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Ouse News - Autumn 2015 The Great Ouse Branch Newsletter covering the Great Ouse and tributaries Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways. The Inland Waterways Association The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the Great Ouse Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers. See the ‘Swan Feed’ at Welney Wetland Centre with us. Contents: Branch Committee p2 Chairman’s Corner p3 Branch Outing p5 Little Ouse Project p6 Viscountess Bury p7 River News from EA p9 Branch News p19 Book Review p20 River Cam Update p23 Northampton Festivalp26 Branch Activities p27 Photo: Carole Alderton

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Page 1: Ouse News - Autumn 2015

Ouse News - Autumn 2015The Great Ouse Branch Newslettercovering the Great Ouse and tributaries

Campaigning for the conservation,use, maintenance, restoration and

development of the InlandWaterways.

The InlandWaterwaysAssociation

The views expressed in thispublication are not

necessarily those of theInland Waterways

Association or of the GreatOuse Branch. They are,however, published asbeing of interest to ourmembers and readers.

See the ‘Swan Feed’ atWelney Wetland Centre with us.

Contents:

Branch Committee p2

Chairman’s Corner p3

Branch Outing p5

Little Ouse Project p6

Viscountess Bury p7

River News from EA p9

Branch News p19

Book Review p20

River Cam Update p23

Northampton Festivalp26

Branch Activities p27

Photo: Carole Alderton

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Ouse News Page 2

Membership Officer:Peter WebbTel 01353 658581email:[email protected]

Member:Stephen FooteTel 01763 838936email:[email protected]

Member:Derek BradleyTel 01353 661601email:[email protected]

Member:Gail MeadTel 01359 232603email:[email protected]

Chairman:Keith AldertonTel : 01366 727236email:[email protected]

Secretary:John HodgsonTel : 01234 344884email:[email protected]

Treasurer:Enid HodgsonTel : 01234 344884email:[email protected]

Ouse News Editor:Carole AldertonTel : 01366 727236email:[email protected]

Sales Officer:David AndersonTel : 01480 477227email:[email protected]

We are a small, friendly group andwould welcome another committeemember to help us organise meetingsand events. Please contact the editor.

Great Ouse BranchCommittee:

(Authorised toexamine all private

boats and in addition,residential boatsprovided they arefitted with a gasbubble tester)

Additional contact :Ely Boat Chandlers -

01353 663095

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Chairman’s Corner

The Met Office recently stated that the summer of 2015 was the warmeston record. I don’t know where they take their measurements, but it wascertainly not from around any of the canals I visited! To be sure, the earlypart of July was great; but the weather soon deteriorated throughout Au-gust causing us to light the solid-fuel stove on Watermist on more than oneoccasion.

Needless to say, this did not detract from our enjoyment of our circularcruise around the GU Leicester Section, Welford Arm, Market HarboroughArm, River Soar, River Trent, Trent & Mersey Canal, Coventry Canal,Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, Ashby Canal and North Oxford Canal. Weended our trip on a very wet August Bank Holiday weekend at the North-ampton Festival of Water on the River Nene.

During the course of our travels, we spent several days in two cities that wehave only ever driven quickly through by car in the past, i.e. Leicester andNottingham. The simple, but impressive, tomb of King Richard the Thirdhas been very sensitively placed in Leicester Cathedral which, together withthe nearby visitor centre, made a fascinating day out; a follow-up visit to theBosworth battlefield site later on in our trip provided added historical con-text. Likewise, a visit to Leicester’s National Space Centre proved to beone of the highlights of the holiday, with some awesome spacecraft andequipment on display. We were surprised to learn that Nottingham is situ-ated on a sandstone outcrop that is riddled with hundreds of man-madecaves and passages. Visitors can access the caves via an unlikely lookingdoorway in the new shopping centre and also from the castle battlements.Both cities are well worth exploring in depth if your travels take you thatway.

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I am pleased to report that the long-awaited new mooring regulations onEly Waterfront have at last been implemented. Boats can now stay for 48hours without charge, after which the cost of mooring will be £100 per day.Two wardens have been appointed to enforce the regulations. First impres-sions are that the scheme is working well and has been warmly welcomedby most genuine boaters. Please follow the link to find out more details:http://www.visitely.org.uk/content/east-cambridgeshire-district-council-owned-moorings We now need the Environment Agency to improve theirenforcement activities at the sites for which they are responsible, in order toprevent the growing band of ‘continuous moorers’ from setting up campfurther along the river.

On Thursday 22nd October we welcome back the well-known waterwaysspeaker Richard Thomas to talk to us at the first of our winter meetings atColes Road Community Centre, Milton, Cambridge. It should be a fasci-nating evening as Richard’s topic this time will be ‘The Highland Canals’.

Please note that in order to plan the catering arrangements for our visit tothe Welney Wetland Centre on Wednesday 18th November we need totake advance bookings and payment. I would, therefore, be obliged if youcould complete the form shown on page 5 and forward it, together withyour cheque, to arrive at the address shown, no later than Friday, 13thNovember.

Our second lecture meeting on the 26th November will comprise a presen-tation by RiverCanal Rescue. This should be of interest to all boat ownersas, in addition to outlining the services on offer, RCR will explain how tobest avoid the most common problems encountered by their engineers.

Hope to see you during the autumn. Keith Alderton

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Great Ouse Branch Outingon Wednesday, 18th

November, 2015

See the swans arrive, havea Sausage & Mash Supper,then watch the Swan Feed.

WELNEY WETLAND CENTRE

We shall be meeting at the WWT (Hundred Foot Bank, Welney, NrWisbech, PE14 9TN) at 3.30 pm on Wednesday, 18th November.

The inclusive cost will be £15.17 for adults, or £13.72 forconcessions. Please send your cheque (made out to IWA, Gt OuseBranch) to Carole Alderton, Holly Cottage, 57 Globe Street,Methwold, Thetford, IP26 4PQ together with the form below byFriday, 13th November.

We hope to see you there!

.......................................................................Please reserve ...........places on the WWC visit on 18th November

I/we would like pork & leek sausages /veggie sausages/gluten freesausages.

I am enclosing a cheque to the value of £ ...........................................

Name ...................................... Tel no ..................................................

Date ...........................

Photo: David Featherbe

(Please delete as appropriate)

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Thetford Town Council has resurrected the plan to restore navigation on theLittle Ouse between Brandon and Thetford. Long serving members willperhaps recall that the Branch was heavily involved in the project someyears ago, although at that time it did not come to fruition.

Branch committee members, along with other interested parties such as theForestry Commission, Natural England, Sustrans, RYA, East Anglian Wa-terways Association, GOBA, the Little Ouse Group, the EnvironmentAgency and Breckland District Council have attended meetings to gaugesupport for the project and to plan the way ahead. Considerable supporthas been expressed by the potential ‘user’ organisations, tempered by amore cautious approach from the environmentally focused bodies. There isa potential for conflict between the need to dredge and control the river fornavigation purposes and the EA’s wish to promote the ‘wilding’ of suchrivers with the construction of gravel bars etc. to hold back flood water inthe upper reaches in order to minimise flooding downstream.

The scheme will involve the construction of four new locks and extendingthe existing lock at Brandon at an estimated cost of £12 million. Needlessto say, there is not a pile of cash swilling around to fund such projects. It hasbeen agreed that the sensible way to proceed is to develop an ‘environmen-tal assessment scoping report’ (at a cost of £75-£100k) followed by a draftdesign of the scheme. Only then can grant funding be sought from therelevant EU, government and National Lottery sources.

It is likely that if the project were to proceed it would be broken down intobite-sized chunks, with work on towpath improvements, cycle routes andcanoe access taking place before major capital expenditure on navigationstructures.

It is good to see Thetford Town Council taking an enthusiastic lead on thisambitious long-term project and we shall be pleased to offer whatever sup-port we can.

Little Ouse Navigation

Keith Alderton

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Sometime in the late70s or 80s a man named Kelly used to run public rivertrips in a boat called the Viscountess Bury and I went on one such trip fromVictoria Bridge to Bottisham Lock. In the early 70s, Banhams used theboat to run trips from Elizabeth Bridge to Ely on Wednesdays and Satur-days during the summer months. I went on one of those trips with mymother, which I will come on to later.

The Viscountess Bury had originally been based on the Thames and waspowered by an electric motor, but this was later removed and a dieselengine installed. The boat went by sea from the Thames to King’s Lynn andthen on to Cambridge. I do not know if she sailed under her own power orwas towed on the sea leg. I suspect the diesel engine had been fitted bythen, as I doubt that an electric motor would cope with such a journey.

The Viscountess Bury

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Perhaps there was a very good reason why they did not go via the inlandwaterways route, as I thought that it would be possible for them to havegone up the Grand Union Canal to Northampton and down the River Neneto Wisbech and then have a pilot take them on to King’s Lynn. Perhapssome readers could enlighten us on this and later matters. (Note :- If shewas a broad-beamed vessel, she would not have been able to navigate the7-foot wide locks on the Northampton Arm that connects the Grand UnionCanal with the River Nene at Northampton. Ed.)

Why was she called the Viscountess Bury? It is apparently nothing to dowith Bury St.Edmunds as I once thought. Where is she now? On RadioCambridge a listener once said that her remains are at a local boatyard,although I was not able to catch where. I would not like to contradict him,but I would be very surprised if she was still around.

About the outing I referred to earlier. My mother and I boarded at BaitsBite Lock and had a very good day.

Not so for a family from Bedford. One of the children had fallen in thewater and so the mother decided to take them home as a punishment. Ithink that this was a knee jerk reaction on her part as the weather was notwet at the time and the child would have dried out, possibly with the help ofother passengers and the crew.

She had no idea how far Milton village is from Baits Bite Lock and shewould have had to cross a railway line; not an easy thing to do with smallchildren in tow! She could not have realised how bad the local bus servicewas and once having reached Drummer Street bus station they would thenhave to take another bus to Cambridge railway station and then catch theUnited Counties bus to Bedford. They would have been very dry by then!

Robin Adams

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As the 2015 boating season draws to a close on the River Great Ouse itnaturally becomes a time of reflection on how the season went. It’s fair tosay that it wasn’t the smoothest of boating seasons on the River GreatOuse and not one I’d want to repeat in a hurry! However, that said,thankfully the multiple breakdowns of locks are a rare occurrence on oursystem.

Despite the mechanical and technical challenges faced this year, I am trulyappreciative and proud of my team’s efforts to overcome what have beendifficult circumstances. Without their passion for the job and keeping yourinterests at heart, river traffic would have been impacted much more seri-ously. As it turned out we managed the lock breakdowns, ensuring thatstructures were closed for as short a time as possible and we got rivertraffic moving again as soon as it was safe to do so. Where concerns stillremained we put additional safe operating procedures in place and haveprovided assisted passage through affected sites.

Summer 2015 Response by EA to Issues RaisedThis Season on the River Great Ouse

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I have heard, firsthand, the frustrations this may have caused people, wherethey have wanted extended locking windows (amongst other comments).On the flipside, I have also heard genuine appreciation of a helping handthrough those sites where our staff have been present and the fact thatpeople like the opportunity to meet with Environment Agency staff on theriver. This is something I am keen to see continued regardless of issues atlocks and is also suggested in the feedback we have received from you, ourcustomers.

Alongside the verbal comments referred to above, you may also have readmuch about the Environment Agency and the incidents on the River GreatOuse this summer. Unfortunately the majority of this has been negative. Ican’t pretend that it hasn’t been disheartening to read, but my main disap-pointment has been for my colleagues for whom the limited views of a fewcould have had a very demoralising impact. All at a time where they hadbeen working many days straight, without a break, to effectively keep theriver open and boats moving. Thankfully the potential impact was not real-ised and it hasn’t deterred us from carrying on doing what we believe is theright thing for the majority of users on the river; keeping it open and movingas far as we possibly can whilst maintaining safety as our top priority.

I must say thank you and state that Ouse News was not involved with thenegativity directed at the Environment Agency over the summer. We werealso not offered the opportunity by those complaining to provide a responseto any of the criticisms being levied at us. Hence the reason that most of theOuse News editorial space usually devoted to us in this issue has beentaken up with our position and response on the common causes for com-plaint and comment.

Enforcement on Anglian WaterwaysThe Anglian Waterways Team carries out regular and effective enforcementof unregistered vessels. This is reflected, in part, through increasing num-bers of registered vessels on Anglian Waterways; currently there are justover 7,000 vessels whereas in 2005 there were less than 5,000.

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Effective enforcement is a high priority for us, as our registration processenables us to regulate safety standards which helps make boating safer onour waterways. Boats register with us every year and must meet our re-quirements; most need a Boat Safety Scheme Certificate (BSSC) and insur-ance. The BSSC is similar to a car’s MOT and covers essential minimumsafety standards for items such as the gas system, electrical installations, fuelsystems, ventilation etc. Boats that register with us must also pay an appro-priate charge and this income is essential for maintaining and managing ournavigations.

We also have powers to enforce against boats overstaying on moorings weown. Boats are allowed to moor, free of charge, for 48 hours on thesemoorings. After this time they are required to leave the mooring and findanother mooring elsewhere. During busy times demand can lead to a lack ofavailable mooring space, with moorings often filled by boats visiting the area.It is claimed that some boats overstay beyond 48 hours. The level of ‘polic-ing’ of moorings by the Environment Agency is limited by available staffresources. Policing moorings is a time demanding activity (requiring severalvisits to monitor conformity) and is a lower priority for the Waterway Teamthan boat registration enforcement, safety inspection of locks/other assets,‘day to day’ customer enquiries and the manning of locks, e.g. Hermitagelock at Earith. Our staff will endeavour to visit a moored boat when con-cerns have been raised, but there are those that feel we should invest moretime, and be more proactive, in this area of work.

Our enforcement activity is a regular discussion topic at our Anglian Water-way Group (AWG) which meets approximately every 3 months. This Groupis made up of representatives of boating organisations, clubs, boating tradeand numerous others. At these meetings we report on registration and en-forcement statistics for the previous period. This Group has also agreed ourAnglian Waterways Customer Charter which identifies the importance ofenforcement activity against unregistered boats, but acknowledges that en-forcement against those overstaying on moorings will be a lower priority. Interms of enforcement we feel we are meeting our Charter.

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Maintenance of our navigationsThe management of our Waterways is reliant on Government funding whichhas reduced in recent years due to economic pressures. In 2013/14 Gov-ernment Grant in Aid (GiA) for Anglian Waterways was over £3,400,000;in the current financial year it is just over £1,800,000. This means we haveto prioritise and only complete the work we can afford. The income gener-ated through vessel registration (and other activities) has grown steadilyover the years, reflecting the growth in the number of participants, but alsoincreases in the registration charges that boat owners pay. In the currentyear we expect the registration income to achieve £2,280,000 against ourtotal spend of around £4,100,000, i.e. around 55%, with the remainingfunding coming from GiA. In the current economic climate funding is underpressure and it is likely GiA for navigation will continue to decline.

We undertake a variety of maintenance activities on our rivers to facilitatenavigation on the 568km of Anglian Waterways. The work we undertakeincludes, mechanical and electrical maintenance of locks, moorings and othernavigation structures, management of overhanging trees, management of

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floating vegetation using weed cutter and harvester boats, routine grass andvegetation maintenance around our locks, de-silting/shoal management etc.We also respond to navigation emergencies and undertake work to repairfaults etc.

As funding pressures have increased we have worked hard to increase ourincome and to make efficiencies. Inevitably, available funding has to beprioritised, but we have worked hard to reduce the impact on maintenance.We have closed some of our navigation structures, but these tend to be onlow use systems where the impact on customers is relatively low. We havealso reduced work on de-silting and shoal removal, only undertaking workwhen there is a significant restriction to navigation. We regularly meet withboating groups and organisations that provide valuable feedback and di-rection on where we should invest our limited funds. Their feedback influ-ences the maintenance work and repairs we undertake across all our wa-terways.

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Lock Closures during the summer on the Great OuseWe normally undertake works to locks and other assets during the quietermonths of the year (November to Easter) to minimise disruption to custom-ers. However, on the Great Ouse system, 2015 has been unusual becausemechanical faults resulted in emergency closures at 4 locks through thebusy summer period. All the faults were identified during routine inspec-tions and emergency closures were put in place to ensure that members ofthe public were not exposed to safety risks. At two sites the safety con-cerns were quickly addressed, but at St Ives and St Neots locks our staffkept the navigation open by safely locking boats through; although openingtimes were restricted. St Ives lock was operated by our staff for almost amonth. St Neots lock is currently being operated by our staff and this hasbeen in place since 30th June. Although there have been failures at theselocks we have worked hard to minimise disruption to boating customers.

We presented a paper on these incidents at our most recent AWG meeting(19 August 2015). Our findings identified there was no single reason forthe faults and that a lack of maintenance was not the root cause.

Preliminary Assessment of Faults - The faults we have experienced areall associated with vertical lift gates, commonly known as guillotine gates.In total, we have 19 guillotine gates at locks on the River Great Ouse sys-tem.

Guillotine gates have a planned mechanical service every 6 months and anelectrical service annually. The faults experienced during this period havevaried between sites:Brownshill Lock - Cause: A component failure on the actuator which isused to power the guillotine gate.Closed on 30th June 2015. Open on a restricted basis on 1st & 2nd July.Re-opened on 2nd July 2015.The failed component is a sealed unit with little maintenance recommendedby the manufacturer. Our services plans meet the manufacturer’s mainten-ance recommendations. We replaced the failed component on 1st & 2ndJuly.

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Denver Lock - Cause: Defective lifting chains. Closed: 18 June 2015 (late afternoon). Re-opened: 19 June 2015.

Guillotine gates undergo an annual Lifting Operations and Lifting Equip-ment Regulations (LOLER) inspection. At Denver lock the inspection iden-tified concerns with the guillotine gate lift chains which were showing signsof deformation (stretching). This is a result of the load they carry; if thechains suffered from corrosion or seized links this could indicate ineffectivelubrication/maintenance. Following discussions with the independentLOLER Assessor it was concluded the lock was safe to reopen. Thelifting chains will be monitored until they are replaced in the autumn/winterwhen boat traffic on the river is reduced.

St Ives Lock - Cause: A failed drive shaft fixing/coupling. Closed 3 June2015. Open on a restricted basis (10:00-6:00 hrs) from 4 June to 8 July2015. Re-opened: 8 July 2015.

The lock was closed during a site inspection because of the criticality of thiscomponent to public safety. This component was serviced during the weekcommencing 30 March 2015 and the LOLAR inspection of the guillotinegate on 14 May did not identify any issues with the coupling. However,during an inspection on 3 June the coupling had moved and partially disen-gaged. The coupling was repaired the following day, but because the causeof the fault was not understood, our trained staff operated and monitoredthe lock. An alternative coupling arrangement was subsequently designed,manufactured and installed.

St Neots lock - Cause:Yet to be established, but the result of the issue is a free running gate. Closed: 30 June 2015. Open on a restricted basis

(10:00–16:00 hrs) for remainder of the season.

This is a relatively new structure and we are currently in discussions with thedesigner to investigate the root cause of the fault. Once this has been es-tablished we will undertake any necessary repairs. Until repairs are com-pleted the lock will be open on a restricted basis and can only be operatedby our trained staff.

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Stocks of spares – having standardised equipment means our stock ofspares is easier to manage. The benefits of holding spares is clear and wasdemonstrated at Brownshill lock where fitting a spare actuator meant therepair was completed quickly and efficiently. This reduced inconvenienceto boat users and avoided the need to manually operate the lock. Theparts that failed at St Ives and St Neots locks were not held as spares asfailure of these parts was not envisaged. We will, however, complete areview of the spares we hold across our waterways.

Procurement and design rules - A National led internal review of exist-ing procurement and design rules will be carried out to assess the St Neotslock failure in more detail. This will also comment on the use of standard-ised equipment and how this would be managed through the procurementprocess. Relevant findings from the review will be fed back to AWG.

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Volunteering - The Waterways Team, as with the rest of the EnvironmentAgency, endeavours to provide best value for money for any work wecarry out. Volunteers assist lock keepers at many ‘manned’ lock sites onthe River Thames. It has been inferred that a similar volunteering pro-gramme on the River Great Ouse would resolve local issues such as rivermaintenance and enforcement. Such a programme would have to be dif-ferent on Anglian Waterways as there are only a few ‘manned’ locks, all ofwhich are tidal and are operated by experienced staff. In order to imple-ment such a programme, a dedicated Volunteer Co-ordinator is requiredto manage and co-ordinate volunteers and funding for this post is currentlynot available.

However, Anglian Waterways is successfully working in partnership withother organisations to deliver work on our navigations which otherwise isunaffordable. For example, work with volunteers from the River StourTrust where, with our support and guidance, a project has recently beensuccessfully delivered by Trust volunteers to refurbish Flatford lock on theRiver Stour. This lock was previously closed due to structural failings. In2014, we also put in place an agreement with the Trust to assist with main-tenance work on the upstream end of the River Stour navigation. Thiswork mainly focused on weed cutting and river vegetation management.Following this successful trial we have once again engaged with the Trust toundertake similar work this year.

The Potential Transfer of navigation responsibilities to the Canaland River Trust - There has been and continues to be much discussionamongst river based communities about the potential transfer of the Envi-ronment Agency’s navigation responsibilities to the Canal and River Trust.In 2011 the government set out its vision of a National Trust for waterwaysthat included British Waterways and Environment Agency navigations. Aphased approach to the delivery of this vision was intended. In phase 1,the functions, liabilities and assets of British Waterways in England andWales would transfer into a new charity. In phase 2, the Environment Agencynavigations would transfer. The government made it clear the transfer would

cont’d on page 20

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Winter MeetingsBranch News

Members & Visitors welcome.

are at 8 pm on Thursday eve-nings at the Cole’s RoadCommunity Centre, Milton(North Cambridge) CB24 6BL.

Ouse News Page 19

THURSDAY 26TH NOV 2015

Our November meeting will be anillustrated talk by RCR (River CanalRescue).

THURSDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2016

Our March meeting will be our AGMand update from the River Managersof the Environment Agency.

THURSAY 24TH MARCH 2016

We welcomethe followingnew members

to the branch. We hope youwill introduce yourselves to uswhen coming to an event ormeeting:THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER 2015

Our October meeting will be anillustrated talk by Richard Thomas on‘The Highland Canals’.

Our February meeting will be anillustrated talk by Jed Ramsey, RiverManager, Conservators of the RiverCam.

WEDNESDAY 18TH NOV 2015

Visit to WWT (Welney WetlandCentre) to see the Swan Feed, plusSausage & Mash Supper. See page5 for details.

John & Carole Greenwood,BedfordDoug & Sally Pell, Eaton Ford,Cambridgeshire

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only take place if sufficient funding could be found. Phase 1 was completedin July 2012 and the Canal and River Trust was formed.

As the financial situation at the time remained challenging, the governmentdecided to conduct a planned review for 2013/14. They considered op-tions for the transfer of Environment Agency functions, liabilities and assetsand agreed that these should be postponed until there was a more realisticprospect of the transfer being affordable.

It is government policy that Environment Agency-managed navigations shouldtransfer to the Canal and River Trust when it is affordable to do so and if theTrustees are willing. This will be a discussion between the Canal and RiverTrust and government. It is not the Environment Agency’s decision as towhether the navigation responsibilities should transfer. The EnvironmentAgency will, however, fully support the government and Canal and RiverTrust should they decide to proceed and the finances are found to enablethis to happen. Paul Separovic

Book Review by Anthony Marris

‘Narrowboat Nomads’

Narrowboat Nomads is Steve Haywood’s latest travel log, together withhis musings on life and anecdotes about the places and characters he meets.This time he and his wife, Em, have rented out their house in Blackheathand have decided to take a couple of years out to live aboard theirnarrowboat “Justice” with their cat, Kit.

Steve and Em decide to head south, down the Oxford Canal from Banburyand then down the Thames during the hot summer of 2014. The descriptionsof the places he visits are vibrant and his accounts of the people perceptive.He says a lot in few words leaving the reader to imagine the scene he haspainted.

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At Wallingford, for example, he describes the local kids “having a whale ofa time” in the river. He continues “I love their unadulterated happiness, theirvitality. I love their noisy exuberance and their unselfconscious joie de vivre”.Later on he wryly acknowledges his envy of their youth and the cruel truththat he really would like to be one of them.

I was pleased to read that on approaching Shepperton,they decide to explore the River Wey, something weused to do regularly in the early 1970s in, as Steve wouldput it, “our plastic boat”. His subsequent descriptionstrikes a chord with my memory of the river - “itsloveliness like the song of the sirens, it tempts you tostay if not forever then at least another week or so”.

Eventually Steve and Em reach London and, after a brief sojourn at LittleVenice, head off up the Grand Union Canal. At this point the book, liketheir journey, gets a little rushed as they try to get past possible winterclosures. This is a pity, although I was pleased to see he had time to comment,if only wistfully, about having to pass what is most probably my favouritepub on the canal system, The Anchor at High Offley on the Shroppie.

Eventually Steve and Em reach their winter destination at Llangollen.Doubtless there will be a sequel next year telling us how they get on overthe winter months. What, however, makes this book an enjoyable read ishis account of his relationship with Em and Kit where more often than nothe comes off second best. In reality, the book is a tribute to his belovedEm, to whom he has dedicated the book.

Narrowboat Nomads is published in paperback bySummersdale Publishers Ltd 2015Price £9.99 www.summersdale.com

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The Cam has both urban and rural settings. This makes for a wide range ofwildlife on the River. Recently we were really pleased to be able to confirm thepresence of otters on the Cam. They have been spotted up and down the Cam,both in the town and further out.

River Crew

This summer has been a good one on the Cam. We’ve had agood number of visitors this year which is nice to see. Ourvisitor mooring at Clayhithe in particular has been well usedand we are looking to expand capacity in the Cam over thenext season to make it easier to find a mooring when you visit.

River Cam Update

Members of the River Crew have been hard at work through the summer. Mostof their time is spent on vegetation management at this time of year – particularlyweed cutting in the channel and along the towpath. We’ve also managed tosecure around £10k of funding from the Environment Agency to removepennywort from the Cam. We’ve made some initial efforts using Berky, ourWeedharvester boat, and will be focusing on this over the next couple of months.There were also the usual mix of random objects to be removed – including apickup truck in bits and a floating tent. The crew are also really pleased with thenew frontage that has been completed at Clayhithe so we now have a fullyfunctioning mooring.EventsA recent analysis has shown that the Cam has perhaps the highest density ofregistered boats per mile of any river in the UK. This is also reflected in thepopularity of events on the Cam. We’ve been working with event organisers toensure that there are good systems in place to allow river traffic to pass throughduring races and other events. This has worked well this season and I hope willcontinue to in the future. If you do experience any issues when on the Cam withevents, please get in touch as we are always looking to improve this area ofmanagement of the River.

Wildlife

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Nobody has managed to get a photo yet of these elusive creatures, but if you dowe’d love to see a copy. We’ve also got new breeding barn owls in theWaterbeach area and the new eel passes that the Environment Agency hasinstalled at Baits Bite Weir have yet to be measured, but local fishermen havetold us they are catching eels, so that is encouraging.

Diary DatesUpcoming events and works on the Cam. Please see our online calendar forfull details of times and locations.

Please note that for all events the river is still navigable and where possible wetry to publish contact numbers of event organisers to help arrange passage.

Sunday 25 October – Canoe Race

Monday 26 - Friday 30 October – Baits Bite Lock Closed for maintenanceworks

Jed RamseyRiver Manager

Conservators of the River Cam

Page 25: Ouse News - Autumn 2015

Ouse News Page 25

IWA Christmas Cards

You can, once again, purchase yourIWA Christmas cards direct fromthe branch at discounted prices!

These will be available for sale at branch meetings in Octoberand November. They will also be available at Ely Boat Chan-dlers.

You will not only make a saving on the advertised price, butalso avoid paying the normal £2.50 or £4.50 postage andpacking charge from head office.

Please support your branch!

Page 26: Ouse News - Autumn 2015

Ouse News Page 26

The Branch mustered a good turnout to support the Northampton Branch atthe Northampton Festival of Water over the August Bank Holiday week-end, with at least four boats attending and further members travelling byother means. A total of ninety-eight boats had applied to attend, although Isuspect that some may have dropped out after listening to the weather fore-cast.

Northampton Festival of Water

The run down from our base at Blisworth Marina, although through verypleasant countryside, is not an easy one, with 17 narrow locks in just over 5miles. However, the journey both ways was aided by the much appreciatedefforts of the many volunteers manning the locks. A heart-felt thank you toall you ladies and gents who not only helped the constant stream of wearyboaters on their way, but also made the event function throughout the week-end!The festival followed the familiar pro-gramme of boat handling competition, il-luminated boat parade, interesting talks,live music and, of course, the provisionof a plentiful supply of (rather dodgy)real ale. The festival was officiallyopened by Timothy West assisted byPrunella Scales, both of whom have pro-vided much support to the waterwayscause over many years. I am pleased to report that branch mem-

bers Peter and Jean Webb wereawarded the Robert Aickman Trophy for‘The most meritorious continuous jour-ney from May 2015 to the Northamp-ton Festival of Water’. The journey intheir narrowboat Arachne involved vis-iting Liverpool, crossing over the Pen-nines twice, clocking up over 1200 lock-miles on the way from their base at Fox’sMarina in March. Well done Peter andJean! Keith Alderton

Page 27: Ouse News - Autumn 2015

Ouse News Page 27

Branch Activities - 2015

We had our usual stall atReach Fair this year, and

with good weather, animproved pitch and lots of

WoW (Wild over Waterways)activities had a successful

day!

The branch gave £1,000 to the WRG appeal (see Summeredition of Ouse News). Although not on our river, we sawtwo examples of projects undertaken on the Ashby Canal.

Page 28: Ouse News - Autumn 2015

Ouse News Page 28

The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limitedby guarantee. Registered in England No 612245. Registered as a charityNo 212342. Registered Office: Island House, Moor Rd, Chesham, HP5 1WA.Phone No 01494 783453.