Laurence Hogg

Heres a mystery. These pictures are taken from a documentary produced in the early 1990's on the life of Diana Dors. It was in a series called "Blondes". It clearly shows her standing on the counter of a butty next to ex Gu motor Town class "Renfrew". Does anyone know what film this is from as the livery of the boat doesnt look like one I know.

The comedy film was "Atlantis" which was along the lines of "Last of the summer wine" (but predated it) and was made at Braines yard.

Its a rat stopper. Lucy had them when tied up at Braunston.

Hi, As far as I know Cooke made 6 types of Windlass. A friend of mine had a large collection, they were short and longshaft (mens and womens), then there were three heads, the GU size, the common Midlands size we all know and the smaller Cheshire locks one. The Cheshire size is virtually unusable today as it will not go fully on most spindles. Tony Miles had the collection which he amassed when he managed Keay's dock at Walsall. He now lives in France and Thailand.

I owned "Neptune" in the late 70's early 80's. She had a lot of work done on her then both at Keay's and Charity dock and was in very nice order when sold. She went to a young Lady at WFB who was in the printing industry, after that she was seen on the K&A in the early 1990's, still looking very good. Despite asking around and searching available information sources this boat appears to have dissapeared. Does anyone know where she is or whether she has been scrapped? This pic took on Severn after docking at Joe Gilberts.

Most of the boats in the Troy arm are visible on Google earth. Progress is definatly there.

"Progress" is definatly in the Troy cut and can be seen on google earth as can many of the others.

The bucket handle cans were made by Joseph Ash in Birmingham. they supplied FMC, GUCCCo and BW. The firm still exists and in the days of working as "Boatmans Cabin" (1989 ish) I went there to see if they could still make some. They showed me the old order book and explained that they had disposed of all the patterns for holloware a short time before my visit. They made a number of differing styles of handles depending what the customer asked for.

Roy did the signwriting on Barnet in 1998, he was decorating ice cream vans then as his main trade.

There we are and freshly turned out.

This is an early photo of horse boats off the Oxford canal on the Thames, note the scumbling on the doors and lack of a castle on the side panel.

I was working at Bradley workshops (for myself not BW) during the time the boat was there. £27k could have been spent a lot wiser. Without doubt I think the cabin could have been restored and a power unit refitted. I have just been involved with a similar workload on a boat which not including the engine has cost approx £12K so given that and a knowledge of what was required I think it was possible. The costing breakdowns make crazy reading on any of the Working Boats Project boats compared to what real people in the real world would spend. I would have liked to see the instigator of this project questioned about the spend. When asked what bank account our donation was paid into she (Eliza Botham) couldnt remember!

I can confirm it is at Tardebigge. One of the pristine examples of how a mismanaged project wasted Lottery money. If you knew how much BW spent in sandblasting that hull, blacking it and mounting on a plinth, you will be wondering why they didnt fully restore the boat for the same amount. Most of the hard work was done by volunteers. I made a request to HLF for the accounts regarding the "Working boats project" what I received was laughable and to this day I have yet to see them. I dont know how to upload the excell file I have so heres the info on "Birmingham", have a laugh! 4019691 220050 010 Workshop Goods Value Manufacture Three of support cradles 3,105.00 27/01/2005 P/00332/1/03/07 240900 004 Plant Hire Costs Hire of crane, low loader and lift Manag 2,100.00 26/07/2004 P/00332/1/03/07 240900 003 Plant Hire Costs Crane lift and hire 950.00 24/06/2004 P/00332/1/03/07 241300 008 Plant Serv & Rep Crane hire for the Boat B'ham 1,150.00 17/11/2003 P/00332/1/03/07 241300 010 Plant Serv & Rep Phase 1, Restoration, B'ham 4,016.00 20/01/2004 P/00332/1/03/07 241300 009 Plant Serv & Rep Boat Birmingham conservation to correct WBS 15,400.00 31/12/2004 P/00332/1/03/07 290300 010 Prof Fee Surveying Survey of the Historic Boat Birmingham 230.00 29/01/2004 26,951.00 from claim 1 surveyors fee 200 27,151.00 Survey 430.00 Restoration 19,416.00 Crane 4,200.00 Support Cradles 3,105.00 27,151.00

A german U boat was moored outside Westminster after WW2 for a short time, images are in the Getty library.

The Ricky description is spot on as that was identical to my old boat Neptune which was original. The Town class fittings are on the starboard side on a H&W and you have two inlets for unloaded and loaded trim.

We use a Canon flatbed with a film adapter which allows scanning of 3" x 4" down to slides, results are good. Do not be tempted to buy the cheap "tower" type which are sold on ebay and in some shops for £25-50 they are not capable of bringing out the best to say the least. One of the suprises I had is that negatives underexposed and deemed "no good" to print at the time can often be salvaged by scanning and using modern software.

That pic sure looks like Black Country museum. Twins had a poor reputation with operators, I well remember Ken Keay running them down. One of the L Leigh tugs had a small twin if I remember.

Barry Lycett of Willenhall aquired Elstree, Hampstead, Bilster, Lynx, Lyra way back in around 1968-69 from the first sell off. Remember him telling me that the motors went for £250-350 and the butty £150-200. His trading name was F B Lycett canal services which was based at Lane Head Willenhall on the old Lenoard Leigh wharf. The last boat he aquired was Mersey Weaver's Avon. Barry still carries today at the age of 70 but in his lorry out in the Fens.

Thanks for that Howard, maybe you can help on this one too. The Grand Union (Shipping) co Ltd had 5 ships (Regents Line) some of which ran up to the mid fifties, Blisworth, Knebworth and Marsworth are known names but two others cannot be traced (as yet!), any ideas? Regards, Laurence