Derek R.

Thanks Alan. Much as expected. Yes, the EH document stated most clearly that the building had historical merit despite its much compromised appearance. Nigel Crowe in an email to me, suggested I contact Alan Johnson of EH to endorse BW's appraisal of the building. I wrote to AJ a week ago, and so far no reply. Derek

Not really, pigs at a trough might describe it better. With reference to development in Docklands, and the projected at Wood Wharf, Blackwall basin that is now open to direct Sunlight, will be denied most, and the funnelling of wind vortices around such tall structures will compromise and deteriorate life afloat. This will equally apply to the residents of the housing on the Northern quarter. Of course there will be objections, and all will be impotent. Aylesbury has had the knowledge that the basin would be developed with a first floor balcony from which the public could look over the boats in the basin. That was seventeen years ago. What has happened since then, is various surrounding areas have been cleared for car parks, leaving the basin visually exposed and neither one thing nor the other to those viewing it from outside. With the immediate area around the basin already compromised with Kingfisher House, The 'Blue Leany' across the road, the loss (was it?) of The Ship, Jackson's bakery, a car park behind a chain link fence instead of a semi secure Electricity depot, and the timber yard, the basin occupants might well think 'can it get much worse?' Maybe it could, but not by much. What are they to object to - the loss of all this demolition of privacy and security? The FMC warehouse is the remaining structure of any note, and like the Carpenters workshop at Marsworth - on death row. A useless object unfit for purpose. When people speak of 'plans', and years roll by with nothing publicly visible on the table, what is it they are to object to? You have to be a Sherlock Holmes to find out just what is going on behind the scenes, and the chances of being heard are poo-poo'd with politically correct Council speak, housing quotas, and balance sheets. All the suspicions invariably lead to unknown amounts of folding stuff exchanging hands that are scrupulously denied, and consultancies producing glossy brochures at huge cost. What Joe Soap mostly gets is a Fete acomplis after the decisions have been made, and a token gesture of 'objections' to be received. All very 'democratic'. So, was anyone at the evening meeting last night, and if so what might there be to report? What alternatives were proposed or have been considered? Or can I guess? Listened to? Dictated to? Or just a bit of 'fun'? Derek PS Bulbourne Yard?

We had a similar experience on the L & L at Gargrave in 1983. Luckily for us the gates did not go through all the way. We had gone in to the full lock and waiting for a hire boat to join us alongside. Our boat touched the top of the bottom gates quite lightly, and the mitre immediately sprung past that of the other gate opening a gap about twelve to fifteen inches tapering down to well below water level. The rush of water from the full lock through this gap dropped the level by six inches in seconds, pulled one top gate firmly closed, and I rushed across the bridge over the tail to shut the other top gate while waving to the hire boaters to stop. The gate slammed shut alright! We locked out tied up and reset the lock, making sure the mitres were squared true to each other. Locked the other boat through and away, while I went off to phone Waterways and tell them of what could have been serious. "Oh, they're often doing that" was the comment. Not a lot else we could do, so carried on. The design, or perhaps the method of building that particular set, was such that there were no supporting baulks of timber at the mitre head to prevent them slipping past each other. Just a touch was all it needed. Gave us a fright. Derek

Good 'ol Pete! I was trying to get back into that film for a better look, but the damn thing would'nt play ball, so chanced my luck. Serves me right eh! Should' have known better - Derek I think I might have been misled a little bit by the Fuller's list, I thought I read Saltley, and 1929 in the same sentence. I haven't checked though. Off to bed!

The shot in the 1924 film shows Columbia which gives the impression of being a wooden boat. But the motor Columbia was built in 1929 at Saltley as an iron composite. Sure you have the right boat? I think you are looking at two different boats. Derek

Quite probably, I was just enquiring if WW had seen the others - anywhere, and posting the links if not. Derek

Is there only two locks where that may have been possible - Cowley and Five Paddle? The other forty odd having water going to the pound. Doesn't look like the Mill owners were getting much out of that deal. No, hang on, you're only bringing one lockfull down with you (theoretically), so that works out 50/50. Never knew that. 'Course, the fifth paddle at Five paddle (if used to empty the lock, assuming it did) would only go back in the pound through the beds at some point. A Simpson moment there. Derek

This was exactly my comment and thought near the beginning of either this or a similar thread. I had thought that converting what was basically a petrol engine to diesel would not be possible due to the forces involved being different. I was wrong, but would consider that the original engine being designed for petrol, suffered weaknesses when being converted to diesel. A diesel engine designed for such from the start, has to be a longer lasting engine. Derek

Magic! Thanks Andrew.

It did - it got onto celluloid, then VHS. No actors in these ones, the real people doing their jobs. You must have seen There go the Boats surely? And Inland Waterways? And from 1960/61 Robert Reid Reports? or Broad Waterways? Anything made by the British Transport Film (BTF) unit are gems. These above are available from Beulah films. There are many more. Derek

I had been told it related to an 'extra' paddle that fed water cress bed, two each end (discounting gate paddles) and a fifth for the beds. True or false I don't know, not going to do much water cress feeding from an empty lock, but it might have been connected to the upper pound. Five Paddle is in some books called Home Park Mill, or just Home Park this is lock 70. Lock 71, sometimes Hunton Chain or Change, or as Tam knows it Geordie's. Why is Bottomside and Topside so called, or Sweeps, Albert's two or Mary's two (the same pair 75 &76). Iron Bridge - what Iron? They all have numbers which define them, but the names they get given are done by the regular users, and often relate to things quite unrelated or seemingly so. Sweeps for example, was there a Chimney Sweep lived by there? Was there a chap who was constantly see sweeping the steps or towpath? The lower of the two is quite often called the 'Riser' as it is overlooked by the pub the Rising Sun, but the next up I often simply call Sam's, because that's where he lives, perhaps there was a lock keeper by the name of Sweep, or a landlord, and so it must be for many like Alberts/Mary's two. It's far more interesting to have names to things than numbers, and those names can change with the generation using the cut. There's a lock on the Leeds & Liverpool called Hell Fields, in what is nowadays (or was in '83) open countryside of tussocky land. But when the industrial revolution was in full swing, that area may well have been the dumping ground for molten slag, and the fiery smoke and sulphurous fumes that emanated from such a place and filled the air must surely have looked like you were entering Hell's fields. Sutton's, an Gas two. We all know why, but youngsters will look around and wonder why today. Long live names, and the sometimes simple, and sometimes convoluted reasons for them - all grist to the mills of history and learning - like babies conceived in tunnels. Derek

I'd heard Lot Mead was commonly known as 'Walker's', as the family used to live there (Walker's of Ricky that is). Now I can't remember if it was Ian told me that or I read it in 'The Amateur Boatwomen' . . . Just checked - it's in the book. Hunton Change is also down as Hunton Chain, but that might be down to mis-spelling through misunderstanding of the spoken word. I do recall bumping into an old boy from the cottage there once who said he was off to play his regular game of darts. It did run down quite badly at one time, but spic and span now - possibly privately owned? And I believe there is indeed a 'John' at Stockers still, certainly was last year, don't know him or his surname though. Sam and Gladys are still at Sweeps last time I heard, about twelve month ago. Derek

Patricia Hayes! That's the name I couldn't get, and I think you are right, I'm getting Hilda Baker mixed up with Rita Webb. The guy playing the Waterways Inspector was one of the criminal gang in the 1960 film starring Jack Hawkins - 'League of Gentlemen' - he was the radio cum bomb expert I think, played by Norman Bird. Not all the cast in Bargee are mentioned in the final credits. I thought the top house had been in private ownership since the late eighties, but only a presumption. The White Lion gets gets used too, Jo comes out after his 29 pints and heads off towards the Aylesbury arm. But where did breakfast get thrown overboard? I thought it was opposite Rose's, but there's a building behind Ronnie in that sequence, and I don't remember a building ever there. Derek Ah! There's the full list - Thanks Stewey. I think another tragedy is the house at the end of Bulbourne Yard - that's been empty a long time.

One question I always wonder about, is how many in the crowd, and those around Maffas top, were boaters? There are some actors there, like Hilda Baker: "We've found 'im!" and the other lady in that duo in the 'discovery' whose name escapes me, but played 'Enebriated Edna' in the nineties. Then there's the boatman getting his receipt at Rose's before Hemel is spoken to - actors? Derek

I wonder how long it took Cynthia to cycle back to Winkwell from Stoke Hammond Three? Apart from the very loose continuity, love it to bits. Derek

Or taking the real thing and canning it to sell for 'atmospheric ambience' - "When I was a lad . . ."

They look like relatives of a future Marsworth Yard . . . More character in Legoland.

I'm glad you are considering that Mike. Some of the black and whites are pure art - Hulton Picture Library quality. Just a query on the cabin shot inside Bilster - Would there have been a Torgem beside the cooker in there? Little marvels they were. Derek

What was the AA sidecar outfit for Mike - expecting a breakdown? Give us the story then! Derek

Ian's a good lad! He got his 35 year handshake last November ('08 that is), lives aboard Sentinel at Bulbourne with wife Tina in case you didn't know, but grapevine being what it is you probably do! Derek

Suzuki Katana???? Most likely a BSA C12, it has that BSA dual seat with the pronounced dip. I tried with high resolution for the bike, but it's too fuzzy, it's here anyway. Trains grown up sewing machines? Steam, oil, smoke, heat, huge pieces of reciprocating metal, giants at work, teamwork rewarded. Derek PS This would have been about four years after the start of WW.

I can imagine most of the mis-spelt names that got painted on boats were due to misunderstandings between the spoken word. Bicester is of course pronounced 'Bisster', which is not far off of Bilston, add a bit of dialect, and spelling that wasn't checked, and there's the 'odd' name. If you've got hundreds of negatives Mike, I would seriously suggest getting them professionally printed for book form. Such records even from the seventies are just too valuable to treat any other way. Everything we took for granted back then has become manna from heaven for archivists, in the same way (though it might not seems it) what we take around us today, will in thirty years time most likely be gone. Some of it we will say good riddance to, but ironically that's exactly what makes things become scarce, and sought after. Derek

The actual print was very small being taken with a Brownie Box. I haven't seen that, but Geoff assures me it is, and having taken many myself as a nipper can vouch for the size around 2" x 1.5", some were square. I think the developers and printers around that time thought people looked at photo albums with magnifying glasses! Maybe they were saving paper and ink! The scan he took and posted me by snail mail, is 6" x 4". This is quite a bit clearer than what you see on the screen, but whilst the name on TERN was a bit difficult to discern, a process of elimination through the book lists saw TERN as the most likely, and with a magnifying glass the individual letters can be distinguished even though a bit of fender rope is laying across the top bend. With KESTREL the name is very clear. This is Willow Wrens re-naming of TRIAGULUM, it's not very clear on the transference from the copy I have to the computer. Middle Northwich rubbing strakes I believe are quite distinctive too, though I ought to know, I'm afraid I haven't made a study of them. Derek

Mike, if you've got many more of this quality, you ought to be thinking about publishing in book form something along the lines of 'A Canal People', Sonia Rolts book on the photo's of Robert Longden - these are good. What camera were you using? Derek

Fabulous black and whites Mike, thank you so much for sharing. That's how Marsworth Yard ought to look - working. How does that folding rudder get locked in Mike, I see the vertical pin and the eyes into which it would fit. Does it have some kind of lifting lever to pull it right up, straighten, then drop down? Derek I got to say, that side on shot of the cratches at Rose's is just beautiful. Perfectly pin sharp on the cratches with a little fuzz of the background to keep the attention on the main article. Did you work at that, or was it chance?