The Magazine of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust Issue No. 87 - Spring 2016 Tunnel Vision Project Artwork by Peter Buck Colour and other improvements by Andrew Wood ay Wha eeth rf L tr Lichfield td S Heart of the Coventry Canal . TEL:01543 414808 MOBILE:0782 4848444 FAX:01543 414770 www.streethaywharf.co.uk 7-DAY CALL OUT SERVICE GEN SETS FITTED DIESEL AND SOLID FUEL STOVES FITTED BOTTOM BLACKING REPAINTING AND SIGNWRITING NEW BOATS FULL & PART FIT-OUT SUPPLIED ALL MECHANICAL / ELECTRICAL WORK FULL CHANDLERY STRETCHING AND REBOTTOMING GAS SAFE. CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ALL STEEL WORK AND TANKS Support the boat yard on the “Lichfield Ring” Boat Transport, England, Europe Cranage Arranged Site Surveys Complete Service for DIY Repairs Boat Hire Boat Fitting Diesel Pump Out Mooring Boat Sales Laundry Trent & Mersey Canal V.A.T No. 133609427 Chairman’s Column One thing one has to guard against in working for the Trust is impatience. When the Droitwich link between the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the River Severn ay Wha reopened throughout in 2011, it was after 42 years’ hard work by the restoration group eth rf (whose founder once thought it might be done in a couple of years!). We have only re L been going for a mere 28 years. We have done much to improve the appearance of t td previously nondescript areas, to the benefit of walkers rather than boaters so far; and S completed many preparatory works necessary before navigation can begin. Unless . we go through these essential preliminaries now, the canals will never be reopened. Cut Both Ways comes out four times every year, and because progress can seem slow it’s not always easy to find fresh things to report. But let’s have a go anyway. Despite the unusually wet and windy winter our doughty work parties have continued to beaver away at Summerhill and Tamworth Road; at the first, hedges long neglected have been freshly laid, and clearance of other vegetation and material has continued. At Tamworth Road the offside of pound 27 has been prepared and installation of so-called concrete canvas begun, preparatory to re-watering. Laborious efforts are achieving some progress towards obtaining permission to remove that section of the “Big Pipe”, though we aren’t there yet. Much the same applies to seeking permission to establish a walking route over the M6Toll aqueduct. We hope soon to have good news on both matters. At both work sites planting of trees and flowers has been taking place. And across the A51 in Darnford Park a few more trees have been removed prior to extending the “acoustic barrier”. We are looking to improve signage at our sites to make clearer to non-members the existence of our canals, and what we are doing and why. Looking ahead, the Pelsall Festival, started some years ago by our President Eric Wood, will take place over the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August (27th to 29th). Sponsored this year by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) as their Festival of Water, it has a spacious setting opposite the entrance to the Cannock Extension Canal on the Wyrley & Essington, on the section between Ogley Junction at the top of the Lichfield Canal and Lords Hayes Junction (as will be) at the top of the Hatherton Canal. Do put it in the diary! And as a treat in early summer, the weekend before our AGM, our own Peter Buck (no doubt in top hat) will be at Speakers’ Corner on Dam Street in Lichfield, near the Cathedral, at 11.00 on Saturday 4th June to talk about James Brindley, engineer of early canals, the 300th anniversary of whose birth is celebrated this year. He’ll be pleased to see friendly faces to support him. As corporate members we enjoy close links with the IWA, the national body devoted to supporting our inland waterways present and future. They nominate a director to our Council of Management, currently Vaughan Welch who among his other IWA duties chairs their national Restoration Committee. They have supported our endeavours over many years, and we were pleased to host (at the premises of the Lichfield Cruising Club, another body which nominates a director) the Committee meeting in January, following which we showed the members of the Committee some of our recent work. Cut Both Ways Spring 2016 3 Chairman’s Column Brian Kingshott, who I have written about elsewhere, kept tidy files, both paper and electronic, of all his work with the Trust; Bob Williams and I brought these to Lichfield in early February. Inevitably any project such as ours accumulates documents, whose storage in the homes of individual directors becomes increasingly onerous; we are looking at renting off-site storage. Brian often appealed in these pages for more volunteers to help speed our work. With the prospect of many younger people having to continue paid work for more years than past generations, it may be more difficult to find people to devote time to the Trust. Conversely, people on average are living longer, and remain physically fitter to a greater age than in the past, thanks to medical advances and better pensions (many of us remember grandparents who sat around at home doing little, when younger than some of us are now. Their successors can be seen grafting away instead down Tamworth Road). But of course some of our most enthusiastic volunteers are well below retirement age, and enjoy doing something entirely different from their “day jobs” in some of their spare time. I make no apology for mentioning that we are in particular need of someone to manage our increasing number of work parties, and of more professional engineering support for Peter Buck who is snowed under with one canal when there are two to be restored. We could also make very good use of a few more people to help out for the odd day on our stalls at events during the summer – a valuable activity in telling people what we are about, as well as in raising funds. Our regular team do an excellent job, but like the rest of us are getting no younger...The high profile we enjoy in Lichfield was brought home to me recently at Waitrose, where the mound of little green tokens for our Trust towered over those for the month’s other two favoured charities. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our AGM, which as mentioned elsewhere will again be at the Park View Centre in Brownhills, on Friday evening, 10th June. It is your chance to talk to directors and other members and to learn first-hand what has been going on, and to hear from our guest speaker Ian Lane, Waterway Manager of Canal & River Trust’s West Midlands Region, what is happening on his patch. And perhaps there will be a new Chairperson to present to you; while covering the job since Brian’s sad death I am not much younger than he was, and we need the right person to lead the Trust forward for a good few years as Brian and his predecessor Eric Wood so ably did. David Dixon (Chairman) Back Copies of Cut Both Ways available at £1.00 Each Copies of issues 1 to 86 are available from Bob Williams Norfolk House, 29 Hall Lane, Hammerwich, WS7 0JP Cheques made payable to LHCRT Ltd. Cut Both Ways Spring 2016 4 Money Matters Tax Changes That Might Affect Your Gift Aid From 6 April 2016, a change in the treatment of investment earnings could hit charities and their donors when there will no longer be a tax credit on any dividends paid. For those receiving dividends up to £5,000 per year there will be no further tax to pay. However, it is often retired people who make Gift Aid payments to charities. Earnings on the first £10,600 (for those born after 5 April 1938) are covered by the personal allowance. All other savings income up to £1,000 will be tax free. Whilst not affecting Income or Capital Gains Tax, with the loss of dividend tax credits, donors could find themselves in the position of not being tax payers which could invalidate their Gift Aid declarations and having HMRC demanding the Gift Aid tax credit back! This, of course, assumes that A) you submit a tax return and B) you remember to put the Gift Aid payments on it! Please let the Trust know if your Gift Aid declaration no longer applies so that we do not contravene the law. Ann Tilman, Chartered Accountant and a member of LHCRT Tunnel Vision Members will recall this item in the previous two editions and we are very grateful to all those who have already contributed to the Funding Appeal. It is always the case that a project target quite some time ahead is not so inspiring as an immediate crisis. Of course, it may become that! Guidance from Staffs County Highways Dept still looks to around £1m for the canal tunnel adjacent to the road works, subject to a lot of formalities and fixing of dates and processes, including the demands of Network Rail. We should know more soon so will report again in the next edition on what is expected of us, and exactly when. The artistic impression on the cover of this issue gives a good idea of what is entailed. Here is a real one elsewhere. Bob Williams, Director (Finance) Our Vision To reinstate the historic Lichfield Canal and Hatherton Canal for the benefit of the community.