"Notorious" Walsall Basin Strikes again.

[springy]

Walsall Basin Strikes again

 

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/2021/10/26/children-believed-to-be-among-those-in-canal-plunge-in-town-centre/

 

and again 

 

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/2021/10/27/call-for-extra-safety-measures-after-latest-walsall-canal-falls/

 

 

And much to my surprise the "Danger Deep Water" balloon is still there.

 

 

springy

[Rob-M]

How long before a fence is put up?

[matty40s]

Thick as pig shit.

[Rob-M]

Just now, matty40s said:

Thick as pig shit.

Is that the weed, the mud or the locals?

[matty40s]

No comment....😁

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Fill it in. You know it makes sense.

[ditchcrawler]

Nicked from Facebook just now 

[matty40s]

How are all the visiting boats supposed to use a weed filled pontoon......or perhaps they are mountain bike jumps sponsored by Sustrans.

[MtB]

3 hours ago, matty40s said:

How are all the visiting boats supposed to use a weed filled pontoon......

 

Use one of the others, silly! 

 

Its not as though there isn't a choice.....  

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

 Italic Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I

14 hours ago, matty40s said:

How are all the visiting boats supposed to use a weed filled pontoon......or perhaps they are mountain bike jumps sponsored by Sustrans.

What visiting boats. The only place I have moored and then moved on in the evening

[doratheexplorer]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

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What visiting boats. The only place I have moored and then moved on in the evening

Exactly.  When I went.  I visited the gallery.  When I came out, there were scrotey kids climbing over my boat.  I went and moored on the off side workboat mooring down by the junction.

[ditchcrawler]

11 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Exactly.  When I went.  I visited the gallery.  When I came out, there were scrotey kids climbing over my boat.  I went and moored on the off side workboat mooring down by the junction.

We were onboard when they did it. The fisherman said I thought you were brave mooring there.

[agg221]

I have moored there on three separate occasions and had no problems. That might however be something to do with arriving at 11pm and leaving at 5am on each occasion.

 

Alec

[ditchcrawler]

I arrived mid afternoon and left about 9pm

[haggis]

We moored outside the pub/restaurant opposite the pontoons and we were fine but it was in the summer and we sat  in the bows or on one of the seats in the area so it was obvious the boat was occupied. We had no problems during the night and eft next morning. 

[wandering snail]

Floating traders have been asked to join in the Walsall Continental Market in December to trade in the basin. AFAIK, there has been very little interest which is a real shame but understandable I suppose.

[ditchcrawler]

10 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

Floating traders have been asked to join in the Walsall Continental Market in December to trade in the basin. AFAIK, there has been very little interest which is a real shame but understandable I suppose.

Been there a couple of times in a group and no problem so yes. its a shame

[matty40s]

26 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

Floating traders have been asked to join in the Walsall Continental Market in December to trade in the basin. AFAIK, there has been very little interest which is a real shame but understandable I suppose.

Stoppages probably not helping.

[Rob-M]

I've moored in Walsall on several occasions, never had any problems. Getting there though is another story.

[Neil TNC]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I arrived mid afternoon and left about 9pm

We managed half an hour, as having done the Walsall Canal, we wanted to get to Pelsall that night.

[john6767]

We have moored in the basin a number of times, but as part of the BCN Challenge when there have been other boats there.  When we have been on our own we have moored on the offside pontoon at the junction.

 

Perhaps the issues could be solved by fencing the basin off and making them secure moorings, with the bonus that the locals would not keep falling in.

[Heartland]

This post mentions the deep water. Has this been measured?

As stated before there is subsidence along the arm caused through limestone workings in the nineteenth century, in Wolverhampton Street. So there are genuine spots of deep water, Where the basin has been dug out, the terminus was originally a narrow canal. There were coal and limestone wharves and tramway would bring the limestone from various pits to the wharves

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Heartland said:

This post mentions the deep water. Has this been measured?

As stated before there is subsidence along the arm caused through limestone workings in the nineteenth century, in Wolverhampton Street. So there are genuine spots of deep water, Where the basin has been dug out, the terminus was originally a narrow canal. There were coal and limestone wharves and tramway would bring the limestone from various pits to the wharves

 

Well judging by previous posts, its deep enough to swim across whilst shouting "fcukin' 'ell its cold in 'ere".

 

Thing is though, it is possible to drown in as little as 4" of water so whatever the depth, a case can be made for a "Danger - deep water" sign. 

[dmr]

23 hours ago, wandering snail said:

Floating traders have been asked to join in the Walsall Continental Market in December to trade in the basin. AFAIK, there has been very little interest which is a real shame but understandable I suppose.

 

As part of the launch of the ill fated Association of Continuous Cruisers and relaunch of the Roving Canal Traders Association (and the launch of CRT itself) we did a little floating market in Walsall basin. This was obviously a few years ago but It went very well.

We had a small amount of youth trouble one evening but nothing to get upset about, a few lads tried to swim naked across the basin, two more stood on the roof of a boat but were very apologetic when told people were actually inside trying to sleep. Getting there was the hardest bit.

I think we had about 5 boats there.

[springy]

I found these two pictures in my collection of a busy Walsall basin, late 1980s I think, and only two shots 'cos it was on film stock, 

 

 

springy

 

Edited to add - possibly later - the new Art Gallery is obviously "under construction" but externally close to complete, but looking at the gallery website it opened in 2000 so possibly 1990's.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by springy
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