Navvies 265

Issue No 265June-July

2014

Issue No 265June-July

2014

navviesnavvies

waterwayrecoverygroup

waterwayrecoverygroup

Cleanups:Birmingham, Manchester, London

Cleanups:Birmingham, Manchester, London

volunteers restoring waterwaysvolunteers restoring waterways

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

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

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

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

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

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

Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes,John Baylis, George Eycott, Helen Gardner,John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden,Jude Palmer, Mike Palmer,Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts.

ISSN: 0953-6655

© 2014 WRG Mart

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Mart

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all the latest news of WRG's activities

Editorial does CRT really want us? 4-5Coming soon Camps update, Reunion 6-7Cleanup Special report from the BCN, plusdetails of Manchester and London plans,and hints on running a cleanup 8-12Camp Report Easter Cotswold Camp 13-15KESCRG a year in the life 16-18WRG BC news from our boat club 19Diary canal camps, weekend digs, CRTand IWA one-day working parties 20-25Progress our regular roundup from aroundthe country - plus the retirement of thelongest-serving work party organiser 26-32Tech Tips brickwork repairs 33-35Acheman Challenge wacky fundraising 36Navvies News including more insuranceinformation, Leader Training report, and howto sign a petition for Runcorn Locks 37-38Infill including Dear Deirdre - and how doyou get to be a Knight of the Trowel? 39

Contributions...

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

Photos welcome: digital, slides,prints. Please say if you want prints back.Digital pics are welcome as email attach-ments, preferably JPG, but if you have a lotof large files it’s best to send them on CD 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 266: 1 July.

Subscriptions

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

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

ContentsIn this issue...

Above: the latest length of the Montgomery is seen inthe process of being rewatered - the length restoredmainly by SUCS from Redwith Bridge to Pryces Bridge.Left: London WRG building a channel wall on theChesterfield (see camps preview p6 for details of thissummers camps on the Chesterfield). Below: by thetime you read this, another lock on the Wey & Arunwill have opened - Southland Lock. Front cover: theBCN Cleanup - see our Cleanups Special on pages 8-12 (picture by Chris Morgan). Back cover top:formwork goes up for Waymoor Bridge during theEaster Cotswold Camp - see camp report, p13-15(John Hawkins). Back cover bottom: four IWAHead Office staff on the Acheman Challenge to raisefunds for a new excavator - see report, p36. (IWA)

Cots

wold

Canals

Tru

st

EditorialWorking together?

How serious is the Canal

& River Trust when it

says it supports canal

restoration and wants to

get involved in it?

For better, for worse?

Working Together was the title of a workshop I attended a year or so ago. When I say ‘work-shop’, I don’t mean the sort of workshop where you build lock gates and stuff like that, Imean a fancy modern name for a meeting that involves lots of round-the-table discussionsand things like that as well as the usual presentations.

Now it’s easy to be cynical about such things (especially when you’ve been around for awhile) but this one, organised jointly by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Associa-tion and the Canal & River Trust, the national navigation authority into which the formerBritish Waterways had only relatively recently been transmogrified, did actually seem toshow at least some signs of new thinking - rather than the ‘emperor’s new clothes’ that somesceptics had predicted.

Recently, it was followed up by a second workshop called Water adds Value - and thisone concentrated entirely on waterway restoration. I won’t bore you with the details - a lotof it was what I call ‘dull but worthy’ stuff: all about applying for National Lottery fundinggrants; dealing with local authority planning issues; demonstrating the benefits of restora-tion in terms which sound like complete gobbledegook to most of us (I thought the ‘TripleBottom Line’ was an obscure branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations system) but meaneverything to those in the local authorities who hold the purse-strings. But it’s all vital stuffwhen it comes to making sure our contribution in voluntary labour will be matched by con-tributions in cash, support, planning and so on, and the result will be some reopened canals.

Anyway I said I wouldn’t bore you with it. Because my point here isn’t what was said,but who was saying it. The event was set up and run by CRT with IWA. I don’t think BritishWaterways (especially in its latter days, when it was particularly cash-strapped and oftenstressed that ‘maintaining the navigable network came first’) would have done that. And CRTdidn’t just put its name to the event - several senior staff were involved, it has now estab-lished a small full-time restoration team at its Fazeley office who were there, and we allwatched a jolly good CRT video demonstrating why canal restoration is such a good idea (Ihope we already knew, but it was good to see that CRT did too!) Sure, CRT isn’t about tostart pouring cash into restoration (*) - but then that was never on the agenda either for BWor for CRT. It’s just good to see some signs that the Trust seems to be on our side now.

What a shame, then, given this positive attitude to restoration, that two or three bits ofcommunication recently between canal restorers and CRT staff at regional level seem to havebeen rather less helpful.

We had hoped that the issues I moaned about a couple of years ago, when local BWstaff sometimes seemed less-than-forthcoming when it came to volunteers restoring BWwaterways (for example in refusing to let our trained chainsaw operators work on their siteseven though they had done similar work elsewhere, or refusing volunteers permission towork unsupervised, but declining to provide such supervision), were becoming a thing of thepast. But perhaps not...

Firstly, we have a case where volunteers aren’t allowed to use a Tirfor winch withouthaving been assessed on Tirfors (for which CRT doesn’t have a qualified assessor, so it can’t)- even though it hasn’t been a problem on other waterways, including some where CRT hashad a reputation for being fairly strict in its interpretation.

Next, we have a case where volunteers are told they can’t work on dismantling an oldrailway embankment across a canal (abandoned in the steam train era) just in case a dieselloco strayed across it at some time and spilled some fuel - unless somebody pays for chemi-cal tests. Oh, and no staff are available to visit it. And there’s a threat to record our initial

work to clear the siteas a ‘near miss’ interms of filling inaccident forms.

And finally, acase where CRT isimposing its ownCAATS trainingscheme on restorationvolunteers carrying outanything beyond‘heavy gardening’.

Now I daresayCRT could justify everyone of these decisionson health & safetygrounds if it tried (andI’m damn sure BWcould have done). Butthat’s not the point. IfCRT wants to demon-strate that it reallymeans it when it saysit wants to get in-volved in restoration and volunteering, it needs to try to get all its staff, not just the oneswho go to workshop meetings, to take the ‘how we can do it’ rather than the ‘why you can’tdo it’ approach.

Or, as one CRT Trustee put it slightly bluntly: “You can’t piss off the volunteers”.As I’ve said in the past, I’m not naturally one of the ‘seen it all before’, ‘emperor’s new

clothes’, ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’ types of people. But if this goes on, I’llstart to have more sympathy with those who are. Come on, CRT, sort yourselves out!

Diary Diarrhoea

On a slightly related subject, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Navvies diary istaking over the entire magazine. First, in response to an excellent discussion in the Letterspages about how / whether / why WRG and Navvies should embrace the new CRT era, wedecided to include CRT’s Towpath Taskforce working party details, and put its volunteercoordinators in the Directory. At the same time, we felt that it was only right that IWA, beingour own parent body, should also have its branch working parties listed.

The trouble is, CRT’s Towpath Taskforce teams are multiplying, Alison Smedley’s doinga brilliant job at working with the IWA branches to get more cleanups and other workingparties going, and our summer canal camps are 50 percent up on last year. Add in the localcanal society working parties and the WRG and independent regional groups, and the Diaryhas gone from three to four to six pages!

Is this useful? Do people refer to it often? Does it encourage more volunteers? Or is ita throwback to pre-internet, pre-mobile phone, pre-having a phone at all (for many people)days when Navvies was founded in 1966? Is it helpful just to keep people abreast of thesheer breadth of waterways volunteering going on? Or should we knock it right back to theWRG dates list? Should we perhaps drop it entirely? Should it go online-only?

For that matter, is Navvies itself an anachronism? What do you think?Martin Ludgate

(*) ...but I’ve got an idea. Every year CRT retains a £2m contingency fund as insurance againstan unexpected call on its funds, such as a major canal burst - and then if it isn’t used, CRT re-leases it to pay for extra work. Last year it went on offside canal bank vegetation clearance.This year it is being spent on dredging. Why not spend it on restoration one year?

The filled-in Runcorn Locks: you can support their reopening - see p37

Mart

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Camps previewSummer camps 2014: part 3

In the third part of our

annual Canal Camps

preview, the editor

mainly apologises for

the first and scond parts

Canal Camps Update

This was going to be part 3, covering mainly late summer and autumn - but we’re going tohave to start with an apology, because we got a few things (mainly dates) wrong last time.In fact we got so many things wrong that we’ll be better off just going through the listagain, and at the same time filling you in on a few changes.

First off we have camps 2014-02, 03 and 04 on 5-12 July - but there’s not muchpoint in telling you about them because they’re all fully booked, although we will mentionin passing that Camp 03 has moved from Lapal to the Grantham Canal for reasons to dowith work permissions. Camp 2014-05 on 12-19 July is also booked up.

The first one with any places still available is Camp 2015-06, working on TrebanosLocks on the Swansea Canal on 12-19 July, with George Rogers and Ju Davenport lead-ing. The work there carries on the following week 19-26 July with Camp 2014-08 underthe leadership of Katrina Schonhbut and Elaine Beesley. Meanwhile also on 19-26 JulyCamp 2014-07 will be working on the Cromford Canal with Gavin Derby and MartinFoster in charge, before handing over to Steve Harmes and Chris Colborne for the secondweek, Camp 2014-10 on 26 July - 2 August.

Next it’s up to Lancaster to continue the work there to re-water the next length of canalnorthwards towards Hincaster Tunnel. We haven’t confirmed the leaders for Camp 2014-11on 26 July to 2 August yet, but Paul Shaw and Sarah Ashman will be in charge for thesecond week, Camp 2014-14 on 2-9 August.

We’ve also got a fortnight of camps on the Chesterfield Canal, continuing the work tobuild the canal walls linking the new Staveley Town Lock to the next bridge. Steve Baylis andColin Hobbs will be leading the first week, Camp 2014-13 on 2-9 August, then GeorgeRogers and Andrew Pritchett take over for Camp 2014-16 on 9-16 August.

Meanwhile we’re also running three weeks at Inglesham Lock on the Cotswold Canals -the first two (Camp 2014-9 and 2014-12 on 19-26 July and 26 July to 2 August) areboth fully booked, but there are still places on the third week - Camp 2014-15 on 2-9August - with ‘RAF Martin’ Thompson and Dave ‘Moose’ Hearnden in charge.

That isn’t the only worksite on the Cotswold Canals: we have three weeks mainly con-centrating in the Stroud area, on 9-16 August (Camp 2014-17), 16-23 August (Camp2014-20 and 23-30 August (Camp 2014-21), all with places available. The leadersaren’t confirmed yet for the first or third weeks, but Sophie Smith and Martin Danks will berunning the second one.

The summer programme ends with three new sites and an old favourite. The old fa-vourite is the Basingstoke Canal, where Adrian Crow and Maggie Eaton will be leading Camp2014-22 on 30 August - 6 September.

The three new ones are:

. Camp 2014-18 on 16-23 August, a combined week on the Pocklington and Driffieldin East Yorkshire (see Helen Gardner’s report in Navvies 264 for details of what’s going on there). Camp 2014-19 on 16-23 August on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals includ-ing the excavation of Meretown Lock (see the Restoration Feature in Navvies 263) with BobCrow and Stephen Rice as leaders.. Camp 2014-23 on 30 August - 6 September on the Somerset waterways (theBridgwater & Taunton Canal and the River Tone), building a landing stage near Taunton

See the WRG website and Facebook group for further details of all canal camps.

Autumn Camp: Ashby Canal 26 October - 2 November

This will be a rare chance to work on building a brand-new structure on a canal under resto-ration that might just have boats from the main canal network cruising under it within acouple of years. The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal currently ends in a field somewhere justnorth of Snarestone in Leicestershire, but it used to carry on for several miles to just northof Moira (it never made it to Ashby) until mining subsidence caused it to close.

The long-term plan is to open it back to Moira, and the current scheme is to extendnorth from Snarestone in bite-sized chunks, aiming for Measham as a medium-term destina-tion. The first short length is already open, but the next bit will need a bridge across it tomaintain local access (which currently crosses the dry canal bed). Our job will be buildingthe brickwork for this bridge - so bricklayers will be particularly welcome at the Octobercamp, but so will any volunteers. Book onto it via head office or the website as usual.

What happened to the August big dig?

There’s been a chance of plan and there won’t now be a major weekend dig on the CotswoldCanals in late August, as the work is more suited to week-long camps. However there stillplaces available on all the Cotswold camps in late August (see above), and if you wantsomething to do in that area on the Bank Holiday weekend there’s a boat rally at Saul Junc-tion (where the Cotswold Canals meet the main waterways network) which some of ourfolks are involved in running - contact head office to see if they need any volunteer help.

WRG Reunion Bonfire Bash 8-9 November

This is our big annual WRG working party and get-together - and it’s definitely happening onthat weekend, although as we went to press we hadn’t confirmed which canal it would beon. However a couple of sites in the East Midlands area looked like front-runners. See thenext Navvies for details and booking form, in the meantime watch the WRG website andFacebook group.

Restored lock on the Pocklington. Come on the summer camp and help to reopen it.

Mart

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Cleanup Report...from the BCN

New leader, new site, plenty

of the same old rubbish...

Chris Morgan reports from the

annual trolleyfest on the

Birmingham Canal Navigations

BCN Clean-up 2014

Gas boilers; Trolleys; Goal Posts;Crushed Nuts / Good Food; Good

Beer; Great Company

New faces and old from all over the UK madeup the team of 55 volunteers who gatheredat Phoenix Training Centre at Bordesley,South Birmingham on a Friday night in April.One of three barrels of beer was tapped andthe weekend started in earnest! (Bar closes at0230)

After a fab cooked breakfast sorted byGeorge, Maria and Ju, we did the team talksand headed off in different directions, Chris’sgroup on foot and the Moose group by van.(No mention of them not being able to findthe canal though!)

This year we were concentrating onGarrison Locks to Bordesley Junction andAshted Locks to Camp Hill, a mix of theGrand Union and Birmingham Canal Naviga-tions system, but all equally important as agateway to the BCN.

Chris’s group started at the bottom ofGarrison Locks at thenow burnt out and van-dalised lock keeperscottage - how sad to seeit like that compared tothree years ago when itwas in sound conditionand up for sale. Thegroup was equally disap-pointed with the lack ofstuff coming out of thelocks, the odd bike, lotsof stripped cable insula-tion and a gas boiler, thegroup above us at thebridge holes were how-ever more successful, theusual trolleys, bikes andmattresses made theirway to the surface.

Moose’s group hadan equally poor start tothe morning but endedup in the Typhoo Basin,(where we are told plansmay include turning itinto an ornamentalpond…yes like *!&*!),there was plenty ofdepth there and that alsoincluded a sunken carwhich they failed to pullout, this is also the areathat the sounds of astrangled moose wereOne fewer bike in the BCN

Chris

Morg

an

heard by all, something to do withcrushed left testicle I think but I’m notone to tell.

It was good to get a boat intoTyphoo, and with Alan’s photos toprove it, the local IWA branch will havesome ammunition to prove that it canhave a future use for boating.

Lunch for all at Camp Hill Depotand then back to it.

Saturday afternoon proved muchbetter for both groups, the Moosegroup walked from Camp Hill down the“10 mile pound” (ten miles as in thedistance on the flat to Knowle locks),there was a lot of rubbish in this sec-tion. This area was much better scrapwise and the whole group had a goodsession.

Chris’ Group worked from the topof Garrison Locks where the bridgeholes and public ramp sites proved veryrich pickings, wheelie bins, trolleys,motorbikes, push bikes, and the onlysafe of the weekend in fact it was sofruitful it was decided to be Sunday’swork area as well.

Four trolleys had the £1 coins stillin them!

Back to the accommodation for anice hot chicken and veg plus dessertand a nice socialise with all the volun-teers; this time we had extended theinvitation to CRT and BCNS work boatcrews and some came along for food andbeer sampling, all went down well and itwas great to see people mixing after ahard day’s work. As the evening went onso the single malt was opened and moresampling began. (bar closes at 0315)

Several volunteers spent a fewhours with the crew of NB Swallowvisiting us for the weekend and moor-ing outside the accommodation, guidedtours were given and the boat was evenilluminated, the locals thought it wasfab and indeed four different singlemalts were sampled there to the dulcettones of young Owen Morgan perform-ing on his trombone.

After breakfast on Sunday weheaded off in the two groups for anextended morning’s work which provedfruitful for both groups, lunch was at2pm when we congregated at theaccommodation for a clean up andlunch.

One small step...

Moving the goalposts

It wouldn’t be the BCN without a few tyres

Ala

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ines

Ala

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Ala

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As this was my first official camp as leader I would like to thank everyone involved;Moose and Maria for assisting and catering arrangements; George and Ju for the breakfasts;the washers up and dryers; the van drivers; Aileen for site coordination (when she couldwork her new phone out!)

Thank Yous in no specificorder: the owner, staff andcaretaker of Phoenix TrainingCentre for accommodating us;Dave Pearson from West MidsIWA for the local runningabout; Murray Woodward ofCRT for the barrel of beer andhis work along with his boatcrew (a fab lot they are too);the Dudley Canals Trust andBirmingham Canal NavigationsSociety boat crews withoutwhom we could not do it; tothe crew of Swallow for at-tending, this made a lovelyattraction for all to see; Jennyat head office for the book-ings; and finally the wholegroup of volunteers - you werea great bunch and I hope you will want to come again!

And I mustn’t forget Ma Pardoe’s Swan brewery for producing some fab beer!!!See you next year

Chris Morgan

Another boatload of junk heads for the skips

And if you liked that...

Here’s some information about future Clean Up activities on the

waterways of Manchester and London...

Manchester: Note the date 4-5 October in your diary for the followup to last year’sOperation Starburst, which was itself a follow up to the 2012 Clean Up to mark the 40thanniversary of the Ashtac big dig which launched the major work to complete the Chesh-ire Ring restoration in the early 1970s.

Operation Manchester will be based on the Rochdale and Ashton canals around theirjunction at Ducie Street Basin in central Manchester. All tools will be provided, overnightaccommodation is available, and although it’s an IWA event rather than a WRG one, weexpect to see WRG volunteers supporting it - and it can be booked via the WRG website.

And London: Finally on Saturday 22 November the Inland Waterways Association’sLondon Region is organising its own cleanup and inviting London WRG, all the local IWAbranches, and anyone else who wants to join in. Here’s Stefanie Preston with the details...

We hope to locate the work party on the Regent’s Canal between Commercial Roadand Johnson’s Lock, which CRT plans to de-water this Autumn. In conjunction with thisthe local CRT volunteer team has proposed that volunteers attending the IWA regionevent could make the most of the de-watering and clear debris from the canal bed.

This would be a brilliant task and is what we hope to do but please be aware thelocation and work may change, because access to carry out this canal-bed work relies onthe timings of major works, which can change. If for whatever reason this task cannot goahead CRT has suggested a location on the Paddington Arm that would benefit from theattentions of a large number of volunteers.

Either way it sounds like a good event and we’ll have more details nearer the time.

And if you REALLY liked it...

...why not try organising your own clean-up on your local navigable waterway? IWA HeadOffice have helpfully written this Navvies guide to running a clean-up...

Toolbox Talk – Organising a Canal Clean-up

Canal clean-ups are a great way to get volunteers out and making a differenceon the waterways. It is always worth putting a little thought into preparations for anywork party to make sure the event runs smoothly and safely, the following steps give an ideaof how this can be done.

(1) Decide what you want to do and where you want to do it

Tasks could include clearing rubbish out of the canal, clearing litter from the towpath, veg-etation and weed clearance and more. Let IWA Head Office know about your plans and keepthem updated with any progress.

(2) Contact the navigation authority

You will need to contact the relevant naviga-tion authority with details of your proposedwork party to gain the right permissions andlearn of any restrictions or requirements.Also ask if the navigation authority can helpat all, for example Canal & River Trust oftensupports volunteer work parties by supplyingrisk assessments and equipment.

If you need access through or want towork on any land not owned by the naviga-tion authority seek permission from thelandowner.

(3) Choose a date and make a plan

Once you have the relevant permissions inplace set a date and make a plan. The planshould include planned tasks, equipmentneeded, access arrangements and welfarearrangements. Do not forget to consider howyou will publicise your event, possiblythrough local papers or on social media.Know what you need to organise, what youcan delegate to others and what the naviga-tion authority will do. Keep track of com-pleted and outstanding tasks.

(4) Create a risk assessment andmethod statement for the event

These documents should be in place so thatthe event can be run safely and IWA’s insur-ers would expect a risk assessment to be inplace. See if you need to produce thesedocuments or if the navigation authority willdo this for you. If you have to write yourown risk assessment there are guidelines on

IWA’s website here is a quick summary to show that the task is not as difficult as it mayseem.

These five steps from the Health and Safety Executive outline the basics behind writinga risk assessment:

. Identify the hazards. Decide who might be harmed and how. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. Record your findings and implement them. Review your assessment and update if necessary

To begin, consider each element of the work party from accessing the site to the tasks youwant to complete and identify any hazards. Here are five hazards common to many clean-ups and other work parties to help start your risk assessment:

. Working on or near water, which poses a number of risks including drowning. Working on uneven surfaces, which can lead to falls and injuries. Open wounds, new or old, can lead to infections such as Weil’s Disease. Weather conditions, which cause various hazards including dehydration andslippery surfaces. Hazards to the environment, such as pollution entering the waterway

Remember to list who may beat risk from each hazard.

A risk rating should becalculated for each risk so thatyou can decide whether ahazard is low, medium or highrisk. Next, decide and recordwhat precautions will be takento lower each risk. For in-stance, a control to reduce therisks associated with workingon or near water is for allparticipants to wear alifejacket. More information onrisk ratings and assessments ingeneral is available on theIWA website.

A method statementoutlines how your event will run and gives all essential information. It should include detailsof those running the activity, how to carry out any tasks taking into account the risk assess-ment and how to deal with any injuries or emergencies.

(5) On the day

Once everyone has arrived and before starting any work have a welcome talk that thankseveryone for coming and goes over the plan for the day. Include any “rules” (for example,no lone working) and emergency procedures. Make sure everyone signs in, provides emer-gency contact details and has any necessary PPE before starting work.

Throughout the day, make sure everyone is working safely (refer to your method state-ment) and enjoying themselves.

If an incident or near miss occurs during the work party, follow the procedures outlinedin the method statement, notify IWA Head Office as soon as possible and complete an acci-dent report form, also to be sent to Head Office.

At the end of the day, make sure the site is left safe and tidy. Thank everyone for theirhard work and start thinking about writing a report to publicise the volunteers’ great work!

Camp reportCotswold Canals

Cotswold Canals Easter camp

This was a mammoth ten day canal campworking across two sites over ten milesapart. The team was joined in the spaciousaccommodation (a sculptor’s former studionear Stroud) for the first weekend by WRGBITM, who were working on another nearbysite. As ever on the Cotswold canals, thelocal canal trust and indeed all local residentswere immensely supportive of the work. Wereceived frequent donations of bottles ofwater and hot cross buns.

The sites worked on were BowbridgeLock just outside Stroud and WeymoorBridge near Latton. Neither of the sites is ‘inwater’.

On first sight, Weymoor Bridge lookedlike a hole in the ground with a road curvingto one side and a badgers’ sett on the other.The path of the canal is now only apparentby a dip in the otherwise fairly flat land. Theplan is to rebuild the bridge with the roadgoing over the top, asshown in old photographs,with the canal going un-derneath. The towpathcurls inside one abutmentwall.

By the time the canalcamp had finished, thebed underneath the bridgehad been dug out, con-creted, the towpath wallhad been rebuilt andinfilled with concrete, theabutment brick walls wererising and the formworkwas in place to rebuild therest of the brick bridges.There were thus not one,but two, concrete pours totime the work around.Plenty of work for adumper, digger and miniexcavator, with WRGiesfrantically barrowing rub-ble and bricks, brick clean-

ing and brick laying.Seeing the formwork steel half-hoops in

place with scaffold underneath was a power-ful visual assertion of how the brick bridgewill look against the landscape. The currentroad curving to one side was kept openduring the work. The site is very popularwith walkers and cyclists who were stunnedby the speed and scale of the progress - it isso good to see ‘a bridge’, or at least theshape of a bridge, in place where it shouldbe, standing up to contrast with the other-wise flat topography.

Bowbridge Lock is very near Stroud andless than a few miles from being ‘in water’. Itis next to a residential area, with a busy vets’practice to one side, so a small section of thetowpath had to be closed to the public dur-ing the works. This did not stop anyonepeering over the fences with avid interest,taking photographs, shouting encourage-ment and even giving hot cross buns anddrinks. The cut here is tree lined, and a

“A hole in the ground” - excavation at Weymoor Bridge

Reporting from an epic

10-day Easter camp on

two new-ish sites on the

Cotswold Canals at Weymoor

Bridge and Bowbridge Lock

John H

aw

kin

s

Camp reportCotswold Canalsstrong stream of water still runs along it,parallel to the River Frome, in places just ametre away.

A moorhen had a nest in the lockchamber, quite undisturbed still when weleft, there were at least two large families ofducklings, and some people saw trout andeven a pike. The ducklings were utterlyfearless: if a WRGie in chest waders got intheir way, well never mind, they simplyswam between his legs.

Indeed for anyone into chest waders,Bowbridge Lock in April 2014 was the placeto be. One part of the work plan was to usea fire hose whose sheer force would breakup the silt in the lock chamber, then a secondpump would remove the silty water from thelock chamber through a pipe into the cutdownstream. This procedure had someeffect, though it was not perfect. It was notas messy as it sounds, but it was of coursewellies, thigh waders and chest waders allround, and a complete all-in-one protectivesuit was also offered. It was suggested thatperhaps ‘going commando’ in chest wadersmight save laundry, but oddly enough, thissuggestion was not acted on.

A major part of the work at Bowbridgewas to remove the silt and debris from justbefore the top of the lock chamber, right bythe dam wall. Using a bucket hoist, this tookseveral days and filled no fewer than nineskips. The skip hire driver marvelled at howmuch we dug out. When we first arrived, thepaddle hole on one side of the cut wasknown to be open to water flow, but not theother on the vets’ side. Then, with all themuck and filth taken away, it was obviousthat both paddle holes were open to waterflow. Furthermore, the grooves for the stopplank could then be deepened and widened –and in the process more finely aligned witheach other across the cut. Steel channelswere slotted into the grooves and the stopplank itself was put into place.

The work at Bowbridge was also inves-tigative, even illuminating. The upstreamtowpath wall was revealed to be without

foundation in places, and deliberately pullingout a few of the large stones at the frontshowed that it really was resting on justlarge interlocking stones whose support hadgone. In the lock chamber, carefully remov-ing the larger vegetation without disturbingthe walls – or the moorhen – made the walls’ragged state perfectly obvious.

To put it mildly, we were astonishinglylucky with the weather. For ten days in April,it was sunny every day except the secondSunday when there were a few showers. Thefresh brickwork at Weymoor was hastilycovered and then everyone ran to the welfarecabin.

At the end of each day, we all wentback to Brimscombe to argue over the key tothe showers. Who had walked off with it?Would the first person to get up in the morn-ing have to wail in misery to find the shower

“At the end of each day, we

all went back to

Brimscombe to argue over

the key to the showers.

Who had walked off with it?”

Another load of silt from Bowbridge Lock

David

Mille

r

key missing from thehook? Had anyonelocked themselves inthe shower – a bril-liant way to avoiddoing the washingup and then emergewith a luxuriouslyconditioned head ofhair.

Surprising fewpeople ventured outof the accommoda-tion during the eve-nings, despite stun-ning countryside andextremely welcomingpubs whosenoticeboards werefull of good newsabout restoring thecanal. This may havebeen because the accommodation itself had not one but two relaxing social areas. In one,there were board games and puzzles, and a few of us left the holiday well versed in back-gammon. In the ‘snug’ there were film shows about how engineering was done in the1960’s. Dramatic music laden as if with doom accompanied a film about repairing bus en-gines. The didactic voiceovers carefully introduced anyone in a white collar as “Mister so-and-o, the Senior Engineer” and no “labourer” was allowed to speak on camera.

Boat trips were organised for the last few days, to give WRGies a well-earned break.The staff at the Cotswold Canals Trust visitors’ centre could not have been more friendly andwelcoming, with hot drinks all round and even a postage stamp from her own handbag forthe van driver who wanted to send a postcard home.

Debs and Sarah provided evening meals including toad in the hole, a huge roast din-ner, a tasty curry and puddings to die for. Veggies were looked after, even with a specialveggie version of trifle. Martin and John did the breakfasts. Martin Danks and George Rogersalso took a turn at cooking, and for the first Saturday evening meal when WRG BITM werealso in the accom-modation, BITM’scook June provided ajoint meal.

Thanks for agreat week to MartinThompson theleader, Teacher Chriswho was in charge atWeymoor, John,Adrian, Rob, Roband Bob, David,Dave, Valerie, Iain,Pete, Lucy, Fran,Richard, George,Daniel, Ted, Charlie,Joe, Steve, Phil,Allan, Martin Danksand Debs and Sarahthe cooks.

Marion Carter Erecting the formers for the arch - see also back cover photo

Canal bed concreted, scaffolding up, work under way on abutments

John H

aw

kin

sJo

hn H

aw

kin

s

KESCRG: a year in the life

Who are KESCRG? KESCRG are a travellinggroup, very much like London WRG, BITM,WRG NW, Essex WRG and Newbury WorkingParty Group (NWPG) – we exist to organiseweekend working parties on various restora-tion projects, generally in the southern halfof the country. We also provide a leadershipteam and several experienced hands for oneof the WRG summer camps – last year thiswas on the Wendover Arm of the GrandUnion, this year it will be the first week ofthe Inglesham camps led by Ed Walker andMark (‘Mk2’) Richardson.

As an organisation we are self-fundingwith our own tools and trailer, and are inde-pendent of WRG - however most of ourregular diggers also dig with one or more ofthe WRG weekend groups, and indeed prettymuch all of the 30+ individuals who have

been on one or more weekend digs withKESCRG in the last year will also have beenon a WRG Camp or dig weekend. So organi-sationally we are separate, but personnel-wise we are firmly in the WRG family. Bitweird – but that is history for you!

Until recently the group was run by IanWilliamson as Chairman, with Eddie Jonesand the trusty LandRover DOK organisingmost of the weekends, but over the lastcouple of years this has transitioned toBobby Silverwood coordinating the week-ends, with me as Chairman and Eli everpresent as Treasurer and go-to weekendcaterer, Kate Penn as secretary, Mick & AnneLilliman providing much needed logisticalsupport, enthusiasm and handyman exper-tise and dependable and skilled volunteerslike Roy Sutton, ‘RAF’ Martin Thompson,Alan Lines, David Miller and Alan ‘Digger’Morris & Jen keeping us pottering along in

KESCRG volunteers working on the Whitehouses pumping station site in May 2013...

KESCRGA year in the life

Steve Davis reports on what

southern mobile group

KESCRG have been up to on

the Wendover, Cotswold,

Wey & Arun and more...

Ste

ve D

avis

our merry way.So what have we been up to recently?

As a group a major focus for us in the lastyear has been the Whitehouses PumpingStation site on the Wendover Arm of theGrand Union canal. This was the site of theoriginal Newcomen pumping engine used topump water from Wilstone Reservoir to theTring Summit - however it ceased to functionin the mid-19th Century when the Little Tringpumps were installed.

The buildings remained as cottages,latterly housing refugees from Nazi Europeduring and after the 2nd World War (the sonof one of whom happened to pass by on theSunday of our recent May weekend, provid-ing a very interesting insight into the historyof the buildings), but they were finally de-molished in the 1950s due to lack of sanita-tion and running water and the site waslevelled and lost to undergrowth.

We have been working here since 2010,gradually unearthing evidence of the build-ings’ foundations and cellars, and the re-mains of the pump outfall / overflow cham-ber, working towards the goal of reinstatingthe overflow weir to allow excess water torun down the original pump shaft and adit toWilstone reservoir once the Arm has been re-watered to this point.

In order to allow the local WendoverArm Trust working parties to concentrate ontheir mammoth relining work to enable theArm (which was abandoned and its watersupply to the Grand Union main line pipedfor two miles because it leaked so much) tobe rewatered, they have entrusted thisproject to us.

Last year we stepped up the intensity ofour work, holding our May and August week-ends and running the WRG summer canalcamp on the site in July. We returned againfor our April and May weekends this year, intotal putting in well over 1000 hours ofvoluntary labour at Whitehouses in the last12 months.

Excitingly, with another weekend com-ing up in August (8th, 9th) we will have com-pleted our part of the project, leaving it forthe Canal & River Trust and their contractorto complete the water control structures totheir specifications. Once the Arm is fullyopen, spring water from Wendover will rundirectly into the Grand Union Tring summitpound, saving CRT a fortune in pumping atLittle Tring as well as bringing boats back toWendover, so this is a great project of imme-diate benefit to the canal network.

As well as Wendover, we have alsobeen out in force on the Cotswold Canals,

...and back there a year later in May 2014. Feel free to join them this August.

Kate

Penn

spending our October, December (JointChristmas Party with LWRG), January andJune digs there working on Griffin Mill Locknear Stroud, and the new Weymoor Bridgesite at Latton. At Griffin Mill we have helpedto bring the project towards completion,setting some of the coping stones, castingthe concrete slab for the lower gate cill withLWRG, and doing general landscaping / fenceerection and other finishing off jobs – thisincluded re-opening the ground paddle blowholes which had become blocked with sev-eral hundred years of whatever you call astalactite that is growing in a tube. Suffice tosay, it was very hard and required a toothedscaff pole and an awful lot of whacking witha sledgehammer to shift it!

At Weymoor Bridge in January weprogressed the initial excavation of thebridge hole - this will be a really excitingproject for the next year or so rebuilding thearch. We also did some scrub bashing andstump pulling on the first half mile or so ofthe North Wilts canal where it joins the Cots-wolds at Latton Basin, which provided thesurreal experience of working in a completelydry canal bed surrounded on both sides bythe very flooded Thames flood plain - doingits job, apparently. We will be returning tothe Cotswold Canals for our Septemberweekend (6th/7th), whereverJon needs usafter thesummercamps.

In Sep-tember lastyear andMarch thisyear we wereout on theWey andArun: inSeptember onthe northernend, helpingwith an ar-chaeologicalinvestigationof Gosdenaqueduct andcontinuingthe pathlaying alongthe Bramleylink; and in

March on a spectacularly muddy weekendfollowing the months of rain, installing alanding stage and generally tidying up on thenewly dredged and watered section of thesummit level at Dunsfold in preparation for asmall boats rally.

And finally in February we joined LWRGfor a joint dig on the Chelmer and Blackwa-ter, laying a new concrete path alongside themoorings in the basin, which was a veryinteresting excursion into navigable water-ways, with the added excitement of floatingaccommodation and the luxury of bunk beds.

KESCRG weekends generally fall on thefirst weekend of the month, and are adver-tised on our website (www.kescrg.org.uk)and on our mailing list (to be added, pleaseemail Jenny [email protected])and also via the KESCRG Facebook group –just search for KESCRG.

Just like WRG we don’t have a ‘mem-bership’ and you don’t need an invite - weexist purely to provide you, the volunteer,with an opportunity to spend a weekend inthe open air getting mucky. So if you havedone a camp or two or have dug with othergroups and fancy coming along for a week-end of more of the same, just drop me anemail to [email protected].

Steve Davis

Path laying in progress near Bramley on the Wey & Arun Canal

Ste

ve D

avis

WRG BC news May 2014

As I mentioned in the last news I attendedthe Association of Waterways Cruising ClubsAGM in March. Here is a summary of whatmay be the salient points; well, as I see them!

Reports from the regions included -London; all club moorings are full but shortstay visitors still welcome (remember to pro-duce your club membership card when con-tacting any other clubs.) There are still prob-lems with the public moorings in the area. CRTare trying out some new mooring plans andtaking positive action. Dredging of the Slougharm seems to have come to a standstill be-cause of difficulties in reaching the terminus.

South East Region reported that therewas a new club site for the Aylesbury Armand volunteers from the clubs were helpingin the area. The Environment Agency has nofunding available for navigation improve-ments; this will adversely affect plans formore facilities to be provided along the riverNene. At present most of the available facili-ties are provided by the clubs, who have topay the cost of providing them. (As a fre-quent visitor to the river Nene I am glad ofour affiliation to the AWCC!)

There are to be no new moorings pro-vided on the river Weaver. There is a need forupdating and increasing the moorings atNorthwich. The poor standard of maintenanceof the Huddersfield shows no improvement andmore investment is needed for northern canals.

There is concern over trading boatstaking spaces on visitor moorings, getting‘dug in’ and thus limiting the space availablefor visitors to moor.

It is very important that all incidentsand accidents, experienced along the canals,are reported. This is the only way atrue picture can be built up, crimeprevention be initiated and safetyconcerns addressed.

Safety aboard – the greatestnumber of accidents are from carbonmonoxide poisoning, caused by: en-gines, heaters, solid fuel stoves andpoor ventilation. Electric installationscause the most fires, often inaccurate batteryarrangements and faulty charging. Inverterfailures are also high on accident lists. Neverlock escape routes externally and check CO andsmoke alarms every week. Damp affects theseas does being frozen over winter.

It is important to report any failures orproblems with locks and waterway related

mechanisms also any experience of shallowwaters where dredging is needed. If we don’ttell them they won’t know. There are nomore lengthsmen or lock keepers maintain-ing specific flights.

AWCC fees – it has been decided thatthere will be a ‘stepped’ system for chargingfees, i.e. larger clubs pay more. Please letme know if you belong to more than oneAWCC affiliated club.

The AWCC AGM was followed by aninteresting talk from CRT Trustee JohnDodwell – the most important messagecoming from this is the vital role the AWCCplays by representing boaters’ views andrequirements to CRT. The contribution madeby AWCC is highly valued. CRT listen to allcanal users but boaters often don’t featurehigh on the list of priorities. We need thestrong representation AWCC provide!

Sadly, although it was decided that ourWRG BC AGM would be held at Shackerstone,there doesn’t seem to be many members ableto attend the festival and our AGM. Please letme know if you will be there.

The next ‘big thing’ club members will beinvolved in is the Chester Rally. Quite a lot ofmembers will be there so we have decided tohave a ‘get together’ when I suspect we willdiscuss the AGM. As I don’t know many rallydetails I haven’t been able to finalise arrange-ments. I am pretty sure it will be on the Satur-

day night. Contact will be made byemail or text as this issue

will arrive toyou too late.Please, how-

ever, do make sure that Iam kept up to date with your details.

One final thing – AWCC are selling aspecial 50years burgee. Should we have aspecial fund raising one for the new digger?Above is my suggested design!!

I wish you all happy boating, keepflying the flag and I hope to see you some-where on the cut this year.

xxx Sadie Heritage07748186867 [email protected]

WRG BCNews from our boat club

Navvies diaryYour guide to all forthcoming work parties

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

Jun 20-22 London WRG Mon & Brec Canal: Joint dig with BITM

Jun 20-22 wrgBITM Mon & Brec Canal: Joint dig with London WRG. Arrive Thurs eve.

Jun 21 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Jul 4-6 IWA Stratford upon Avon River Festival

Jul 4-10 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu. Lining, inc concreting thr

Jul 5-12 Camp 201402 Cotswold Canals: Led by NWPG. Ham Mill or Bowbridge Locks

Jul 5-12 Camp 201403 Lapal Canal: Canal clearance and machine operation

Jul 5-12 Camp 201404 Monmouthshire Canal: Heritage construction skills, veg clearance

Jul 12/13 London WRG Basingstoke Canal

Jul 12-19 Camp 201405 Uttoxeter Canal: Heritage stonework, towpath improvements, fencing,

Jul 12-19 Camp 201406 Swansea Canal: Heritage construction skills & veg clearance

Jul 19/20 wrgBITM Wey & Arun Canal: Dunsfold

Jul 19-26 Camp 201407 Cromford Canal: Lock clearance & investigation

Jul 19-26 Camp 201408 Swansea Canal: Heritage construction skills & veg clearance

Jul 19-26 Camp 201409 Cotswold Canals: Inglesham lock. Led by KESCRG (Ed Walker & MK2)

Jul 20 Sun WRG Committee & Board Meetings: Location TBC

Jul 26 Sat wrgNW ‘Paper Chase’ waste paper collection

Jul 26-Aug 2 Camp 201410 Cromford Canal: Lock clearance & investigation

Jul 26-Aug 2 Camp 201411 Lancaster Canal: Channel construction & relining, towpath work

Jul 26-Aug 2 Camp 201412 Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock

Aug 1-8 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu. Lining, inc concreting thr

Aug 2/3 London WRG Wey & Arun Canal: Beginning of WACT summer camp TBC

Aug 2/3 wrgNW T.B.A. possibly Uttoxeter

Aug 2-9 Camp 201413 Chesterfield Canal: Lock construction, brick & block laying

Aug 2-9 Camp 201414 Lancaster Canal: Channel construction & relining, towpath work

Aug 2-9 Camp 201415 Cotswold Canals: Inglesham Lock

Aug 9/10 KESCRG Wendover Arm

Aug 9-16 Camp 201416 Chesterfield Canal: Lock construction, brick & block laying

Aug 9-16 Camp 201417 Cotswold Canals

Aug 16-23 Camp 201418 Driffield Navigation and Pocklington Canal: Towpath construction & veg

Aug 16-23 Camp 201419 Shrewsbury & Newport Canals: Lock chamber & vegetation clearance,



Aug 30-Sep 6Camp 201422 Basingstoke Canal: Towpath & brickwork repairs, construction of moor

Aug 30-Sep 6Camp 201423 Somerset Waterways: Creation of landing stages

Sep 5-11 WAT Wendover Arm: Seven-day weekend Fri-Thu

Sep 6/7 Essex WRG Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation

Sep 6/7 KESCRG Thames & Severn Canal: Griffin/Ham Mill Lock, or Inglesham

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

for WRG Camps identified by a camp number e.g. 'Camp 201403'

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

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

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

ease contact diary compiler Dave Wedd: see top of page

Tim Lewis 07802-518094 [email protected]

Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]

David McCarthy 01706-214696

rough Bridge 4A Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]

01494-783453 [email protected]




veg clearance 01494-783453 [email protected]


Dave Wedd 01252-874437 [email protected]




Mike Palmer 01564-785293 [email protected]

David McCarthy 01706-214696




rough Bridge 4A Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]


Malcolm Bridge 01422-820693 [email protected]




Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]



g clearance 01494-783453 [email protected]

stone work 01494-783453 [email protected]



rings 01494-783453 [email protected]


Roger Leishman 01442-874536 [email protected]

John Gale 01376-334896 [email protected]

Bobby Silverwood 07971-814986 [email protected]

Every Tuesday BCA Basingstoke Canal Chris Healy 01252-370073

Once per month: pls checkBCNS BCN waterways Mike Rolfe 07763-171735

2nd & 4th w/e of month BCS Basingstoke Canal Duncan Paine 01252-614125

Thursdays Sep-Apr BCT Aqueduct section Tim Dingle 01288-361356

2nd Sun & alternate Thu BuCS Buckingham area Athina Beckett 01908-661217

Every Mon and Wed CCT Cotswold (W depot) Ron Kerby 01453-836018

Every mon am Thu pm CCT Cotswold (E end) John Maxted 01285-861011

Various dates CCT Cotswold Phase 1a Jon Pontefract 07986-351412

Every Sunday ChCT Chesterfield Canal Mick Hodgetts 01246-620695

Every Tue and Thu CSCT Chichester Canal Malcolm Maddison 01243-775201

Every Tue & Wed C&BN Chelmer & Blackwater John Gale 01376-334896

Every Friday ECPDA Langley Mill Michael Golds 0115-932-8042

Second Sun of month FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane Mike Beech 0116-279-2657

Thu and last Sat of month GCS Grantham Canal Ian Wakefield 0115-989-2128

2nd Sat of month GWCT Nynehead Lift Denis Dodd 01823-661653

Tuesdays H&GCT Oxenhall Brian Fox 01432 358628

Weekends H&GCT Over Wharf House Maggie Jones 01452 618010

Wednesdays H&GCT Over / Vineyard Hill Ted Beagles 01452 522648

Thursdays H&GCT Herefordshire Wilf Jones 01452 413888

Every Sunday if required IWPS Bugsworth Basin Ian Edgar 0161-427 7402

Every weekday KACT/CRT Bradford on Avon Derrick Hunt 01225-863066

2nd Sunday of month LCT Lancaster N. Reaches Keith Tassart 01524-424761

Every Wed/Sat/Sun LHCRT Lichfield Terry Brown 01889-576574

3rd Sunday of month LHCRT Hatherton Denis Cooper 01543-374370

Last weekend of month MBBCS Creams Paper Mill Steve Dent 07802-973228

Two Sundays per month NWDCT N Walsham Canal David Revill 01603-738648

Every Thu & Sat, Apr-Sep SORT Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott 01444-414413

2nd & last Sundays PCAS Pocklington Canal Paul Waddington 01757-638027

Every Wed and 1st Sat RGT Stowmarket Navigtn. Martin Bird 01394-380765

2nd Sunday of month SCARS Sankey Canal John Hughes 01744-600656

1st Sunday of month SCCS Combe Hay Locks Derrick Hunt 01225-863066

Last weekend of month SCS Stover Canal George Whitehead 01626-775498

2nd Sunday of month SNT Sleaford Navigation Mel Sowerby 01522-856810

Every Thu and Sat SORT Sussex Ouse Ted Lintott 01444-414413

1st weekend of month SUCS Montgomery Canal David Carter 01244-661440

Every Tuesday morning TMCA Thames & Medway CBrian Macnish 01732-823725

Every Sunday & Thurs WACT varied construction Eric Walker 023-9246-3025

Mondays (2 per month) WACT tidying road crossings John Empringham 01483-562657

Wednesdays WACT Tickner's Heath Depot John Smith 01903-235790

Wednesdays WACT maintenance work Ray Pick 01483-272443

Sundays mainly WACT Loxwood Link Kev Baker 02380-861074

Thursdays WACT Winston Harwood Grp Tony Clear 01903-774301

Various dates WACT Hedgelaying (Oct-Mar) Keith Nichols 01403-753882

1st w/e of month (Fri-Thu)WAT Drayton Beauchamp Roger Leishman 01442-874536

If you have any additions / corrections / deletions to this list, please sendthem to Navvies diary compiler Dave Wedd (see previous page)

Mobile groups' socials: phone to confirmLondon WRG: 7:30pm on Tues 11 days before dig. 'Star Tavern'Belgrave Mews West, London. Tim Lewis 07802-518094

NWPG: 7:30pm on 3rd Tue of month at the 'Hope Tap',West end of Friar St. Reading. Phil Dray 07956 185305

Navvies diaryCanal societies’ regular working parties

Navvies diary

Abbreviations used in Diary:

BCA Basingstoke Canal AuthorityBCNS Birmingham Canal Navigations Soc.BuCS Buckingham Canal SocietyBCS Basingstoke Canal SocietyBCT Bude Canal TrustChCT Chesterfield Canal TrustCBN Chelmer & Blackwater NavigationCSCT Chichester Ship Canal TrustCCT Cotswolds Canals TrustECPDA Erewash Canal Pres. & Devt. Assoc.FIPT Foxton Inclined Plane TrustGCS Grantham Canal SocietyGWCT Grand Western Canal TrustH&GCT Hereford & Gloucester Canal TrustIWPS Inland Waterways Protection SocietyKACT Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

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

2nd Saturday of month Audlem Shropshire Union Glenn Young see below2nd Saturday of month Aylesbury Grand Union Miriam Tedder 07775-5439904th Thursday of month Bath Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278Alternate Thursdays Blackburn Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-2229771st Sunday of month Burnley Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-2229773rd Thursday of month Cheshire T&M/Macclesfield Steve O’Sullivan 07887-6847071st Saturday of month Chester Shropshire Union Glenn Young see belowAlternate Saturdays Chorley Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-2229772nd Tuesday of month Churnet Valley Caldon Canal Barry Keight 07919 5605823rd Thursday of month Devizes Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278Weds and Thurs Droitwich Droitwich Canal Suzanne Byrne 07900-2765443rd Saturday of month Ellesmere Llangollen Canal Glenn Young see below1st Saturday of month Fradley Trent & Mersey Tom Freeland 01827-2520104th Thursday of month Gailey Staffs & Worcs Murray Woodward 07808-7867721st Mon & Wed of month Hatton Grand Union Canal Murray Woodward 07808-786772Last Sunday of month Hawkesbury Coventry/Oxford Miriam Tedder 07775-5439902nd Friday of month Huddersfield Huddersfield Broad Claire McDonald 07920-2959431st Thursday of month Knottingley Aire & Calder Nav Lucy Dockray 07767-383736Alternate Thursdays Lancaster Lancaster Canal Matt Taylor 07780-2229773rd Saturday of month Lapworth Stratford Canal Murray Woodward 07808-786772Alternate Tuesdays Leicester Grand Union/Soar Tom Freeland 01827-2520103rd Saturday of month London Grand Union/Lee Becky Williams 07799-4368163rd Thursday of month East London Lee & Stort Navs Becky Williams 07799-4368163rd Tuesday of month West London Grand Union Canal Becky Williams 07799-4368164th Saturday of month Manchester Ashton / Peak Forest Steve O’Sullivan 07887-6847072nd Thursday of month Newbury Kennet & Avon Steve Manzi 07710-175278Alternate Wednesdays Preston Lancaster Canal Matt Taylor 07780-222977Alternate Fridays Sefton Leeds & Liverpool Alice Kay 07825 1963653rd Saturday of month near Selby Selby Canal Lucy Dockray 07767-383736Alternate Wednesdays Skipton Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-222977Alternate Fridays Stoke Caldon / T&M Tom Freeland 01827-252010Every other WednesdayTamworth Coventry Canal Tom Freeland 01827-2520104th Saturday of month Tipton BCN Murray Woodward 07808-786772Alternate Thursdays North Warks Tom Freeland 01827-252010Every Tuesday Wigan Leeds & Liverpool Matt Taylor 07780-2229773rd Thursday of month Welshpool Montgomery Canal Glenn Young see below

Contact details for Towpath Taskforce working parties: All CRT volunteer co-ordinators can be

emailed at [email protected], for example [email protected]

for the Kennet & Avon. Where no phone number is given, use national CRT number 03030 404040.

Canal & River Trust ‘Towpath Taskforce’ maintenance working parties

Navvies diaryInland Waterways Association and other one-day working parties

Jun 19 & 21 IWA Warks/CRTStratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance &

Jun 21 Sat IWA Mcr/CRT Manchester area: Painting, veg clearance, pulling rubbish out, litter

Jun 21 Sat IWA Lee & Stort River Lee at Ware: prep for Ware River Festival (4-6 July). weeding,

Jun 22 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

Jun 22 Sun IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 10am-3pm Froghall to Cherry Eye

Jun 25 Wed IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 7pm-9pm Leek Arm. Meet at Holly

Jul 1 Tue IWA Northants Northampton Arm

Every Wed RGT/IWA Ipswich River Gipping: Pipps Ford, or Baylham Mill Lock 9am-4pm. Also Sat 5

Jul 2 & 7 IWA Warks/CRTGrand Union Canal: Hatton, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance &

Jul 5 Sat IWA Chester Dee Branch in Chester: Painting, weeding, litterpicking. 10am-4pm Telfords

Jul 6 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

Jul 9 Wed IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Himalayan Balsam Work Party

Jul 10 Thu IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 10am-3pm. Consall Lime Kilns

Jul 12 Sat IWA ShrewsburyShrewsbury & Newport Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 10am-4pm. Water

Jul 13 Sun IWA Northants Northampton Arm

Jul 17 & 19 IWA Warks/CRTStratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance &

Jul 19 Sat IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10am-

Jul 19 Sat IWA Mcr/CRT Manchester area: Painting, veg clearance, pulling rubbish out, litter

Jul 20 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

Jul 21 Mon IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 7pm-9pm. Holly Bush to Cheddleton

Jul 24 Thu IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Himalayan Balsam. 10am-3pm. Consall Station to Flint

Jul 28 Mon IWA Chiltern Grand Union Canal: Himalayan Balsam. Rickmansworth, Batchworth

Jul 29 Tue IWA Northants Northampton Arm

Aug 2 Sat IWA Chester Dee Branch in Chester: Painting, weeding, litterpicking. 10am-4pm Telfords

Aug 3 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

Aug 4 & 6 IWA Warks/CRTGrand Union Canal: Hatton, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance &

Aug 13 Wed IWA BBCW Staffs & Worcs Canal: Painting, tidying & veg clearance 10am-3pm.

Aug 14 Thu IWA NSSC/CUCT Caldon Canal: Painting & veg clearance. 10am-3pm at Cheddleton

Aug 16 & 21 IWA Warks/CRTStratford Canal: Lapworth, lock painting, litter pick, veg clearance &

Aug 16 Sat IWA Mcr/CRT Manchester area: Painting, veg clearance, pulling rubbish out, litter


Aug 18 Mon IWA NSSC/TMCS Trent & Mersey Canal: Cheshire Locks. Painting & veg clearance 10am-

Aug 19 Tue IWA Northants Northampton Arm


Sep 6/7 IWA Chelmsford Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation: With Essex WRG

Sep 14 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

Sep 28 Sun IWPS Bugsworth Basin

IWA branch abbreviations BBCW = Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire; Mcr= Manchester;Other abbreviations: CUCT = Caldon & Uttoxeter Canal Society; IWPS = Inland Waterways Protection

path work. CRT Lapworth yard 10am-3pm [email protected]

pick 10am-4pm Ian Price 07971-444258 [email protected]

veg clearance and litter picking. 10am-4pm [email protected]

Ian Edgar 0161-427-7402 [email protected]

Bridge Alison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

Bush Alison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

Geoff Wood [email protected]

July Martin Bird 01394-380765 [email protected]

path work. CRT Hatton yard 10am-3pm [email protected]

Warehouse car parkMike Carter 07795-617803 [email protected]


David Struckett 07976-746225 [email protected]

Alison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

Lane, Newport John Myers 07711-858986 [email protected]



4pm Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]



Alison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

Mill Lock Alison Smedley 07779-090915 [email protected]

Aquadrome John Brice 07740-733241 [email protected]


Warehouse Mike Carter 07795-617803 [email protected]


path work. CRT Hatton yard 10am-3pm [email protected]

Kidderminster areaDavid Struckett 07976-746225 [email protected]

Top Lock Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]




4pm Bob Luscombe 07710-054848 [email protected]



Roy Chandler [email protected]



NSSC = North Staffs & South CheshireSociety; TMCS = Trent & Mersey Canal Society; RGT= River Gipping Trust; CRT = Canal & River Trust

Navvies diaryFor WRG canal camps and working parties see pages 20-21

ProgressLichfield & Hatherton Canals

Our regular roundup of progress on

restoration projects begins with

some impressive work on the

Tamworth Road site of

the Lichfield Canal

Lichfield & Hatherton Canals

Lichfield & Hatherton Canals RestorationTrust’s volunteers have made spectacularprogress at Tamworth Road where our grow-ing team has established the Heritage Tow-path Trail from the A51 to Lock 25. This isfully compliant with the needs of the disa-bled. The Heritage Towpath Trail is a vitalpart of opening up the whole route to allsections of the community and showing thatthe reopening of the canal can be delivered.

Attention is now moving to the Hather-ton Canal where public involvement isequally important. We continue to monitorseveral major planning applications whichhave implications for the restoration withsome potential for benefit. We are givingspecial attention to marketing and publicitywhere a new organisation has been put inplace. Our temporary occupation of an empty

shop in central Lichfield has been very usefulwith over 1000 visitors in three months andover 30 new members signed up.

The HS2 railway hybrid bill is currentlygoing through the Commons with the Trustbeing reasonably confident that our routewill not be jeopardised by the new line. Butthis is a situation which requires continuingvigilance.

The focus over the coming months willbe on fund raising. Income to the ‘Feet ofClay’ appeal has been most encouraging andthere seems to be much support for usingtraditional materials for lining Pound 27 atTamworth Road. The other need is to fundfurther land purchase. There are severalimportant sections of the canal we couldacquire if only we had the funds.

We are now well into our 26th year and,at last, momentum is gathering.

Brian Kingshott

Adrian S

turg

ess

The new towpath at Tamworth Road

River Gipping

River Gipping Trust’s workparties sinceChristmas have been split into two sections,with one concentrating on finishing theconstruction of the oak bridge for Pipps Fordand the other dealing with the destructioncaused by the winter storms and floodingaround the bywash area and at Baylham.

The bridge has now been completedand is on show as part of the Alde ValleyFestival at White House Farm, Glemham,Suffolk. It has been designed so that oncethe festival is over, we can dismantle it inthree main sections and transport it on alow-loader to site. This was planned to takeplace in mid May. The bridge has raisedmuch interest at the festival, and we’ve evenhad one offer to buy it, though I don’t thinkthe owners of Pipps Ford would have beenvery happy if we had sold it.

The rest of our volunteers have beenfully involved in clearing up after the winterweather, with significant damage to willows

ProgressRiver Gipping

...while the River Gipping

Trust’s volunteers have had

to turn down an offer to buy

the new bridge they’ve just

finished building!

particularly arising from the high winds andwet ground resulting in a lot of tree workover the past couple of months.

We have also had a return visit toCreeting to repair an embankment aroundthe bywash sluice that had been washed outduring the winter floods and we’ve carriedout more maintenance at Baylham. Again,the high water flows over the winter hadscoured the channel bed below Baylhamlock, but here the water had had a positiveeffect in revealing the remains of one of theoriginal bottom gates. After much heaving ,this has been recovered to the bank, and willbe useful in obtaining dimensions for anyfuture rebuild!

Our workparties continue on Wednes-days and the first Saturday of every monthwith the programme over the summer con-centrating on installing the bridge at PippsFord while continuing negotiations with theEnvironment Agency to open the bywash.

Martin BirdRestoration Manager

“One careful owner...” - no, really, the bridge isn’t for sale!

RG

T

Sussex Ouse

Isfield Lock: During the record breakingwet winter months of January and FebruarySussex came off so much better than manymore unfortunate counties of the country.Even so it didn’t stop the Ouse breaking itsbanks down at the Isfield Lock site andflooding the chamber, the Sussex Ouse Res-toration Trust’s worksite and surroundingfields.

Therefore any intended work on thelock had to be put on hold until the waterssubsided and the area dried out. Now withthe spring weather well and truly upon uswork has began in earnest to geton with the restoration.

Towards the end of 2013 allefforts were concentrated oncompleting the west top wharfwall, installing stop planks andthe rebuilding and completion ofthe top ground paddles and thewalls around the same. Therebuilding of the banks of the cutalso continued throughout 2013.

That being done all effortsthis year will concentrate oncompleting the rebuild of thewest chamber wall. Work was putback on this section of the lockchamber in 2013 to fall in withthe plans of the EnvironmentAgency who were intending todivert the river down the lock cutand through a culvert into theneighbouring ox-bow. Thoseplans have now been placed onhold probably until 2015.

So it’s full steam ahead withthe west wall. Badly damaged,this section of the wall requiresextensive demolition and exami-nation to determine just howmuch work will be required torebuild it and fill the gap betweenthe two fully restored sections ofthe wall. The task is expected to

take all summer.Attempts to find a permanent home for

remains of the lock gates, found in the siltduring the earlier clearance of the chamberand currently stored at a nearby farm, havenot been successful. SORT are still hopefulthat a place can be found for them in thenear future.

Iron Gate Lock, Sheffield Park has notbeen forgotten. However no work has beencarried out on this potential restorationproject as talks take place with the NationalTrust as to the future direction of any workto be carried out.

Restored ground paddle at Isfield Lock

ProgressSussex Ouse

The winter floods have

subsided, so Sussex

Ouse Restoration Trust

can get on with

restoring Isfield Lock

ProgressWendover Arm

Meanwhile the Wendover

Arm Trust continue capping

the water supply pipe laid in

the canal bed, and entertain

KESCRG at Whitehouses

Grand Union Wendover Arm

March and April Working Par-ties: In March no work was possi-ble on the main work to reline thechannel to make it watertight, butwe were able to backfill the drain-age ditch through Bridge 4A. Itwas at this point it was decidedthat the next step would be to laythe reinforced concrete pipe cap-ping (which covers over the watersupply pipe that was laid in thebed to carry the canal’s watersupply past the dry section)through the bridge narrows. Thesection through the bridge hadbeen left out as the lining throughthe bridge narrows is all concrete,not spoil. This is because the turbulence from propellers through narrow channels is likelyto disturb spoil fill. As only 150mm(6") of concrete is required over the Bentomat water-proof membrane against the 300mm (12") for spoil, the pipe capping is cast 150mm(6")higher than normal and will overlap the capping already laid on either side of the bridge.

During March routine clearance of our storage site was undertaken including hiring askip to get rid of rubbish. The hedge through the storage area was also trimmed back.

In April rough profiling of the banks was re-started and the first half of the pipe cap-ping under Bridge 4A prepared ready for concreting as shown in the first picture.

Whitehouses: Over the weekend of the April working party we were joined by KES-CRG who continued their good work at Whitehouses as you can see from the second picture,taken from the public viewing areacreated at the end of the newfootpath from Bridge 4.

Finally, it is very fortunatethat we stocked up with enoughsolid concrete blocks to completethe next re-watering as the presentsurge in house building has led toa dearth of blocks as they are insuch great demand. Even Hanson,our normal suppliers, are notmaking any hollow concrete blocksat present as they are so busyproducing solid blocks. We doneed a few more hollow blocks buthave been able to source thesefrom our local supplier albeit at ahigher cost.

Roger Leishman

Preparing for pipe capping through Bridge 4A

KESCRG at Whithouses (see also pages 16-18)

Pic

ture

s by W

AT

Mick Golds of ECPDA

In May, Mick Golds retired as Working PartyOrganiser of the Erewash Canal Preservation& Development Association; a position hehad held since 1971.

Following school in Ilkeston just afterthe Second World War, Mick served his ap-prenticeship as a bricklayer, following whichhe worked on a number of local projectssuch as the chimney at Ratcliffe-on-SoarPower Station and some of the bridges onthe M1 Motorway in Leicestershire and Der-byshire. During this time he met and marriedCarole and they lived at first in a caravan atDiseworth. They became interested in boat-ing through borrowing a friend’s cruiser andshortly moved into a new house near PottersLock on the Erewash Canal in Ilkeston,where they still live.

The Erewash Canal was one of thewaterways suggested forclosure under the TransportAct 1968 and in order tooppose the abandonment ofnavigation the ECP&DA wasformed that same year witha number of anglers, boat-ers and the Midlands Branchof the Inland WaterwaysAssociation. One of theECP&DA’s first projects wasto oppose the demolition byBW of Sandiacre Lock cot-tages; the local authoritystopped the demolition andBW suggested that if theywanted the cottage theyshould maintain it. Mick andCarole often walked alongthe canal and one weekendthey met some of theECP&DA volunteers on thetowpath. The originalECP&DA Working PartyOrganiser had advertised inthe local press for a builderto take charge of the work

on Sandiacre Lock Cottage. Mick was theideal man for this job and before long tookover as Working Party Organiser. The prox-imity of the canal persuaded them to buy anarrow boat and if they could keep the canalopen it would provide a mooring almost atthe bottom of the garden. Electra was pur-chased in 1971 and fitted out by Mick andCarole, has since been lengthened twice,been seen on most canals in the country andstill cruises the system extensively.

Following a visit to look at the futureprospects of the canal by the Inland Water-ways Amenity Advisory Council, set upunder the 1968 Act, IWAAC suggested that aterminus at Langley Mill was required toprovide a safe haven and mooring for visit-ing boats. The ECP&DA decided that the bestway forward was to restore Langley BridgeLock where the Cromford Canal had an endon connection with the Erewash Canal and to

ProgressErewash Canal

One of the longest-serving working party

organisers, Mick Golds of the Erewash

Canal Preservation & Development

Association, has retired. John Baylis

looks back over four decades...

Langley Bridge Lock under restoration in 1971

Harr

y A

rnold

restore the Great NorthernBasin of the NottinghamCanal just above the lock.Mick with his know-howand contacts was also idealfor this project, acquiringconcrete blocks and othermaterials from various localsources. Mick and Carolehave always been verysociable and encouraged alarge group of enthusiasticvolunteers to join in. Thelock was cleaned out andre-gated, the GNB dredgedout and the swing bridgerepaired, all for a cost ofunder £1,800 and wasopened in May 1973.

After this, Mick wasone of the small group ofthe original volunteers whoformed Langley Mill BoatCompany. This lead to theprogressive extension ofthe navigable length of the Cromford Canalabove Langley Bridge Lock and the buildingof the dry dock and mooring facilities. Overthe past few years Mick has led the ECP&DAin further work to extend the Cromford Canalas part of the restoration of a proposedopencast coal site.

Since1973 Mick has held almost weeklywork parties at Langley Mill to look after thelock, moorings and bridge which were onlyleased from British Waterways and to help inextending the Cromford Canal. The ECP&DAhas established a firm presence at LangleyMill with a well stocked workshop and toolstores. With advice from various BW heritagemanagers Mick has organized continuedwork on Sandiacre Lock Cottages and in2013 the ECP&DA was highly commendedfor it’s work under the Canal & River TrustWaterways Renaissance Awards. The otherlocal heritage projects were the restoration ofthe Nottingham Canal Toll Office and theinstallation of back pumping round LangleyBridge Lock including restoration of theredundant Langley Sewage Pumping Station.

Not content with the work at LangleyMill following the restoration of the BasinMick started taking the ECP&DA on awayworking parties; such as the Droitwich andBasingstoke WRG Big Digs. Graham Palmerwas aware of Mick’s prowess as a bricklayerand Mick worked on a number of the

Wilmcote Locks and by-washes during the1970’s Stratford Blitzes. Then in 1981 when Iwas looking after the Frankton Locks restora-tion for Graham Palmer, Mick started to bringthe ECP&DA working parties when welargely rebuilt the walls on locks 1-3; thebricklaying being aided by Sheffield IWA andthe Trent & Mersey Canal Society. Graham’sview of Mick’s bricklaying was “that his handswent like butterflies wings” Some of the finalaway work on the Montgomery was on help-ing to rebuild the walls on some of the Astonlocks and the rebuilding of Cobblers Lock onthe River Slea.

Mick decided to finish working forothers as part of “a two and one gang” andin about 1995 he started working for himselfand Carole was his labourer. In this period,as well as doing walls and extensions fortheir friends, they also rebuilt Dixon’s Lockon the Chesterfield Canal, re-built the para-pets on two accommodation bridges on theDerby Canal and worked for BW. In 2013Mick and Carole were awarded the RichardBird Medal for services to the Inland Water-ways Association and in September this yearthey celebrate their Golden Wedding. Mickhas done a great job over the years but hisexpertise will not be totally lost as he willcontinue to monitor the work at Sandiacrecottages.

John Baylis

Mick and Carole receive their Medal from IWA chairman Les Etheridge

Julie A

rnold

ProgressChesterfield and Buckingham

Finally, there’s a new

bridge over the

Chesterfield, and

another rewatering on

the Buckingham

Above: ConstitutionBridge at Staveley,whose abutments oursummer camp volun-teers have worked on,received its deck re-cently. Meanwhile thefar side of StaveleyTown Basin, ChesterfieldCanal Trust continuesbuilding the new lock,and the canal wall be-yond - which will be themain job on this year’sCanal Camps.Right: water in theBuckingham Canal atCosgrove for the firsttime in many years. Thefirst of three lengths ofcanal receives its firstwater from the GrandUnion Main Line. B

CS

CC

T

Tech TIpsBrickwork repairs

John Hawkins provides

some useful tips for

everything from cutting out

and replacing a single brick

to rebuilding a lock chamber

Brickwork repairs:Just how far do you go?

We’ll start with the small stuff: Carefulsurveying of canal structures under restora-tion will often identify bricks, or patches ofbricks, in need of replacement, mainly due tofrost or root damage.

The principle of ‘minimum intervention’means that only the brickwork in currentneed of replacement should be removed.

Cutting out, usually of whole bricks, isbest done by hand with a club hammer andchisel - either a parallel-faced bolster orjointing/plugging chisel. Depending on thethickness of the mortar courses, stitch drill-ing could help in removing some of themortar and brick. Sometimes an ‘Arbortec’brick saw may be available: special care andtraining is needed before using this type ofmachine. Care is always needed so thatadjacent bricks are not damaged. Ensure thatthe appropriate Personal Protection Equip-ment is worn.

Before the job is started ensure thatsuitable replacement bricks are available -both in size and colour. Remove all themortar around the brick so that brick can be

removed, or broken into smaller pieces inorder to facilitate its removal. This can oftenbe more of a problem if an all-cement orlime/cement mix has been used for repair onprevious occasions in place of the original

all-lime mortar.Be careful not to lose the

profile of the brickwork in compli-cated places by taking out toomany bricks in one go.

Once all of the mortar andbrick has been removed, suitablereplacement brick(s) can be se-lected. Ensure all joints are fullypacked/filled with mortar includ-ing behind the replacementbrick(s).

Where the replacementbricks form a patch of severalbricks, temporary supports and/orwedges may be needed to preventthe bricks collapsing as the mortardries. These can then be re-moved at a later stage and themortar completed.Old cement mortar can be very hard - harder than the bricks

Fill joints well - including behind new bricks

All p

ictu

res

by J

ohn H

aw

kin

s

Ensure that the replacement brick(s)match the coursing of the existing and areflush with the face of the existing brickwork.Also match the mortar joint finish to theoriginal.

And now onto the bigger stuff! Thereare many considerations tobe taken into account whendemolishing and then re-building brickwork thatforms a substantial part of alock chamber.

Firstly there will beconsiderably more bricks tobe removed; this in itselfcould lead to bricks/stonesup higher in the wall be-coming unsafe and the needfor some stout props to beput into position first.

Plans should be madefor the use of a scaffold atall levels of work and for asafe access.

Where coping stonesare present it may be safest

to ‘flip’ them back and then to ensure thatthey are well back from the edge beforestarting work below.

Any loose, crumbling and split bricksshould be removed and if any major cracksare located then all the surrounding bricksmust be removed - once again taking greatcare not to undercut too many courses sothat the remaining wall becomes unsafe. Asbricks are removed, the remaining onesshould be lightly tapped to ensure that theyare firm.

Ideally bricks should be removed sothat alternate courses form a toothed patternfor the replacement bricks to fit into, thusmaking a very strong wall. When removingbricks that are behind the face bricks, try toremove the bricks by loosening them side-ways along the rows; this should help topreserve the courses above or below. This isoften very difficult, especially if a quality limemortar or cement based mortar mix hasbeen used for earlier repairs. All old mortarmust be removed, taking great care to re-move the mortar from the internal cornersand also the underside of the existing upperbricks.

If a large area has been identified forremoval, it may be advisable to use a smallKango type machine, fitted with a chisel end,to enable the courses to be removed withless effort.

If possible leave some old brickwork inplace (even if it means going back to workon at a later stage) so that a profile for futureuse remains in place when the replacementbricks are laid.

A string line and profile board are helpful

The old brickwork should form a ‘toothed’ pattern for bonding into

Whole old bricks that have beenremoved should be cleaned and put toone side for possible use at a laterstage in the rebuild.

For bonding/tying patches ofreplacement brickwork to existingbackgrounds there are several modernmethods available. The one chosenwill tend to be dependent on the localcanal society, or whoever is oversee-ing the project.

Two main methods seem to bepreferred: one type has a screwed ’V’shaped fitting that is screwed intogood courses of bricks at an angle of30o and then bent down onto the mortarcourse. The second involves drilling a holeinto good brickwork at an angle of 30o, thehole filled with a two-part resin mix and asuitable length of spiralled stainless steel rodpushed into the resin. It may be necessaryto temporarily prop up the end of the steelrod as the resin sets. When the resin has setthe rod can then be bent down into themortar course. The spacing of these ties isdependant on the condition and the area ofbrickwork needing to be tied in. As a gen-eral rule, once again, this is specified by thelocal canal society or whoever is overseeingthe project.

Before starting to replace bricks the oldbrickwork needs to be given a final check asto its soundness, given a good wire brushingand all surfaces brushed clean; sometimes itmay be advisable to lightly dampen the oldbricks if exceptionally dry, before a mortarbed is put down.

Care must also be taken when usingreclaimed bricks – these may well vary insize, but this can often be put to good use inorder to achieve a good bonding pattern tothe earlier courses. It is often better to dry-fit replacement bricks before mortaring intoplace.

Using the oldcleaned bricks, thefacing courses can belaid, ensuring that thereis full bed of mortarand joints as they areput into place. It isbest to have at least a9 inch depth of facingbricks and then thebacking courses can belaid. Depending onhow the old bricks were

removed it may be necessary to positionsome bricks into the wall before the facingbricks are laid.

As more courses are laid the amount ofnew brickwork can become several rowsdeep. Occasionally the decision may be madenot to rebuild the wall in solid brick all theway back, but to backfill brickwork withconcrete. If this is done, brick ties will needto be positioned in the brickwork, in a stag-gered pattern, as courses are laid, to key itinto the concrete.

When laying the first long course ofnew bricks over a course of existing oldbricks, it is more important to ensure thatthe joints are correctly spaced apart so thatsubsequent courses on top will be correct,than to line up with the joints of the oldbricks below (which will often be in an ir-regular bond where there have been earlierrepairs). When laying the back headersbehind a stretcher course, line up the jointsof the headers and face stretchers – do notstagger them (see diagram) - this helps toreduce the vertical joints in the wall. Also, asthe courses become longer, a string lineshould be used from the existing brickworkor from a profile board if one is in use.

As work progresses the brick coursesthat have been laidshould be covered eachevening with damphessian sacking, this isto prevent the mortardrying out too quickly,particularly if a limemortar has been used.

And finally...No, there isn’t really adefinitive answer to theopening question!

John Hawkins

Protect your work with damp sacking at night

3

7

Get the bond right!

Front of wall

Front of wall

FundraisingThe Acheman Challenge

The Acheman Challenge

On Saturday 5th April Toby Gomm,Stephanie Pay, Jenny Black and GemmaBolton from IWA Head Office completed a 50mile quadrathlon along the Grand UnionCanal, successfully raising £13,605 towardsthe cost of WRG’s new excavator.

The team cycled 22 miles fromHarefield to Bulbourne where they weregreeted by IWA Chiltern Branch, and revital-ised with some cheese scones. They pro-ceeded to work a boat through Marsworthlocks with the kind support of IWA ChilternBranch, after which they began the 17.5 milecycle to Tinkers Bridge, Milton Keynes. Theteam ran for 6 miles until The Black Horse atGreat Linford and canoed the last 3.5 milestretch, mostly in a straight line, to the finishat The Galleon Pub in Wolverton. After justunder 11 hours the four exhausted partici-pants enjoyed a warm welcome from IWAMilton Keynes Branch at the finish line, alongwith a free meal and a drink in the GalleonPub. The team was also presented with asurprise Acheman Challenge cake by IWAMilton Keynes Branch Chairman, Peter Caswell.

Gemma Bolton said, “Couldn’t havedone it without our awesome support teamand it was lovely that so many people alongthe towpath wished us a Happy Easter - wedid look like chicks!”

Stephanie Pay said, “It was a lot of funand an experience I won’t forget. It wasgreat meeting people from other IWAbranches along the way too. Thank you toeveryone who supported us and donated allthe training was worth it!”

Jenny Black said, “It was a fantastic day- a bit of mud, a bit of sweat (thanks to theduck outfits!) and a few beers at the end!Massive thank you to everyone who donatedand supported us along the route!”

Toby Gomm said, “The day couldn’thave gone better. The support from everyonewas amazing and I’m happy we managed torepay that support by getting to the end inone piece!”

The total included a generous donationof £1000 from IWA Ipswich, £250 from IWAChelmsford Branch (nominated by TimLewis) and £200 each from IWA Lichfieldand IWA Middlesex Branches. Additionally,IWA Chiltern Branch donated £1000, IWALancashire & Cumbria Branch donated £500and IWA Birmingham, Black Country andWorcestershire Branch donated £200 directlyto the excavator appeal.

It is not too late to support the teamand contribute to the new excavator:

• Online via Virgin Money Giving• By texting ROLT46 and the amount in

pounds e.g. “ROLT46 £10” to 70070• By phone, call Toby Gomm at IWA’s

Head Office on 01494 783 453 ext. 611• By cheque, payable to The Inland Wa-

terways Association and sent toAcheman Challenge, IWA, IslandHouse, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA

The team would like to thank everyone whosponsored them and assisted with the logis-tics and planning along the route. In particu-lar David King, Chris and Judy Clegg for theuse of their boat and refreshments, PeterCaswell, IWA Milton Keynes Branch, IWAChiltern Branch, Canal & River Trust, TheCoy Carp in Harefield, The Three Horseshoesin Hemel Hempstead, The Grove Lock inLeighton Buzzard, The Black Horse, CamphillCafé and The New Inn in Milton Keynes, TheGalleon Pub in Wolverton, and PaddlesportRacers Association.

The team would also like to thank theirsupport crew for the day, especially StefaniePreston for being the event coordinator onthe day; David Padfield for cycling alongsidethe team; Norman Gomm; Lorna Gomm;Rebecca Emerton; Adam Morris; KatharineThivessen; Rita Pay and Geoffrey Pay.

Navvies NewsInsurance update

Insurance update

The recent article in Navvies about the legalrequirements to have motor insurance inplace for motorised plant and agriculturalvehicles has led to some questions, includingabout driving licence requirements for differ-ent types of plant, etc. There is a differencein circumstances for which certain drivinglicence categories are required (public roads)and the legal requirement to hold motorinsurance (any public highway, which in-cludes footpaths, etc, and any ‘public place’).

In general, IWA’s Insurers expect op-erators of plant and agricultural vehicles(whether on the road, other public highwaysor on work sites) to have appropriate DVLAlicences, relevant training and be appropri-ately experienced. Insurers are, however,usually content for an ordinary driving li-cence with the usual motor car categories tocover the operation of plant off-road, pro-vided that the operator has appropriatetraining and experience for the item of plantbeing operated. However, drivers need to beaware that where plant is operated on theroad then the relevant driving licence entitle-ment will need to be in place, in accordancewith any legal requirements. For publichighways that are not roads (e.g. footpaths,bridleways, etc) and other public placeswhere motor insurance is a legal require-ment, but where driving licence entitlementsare not a legal requirement, then an ordinarydriving licence with the usual car categoriesshould be sufficient to comply with insurers’expectations, as for other off-road areas.

Insurers have emphasised, however, that:

. All drivers must be appropriated trainedand experienced for the plant / vehiclebeing operated, wherever that may be

. Risk assessments and method state-ments need to be in place for all opera-tions, and need to take account of anypublic access to the site or other areasover which machinery travels

As the motor policy covers ‘any authoriseddriver over the age of 25’, then any plant oragricultural machine operators under the ageof 25 working on any public highway orother public place would need to be specifi-cally authorised by an endorsement to themotor policy in advance. Insurers are un-likely to refuse any reasonable application forsuch endorsements, but they will need a bit

of notice, along with a copy of (all parts of)the operator’s driving licence a few daysbeforehand. In practical terms, for newvolunteers being trained up or attendingtheir first WRG event, this is likely to meankeeping off any public highway, footpath orother public area.

For hired-in plant, where it uses anyroad or public highway or other public place,then motor policy cover is required, even ifjust to access a work site. The fact that anitem of plant is hired-in, rather than owned,makes no difference. Insurers point out thatthis is not something they have invented, butit is simply a legal requirement.

In summary, where site organisersneed to have motorised plant on the towpathor in other public areas during a work partyor Canal Camp, it should not be a majorproblem – either we (WRG) or the hostsociety just needs to ensure that the relevantplant has motor insurance cover, which caneasily be arranged at a couple of days noticebeforehand.

Help Runcorn Locks

Runcorn Locks might not be a restorationscheme that you’ve heard of, but it’s onethat’s quite topical at the moment. Why?Because the construction of the new Runcornto Widnes road bridge will involve removingthe slip-roads which connect the old 1960sbridge to the local main road network - andit was those slip-roads which blocked theLocks (which used to link the BridgewaterCanal to the Manchester Ship Canal, RiverWeaver and River Mersey), making restora-tion harder. So now’s a golden opportunity toget the canal restored.

But time is of the essence, becausework will start soon on the new bridge. Sowhile the Runcorn Locks Restoration Societyplans to get volunteer work going (andthere’s a good chance WRG will be called onfor support), in the meantime you can sup-port the canal by signing the online petitionat www.unlockruncorn.org.

f

Navvies NewsLeaders’ Training Day

Leaders’ Training Day 10 May

I would like to take this opportunity to intro-duce myself. MyName is AmberJenkins and I amthe new AssistantVolunteer Coordi-nator for WRG.Ihave just startedthe post, and amreally lookingforward to meet-ing everyoneinvolved in WRGand getting out onas many digs aspossible.

Days 4 and 5 in the new job turned outto be the Leaders Training Day and WRGBoard meeting up in Ettington (With ofcourse an overnights stay in the hall). It wasdefinitely an eye and ear (although the snor-ing wasn’t too bad) opener of a weekend. Ithas taught me a great deal about the way theorganisation works and was a really enjoy-able weekend. I recommend it to any poten-tial assistant leaders, leaders or cooks nextyear. It gave everyone a chance to voice theirconcerns, share their weird and wacky storiesand hear about and discuss potential newideas.

The day started, of course, with a verywelcome bacon sandwich and the standardof food did not slip from there (Thank youJude and Martin). The day was split intosections and we discussed everything fromworking at heights and toaster toolbox talksto leading a camp and all the paperwork thatgoes with it.

There was a really great turn out (Ithink about 45 people came along) so it wasa good job Ettington Community Centre wasso huge and fancy (I think my standards forcommunity centres are now set far too high).

I would like to thank everyone therefor being so welcoming and hope to see youall again soon. Also a big thank you to eve-

ryone who helped out on the Toolbox Talks.They will be up on the website shortly.

Amber Jenkins

The leader of the Leaders’Training Day adds:Many thanks to: Jude for cooking; Jenny(with assistance from Amber) for hall book-ing, lots of random preparation and printingand setting up the hall; RAF Martin and cofor sorting the BBQ; Mike for his thoughtsand finally those who contributed suggestions,asked questions and wrote toolbox talks.

If anyone has any further questions (orideas), no matter how obvious or silly it mayseem (even if you didn’t attend) please con-tact Jenny who will either answer or farm itout to someone who knows – we really don’tmind. Finally if anyone is thinking theymight be able to take over from me nextyear then I would absolutely encourage it, it’sbeen good fun and really quite enlighteningat times.

Helen ‘Bushbaby’ Gardner

And the Editor adds: I’m sure everyonewho’s ever attended will join me in thankingHelen for running the Leaders’ Training Dayso successfully for the last few years.

Directory update

There have been a few changes since theDirectory appeared in the last issue. As youwill read elsewhere in this issue, Mick Goldshas retired as the Erewash Canal Preserva-tion & Development Association’s work partyorganiser. Until a new one is appointed, theacting WPO is John Baylis on 07889 444190.

At CRT, there have been some changesof volunteer coordinator: on the Kennet &Avon Rob Labus has been replaced by SteveManzi ([email protected])while in the East Midlands region AmandaMorgan has handed over to Wayne Ball([email protected]).

The Thames and Medway Canal Asso-ciation has a new contact: David Rouse,60Sun Lane, Gravesend DA12 5HL, Tel: 01474362861, email:[email protected]

The contact for the Sussex Ouse Resto-ration Trust is Ted Lintott, 4 Farm Cottages,Parkfield Way, Haywards Heath RH16 4TB,Tel: 01444 414413, email: tedl@talktalknet

Finally David ‘Mr Mac’ McCarthy, WRGNorth West contact for the waste paper col-lections, has moved to 20 Andrew Avenue,Rawtenstall BB4 6EU, Tel: 01706 214696.

Amber on the Chesterfield

Mart

in L

udgate

Dear Deirdre I’m pregnant with my first childand find myself in a very difficult position. Oneof the other women in my local WRG group isexpecting a baby around the same time, sonaturally we both assumed our children wouldlead a camp together in 2034. But now a thirdmember of our group is pregnant and is insisting her child will also need a co-leader that year. How can I turn one of them down without giving offence?- Jane, OswaldtwistleDeirdre writes There’s a perfectly simple solution - one of these children will have to bethe cook. I suggest all three of you draw straws to determine which.

Dear Deirdre Can you tell me what’s the secret to leading a successful camp?- Sarah, CreweDeirdre writes Successful camp leadership is really only about making sure the keys arein the right place at the right time. This may sound simple but bear in mind you’ll have 2sets of van keys, one set of hall keys, and usually keys for the locals’ tool container as wellas sundry keys for showers, diggers, dumpers, and site gate padlocks. Oh, and about 3hours sleep a night.

It’s quite hard, after 3 hours sleep, to remember to stop the volunteer who’s feelingpoorly going back to the accomm carrying the only keys you’ve got to the van which you’llneed to drive the rest of the volunteers for showers after site, whilst your cook (who has theonly keys to the accomm) has gone off to Cirencester after a machine part you require, andon the cook’s keychain is the key to the container that you need to lock up when you leavesite. Oh and Bungle needs the keys to both vans by 5pm because of a complex 3-way vanswap you’re far too tired to understand.

Fortunately I picked up a handy solution a few years back after watching a film about aprison escape. Now whenever I lead a camp, I always take a dozen bars of soap along withme. Soften them up a bit and make soap impressions of all the keys right at the start of it.That way you can just have copies made as you go along. For the cost of a few bars of Doveyou’ve no need to try to wrap your head around WRG’s tortuous van logistics. Which ISTRONGLY advise you not to try doing.

Infill

Spotted in Ireland…

Now that’s am honour for WRGiebricklayers to aim for – ‘Knight of theTrowel’!

Incidentally in case you’re won-dering where the name ‘Crom a boo’comes from, it was the war cry of theKildare branch of the Fitzgerald family,and comes from the name of theirhome, Croom Castle. Now it mightseem unlikely to strike fear into thehearts of their enemies, but let’s face it,it would have been worse if they’dcome from Peak Castle in Derbyshire…

And finally...

...after an unfortunate drowning incident in a city canal, a police officer from the neighbour-hood policing team was recently quoted in the press: “The reality is when you have a busycity, a vibrant night time economy, you have 500 licensed premises in 2.2 square miles, youput a big canal system through the middle of that and you are going to end up with somefatalities which is dreadful.”

Indeed. What on earth can William Jessop have been thinking of in 1794?

Navvies 265

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