CRT reintroduces "Boating Buddies" scheme.

[Ray T]

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/boating-blogs-and-features/boating-team/boating-buddies

 

https://form.jotformeu.com/60764196969373

Edited September 13, 2021 by Ray T

[Neil2]

Ugh who came up with that title.  I'd be interested if they drop the "buddies" bit.  I would no more have a "buddy" on my boat than have a ferrett down my pants, sorry, trousers.  

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

With an option to take their families too 😂

“Get tae!” as me Scottish  mate says. 

Perhaps more the merrier for help from Summit to Castlefield in one day. 
 

 

[Nightwatch]

We have the Hatton Flight to do soon. They could assist but there will be no time to spend on the boat sadly. 

[TheBiscuits]

We think it's a good scheme - instead of whining that CRT staff don't understand boaters needs, take them out and show them.

 

We've already taken two CRT staff out since the scheme restarted.

 

Just bear in mind that the staff don't want or need several hours of ranting by grumpy boaters.  Show them the bits that could be improved by all means, but also remember the role of the people you take - a payroll administrator is unlikely to be able to arrange much dredging!

[Rob-M]

When I took someone down through Knowle Locks and down to the Fleur de Lys we discussed the offside vegetation, the locks, the odd broken paddle and the canals in general.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I expect their family could do even less about it. 
 

I might consider taking someone out on my boat and I’d be very pleasant. But I’m not taking their kids, granny and dog for a picnic outing. 
And they ought to drop the patronising ‘Buddy’ 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Goliath

[agg221]

It is possible that we may have been instrumental in creating the thinking which led to the original scheme.

 

A friend who at the time was contracted to BW to generate its online maps was assigned to the marketing department. At the time, BW had a newly converted hybrid diesel/electric boat which was located somewhere up the Shropshire Union (near Adderley I think from memory). It was needed at an event in Stratford on Avon and then at an event in central Birmingham the following weekend. There was a big discussion in the office around the logistics of arranging cranes and lorries and where it could be dropped back in. When he asked 'why don't you move it by water?' my friend got the answer 'can you do that?'. It transpired that of all the people in the department he was the only one who had even been on a canal.

 

What then happened was that my wife and I turned up at the boat (called Waterscape) on Friday evening, meeting a few other friends at Market Drayton on the Saturday morning to sort car shuffles. We took it down to Gas Street on the Saturday, then on to Kingswood on the Sunday. My friend was then joined by others from the department on the Monday morning to take it down the southern Stratford so they got some sense of what going on a canal was like.

 

Obviously slightly different as it was technically their own boat, but the idea is sound. I would far rather that as many CRT employees as possible had an understanding of what it is that they are ultimately responsible for. They will all, at times, have decisions to make about what to prioritise (even the payroll administrator) and if that relates to their experience with boats it is more likely to be positive for the boating user.

Alec

Edited September 13, 2021 by agg221

[doratheexplorer]

I've just signed up.  But ticked no to family members.  I'm all for CRT staff improving their knowledge of the canal network, but I'm not providing a free family boat trip!!!

[john6767]

I guess it had to stop because of COVID.
 

 We have done it twice in the past, I think it is a good idea for the CRT people who are office based.  The family members one if new I think.  We took one person the first time, and two the second time.  For me more than two does not seem a good idea.

[GUMPY]

In the present climate would I have a stranger on my boat?

Not without them providing proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test, plus they would have to wear a mask when within 2 metres of me.

[Neil2]

Seriously I do think it's a good idea but why do CRT seem to have such difficulty recruiting people with some experience of canals or boating?  

 

I remember ringing customer services once and having to explain to the "adviser" what, and where, the Bridgewater canal is, simply because it didn't come up on her computer records. 

 

 

[Athy]

32 minutes ago, Loddon said:

In the present climate would I have a stranger on my boat?

Not without them providing proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test, plus they would have to wear a mask when within 2 metres of me.

You drive the boat, guest walks alongside it on the towpath. Simples.

[agg221]

I suppose it's like a lot of other businesses - if you make widgets then the IT department or payroll or whatever may have no idea about those widgets - they don't need to on the face of it to do their job.

 

It looks like our purchase is about to complete, and for various reasons the best way from where it is to where it needs to be involves Heartbreak Hill, and I will probably be single-handing it through that bit. That would be a good place to take someone for a day out methinks...

 

Alec

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I don’t understand why CRT can’t give every new employee some basic knowledge of how the system works. 
It shouldn’t be for boaters to educate their work force. 

 

[Momac]

22 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Seriously I do think it's a good idea but why do CRT seem to have such difficulty recruiting people with some experience of canals or boating?  

 

I remember ringing customer services once and having to explain to the "adviser" what, and where, the Bridgewater canal is, simply because it didn't come up on her computer records. 

 

 

I dont  think that would be viable ,nor would it guarantee and understanding of geography.

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I don’t understand why CRT can’t give every new employee some basic knowledge of how the system works. 
It shouldn’t be for boaters to educate their work force. 

 

Quite. It's normal for staff to know more about the business than customers do. If I went to Victoria Station I wouldn't expect a porter to come up and ask me the times of trains to Redhill.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 minutes ago, agg221 said:

 

It looks like our purchase is about to complete, and for various reasons the best way from where it is to where it needs to be involves Heartbreak Hill, and I will probably be single-handing it through that bit. That would be a good place to take someone for a day out methinks...

 

Alec

Good news. And happy boating. 
 

I can’t bring myself to call it Heartbreak Hill, although I understand why it’s called that. I really like that stretch and love doing it, single handed. So it’s no heartbreak to me 😃. 
I like it because plenty of locks are close together which makes working them easy, setting the next lock in advance and so forth. The scenery is lovely and there’s some good places to overnight or stay a few days. Always plenty of water. The bits that are in working order work well. I do wish they’d fix the bust paddles. All in all a predictable pretty and relaxing flight are those Cheshire Locks. 😃

[David Mack]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

Quite. It's normal for staff to know more about the business than customers do. If I went to Victoria Station I wouldn't expect a porter to come up and ask me the times of trains to Redhill.

Nevertheless, there are some railway customers who will have a far more detailed knowledge of the Victoria to Redhill timetable than most railway staff, and the same is inevitably true of the waterways.

[Ronaldo47]

I understand that Dyson used to get  every new employee to assemble  one of their vacs, not sure what happens now that most manufacture is off-shore.  

[Momac]

57 minutes ago, Loddon said:

In the present climate would I have a stranger on my boat?

Not without them providing proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test, plus they would have to wear a mask when within 2 metres of me.

Maybe c&rt should contribute to the cost. A free 6 months license  per day should do it ?

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I understand that Dyson used to get  every new employee to assemble  one of their vacs, not sure what happens now that most manufacture is off-shore.  

They tread water while they're assembling it.

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, agg221 said:

 

 

What then happened was that my wife and I turned up at the boat (called Waterscape) on Friday evening, meeting a few other friends at Market Drayton on the Saturday morning to sort car shuffles. We took it down to Gas Street on the Saturday, then on to Kingswood on the Sunday. My friend was then joined by others from the department on the Monday morning to take it down the southern Stratford so they got some sense of what going on a canal was 

Alec

Ah, that brings back memories, I remember single handing down the Buckby flight and finding an empty Waterscape tied with 3 lines to the lock landing at Lock 11....

[agg221]

2 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Good news. And happy boating. 
 

I can’t bring myself to call it Heartbreak Hill, although I understand why it’s called that. I really like that stretch and love doing it, single handed. So it’s no heartbreak to me 😃. 
I like it because plenty of locks are close together which makes working them easy, setting the next lock in advance and so forth. The scenery is lovely and there’s some good places to overnight or stay a few days. Always plenty of water. The bits that are in working order work well. I do wish they’d fix the bust paddles. All in all a predictable pretty and relaxing flight are those Cheshire Locks. 😃

I agree it's a pretty stretch. The problem comes when time is not on your side. I've done it twice, both on hireboats. The first was 25yrs ago on a Middlewich boat, taking it back at the end of a trip. The trip had started a day late as they had tried to swap the engine between hires and failed to finish on time. In the rush they forgot to adjust the braking band on the gearbox, which held out for most of the trip but eventually snapped (I should point out that until that happened we had no clue that there was an issue, we just knew we had lost a day of our trip and were on catch-up) and we had to get back from the Caldon to Middlewich with no reverse. It was a particularly bleak Easter too - grey and overcast with no sign of spring. The combination did not make for pleasant memories of that flight. We went through it this summer the other way and it was very attractive but we had a pre-booked passage through the Harecastle to make at 4pm and despite having pushed on the evening before to the limits of daylight and started early that day, we still only made it with 5mins to spare.

 

What was frustrating was the number of the paired locks where the second lock was not operational, even though everything was still there. It looked like when something broke they just wrapped a bit of red and white tape round it and left it.

 

Alec

[Neil2]

22 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Good news. And happy boating. 
 

I can’t bring myself to call it Heartbreak Hill, although I understand why it’s called that. I really like that stretch and love doing it, single handed. So it’s no heartbreak to me 😃. 
I like it because plenty of locks are close together which makes working them easy, setting the next lock in advance and so forth. The scenery is lovely and there’s some good places to overnight or stay a few days. Always plenty of water. The bits that are in working order work well. I do wish they’d fix the bust paddles. All in all a predictable pretty and relaxing flight are those Cheshire Locks. 😃

 

I wish folk would stop using that name for the Cheshire Locks.  If anyone thinks they are "heartbreaking" you might as well give up canal boating.  As far as I know the name was coined in the modern era ie it doesn't come from the days of working boats and should rightly be consigned to the dustbin, or should I say trash can...