Navvies

waterway recovery group

No 195 Oct - Nov 2002

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Cover photo: the volunteers on Camp 0219 on the Grantham Canal pose for an end-of-camp pho-tograph in the bottom of one of the three locks at Cropwell Bishop that they have just finishedclearing. Full camp report in the next issue. (Martin Ludgate) But it isn't just about Canal Camps:much useful restoration work is also done by our regional groups' weekend 'digs' such as theseLondon WRG work-parties (above) on the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation restoring the tail-bridge at Creeting Lock (Martin Ludgate) and (below) building some rather permanent-looking 'tem-porary dams' in the Wey & Arun above Loxwood so that these pounds can be re-watered to form aseries of reservoirs to supply the navigable Loxwood Link section, soon to be extended southwardsnow that the Loxwood Aqueduct has been built (Ed Walker)

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Contributions......are always welcome, whether hand-written,typed, on 3½" floppy disk, CR-ROM or by e-mail. Photos also welcome: slides or colouror b/w prints. Please state whether you wantyour prints back; I assume that you want slidesreturned. Digital / computer scanned photosalso welcome, either on floppy / CD-ROM or ase-mail attachments, preferably JPG format.Send them to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35,Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or e-mailtomartin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk. Press date forNo 196: November 1st.

SubscriptionsA year's subscription (6 issues) is available for aminimum of £1.50 (please add a donation if pos-sible) to Sue Watts, 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ. Cheques to"Waterway Recovery Group" please.

Visit our web site www.wrg.org.uk for all the latest news of WRG's activities

In this issue:Chairman Aston Locks are opening! 4-5Somerset Coal Canal report on therestoration of Midford Aqueduct 6-8Cromford Canal sponsored walk report 9-11Bugsworth progress report 12Letters to thr editor 13-16Newcastle some little-known canals 17Boat Club win an award at Huddersfield 18-19Diary canal camps and working parties 20-22Photofeature "A year in the life" 23-26Camp reports from the Grand Western,Mon & Brec, Cotswolds, Mont,Wilts & Berks, Ispwich and Sleaford 27-40Logistics with Little Wolf 41Coming soon autumn and winter events42-43Bits & Pieces 44Noticeboard 45Infill 'Recipes for disaster' 46

And next time......we hope to bring you reports from the 'Na-tional', Bonfire Bash, KESCRG's 25th birthdaydig and the autumn Canal Camps. Plus a DigDeep update, details of the BCN Cleanup, andinfo about next year's Camps. And a story aboutGosty Hill Tunnel!

Contents

EditorialThank you

Firstlymy thanks toChris Spencer for generouslysponsoring the extra cost of the colour pages inthis issue. We'd like to produce another colourissue next year, so if anyone else would like tomake a donation to cover the extra expense,please get in touch with the editor. Thank you.

As well as four pages in colour, this issue also hasrathermore black-and-white pages than usual. Wehave decided that as this is the issue that containsmost of the summer Canal Camp reports (thankyou to everyone who sent them in), rather than re-stricting it to the 32 pages (plus Bonfire Bash form)that is the maximum that a 19p stamp allows, itwas worth us paying extra to make a larger maga-zine. 16 pages larger, in fact. Which means thatgiven that there are actually only 14 pages of CampReports, the non-canal-camp-reports content hasbeen increased too. Soeverybody should behappy- even those who don't like reading Camp Reports!(said Martin, optimistically...)

On the subject of the non-camp-reports content...There are four such articles in this issue, none ofwhich have any direct relevence to WRG right atthe moment, but all of which I included because Ithought they would be of interest to the readers -and I'll be happy to print more such articles.

On one (Cromford) work has yet to start buthopefully will soon; on another (Bugsworth) wehave been very involved in the past, but hopethat we will not be needed in future as (fingerscrossed!) TWT and IWPS will finally have it water-tight and permanently open in a couple of years.

That leaves the Somersetshire Coal Canal(whose canal society have carried out restora-tion work, but are not proposing full restoration orreopening to boats) and the Newcastle-under-Lyme canals where so far nobody has started arestoration scheme, and which don't strike oneas a particularly likely prospect for reopening. Yet.

But I wouldn't be too surprised if we're workingon these canals in a couple of years, and reo-pening them a few years later.

Impossible? They said that about the Rochdale,and the Huddersfield, and...

Martin Ludgate

This particular Chairman�s piece is full ofdates, folks, so get your diaries out...

We have arranged lots of training for the next fewmonths as there is some great work coming upnext year that is going to present quite a chal-lenge and I think it best if we do a little prepara-tion. However please note that all of these train-ing events are open to everyone in the restora-tionmovement, not just those of us un red t-shirts,and spaces are limited - so book early.

Training Weekend: May 10th-11th

As I mentioned in the last Navvies our traditionalTraining Weekend is confirmed for 10th-11th May atBritish Waterways centre at Hatton. For those thatdon�t know, this event offers intensive training ses-sions in the sort of skills that we encounter when onsite. If you comealong you can get trained on all sortsof things from excavators to bricklaying, and cater-ing to scaffolding. This is open to everyonewhetheryou are one of our seasoned regulars or whetheryou have yet to grasp your first shovel.

An article in the next �Navvies� will give full detailsof what courses we are offering, together with abooking form and all the other details.

More Training: later this autumn

This autumnTheWaterwaysTrust (but with the lec-turers being experienced people fromvarious otherorganisations including ourselves, BW and BTCV)are also offering a number of one-day courses. Thesubjects are Fundraising (Saturday 28th Septem-ber atHatton; Friday 11th October at EllesmerePort;Saturday 16th November at Hatton),Working withvolunteers (Saturday 19th October at Hatton; Sat-urday 2nd November at Hatton), Heritage and en-vironment (Saturday 26th October at Hatton; Sat-urday 7th December atHatton) andHealth&Safety(Saturday 9th November at Hatton; Saturday 30thNovember at Hatton) There are no course feesbut there will be a charge of £15 to cover printedmaterials, refreshments etc.Anyonegoing on thesecourses should be supported by a relevant organi-sation (such as WRG or a canal society) and com-mit to doing at least 10 days volunteer work nextyear. (which shouldn�t be difficult for most of us!)

These courses are really aimed at those involvedin the management of restoration schemes butanyone should be able to learn from them - andwho can afford to turn down good training frompeople who really know their stuff? If you wantto know more about these courses contact meor see the WRG web site www.wrg.org.uk.

Even more training:Feb 1st-2nd; Mar 1st-2nd; Apr 5th-6th

In co-operation with BWandTheWaterways Trust(and with additional funding by IWA) we are goingto be running some longer termcoursesnext spring.These courses will be two-day affairs and will re-sult - where appropriate - in a formal qualification,such as CITB or similar. The exact mix of coursesis yet to be confirmed but currently the plan is tooffer training is areas likeheritagebricklaying, stone-masonry,metalwork, health and safety, excavators,dumpers, cranes/slinging and all sorts of things likethat. In order to make the courses as relevant tocurrent restoration projects as possible we won�tfinalise the coursesuntil we confirmourwork sched-ule for 2003 which means that (you guessed it)details will be in the next �Navvies�.

However we hope to have the information availableon our web-site (www.wrg.org.uk) in Mid Novemberand we will publicise it via the Canal Camps mailinglist. If you don�t have web access then please contactIan Wingfield at Head Office to register your interestand we will send details through the post.

Montgomery Reopening: April 4th/5th/6th

I�m sure you guessed it anyway, but the reopen-ing I alluded to last time was Aston locks on theMontgomery. Yes it is finally going to happen,now that all the work is completed below the locks.I should imagine there will be a report on ourcontribution this summer somewhere in this is-sue [yes there is - p32-33 ...Ed] The actual offi-cial opening will on the Friday (so as to ensurean adequate supply of dignitaries) but if you can�tmake it on the Friday then we will be planning aweekend of fun and frolics. The local IWAbranchare holding a rally there over the weekend (bookyour boats in via me) and they are encouragingthe boaters to offer lifts down the locks for thosewho have worked on the restoration. But don�tworry if you can�t get there that weekend, as thelocks will stay open after the weekend so it�s notas though there is any rush. The whole sectionhas greened over and it really does look stun-ning, giving a real indication of how the rest ofthe canal will look when restored. The Saturdaynight will be a repeat of the Race Night that weran this year at Lichfield which was tremendousfun and gave us a chance to raise some muchneeded funds for our minibus replacement.

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ChairmanTheAston Locks opening isfinally going to happen!

So a whole load of dates for your diary - anddon�t forget that most of the regional groups havepublished their dates for 2003.

Other things youmay be interested to hear about are:

Wild over Waterways (WoW)

Well anyone who was at the National in Hudders-field cannot have failed to notice the high profileof the WoW initiative. This was a chance to startto recruit the next generation of waterway enthu-siasts as well as help make the festival a morefamily orientated event. So kids were able to par-ticipate in 26 events run by all the organisationsinvolved in the festival including the legendaryWRG bricklaying event. This is now proven to bea 'good thing' and it may well be available foryour event. The WoW team are keen to get theirwork to as many events and festivals as practicalin 2003 and are making up activity kits and guide-line packs so that you can help spread the wordand get kids involved in waterways. If you thinkyour event, large or small, would be able to hostWoW activities then please contact me initially,and I put you in touch with the right people.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Also concerned with the more youthful end ofthe navvying range, WRG is now an official Ac-cess Organisation for the DoE award scheme.What exactly does this mean? Well for most ofyou it means very little, except that it is nice toknow that we meet the standards they require.However it is another example of that trendiestof words �partnership�. It is a two way dealwhereby they give us amuch higher profile in theirmovement and in return we can start people ontheir award scheme. In otherwords people can signup for the scheme with us during a Ca-nal Camp and we can fill in the residen-tial section of their award so that theyhave a kick-start towards their award.Details will be circulated to all leaders.

Dirty pictures

Remember I told you about our web-site award? Well we have spent someof the money we won on a fancy digitalcamera. Now this will be out and abouton camps and digs, and will hopefullymean that all our publicity pictures willlook a little less dated - andmaybe eventhat pictures of your weekend/CanalCamp will be on the web before youget home. There is even the plan thatvolunteers will be able to generate theirown personalised postcards to sendhome to their loved ones.

And before anyone moans about just spendingmoney on frivolous things: it will mean that wecan accurately survey and record features be-fore we take them down, so it should improveour work record as well.

Speeding?

One final moan that I have been asked by theWRG Board to raise: please remember that youhave a duty to inform the WRG Board (via HeadOffice) if anymaterial fact changes regarding yourinsurance situation. By �material fact� I mean any-thing that you would have to tell your insurers if itwas your personal insurance. So medical condi-tions, speeding fines and prosecutions may allcount, depending on what type of equipment youare operating. For example a speeding ticketwould be relevant to van driving, but not dump-ers or excavators. On the other hand a convic-tion for �driving without due care and attention�would be relevant to the operation of any vehi-cle. And a medical condition might well affectoperation of any machinery, not just vehicles.

This is important, folks as it will affect whetherour work is covered by insurance - so please dolet us know if anything changes.

See you in Wales?

As you read this we will all be running around toget the Bonfire Bash on the Mon and Brec setup. I do hope to see lots of you there, it�s a greatchance to catch up with mates and see how andwhat they are doing.

Hugs and Kisses

Mike Palmer

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Aston Locks on the Montgomery Canal: be there for theOpening on April 4th 2003. Photo by Martin Ludgate.

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Feature (1)Midford Aqueduct on theSomersetshire Coal Canal

Somersetshire Coal Canal:the restoration of Midford Aqueduct

The Somersetshire Coal Canal Society aims topreserve the remains of the canal but is not, atpresent, attempting full restoration. However,when the residents of Midford, near Bath, de-cided they would either have to restore their aq-ueduct or risk losing it, the SCCS was glad of theopportunity to help.

History

Midford Aqueduct was built at the point wherethe southern branch of the Somersetshire CoalCanal from Radstock crossed the Cam Brook tojoin the northern branch coming from Paulton.In fact, no boat from Radstock ever reached theaqueduct because the elevated southern branchstopped short of Midford and the coal wasbrought down into the valley by a gravity-oper-ated plateway (an early form of railway).

By 1815, the plateway had been extended backalong the towpath of the southern branch all theway to Radstock and a complex marshalling yardterminus had been built adjacent to the aque-duct, with three transfer basins.

The whole site became redundant in 1871 whenthe southern branch was bought-out for the build-ing of the Somerset & Dorset Railway. Twenty

years later, the basins and aque-duct were filled up as part of a rub-bish tipping scheme for Bath andleft to disintegrate.

Restoration

The official unveiling ceremony forthe restored Midford Aqueduct onthe Somersetshire Coal Canal fi-nally took place this July. It was theculmination of a long series of ad-ventures and misadventures for allconcerned and there were timeswhen the whole project seemeddoomed to failure.

How many other canal projectshave had to contend with no lessthan three '50-year flood' events insuccession - followed by a '100-year flood'? ....and all in the spaceof 3 months.

The idea of repair was first raisedseriously in the mid 1990s: by thenthe aqueduct had reached a sorrystate and the local Midford Environ-ment Group was concerned that abad winter flood could start a col-lapse and lead to demolition of thewhole structure. In conjunction withthe Avon Industrial Buildings Trustand the Somersetshire Coal CanalSociety they set about applying fora Heritage Lottery Fund grant.Originally the intention was just tostabilise the ruin, but despite theextra cost, full restoration was de-cided to be the best option.

SomersetshireCoal Canal

Kennet& AvonCanalto Bath

Kennet& AvonCanal toReadingTimsbury

Radstock

Midford

Wellow

CombeHay

PeasedownSt John

Short section ofRadstock branchincluding MidfordAqueduct openedabout 1804, used fortranshipment toplateway until aban-doned in 1871.

Timsbury - LimpleyStoke length opened1805, closed 1898,abandoned 1904 andparts used later forGWR Camerton-Limpley Stoke railwayline (now closed).

LimpleyStoke

Radstock-Twinhoe lengthopened around 1804,replaced by horse-drawnplateway on towpath in1815, abandoned 1871 andmainly incorporated intoSomerset & Dorset Railway(now closed).

Twinhoe

Twinhoe-Midford lengthof Radstock Branch ofcanal never built: 'tem-porary' plateway builtinstead around 1804,extended along towpathof rest of RadstockBranch in 1815, aban-doned 1871 and partlyincorporated into Som-erset & Dorset Railway(now closed).

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Feature (1)"...theywouldhavetorestoretheiraqueduct or risk losing it..."

Before contractors could be appointed, the sitehad to be cleared so that the scope of the taskcould be gauged. The Somersetshire Coal Ca-nal Society's work party was asked to help and ittook a whole day just to remove enough foliageto be able to see what was there

At this point, it dawned on the various partiesthat no-one actually knew how the aqueduct hadbeen constructed. Various parts of the structurehad been exposed by partial collapses over theyears but the only way to get a clear idea of theinternal construction was to dig a number of ex-ploratory trenches across the rubbish infill.

The SCCS work party was called in again and,guided by local industrial archaeologists, aug-mented by other interested groups, and even aspecialist in Victorian bottles, proceeded to in-vestigate the site. During three months of fran-tic activity, the infi l l was excavated withtrenches, holes and pits. At the end of eachsession, the workings had to be refilled and thesurface levelled-off in time for the local herd towend its lethargic way to themilking parlour, leav-ing rich deposits to be removed by the next workparty.

As the result of these investigations, the innerstructure of the aqueduct was worked out - aswas the reason why it had suffered somuch dam-age. The inner trough was separated from theouter structure by a thick barrier of puddling claywhich had allowed trees to get a foothold. Thepressure of their roots was unable to collapsethe trough inwards because of the rubbish infill,so it had pushed the parapet walls out into thestream instead.

The contract for themain work was won by the firmof St Blaise, who are specialists in the restorationof historic structures and well versed in this sort ofwork; but they were unable to begin work immedi-ately because of a legal problem involving mislaiddeeds. When they did finally get their equipmenton site, the winter rains began with a vengeance.

The catchment of the Cam Brook is nearly allrun-off water with relatively few significant springs;in a storm, the water level can rise and fall sur-prisingly quickly. The St Blaize crew could onlywatch in dismay as the whole site flooded timeand again, sometimes higher than the undersideof the aqueduct arches, sweeping away some oftheir own plant and equipment along with thelarge chunks of debris coming downstream.Amazingly, despite its relatively fragile condition,the aqueduct remained standing - apparentlyunaffected by this battering.

Over the years, the aqueduct had been used asan easily-accessible local source of buildingstone, so a considerable amount of replacementmaterial had to be found from somewhere. Toour work party, one lump of Bath Stone lookedlike any other, but thanks to the expertise avail-

able to the restorers,the original quarrywas identified and re-opened specially forthis occasion.

The quality of the newmasonry work was as-tounding, with com-pound angles on thecutwaters and com-plex mouldings andpillasters. Hiddenfrom view, equallycomplex and sophisti-cated engineeringtechniques were usedto repair the damagedstonework, wafer-thinin places, withoutcompromising theoverall authenticity ofthe structure.Midford Aqueduct before the start of restoration work. (Roger Halse)

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Feature (1)"Nothing on this job ransmoothly for very long..."

Nothing on this job ran smoothly for very long.Even something as simple as tipping a load ofstream dredgings turned into a nightmare. Thegood wholesome organic silt from the stream bedturned out to conceal an unwanted burden ofstone lumps. Just large enough to smash up agrass cutter blade but too small to remove by ma-chine. Of course, the local landowner wouldn'thave asked for the sludge to be spread over hispasture if he had known this - and by the time hefound out it was too late.

It would have been an expensive business toemploy the contractor's skilled masons to stone-pick a two acre field, so the job fell to voluntarylabour - the SCCS Work party spent two wholedays on hands and knees, crawling to-and-froacross the ground, loading stones into buckets andwheelbarrowing them back to the aqueduct for useas infill. There was a double benefit from this workbecause not only did it save contractor's paymentsbut the extra work counted as the 'matching fund-ing' to which the SCCS contributed.

The stone problem was relatively minor comparedwith the further havoc wrought to the timetable asFoot & Mouth Disease spread its misery across thecountry. On a slightly happier note, the 'unexplodedbomb' which cleared the site at short notice turnedout to be nothing worse than an old gas bottle.

With a final glass- and pottery-picking sessionfrom the SCCS work party, the site was tidied,the job declared completed and St Blaise invitedeveryone concerned to a celebration,

Adrian Tinniswood of the Heritage Lottery Fund,Ian Constantinides of St Blaise and CouncillorRoger Symonds of Bath & N.E.Somerset Councilcut several tapes and used the occasion to pub-licly thank all the groups and individuals who hadworked on the project. In a spirit of jovial improvi-sation, the newly carved plaque on the upstreamparapetwas unveiled usingMikeChapman'smoth-er's velvet chair cover and everyone congratulatedeveryone else on a good job well done.

Mary Stacey, the Council Officer who had suc-cessfully navigated the project through oceansof red tape sighed with relief: "Well, that's the endof that, then". "No," replied someone from theSCCS, "it's just the beginning, there's ten moremiles to look at yet".

AdrianTuddenham,BobParnell,Mike Chapman

Somersetshire Coal Canal Society

Above: restoration of the arches in progress.Below: the restored aqueduct. Below right:SCCS volunteers on stone-picking duty. Photosby Adrian Tuddenham

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CromfordReport from the Friends of theCromford's sponsored walk

Friends of the Cromford Canal :Sponsored Walk Sunday 8th September 2002

We arrived at the start of the Cromford canal atLangley Mill at 9.15 am sharp on a bright Sun-day morning to find 97 other like minded soulsand a dog ready to set out to walk the line of theCromford Canal. The aim of the walk was to raiseboth funds and public support for the Friends ofthe Cromford Canal. The first lock (no. 14) and anever-extending section of canal northwards havebeen restored by members of the Erewash Pres-ervation and Development Association and plansfor a short diversion and the resiting of the nextlock (no. 13) were recently mentioned in Navvies.

Unfortunately it was not possible to walk this firststretch north from Great Northern basin to justthe other side of the A610 road. This was be-cause the right of way shown on the ordinancesurvey map at this point doesn�t exist at the mo-ment. A way round this stretch had been wellsign posted and we joined the line of the canaljust south of Vickers lock (no. 12).

From here to the �Long Pound� near Jacksdale,the canal is no more and there is no sign to beseen of locks 11, 10, 9 and 8. The route took usover pleasant fields and through a nature reserve.However, we knewwewere on the right trackwhenwe climbed a stile level with the parapet of SlaleysBridge number 40. Not much further on we cameto the remains of a railway bridge and at this pointwe had our first sight of the reed filled canal bed.

From here, we walked along an obvious towpathpast stretches of waterfilled canal interspersedwith the remains of the Ironville flight of 7 locks.The lock chambers still look in good condition,although filled with plant growth, having had someremedial and conservation work done on themby the Erewash Canal Preservation and Devel-opment Association in the early 1970�s. All signsof lock number 1, however, have disappearedhaving been swept away by the Codnor ParkReservoir flood relief scheme of the late 1970�s.

Just before the reservoir is a handsome stonebridge. This carried the towpath over the junc-tion of the now largely filled in Pinxton Arm. Thearm wound its way northwards via Pye Bridge tothe coal wharf at the edge of Pinxton village.Codnor Park Reservoir is now a well tended pic-nic and fishing spot well used by the inhabitantsof Ironville. It was at an adjacent car park that wesigned in at the end of the first section of our walk.The snack van here was doing excellent trade inbacon and sausage cobs for the hungry walkers.

TheCromfordCanal

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Suitably replete, (but not all of us!!), we set offtowards the eastern portal of Butterley tunnel.This tunnel collapsed due to subsidence in theearly years of the last century. The canal, as itpasses the reservoir, is filled in but the wateredsection reappears at the western edge of the res-ervoir and takes you to the next road crossing atthe Newlands Inn. Beyond here is a short poundup to the tunnel portal. At the top of the cutting isthe terminus of the narrow gauge railway fromthe Midland Railway Centre and special trainshad been laid on to carry the walkers to SwanwickJunction. Here we waited for our next train rideto Hammersmith station, which was spectacularlypowered by a class 46 diesel loco at one endand the Duchess of Sutherland at the other. Inthis way we avoided the trek over the tunnel andalso provided the highlight of the day for manywalkers... All this and steam trains too!

From Hammersmith station, we made our wayvia a road bridge under the A38 and down a foot-path, which brought us into a deep cutting andthe barely discernible western portal of the tun-nel. A short distance further on we had to climbthe embankment of the busy A610 road, whichcrosses the canal with a piped culvert. Down theother side, we continued alongside an obviouscanal bed to the edge of Lower Hartshay village.Here the canal vanished at a fence, the line be-yond having been filled in and grassed over.About quarter of a mile further on we came towhat appeared to be a restored section of canalcomplete with stone accommodation bridge butit is just a short section which has been dug outby an enterprising farmer for use as a fishingpond.

From here, the line of the canal swings north-wards towards the A610 and the Excavator Inn.The car park of this pub is built on the line of thecanal. Many walkers found it impossible to walkpast the open door of the pub and liquid refresh-ments were taken here along with our picniclunches. Just beyond is the short Buckland Hol-low tunnel that is easily identifiable as a canaltunnel and can be walked through.

The next length runs along side the road andalthough the bed is dry and rubbish filled it is

easy to follow. Manyof the houses furtheron have appropri-ated the canal bedfor fertile allotmentsand chicken pensetc. The access roadto Lockwood�s workshas cut right throughthe canal formationbut the line is againeasily picked uponce beyond thispoint. Barely half amile further the canaloriginally swung rightand over a long em-bankment/aqueductwhich crossed theroad, railway andriver Amber on itsway to Bull Bridge.Very little of this nowremains other thanat the northern endwhere a bungalowhas been neatlyshoe-horned be-tween the parapetwalls of the embank-ment.

CromfordThe car-park of the 'ExcavatorInn' is on the line of the canal!

The walk begins at Lock 14 Langley Mill, the only navigable lock on the Cromford,restored in the 1970s by ECPDA as part of the Erewash restoration. (Brian Dominic)

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Cromford"We look forward to the daywhen work starts again..."

Shortly before Bull Bridge, we made our secondstop for signing in at the end of this second sec-tion of the walk. A little beyond Bull Bridge thecanal has been obliterated firstly by Stevenson�sPaint and Dye Works and perhaps more damag-ingly by a Transco gas distribution depot. Thediversion around this area was both convolutedand strenuous but it brought us down to the fan-tastically picturesque Ambergate to Cromfordsection.

This section is now owned by Derbyshire CountyCouncil and extensive work was carried out inthe 1970�s by the now defunct Cromford CanalSociety. All the structures on this length are inincredibly good condition and are well maintained.The only problem is that there is very little depthof water in the duckweed covered channel. Thearea is designated as a linear nature reserve andunpowered craft (small dinghies and canoes) areallowed to use it with the consent of the countycouncil. A short distance along this stretch amostwelcome refreshment stop was provided by twoof the �Friends� in their beautiful back garden.Drinks and home-made biscuits went down a treatalong with a quick visit to the in-house potterystudio. There are no locks on this section be-yond the tunnel and the towpath fromAmbergateto Cromford is very popular especially on sunnySundays like the one we were experiencing.

Beyond Whatstandwell wecame to a reed filled �wide�just before Gregory tunneland after this the LeawoodArm forms a junction to theright. A swing bridge tookus across the canal and wewalked over the impressiveriver Derwent Aqueduct.Immediately over the aq-ueduct is the Leawoodpumping station, whichwas used to pump waterfrom theRiver Derwent intothe canal but only at week-ends! The pumping stationhas its own preservationsociety that has restoredand now maintains the1846 steam pump and itsadjacent boilers. Althoughopen for visits it was, un-fortunately, not in steam.

It was now only a short dis-tance to the next swingbridge that took us to theinterchange sheds andworkshops of the Cromfordand High Peak Railway.

Here we enjoyed an ice cream and a sit downbefore the remaining ¾ mile to the warehousesat the end of the Cromford canal.

The walk took most of us, with stops and the rail-way journey, 7½ hours and a good time was hadby all. It was amazing to see how much of thislong derelict canal still remains and apart from afew obvious major obstructions e.g. the tunnel,Bull Bridge aqueduct and the gas depot, thereappear to be few other major problems. Oncerestored this canal will not only be a valuable andbeautiful addition to the national network but alsowill provide much needed development impetusin the Jacksdale, Ironville and Pinxton areas. Welook forward to the day when work starts againon the Cromford canal and hope that WRG willhave its role to play in this.

Steve and Sue Johnson

On the towpath at Stoneyford: not much sign of the canal here at themoment. (Brian Dominic)

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ProgressBehindthescenes(andbelowthesurface) at Bugsworth Basin

Bugsworth Basin progress

Although no progress can be seen on the groundat Bugsworth a lot has been going on behindthe scenes in an effort to decide how best to curethe leaks from the Basin once and for all. Lack ofboats, low water levels and the consequent cos-metic deterioration of the whole of the Basin andEntrance Canal is very frustrating to us all butreally the problems facing IWPS and BW are im-mense and time must be allowed to �get it right�.

The earlier ground investigations proved inconclusive and BW commissioned a ground temperaturesurvey for which the Basin and Entrance Canal had to be refilled to NWL. This was achieved but onlyjust, as on arrival for an inspection it was found that the filled basin had emptied virtually overnight via anew and large leak in the bed close to the garden wall of Canal House. This was further evidence (ifany were needed) of the parlous condition of the structure of the whole of the Lower Basin (con-structed c1835) and the short Lower Basin Arm which was constructed at about the same time. Theoriginal line of the canal and Upper Basin (constructed c1799) are believed not to leak.

The total leakage through the Basin is in the order of 7Ml per day which is clearly unsustainable andunacceptable. The areas of leakage were as suspected by IWPS over many years. What we havenow is a professional confirmation and a quantifying of the amount of water loss through the seri-ously deteriorating lining system of the Entrance Basin, the Lower Basin and the Lower Basin Arm.

To correct this situation means a very innovative approach especially as the Basin is a ScheduledAncient Monument. Everything done on the site has to have the approval of English Heritage whoare not likely to permit wholesale demolition and rebuild even if we wanted that. At the time of writingthe remedial approach seems to favour a mix of a flexible liner, wall grouting and a bentonite (orsimilar) slurry wall between the Basin and the Blackbrook. British Waterways and consultants MottMacdonald are now working on the finer design points and meetings will soon be arranged withEnglish Heritage to agree methods and safeguards to protect the rest of the monument whilst workis in progress. Whatever happens the disruption is likely to be severe with many months of work bycontractors.

The funding has not yet been finalised but it is hoped by IWPS and BW that the Basin will be openfor boats again by Spring 2004.

Ian Edgar

Peak Forest Canal: Bugsworth Basin complex

A6 bypass

Blackbrook

Entrancebasin

'The Wide'

Lower BasinLower Basin Arm

Middle Basin

Upper Basin

'The Navigation'

SIlk Hill Bridge

page 13

LettersRestore the Kington Leomin-ster and Stourport Canal!

Hi Martin,Well, it took a long time - about 2 years after Ifirst wrote to Navvies asking if there was anychance of restoration, but I am pleased to seethat the Caldon Canal Society are now taking theUttoxeter Branch on board.Now all we need to do is persuade the RochdaleCanal Society or Huddersfield Canal Society to dolikewise with the Fairfield Branch of the AshtonCanal, with a short extension (as originally pro-posed) to the Rochdale, and the Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust to adopt the Wye and Lugg Naviga-tions and the Kington, Leominster and Stourport Canal, as a longterm aim. Perhaps the Birmingham CanalSociety will also restore the link between the Wednesbury Oak Loop and the Walsall Canal, the BradleyLocks Branch, as they once proposed, to ensure the survival of the Loop and add another useful link.I note the advent of the newly proposed Bedford-Milton Keynes Link. In some ways I am surprisedthat they did not try to restore the Newport Pagnell Branch and link this to the Great Ouse, butperhaps Milton Keynes is the clue here.This does make me wonder, however, how do we stand as regards canals which obtained Acts butwere never built, eg the link between Bishops Stortford and Cambridge which required a certain sumof money to be raised before building commenced, or those which had Acts but were never finished,eg the Dorset & Somerset Canal (and indeed the Kington, Leominster and Stourport Canal alreadymentioned). Do such Acts become null and void after a period or are they still valid? With so muchnow at last being achieved on the waterway scene, are such dreams impossible?On a completely different subject, my mother in law, who lives in Kingston Upon Thames, has an oldair raid shelter in her back garden which she would love to get rid of. It is quite a large structure withseveral imperial-size bricks in it and, of course, a substantial solid roof (useful as hardcore?). If WRGwould be interested in demolishing it and reutilising the bricks, I will put you in touch. She just wantsit gone. Please let me know if you are interested.Regards

Brian AndrewsA few editorial comments on Brian's points...As I understand it, the M60 motorway has unfortunately made a bit of a mess of the Fairfield Branchin the area where a link to the Rochdale might have been an option (but perhaps somebody morefamiliar with the area can comment on whether such a link is still feasible); however some significantremains of the rest of it survive especially in the attractive Daisy Nook area, but I do not know whether itwould be likely to attract enough interest in restoration to overcome the blockages between there andthe main line, if it were only to be restored as a dead end branch. (Not that I've anything against shortdead-ends, but they don't always seem to attract the same support as through routes.) Incidentallyone new link nearby that does look likely to happen is between the Rochdale and Huddersfield acouple of locks up from the junction at Dale Street, incorporating a former arm of the Ashton.I forsee any major improvements for navigation on the Wye attracting opposition from nature / fishing/ unpowered boating interests who would rather keep the river as it is; on the other hand there hasbeen interest in the Kington, Leominster & Stourport recently (and I've received a proposal from oneMike Handford that new links could connect this with other border waterways such as the Mont); Iunderstand a new KL&S canal society has been formed - anyone got any details, please?Reinstatement of the potentially useful Wednesbury Oak / Bradley Locks link from the BCN MainLine to the Walsall was looked at a couple of years ago, and I gather that it would not be too difficult- would anyone local to the area like to comment on its likelihood?As regards the choice of the basic route for the Grand Union - Great Ouse link (rather than thedetailed planning, which is still going on) I gather that one reason for not considering a link based onan 'Upper Great Ouse Navigation' and the Newport Pagnell Canal is that there was an agreementwith other interests in the 1970s that if those other groups did not object to restoration up to Bedford,the navigation interests would not push for extension of navigation beyond Bedford. Another reasonis that a more southerly route passes through some ex-industrial (former brickworks) areas whichwould be more likely to qualify for 'regeneration' type funding.

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LettersIs there a cartoonist in thehouse?

I'm afraid that it is unlikely that Acts of Parlia-ment for such canals as the Kington, Leominsterand Stourport would be much use today - notonly did they often specify expiry dates by whichtime the canal needed to be completed or an-other Act obtained; they also tended to specifythe amount of money that the canal companywere authorised to spend on building it.Finally on the subject of the air-raid shelter: it'susually the local canal society rather than WRG

that gets involved in acquiring building materials for restoration projects. So if any canal society isinterested in salvaging some bricks from Kingston, please contact the Editor and I'll put you in touch.And I daresay there's a chance that a few London WRG volunteers might be able to help youdemolish it.

Martin LudgateDear MartinI am currently writing what is intended to be a humorous book about first-time hirers on the canals,and hope that one of your readers might be interested and talented enough to illustrate my effortwith appropriate original cartoons.Anybody interested in this venture should write to me at the attached address and I can send theman outline of my book (titled �Overboard�) plus a couple of draft chapters.If we can get the results published and make a pound or two, no doubt a certain organisation (!)noted for its red vans should see a slice.As for �Navvies�, I still think it�s great and there is no need for added colour. The characters are allcolourful enough. Great stuft!Thanks. Yours in hope,

John Cook1 Richmond Hill Avenue, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1BG

Our regular 'Last Ditch' cartoonist has said that unfortunately he doesn't have enough time availableto be able to take on the above work, so it's over to the rest of you! ...EdDear MartinI read with interest your editorial in �Navvies� (No.194), in particular the piece on �the scope of restoration�.Being a relative newcomer to WRG - I�ve been a member for around four or five years - I was notaware of an apparent conflict between boaters and nature conservationists.Is there such a thing as a nature conservationist? I may be categorised as being of this breed as I workin a country park as an environmental education officer. I go about my duties with great zest, hopefullymaking people aware of the threats posed to our countryside through some agricultural practices, ur-banisation, pollution, wanton vandalism etc. etc. I tend to consider myself as an environmentalist.I can look at both sides of an argument and realise that it is impossible to �conserve� everything as itwas. Decisions have to be made to prioritise some of the endangered or threatened species andhabitats. Local Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) have been drawn up to assist environmentalists andothers by identifying threats to habitats and species and making it clear what should be done and bywhom. BAPs outline solutions and actions needed to be undertaken, encourage partnerships, arepractical and pragmatic and recognise other individuals� and groups� priorities. I repeat: "recogniseother individuals� and groups� priorities".Any environmentalist pronouncing him/herself as a �nature conservationist� should adhere to thisand recognise that boaters� needs should be considered when considering canal use. They mustremember that canals are man-made habitats, and the plants and animals associated with themwould not be there if the canals had not been built. I personally have no gripe with boaters on canals:that�s what canals are for. I would much rather see a canal being used by boats as it was intended, ratherthan being allowed to slowly fill in with vegetation before drying out completely. The building of thesecanals gave many species an opportunity to spread and increase. Canals are vital wildlife corridorsand the biggest threat to them is not boats but pollution and eutrophication (nutrient enrichment).

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Letters"Is there such a thing as anature conservationist?"

I do have some objections to some of the prac-tices carried out by British Waterways, particu-larly the use of metal pilings to reinforce thebanksides. This ultimately leads to the loss of thereed fringe and prevents water voles from con-structing burrows, but I can understand that thiswork is essential to prevent breaches and possi-ble water loss.I am pleased that British Waterways are now tak-ing these factors into consideration when carry-ing out improvements and are coming up with new ideas to preserve the reed fringe and conservewater voles' habitats.As far as I am concerned the only other area of a canal to really suffer - if that is the correct word - throughuse by boats is the central channel. Any submergedplants are not able to survive in this zone.Theonly otheroptionwould be to ban boats, allowing the canal to become overgrownwith reeds that without expensive, timeconsuming, regular maintenance programmes designed to keep some open water could result in the canaldrying out. �Nature conservationists� must learn to strike a balance between these two options.Work carried out by WRG is vitally important for the sake of canals in general, for canal boat ownersand for canal wildlife - and long may it continue to be so.I work in an area that once boasted three canals but sadly all have now gone and very little trace remainsof them. [SeeDavid�s article onp5] IfWRGhadbeenaroundonehundred years agomaybe thingswould havebeen different. The nearby town of Newcastle-under-Lyme might have still been linked to the main canalnetwork, boats could have �chugged� up from Stoke and moored outside the �Boat & Horses�, and wildlifewould have had a vital corridor to enable it to travel. Today wildlife has to negotiate the busy A34.Bestwishesandkeepup thegoodwork - and tell those so called �nature conservationists� to faceup to realities.Yours

David ButlerMy first thought on reading that David was 'not aware of an apparent conflict between boaters andnature conservationists' was "Where on earth have you been?!?" But thinking about it, it is actuallyseveral years since the 'navigation vs. conservation' debate was last covered in detail in 'Navvies'.So without boring those who read it last time by going over it all again I have to say that yes, I'm afraidthere are such conflicts, and they have led in various places to refusal to allow restoration work, refusalto allow a restored canal to be used by boats at all, and severe restrictions on boat numbers - of the orderof 1000 boat movements per year (BMY). That's 1000 single journeys, or 500 each way. To put this intocontext, the figure for the bottom end of the Llangollen (one of the busiest) is about 10000-13000 BMY,and that for the top end of the Ashby (a relatively quiet dead-end) is about 3000-4000. (Figures fromEugene Baston of BW - thanks!) I would expect the figure for a restored Montgomery Canal withunrestricted access to be somewhere between these two extremes - so a 1000-ish limit would be severe.And unfortunately it appears that the nature conservation interests have the powers to impose theserestrictions with little chance to appeal against them, no legitimate defence that 'we didn't mean tocreate a nature reserve' and an onus on the pro-navigation interests to fund any research to find outhow effective these boating limits actually are in protecting aquatic life.My second thought was that if only the majority of environmentalists took the same attitude as DavidButler, I don't think there would be a conflict between boaters and nature conservationists. Indeed,if anything David is more pro-navigation than I am! I would happily settle for navigation takingpriority on all the canals that were 'restored for boats' or 'saved from abandonment so that boaterscould enjoy them' rather than anything that was 'built for boats'.While I realise that sometimes steel piling is the most practical form of bank-protection, I too havereservations about its excessive use - it's not only unfriendly to the voles, but it's not exactly inkeeping with the traditional appearance of our historic waterways.And I agree that nature conservationists must 'learn to strike a balance'. So long as it's not the sortof 'balance' that means they support boating up to a point, but that they draw the line at over 500boats each way per year, on a canal that those of us who have been restoring it for 30 years areconfident will attract boaters in their thousands once it is open.

The Editor

page 16

Letters"Thank you to the unrehearsedWRG choir..."

Dear MartinI was interested in Dave Carnell�s comments onthe Environment Agency workshop he attended.Identification of invasive species is a good firststep but what happens next?The EA do not seem to be consistent in theirapproach. In Wales landowners with JapaneseKnotweed growing have been prosecuted andfined but in London they refuse to take action

against London Transport who consistently fail to deal with the weed.I am sure BW are more responsive but if others are permitted to let the plant grow and seed by theresponsible authorities it may all be wasted effort?

Bill FeatherstoneDear MartinPlease accept my humble apologies for denying you and Ian your rightful credit as leaders of aprevious Canal Camp. (Navvies 194, Camp Reports, page 8)I did, of course, completely mis-quote Dave Lamen. What I meant to say was not "...where Davehad led a canal camp working on its [Chalford' lock's] restoration" but... um... "...where Dave hadfound that he was easily led into a canal camp working on its restoration."Anyway, having seen how splendid Chalford Lock looks now, the only thing I�m actually sorryabout is that I didn�t get to work on it myself, er, under your superb leadership, etc etc. Can I gonow? [Well... actually to be pedantic it's 'Valley Lock, Chalford', not 'Chalford Lock', but I'll let itpass this time. ...Ed]Yours wrgily

Mark AntonyHi Martin,Just a quick note to thank Ali Womble for doing a difficult job of putting up with this interloper into theWRG Camp at Huddersfield. Thanks also to Ali the cook and her many minions who helped to feedthe masses, including the 'Weird' ones like myself. (Food Allergies).'And finally Esther' - a big 'well done' to the unrehearsed WRG Choir - Especially the stars Bungleand a certain Mr Ludgate - Brilliant. [Just wait till you hear 'Transit Rhapsody' ...Ed]See you next year (I�ll book in properly next time - Honest!),

Ken 'Lactose Free' WhapplesDear MartinIn reply to the question from John Hawkins (p21, issue 194 ); this year I attended camp 14 on TheMontgomery and thoroughly enjoyed myself.The work was stone-walling which I had not done for 25 years.The group was a good mix of interesting people: a 65-year-old Irishman from Canada, a selection ofstudents one aged just 19, a French-Canadian from Camberwell and his Belgian girlfriend, a Frenchcouple from Paris and two thirtysomething teachers... will give an idea of the cross section of the 20people who were there.Chris and Adrian (the teachers) who hadn�t met before the camp soon found they were on the samewavelength. Their humour was something akin to Monty Python and my jaw was aching at timesfrom laughing so much.The village hall where we stayed had recently been modernised with new toilets and washbasins. Atthe end of each day we were taken to the local leisure centre for a shower where the attendantsrefered to us as �the canal people�... sounds like a hippy thing!So it�s not �where have I booked this year?� but �where shall I book next year?�

Mike Rennolds (Highwayman)

page 17

Feature (2)The little-known NewcastleUnder Lyme Canals

The Lost Canals of Newcastle under Lyme

The town of Newcastle under Lyme in North Staf-fordshire lies to the west of Stoke on Trent, thecentre of the pottery industry.

By 1777 the Trent & Mersey or �Grand Trunk� Ca-nal was fully open throughout its length provid-ing a route to the ports of Liverpool and Hull. TheStaffs and Worcs, completed in 1772, providedan outlet to Bristol via the River Severn; the Cov-entry Canal, via the Oxford Canal would eventu-ally give a through route to London.

Newcastle under Lyme - despite a petition to Parlia-ment in 1765 - was bypassed, it being considered atthat time to be too expensive to construct a branch.Sir Nigel Gresley (1725-1787) and his son NigelBowyer Gresley (1753-1808) decided to construct acanal at their own expense from their coal-mines atApedale, north west of Newcastle. This gave them amonopoly for the sale of coal in the town for forty-twoyears.Thecanalwascompletedin1776andwassomethree miles in length without locks. In 1856 a railwaybranch was constructed and what remained of thecanal fell into disuse. At Apedale remnants of the ca-nal can be found: in particular traces of the northernbasin at Burley, the site of one of the collieries.

In 1796, some thirty-one years after the Trent &Mersey opening, a canal branch was finally madetoNewcastle connecting it to themain network.TheNewcastle Canal was four miles in length and levelthroughout its length. It left the Trent & Mersey atStoke, north of the Glebe Street Bridge (No.113). Itran west to Trent Vale before turning north runningparallel to the present dayA34 to Newcastle. It wasnever a profitable canal, its main cargo being limefor kilns at Newcastle. The lack of a link between itand Gresley�s Canal presented a problem particu-larly with the transportation of coal. Again with thecoming of the railway it fell into disuse. The NorthStaffordshire Railway Company leased the canalfrom 1863 but little trade used it. In 1921 the sec-tion from Trent Vale to Newcastle had been filledand in 1935 Stoke on Trent Corporation began

to fill the remainder in bit by bit.

A small section can still be traced be-hind the bowling club on London RoadNewcastle, near to the entrance of theCity General Hospital.

The Newcastle junction Canal was asorry affair. It was originally intended asa link between the Gresley and Newcas-tle canals. It received royal assent on 26thMay 1798 and ran for just over a mile. Aninclined planehadbeenproposed tomakethe final link down the slope to the New-castle Canal at its Brook Lane basin. Thisinclined plane was never built and tradeon the canal was very poor resulting inpartial closure. Part of the canal wasdrained and used as the bed for theSilverdale-Newcastle railway and by1864 the canal had ceased to exist.

These three canals had they survivedcould have provided Newcastle and thesurrounding towns with a valuable re-source. Canals are very popular todayas a recreational and historical facility. Ifonly - with hindsight - someone couldhave realised their potential all thoseyears back, maybe they may have sur-vived and providedmany people with theopportunity to use them.

David Butler

Surviving remains of the Newcastle canals: Above remnants ofthe northern basin of Gresley's Canal at Burley Pit; Below theNewcastleCanal behind LondonRoadBowlingClub off theA34near the City General Hospital. Photos by David Butler

WRG Boat Club news

What a good idea it was to hold the club AGM atThe 'National' in Huddersfield. Wewere also luckyin being able to hold it in the WRG �Eating Empo-rium� - many thanks to camp leader Ali for allow-ing us to use it.

I didn�t intend to deceive when I said it would bea small meeting as previous AGMs have been.The turnout of 19 members - and more - wasgrand. Many thanks to all for coming.

Usually we have a social gathering at the Na-tional and the AGM some other time, combinedwith a Bring-a-Boat dig.

This year we decided to combine the social eventwith the AGM, much to the surprise of somemembers, as bottles of wine and beer appearedon the tables. No, that is not what we spend clubsubs on, these were all donated by members andfriends.

Meeting report:

Details of last year�s AGM had been published inNavvies and no one said they thought that theywere incorrect.

The club now has 38 boats, which is less thanlast year. Twomembers left as they had sold theirboats, others just didn�t pay their subs.

There was discussion about the qualification formembership. Being involved in some activity to-wards recovering waterways and subscribing tothe excellent and outstanding �Navvies� are ba-sic requirements.

The secretary also requested details from mem-bers should include boat name, address, con-tact phone number and email where appropri-ate.

The Commode Door reported that all was wellbut still not much progress with the supply ofgarments emblazoned with the club logo. Julianwas expected to be there over the weekend soenquiries would be made!

Unfortunately the treasurer was not with us, asshe was on her way to the B... B... Basingstoke,(not the Bahamas with our cash as some sug-gested) but had sent news that we had just over£1000 in the bank.

We are members of the Midland Region of theAWCC and Claire reported on some of the meet-ings she had attended. There are still problemswith some (one?) clubs thinking that those thatdon�t offer reciprocal facilities aren�t �proper� boatclubs. The idea that those with that attitude con-sider us an improper club appeals to me! It isnot the first time we have had to point out that it�sa good thing that WRGies don�t take that attitudeas ALL are welcome - in fact encouraged - touse restored waterways. We are welcome to at-tendAWCCmeetings in other regions, and somemembers offered to represent us in their homearea.

The club officers are:

Commode Door - Lynne CaterRear Commode Door (BSD) - Sue BurchettTreasurer - Ann SmartSecretary (Skivvy) - Sadie DeanClub Representative - Claire Moynihan

There was no mad rush of volunteers to take onany of these jobs so David Smith proposed thatthey all be re-elected, Vaughan Welch secondedthis and Jim Lamen barred the door so theycouldn�t escape. It seems everyone agreed tokeep things as they are. (I suspect it has some-thing to do with the chaos theory)

We are proud that our club burgee was flown onthe Lavender Boat. Wewere entered for the Illumi-nated Camper Van competition and Sadie askedfor offers of help for putting the lights etc onto hervan as she is still too short to reach the top.

Attention was drawn to the Bring-a-Boat on theBasingstoke. At least 4 member�s boats are ex-pected to attend and 2 others are planning toget to the �Mont� in October. More please, we wantmore details of work we can get boats to.

It is usual at the AGM for us to consider any re-quests to finance some aspect of restoration.Someone said that the restorers of the Chester-field are short of tools. Can anyone with any in-formation please contact me?

Discussion followed as to what we should do withsome of our money this year. There were a vari-ety of suggestions but common sense prevailedand it was proposed that we donate £500 to theDavid Suchet appeal for the Lichfield and Hather-ton restoration. Hurrah, it was agreed by all!

page 18

LettersNews from theWRGBoat Club

page 19

The meeting ended in time for the workers to gettheir supper. Thanks again to the camp leadersfor letting us use their facilities, and to all the clubmembers who took the time to attend.

More excitement followed throughout the week-end. Watch this space for the exciting details ofWRG boat club: three times winners. Yes wewon the illuminated camper van award (with ourhit �emwhere they least expect it approach?)ANDtwo club members won other awards!

Club members were so pleased that subs remainat a bargain £10 pa that I was swamped by peo-ple rushing to give me money. Oh weren�t youone of them? Well don�t feel left out you can posta cheque payable to WRG BC, or set up a stand-ing order I�ll be pleased to send you a form.

XXX Sadie DeanTel: 07748186867 email: sadiedean@vizzavi.net

236 Station Road WhittleseyPETERBOROUGH PE7 2HA

And from Lynne Cater...

In August at the National Waterways Festival inHuddersfield Sadie Dean won the Ron MartinTrophy for the best illuminated camping unit. Thisyear's theme was 'Illuminated Boats' - probablybecause an actual procession of illuminatedboats would not be possible this year due to thesite's location between the locks.

On Saturday afternoon after a little encourage-ment several members of WRG Boat Club wan-

dered up to the campsiteand helped Sadie create adecorated camper-van.

Dozens of fairy lights andbright striplights shone onperspex sheets with stuck-on narrow boats (both work-ing and pleasure types),cruisers and even one sea-going ship, made from col-ourful holographic paper.Bunting from WRG NorthWest's stall finished off thecreation.

Congratulations to Sadie for'flying the flag' (burgee ac-tually) to allow WRG BC towin a trophy again this year.Next year let's try for some-thing different: one idea isthe 'Best decorated cakemade during the festival'award. Volunteer cooks(WRG BC members) andcrew needed.

Lynne Cater

WRG Boat Club welcomesnew members: anyonewho owns a boat, sub-scribes to 'Navvies' andgoes canal digging canjoin. Just get in touch withSadie Dean (see above leftfor contact details).

LettersWhich award next year?

Sadie displays the award that she won at Huddersfield. (Lynne Cater)

Canal Camps cost £35 per week unless otherwise stated.Bookings for WRGCanal Camps (those identified by acamp number e.g. 'Camp 0220') should go toWRGCanalCamps, PO Box 114, RickmansworthWD3 1ZY.Tel: 01923 711114. Email: enquiries@wrg.org.uk

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DiaryOct 26-Nov 1 Camp 0220 Cotswolds Canal Camp: Leaders: Dave �Moose� Hearndon & Leonie Greenhalgh.Oct 26-Nov 1 Camp 0223 Monmouthshire Canal Camp: Leaders: Adrian Fry & Spencer Collins.Nov 1 Fri Navvies Press date for issue 196: including Canal Societies directoryNov 2/3 WRG Bonfire Bash - Monmouthshire Canal. Please book in using enclosed form.Nov 2/3 LondonWRG Monmouthshire Canal: WRG �Bonfire Bash� Reunion weekendNov 2/3 wrgNW Monmouthshire Canal: WRG �Bonfire Bash� Reunion weekendNov 9 Sat wrgNW 'Paper Chase' waste paper collectionNov 9/10 SUCS Montgomery CanalNov 9/10 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal: Dig Deep at Summit LockNov 16/17 wrgBITM Sleaford Navigation: Jungle bashing. Leader: Tony HinsleyNov 17 Sun WRG Committee & Board MeetingsNov 30/Dec 1 LondonWRG Christmas Party dig with KESCRGNov 30/Dec 1 KESCRG Christmas Party dig with London WRGDec 7/8 wrgNW Aston (Montgomery Canal)Dec 14/15 wrgBITM Wilts & Berks Canal: ChristmasWorking Party. Accom: Brinkworth Village HallDec 14/15 NWPG Wilts & Berks Canal: probably Pewsham Locks, scrub bashingDec 14 Sat wrgNW 'Paper Chase' waste paper collectionDec 17 or 18 Navvies Issue 196 Assembly: London Canal Museum 7pm onwards.Dec 26-Jan 1 Camp 0221 Basingstoke Canal: New Year Canal Camp: Leader: Dave Worthington.

Cutting back overhanging vegetation (and burning it!)Dec 26-Jan 1 WBCT Wilts & Berks Canal: Christmas Canal Camp: Leader: Rachael Banyard

Accommodation at Foxham. Scrub clearance & hedgelaying near Dauntsey.Jan 1 Wed Navvies Press date for issue 197Jan 11/12 LondonWRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Pewsham Locks, scrub bashing with KESCRGJan 11/12 KESCRG Wilts & Berks Canal: Pewsham Locks, scrub bashing with London WRGJan 11/12 NWPG Basingstoke CanalJan 18/19 wrgBITM To be arrangedJan 18 Sat wrgNW 'Paper Chase' waste paper collectionFeb 8/9 LondonWRG Basingstoke CanalFeb 15/16 wrgBITM To be arrangedMar 1/2 LondonWRG Wey & Arun CanalMar 1 Sat Navvies Press date for issue 198Mar 8/9 NWPG Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation: Creeting LockMar 15/16 wrgBITM To be arrangedMar 22/23 WRG / IWA Clean-up weekend: Salford Junction, under Spaghetti Junction, Birmingham.

Organised by London WRG (and IWA) but all WRG volunteers welcome.See next 'Navvies' for more details.

Apr 4-6 WRG + others! Montgomery Canal: opening of section of canal including Aston Locks

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

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

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Continuing work on Ham Mill lock bywash and Jubilee Bridge. enquiries@wrg.org.ukPreparations for Bonfire Bash; finishing off work from the summer camp. enquiries@wrg.org.uk

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.ukenquiries@wrg.org.uk

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179Geoff Munro 0121-561-5747 jenser@telco4u.netGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.uk

Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukAnswerphone 01622-858329 Kescrg@btinternet.comDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179 malcolm.bridge@btclick.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179John Hawkins 01923-448559 hawkins@jote.fsnet.co.uk

enquiries@wrg.org.uk

Rachael Banyard 01249-892289

Martin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.ukTim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukAnswerphone 01622-858329 Kescrg@btinternet.comGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukDavid McCarthy 0161-740-2179Tim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukTim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.ukMartin Ludgate 020-8693-3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.ukGraham Hawkes 0118-941-0586 grahamhawkes@btinternet.comDaveWedd 01252-874437 bookings@wrgBITM.org.ukTim Lewis 020-8367-6227 london@wrg.org.uk

SEE FUTURE ISSUES OF 'NAVVIES' FOR MORE INFORMATION

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

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

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

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

DiaryCanal society regularworking parties

Regular monthly or weekly working parties:

2001-2002: A Year in the Life....2001-2002: A Year in the Life....2001-2002: A Year in the Life....2001-2002: A Year in the Life....2001-2002: A Year in the Life....October 2001: Anderton AbseilOctober 2001: Anderton AbseilOctober 2001: Anderton AbseilOctober 2001: Anderton AbseilOctober 2001: Anderton Abseil21 WRG volunteers - including Mike Palmer,photographed by Joanne 'Smudge' Smith -abseiled off the Anderton Boat Lift to raise£10,000 towards its restoration. A year later,not only has the Lift has been opened to boats,but so has Britain's second working boat lift -the Falkirk Wheel lift in Scotland. What next?Foxton Inclined Plane?

November 2001: Bonfire BashNovember 2001: Bonfire BashNovember 2001: Bonfire BashNovember 2001: Bonfire BashNovember 2001: Bonfire BashThe2001Bashon theBasingstokegavesomeof us a chance to play with a new piece of kit -the Surrey & Hants Canal Society's dredger -and gave everybody a chance to do some seri-ous scrub-bashing and meet many friendsfrom the summer Canal Camps and the restof WRG. Have you booked yet for this year'sBash on the Mon & Brec? If not, DO IT NOW!

December 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampFestive Fun and Felling on the Basingstoke.We're going there again this Christmas - booknow toavoid disappointment! (photo:Alan Lines)

December 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampDecember 2001: Christmas CampFestive Fun and Felling on the Basingstoke.We're going there again this Christmas - booknow toavoid disappointment! (photo:Alan Lines)

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January: WRG North West's 25th birthday partyJanuary: WRG North West's 25th birthday partyJanuary: WRG North West's 25th birthday partyJanuary: WRG North West's 25th birthday partyJanuary: WRG North West's 25th birthday partyWRG NW celebrated with a party and a tour of the recently-reopened Huddersfield andsoon-to-be-reopened Rochdale canals: this is what the Rochdale at Failworth looked like.And inset is the same view just after the reopening six months later! How long beforewe're printing similar photos of a reopened Droitwich, Cotswolds, Montgomery...?

February: Wilts & Berks CanalFebruary: Wilts & Berks CanalFebruary: Wilts & Berks CanalFebruary: Wilts & Berks CanalFebruary: Wilts & Berks CanalFebruary was one month when we didn't haveany national WRG events; however winter is atime of year when the regional groups are par-ticularly active, expecially those involved in theDig Deep Initiative, typified by this photo of ourfriends inNWPGatwork onSummit Lock,whererapid progress has beenmadeover the last year.

March: Birmingham Canal Navigations CMarch: Birmingham Canal Navigations CMarch: Birmingham Canal Navigations CMarch: Birmingham Canal Navigations CMarch: Birmingham Canal Navigations COur annual weekend of clearing the BCN saw the usual asof tyres, prams and motorbikes being dragged out of thCanal as photographed by Alan Lines. Next year's event taon March 22-23 and we're working underneath Spaghetti J

April: Last Droitwich CampApril: Last Droitwich CampApril: Last Droitwich CampApril: Last Droitwich CampApril: Last Droitwich CampWork on the Hanbury Flight was nearing completion onthe Easter Camp (photo by Alan Lines), and the locksopened in May (see inset). Don't miss the opening of an-other well-known three-lock flight at Aston next year.

May: TMay: TMay: TMay: TMay: TFor the firend in paHeritagesuccessf2003. Ph

leanupleanupleanupleanupleanupssortmenthe Walsallakes placeunction.

Training WeekendTraining WeekendTraining WeekendTraining WeekendTraining Weekendrst time this year we ran the trainingweek-artnership with British Waterways at theirSkills training centre at Hatton. It was aful weekend and we'll be doing it again inhoto by Philip Walker.

June: First Grand Western CampJune: First Grand Western CampJune: First Grand Western CampJune: First Grand Western CampJune: First Grand Western CampA brand-new work site: Jays Cutting on theGrandWestern Canal in Somerset is the venuefor two-and-three-quarters Canal Camps thissummer. (photo by Ian Nicholson) Inset (byAdrian Fry) the completed cutting and towpath.

August: Huddersfield FestivalAugust: Huddersfield FestivalAugust: Huddersfield FestivalAugust: Huddersfield FestivalAugust: Huddersfield FestivalThis year's IWA National Waterways Festivalwas in Huddersfield, and Camp 0218 spent aweek helping to set up the site for the world'sbiggest inland waterways event. Then our vol-unteers spent the bank holiday weekend help-ing to run the festival including working with BWand IWA on the 'woW' children's activities (be-low: photo byMike Palmer) before spending thenext few days dismantling everything again.Next year we do it all again at Beale Park, onthe Thames not far from Reading.

September: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campCanal Camp 0219 spent a week completinginitial clearance at a brand-new site for thisyear - the Cropwell Bishop flight of three locks.This flight might just replace Hanbury Locksas WRG's biggest project over the next fewyears. Watch this space!

July: Mon & Brec work begins at '14 Locks'July: Mon & Brec work begins at '14 Locks'July: Mon & Brec work begins at '14 Locks'July: Mon & Brec work begins at '14 Locks'July: Mon & Brec work begins at '14 Locks'On Camp 0211 work started on what could be a major volunteerwork-site over the next few years - Fourteen Locks flight nearNewport, on theMonmouthshire&BreconCanal in SouthWales.Book now for the Reunion there, and look out for more CanalCamps on this interesting site next year. Photo by Alan Lines

page 26 All uncredited photographs are by the editor.

September: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campSeptember: first Grantham campCanal Camp 0219 spent a week completinginitial clearance at a brand-new site for thisyear - the Cropwell Bishop flight of three locks.This flight might just replace Hanbury Locksas WRG's biggest project over the next fewyears. Watch this space!

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Camp 0202: Grand Western Canal29th June � 6th July

My very first canal camp!What can I say? I turnedup on Saturday completely oblivious to what I wasletting myself in for � ethereal thoughts of a bit ofdigging here and a dab of paint there � but I knowbetter now!

Having watched the 'interesting' WRGHealth andSafety video we took a guided tour of the canaltowpath, brilliantly constructed the previous week.I was expecting to see a canal with barges run-ning up and down it � childhood memories ofRosie and Jim � I was sorely mistaken. It wasthen that I began to realise that we would be con-structing a canal almost from scratch � oh!

Wakey, wakey rise and shine � it�s 7am, time tostart work � so much for my lie in! Sunday con-sisted of scrub-clearing, rock relocation, attempt-ing to get the JCB into the canal bed and mostimportantly tea-breaks. The highlight of the daybeing the amazing showers at the WellingtonSports Centre. Having cooked us a delightfulmeal, Matt deserted us! What were we to do formeals for the rest of the week? Cook? OK, no-body said anything about cooking in the brochure.

The dredging was well under way on Monday.The big pile of poop was growing, the bonfirewas smouldering and tea was being drunk by thegallon. Everything was going to plan and then�Smash!� Was that the sweet sound of Stevebreaking the JCB windscreen? I think so!

It was Tuesday and somebody had it in for us. Itrained and rained and rained some more. Nev-ertheless we struggled on. The fencing wasstarted and the dredging was continued. Stevewas coated from head to foot in mud � punishmentfor breaking the windscreen. That evening, dinnerwasaccompanied by the sounds of radio 4�s �DeadRingers� � a WRG first. We were later given theinsightful �Mystery Tour� of the local canal and itshistory, after which we retired to the pub.

Wednesday. Due to the atrocious weather andthemarquee-thing blowing away, the locals sortedout a much appreciated port-a-cabin for us. Were-laid most of the (now totally worn through) tow-path and chopped down �the ****** tree� � youhad to be there to know which one I�m talkingabout. Steve broke another window and the lo-cal TV crew turned up to film us drinking tea. Anexcellent day�s work.

In the evening the local canal trust invited us todine in style � top notch BBQ. Themidges ate welltoo � I got eaten alive. We then headed off to eve-ryone�s favourite place, the pub. Need I say more?

Thursday � an eleven hour day! Having smashedall the windows, Steve moved onto the bucket. Itfell off the JCB, to be more precise � oh dear!After an unbelievably long day�s work, everyonewas shattered. Take-out it is then � Chinese -and a Blues Brothers film.

Friday, the final day of the Canal Camp. Thedredging was completed, in the process of whichSally managed to get a dumper truck stuck sev-eral times. So seven dumper trucks were washeddown although we only had four, if that makessense... All that remained now was removing theJCB from the canal bed. Simple enough right? �Wrong! Everyone stood and watched for hours,as the underside of both tracks became visible.Somehow � only Jen knows � the JCB wassteered out of the canal bed.

That evening, after dinner we headed off down tothe pub, where Sally and I masterfully demostratedour skill at �how not to play pool�. Special awardsweregiven toSteve (windowcleaner � I hope you�remaking good use of it) andAdrian (a shower cap??)for their hard work and dedication.

Well, the canal looks more like a canal. Missionaccomplished and I survived!

Sajni Shah

Camp reportsGrand Western: "The canallooks more like a canal."

"All that remained nowwas removing the JCB fromthe canal bed. Simple enough right?" (Adrian Fry)

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Camp 0211: Monmouthshire and Brecon27th July � 3rd August

This was a new site for me so I arrived on Satur-day with some apprehension. (And everyone atwork toldme it always rains inWales) It was warmand sunny as 15 people turned up, the site waswell organised with scaffold all set up, and thelocal Monmouthshire Brecon and AbergavennyCanals Trust laid-on a massive barbecue withloads of drinks in the evening. Things were look-ing great. Generous locals even wanted to sharetheir barbecue with us, unfortunately this wasn�tuntil 2 in the morning, and I don�t think the win-dows of the church hall were all that hungry. PCCollins and PC Davis soon sorted them out.

Sunday

Themain task of the week was to rebuild the stonelock walls which had been prepared the week be-fore. We enjoyed the sunshine while setting upand cleaning the dirt off the walls with a pressurewasher. Tonnes of stone were moved by dumperfrom the compound over to the lock side.Stonework began in the afternoon underthe keen eye of Steve the resident resto-ration expert from British Waterways.Rather sweaty demolition also began onthe bricked up paddle holes. Catherinecooked us up a top Sunday roast and weretired to the �local�, rememberingof coursethat there was �no compulsion to drink�.

Monday

The stonework began again and lots ofit! All available hands were working inthe lock or keeping them supplied withstones and mortar using the barrowhoist. During the hot afternoon wechased-out the stop plank grooves giv-ing everyone plenty of dust. The rottingbottom timber was eventually hacked outallowing the stone to be prepared for thechannels to be fitted. We also knockedup a small dam to provide some time indryness while we worked. Groovy baby;a trip to the cinema and �Austin Powers�finished the evening off with a grin.

Tuesday

Another early start (Note to Mike Palmer: to getmaximum productivity choose accommodationwith no curtains). Yes, more stonework, progress-ing fantastically. Holes drilled and wall ties at-tached. Stop planks bottom timber was set in. Itwas yet another sunny day despite torrentialstorms not far away. Phil of the Canals Trust gaveus a rundown on the history of the local canalindustry up to the present day use and the futureplans. This let us all see what we were workingfor! Simon our French volunteer gave us a dem-onstration on La flute, soon to be accompaniedby Viv on Le piano.

Wednesday

The walls were flying up now. Concrete mixingwas becoming a well-oiled machine. Pointingbegan in the forebay, and we began to demolishan innocent-looking concrete weir which hadbeen previously constructed to act like the stopplanks. Cate turned up and cooked us up abolognaise. Yet again the locals provided ourentertainment with a boat trip along a navigablesection of the canal. Luckily for us the boat tripended near the pub so it would be rude not tovisit... Tonight was Rachel�s turn on le piano alongwith Simon.

Thursday

HEADACHE? Yes I think there were one or two.At least there were some big lie-ins.

Camp reportsMon & Brec: rebuilding thetop lock at 'Fourteen Locks'

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The stop-plank channels dropped in perfectly andwere set in place. Stonework and a ladder re-cess were developing nicely in the chamber. Inparticular Brian and Penny were our residentstomemasons. The wall was high enough to be-gin a little backfilling. The pointing in the forebaywas coming along well, "no I`m not bored, hon-est" was the comment. I didn�t believe her, butit�s finished now. After 7 tired people and 2 hotkangos the not-so-innocent concrete weir finalgave up and collapsed. The local leisure centredidn�t have a very exciting pool, then mid-swimwe heard the dreaded phrase "what�s that brownthing floating? Urrrgggghhhh". We left. On abetter note, I think this was the Thai curry night?Yum. Katherine - your cooking was brilliant, canwe talk you into doing it again? After a glass ortwo of wine I managed (while trying to turn upthe volume) to delete all the week�s photos frommy camera. Oops.

Friday

Friday

I was rapidly taking photos. The stop planks werecut to size and fitted in the channels. The floorwas hosed clean and a concrete floor laid in. Thestone work was now up to the next level of scaf-folding, making work a bit harder. This makesBWs Steve�s work much easier as he carries onthe work alone over the coming weeks. Some ofus began removing the gate sill. After a goodtidy-up the site was looking great. Its Friday: fishand chip night. Originally we had planned to visitthe Brecon boat rally, but given the distance in-volved we put extra effort into the day�s work thenenjoyed a relaxed evening around the accom-modation and the pub down the road.

Saturday

...was the usual rush of tidying up and cleaning,all done in time. It�s been a great team ef-fort this week. BritishWaterways have beenthere providing all the resources and extraknowledge, while the Canals Trust basedat the fourteen locks visitor centre havebeen there to organise good accommoda-tion and entertainment.And of courseWRG- great efforts by everyone. I think this part-nership should work well again on futurecamps. It wasmymost enjoyable week withWRG so far.

Rob Daffern

Above left: rebuilding thewingwall in stone.Above:mortaring-in the stop-plank grooves.Left:pointing is fun! Opposite page: keep-ing the stone-layers supplied using the bar-row hoist. Photos by Alan Lines.

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Camp 0209 (part two): Cotswold CanalsJuly 20th � 27th

"I�m a WRGie - get me out of here!"

Bored with 'Big Bother House Camp 0209' on theCotswold Canals (see �Navvies� 194) we changechannels for the second half of the week...

In the jungle of South West England, nearStroud, a unique experiment has been takingplace. A small group of WRG volunteers hasspent the first half of the week performing un-pleasant tasks in exchange for their food, andarguing and talking long into the night...

On Wednesday the jungle-based tasks includeconcrete-breaking at the Ham Mill Lock spillweirand installing timber shoring to hold the struc-ture up where the brickwork has been washedaway, while Lesley and Ernie get into the cake-and curry-making at the accommodation. Workcontinues at the bridge deck and abutment wingwall, and on tree clearance.

Night falls with tropical suddenness, while mostof the campers are out on a boat-trip, the cooksslaving away over a domestic stove (to cookcurry for 23 people) and a big two-ring burnerfor the rice.

Meanwhile Martin and Ian have been selectedto complete the �bush tucker task� and are forcedto crawl down a dark leech-infested paddle-cul-vert with partly-formed plans (not to mentionpartly-formed bits of plywood) for sealing it up.(and no mobile phone reception - that�s reallysuffering!) They return, shaken, having failed intheir task, but get fed anyway on a nice curry.The boat trip has been a great success and gottwo locks further than expected, to the famousBonds Mill plastic liftbridge.

On Thursday morning Tunji is chosen by phonepoll to leave the Camp. Arguments arise overJames�s distribution of copies of �The Times� and�The Daily Sport�.

In the jungle, the campers are filling sandbagsuntil all the sand is gone. Others are still break-ing concrete in an attempt to uncover the leeches�den. The dam that Martin and Ian were trying tobuild last night is re-created with new polythene,more plywood and the sandbags. Then lots ofexpanding foam is squirted around everywherethat the water might get through, and suddenlythe spillweir chamber is dry enough that we cansee where the last few leaks are.

Meanwhile a top-coat of black and white gloss isbeing applied to Jubilee Bridge, and Robhas started rebuilding the wing wall.Sparky�s forestry team have developed astrange obsession with logs and arestacking them in huge piles, while chip-ping the smaller less useful bits.

On Thursday Ernie tricks the campersinto submitting themselves to beingshowered with nasty things (like soapand warm water - yuk!) and then goingand sitting at the picnic tables besidethe lock at Eastington while Lesleyfetches an apparently random array offish & chips and kebabs that their taskshave won them. Fish & chips for the TVcrew (Ant & Dec a.k.a. Martin and Ian)are delivered to the work site at HamMill Lock.

Ernie takes his lot to the cinema to see�Goldmember� before returning to facereconstructing all the beds which havebeen dismantled andmoved to the back-room to make way for the amateur radioclub who used the hall for the evening.

Camp reportsCotswolds: Ham Mill Lockbywash and Jubilee Bridge

Work begins on the rebuilding the bridge abutment wingwall at Jubilee footbridge.

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On Friday Martin & Ian try to inject some new pepand urgency into the show (as it�s the last day, and itlooks like there�s a chance that wemight finally get todo the readymix concrete pour that we planned forMondayor thereabouts...) MeanwhileMax is voted-off first thing and returns to the real world.

The production team take an early breakfast andsome potential stars head for the work-site. Thedam hasn�t leaked in the night, and the reinforc-ing is placed in the weir chamber ready for the ar-rival of the readymix concrete to form its new base.This arrives - two lorry loads of it - and is poured,spread and vibrated, then the whole site is cleared,tidied and site fencing erected around it. Down bythe bridge, tree-felling and log-collecting are be-coming frantic, districting the (slightly blobby) black-and-white painters on thebridgedeck. Theweatheris better than it has been all week and the camp-ers are covering themselves with a mixture ofpaint, sweat, dust and sun-cream.

For the final evening the Scouts whose HQ weare staying in have lent us their barbecue andthe campers are keen to show their newly-ac-quired cooking skills... Tunji. - who has again re-appeared and is clearly moonlighting on at leasttwo TV channels at once - is a great hand withthe barbecue tongs and cooks exotic stuff likechilli sardines. Maybe he�s been away on �ReadySteady Cook�? �And & Dec� make their end-of-camp speeches. Canal Trust chairman BruceHallturns up and thanks us. Some of the volunteershave created a �who�s drunk what� chart for theirsupplies of beer... as the evening progresses itsaccuracy becomes more doubtful...

On Saturday the final task is to pack the trailer,and then the campers depart. Jade is the last tobe �got out of here� and is therefore the winner.

Coming soon: �WRGie Fat Club�: 20 canal camp-ers undertake a 7-day challenge to put on weight...

Lesley McFadyen

PS from the one of the leaders: as I hope youcan tell from report and photos that appear inthis issue and the last issue, despite various trials,tribulations and general setbacks resulting fromworking on a new site which was mostly buried atthe start of the camp (meaning that we didn�t reallyknow what conditions were like or how much wewere likely to achieve until well into the week) wedid actually achieve some real progress on thedismantling, assessment and rebuilding of theHam Mill Lock bywash weir chamber. We hopethat the extra camp there on 26 Oct to 1 Nov willbuild on this progress. We also completed thedemolition and got well into the rebuilding stageof the decayed wing wall of Jubilee Footbridge,and refurbished the wood and iron deck and para-pets, including giving it a smart new coat of black

and white paint. (which makes a bit of a prob-lem for the locals, who apparently refer to itas �The blue and white bridge�...) And we pro-vided support for Sparky on his forestry work.

Thank you to Lesley for the Camp Report andfor being �catering manager� - organising foodpreparation and ensuring that everybody hada hand in it (in the catering, that is, not in thefood!) - to Ian for doing an excellent job asthe other leader, to Cotswold Canals Trust forgood local support, and to all the volunteerswho worked on Camp 0209. See you at theBonfire Bash!

Martin LudgateJubilee Footbridge is repainted. (All photos by the editor.)

Breaking out the reinforced concrete cover thathad been cast over part of the bywash weir.

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Camp 14: Montgomery Canal3rd-10th August

'Le camp franglais'

Samedi � Rule one � don�t leave the kit in a statewhen Just Jen is picking it up! Usual introductions:discover we have 2 French people and a Belgianon the camp. Figurewemaywell need some trans-lations that don�t figure in Larousse. Unusually, Loudidn�t need taking toA&E after the safety talk. Sheis rather proud of being anEmergency Local, readyto leap to our aid at a moments notice...! Craigarrived and started producing enough cookies tofeed an army, or at least half the camp.

Dimanche � Task for today and the next is totake down the dry stone walls on the storm weiroutfall channel at Maesbury, so that later in theweek we can start to rebuild it on a concrete base.First we had to do some scrub clearance, to tryand find the stones that had already been takenout. Toad Rescue became a job for some of us �there were an awful lot of pissed-off amphibians inthe walls, along with some voles, which werecarefully moved out of the way. We weren�t socareful with the wasps next. The tradition offinding new words for the French speakers tolook up started today, with 'Toad', 'Mattock'(Some of the English speakers needed that ex-plaining) 'Squash' (as in orange/blackcurrant!)and 'to scratch oneself'. Later in the day wewere honoured and soaked by the arrival ofthe man formally known as the Harrogate raingod, (TMFKHRG, or � � ) He took us on amystery tour of Frankton, and I hadmy first en-counter with the fright ride that is LockgatesBridge! Meanwhile Eli cooked roast pork withall the �etcs�, and Doug�s birthday was cel-ebrated in proper style, much to his embar-rassment.

Lundi�Morning has broken,Campers are bro-ken. A strange reluctance to move any morestones appeared, as people foundmuscles thatthey didn�t know they had! Unfortunately, all thework involvedmoving big stones, so that�swhatwedid. Brian,Mike,Steve, IanandChris startedon building the wall back up where the con-crete had already been poured (section 2).

Jen got her bendy toy only 2 days late, and startedto reshape the base of the weir. We had somevisitors, including Richard Drake, and the localBW and Ecologist types, and a friendly local jour-nalist. After lunchAdrian got to play with the strim-mer, but we think he was really just after the har-ness. This may explain some of today�s words �'Root', 'Wasp', 'Dirty Weekend' and 'Bondage'(you should try explaining that sometime if youthink you�re good with languages!) The eveningwas spent visiting Pontcysyllte aqueduct, andwatchingAdrian dig a huge hole for himself. Justdon�t mention Vicar�s Daughters to the poor chap.

Mardi � Things on site were starting to look verydifferent. Jen finished digging out section 3 readyfor concrete bottoming, the final section was nowbeing demolished as the wasps were all gone, andthe builders at the top end had nearly finished re-building section 2. The re-mesh, sand and cementnow arrived in bulk, and Aymeric and Chris cut themesh into the correct sizes. I went on a trip to theGreen Shed, and we tried to find things to makea concrete chute out of, and the vibrator.

Words for today were 'Vibrator', 'Swear-word','Grumble' and 'Alien' � the latter explained by atrip to the cinema to watch �Men in Black 2�!

Mecredi � Ralph started this morning by assert-ing his leadership powers, and ordering me backto bed, to keep my viral companionswarm. I felt toohorrid to disagree. TMFKHRG arrived with the level,and Jen was most put out to find her digging was awhole 2mm out over the 17m length of section 3!

page 32

Camp reportsMontgomery Canal: rebuildingtheMaesbury spillweir channel

Channelwalls demoloished ready for concreting thebase.

page 33page 33

Today was concrete pour day, and we dis-covered we were working on the only site tohave a dearth of half bricks to prop the meshup on! We had asked for a brave driver tobring the concrete across the field and asclose to the edge as possible, but we werenot expecting a nutter who tried to park thewagon in the weir! Even Ralph lookedscared. Everyone got thoroughly covered inconcrete, but we did manage to get enoughin the weir. � � wasn�t there, so we werevery pleased to watch the thunder stormworkits way around the edge of our field. Newwords for the day � 'shaft' 'that�s rubbish' 'toroger' 'to take charge' 'snore' and 'to sting'.People spent most of today thinking it wasFriday. I think everyone went to the pub inthe evening, I went back to bed.

Jeudi � Some people had a disturbed night,and Doug earned himself the nutcracker

award, by crawling through a window, and learnt something about the problems of pulling, or ratherpushing!! (If you weren�t there, don�t try to work that out!) I got ordered to stay in bed again, andRalph got everyone sorted for a repeat of yesterday on section 4. Unfortunately we�d used all theavailable half bricks yesterday, and they were in the concrete, so we had to make some new ones outof whole bricks! Lots of people got to move more stones and start building on section 3, and one sidewas completed by the end of the day. Adrian got a new sex toy to play with, but was disappointedthat the vibrator didn�t come with a harness. Today�s driver was slightly less nutty than yesterdays,but still close enough, and the rain didn�t miss either, so it was a wet mix of concrete! Today�s wordswere unsurprisingly 'sticky' 'squelch' 'bucket' and 'wicked'. We still all thought it was Friday.

Today�s entertainment was provided by Lou, who had found a book of 'wicked French for the traveller'.We were most amused to find one of the insults was to do with sleeping with a Belgian, which upset Dalewho had spent all week doing just that.

Vendredi (Friday) finally arrived. And so did the� � , with all his attendant worshipping rainclouds. Site turned into a slippery thing, so wegave up, having achieved 2 weeks work in oneanyway. Today�s newwords were 'knickers' 'slip-pery' 'upside-down' and 'put the kettle on'. Wefound the perfect phrase to sum the week up'Vousvoulezdire quevousbechez tout ça chaquejour?' Chris and Adrian spent all day trying totranslate 'You�re all that' 'Tu es tout ça!' And thenin thepub thatnight theyshocked all the old handswho turned up by recognising them and greet-ing them like long lost buddies, rather than beingcomplete strangers.Wenwas rather worried thatshe might have snogged one in a former life!

All in all a fabulousweek,withmany laughs, jokes,and fun, and huge amounts of work done. Apolo-gies for lack of photos, but you�ll just have to goto the Mont to see what we�ve done. And to allthe camp attenders, new, old, etc, 'j�espère avoirle plaisir de vous revoir un jour' - like at the Bon-fire Bash � sign up today!!

Lots of love and hugs�Dr Liz� Williamson

Rebuilding of the stone walls in progress.

Acompleted length of rebuilt channel in the foreground,with preparation under way for concreting the base ofthe next section beyond. All photos byMikeRennolds.

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Camp reportsWilts&Berks:NWPGontheDigDeep project at Summit Lock

Camp 0207: Wilts & Berks Canal13th � 20th July

With the suspension of volunteer work at ValleyLock on the Thames & Severn due to the privategarden suspended precariously above the cham-ber, the hunt was on to find a suitable alternativefor this year�s NWPG camp, preferably on one ofthe Dig Deep projects.

The obvious site was Summit Lock which neededan urgent boost following last year�s delays dueto the site being inaccessible because of Footand Mouth. Three volunteers from Rachael�scamp had booked to stay on for a second weekin sunny Wiltshire and, in addition to a dozenregular NWPG volunteers, we were joined by fivenew volunteers, all of whom excelled themselvesduring what turned out to be at times a fairly hec-tic and very hot week.

But what about accommodation? Having scouredmost of the surrounding countryside and dis-counted various options Peter Smith suggestedFoxhamReadingRoom.But isn�t aReadingRoomsupposed to be quiet and roomy? Not with theRAF�s Hercules transporter aircraft flying directlyoverheadatminimal altitude seemingly at five-minuteintervals throughout each evening and twenty bedscrammed into the main hall. However, at least itwas clean, had decent washing facilities, and wasclose to the Foxham Inn. It is evencloser to the localPost Office which occupies approx. 20% of the totalsleeping space and opens for business everyMon-day and Thursday morning requiring all other oc-cupants and bedding to be cleared by 8.30!

Just as we had sorted out the accommodationMatt arrived with the plans for the foundations ofthe new bridge for the bottom end of Summit Lock.A very substantial quantity of reinforcing bar wasgoing to have to be wired together to form a rigidcage. (How many lengths of wire!?) Somehoweach section had to be put together, carried downinto the chamber, formwork constructed, andeverything supported with Acrow Props in justtwo days before the first load of readymix con-crete was due on the Tuesday. It is a great creditto all those involved that the job was completedon time, to a high standard, and with a minimumof fuss. The only injuries sustained were a fewsore hands from all that wire twisting!

Installation of reinforcing ready for casting the concrete foundations for the lock tail bridge at SummitLock. The lock and bridge have been built as independent structures, with a fibre seal separating them.

page 35

Camp reports"Seven-and-a-bit loads ofReadymixwere laid in aweek!"

Fortunately a blinding layer had already beenpoured during a previous work party so at leastthe ground under foot was reasonably dry andfirm, which is more than can be said for the con-ditions encountered during the laying of the foun-dation layer for the lower wing walls later in theweek � very wet and muddy. Having poured thebridge base on Tuesday the lower walls were caston Thursday. Two loads of readymix in total.

Meanwhile the offside chamber wall was rapidlynearing completion and, with the hollow-block wallcompleted behind, thewhole lot was backfilled.At thetop end Rob and Phill were rebuilding one recesswall while the local volunteers completed the other.

In total seven-and-a-bit loads of readymix werelaid during the week - or approximately 130 tons!(I think Clive and his team were very glad thatthey hadn�t been asked to mix that by hand, es-pecially in the hot conditions!)

What appeared at the beginning of the week tobe an over ambitious work schedule was almostentirely completed, representing possibly the mostwork ever achieved during an NWPG camp. (Sub-sequently all the belowwater levelworks havebeencompleted at the bottom end of the chamber, in-cluding the laying of the bywash pipe by BITM.)

Evening activities included the usual pub trips, in-cluding a visit to Avoncliff and Bradford when theFoxham Inn was shut, the traditional barbecue (innon-traditional fine weather), and a very enjoyableboat trip on the �Rose ofHungerford�. Frequent tripswere made to the 'showers' at Wootton BassettLeisure Centre where the plumbing left a lot tobe desired. (There was more water running downthe walls than coming out of the nozzles!)

Particular thanks must go to Sue for the excel-lent catering and the very welcome ice creamsbrought down to site and to Bill for leading thebridge construction team. But without the enthu-siasm and hard work put in by everyone, includ-ing the locals under John Bower, it just wouldn�thave happened.

See you all again next year.

Graham Hawkes

Above: bricklaying on the chamber walls near-ing completion. Below: the lock tail at the end ofthe camp, showing the new bridge foundationsand lock wing wall base. Photos by Bill Nicholson.

page 36

Camp reportsIpswich & StowmarketNavigation at Creeting Lock

Camp 13 � Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation3rd � 10th August

(Unlucky for some � but only when using a 240VKango hammer in the rain)

We start, as is traditional, with a camp song (andnot in the Graham Norton sense of the word).

This year we have Dodgy lyrics to a Dodgy tunethat you might just recognise...

Camping out in the summer,Cleaning bricks in the rain,Burnt my hand on the Burco,Asked Swoose to ease the pain���

We go shopping at Tescos,Don�t want to behave,Driving trolleys likeMansell,Buying �Value Bitter� for games��

If I ever see a brick again,I�ll probably break down and cry,Mole made me wear itchy safety goggles,To Saaaave, my, eyes.

Now looking back, It was just a lock,With ladder recesses cut in the sides,What happens now?Where did the week go?How do people without airbeds survive?!!!!

Camping out in the summer�

(And to the tune of �Button Moon�)

We�ve been to Creeting Lock,We clean bricks quite a lot,Creeting lock, Creeeting lock, Creeeeting lock,Creeting locooooooooooocck!

And finally,

There I was,Digging Ed�s hole,Sort of big and round it was�����

(This song has been discontinued in the in-terests of good taste. Which is a first.)

For those of you needing something moresubstantial and satisfyingly anoraky I shouldadd that the camp achieved a great deal, work-ing alongside perhaps the nicest local group onthe system. (They baked us cakes, for God�ssake! And that was just the blokes!)

This proved to be a popular camp with 28 peo-ple sitting down to dinner on the Saturday night.A typically Mole-ish safety talk was accompaniedby not only the safety video, but by footage of lastyear�s campshot for aday-timeholidayprogramme.This included cameos by WRG and local regularsand featureda rudimentary digger dance (don�t ask)and exotic site fashion. Afterwards Mole warnedcampers that anyone caught wearing dungareeson site would get one firm warning....

The camp continued thegoodwork put in on the sitelast yearand revolved round thehump-backedbridgespanning the lock tail, with additional work beingcarried out in the chamber itself. (Made possiblethrough Chris�s selfless act of literally �filling hiswaders� at the stop planks.Well plugged, that boy!)

The first few days were dedicated to some seri-ous demolition work as the bridge�s parapetscame down and were barrowed off to the conva-lescent home for concussed headers. Which,coincidentally, was at the same location as the�Creeting Lock Penal Colony� that echoed dailyto the rhythmic sound of kangos, the tap of brickhammers and the seductive rasp of wire brush-ing. And what�s this? It is a bird, is it a plane? No!It�s the Ipswich and Stowmarket patent-pendingbrick cleaning machine! (Whirr, whirr! Step on itMaureen, and don�t spare the courses!)

"Some serious demoilition work" on the Creet-ing lock-tail bridge parapets. (Ed Walker)

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Camp reports"...the tap of hammer and theseductive rasp of wire-brushing"

Meanwhile the scaffolding team had created afine example of late 20th Century Hi-tech thatevenNorman Foster would have approved of, andEd Walker had dug himself into a hole, (literally),exposing his spandrels for anyone brave enoughto take a peek.

Meanwhile �Beer� Matt Taylor had rustled up aposse of novice bricklayers for the first round ofthe �Creeting Lock all out Barbecue-Building Con-test�. After explaining headers, stretchers, pro-fessional trowels, and the off-site rule we had kickoff. The girls proved to be statistically better thanthe boys, but this can be attributed to the natureof the program, which was mainly course work.

Back at the bridge: By the third day we there weresome satisfyingly large piles of rubble, Ed�s holehad expanded, but there remained a single sec-tion of parapet that refused to break into tastybite sized pieces. Half a dozen strong lads andMatt squared up to the wall while Mole adopteda smart/casual catalogue stance and directedtheir efforts using his tried and tested �Bagpuss�technique. (Heave! Heeeeeeave!Heeeeeeeeave! Come on Charlie Mouse!)

And the wall came tumbling down.

And so the week continued as damp but happycampers were rotated round site alternating be-tween demolition, hoist duty, muck making, bricklaying and the inevitable brick cleaning. The weekended with the parapets having been completelyremoved and the remaining brickwork cleanedout and re-pointed.

Inside the lock chamber several holes had beenfilled, and two ladder recesses cut and excavated.A new scaffolding tower had been erected underSpence�s direction, from which the gate recessescan now be rebuilt while keeping your feet dry. At

the far end a merry bandof pressure washerscleaned out the paddleholes and laid the founda-tions for the �fancy-dan�brickwork to come, some ofit courtesy of LondonWRG.

The camp ended with thetraditional cremation ofpork products and somedisgraceful shenanigansinvolving some of Tesco�sfinest tinned goods andbendy straws.

Special mentionmust go to:

Stuart: who successfullyburnt himself in Burco re-lated accidents no lessthan three times in one day.(Once by over-enthusiasti-cally cleaning out his cupusing boiling water).

Amy&George: For terror-ising shoppers at the localTesco by applying rally-driving techniques to thepreviously sedate affair ofpushing trolleys. (The gog-gles and hardhats were anice touch).

The �Creeting Lock all out Barbecue-Building Contest� - otherwise knownas Matt's bricklaying training. (Matt Taylor)

page 38

Camp reportsWhowould have thought of hid-ingMole's airbed in the freezer?

Bush & Baz: In recognition of their pioneering re-search in the field of the �Tesco Value Line�, and theground breaking �TescoValueChallenge�, (Or �Tescu-vallange!� as the night progressed.) Channel 5 havealready made an offer for the broadcasting rights.

Ed: For the impressive dimensions of his hole,and the way in which he dealt with piles.

Nat: The award for most surreal fantasy scenarioand also for attempting to start WRG�s first Mor-mon community.

Swoose: for being the most surreal fantasy.

Bush: (again) Whoever would have thought ofhiding Mole�s airbed in the freezer?

Colin, Spence, and all the other locals: whoshared their once tidy site hut with 28 volunteerswithout blinking, even when Matt mistakenly ateall the pies.

To all the happy shiny people involved: we thank you!

See you all at theMont & Brec reunion Bonfire Bash!

Lots of love,BBM xxxxxxxxxxx

(Bush, Baz, Mole. The Unholy Trinity)

P.S. Here�s givin� maximum respect to all mebitches in the Love Shack (Mark II)

Above: setting up scaffolding by the gate recessfor the bricklayers. (Gordon Brown) Below: "Theinevitable brick-cleaning" (Ed Walker) Bottom:digging out the remains of the bridge spandrelwalls (Gordon Brown)

page 39

Camp 16 � Sleaford Navigation10th � 17th August (aka the �Tastic Camp�)In our continuing quest for the most original CanalCamp report: we have already had one this yearwritten by a member of the catering team; here isone which is written by a part of the catering kit.As Burco tea-boilers aren't very good at writing, Ernieactually wrote the words down on paper eachevening. And Nina wrote some more words downafterwards. I wonder if theymake anymore sense...'Tools on tour', by Bertrand Burco (no 250)Saturday: After all that battering at Ipswich, wethought we were due a break. Oh how wrong wewere! The cuisine class were taken into the swishrugby club, where they were spoilt rotten by Debsand Fiona (proper chefs you know) all week, but uslower site class spent the night in the new trailer.The humans were slightly worried by 2 Japanesevolunteers not being on the train as expected andone volunteer being �somewhere in theMiddle East�.At least it meant they left us in peace for a while.Leader Izzy must have laid it on thick with the safetytalk, as all the humans were in bed by 10.30.Sunday: The kit trailer was too clean to take to site,so we went into RFB. The wrecking bar decided toshed its skin, as last year�s colour was sooo passé,one chisel felt hot and decided to cool off by swim-ming into the lock, the mattock triplets felt a bit deli-cate after travelling and fell apart. I think they did itdeliberately soJudithwouldbeat themback intoshape.No time for resting though, we had to make a nastybumpy cliff at the end of the bywash into a nicesmooth slope so that our cousin bricks could be laidsmoothly for the water to run over. We also had tobash somewood tomake the concrete stay in place.I don�t like violence myself but we had little choice.The humans had a very nice time of it,Ant got trainedon dumpers and Ernie spent the whole time drivinggirls from one place to another. Izzy laughed at himbut roles were soon reversed when she was heardasking directory enquiries for the phone number of�Bowl-Tastic� in Grantham. Well no one else knew it�sname either. Phil the Phone said they were very sillywhen they got there, with both leaders getting turkeys(cuisine class never saw them though) andSteven getting 3 strikes in a row.Nina�s PS:Erniewas being a bit antisocial,so he wrote many words in the camp diary.Steve recalled the time he was tied downby bras, but we won�t go there.Monday: Mike the mixer got a bit dirty to-day andwas exhausted after Debs kept de-manding more concrete so she could ice itwith Steve Skimmer � well she was miss-ing the cuisine class. Derek Dumper had amarvellous day training Ernie�s DumperBabes (4 in total).Greg the Grapple was in his element pull-ing out rubbish from the lock, Ernie felt hewasn�t spending enough �babe time� socoaxedNina into the lock to �help� him. Thewater ranged fromwelly depth towilly depth.

The mattock triplets got it on with Suzy shovel tofinish the smooth slope, with Nori and Nozu givingtheir expert opinion 'Thankyou'.Cuisine class were nearly deafened by the leadersand old hands who should know better trying to singfootball songswhilst washing them. Fortunately theythen went out to the pub where it was very hot, ac-cording to Phil Phone (our roving reporter).Nina�s PS: Ernie (aka Ernie 4-babes) rattled onabout nips and temperatures so Izzy and Nina ig-nored him, dismissing him as another one of thoseWRG blokes. Much more red wine was consumed."Colours and Fruits" says Izzy. No one knows whatshe�s talking about. Martin drinks beer from a canstill attached to its plastic rings.Tuesday: Nina�s Pre-Script: Suggested methodsof job creation: remove wheels from wheel barrows,mix cement in car park and barrow 1 mile to site,create 3-mile long pulley system.The humans started the day in a good mood due tobeing fed melon and crepes. Izzy was in an evenbetter mood after getting trained on vans. RFB saidshe was van-Tastic. Mike the mixer decided tospread concrete and convert all tools to its mean-ing. They all liked being covered in it but the Truth ofJen prevailed and two-tone red and blue returned.The humans worked hard to put the bridge supports in,lay some bricks, ruthlessly rip out some innocent reeds(not in our Union, sadly), and remove the shuttering.�Cobblers� I hear you say � yes, Siegfried Strimmergot a trip toCobblers Lock, alongwith the super slash-ers, and produced a surface of bowling green quality.

Camp reportsSleaford Navigation: BertrandBurcoreportsfromHaverholme...

The new footbridge over Haverholme Lock bywash that all thetools on Camp 0216 built.(with a liitle help from the humans).

GCWwhisked the humans off to Grantham to watch'MiB II' at the cinema, but was unable to preventJudith leaping out at her parents� house. Apparentlyshe had to do some washing or something.Nina�sPS:NoP.S. this evening. Beer and sleepyeyes.Anyway, therewasa f*!@ingpre-script,BEGRATEFUL.Wednesday: Charlie Camera got to take a pictureof the nearly completed wooden footbridge this af-ternoon, after all the tools worked very hard on it.MikeMixermadeadrymix to put on the smooth slope,and Teddy Trowel had to put all his effort into produc-ing the exact angle to satisfy that fussy Mr Ludgate.Distant relative, Slytherin Shuttering proved to beas stubborn as ever. Threats of violence, burning itout and leaving it to rot did not work, but it movedpretty quickly when Haydn suggested going to thepet shop to buy some woodworm.As for me, Bertrand Burco, my faith in humans wasrestored as they still kept me in service despite theblistering hot weather. The tea I produced kept themworking late to finish some jobs ready for tomorrow.Cuisine Class produced a masterpiece tonight, al-though Debs and Fiona got all the credit. The poormugs got severely abused later on, as they got filledwith fizzy custard many times over.Nina�s PS (abridged): Fizzy Custard, Texas (no,Sleaford), vodka and fizzy custard � you get the pic-ture. Ant tried to look like a lobster but the ladiesstill weren�t interested. Izzy and Nina shared a t-shirt today. Haydn wore the sleeve as a bandana.Steve D was (ir)responsible for cutting the t-shirt � abit enthusiastic with the bow saw. Began writing the"Impractical Restoration Guide", none of it is print-able but ask the leaders for further information.Thursday: Us tools were ready on time but thehumans seemed less keen to go to site, they don�tmake navvies like they used to. Half of us spent theday helping those lazy bricks lie down flat, the restspread ourselves between laying coping stonesat a funny angle and going off site to do a bit moreslashing. Wewere very busy all day, so tired in factthat I can�t write muchmore.The humans went to Skegness for fish and chipstonight to give Cuisine Class the night off. RFBhad a bit of a strop on the way and wouldn�t givethe key back until Paul stripped the fuel cap. Thehumans drank quite a lot of freeGuinness, exceptthe leaders who spent the camp budget in an ar-cade trying to win teddy bears with their willies onshow, then trying towin it backon the2pmachines.RFBmade up for being grumpy by taking every-one to Wainfleet for a pint of XXXB on the wayhome. Then themugs suffered the same fate aslast night, with evenmore humans sampling thatevil custard drink in the showers.Friday: Cuisine Class lost their masters today,as they were off to camp in a field and mosh,apparently. Dizzy Disc-Cutter whizzed throughthe flagstones, to make copers, which were thenexpertly installed in a deliberately slopey fash-ion all along one side of the bywash.

Some of us went into the lock with Nori, Nozu andtheir �responsible� adult supervisor to cool down andrescue some stones that had been abandoned for along time. The old wooden bridge was delighted tobe put back into service and got to have a swim. Ithad the high honour of towing the rescued stonesout of the lock, but was a bit scared when it encoun-tered an enormous dead pike. Luckily Paul dealtwith said fish in a very sensible way. We had to dosome diving in order to find the wooden sill, but com-pleted the mission with time to spare.The bridge was completed and Bertha Bow-saw got tocut the ribbon as it was handed over by Izzy to JohnJackson. The brick kit had a party on the slope and laidloads of bricks for the locals to finish off on a weekend.The humans had a BBQ in the evening, and gaveIzzy a blonde wig so if she showed signs of being abit sensible she could have blonde extensions andreturn to normal. She entertained her harem of men(all the other girls had gone), who were very atten-tive, especiallyAnt � but he respected her toomuch.Dave was not satisfied with the model plane he wasgiven and left early to fly a proper one. Brian wasdelightedwith his whisk, so hewould forever remem-ber all the mixing he did.The leftover doughnuts met a very nasty end, involvingstrawsandinjectionsofalcoholicsubstancesandsqueezycheese. It is too unpleasant to describe in detail.Saturday: Today is a bit of a blur. All the tools wentto bed in the trailer, hoping for a rest at the National(some chance) and the humans said lots of thingsabout 'fabulous accommodation', 'lovely locals be-ing supportive', 'groovy volunteers', 'getting all thework done', and 'wanting to come back soon'.

Bertrand Burco(plus Brian 'Ernie' Hearne and Nina Whiteman)

By the end of the camp most of the sloping-and-curvedbrickwork on the bywash outfall weir had been laid. Inthe background one the finished bywash walls completewith newly-laid coping stones is just visible. Photos byCharlie Camera (assisted by Martin)

page 40

Logistics is very appreciately of the use of "Little Wolf�s Book of Badness" by Ian Whybrow with TonyRoss�s illustrations as this �months� inspiration (and if you haven�t read the series yet I suggest youget on with it!!!!) and is very sorry if it should offendly anyone (mainly the author!). Translationsofferred by return of e-mail or post!

Just Jenlogistics@wrg.org.uk

Grimshire

Day �(er, lost count!)

After consolt cunnsalting looking in my Book of Badness, I found a few Rules of Badness had beenused during the summer when I was camping (my worst thing). I found Uncle Bigbad had done lots ofRule 6, do your dirtiest every day (!), by not even halfway through � Oo-er! He took housey buckets andbrushes to play in nasty concrete and bashed the fat chisels so they changed shape! But I told you I onlysharpened the chisels for a joke [Thanks, Mister Furness! Best get the grinder warmed up �].I was lucky [logistically speaking, of course!] that some camps were cansulled counsilld didn�t happenbecause Uncle hid the new trailer until really late. At least I remembered to pack my own two eyes [seeNavvies 194, pg.15 ] - everything was right, hooray! Quick as a chick I stuck some sticky letters on the sidesto dizgizz (cannot spell) it and Da-daaah!We have two trailers again. Your friends from the North-west reallyare v.genniruss gave bags of money (they must have been thinking of Rule 7 � do charming.).You won�t beleeeve it I bet, but there are lots of people doing more camping which means I cannot domuch sortingly other than break down and howl at the state of Kit B ect.[Aargh!� We already have a KitF!!!]! But then I haven�t really seen the kits since mid-summer, Boo shame� I think I�ll be able to useRule 2, say loads of rude words (hem,hem), when I do!Cousin Yeller took all the electrickery things to Murkshire to have a check-up [Thanks, Bungle!]. He saidthe man knew about Rule 2 muchly, and said BLINKING and BLUNKING lots when he looked at thefridge frozzs because they had stamped on their own electric string! He was almost as angry as UncleBigbad when the moon backs away from being eaten � har har! All of a suddenly, in his anger, the mancundemmd condembed put one of them in the bin! So, thus and therefore, could you let me know [I�mgoing to regret this�] if you have a fridge frozz I could have pleee-e-eez [size has to be 166cm tall, giveor take a few cm�s either way! Thanks for yours, Craig � it�s cool � thankfully!] because I have nowhereto keep the rabbit rolls and mice pies you keep sending? Don�t be fraidy bats, pleeez.I am looking forward to my most notdisturbly time, but I don�t know when I�m going to get it yet. Then itwill be arkshun stations and I�ll be a busy fixy boy.At least I�ve found myself a nice, smelly old lair [No, notat all smelly � that was the old place �] after looking for something to pounce on. Oh, and tell my babybruv Smellybreff I still haven�t had any of his dirty postcards or filfy photos. So now I am all fedduply.And that was how I got here.Just.

Yours having a logistical nightmarely,

The Blinking Blunker! (only kidding � Teehee!)

Little Wolf had been packed off to Cunning College a while ago to learn the 9 Rules of Badness.Now that he knows what they are he�s looking out for their use in his adventures...

page 41

Lichfield moves to Stroud...Canal Camp 0220, due to take place on the Li-chfield Canal on October 26-November 1, has hadto be cancelled due to unforseen delays in trans-ferring ownership of the proposed worksite from itspresent owners to the Canal Restoration Trust.

However an alternative site has been found: theCotswold Canals (Thames & Severn Canal) atHam Mill Lock near Stroud (site of Martin & Ian's

Camp 0209 this summer) where work will be continuing on rebuilding the lock bywash weir chamberand the wing walls of the nearby Jubilee Footbridge under the leadership of David 'Moose' Hearndenand Leonie Greenhalgh. Last minute bookings welcome!

...and to the Monmouthshire & Brecon...As there appeared to be more than enough interested volunteers to to fill one October camp, wehave decided to hold a second one the same week (Oct 26-Nov 1) on the Mon & Brec. LeadersSpencer Collins and Adrian Fry will welcome any of you who would like to help them continue thework begun this summer on rebuilding the top lock of the impressive Fourteen Locks flight (hopefullyincluding putting gates in!), and also prepare for the following weekend, when it's time for...

The Mon & Brec Bonfire Bash: November 2-3Latest news on our annual major work-party and get-together for everyone in WRG:

Accommodation: a brand-new school! It's near St Mellons village, not far from Junction 28 of theM4, and full joining instructions will be sent out by Head Office, and available on the WRG web site.Work: With restoration of the top lock well under way, the main job for the reunion is clearing out thechambers of the remaining 13 locks in the flight. That's right - all of them! Plus some more stoneworkon the top lock, removing overhanging vegetation from the towpath, and 13 side-ponds to clear.Fireworks: at the worksite after we knock off on Saturday evening there will be a big fireworksdisplay by our big pyrotechnists Ralph & Harry. Please note: the organisers are providing the fire-works this year (it's included in the cost of the weekend) so please don't bring your own.Bonfires: don't believe what you read in the press. Despite rumours to the contrary there WILL beplenty of bonfires on site! Otherwise it would just be a 'Bash'...Beer: we'll be running a Real Ale Bar. If that's not your favourite tipple, please bring something that is.Leaders: Adrian Fry and Spencer Collins, with Jude Moore in charge of catering.

DON'T DELAY - SEND YOUR BOOKING FORM TODAY!

TheKESCRG /LondonWRGChristmasPartyDig:November 30 -December 1Unfortunately just as 'Navvies' was going to press we learned that due to land ownership / permis-sion issues beyond the control of the organisers and the canal society, we will not been able to holdthis weekend on the Foxton Inclined Plane as we had hoped.

But don't worry, it WILL go ahead somewhere in southern England, and there WILL be a wackySaturday night party with a 'Star Trek' theme, and Maureen WILL be supplying delicious Xmas noshas she always does. As I write this we are busy looking at various alternative sites, and hopefully bythe time you read this we will have chosen one. For the latest information contact the Editor, orEddie Jones of KESCRG (Tel: 07850 889249; email eddiejones@jazzfm.com) or check the WRGweb site www.wrg.org or the KESCRG web site www.kescrg.org.uk.

And if - like me - you don't need to know about such trivia as what canal it's on before you decide togo on the London WRG / KESCRG Christmas Dig, feel free to send off your booking NOW - simplywrite a cheque for £12 payable to KESCRG, and send it with your name / address / phone numberand any dietary requirements to Brian and Maureen Amos, 13 Trosley Ave, Dartford DA11 7QN.page 42

Coming soonAutumnandwinterCanalCampsandmajor weekendwork parties

Christmas Camp: Dec 26 - Jan 1TheWRGChristmas / NewYear Canal Camp thisyear is once again on the Basingstoke Canal,and once again Pete Redway hasmiles andmilesof canal bank that needs the overhanging treesand other vegetation cutting back and burningon some nice big bonfires.

The work-site is likely to be in the St Johns / Wok-ing area - with a possibility that (depending onthe weather) we might also be able to carry with work on the St Johns backpump pipeline installationjob that we began earlier this year.

The accommodation is (provisionally) Woodham Village Hall, and the leader is Dave 'Daddy Cool'Worthington, aided and abetted by various 'old hands' including your editor. And no doubt the year2003 will be welcomed-in in fine style, with the usual raiding of the local charity shops on New Year's eveto make the costumes for whatever daft fancy dress idea we come up with. See you there!

And at Dauntsey...The Wilts & Berks Canal Dauntsey Camp will also take place from December 26 to January 1st,and the work will be scrub-bashing and hedge-laying on a section of canal running eastwards fromDauntsey Lock.

The accommodation will as usual be at the Foxham Reading Rooms, and the leader will be RachaelBanyard. Contact Rachael on 01249 892289 for more details.

And so to 2003...On the 12th and 13th of January London WRG and KESCRG will be getting together again (wemustn't keepmeeting like this!) for another good scrub-bashing session on a newwork-site - PewshamLocks near Chippenham on the Wilts & Berks Canal. If you want to join in, contact the organisersof either of the groups (see diary for details).

The Birmingham Canal Navigations Cleanup 2003: March 22-23This annual event involves WRG, theBCNSociety and the local IWAbranchesgetting together to spend a weekenddragging all manner of rubbish out of adifferent part of the BCN each year. Thistime we hope to start work at the four-way canal junction directly underneath'Spaghetti Junction' on the M6 and workoutwards along the canal in all four di-rections.

London WRG will be leading the WRGinvolvement this time, but as usual all vol-unteers are welcome, from WRG or anyother group. See the next issue for moreinformation and booking details.

AstonLocksOpening:April 4-6The one we've all been waiting for! SeeMike Palmer's comments on pages 4-5,and look out for more information in fu-ture issues.

Martin Ludgatepage 43

Bookings:Bookings and enquiries for all Campslisted here EXCEPT THEDAUNTSEYCAMPshould go to WRG Enquiries, PO Box 114,Rickmansworth WD3 1ZY, Tel: 01923711114, or email enquiries@wrg.org.uk.

Or see our web site www.wrg.org.uk

A date for your diaries: March 22-23 for the BCN Cleanup.Photo taken at last year's Cleanup by Alan Lines

page 44

Bits & piecesWRGWearHelen Gardner advises that Julian of Jancraft(who she orders the WRGwear WRG logo cloth-ing from) will be at the Bonfire Bash with a selec-tion of stock, and will be taking orders for any-thing that he doesn't have with him.

Helen also apologises for the delays that someof you may have been experiencing betweensending off your orders and yourWRGwear cloth-ing arriving, and says if your order hasn't arrivedwithin six weeks of you sending off your order,please phone her on her mobile phone 07785925164, not on her land line.

Claire Moynihan......would like to thank everyone for their love andkindness to her at Huddersfield following the saddeparture of her canine companion 'Merry Me-dia 2½'. "She will be sadly missed but never for-gotten."

New on the WRG web site...Hopefully by the time you read this we will havephotos of most of the summer Canal Camps onthe web site. Have a look at www.wrg.org.uk,remember how much you enjoyed your summercamp... and book on an autumn or winter camp!

Also on the web...See http://www.south-american-pic.com/feat3/yavari.html for details ofa rather unusual water-way restoration project...an iron-hulled Bolinder-engined passenger boaton Lake Titicaca!

And finally...Apologies for (a) havingto hold one or two itemsover till the next issuedue to lack of space (de-spite the 16 extra pages!)and (b) once again noepisode of the 'Bankside'serial this time, for thesame reason. Don'tworry, it will return.

New fromWRGNorthWest(well actually not that new...)

Many years ago in the 1970s WRG used to sellsets of �collectors� slides� of historic waterwaysscenes, maps of the canals, wonders of the wa-terways and so on.

These slides - all 45 of them - have now beenput onto a CD-ROM by WRG North West. TheCD (suitable for all PC systems from Windows95 onwards) includes JPG and BMP versions ofthe pictures, plus the leaflets that accompaniedthe later slides, plus an automated �slide show�of all the pictures. Use the pictures as �wallpa-per�, a screensaver or whatever you like.

All proceeds go to canal restoration. Price £5. Toorder your copy contact Roger Evans on 01606834471 or e-mail roger_m_evans@biscuits.com.

I am indebted to Pam Chester-Browne for pointing out that the first boat on theRibble Link was rather earlier than I suggested in previous issues of 'Navvies',and carried two small bears called 'Chestnut' and 'Hazel', as seen inPam's photo.

page 45

Directors of WRG:

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

Secretary: Neil Edwards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moving house...

AlisonMackender has moved to:The Lodge Cottage, Gilsthwaite Lane, KirkHammerton, York YO26 8BX.email: alison.mackender@covance.comJen Leigh has moved to:45, Glebe Road, Sheffield S10 1FB.VivWest has a new email:mail@vivwest.force9.co.ukHarriet Rennie has moved to:191 Ellerton Walk, Wolverhampton, WV10 0UL.Tel 01902 562526.Tunji Faleye has an email address:olatunji.faleye@btinternet.com and phonenumber 020 7697 0686If you move house, don't forget to tell 'Navvies' -see bottom left, or email subs@wrg.org.uk.

S t a m p sw a n t e d

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

TheWRGCanalCamps mobilephones:

07850 422156 (A)and

07850 422157 (B)

Trailer available:Open trailer with 4 wheels (small) on Indespensionmounts, fully braked, probably capable of carryingabout half a ton. The basic structure is steel withslot-in side panels and tailgate. It has an unobstructedinternal capacity of 6 foot by 4 foot with an apex infront allowing 8 foot long items to be carried downthe centre. A frame will allow it to transport 8 x 4sheets of board.Wheels are under chassis sonowheelarches. May need attention. Free to a good cause,but you'll need to collect it. Contact Sue Burchett:email sue@navvy.freeserve.co.uk

Congratulations...to Rob and Jane Cummings on the ar-rival of Ellie Jane, on September 26th.

Found...One ex military green sleeping bag left atthe 'National'. Currently with George ' Bun-gle' Eycott. To reclaim it contact him byemail (bungle@wrg.org.uk) or by phone(01635) 676295.

InfillBest described as "Basic"Theabovewordsusedtobeused in theCanalCampsbooklet each year to describe the standard of accom-modation that new volunteers might expect.These days typical Canal Camp accommodationis rather less basic than it used to be. But as areminder of the 'bad old days' I asked for your 'ac-commodation stories' as a way of helping us toappreciate how lucky we 21st-century navvies are.And you responded with a fine selection of talesof sleeping in the kitchen, cooking in the show-ers and showering in the car-park.Well having (apparently) exhausted the supplyof such stories - or at least the printable ones -we thought it was time for something new......except that I can't leave the subject of dodgy ac-commodation without mentioning a couple of excel-lent examples that I stayed in recently, notable for:(a) having to place buckets in various strategicplaces around the hall to prevent the floor frombecoming flooded whenever it rained.(b) a frantic Friday afternoon spent scouring southeast London to replace all the London WRG bak-ing trays which had been mislaid after the 'Na-tional' - only to discover that the accommodationdidn't run to anything as sophisticated as an oven.Or windows or doors for that matter.(c) a notice on the wall saying "Note: toilet andfront door are separately controlled". Now Irealise that some door-handles and bog flushinghandles do look similar, but in all my years of stay-ing in village halls with 'interesting' plumbing,electrics and door-locking rituals, it had never oc-curred to me that as I turn the handle on the frontdoor, somebody enthroned in the 'gents' might be infor a surprise! Or that when I flush the loo, I might beinviting the burglars in! Oh well, you live and learn...

Anyway mention of baking trays, buckets andbogs brings me to the subject of the next collec-tion of readers' stories: "Recipes for disaster" -Classic Canal Camp Catering Cockups.As with the accommodation stories it is of coursethe 'exception that proves the rule'. Most of ourcooks are excellent, and can turn out delicious fod-der using the most basic kit. But once in a whilethingsdon'tquiteworkoutas onemight havehoped...And as with 'best described as "basic" ', I will startthe ball rolling with five of my own stories andinvite you to improve on them...1 Diesel Crumble. Beforemy time, but still talkedabout by London WRG oldies. Hint: if you'regoing to spend the afternoon fixing your LandRover and the evening cooking apple crumble,remember to wash your hands in between.

2 The chicken and rice soup. Also beforemy time;also a London WRG legend. If the soup isn'tthick enough, adding a little rice may help tothicken it. But do remember that not very muchrice can absorb quite a lot of liquid. Sure, thesoup was delicious by all accounts, but it had tobe sliced up and eaten with a knife and fork.

3 The Huddersfield fruit-loaf. Excellent boat-fender material: resilient, strong, shock-resistant, biodegradable (eventually). Not sogood for eating, though.

4 The Grand Western Barbecue, 1991. Whenleaving somebody alone in charge of abarbecue, it may be unwise to supply themwitha 6-pint flagon of West Country cider first...

5 'Pommes sept soeurs' a.k.a. stewed apples withtinned tomatoes. The hall at Seven Sisters onthe Neath had no kitchen, so a 'Baby Belling'portable cooker was provided - and the only flatspace to put it was on top of the bar. This meantthat the top of the pans was 6ft above the floor.Under these circumstances it is a good idea toeither (a) employ a very tall chef or (b) lift thepans down from the cooker to check they don'thaveanyyesterday's left-overs in,beforeyoustartusing them to cook breakfast. Alternatively,throw caution to the wind, and hope that youchance upon some tasty new combinations!

OK - you get the idea? Over to you then: sendyour entries to the editor and I'll publish a selec-tion next time.

page 46page 46

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Left: Graham 'Sparky' Robinson of WRG Forestry Team in actionby Ham Mill Lock on the Cotswolds. (Martin Ludgate) Above: Pre-paring to rebuild the lower gate recess at Creeting Lock during theIpswichCamp. (EdWalker) Below: theKESCRGBasingstoke campbegan construction of a bywash at Deepcut top lock, to supplementthe existing one which takes a circuitous route via the drydock. Afour-daywork-party in September sawEddie Jones and friends con-tinuing work - full report next time. (Martin Ludgate) Back covertop: last ever Mont camp? the Maesbury spillway tail-race nearingcompletion duringCamp0217. (JudeMoore) Backcover left:build-ing a new footbridge over Haverholme Lock bywash on the Sleafordcamp. (Martin Ludgate). Back cover right: at Summit Lock on theWilts & Berks, volunteers on the NWPG camp await the arrival ofthe readymix concrete for the base of the lock-tail bridge, havingcom-pleted installation of complex shuttering and reinforcing. (Pete Bunker)