The Magazine of the West Riding Branch
January 2011
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Contents Greetings from the Branch Chairman......................................................3 Opportunities...........................................................................................5 Advertising in ‘The Mile Post’................................................................6 World News Today…..............................................................................7 ‘A Warm Welcome!’ ............................................................................11 The Mile Post.........................................................................................11 North Riding Branch ............................................................................12 How to Find A Secure Mooring!...........................................................14 The Annual General Meeting of the IWA.............................................16 West Riding Branch...............................................................................16 The Annual General Meeting of the......................................................17 IWA North East and Yorkshire Region.................................................17 Map showing location of meeting venue...............................................18 Committee Members 2010 / 2011.........................................................19 Programme of Events for 2010/11.........................................................20
IWA Headquarters . Registered Office The Inland Waterways Association Island House Moor Road CHESHAM HP5 1WA Telephone - 01494 783453 Web site www.waterways.org.uk NOTE: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of The Inland Waterways Association or of The West Riding Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers. Front cover. ‘’The Three Chairmen’! From left to right. Clive Henderson - IWA National Chairman, Peter Scott - North East Region Chairman, Elaine Scott - West Riding Branch Chairman.
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Greetings from the Branch Chairman Happy New Year to you all. I hope you all had a good time over the festive season and were not too badly hit by bad weather. The canals were good for walking and cycling once the weather warmed up, but even with the Christmas gap in the stoppage programme most canals were impassable with ice over 6� (150 mm) reported in many places.
Ice on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Acton Bridge, Elsewhere in this Milepost you will find a list of tasks for which we are looking for helpers. There will be several tasks advertised during the year on the meeting notice boards, the web site, and in Milepost. Do have a look and see if there is anything you think you could help with. Very few will require you to be on the committee, although we would welcome more committee members. The priority is to get the tasks carried out. Some tasks require attendance at social meetings but many can be done from home at a time to suit you. 3
We are a membership organisation. This means that we rely on the members to do the work of the IWA thus saving costs of paid staff. If you have a few hours to spare during the year to help, we will be very grateful.
To save money on postage we try and send things electronically where possible. As some of us joined the IWA before the days of email it is possible that your email address has not been recorded. If you do not get electronic communication from us, but would like to do so, please send an email to westriding@waterways,org.uk and we will put you on the list. The main communications are a reminder for the next social meeting and head office bulletins. It is also possible to receive Milepost in .pdf format instead of hard copy. If you would prefer that again let us know. Social Meetings We have a raffle at our social meetings to raise money to cover the hire of the hall etc. In the past the prizes have been bought out of the takings, however from January 2011 we are asking for donations of gifts for the raffle, so if you have anything suitable, please bring it along to the next meeting. If we have too many prizes they will be carried forward to subsequent meetings.
Events We will be having displays at several locations during the year. The main stand and gazebo will be at Skipton during the May bank holiday weekend and the National Festival at Burton (note date 28-31 JULY 2011, which is earlier than the last few years). We will also have displays at Thwaites Mill in Leeds and other venues and events during the year. If you could help man these displays even for half an hour do let us know. Dates will appear when confirmed by the organisers.
Elaine Scott. 4
Opportunities There are various opportunities for you to exercise your abilities. These will be advertised on the boards at meetings, in Mile Post and on the web site. If you feel you would like to take advantage of any of the opportunities, please contact me or one of the committee. There is no age limit, no time limit, no need to be on the committee. If you would like to share the task with someone, that’s fine. Opportunities particularly suitable for sharing are marked *. Web Master Requirements Internet Access, preferably using broadband General familiarity with computer use Task
To keep the Branch page of the IWA web site up to date by adding events, news and the electronic version of Milepost magazine (3 times per year) Adding any additional news items and other items of interest. Remove old material as required Produce short report for the Branch committee say three times a year
Time needed To start with, some time to get acquainted with the programs used, say half a day training then some practice. Normally half an hour 3 times a year to upload Milepost, plus 3 hours to update events and any additional time needed to keep the site fresh, say an hour a month.
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Events List Co-ordinator * Requirements Internet Access, preferably using broadband General familiarity with computer use Task
Look for events connected with the waterways in the Branch area, walks, cycle rides, boats trip, waterways activities. List these and send details to Web Master for inclusion on the web site and Mile Post editors Time needed about half a hour a month Display finder* - best shared among several people Requirements No special requirements Task
Look for suitable locations to display information about waterways. List these and send details to a committee member
Time needed Not a lot. Finding locations as you go about your area on your normal business. Time taken to let us know about it. Elaine Scott 07980 953880 or 0114230187 elaine@homescott.freeonline.co.uk ***********************
Advertising in ‘The Mile Post’. If your organization would like to advertise in a future edition of ‘The Mile Post’ please contact Bob or Tricia Laing on 01274 581800 or e-mail boblaing@blueyonder.co.uk A full page advertisement is £40 and a half page is £20. Over 500 copies of the magazine are posted to IWA West Riding Branch members and are also distributed at various waterway events throughout the year 6
WORLD NEWS TODAY … According to Today today, today’s most important happenings are the snow, the Bristol murder investigation, why the Government has increased VAT, and Nigel Pargetter telling us how successful his funeral was. Here’s an alternative Today as conceived by a notional waterwaysoriented guest editor. The Weather… Icy patches still keep 80% of the system closed to traffic for the fourth consecutive week, in what could be the longest canal freeze-up for almost forty years. Ice breaking is left to individual boater’s discretion, without ‘official’ intervention or advice, and certainly no gritting-boats. There is a continuing debate between those who move and those who don’t, about who should be protecting vulnerable boats with ice-boards or similar, and whether breaking the ice just makes it twice as thick and laminated for the next boat tomorrow. It’s in these wintry conditions, not always as bad as currently, that planned maintenance work is traditionally done. Contractors are cold, the ice gets in the way, the work is more hazardous, there is less daylight than the normal working day, and it’s a lot more expensive than similar works in warmer times. But scheduled summer stoppages give us cries of dissent for restricting the use of the boating licence. What would we do, I wonder, if we were running the waterways trying to make the most of the money we had? Which links neatly to the next item … Governance ... The Spending Review means that British Waterways have 19% less government money than they had last year and, as there is other money from waterway users and from properties, BW say this will translate into an effective cut of about 12%. Their press release quotes chairman Tony Hales as saying “it would be unrealistic to expect British Waterways to be exempt from cuts in public spending and we will have to make difficult decisions” . Obviously it’s insufficient money, and equally obviously an IWA campaign directed at more waterways funding at the expense of … what? 7
‌ would be swamped by all those other campaigns for local services, for tuition fees, for health, for sensible train fares, ‌ And campaigners for these other worthy causes might ask us why we spent a million pounds on those useless bollards, another million per year on licence enforcement, another million on the board's salaries, and then there's the marketing department, and all those office people we found we didn't need when last year's 10% savings had to be found. Then again BW now have some newly-recruited volunteer co-ordinators: IWA welcomes a new attitude to encourage volunteering, but whether having new permanent employees to make the new approach work feels an odd way to be going about it. We have to do better than a token protest, and the best bet is the 'leastworst' option of the charity-replacement for BW, which is now a donedeal with government to takeover full responsibility in April 2012. IWA has been, and has been best-qualified to be, the voice of the waterways in discussions with Government. On this we're not one-of-many waterway organisations, and our members' subscriptions have been used for real influence on a debate crucial to the future of the waterways. At our November meeting, National Chairman Clive Henderson gave us an update on these developments, and it was a good opportunity to point out all the potential pitfalls from our Yorkshire vantage point, well away from the Westminster Village. From here it's not obvious that Clive can successfully ride both horses – being the waterway users' voice as Observer on the BW board and leading an independent IWA. Are we, he was asked, now to be muted in our criticisms of BW to get the best deal from government, and would that really be best for the Waterways. And if we are so much on the same side, have we (IWA) a future as a distinct organisation separate from the New Waterways Charity. We shall see, over the next few weeks, how many years a long-term funding commitment' turns out to be: ten years would be so much better than the annual settlement, to make the all the work on transition worthwhile, but there will be those in the Treasury happier to nibble this away to five years or less. There has to be a tipping point somewhere that pushes us (us the IWA) into opposition to the whole reform package. 8
And for me, failing to include the Environment Agency rivers inside the new charity, at its beginning, needs to be a trigger to withdraw all IWA co-operation. Remembering all those million-pound extravagances, the new Charity has to be different from BW. They may well have transformed themselves from enemies to friends over thirty years, but that's just the start of an accelerating need to actually do the job well, and to do it with people who have the skills, the knowledge, the understanding of the waterways as core prerequisites. There are just too many examples of users' total exasperation at BW management not knowing their job: and every example is just an example, but this one caused yet another sigh of disappointment, if not surprise. The autumn Leeds user-group was debating the state of towing path vegetation and whether two-to-three years' growth of bushes had or hadn't been allowed to take hold: management said it shouldn't have happened, and users said it had. To resolve it, BW would ask their contractors. And there's the rub. The job is to manage the state of the canal and if the work is given to contractors, then the management job is to know if they are doing their work properly, or not, before signing their invoices. … and Taxes BW propose to increase the standard, 12 month pleasure boat licence fee by 5.1% from April 2011 - that's before VAT is added - This is a 2% increase above the current value of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and they say is expected to generate additional waterway maintenance budget of £850,000 for 2011/12’. Beyond 2011, their business plans for the following two years expect licence price increases of 2% plus CPIinflation each year. The consultation runs to the end of January at: http://tinyurl.com/BW2011licences Nigel Pargetter ... … if he was neither fictional nor dead, would be just the sort of new member we could be recruiting to the IWA. We need to appeal to all those with concerns for the environment, and where this overlaps with 9
understanding of leisure industries and transport, so much the better. The best recommendation is always a personal one, so those friends or family to whom you speak of the magic of that canal sunrise, are ideal new recruits. The satisfaction of membership is in helping the waterways – we're not a Family Rail card and we don't save the membership fee with discounts, although some of our commercial members do special deals for their fellow-members: http://tinyurl.com/IWAoffers If we can persuade new people to think of about three pounds per month as their contribution to the magic of the waterways, we the IWA can make good use of the money: Yes there is a form, and yes it does have lots of different subscription classes on it each with their own different annual amount. But monthly is easier to understand, and we really will put the money to good use. We might even make the form a bit easier over the next year! So come on Nigel, please sign here … (For those not addicted to the Archers, the fictional Nigel died falling from a roof in the sixtieth anniversary episode on 2nd January.) Recycling … an old idea from London Region magazine February 1979: “membership recruitment is much better conducted face-to-face, but why, for instance, do we not print the membership application details in the magazine? When I've finished reading the magazine, I leave it in the dentist's or the doctor's waiting room - or on a train seat or in the bus. It's a damned sight more interesting than Country Life or last Tuesday's Evening News!” So if you are reading this to forget about an impending filling, details of joining us are on the web site below, or call 01494 783453 http://tinyurl.com/joinIWA New Year Honours We are delighted to report that IWA Vice President Sonia Rolt is made OBE, and IWA Vice President David Suchet is made CBE in the New Year's Honours list.
Peter Scott - Region Chairman and IWA National Trustee 10
‘A Warm Welcome!’ The West Riding Branch extends a warm welcome to members who have joined us since the last Mile Post. We look forward to meeting you at one of our monthly meetings or to hearing from you.
*************** The Pocklington Canal. The talk at our October meeting is to be given by Paul Waddington from the Pocklington Canal Society. One way that the society raises funds is to collect foil. If any of our members wish to collect foil and bring it to the meeting with them, I am sure that Paul will be only too happy to take it away with him.
*************** Programme of Events. Does anyone in the branch know of anyone who gives canal related talks. Does anyone have any ideas for subjects for future talks at our meetings. If so please contact Katy or Alastair Sayles, whose contact details are on the back page.
*************** The Mile Post. Is there anyone out there who could help the branch by writing something for inclusion in the Milepost. Have you been on an interesting boating trip? Tell us about it.. Is there something waterways related you feel strongly about? Write us a letter about it.. Any amusing stories? Tell us all! E-mail us at boblaing@blueyonder.co.uk , hand it to one of us, or post it to any committee member before the end of April. We look forward to hearing from you. 11
North Riding Branch On 1st January 2011 a new branch of the IWA came into being. The ‘North Riding Branch’ will be added to the West Riding Branch, the East Yorkshire Branch, and the South Yorkshire & the Dukeries Branch, all of which are part of the North East and Yorkshire Region of the IWA. The new branch grew out of the Ouse/Ure Corridor Section looking after what is essentially a rivers' orientated part of West Riding Branch’s area The branch area stretches from Goole in the East to Ripon in the West and includes the River Ouse, River Foss, the River Ure and the Ripon Canal. Added to this is an area stretching as far north as Tyne and Wear.The map of the original North Riding covers the geography, with an additional part South of York, and north of Teeside, which includes the southern corridor described above. The original county stopped at York itself. Just over 150 IWA members currently live in the centre of the new branch area and have by now received the ‘Northern Navigation News’, and have been asked, if they prefer to remain with West Riding Branch, to contact me directly. Similarly if any other members would prefer to join North Riding Branch contact me. My contact e-mail is: tonymartin451@yahoo.co.uk OR telephone: 07588-236-597. Members from all Branches are of course welcome to join us at all our Branch activities. Our Main Activities On the May Bank Holiday Weekend each year, we hold an open day at Castle Mills Lock, York. In 2011 it is on Saturday 30th April. We share a gazebo with the River Foss Society, and, water levels permitting – we have a couple of boats cruising up and down the navigable section of the River Foss, so that the public can enjoy this unique stretch of waterway in the centre of York. We also take an active part in the Two Rivers 12
Festival in York each July. This starts with the popular Dragon Boat Races, which are organised by the local Rotary Club. Again we share a gazebo with the River Foss Society. Throughout the year we hold regular open meetings with a topic speaker, usually at St Olave’s Church Hall, off Marygate. We also publish the popular newsletter, Northern Navigation News, every two months or so. We also hold bi-monthly Open Committee Meetings at which all are welcome. These are often held in the cafe at Linton Lock (for evening meetings) and in York at Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, YO23 1BW for day-time ones. The next Committee Meeting will be on Wednesday 26th January 2011 at 11.30am in the Meeting Room. Castle Mills Lock, York. A seven member lock keeping team of local IWA members operates the lock on behalf of the City of York Council. This enables suitable craft to use the navigable section of the River Foss. This service has proved increasingly popular with visiting boaters to York. Please do not hesitate to contact Tony Martin on the above number and e-mail address for more information about the new North Riding Branch. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours sincerely, Tony Martin (Chair) 13
How to Find A Secure Mooring! After helping to get our local MP elected during the general election, Jan and I decided to amuse ourselves by taking our narrowboat, Rivendell, to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham as part of our ‘summer’ cruising. This would involve us being in Birmingham for the first week in October and getting back to our home base in Ripon before the winter stoppages start in early November. We knew that the logistics would be made more interesting by the tendency for the Trent, Aire and Ouse to go into flood during the autumn and BW’s decision to close Linton lock for early gate replacement in the second half of September and the first half of October. Reduced hours of daylight at this time of year (and reduced lockkeeper hours) also make finding the right tides more tricky! Oh, and there are scheduled closures on the Aire and Calder during October. And they think running the country is difficult! We prepared by asking some friends who moor in Gas Street Basin to find us a mooring for the duration (which they did) and inviting the new Waterways Minister, Richard Benyon, to visit our boat during the conference, to which we got a definite maybe! (After all, he had only just been appointed) After one of the worst ‘Indian Summers’ in living memory we arrived at the bottom of the Aston flight in the pouring rain which did not let up until after the top of Farmer’s Bridge. We had been warned that, during the conference, boat access through Brindley Place would be restricted and the boat subject to a police search, including by a police dog. At the top of Farmer’s Bridge was a BW notice to this effect, but fortunately it did not come into force until next day. The thought of a soaking wet police dog scampering through our narrowboat was not attractive! It was instructive that Broad Street, one of Birmingham’s main thoroughfares, was totally closed to vehicles for the 14
duration of the conference but boats were allowed to pass through Brindley Place. That is what I call getting the priorities right! We moored on the Worcester Bar, which was inside the canal security zone, and had the benefit of an armed police RIB patrolling, foot patrols past the boat every hour, a helicopter overhead and the main police control centre, on the sixth floor of an adjacent office block, overlooking our moorings! We did not feel the need to chain on! I suspect that any of the conference delegates that were higher than the fourth floor of the conference hotel had further to go to get in than we did! Richard Benyon, the Waterway Minister, did take time out from the conference to visit and we arranged for him to meet a variety of people who live and work around Gas Street Basin and Brindley Place. He had not been there before and was very impressed. Hopefully he went away believing that the canal system was worth looking after! In better weather we set off on the return trip, with the Trent in fine order. Unfortunately on arriving in Newark we discovered that the Linton stoppage had been extended to the end of October, so who knows where we will end up. All part of the joys of the Inland Waterways! Bowman Bradley
Waterways Minister Richard Benyon meeting Cathy Hytner, Tom Nightingale and Peter Cotgreach, all residents of Gas Street Basin, with NB Rivendell in the background.
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The Annual General Meeting of the IWA West Riding Branch This will be held at approximately 8.15pm (following a brief introductory presentation at 8pm) on FRIDAY 11th MARCH 2011 at the Social Club, Top Floor, Centenary House, North Street, LEEDS LS2 8JS. Agenda 1. Apologies for absence 2. Approval of minutes of the previous AGM and any matters arising from these minutes. 3. Report from Branch Chairman (Elaine Scott.) 4. Financial Report. 5. Election of members of the committee. 6. Any other items requested by members of the branch provided the branch chairman was notified in writing of the item at least six weeks prior to the AGM (28 January 2011) (*) (*) Elaine Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH t: 0114 2301870 e: elaine@homescott.free-online.co.uk
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The Annual General Meeting of the IWA North East and Yorkshire Region. This will be held at 7.30pm on FRIDAY 1st APRIL 2010 at the St Olave's Hall, Saint Olave's Church, Off Marygate, YORK YO30 7BH Agenda. 1. Apologies for absence 2. Approval of minutes of the 2010 AGM and any matters arising from these minutes 3. Report from Region Chairman and National IWA Trustee (Peter Scott) 4. Financial report 5. Election of members of the committee 6.Any items requested by members of the region provided the region chairman was notified in writing of the item at least six weeks prior to the AGM (18February 2011) (*) 7. Any business not notified on this agenda (at the discretion of the chairman - NOTE that no decisions may be made on this business).(*) This meeting will be followed by the AGM of the North Riding Branch Clive Henderson National Chairman will be in attendance Peter Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH t: 0114 2301870
e: peter.scott@waterways.org.uk
David Swabey 18 Scottow Drive Great Ayton Middlesbrough TS9 6DR t: 01642 722910 17
Bus Station
LS2 8AY
Train Station
Map showing location of meeting venue Centenary House, North Street, Leeds LS2 8AY 18
Committee Members 2010 / 2011 Chairman Elaine Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH Home 0114 230 1870
Mile Post Editor Tricia Laing 25 Bankfield Road Shipley BD18 4AJ Home 01274 581800
Secretary Ian Moore 2 Eric Street, Bramley Leeds. LS13 1ET Mobile 07989 112581 E-mail westriding@waterways.org.uk
Committee member Regional Chairman Peter Scott 3 Moorbank Drive Sheffield S10 5TH Home 0114 230 1870 Non Committee Posts
Treasurer William Jowitt 35,Lowfield Crescent. Silsden BD20 0QE Home 01535 657256 Membership Secretary Chris Pinder 152 High Street Yeadon Leeds LS19 7AB Home 01132 509371 Minutes Secretary Liz Pinder 152 High Street Yeadon Leeds LS19 7AB Home 01132 509371
Meeting Co-ordinators Katie & Alastair Sayles Home 0113 393 4517 E-mail: kandal@btinternet.com Telephone contact Alistair Furniss Home 0113 253 9401 Northern Rivers Officer (Tyne, Wear & Tees). John Reeve 10 Perth Grove Stockton-on-Tees Cleveland TS18 5BF Home 01642 580350
Mile Post Editor Bob Laing 25 Bankfield Road Shipley BD18 4AJ Home 01274 581800 E-mail boblaing@blueyonder.co.uk 19
Programme of Events for 2010/11. All meetings take place at 8.00pm on the second Friday of the month, in the top floor Social Club, Centenary House, North Street, Leeds, LS2 8AY.
11th February 11
Chinese Canals by Liam D’Arcy Brown
11th March 11
AGM
8th April 11
RSPB at Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve by Richard Amende
9th September 11
“Aire Valley Action Group, Leeds” by Rachel Clunas, BW and partners
14th October 11
“Pocklington Canal” by Paul Waddington (Please read note on page 11.)
11th November 11
Still to be arranged
9th December 11
Christmas Social and Members’ slides
Talks arranged by Alastair and Katy Sayles, 32 Pymont Drive, Woodlesford, Leeds LS26 8WA. Tel 0113 393 4517 Email: kandal@btinternet.com All the meetings organised by the West Riding Branch are open and everyone is invited. Any member of the general public is allowed to attend and members are invited to bring friends. The Inland Waterways Association campaigns for the Conservation, Use, Maintenance, Restoration and Development of the Inland Waterways, which are part of our heritage, and are there for the benefit of everyone. 20