Navvies

waterway recovery group

Volunteers restoring waterwaysNo196 December2002-January2003

Contributions......are always welcome, whether hand-written,typed, on 3½" floppy disk, CR-ROM or by e-mail. Photos also welcome: slides or colouror b/w prints. Please state whether you wantyour prints back; I assume that you want slidesreturned. Digital / computer scanned photosalso welcome, either on floppy / CD-ROM or ase-mail attachments, preferably JPG format.Send them to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35,Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or e-mailtomartin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk. Press date forNo 197: January 1st.

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

In this issue:Editorial 3Chairman 4Training more courses in the spring 5Camp Reports from theGrandWestern,Huddersfield festival andGrantham 6-11Bonfire Bash report fromSouthWales 12-13BITM a year in the life of aWRGgroup 14-16Appeal weneed to raise 75 grand! 17DirectoryWRG and canal society contacts18-19Diary camps and working parties 20-22Letters andWRG Boat Club News 23-24Logistics a song about toasters 25Progress work on the Wilts & Berks,Wey & Arun and Basingstoke 26-29Bookshop another auction of canal books 30-32Plant Bunglemoves a KL15 crane 33Tunnel Vision a story by Jon Sims 34-35Cleanup book now for the BCN cleanup 36WRGBC Boat Club news 37Bits & Pieces wot no KESCRG camp? 38Noticeboard 39Backfill what happened to Alan's phone? 40

Andnext time......October, Christmas and New Year camp re-ports. Plus an article about theAberdare Canal.

Contents

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Cover photo:October camp on the Mon & Brec: restoration work nearing completion on the chamberof Lock 21, top lock of the 14 Locks flight at Rogerstone. (Martin Ludgate) Below left:October camponthe Cotswolds: the weir crest stones at Ham Mill Lock bywash are reinstated. (Martin Ludgate) Belowright: the sameweir at the end of the week, with rebuilding work complete. (EdWalker) We hope to havefull reports from both of these Canal Camps in the next issue. Please somebody write them!

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Editorial

Brian MoultWe are sorry to have to tell you that BrianMoult ofHerefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust diedjust as this issue was going to the printers.

Brianwas in charge of theH&GCTSales, butmanyWRGieswill have known him as one of the team oflocal volunteers whoworked alongside us through-out the Over Basin project.

Our sympathies go to his wife Janet and to the restof his family and friends.

The editor apologises (1)...for the non-appearance yet again of the serial'Bankside'. I'm afraid this is because with all thecontributions submitted for this issue, there simplywasn't any space for 'Bankside', despite us havingincreased the size of themagazine to an envelope-busting 40 pages-plus-camps-booklet. Rest as-sured, Oz Collingwood, Gordon-I-broke-my-nose-three-times Drake and the rest of the crowd are stillhard at work on the Thames Berks and Andover,and their exploits will return to these pages soon.A couple of other items have also had to be heldover, so if you submitted something for publica-tion don't assume I'm not going to print it just be-cause it doesn't appear in this issue.And don't let it put you off sending contributionsin: the forthcoming winter issues tend to havefewer Canal Camp reports in them, so there ismore room for other items such as progress up-dates and the 'restoration feature' articles.The editor apologises (2)...for the lack of Camp Reports from the OctoberCamps. That's not because of lack of space butbecause nobody's sentmeany reports yet. Pleasedo - there will be plenty of room in issue 197.Thank you...to everyone who has contributed to Navvies thisyear, whether by sending articles, photographs,letters, snippets for the back page or whatever.Also thankyou to the 'behind thescenes' team: John& Tess atWRGPrint and their assembly volunteersin London, Sue Watts for looking after subscriptionrenewals, and in particular Edd Leetham who hasjust handed over to head office the job of maintain-ing the subs database and printing address labels,after doing it for more years than I can remember.Coming soon: the Last Ever Mont Camp!What do you mean, you don't believe me? We'reopening Aston Locks on April 4th - the February15-22 Camp really will be the last ever camp onthis section of theMontgomery Canal. Book now!

Coming soon: the BCN CleanupThere is an article elsewhere in this issue aboutthe Cleanup, but I'd like tomention it here becauseI think it's an important event and I hope we'll geta good turnout of volunteers.Why is it important? Because without events likethis, the less well-used parts of Birmingham CanalNavigations would have been in serious danger ofbecoming impassable and falling into dereliction.Whichwould bea shame,when restoration projectslike the Lichfield & Hatherton are doing their best tomake these canals more accessible to boaters.The Cleanup is also rather good fun, and it makesa change to be working on a canal that's actuallygot boats on it. So put the 22-23 March in yourdiary, and send off the form on page 37.Tranche three and four...You may have heard of 'Tranche Two', the ninerestoration projects that BW /TheWaterwaysTrusthave identified as the next group to follow on nowthat theRochdale,Huddersfield etc. are open. Theyare: Droitwich, Cotswolds, Foxton Inclined Plane,Bedford-Milton Keynes new canal, Mont phase 1(to connect to theWelshpool length), East Londonrivers, Liverpool Docks new canal, ManchesterBolton & Bury, Lancaster northern reaches.At a recent IWA conference, a provisional list byDave Fletcher of 'Tranche 3' and 'Tranche 4' gavean indication of what wemight see restored in thenext couple of decades...Tranche 3: Ashby northern reaches, Chesterfield,Grantham, River Leven (new navigation to linkthe Clyde to Loch Lomond), River Carron (newbarrage tomake the east end of the Forth & Clydemore accessible, Pocklington, Mont phase 2 (toNewtown), Derby, HigherAvon / Grand Union link,Lichfield & Hatherton, Mon & Brec, Wendover,Wey & Arun, Wilts & Berks.Tranche 4:Bude, Cromford, GrandWestern, Her-eford & Gloucester, new Slough-Thames link,Sankey, Swansea / Neath / Tennant, Witham-Nene new link, Watford new broad-beam boat lift.That should keep TWT (and us) busy for a while.And finally...It's that time of year again... so I'll finish by wish-ing you all the compliments of the season, and Ilook forward to seeing lots of you on the Basing-stoke Canal New Year Camp.

Martin Ludgate

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ChairmanWhyarewepaying somuchattention to training?

Chairman's Comment

This edition of 'Navvies' will come to you in thesame envelope as our shiny new Canal Campsbrochure for 2003. I�m really rather pleased withthe choice of sites and work this year. We havespent quite a time tracking down sites that we thinkoffer really enjoyable work that represents achance to really make a noticeable contribution.

The range of work is as varied as the locationsso whether you want a nice straightforward campor a really challenging one we have something tooffer you. Of course if you aren�t interested in go-ing on a Canal Camp then please pass on thebrochure to someone who may be, and perhapscontact one of our regional groups instead! Simi-larly if you know of an organisation or individualwho might be interested please contact HeadOffice and we will send them a info pack.

Also included in this 'Navvies' [See opposite] arefull details of the various Training courses we areoffering this spring.

Just to clear up one point: please don�t think theseare compulsory or that if you don�t attend you won�tbe able to contribute toWRGevents - nothing couldbe further from the truth. The explanation for whywe are paying particular attention to training at themoment comes down to two simple reasons:

(1) Many of our volunteers have asked for trainingto enhance their enjoyment of the work they do

(2) So much of our work these days is in partner-ship and it is the case that the more we bring to apartnership the more the other partners will give.This is particularly the case with funders, theyare much more willing to fund projects where wecan say training is an integral part of the volun-teers contribution. This is only natural as thefunders are under pressure to ensure their fundsare spent well and they are wary of giving theirmoney away to just anyone.

So we are not saying that we are all going to havetowave certificates in order to goona site, but everybit of training that we can achieve makes it easierfor bothWRGbrass and the local societies to provecompetence (which means more help and less hin-drance from funders, project officers, safety officers,etc). Having led one of the seminars recently I canseriously recommend them -wehavekept the costsdownsoeveryone canattendand I have yet to haveanyone say they didn�t learn anything from one.

I also need to make a small explanation about thearticle in this issue regarding our 'soon to belaunched' appeal for the equipment that all theseskilled navvies will use. Although it will not be of-ficial until February we thought that you would allwant to have a little advance notice as diaries tendto get rather full this time of year and we feel suresome of you will want to sign up for some of thewacky fundraising events (thinks: "just what arewe going to abseil off this time?")

See you dangling off something in the near fu-ture?

Mike Palmer

Andy Millward

We are sorry to report the death ofAndyMillward.He was very much involved in setting-up the BoatMuseum at Ellesmere Port in the 1970s; he alsoowned the working narrow boat 'Monarch'; howeverformanywhojoinedWRGin the 1970s and80s he isto be remembered for the photograph of him takenbyChrisGriffiths at theBasingstokeBigDig (above)which formany years adorned theWRGdisplay,andwhich captured the 'spirit of the age'. Our sympa-thies to his family and to anyone who knew him.

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TrainingMore training courses fromBritishWaterways

TWT Training Courses - Spring 2003

Following on from the autumn programme ofcourses mentioned by Mike in the last 'Navvies',here are details of further courses being offeredby The Waterways Trust in the winter and earlyspring. The instructors are all experienced peoplefrom organisations such as WRG, BTCV and BW.

All courses will be held at BritishWaterways� Her-itage Skills Training Centre, Hatton, Warwick, un-less noted otherwise.

Anyone iswelcome toattend, provided theyare sup-ported by a relevent organisation (such asWRG ora canal society) and commit to doing at least 10days volunteer work during the following year.

Although the training is free, there is a charge of£15 to cover materials, refreshments etc.

For more details contact Mike Palmer (see p39)or see the WRG web site www.wrg.org.uk.

The following practical courses are beingjointly run byWRG, BritishWaterways and TheWaterways Trust. Upon satisfactory comple-tion of a course volunteers will receive a rec-ognised qualification.

Masonry RepairsSat & Sun 1st-2nd February, Sat & Sun 1st-2ndMarch, Sat & Sun 5th-6th April

Brick Repairs & Re-PointingSat & Sun 1st-2nd February, Sat & Sun 1st-2ndMarch, Sat & Sun 5th-6th AprilBrushcutters & StrimmersSat 1st February, Sun 2nd February, Sat 1st March,Sun 2nd MarchHistoric MetalworkSat & Sun 5th-6th AprilSlinger / Banksman training and assessment(to CITB standard)Sat 1st MarchThere are also CITB dumper and excavator as-sessment-only sessions available for experi-enced operators, who will need to have alreadypassed the HSE 'basic level assessment for plantoperators' - see the web site for more details.

The following courses are aimedmore at peo-ple involved in the management of canal res-toration projects, but are open to anyone sub-ject to the above conditions.

Effective Fundraising: fundraising techniquesand methods to help an organisation achieve itsobjectives.Saturday 22nd February, Wednesday 5th March ,Saturday 15th MarchMore Volunteers Please! leadership, organisa-tion, recruitment and motivation of volunteers.Saturday 15th FebruaryConserveTheWaterways? the conservation andenhancement of heritage and environment. Thecourse will include the statutory framework, thepolicies of funders, practical management issues.Saturday 8th MarchBe Safe! - Health & Safety for Voluntary GroupsThe course will cover both practical and legal is-sues. The development of the course, and inputfrom candidates, is also aimed at fostering a com-mon approach to health and safety.Saturday 8th February, Monday 24th February,Saturday 22nd March

George 'Bungle' Eycott receives his IWA TrainingAward cheque for a course in electrical installationsto help him maintain the generator truck 'Sammy'.Dave 'Tenko' Johnson has also received a TrainingAward, for a course in tree climbing and rescue inconnection with his work with the WRG ForestryTeam. Fordetailsofhowtoapply foraTrainingAward,contact head office on 01923 711114, emailwrg@waterways.org.uk or see the WRG web site.Photo by Jude Moore

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Camp reportsDroitwich... or Grand West-ern... or Mon & Brec...

Droitwich Canal Camp 0205"Good Morning, this is Orchard Radio 101.0 FMbroadcasting to Devon and Somerset. The timeis six o�clock and the weather is warm with a riskof showers on this lovely Saturday. We have re-ceived reports that a landscape-altering organi-sation going by the name of Waterway RecoveryGroup are not moving out of the area today aswas expected. It would appear that the organi-sation has been able to locate a new set of vol-unteers who are available to complete restora-tion work that previous camps have started. Ourroving Ree Porter has the latest for us...."�Yes indeed, here I am in Burlescombe, nearTaun-ton, at the accommodation of previous camps andthere is an unusual level of activity occurring. Itseems that volunteers who had been planning aweek working on the Barge Canal in Droitwichhave been relocated to work on the GrandWest-ern Canal right here in Somerset. Rumours arethat they had a run-in with hundreds of bikers attheir accommodation in Droitwich, and decidedto relocate.Everyone here seems to be in good spirits and thelocals are very pleased at the prospect of havingthe canal project finished. When I say 'canalproject', we are talking about a 250-yard stretchof canal that has been dredged, and seems like acanal but appears to be missing ends � it is justthe middle. The entire site also is very muddy andwill require both machinery and manual labour.Which leaves the camp leader, Mike Palmer, won-dering how he could keep his confident promiseto the volunteers that they would be back in Droit-wich very soon. Back to you in the studio.�"It seems like our volunteers are getting set upfor a busy few days. We�ll keep you up to date ontheir progress. Now a little tune for you all, SClub 7�s 'Don�t Stop Movin' ."��and that's it for traffic news this lovelyMonday.�"Thank you Q. So it�s all clear on the roads thenexcept for that combine harvester, but it wouldappear that maybe we need to rethink our roadsigns here in Devon, as WRG volunteer travel-ling from Scotland, John, managed to end up inExeter some twenty miles further down the roadthan the intended Burlescombe.

All the volunteers now appear to have arrived,from destinations as far away as Japan, New-castle, Scotland, and Gloucester, to continue thegood work on the canal. So we�ll hand over toRee Porter for the latest..."�The work so far appears to involve the volunteersworking in teams. One groupare busy sawingpointsoff fence-post verticals so that they can be used ashorizontals � which is somewhat missing the pointof being a vertical! Another group are busy back-filling behind the fencing to hold the posts in place,and the fencing is looking great as a result. Thereare a digger and dumper being used on site that areprofiling the bank of the canal to make it look nicefor the visitors to the stretch of canal, and are alsoremoving a dam at the far end that has been used asan access route by the plant (that�s of the mechani-cal sort rather than Mrs. Smith�s dahlias). Mean-while a JCB is busy digging a big hole to find theend of a land-drain that had been laid down and hasunfortunately been covered in a very large pile ofvery sloppy claymud. Shouldn�t take them too longto find I�m sure. Though it does appear as thoughthe whole 250 yards of canal has been dug out anddeposited in only 50 yards of land, on top of the pipe.But I have confidence in this group. �"Fantastic news, so if any of you would like to goand see the work in progress you just need tonip down to A. Farmer�s fields and you�ll hear thenoise! But here�s a song in dedication of theirefforts, 'It�s been a hard days night' by TheBeatles.""��and I hope things get better between you andyour husband. Bye bye now.""And our next story is something of a surprise.There has been a tip off of some rather strangegoings on with the WRG volunteers. Don�t saywe don�t give you juicy gossip, here�s Ree withthe details..."�Well rumour has it that the has been more than alittle 'group bonding' going on, on site. Here I havevolunteerMikewithme. SoMike,what exactly haveyou been up to?��Well Gary, Catherine and myself have beenbonking����So you are not denying these rumours?��Rumours? No not at all. I�ll let you know it�shard work��Do your camp leaders know about the three ofyou?��Well we were told to do it. Given specific in-structions by Mike. But it did need doing. Don�tthink I�ll be doing it all week though; the lead-ers will probably change round who gets a go.But the fence should look good at the end of itall.�

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Camp reports"...Mike�s shorts sewn-up to cre-ate almost respectable shorts..."

�So there youhave it, straight fromthehorsesmouth.I�m sorry... 'the fence'?��Yes we have to bash the verticals in for the fenc-ing, it�s called bonking.��Ah, yes, I see. Well that cleared up that little mat-ter! Well now I�mdownhere I�ll fill you in onwhat�sbeen going on here for the past few days. One of thenew volunteers, Catherine, has become very muchat home in the dumpers and seems to be workingvery well in the battle against the very sloppymoun-tain of dredged clay, that the rain is not helping todryout. The fencing is coming along nicely, with Gary,Stuart,Mike, John,Ai, Vix andNina putting in a lotof that Olde Elbow Grease. The JCB has left sitenow, and has been pressure washed by the volun-teers in the chicken shed. The volunteers alsoman-aged to find the drainagepipe. Unfortunately thepipesoonbecame threepipes, orbits of pipe. But I�m surethe volunteers know how to fix the problem.�"Well that only leaves me a few minutes in whichto play a very topical tune:Bob TheBuilder, 'CanWe Fix It?' ""Today sees the end of the stay of the WRG vol-unteers with us here in Devon, as they movedonto work on another canal in Wales. They haveleft behind a great showpiece of a canal, show-ing the many hours of hard work that has goneinto getting it to that standard. The fencing isfinished both along the towpath and as a tempo-rary measure to hold back the mountain ofdredged clay that was infringing on the towpath,pipes have been laid to maintain the water level,the towpath has been resurfaced at the near end,and rubbish has been cleared from the site.But all has not been work. Once the volunteershave finished for the day they lock up the lovelycabin on site and head back to accommodationfor food, as long as there is not a kid�s party, orgame of bingo happening there. Obviously withthe sort of muddy conditions on site the teamhave needed showers, which have been at thelocal pool, both before and after swimming. Theywere even kind enough to remove theirwellingtons at the door. The volunteers havecommented on the top-notch food, made by awhole range of the volunteers, which has fuelledthem for their stay.The entertainment seems to have been basedaround, chip shops, scenes between the campleader and the bouncers at Taunton�s BallroomDancing School and on the same occasion anear-kidnapping of two ladies by the same campleader, and the local pub where music was pro-vided by a jukebox which seemed to edit thesongs as and when it pleased, and a pool tour-nament was played. And for those more ener-getic members of the group there was musicbeing played back at the accommodation.

There also appears to have been a femininetouch to this campwith cakes being baked, Mike�sindecent shorts being sewn up to create a pair ofalmost respectable shorts, and earlier in the weekMrs. A. Local felt so bad about the state of thevolunteers muddy socks that she offered to washthem. Two loads later and the volunteers are verygrateful, despite the initial confusion that appearedto have occurred over lack of understanding of thelocal dialect, loud rain on the windows and slightalcohol intake by the camp leader. Volunteerswerealso puzzled by the number of conversations re-volving around a �ruddy brown git� or �gate� (theyweren�t sure). I tell you what, we�ll just 'Blame iton the weatherman' by B*witched."�...and the blistering hot weather we�ve had over thepastdayor so is likely tocontinuewell intonextweek.�"We�ve just had a report in on our WRG volun-teerswho left us onThursday, saying that they havebeen having a cracking time in SouthWales. Theyhad been under the impression that thework await-ing them was about a days work for four people.The demolition of two lock walls however was notcompleted despite there being at least eleven vol-unteers working full tilt all day in the hot weather. Ithink the informer Mr. Collins needs to check upon his calculations for demolition speeds.They also appear to have come across a problemwith their lovely accommodation. Being as thoughthey are staying in a Methodist Church Hall, theyhave to abide by the 'no alcohol' rule of the build-ing. The local pub was investigated upon arrival,and found to contain grateful locals who showedtheir appreciation to WRG by buying them a cou-ple of rounds (which we have been told were verymuch appreciated) and as for the deco, well, it was,erm, interesting. We have a dedication to the pub,'DedicatedFollowerOfFashion' byTheKinks...""A great song. On the final night of the WRGcamp a second pub was visited, and then ClubMinibus opened its doors to the rowdier mem-bers of WRG. Here�s a final song to those fan-tastic, hard working WRG volunteers, 'Stay an-other Day' by East 17."('Maybe not' thought the volunteers, they did needto get to Droitwich at some point...)

Judith Gordon

Camp 0218: Huddersfield Festival Camp

As usual a team of WRGies spent a couple ofweeks at the end of August helping the IWA toset up and run the National Waterways Festival,the world's biggest Inland Waterways event. Butrather than bore you with a conventional canalcamp report, here is an alternative version in songform. It was written by Ali 'Womble' Bottomleyand is sung to the tune of 'My favourite things'from 'The Sound of Music'. If you don't remem-ber 'The Sound of Music' (a) you're lucky (b) if youreally want to know, ask your (grand) parents!

"Our Festival Things"

Bungle and Baylis on a bright coloured tractorBanners by David (a once famous actor)Signs made by Harry, a Bungle that singsThese are a few of our Festival Things

Tracking and fencing in all kinds of weatherBeautiful medics all dressed up in leatherDays out on car parks with �big pointy fings�These are a few of our Festival Things

When the dogs keepus from our sleepWhenwe�re feeling sadwe simply remember our Festival Thingsand then we don�t feel so bad.

WOWing the children with bricks, glue and dredgers,Youths breaking in through the holes in our hedges,Wheelie Bins emptied (so that they don�t ming)These are a few of our Festival Things

Food for the masses, it really is tastyOff to the beer tent - well don�t be too hasty:There�s lots of washing up for us to doBex - check the poo pipe ain�t broken in two!

Someone get Toby - the pier is now sinking,Bex check the cess pit - the toilets are stinking,Red shirts and blue shirts who give it their all,Life here in Huddersfield, it�s such a ball.

When the tools breakand your feet achewhen traders get madWe simply remember our Festival Thingsand then we don�t feel so bad.page 8

Camp reportsFrom the IWA'sNationalWater-ways Festival at Huddersfield

Top: it wouldn't be the 'National' without lots ofsecurity fencing to put up and take down. (D Brad-ford) Above: installing the 'poo pipe' (MartinLudgate) Below: helping with 'WoW' - 'Wild OverWaterways', the new children's activities schemebeing run jointly with British Waterways, The Wa-terways Trust and the IWA. (Martin Ludgate)

We�re now nearly a month on from the eventand still sorting out paperwork! Hopefully mostof you have now recovered, especially thosedie-hard volunteers who stayed to the bitterend � well almost, Bungle, Dave and Malcolm

could still be there. All that�sleft to say is an almightyTHANK YOU to everyonewho came to Huddersfield,ventured through the derelic-tion � we still don�t knowwhatyou mean Bungle � andhelped make the Festivalcamp a success. The NWFteam really appreciated thehard work and team spirit,which was evident in everytask completed, (and theywere all completed � exceptthe one regarding the dogpoo!). Many thanks to thoseof you who also helpedAl outwhen you weren�t on site andspecial thanks to the starcook herself � you were fab!

Thanks again

Mick Beattie &Ali Bottomleypage 9

Above: as usual there were lots of signs to be made...(Martin Ludgate) Below: ...and banners to be distrib-uted around the site and put up (D Bradford). Right:once again there was amockup 'quayside' wheremanyof the boats being exhibited were 'moored'. (MartinLudgate) Bottom left: 'howmanyWRGies does it taketo change a light-bulb?" (Martin Ludgate)Bottom right:"I think you've missed a bit just there." (D Bradford)

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Camp reportsRoobarb and Custard on theGranthamCanal...

Camp 0219 Grantham CanalSeptember 7th - 14th

This was our first camp on the Grantham Canalfor a number of years, and the first camp at a newsite at Cropwell Bishop locks.

As somebody had kindly provided us with two'Camp Mascots' in the shape of 'Roobarb' and'Custard', a green dog and a pink cat which playedthe (very irritating) theme tune from the TV seriesof that name, we thought it would be appropriate ifthe camp report was done in appropriate style.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) our car-toonist failed to realise that the combination ofusing lined stationery and a soft grey pencil pro-duced something that even after a lot of compu-terised tweaking wasn't really clear enough thatwe could rely on it coming through the 'Navvies'printing process in legible form.

But here's a sample, just to give you an idea ofwhat you've missed...

Yes, the first day really did 'go with a bang' - thecooker in the accommodation exploded! But apartfrom that, it was a successful week.

The camp's objective was to clear vegetation andearth from the bottom of locks 11, 10 and 9; lock11 had already been almost finished by previousweekend work parties but the other two hadn'treally been started. BritishWaterways would thenbe able to send in structural engineers to do adetailed inspection of the condition of the locksprior to restoration.

Top: Clearing vegetation from the lower wingwalls...Above: ...and the chamber walls.Below:The main purpose of the clearance work was toexpose the chambers to assess their condition forfuture repair work: it looks like this one will need afair bit of attention. Photos by Martin Ludgate.

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Everyone worked so hard that there was a realchance of running out of work before the end ofthe week. However rain, the odd early finish anda laid-back atmosphere meant the work lasteduntil early afternoon on Friday.

On the social side... we dived into the local pooland had fun with the floats and flume, our localpub laid-on a fabulous Chinese meal, the localcanal societies put on an entertaining eveningwith'Pop goes the Century' and one of our volunteersused his contacts to provide a very tasty Indianmeal.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts: it made myjob as leader so easy that it really was a laid-back'chill out and relax' camp.

Brian 'Ernie' Hearne(with a few additional bits by the editor)

What locks 9 and 10 looked like at the beginningof the camp...

...and what they looked like just a couple of dayslater. Photos by the editor.

Above: Roobarb and Custard enter into the so-cial life of the camp. (I bet you're really sorry therest of the cartoons didn't make it into 'Navvies'...)

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Bonfire BashReporting fromtheMon&BrecinwettestWales...

Why do we do these things? Because it�sfun? The little motto that appeared on the reun-ion clothing a couple recently probably says itall � �Happy but Crazy�. I don�t actually knowwho thought up that one but it does seem tosum it up well.

What did we get then? Well, the M4. Hands upall those who slow down to look at the accidenton the other carriageway (if you are not alreadyin the jam). What, none of you? Well, there is aheck of a lot of people who do!

And then going to Wales for the weekend? Evenwith a load of Welsh blood coursing through myveins I have to admit that it is very likely to rain abit as soon as you cross the bridge!

However, the accommodation was very impres-sive and absorbed the huge number of inmates,and travel and weather were soon forgotten amidconversation and lubrication.

Saturday dawned and after a splendid breakfastfrom Jude and her cohorts it was off to site. Thiswas a revelation. The site is impressive with theflight of locks dropping down steeply to the M4 farbelow. The car park at the top houses the Trust�scompound and a huge assembly of navvies andequipment ready for the fray.

The work was mostly scrub bashing around thelocks and in the chambers and pounds and soonthe bonfires were burning. The chambers werealso cleared of waterlogged wood that had clearlybeen there for some time. The bonfire crew weresomewhat hampered by Jonathan who had a die-sel powered wood chipper and was shreddingsaplings faster than they could be cut down.

At the other end of the flight the chainsaw gangwere felling trees and Bungle and his tractor werewinching away merrily. This proved a convenientplace to be as motorway bridges provide plentyof shelter from the rain.

Work progressed well although as the day pro-gressed and theweather continued in itswetWelshway, the work was further hamperedwhen thecanalunexpectedly started reverting to its navigable state.

Finally we all returned, thoroughly wet, to warm-ish showers andmore beer. Harry andRalph gaveus the benefit of their pyrotechnic skill and we allenjoyed our evening meal and then slaked ourthirst (for companionship).

Despite the weather, the 'Bonfire Bash' managed to live up to its name.

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And so to bed � eventually and forsome people, for a considerablelength of time.

Day dawned and MKP confusedus all by informing us that it wasn�training. The confusing part wasthat further investigation confirmedthat he was telling the truth. How-ever, by the time breakfast was fin-ished it had started again and con-tinued sporadically throughout theday. The in between bits weremuch better and people spent theday alternately drying out and get-ting wet. The rain also did inter-esting things to the consistency ofthe towpath and I discovered thatdumpers don�t go where the tractor can (not if you want them to come out again). Bungle got todemonstrate his snatch-block and managed to rescue the dumper so all was eventually well. Martinwas mercifully at the other end of site so no documentary evidence exists.

The drift away began but the site clearly showedwhat 180 determined navvies can achieve, evenin the rain.

Thanks to Spencer and Adrian for the leading(and lettingme spend theweekend sitting down),for Jude and her crew for scrummy food. ToAlan for the accommodation, to the Mon & BrecTrust for marshalling and to anyone I�ve forgot-ten. Oh, and to Alan Lines for reminding every-one of the virtue of hands-free phones. Well,you wouldn�t want to touch it after that wouldyou?

DaveWorthington

The work involved cutting down trees and Tirforing out stumps...

...removing creepers from the locksides...

...and clearing undergrowth from around the locks.

Harry celebrated his birthday over theweekend, andwasdulypresentedwithhisveryowndumperandabookabout 'HeavyPlant'. All photos by Martin Ludgate

2002: AYear in the Life of a wrg Regional Group

January. Seven Locks, Wilts & Berks. A four-day weekend, for those able to go down on Thurs-day. Rachael leading, with around 20 on site Sat-urday morning & Sunday. The main job was mixing& shovelling concrete to back-fill the towpath wall atLock 3. Ballast was loaded onto the dumper by trac-tor-shovel at a nearby farm, driven to site, shovelleddirect from the dumper to a large mixer, whence themixed concrete was slid down a chute into place andvibrated. Other volunteers cleared scrub from Lock4 so its condition could be assessed before a plannedWRG Camp in the Summer. Very wet � lunch in-doors at Brinkworth Village Hall was agreed unani-mously. Had to push the cars one by one off thenow-extremely-squelchy verge, beginning with aVolvo belonging to a local Trust volunteer, after whichthe rest were easy! For the first time in livingmemorythe only work done in the afternoon was by the Cook(thank you, Di!) and her part-time helpers. This de-cision was taken as much in deference to the stateof the track, as to the diminishing store of dry cloth-ing available. Work resumed on Sunday, until shortlyafter lunch by which time everyone was again thor-oughly wet! A memorable start to the year.

February. Scrub clearance on the DraytonBeauchamp section of the Wendover Arm, withGraham Hotham leading and once again 20 peo-ple on site. The jungle put up a good fight, but stoodno real chance against a small army of Tirfor winches,slashers, bowsaws and the BITM brush-cutter. Bon-fires were reluctant to burn as wind, hail & snowwhistled down from the Chilterns, and we were gladto shelter under a bridge for lunch.

Sunday began well but had degenerated into acold, steady drizzle by the time the WAT Restora-tion Director arrived to see howwe had done. Somemasochist asked him whether WAT was planninganother Work Week in the Summer. He seemed alittle surprised at this enthusiasm, but two weekslater, we heard that enough local volunteers hadagreed to the idea for dates to be set. Time tobook leave from the day job.

March. Working with the Lapal Canal Trust to clearscrub, derelict cars (remains of) and other debrisfrom a half-mile rubbish tip which the local Councilhave designated a linear park and the LCT wouldlike to see restored as urban waterway. Accom-modation courtesy of the Stonehouse Gang wasconveniently sited (walk out of the back door andyou were on site), spacious, and complete with pooltables and television. Bonfires were banned in thissmoke-free zone of Birmingham so an industrialchipper (with operator) and a shredder were pro-vided. The latter was less powerful than Mike &Roger would have liked but even so, on Sundayafternoon a young local stared around in disbeliefand asked �Hey, Mister, where�s all them treesgone?�

Returning two dumpers to the security of the com-pound on Saturday with only 7 fully-functional tyresbetween them took a certain amount of ingenuity.Both machines were back in action by Sundaymorning however, even if they did have a tendencyto lie down on the job from time to time. By theend of the weekend, 103 volunteers (only 25 ofwhom were from BITM!) had moved 350 cubicmetres of rubbish and cleared vast amounts ofscrub to transform the whole line of the erstwhile/future canal from an overgrown tip to quite a pleas-ant area.

April. Half-a-dozen BITMitesjoined North-ampton IWA fortheir clean-upday on theWes t b r i d g eArmof theNene.There was lessdebris in the riverthan anticipated,because some-one had beenthrough with adredger a fewweeks before-hand. I seem tor e m e m b e rsomething simi-lar happening ayear or so back�maybe we onlyneed to publicisea clean-up nexttime �

page 14

WRG BITMAyear in the lift of WRG's 'Bitin theMiddle' group...

BITM in winter: backfilling at Seven Locks. BITM in spring:Wendover festival

A week later, the usual 20 or so suspects de-scended on an hitherto peaceful location in dark-est Sussex. A wonderfully warm and sunny week-end, memorable for the dozen or more species ofwild flower in bloom along the towpath and the shim-mering carpets of bluebells in the adjacent woods.Also for the rare butterfly orchids, a protected spe-cies not to be squashed by heavy boots! This wasour first visit to the Dig Deep site at Bonfire Hangeron theWey &Arun. The main task for this weekendwas to continue work on the footbridges which willenable ramblers to continue to cross this section ofthe canal dry-shod when it is re-watered to form areservoir for the navigable Loxwood section. Therewas also plenty of work for the Tirfor and mattockbrigade, removing and burning stumps and brush-wood from the canal bed. A really good weekend,with a variety of work, fine weather, beautiful sur-roundings and a vast array of flora and fauna toenjoy. Several frogs hopped out of our way in thewetter bits of the canal and Barbara saw a slow-worm. We also spotted several butterflies, includ-ing a Peacock, Brimstones and Orange-Tips (thislast species feed on a plant called Garlic Mustard,which explained the garlic smell on the towpath) -a sign that spring had well and truly arrived!

May. The usual Festivals � Little Venice (SalesStand only), Rickmansworth & Wendover (akaTring). The Wendover Car Park Fairy�s wings werelarger, his wand longer and costume a deeper pinkthan ever before, and his assistants were providedwith large red �lollipops� to wave so that they couldbe seen when standing in the hollow at the far sideof the car park. �Nell Gwynn� exchanged her or-anges for a basket of home-made muffins whichfound a ready sale. The Canal Restoration Game,updated for 2002, was run from the small publicitystand, strategically sited between the beer tent andthe main marquee and opposite the main BITMsales stand equally strategically located by the en-trance gate. Happily, the weekend was a financialsuccess as well as an enjoyable one. It was quitesatisfying to note that some of the tickets whichwere on top prizes when we first put the Restora-tion Game together are now well among the �also-rans� because so much has happened in restora-tion terms over the last 4 years!

June. The muddiest work-weekend for some time!We were to be the last Dig Deep group to work onValley Lock on the Thames & Severn and so spentSaturday morning tidying up there before going toChalford to create flood-relief channels through thereeded Roundhouse Pound. We were asked for atleast 2 extra channels, so we dug 4. The workinvoked distant memories of sandcastles, moatsand dams � and was just as much fun. It was im-portant to be careful of one�s footing however � aH&S demonstration using a keb handle showedthat the silt was over 5� deep in places, so it wasadvisable not to step off the reed bed! We alsoreopened an impassable section of towpath, muchto the disgust of local residents who said they keptit overgrown deliberately to discourage cyclists!Noah�s Ark Cycle Shop is just across the road �

July. Saul Junction Canal Festival (small publicitystand and Canal Restoration Game only). Music, beer,food stalls, water-based activities & range of entertain-ment all first class � if you missed it, do go next year!

Then �Farthest North� expedition for 2002, toCropwell Locks, and BITM�s first visit to theGrantham Canal for 7 years. Our task: to clearthe lock chambers of silt (by hand) to allow BW tomake a survey of the locks. Work method state-ments & risk assessments had been submitted, atipping licence applied for, and BW had insistedthat we have a loo on site � what luxury! Weedshad grown thickly since WRG scrub-bashed the toptwo locks in February but these were soon removed.The same cannot be said for the thick layer of pud-dle-clay in the top lock, evidently an attempt to seala leak, which took most of the weekend. The invertswere quite steep and the wet clay (yet again itrained!) made for a very slippery barrow-run. Thespoil-heap grew apace, until we needed two teamsof barrowers, one to take the barrows to and fromthe lock chamber and the second to go mountain-eering up the spoil-heap. By the end of the week-end however we (15 from BITM and several mem-bers of the local Trust) had cleared most of the toplock (to reveal some very wavy brickwork!) and thetail-bay of the middle lock. A satisfying and enjoy-able weekend.

August. 5 BITMites joined in a very successfulWorkWeek on theWendoverArm. The public foot-path was restored to its original side of the canalbetween the stop lock and Little Tring Bridge sothat work could begin on the towpath side wall. Aroadway was built to provide plant access, andmodified during the week until it was the right height(and width) for the readymix lorries. A trench wasdug either side of the old wall, which was then de-molished and used as hard-core for the roadwayor carted off to the tip site. Once the full width ofthe trench was clear, the levels were set ready forthe blinding layer beneath the first three base sec-tions of the new towpath-side wall. Work elsewhereincluded excavating the winding hole and buildingup the roadway which will provide access to the tipsite once the winding hole is re-watered.

page 15

BITM in summer: flood relief channels at Chalford

Priory Construction had hired us 2 excavators & 2dumpers in excellent condition so there were nounplanned delays while waiting for a fitter (unlikelast year when A-Plant�s fitter had visited almostevery day!). The 2002-model 6-tonne swivel-bucket dumper with automatic gears (4 forward, 4reverse) was particularly fun to drive! Since Au-gust, WAT members have continued with theirregular work-parties and readymix deliveries so bythe time you read this article the towpath-side wallmay well be complete.

The followingweekend,Rachael�s teamof 17BITMitesand several WBCT members continued work on theDig Deep site at Chaddington (or Summit) Lock on theWilts & Berks. They laid the by-wash pipe, mixedabout 2.5 cubic metres concrete to pour behind thechamber walls, and continued bricklaying on the lowerwing walls, which needed to be raised high enoughto be clear of the winter water levels.

September. St John�s (or Goldsworth) Flight, onthe Basingstoke. 22 volunteers scattered ingroups along the flight. Laying pipes at Lock 9(continuing Dig Deep�s contribution to the back-pumping scheme), jungle-bashing at Lock 7 andre-laying a section of towpath at Kiln Bridge on theSaturday. On the Sunday, work continued at Locks7 & 9, while the last two dumper-loads of scalpinswere driven along the towpath in the opposite di-rection, to a particularly muddy section near Red-way Cottages. We expect to be remembered allwinter in the prayers of the cross-country runnersfrom the nearby school. The towpath was quite wideenough for the dumpers but lacked sufficient heightfor the roll-cage in places. H&S measures werefrustrated when the magnetic flashing light atopthe roll-cage of Dumper No 2 collided first with anoverhead branch and then with the driver�s hard-hat. The lamp was not replaced! Back at Lock 9,the barrow-drivers were taking an interesting routefrom the gravel-heap to the trench via gangplanksand the work-boat, despite which all loads weredeposited safely in the pipe trench.

October. Once again, a good turnout (25) for workon theWendover Arm. A range of work was avail-able, on two sites half-a-mile apart. Unfortunatelyno-one thought sufficiently far ahead to take a sub-sidiary brew-kit to the distant site, thus upsettingour Chairman � not good! Some people workedwith WAT volunteers constructing the towpath-sidewall. Others levelled the rough footpath on theopposite side (diverted to the towpath side whilethe wall was built and reinstated in August) andsurfaced it with scalpings on Terram. Some elderlyhawthorn trees near the bridge were removed andothers coppiced. Everyone else continued withscrub-bashing and stump-pulling at Whitehouses.

November. Various BITM volunteers, includingMike with his Viking axe, joined in the Bonfire Bashat the spectacular Fourteen Locks on theMonmouth-shire (Crumlin Arm). True to Welsh tradition, itrained, but even so, a good time was had by all, asI�m sure you will have read elsewhere in �Navvies�.

Two weeks later, BITM paid an additional visit tothe Wendover Arm, as accommodation arrange-ments for the planned visit to the Sleaford Naviga-tion had fallen through at short notice. Scrub-bash-ing and stump-pulling on the Whitehouses section.Progress was slow, due to various logistical issues(e.g. the only suitable anchor-point for certainstumps being in direct line with the only practica-ble site for the bonfire) and to the discovery of morestumps than were first apparent, thanks to previ-ous clearance work. It was, however, quite thor-ough, since WAT�s Restoration Director insists thatscrub-bashing and stumping should be done in tan-dem from now on. The site was well away from anyhouses so no-one could complain about the bonfirethis time (unlike the Basingstoke), and work pro-ceeded against a background chorus of approvalfrom the ducks and geese on Wilstone Reservoir.Walking back to the van for more tools, one volun-teer saw a charm of goldfinches � a beautiful sight.

December. At the time of writing, about 24 peopleplan to work up an appetite for the December dig�snow-traditional Festive Dinner (and working off theconsequences on the followingmorning?), by spend-ing a weekend hedge-thinning, hedge-laying andstump-pulling at Dauntsey on the Wilts & Berks.

No report of the year�s activity would be complete with-out mention of the Friday evening rituals around theToaster, of the tasty and generously-portioned mealsprepared by dedicated and hard-working cooks whilemost of us are out on site, or of the many hours spentputting theworld to rights over a glass or two, whetherat the hallor ina localhostelry. Aprovisionalprogrammefor next year has already been agreed, with venuesfrom theWey&Arun in theSouth to Lichfield,Granthamand Sleaford in the (North?) Midlands. Our digs arelisted in the Dates List, so if we are working in yourarea or on your favourite canal and you would like tojoin us for a weekend (or just a half-day) e-mailbookings@wrgBITM.org.uk or phone Dave Weddon 01252 874437.

Stella Wentworth

page 16

BITM in autumn: the St Johns backpump scheme.All photos by Stella Wentworth

page 17

WRG is appealing!

As you all know, you are involved in THE mostenergetic and active part of the waterway resto-ration movement. Since the set up of WRG in the70�s we have become 'professional' volunteers,with a huge amount of skills, expertise and en-thusiasm. This is in no small part due to our em-phasis on the �right tool for the right job�, i.e., onequipping our volunteer teams correctly and safely,with training, plant, and tools. In the last year wehave been expanding our training programme, inpartnership with BW and The Waterways Trust.

The trouble with plant and tools is that they wearout, even with the massive efforts of our plant andlogistics teams. Two of the lovely Transits boughtwith the last appeal are ageing rapidly, and thereare various pieces of small plantandkit,whichwill beneededinthenext fewyears� restorationprogramme.And training costs money, especially if we are go-ing to be able to offer it to all our volunteers.

So�WRG and IWA have agreed that a £75,000capital investment in WRG is urgently needed.

Don�t panic � we�re not demanding you give up allyour hard earned cash just yet� (although if youwant to I�m sure it wouldn�t be turned down�).This is a WRG appeal, and so will involve lots offun, some hard work, and probably some alcohol(but this is not compulsory). We are going to beasking the IWA branches for their help runningvarious events, there will be a leaflet appeal, (seenext Navvies) and, of course, WRG will be doingSilly Things in various lo-cations over the next fewmonths.

We are launching the ap-peal in February, in Bir-mingham, during the NECboat show. Details will ap-pear in the next issue, butwe will certainly want a lotof red shirts around the w/e of 21-22 Feb next year,so put that in your diariesnow. We will also be hav-ing another race night, thistime at the Aston Locksreopening, (see separatearticle for details), organ-ised once again by BrianBayston. Other events in-clude a sponsored walkfrom Saul Junction toBeale Park, a murdermystery evening, and a�curryathon� at the BCNcleanup weekend.

We plan to end the appeal at the �National� in Au-gust, with events including a �Slave Auction� andthe long awaited (dreaded?) return of the WRGSHOW!!

What can you do right now? Firstly, keep an eyeout for news of events as they are announced. Ifany of you want to help with running somethingPLEASE call me (pretty please�)! If your com-pany is looking to donate some money to a wor-thy cause then find out details of any matchingfunding schemes (One volunteer is worth £5000at the moment, for example. Who would havethought it?!). Watch theWRGwebsite for updatesas and when they happen.

Finally, have a Happy Christmas.

Love and Hugs'Dr Liz' Williamson

drliz@doctors.org.uk

(Now also known as the �mad doctor� since tak-ing on the co-ordination of the appea!)

AppealWRG needs to raise £75,000.Dr Liz explainswhyandhow...

Flashback to the last big WRG appeal in 1996: LondonWRG built a minibusout of hardboard and took it for a ride in thePageant of boats at Little Venice topublicise the Appeal. What will we think of this time? (Martin Ludgate)

BARNSLEY,DEARNE&DOVECANALTRUSTJuneBackhouse39HIllSt,ElsecarBarnsleyS748EN01226743383Website:www.barnsleydearnedovecanals.org.uk

BIRMINGHAMCANALNAVIGATIONSSOCIETYJeffBarley17SunnisideWalsallWood,WMidlands01543373284Website:www.bcn-society.org.uk/

BUCKINGHAMCANALSOCSteveMorley33HambletonGroveEmersonvalleyMiltonKeynesMK42JS01908520090email:mail@morleytowers.org.ukWebsite:www.mkheritage.co.uk/bcs/

BUGSWORTHBASIN(IWPS)IanEdgarBrowsideFarm,MudhurstLaneLymeHandley,WhaleyBridgeHighPeakSK237BT01663732493email:ian@browside.co.ukWebsite:www.brocross.com/iwps/index.htm

CALDONCANALSOCIETYAlisonSmedleyHazelhurstCottageDenford,LeekStaffsST137JTemail:alison@hazelhurst3.fsnet.co.uk

CHESTERFIELDCANALTRUSTMickHodgetts31PotteryLaneChesterfieldS419BH01246620695Website:www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk

CHICHESTERCANALSOCIETYJohnCooperJaspers,ConeyRoadEastWittering,ChichesterWestSussexPO218DA01243671051

COTSWOLDCANALSTRUSTNeilRitchieTheChapelHouseSandfordRd,ChurchdownGloucestershireGL32HD01452854057email:NeilSigns@aol.comWebsite:www.cotswoldcanals.com/

DERBY&SANDIACRECANALSOCIETYDougFlack23ThoresbyCrescent,DraycottDerbyDE723PH01332874239Website:www.derbycanal.org.uk

DIGDEEPINITIATIVEAlanCavender10VicarageRoadMaidenhead,Berkshireemail:alan.cavender@lineone.netSL67DS01628629033

DORSET&SOMERSETCANALSTUDYGROUPDerrickHunt43GreenlandMillsBradfordonAvonWiltsBA151BL01225863066email:derrick@carlingcott7.freeserve.co.uk

DROITWICHCANALSTRUSTVaughanWelch29DicePleckNorthfield,BirminghamB313XW01214779782email:kvwelch@supanet.comWebsite:www.worcs.com/dct/home.htm

EREWASHCANALP&DAMickGolds73SudburyAvenueLarklands,IlkestonDerbysDE75EANotts(0115)9328042

FOXTONINCLINEDPLANETRUSTc/oMikeBeechFoxtonCanalMuseumMiddleLock,GumleyRoadFoxton,MarketHarboroughLeicestershireLE167RA01162792657emailmike@foxcm.freeserve.co.ukWebsite:www.foxcanal.fsnet.co.uk

GRANDWESTERNCANALTRUSTDenisDodd,WharfCottageNynehead,WellingtonSomersetTA210BU01823661653

GRANTHAMCANALRESTORATIONSOCIETYColinBryan113HoeViewRoadCropwellBishopNottinghamNG123DJ01159892248Website:www.granthamcanal.com

HEREFS&GLOUCSCTc/oTheLockCottage,OverGloucesterGL28DB01452332900Website:www.h-g-canal.org.uk

KENT&EASTSUSSEXCANALRESTORATIONGROUPKenParishEastwoodFarmhouseUlcombeRoadUlcombe,MaidstoneKent. ME171ET01622858329email:Kescrg@btinternet.comWebsite:www.kescrg.co.uk

LAPALCANALTRUST26LoynellsRoad,RednalBirminghamB459NP01785713862/02082939744Website:www.lapal.org.uk

LICHFIELD&HATHERTONCANALSREST'NTRUSTJohnHorton,32LondonRoad,LichfieldStaffsWS149EJ.01543262466email:janette@horton100.freeserve.co.ukorDenisCooperGorseyLaneFarmGorseyLaneLittleWyrley,PelsallWalsallWS35AJ01543374370Website:www.lhcrt.org.uk/

NEATH&TENNANTCANALSOCIETYIanMilne16GowerRoad,Sketty,SwanseaSA29BY01792547902

NWPGGrahamHawkes27LawrenceRd,Tilehurst,ReadingBerksRG306BH01189410586email:graham.hawkes@talk21.comWebsite:www.geocities.com/nwpg2001/nwpg.html

POCKLINGTONC.A.S.PaulWaddingtonChurchHouse,MainSt.Hemingborough,SelbyN.YorksYO87QE01757638027(eves)01405763985(days)Website:www.pocklington.gov.uk/PCAS

SCARS(SANKEYCANAL)ColinGreenall16BleakHillRoadEcclestonSt.HelensMerseysideWA104RW01744731746Website:www.scars.org.uk

SHREWSBURY&NEWPORTCANALSTRUSTSteveBean4Arscott,PontesburyShrewsburySY50XP01743860488email:sn.canal@lineone.netwebsite:www.sncanal.org.uk

SHROPSHIREUNIONCSGeoffMunro198,OldburyRoadRowleyRegis,WarleyWestMidlandsB650NW0121-5615747Website:www.shropshireunion.co.uk

SLEAFORDNAVIGATIONTRUSTSteveHayes10ChelmerClo,NHykehamLincsLN88TH01522-689460email:steve.hayes-kyme@ntlworld.comWebsite:www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/

SOMERSETCOALCANALSOCBobParnell34WedgewoodRoadTwerton,BathBA21NX01225-428055Website:rtjhomepages.users.btopenworld.com/SCC2.html

SURREY&HANTSCANALSOCPeterRedway1RedwayCottagesSt.John'sLye,WokingGU211SL01483721710Website:www.basingstokecanal1.freeserve.co.uk/

SWANSEACANALSOCCliveReed17SmithfieldRoad,Pontardawe,Swansea,WestGlam.SA84LA01792830782

THAMES&MEDWAYCANALASSOCIATIONJenniferWatts108OldRoadEastGravesendDA121PFWebsite:homepage.ntlworld.com/john.epton/tmca

page 18

DirectoryWRG and canal society workingparty contact details

WENDOVERARMTRUSTRogerLeishman7HallPark,BerkhamstedHertsHP42NU01442874536Website:www.wendoverarmtrust.org.uk

WEY&ARUNCTJohnWard32BadgersHollowPeperharrowRd,GodalmingSurreyGU72PX01483-52712407971336535(mobile)Website:www.weyandarun.co.uk

WILTS&BERKSC.A.G.GeorgeEycott36GrangeCourtBoundaryRoadNewburyRG147PH01635569449email:bungle@wrg.org.ukWebsite: www.wilts-berks-canal.org.uk/

WOODENCANALBOATSSOCIETY5OakenCloughTerraceLimehurstAshtonunderLyneOL79NY0161-330-2315

IWAIPSWICHColinTurnerCornerways,ElmLaneCopdock,IpswichIP83ET01473-730586email:colint@copdock.freeserve.co.ukWebsite: www.purbrook.demon.co.uk/iwa/

WRG:GENERALENQUIRIESPOBox114,RickmansworthHertsWD31ZY01923711114email:enquiries@wrg.org.ukWebsite:www.wrg.org.uk

WRGNORTHWESTMalcolmBridge3HeatherBankLittleborough,LancashireOL150JQ01706378582email:nw@wrg.org.ukWebsite:www.wrgnw.org.uk

WRGNW-ENQUIRIES/PAPERCHASESDavidMcCarthyWoodstock14CrumpsallLa.Manchester.M85FB0161-7402179Website:www.wrgnw.org.uk

WRGNA(1)SpencerCollins(seebelow)

WRGNA(2)IanNelson6LahnDriveDroitwichSpaWorcsWR98TQ.019057986760973640611(mobile)email:ian.nelson@wrgna.co.ukWebsite:www.wrgna.co.uk

WRGBITM&'NAVVIES'DIARYDavidWedd7RingwoodRoad,BlackwaterCamberley,SurreyGU170EY01252874437email:dave.wedd@wrg.org.ukWebsite:www.wrgbitm.org.uk

LONDONWRGTimLewis6DownsRoad,EnfieldMiddlesexEN1IPA02083676227email:tim@timlewis.org.ukWebsite:www.london.wrg.org.uk/

LONDONWRG:ENQUIRIESLesleyMcFadyen(asperMartinLudgatebelow)

WRGEASTMIDLANDSJohnBaylis(seebelow)

ESSEXWRGJohnGale,12WakefieldAve,Billericay,EssexCM129DN01277654683emailessex@wrg.org.ukwebsite:www.essex.wrg.org.uk

WRGMONTGOMERYAlanJervisDacreHouseFarmDacre,HarrogateHG34ES07968-586326email:aj@jervis.org.uk

WRGBOATCLUBSueBurchett152GreatKnollysStReadingRG17HB01189503268Fax.07970099052email:Sue@navvy.freeserve.co.uk

IWA/WRGSTAMPBANKSteve&MandyMorley33HambletonGroveEmersonvalleyMiltonKeynesMK42JS01908520090email:mail@morleytowers.org.uk

CANALCAMPSMOBILES(A)07850422156(B)07850422157

'NAVVIES'EDITORMartinLudgate35SilvesterRd,EastDulwichLondonSE229PB0208693326607779478629(mobile)email:martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk

WRGLOGISTICS(1)JenLeigh(seebelow)

WRGLOGISTICS(2)LouKellettPen-y-BrynBungalowLloranUchaf,MoelfreOswestrySY107QT01691791463email:lou.kellett@wrg.org.uk

CANALCAMPBOOKINGSc/oIanWingfieldPOBox114,RickmansworthHertsWD31ZY01923711114email:enquiries@wrg.org.ukWebsite:www.wrg.org.uk

'WRGWEAR'CLOTHINGHelenGardnerNB'Sussex'TheBoatyard,RowdellRdNortholtUB56AG02088457820email:wrgwear@wrg.org.uk

WRGFORESTRYTEAMGrahamRobinsonSpringwell,SparkBridgeUlverstonCumbriaLA127ST01229861317

orDaveJohnson01612787663

WRGBOATCLUBSadieDean236StationRdWhittlesey,PeterboroughPE72HA0173320450507748186867(mobile)emailsadiedean@vizzavi.net

orDaveJohnson01612787663

WRGDIRECTORS

CHAIRMANMikePalmer3FinwoodRoad,RowingtonWarwickshireCV357DH01564785293email:mike.palmer@wrg.org.uk

TREASURERRogerDay,5MertonRoadSloughBerksSL11QW

SECRETARYNeilEdwards,16TynehamCloseAylesburyHP219XAemailneil@wrg.org.uk

WRGPLANT&DRIVERAUTHORISATIONMalcolmBridge3HeatherBank,LittleboroughLancashireOL150JQemail:malcolm.bridge@wrg.org.uk01706378582

SITESGROUP&PUBLICITYJudithMoore3FinwoodRoad,RowingtonWarwickshireCV357DH01564785293email:jude.moore@wrg.org.uk

page 19

WRGPRINTJohn&TessHawkins4LinksWay,CroxleyGrn,RickmansworthWD33RQ01923448559emailjohn.hawkins@wrg.org.uk

TRANSPORTMANAGERRogerBurchett(SeeSueBurchettabove)

IWACHAIRMANRichardDrakec/oIWA,POBox114RickmansworthWD31ZYemail:richard.drake@waterways.org.uk01516084562

OTHERDIRECTORS

JenLeigh45GlebeRoadSheffieldS101FBe-mail:logistics@wrg.org.uk

MickBeattie22BridgewaterAveAnchorsholme,BlackpoolLancsFY53NA01253864034email:mick.beattie@wrg.org.uk

AdrianFry,31GriffonCloseElmoreLock,QuedgeleyGloucesterGL24NQ07976640962

Spencer CollinsN.B.'Sunset',c/oSatfordPO,493BathRdSaltfordBristolBR313HQ07976084055e-mail:spencer.collins@wrg.org.uk

ChrisDavey/HelenDavey6PartridgeCt,RoundCloseRdAdderbury,BanburyOX173EP01295812002e-mailchris.davey@wrg.org.uk

RayCarter56OakdeneDrive,TolworthSurbiton,SurreyKT59NH

JonathanSmith,23HardingsChalgrove,OxfordOX447TJ01865891370

JohnBaylis,215ClipstoneRdWest,ForestTown,Mansfield,NottsNG190HJ01623633895

UpdatingthisDirectory:pleasehelp!

WedoourbesttokeeptheDirectoryuptodate. How-ever,werelyonpeopletotelluswhenitneedschanging.Pleasesendupdates to theeditor: theywillappear inthe'Noticeboard'inissue197,andbeincludedinthenextfullDi-rectoryinissue199.

Canal Camps cost £35 per week unless otherwiseBookings for WRGCanal Camps (those identifiedcamp number e.g. 'Camp 0301') should go toWRGCamps, PO Box 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114. Email: enquiries@wrg.org.u

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DiaryDec 26-Jan 1 Camp 0221 Basingstoke Canal: New Year Canal Camp: Leader: Dave Worthington. CuttingDec 26-Jan 1 WBCT Camp Wilts & Berks Canal: Christmas Canal Camp: Leader: Rachael Banyard, Accom

Scrub clearance & hedgelaying near Dauntsey.Jan 1 Wed Navvies Press date for issue 197Jan 4/5 wrgNW To be arranged: (or Jan 11/12 ?)Jan 4/5 Essex WRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Hedge Laying at Seven LocksJan 11/12 LondonWRG Wey & Arun Canal: Scrub bashing near Toat, joint dig with KESCRGJan 11/12 KESCRG Wey & Arun Canal: Scrub bashing near Toat,joint dig with London WRGJan 11/12 NWPG Basingstoke Canal: Backpumping project at St Johns.Jan 18/19 wrgBITM Basingstoke Canal (provisional)Jan 18 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionFeb 1/2 Essex WRG To be arrangedFeb 1/2 FotCC Operation Ironville: Organised by Friends of the Cromford Canal.

Clearance between Ironville Top Lock down to Lock 4. No overnight accommodFeb 8/9 LondonWRG Basingstoke CanalFeb 8/9 NWPG To Be ArrangedFeb 8/9 wrgNW Caldon Canal: FroghallFeb 8/9 Chelmsford IWAGernon Bushes: Forestry work for Essex Wildlife TrustFeb 15/16 wrgBITM To be arrangedFeb 15-22 Camp 0301 Montgomery Canal Camp: completion of Maesbury spillweir outfall channel, reFeb 22 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionMar 1/2 LondonWRG Wey & Arun CanalMar 1/2 Essex WRG To be arrangedMar 1 Sat Navvies Press date for issue 198Mar 8/9 NWPG Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation: Creeting LockMar 8/9 wrgNW IronbridgeMar 15/16 wrgBITM To be arrangedMar 22/23 WRG/IWA/BCNSBCN Clean-up weekend: Salford Junction, under Spaghetti Junction, Birmingha

Organised by London WRG & IWA, but all groups and volunteers welcome.Mar 22/23 LondonWRG Clean-up weekend: see aboveMar 29 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collectionApr 4-6 WRG/IWA Montgomery Canal Aston Locks Reopening. Official opening on Friday, celebraApr 5/6 wrgNW St Helens Canal: to be confirmedApr 5/6 Essex WRG To be arrangedApr 12/13 wrgBITM Wey & Arun Canal: Dig Deep projectApr 12/13 LondonWRG To be arrangedApr 12/13 NWPG To Be ArrangedApr 12-21 Camp 0302 Halifax Branch Canal Camp: towpath reinstatement on Halifax Branch of Calde

e stated.by a

GCanal

uk

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

Tel 01252 874437. e-mail: dave.wedd@wrg.org.uk.

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g back overhanging vegetation (and burning it on big bonfires!) enquiries@wrg.org.ukmmodation at Foxham. Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.ukDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comJohn Gale 01277-654683 essex@wrg.org.ukTim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukAnswerphone 01622-858329 Kescrg@btinternet.comGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179John Gale 01277-654683 essex@wrg.org.ukBrian L Dominic nbrumpus@lineone.net

dation.Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comDoug Beard 01702-554492DaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk

eady for re-opening of this length of canal on 4th April.David McCarthy 0161-740-2179Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukJohn Gale 01277-654683 essex@wrg.org.ukMartin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.ukGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk

am. Please book using the booking form in this 'Navvies' or the next issue. enquiries@wrg.org.uk

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179

ations all weekend including 'Race Night' fundraising entertainment on Saturday evening. More next time.David McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comJohn Gale 01277-654683 essex@wrg.org.ukDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukTim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.com

er & Hebble Navigation. Cost: £45 for 9-day camp.

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DiaryCanal society regularworking parties

Regular monthly or weekly working parties:3rd Sunday of month BCNS Jeff Barley 01543-3732842ndSunday& followingWed. BCS Cosgrove Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Mon & Wed mornings CCT Cotswolds Dudley Greenslade 01453 825515Every weekend (Sat OR Sun)CCT Cotswolds Neil Ritchie 01452-8540571st Sunday of month CCT Cotswolds: summit MarkWelton 01453-872405Wednesday evenings CCT Cotswolds: East end Keith Harding 01451-860181Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 0296Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-26571st & 3rd Sundays GCRS Grantham Canal Colin Bryan 0115-989-22482nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432-358628Wednesdays H&GCT Over Ted Beagles 01452-522648Saturdays H&GCT Over Maggie Jones 01452-618010Occasional Sundays H&GCT Overwharf house fitoutNigel Bailey 01452-533835Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 01663-7324931st Saturday&3rdWed. IWA Ipswich Stowmarket Navigtn. Colin Turner 01473-7305862nd weekend of month IWA SBC Maesbury, Mont. Barry Tuffin 01691-670826/492nd weekend of month K&ACT John Rolls 01189-6663161st Sunday of month LHCRT Lichfield John Horton 01543 2624663rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-3743702nd & last Sundays PCAS Paul Waddington 01757-6380272nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Bob Parnell 01225-428055Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Peter Redway 01483-721710Last Sunday of month SNT Haverholme Lock Dave Pullen 01673-8622783rd Sunday of month TMCA David Rouse 01474-362861Approx 15th of month WACT Mid-Week group Colin Gibbs 020-82417736Every Sunday & Thursday WACT Devils Hole Lock EricWalker 023-9246-3025Thursdays fortnightly WACT Maintenance Unit Peter Wilding 01483-422519or for general information on Wey & Arun contact their office on 01403-7524031st weekend of month WAT Little Tring Roger Leishman 01442-874536Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Peter Smith 01793-852883Every Sunday W&BCC Dauntsey / Foxham Rachael Banyard 01249-892289Please send any amendments, additions and deletions to Dave Wedd (address on previous page)

Abbreviations used in DiaryBCG Barnsley Canal GroupBCNS BirminghamCanal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustDCT Droitwich Canals TrustFIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustD&SCS Derby & Sandiacre Canal SocietyGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWA SBC IWA Shrewsbury & Border CountiesIWPS InlandWaterways Protection Society

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

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

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LettersIs anyone going to restore theBCN Bradley Locks Branch?

Dear Martin

Many many thanks from us here at Grantham Ca-nal Restoration Society to all the team who put in thesterling work clearing out locks 9 10 & 11 on theGrantham Canal Camp. Your results and effortsare now on our website www.granthamcanal.com.

It was good to seeMKP has not lost his barrowingtechnique. Cheers( till next time)

Colin BryanDear Martin,

In response to the letter in �Navvies� 195 by Brian Andrews: I have today (28th October 2002),spoken to Simon Turner at BW�s Office at Ocker Hill with regards to the reinstating of the BradleyLocks Branch of the Wednesbury Oak Loop.

There are no immediate plans to re-open the branch. However Locks 1 & 2 are to have a �Profile�done which apparently means to us lesser mortals, that scrub bashing will be done and the brick-work will be repaired as well as the coping stones replaced - prior to the infilling of the locks with a�Granular Filling�. (To give a �Footprint� of the lock being there). This will be totally reversible, and MrTurner has stated that any input from voluntary organisations would be very welcome on the resto-ration of the branch (Co-ordinated with BW of course).

Is this the first sign of burying their heads in the sand, or do they mean to restore it? Anyone�s guess!

Should anyone have the impetus to get the restoration off the ground, they should contact ChrisBailey at the BW Office, Ocker Hill. The phone Number is 0121 506 1300. I�d be keen myself to joina �Bradley Canal Restoration Group� or whatever name was chosen. Sadly I don�t have the knowl-edge or skill to set up such an undertaking myself.

Some of the locks have apparently had new houses built over the line of the original canal. So theroute would have to diverted around these. Mr Turner (I�m beginning to sound like Seth out of�Emmerdale� -oops!), said that he wasn�t sure of the condition of the locks that have already beeninfilled and grassed over as part of the park.

That is about as good as you are likely to get I�m afraid.

So Mr Andrews there have it. Sorry that I couldn�t be more positive on the issue.

Regards,KenWhapples

If anyone is planning to start a Bradley Locks restoration society, or knows of any such group beingformed, or of any proposals by any other group to restore the branch, please tell 'Navvies'. ...Ed

Dear Martin

I have just arrived home from a two and a half week �holiday� on the Huddersfield Festival site. I mustplace on record our thanks to all the senior WRGies and the new crew on site with a big specialthanks to Mick & Ali who ran the camp with precision.

In all my time on Festival sites I have never experienced anything like it at all. The NWF Chairman andother Managers kept coming into my office to see if we were within our building-up programme, theywere all feeling there might be a panic setting in towards opening day. We were in front all the time andthere wasn�t a need for �overtime� by the troops. When it came to striking the Festival the footballers wereable to play ona cleared site byThursday evening - this is a record! Things like the this do not just happen,it requires careful finite planning and we had the best people to do just that - thanks to everyone involved.

Regards, �Ironside�Ian Gall

page 24

LettersThe Editor falls for a fairystory!

Dear MartinRIVER GREAT OUSE (UPPER REACHES)I would be intrigued to know where the delightfulfairy story recounted at the bottom of page 13 ofthe current issue of �Navvies� emanated from.I was actively involved with the Great Ouse Resto-ration Society from 1958 until it was wound up, withits objectives achieved, in January 1979. I can saythat during that time therewasneveranyserioussug-

gestion that the navigation should be extended upstream from Bedford to theGrandUnionCanal. And if therehad been it would have been unlikely that the route would have followed the natural course of the river.The head of the navigation is Bedford Town Bridge and from this point to Newport Pagnell bridge itis 41 miles by river but a mere 11½ miles as the crow flies. From the same starting point it is 49¼miles by river to the Grand Union Canal aqueduct but only 16½ miles in a direct line. Upstream fromBedford the course of the river is extremely circuitous and there would have been major environmen-tal handicaps to overcome. As the upper reaches of the Ouse were never under any kind of �threat�there was no opposition from the �other� interests and no need for any agreement with them.If there had been any such suggestions for what would in any case have been a new navigation itwould almost certainly have concentrated on a more direct route to the Grand Union such as wasproposed in the 1810s, in the 1890s and of course with the current B&MK Link. I think BW did lookat the possibility of following the river but the problems today would be even more horrendous thanin the 1970s and the option of a more direct cut was the only feasible one. There was certainly nolegacy of this fictitious agreement to have to worry about.It may be relevant to mention that the 2¾-mile stretch of the river from Bedford Town Bridge up-stream to Kempston Mill has always been navigable and I can remember being taken by my parentsfrom Bedford up to the mill in a punt in the late 1940s. One of the options now being consideredinvolves the new canal joining just above the mill and using the river down to Bedford. There could beheadroom problems for some types of craft under the Midland main line railway bridges and thepossibility of some kind of �drop lock� is being considered.With all good wishes,Yours sincerely,

Alan FaulknerMy apologies for perpetuating what turns out to be a complete myth (and - thinking about it - a fairlyunlikely-sounding one at that!) I'm afraid I don't recall where I heard the story about a deal betweenpro- and anti-restoration interests regarding the river above and below Bedford, but I doubt if I wouldhave believed it if I hadn't heard it fromwhat I thought to be a reliable source. (Could it have been a truestory about another waterway?) Anyway my thanks to Alan for putting the record straight. ...The EditorLetter to WRG chairman Mike Palmer from Tony Davy, chairman of Wilts & Berks Canal Trust:Dear Mike,I am writing to thank you for the exceptional level of support, whichWRG have provided to the Trust this year.Not only have you helped with �normal� restoration projects such as the Summit Lock near WoottonBassett, but without your assistance at the Wiltshire Waterway Festival the project could well havefoundered. WRG made available a vast range of equipment from a truck and a generator to fenceposts and shovels, and I do not see how we could have coped without the personal assistance ofdedicated helpers such as Jen, who gave up a fortnight of her holiday time to help at the Festival.As if that was not enough, WRG then provided a minibus at our recent AGM, to ferry people from theAGM to various sites of interest on the North Wilts. It is very heartening to be on the receiving endof so much help willingly given. Once again, on behalf of all involved in the restoration of the Wilts &Berks, I thank you for your efforts on our behalfI would be grateful if you would pass on our thanks to all who have helped us. With support liketheirs, we cannot fail to see the job finished.Yours sincerely

Tony Davy

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Logistics"...the complexities of operatinga toaster of the six-slot variety..."

A Toast...

�Tis the end of the camp season with but onecamp of the year remaining so, no huge surprise,the kits are looking somewhat dishevelled.

It has come to my attention however that, along-side the �normal� wear and tear on the kits, certainitems have been mistreated more than others ... aparticular such item is the toaster in each of thekits. There seem to be fewer and fewer people whounderstand the �complexities� of operating a toasterof the six-slice (variable) variety and I feel the in-creasing need for a slot in the training weekendprogramme to be set aside for toaster operation!

In a vague attempt to entertain The Masses (andpossibly some readers of Navvies!), I have re-written the lyrics to a certain Level 42 song...

Lessons in Toast

I�m not proud, I was wrong,And fresh bread is hard to bake.I felt sure they knew enough,But, alas, it was not so.Nowt but bread in the slots -I�ll find out if you�ve used more,No six course meals Crockett please!

All the things that you were thinking,With butties that are filled in!Toasted sarnies,I�ll go barmy!Lessons in Toast.

Four toast slices you will burn,And the crumbs will still remain,Now you�ve pushed them in too deep,�Cos the toast was overdone.Heavy knives, forks and things,All the tools I ever had,Prodded elements that twang.

All the toasters we�re rebuilding,You shouldn�t have killed them.Could be better, should know better! (Uh-oh!)Lessons in Toast.If your toast is done with time spare,Please can you not force it there,Back to zero -You�re no hero!Lessons in Toast.Lost without Toast!

[Bridge section follows]

Lessons in Toast,When will you ever learn?Slices of Toast,When no food�s left on pub�s return.

Lessons in Toast,Don�t let your slices burn.Lessons in Toast,Don�t give Bill Crockett his turn!

[Instrumental, played on broken elements ... ormaybe a more traditional guitar?!]

All the bread that was just piled in,You never ate them.You abuse it,You will lose it.Lessons in Toast.If you want a slice before us, (yeah, yeah, yeah)Then please just don�t ignore us.You should use �six�,If you choose sixSlices of Toast.All the toasters Bungle tested,They should have lasted.If you use �em,Don�t abuse �em! (Oh god!)Lessons in Toast!

If you don�t get the picture (that�s the metaphori-cal one!), detailed information on toaster opera-tion can be obtained from the e-mail addressbelow or by post if you send a stamped addressedenvelope to wrg logistics, 45, Glebe Road, Shef-field. S10 1FB.

All that remains is to wish everyone much happi-ness and good cheer (with a glass of a certaintawny port naturally!) over The Festivities fromme here at Logistics. I�d best put the turkey onnow... well, have you any idea how long it takesto cook one on a griddle?!

Just Jenlogistics@wrg.org.uk

For the benefit of other old-timers like me I'd justlike to explain that 'Level 42' is a popular musicgroup from the 1980s-90s, not a piece of survey-ing equipment, nor an obscure part of the BCNsomewhere between the Wolverhampton 21 andthe Walsall Level (in my day, groups had sensi-ble names like '3 Dog Night', '10cc' and '53rd and3rd'), and that the above lyrics are based on their1986 hit 'Lessons in love'. ...Ed

page 26

Dig Deep report: November 2002

TheDigDeep Initiative involves fivemobile work-ing party groups (London WRG, KESCRG, Es-sex WRG, NWPG and WRG BITM) committingthemselves to carrying out a certain amount ofvolunteer work (whether in the form of CanalCamps or weekend working parties) on certainrestoration projects in southern England that havebeen adopted as 'Dig Deep Projects'.

Writing this, I realise that it is six months since Ilast reported - having failed miserably to respondto the Editor's pleas to produce! [actually it's eightmonths! ...Ed] I also note that I was predictingthe possibility of completing two of the three cur-rent projects this year - normally false optimismon my part particularly as it is rare for us ever tofinish a job completely! Yet we have done justthat � by the time you read this Summit Lock ontheWilts and Berks will have been handed overto the local team to finish the lock tail bridge andthe pounds between Locks 8 and 12 on theWey& Arun should be filling with water.

Looking at both projects from my pc monitor Irecognise again that Dig Deep still has the po-tential to make a real and valuable contributionto canal restoration, even in an age of multi-mil-lion pound BW promoted projects. Summit Lockdidn�t really get going until last autumn, followingfoot and mouth. Since then thelock structure has been entirely re-built from lower waterline includ-ing the structural foundations forthe lock tail bridge. We�ve done itin such a short time for the rea-sons I�ve mentioned before � thetwo key ones being plenty ofmoney and co-ordinated workingbetween the local group and theDig Deep teams.

The Bonfire Hanger project onthe Wey and Arun started atEaster this year. As with SummitLock, the fact Dig Deep hasworked closely with the local trusthas enabled us to finish the jobwithin the projected timescale.

For example, a four day Easter Camp completedthe concrete bases for the 3 dams as well as in-stalling the legs of the two footbridges. Volunteersfrom WACT, WRG and NWPG working togetherwith the close support of Graham Baird, WACT�sproject manager. The same was true for theWACT summer camp with teams from differentgroups working on the bridges, towpath layingand the brickwork for the dams.

So where to next year? One project has beenconfirmed and dates arranged. This will be theconstruction of a weir, removal of causeways andtowpath improvements on themile of canal leasedto the Wey & Arun CT in Sidney Wood. If youhaven�t visited this off beat section of the canal, Ican thoroughly recommend it. Commitments havebeen received from all the regular DD groups andNWPG will be holding their summer camp there.Again this is a one - year project and we�ve al-ready started looking at options for 2004/5 onthe canal � more later.

We�re sure there will also be a major site on theWilts and Berks and the Dig Deep groups arecurrently considering the options with the W & BTrust. Watch the Navvies Diary for dates and newvenue.

What about the Basingstoke? I know that mostof the visiting groups will continue to support PeteRedway and his team on the pipe laying and otherworks to improve water supply. However, it wasfelt that a degree of fatigue was setting in withthis work and that it was often difficult to find workfor large numbers of volunteers on site. So thiswill not be an official Dig Deep project next year.

So does Dig Deep still have a future after 10 yearsof generally successful work? I think the answeris 'yes but only if we work more closely with thelocal societies/trusts'.

ProgressDam-building and lock-build-ingwith the Dig Deep teams...

DigDeepsuccess:WIlts&BerksSummitLock in2001... (MartinLudgate)

page 27

The Summit Lock and Bonfire Hanger projectsare examples of good practise. Associated withthis are the efforts of WRG, IWA, BW and TWT inproviding training for volunteers so that Dig Deepcan improve the quality of the work it does aswell as working more safely on its sites.

But �. we need to hear of more potential projects.So if anyone out there feels that what we�veachieved this year could work on their canal, thencontact us now. The Dig Deep Co-ordinator is AlanCavender. Tel. 01628 629033 (e-mailalancavender@lineone.net)

Bill Nicholson

High-powered Navvies?

A few weeks ago, I received a call from DavidWhitty of Community Service Volunteers, sayingthat he had a company in Swindon who wantedto do a team-building exercise for some of theirsenior managers and he asked if I could provideany work on the canal - what a daft question!

It seems that the company involved was Innogy,the new name for National Power, and as theyare based in Swindon, the Wilts & Berks Canalseemed a suitable venue. A girl (Rose) from theCommunity Relations Department, and DavidWitty from London, duly arrived to meet Di and Iand have a look at what work I could offer themand to decide on a suitable programme. While Ipicked up David from the station, Di met Rose,who - to her horror - was dressed in sequinnedtop, long tight skirt to the ankles, and high heels....

Nevertheless, she bravely tottered across a roughfield or two and scrambled through the barbedwire fence onto the towpath at the eastern endof the Dauntsey section. The towpath at that timewas un-strimmed and quite long, but they couldsee what needed doing.

The day finally dawned (Friday 30thAugust), andnineteen volunteers were shipped in by minibus.(can you call them volunteers when it is part oftheir job?) We were quite surprised that therewere more females than males, but they all setto with a will, clearing out the hedge, sawing offbranches and dragging out brambles, and threeteams were set up with Tirfor winches to removestumps from the towpath. Phill Cardy, DavidJames and Ray Alldridge all came to help, so wewere able to have an experienced Tirfor operatorwith each team.

lnnogy have seven directors, four of whom turnedup including the Managing Director. None of themhadever doneanything like it before, nor knewwhatto expect - in fact, we weren�t sure how much wecould expect of them - but I think we were all sur-prised. They worked really hard throughout quite along day, had some huge bonfires and a lot gotburnt. 135yds of towpath were cleared of stumps,and 100yds of hedge were thinned for laying.

The Community Relations Department had notonly brought a present of a small leatherboundhip flask for everyone present, but had preparedprizes along the lines of who had the cleanesttrainers at the end of the day, who had workedhardest, who had got wettest - which turned outto be the Managing Director who had donnedwaders and gone into the cut to attach a Tirfor to

a stump. The appropriate prizeturned out to be an Aquaman.One or two others got a little dampfromKaty-the-dog retrieving sticksfrom the canal and coming outand shaking herself all over eve-ryone, but it was a warm day. Theyhad also prepared a prize for theperson considered the laziest atthe end of the day, but couldn�taward it as even those expectedto be lazy weren�t!

It was a brilliant day, and every-one enjoyed themselves, so let�shope that other companies in thelocality get the same idea!

Rachael Banyard

Progress...and team-building as the bosswades in on theWilts&Berks...

...and in 2002 (Bill Nicholson). Could we do this on your canal?

page 28

Eddie�s Basingstoke SpecialOn the 'Coming soon' page of 'Navvies' 194,mention was made of a few days work on theBasingstoke Canal to carry on with some by-wash work at Deepcut that had been left overafter the summer camp, having proved to be abigger job than anticipated.Eddie Jones takes up the story...Despite a slight flap onmy behalf about numbers,I ended up with a great team consisting (in noparticular order) of me and Jen, Ralph B, Brianand Maureen A, Martin L, Ernie, Ed W, Steve D,Dr Liz, Roger B, Dorian M, Mark and Annette S,Roy S and Matt T (and if I have missed anyoneplease accept my apologies)Jen and I got to Deepcut via Dorian�s yard earlyWednesday afternoon and set up the towpath di-version (don�t knowwhy we bothered, the amountof notice the locals took of it - ask Ralph or Mattabout Saturday morning!). I left Jen as banksmanfor Kevin Redway while he lifted a temporarybridge we had placed over an excavation in thetowpath at the end of the summer camp, andheaded off for Chinnor to collect the cooker.Accommodation had proved a complete arse tofind: every hall Pete Redway had tried had some-thing going on which would have meant clearingout every day and no access for Maureen to pre-pare the evening meals etc. In the end Pete gotus the Barn at the Canal Centre in Mychett. It wassomewhat more basic than the standards we'vebecome used to over recent years, but was dryand had running water (courtesy of Pete laying-ina sink fed via a hosepipe from the tap outside).There were loos and a shower in the centre itselfand a couple of serious off-road quads to sit onwhile eating dinner. It also had a coffin in one ofthe cupboards which intrigued us to put it mildly.By the time I got back from Chinnor Jen had beenjoined in the pub by Ernie, Ralph, Brian and Mau-reen. I dropped the cooker off, drove back toDorian�s yardwhere I swapped the little trailerDorianhad kindly lentme for the tool trailer and raced backto Mychett. Well I say 'raced' with a pinch of saltseeing I was inmy diesel Discovery vanwith a cou-ple of ton on the hitch (I miss that V8!!!). Didmake itback in time for a pint or two before closing though.

ProgressMore pipe-laying on the Bas-ingstokeCanal...

Unpacked the catering kit and then stupidly satup yakking �till far too late - as I realisedwhencrawl-ing out of my sleeping bag the next morning.The aim in the summer had been to install a newinlet control weir box and 600mm bywash pipe inthe towpath alongside lock 28. There is an originalbywashwhich runs from beside the entrance of thedry dock above the lock on the offside, and rightround the back of the lock cottage. The snag is ifthere is any appreciable flow, the bywash backs upand floods the dry-dock. Obviously not much fun foranyone using it. To get round this problem an extraboard is placed in the bywash weir, which results inany excess water being lost over a stormweir underthe towpath andoff into a stream. In viewof howshortthe Basingstoke is of water this is not at all good.The new weir box is an extension at 90 degrees tothe present storm weir along the towpath betweenthe piling and every present (and in the way!)fibreway duct. To construct the new structure any-where near the dimensions on the plan and avoidthe fibre we had to dig right up to the piling. In thesummer while breaking the last of the concrete outmy feet got very wet as I discovered the piling fin-ished short of the brick wall of the old weir box bysome 50mm or so. A good chunk of the camp wasspent stopping the canal getting into the hole bypuddling in a shedload of clay, but we didmanagedto cast the reinforced base for the new weir box.My aim for the September week was to get theweir box completed and at least two sections ofpipe in place. This would take us to the top of thelock, past the last of the tie back rods and awayfrom any further potential leakage problems.Thursday was spent building the brick walls of thenew weir box, cutting the end of the pipe to exposethe re-inforcing ribs so we would get a really goodbond with the concrete, constructing the fairly intri-cate formwork for the shuttering and fetching thevarious materials, Acrow-props etc from the yard.When Martin and I left in the dark Thursday evethe walls were up and we were ready to dig thetrench first thing in the morning to lay the pipes.

Preparing for one of several unssuccessful at-tempts to join the pipes together.

page 29

By lunchtimeFriday the pipeswere in the hole anduthe shuttering trimmed up to be fitted. I thought wewere well ahead and was confident by the time weleft it would be ready for the big mix by Saturdaymorning. I even thought wewouldmanage an earlyfinish.Of coursebestmadeplans rarely go toplan....When the camp in 2001constructed the bywash ontheSt Johns flight, they joined the pipes on the levelusing a Tirfor and then dropped the whole length ofpipe into the trench. Because of the danger of leak-age, I really didn�t want to open the trench too faruntil well past the top of the lock and away fromnarrowsection andpiling.Thismeant laying the firsttwo pipes, casting the top end into the newweir boxand then reinstating the towpath before carrying on.Despite a valiant battle in the trench we could notget the pipe to pull up and ended up hauling it backonto the towpath beside the lock. Revived after acup of tea, we had another go using the Tirfor. De-spite everything in sight getting coated in the spe-cial lubricant - coupled with some healthy swearing- we could not get the joint to pull up more than halfway. Left late again feeling very very disappointed.Back at base we found the bike rally taking placeover the weekend in the field beside our Barn wasactually a "sofa on 2 wheels" convention. It was aWings do (Goldwing owners club) and some seri-ously over-the-topbikesambled inover theevening.If Maureen had had a quid for each time someonestuck their head round the door and asked wherethe tap was she would be a very wealthy lady.After dinner Roger and Sue turned up with a carryout and we had a very pleasant evening sat in ourbarn drinkingOldSpeckled Hen. Slept well despitethe racket coming from the bikers beer tent.Ralphand I set off earlySaturdaymorning tohavean-othergoat thepipeswith theTirfor. Iwashoping togetthe bugger pulled up so when the rest of the gang ar-rived we could get stuck straight into concreting. Wedid manage some more, but were still struggling at 9o�clock when the bus appeared. With the aid of themachine,Tirfor, brute forceandmoreswearingwedideventuallyget the joint fully pulled up.

At this point I must pass on the very sad newsthe Tirfor is no longer with us (although I do havea twisted piece of aluminium in the trailer which isall that is left of its mortal form). Suffice to saynever winch anything up against the nose of aTirfor as they most certainly do not like it up them.Spent the rest of themorning constructing the shut-tering, backfilling the trench and vibrating it downready for reinstating the tow-path. By lunchtime wewere ready to start concreting at long last! After abloody hard graft all afternoon helped by havingRoger and Sue's floating tea-brewing facilityalongside, we got the concrete in, the cover inplace, bashed the tie back piles in and cleared alarge amount of gear off the site. I left feeling amuch happier bunny than the night before.Back at the Barn Maureen had excelled herselfand we were treated to a fantastic roast fit for aking andmost definitely fit for a bunch of knackerednavvies (where have I heard that name before?).Supped a few bottles, popped into the bikers' beertent, found they didn�t sell real ale so ended theevening over the road in the pub listening to sto-ries of old from the trip boat steerer who was in-volved in the very early days of the restoration.I had planned an easy start Sundaymorning whichwas a good job as one or two were a little slow offthemark.Well done to thegoodDr for cookingbreak-fast despite reporting she felt like someone hadburied a meat cleaver into her head overnight.Backonsitewe removed the shuttering, boltedup thetieback rods,mortared round thecover to theweirboxand reinstated the towpath back to the top of the lock.Roger hadan interesting timemoving the bridgebackup to the yard on the excavator, I am sure he will tellyouall about it if youaskhim,packedeverythingawayandwere back to base by late afternoon.All in all a very satisfying 5 days and I want tothank everyone who helped.Cheers

Eddie Jones

The store-room in the interesting' accommodationcamecompletewithacoffin,a 'grimreaper'stylescythe,several witches' broomsticks, a severed leg and ateddybear tied toaspit. All photosbyMartin Ludgate.

Saturday evening: the manhole cover goes on.

page 30

BookshopAnother fund-raising auctionof canal books

The 15th WRG Auction of Old Canal BooksOver the past few months we collected more water-way books for fund-raising. As usual, we have de-cided that the best way to sell them is to auction themthrough the pages of 'Navvies' - with the proceedsgoing to help fundWRG�sCanalCamps. All thebooks(except where stated) are in good condition. The re-serves suggested are theminimum that wewould ac-cept and are approximately half the price you mightsee froma specialised book dealer. You are invited tomake your bids (in multiples of 50p please). Simply

list down the Lot number (the number on the left hand side) and the price you are prepared to pay for each bookor other item being auctioned. The bidder offering the highest price for each lot gets the goods at the price bid.In the event of two equal bids, the first one received wins. All proceeds go to WRG, so you can afford to begenerous. All bids should be sent to Ian Wingfield (WRGAuction), WRG/IWA, P O Box 114, RICKMANS-WORTH, WD3 1ZY or by e-mail to ian.Wingfield@waterways.org.uk to be received no later than January25,2003. Successful bidderswill be notified shortly afterwards. Delivery / Postage and packing is extra, at cost.Lot Title / Author (or other description) Pages Date Reserve1a. Narrow Boat � L.T.C. Rolt. A personal and informative account of canal 212 1972 £3.00

life and tradition in this classic book that helped start the revival of the waterways. (Hardback)1b. Narrow Boat � L.T.C. Rolt. Paperback copy of this classic book. (Softback) 212 1978 £3.002. Landscape with Machines � L.T.C. Rolt. An autobiography covering the 230 1971 £3.00

author�s life up until the outbreak of the war in 1939. Good condition (Hardback)3. Landscape with Canals � L.T.C. Rolt. Continuing his autobiography, 188 1977 £3.00

Rolt tells of voyages through the �green water-lanes�. (Hardback)4. The Flower of Gloster- E. Temple Thurston. The author�s voyage along 244 1968 £3.00

the Thames & Severn Canal in this classic, long out of print book. (Hardback).5. Slow Boat Through England � Frederic Doerflinger. A comprehensive 253 1970 £2.00

and practical guide to getting the most out of a boating holiday. (Hardback)6. Slow Boat Through Pennine Waters � Frederic Doerflinger. A practical 254 1972 £2.00

guide exploring the vast network of the northern waterways. (Hardback)7. Voyage into England � John Seymour. An entertaining and informative 158 1966 £4.00

book describing the author�s travels along the waterways. (Hardback)8. Small Boat on the Meuse � Roger Pilkington. A personal account of a 214 1967 £4.00

voyage along the River Meuse. Good condition. (Hardback)9. Small Boat Through Sweden � Roger Pilkington. In this account, the 227 1961 £5.00

author�s boat Commodore travels the waterways of Sweden. (Hardback)10. Waterways Heritage � Peter Smith. A comprehensive account of waterway 82 1971 £5.00

history with large drawings. Large horizontal format (275mm x 425mm).11. The Romantic Challenge � Francis Chichester. The author�s race to 194 1971 £1.00

sail 4,000 miles in 20 days in his yacht Gipsy Moth V. (Hardback)12. Save the Stratford Canal! � Guy Johnson. The controversial story of the 168 1983 £10.00

canal�s restoration. Good condition, signed copy. (Hardback)13. Waterways to Stratford � C. Hadfield & J. Norris. The history of three 173 1968 £15.00

early transport lines to Stratford. Good condition. (Hardback)14. Britain�s Lost Waterways � Michael E. Ware. Photographs and commentary 90 1979 £3.00

featuring canals before their dereliction. Good condition. (Hardback)15. Lost Canals of England & Wales � Ronald Russell. Introduction to lost 272 1971 £8.00

canals including their history and important features. (Hardback)16. Journeys of the Swan � John Liley. A punchy account of voyages made 192 1971 £15.00

by the author in the 60�s on his boat �Swan�. (Hardback).17. Fenland River � Rodney Tibbs. A comprehensive look at the Great Ouse 128 1969 £8.00

and its tributaries. Includes many photographs. (Hardback)18. Shell Book of Inland Waterways � Hugh McKnight. A comprehensive 496 1975 £4.00

guide to all aspects of the waterways. (Hardback)19. The Guinness Guide to Waterways of Western Europe � Hugh McKnight. 240 1978 £5.00

A guide to the waterway networks of several countries. Signed copy.20. Canoeing Down the Rhone � John Wilson. A personal account and guide 164 1957 £3.00

to continental canoeing. (Hardback)

page 31

21. The Hereford & Gloucester Canal and the Gloucester � Ledbury Railway. 80 1979 £4.00- David E. Bick. The story of the canal and the effect of the railway. (Hardback)

22. Inland Cruising � Norman Alborough. A comprehensive beginners guide 126 1995 £1.00to boating on canals and rivers. Fair condition. (Hardback)

23. Practical Boat Handling � C.L. Colborne. Instruction on the art of handling 134 1977 £2.00powered craft on rivers (inc tidal) and canals. (Hardback, with diagrams)

24. Narrow Boats Care & Maintenance � Nick Billingham. A comprehensive 142 1995 £2.00manual to keep your boat in good working order. Good Condition. (Hardback)

25. Launching on Inland Waterways � Diana Van Der Klugt. Lists over 270 90 1993 £2.00sites with details of access, availability and facilities. Good condition.

26. Inland Boat Owner�s Book � Andy Burnett. A comprehensive manual for 96 £3.00anyone contemplating buying a boat. (Softback)

27. Discovery the Countryside with David Bellamy. A guide to the flora and 124 1983 £1.00fauna of six typical waterside walks. Many colour photographs. (Hardback)

28. A Canal People � Sonia Rolt. The author provides commentary on a 150 1997 £4.00selection of 1940�s & 50�s photographs by Robert Longden. (Hardback)

29. Canal and River Craft in Pictures � Hugh McKnight. A pictorial record of 111 1969 £2.00the commercial craft that once worked the canal network. (Hardback)

30. Narrow Boat Painting � A.J. Lewery. The history of the English Narrow 144 1974 £5.00Boat�s traditional paintwork over two centuries of development. (Hardback)

31. Around Rickmansworth � Dennis Edwards. A selection of archive photos 128 1996 £4.00including some of the Grand Union Canal, rivers and railway. (Softback)

32. Canal Walks South � Ray Quinlan. Twelve walks, each on a different 182 1994 £2.00canal in southern England and Wales, varying from 3 � 14 miles.

33. Walks Along the Thames Path � Leigh Hatts. Twenty walks following the 192 1990 £2.00Thames from its source to sea. Good condition. (Softback)

34. The Kennet & Avon Walk � Ray Quinlan. Nine walks which take you from 192 1991 £2.00London to Bristol via the Kennet &Avon Canal. Pocket size. Good condition.

35. Wild Flowers of Britain � Pan Books. Over a thousand species identified 192 1977 £2.00with pictures. A4 size, Good condition. (Softback)

36. Back Door Britain � Anthony Burton. Story of a 1000 mile journey 189 1977 £2.00exploring the canal network of England. (Softback).

37. The River Severn � Keith Kissack. A comprehensive look at Britain�s 150 1982 £2.00longest river. Good condition. (Softback)

38. BCU Guide to Waterways of the British Isles. A guide to over 300 canals 264 1966 £1.00and rivers suitable for canoeing, (Hardback)

39. Red for Danger � L.T.C Rolt. Covers major accidents on British railways 293 1978 £1.00between 1840 � 1975 and describes the evolution of safety devices.

40. Cheshire Waterway � David E. Owen. A concise introduction to these 72 1979 £1.00various waterways. (Softback)

41. The Warwick Canals � Alan Faulkner. A detailed account of Warwick�s 77 1985 £2.00canals providing a vital link between the Midlands and London. (Softback)

42. The Kennet & Avon Canal � Niall Allsop. A user�s guide to the waterways 64 1999 £2.00between Reading and Bristol. 4th Edition, good condition. (Softback)

43. Thames Passport � Roy Curtis. A personal guide to the non-tidal 189 1970 £1.00river and places of interest. (Hardback)

44. Nicholsons OS: Inland Waterways Map of Great Britain. Good condition. 1997 £1.0045. Ancient & Bizarre � A Navvies Song Book. A rare copy of this booklet by 18 £2.00

WRG featuring classics such as �Uncles Joe�s Mint Balls�.The following lots contain two or more publications, which are sold as one lot.46. Nicholsons Guides: Complete set of 5 covering the waterways, plus The 1970s £3.00

River Thames and Real Ale Guide.47. Nicholsons OS Guide to the waterways South (1983), plus map of River Thames £1.00

and Geoprojects map of the Basingstoke Canal (1991)48. Cruising Guide to the Upper Reaches of the River Medway, plus Imrays map of £1.00

The upper reaches and Stanfords map of the River Thames.49. GeoprojectsMaps: Complete set for theGrandUnionCanal, plusmap of theOxfordCanal 1990s £3.00

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...

page 32

50. Two Pearsons Guides: Oxford Canal & Grand Union and South Midlands & 1990�s £1.00Warwickshire Ring.

51. A total of four maps and guides covering the Norfolk Broads, Rivers Cam, 1960�s £2.00Great Ouse, Nene and the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

52. A collection of seven small handbooks published by IWA in the 1970�s featuring £2.00various waterways.

53. A selection of nine historical booklets on various waterways, canal architecture and £2.00boat museums.

54. Lucky Dip 1: Seven booklets, mostly of a waterway restoration theme. £1.0055. Lucky Dip 2: Four guides for the River Avon, Stratford Canal and Kennet & £1.00

Avon Canal.56. Lucky Dip 3: Selection of ten waterways guides and maps, including the B.C.N, £1.00

two French waterway maps, Bridgewater Canal, River Wey Navigation.57. Lucky Dip 4: �Bits n� Bobs� � Includes map, guides, Colour of the Cut postcards, £1.00

children�s book, and a guide to wildflowers of the waterways. Eleven items.58. Windlass � Journal of IWA South East Region. Around 60 editions dating £2.00

from 1970 � 1984. (A5 size booklets).59. Waterways News. Around 40 copies of this monthly newspaper produced by £3.00

British Waterways Board dating from 1972 � 1979. A3 size.The next lots are all original copies of British Waterways Inland Cruising Booklets. In reason-able condition and contain many maps and photographs. All softback copies.60. Booklet Number 1: Cruising on the Llangollen Canal 36 1965 £1.0061. Booklet Number 3: Lee & Stort Navigations 28 1965 £1.0062. Booklet Number 4: Cruising on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal 32 1965 £1.0063. Booklet Number 5: Cruising on the Shropshire Union Canal 44 1964 £1.0064. Booklet Number 6: Cruising on the Oxford Canal 44 £1.0065. Booklet Number 7: Cruising on the Fossdyke & Witham Navigation 20 1965 £1.0066. Booklet Number 8: Cruising on the Grand Union Canal Part 1 36 1967 £1.0067. Booklet Number 9: Cruising on the Grand Union Canal Part 2 (2 copies) 48 £1.0068. Booklet Number 10: Cruising on the Grand Union Part 3 36 1965 £1.0069. Booklet Number 11: Cruising on the Macclesfield Canal 28 1965 £1.0070. Booklet Number 12: Cruising on the Trent & Mersey Canal Part 1 28 1965 £1.0071. Booklet Number 13: Cruising on the Trent & Mersey Canal Part 2 28 1965 £1.0072. Booklet Number 14: Cruising on the Severn Waterway 56 £1.0073. Booklet Number 15: Cruising on the Lancaster Canal 24 1965 £1.0074. Booklet Number 16: Cruising on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal 44 1966 £1.00Not books, but other items of a waterways theme.75. LP record (33 1/3 R.P.M): The Bold Navigators - England�s canals in Song £4.0076. LP record (33 1/3 R.P.M): Narrow Boats � Voices, Sounds & Songs of the Canals. £15.0077. Pair of brass windlasses, one large fitting, one small. £25.00The following are a selection of boat plaques, all brass unless stated:78. �Head of Navigation � Reading Section� K & A Canal. Aluminium £5.0079. Complete set of nine commemorative plaques for the Kennet & Avon Canal 1990-92£20.00

re-opening, plus certificate of authenticity. Limited Edition.80. Plaques from IWA�s National Waterways Festival. £2.00 ea

Please state which plaque(s)you are bidding for from either:A) Lee Valley 1980 B) Brentford 1986C) Gloucester 1990 D) Peterborough 1993E) Waltham Abbey 1994 F) Chester 1995G) Henley 1997 H) Salford Quays 1998.

81. A selection of eight plaques from various local waterways and boat rallies. £5.00Includes Berkhamsted �86, Taunton �92 (Still Boxed), Reading �81, Basingstoke Canal, WendoverArm, Kennet & Avon Canal, Gloucester �91.

82. A selection of seven thin brass plaques from local festivals and various waterways. £3.00Includes IWA Guildford �85, �86, IWA London Branch �79, Godalming �81, Slough Arm Basin.

page 33

PlantBungle and the KL15 Crane:episode 1

Restoring a Jones KL15 cranePart one: the beast arrives

Those of you who know me will probably haverealised that I get involved in canal restorationbecause I enjoy working with plant. Frankly I findthe thought of standing in a lock all day layingbricks tedious in the extreme (no offence Mar-tin). But if your cement mixer needs attention I�myour man. Likewise my idea of scrub bashing isto turn up with a 1950�s tractor complete with treestump winch!

Martin tells me that it is some time since we hadan article for the �Plantheads� in WRG (his de-scription not mine) so this is hopefully the start ofa series as our team bring a Jones KL15 back tofull working order.

For the past few years a Jones KL15 crane hasbeen sat rusting in a shed at Barnsley waiting forsomeone to give it some loving care and atten-tion; the only problem was that it needed to bemoved first as the Barnsley group wanted thespace back. Following some negotiation somespace was negotiated with the Kennet and AvonCanal Trust at Claverton which has the big ad-vantage of a chap called Pete Dunn who has pre-viously fixed and maintained all sorts of cranesincluding ones in dockyards and oil rigs.

The approach to Claverton is down a narrow lanewith a tight bend halfway down: there was no waythe WRG beavertail truck would be able to nego-tiate this bend so we had to plan how to move adead crane with no brakes safely down the hilland into the car park (without ending up stuck onthe uncontrolled level crossing at the bottom!).Just to add to the problems, the area where wewanted to work on thecrane was flooded withtwo feet of water, some-thing to do with the rainI understand. A fewdays beforehand we putup some notices in thelane asking people topark sensibly and ex-plaining a crane wouldbe coming down thelane the following Satur-day. On the Saturdaymorning I received aphone call from Bath po-lice traffic control askingwhere and when my ab-normal load would be ar-riving! It took some talk-ing to convince the of-ficer that a police escortwouldn�t be required.....

Malcolm arrived at 4pm with the crane and fourrollbars for the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. Onceeverything had been unstrapped we hooked thecrane up to the front of the Land Rover with a barand slowly pushed it down the lane. Malcolmstood on the platform and heaved and shoved atthe steering wheel in an effort to have some con-trol over where the machine went. Contrary tosome peoples expectations the move into thetemporary storage (a railway car park) went rela-tively smoothly, with the small exception of theLand Rover engine cooling fan deciding that itreally didn�t want to work any more and packingin. At least the driver didn�t get cold....

First impressions of the job indicate that much ofthe work will be repainting. The linkages need�fettling�, the engine will require a thorough serv-ice and probably an overhaul, the tyres and tubesare knackered, the jib rope is probably scrap al-though the main rope looks ok. Oh, and no mat-ter what sort of pressure is applied to what isjokingly called the �brake pedal� there is no dis-cernible effect on the speed of movement.

That�s it for now, I am already well past the pressdate for Navvies - Oops.

Geroge 'Bungle ' Eycott

The KL15 arrives, on the back of the WRG beavertail truck. (George Eycott)

page 34

This happened about twenty years agoand, as the memory can play funny tricks,you may not remember the place lookingquite the same way as I remember it...

The place in question was the oldCoombeswood Tube Works at the wrongend of Gosty Hill Tunnel; wrong as in theend that goes nowhere or, at least, not un-less they rebuild Lapal Tunnel. Such an ideabeing laughable fifteen years ago, we weredefinitely at the wrong end of Gosty Hill’sclaustrophobic little sewer pipe and I wasat the wrong end of the bargain.

Not that it was much of a bargain either.Jake had said he would help me down theStourbridge Flight if I would take a detouralong the Dudley Number Two so that hecould explore the tube works before it fol-lowed the rest of the Black Country intosuburban oblivion. Jake tends to get emo-tive like that about grime and twistedrust and large heaps of waste stuff. Nothaving been through Gosty Hill before, Ihadn’t objected too much to the plan andstarted the trip in an equable spirit of ad-venture.

Engines come in three varieties: modern,vintage and shot. The Russel-Newbury inTumbleweed fell into the last category butsounded willing enough as it bomp-bomp-bomped off the cavernous interior ofNetherton Tunnel with some breathable airin between the coughs of blue smoke whichshot up the exhaust pipe.

The old RN must have come with the origi-nal boat, whenever that was and whatevershe was called in the days when she wasslightly narrower and had a more pragmaticpurpose than to fulfil my fantasies of beinga 'Number One'.

There had been a plastic bag and a bit ofrope once we had turned up the NumberTwo but nothing to quite prepare us forthe Sargasso of wood, bottles andundefineable scum which we met havingentered the obscenity-daubed western por-tal of Gosty Hill. And there was to be noparting of the waves as there would havebeen in Netherton or any other tunnel ofdecent proporti ons. Tumbleweed ’s sagginghips meant that the space between gun-wale and tunnel (it sounds better whenyou say it out loud) was somewhat lessthan with a new hire boat. The clag builtup in front and reduced our p rogress toway below a breaking wash while the bigblades of the propeller transmitted theirfrustration to the struggling Rusell-New-bury with the result that the breathableair became rarer and the blue coughs moreasthmatic until, with a final wheeze, it gaveup the ghost.

There was only one way out and that wasto adopt the tried and tested method fromthe pre-diesel days when the only fossil fuelaround these parts came out of the sur-rounding hills. We spread the plank acrossthe hold, got on our backs and legged it.Shoulder to shoulder and head to head, withour legs bent double under the crampedand infinitely variable roof, we slowly walkedour way right through until we emergedinto the startling brick canyon of the tubeworks with its derelict, desolate ghost townair of utter abandonment. Shattered win-dows gazed blindly down and flaps of cor-rugated iron refused to flap in the stillnessof the misty grey, autumn afternoon.

Right next to me I could hear Jake let out agreat exhalation of gobsmacked wonder.“Bloody magic!” was the limit of his elo-quence but I could tell from the way hesaid it that he was really, really, dead im-pressed and, before I could make any ar-rangements about time and tide and need-ing to be at least near a decent pub on thefar side of the tunnel by nightfall, he wason the bank and off like a rabbit into thewarren of buildings.

TunnelVision

by

Jon Sims

page 35

Thanking him vehemently under my breath,I managed to hammer in some stakes andtie up before using the hook to graunchabout under the counter. Eventually, I man-aged to latch onto what I was looking forand, with grim wrenches which threatenedto part the hook from the pole, I hauledout the best part of a mattress whose pos-ture springing had lovingly entwined itselfaround the prop. Which explained some-thing, I suppose. I checked the engine whichreluctantly grunted back to life, I drank theremains of my lukewarm flask and then Iwaited for Jake to finish his delving.

And then I waited for Jake a bit more. Anda bit more. And when you wait like that youare always torn between quiet sulking andbuilding up a head of steam except that itwas too chuntering cold for steam so thatby the time Jake eme rged dimly from theadvancing twilight I was in a mood asblack as the inevitable tunnel mouth. Thestakes were out, the ropes flung on boardand the prop already turning by the timehe dropped lightly into the hold and dis-appeared, along with the front end of theboat, into the tiny little por tal. As theback end, with me on it, followed intostygian darkness, the racket was deafening.We had purged the tunnel of all of its flot-sam on our first pass and the RN couldbomp to its hearts content. Least ways, itcould for about the first hundred yards orso and then, just out of sheer bloodyminded spite for all I had put it through, itstopped dead.

Resisting the urge to break my foot on theflywheel, I accepted the inevitability of an-other inverted walk and, squeezing betweencabin and tunnel (don’t bother saying it outloud this time; it doesn’t work) I tumbledinto the hold. OK, so it was obvious whosefault this was and, by God, I was going tolet him know but it was going to be laterwhen I was warm and well fed and he hadbought me at least three placatory pints.Just for now he would feel the full wrath ofmy silence. He was already on the plank andgave a mere grunt as I climbed alongside ofhim. No hint of an apology. Bloody Jake.Mind, from the smell of his breath, I wasquite glad for him to keep his mouth shut.Good grief! What had he been eating? I wasquite used to his penchant for onionbargees but this had an altogether less ex-otic pungency.

He obviously sensed my mute fury and re-plied with an equally deafening silence whichI took as an admission of guilt. But then headded a subtle variation. As we walked alongthe roof, his stride became more and morepurposeful, pushing with the power of abloke who treats the Three Peaks Race andLondon Marathon with equal contempt.Pride demanded that I keep pace, step forstep and shove for shove, and before long Iwas sweating profusely in spite of theclammy coldness of the tunnel. The contestwas grossly unequal. My legs trembled as Iforced them to push at the unnatural an-gle while his were steady as pistons. Thevague glimmer of the headlight as it pre-ceded us to the far end was just enough toshow the clouds of steam as I laboured forbreath while he seemed embarrassinglyunperturbed.

Just when I was about to concede defeat, asudden change in the air and the cessationof my echoing gasps indicated that we hademerged back into the open. The planklurched as my erstwhile subterranean op-ponent rolled off and I lay for half a minuteregaining composure and breath in equalmeasure, while the stars in front of my eyeswere gradually replaced by the real thing.Tumbleweed drifted into the bank and I satup, expecting to see Jake taking a rope outonto the towpath. But the towpath wasdeserted. A very wan moon lit the equallyempty hold so I clambered back to the cabinwhich was also devoid of any trace of Jake.It was then that I noticed a short but stockyfigure on the offside bank; too short andtoo stocky to be Jake and anyway, how hadhe got from the towpath to the offside? Thefigure raised a hand in salute, turned hisback and marched purposefully off up thehill and, in the same split second, a furiousbut familiar voice echoed down from thedirection of the road.

‘What the hell was the big idea of that. Doyou always naff off without the crew?”

I must have looked pretty daft, standinggawping first at Jake on the towpath and thenat the offside bank where the receding fig-ure merged into a settling mist. And althoughas I said before, the memory can play funnytricks, I swear that up on the hill, where theradio masts should have been, I could seeonly pit-head gear.

Jon Sims

page 36

BCN Cleanup 2003

Help to launch the 2003 National Clean-Up Month:comeand join theannual 'BCN fishing' competition...only you'll be fishing for rubbish in the canal...

2003 BirminghamCanal Navigations Clean-up(Otherwise known as the Great SpaghettiClean-up) Salford Junction, Birmingham &Fazeley Canal, Birmingham & Warwick Junc-tion Canal and the Tame Valley Canal, March22nd & 23rd 2003

The site of the next annual BCN clean up is lo-cated to provide the best evening�s on-site enter-tainment facility that has even been available to aWRG camp (unless of course someone can comeup with something better). It is hoped that thisadded attraction may entice all those armchairWRGies to come and do a bit, even if it is only forpart or one of the days, towards recovering ourwaterways. Then once you have had a dabblethen you can then relax all those aching muscles(without the Radox Bath) by enjoying a film in oneof 27 auditoriumswithin the adjacent cinema com-plex. However if you're still feeling energetic thenperhaps have a game of ten pin bowling, or justenjoy some of the other entertainment facilitiesthat are available within theWarner Brothers StarCity Complex... On the other hand if your idea ofan evening's entertainment involves WRG cook-ing and a few beers, I'm sure you'll be catered for.

Star City is located within the junction of the Bir-mingham & Warwick Junction and the Birming-ham & Fazeley Canals. It has only been open twoyears, being built on the oldNechells Power Stationsite (where in years gone by coal was deliveredby boat from the many collieries that used to ex-ist in the West Midlands) and is the country�s big-gest cinema and entertainment complex.

During the weekend it is planned to clean out allthe four canals that radiate from this junction thatis located under the infamous �Spaghetti Junction�on the M6. Such is the proximity of the motorwaythat considerable lengths are underneath it sodon�t be put off if it rains, you�ll just becomemuddyand wet from your feet upwards rather than bothdirections.

Despite the motorway the area in which SalfordCanal Junction is located is historically importantin that it is the junction of old turnpike roads thatlead from Birmingham to Lichfield and Tamworth.It is also located adjacent to the junction of theRivers Rea (the river that created Birmingham)and the Tame, hence the existence of the TameValley Canal and its junction with the Birmingham& Fazeley Canal at Salford.

Planned to take place over the weekend 22nd &23rd March it is the first of many clean-up eventsthat are being devised to take place between thenand the end of April.

Starting from the Junction it is hoped to work outin all four directions clearing out the residual re-mains of many years of industry that existed inthe area until the late 60�s. Both the Tame Valleyand the Birmingham & Warwick Junction Canalsare known to cause trouble for deeper draftedboats when competing in the BCNMarathonChal-lenge Cruise, and whilst we don�t want to make ittoo easy for them we don�t want to see unneces-sary damage to the boats.

It is hoped to remove the rubbish via the Star CitySite and this is likely to be the signing on point(A to Z Map Ref 4E 61, nearest Railway Stationis Aston - 3/4 mile away - which is regularly (in-cluding Sundays) served by trains from Birming-ham New Street to Walsall and Lichfield).

More details will be provided in the next edition,but in the meantime, please complete the appli-cation form opposite and send it to Head Of-fice. Even if you only plan to attend on one orother of the days, it would be helpful if you couldalso complete it so that we can get an idea of thenumbers likely to attend.

Once again BritishWaterways are helping by pro-viding the usual floating and road hardware, sup-ported by BCNS�s boat 'Phoenix' and, hopefully,by Dudley Canal Trust with their tug. They will ofcourse be supplying the usual work-gloves thatwe know you all appreciate.

The overnight accommodation is expected to beat the Ackers Trust in Small Heath, Birming-ham (BirminghamA to Z Map Ref 1F 91). Thisis located at the side of the Small Heath Highway- A45 - adjacent to the Grand Union Canal be-tween Tyesley and Small Heath. It has a smallbasin that can provide accommodation for thosethat may wish to come by boats. Again more in-formation in the next issue and those that bookwill be advised once it is finally confirmed.

More next time.VaughanWelch

CleanupMarch22-23:weneedyourhelptoclearrubbishfromtheBCN...

page 37

WRG Boat Club newsWell I hope that you all have got your new diarieshandy as here are some dates for you to fill in.First and foremost: April 4th-6th Aston Locks Open-ing. �Oh yeah?� we all say with a measure of disbe-lief. Yes, yes it is true! Those in the know tell us, andwho am I to doubt them? Anyway as I write (Nov1st) two club members have said they plan to taketheir boats there. I hope many others will want tojoin us, but remind all that there will still be closureson the Shroppie, at Shelmore Embankment, so youcan�t get there that way: it is closed until 11th April.Claire attended a Midland AWCC meeting and gotsome dates for activities that we are most welcometo join them in...3/4 May: Leamington Spa,2/3/4/5 May: Erewash Rally4/5/6 July: Coventry9/10 July: AWCC National and Midland RallyOther news from the meeting included BW say thatby 2004 there will be new sanitary stations at Fradleyand Sutton Cheyney. Totem poles are to be removedat Shardlow so you can now moor along the wholearea opposite Dobson�s yard. Also, �dog poop� binsare to be requested for honeypot sites!!!This request is not only from BW but from the variouslocal councils. As BW are very much in favour of these�facilities�AWCC are putting their requests in too. I won-der if groups or individuals will sponsor them and haveplaques put on them? Some claim to fame eh?In the last issue I mentioned that WRGBC mem-bers won three awards at The �National� - Congratu-lations to Di and Rhys Jones for winning two awardsfor the �Longest and most meritorious voyage takinginto account the aims of the festival� (Or somethinglike, I�m not sure of the details of the wording)

Very well done both of them. With awards like thatit isn�t just the journey that is meritorious, it is allthe work involved in keeping a detailed log!By the time you read this you will have receivedyour new membership card (unless you haven�tpaid up in which case it is TOO LATE) It is mostimportant that you can produce this card when youwant, or need, to use any facilities offered by otherAWCC clubs.Our donation of £500 to the David Suchet appeal forthe Lichfield & Hatherton was very well received. Wehave been mentioned in their magazine and havebeen sent a signed certificate, it will be on display inthe clubhouse alongside our shield and plaques.It has been suggested that we try to get a block book-ing for our boats attending the National WaterwaysFestival next year. Let me know what you think and ifyou are coming. Loads of room on the Thames socome on, make the effort to join us there. I expectthe AGM will be held there and I know you wouldhate to miss the fun. Plenty of work for all too.Have a Happy Christmas and hope you managesome winter boating, enjoying the peace and dodg-ing the closures.

XXX Sadie Dean

WRG BCLatestnewsfromtheWRGBoatClub

waterway recovery group in association with BCNS, BW and IWAI would like to attend the 2003 National Canal Cleanup on Mar 22-23 on the BCNForename: Surname:Address:

e-mail:Phone: Any special dietary requirements?I require accommodation Friday night / Saturday night / both nightsI enclose payment of £ (pay cheques to 'WRG') for food (cost is £8 forwholeweekend, basedon £1.50 for lunch each day, £1.50 for breakfast each day and £2 for Saturday evening meal)Do you suffer from any illness, such as epilepsy or diabetes, about which we should know, orare you receiving treatment or under medical supervision for any condition? YES / NO (If yes,please attach details)In the unlikely event that you should be injured, who should we contact?Name: Phone:Signed (parent's signature also required if aged under 18):Please send this form toNational Cleanup bookings,WRG, POBox 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY

page 38

Bits & piecesKESCRG Camp 2003

OK so you've read the first page of Navvies; theback one!! Now we can get to all you keen camp-ers before you say "WOTNOKESCRGCAMP!?"

The KESCRG camp is not in the 2003 campsbrochure this year! "All rumours of its demise havebeen exaggerated........."

Unfortunately because the brochure is coming outon time, and we are going somewhere new, we'venot 100% sorted our site yet! We will let you knowthe site in the next issue and via mailing lists andtheweb.

What we can confirm is the dates are 26th July to2ndAugust, leader is IanWilliamson, we will havea very glamorous assistant [apparently Garry Al-derman ...Ed], and catering will be mis-managedby Dr Liz and her NHS management team.

Watch this space for more news very soon.

The Management, KESCRG

IWPSWalks

Our friends in IWPS - in between trying to makeBugsworthBasinwatertight - organiseaprogrammeof towpath walks on different canals around thecountry, which anyone interested inwaterways her-itage will enjoy. Here is the 2003 programme:

Jan 1st:Around the pits and parks of Poynton. ANewYear'smorningstroll fromtheMacclesfieldCanal.Feb 1st: Rochdale Canal. A walk to inspect Man-chester�s latest restored canal.April 5th: Leominster Canal. A rare chance tosee this little known waterway.June 7th: Chesterfield Canal.Aug 2nd: Aire & Calder Navigation. A commer-cial break in Yorkshire.Oct 4th/5th: Weekend away - Hampshire wa-terways. Aweekend exploring the lesser knownwaterways of the deep south.Nov 29th: Chester Canal. Completing ourperambulation of this early canal

For more details and to join the mailing list, con-tact walk co-ordinator: Pete Yearsley, 41 TattonSt, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6AE. Phone c/o0161-860-7405 (weekends only)

Attention WRG van drivers...

Just a reminder of a few things that all WRGTran-sit van and minibus drivers need to be aware of...

(1) A word about carrying passengers in the backof panel vans... DON'T. Not only is it illegal for any-one to travel in a vehicle if they aren't on a properseat, but they're not insured if you're in an accident.

(2) If you get any 'points' on your licence, youneed to get in touch with the WRG board for au-thorisation to carry on driving WRG vehicles.

(3) Tachograph charts. If you need to use these(for towing with the vans, or for driving the bea-vertail truck) do remember to TAKE THEM OUTAGAIN at the end of your journey!

PS to whoever it is who's lost their specs, Rogersays they're in RFB!

The WRG Slides CD-ROM

Apologies for giving incorrect details last timewhenadverting the excellent CD-ROM of all the old his-toric waterways slides sets that WRG used to sellin the 1970s and 80s.

The price is £7 (post free) and they are availablefrom Liz Lamen, 72 Sunfield, Romiley, Stockport,SK6 4BJ.

Please make cheques payable to 'WRG N/W'.

Operation Ironville...

...will be the first work-party on a new scheme torestore the Cromford Canal. It takes place on Feb-ruary 1-2 at Ironville Locks,andtheworkwillbemainlyscrub-bashing to clear the canal bed and assessthe condition of the locks prior to restoration.

Organised by Friends of the Cromford Canal, withsupport from local WRGies, this workparty ismainly aimed at attracting local support (so noovernight accommodation is provided) but all vis-iting volunteers are welcome.

See www.cromfordcanal.org.uk for details.

Coming soon on the web...

...Bungle'sWRG Online Songbook. All the lyricsto theWRG songs that we've performed at the 'Na-tional' etc. 'The Navvies Jerusalem', 'Leader of theCamp' and the 'Aston Locks Reopening Dirge...'

And speaking of the Aston Locks Reopening...

Don't forget - 4thApril. Yes, really!

page 39

Directors of WRG:

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

Secretary: Neil Edwards

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

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

Navvies ProductionNavvies ispublishedbyWa-terwayRecoveryGroup,POBox 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY and is availableto all interested in promot-ing the restoration and con-servation of inland water-ways by voluntary effort inGreat Britain. Articles maybe reproduced in alliedmagazinesprovidedthat thesource is acknowledged.WRG may not agree withopinions expressed in thismagazine, but encouragespublicationasamatterof in-terest. Nothing printedmay

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

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

Printing and assembly:John &Tess Hawkins4 LinksWay, CroxleyGrnRickmansworth, HertsWD3 3RQ 01923 448559hawkins@jote.fsnet.co.uk

NoticeboardContacting the chairman:Mike Palmer, 3 Finwood Rd,Rowington, Warwickshire CV35 7DHTel: 01564 785293e-mail: mike.palmer@bbc.co.uk

Moving house...Deb Turnbull has moved to:1 Spa Cottages, Beacon Road, Malvern, WorcsWR14 4EHGarry & Karen Alderman have moved to:15 Pines Avenue, Broadwater, Worthing, WestSussex BN14 9JG. Tel: 01903 212628If you move house, don't forget to tell us about it,so we can change your details on the Navviessubscriptions database. Write to Sue Watts (seebottom of page) or email subs@wrg.org.uk.

LOST PROPERTY

Found in SWS (the beavertail truck), after itsexcursions to the Grand Western, a pair of(ladies?) sunglasses. Contact MalcolmBridge(see Directory pages) to arrange their return.

S t a m p sw a n t e d

Send used postagestamps, petrol coupons,old phone cards, emptycomputer printer ink car-tridges to IWA/WRGStamp Bank, 33 Ham-bleton Grove, MiltonKeynesMK42JS.Allpro-ceedstocanal restoration.

TheWRGCanalCamps mobilephones:

07850 422156 (A)and

07850 422157 (B)

Free to a good home....

One outboard motor. It's a Yamaha 15A,15hp 250cc twin two stroke, with a 22.5 li-tre plastic petrol tank and hose and a finepitch prop (for canals). Made in 1976, butspare parts still easily available.

Available free to a 'good home' i.e. for acanal society work-boat etc., or to a pri-vate individual for a donation to WRG.

Buyer to collect - from the River Stort.

If you're interested please contact RonJones on email ron@ronjones.org.uk. (Ifyou don't have e-mail, contact the editorand we'll pass your details on to Ron.)

Brush-cutter for sale

Husqvarna 165rx BrushcutterSuitable for very heavy duty work

In excellent condition, complete with harnessServiced October.

Ideal for strong WRGies!£100

ContactColinGibbs ofWey &ArunCanal Trust020 8241 7736

Backfill

page 40

Recipes for disasterThank you to Sue Burchett for a couple of contri-butions in response to my request for 'great ca-tering cockup' stories...(1) Roger still talks of my macaroni milk pud-

ding made at a Sleaford camp. I made itusing memory & guess work (a fatal combi-nation). It turnedout so solid that itwasservedin slabs for the next day's lunch. Severalasked me for the recipe for my "cake"...

(2) A cook found a large bowl in the kitchenand made a cake for a Canal Camp..."Where is my dog's bowl?" I asked."Err... Imadeacake in it. Itwascleanwasn't it?""No - but I'm sure the dog licked it out well..."

We need more of these stories. I'm sure lots ofyou have anecdotes to tell about having to grillthe eggs, or fry the porridge, or cook the bakedbeans on the griddle... Or about the time youburned the salad... Keep them coming!

"Mobilephonereception iscraphere..."If you were at the Bonfire Bash youmight remem-ber Alan Lines wandering around on Friday nightasking if anyone had seen his mobile phone. Un-fortunately nobody had. And nothing happenedwhen he tried to ring it from another phone.In fact nobody found it until after the end of theweekend, when 'Other Alan' from M&BCT whoworks there was doing school caretaker dutiesand came across it in the line of duty. He wasclearing a blocked loo at the time.Just as well it turned up - it was drivingAlan roundthe bend...How did it happen? Was Alan talking out of hisbackside again?"Was it an expensive phone, Alan?""No, just bog-standard."

Why are we doing it?From the 'Irish Times': "Nearly one in five eightyear olds thinks canals were built as homes forducks, a survey in Britain has shown. One in 20boys believes octopuses lurk in Britain's man-made waterways, while 13% of youngsters aged7 to 14 believe they were built to cool the earthor catch rainwater, the poll for Wild Over Water-ways showed."Don't be stupid - everyone knows the waterwayswere built as nature reserves...

New from the

WRGCHRISTMASWRGCHRISTMASWRGCHRISTMASWRGCHRISTMASWRGCHRISTMASGIFTGIFTGIFTGIFTGIFTCATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUECATALOGUEGifts for the navvy who has everything:WRGWearpre-soiledT-shirts. Spend all daysitting in a cosy excavator cab, but look like arealhard-workingWRGieinyourmud-stainedT-shirt. Choiceofmudcolours:DroitwichBrown, Elsecar Black, Frimley Green.'ScruBurco'wood-fired tea-boiler. Nomorelugginggas-bottlesalonguneventowpaths-andnomoremessybonfiresonscrub-bashingcamps. Simply cut down vegetation andfeed it into the bottom of the Burco. Asseen on the 'Mon & Brec Burco Bash' dig.'WRGPerfect' software for better 'Navvies'camp report writing. With in-joke generator,photo-library (please state whether youwantphotos of dumpers, excavators or SteveDavis) and a spell-checker that deliberatelyleaves the oddmipsrint in to catchMartinout. Available on CD-ROM, DVD or BFP(Back of Fag Packet).The 'Steve Paice' navvy alarm clock forthose early-morning starts. No buzzers orbells - at precisely 6:54am a voice synthe-sizer, audible throughout the accommodationsays "Bollocks! Is that the time?"