cotswoldsman

Well I must congratulate him on his fitness, last year he was reported to be breaking into boats in Claydon (mine) and Braunston on the same day.

You could well be right. On Friday a new boat was put in the water here at Rufford the sign writing was for The Shop in Burcough and is going to be used as a hire boat. I must say the boat looked very nice as it moored infront of me for a couple of hours before making it's way up the Arm to Burscough.

I would be very weary of using any company that would move that from the middle of England to Scourie for that price and even more if they said they would do it for that price in 48 hours. As for chartering a plane for £75 to deliver it the next day well I think that sums it up for me.......

John G Russell run freight btrains every day from crick to Scotland I am sure if you have it put on a pallet they will be able to help Russells website also my son works for a Logistics Company and is based in Edinburgh if you need any help just PM me and I will ask him but do try Russells

IMO the worst thing that could happen to the council is if we were represented by members of IWA or should I say sponsored members of IWA. This is the view of one member posted on my website I do not agree with this view. Link to post

Great picture. Does this mean you will not be sending me a Christmas card?

That is correct. Though as the only real chance boaters will have to express there view it will have a very small influence. For this reason I will be voting but I will hopefully vote for the candidate that looks after my interests and not those of a Boating Group.

Where do they build these boats?

This has just been posted on my website following a post I did on my views of CaRT So guess I had better vote for IWA guys Link to post

I would not join any of those fee loading groups, save your money for when you come across what you consider to be a good restoration group such as Wendover Arm, Shropshire Union Canal Society etc. then you know your money will be spent on a worth while cause. You get the benefits you pay for via your licence, by the time you have paid for all your diesel, engine services coal etc. to keep moving for 12 months you will certainly not feel like a "free loader" last week spent £250 on diesel and coal and with a bit of luck that will keep me going for 6 weeks.

$in on mine

As I have said I do not care who gets in as long as they are 100% focused on boaters concerns and not being pressured by interested groups with there own agenda, that is why I will be supporting the 2 members from here who have said they will stand.

I think I will vote for a CWDF and do everything I can to ensure they get elected.

Alan spot on. I see NABO are also putting up a candidate Link to NABO Candidate

Not that I would expect to many people to be interested in my opinion I am not going to post them on here but they are on my website for anyone that is interested Link to My Website

OK so we go through the complete election process and the the Trustees decide they do not like who is elected and invoke this clause Looks like IWA will have 1 member for the boaters council Again being elected is no gaurantee that you will be on the council guess you have to be sure your face fits or have been to the right school. Looks like the canoeists will have a member IWA could also get in this way

Matt I won't pm you as I would want to express my thoughts on this publicly. I understand where you are coming from and as a CCer I would like to think someone on the council was looking after my interests. I am against the idea of any council member representing any single body be it CCers, CMers, IWA, NABO etc. My preferred candidate would be one that represents the interests of all boaters and understands what CCing is all about. Having said all that I think you should stand as the more people that stand the better, but would rather you stand on the bases of all boaters than CCers. You have a great knowledge of the system, you understand boats and you see on a daily basis the problems faced by all boaters. Edited to say that at present both alan and dave tick all my boxes.

Because 40 boating members of IWA would nominate them just on the basis that they are members of that organisation and at council would always promote IWA views. Edited to say actually they only need 10 boating members as licenced boaters van nominate as many people as they want.

Tim I am sure you are right, but you can not get away from the fact that people from IWA, NABO etc do have their own agendas. From IWA website Now IMO the boaters Council members should be focused 100% on issues effecting all boaters and leave towpath walking (sorry towing path), and nature conservation to the members those groups have on the council.

I highlighted this as one of my concerns when this election process was first mentioned. Who will these people represent ordinary boaters such as myself or the interests of IWA That is only required once you are actually standing for election, not required for nomination.