Granny Buttons

Canal trip talk at local library

Diane Noort and Gary Schmidt of Williams Lake, BC, Canada, last week gave a talk at their local library about a canal trip they took last May, reports the Williams Lake Tribune. 

I think there's great charm in the way the web carries such small-town affairs such a long distance so quickly to such a focused audience.

It was a 45ft boat from Alvecote, so I'm guessing it was Canaltime.

Very special, glorious and unique Lady Jane

Perhaps alerted by my comment on Leviathan coming back for sale, Pixelpixie alerted me today to Lady Jane, a Victorian replica tug newly for sale on Apollo Duck.  He says "I am assuming this would have had a steam engine originally".

What a splendid sight!  Hmm - perhaps the original would have had a steam engine, although was there ever exactly an original for this boat?  Lady Jane (it says here) was built in 1989 by Roger Farrington as a 'replica', and what a gorgeous, splendid replica it is.

And what a coincidence it is too.  Because I seem to recall meeting this very boat at Hemingford Lock on the Great Ouse nr St Ives, back in August or September 2002.  I whipped out my camera in time, luckily.  I remember remarking to the owner how splendid it looked, and how - given another shot at another life in another universe - I would just love to have been the owner of that boat.

It was in a different, starker, wartime livery then, but surely it must be the same boat?  I recall the then-owner telling me its name was 'Lady Jane', and I recall that same slow, lazy, guttural thump-thump of the engine.

It must have been the same boat.  After all, how many other "very special, glorious and unique" 37ft replica Victorian tugs called Lady Jane can there be on the English waterways?   

Now, pixelpixie, what's the chance that you can, at random, pull up another boat on Apollo Duck that I've already photographed? !

Voluptuous Leviathan still for sale

'Voluptuous' Leviathan (presumably not sold last year), is again for sale on Apollo Duck.  £145,000.  Presumably that's ono.

Leeds Canal waterfront battle

Battle for soul of the Leeds waterfront - Yorkshire Post

Heritage experts and conservationists are fighting plans for a muli-million pound scheme they claim will ruin the historic heart of Leeds's waterfront.

Councillors will tomorrow consider a proposal to build offices, flats, a hotel, bars and restaurants in the Canal Basin, which lies behind the Hilton Hotel and alongside the Dark Arches.

Envirolet composting toilet on a narrowboat get blogged

Envirolet, the big name in composting toilets, has a blog called Envirolet Buzz, and it's a great way for them to garner attention for their product.  I work in PR and I think it's the right thing for them to do. Today they turned their gaze to English canal narrowboats.

They are lacking a good case study of a composting toilet on a narrowboat, and so they resorted to the Wikipedia entry on 'what is a narrowboat' to illustrate their point, although the boat in the picture doesn't have a composting toilet.

Granny Buttons doesn't have a composting toilet either, although by the promises they make, I wish it did have.  (I'd rather have the smell of drying poo in the cabin than the smell of diesel)

So I've included a picture of Granny at Banbury instead. 

Is there a composting toilet on a narrowboat?   I'm still waiting for a reply from the UK distributor so I can report on its promises.  Richard, where are you?   Anyone else want to distribute Envirolet toilets to canal boats in the UK?

Update:  Ah, there you are!  canalshoponline, I owe you an apology: that last para suggested you hadn't replied.  In your defence, I'd sent you a long drivelling email last December; if you fell asleep before you reached my request to meet anyone who'd installed a composting toilet, then I don't blame you one jot.

Yorkshire village for sale - complete with canal

Ideal chance to buy your own little place in the country - Yorkshire Post

A village in North Yorkshire is up for sale for the princely sum of £195,000.  The crime rate is zero and add in a narrowboat canal, a railway network, shops and a farm, and the deal looks a little too good to be true. 

And indeed it is, as you would have to be just two inches tall to even contemplate wandering into one of the 40 cottages which have gone on the market as part of the Beech End interactive model village.

Apparently the canal is 'interactive' - that is, you can even steer boats around the canal.  I've just spoken to a lady at the estate agents (J.R. Hopper of Leyburn) and she said she'd nip over now and try to get a photo of the canal for Granny.

I'm not sure about that 'zero' crime rate, though.  Have you ever had to watch a bunch of school children in an interactive exhibition? 

Dog walks on water

Ever seen a dog walking on water?  Here's an amazing picture of Katie, an Alsatian, walking on the Rideau Canal.

Canal cleanups - UK and US-style

BW's annual Towpath Tidy starts this coming Monday 3rd April.  It's a week-long activity, trying to make a virtue of a necessity - litter-collecting on two thousand canalside miles, making our green land a little more pleasant.

BW describes it as 'both fun and safe', which is, I guess, a signpost to modern life. Nothing's useful any more.  It all has to be saccharine-swee entertainment, and above all safe, safe, safe. 

Nevertheless, we should praise BW for the effort, and we should surely do our bit.  At least they want us to clean up the waterways.  And of course we mustn't forget the many local canal cleanups, such as the WRG BCN cleanup the weekend before last. (which I forgot to mention, sorry, chaps!)

But across the sea, in Lowell, Massachussetts, a group of tidy-minded citizens are having less luck cleaning up the city's six miles of canals.  Bizarrely, the volunteer members of the Lowell Canalwaters Cleaners have been forbidden by the canal's nominal owners, Boott Hydropower, from cleaning up the waterway!  They are going to have an illicit go anyway, starting on Saturday week, April 8th.

I briefly mentioned this affair six months ago and thought it a passing absurdity, but nothing's changed.  The Lowell Sun newspaper last week had a forthright editorial on the subject:

Years pass, residents and officials continue to complain, but the mounds of trash and debris clogging the city's nearly six miles of canals -- and the arrogant attitude of Boott Hydropower Inc. -- remain the same.

A spokeswoman for the Andover-based company said because the canals are usually covered with water, cleaning the waterways is not the "best use" of its workers' time.

The canals once were, and could again be, a reason for business and visitors to come to Lowell. Instead, they are an embarrassment that residents hurry guests past before they get a close look at the floating filth.  Boott Hydropower and Enel North America may think what lies beneath doesn't matter, but the filth is clearly visible at all times -- whether the canals are filled or not -- and threatens the city's continuing renaissance.

Bully for you, Lowell Canalwater Cleaners! 

Incidentally, you'll probably call me chauvinist, but I can't help noticing that Enel North America is actually a division of an Italian company.  Whether or not its canal is clean, I'm sure it makes the water run on time!

The Thames to the Solent by J.B. Dashwood

...to say next to nothing of the dog (nor the wife).

At twelve o'clock on the morning of July 8, 1867, the little Una boat 'Caprice' weighed anchor on her voyage to the Solent.  The day was lovely, and all seemed to smile success on this adventurous expedition. 

Her crew consisted of your humble servant and his better half, attended by their faithful and devoted dog Buz, of the true Pomeranian breed.

We had placed all we required for our toilette in a small portmanteau, and in addition, had provided ourselves with a portable india-rubber bath, a ship's compass, a basket jar of four gallons for water, a small keg to contain a gallon of beer, a luncheon basket fitted with plates, knives, forks, cups &c, &c, a cooking apparatus, and last, though not least, a complete foul-weather rig of overalls, rugs, umbrellas, &c.

Thus begins From the Thames to the Solent, a slim but interesting monograph written in 1868 by Mr. J.B. Dashwood.  He records a trip down the River Wey, the Wey & Arun Canal,  and the River Arun to Littlehampton, and then two coastal hops across the Solent.   And all in a little 16ft long 'Una' sailing boat, towed on the canal and river by his pony and personal groom.  He was clearly a little wealthier than the average Number One.

It's a classic of inland waterways literature, but chiefly for its historical note:  it's probably the first recorded WIDITH, and the only recorded navigable passage of the Wey & Arun Canal.

Dashwood writes an interesting and readable tale, but he's no Jerome K. Jerome, and after the 2nd paragraph he more or less forgets the dog (and his wife).  He mentions many historical points, but little about himself or his family, and nothing about why he felt compelled to do it.  I'm left at the end wondering: who was Mr Dashwood?  None of the waterways histories tell us about him.

Thus we can be surprised (and he would surely be amazed) that almost 140 years later, his little inconsequential WIDITH book is still in print and available on Amazon.  He would be dumbstruck that it's even available as a free, downloadable PDF, here, courtesy of the Wey & Arun Canal Trust.   

But he might nod and smile in wry admiration of the many men who've been inspired in his wake and written accounts of their own voyages around Britain's waterways, from Jerome, Thurston and Rolt, right up to Corble, Haywood and Darlington.

Burnley £10m canalside development announced

New £10m Burnley Canal Homes Plan Unveiled - Burnley Express

Planning consent is being sought to transform the 19th century Healey Royd Mill into 52 one-and two-bedroom apartments, and Finsley Gate Mill into commercial space.

The land surrounding Healey Royd Mill, on the southern bank of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, will be redeveloped into a mixture of 65 town houses and apartments, along with a row of studio workshops, a village green and new footpath along the canalside.

Press release from developers St Modwen here. 

Burnley council planning meeting April 1st, details here (pdf) include an ominous proposal for Finsley Gate Mill of "demolition of engine house, boiler house; upper section of fly tower; single storey building on Finsley Gate elevation", etc.

An unscheduled stop in Banbury to take stock

I had a chat with the co-proprietor of Tooleys Boatyard on Saturday afternoon.  His name's Matt, and he used to run Castlemill Boatyard down at Oxford, along with the restaurant boat Rosamund The Fair.  He knew the boatyard's days were numbered, even back in the dark days of late 2001, and never worked under any misapprehension.   

They negotiated to take over Tooley's, moving in the the following year, and moving Rosamund The Fair to its new Banbury base.   I must say, the restaurant boat looks superb in its current livery.   

Granny's not been to Banbury since late 2001, and I'd not known it was a genuine, working boatyard.  Anyway, Matt said he'd try to nip over to inspect it on Monday, but he was just too plain busy.   I was in no mood to stay around, and luckily the warmer weather has set in, with no need for heating on the boat, so I retreated to Norfolk on Sunday. 

In the event, Matt called in Ian Cooper of Aynho Dock Services, five locks and six miles down the canal.  Ian nipped over yesterday, sucked his teeth and shook his head, and said it was all hard to tell.  Well, I wasn't there, but I'd imagine that's what he'd say.

Anyway, I'll take the boat down to Aynho next Saturday for his more measured opinion. 

In the meantime, yesterday I rang Mardon Marine, my insurers, to alert them to the disaster.  The helpful lady on the phone said she would put a claim form in the post, although when I asked what was next, she was a little non-committal.  I've been with them since I bought Granny Buttons seven years ago, and I've never queried the renewal price. 

Back in 1999 it was Michael Stimpson, but although I'm told he's still involved in a back-seat capacity, he transferred to Mardon three or four years ago.

I've already alerted the regional British Waterways HQ in Milton Keynes, asking their forbearance about my stay in Banbury, beneath the Tom Rolt Bridge.  And I've asked the attractive lady on the boat Sirius, just opposite,  to explain my difficulty to any jobsworth moorings wardens.

Army tackles Barnsley Canal restoration

For Queen and country we'll clean up canal - Yorkshire Post

For decades troops have learned their trade by yomping through Welsh mountain ranges, firing artillery rounds across Salisbury Plain or hacking through the jungles of Belize.  But later this summer a group of squaddies will be set the distinctly unwarlike task of restoring a stretch of neglected canal in South Yorkshire.

The Barnsley Canal has been out of use for years and trees have taken root in the bed of the cutting of the section to be restored, with roots threatening to penetrate the clay lining, which would then allow water to leak away.
Removing those is one objective for the eight-day exercise, but Corporal Shane Wilson also wants to restore footpaths on a one-and-a-half mile stretch in the Smithies area and create a picnic area.  A further challenge is to dredge the canal bed, although without specialist equipment that will have to be done manually.

"The soldiers involved will still get all the same things – leadership, communication skills and working as a team – as they would normally", said Corporal Wilson.

Hopefully they'll also learn how to fill out risk assessment forms.

Granny Buttons icebucket by Jane Selkirk

For perhaps fifty years the Denny family has had a plastic-cased Thermos ice bucket, and it's passed down to me.  A fortnight ago, when passing through Claydon Top Lock, I left it with Jane Selkirk in her artist's workshop there. I asked her to paint it in her own style, as she saw fit.

This Saturday afternoon I collected it.  I drove to Claydon, and spent an hour driving around looking for the place, before realising that the Top Lock is perhaps half a mile from the nearest road.  I'd only ever arrived there by boat before. I learned that even Jane and her family have to bring their shopping back from the car by wheelbarrow.

When I arrived, Jane was abed with a migraine, but her husband Mac took payment and handed me the precious arterfact.  Because of her indisposition and the traditional spring drizzle I wasn't able to show you her workshop, or anything about how she works her artistic magic.

But I think she's done a splendid job, turning a somewhat kitsch 1950s Thermos ice bucket into a - well, an even more kitsch C21st waterways art icon.  I love it!  The base colour (Oxford Blue) is a close match to Granny Buttons' sides, while Jane has done the top in Post Office red, matching Granny's cant rail.  Meanwhile she's scumbled the handles and lid to look like wood.  And the ice bucket's lid bears the Granny Buttons name in traditional canal lettering.

Jane is an admirer and disciple of William Hodgson, the creator of the 'Knobsticks' style of canal art.  On her website she says:

Bill Hodgson died in 1959 and I sincerely hope he would have approved of my variation of his style. ... When working narrowboats plied our canals, the regional styles [such as Knobsticks] were many and varied.  It is a great shame to me that so many have been lost.  I just hope I and a few others can keep 'Knobsticks' alive.

Well, she's kept it alive on Granny Buttons, and my old ice bucket is now as you see it here.  On each hot summer's day cruizing I fill it with ice and put a few treat-sized packets of chocolate buttons atop the ice.  If you see it and know what's inside, ask nicely and I'll innoculate you against chocolate desire.  Wide-eyed children I never refuse.

BW pension fund, Capita, loans and Freeman of Waterways

British Waterways recently awarded its pension scheme administration contract to Capita, whose founder and chairman Rod Aldridge resigned last week after revelations about his loan of £1million to the Labour Party. 

Capita also collects TV licence payments and administers the London Congestion Charge, and indeed Rod Aldridge seems to have become the Duke of Outsource.

I found this out through a Daily Telegraph story.  I looked on the official BW website for the word 'pension' and the search drew a blank.  It's there somewhere, and I found it in the end, but since BW want to keep it quiet I won't spoil it for them.  (hint to BW webmaster - why why why is your search so pathetic?  hint to Waterscape's ditto ... well, ditto)

Perhaps Rod Aldridge could lend BW a few quid as well?  They could then make him Freeman of Waterways, an honours category that is long overdue.  FoW would be a lifelong bestowal of various rights that humbler folk like us could never aspire to.  BW could award this to persons of eminence, and there could be several categories. 

The most prestigious would be Number One, and this would be hereditary, in the classic peerage sense.  Number Ones will be the lords of the waterways, and the modern ones would be free of all navigation licence or toll dues, together with extended mooring rights at visitor moorings in their own area of the country.  A sort of droit du seigneur.  For example, there's be a Number One on the Oxford Canal, and a Number One for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, etc, just as you have the Duke of Norfolk, or the Earl of Lichfield.  Making the titles honourable and hereditary will mean their sons can grow upon the boats too, and imbibe the canals with their mothers milk (and father's ale).

Rod Aldridge's loan to British Waterways wouldn't be quite so honourable, and of course there's a slight odour about the 'loans for honours' issue, so he's have to settle for the lesser Life Number Two's.