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Claymore No More??


matty40s

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20 hours ago, haggis said:

Cheshire Cat is owned by Connie. a Dutch lady. Her and her husband, Cor (who sadly died a few years ago) had an "arrangement" with Claymore   which I think was along the lines of them maintaining the boat and hiring it out when Cor and Connie didn't want to use it and they got some of the hire fees.  When we were on the Bridgewater last autumn we saw Cheshire Cat at Thorn and as someone was working on it, we asked if it was still owned by Connie (we had sort of lost touch with one another) and he said that yes it was and they were now looking after it for her.  After Cor died, Connie carried on boating on her own.  

haggis

It came past the marina entrance just as we were leaving this afternoon with a couple onboard

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On 19/03/2019 at 14:32, matty40s said:

Looks like the Middlewich breach and the ongoing Macclesfield locks fiasco has cost us another canal business.

Very sad if true, but as said, I am sure the amount of canal closures in the area has had an impact on them.

 

 

Past the yard and seen the boats a great many, a staple on boating in Cheshire and the wider NW area, having grown up with a view of Beestone castle as well.

 

On 19/03/2019 at 21:19, AndrewIC said:

....Claymoore were also operating Dutton Dry Dock but I gather that has also ceased.

I was going to ask about that.

 

Daniel

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4 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

I hope that other Cheshire yards are safe, how is Chas Hardern for example, we used to see his boats regularly going down to Middlewich. And  Andersens?

Well he is well snookered at the moment with Iron Lock out, Dont know if he can get to Ellesmere yet

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On 19/03/2019 at 23:01, haggis said:

Cheshire Cat is owned by Connie. a Dutch lady. Her and her husband, Cor (who sadly died a few years ago) had an "arrangement" with Claymore   which I think was along the lines of them maintaining the boat and hiring it out when Cor and Connie didn't want to use it and they got some of the hire fees.  When we were on the Bridgewater last autumn we saw Cheshire Cat at Thorn and as someone was working on it, we asked if it was still owned by Connie (we had sort of lost touch with one another) and he said that yes it was and they were now looking after it for her.  After Cor died, Connie carried on boating on her own. They were members of many canal societies and when they joined they usually took out a life membership to save the problem of paying an annual sub when they lived in Holland. A lovely couple who we first met when we cruised the Manchester Ship Canal on Copperkins. 

 

haggis

Hi Haggis,

 

Conny is still very much active (she is the Godmother of our 3 girls), she will be over next month for her usual 6 weeks or so. If you'd like us to pass a message on to her, we'd be happy to. Conny moved The Cheshire Cat to Thorn last year.

 

Kate Fletcher (used to manage the Open Lock Project Boats & was MFAB Boating Director)

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I am pleased Conny is still boating and perhaps our paths will cross now that Kelpie is moored near the top of the Trent and Mersey. I sent Conny a Christmas card last year but perhaps her address has changed. Please tell Conny that Ann and Iain are asking for her. Our friend on Harnser saw Cheshire Cat go past Park Farm Marina the other day going south with a couple on board. 

 

Haggis 

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Just now, haggis said:

I am pleased Conny is still boating and perhaps our paths will cross now that Kelpie is moored near the top of the Trent and Mersey. I sent Conny a Christmas card last year but perhaps her address has changed. Please tell Conny that Ann and Iain are asking for her. Our friend on Harnser saw Cheshire Cat go past Park Farm Marina the other day going south with a couple on board. 

 

Haggis 

Going north, back to base, we will be passing tomorrow or the next day

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It is really sad that two hire companies that have been around for years have folded when their main cruising areas. the Cheshire Ring, the Four Counties and the Llangollen have all been denied to them for a whole season. We hired from them both when I was much younger, and when I was just a school kid used to look forward to helping the hirers up and down the Ashton canal when it was first reopened.

 

Hopefully this year will be better, we were locked in between Bosley and Marple all last summer, but hopefully will have one escape route open this year.

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1 hour ago, captain birdseye said:

It is really sad that two hire companies that have been around for years have folded when their main cruising areas. the Cheshire Ring, the Four Counties and the Llangollen have all been denied to them for a whole season.

Sad yes, but bad business savvy.

 

Last year on the Caldon we saw lots of Andersen boats, but only one Claymore boat.  At least some of it is down to how you manage customer expectations - suggesting an alternate route rather than telling people they can't have their holiday they wanted.  All the Andersen boaters we spoke to said they had never heard of the Caldon until it was suggested to them as a nice canal they could do instead of the Cheshire Ring, and they all enjoyed it.

 

They were all in the Black Lion at Consall Forge though. :D

 

When the Rochdale and the Calder & Hebble flooded and breached a few years ago all the Shire Cruisers boats were craned out at Sowerby Bridge and moved to other canals and boatyards, which must have cost a pretty penny in both transport and agreements with other hire bases, but kept the boats in operation during the extended stoppages.

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Googling for Claymore brings up that they had 30 boats for sale on Apollo Duck but nothings showing there now https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boats/claymore/30 when we passed today a chap was doing rust treatment to the back doors of one of the smaller ones moored nearer Midland Chandlers so he may have bought one.

Edited by ditchcrawler
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Moored at Dutton tonight on the T&M and two Claymoore boats have come past. when we went by their yard there was a chap painting the rear doors on one and the Claymoore sign had been removed from another, I was told they didn't own a lot of their fleet just like Cheshire Cat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When hire boat companies go out of business. there is a natural concern as to cause, but should the CRT be blamed entirely for infrastructure failure. In recent times, prior to the CRT era there has been investment by BW to maintain the system for boaters and hire boaters, although some might state more should have been done. Bank maintenance being one of the regular duties that BW did concentrate on. From CRT reports they state they are doing their share too, It would be sad to return to the old days of railway ownership where the GWR, LMS and LNER confined their maintenance to the minimum. It is still worrying, these days, that whenever a breach occurs, it seems to come without warning. Eighteenth and Nineteenth  Century canal infrastructure does have its limits and in this modern age there is probably technology out there to predict such issues. But then there is always a cost and who pays?  

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34 minutes ago, Heartland said:

It is still worrying, these days, that whenever a breach occurs, it seems to come without warning. Eighteenth and Nineteenth  Century canal infrastructure does have its limits and in this modern age there is probably technology out there to predict such issues. But then there is always a cost and who pays?  

One of the issues is the changes we’re seeing in weather patterns, both periods of massive rainfall and then the long dry summer last year which will have destabilised some earth banks, vegetation  and so on.

 

I’ve only been boating since the mid-70s, but in that time neither BW nor CRT have been able to achieve funding for steady state maintenance, much less adaptation measures to cope with severe weather.

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52 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

One of the issues is the changes we’re seeing in weather patterns, both periods of massive rainfall and then the long dry summer last year which will have destabilised some earth banks, vegetation  and so on.

 

I’ve only been boating since the mid-70s, but in that time neither BW nor CRT have been able to achieve funding for steady state maintenance, much less adaptation measures to cope with severe weather.

And seen locks closed from  mid afternoon until late morning the next day to save water

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Speculation is never good when a business fails and as usual the truth is somewhere in between. I know Claymoore very well and although the canal closures affected the business there was more to it. My thoughts go to John the owner of the business who not only lost his son a couple of years ago but now his business. It's a cruel world and I am sure there will be a new owner of the yard soon so lets hope the glory days return.

  • Greenie 3
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  • 2 months later...

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