Heartland

The 1939 record that is found through Ancestry has deleted items, but as far as the Bould family is concerned the record exists, and in intriguingly Lily is on a different boat, I found the 1939 records useful when chasing up family history of the Trent & Mersey Canal Co, for the book now published by Crowood, In 1939 Lily Bould was on the Pine with Bert Bailey master,

This seems to be a good initiative to encourage new blood into the organisation which is in fact a form of apprenticeship. I wonder if some of the traditional skills could be part of the program ?

I can certainly confirm that swerving to avoid the sharp end of an overhanging branch while passing an oncoming cyclist who didn't slow down is invigoratingly refreshing on a hot June day -- still, at least it didn't take my eye out... How is bank maintenance financed these days ? The CRT should maintain the navigation and has the responsibility to do so, but they also have the problem of balancing finances especially to pay for the unplanned incidents such as breaches and reservoir dam issues. As to the speeding cyclist -did that person end up in the cut? T

Is there artistic licence, taking elements of different continental scenes, I wonder.

I would have thought Lorna might have helped. However regarding Lily Bould,, I assume you would have checked Ancestry. If not, it would appear that Charles Bould was born in 1897, and was the son of a boatman who appears on the 1911 census at Wheelock. He married Helen Theobold at Kidsgrove (St Thomas) in 1920, and that useful record for 1939 shows him and Helen at Stoke on Trent at the Anderton Co, wharf.

I suppose for some cyclists, there is the practice of ignoring signs and instructions and the same applies on the roads. Near where I live some roads are closed and diversions put in place. The reason is through road resurfacing at the new roundabout. It seems that those responsible for the original new work did not put down an intermediate layer and laid tarmac on tarmac with the result the surface cracked and had to be replaced. Now drivers are ignoring the signs and head on down to the roundabout, only to be turned around and back the way they came! Instead of following the ins

The image at Judd's Lane Bridge (Coventry Colliery Wharf) I was interested in discovering the source. The reference is to Kit Gayford,

Seen in Birmingham, this pair of boats, one is a specialised ice cream sale boat, and the other is for rubbish collection-

I believe this is an important step. It has been stated many times, that most cyclists are considerate, but when the cycle is used for transport to and from the workplace, not all riders are considerate and fall into the rogue category. Their speed is far more than 8 mph on the made up towpaths. In the days of commercial carrying the boat people could use cycles to get to the locks ahead of the locks, their pace was sedate as the towpaths were not the best quality as today. Some boatmen even fell in the cut, such was the uneven state of the towing path. Grants and finance has seen

The cooling towers at Rugeley were part of the canal vista and for those passing on the Trent Valley Railway they were seen close up. The power station cooling tower is rapidly disappearing, but it must be remembered that this design came about through the need of an efficient need to cool steam after it was used in the turbine hall. And, such towers were not just confined to power stations. In the 1920's the cooling towers were often made of wood. In Birmingham Nechells A had wooden towers, and the B station had the concrete version. Nechells A was served by canal and

I did find this image of Alan talking to boaters at Gas Street

Local West Midlands Radio today broadcast that the CRT are putting up speed awareness signs for cyclists as the towpath has seen increased use by walkers during lockdown. For the many caring cyclists, such a sign is probably not needed, For the fewer number who do not care, signs are not enough, stronger control needs to be made.

May be it was Ma Baker that was the subject of the original post

And just as a rider, the initial purpose of this post was to note the opinions of how the wheel was turned to raise the gate.

That is a useful explanation, and seems to fit the long term use of the navigation and the rivers other purposes. The image attached, is part of one used in your paper, which appears to be a painting. What it shows is gate lowered although it is not clear where this image was. A lock house, or house, was on the right in your reproduced image.