<p>TheThe CanalCanal BoatBoat ProjectProject V o l u n t e e r s N e w s l e t t e r February 2006 Derived from februa an instrument used for festival of Lupercalia</p><p>Doreen Goodall “As one would expect, there are a lot of fun times to be had at the Canal Boat Project at any time of the year” – at least that is what I was told at my interview – but is it true? Well if my initiation into the project – attending the Christmas cruise - is anything to go by, I can only but agree. </p><p>Who am I? I am Doreen Goodall, and have been appointed as manager of the project for the coming year. I consider myself very lucky and eagerly look forward to the coming months. Why? You may ask. Well….. when preparing for my interview I took time out to read the WEB site and to walk along the towpath from Harlow towards Bishops Stortford. The flora and fauna were interesting, and I also met some very nice people who were either fishing, or taking a walk, with our without a dog.</p><p>There must be very few jobs these days where one is lucky enough to have chance to see the countryside. To be able to tell people honestly about the delights of using the craft the canal boat project offers and. to know that both the able bodied and people with disabilities, can use the facilities available on them and enjoy the environment. How fortunate am I to have landed this job!</p><p>Thank you to everybody that I met at the Christmas cruise for making me so welcome and to feel part of the team. </p><p>I look forward to getting to know you better in the coming weeks and those of you who I have not yet met; I look forward to meeting you soon. Please give me a call or pop in and see me at the office at any time (ring first though, as I may be out enjoying the new found delights of the towpaths). I really would like to meet you all and will welcome any comments or suggestions you may have for our project.</p><p>With best wishes for 2006.</p><p>Well Done Joe Joe Barrett We have received a very welcome Christmas present from Epping Forest District Council in the shape of a £2,000 cheque. The money will pay for a Milford person lift and sling for our new £115,000 boat, Stort Daybreak, which is under construction at a Midlands boatyard. This piece of equipment will be a great boon to users with limited mobility. </p><p>Admin Overload</p><p>Is there a volunteer out there who would like to help Les with some Admin work for a couple of hours a week? If you are interested to find out more please give him a ring at the office on 01279 424444</p><p>Caretakers Assistant caretakers wanted; apply to Tony Catchpole; national minimum wage paid to turn around the boats in the busy season (or we can pay your petrol costs if the Inland Revenue would prefer that). Training provided (naturally). IWA News The plaques to be given out to those booking-in to and attending Canalway Cavalcade (Little Venice) IWA's National Festival and Inland Boat Show (Beale Park) and the National Campaign Rally (Basingstoke Canal) will all be in a matching diamond-shaped design in the same format at the plaque commemorating the Association's diamond jubilee in 2006, already on sale from Head Office at £4.95 each.</p><p>Those attending all three events will be able to mount them together with the commemorative plaque to create a single large diamond [every 5 year old in the land knows that called tessellation, yes I was stunned too; on a recent visit to a reception class to discover that]. Organisers of some other events have also indicated an interest to produce similarly matching diamond-shaped plaques during 2006, and branches and regions organising events during 2006 are encouraged to do likewise.</p><p>River Lee - Bow Back Rivers Six new gates have been installed at City Mill Lock following the completion in December of the first phase of a £½M restoration scheme being undertaken by British Waterways and Bellway Homes with support from Newham Council. City Mills Lock was built as part of a 1930s programme to upgrade the Bow Back Rivers and created a navigable link between Waterworks River and City Mills River. The lock was seldom used and, after the Second World War, gradually fell into decline [I did my bit to keep it alive by mooring there in the seventies].</p><p>Maritime & Coastguard Agency IWA has further expressed its concerns at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency's proposals to introduce new Boat Master Licence requirements for operators of all passenger boats [including those with less than 12 passengers) and small work boats, which means us]. An IWA delegation visited the Agency's offices in Southampton on 12th December and met with relevant members of the Agency's staff to explain IWA's concerns in some detail. Whilst there were no firm promises, it appears the Agency may be willing to take up IWA's recommendations of an additional tier of much lesser regulation to cover smaller boaters in calm waters.</p><p>Stort Daybreak Ken The shell is now back at Braunston, Zingered, blacked and painted in our Blue & Red Livery. The ballast has been loaded and by the time you read this the floor and insulation will be in place. The engine should have arrived, along with the Inverter, batteries and associated electrical kit so installation of these should be under way. The canvas 'curtains' for the bow deck may well be under construction elsewhere as the measuring up has been done this week. We plan to visit next week (25th) so will be returning with up to date photos. We haven't written off taking Stort Daybreak to the Canalway Cavalcade (Little Venice) but that does count on everything going according to plan between now and then. Either way we will need an experienced team to get her home without too many scratches. Contact Les if you are keen to help.</p><p>Training Group meeting The next meeting of this group will be on Tuesday 21st February, 7.00 for 7.15pm on Stort Challenger (unless we get a residential booking). If you have an interest in Training your contribution will be much appreciated. Competition Time</p><p>Usual rules, use all the Scrabble© letters, theme is Aquatic Life, answers to banny</p><p>Down 1 Concrete pillar reaching into the sea, but it is a mammal not a fish (7) 3 Kermit (4) 4 American bullet can be killed by salt on its tail (4) 5 A backward doc, but goes well with chips (3) 6 Beware them when found in the grass (5) 7 Tremble, small gourmet eggs (5) 10 A watery lizard that likes to be found in a new tryst (4) 2 Initially the European Free Trade area was a lizard? (3) 12 Big fish twisted about 5 They paddle well despite not having webbed feet (4) in a nut (4) 8 Endless rudder, it still swims well (4) 17 Short eastern cad 9 A tasty snack, but your unlikely to p pick up a live one by the returned for a silvery Stort! (7) swimmer (4) 11 Folk law says they fly in babies (5) 19 Z precedes the 13 Listen to her on (fisherman within) (5) headless messy tingle, in the river (6) 14 Down the Stort, turn left and first pub on the left with fish (4) 21 Baited, but without Ed 15 Finished endlessly for dorsal and pectoral protuberances (3) it is good for fishing (4) 16 Warty, currying favour, to with year of our lord (4) 23 Collective noun for 18 Fisherman’s bait, but sounds like Hampton Court puzzle (6) swans (4) 20 Rowers who catch one tend to get wet (4) 24 Tip when visited 22 Sounds like a high jinx for a wryneck (4) backwards is a good 24 Pisces without the tear gas makes a good fisherman’s lunch fishing spot (3) (3) 25 I lead the mergansers (2) 26 Carefully monitor, short animal doctor (3) 27 Actually Ratty was one (5,4)</p><p>Fundraising 1 Geoff Sales of the Charity Card Labels reached £312 by the end of December – a good effort but short of our £600 target. Congratulations to Edd Moore, Tony Moore, Banny and Derek Fenny who all sold over £25. Many of you still have stock to sell – please keep selling as they can be used on all greetings cards and will be sold all year round. Any money from sales should be given to me or Les (c/o Moot House) Stranger than Fiction Just when we thought it was safe to go out in the woods today and on the streets at night, this dreadful deed was (photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Police Forensic Service) reported to Waltham Forest Social services. Hilary Clarke is offering a substantial reward (details in newsletter) for the arrest and apprehension of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.</p><p>Directors At the time of going to press no pictures of the newly appointed directors was available but you may remember this one from last March’s newsletter, as Bruce Forsyth would say “hasn’t he done well”.</p><p>Fundraising </p><p>WANTED – a small team of volunteers to devise and produce Souvenir Brochures for sale to users throughout the coming season. Brochures would probably include river map, places of interest, project details et cetera. If you have any experience or an interest in producing these PLEASE contact Geoff Hill (01279 813205). Don’t wait to be asked – we need to get started ASAP and without a production team they won’t be produced!!</p><p>Hilary</p><p>Please, I'd like to get a group together to either take Challenger to Beale Park or bring her back. Anyone interested in joining me and sharing the boat hire cost can contact me on 020 8925 8752, leave a message on the answer phone.</p><p> Until I find out IF anyone will be interested (the sooner the better) I can't advance.  IF people want to come I can then book the boat.  IF I book the boat Ken ‘Crew and Anne are coming as skippers.  IF we get that far Bob Dunkley, is very welcome on Tidal Thames to help us through.  Can Banny loan a VHF radio telephone for the PLA waters? Love Hilary</p><p>Free yes Free! Hearing Test Banny Just ring 0845 600 5555 (local rates) it takes about 5 minutes and gets progressively harder to pick out the numbers. Results are almost instantaneous. As my dad used to say, son there’s no so deaf as them that don’t want to hear.</p><p>Quiz Night 13th (unlucky for some body?) Come and join your corporate quiz teams as it battles against the local IWA Branch and the Chelmsford Branch. Banny will even buy you a bag of crisps (half a bag for Dave Crowe’s Team) and you first pint if you have never been to a Monday at the New Inn Roydon. Painters Needed</p><p>All the boats will be repainted in March so please leave aside room in your diary. Note that the Treader will be out of the water at Stanstead Abbotts at the end of the month for work on the bottom/tank/rudder your support will be sorely needed.</p><p>Report of our Winding at Stortford and the New Quay Facilities</p><p>It is possible, with some reservations to wind a boat in the current winding hole with another boat moored on the newly refurbished quay. The Stort Challenger was positioned, where the proposed trip boat would be. Quite how passengers will embark from such a high quayside is far from clear and it will currently require only very athletic punters. There is very little depth in the winding hole and if summer water levels prevail combined with the inevitable silting of this small inlet grounding problems will arise. Stort Challenger was aground at the bow so could not use the entire length of the hole. Disabled access for wheelchair users seems particularly fraught and it is far from clear that these have been catered for (DDA2005 applies). Mayhap they will just enjoy the view of the boat from the bank side café? </p><p>We probably made a mistake in allowing one of the skilled steerer’s 1 [I have to say, that now he is a Director of the CBP] to attempt the winding, as he demonstrated that it is possible, again with reservations. It was not windy and the water level was good. I wonder how easily the delightful, but typically inexperienced Broxbourne Boat hirers will be in this tight spot? The water depth drops very quickly on the port side of the hole and this is made worse (navigationally speaking) by the soft sculptured banks on the this side. Dredging is possible but with the gold plating applied by HM Government, to the disposal of dredging regulations, this is unlikely?</p><p>Only one boat was moored on the public moorings (Duncan who watched with interest from Zenado) which gave more room than might be available in the summer (granted no boats should be moored actually opposite the winding hole). So I am grumpy, I was wrong; it is feasible but far from easy.</p><p>1 Admiral Bilbow Dates for your Diary</p><p>Web Site As so many of you have so much trouble accessing the web site or accessing the RSS news feed on the 15th an introductory / questions / practical session has been arranged. A few places are left and if you are interested in using the web site or improving it contact Banny for a place. Practice Days Sun 5 Feb Secret Jo & Co Wed 8th Feb SC M Motts Tue 14th RW Ken Watson Sun 26th DT to Stanstead D Crowe Sun 5th March DT from Stanstead D Crowe With so much painting in March practice days are difficult to man Forum et cetera Tue 31st Reminder for Banny Session 7.30 RW Tue 7th Boat Forum 6 pm at Harlow Outdoor Mon 13th IWA Quiz Join a team 7.30 for 8 Wed 15 Visiting the Project Web Site 7 pm LHJMI Tues 21 Feb Training Group 1930 TBN Volunteers Forum GH Stanstead Lock Shut until 17th Feb Working Parties Fri 27th Jan ALL Wed 1st Feb ALL Tue 7th ALL Mon 27th DT week in dry dock Stanstead Mon Mar 6th Red Watch painting week Mon 13th SC painting week Mon 20th RoE painting week</p><p>Contacting us phone mobile email Derek Fenny 01279 866671 - [email protected] Ken Watson 01799 526794 07866 544677 [email protected] Les Hunt 01279 860507 07801 260579 [email protected] Tony Catchpole 01371 873594 07752 894923 [email protected] Banny 01279 771552 07860 669279 [email protected] Michael Motts 020 8527 6455 07932 190643 [email protected] David Crowe 01279 434471 07973 432113 [email protected] Doreen Goodall [email protected]</p><p>Canal Boat Project, PO Box 5768, Harlow, CM20 2XB. Tel: 08707 101133. Newsletter Edited by Banny, Telephone: 01279 771552 Fax 776014, e-mail [email protected] The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Project</p>