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When the Jam Hole traffic ended in 1970, the regular run with coal from Atherstone to Kierley & Tonge's plant on the outskirts of London, the craft on the last trip were unexpectedly held up by a stoppage for lock repairs on their way back up the Grand Union Canal. As ever, the three pairs of boat's in the Blue Line fleet were moored according to a certain pattern. The reason is explained by a tale passed on by an apprentice woodworker at the company's Braunston base: Wanting to return a screwdriver he had borrowed from the Whitlock family of 'Renfrew' and 'Lucy', he asked Arthur Bray, who was passing by, if he could drop it off for him, whereupon Arthur drew himself up straight and announced "I havn't spoken to them for the last nineteen years and i'm not going to start now." Hence the mooring etiquette, with the Bray's 'Roger' and 'Raymond' separate from the rest. For all that time, in what was to be the last regular traffic on the cut, all that had been exchanged were the stoniest of stares.

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful reply. The picture was included in the CRT press release, although you will probably disbelieve that. With comments like yours I sometimes wonder why I bother, although many do appreciate the press releases I post on behalf of CRT.

100% agree with this. We went to a boat show once and the IWA looked to specialise in a VIP tent for senior members in suits only. Their dislike for scruffy continuous cruisers is another big problem for me (smartish boat? but a scruffy me 😀.) We boaters really need a unified voice to keep CRT under control, but sadly we are very fragmented:..... IWA pro CRT old men in suits, and boat clubs RBOA a private members birthday party club? NABO good, but needs more members and support ACC fell to internal politics before it even started NBTA Good at direct action and a lot of energy but never likely to get the support of many moderate boaters.

For reference (as quite a few people appear to be looking for it) the original Roama still exists. It is under long term restoration by a friend of mine, and is sat in my back garden which is why nobody has seen it lately. For reference, the BCN ice boat North Star (renamed Samson) is also sat in my back garden. Alec

After the traffic stopped the Brays and the Whitlock were moored on opposite sides of the entrance to Braunston yard. They still carried on as before and one day after I had a chat with Arthur Rose Whitlock came out of the cabin as I was walking back home and asked how uncle Arthur was. Rumour has it that the fued was to do with the Brays being passed when broken down but lost in the mists of time. Luckily I got on well with all of them.

I had a dream last night about a member making a parting post as they were not well. Is there an 'In Memoriam' section for members of this community here? There are a lot of good people that should be remembered.

Carry on Ray, I think sunny has become a bit overcast.

No, we are discussing an anonymous rumour allegedly from someone in an unspecified marina. I don't believe it for a minute. The Ribble Link is being shut next week, but that happens every October to April.

I must remember to keep well away from you.

The only thing I can say to that is that the committees are made from people who are prepared to stand, if younger people dont stand then things dont change, If you just dump the old guard there is no one there. Our branch closed down because we were all old buggers and stood down. One good thing that appears to have happened is that when they appoint trustees they are now looking for some expertise. I was hoping things would have changed more with the latest chairman.

If they did more of that, I'd consider supporting them. A couple of years ago I was explaining to some good friends why I won't support or join the IWA, and they were horrified about my observations regarding the current organisation. They couldn't counter any of my points though, they had to acknowledge that the Aickman wing have completely taken over from the Rolt wing. As a (relatively) young person with a very deep interest in boats and boating, they insist I'm the sort of person the IWA need for the future. My counterargument is that you'd need to get rid of most of the national and regional committee members before I'd consider joining - I'd rather be playing out on the boat than bashing my head against self important twerps who did good works in the Sixties or Seventies but now just rant about the youth of today. I expect this viewpoint to be controversial on this forum! To add: The friends in question have been very actively involved in the IWA for more than fifty years, which is why they were so horrified. They just hadn't looked at it from an outsider's viewpoint before.

Oooooo, i’ve seen one of those, August this year between Atherstone and Polesworth

Have you found the apolloduck website? Sorting by price, low to high, gives you a very good idea of what you might get for your money. If I had your budget I would buy this: https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/narrow-boats-traditional-for-sale/673442 except that it has already sold of course. Everyone will have their own preferences though. Alec

Bear in mind that once you get beyond Tinsley you are on a river navigation and beyond Rotherham the locks are massive - this might be a bit intimidating if you have little or no experience. As Alec says above you don't have to keep the boat in Sheffield - given that there's only one way out it might be better to look either North or South, you have quite a bit of choice within easy travelling distance. You can download a canal network map or look on the CRT website, or get an app such as OpenCanalMap to get an idea of where things are.

I've always gone slow myself so as not to disturb things for fishermen. I shouldn't care really, I don't agree with the cruelty of fishing. The myth about fish not feeling pain was disproven a long time ago. All life has to feel pain otherwise it will wipe itself out. Just do what you want, if it drives them out good. Some are just scoping boats to steal from and pretending to be fishing anyway.