BWwere responsible and that boaters had a keyfor the existing ones, although there is atpresent only the one at Dobcross. Julie Maund(BW) said they were in talks with Kirklees totry and improve the situation.

In the same issue is an article with picture ofNational Trust managers lead by HCS’s DavidFinnis in the trip boat at Marsden. The articlegives the impression that they actually went allthe way through the Tunnel, although thequote from David that they “ had anopportunity of taking an underground view ofMarsden Moor on the Standedge Tunnel tripboat” shows that it was only a short trip.

Oldham Chronicle - July 23rdList of sites for the ‘sculptures’ to be madefrom recycled items on the canal. Theproposals are for the erection of these items atfour places.

Oldham Chronicle - July 25thArticle with coloured pictures about the firstboat through Standedge Tunnel withpassengers. Quote from David Sumnerthanking BW. Main picture was a good one ofpast editor Alwyn Ogborn (but not so good ofnew wife Joan - they broke off theirhoneymoon to be on the trip - that isdedication! Ed)

Oldham Chronicle - July 26thAccount of the boat sinking in the Tunnelwhilst being towed through. Quote from JulieMaund (BW) that the boat appeared to havebeen pierced by something floating in thewater, but that officials were investigating. Itwas expected that the tug service would beback in operation the next day.

Colne Valley Chronicle July 27thHas a front page article headed ‘High andDry!’ with a large picture of boats stuck on thebottom of a waterless canal at Marsden. It wascaused because of a boat springing a leakwhilst going through the Tunnel, necessitatingthe top pound being drained. Once again JulieMaund from BW was quoted at length tellinghow it happened and why they had to repairthe boat in the Tunnel.

In the same issue article and picture aboutthe ‘Link Day’Picture showed David Sumnerand David Fletcher (BW) having a glass ofbubbly before heading into the Tunnel for thefirst passenger boat through. Apart from sayingthat the evening BBQ as at the RiverheadBrewery the facts were correct.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (End of July)Long article with picture of despondentboater, headlined ‘Marooned on Canal’ and isa long account of how Mr Martyn Colemangot stuck at Slaithwaite. He said “Debris,shallow waters and leaking locks were causingmajor problems” he also was quoted as saying“That boaters would not bother to use the thewaterway if word got around and the problemwas not tackled” He then listed his problemsincluding an estimate of €1000.00 for boatrepairs. A Slaithwaite man was quoted assaying that all the boaters coming throughwere complaining. A BW spokeswoman said“It was important to them to listen tocomplaints and if something needs fixing wecan take action” The article ended with theBW number of 0161 819 5847 to call.

Merseytravel News Summer 2001Has an article about a brand new section ofcanal to be constructed in Liverpool - we’vegot everyone going!

Oldham Chronicle - AugustShort article defending the money spent onthe canal restoration. Unlike the Dome,which failed miserably in what it wassupposed to do i.e. regenerate a desolate bitof London’s Docklands, it comparesfavourably with the €100M spent on theLowry, which is helping to bring life back intoa derelict area. The final sentence reads ‘ As


several studies have shown, the canal’sbenefits to the community are not only herenow - the lovely old canal is perhaps the leastof it - but they are largely still to come’

Letter asking why the laundrette in Uppermillis closing down now that it is especiallyimportant now that the HNC is open, as manyboaters will use the facilities.

Oldham Chronicle - August 2ndMention that Oldham Rotarians were playinghost to a group of young people and one ofthe delights for them was a canal boat trip onthe Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Oldham Chronicle - August 3rdIn the Angling notes is the notice that Cairoangling club are having a match on theHeyrod section of the canal as the rest of thecanal is ‘out of sorts’. Not quite sure what ismeant by that comment!

Another article in the same issue is about theprogress on the Rochdale Canal and thebuilding of a lift bridge at Chadderton.

Rather interestingly a couple of letters aboutwhether the canal is in Oldham orSaddleworth - both parties were claiming it!

I have a cutting without a date giving thedetails of the concert held in Uppermill withthe Diggle Band and the Saddleworth MaleVoice Choir, the whole compered by our ownKen Wright. I am sorry to have missed thisconcert, but it was the same night as the finalmeeting of the Tameside Festival Committee.

Manchester Evening News - August 10thThe country ramble this week starts atMarsden, goes over the top and comes backfor a ride into the tunnel.

Huddersfield Examiner - August 10thFront page story about the proposed Royalvisit to the canal and his subsequent visit tothe Examiner offices. It gave the date and andthe morning timing. (This publicity means thatany member in the Huddersfield area whomissed the Prince’s visit just wasn’t takingnotice of the local scene! Ed)

Huddersfield Examiner - August 16thA full report of the nb Hannah being sunk in alock after getting hung up on a cill. The boat

belongs to Mr David Rimmer of Stockport andhe was with his brother Alan, who had justarrived from Australia to have five weeks onthe boat. Apparently they entered the lockand realised that there was insufficient waterto get out. When they attempted to reversedown stream the front of the boat got hookedup and as the water ran out of the lock therear of the boat flooded and sank. Mr Rimmersaid he had been boating for four years andhad never had a problem like this before.

Colne Valley Chronicle - August 24thFront page article headed ‘SINKING FEELING’Starting with the words “Safety fears werevoiced this week as another narrow boat fellvictim to ‘dry lock’ syndrome near Marsden”.The picture showed the nb Hannah hung upon a cill and being pumped dry by BWworkmen. The article quoted Frank Smith atlength on the how the BW were likely to besoon getting to grips with the problem. Heblamed the fact that some of the locks hadbeen renovated over 15 years ago, the relativenewness of the canal and the current shortageof reservoirs for the problem. For BW, MikeMarshall said they had identified four areaswhere problems could arise, he named boatererror as the first of these and vandalism assecond.

Second article inside described the 200thmeeting of the Colne Valley TransportAssociation took place on a boat trip fromTunnel End. Accompanying photo showedboat, but was not able to identify it.

Oldham Chronicle - August 25thGiving the usage figures of 400 boats havingsailed on the HNC since reopening and thathalf have gone through the Tunnel. The VisitorCentre at Stanedge has had 15,000 visitors.These are figures supplied by BW.

Oldham Chronicle - August 25thThis is about the Royal visit for Monday 3rdSeptember. Saying they hope that there issufficient water to enable Prince Charles totake a boat ride into the Tunnel without fear ofgetting stuck! BW were quoted as saying thatmeasures were being put into place to ensurethat there would be plenty of water.


Oldham Chronicle - August 29thFull page article and picture. Reporter GeoffWood hired a narrow boat and cruised fromGuide Bridge to Dobcross and back on a fourday cruise. Quote “Beyond Stalybridge, youglide through an area of mature trees and lushundergrowth. It is hard to imagine on theapproach to Mossley that we are so close toindustrial areas. Through most of Mossley thecanal stays green and remained so throughGreenfield and Uppermill”

There is also a quote from the Tourism officerfor Saddleworth and Oldham ‘that Uppermillhad certainly benefited since boats begantraveling along the HNC, I think the Canalgives people an excuse to come to Uppermill.And businesses here are now benefiting.

Huddersfield Examiner - August 30th.Another report of boats being left strandedbecause of water shortages. Six boats werestuck for up to three days, according to thestory, on the stretch between Longroyd Bridgeand Milnsbridge. One of the boats stuck wastheatre company Chol Theatre who need theirboat as a backcloth for their show. A BWspokeswoman blamed the problems onboaters who left paddles open for the lack ofwater.

(There has been a spate of these water shortagestories, in spite of the appallingly wet summerwe have had. Some 400 boats are said to haveused the canal with half going all the waythrough. There should have been little or noproblems with this usage. I do not think muchof the excuse of paddles left open, most of theboaters using the canal so far seem to havebeen experienced people who are unlikely toanything as daft as that. Even if they did itwould only affect one pound and not stretchesof the canal. Some of the gates leak, we knewthis was going to happen as the locks wererequired to be left empty after restoration thusallowing the gates to dry out and warp. Ed)

The Engineer - August 23/30thArticle on the huge construction work costing€12m on the Falkirk Wheel joining the Forthand Clyde and the Union Canal in Scotland.This will be a trip well worth taking to viewthis in operation when it is finished.

Most of the nationals and the TV/Radio hadthe story of the cyclist who rode over afisherman’s rod on the Calder and Hebble andended up by being thrown in the canal.(Although there is the ever-present resentmentbetween boaters and anglers, I think that thepeace of the canals usually ensures that anydisputes are only verbal! The Canal Society hashad good relationships with the various anglingclubs on the HNC. Canal restoration is for thegood of all. Notably, the incident was causedby a cyclist. I have noticed that some cyclistsdo tend not to appreciate the slower pace oflife on a canal towpath and try to ride far toofast for the conditions. This is not being criticalof all cyclists, I ride a bike for exercise andenjoy off road paths, but some of the youngerriders seem to be intolerant of other peoples’rights. Ed)

Huddersfield Examiner - September 3rd

Front page lead story (as it should be!) aboutPrince Charles’s visit to the Canal and to theExaminer office afterwards. Nice picture ofPrince shaking hands with the crowd atMarsden Station. Article was a factual reportof the visit, and was continued on to most ofpage three. Another couple of pictures here,as well as a very nice comment about HCS,quote “Prince Charles’ visit to the HNC todayis a tribute to the work of the never-say-diecampaigners who helped bring about the€30M restoration. It was in 1974 that theHuddersfield Canal Society first dreamed ofreopening the 26 mile waterway which runsfrom the town to Ashton-under-Lyne. Theambition soon became known as theImpossible Restoration because of theobstacles involved”

London Daily Telegraph - 4th September

Under the heading of Court Circular “HisRoyal Highness, Patron, the Waterways Trust,officially opened the Huddersfield NarrowCanal at Standedge Tunnel and visited theStandedge Visitors Centre” Its nice to berecognised right at the top!

Brian [email protected]


Common Sense & HumilityAt last we have a complete canal withwater from end to end. A route fromLancashire to Yorkshire. But there areproblems for boaters, and there is criti-cism of British Waterways and the part-nership with the local authorities andHCS. We should have done more! Weshould have done better! I find myselfasking: ‘How?’ ‘When?’ and ‘Where wasthe money to come from?’ Liaison maynot always have been as good as wewould have liked, and I can be every bitas critical of BW as anyone - about timesthey have not listened, or press releasesthat airbrush out all that HCS or the localauthorities did before the Millenniumscheme - but we must not forget that thepeople we are criticising worked miraclesto get the Canal open by the 1st of May,and the very same people are nowworking just as hard to open the RochdaleCanal next year. And the lads on sitehave always been there - are still there -to sort out problems. A little bit ofcommon sense and humility on our partwould suggest that we need to be patient.

Two questions spring to mind. First of allwhat did you expect? Restoration of thecanal has cost about €45m - its difficult tobe precise when much of the early workalso created jobs or provided training, andincluded environmental work - and withsome of that on the Peak Forest Canal.It sounds a lot of money, but most of thetime there was only just enough. Only inrecent years has there been enough forwork to be of the highest standard. Andsome of the early work was done nearlytwenty years ago. It’s not surprising thatlockgates leak and paddle gear is difficultto work, or that more dredging is needed.

And with two hundred years of groundmovements since the Canal was built, it’snot surprising if some lock chambers arenot quite parallel sided, or have high spotson the walls that squeeze any boat aninch or two wider than ideal. Even whenlocks were rebuilt, the walls were takendown only until sound material wasreached and rebuilt from there. Theywould be checked to ensure the wallswere at least seven feet apart - but therewas never the money to completelyrebuild locks to be absolutely certain thata 7’ x 70’ boat-shaped box would fit inthe lock chamber. No doubt there arealso leaks in the Canal - possibly somethat would not be revealed until waterstarted flowing because of boat move-ments or the emptying and filling of locks.And we know the Tunnel was alwaysnarrow - IWA founders Aickman and Rolthad a bit of a fright in their famous trip in1948 when they could only squeeze AilsaCraig through by prizing off the rubbingstrips - and modern boats are muchsquarer in profile than were the workingboats the canal was built for.

None of this is any different from theexperience of other restored canals. Allhave been difficult to work at first. TheKennet and Avon was re-opened in 1990,but it is only now with €25,000,000 ofLottery funding that the canal is becomingeasy to use. And unless boaters use thecanal, the problems will not go away.Many will then resolve themselves simplythrough use - gaps between the timbers ofmost lockgates will seal as the woodexpands through exposure to water, andpaddle gear will become freer movingwith use. But many of the problems will


require work - not €25,000,000 of worklet me hasten to add. And that brings meto my second question. What happensnext?

The Society has signed an agreement withBW that could see volunteers againworking on the Canal. The local authori-ties are paying for the enhanced mainte-nance needed for a restored canal. AndBW have a clear and obvious interest inthe Canal’s well-being. A partnershiparrangement between BW, the localauthorities and HCS that is in everybody’sinterests is now intended to replace theHuddersfield Canal Company which willbe wound up. The first formal meeting ofthe partnership is likely to be towards theend of the year included within a Hud-dersfield Canal Company board meeting.Initially at least, the Directors of thatCompany will have to represent theirparent organisations (that is, David and Iwill represent HCS), and the Board of theCanal Company will have to ratify anydecisions taken. Only when the CanalCompany is satisfied that a workingpartnership is in place (and also afteragreement has been reached on anyoutstanding financial matters) can theCanal Company be wound up. That alsowill need the prior agreement of the

funding agencies that they too are satis-fied that the new partnership will lookafter the Canal. Then the partnershiparrangements between the local authori-ties, BW and HCS will formally replaceofficial liaison through the HuddersfieldCanal Company.

I hope that BW will be able to provide alist of problem sites to the first meeting ofthe partnership with suggestions forpossible solutions, although I don’t expectthem to be able to provide realisticcostings of all of the work needed sosoon. I hope the partners will be able toconsider this, and jointly see if work canbe grouped in categories by type orlocation in a way that will enable us to seeif any grants (possibly from sources wehave not yet considered) could beaccessed to resolve some issues. Then weneed to establish an agreed order ofpriorities and rates of spending which Ihope will lead to a programme of work toensure the Canal is relatively easy to use(yes, even with all of those locks!) andproblem free - rather sooner, I hope, thanthe ten or more years needed to resolvethe problems of other restored canals.

Keith GibsonChairman, HCS Restoration

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out howthe strong man stunbles or where the doer of deeds could havedone better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually inthe arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;who knows great enthusiasm, great devotion and the triumphof achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least failswhile doing greatly - so that his place shall never be with thosecold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat ....


Harwood’s Grand CanalWe’ve all heard of theGrand Canal, indeedperhaps some of ushave stood on the‘Bridge of Sighs’ over itbut no marks for gettingtoo far ahead becausethis Grand Canal is inChina and is by far andaway the biggest manmade waterway ever(as a total mileage),putting even Suez andPanama to shame.

Linking Beijing in thenorth and Hangzhou inthe south the canal isremarkable in, thatdespite being 1800kilometres long, it has only 24 locks and60 bridges. As with many matters ofculture and heritage the Chinese put us toshame. Our canal era of 200 years ago isput into perspective by the Grand Canal,parts of which were built in the 4th and 5th

Centuries BC ! Other parts were addedover the centuries until completion in 610AD.

Its major function initially was to connectthe wheat and millet growing areas of thenorth with the rice growing areas of thesouth. In 608/9 AD however a branchwas added to facilitate supplying troopson the northern frontiers. As ever withsuch projects the statistics are amazing -

over 6 million peasantswere employed inconstruction, of whomabout half died duringthe process.

In the 19th century aseries of floods brokethe dykes of the HuangHo river causing greatproblems in the canalsection betweenSuchow and Huai-yinwhich led to parts ofthe northern sectionfalling into disuse. TheNationalist governmentstarted repairs andimprovements after1934 and in 1958,

under the Communist regime, withdredging, straightening and widening, anew 64 kilometre section was built.Locks were enlarged and brought up tomodern day standards so that the wholecanal is now navigable again, although themajor part of the traffic is on the southernhalf. The canal is also used to moveYangtze water to the northern part ofKiangsu province for irrigation purposesenabling double cropping of rice in thatarea.

In 1999 archaeological excavations beganat a site on the canal where eight sunkenships have been discovered. Two of thethree excavated were timber measuring


Review - ‘I’d Go Back Tomorrow’ by Mike Lucas

This is a book that certainly knows who it’sfor! Lovers of canals, theatre, countryside,pubs, travel will all find much to enjoy.Since I like them all, I was sucker-bait.

This is the story of Thirty Years of the MikronTheatre Company, the famous canal-basedgroup whose intention is to take live“theatre” to people who would not normallyget the opportunity to see acting in theflesh. The format is established and well-known. Four versatile actors (of bothgenders) act, sing, play instruments andoperate the lights and sound, in front of apainted cloth suspended from a frame.Behind the cloth are all the costumes andknick-knacks needed for the four actors tocreate, between them, umpteen or moredifferent characters. The plots of the playsare “conservation” based and mainly dealwith industrial and transport history, andtheir effects on local communities. Withlots of humour and catchy songs.

The author is the founder and artisticdirector of Mikron, Mike Lucas, who started

adult life as a lawyer but soon swapped for a“life upon the wicked stage”.

I will not spoil a good read by going into toomuch detail. The reader is led through lotsof trials and tribulations, much hilarity, loadsof frustrations and discovers early on thatMikron boats have been getting stuck inlocks long before Easter Saturday inUppermill! A lot of time is spent in andaround (mainly in) canalside pubs and thereare many revealing facts about pub grub,rotten ale and unhelpful landlords!

And imagine all the actors who have livedaboard Mikron’s boat over those thirtyyears, thrown together to navigate thecountry’s canals in all weathers, and thenhaving to go out and perform in front ofperhaps a handful of not very willingobservers. It would be foolish to imaginethat all was always sweetness and light!There are very funny, sometimes not sofunny tales of the days, weeks and monthsspent on the boats, most famously onTyesely contd...

12.6 meters and another was 23.6 m.Also found was a 10.6m dugout canoemade from a single timber. Porcelain andother evidential finds have led to theconclusion that these ships date from aperiod between 960 and 1126. Other

sites have produced huge amounts ofpottery, porcelain, ironware and coins allof which provide convincing evidence forthe function of the canal as a major hubof communications and trade in the past.

John HarwoodJohn HarwoodJohn HarwoodJohn HarwoodJohn Harwood


contd.. Mike’s family features largely andthe tragic illness and death of his co-founder, his wife Sarah, is very sensitivelyhandled. We also follow son Sam frombefore the cradle to mature manhood andfind a happy ending with the arrival on thescene of Lynne, Mike’s new partner and oneof Mikron’s very efficient administrators.

It is very clear from the outset that Mikron’sachievements have come about through agreat deal of grit and determination. MikeLucas has fought against incredible odds tokeep Mikron (literally) afloat – the sectionson funding problems are enough to frightenmost people from ever trying anythingsimilar. I can only quote the final paragraphof the book:-

“They say that boating and love of thewaterways can become obsessive. Trying to

keep a small theatre company afloat cansometimes verge on madness. Okay, Iconfess - I am an obsessive madman. ButI’ve always remembered not to let thebastards grind me down”.

Highly recommended.

“I’d Go Back Tomorrow” is published byWayZgoose, and can be obtained by ringingthe Mikron office on 01484 843701 orwriting to Mikron, Marsden Mechanics,Marsden, Huddersfield HD7 6BW.

Price: €15 + €2 p & p (paperback); €20 +€2.50 p & p (hardback) or save the p & p bypicking a copy up at one of Mikron’s shows -the leaflet for the Autumn 2001 tour is nowavailable from Mikron (a s.a.e. is muchappreciated).

Ken Wright

Canal Celebration ConcertOn Wednesday, 20th June 2001, the Societyhosted a concert in Saddleworth Civic Hallin association with Oldham MetropolitanBorough Council. The aim of the concertwas to celebrate the full re-opening of thecanal in Saddleworth, and to thank theresidents for their patience and goodhumour during the works.

The concert was supported financially bythe National Lottery, through theMillennium Commission, and was a“Percent for Art” scheme. Where majorconstruction works take place one percentof the project money is set aside to promoteartistic projects to enhance the work and itsenvironment. These projects can be visualor performing arts and “one-off” events orpermanent features. Saddleworth iscurrently going through planning proceduresfor some canalside structures which will alsobe “Percent for Art” schemes.

The concert, compered by the writer, was acombination of vocal and brass band items,

performed by the Saddleworth Male VoiceChoir and the Diggle Band, and started witha sung National Anthem and the newlycommissioned brass fanfare “Waterways”.

The choir, under their conductor DamianCunningham and accompanist Sylvia Hoare,took first bite with “Alexander’s RagtimeBand”, O Waly! Waly!, Linden Lea and TheHippopotamus Song – a very enjoyablemixed bag!

The band, under musical director AlanLawton, followed with the march“Mephistopheles”, the overture “Carnival”,the “Londonderry Air” and cornet soloistDavid Pogson’s rendition of “Share myYolk”.

Then followed the first highlight of theevening when the band played the stirringnew concert march “Standedge”,commissioned under the “Percent for Art”scheme and composed by DerekBroadbent, former musical director of


Brighouse and Rastrick Band and famous forhis arrangement of the “Floral Dance”which got into the pop charts with TerryWogan on vocals!

After a short interval, during which onelucky lady won a helicopter ride on a luckyticket number, the choir entertained againwith four songs varying from “When theSaints go marching in” to “Will ye no comeback again” and the band played musicfrom “Barnum”, “Shepherds’ Song”, abrilliant euphonium solo “Alpine Polka” byPhil Kerr and the Beatles “Ticket to Ride”.

The official final number was a rousingversion of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “March ofthe Peers” from ‘Iolanthe’ performed by themassed wind of both choir and band.

Then came a nice surprise – an encore ofmarch “Standedge”, conducted by thecomposer, Derek Broadbent, who justhappened to be in the audience!

A rather disappointing half-full house had afantastic night out – and all for a highlysubsidised €3.50, much less than the priceof similar concerts in this hall.

I had a ball, looking after the event, andwould like to thank the choir, the band,Graham Birch from Oldham Council, ourhonoured guests, and the people whobothered to turn up (not a single member ofHCS Council other than me, incidentally,although only David Sumner had a realreason that I know of!) for a super evening.And not forgetting my friend, memberStormin’ Norman Hayes and our wives,Anne and Brenda, who looked after ‘frontof house’. One sad note was that when wecame to bank the ticket money, there weretwo forged Scottish €20 notes in it, making€40 less for a proposed permanent canaldisplay in Saddleworth Museum.

Diggle Band have a new music stand ‘pelmet’ (pictured above)to go with their new signature tune - the march “Standedge”.Very appropriate choice.

Incidentally, it is hoped that the march andpossibly the fanfare will feature in therestoration video being released soon.

Ken Wright

Ken

Wri

ght

Solution to Crossword 34


Review - A Guide to the HNCThis A5 32-page booklet has beenproduced for British Waterways and, atthe time of writing, is the only officialguide to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.There is also John Lower’s “South PennineRing” but the HNC section is now out ofdate. The BW guide is free, presumablyfunded partly from advertising, of whichmore later!

As with any guide of this kind, producedin something of a rush to coincide withthe re-opening of the Canal, there areerrors and omissions but, generally, it is anattractive and readable document, wellprinted, well illustrated in full colour andwith clear well-drawn maps. The maps,however, give the impression that thelocation of pubs is every bit as importantas the route, layout and navigationaldetails of the Canal. The maps are splat-tered with little pictures of pint pots, allbut obliterating any detail in places.I suppose some readers - and it is notclear who the booklet is actually aimed at- would consider this vital information.I would have liked to see the odd restau-rant, chip shop, Indian take-away, super-market, bakery or whatever shown aswell. In any case serious drinkers are notinterested in a picture of a pint pot.A pub’s name and a hint as to what beerit sells is also vital information.

I digress. The booklet has sections oncanal history and restoration as well asgeneral information on navigating theCanal, with safety features carefullyincluded. There are descriptions of placesof interest, including Denshaw, for in-stance, which is nearly far enough away tobe in a guide for the Rochdale Canal!

Photographs include one of the caf€ in“Last of the Summer Wine” which is alsoa bit off the canal’s beaten track.

Generally though, it’s an interesting readand will give many people, like touristsand others who are not canal buffs, agood idea of what the Canal has to offer.

And that is what restoration was about, tooffer opportunities to the Colne and Tamevalleys to attract visitors, create jobs,advertise our existence.

Did I say advertise? Here I must offer avery serious criticism. I said earlier thatthe booklet was partly funded fromadvertising. One would have thought thatthe adverts might tell us the whereaboutsof those eateries and shops and facilitiesthat are missing from the maps. But NO!Possibly for those in Marsden but else-where, on the West side of the hill - zilch!Out of 24 advertisements, only one is forthe West side and that is Tameside’sMuseum and Art Galleries. WhereasMarsden gets 7 (including 4 pubs), therest of Colne Valley gets 4 and Hudders-field 7.

The remaining five are as far away fromthe Canal as Dewsbury and Brighouse andinclude a canal-hire base near Mirfieldwho, at the time of writing, are refusing tolet boats use the Narrow because it isconsidered unfit for their boats.

Probably this is all due to some advertis-ing agency who don’t know the area (thepublishers are from Morecambe) andclearly didn’t get much guidance. Tell thatto the Saddleworth Tourist Association!

Ken Wright

WEST SIDE SOCIAL MEETINGS:

As usual, the venue is the TollemacheArms, Manchester Road, Mossley on thesecond Wednesday of the monthcommencing at 8.00pm. Forthcomingmeetings for 2001are: 14th November &12th December.

The Back PageTHE SOCIETYWELCOMESTHEFOLLOWINGNEWMEMBERS:

MEMBERSHIP RATES

Individual €9.00Family €11.00Life €90.00Associate €15.00Corporate €150.00

ADVERTISING RATESPer Issue Per Year

Quarter €9.38 €37.50

Half €18.75 €75.00

Full €37.50 €150.00

COPY DATEArticles, letters and commentsfor Issue 139 of Pennine Linkshould reach the Editor at 45Gorton Street, Peel Green,

Eccles, Manchester, M30 7LZby 9th November 2001

PENNINE LINK BACK NUMBERS:PENNINE LINK BACK NUMBERS:PENNINE LINK BACK NUMBERS:PENNINE LINK BACK NUMBERS:PENNINE LINK BACK NUMBERS:

The following back issues are available freefrom John Maynard, 29 Thick Hollins Drive,Meltham, Yorkshire, HD7 3DL. Please sendan A5 stamped, addressed envelope (44p) orA4 sized envelope (76p) for joint issue 81/82.

24, 25, 38, 47, 49 to 75, 77, 79, 80 to 83, 85to 89, 92 to 97, 99, 101, 103, 104, 117 to119, 121 to 135, 137

These are the only back issues available, pleasedo not request issues which are not on this list.


2631 Mr & Mrs Smith, 2632 Mr & Mrs Wood, 2633 Mr Kershaw, 2634 Mrs Kershaw, 2635 Mr & Mrs Atlass, 2636 Mr Wheeldon, 2637 Ms O’Neill, 2638 Mr Kempster, 2639 Mr Milsom, 2640 Dr Baker,

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