Max Sinclair completes the dream

I've been running back in my mind through the special things that have happened this year.  One of my favourites is accompanying Max Sinclair and his family up the newly reopened Droitwich Junction Canal on September 3rd, two months after the full route was officially reopened to traffic.

Max has campaigned for over fifty years to get the Droitwich reopened.  He started, he told me, with a letter to the Birmingham Mail in 1959, protesting at plans to close and fill in another stretch (I forget which,  but his sharp mind will tell you if  you ask).

Assorted work parties laboured casually during the 1960s to stop the route being completely overgrown and squatted-on by local farmers, who'd grown used to extending their fields into the line of the canal. 

Finally, in 1973 the Droitwich Canals Trust was established and restoration, rather than just protection of the route, began.

Read the history of the restoration on the Droitwich Canals Trust at www.worcs.com/dct/newhistory.htm, but it doesn't mention those first fourteen tough, lonelier years for Max. I'm not sure if there's a website that chronicles his own personal struggles at this time.

Sadly, his wife Jocelyn,who helped so much in the early years, died a few years ago, before BW committed itself to finishing the restoration.  But it must have been gratifying for him to have the rest of his family with him, and to complete this journey on her behalf.

The slideshow here hosts a selection of the photos I took, including operation of the sideponds on the top locks. When

I think this is the first time sideponds have been opened for public use on the UK canals in many years (apart from the Foxton and Watford flights), and may set a precedent for reopening many of the others around the country. I'd never seen these sideponds in operation before and was intrigued.

When the Droitwich Junction Canal opened in 1854 it must have felt like a demanding and thirsty cuckoo to the longer-established Worcester & Birmingham Canal that fed it. 

This is because the first three locks are twice as deep as the W&B's locks above. 

So it was inevitable that BW had to bring the sideponds back into operation, setting a precedent for all the others around the country.  As ordinary boaters learn to use these useful lock 'extensions' and more are brought back into use, it might help ease the water problem around the rest of the country.

Above: The side pond starts to fill at Lock 2 of the Droitwich Junction Canal. Note the boat still high in the lock.

Below: And - voilà! - the boat is almost gone from view, as half the water drains from the lock into the pond, ready to be reused to half-fill the lock again when the next boat comes up.

This allows almost half-a-lock of water to be reused for each filling, reducing the canal's thirst.

Anyway, such a pleasant and rewarding day for Max and his family.  They cruised on Horik, a boat that Viking Afloat granted to Max for a long weekend in tribute to his efforts.

Comments

[Robert M Sinclair]

Fortunately it was a real dream.

[Max Sinclair]

Thank you Andrew, it was a fine weekend enjoyed by all from 5 to 81.

[Andrew Denny]

Neil, I've not been up there for a couple of years, but I don't remember it being in operation when I went up. I've been looking forward for a long time to using sideponds myself. 

[Paul Savage (NB Adreva)]

Went on a cruise on the Panama Canal earlier this year (alas, not by Narrowboat). The Panama is being upgraded by the addition of 3 larger locks at either end. These are also going to utilise side ponds. The first time I had seen this. I will email the brochure showing how these are to be used. You may include them if you wish.

[Neil Corbett]

There's a working sidepond at Atherstone lock No6, just above Barry Hawkins's yard on the Coventry canal. I used it myself this summer, as did other people in the queue!