Joseph

Just as a nearly irrelevant aside, I used to teach students from the 26 Counties, and when I asked, out of courtesy, they said they called the country in which they lived "The Republic".

Hello everyone The top paddles are definitely Shropshire Union type - I'm not sure when these were taken out and standardised. I'm certain it is the Llangollen line, and I would think Baddiley. One of the other shots shows Swanley Bottom Lock, with the bridge in the distance.. The boat is one of the S C Cummins (later Simolda) hire craft, based at Nantwich, built by S C Cummins, who also built small road vehicles. There were three or four. I'm not sure when these stopped operating, but they could often be seen around Nantwich. There were not, I think, very stable. Later replaced by more conventional craft, and the base moved from Basin End to a basin next to the turnover bridge. I'm not sure when this was or when Cummins/Simolda ceased trading. Oddly, the only time I went up to llangollen by boat was in that summer of 1965, and we had those odd yellow life jackets. Fascinating stuff, and thank you for positing it. Odd to think that the very youngest child in that photograph will be pushing 60 now.....!! Joseph

Assuming Pete is reading this when he returns to the forum... Best wishes for the New Year, and hope the restoration project works out! Happy New Year, everyone else! Joseph

Hello again Paul, just wondering about Robert J Wilson? I knew someone who worked with him in Corby - for the Corby Development Corporation, long time back. My informant said that RJW had very thick files of info - as well he might! Are there any more details? No sign of any obituaries that I can find. All the best Joseph

Hello everyone A bit of gentle pessimism might not be out of order when one is considering the future of waterways restoration. I doubt if there will be much public money available for a long time, if ever, given present politics [I'll try to keep out of discussing that, but it is the background]. My feeling is that gradual restorations - like the "Montgomery", bridge by bridge; maintain structures where there is no navigation yet; and take opportunities wherever these arise - may be the most we can hope for. Don't shoot the messenger - just a set of pessimistic thoughts! Happy Christmas everyone Joseph

I can only agree with all that has been said. What a few months it's been - Alan Faulkner, David Wain and now Harry. I hope there are new generations of enthusiasts for waterways and waterways history growing, but we won't see the likes of people like them again. RIP Joseph

Hi everyone If a slight diversion is permitted, can I ask what is known of Floating homes Ltd? For how long did it continue in business, and was it just confined to the Basingstoke Canal? I would be very interested to know more. Joseph

I've only just read this - been away from the forum for a while. I had a nice letter or two from Alan - he seemed to be a very nice one person. This is a major loss: Alan wrote several books and many articles, and we would be much the poorer without them, and without him. I seem to recall that he was involved in the Great Ouse revival with his late father, and I was looking at Easterling (EAWA) only last night, wondering how Alan was!! As the other Alan notes, there are less and less of us who do recall the (smaller) canals being used for serious transport. The histories that will develop in future, from new researchers and writers, may well be different. I hope that they will build on the contributions of people like Alan F (and W) who glimpsed a world that has now largely gone. RIP Alan: your work will live on and inspire, and you will not be forgotten. Joseph B

Hi Charles I look forward to that. Does anyone know where the photo was taken? I suspect the Lower Avon, but I don't know it well. Many thanks again Joseph

Great to see this, Andrew. I've looked through private collection of the Motor Boat, and i'm sure there is much to be found. I was just slightly confused about Sai Wen. I recall a boat of that name in Nantwich (I think) - but this was probably the Taylor boat. Do you mean that the boat that you had (and burnt!!) was the Sai Wen that had been owned by Mr Herbert-Smith? Or was it the Taylor boat that fell apart? Great to see this thread developing. Many thanks Joseph

Blimey!!! Excellent news and many thanks, Charles. I did wonder if Norman Anglin and Cyril Herbert Smith (and other boaters from the time) knew each other. When I wrote about Norman Anglin, I set out all I could find, on the principle that maybe someone somewhere would find something and realise that it was important. Well, it does seem to have worked out. With the history of pleasure boating, all one often has is fragments, frequently ones that seem to be unrelated to any other. Charles, is there any way Cyril Herbert Smith's unpublished MSs can be made available? Maybe an article somewhere, or transcribe the best bits (or the lot)? I'm pretty sure that nb Russian was, indeed, a converted narrow boat, whereas the boat in the photograph looks like a purpose-built river boat, perhaps Happy Home. Maybe someone can identify the background? Mr Smith is clearly the gent on the left, but i've not seen a clear photo of Mr Anglin, so this could be him. The only update I had to my publication on Norman Anglin was his entry in the 1939 register (not on a boat), so this is a very welcome addition to what is known. Hopefully there will be more! Thanks again Joseph

Blimey, the New Year may be young, but I am getting older! Having checked one source, I find that the BW hiring on the Union Canal was billed for 1959 and 1960, after which the boats were withdrawn. Still very interested if anyone has any clues as to whether these boats were used, and any experiences. Happy New Year Joseph

Happy New Year! I don't think I've ever quite got into Jimmy Shand, sadly, but NYE went quite well. Iain, many thanks, and it would be interesting to know more about the period when the Union Canal had been closed but was reviving. My focus was something more specific - when it was still nominally open, but in very limited used by powered craft - the early 1960s. I don't suppose anyone will have actually hired a boat on the canal then, but they might have known someone who did. It must have all been very short-lived, if at all. Here's to a fruitful 2018! Joseph

Hello everyone Well, its Hogmanay, but as Andy Stewart and the White Heather Club don't seem to be on (and what would New Year be without them?), my thoughts are turning to Scotland and one of the more obscure developments in pleasure hire boating. It may be that I have overlooked relevant materials for this query, but my understanding is that for a short time in the early 1960s British Waterways offered hire boats on the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canal, before that Canal's closure in 1965, now happily reversed. Does or did anyone know anyone who took a trip on one of these boats, and would have further details? My understanding is that the canal was only navigable from outside Edinburgh to near Falkirk Tunnel - I think there was an inoperable swing bridge near the Tunnel. Might anyone have some memories of this, or memories from someone who actually made a trip on this Canal in a BW hire boat? Right, back to the New Year celebrations, without Mr Stewart!! Have a good 2018, everyone. Joseph

Fascinating. I'm sure I saw Christopher James on the Main Line in 1990. My father and I met John Phillips at Longwood in July 1970, when we were cruising the BCN; he then had a cruiser Cirrus V. Does anyone know if he is still with us? I think he was a bit younger than my father, who would now be in his mid-90s, but some people are long-lived! Thanks in advance. Joseph

Morning all I think there was one at Neath, on the Tennant Canal, that is really a wide road crossing. I've looked for signs of it, but it's not clear. Joseph

Hello Great pics and good to see the lock exposed again. However, it isn't quite 80 years since the lock was filled in. I recall it in about 1970, with fragmentary lock gates, and a dry section above (after which a watered section was diverted into the Sankey Brook by a weir). The chamber was then quite open, I think. Hope this is of interest. Joseph

Hello I think the "Llangollen Canal" name dated from the mid-1950s - an invention of British Transport Waterways. I'm not sure when the "Maximum draft" sign went up, but I seem to recall it when my Dad moored there in 1965. I also wonder about the "Danger" sign. Some further clarification would be interesting! Joseph

The 1964 one seems to show a small tree growing out of the chamber, but also a ground paddle that is up....very puzzling. I was there when BW removed the top gate, but whether this was 1965 (when I first visited) or later, I don't recall. Sorry, don't recall gate paddles above Baddiley, but they might have been there! Joseph

Hello Yes, it was THE Charles Hadfield - I wrote an account of his work in Canal Man and More, and this trip was taken while he was a member of the first British Waterways Board, between 1963 and 1966, so a little before the date in the article! I visited the canal to Llangollen many times in this period, and seem to recall gate paddles at the locks at Swanley, Baddiley and Hurleston, but it was over 50 years ago! I do recall that the ground paddles were somewhat eccentric and varied in style. Joseph

Hello everyone Well, going back to the original question, i think that one of the prime candidates is the one I count as the biggest loss since the IWA formed, the line to Shrewsbury and Newport. This was pretty much complete and in water in 1965, when I first saw it, and, outside Newport and the odd bit and structure, pretty much destroyed by the end of the 1970s. I know there is a restoration society, but it has to be a very long haul. Others that might go on a to-do list include the St Helens Canal, the Dee locks in Chester, the various waterways that would extend the cruising grounds of the Broads, most waterways in the North of Ireland, and the Neath, Tennant and Swansea. I also wonder about the Monkland Canal in Scotland - the path to rebuild this is clear, so long as the motorway that occupies its site is cleared. Ditto the Glasgow Paisley and Johnstone - just move that inconvenient railway out of the way! Incidentally, if one looks for canals that were regularly navigated by powered pleasure boats after 1946, but are not now navigable, the only candidates I can think of are Runcorn Locks (and Hulme Lock), the Dee Locks branch (I went down this in 1973), and....can't think of others. A few stubs and diverted lines here and there, and the odd basin. I know that, in the Midlands, Bradley Locks, the Cannock Extension and Hatherton Branch, Tipton Green and Toll End Locks, Fens branch and Stourbridge Extension, and maybe the Haines branch, saw the odd pleasure boat, but none on a regular basis. And maybe the Black Bear Canal in Warrington? Possibly the first short length of the Hollinwood branch of the Ashton Canal, in Droylesden, may have seen a pleasure boat? There may be some glaring omissions from that list, but that's all I can think of. I'd be very interested if anyone can think of others. Bye for now Joseph

Happy Christmas everyone! This is an interesting one. When I was last at Swinton, looking at the remains of the first flight on the Dearne & Dove (last used 1977), I was filled with a completely misplaced nostalgia for the days when derelict canals really looked like derelict canals! Worth a look, and still in water. Lock gates, indeed! The Barnsley Canal summit is also interesting at the Walton end - lock chambers, cuttings, narrowed section etc. The Newport branch (Salop) in and around Newport is interesting, although a bit manicured. Over 40 years since this was taken over from BWB. Ashton Canal Hollinwood branch, locks and summit, although this was "beautified" a long time back. Some parts of the Sankey - all sorts of different treatments, including the weird towpath fencing at Sankey Bridges. Hatherton branch, Staffs & Worcs, is an old favourite, although this has been maintained for water supply. Oddly, not that many examples of derelict canals that still look like canals...either destroyed or restored in most cases. Towards a happy new year! Joseph

Hello again everyone And very many thanks! I seem to have opened up a vein of thinking! I was looking into the founding of the Norfolk Wherry Trust (1949) and the later one for the Humber Keel, and wondering when their kind of preservation began for the narrow boat. The NWT does seem a clear example - a kind of boat that had disappeared in its sailing form, to be brought back to life and used, if possible, for carrying. The Narrow Boat Trust from 1970 seems to be the nearest direct equivalent (although the stress seems to have been on carrying rather than boat preservation - or the museums? I agree with Pete Harrison - conversion may have provided a viable use and thus conservation of a sort, but would not preserve the boat. If Duchess Countess had been "saved" and put on display somewhere, that would have been a definite example of preservation, though not of a carrying narrow boat... With John Hemelryk's boat, we seem to be coming close, and Laurence, more details about the boat in Leicestershire would be great. I suppose the key question is "intent". If you acquire with a view to preservation of something that will otherwise decay to destruction, and don't acquire for direct use (in which preservation might be essential to keep the thing afloat and usable), then this is an example of strict preservation. Either a Trust like NWT, or a Museum body like the Boat Museum Society and Gifford, or a dedicated individual or group of individuals, seem to represent the first "move" towards preservation for its own sake. Well, after that, I'm getting myself confused, so maybe someone can shed some light somehow! It isn't quite as pedantic as it seems - I am seeking to draw comparisons between the Broads and large rivers, and the canal system - and it seems that much happened later on the canal system then it did elsewhere! Once again, very many thanks for so many responses. All very helpful, as so often is the case with people on CWDF. Regards Joseph

Hello everyone I'm sure the answer to this must have been set down somewhere fairly obvious, but I have been pondering an odd if obvious question. There were preserved boats like the Norfolk Wherry Albion, for which the Trust was set up in 1949. I am certain there was no similar move to preserve a working narrow boat at the time, since there were many still in service and more to be built. I suppose the acquisition of Gifford in 1966 might be seen as an early move to preserve a working narrow boat in original condition, as opposed to converting it. But - which was the first such move? I put it as "move" because there are formal organisations but also individuals who attempt to preserve, and acquisition with that intention could be said to be the first "move" in that direction. Either the answer is obvious and I have missed it; in which case my apologies, and please let me out of my misery by referring me to the relevant information. If not, does anyone know when the first moves were made, or at least earlier ones that might qualify? I would be very grateful if anyone can help. Many thanks Joseph https://josephboughey.wordpress.com/

Hello everyone Coming to this thread late, but it contain some very welcome musings and information. Well, the last holiday on canals that I had staying overnight (as opposed to day trips) was in 1977. I agree with all the comments about deprivations - not that different, perhaps from camping holidays or seaside boarding houses, but something that just would not attract many holidaymakers today. My father's later boats had parts that leaked, and dripping fibreglass...onto one's head in bed...memories indeed! We had begun in 1963 hiring from Ernest Thomas at (then) Gailey; Dad booked Heron at the end of that holiday, for August 1964, but by the time that summer came around, we had a Sand Robin boat. This was a little plywood cabin cruiser which was not all that old but was already rotting, and sank when it was launched at Deans in Rowton Bridge. He got rid of that fairly soon, acquired an L G Allbutt boat Peel Castle, then a Dawncraft Dudley Castle, then a Norman fibreglass, finally a metal boat which is still afloat. My last boat holiday was on the Norman, when I managed to drive the fixed fibreglass windscreen into a low bridge on the lower Staffs & Worcs, demolishing same (the windscreen, not the bridge). Dad was very good about it, but some of his generation (very authoritarian) would have been absolutely furious. I suppose I am one of the youngest people to recall seeing working narrow boats and thinking nothing of it, as they were still routine on the southern Shropshire Union. Was it all so wonderful? Very uncomfortable, as I recall; ghastly thin sleeping bags, the abovementioned water drips, the engine always breaking down. Hard to judge. Nostalgia is for the things, and especially the people, missed or underappreciated. I do agree with sal garfi - there is a "heritage" or early boaters and campaigners, and if 21st century people are going to understand something of their role and experiences, more will need to be set down. A project for someone - perhaps me! I would be very interested to read any more reminiscences about an era that I only glimpsed in part. Joseph https://josephboughey.wordpress.com/