Arm News Newsletter of the Wendover Arm Trust

Issue 2012/2 Price £1 where sold Summer 2012 Free to members Walk an Arm’s Length Press Launch

Page 2 In This Issue The bad news is that the 2012 Society reminds us all of the pro- festival is not to be but the good gress we have made since the news is that the Walk an Arm’s start of this fantastic journey. Length event is going great guns. This year’s AGM will see a new We have all the membership venue at the DDBC (Dunstable news with the lucky winners of the and District Boat Club), full details Club 100 Draw and a plea for and direction with map in the next help whilst having a great day out. issue of Wendover Arm News . A proposal is put to restructure The Trust has a new general en- the membership fees whilst Bob quiries phone please call details how you can raise money 07547181857 to get hold of any- for the restoration. A copy of one on the council or to ask any Roger’s update to the Chiltern questions

Where is the Restoration? When does it happen? I have had several enquiries re- Please do come along and visit cently, both from members of the us at work and if you visit please Wendover Arm Trust and mem- do not be afraid to make your- bers of the public, concerning our selves known. Any of the lads restoration work. This made me (and lassies) will be only too realise that there are many peo- pleased to stop work and have a ple who, although they would like chat, explain what is going on and to visit the restoration site to view answer any questions you might the work in progress and see have. what we are up to, are unaware of when, where and how often the If you feel you would like to or are work takes place. planning to visit us and require further information please free to I therefore thought it would be a contact me on 01494 786868 good idea to publicise the details Looking forward to seeing you at of our work parties for the remain- our work parties der of 2012, including the dates, location and an idea of what work Ray Orth is planned (although this can vary due to many reasons not least the Continued on page 15 / weather).

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 3 Membership News As of May 1 st , the Trust has 680 ment letter and membership card members spread across 452 or perhaps not? That is the ques- households. This is very similar to tion.... Several members have the previous 3 months. Now sent notes to me recently with spring is here and summer is their renewal cheque saying they around the corner, we hope to do not need (or want?) an ac- welcome new members to the knowledgement letter to say I Trust. have received their payment. If you know anyone who is inter- Therefore from June, I will add an ested in our canals and local heri- optional tick box to the tear off tage, please do ask them to join slip, where you can choose to the Trust. have a letter or not. If you simply want to make sure your cheque Postage increases again!! has arrived, put a phone number Everyone is feeling the pinch and I can send a text message or since Royal Mail increased their call, again this is cheaper than a prices to 60p for first class and stamp! Crazy, but that’s the way 50p for second class post. The of the world. Wendover Arm Trust only uses second class mail to keep costs Gift Aid down, although occasionally Apologies for my mistake in the members donate a book of first previous issue, we can claim back class stamps, which are gratefully 25p for every £1 donated through received. We have already cut the gift aid scheme, not 20p as our postage costs significantly by stated, sorry! using email where possible, al- At the end of second half of the though we understand not every- 2011/12 financial year, the Trust one uses email. Some members has submitted a claim for just are enclosing a stamped ad- over £1,000 from the tax man. dressed envelope for their ac- To check if you have registered, knowledgement letter, again simply check your membership thank you for helping us to keep number. If the letter “G” appears, costs down. then you are already signed up. Decreasing our postage costs We can back date claims for a means more money for canal res- few years, so long as you were toration. eligible to claim gift aid. If you want to gift aid your membership Membership acknowledge- fees and any donations, contact ment letters Katherine who will ask you to sign a simple declaration and that’s it. Do you value your acknowledge-

Page 4 Standing Order Payment be attending local events to pro- Over a third of Trust members mote the walk, encouraging peo- now pay their subscriptions by ple to sign up as well as giving standing order. This method is the information about the Trust and quickest and easiest way to pay selling Grand Draw tickets. for Trust membership, as the As the Walk is now our main money is transferred directly from fundraising event for 2012, it is your bank account to ours. No vital that we get as many people need to write a cheque and post signed up to take part on the day it, your membership will never and to collect sponsorship. The lapse as the payment is made Grand Draw is another fundrais- automatically every year. Time ing initiative that brings in further and money is saved as renewal income to the Trust and the lucky reminders are not needed. Your winners get good prizes. money is still acknowledged ei- Can YOU spare a couple of hours ther by email or letter. of YOUR time to help staff our If you would like to set up a stand- stand? No experience is needed, ing order either online or using a all materials will be provided. Just mandate form, contact Katherine. bring your enthusiasm, a friendly face and make a difference. The Club 100 events we are going to attend are: The Spring club 100 lottery draw th was made at the April Council 4 June Wendover Carnival Meeting. The winners were: th 1st 148, Mrs Carol Prosser, Wilt- 17 June Marsworth Steam Rally shire £156.00 th 2nd 112, Mr Clive Wilson, Sandy, 30 June Carnival Beds £65.00 th 3rd 145, Mr Ken Walsh, North 14 July Tring Farmers Market Yorkshire £26.00 th Congratulations to all our winners. 28 July Linslade Canal Festival To be in with a chance of winning th the next cash prizes, sign up to- 27 Aug Music Festival at The day! Each lucky number is £15 Grand Junction Arms, Bulbourne per year, for entry into four con- secutive quarterly draws. Contact Katherine for further details. The Please contact Bob or Katherine if next draw will be in July. you can help out. Every little helps, so come on volunteer to- Please can you help us...... ? day and have a good day out, Over the next few months, we will whilst supporting the Trust.

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 5 Membership Fee Change Proposal

Following Katherine’s announce- £250 family; which would also be ment at last years’ AGM and a available to new members joining brief mention in a previous issue the Trust for the first time. of Wendover Arm News, here are Members could also sign up for a some further details on the pro- 5 year block membership, but get posed changes to the membership a 20% discount, so paying 4 years subscriptions and types of mem- fees up front. bership available. Membership fees were last in- creased in 2005 to £8 single and The above options are more effi- £12 family per year. These rates cient for Trust members and the are some of the lowest of any ca- Trust itself, as it saves the annual nal society. It is therefore pro- renewal process, allowing continu- posed that the annual membership ous membership and the Trust to fees rise from October 2012, to claim the gift aid on the money at £10 single and £15 family per the current 25% rate. year. All the above changes are subject A review of other organisations to approval by Trust members at charges and types of membership the 2012 AGM in October. identified areas that the Wendover Official notification of these pro- Arm Trust could enhance the posed changes to the Trust’s Arti- membership options currently cles of Association will be sent out available. later this year. If you have any Many societies offer Life member- comments or questions please ship as well as annual member- ships. We would like to give our contact Katherine, member- members the option of upgrading [email protected] or their current membership to a Life 01442 246523 membership; £150 single and

Single Family Life Life Corporate (annual) (annual) (single) (family) Current £8 £12 N/A N/A £20

Pro- £10 £15 £150 £250 £25 posed

Page 6 The Festival is Off Unfortunately, due to a combi- focus on achieving funding nation of low water levels and from a variety of sources, be- low bookings, the very difficult fore a return of the canal festi- decision has been taken to cancel val activities in 2014. this year’s festival. 2013 will see a

One Door Closes It is mainly by having enough walk- ers collecting their own sponsorship ... and another door opens. Our monies (i.e. being fundraisers) that Festival is cancelled this year so we the event will be the success we all have lost the chance of a good in- want. come from that. However, we are working hard on ‘Walk an Arm’s Go for It! Length’ for Sunday Sept 2 nd . Every person that takes part in the Walk helps to raise publicity for the We want (need!) to get a healthy event and for the Trust. A well- income from the walk – how are we attended Walk is more likely to be- going to do that? Well sponsorships come a repeated fixture in years to by companies and local organisa- come. Your registration fee is de- tions are crucial to the success of signed mostly to cover the costs of the Walk, and in principle cover the the event. Return transport is in- cost of organising it. But for the cluded, as well as much more. See event to be successful we rely on www.wendoverarmwalk.org.uk to personal sponsorships. find out more and to register for the Walk. There are three main ways anyone can donate to the event: Don’t Just Walk It! Just imagine the result when each • By making an online donation walker is sponsored by family, direct to Walk an Arm’s friends, neighbours and acquaint- Length. ances for (say) £50 in total. In no • By collecting sponsorship for time we have an event which rivals your own participation in the the Festival for income. Sponsor- Walk. ship can be collected online di- • By sponsoring someone else rectly, or on paper. A major benefit who is walking. to the Trust of getting sponsorship online is that the money is passed

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 7 / Cont from page 7 instantly to the Trust, i.e. you don’t reminder to possible sponsors. have to chase donors and collect funds after the event. The donor However, if you feel more comfort- gets an automatic ‘thank you’ from able collecting sponsorships in the you. Another benefit is that Gift old fashioned way you can Aid is more easily declared and download and print sponsorship the Trust gets the Gift Aided part forms from our new website of the sponsorship earlier. www.wendoverarmwalk.org.uk , or we can send you one (call 07860 We have made it very simple to be 286155). If you do this, don’t for- a fundraiser. Go to get to collect the monies! www.BtMyDonate.co.uk and click on the green ‘Start Fundraising’ Be a Sponsor button. Click on ‘Join an organised Can’t do the walk? Don’t want to event’, then type ‘wendover’ as the collect sponsorship? We have a keyword to find the Walk event. dedicated team of volunteers from Follow the simple steps and you RAF Halton who will be our ‘last are up and running as a bona fide man walking’. Their mission is to Wendover Arm Trust fundraiser! check that the route is clear, col- lect the safety marshals, take If you want to see what a fund- down signs, wake up any sleeping raiser’s page looks like, take a walkers, etc. Their team name is look at https://mydonate.bt.com/ ‘Tail End Heroes’. You can spon- fundraisers/johannaswalk sor them by going to https:// mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ OK, not everyone feels comfort- tailendheroes and making an able setting up an online fundrais- online donation, or by sending a ing account. No problem – we will cheque to ‘Heroes, Wendover Arm do it for you! Send a request to Trust, 467 Bideford Green, [email protected] Leighton Buzzard LU72TZ’. and we will go through the set up Cheques should be made payable steps on your behalf. You will be to Wendover Arm Trust. given your own online access de- tails which you can later change to Whichever way you choose to something more memorable. You support the event, remember that can also add your own photos. any profit from the Walk will all go to restoration of the Arm. One idea worth following is to pre- pare a sheet of labels already One final thing we can all do, and printed with your fundraising link that is pray for good weather! for you to give as a request/

Page 8 Restoration Director, Roger Leishman Updates the Chiltern Society on Progress

Since my previous article some ten years ago significant progress has In 1968 the first moves were made been made in restoring the to re-water the Arm; a leading light Wendover Arm Canal. For those of in the campaign was the late Chil- you who did not see that article, tern Society member Bernard Ban- this is the background information field. At this time a proposal to de- to the restoration. molish Little Tring Bridge was strongly opposed by many bodies The 6¾ miles Wendover Arm runs that supported restoration of the from Wendover through Halton, Arm, including the Chiltern Society Aston Clinton and Buckland Wharf and the Inland Waterways Associa- to Bulbourne Junction on the Grand tion (IWA). Despite the protests, in Union Canal and is owned by Brit- 1973 the bridge was demolished ish Waterways (BW). BW will be- and filled in. come the Canal and River Trust in April this year. The Arm opened in Nevertheless, moves towards res- 1797 as a navigable feeder essen- toration continued and the tial to maintain the water level on Wendover Arm Group was formed the Chiltern summit of the present to restore the Arm to water and, Grand Union (London to Birming- among their initial works, with the ham) Canal. help of Chiltern Society Volunteers, cleared the overgrown towpath be- Due to leakage, it was closed to tween and navigation around 1900 and the Bulbourne. In 1989 the Group was water entering the 1¾ mile leaking formalised as the Wendover Arm section at Drayton Beauchamp was Trust, a registered charity. first diverted into Wilstone Reser- voir and then, in 1912, piped under An obvious question is “Why is the leaking section to flow into Wil- BW, as the owner of the Arm, not stone and Tringford Reservoirs carrying out the restoration?”. The from where it is to this day pumped answer lies in legislation at the time up to summit level to flow the 1¼ of nationalisation of canals that miles of open canal to Bulbourne. does not permit BW to spend any The records from the water flow money, other than for essential gauge at Wendover Basin date maintenance, on ‘remainder’ water- back earlier than any other water ways such as the Arm. Neverthe- flow gauge in the country, possibly less, BW strongly supports the even in Europe. work of the Trust.

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 9 / Cont from page 9

Restoration commenced in 1997, exactly 200 years after the Arm was first

opened, and is proceeding in three Phases: Phase I This has now been completed at a cost of £400,000 and opened up a further ¼ mile of navigable canal, including the rebuilt Little Tring Bridge, from Bul- bourne Junction to a former basin at Little Tring where boats can now turn. Financing was £250,000 raised by the Trust, £50,000 in donations, mainly from IWA Branches, and a £100,000 legacy from the waterways author, Tim Wilkinson. This is the restored basin at Little Tring at the time of its opening in 2005 by the Trust’s Patron, the actor David Suchet. The rebuilt Little Tring Bridge can

be seen in the background. What is now a flourishing towpath hedge can be seen as new plantings financed by a grant from the Countryside Commission. Cowslips bloom on the low bank below the hedge. It is now open to naviga- tion and abounds with wildlife. Herons and terns can be seen catching the many fish in the basin. In the foreground is a reed bed with newly planted reeds, rushes, reed mace and yellow flag iris. It is now a solid mass of plants and home to several moorhen families every spring.

Page 10

Phase II This is the relining of 1¾ miles of dry bed from Drayton Beauchamp back to Phase I at Little Tring. It includes 630 yards of canal diversion with Ben- tonite waterproof lining for the Aston Clinton by-pass already completed at the expense of the Highway Authority and 120 yards through Drayton Beauchamp Bridge relined by BW as essential maintenance to replace a length of pipeline that allegedly caused flooding in Drayton Beauchamp. The remaining 1¼ miles of relining is currently being undertaken by the Trust’s volunteers at an estimated cost of around £1m. The first ¼ mile is already in water as illustrated overleaf.

This re-watered stretch is already home to a kingfisher, a reed warbler’ nest and families of swans, coots, moorhens and mallards. The banks are covered with a large variety of flowers and a butterfly enthusiast told us that before restoration he had never seen so many species of butterflies on the banks. Local farmers have worked with the Trust to restore and manage hedges on both sides of the canal as havens for wildlife.

Before relining, the 100 year-old earthenware pipe laid in 1912 that carries the water from Wendover had to be considered. There is a danger that the pipe, that is badly cracked in places, could collapse sometime in the future and the subsidence rupture the waterproofing membrane to be laid above it, especially as the pipe was laid in a trench cut into solid chalk but back-

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 11 / Cont from page 11

filled with loose material. It was decided, in conjunction with BW, to cast a reinforced concrete slab over the trench to protect against this possibility and it also has the advantage of providing a future drain to cope with any hydraulic pressure from the water table below. BW had already budgeted for renewing the badly cracked pipe so was able to grant the Trust the £200,000 cost of the pipe renewal towards restoring the Arm. In these days of energy conservation, returning to gravity feed from Wendover will drastically reduce BW’s electrical consumption for pumping. After the pipe is capped, the profile of the canal before lining is prepared to receive the lining of Bentomat waterproof matting. The matting consists of two layers of artificial fibre between which are granules of Bentonite clay that expand to ten times their size when in water. The fibre layers are pin stapled together to prevent the granules migrating. To ensure a water- tight seal the Bentomat must be compressed by either 6”/150mm of con- crete or 12”/300mm of spoil. The technique used is to cover the sloping banks with dry laid concrete blocks to just below water level, lay 12”/300mm diameter coir rolls along the top of the blocks and then cover the bank above water level with grass seeded spoil. When this is com- pleted the Bentomat on the bed of the canal is covered with 12”/300mm of spoil and has proved to be an ideal habitat for many forms of aquatic life. The margins at water level can be used for aquatic plants just above the coir rolls but experience with the A41 by-pass diversion has shown that it is prudent to leave this planting until the canal is again navigable by boats. BW are having to employ a reed cutter to keep a clear channel

Page 12 flowing from Wendover to Drayton Beauchamp as the plant life is choking the water flow, whereas the regular passage of boats keeps a clear channel with much less harm to wildlife than intermittent reed cutting.

The banks lined with bentomat and the concrete blocks and coir rolls in position

The bank top covered with spoil and sown with grass seed, the bed lined with ben- tomat and covered in spoil all ready for re-watering

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 13 / Cont from page 13

This Phase includes the archaeological investigation and restoration of the site of a former Newcomen steam pumping station for the canal that was closed in the early 1800’s. It is hoped to make this the subject of a future article.

Phase III The Trust is very concerned that the 4 miles still in water between Drayton Beauchamp and Wendover Basin is becoming overgrown with water plants and silting up. Indeed, there is a danger that BW will have to resort to a narrow concrete channel to preserve the essential flow of water if the Arm is not restored to navigation.

This length will require dredging and bank strengthening to accommodate an increased water level and provide a channel alongside the towpath. There are also three road crossings that require raising. These are at Buckland Wharf under the former A41, at Halton Village and an access bridge at Buckland Wharf.

The anticipated cost of this phase is £2m - £3m.

The Trust has to raise all the funds for restoration. A main source of funds to date has been the annual boat festival held over the late Spring Bank Holiday at Little Tring but since the festival site was sold to developers it is now being held on land at Hemel Hempstead. Do come and support the Trust - Sunday 3 rd , Monday 4 th and Tuesday 5 th June 2012.— NOTE This has now been cancelled, the main fund raising event this year is “Walk an Arm’s Length” Ed

The Trust invites you to become members, join in fund raising activities or become a member of our restoration team. Visit our website www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk for full details.”

Roger Leishman, Restoration Director, Wendover Arm Trust (a Chiltern Society member).

Page 14 / Cont from page 3

HP23 5LT

notes HP22 5LT The post codes refer to access points from local roads. Access can also be gained from Wilstone Reser- voir car park and by following the footpath around reservoir.

Site 1 Site 2 Canal restoration Whitehouses pumping station

DATE DAYS LOCATION WORK

8th – 14 th June 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining 2012 6th – 12 th July 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining 2012 14 th – 20 th July 7 SITE 2 Restoration work at Whitehouses pumping station. 2012 This work is being carried out by one of our visiting groups. The KENT AND EAST SUSSEX CANAL RETORA- TION GROUP

4th -– 12 th August 9 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining and bed 2012 lining 31 st Aug – 6 th 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining and bed Sept2012 lining 5th – 11 th October 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining and bed 2012 lining 2nd – 8 th Novem- 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining and bed ber 2012 lining 30 th Nov – 6 th Dec 7 SITE 1 Canal excavation, bank profiling and lining and bed 2012 lining

General enquiries number is 07547181857 Page 15

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