Navvies 223

navviesvolunteers restoring waterways

navvies

waterwayrecoverygroup

volunteers restoring waterways

Issue No 223June-July

2007

Issue No 223June-July

2007

waterwayrecoverygroup

In this issue:

Easter Camp report

Rebuilding a KL15 crane

Summer Canal Camps preview

In this issue:

Easter Camp report

Rebuilding a KL15 crane

Summer Canal Camps preview

page 2

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

WA

CT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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all the latest news of WRG's activities

Chairman if he sends it in in time 4-5What�s next? Canal Camps preview 6-7Logistics How to pack catering kit 8-9Camp Report Easter on the W&B 10-12KESCRG lifting, shifting and wedding! 13-15WRG South West at two years old 14-15WRGBC taking your boat to St Ives 16-17Diary camp and working party dates 18-20Letters BW, wedding, Cotswolds, stamps21-23Progress roundup of the latest news 24-29KL15 Bungle�s still rebuilding his crane 30-31News new canals and tick-bites 32-34Noticeboard save your stamps for WRG 35Backfill a novel way to fill a lock 36

Contributions...

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

Photos also welcome: digital,slides, colour or b/w prints. Please statewhether you want your prints back; I as-sume that you want slides returned. Dig-ital pics are welcome as email attachments,preferably JPG format, but if you have a lotit is preferable to send them on CD-ROM orDVD or to contact the editor first.

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

Press date for issue 224: July 1st.

Subscriptions

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

Please note that this is a minimumsubscription which doesn�t even cover post-age costs but is kept low so that everyonecan afford to subscribe. Please add a dona-tion if you can.

ContentsIn this issue...

Above: Our brand-new 9-seater vans.Left: Wey & Arun Canal Trust trip-boatsusing the rebuilt Brewhurst Lock atEaster (see progress report, p26).Below: Piling on the training weekendCover: Wilts & Berks Easter Camp atSteppingstones Bridge (see report,pages 10-12; photo by David Miller)

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ChairmanMKP�s Q&A sessionThought I�d do the chairmans bit as a bit of aquestion and answer session this month...

Q. I read in a recent navvies about firesbeing left to burn overnight. I thought wealways put them out? Has our policy changed?

A. No � this comment was in an articleabout the Christmas Camp and was meant asa joke. Looking back perhaps we were fool-ish to leave it in. Our policy has always beenthat fires must be completely extinguished anhour before leaving site. Our insurers insist.

Q. I see the Canal Camp flightcasesnow have whistles in them. Are we playingfootball in our lunch hour?

A. You could, but the real reason ismuch more mundane. On a complicated siteor one where there the work is strung outover a distance sometimes you just need asimple signal to stop work, attract attentionetc. Yes - whistles - so much nicer and moreuser friendly than trying to contact the rest ofthe site by fumbling with your mobile as youdrag your bleeding carcass out of the ditch!

Q. Is it true you can�t use ladders anymore?A. Yes and no. There are indeed new

regulations and they have received a lot ofpress about Health and Safety madness. But ifyou go on the HSE website you will see thatthey have put the case very plainly. Generallyworking from a ladder is discouraged becausea lot of accidents occur when people just shinup a ladder and try and do too much. So whileladders are not actually banned there is often asafer way of doing things.

Q. This H&S has gone a bit mad hasn�t it?A. Well yes and no (again). First the good

news - right now the HSE seem to be very,very good at pragmatic delivery of ridiculouslegislation. Their website and leaflets are par-ticularly good at plain speaking. But I cannotdeny that a lot of the people we are having towork with are primarily concerned not with thereal welfare of the workers but with (a) cover-ing their backsides and (b) making sure thatnothing ever buggers up their safety record.Because the scare is not that someone mighthurt themselves but that someone might haveto have time off as a result. I�m not suggesting

that we have different objectives but it is thecase that we don�t see a sprained ankle or asplinter as the awful catastrophe they do.

Q. But to stick on legal stuff, I�m told thatthere is a new set of regs that apply to all sites?

A. They were probably talking about theConstruction, Design and Management regula-tions and the answer is (again!) yes and no.CDM regs are actually quite old and used toapply to projects over a certain size. They werequite paperwork intensive and so peoplemainly spent their time cutting projects downin size until they didn�t qualify and they couldavoid the paperwork. So they have rewrittenthe rules so that SOME of them apply no mat-ter what size your project. Fortunately theseare the bits we would be doing anyway. If youare at all involving in planning projects then goand read the website � it�s very clear.

Q. I read in some other waterways maga-zine that there is an appeal for cash to finish offthe Droitwich. Is it really happening then?

A. Seems so. We have been asked to doquite a lot of the restoration of the barge lock inVines Park next year and TWT/IWA havelaunched an appeal to raise the £100k it�s going tocost. We would quite like to do something groovyat the National this year � any ideas?

Q. I saw instructors at the Training Week-end consulting bits of paper. What�s that about ?

A. They are using the Instructor Guid-ance Notes � written to try and get a bit moreuniformity in our training. It�s a checklist ofitems you need to cover to train people towork safely, together with a set of tests. Theyare not exhaustive � it still relies on you puttingacross your experience and wisdom but it doesmean that we can get a consistent standard. Italso means that if someone gets part waythrough a training session then has to stop,they can pick it up again later. So if you are aninstructor we really do recommend you get aset of these notes. They are available on thewebsite www.wrg.org.uk.

Q. Talking of Driver Authorisation my cardexpired a few weeks ago. What do I do now?

A. Ah sorry yes the arrival of mostpeoples expiry date caught us a bit una-wares. By the time you read this it shouldhave been sorted out. Oh and we�ve changedthe way we do the �copies of your drivinglicence� thing, to make it easier for you.

Q. With all this paperwork are youfinding any time to actually do anything?

A. Oh every now and then. See you onsite somewhere soon.

Mike Palmer

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The Paper Chase

Hopefully, despite missing the press dateand if our long serving Editor can squeeze itin you will not need reminding of the birth-day of Tom Cook. �Who the dickens is he?� Ihear you mutter.

He�s none other than one of the SE-LECT band of founders of WRG NORTHWEST , I�ll have you know. But why is he sospecial? �Cos on the 30th June 1977 (exactlysix months from the founding) Tom hadarrived here at �WOODSTOCK� to be takenout for a birthday drink by Son & Heir, BIGMAC.

Whilst waiting for the latter to arrivehome from work, Tom told Mrs. Mac and Ithat he had at long last heeded the pleas ofhis Dear Old Mum and cleared the sparebedroom of piles of Amateur Radio maga-zines. He was on his way to the tip withthis lot when he saw a canvas bannersaying �WE BUY YOUR WASTE PAPER�. AsTom never looks a gift horse in the face,he drove his grand old Land Rover in, wasweighed twice and came away with almost£3. �HEY� says he �how about WRG collect-ing waste paper?

�So that�s how it all started and weknow whom to blame! Relatives, friends andneighbours were soon dragooned into thetask and the minutes of our �AD HOC� com-mittee meeting states that in Decemberabout a ton of paper was gathered and sold.By then it was realised that we might do wellwith it and as there is a large housing estateof some 800 houses just half a mile downthe road with four long roads convenientlylaid out like a snake, the task seemed rela-tively easy.

A suitable leaflet was printed and putthrough all the doors and on Saturday 28thJanuary 1978, a motley collection of vehi-cles� with an equally motley gang of bodiesdrove round in a near blizzard to collectwhatever was offered. The fact that weturned out on such an atrocious day hasstood us in good stead ever since, showingthat we mean business

We have just issued our 71st leafletand the 29th September will see our 300thcollection. Only once have we missed - the6th January 1979 when the roads werecovered in frozen snow AND the Tankerdrivers were on strike. Remarkably, weonly had a few phone calls, all of an un-derstanding nature and when we went

round the following Saturday, the paperwas waiting for us! On that first collectionwe all came back to �Woodstock� for awarm & a brew and so was started the nowtraditional Fish & Chip lunch later reinforcedwith �afters� of the (in)famous BROKEN BIS-CUITS.

That first collection also started anotheruseful money spinner - BOOKS. We won-dered what to do with them but the follow-ing weekend saw us with our Sales & Exhibi-tion Stand at �COLLAC� the Camping &Outdoor Leisure exhibition run by JohnCharles Palmer, the wonderful Dad of ourChairman, Mike. This took place annually atthe famous Belle Vue Exhibition & Leisurecomplex not far from the present City ofManchester Stadium. The previous year wedid next to nothing trying to sell woodenspoons & plates which we had laboriouslypainted with roses but when we took inboxes of books, the customers were like fliesround a jam pot!

Following that we took them out onour sales stand thus starting what is nowalmost a business so ably presided over byJohn Foley. He and Mrs. Mac would �gothrough the books� after each �paper chase�,as they became known.

I often wish I�d kept a record of thenames of all the folk who have helped onour collections - I think it would be over ahundred names. To make the collectionswork we need about 15 helpers for comfortthough in recent years over 20 turn up dur-ing the morning. There was ONE BAD DAYwhen we had no more than 9 at any onetime - we didn�t finish till 5 o�clock!

Oh & just a happy thought - the afore-said Tom Cook was one of our most regularhelpers with his Land Rover but at sometime a young lady called Celia appearedfrom only 2-3 miles away After a few years ,they had married and fled to the Lake Dis-trict.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM.I think you should have had the medal

David �Mr Mac� McCarthy

NorthWestBirth of the Paper Chase

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What�s next?Lots more canal camps....

In part two of our preview ofthe 2007 Canal Camps

programme, Adrian Fry bringsus up to date on what�shappening in August...

In Navvies 222 we described the progress of the 2007 WRG Canal Camps circusas it journeys from the far-flung south western corner of the UK, arriving at the centre(ish)of the country at the end of July. But before we continue on the second part of our tourthrough the country�s waterway restoration sites this summer, we�ll bring you a couple ofupdates to the early part of the Canal Camps season.

The first Lord Rolle�s Canal Camp (23rd -30th June) is being led by Judith Pope andNat Beldersen. Judith says �If you don�t mind abit of hard work, having suntan lotion rubbedonto you, a cuppa tea in the morning, cider inthe evening and the idea of Topless Thursdaythen this is the one for you!� And for the secondweek (30th June � 6th July) Steve Davies (�PurpleSteve�) has agreed to assist Spencer Collins.While for anyone tempted by the Grand Western,leader Phil Rodwell reckons there�s �A crackingweeks camp to be had in Devon, from pointingto piling, skittles to swimming and everythingyou could think of in between. It will surely beHeaven in Devon 07�

But on to the second half of the pro-gramme. This article gives you the latest info aswe go to press in mid May, but many of theCanal Camps in August are still very much in theplanning phase. By the time you read this theremay well be more information starting to firm-up: the WRG website will be regularly updatedas details of work, accommodation and leadersare confirmed.

The second half of the Canal Camp seasonkicks-off in Gloucestershire, where WRG returnsfor its first summer restoration Canal Camp onthe Cotswold Canals since 2002. The Camp from 28th July � 4th August will be co-led byChris Blaxland (�Teacher Chris�) and Jenny Black, and should be a most enjoyable week. Thesite is in the Cotswold Water Park where we�ll be rebuilding the parapets on Rucks Bridgeand starting the restoration of the top wing walls and bywash of Eisey Lock.

Meanwhile on the Chesterfield Canal (28th July � 4th August) we�ll be continuing onfrom the work started by Moose & Co at Christmas. Work on this canal is really progress-ing: WRG is contributing by working to restore a mile of canal on the edge of the Peak Dis-trict which forms part of the �missing link� between two already reopened sections. We�ll beworking to improve access to the section and also working on a length of towpath and tow-path wall. The local canal society folks are very enthusiastic and will help out with the workonsite. The editor also informs me that there�s a damn good pub only a few minutes walkfrom the accommodation. [Indeed - and we won the pub quiz there at New Year! ...Ed]

From Chesterfield and Cotswolds we head east, as the WRG fleet of vans and trailersslowly migrate towards the IWA National Festigal site at St. Ives, Cambridgeshire. Our nextstop is at Grantham for a camp running from August 4th to 11th. As you�ve probablyheard, Government department DEFRA (boo, hiss!) has cut back on the size of the annualgrant to the waterways, and this has meant that British Waterways has had to reduce its

Two more camps this year to finish workon the Sea Lock on Lord Rolle�s Canal

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involvement in the restoration of the Grantham Canal - and therefore the work of WRG ismore important than ever. The details of this years� project are still to be confirmed but workwill probably be split across more than one site.

Even further East on the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation WRG is returning toa waterway where we were active several years ago on Bosmere and Creeting Locks. Thisyear we will be starting work on a new site, Baylham Lock, where Liz Wilson and Chris Wicks(11th- 18th August) will be leading. Let�s hear what Chris has to say about it..

�Liz will have technical whizz-kid hard-hat on and I�ll be wearing my �happy campers�hat (which is probably fluffy and topped with fruit) for what is shaping up to be a great weekat Baylham Lock (put IP6 8LG into your favourite mapping tool to see where the site is). Ourtwo big activities for the week will be (a) building a dam at the top of the lock, pumping outthe water, digging out the silt with an excavator and pressure washing the walls and (b)demolishing the remains of the wall upstream of the lock and rebuilding it in concrete-backed brick, then topping it with concrete cast coping stones. The biggest draw will ofcourse be Harri T�s cooking, and I�m also working on evening activities to include boat tripsand brewery visits. The site is by a rare breeds farm, so the final night barbecue should beparticularly memorable�

In Sleaford this year we are planning to carry out a very high profile project in thetown centre. We are creating a winding hole (turning point) for canal boats and also install-ing a slipway so visiting trailboats can use this section. The precise methods of constructionare yet to be determined, but large machines, readymix concrete and piles are all likely to beinvolved. James Butler and Rob Daffern are running the first week (4th � 11th August) withAdrian Fry and Martin Worsley running the second week (11th- 18th August). (James will notbe dangled out of the accommodation by his feet this year!) Accommodation is at SleafordRugby Club which has all the usual rugby club facilities including good showers.

The season as always will end with the IWA National Waterways Festival this year at St.Ives, so over to the leaders to give us the low-down...

�Hi all, Moose here. The National this year will be held in St Ives (the one nearHuntingdon, not the one in Cornwall!). I am the camp leader and my assistant will be PaulShaw. The cooks will be Jude Palmer and (volunteered under the alcohol torture) Alice, sheof car parks fame. All I need is a willing volunteer(?) For the admin post.

�Work will be the normal fencing,banners, car parking etc. St Ives will be alovely site, flat with a small ditch through it.I will be hoping to get the Blue Shirt andRed Shirt volunteers together again (notworked on the detail yet but, I will think ofsomething cunning and horrible no doubt!).I would ask everyone to book on, even ifyou can only come for a couple of days, asit helps in the planning. And if you want tobring a tent, space could be very limited sobook early. More in the next Navvies.�

AND... We also have a bridge to finishon the Wilts and Berks at Shrivenham,Steppingstones Bridge... Watch this spacefor further information!

Adrian Fry

What�s next?...from Cotswolds to Fens

...so now you�ve gotabsolutely no excuse forleaving it any longer beforeyou fill in your booking formand send it in!

Virgin site: Baylham Lock awaits our attention

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LogisticsResting on your griddles

Resting on your Griddles*

It�s hard to believe the main camps season isupon us� where does the time go? Here atLogistics it�s been hectic � but not necessarilywith all things logistical. And now the heatreally is on and our griddles are cooking! If itall goes to plan you�ll have lovely shiny,freshly painted kits (watch you�re not caughtred-handed!!!) and if not you�ll at least havethe kits. Kit A has been in and out of ourbase more times than an indecisive cuckoorecently and has been re-packed as many soit�s barely had a moment�s rest this yearalready and is looking like it!

Apologies for no amusing styles or textthis time� unfortunately I�m feeling ratheruninspired for this, and time is a bit of anissue at present. It could be because I�vewritten very similar things at this time ofyear in Navvies most years� or probablybecause I keep getting somewhat sidetrackedthinking about the masses of other stuff Ishould be getting on with whilst we get aglimpse of good weather. So much to do�But as I (a) promised Martin I�d do a piecefor him and (b) it�s only fair to give you allthe opportunity to prove me wrong I thoughtI should really stick with it and get writing.

I guess the main aim of this particulararticle (as always at this time of year) is tohighlight how easy it is to damage the kit ifyou don�t give a second thought to how youtreat or pack it. First up, the catering kit:

The toasters for example would reallyrather you didn�t stick knives in them (well,you wouldn�t like it!) to attempt an impossi-ble extraction! Bungle would also prefer youdidn�t too. Please use the wooden tongsprovided or even better don�t get the bread/toast jammed in there in the first place! Themain cause of this scenario is when peoplefeel the urge to check how their toast isdoing much too soon and the bread is stillfloppy. Or they ram in a piece that is des-tined to hold doors open!

Talking of open doors, please can yourefrain from wedging the fridge/freezer

doors open with cardboard and gaffer tapeor whatever else comes to hand during theseason � they only spend a few hours gener-ally in the trailer between camps and I�mafraid the door seals get damaged when thisis done. I do however appreciate that theintention is very well meant and I am quiteimpressed that you have even thought aboutit - but I�d like to try a season where wedon�t do that please. Thanks.

Major Logistical Note: The kit grid-dles get incredibly hot and even though a lotof plastic (or plastic handled) cooking uten-sils are supposed to withstand high tempera-tures they are rarely rated for the tempera-tures the griddles actually reach - rememberthe griddle �walls� get very hot too as theyare also part of the same piece of cast iron.So please can you not rest the griddle scrap-ers or large �plastic� fish slices on them � andmake sure new campers cooking breakfastknow not to as well � otherwise you will endup having to use utensils whose handleshave melted ridges and are very uncomfort-able to hold. In fact, worse than that � yourcamp�s cook will have to! And you don�t wantto upset them, do you now?!!!

For years we used the thickpolyethylene chopping boards but because ofhow we work (lots of activity in the summerwith large �gaps� in between the other camps/weekends) we�d often find them smelly andmouldy so I thought we�d try some muchthinner ones (Fleximats). They do wear outpretty quickly (particularly when Toby�s chop-ping with muscle!) but that was almost thepoint so they should be more hygienic andcan be replaced when mouldy with fewqualms. My reason for bringing these to yourattention is that I also include two of thethick white chopping boards for you to restthe fleximats on should you need to - butthey are not for chopping on directly please.Nor, for that matter, are any of these forresting hot pans on. Last year I providedsome large cloths for that job but they�vedisappeared into the usual camp BermudaTriangle so there should be some otherspecific kit items for you to use for this pur-pose.

As for packing the catering kit there area few precautions you need to take:

When fitting said kit into the five stack-ing boxes/wooden accommodation box (yes,it really does all fit!) please try not to squashit in so it fits. This leads to bent or uselessitems - one of the tea pots has fallen victim

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to this treatment!The stacking boxes do need a

ratchet strap to stop them fromtoppling over in to the middleof the trailer but this doesn�tneed to be superhero tight orthreaded through each of thehandles. It just needs to bedone up so the strap is at the�point of gentle tension� (as acertain Ms Fonda would say)so it won�t come undone andwill stop any strong sidewaysmovement.

For those of you unfamiliarwith the �cross-your-griddle�TM

ratchet strap formation, let me en-lighten. The large wooden accommodationbox (Scrabble or Monopoly depending onwhich kit you have) goes on the floor, one ofthe rectangular signs (e.g. Hard Hats) sits ontop of that (face down), both accommoda-tion and site first aid ammo boxes sit side byside next, another face down rectangularsign sits on those and then that�sall topped off with the griddletaking care not to trap the lead.This is firmly held in place by tworatchet straps that cross the frontcorners of the griddle to diago-nally opposite tie-down points onthe floor of the trailer. Got it?

And for those of you who�vebeen digging long enough justremember Mick�s Griddle poem!Or trawl through the Navvies dvdto find it� it�ll probably take youa while!

Next up, the tool part of thekits:

Seeing as I have usuallyspent quite some time on thisbefore I shall briefly outline it thistime although it doesn�t in anyway lessen the importance of themessage.. Please wash all tools used for mortar/

concrete/lime as soon as possible anddefinitely thoroughly at the end of eachday.. Make sure the whole kit at the end of yourcamp is well cleaned ready for the nextcamp including the vans (inside and out)and trailer (no De Lorien�s though please).. Get local societies to provide builder�sbuckets and wire brushes as the ones in-cluded in the kits are merely token gestures!

One of the items inthe kit which has re-

cently seen a ham-mering (literally!) isthe post cap.(sometimesknown for pur-poses of smuttyinnuendo as thepost bonker)Please don�t hit

the top of it with ahammer (or owt

else)� the wholeidea is that you do less

damage to a post whilstdriving it in. So don�t think

you have to make up for that bydamaging the cap itself - as in the pic (left).

When it comes to packing the toolsplease think about what you�re doing andwhen you tighten the ratchet straps up theymay be in a position that�ll bend or breaksomething. For example, make sure you�re not

catching any of theChelwood rake teethwith the wheelbarrowor squashing part ofthe jerry cans that arestored inside them.

And finally:Please keep a

lookout for any ofour tools or cateringstuff that may havehad a holiday atsome village hall orprevious camp loca-tion, let me know andput it in with the kiteven if that meansthere are two objectsof the same number.Thanks.

Many thanksagain to Bayston�s B&B� very much appreciated.

And thanks also in advance to everyonewho volunteers for moving stuff around forthose leaders. Good job!

Go forth and dig!**Just Jen

[email protected]*Not in the way as referred to on a certainkit one, Mr Beattie! [Although to be fair thatwas nothing to do with resting!]**And you never know I might even get tojoin you!

The consequences of not packingthe catering kit the right way

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Wilts & Berks Easter Camp, 2007

Whether we have global warming to thank,or just luck, there can�t have been manyEaster camps with 9 days of brilliant weather- resulting in a fantastic amount of workachieved. We had two major projects underway on the Wilts & Berks, so it had beendecided to run the camp on two sites, with atleast two leaders, which in fact turned out tobe three. Rachael was the only one who wasable to be there for the whole camp, leadingthe work on Lock 4 at 7 Locks. AtSteppingstones Bridge, Mike Palmer wasleading from Saturday through to Thursdaynight, when Adrian was able to get awayfrom work to lead through to the end onMonday. As cook, I was there throughout(although we were lucky enough to enjoyJude�s cooking on the first day), so I thought

I�d try to co-ordinate our camp story.We had between 14 to 17 on the camp,

most of them seasoned campaigners, withthree newcomers. Two of them, Shantelleand Laura, were D-of-E-ers, and Adam (whobecame known as �Digger�) was a studentcivil engineer. His nickname arose becausehe was used to driving excavators anddumpers at work, and Rachael was quicklyable to pass him for his WRG tickets. He wasapparently surprised to find so many oldieson the camp - he thought that it would bemostly youngsters working under a supervi-sor - but the best thing was that they allworked hard and enjoyed themselves, andpromised to come on more camps. PaulIreson was unaware of the camp, but wascamping at Malmesbury, and called by to seehow far Lock 4 had progressed since he waslast there. On finding us slaving away there,

Camp reportEaster on the Wilts & Berks

One canal, two sites,three leaders: Di

Smurthwaite reportsfrom the first Canal

Camp of 2007...

Pouring concrete backfill behind the new nearside brick wall at Lock 4, Seven Locks

John

Haw

kins

page 11

he decided to come and work with us eachday from then.

Taz (Dave Tarrant) got his dates mixedup, and could only manage one day atSteppingstones, and Martin Buckland (ourthird Martin on the camp) put in a couple ofdays. It struck me that John Hawkins, MartinThompson and Rob Brotherstone managedto show that it is the oldies that have themost stamina, working really long days!

The work on both sites was mainlybricklaying and pointing. At Steppingstones,Luke, Rachael, Martin, and our local workparty from the Wilts & Berks Canal TrustFoxham/Lyneham Branch, worked the week-end before the camp to get the steel, planksand plywood that comprised the former forthe arch dismantled and removed,leaving only the scaffolding for thecamp to work on while pointing thebrickwork under the bridge, whichtook most of the camp to complete.We hadn�t actually expected that itwould be possible to finish thepointing, and there were up to 7perched on the scaffolding under thebridge at one time. The �before�team also took down the end of oneof the parapet walls that neededrebuilding from scratch.

Over the 9 day camp, all fourparapet walls were built up to three-quarters of the height of the bridgearch, and the whole thing looksabsolutely fantastic. I�m told thatNavy Brian makes a superb mix,which helped things along well. Bythe final day, it was also possible toremove the scaffolding, and thecoping stones were mortared intoplace on either side under thebridge. Most of the rubble wascleared away, and some landscapingdone.

At Lock 4, the brickwork andthe blockwork on the towpath sidewere built up sufficiently by Wednes-day for a concrete pour, so most of

the camp were working there on the Thurs-day, with two ready-mix lorries arranged fordeliveries, and three dumpers charging upand down the towpath, pouring it in downour new chutes, and vibrating it into place.There was also time on that day for Rachaelto give Laura and Shantelle some experienceof operating her big JCB. Since then thebrickwork has come up a further 6 courses,so by the time the blockwork has beenbrought up to match we�ll be ready for an-other pour, and some landscaping behind it.We have KESCRG, London WRG and WRGSouth West coming the next weekend, andBITM the weekend after, so the lock wall isprogressing quite rapidly. We are hoping toget the towpath side finished before the twocamps arranged for July, when we can starton the offside. The vital objective on thosecamps will be to get the lock wall built upabove water level.

It was such a fun camp, with a greatatmosphere, plenty of good-natured banter,and it goes without saying that with three ofthe best leaders in the business, it was ledvery efficiently. We had a cinema run (Mr.

�John, Martin andRob managed toshow that it�s theoldies that have themost stamina...�

Dav

id M

iller

Pointing the underside of Steppingstones bridge arch

page 12

Camp reportSteppingstones and Seven LocksBean�s Holiday and Hot Fuzz), swimming,visit to see the White Horse, a pub quiz (wonby the team of Mike, Jude, David and myself,our other two teams coming 2nd and 4th),and a skittles night. Our Young Three hadnever heard of skittles, and had no idea whatto expect. They couldn�t believe that in ourarea (and in my home county of Devon)there are keenly competitive skittles leaguesrun. However, despite their lack of experi-ence (and it is different from 10-pin bowl-ing), they beat us oldies. We had the tradi-tional BBQ on the final night, with Adrianslaving over hot charcoal, and it was evenwarm enough to sit outside until quite late.

I struggled to keep the inner navvyregularly refuelled (struggle being the opera-tive word when it comes to Rob, but unfortu-nately he had to go home Friday night),particularly getting lunch to both sites ontime - a 40 mile round trip, but at least itmeant that everyone could put in a full day�swork.

We got very good at playing musicalbeds, shifting everything around, as the hallis well used - a social centre forthe elderly on three days aweek, a Thursday coffee morn-ing, a parish council meeting,and a church group on Sundays.The latter was truly astonishing:we cleared the main sleepinghall of all our paraphernalia,and they filled it with rows ofchairs, then more people stand-ing all round, and spilling out ofthe door. There must havebeen 60 or 70 people there, ofall ages, including a lot of teen-agers. They brought their ownmusicians, and everyone sangtheir hearts out with gospel-typesongs. They classed it as a�free church�, no particulardenomination, and the mostnoticeable thing was that theywere all smiling and laughingand thoroughly enjoying them-

selves, and getting really involved. Perhapsthe established churches have something tolearn from them.

The W & B Canal Trust have goodreason to be really grateful for the progressmade.

Di Smurthwaite

Dav

id M

iller

John

Haw

kins

Above: bricklaying on the bridge abutments.Below: a successful load-test of the arch

page 13

KESCRGLifting and shifting

KESCRG update!

KESCRG have mostly been lifting and shiftingfor the last 3 months!

In March and April we were on theWilts and Berks, on the Dig Deep project at 7locks. April was a joint dig with LWRG andSWWRG, which made the foxham readingrooms really quite cosy!

So, in March we started early Saturdaymorning, shifting 2 lorries worth of ready-mix for back filling the nearside chamberwall at lock 4 � well, the first 7 coursesanyway. In usual style, the concrete lorrieswere perfectly spaced to prevent a tea break,so it was a long hard morning. Karen and Igot to play with the 4 foot vibrator (sorry,had to have that joke, it�s traditional) and thechutes fashioned from by-wash pipe andscaffolding worked very efficiently, with Mk2& Eddie getting almost all the concrete in thecorrect hole!

Then we got to shift some lunch intous! And some fluids � we were all in T-shirts

by this stage, and someone was wearingshorts! This seems a little strange now, as itis now May and absolutely chucking it down.

The afternoon and Sunday were spentshifting bricks from the field where they hadbeen delivered (or possibly just chucked inthe hedge by a passing lorry) to Lock 4,shifting scaffolding around the compound,and shifting old bricks into neater piles. Thelocals and some of our crew started on thenext courses of brickwork, and blockworkbehind.

The evening, obviously, was spentshifting beer in the pub and large quantitiesof Eli�s food. And the locals spent the nightshifting Eddie�s and Nic�s boots to location orlocations unknown � don�t leave them in theporch at Lyneham!

And so, 4 weeks later, we found our-selves at the other end of the runway atFoxham, our numbers swelled considerablyby the joint dig. This time we shifted a LOTof bricks into the wall, a lot of blocks into theback wall, which obviously involved shifting

�As usual, theconcrete lorrieswere perfectlyspaced to prevent atea break�

Pic - W&B

Good progress on the first chamber wall of Lock 4 at Seven Locks on the Wilts & Berks

page 14

a lot of sand and cement into the mixer andthen mortar up to lock 4. Clay was used asbackfill behind the blocks and stamped intoplace by rather eccentric petrol drivenstampers � 3 were supplied by the hirers, allof which had different ways of stopping andstarting them, and all of which had a desireto sink themselves into the clay rather thanstamp it into place. I was trained on the bigdigger � and then it developed a fatal fuelsupply problem, which required 6 people(one per cylinder) to diagnose, but wasunfixable, so the only way to fill the dumperwas by hand� the clay was in quite hard drylumps (the weather was again really hot andgorgeous). Nic and Steve learnt that compet-ing on the size of clay lump you could liftwas fun at the time but painful the next day.

The efficiency of the cooker at Foxhamseems to be inverselyproportional to thenumber of people it istrying to cook for� Eli hada frustrating evening but itwas a nice evening to sitoutside whilst waiting forthe potatoes to becomevaguely mashable. Andthe foxham inn, as usual,had a few pints of 6x tospare. When dinner even-tually arrived, we had tomake sure we left enoughroom for pudding and 2Cakes � these were tocelebrate Martin�s 25 yearsof digging! On our returnto the pub we tried towork out how many pintsof beer he has drunk inthis time� disappointinglyit was about a transit vanfull, rather than aFulbourne full.

The following week-end, at the end of April,saw us all wearing rathersmarter clothes than nor-

mal � celebrating the wedding of Eddie andJen! A great day, with more lovely weather.Congratulations to both of you, we wish youwell and hope to see Mr & Mrs Jones out onmany more weekends.

In May, we made it to a hat-trick ofsunny weekends, although it was too breezyto be warm. This time we were at Wendover,helping them prepare the footpath diversionsto go over the new oak footbridges that wereerected last year. Just as well April had beenthe driest on record � with a 2 mile round

KESCRG...and getting hitched!

Arch of shovels at Eddie and Jenni�s wedding

Dr Li

z

How many people does it take to stare into a broken down digger?

page 15

trip in the dumpers to get the roadstone. Itwas quite interesting with the hardened ruts� it would have been impossible in the wet.Both sides of both bridges were footpathed,and then fenced, and the bridges should beopen for the festival weekend at the end ofthe month.

And speaking of the festival � by thetime you read this, we shall have had ourfirst Bhaji stand weekend of the year, overthe bank holiday weekend. This is an excel-lent way of fundraising � and brilliant for ourgroup morale too, because it�s fun! We willbe showing off our new kit that we�ve boughtwith last year�s proceeds � a shiny new opentrailer, which has been to the BCN cleanupand the Training Weekend, and a submers-ible pump, and site radios (to save our mo-bile phone bills!)

If any of you out there would like tocome and join our weekends, you�d be verywelcome. No experience necessary, but allexperience and skills welcome. We�re outevery month, usually around the south andeast of the country. In June we�re doing ourfirst ever weekend on the Sussex Ouse.We�re promised excellent accommodationand a great pub � and interesting work tooon Isley Lock. Please contact me, ian [email protected] if you�d like to knowmore.

See you all on a canal somewhere!Love n hugs

Dr Liz Williamson

Dr Li

z

Above: building the concrete block walls toretain the chamber wall backfill at Seven Locks.Below: laying the access path to bridge 4a,on the Wendover Arm

page 16

WRG BCWRG�s boat club reportsFirstly some bad news about one of our boatclub members who worked hard for water-way restoration and was interesting to talk toand always actively involved. David Howarthhas summed up for us all -

By now most people will have read of thedeath of Martin Grundy on 2nd April.Those of usin the WRG BC who knew Martin, will rememberhim as the owner of NB Beatty, used by him andhis family for nearly 40 years.

Martin first involved himself in IWA canalrestoration over 50 years ago. Among othercampaigns, he was involved in the fights torestore the western end of the Leeds/Liverpoolcanal as well as attending the Ashtec digs of theearly 70s, predating the formation of WRG.Younger WRG members will remember him asChairman of the 1998 Salford National Festival,over 30 years since he chaired a National Festivalin Liverpool. In recent years he has attendedmany National Festivals, giving commentary forthe Historic Boat Parades, and last year judgingthe Alfred Richie Cockerel award.

For those who knew Martin as a source ofgreat enthusiasm and mine of interesting andamusing recollections, he will be sadly missed.

David HowarthThank you David.I hope all members enjoyed a good

Easter Cruise. David and other memberswent to Anderton and onto the Weaver, wehad a parade of club boats (two) and Lynnecelebrated the festival by blacking her bot-tom! Well, each to his/her own way of havingfun!

All members should have received thelatest AWCC update. Please remember to letme know if you want one in future. I amhappy to send them out but it�s a waste oftime, money and trees sending to those whoregard them as junk mail!

This is some extra information forthose going to St Ives, that I doubt you willget in the �goody bag�.

You will be going on a short sea voyagebut even before that you will find that thereare language and definition problems.

You leave the Grand Union to go down

the arm to Northampton, but where are you?The Blisworth Arm? The Northampton Arm?The Gayton Arm? or The RothersthorpeFlight? That stretch of canal is known by allthose names. Next comes the river that youwill go on down from Northampton. It isspelt Nene but in one area, that more or lessgoes from Northampton to Oundle, it iscalled the �Nen� and further down river it ispronounced �Neen�.

To navigate it you will need a windlasswith a hole the old �Grand Union� size, aDutton Double fits fine. You will also need anEnvironment Agency key to operate all thelocks, water points, pump out and Elsanfacilities. You wont get anywhere withoutone. This key has a number of names, I havebeen navigating the Nene since time immoraland this year I learned it can be called an�Abloy� key, I have never heard it called thatbefore! You can order the key from EA oryou can buy it at various marinas, Gaytonbeing your last chance. If you ask for an�Abloy key� do let me know what they say! Ithink they are more likely to know what youwant if you call it a Nene key, though it isneeded for the Great Ouse as well.

Once down the Nene to Peterboroughyou enter the Middle Level via Stangroundlock. (You will have to fill in a form at thelock so remember reading glasses if youneed them).

There are other levels but this is theMiddle Level so there can only be one of it. Itis singular, and I will point this out to you,through gritted teeth, should you refer to itin the plural. These are engineering worksknown romantically as �navigable drains�.There are no towpaths. Rights of way alongsome of the banks may suddenly change tothe other side for no obvious reason. TheFen Lighters that used these waterways didso mostly under sail, horses were used aswell. Trains of lighters had a special sectionfor the horse to be carried in, when notpulling, or so it could change banks.

Try to make time to explore the MiddleLevel while you are in the area. If you visitStonea, Ramsey, Holme and Nordelph you willbe eligible to apply for a Middle Level plaque.

Language Problems: This is a wholenew world and the following may help -Pen (noun) or to pen (verb) = lockSlackers or penstock = paddlesVee doors = mitre gatesHaling or hayling way = towpath (well sort of)

There are more you will learn as you go!

page 17

There will be lots ofinformation sent to you sono point in me going over itall here. As I know the areawell I will be pleased toanswer any questions I can.

The AGM will be held atSt Ives, TBA some time overthe weekend. We look for-ward to seeing lots of clubmembers there and also atthe Saul Festival.

xxx Sadie Dean(07748186867)

AWCC AGM report

Sadie got herself trapped onthe Nene with too much water, Claire is busymoving into her house in Crete so I got thejob of going to the Association of WaterwaysCruising Clubs AGM at Stafford Boat Club.

The meeting started at 11am andended at 4pm. The amount of hot air pro-duced by 60 people made the room stifling.I made copious notes which now make nosense whatsoever, maybe they didn�t at thetime. I was one of the younger people at-tending, worryingly most were in their 70sor even older: this included the committee.

Stafford boat club now has a pump outstation and a diesel pump.

David Pearce gave a chairman�s reportand there is a national internet groupfor reps, there is a job for someone.

The treasurer gave warning that feeswould have to increase next year as forthe second year running expenditure wasmore than income.

Each region gave a report. South Westseems to have a problem with someclubs joining other areas.

London gave warning that BW areconsidering auctioning the moorings, butwould also find 30-40 new moorings eachyear.

Southeast reported that Aylesbury basinland has been sold to the developers withoutconsultation & Taverners boat club burntdown due to an electric fault on the supplier�sside.

Midlands had BW cancel a users groupmeeting due to alleged lack of interest.Howard is resigning as our chair.

North east asked if BW were withhold-ing moorings to keep the price up andmentioned volunteer lock keepers to keep

prices down. Reports are wanted onthe improved Keadby lock.

North West said that Standedge Tunnelis to be open two days a week as only halfthe boat passages are being used.

Technical Officer reported on the in-creased costs of the BSS. The examiners areputting their mark-up on the certificates asthey have to pay £800 up front for the bookof certificates. The scheme is going selffunding (we pay for the lot) but the AWCCreckon that the figures don�t add up.

At last the BSS are getting near torecommending smoke alarms and carbonmonoxide alarms.

The constitution is to be changed nextyear to allow affiliations.

That is a swift précis of the meeting.There then followed a raffle which raised£83, a very good lunch provided by theladies of Stafford boat club, and atalk by the Warwickshire fire officer Mr NigelGrant.

Mr Grant saw a Waterworld programmeand wondered what the fire service wasdoing about fire safety on boats. He discov-ered that the BSS had never contacted thefire service regarding safety and people aredying in boat fires and of carbon monoxidepoisoning. He reported 15 fires sinceChristmas. There is a check on all boats inWarwickshire in March and they are beingprovided with detectors. Mr Grant is trying tomake this a nationwide scheme. His talk wasreally a damning indictment of the BSscheme.

I escaped with head reeling glad thatAGMs come only once a year.

Sue Burchett, nb Nackered Navvy

Saul Canal Festival: will you be there?

page 18

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

Navvies diaryYour guide to all the forthcoming work partiesJun 16/17 wrgBITM Mon & Brec Canal: Dig Deep project at Alt-yr-yn Locks

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

Jun 23/24 KESCRG Sussex Ouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jul 7/8 London WRG Wey & Arun Canal

Jul 7/8 Essex WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Jul 7-14 Camp 0706 Grand Western Canal Camp: Lowdwells Lock. Leaders Phil Rodwell and Al

Jul 7-14 Camp 0707 Monmouthshire Canal Camp. Leaders: Rob Daffer n and James Butler

Jul 14 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

Jul 14-21 Camp 0708 Wilts & Berks Canal Camp: KESCRG on the Dig Deep project at Seven Loc

Jul 14-21 Camp 0709 Monmouthshire Canal Camp: NWPG on the Dig Deep project at Fourteen

Jul 15 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings

Jul 21-28 Camp 0710 Wilts & Berks Canal Camp: Seven Locks. Leaders Rachael Banyard and Lu

Jul 21-28 Camp 0711 Monmouthshire Canal Camp

Jul 28-Aug 4 Camp 0712 Cotswolds Canals Camp: Rucks Bridge and Eysey Lock. PLEASE NOTE NE

Jul 28-Aug 4 Camp 0713 Chesterfield Canal Camp: Killamarsh. Leaders

Jul 28-Aug 5 wrgBITM Wendover Arm Work Camp: Bentomat lining at Drayton Beauchamp

Aug 4/5 London WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Aug 4/5 Essex WRG Braintree: BBQ and social weekend. Tool maintenance.

Aug 4-11 Camp 0714 Grantham Canal Camp

Aug 4-11 Camp 0715 Sleaford Navigation - Canal Camp: Building a slipway and winding hole. L

Aug 11-18 Camp 0716 Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation - Canal Camp: Baylham Lock. Leaders

Aug 11-18 Camp 0717 Sleaford Navigation - Canal Camp: Building a slipway and winding hole. L

Aug 18 Sat wrgNW �Paper Chase� waste paper collection

Aug 21-30 Camp 0718 IWA National Festival Camp: St Ives in Cambridgeshire on the River Great

Aug 25-27 KESCRG National Festival Bhaji stall

Sep 1/2 Essex WRG Lichfield & Hatherton Canals

page 19

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

'Camp 0702') should go to WRG Canal Camps, PO Box 114,Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY. Tel: 01923 711114.

Email: [email protected]

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

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Graham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 [email protected]

Eddie Jones 0845-226-8589 [email protected]

eaders Judith Pope and Nat Belderson [email protected]

e. Leaders Mike Palmer and Becky Parr [email protected]

Cath Coolican-Smith

eaders Spencer Collins and Steve Davies [email protected]

. Leaders Harry Watts and Helen Temple [email protected]

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

lice Bayston [email protected]

[email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

cks. Leaders Mark Richardson and Kate Penn [email protected]

Locks. Leaders Graham Hawkes and Bill Nicholson [email protected]

Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]

ke Walker [email protected]

[email protected]

EW DATE Leaders Chris Blaxland and Jenny Black [email protected]

[email protected]

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

[email protected]

Leaders James Butler and Rob Daffern [email protected]

Liz Wilson and Chris Wicks [email protected]

Leaders Adrian Fry and Martin Worsley [email protected]

David McCarthy 0161-740-2179

t Ouse. Leaders Dave �Moose� Hearnden and Paul Shaw [email protected]

Eddie Jones 0845-226-8589 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

page 20

Canal Societies� regular monthly orweekly working parties

Please send amendments to DaveWedd (address on previous page)

3rd Sunday of month BCNS Jeff Barley 01543-3732842nd Sunday & following Thurs BCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217Anytime inc. weekdays BCT Aqueduct section Gerald Fry 01288-353273Every Sunday ChCT Various sites Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695Every Saturday DCT Droitwich Canal Jon Axe 0121-608 0296Last Sunday of month EAWA N Walsham & Dilham David Revill 01603-7386484th Sunday of month ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-26572nd weekend of month GCRS Grantham Canal Colin Bryan 0115-989-22482nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010Wednesdays H&GCT Over Wharf House Wilf Jones 01452 413888Weekends H&GCT Hereford Aylestone Martin Danks 01432 344488Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 01663-7324931st Saturday & 3rd Wed. IWA Ipswich Stowmarket Navigtn. Colin Turner 01473-7305862nd weekend of month K&ACT John Rolls 01189-6663162nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Will Warburg 01931-7133171st, 2nd, 4th Sun + 3rd Sat LHCRT Lichfield Sue Williams 01543-6714273rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-3743702nd & last Sundays PCAS Paul Waddington 01757-6380272nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal Colin Greenall 01744-7317461st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Bob Parnell 01225-428055Most weekends SHCS Basingstoke Peter Redway 01483-7217101st Sunday of month SNT Haverholme Lock Dave Pullen 01673-8622781st weekend of month SUCS Newhouse Lock Mike Friend 01948-880723Every Tuesday morning TMCA Brian Macnish 01732-823725Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657Tuesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot Colin Gibbs 020-8241-7736Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Peter Jackman 01483-772132Wednesdays WACT Loxwood Link Peter Wilding 01483-422519Tues, Thurs & Sats WACT Winston Harwood Grp Laurie Wraight 01903-721404Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols 01403-7538821st w/e of month (Fri-Mon) WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-874536Every weekend WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Abbreviations used in DiaryBCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustDCT Droitwich Canals TrustEAWA East Anglian Waterways AssociationECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCRS Grantham Canal Restoration SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyK&ACT Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

KESCRG Kent & E Sussex Canal Rest. GroupLCT Lancaster Canal TrustLHCRT Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Rest'n TrustNWPG Newbury Working Party GroupPCAS Pocklington Canal Amenity SocietySCARS Sankey Canal Restoration SocietySCCS Somersetshire Coal Canal SocietySHCS Surrey & Hants Canal SocietySNT Sleaford Navigation TrustSUCS Shropshire Union Canal SocietyTMCA Thames & Medway Canal AssociationWACT Wey & Arun Canal TrustWAT Wendover Arm TrustWBCT Wilts & Berks Canal TrustW&BCC Wilts & Berks Canal Company

Mobile groups' socials(please phone to confirm before

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

Navvies diary

page 21

Lettersto the editor

Dear Martin

My connections with WRG go back many years, which is probably why I still haveserious doubts about current British Waterways Board senior management intentions - andmore particularly the objectives of the shadowy civil servants who lurk in the background.Whilst agreeing generally with your assessment [See Editorial, isue 222] of BWB�s morepositive attitude towards restoration, recent events suggest, at least to me, a change inattitude which does not bode well for the future. BWB now comes over as a property com-pany with ancillary waterways, rather than as the custodian of a heritage and greatly valuedwaterway system with property assets.

This perception is, I suggest supported by a continual insistence on extracting yet moremoney from boat owners and businesses, although they know that navigation earningscannot ever cover heritage-standard maintenance costs. Add to these factors the hastedisplayed in �retiring� those senior employees who have been prominent in recent restora-tions and the apparent reluctance of Robin Evans to �fight his corner� seriously over financereductions, and you have more than an indication of a change in direction.

I personally doubt that the obstacles to voluntary work on the Grantham Canal stempurely from a local management desire to protect their backsides. Health and Safety nowseems to be the mantra used by BWB to thwart all voluntary efforts, despite the vast experi-ence gathered by WRG and many canal societies over some thirty years of work on water-ways. This is of course nothing new! In our recent book Narrow Boat to the Cheshire Ring,BWB�s opposition in the 1960s to volunteer waterways work, however innocuous, on thelower Peak Forest and Ashton canals is described in detail. The obstruction excuse then wasan alleged absence of insurance, to which I was able to provide the solution. As to danger,work on any outdoor site carries an inherent risk, which can only be minimised by care butnever removed - except by doing nothing at all!

Whilst we should not live in the past, it is essential that we remember and profit fromhistorical experience, especially when - as at present - some elements of history may be indanger of repeating themselves.

RegardsTed Hill

Ted and Margaret Hill�s book Narrow boat to the Cheshire Ring is a recommended read, andavailable from the Inland Waterways Association on www.iwashop.com or 01923 711114. ...Ed

Dear MartinRegarding your question on the back page of issue 222, of course people read Navvies!

May I quote from a note Peter Johnson put in a batch of stamps he sent to Stamp Bank:�Hope these are cut OK - see, I read the article in Navvies�.They were, and thank you to all who have trimmed their stamps before sending them.

It�s especially important that the stamps get to the dealer quickly without having to wait tobe trimmed as the price is high at the moment.

Incidentally, on the subject of reading what is written, in issue 222 there is a picture ofthe start of work on the MB&B in Salford. According to the caption �the JCB in the picturehas just started clearance work�. That would be the big excavator with �CAT� written on theback, would it?

RegardsSteve Morley

See p35 for contact details for the Stamp Bank and please keep those stamps coming in! ...Ed

�British Waterways now comes over as aproperty company with ancillarywaterways, rather than as the custodianof a heritage and greatly valuedwaterway system with property assets�

page 22

Lettersto the editorDear WRG volunteers

My name is Karen Shaw and I amwriting to introduce myself to you asthe new Cotswold Canals Trust VisitingGroups Liaison person or Co-ordinator.

In addition to the work beingcarried out at the western end, Cots-wolds Canals Trust groups have beenmeeting regularly over many years toclear and maintain stretches of theeastern end of the Thames and Severn Canal - down from South Cerney, past Latton (nearCricklade), and on to Ruck's Bridge.

The Trust is keen to re-establish volunteer based projects and capabilities to restore thebridges and locks on this stretch, after a period when British Waterways somehow persuadedus not to do much of this type of work on this section.We now have the support of a numberof landowners to do these projects which are outside of the influence of BW, and the Trustsees them as a key strategic move for when the time comes to apply for major grants in afew years.

To this end, the Trust started work on Ruck's Bridge last year and hopes to more orless finish it with the WRG summer camp in July. We also now have permission to restorethe nearby Eysey Lock.

I have just taken on the role of Visiting Groups Liaison and my job is to help to en-courage your groups to visit and work on the Cotswold Canals as well as ensure that whenyou visit (whether at the eastern or western end) you are welcomed and looked after. Inparticular I will be ensuring your groups have good information about the location of thesite and local amenities, have accommodation with good facilities, I will make arrangementsas you require for recreation activities and be a general point of contact to help make yourvisits enjoyable and effective.

I live in the heart of the Cotswolds Water Parks and although my main occupation is aBusiness / IT teacher, I also run a B & B, so have some idea of organisation and providing agood service to guests. I have regularly worked with several groups on all the sites men-tioned above and at the western end over the last 3 years as well a volunteer helper at theSaul Canal Festival.

My role is not an engineering one - that responsibility rests with different people de-pending on the site. However,I will be working closely with Ken Burgin who acts as ourtechnical co-ordinator and we would be interested to learn whether your group would like towork on the Cotswolds Canals.

Together we hope we can match your working group with a project you would beinterested in and have the skills / equipment to carry out.

I would be grateful if those of you involved in running the WRG and other regionalgroups could let me know what skills and interests your group has, how often you might liketo visit the Cotswold Canals project and roughly when.

Thank you for your interest and for taking the time to read this, and hope to hear fromyou soon.

Karen ShawThe Firs High Road, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire SN6 6NX

Tel: 01285 860169email: [email protected]

Do you want to help restore Rucks Bridge?Karen Shaw would like to hear from your group

Adr

ian

Fry

page 23

Lettersto the editor

�It seems to me that BW atNewark are againstvolunteers unless the TVare there - and thenanything goes.�

Dear Martin,I was delighted to see the photo of Mr and Mrs Palmer on their wedding day. Jude

seems to be looking over her shoulder to make sure that Mike is still there, and I can�t quitemake out the significance of the expression on his face. Surely, he wasn�t already feeling thestrain of coping with the Bacchanalian wedding reception, if such took place? [It did! ...Ed]

Anyway, I hope they will be very happy, and I am tempted to offer words of advicebased on a ridiculously long marriage, but I don�t really know the secret of success. I sup-pose marrying the right person in the first place must have something to do with it.

When I was going through a vulnerable phase during the war, I encountered a group of lovely-looking Wrens who were also on this troopship going out to the Middle East. I was quite over-whelmed, and was very taken with their bell-bottoms. What�s that? I am referring to their uniforms.

There was one girl in particular that I always seemed to be bumping into, so I setabout finding her again when we went our separate ways on disembarkation at Port Said.We managed to meet up again now and then over the next few months, and thought itmight be a good idea to get married, so we did in St Andrew�s Church in Cairo. The datewas 21st October 1944, which must be over 62 years ago. I suppose it�s not bad going for ahurried war-time wedding.

I hope Jude and Mike manage to do as well and are as happy as we have been.With best wishes to them, and all other Wergies.

Stan HollandPS Did they have a Guard of Honour who formed up outside the church with touching shov-els to make an arch for the Happy Couple to walk through?

No, I�m afraid not - but Mike did arrive at the church in very shiny WRG Transit vanR10RFB. And for a pic of an arch of shovels at a recent KESCRG wedding, see page 15

Dear MartinI�ve just received my latest copy of Navvies and saw your article about BW. I feel just

the same as you [re WRG forestry not being trusted to work on the Grantham]: when wewere working at the Bridge 19 camp last year one of the BW employees delivered somefence posts on a Transit lorry in reverse, unaccompanied along a distance of towpath. Sev-eral of us casually asked him if he was chainsaw trained. He said he had been on a shortcourse two years previous but hadn�t touched a chainsaw since. We asked him what wouldhappen if there was a tree or branch to remove: would he have to call someone in to do thejob? �Oh no I would be expected to do it.� �Oh� we all said in unison.

Another case: before any work is carried out we have to check to see if there might bea bat or a bee or nesting bird, and do a full wild flower check. Yet in Harlaxton cutting theyare dredging and pulling out freshwater mussels which from their size must be 100 years old(they are as large as a Big Mac) and leaving them on the bank to die - surely this isn�t on?

Finally, BBC East Midlands Today showed young kids around 10 years old leaning outof canoes on the canal at Nottingham doing their bit for the environment by litter picking allthe crap from the off side bank. It was obviously a huge BW PR stunt with the TV there. Soit is all right to have 2 small children each in several canoes, not one child and a minder. Itseems to me that BW at Newark are against volunteers unless the TV are there - and thenanything goes. When we worked in Harlaxton cutting clearing branches for their weed boatto get through we weren�t even allowed to use the �toy� electric outboard on our new alu-minium workboat yet they can have unacompanied kids doing virtually the same thing.

Keep up the good work. What I have seen of the new Navvies looks very good.Martin Day

page 24

ProgressOn the Grantham...

Grantham Canal:Dredging the top pound

There is a lot of dredging taking place on thetop pound of the canal from WoolsthorpeLocks to Grantham. This is where the resto-ration section of the canal society and WRGBITM worked early last year, clearing treesand scrub to allow the BW weed boat access.

Since then a large grant has beenawarded to allow dredging of the top pound.Work started several weeks ago, with well-known dredging contractors Land and Watergiven the job. A group of us had a trip to seethe results - and couldn�t see anything.That�s because there is nothing to see it hasbeen so well done that there is not an ounceof mud anywhere. The official tipping siteshave had all the rotten wood and otherrubbish sieved out leaving a thin slurry to berun out into the field and it looks perfect.We took several photos on what was a beau-tiful day so enjoy the views of what, in mycase, has taken thirty five years to happen

Martin DayAbove: the newly-dredged channel

Below: the machinery for sieving silt

page 25

Progress...Wendover and S&N...

Grand Union Wendover Arm

At long last the footbridges, No.4 �PatSaunders Bridge� and No. 4A �Chiltern Bridge�are almost completed. All wing walls arenow poured and, apart from one wing wallat bridge 4 that is linked to the adjacentmooring bay, all are backfilled and all thatremains is to complete sanding etc. of thetimber bridges, lay the diverted footpathsand erect fencing that is required to protectthe public until re-watering. Regretfully it hasbeen necessary to order some new timbersteps as the local vandals saw fit to smashtwo of the steps on Bridge 4A.

It is hoped to have both footbridgesopen to the public by our Festival in May2007 although the old routes cannot beclosed until Herts County Council have issuedthe formal diversion notices.

The Kent and East Sussex Canal Resto-ration Group (KESCRG) were due to help usover the Saturday and Sunday of the earlyMay Bank Holiday and are take on the task oflaying the diverted footpaths and associatedfencing. We are also grateful to ClaytonRae, the Dacorum Footpaths Officer, whohas arranged a free issue of Geotex mem-brane and 20 tonnes of crushed concretefor the footpaths. We will be providingKESCRG with timber edging, an excavator,dumper and vibrating plate for their work aswell as road stone for the finished surface.

Completion of this work will have sev-eral advantages; our volunteer labour forcewill no longer be spread over three sites, thisin turn will lead to better use of plant andallow us to concentrate on the major work ofre-lining.

As I stated in the last report the designof the new canal lining has now been all butfinalised using hollow concrete blocks andthe estimate for this is being assessed butcannot be finalised until we have completedour first stretch of lining at our August work-ing party when WRG BITM are coming tohelp us for a week long camp.

These week-long exercises are veryefficient, particularly in the use of plant andI would like a feed back as to whetherthere is sufficient support for another weeklong work party following the Octobernormal work party, hopefully to take ad-vantage of good weather before anotherwet winter and to get the aquatic plants inplace and re-water the finished length toWendover level.

Lining and mooring: 124 metres ofpipe capping has now been completed andthe slab for sealing the first manhole wasdue to be installed at the May work partyproviding BW can lower the present waterlevel by letting water down from SaxonBridge to Wilstone Reservoir. At the samework party bulk excavation and pipe cappingbeyond the manhole will continue. This willsoon involve excavation for the 50 metretowpath mooring that will extend roughlyfrom the 4250 metre mark to the 4275 mark

Bulk excavation for the 50 metre longmooring wall on the offside is now complete,the spoil having been put behind the wingwalls at Bridge No.4, except for the finalblinding excavation that cannot be done untilimmediately before the blinding concrete islaid.

The east end wing wall has now beencompleted in conjunction with the associatedwing wall of bridge 4. No further work willtake place at present unless work at DraytonBeauchamp is held up by bad weather orthere is spare volunteer labour to extend theblinding.

Roger Leishman

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals

Five RAF volunteers from Shawburyjoined an elite team of SNCT members togive the Wappenshall Junction site an annualtidy up.  The weekend started on a very greyand cold note: luckily the sun broke throughduring the Saturday morning and the week-end work task brightened up.

The young officers, who had just com-pleted their Flight Operations training, be-came quite enthusiastic about the restorationproject and carried out some explorationwork under the bridge itself: they attemptedto trace the extent of the brick towpath andedging.  The compacted earth certainlytested their stamina, but they continuednevertheless.  Unfortunately time and day-light limited the length of towpath that couldbe exposed: another task for another day?

page 26

Progress...Wey & Arun Canal...

Wey & Arun Canal

We have just finished the last of the �EasterBunny� cruises on the canal over the holidayweekend. This year we were able to bookvisitors onto both our public trip boats, theZachariah Keppel which seats 30 and thesmaller John Smallpeice carrying 12 passen-gers. This is now possible because of thelengthening of Brewhurst Lock which canhold both boats at the same time. Six tripsper day over the four days = over 900 ticketssold which is a welcome contribution tofunds.

At the Trust�s Annual Meeting atShalford Village Hall on Saturday 28th Aprilwe had the official launch of the �CanalCompletion Strategy Report� which has beenprepared by Atkins plc. As part of the day�sevents for members we held a small boatrally at Gun�s Mouth, Shalford, and alsoorganised guided walks along some of theoriginal canal route through Bramley in themorning, enabling people to see the newlycleared area around Tannery Lane Bridge.

The new lock at Loxwood (still noofficial name, but we have given it No. 5A)is nearing completion with the last of thequoins installed and the scaffolding removed.In a little while we will be fitting the smallback pump and its asso-ciated waterfall andgetting the fence andgrass onto the lock sidealongside the towpath. Abund has been installedacross the pound readyfor the start of bridge/tunnel work to carry thecanal under the B2133.Our boats are now backmoored opposite theOnslow Arms at theirnew moorings � and verysmart it looks. The boatcrews are very pleasedwith the new facilities.No more lurching down a

muddy bank and trying to tie ropes ontopoles. Don�t forget to keep looking at ourwebsite www.weyandarun.co.uk which isupdated twice a week.

On three Saturday mornings in Marchvolunteers have been working to transformthe steep, slippery bank opposite TheOnslow Arms and the towpath. MichaelJoseph (our Conservation Officer) had theidea of planting wild flowers where atpresent mainly brambles, nettles and thistlesgrow. So, clinging to the slope, with onlycold water below to cushion any fall, theweeds were grubbed out using hand forksand trowels. Michael brought somewildflower plants (Cuckooflower or Lady�sSmock, Hairy Bitter-cress, Primrose, GreaterCelandine, Foxgloves and Ox-Eye Daisy)from his own collection and these wereplanted in chosen spots.

We are very pleased with progress,keen to continue the job and, of course, seethe results.

It has been another busy month for ourMid Week Working Party. Their first task lastmonth was to complete scrub and tree clear-ance between Compasses Bridge andFastbridge. Then they went back to theairfield side at Dunsfold Park and spent awhole day getting out 3 trees, including theroots, which had blown over in the wind.(We still can�t work north of Fastbridge be-cause of the cows in the field). Our MondayGroup had their first visit this year to RunCommon. It was interesting to see what hadbeen deposited there during the winter, thistime we recovered most of the parts of awashing machine!

Sally Schupke

Easter cruises at the rebuilt Brewhurst Lock

page 27

Progress...MB&B and T&M...

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Societyhas continued to hold weekend workingparties on our canal. The latest one wasattended by over twenty volunteers from theSociety and from Waterway Recovery GroupNW, assisted by three British Waterwaysemployees.

After a total of five working days sincelast October we have cleared 1½ miles ofcanal towpath of trees, soil and other vegeta-tion.

The length involved is from Ringley TopLock to Hall Lane in Little Lever. Only a shortlength at the bottom of the locks at Nob Endremains to be cleared; we hope to clear thatin September.

This all co-incides with the start ofrestoration of the canal at the Middlewoodsite in Salford.

Paul Hindle

Thames & Medway Canal

On the weekend of 17/18 March, the Thamesand Medway Canal Association joined forceswith Kent and East Sussex IWA, Essex WRG,and Thames 21 River Wardens. The Saturdaymorning was spent at the top of the CrayfordNavigation; the creek is tidal and the waterwas low, so some hardy souls took to acouple of small boats to clear undergrowthand overhanging trees which were obstruct-ing the river. Meanwhile, the less adventur-ous members got to work on the bank side,clearing barrow loads of household rubbishand enough clothes to start a charity shop. Avisible improvement was made in all areas.

In the afternoon work transferred to theThames and Medway Canal. Essex WRGfelled a large tree which was obstructing theview of the obelisk which marks the bound-ary between London and Rochester. The restof the group indulged in their usual habit oflitter picking.

The rest of the weekend was taken upwith more tree clearance. The Dartford Bar-rier was closed because of an unusually hightide and those in the small boats had to beata hasty retreat form the water due to thefierce tides in those parts.

People thought it was a worthwhileexercise and Essex WRG said they would liketo come to the area again if their other work-load allowed.

Angela Acott

The MB&B towpath before...

...during...

...and after the weekend�s work

page 28

Progress...the Sussex Ouse...

Sussex OuseVision Document Launched

The Trust�s Vision Document was officiallylaunched on March 27th at the John HarveyTavern in Lewes. An excellent turn-out of 20members and 30 invited guests joined to-gether to listen to a short formal presenta-tion by Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust Chair-man Bob Draper.  This was followed by abuffet lunch during which there was ampleopportunity for members and guests toquestion the committee and discuss witheach other the challenges and opportunitiesraised by the Vision and SORT�s plans forconservation and restoration of the SussexOuse Navigation.  Invited guests includedlocal County, District and Parish Councillors,the Environment Agency, Sussex WildlifeTrust, Sussex Ouse ConservationSociety, angling clubs, RamblersAssociation and many more.

The next step is to circulatethe Vision as widely as possibleto engage with all interestedlocal parties. This will includeindividual presentations or talkswhere appropriate. SORT thenintends to form a partnershipwith all the local bodies express-ing an interest in moving theproject forward. This will hope-fully lead to sufficient fundingbeing found for an initial engi-neering study to show the feasi-bility of the project and to provethe economic and social benefitsthat will derive from it.

That will then allow for afull environmental impact studyto be done to ensure that anyworks undertaken are not detri-mental to the long-termbiodiversity and ecology of theriver corridor.

The full document can bedownloaded from our web siteat www.sxouse.org.uk

Work Continues at Isfield

By kind permission of landowner JohnSclater, conservation / restoration work willrestart at Isfield Lock on various week-endsfrom early May until mid-September 2007,plus a few Thursdays. These work days willcontinue the major task of removing all thesilt from the lock structure itself. The earlystages this year will also continue the ar-chaeological excavation of the remains ofboth original bottom lock gates which arestill in-situ at the tail of the lock, togetherwith a timber fore-bay. The lock gates mustbe excavated by hand prior to being liftedout and stored and the fore-bay will need tobe drawn and then protected before we canrevert to using machinery to clear the rest ofthe lock. Once that is done, we will move onto stabilising the west wall of the lock andstarting restoration work on the better-preserved east wall.

Detailed lists of dates have yet to beset, but we will be delighted to see any newworking members who should please contactour project manager, Paul Morris, via e-mailat morris_paul @ btinternet.com or by tel-ephone 01435 863683.

Silt clearance in Isfield Lock chamber

page 29

Progress...and finally the Mont

Montgomery Canal: Crickheath north

Shropshire Union Canal Society�s Februarywork party found that thieves had stolen thesafety fence around the compound, andthere had been some fly tipping in the canalas well. But the 24 volunteers cleared trees inthe bed of the cut on the length betweenPryces Bridge to the northern limit of oursite, and there were some impressive bon-fires. The work allowed surveyors contractedby BW to determine how much silt has to beremoved and how high the banks must bewhen we finish.

We had 29 attendees in March, and ona fine and sunny Saturday one group com-pleted the site set-up. The compound waslevelled and surfaced with stone by BigArthur, our excavator, the security fencingreplaced, and this time we welded up thebolts. A water supply was also installed,which will be very handy when we startmixing large quantities of mortar.

Big Arthur helped in the demolition of asection of the wharf wall by lifting stones, bothadding speed and reducing strained backs. Butthe biggest effort over the weekend was thefinal clearance of trees from the site before thestart of the bird nesting season. The work wascompleted in torrential rain and a sea of mud.The ground at the south end of the site hassubsided over the years and before the canalcan be filled to its proper level the banks mustbe raised with imported construction fill.

The other activity on Sunday was train-ing from BW consultants on the building ofstone walls with lime mortar. 21 volunteerstook part in theory and practical sessions,and whilst the initial reaction was that themortar was easy to use, the relatively longtime needed to prepare and cure the materialmeans that new methods of working willhave to be developed.

What a difference a month makes inour Montgomery Canal work. Our three-dayApril working pary over Easter was warmand sunny, birds were singing and a buzzardcircled above. A final attempt was made toburn the large tree stumps, and this washelped by the delivery of a lorry load of usedpallets. These were sorted, and undamagedones were then used to store sorted stonefor rebuilding the wharf whilst broken oneshelped to relight the tree stumps.

A trial section of the old wharf wasrebuilt using lime mortar � this was found tobe easy to use, once mixed, although the

pointing and brushing stage took longer thannormal and the wall needed covering with anawning to shade it from the sun! A start wasmade on pulling down the rest of the oldwall that was unsafe. The stones were sortedby height onto pallets placed on the canalbed; this was just possible as the water levelhad receded in the last month. Big Arthurwas used to level the site first and to removeremaining tree roots. The skills learned bythe drivers at the A.P. Webb training schoolwere put into use as one of Big Arthur�stracks began to sink below the mud � aftertea and evaluation the bucket was used tolever the digger forward onto firmer ground.Big Arthur was also employed to lift a hugestone into place on the rebuilt wall � havingthe machine will be invaluable in futuremonths will be invaluable as there are sev-eral stones which are too big to lift manually.

A new layer of management, equippedwith clipboard and computer, spun out the jobof pegging out the water level and the bound-ary of the water�s edge until the last afternoon.They did, finally, join those who were already alittle dirty from preparing foundations forvisitor moorings. Big Arthur was also em-ployed here and will be used next month whenpiling and backfilling with concrete begins.

The site office/hospitality trailer now haspiped running water, and electricity to light thestorage containers, to run computers and last butnot least to boil the water for the tea breaks.

Considerable effort has been made totidy up the whole site, to reorganise thecompound. With the marking out and a startbeing made on the �heritage� wall we now feelpoised and eager to start the rebuilding inearnest. About 20 volunteers attended for eachof the three days. If you are tempted to jointhe fun of a work party please contact MikeFriend � you will be made most welcome, andno previous knowledge of restoration work isrequired. Parties take place on the first week-end of each month through to November.

Mike FriendTel: 01948 880723, Mob: 07909 912611

email: [email protected]

page 30

PlantRebuilding a KL15 crane

The first update since we leftBungle swearing at his KL15just over a year ago, having

realised that the slew bottombearing was badly worn...

The story so far

We had discovered that the bottom slewshaft bearing had excessive play and so theentire assembly would have to be removed.�In other news� the correct tyres had arrivedand needed to be fitted....

Tiring tyres

For those with long memories... you mayremember that we had finally managed toget some tyres to fit the crane, however theywere bought on the basis of �self assembly�,the original tyres were a slightly different sizeto the ones we had managed to buy. Thechap from the tyre company advised plentyof washing up liquid, cleaning as much rustoff the rims as possible and if in desperation,grinding a little off the tyre itself. GeorgeCharlton and Pete Dunn set to work withsome lubricant and levers and after someconsiderable effort managed to assemble thefirst wheel.

There is a fine line to be drawn be-tween taking enough off the tyre that it willfit and taking too much off so the wheelturns in the tyre�� To give some idea ofhow difficult the job was they assembled thefour wheels over the course of six months.

Unbreak the brake

We had discovered that the travel sprag (orbrake) was not so much broken as missing.By studying the drawings in the parts bookthe missing bits were drawn up and theengineering team set to work. By using thevertical slide we could use the lathe as amilling machine and create a working replicaof the original part.

The only part we couldn�t repair orrebuild was the spring, Jones Cranes parts

didn�t have the correct one in stock,but could get one made at a cost of£150! Following some phone calls onethat was �close enough� was pur-chased and fitted at a far more reason-able price.

Getting mobile

Once the travel sprag had been com-pleted the travel mechanism could berefitted, this involved creating a scaf-fold lifting frame to lift the assemblyup from underneath the base plate sothe bolts could be inserted. This was amajor step forward as it enabled theaxle and then the wheels to be boltedback on which will in turn enable us tomove the crane around the site again.Milling the travel sprag

Filing up the slew ring

page 31

PlantBungle and the crane

John

Fle

tche

r

Slew plate

We had discovered that the bottom slewpinion bearing had excessive play and there-fore the entire slew mechanism plate hadbeen removed. Bottom slew shaft bearings for1948 KL15 cranes are in somewhat shortsupply so we had to get one machined from alump of brass. This having been done the holefor the grease nipple was re-drilled and thewhole lot re-assembled. Whilst this was beingdone, Andy set to work in a tight space with afile and cleaned up all the slew ring teeth.

Bottom slew bearing

Whilst all these items had been removed thesuperstructure of the crane was much lighter thannormal which enabled us to move it aroundeasily. Whilst doing this we discovered that thebottom king post bearing was also somewhatslack (which was probably what had caused theslew pinion bearing to become worn out); to re-machine this will require the entire superstructureof the crane to be lifted clear so it was just as wellwe had removed all the mechanism from inside!

Next jobs

The crane will now be moved onto a hardsurface for the summer (it floods during thewinter so cannot be used then) so a liftingbeam can be erected to remove the super-structure�. More pictures of this next time.

George �Bungle� EycottAbove: slew plate mechanism on final assembly.Below: Lifting the travel mechanism into place

page 32

Navvies NewsBoat rallies and a new trans-European canal

New canals - Continental style

We are quite proud in this country about ourplans for brand new canals, the latest smallbit completed being the Wilts & Berks junc-tion with the Thames. But all our planswould seem to pale into insignificance com-pared with the new canal which it is hoped tostart this summer on the continent.

It is described as the Eurobaltic canal,and is planned to link the Black Sea with theBaltic Sea, so the Russians and all the coun-tries along the route can have direct accessto the Atlantic to transport goods, rather thanhaving to go via the Mediterranean. There hasapparently been difficulty getting traffic boththrough the Black Sea-Aegean straits, whereTurkey has limited tanker traffic, arid theStraits of Gibralter, which has stretchedcapacity, not to mention disputed territorialclaims by Britain, Spain and Morocco.

It is said that the new artery will be-come the northern branch of the new Main-Danube canal, which provides a link to theRhine and thus the Atlantic. It will run viathe River Oder, which is connected both withthe Rhine and with the Polish-Belorussianwater-transport network and canal system.

The statistics are somewhat mind-bog-gling - one of the locks will he 201 metres longand 24 metres wide, and a hydro-eleetric plantwill be built to reduce the Czech Republic�sdemand for oil and gas. The cost will be 80meuros, of which the EU are giving 35m.

There are also plans to construct theSouthern France Canal between the Atlanticand the Mediterranean.

This information was published in theRossiyskaya Gazeta of 22nd February 2007 -and no, I don�t speak Russian, the article wasin English, and the paper was included freewith the Daily Telegraph!

Di SmurthwaiteIt sounds remarkably cheap compared to someUK restorations - for example £22m for 6 milesof the Cotswolds plus another £11m contin-gency for overruns that BW is still trying to naildown. Are we sure it isn�t 80 Billion euros?

Dont� forget...

A couple of forthcoming camps that didn�tquite make it into Adrian�s Preview article onpages 4-5 because they�re not part of themain programme of camps booked throughhead office that appear in the printed bro-chure - but you�ll stil be just as welcome onthem both.

WRG BITM will be spending a week onthe Wendover Arm, helping to install theBentomat lining which will turn cure thechronic leakage problem that shut the water-way in the first place. They�re working fromJuly 28 to August 5, and if you want to jointhem get in touch with Dave Wedd byphone on 01252-874437 or by email [email protected]

Secondly we�re running a week�s siteservices support for the Saul Canal Festival onJune 26th to July 4th. This is one of the bestannual canal events and includes Folk on theWater, which attracts top name bands andsingers. To help make it happen, send in theapplication form in the last issue of Navvies, orif you can�t find it just give George �Bungle�Eycott a ring on 07771 775745 or an emailto [email protected] to say you�re coming.

And on the subject of festivals...

Next year the IWA�s National Trailboat Festi-val is heading for Devon and the GrandWestern Canal, making good use of theslipway we built there in 2003. We may wellbe asked to help out with the event, so notethe date of May 24 to 25 in your diary.

...and still on the subject...

The IWA�s National Campaign Rally 2008 willbe a whole week�s programme on August 30to September 7 along the length of theMontgomery Canal, featuring visitng boatsfrom the main system at the English end ofthe canal and trailboat events on the isolatedWelsh sections. And somehow I suspect we�llbe involved somewhere there too.

page 33

Navvies NewsWatch out for ticks!

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

Welding tackle available

We have been given a 400A diesel poweredwelder which is available for a small dona-tion to WRG, or possibly free to a deservinggood home. The make is Maxarc, the modelname is Mustang, and it�s powered by an air-cooled Lister engine. The new electrodeholder, earth strap and leads are new. It hasan electric start (but needs a battery), hasjust been serviced and is in good workingorder. It has been described as �so good thateven Bungle did a neat job with it�.

Contact George �Bungle� Eycott on07771 775745 or [email protected].

Thank you

...to �The Fat Man� for his kind donation of£40 to London WRG at Canalway Cavalcade.Sure, there�s lots of portly folks at LittleVenice, but you know who you are. Thanks.

Lyme�s Disease

Another horror for you to be on the lookoutfor on this summer�s camps is Lyme�s dis-ease, which is spread by tick bites.

Like Weils disease it is rare but poten-tially very nasty. Symptoms vary widely butcan include a rash and flu-like symptoms inits initial stage, followed by the possibility ofmusculoskeletal, arthritic, neurological,psychiatric and cardiac problems. Most casesof Lyme disease can be cured with antibiot-ics, especially if treatment is begun early inthe course of illness.

It is becoming more common due toincreasing numbers of ticks as a result in theabandonment of sheep-dipping and theincrease in deer populations particularly inthe south. You are most likely to pick upticks by brushing against vegetation thatsheep and deer have brushed against. Theyare most common in woodland and heathbut have recently been found in urban parks.

Precautions include wearing long trou-sers tucked into socks when walking in these

areas, using insect repellent, and checkingyourself thoroughly for ticks. If you find any,carefully remove by pulling off with tweez-ers.

We repeat: it�s rare, but it can be verynasty. So don�t be alarmed, but be aware.

The Bonfire Bash

...is being run by KESCRG this year as part oftheir 30th anniversary celebration. The site isthe North Wilts Canal, the date is November3-4, and we are promised a firework display!More info and booking form next time.

Mersey Basin Week

Preparations for this year�s MWH MerseyBasin Week are gathering steam as thou-sands of people make plans to take part inhundreds of water-themed events through-out the Northwest.

The week, which celebrates the region�srivers, canals and waterside environments,has gone from strength to strength for morethan a decade. This year�s celebrations � co-ordinated by the Mersey Basin Campaign �will take place between Friday 28th Septem-ber and Sunday 7th October 2007.

Volunteer groups, schools and individu-als are encouraged to organise and partici-pate in activities ranging from tree plantingand guided walks to arts events. Full supportand guidance is on hand from the MerseyBasin Campaign�s local co-ordinators, andgrants of up to £100 are available to helppay for skip hire, tools, materials or anythingelse needed for a successful event.

This year we anticipate more eventsthan ever before, so get involved early andlet us know how your group will be celebrat-ing MWH Mersey Basin Week 2007.

To make sure you�re a part of MWHMersey Basin Week 2007, please contact BevMitchell on 0161 242 8212 or email:[email protected] to receive yourinformation pack and grant application form.

Izzy Gascoigne

Navvies News...in pictures

Meanwhile the training weekend was notablefor the addition of a course in PPE use...

...the wet weather...

...an unexpected couse in fixing the truck...

...and the accommodation being minus a wall

Familiar sights at Little Venice�s CanalwayCavalcade: a jazzband playing on the island,Bungle steering tug, working boats...

...and London WRG getting their display forthe pageant ready at the last minute...

...plus a less familiar sight: three loadedworking boats carrying a total of over 100tons of sand and gravel.

Full report in the next Navvies.

Contacting the chairman:Mike Palmer

3 Finwood Rd,Rowington, Warwickshire

CV35 7DH

Tel: 01564 785293

email: [email protected]

Congratulations...to

Eddie Jones and Jenni Copeland ofKESCRG who got married in April

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

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

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

products.asp?cat=126

Navvies Directory updateThe Cotswold Canals Trust has a newcontact for visiting work parties:

Karen Shaw, The Firs High Road, AshtonKeynes, Wiltshire SN6 6NX, Tel: 01285860169, email: [email protected]

Karen (and CCT) would welcome morevisiting groups on the Cotswolds: please seher letter on page 22.

The Saltisford Canal Trust is a new addi-tion to our directory. They can be contactedat Budbrooke Road, Warwick CV34 5RJ, Tel:01926 490 006, mobile: 07899 022 094,email: [email protected], website:www.saltisfordcanal.co.uk. And they coulddo with some help carrying on that piling jobwe began on the Training Weekend.

The next issue of Navvies (No 224) willinclude the full directory of WRG, canalsocieties and mobile working partygroups� contact names, addresses,phone numbers, email addresses andwebsites. If any of your group�s detailshave changed, please tell the editor.

Stampswanted

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

Sue Wattsof Navvies Subscriptions is cur-rently convalescing after illness.

While she is still happy to processnew subs and renewals, she asksthat any problems with subscrip-

tions be dealt with via head officeon Tel: 01923 711114 or email:

[email protected]

Dial-a-camp

To contactany WRG

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

NOTICEBOARD

Boat share for sale

One or more shares arelikely to be available in the

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

other waterways enthusiasts.

If you are interestedcontact Tim Lewison 07802 518094

WRG South Westnow has its own websitewww.wrgsw.org.uk

page 36

BackfillThe cheesy bits of Navvies

Bungle makes a splash!

In response to the last month�s caption photoshowing Bungle taking the WRG Plant LandRover (aka the �Pasty Wagon�) off-road we havethe following suggestions from Andy Carter...

�Bungle felt that either (a) the drains wereblocked on this stretch of road or (b) the BW cutswere seriously affecting the dredging�

�First you had the Amphicar, then theCaraboat, now WRG presents the Bunglebuggy -The ideal vehicle for negotiating those nastymuddy wet bits between you and the chip shop.(Disclaimer: not suitable for canal navigation,pasties not supplied, must not be used in wetweather)�

�By the end of camp, the drive-thrucarwash was in need of a major overhaul�

...while Phil Sharpe chipped in with...

�Concerned about there being enoughwaterways left to restore in future, WRG investi-gate the effect of converting roads into canals.�

Double Gloucester & Sharpness?

Thank you to Jeremy Frankel for anews story about a hazard not (so far) en-countered on the UK�s waterways...

A train derailment in the Southern Califor-nia desert spilled gallons of blue cheese dressinginto a canal leading to the Salton Sea. Cleaningup the smelly mess will take a few days, UnionPacific Railroad officials said Wednesday.

The 52-car train was carrying a variety ofcargo from Dupo, Illinois, to Los Angeles, UnionPacific spokesman Joe Arbona said. Nineteen ofthe cars derailed, dumping bulk containers of thedressing, other food products and concrete seal-ant.

The spilled dressing and other materialsflowed into the Coachella Canal about a milefrom the north shore of the Salton Sea, hazardousmaterials specialist Robert Becker said. �Therewas blue cheese � a lot of it,� Becker said.

And speaking of cheese...

We�re planning an �identify the cheesy grin�competition in a future issue. Please send inany good photos of well-known volunteersputting on their toothiest best for the camera.

You can lead a horse to water...

...and use it fo fill a lock with, if you�re in Scotland. Yes, the country that brought us theFalkirk Wheel has decided to go one better and build the first lock in the world to be operatedby a pair of giant statues of horses� heads on the locksides. Electric motors will rock thembackwards and forwards: as they do so, the bases of horses� heads will displace water inchambers underneath them, filling and emptying the lock via underground culverts. Brilliant!How come Thomas Telford, the greatest Scottish engineer of all time, didn�t think of it?

You think I�m taking the piss? No, it�s perfectly true. They�re planning it as part ofthe reinstatement of the original east end of the Forth & Clyde Canal to bypass the trickyCarron Cut connection to the Firth of Forth. But that gives me an idea...

Down here in London they�re building the new Prescott Lock to enable barges to deliverconstruction materials to the Olympic site. I propose that instead of conventional paddles, BWbuilds a giant statue of DEFRA waterways minister Barry Gardiner which will fill the lockchamber in the manner of the famous Mannekin Pis statue in Brussels. That way, as we cruisethrough the lock that shares its name with the minister who in the early years of this gov-ernment actually did the canals some good, we can experience the genuine feeling of thepresent DEFRA (golden) shower pissing on the poor bloody boaters from a great height...