Volunteer Lock Keepers

[Tim Carter]

Volunteer lock keepers sometimes get a bad press. Last week we took our historic camping narrow boat William to the IWA Festival of Water at Northampton. We had a great run down the flight with a volunteer lock keeper at virtually every lock. They were all fantastic, it was busy and they had it running smoothly, many thanks to everyone involved that day. Generally speaking, since volunteer lock keepers were introduced, my experience with volunteer lock keepers has been good. They are here to stay and this could be a good thing. At a recent seminar on the subject of volunteering, it was made clear that recruiting volunteers is not easy and it's already known that CRT haven't managed to recruit as many as they were hoping. We need to look after the volunteers we have. I appreciate that you do get the odd dud and there have been some unacceptable incidences but the key is education and feedback to CRT which should, in theory, help improve the standard of volunteering as time goes on.

[Tom and Bex]

Fully agree. I've had fantastic help from them at Lapworth recently and am always happy to receive help at lock flights. My only negative experience had been at Hatton but put that down to a one off.

 

I agree that there have been some incidents but hopefully if these are fed back to CRT then they can learn from them. I've also always been asked if I require help first.

 

Tom

[NB Lola]

Great post

[Pykebird]

We also found the ones who helped us down the flight at the festival very helpful. There weren't any on the way back up on monday, but to be fair the weather was disgusting, so I don't blame them.

The levels and the aount of weed was much better than the last time I used the flight as well.

[Naughty Cal]

We found all of the volunteer lockies on the non tidal Trent locks to be very helpful at the weekend even though they were very busy and under pressure to get locks turned around as quickly as possible. They were all a pleasure to deal with and despite some testing times in Hazelford Lock in particular they all kept their cool under pressure.

[junior]

At the risk of this thread just becoming an excuse for everyone to post their own negative Volockie experience, i will also add that i encounter volunteer lock keepers most days, and they are on the whole a great help. Occasionally one of them will do something strange, but so long as you are ready for it, it's not too difficult to nip it in the bud.

[Victor Vectis]

It's good to give credit where it's due.

 

I'd agree with Tom & Bex that the vlockies at Lapworth are 'outstanding' whereas those at Hatton, ahem, 'need improvement'.

[colmac]

The volunteers here at Stourport do a great job keeping the landscape around the locks and basins tidy,grass cut etc.

[Midnight]

In my experience volockies generally do a good job, but I've met a few who seem to suffer from self-importance and try to manage you and the lock in a somewhat military fashion.

 

On the big multiple locks on the L&L east side most are under supervision of the paid staff so I've not heard of any issues. I've not seen any on the Calder Navigation or the east side of the Huddersfield narrow or higher up the Rochdale. I'm sure the sensible ones would be most welcome in those parts.

 

If I have a concern it is whether they are putting paid staff jobs at risk, which I believe they probably are.

[Dalesman]

Fully agree with this post,but would be nice to see some on the Shroppie between Bunbury and Chester as they are rather few on the ground here. The volunteers have done a great job on the water points at Hurleston locks too.

[alan_fincher]

At the risk of this thread just becoming an excuse for everyone to post their own negative Volockie experience, i will also add that i encounter volunteer lock keepers most days, and they are on the whole a great help. Occasionally one of them will do something strange, but so long as you are ready for it, it's not too difficult to nip it in the bud.

 

Unfortunately not if you tell them what is necessary to prevent a major incident, (in our case "drop the paddles!"), and they refuse to do it, though!

 

Until CRT have investigated our incident, and we are confident that all volunteer lock keepers know the boater is in charge, not them, we are sadly refusing assistance in working a lock we are actually in.

[Naughty Cal]

 

Unfortunately not if you tell them what is necessary to prevent a major incident, (in our case "drop the paddles!"), and they refuse to do it, though!

 

Until CRT have investigated our incident, and we are confident that all volunteer lock keepers know the boater is in charge, not them, we are sadly refusing assistance in working a lock we are actually in.

Would that not be somewhat difficult in some areas?

 

The non tidal Trent for example, where currently all of the locks are manned by volunteers during working hours.

[magnetman]

I imagine Alan was talking about manually operated canal locks which would not normally have lock keepers

[trackman]

It is very difficult to get this right I fear.

We too had an incident recently in a lock we know well, where vlockies didn't let us manage events our way.

Things didn't work as well as they would have if they had listened to us. In our case it was more inconvenient than dangerous, though in part that was because I found a way to manage our boat to keep things safe.

Sadly a small amount of training can't give people the knowledge that comes from years of experience. Volunteers will rarely appreciate everything that a full time employee with years experience can.

[magnetman]

I was told by a volunteer that a narrow boat is 6ft wide

 

Sadly a small amount of training can't give people the knowledge that comes from years of experience. Volunteers will rarely appreciate everything that a full time employee with years experience can.

Or a boater with 100s of locks 'under their belt'

[Jerra]

All the volunteer lock keepers I have come across have been polite and helpful. However I do wonder if using man power on a lock that has been worked by the boaters for years is the best use of that man power. There must be other tasks that aren't being done that could be.

 

Putting a volunteer on a lock which has been used without problem for years seems to be rather inventing work for them to do.

[ditchcrawler]

We came up Hillmorton this afternoon at 4-30, the Volocky was still there. I said to him I would have expected him to have finished by now, but he said he stays late on a Friday because of all the first time hirers where its their first lock.

[mayalld]

All the volunteer lock keepers I have come across have been polite and helpful. However I do wonder if using man power on a lock that has been worked by the boaters for years is the best use of that man power. There must be other tasks that aren't being done that could be.

 

Putting a volunteer on a lock which has been used without problem for years seems to be rather inventing work for them to do.

Of course it is just that.

 

CRT want volunteer hours logged for various reasons.

 

The jobs that actually need doing aren't particularly attractive to volunteers, so they create non-jobs that are what volunteers want to play at.

[David Mack]

Of course it is just that.

 

CRT want volunteer hours logged for various reasons.

 

The jobs that actually need doing aren't particularly attractive to volunteers, so they create non-jobs that are what volunteers want to play at.

WRG manages to find volunteers that want to do work that makes a real difference to the infrastructure. Why can't CRT do the same?

[mayalld]

WRG manages to find volunteers that want to do work that makes a real difference to the infrastructure. Why can't CRT do the same?

Because WRG are actually in the business of volunteers doing stuff.

 

CRT just want to log volunteer hours for the stats, and giving them non-jobs that they will enjoy is dead easy.

[cariad]

We came up through Hilmorton yesterday and appreciated the assistance given by the volunteer lockies doing a fine job.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Because WRG are actually in the business of volunteers doing stuff.

 

CRT just want to log volunteer hours for the stats, and giving them non-jobs that they will enjoy is dead easy.

Whilst CaRT wants to log volunteer hours for the stats, there is also the 'face of the waterways aspect'.

 

As ‘the face of the waterway’, modern-day volunteer lock keepers play an integral part in the visitor experience. Today that means not only greeting and assisting boaters. This is still crucial – your most routine task will be assisting boaters to operate the locks. However, you’ll also be providing a friendly welcome to all visitors. These will include dog walkers, ramblers, cyclists, wildlife enthusiasts and families feeding the ducks - and with growing numbers of visitors to our waterways every year, who knows who you might see?

 

[Jerra]

Because WRG are actually in the business of volunteers doing stuff.

 

CRT just want to log volunteer hours for the stats, and giving them non-jobs that they will enjoy is dead easy.

Surely some of these volunteers want to do things that are more worthwhile than lock keeping where they may not be needed.

[dogless]

Maybe....just maybe, when C&RT has been around as long as WRG, we may see developments and progress.

Walk first.

Rog

[kingswood]

yep I think they are great .after doing a bucket load in a day its with great relief to have them help out . I think we should build some nice cottages next to all locks and let them live there and operate them all............. mmmmmmmmmmm didn't they try this in the past lol keep up the good work volockies