Allan(nb Albert)

I made the comment partly in jest but having given it some thought, I am tempted to write to the minister. Certainly, getting what BW has disparagingly called in the past "passionate enthusiasts" heading the board would start to sort out the governance and funding problems that we face. Allan

That's settled then! Sueb for Chairperson and Carlt and for Vice Chair - both positions unpaid! Now how are the two of you going to fund this new Wet National Trust? Regards Allan

I think it was on this very forum it was reported that our boating vice chaiman had sold his boat (pots and pans?) and was moving to UAE to play with some trains:-) Allan

How about appointing the ex chair of the IWA and ex chair of NABO as replacements for BW's Chairman and Vice Chairman. Tony Hales will soon be finishing his term of office and the current vice chairman is moving somewhere hot. Just a thought! Regards Allan

The boat shown on reports of the accident is not Rugby based - it is part of Kate Boats hire fleet which operates out of Stockton Top Marina and Warwick. I am almost sure Harry currently operates out of Stockton Top Marina. If that is the case, then it is also a tragedy for Kate Boats - a small family run firm - as they will suffer some of the fallout. Regards Allan

True! For a year they have been discussing a long term incentive plan which will give then up to 15% a year (needed to bring them into line with the private sector). After an exchange of emails and letters, I am now told that the long term incentive plan has now been shelved on a temporary basis due to economic conditions. I guess that BW are rather embarrassed to be found out - whilst producing a plan to shed 100 staff and having told staff that there would be no pay rise this year they were quietly introducing a pay rise for exective directors. Also, the justification for that rise was based on comparison with the private sector. BW is public sector now telling us it has aspirations of being a Wet National Trust. Comparison with National Trust Allan

You should be getting a response saying that your complaint has been considered and upheld. You should also be told that the board agreed in July that (unapproved) board minutes will in future be published within 2-3 weeks of a meeting (rather than following the next meeting) following approval of the draft by the Chairman. I have a letter from Robbin Evans confirming the change of policy The missing March and May minutes (and briefing documents) seem to have been published to coincide with RE's letter. Allan (ps Keith - pm me if you want a copy of the letter)

Certainly, since Robin Evans took office, information such as board minutes which they have agreed to publish under the foi act has been dumbed down. BW also simply withhold or delay information if it suits them. My understanding is that BW spend about £4m pa on what we could be describe as PR (public relations) but this does not include the sort of things that Tiny describes - that goes down as maintenance! Regards Allan ps I have been on holiday on my boat for a month and it seems that in this period I have been promoted to NbW's "political journalist"! I place the blame on posters on this forum who have encoraged me to ask questions:-)

Bw have published today! Look at - Board Committeee papers All the documents for march and may 2009 (except agenda docs ) have just been published. regards Allan o

Under the Freedom of Information Act BW committed to publish minutes of board meetings (held bi-monthly) following the next meeting. It has been pointed out on this forum that BW has taken a rather flexible view as to what "after" actually means. I am happy to report that following a review of a request made under the foi act, Robin Evans informs me that the board have decided, in future, minutes will be made available within 2-3 weeks of a board meeting. Missing minutes (and briefing documents) for March and May have just been published. Hopefully the July minutes will be published within the next week or so. Regards Allan

I have done some digging on this news story - NbW Article One is left wondering how many have to die in safety related accidents before the Remuneration Committee uses its discretion to withold bonus payments.

I did some reseach into this and it seems that this fatality was in 2004 just six weeks before a father and son died on the K&A when a tractor toppled into the water. In that case BW were fined £100,000 but, obviously, it was the taxpayers and boaters that picked up the bill. I have some difficulty in understanding why courts make the taxpayer accountable in financial terms rather than British Waterways directors or managers.

Article

Guilty! ...... and I did until the frisbee landed in the winding hole and I had to go fishing with the boat hook.

Gravity was, no doubt, on your side. For the record we went from the Saltisford Arm to Hockley Heath in just under 9 hours arriving 3 minutes early! All the youngsters enjoyed the trip. I trust none of them fell asleep at school on Monday!

Yes - an Alvechurch boat, I think. Sorry the crew did not help you through the lock. I did not manage to teach them the finer points of lock etiquette! The party was a group of young carers aged 11-14 being given a respite break as part of a new scheme run by Rotary International. Unfortunately, I was unable to take them into the middle of Birmingham as they all had to be back at school on Monday. They were picked up at Hockley Heath about 1700 and I did the rest of the trip with a couple of Rotarians on Monday.

Plenty of Dream Catchers on the cut - passed one moored on the offside just above Hatton Bottom Lock on Sunday. However, I don't know of another community boat named Dream Catcher. Nick Fazey does not ring a bell but there are plenty of people involved who I am not aware of. If its any help my Dream Catcher is run by WAYC (the Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs) and is based at Rugby Wharf (Willow Wren) on the N. Oxford. BTW the BW people in the Gas Street Basin area seem to be very good. They have arranged for the boat to be moored opposite the Mailbox for the duration of Rotary International Centenary Conference. It is being used by Rotary District 1060 as a drop in centre for the 20,000 Rotarians visiting Birmingham for the conference to promote the work that is done locally in connection with Rotary Youth Leaders Award and a newer scheme to encorage Rotary Clubs to sponsor young carers respite breaks on Dream Catcher. I had on board John Hughes, the RYLA Chairman, who phoned as we approached the center of Brum to confirm a mooring place was available. He was quite taken aback to be told that not only had BW put "mooring suspended" notices in place but someone had just returned having checked that nobody was ignoring the signs.

Well it wasn't me. Yesterday afternoon I delivered the Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs nb Dreamcatcher onto a reserverd mooring just round the corner and took on water at Holiday Wharf. I was rather suprised to find no rubbish facility as I seem to remember one many years ago before the redevelopment. I took a bag of rubbish to the Sanitry station at the top of Farmers Bridge Flight but forgot I needed a BW key and had to borrow one from the boat moored outside. Just because it is 5 minues by boat or on foot is no excuse to dump rubbish. However, I wonder why Holiday Wharf does not have a notice saying where the nearest rubbish facilities are?

Well I'm still looking and less than two weeks ago I spotted a boat on the GU at Leamington that fitted the description in terms of window layout, colour, length and hull. Unfortunately I did not have a printout of the full description with me so I took the BW index number down and when I got home the following day I checked it against the missing boat - not the same. Just to make sure, I returned to Leamington on foot with the description -whilst the boat looked very much like the missing boat externally, I was unable to find any any sign that the name had been painted over. Also the side fender hangers were different and I could not find any indication that the old ones had been removed. A look through the window showed that the internal layout was completely different. I did not report it on this forum as it was a "false alarm" and I don't need to be thanked to motivate me. It just seems the right thing to do. Next week end I will be taking a party of "young carers" from Rugby to Birmingham on a community boat. I will keep on looking as I am sure that many others will. Regards Allan

Stott of the Stort reckons that BW would need a property portfolio of about £1.5 billion to be independent of government funding. Based on returns on property a couple of years ago he is probably correct (it sticks in my throat to say it as I consider him to be BW's main apologist!). However, BW only had a property portfolio of about £0.5 billion valued in December 2008. Since then its value will have decreased by over 35%. Although property rental income has not suffered so much, a downward trend still exists. The bottom line is that BW can not be independent of goverment funding. This was true, even before the current economic crisis - they could not tripple the property portfolio in 3 years up to 2012. BW have run as a profitable business for the last 5 years for which we have figures - and that is the problem - they have not plowed that profit back into the canals! However, last year will be different due to the collapse of property returns and joint ventures being "in the red". With regard to the future, I would favour a "Waterways National Trust" but I have two problems with BW's vision - It is too far in the future - there are no advantages to delay except for BW's directors who will continue to get non "third sector" salaries and be eligible for pension before 2020 anyway (they are required to retire at 60 and are compensated by pension packages which assume they have worked until 65). The main problem is not the "status" of the waterways but the "funding" and "management" of the waterways. For the last five years the funding was adequate but the management misused the funding in a misguided attempt at self sufficiency. Perhaps the way forward is for the government to invite the NT to consider how they could absorb BW and how they would fund it. I guess BW will not suggest this approach themselves!

Visit your local chandler and give a lip seal a good home instead! Edited to say ********** a lip seal is for life not just for Christmas (unless you have a porta potti 165)

Quite agree! My understanding is that when BW purchases land with a view to developing it, it gives one of its joint ventures an option to purchase. One wonders what will happen to these options if goverment does decide on a sell off and what happens to property that BW jointly owns. One thing I am sure about is that BW were unable to convince government that its property portfolio was being properly used to discharge its primary responsibility of maintaining the system. How did we allow BW to convince us that it had a funding gap of £30m pa when it has been declaring profits greater than that amount for years?

The boats I have used with hydraulic bow thrusters (purchased as part of beta and nanni engine "packages") do not seem to vary much with engine speed. I have always assumed this is because they have pressure control valves which bleed pressure at above tickover engine speeds . All of the engines also drive two alternators as well as the hydraulic pump and some had electrolux travelpower mains alternators as well. The "two packages" had little to chose between them except that the beta thruster was quite noisy. The only boat I have used with an electric bow thruster had less effect than the hydraulic ones. However, as the hull was different to the "hydraulic" boats it would be unfair to make the assumption that all electric BT's have less thrust than hydraulic. Not being very familiar with the boat I was concerned that I would leave it with the BT battery depleted so rarely made use of it.