Number 205 June 2014 THE BOAT MUSEUM SOCIETY President: Di Skilbeck MBE Vice-Presidents: Alan Jones, Harry Arnold MBE, Tony Lewery DIRECTORS Chairman: Jeff Fairweather 07909 990880 6 Thornton Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. CH65 5DF Vice-Chairman: Will Manning 01244 403194 5 Westminster Court, Philip Street, Chester. CH2 3BF Vice-Chairman: Chris Kay 07453304315 3 Rosecroft, Bromborough, Wirral. CH62 6ET Treasurer: Barbara Kay 07952 032935 3 Rosecroft, Bromborough, Wirral. CH62 6ET Membership: Barbara Catford 0151 353 8758 17 The Looms, Parkgate, Neston, Wirral, CH64 6RE Lynn Potts 0151 625 1244 58 Frankby Road, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 6EF Terry Allen 0151 334 8058 8 Shetland Drive, Bromborough, Wirral, CH62 7JZ Sue Phillips 07745134160 8 Newbury Way, Moreton, Wirral. CH46 1PW Bob Thomas 01928 733061 32 Springbourne, Frodsham, Cheshire. WA6 6QD Cath Turpin 0151 632 5446 1 Market Street, Hoylake, Wirral. CH47 2AD Mike Turpin 0151 632 5446 1 Market Street, Hoylake, Wirral. CH47 2AD

CO-OPTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS Andy Wood [Re:Port Editor] 0151 334 2209 34 Langdale Road, Bebington, Wirral. CH63 3AW email: [email protected] Martyn Kerry 07715816768 8 Newbury Way, Moreton, Wirral. CH46 1PW Ailsa Rutherford 01352 756164 14 Tai Maes, Mold, Flintshire, CH7 1RW

CONTACTS TO WHOM CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD BE SENT Publicity/ Ailsa Rutherford 01352 756164 14 Tai Maes, Mold, Flintshire, CH7 1RW. Museum Times email [email protected] Website Sue Phillips 07745134160 8 Newbury Way, Moreton, Wirral, CH46 1PW

On production of a current BMS membership card, members are entitled to free admission to the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, the Waterways Museum at Gloucester and the Canal museum at Stoke Bruerne.

The Boat Museum Society is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England Number 1028599. Registered Charity Number 501593 Visit our website www.boatmuseumsociety.org.uk

The National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH65 4FW, Telephone: 0151 355 5017

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/national-waterways-museum

Cover: Bottom Lock, Foxton Locks, Leicestershire [CC BY-SA 2.0 Snapshooter 46] Number 205 June 2014

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Easter Gathering and planning for other events during for summer have kept volunteers and staff extremely busy. The organis- ing committees normally start the planning for this event in October and in conjunction with the museum staff, the volunteers and of course some glorious weather they organized a first class event. It was a superb boating/musical weekend that showed the history and heritage of the museum at its best. The smooth and skillful operation by the Boat Activity Group and Heritage Boatyard teams, who spent many long hours coordinating the boats and their crews, under the supervision of MartYn Kerry and Dave Linney, was a credit to you all. The stalls, craft displays and exhibitions in the Island Warehouse were buzzing with excitement and gave our visitors plenty to do and get involved in. Let’s not forget the hard work and dedication of the staff and volunteers in the archive, keeping and recording thousands of documents for the reference of future generations. Special thanks must go to Dave Crosby and his team for bringing the engines in the Power Hall back to life after quite a long stand down. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Tony Hales the Chairman of CRT, Richard Parry the Chief Executive of CRT and Cllr Bob Crompton the Mayor of Ellesmere Port for attending and giving their support. Full marks must go to Richard and Bob for their attempts at crocheting. Inevitably the closing of Porters Row, The Lime Shed and Pump House for building work has caused frustration, anger and tension in the build up to Easter and of course there will be times when things go wrong. Through this transitional

Contributions for RE:PORT, which is published four times a year, are always welcome Copy Date for RE:PORT 206 - Wed 20th August All views expressed in RE:PORT are those of the contributors concerned and should not be taken as being the policy of the Boat Museum Society, the National Waterways Museum or the Canal & River Trust. - 3 - RE:PORT Number 205 period I think the museum needs our support more now than it has done for a very long time and I am sure we will achieve far more by working with CRT and the museum rather than by being in conflict with them. Generally complaints about CRT get more attention than compliments and this has certainly been the case this year. However I can't think of m a n y other large organisations where you would get the chance to sit around a table with the Chairman or Chief Executive in a group or on a one to one basis and be given the opportunity to express opinions and grievances with open candour, so it pleases me in this report to give my thanks to Richard Parry, Tony Hales and their respective teams for listening and, where possible, addressing the issues that have given us cause for concern. One of the society’s priorities is to ensure that historic boats are being used and displayed up and down the system during the summer months. This always requires a lot of careful planning with experienced volunteers and leads. Unfortunately this year due to a reduced number of experienced leads being available we are not able to visit as many festivals and gatherings as we would have liked. As the saying goes “time and tide wait for no man” and boating is no exception to this. With many of our members becoming septua- genarians this year, myself included, it reminds me of the importance of attracting and recruiting new younger members to carry on the traditions that we have all worked so hard to preserve. I realise with the retirement age being increased, the days of early retirement with “golden handshakes” being a thing of the past and many other organisations trying to attract volunteers that recruiting new members is that much harder, but if we are to keep our societies, boats and museums alive and moving as opposed to becoming nothing more than static displays then BMS and CRT, working together, have to take this seriously and embark upon a recruitment drive like never before. Finally my thanks go out to all the members of the society wherever you are for your support in keeping BMS and the museum alive and active.

Rare Tragedy a Warning for Canal Users Specialist police divers conducted an underwater search of the 1½ mile long Harecastle Tunnel on 20 th May before recovering the body of Michael Holgate, 58, at around midnight. He had apparently hit his head on the roof of the tunnel, which dips at one point. His wife Susan had tried in vain in pitch black conditions to locate him, but after two hours had to raise the alarm. After Mr Holgate's retirement, the couple had planned to live out the rest of their lives together travelling the canals.

- 4 - Number 205 RE:PORT Thoughts of a Waterways History Heretic Part 3 – Reviewing Literature THE SECOND PIECE in this series writes Joseph Boughey considered one part of “literature review”, the searching of (or for) published sources. Formal “literature reviews” apply mostly to academic research, in which it is essential to position your proposed research within existing knowledge. It is, I concede, valuable to establish some sort of continuity with present knowledge, in the hope that it will be enhanced by your research. However, much waterways history research simply uncovers and adds details, rather than develops a field of knowledge; my piece about Norman Anglin in 2013’s Waterways Journal is an example. A literature review would have been out of place in such work. Despite this, a formally conducted and written literature review can assist some research. It may serve to set the proposed and presented research within existing published work. This pre-empts the response by a reader as to whether the work is original, and how it relates to what has already been published. For instance, there is growing evidence about the kind of people who became shareholders in waterways concerns, and new studies could be proposed to consider the implications of this data. Any research would have to consider J R Ward’s classic The Finance of Canal Building in the Eighteenth Century, amid more obscure published work. This specific literature would benefit from a broader setting, within studies of shareholding in early industrial enterprises, and from studies of canal companies; further, yet wider studies of the development of corporate economic structures would assist. If a new study was to be carried out, the consideration of broader literature would enable an analysis rather than solely description of canal shareholdings. It would then be possible for others to consider alternative interpretations, so that the study go beyond the narrower field of canal or transport history. (Whether such studies are under way, I do not know, although there is a new database of waterways shareholders). The review of literature is more than a listing of publications. It may well attempt to evaluate which published sources are more helpful, reliable and valid. Academic reviews tend to focus on publications that cite their sources, often in extensive footnotes or endnotes, although this is not always essential. One problem with the idea of literature review (certainly a formal one) is that it can deter a researcher from getting started with the material that has excited interest. Often an exploration of the literature will need to be carried out while original materials are being studied. It is possible that, as research progresses, it becomes clear

- 5 - RE:PORT Number 205 that much has already been considered and published, so that an early review can obviate much wasted work, or inspire a change in direction or emphasis. One problem may be that research is proceeding into the same area (a review will not help here), or that after publication takes place, it is revealed that existing publications have not been consulted (there are examples of both). Literature reviews could (and perhaps should) stand as examples of research on their own. I am sometimes asked what should be researched in the future, and I am often deterred from answering because my own knowledge of what has been published, and what sources are available, is limited. Someone could carry out very useful research by bringing together and summarising what has been published, and exposing future research topics and uncharted areas, but without proceeding to carry out further research. A whole series of such reviews, maybe published online, might lead students (of various kinds) to focus on waterways history research rather than other areas. I perceive that this use of the academic idea of literature can be a deterrent, as can the very formal approaches suggested in publications about academic research. While some idea of existing literature, if not a good working knowledge, is valuable, it should not stop you from getting started. Part 4 will begin to consider problems with sources, but I will return to the question of literature review when writing and publication is considered. James Sutton and the Boat Company THE TRENT NAVIGATION TABLES for 1855 include two built by Sutton & Co at Shardlow in 1838 and 1840. These boats were only 6' 6'' and 6' 8'' wide respectively, which may indicate that they were used as flyboats. Some of the names of Sutton's narrowboats recorded in 1831 were: Expedition, Speedy, Norway, Robert, Zealous, Hambro, Northwood, Swift and Safety. James Sutton, born at Aston on Trent, was the son of James Sutton senior and his wife Mary Crane. His father is said to have begun his working life as a boatman but had built up a successful business in the salt trade, canal carrying and boat-building. By 1843 Sutton had clearly gained admission to the up- per class, because he was appointed High Sheriff of Derbyshire that year. James junior worked in the business with his father and inherit- ed it on his father's death in 1830. He went into partnership in a canal carrying company, the Shardlow Boat Company, with James Clif- Canal bridge at Sawley, Derbyshire, from an old postcard

- 6 - Number 205 RE:PORT ford of Shardlow, and Charles Atkins of Etruria, Staffordshire. James Sutton and his Shardlow Boat Company's fly boats traded daily to destina- tions that included , Market Harborough, Hull, Sleaford, Loughborough, Leices- ter, , Grantham, Lincoln, Newark, Boston , Gainsborough, Horncastle, and Melton Mowbray, as well as to places on the Trent and Mersey, and Bridgewater canals. Among the boat captains who were based at Shardlow were Thomas Crane, Joseph Woolley, Josh. Woolley, James White, and John Tomlinson. There were more than forty captains who worked for James Sutton from the 1830s to the 1850s. The family about whom most is known is that of Samuel Till senior and junior. Records show that cargoes carried by the Tills varied greatly and included bundles of hosiery, sacks of malt, ox starch, hogsheads of sugar, chests of tea, bags of coffee and tins of molasses. The Tills' boats travelled not only on the Trent, but also to to destinations that included Leicester, Middlewich and . However, the cargoes carried from Shardlow are confined to malt, beans, oats, barley, flour, timber and an occasional hogshead of vinegar. Samuel Till junior died on 14th November 1872 aged just 51 years, which perhaps gives some indication of the physical toll taken on working boatmen by their occupa- tion. Samuel is buried in Shardlow churchyard with his wife and their daughter Diana. The coming of the railways sent many canal businesses into decline, and by 1850 James Sutton had given up building boats. However, he had married Sophia Hoskins, the daughter of Abraham Hoskins whose family were successful brewers, and it seems that James probably went into the business. He was recorded as a house owner in Shardlow in 1857 and he was the patron of the living of the parish church. James Sutton died at the age of 68. MUSEUM NEWS We were sorry to lose Dale Copley as Collections Manager in April. She was given the opportunity of a fully funded PhD that she couldn't refuse! Dale made a big difference in furthering a number of initiatives, including the Window of the World project, the application for re-accreditation of the Museum's collections (including those at Stoke Bruerne and Gloucester), the on-going oral history project “20th Century Voices”, as well as the refurbishment of the Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne. A huge job! We wish her well in furthering her academic career. Margaret Harrison, who has been supporting the Collections and Archives on a short term contract recently, will fulfil Dale's role until a new Collections Manager is appointed later in the year. At the end of April, we welcomed John Benson, who is job-sharing the important Archivist role with Linda Barley. This means that the Archive can now open each weekday and gives more volunteer opportunities. Many of you may know that Debbie Lumb, the Head of the Museums and Attractions division of CRT has been on sick leave for a number of weeks. Her role is being fulfilled by Wendy Capelle until she returns. Jim McKeown has also been away from the Museum for some weeks, and it is good to be able to welcome him back to work as Duty Manager. - 7 - RE:PORT Number 205

[Photo: Bradford MBC]

Painterly Photograph

READERS will recall the illustration on the front cover of the September 2013 issue of Re:Port, which the Editor believed to be a painting of the Bingley Five Rise locks on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, which he credited to an artist called Walter Scott. Fortunately, the membership of the Boat Museum Society consists of very knowledgeable people whom no error, no matter how esoteric, is unlikely to slip past! The long-term member of BMS, boat operator, boat builder and one-time waterways freight carrier David Lowe was quick off the mark. He politely pointed out that Walter Scott was a Bradford-based firm that printed colour postcards, and that the cover image was not a painting but a - slightly damaged - photograph published by the company. He also provided a more recent photograph (see above) of the wide boat Water Prince which seems to echo the Walter Scott photograph. Further investigation unearthed an article written by Anthony Eden published in the August/September 1990 issues of “Picture Post Card Monthly”, in which he wrote, “I hope readers in Scotland will not be disappointed when they read that this article is not about THE Walter Scott but about OUR Walter Scott, the postcard publisher”. Remarkably, Walter Scott (Bradford) Ltd is still in business, now based in Canal Street, Bradford. Anthony Eden went on to write, “But was there any connection with Sir Walter Scott? The answer is - no. Our Walter Scott must have had some affinity for Sir Walter as he named his works the Ivanhoe Works, a name which the present directors believe goes back to the 1920s and is still used to-day”. J M Palframan, the

- 8 - Number 205 RE:PORT then co-director of Walter Scott was quoted as saying, “Walter Scott as a day-to-day person may be forgotten, but his legacy of photographs and even the way we run the business today has direct lines back to him”. One thing that is not clear is why Anthony Eden, who was Prime Minister during the Suez debacle, and who died in 1976 should have been posthumously collecting postcards...? The Boats Other People Care For Nuneaton

The Narrow Boat Trust owns the motor boat Nuneaton, an all-steel riveted motor boat built by W J Yarwood & Sons Ltd at Northwich, and known as a “Large Northwich”. It was launched in August 1936, and fitted with a National diesel engine. In the mid-1930s 186 pairs of boats were built as part of the massive expansion programme of the Carrying Company (GUCCCo). They were designed to carry 72 tons of cargo per pair on a draught of 4ft 3ins and at a speed of 6 miles per hour. But the canals were never able to take boats with that load, typically 50-55 tons were carried. Once commissioned Nuneaton was fully employed carrying many different loads, mainly between London and the Midlands, with backloads of coal from the coalfields. In 1948 a large part of the canal system was nationalised under the British Transport Commission (Docks & Inland Waterways Executive). Nuneaton became part of the narrowboat fleet operated by the BTC (D&IWE), although the routine of carrying remained the same. The boat then passed to British Waterways in October 1953, and continued to carry cargoes much as it had done with GUCCCo Ltd. During British Waterways' ownership Nuneaton had its original steel cabin removed, and replaced with a wooden cabin; this was done to several of the boats due to problems with heating and condensation. In about 1960 Nuneaton's National engine was removed and replaced with a Petter PD2 air cooled engine. Shortly after the formation of the British Waterways Board in 1963 the national- ised carrying fleet was disbanded. Many boats' carrying careers ended, but together - 9 - RE:PORT Number 205 with about 67 other narrowboats Nuneaton was hired to the newly formed Willow Wren Canal Transport Services Ltd. Thanks to the good maintenance routine and hull renovation carried out by BTW some of these boats were able to continue working until 1970. Nuneaton was returned to BWB in 1970 after thirty-four years of continuous service, being one of the last narrowboats employed in long-distance canal carrying. But as BWB had no work available for Nuneaton it was stored, with several other boats returned at the same time, on the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. They remained there for about eighteen months, during which time so-called enthusiasts scavenged anything of interest, and stole engine parts to keep other boats running. Sold to the Narrow Boat Trust, restoration of the boat was put in hand, using mostly volunteer labour. Thirty years later Nuneaton is still working. In the winter of 2000/2001 the temporary wooden cabin was replaced with a steel one in the style of the original, and a number of other repairs were made to the hull and fittings. The Petter engine was replaced with a Lister HRW2 in 2001, although the Narrow Boat Trust still hopes at a later stage to refit the boat with a National-type engine, similar to that originally fitted. Household Words and Hard Times BOATMEN'S FAMILIES lived ashore from the beginning of the Canal Age until the 1830s. But as railways began to compete with the canals, families especially the Number Ones (owners and captains of independently-owned single boats) started to live aboard as well as to work their boats. In part this was because they could no longer afford the rent on a house “on the bank”, but also to have more hands to work the boats harder, longer and further, and to keep families together. However, this was not always the case with boats belonging to the large carrying companies. Interestingly, as late as 1858, an article in “Household Words”, the magazine which had been established in 1850 by Charles Dickens, said that the Grand Junction Canal Company did not allow the boatmen’s families on board its boats. The crew of the fly boat on which the article centred, which consisted of the captain, two crewmen, and a ‘youth’ (who could have been as young as ten) was said to be typical. The cabin at the back end of the boat became the cramped “boatman’s cabin”, which of necessity required considerable ingenuity to make the most of the limited space. It seems to have been the boat-wife who was responsible for making it attractive, - 10 - Number 205 RE:PORT with a warm stove, a simmering kettle, gleaming brasswork, fancy lace and decorated plates. Although the writer of the “Household Words” article and others, saw beyond the picturesque to consider the conditions of a large family working extremely long, hard days, and sleeping in one small cabin, it is no doubt true that at the time there were many workers in harder, trades on the bank whose lives were every bit as hard. Workers in industry - ironworks, brass foundries, coalmines and quarrying - worked in less healthy conditions and lived in worse accommodation, where the families were separated during long working hours rather than being together all day as the boat families were. Nonetheless, until it was possible for such mobile families to send their children to school, most boat people remained illiterate and ostracised by those living ‘on the bank’. When they did attend school, children from boating families were often bullied. They were called names and stood out from the other children as different. Due to the lack of education among the boatmen, most adults were illiterate, and they relied on inn keepers to read letters for them. Many boatmen were unable to write or spell their own names, so on marriage certificates they often signed with their mark, an “X”. As a group boatmen were victimised by town-dwellers. Like many modern day travelling groups they were seen as untrustworthy, if not actually criminals. They were an easy target for stone throwing youths. Even when boatmen managed to catch the culprits, the townies would often side with the stone-throwers, assuming that the boatmen had deserved or provoked it. In some places, there were requests from boatmen for the sides of bridges to be raised to protect them from missiles. However, there were few, if any, examples of this being done. In the inter-war period in the 20th Century, when authors and artists looked back to an imagined, idealised pre-industrial age, some writers romanticised boatmen as “water gypsies”, creating the mistaken idea that they were actually of Romany origin. Although, in their nomadic way of life they had a lot in common with gypsies, they had come from diverse backgrounds - farm workers, labourers and factory hands among them. Between boatmen there was competition, and rivalry between the carrying companies, but boatmen would often help each other without expecting to be thanked, and they protected each other against outsiders. Boats often had a dog aboard, which might be a guard dog or, if it was a lurcher, it would be used for poaching to supplement the diet with a rabbit stew or similar. The lurcher is not a recognised breed, but a cross between a sighthound, greyhound and collie. Known as “the poacher's dog”, the lurcher was bred for speed, hunting ability and intelligence. As diesel- and steam-propulsion replaced horses in the early 20th Century, it became possible to move more cargo with A Lurcher the same manpower, when “butties” became common.

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Although there was now no longer a horse to look after, someone had to steer the butty, except on wide canals like the Grand Union Canal, where the two narrowboats could be roped side-to-side or “breasted up”, and handled as one while working through locks. The Book That Saved Britain's Canals First published in 1944, the new 70th Anniversary limited edition book Narrow Boatby L T C Rolt is a modern classic and was the catalyst for the restoration of Britain’s canal system which by the 1940s was falling into almost terminal decay. The Canal & River Trust and the History Press have made this new edition available to buy exclusively from the Canal & River Trust website shop from the 29th May price ¢ 14.99 (plus p&p). Fully illustrated with over 20 previously unpublished photographs from the Rolt family archives plus 80 illustrations, the book has a new foreword by Canal Laureate and boater Jo Bell and new cover and illustrations by the canal artist and print maker Eric Gaskell. Jo Bell says, “Narrow Boat is a great book. It is full of love and respect; it tells a true story in a strong voice. It is driven by a compulsion to explain the canals to those who don’t yet know them. Rolt was a missionary for the canals – he wants you, the reader, to feel the connection between land and water, between then and now, between the people of water and bank”. Author and co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association, L.T.C Rolt was originally an engineer but his literary fame now rests on his classic biographies of Brunel, Telford, Treithick and the Stephensons, as well his volumes on transport history. His great passion was always Britain’s industrial heritage in an era when this was decidedly unfashionable. The book was well received at the time of publication and was an instant success due in part to a nation grown weary of war. It has since never been out of print and has inspired generations of boaters and leisure cruisers as well as those who share Rolt’s love of our industrial history. Narrow Boat by L T C Rolt, Canal & River Trust and The History Press, Paperback (80 black and white illustrations) RRP: £14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7509-6061-8

- 12 - Number 205 RE:PORT Horsing About on the Montgomery and Grand Western Canals BYWATER WATERWAY CRUISES’ horse Cracker tows the boat Countess on the Montgomery Canal for public trips, mostly of one hour. The boat can seat a maximum of twelve passengers. In addition, the company offers short holiday breaks including trips on the Countess together with other activities, such as rides on steam trains and cruises on motorboats or the horse-drawn passenger boats at Llangollen. In the heyday of canals, thousands of horses were employed pulling cargo boats along the canals of England and Wales. Today the narrowboat Countess is one of only half a dozen horse-drawn boats in the country, and is the only one running regular cruises in the Midlands. Countess is a modern boat, but built in the style of a Victorian packet boat. It is 35 feet long with comfortable seating both inside and out for a maximum of twelve people. Being double-ended, it does not need to be turned round. Countess operates on part of the Montgomery Canal that has recently been restored and re-opened for navigation. Few other boats disturb this attractive waterway which is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Canalside pubs and village wharves are testimony to the canal’s once busy past, with farm bridges and locks to add interest to the journey through the Welsh Marches. In 2014 another company, the Tiverton Canal Company, formerly known as The Grand Western Horseboat Company, celebrates the 40th anniversary of its horse- drawn passenger boat business, as well as the bi-centenary of the Grand Western Canal itself. The Grand Western Canal meanders its way through eleven miles of agricultural land and small pockets of woodland. Once used principally for the carriage of lime- stone, the canal is now a designated Local Nature Reserve, that is home to a variety of birdlife including swans, ducks, kingfishers and reed warblers. This tranquil waterway can be enjoyed on a gentle trip aoard the Tivertonian, a traditionally painted barge, which made its inaugural trip on the canal on Saturday 13th July 1974 pulled by a Shire horse in a colourful harness decorated with traditional horse brasses.

Prince towing Tivertonian [Photo: Tiverton Canal Co]

- 13 - RE:PORT Number 205 Staff & Volunteers Meet with Richard Parry THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the Canal & River Trust, Richard Parry joined staff and volunteers at the Muse- um for a question and answer session on 4th April. Richard was on site for a meeting with Cheshire West & Chester Council and took the opportunity to meet with us. The meeting was well attended and got off to a positive start with the exchange of a signed Memorandum of Understanding between CRT and the Boat Museum Society. The Memorandum sets out how both organisations will work together in future for Photo: CRT the benefit of the Museum. Richard said that there was a lot of change and a lot going on, but that he was here to find out about the issues that lay behind the questions which had been submitted in advance. He was pleased to see that Museums had returned to the Trust, and he felt that they were at the centre of the Trust's wider engagement with members of the public. He also voiced the view that the commitment of volunteers at Ellesmere Port could act as a template for the rest of the organisation. When Richard joined CRT last year, after more than a decade in senior roles managing large, complex transport and infrastructure organisations, he said: “I am really excited to be joining the Canal & River Trust at such an important phase in the future of the nation’s magnificent waterways. The scale of the opportunity is huge, as what we and our supporters do in the next five years will help shape the waterways for the next century”. At the question and answer session, Richard invited questions, which proved to be very wide ranging. They included issues such as the lack of progress on the building works, the assessment of volunteer competency, staffing levels in the Heritage Boat- yard, local community involvement, communication and consultation. It would have been unrealistic to expect that in just an hour he would be able to provide all the answers, but everyone involved felt that the meeting was a useful forum for highlighting the issues that are of concern to many members of BMS and a chance to put them directly to the man at the top. Wedgwood's Etruria THE FIRST MEETING of those who were interested in the projection of a canal from the Trent to the Merseytook place on 10th June 1766 at “The Crown” inn in Stone, Staffordshire. More than a year before this meeting, Josiah Wedgwood had written to his brother John, on 3rd April 1765, “This scheme of a Navigation is undoubtedly the best thing that could possibly be plan’d for this country...” Wedgwood’s future business partner Thomas Bentley, was strongly in favour of the inland navigation system being

- 14 - Number 205 RE:PORT proposed. As a Liverpool based merchant, Bentley had a vested interest in a canal which would link the Midlands to the port of Liverpool. Both men played their part in developing a base of support for their proposal as the one to back. because in 1765 the Grand Trunk canal was not the only inland navigation scheme being proposed. Although Josiah’s involvement with the canal scheme was in large part altruistic – offering to be the Treasurer of the venture without remuneration – he would benefit from the transport of bulky raw materials like china clay and stone - which were previously shipped from Cornwall to Liverpool and then transported over land by pack horse – and of his finished goods which were susceptible to breakages by land transport. The world famous Etruria Works was a ceramics factory opened by The original Etruria factory Josiah Wedgwood in 1769, in a [Picture: www.the potteries.org] district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He named it Etruria after a region of central Italy, which was originally inhabited by the Etrusci, a highly civilised people who produced splendid works of art. From this canal-side factory, Wedgwood ware was exported all over the world for 180 years. Wedgwood had previously set up his business at the Ivy House Works and the Brick House Works in the nearby town of Burslem. The latter has been demolished and the Wedgwood Institute is built on its site. In 1767 Wedgwood paid about £3,000 for his new site, which was then known as the Ridgehouse Estate, which comprised some three hundred and fifty acres. It lay close to the route of the , of which Wedgwood was one of the promoters. On one side of the canal Wedgwood built himself a large house, “Etruria Hall”, and on the other side his factory that was designed by his architect, Joseph Pickford. The opening of the newly-built factory was celebrated with the throwing of six “First Day’s” vases, on 13th June 1769 The motto of the Etruria works was Artes Etruriae Renascuntur. Which can be translated from the Latin as, “The Arts of Etruria are reborn”. Wedgwood was inspired by the type of ancient pottery that was then generally described as “Etruscan”, although the term was used for items that are now known to be Greek rather than Italian. In particular he was interested in artworks which Sir William Hamilton (the husband of Emma Hamilton) began to collect in the 1760s while serving as the British ambassador in Naples. The designer John Flaxman had adapted this classical style for the 18th Century market. The products of Wedgwood’s factory were greatly admired in Britain and abroad, and some of Flaxman’s designs are still in production today. When the canal was being planned, Wedgwood saw an opportunity to incorporate it as a genteel landscape feature. Despite his involvement with the canal scheme and his close relationship with James Brindley, his wishes were not automatically granted.

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In a letter to Thomas Bentley in 1767 he wrote about a meeting he had with Hugh Henshall, the Clerk of Works for the Canal Committee. In his letter, Wedgwood explained that the canal’s route through his Etruria estate was intended to be in a straight line and that, “I could not prevail on the inflexible vandal to give me one line of grace,” because of Brindley’s instructions to go “the nearest and best way”. It would seem, however, the Josiah got his way eventually as a number of late 18th Century maps show a distinct curve to the canal just west of the factory as well as an island arboretum on a direct line of vision between the factory and Etruria Hall. Little remains of the factory today, although one surviving structure is now protected as a listed building. The site had begun to be affected by mining subsidence, and most of the factory was demolished after the Wedgwood company moved production to Barlaston some miles south on the Trent and Mersey Canal. Would You Adam an’ ‘Eave It?

[Photo: Joseph Boughey]

The Museum had 5,468 visitors during March, which was an increase of 26% on the same month in 2013. The Model Boats weekend,organised by the Ellesmere Port Model Boat Club, also saw an increase of 17% in the number of visitors. The radio controlled boats demonstrated their owners’ skills in model making and boat piloting. The weekend included boat races, steering challenges, free sailing, a model boat building demonstration and the award for the best boat. The entire length of one of the locks displayed an extensive and well thought out model dock system. Joseph Boughey's photo captures the moment when the Bridgewater Department tug Bantam II was “towed” by two model tugs.

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[Photo: Joseph Boughey]

The boat I would most like to take home with me (from the Easter Gathering) THIS YEAR IT WAS the visiting boat Cutter that ironically is not strictly historic in that it was built in 1991 by Martin Fuller at Stone on the Trent and Mersey, writes Norman Stainthorp. The design, however, is very historic based on the lines of tunnel tugs, estuary, and sea-going tugs but sized to fit through the UK narrow canal system. This was the second time Martin had brought Cutter to the Ellesmere Port Gathering but was more prominently placed this year so that its fine water-slipping lines could be admired. It was originally build as a 28 foot day boat with a Dorman 2hp water-cooled

[Photo: Norman Stainthorp]

- 17 - RE:PORT Number 205 engine. In 2005-6, Martin lengthened the boat to 44ft and changed the engine to an air-cooled Lister HA2. The tug style wheelhouse is of hardwood and can be dismantled in 5 minutes in the rare event of a particularly low bridge or tunnel. There is an option of tiller steering from the stern. Inside there are 4 berths, 2 in the saloon and double in the fore end cabin. The hull is of sheet steel with ‘T’ section knees, and no keelson. For the technically minded, the only piece of steel that had to be roll-formed was the uxter plate. The boat has a very slippery shape that means it causes no wash, can pass other boats without difficulty and is never caught up! Overall, it has elements of all the boats you have ever seen but can’t quite recall – a dream of a boat made real. From “Museum Times”

Health & Safety A reminder that life-jackets must be kept fastened when being worn: a volunteer at another site had failed to do this and encountered problems when he had fallen in the water. Safety concerns had been raised about boating in the lower basin because of the proximity of the Lime Shed scaffolding. A reminder that “Keep Out” signs around the fences on building works apply to us all and, a reminder that if a hazard is seen then it should be reported to the Duty Manager. John Inch also reported that Ian Posnett has informed us of his intention to stand down from his commitments to the Museum. John, the staff and volunteers would like to express their thanks to Ian for his years of volunteering with regard to Boat Activity, Site Tours, Events announcer and more recently as Volunteer Lead for Collections. Collections Update from Dale Copley (Sadly this will be Dale’s last contribution as she [left] us on 10 April to pursue a PhD. Dale has made a tremendous difference to the Collection since she has been with us and our best wishes go with her for the future.) On the last Saturday in March the collections team took ‘Manchester related objects’ to Manchester Histories Festival an estimated 8000 visitors attended the Saturday event and reports from those who went were very positive. My thanks to all the staff and volunteer leads who have helped me hugely over the last 18 months and wish them and the museum all the best for the future. Hannah White’s blog for Curious Canal Objects on the CRT web site The Collections Team at National Waterways Museum have achieved a great triumph this week, in completing what at first seemed to be an impossible task. Due to

- 18 - Number 205 RE:PORT building works taking place at Porters Row, as with other parts of the site at present, all of the collections items had to be decanted and packaged up in temporary storage. Originally the time allocated to this project had been four weeks but this was then shortened to one single week, which I am privileged to say took place successfully last week. Our Collections Volunteer Lead Ian Posnett went far beyond what we would usually ask for by a volunteer and project managed the task. Our Collections volunteers are absolutely amazing in the enthusiasm, commitment to projects and generosity with their time- so I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big THANK YOU to all who took part! The project allowed us to handle and record some fascinating objects including very many plates, dishes, jars, saucers, bowls…..which we used our three favourite words to describe them - Cracked, Chipped and Crazed. This was also how the team felt by the end of the week! Porters Row Report from Ian Posnett Hi, Ian here. I have been asked to write a few lines about the Porter’s Row decant. Those that know me well might be saying – Ian, a few words, mission impossible! So here goes (in a few words). Earlier this year Dale, Hannah and I met to discuss the process and I accepted the challenge of putting my “ancient” skills to the test and take on the management of the project. We designed a suite of documents that would manage the process. Then set about writing to all of the volunteers on the team to outline the process. When the big day arrived we were expecting at least one week’s notice, as it happens we had a tad less than 48 hours and a Saturday and Sunday in which to get the notice out and responses back What a great team with which to work: by late Saturday evening the teams for the Monday and Tuesday were confirmed. The other days were settled by Monday night. We all met at the cottages on the Monday morning complete with lots of enthusiasm and many layers of warm clothing (and we were still cold). The wind across that lower basin at the Port is really mean and takes no prisoners.A team briefing took place and we set about our task. It was a great mixture of learning, improvisation and a lot of enjoyable fun in great company. We completed the decant of all four cottages mid afternoon on the Friday. Wow we were tired but delighted by the achievement. From the Archive Jonathon Pepler has been volunteering at the Waterways Archive since last year having been previously employed as an Archivist at a number of Archives around the country, including time he spent as Head of Chester Records Office. Jonathon agreed to appraise the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation collection which is one of the larger uncatalogued collections in the Archive and contains a variety of material. We hope that this collection will be one of the first to be fully catalogued using the new cataloguing software.

- 19 - RE:PORT Number 205 Jack Mytton Inn, Hindford, Llangollen Canal

Moorings next to the Jack Mytton Inn

[Photo: Jeremy Bolwell CC BY-SA 2.0

THE JACK MYTTON INN by the Llangollen Canal at Hindford, near Whittington, Shropshire, is a charming old inn, well worth stopping at for a drink or a meal. John “Mad Jack” Mytton (1796-1838) is Shropshire's best-remembered sportsman, eccentric and drunkard. He was expelled from Westminster and Harrow schools as a boy, but was given a place at Cambridge University, where he arrived with 2,000 bottles of port wine to sustain him during his studies. After university, he secured the Parliamentary seat for Shrewsbury by encouraging constituents to vote for him with ¢ 10 notes, getting through ¢ 10,000 (¢ 750,000 or more today) in the process. He attended the Commons just once for half an hour and never went there again. He had inherited a fortune worth today about ¢ 500,000 a year and became the master of Halston Hall and of the local hunt. Renowned for practical jokes, Mad Jack was a daredevil, who often risked his life undertaking dangerous feats just for the hell of it. It is said that his exploits included riding a bear through his dining room, wearing full hunting dress. The bear carried him very quietly for a time; but after being pricked by Mytton's spurs he bit him through his calf. His madcap pranks made Mytton a legend in his own lifetime. One he put a drunken friend to bed with two bulldogs and a bear (presumably the same that had bitten him). Mytton himself went duck shooting by moonlight on the frozen lake at Halston Hall, dressed in only his nightshirt. On another occasion, disguised as a highwayman, complete with pistols, he ambushed a party of departing guests on the Oswestry road. He died in a debtors' prison at the age of 37. Mad Jack had lost his money, but not his friends; three thousand people attended his funeral. He is buried in the Chapel at Halston. - 20 - Number 205 RE:PORT

Waterways Journal Vol 16 Robert Aickman and the 'garish Wild West melodrama of the campaign for the waterways'. Joseph Boughey In the year of his centenary, Joseph has researched in considerable detail the life, background and character of Robert Aickman, 'Founder and Vice President' of the Inland Waterways Association. He has also put Aickman's achievements and shortcomings into the context of the early years of the organisation.

Concrete boats & barges – Solutions for Wartime Steel Shortages David Long Intuitively, concrete seems an unlikely material for the construction of boats, barges and tugs. David Long has spent many years researching such vessels, built when more the conventional building materials, wood, iron and steel were in short supply during wartime. His account not only looks at the concrete craft built in two world wars, but also the reasons why they did not continue to be built in peace time.

Box Boat 337 – A rare survivor restored Di Skilbeck Di Skilbeck's article on Box Boat 337 looks at the pedigree of such craft and their importance in the history of narrow boat carrying. No 337 arrived at Ellesmere Port in 1978 and she tells its story, culminating in its recent restoration in the Heritage Boatyard at the National Waterways Museum,

Richard Abel & Sons, of Runcorn and Liverpool Terry Kavanagh Terry has meticulously researched the extensive fleet of flats, barges and tugs of Richard Abel and Sons Ltd. As most of their craft were acquired second hand and they generally renamed them soon after vessels came into the company's ownership, this has been no easy task.

Waterways Journal is available for £6.99 at BMS meetings, the shop at the National Waterways Museum, and from canalside shops. It be obtained by mail order for £9.50 including postage & packing. For an order form go to the BMS website:

www.boatmuseumsociety.org.uk/publications.html

- 21 - RE:PORT Number 205 The Foxton Inclined Plane

The lower level is in the foreground and boats and barges departed to the left at the upper level. [Photo: CC BY-SA 2.0 Chris Allen] THE FLIGHT OF LOCKS at Foxton was built in 1810 to overcome a 75 foot high hill. The passage of a single boat through the ten locks took about 45 minutes and used 25,000 gallons of water. The locks were built to pass narrowboats. When the only alternative method of transport being horse- drawn waggons at the time, the passage through the locks was not a consideration, even when queues extended the waiting time to several hours. When serious competition arrived with the coming of the railways, the carriers Fellows Morton & Clayton (FMC) wanted to use bigger boats to carry coal from the north to factories in London. FMC promoted a take-over of the Leicester line of the canal by the Grand Junction Canal Company (GJCCo) and FMC promised to put more narrowboats on the canal. The GJCCo engineer Gordon Cale Thomas was put in charge of increasing the capacity of Foxton. Thomas was the son of Hurbert Thomas who was the Engineer of the GJCCo from 1864 until 1891. Gordon Thomas dismissed the idea of replacing the existing locks with wide locks, as they would use too much water from the canal's summit pound. His solution was to build a boat lift to his own patented design. The lift was built by W H Gwynne Ltd, of Hammersmith in London, who were iron founders and makers of the centrifugal pump invented by James Gwynne. The Lift's gradient was 1 in 4 and the total rise was 75 feet 2 inches. The Thomas Lift - variously known to boatmen as the Foxton Barge Lift, the Foxton Inclined Plane, the Lift Lock, or the New Locks - consisted of two tanks or caissons linked by wire cables. - 22 - Number 205 RE:PORT

A steam powered winch at the top wound the cable on to one side of its drum, simultaneously letting it off the other, thus raising and lowering the tanks. Each tank full of water weighed 230 tons. Two boats or one wide barge could enter each tank. When a boat or boats had entered the tank at either the top or bottom the operator would close a guillotine gate and signal the Lift's engine room using a ship's telegraph. The upper tank descend, either loaded with boats or just full of water, would then descend. At the bottom, the descending tank submerged in the water at the bottom where the guillotine gate was opened by the operator. However,the immersion of the descending tank effectively made it lighter, upsetting the the balance between the two tanks. To compensate for this, when the tank neared the top of the incline, an ingenious change was made to the angle of ascent. The top of the slope curved, making it easier for the tank to ascend. On the leading edge of the tank, extra wheels came into contact with extra rails on either side of the normal track. At the same time the rear wheels descended into a pit, effectively keeping the tank upright. Once the tank was at the top, hydraulic rams pushed it against a wooden seal, and the guillotine gates on the end of the tank and on the dock were opened. The horse would be re-attached and the boat was ready to continue its journey. The entire operation took 12 minutes, and could lift two boats and lower another two simultaneously. The lift made a significant saving of time as against that taken by using the locks. It also saved a significant amount of water, as all that was lost was that trapped between the gates at the top. The Lift did not usually operate after dark. Horse boats had to stop to rest the horse, but by 1909 FMC steam boats were working 'fly' which meant non-stop boating 24 hours a day, with a four man crew working in shifts. To accommodate this traffic, the locks were restored for use at night. The locks at Watford Gap were never widened, and the traffic didn't increase, making the lift uneconomic. In addition, there were problems with track bolts pulling out of the sleepers, but it was nothing that could not have been rectified. The lift had been capable of moving a hugh amount of traffic compared with the actual usage: FMC's promise of increased traffic had not materialised. In 1911 the Lift was mothballed to save money, and the traffic returning to the locks, which have remained in use ever since. The decision was probably taken because of the need for substantial repairs needed by the 10 year old structure, together with the cost of keeping the lift in steam, with a minimum of three operators. The Lift was maintained for a few years, after which its condition deteriorated. The machinery was removed and sold for scrap in 1928. The Foxton Iinclined Plane Trust (FIPT), which was formed in 1980, is committed to the full restoration of the Lift to working order. With financial help from the Foxton Lift Partnership and the Lottery Heritage Fund, and practical help from the Waterways Recovery Group, £3m has been spent so far on transforming the site of the Lift which, after its closure in 1928 had been robbed of all useful material and abandoned to nature. Membership of the FIPT costs £9.00 per annum for Individual members, £12.00 £9 pa for Family members or £150 pa for Life members. - 23 - RE:PORT Number 205 Robert Aickman – A Postscript Part 1 – Aickman’s Ghost TALKS SOMETIMES evoke questions that raise issues that are almost unanswerable writes Joseph Boughey. At the end of my talk about Robert Aickman’s contribution to waterways history, Norman Stainthorp asked the almost unanswerable. “What would Aickman think of the present waterways scene?” Norman’s question could take us into the realms of the counter- factual, or historical speculation. Supposing Robert Aickman had survived to reach 100 years, what would he now think? Two immedi- ate distinctions present themselves. If Robert was still alive, what would he have done between 1980, when he fell ill, and the present day? And, even if he had confined his whole attention to writing strange stories, how (if at all) would his feelings have changed? Would he have become even more disillusioned, or might he have reflected upon the many waterways that have been retained and restored, and consid- ered how much worse things might have been? I will sidestep these imponderables and assume that Aickman’s ghost has been fast- forwarded from 1981 to a single glimpse of the waterways of 2014. A late interview with Michael Pearson, from Summer 1980 (published in Waterways World), prompted his vision of the “backsliding eighties”. In that interview, Aickman asserted that “Britain has gone completely mad!”, asserting that whereas in an earlier period the IWA’s views were generally accepted, by 1980 public opinion had turned against the waterways. This probably reflected his experience of the opposition to the Yorkshire Derwent restoration, which failed to progress after he became involved. Undoubtedly he would be unhappy that this has now been stalled for 40 years and is effectively lost, as have plans for the upper Severn, defeated partly on nature conservation grounds. My view is that he was totally mistaken; public opinion is much more in favour of waterways than in the 1970s. He would, presumably, be pleased with a political climate in which any closure proposals would meet considerable opposition, and in which restoration and enhancement, albeit proceeding slowly, have general support. He would disapprove of the position of freight transport, whereby only small- scale traffics remain on the former BW waterways. He sought a “dramatic upsurge“ in freight, but this would seemingly be prompted by solutions to the energy crisis. This was then seen less in terms of harmful emissions (and climate change) as in prospective shortages of energy and the need to conserve resources. Aickman sought the revival of rail as well as water transport, and he thus probably envisaged significant transfers of traffic from road to rail and water. How these were to be achieved, in any realistic fashion, even with major shifts in public attitudes and government policy, is hard to fathom. However, he would clearly be unhappy that no such possibilities have not been realised, so that what has survived is a system of leisure waterways.

- 24 - Number 205 RE:PORT ERRATUM Di Ascot wrote to point out that the details of how to order Harry Arnold and Dusty Miller’s prints of “Last Traffic” were not included in the item in the last issue of Re:Port. The end of the item should have read as follows: The prints which would make excellent presents for any waterway enthusiasts, have a white border and caption on a finished paper size of approximately 16 in by 12 in. The standard Limited Edition print costs £48.00 and the special Limited Edition £85.00, (prices include p&p delivery in a cardboard tube). All prints will be signed by the artist Dusty Miller and the fifty prints of the special Limited Edition will also be signed by the actor and waterways enthusiast David Suchet. Orders for the standard Limited Edition should be addressed to: Boat Museum Society c/o 68 Eastham Village Road, Eastham, Wirral, CH62 0AN. Cheques should be made payable ton’The #boat Museum Society’. Orders for the special Lmited Edition should be addressed to Waterway Images, 26 Chaseview Road, Alrewas, Burton-on-Trent, DE13 7EL. (Cheques should be made payble to ‘Waterway Images’). Review: Waterways Journal Volume 16 Andy Wood THE ANNUAL APPEARANCE of a new edition of Waterways Journal is a welcome opportunity to feed the mind, not just to pass the time. Volume 16, edited as usual by Cath Turpin, contains four authoritative and revelatory articles, all of which cannot help but add to the academic credibility of the Journal. Joseph Boughey contributes a balanced view of Robert Aickman, neither a hagiography nor an excoriating criticism, to mark the centenary of his birth. Meticu- lously, he reveals to the reader that the co-founder of the Inland Waterways Associa- tion was a human being like many another, who had both strengths and weaknesses. A sociologist would point to his childhood and teenage years, growing up alone with his father, and his apparent lack of any passion or motivating force in those years, as being deeply significant. It was happen-stance that he encountered the neglected Stratford Canal early on in life, but it was some years before he made contact with Tom Rolt and suggested forming a campaigning body to reverse the decline of the inland waterways. He had found a cause and an ally. However, the cause of commercial carrying was already lost. Until he finally came round to accepting that it was pleasure boating that would save the canals, he made as many enemies as friends. Despite that, and his falling out with Rolt, Joseph succeeds in making the case that Aickman was “...a difficult man, but one who saved the waterways”. Rev David Long's article on “Concrete Boats and Barges” immediately caught this reviewer's eye because, before the North-West Museum of Inland Navigation (NWMIN) got off the ground, he came across the derelict port where there were three concrete barges half sunk in the lower basin. David unveils the history of the yard at Fiddlers Ferry on the upper Mersey, where barges were first built in 1913, after which - 25 - RE:PORT Number 205 there was a long interregnum before the Concrete Seacraft Company moved on to the site in the winter of 1917-18, and launched its first concrete barge in January 1919. This was to have been followed by ten larger ships, but the end of the Great War meant that only four were begun, of which only two were launched. The well illustrated article shows the principle of the Ritchie System of unit construction which was used to fabricate the vessels. The system involved prefabrication of sections that could be built indoors as well as outdoors. Mr H C Ritchie seems to have licensed other companies to use the system, because an appendix to the article lists vessels built in Dorset, Kent, Sussex, Lancashire, the North-East, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The standard prefix of the names given to the vessels was 'Cret'; Cretabode, Cretebank, Cretangleand so on. It is no surprise that the third article, by Di Skilbeck, chronicles the origin and history of the “starvationers” and “T boats” - tub boats - that were used in the Duke of Bridgewater's mines at Worsley. It was Dr David Owen, one of the found- ers of NWMIN (now the National Water- ways Museum), who succeeded in acquiring Box Boat 337 and the even older one which is displayed in the Island Warehouse, for the collection. From the article we learn (if we did not know Boatyard trainees working on Box Boat 337 already) that the box boats were known as “starvers” by boatmen after the Lanca- shire term “starved” meaning cold, because they were not provided with a cabin. Having just read about a Roman longship shown being washed down a street in the film “Pompeii”, I am more impressed by the fact that, as Di tells us, tub boats were lowered vertically down the mine shaft at Worsley to the deep level. It is very satisfying that Di's dedication to Box Boat 337 over many years has been rewarded by the boat having been restored to pristine condition, thanks to Dave Linney and the apprentices as the Heritage Boatyard. The final article is Terry Kavanagh's “Richard Abel & Sons of Runcorn and Liverpool”. The Able family had originated as narrowboaters in the East Midlands. Richard Abel must have lived up to his name, because he was appointed the master of the Wigan Coal & Iron Company's fleet of river craft at the age of 17. About eight years later he started his own company which went on to become one of the largest carriers in the North-West. The company had a fleet of flats, barges, narrowboats and tugs, and traded on the Mersey and the Weaver, as well as the Bridgewater and other canals. Although some of Abel's boats were built new, many others were acquired second-hand and were renamed, with a fondness for the suffix “dale”. Although many of the firm's boats were employed in the sand and gravel trade Mossdale, in the Museum's collection, mainly carried grain and according to her Captain from 1943, was “the best carrier on the Bridgewater Canal”.

- 26 - Number 205 RE:PORT CRT Priority Freight Routes Consultation CRT published a report in May from its Freight Advisory Group into the current and potential future role of its commercial inland waterways to carry freight. The Group recommended an initial focus on waterways it has defined as ‘Priority Freight Routes’ (the designation of certain navigations in the North East that link to the Humber Estuary) where it believes that serious marketing and investigative effort by CRT working with Associated British Ports (ABP) is called for to test the proposition that there is freight to be won to the commercial waterways with the right approach. Committee Matters Lynn Potts FEBRUARY Good progress was reported re Large Static Objects and it is expected two engines will soon be operational. The ‘gardening’ department has disappeared and Porters’ Row garden will come under Bob Thomas assisted by Sue James. The rest of the grounds will come under Grounds Maintenance. It was reported that a decision has been taken to put back submission re the ‘Window On The World’ project to May. Re the Waterfront Core Development Group, it was reported this is now defunct as far as anyone knows. The retiring BMS Directors were thanked for all their valuable work.

MARCH Jeff Fairweather was elected as BMS Chairman together with the other Officers (de- tails on page 2). Jeff Fairweather was nominated and elected as a BMS nominee to BMT. Di Skilbeck, Mike Turpin, Steve Stamp, Stuart Gardiner and Norman Stainthorp were all re-elected as BMS nominees to BMT. BMS is to move all its be- longings to a single location at the Museum.

APRIL. Lynn Potts was elected as a further BMS nominee to BMT. Sue Phillips was nominated and elected to the Ellesmere Port Steering Group. Ian Posnett has stood down from all his associations and commitments to BMS and NWM. Jeff Fairweather was confirmed as BMS nomination for Chairman of BMT. It was agreed that BMS will work within the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding when this is finalised. Gifford painting is complete and she looks stunning. The trainees have done a wonderful job on their contribution. A postscript reported that the Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed and signed by Richard Parry and Jeff Fairweather.

- 27 - RE:PORT Number 205

[Photo: National Historic Ships UK]

Governor Governor is a narrowboat built in 1941 by Harris Brothers of Netherton for James Yates' of Norton Canes on the BCN. It is on the register of National Historic Ships UK. During WWII and after, it was used for carrying coal from the Cannock coal fields to with a train of four 'Ampton boats, each carrying 50 tons - a total of 200 tons per journey. 'Ampton boats were larger than normal butties as they only had to navigate the lock-free Wyrley and Essington Canal. In 1950, Governor was sold to Alfred Matty and Sons Ltd of Tipton, who operated chemical waste boats. The boat became their No 5 tug and was used for general carrying and towing work, and ice breaking in winter. It was sold privately to the late Mr M A Rabett in the mid-1980s who refurbished it. Governor was later totally refitted in 1995/6 by the present owner who uses it for cruising the system.

George Pearson reckons that the following is the most amusing tunnel sign he has seen: "IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to operational con- straints and the need for economy, Management regret to announce that the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off".

- 28 - Number 205 RE:PORT

Have you joined the Boat Museum Society 200 Club yet? Members of the club ensure a significant and steady income for boat restoration projects. Each month 50% of the total subscribed is paid in prize money and 50% goes into the Worcester fund. By joining the 200 Club, members who live too far away from the Museum to be able to come and help, or those who have other commitments, have the opportunity to make a regular contribution to the Society. You can buy as many numbers as you like at £1 each, the only proviso being that you are a member of the Society. The more numbers that go into the draw each month, the bigger the prizes. The 200 Club draw is usually made at the monthly Society meetings. You can join at a meeting, or by completing the form below and sending it with your membership fee to Graham Adshead, whose address is at the bottom of the page. Winners February Reg & Liz Phillips (6), Ian Posnett (22), Mike Constable (7) March Will Manning (52), Ruth Brown (63), Celia Webber (35) April Ruby Stoddart-Stones (51), Michael Crompton (19), John Noton (55) May Stuart Gardiner (8), Di Skilbeck (75), Jane Lane (12)

Application Form - The Boat Museum Society 200 Club Name: …………………………………………………………………………………………..

Address: .….…….……………………………………………….….…….…………………..Office Use

Post Code: …………………………….. Telephone: ..…………………………………….

I apply for membership of the Boat Museum Society 200 Club and agree to pay the sum of £1.00 per month per number. Subscriptions are payable in advance for the months up to and including June or December. I am over 18 years of age and a paid-up member of the Boat Museum Society.

Signed: Date:

Please send the completed form with your payment to: Graham Adshead, 44 Seymour Drive, Overpool, South Wirral, CH66 1LU. Cheques should be made payable to the ‘Boat Museum Society’. - 29 - RE:PORT Number 205 Dates for your Diary Sat 3rd May- NWM Bromoil Circle Exhibition of Canal and Waterways Mon 30th Jun Photographs. The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain is a small group which still practices the art of bromoil printing, a photographic process developed in the early 1900s. Fri 13th- International Mersey River Festival, Liverpool. Tall ships, Sun 15th Jun nobby boats, narrowboats,Merchant Navy and Royal Navy ships, Dutch Barge Association Rally on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Music on the Riverfront and Craig Charles’ (of Red Dwarf) homecoming. Sun 15th Jun NWM Waterways Craft Group. Demnstration of traditional canal crafts on the first floor of the Island Warehouse. This lively group meets the third Sunday of the month (with the odd exception). Fri 13th- Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival. 24th Anniversary of the Sun 15th Jun Festival. Celidh night, stalls, workshops and boats. Fri 13th- NWM Russell Newbery Rally. A range of visiting boats, Sun 15th Jun most of which will run their engines at some time during the day. Sat 21st- NWM History Fun Day. The Museum will be taken over by Sun 22nd Jun re-enactors from many different periods giving a living, walking and talking exhibition of the history of Cheshire. Thu 26th- Lymm Festival including Foodfest June 19th, Lymmfest Sun 29th Jun (music) June21st, Open Gardens June 22nd, Historic Transport Day June 29th Sun 6th Jul NWM 12 noon-2.00 pm A Light Music Concert by the newly formed Ellesmere Port Concert Brass. Sat 12th- Blackburn Canal Festival. Blackburn's Eanam Wharf area will Sun 13th Jul host the second Blackburn Canal Festival. Sun 20th Jul NWM Waterways Craft Group. Demonstration of traditional canal crafts on the first floor of the Island Warehouse. Sun 10th Aug NWM Horses at Work, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Fri 19th Sep BMS First meeting of the 2014-15 season. Simon Salem, Marketing and Fundraising Director of CRT.

BMS meetings are at 7.30 pm in the Rolt Centre at the National Waterways Museum. IWA Chester & District meetings are at 7.45 pm in the Rolt Centre, NWM. CCHT meetings start at 8.00 pm at the “Lock Keeper”, Canal Side, Frodsham Street, Chester. Mon 30th Jun Photographs. The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain is a small

Bridge 61, Trent & Mersey Canal. This stretch of the canal passes through a narrow sandstone cutting which was once a tunnel that was mostly opened out but not made wider. [CC Stephen McKay]

Coventry canal basin has a bronze statue of James Brindley, who was commissioned to build the canal in 1768, when the Company was formed. [CC David Dixon] Templetate Lock and lock-keeper’s cottage at Smithboro on the Ulster Canal. [Photo: Tuesday Night Club]