Chesterfield Canal: Public Consultation on Chesterfield - Staveley Regeneration

[cheshire~rose]

Details from Chesterfield Canal Trust:

 

"Derbyshire County Council is running an online consultation about the Chesterfield to Staveley Regeneration Route (CSRR). It finishes on Sunday 10th April.

Click here to see it: https://csrr.consultation.ai/

Follow the link to the original information page to download a leaflet explaining about it: https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-to-staveley-regeneration-route-consultation/?fbclid=IwAR1YoyMQlTitPUgVWJYKr4FvG27Tbo0aBf0eJXmMhtsboa-EpfivWT5wn4s

 

"The CSRR is a proposed new road to relieve congestion on the A619 and to provide access to the Staveley Works corridor, which is a major regeneration site.

The CSRR runs from the Sainsbury’s roundabout in Chesterfield to the Hall Lane roundabout in Staveley, see below.

The CSRR route crosses the canal at three locations; at Tinkersick, below Wheeldon Mill Lock and just west of Bilby Lane Bridge.

It is proposed to divert the canal at the first two crossings, see below.

There will be no new locks.

The Trust is currently reviewing the detail of the consultation to formulate our official response. When this is completed, we will post it on this page.

We have already had a meeting with the team developing the plans. Our initial comments are below.

• The two proposed diversions of the canal are sensible because the original plan would have made the bridges very oblique – more like tunnels.
• The towpath must be wide at the diversions (unlike at several of the existing bridges) and there must be sufficient visibility and space for 70’ boats to pass each other.
• The canal is currently a rural route and therefore there must be some screening between the road and the canal, using planting or earth bunding.
• The operation of the canal must be fully considered; for example the Tinker Sick overflow weir must be relocated on the diversion.
• The connections between the pedestrian and cycle routes on the CSRR, the canal towpath and the existing and proposed development sites must be carefully considered to ensure that appropriate visibility and width is maintained throughout.
• In many places the current towpath is very narrow. It should be upgraded where shared use for pedestrians, cycles and equestrians is going to increase. This is particularly important at Wheeldon Mill because the new route runs along part of the separate cycle path.
• The route is very close to the canal just west of Hollingwood Hub. The current level for the road is about 3 metres higher than the canal. This should be lowered to ensure the canal doesn’t end up in a canyon. (This would also ensure that the housing development between this point and Hollingwood Hub is not raised above the canal.)
• We request that any closures of the canal and/or towpath are minimised and preferably timed to the off-season when boat traffic is lowest.

Please respond to the consultation. You are free to use our comments if you so wish. If you have contrasting views on the impacts of the canal or consider there are things we have missed, we’d be happy to hear from you so that we can review our response further. Please send your comments to secretary@chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk.

This is the first of two consultations this year. This one is the key opportunity to ask for changes to be considered, because the design is still at an outline stage. The design team will be developing the scheme further after this consultation in preparation for a planning application. They will be consulting again before the planning application, but by then major changes will be more difficult."

 

Please follow the link to the original article for more relevant information: https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-to-staveley-regeneration-route-consultation/?fbclid=IwAR1YoyMQlTitPUgVWJYKr4FvG27Tbo0aBf0eJXmMhtsboa-EpfivWT5wn4s

 

This is the full route

This is the western end

this is the eastern end.

This shows the canal diversion at Tinkersick.

This shows the canal diversion at Wheeldon Mill

[PD1964]

Is there any boat traffic from Staveley Basin? As the only boats from what I remember are the Trust trip boats, the basin was empty with no facilities and all boats would have to be craned in. It’s quite a run down area, will it ever be an area that boats would use apart from Trust boats as it’s not the long?

  What are the long term plans for Staveley Basin with regards to mooring boats there?

  

Edited March 17, 2022 by PD1964

[cheshire~rose]

14 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Is there any boat traffic from Staveley Basin? As the only boats from what I remember are the Trust trip boats, the basin was empty with no facilities and all boats would have to be craned in. It’s quite a run down area, will it ever be an area that boats would use apart from Trust boats as it’s not the long?

  What are the long term plans for Staveley Basin with regards to mooring boats there?

  

 

At present there are only the two CCT trip boats operate on that stretch and that is because the canal is not yet joined up.  When it is the head of a 46 mile long canal there will be plenty of boats making their way to the head of navigation. Yes, it has been quite a run down area, as any area which was a mining area where all the pits closed is. It is actually looking far better in recent years than when I first moved to the area.

 

The blight of the chemical works has gone, there are a number of properties in the area being converted and smartened up. The canal has made a huge difference to the people in Staveley and they have all taken the canal to their heart. When HS2 dropped it's self upon "their canal" the locals turned up at the public consultation in such vast numbers that the HS2 folks wondered what had hit them, they accused CCT of bussing their supporters in! They were expecting strong words from the people of Renishaw about their beautiful hall but were not ready for the strength of feeling generated by the lovely people on Staveley.

There are several plans for building some quality homes in the area and if you read the title this is part of a "regeneration project" It qualifies for funding for this sort of thing because it has been run down and it has funding being made available for levelling up.

 

Before HS2 there was a plan for the basin to have finger pontoons with permananet moorings for boats, a few small industrial units, a few starter homes and a bunk house, That went out the window when the funding CCT were due to have land in the bank account within weeks was lost because of HS2. Since then Derbyshire County Council are developing it and they are keen to incorporate boats into that plan. It could well be they are residential moorings and so it is likely that the boat owners won't be worried they can't cruise too far!

[PD1964]

  The sad thing is it could become a couple of miles of a housing estate on water, with no movement and no connection to the network. If Staveley Basin becomes full of residential house boats it could easily spread along the whole short length, with people seeing it easing the demand for cheap accommodation and giving DCC a small revenue through licence for it’s upkeep.

 Hope it doesn’t turn out that way and maybe one day can connect to the SSY system, I think that’s a long time away though.

[cheshire~rose]

1 minute ago, PD1964 said:

  The sad thing is it could become a couple of miles of a housing estate on water, with no movement and no connection to the network. If Staveley Basin becomes full of residential house boats it could easily spread along the whole short length, with people seeing it easing the demand for cheap accommodation and giving DCC a small revenue through licence for it’s upkeep.

 Hope it doesn’t turn out that way and maybe one day can connect to the SSY system, I think that’s a long time away though.

 

It doesn't need to connect to the SSY system, not yet anyway, it just needs to join up with the connected bit beyond Norwood Tunnel. The Rother Link is a future plan, which, once the canal is open again, will create a cruising ring. 

I think it very unlikely that there will be a couple of miles of housing estate lining the canal. Much of the area is ex-pit workings and has been designated as nature reserves. 

Of course it "could" never get any further and fall back into disrepair and become a stinking ditch again if people choose to pick out the things that might be a negative about this but that isn't going to happen, The basin was built to moor boats. It would be ridiculous to expect the average leisure boater to want to moor on a stretch of canal that is so short. There would be no point in investing in pontoons for them to stand empty. Building the pontoons and allowing people to moor on them will bring income which in turn will assist with the cost of maintaining the canal. The basin is not two miles long, it is just a basin. If it gets boats in it then that is progress. 

 

If you are in any doubt about whether this canal will ever get joined up again go along and chat to the guys restoring it on a Thursday or a Sunday and you might change your mind. 

 

I have spent a couple of hours in the office of George Rogers, the development Manager this afternoon. I had no doubts about the viability of the restoration before I went in there but if I had done they would have vanished in a flash. 

 

It has been a very, very long time since I came across anyone with such negative feelings about the restoration. I have no idea what has created that?

[PD1964]

I have no negative feelings about the restoration, I just think it is a long way off and Staveley Basin has been empty for a few years with the only users of this stretch being Trust trip boats.

 Can I ask without sounding negative as you say, what time scale are you talking about before it is linked to the Canal the other side of the Tunnel, so boats can get there from the Trent?

Edited March 17, 2022 by PD1964

[cheshire~rose]

As I have already said, the development of the basin was all planned, all agreed, and funding had been sought and won. The funding had been due to arrive in CCT's bank account within days if not weeks when HS2 dropped their bombshell on 28th January 2013.  

 

https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/hs2-route-to-affect-canal-enormously/

 

Because there was no guarantee that any of the development would still exist  25 years after that date the funding was withdrawn with immediate effect and since then there have been thousands of hours of volunteers time spent dealing with HS2. 

Yes the basin has been empty for many years. Yes the only boaters are currently the two CCT trip boats but if Covid had not affected us then you would have seen another 30 odd boats on that stretch when the IWA trailboat festival was due to revisit.  They has visited before in 2016. Here is a queue of boats waiting to use the lock that year and a few other photos of a busy canal

 

I was in a meeting just before HS2 dropped in. Robin Stonebridge, the then chair,  had been looking at the momentum of the restoration to that point. There was a steep upward curve which, if that trajectory could been maintained would mean we could have got the canal joined up within 10 years. I saw his reasoning and it made perfect sense. Then HS2 hit the restoration. HS2 has not yet gone away. 

 

When will it get joined up? It's all about the money.

 

https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/2027-restoration-appeal/ That link will tell you what the current plan is. The truth is that it is looking like that plan is unlikely because that plan was created before Covid struck, however, with The Trust working with the local community looking at ways their 5 million pound levelling up fund might best be used to the benefit of the area and so after a number of years of things standing still I think it is very fair to say that there is likely to be some good news that can be reported very soon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chris Lowe]

I recently updated Canalmaponline Chesterfield canal section with the help of the Chesterfield canal trust sectretary and believe me he is very positive about this project being finshed, & whe you look at what has been acieved I believe him.

The hard bits are at Killamarsh and Norwood but perfectly feasable & no worse that what was done on the Rochdale.

[magpie patrick]

2 hours ago, buccaneer66 said:

 believe me he is very positive about this project being finished,

 

 

He should be, they've got me on the job  

Aiming to take Juno to Staveley, probably in 2025

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

 

He should be, they've got me on the job  

Aiming to take Juno to Staveley, probably in 2025

I take it will be on a trailer😂

[magpie patrick]

21 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I take it will be on a trailer😂

 oh yes!  I'm an optimist, but I'm not THAT much of an optimist!  

[PD1964]

Tell you the truth not many boaters in that area are. Maybe it will be a regular IWA Trailer boat location every couple of years 😂 I don’t even think it will ever link to Chesterfield.

Edited March 19, 2022 by PD1964

[cheshire~rose]

What area are you based in?

Which boaters are these you speak for? If they are like Patrick, optimistic but not "that" optimistic then that's great but if, like you, they have little or no clue about what is happening or what is planned then why would they be optimistic? If, like you, they see an empty basin that's been that way for years without understanding why, that won't make them optimistic either. 

The trailboat festival doesn't usually return to the same place regularly. It moves around different unconnected sites around the country. It was the optimism of the welcome they received and the very clear understanding they gained about the direction and pace of the restoration when they came last time that made them so keen to come back.

If the boaters you speak to are not optimistic try speaking instead to those who know what's going on, or better still, get involved yourself. 

Something positive everyone can do is to respond to the consultation which takes only a few minutes of time and will ensure that DCC know just how passionate people are that this canal will get joined up and what is more it will get joined up in the foreseeable future, no matter what high speed railways, worldwide pandemics or a bypass throws at those who are getting off their backsides to make it happen 

 

[PD1964]

Patrick has a trail boat so he can launch at Staveley and I suspect this is the only type of boat you will get on that stretch for a lot of years to come.

 I’m on the SSY and I’ve heard the same story for the last 13 years since living there and seen little real progress to achieving the link. All I’ve seen is an empty basin in a rundown area and a small stretch of canal going nowhere being used by the Trusts trip boats, I’ve heard the talk and seen the plans but that’s all they are talk and plans, so optimistic yes, but it may get achieved one day but doubt it will be soon and the cost will be millions.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by PD1964

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, PD1964 said:

I’m on the SSY and I’ve heard the same story for the last 13 years since living there and seen little real progress to achieving the link. All I’ve seen is an empty basin in a rundown area and a small stretch of canal going nowhere being used by the Trusts trip boats, I’ve heard the talk and seen the plans but that’s all they are talk and plans, so optimistic yes, but it may get achieved one day but doubt it will be soon and the cost will be millions.

If all the various canal society volunteers over the last 50+ years had displayed the same attitude as you, you wouldn't now be able to take your boat on the South Stratford, Ashton, Lower Peak Forest, Caldon, Kennet & Avon, Basingstoke, Huddersfield Narrow, Rochdale, Warwickshire Avon, Droitwich, Montgomery, Forth & Clyde, Union canals, as well as the Chesterfield between Worksop and Norwood Tunnel and the Staveley section.

And a lot less of the 'always navigable' bits of the system might now be unavailable as well.

[PD1964]

 A lot of those canals were already there, this is a new canal route in parts, I’m optimistic that it will happen by 2027 so what’s wrong with that?, maybe one day though, but this plan of connecting the canal was originally drawn up in 2010 or if not before I believe, so it hasn’t progressed that much in that time. I have seen various routes with new lock systems, boat lifts and other options to get the canal around new housing estates and the collapsed tunnel. Yes I know it was all thrown into disarray with HS2 and they lost a lot of funding and funding and cash is what will determine the speed of this project.

  Hopefully one day there will be a new stretch or route, until then I will use and enjoy the Chesterfield canal, which is one of the least used but picturesque and I’m always grateful to the volunteer’s and CaRT staff that I see on it. 
  There is nothing wrong with being optimistic and having an open mind of this scheme, far better then having the self righteous approach to it.

Edited March 19, 2022 by PD1964

[cheshire~rose]

Clearly your expectations are far higher than mere mortal volunteers can achieve. 

Please explain what you expected in the 12 years since 2010? You acknowledge HS2 blight which stopped the restoration in it's tracks. You have not (as far as I recall) mentioned losing the best part of two years of momentum due to covid. 

You say you are always pleased to see the volunteers along the canal. How often do you deviate from the sections in water to see all the volunteers working there? 

I can't help but wonder where this run down area is you keep mentioning? The canal runs through a former mining area around Staveley and there used to be a big chemical works at Hollingwood. They are all gone niw. There are trees and nature reserves where they used to be. There are communities of friendy people who are proud of their canal. Have you been through Rotherham recently by boat? I can see that has seen better days but equally I can see the regeneration happening. You are very welcome to your opiniin but The saddest thing is that it precisely the people, like you who keep telling everyone that it's never going to happen and it's a waste of time that make those hard working volunteers wonder why they bother. 

Except they do bother, and, for those who are genuinely interested in learning about the progress and understand the challenges they will continue to explain and continue to put their heart and soul into making it happen. 

I sincerely look forward to the day we can prove you wrong

[Chris Lowe]

It doesn't look run down to me.

 

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, cheshire~rose said:

Clearly your expectations are far higher than mere mortal volunteers can achieve. 

Please explain what you expected in the 12 years since 2010? 

Clearly your expectations are on another planet then, if you think the link is going to be completed by 2027 for the 250 year anniversary of the Chesterfield canal. As mentioned on the Trusts web page. 
  Looking at the plans unless there’s new ones now, with the number of locks to be built and possibly a boat lift, how much is this going to cost? Are the funds in place? 

  Your self righteous approach is different to my optimistic approach.

 Hopefully you will prove me wrong, but I think it will be many years after 2027 that you do.

1 hour ago, buccaneer66 said:

It doesn't look run down to me.

 

Doesn’t look much use either as a mooring basin.

  Maybe they could put in some  pontoons for trailable boats for short stay/weekends and get some revenue in for the Trust??

Edited March 19, 2022 by PD1964

[Chris Lowe]

52 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Doesn’t look much use either as a mooring basin.

 

Have a look at my map https://www.RailMapOnline.com/Canals.php?lat=53.31950&lng=-1.12604&zoom=11.0 I updated it with all the proposed new bits, and locks not the fanciful lift, this was done with the help of the Trust Secretary.

 

All the proposed bits have no obstructions apart from one house, and are no worse to build than what was done on the Rochdale.

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, buccaneer66 said:

 

Have a look at my map https://www.RailMapOnline.com/Canals.php?lat=53.31950&lng=-1.12604&zoom=11.0 I updated it with all the proposed new bits, and locks not the fanciful lift, this was done with the help of the Trust Secretary.

 

All the proposed bits have no obstructions apart from one house, and are no worse to build than what was done on the Rochdale.

I looked at the proposed route at this link from the Trusts site, looks ambitious to complete by 2027.

 

https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/new-restoration-sections/

 

[cheshire~rose]

On 17/03/2022 at 22:01, cheshire~rose said:

 

https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/2027-restoration-appeal/ That link will tell you what the current plan is. The truth is that it is looking like that plan is unlikely because that plan was created before Covid struck, however, with The Trust working with the local community looking at ways their 5 million pound levelling up fund might best be used to the benefit of the area and so after a number of years of things standing still I think it is very fair to say that there is likely to be some good news that can be reported very soon.

 

 

 

On 19/03/2022 at 18:56, PD1964 said:

Clearly your expectations are on another planet then, if you think the link is going to be completed by 2027 for the 250 year anniversary of the Chesterfield canal. As mentioned on the Trusts web page. 
  Looking at the plans unless there’s new ones now, with the number of locks to be built and possibly a boat lift, how much is this going to cost? Are the funds in place? 

  Your self righteous approach is different to my optimistic approach.

 Hopefully you will prove me wrong, but I think it will be many years after 2027 that you do.

Doesn’t look much use either as a mooring basin.

  Maybe they could put in some  pontoons for trailable boats for short stay/weekends and get some revenue in for the Trust??

 

I am sorry but - Clearly your ability to read what I have written without reading your own agenda into it is a struggle. I apologise of I come across as self righteous but I have far too many conversations with people who have had a chat down the pub with someone who says the canal will never get joined up and they believe them. These people have rarely done any proper research on how far the restoration has got themselves and so they form an opinion based on hearsay. or, misreading what someone else has written as you have done here. 

 

There is a wealth of information on Chesterfield canal Trust's website that you can read if you are genuinley interested. I apologise that I do not have time to start digging out the appropriate links to answer all your questions now and clearly my own words are insufiicient to convince you that this restoration really is on a trajectory to be completed, and to be completed during the lifetime of a lot of people reading this thread.  I would suggest if you want to hear this information from people who know far more detail than I do - drop a line to Rod Auton, his email address is on the website. 

As for the basin, the finger pontoons in the plan were lost with the £250K funding that went down the pan with the arrival of HS2. Elsewhere on The line of the Chessie there is another lovely marina to be. It is not linked up yet but it is all ready to go except for finger pontoons. It is currently a fishing lake.  Chesterfield Canal Trust do not own the basin. The pontoons that are probably going in there will be for narrowboats to bring an income to Derbyshire County Council. They are the navigation authority and so are responsible for maintaining the canal at that end. 

 

Meanwhile I am sorry I do not have time to discuss this in more depth with you myself. 

I am busy assisting CRT to maintain the other end of the canal This was the team we were supervising yesterday. Just 11 volunteers!

 

We worked on a short section between Shireoaks Social club and The Lock Keeper at Worksop. We picked 16 bags of litter and carried out planned preventative maintenance on Doefield Dunn and Haggonfields locks. It was a lovely sunny day and everyone enjoyed themselves. We would never manage to get 16 bags of litter from Staveley! That was a total of 110 volunteer hours our team gave yesterday. 

Tomorrow is day 6 of 10 days spent spring cleaning The Chesterfield Canal across just 2 weeks. We have a total of 91 volunteer days tied up in improving the canal for those who use it. There are a total of 22 brand new volunteers joining us during this period. (two more had to pull out due to testing positive for covid) 

Earlier last week out teams were on the summit pound spending their days getting branches and logs out of the water (as well as PPM at locks) - rural or urban The Python team deal with whatever they come across. 

 

There is a lot of organising goes into this type of programme, there are a lot of volunteers we need to look after, many of whom have never been on a boat before. If I come across as self righteous then I apologise, I am busy and have not had the time I would have liked to formulate a fuller response to you questions. 

 

Perhaps I am optimistic because I spend my time surrounded by passionate people wanting to give something back to their canal and the communities they run through. We clear up the dog mess, we clear away used syringes, and get down on hands and knees to get the cans and bottles from under the hedges where %^&*(*% have dumped them. I know what run down looks like, the basin is not in a run down area. 

 

Perhaps you might consider coming to join us for a day and see whether any of that optimism rubs off? You would be made very welcome. 

 

I am sorry I am unlikely to be able to respond further in this thread for the rest of this week as I have 5 of the next 6 days overseeing a team of volunteers with Python. - 51 volunteers in the next week, including 8 students and their tutors coming to join us so they can learn about the heritage of the canal, be close to nature and put something back to their community. 

 

If there is something you require an answer to perhaps you can ask it here and someone else may be able to reply - or I can check in when I get my breath back next week. Or you can direct it straight to Chesterfield Canal Trust where you will get the latest details rather than the opinion of a some boater you chatted to who had formulated his opinion on who knows what 

 

 

[Chris Lowe]

None of us working on the Wey & Arun in the 70's expected to see it done in our lifetimes, but we still didn't have that kind of negative attitude.

I still don't expect to see it done in my lifetime but marvel at what has been achieved so far, and the volunteers on the Chesterfield will see their work come to fruitition and in not too distant in the future.

Just look forward to taking your boat through that first part of Norwood tunnel that can be used, and though those 3 & 4 rise staircase locks @ Norwood.

[PD1964]

4 hours ago, buccaneer66 said:

None of us working on the Wey & Arun in the 70's expected to see it done in our lifetimes, but we still didn't have that kind of negative attitude.

I still don't expect to see it done in my lifetime but marvel at what has been achieved so far, and the volunteers on the Chesterfield will see their work come to fruitition and in not too distant in the future.

Just look forward to taking your boat through that first part of Norwood tunnel that can be used, and though those 3 & 4 rise staircase locks @ Norwood.

  Maybe one day but not 2027, it’s not a negative attitude, it’s a realistic attitude and if the elderly volunteers of the CCT  think there aren’t many people like myself who think the same they are greatly mistaken. I don’t see the canals through rose coloured glasses like some, I see them in the current real world state, where stoppages are increasing while maintenance dredging and money is getting less and the younger generations have more to worry about then this project.
 This is not the 60/70’s where Rolt and his young followers descended on mass, it’s 2022 where the retired over 65 year olds need to find things to to do, while young families need to earn money to live with the rising costs of real world living and to keep a roof over their heads. These people haven’t got time to go litter picking throughout the working day, they need to work and earn money, unlike the elderly volunteers in the photo’s above.

  

Edited March 21, 2022 by PD1964

[cheshire~rose]

9 hours ago, PD1964 said:

  Maybe one day but not 2027, it’s not a negative attitude, it’s a realistic attitude and if the elderly volunteers of the CCT  think there aren’t many people like myself who think the same they are greatly mistaken. I don’t see the canals through rose coloured glasses like some, I see them in the current real world state, where stoppages are increasing while maintenance dredging and money is getting less and the younger generations have more to worry about then this project.
 This is not the 60/70’s where Rolt and his young followers descended on mass, it’s 2022 where the retired over 65 year olds need to find things to to do, while young families need to earn money to live with the rising costs of real world living and to keep a roof over their heads. These people haven’t got time to go litter picking throughout the working day, they need to work and earn money, unlike the elderly volunteers in the photo’s above.

  

 

What a judgemental individual you are! 

 

Firstly, the volunteers appearing in that photo are predominantly not members of Chesterfield Canal Trust. They are volunteers that have chosen to come along for the day to help maintain their canal on a programme organised by Chesterfield Canal Trust in partnership with CRT. 

 

I am sure those in that photo who are in their 30's, work full time and chose to give a day off to assist the programme of works will appreciate you wholeheartedly ageist opinion of them. In fact 6 out of the 10 volunteers that day work full time and we get fully subscribed at weekends because so many people who usually work Monday to Friday choose to come out at weekends. Perhaps I should tell them they should not come as they need to go and do some overtime instead? 

 

I will conceded that the programme is predominantly organised by this old fogey and her husband (even though I am still have several years to go before I qualify for a pension). Yes we find things to do in retirement, we organise stuff so the workers can join us on their day off. 

 

Today we have been joined by a lovely chap in his 30's who works in the NHS. He decided to book some annual leave to join us. Also a lass in her 30's who usually packs dog food for a living. She wants to come back with her 16 year old son when she can slot it in as she says he would love it. It seems they should have more important things to do with their time according to you?

 

I just spend my time thoroughly enjoying myself surrounded by passionate individuals from all walks of life. Each of them has a part to play, we all have our strengths and weaknesses and that is how working as a team comes into it's own. Experience comes with age, an experienced boat handler is important to keep a deep draughted boat from going aground when you need to reach litter or vegetation. Experienced people overseeing volunteers who might never have been on a boat before keeps them safe, clearly because they are retired they should hang up their windlass and don their slippers and take up a pipe because in your view people who have retired have no value to the restoration or maintenance of the canal system. 

 

I am finished with this discussion. 

 

I refuse to engage any further with someone who spouts such a lot of drivel passing it off as factual when you clearly have spent no time at all researching what the truth is about the restoration of the Chesterfield Canal before forming your opinion. 

 

Your opinions are, in my view, very offensive to those who so freely give their time to benefit the canals. That includes me.