Fund Britain's Waterways. Birmingham Campaign Cruise. 12th - 13th August

[Victor Vectis]

On 26/07/2023 at 12:05, Tim Lewis said:

 

A picture by Kevin Maslin from the 2005 Save Our Waterways protest

 

 

I reckon there are 17 or 18 boats in this pic.

Given that there is talk of 50 or so boats taking part I would suggest anywhere between Old Turn and Salvage where you can fit a boat in!

Boat Tetris anyone?

😃

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Trip boats’ll be happy. 
 

[wandering snail]

15 hours ago, john6767 said:

That’s all very well, but turn up where and when?

Update  - FBW will communicate with entrants later this week. This will be very simple, boaters gather at any suitable mooring outside the city centre and cruise to arrive at the Mailbox by 11.00am on the Sunday.  The team doesn’t intend to super-organise the Saturday moorings but hope to get around them on the evening. There's a site meeting on Wednesday to make final arrangement with the manager of the Mailbox and CRT people and will then send out ‘instructions’. Come along, no one will be turned away on the day and there are no booked moorings! Please join us, if not by boat it will good to see the towpaths adjacent to the Mailbox crowded with supporters.

[Tonka]

5 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

Update  - FBW will communicate with entrants later this week. This will be very simple, boaters gather at any suitable mooring outside the city centre and cruise to arrive at the Mailbox by 11.00am on the Sunday.  The team doesn’t intend to super-organise the Saturday moorings but hope to get around them on the evening. There's a site meeting on Wednesday to make final arrangement with the manager of the Mailbox and CRT people and will then send out ‘instructions’. Come along, no one will be turned away on the day and there are no booked moorings! Please join us, if not by boat it will good to see the towpaths adjacent to the Mailbox crowded with supporters.

And parking is where ? 

For those who are not coming by public transport 

[john6767]

14 minutes ago, Tonka said:

And parking is where ? 

For those who are not coming by public transport 

There are lots of public carparks close to the Mail Box, it depends on which direction you will be coming from as to which is best.  Have you considered getting the train in, it will probably be cheaper than the cost of the car parking!

[Rob-M]

14 minutes ago, Tonka said:

And parking is where ? 

For those who are not coming by public transport 

I usually park by the Sea Life centre when going to that area by car.

You will be in the emissions zone so check if you need to pay for that.  Alternatively, if coming from the south Barnt Green station is a good place to park and get the train or from the east, Rugeley station.

[john6767]

26 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

Update  - FBW will communicate with entrants later this week. This will be very simple, boaters gather at any suitable mooring outside the city centre and cruise to arrive at the Mailbox by 11.00am on the Sunday.  The team doesn’t intend to super-organise the Saturday moorings but hope to get around them on the evening. There's a site meeting on Wednesday to make final arrangement with the manager of the Mailbox and CRT people and will then send out ‘instructions’. Come along, no one will be turned away on the day and there are no booked moorings! Please join us, if not by boat it will good to see the towpaths adjacent to the Mailbox crowded with supporters.

Thanks for that update!

[Victor Vectis]

Yes.

 

Dorridge has a large car park too.

Bigger than Lapworth and a more frequent train sevice. Trains up to Moor St. and Snow Hill.

 

ETA Dorridge has a coffee shop too, but not sure if its open on Sundays. And I think, repeat think, parking is free at both those places.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Victor Vectis

[john6767]

1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said:

Yes.

 

Dorridge has a large car park too.

Bigger than Lapworth and a more frequent train sevice. Trains up to Moor St. and Snow Hill.

 

ETA Dorridge has a coffee shop too, but not sure if its open on Sundays. And I think, repeat think, parking is free at both those places.

There is also Whitlocks End station, convenient for junction 3 or 4 of M42, lots of free parking, however the service stops at 6pm on Sundays.

[Mike Todd]

14 hours ago, Goliath said:

Trip boats’ll be happy. 
 

Demos that do not disrupt someone rarely get much attention?

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, wandering snail said:

  the day and there are no booked moorings! Please join us, if not by boat it will good to see the towpaths adjacent to the Mailbox crowded with supporters.

Maybe this is just for CRT craft then.

 

Salvage Turn, Birmingham, Worcester & Birmingham Canal | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

 (FBW) action group has organised a campaign cruise to Birmingham on the weekend of 12th – 13th August.

Over 50 boats are expected to gather on Salvage Turn, outside the Mailbox, between 10am and 1pm on Sunday 13th August, and it is likely to be extremely busy for boat traffic around these times.

Moorings will be reserved on the Worcester & Birmingham from Granville St Bridge 88 round to Worcester Bar from Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th; all other visitor moorings in central Birmingham will be unreserved as usual.

The towpaths will remain open through the event, but are likely to be particularly busy around Salvage Turn.

[john6767]

47 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Maybe this is just for CRT craft then.

 

Salvage Turn, Birmingham, Worcester & Birmingham Canal | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

 (FBW) action group has organised a campaign cruise to Birmingham on the weekend of 12th – 13th August.

Over 50 boats are expected to gather on Salvage Turn, outside the Mailbox, between 10am and 1pm on Sunday 13th August, and it is likely to be extremely busy for boat traffic around these times.

Moorings will be reserved on the Worcester & Birmingham from Granville St Bridge 88 round to Worcester Bar from Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th; all other visitor moorings in central Birmingham will be unreserved as usual.

The towpaths will remain open through the event, but are likely to be particularly busy around Salvage Turn.

I had assumed that was so that there would be no boats moored in the area around Salvage Turn

[ditchcrawler]

32 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I had assumed that was so that there would be no boats moored in the area around Salvage Turn

Sounds very plausible, I'll go with that 

[wandering snail]

There's now a petition to sign: https://www.change.org/p/fund-britain-s-waterways

[cuthound]

Signed and shared.

[Tonka]

13 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Signed and shared.

Signed

Said it wanted £11 or share

 

When I confirmed email address 

Said it wanted £7 or share

 

[Rob-M]

6 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Signed

Said it wanted £11 or share

 

When I confirmed email address 

Said it wanted £7 or share

 

It did feel a bit like blackmail, pay up, share or your signature won't count.

[wandering snail]

10 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

It did feel a bit like blackmail, pay up, share or your signature won't count.

That's how change.org try to get money, nothing to do with the petitioner! Just skip and share.

[IanD]

42 minutes ago, wandering snail said:

That's how change.org try to get money, nothing to do with the petitioner! Just skip and share.

That's what I did...

[cuthound]

25 minutes ago, IanD said:

That's what I did...

 

And me.

[haggis]

And me

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Me too!

 

 oh that’s something else,

I meant ‘and me’

[wandering snail]

And here's the link to some new resources. You will need a printer to have them ready for Brum, 'proper' stickers won't be ready in time but are on their way. https://waterways.org.uk/fund-britains-waterways/fbw-resources

Edited August 2, 2023 by wandering snail

[wandering snail]

Update from FBW - We have a good number of boats but more are still welcome. We also need lots of supporters on the towpaths 11am to 1pm on Sunday 13th to show that the campaign is not just about boating.

[Victor Vectis]

This has just come through:

 

Many thanks for supporting us by attending the first event of this campaign, it is great to see members of so many waterways’ organisations coming together to demonstrate our concerns. It will be good to show this to visitors so if you have banners or flags from your organisation please fly them. Banners for the Fund Britain’s Waterways Campaign will be distributed to boats as they approach the site.

We have a good number of boats attending although more will still be welcome if you want to encourage your neighbours to join us. Of course, the campaign is not just about boating so we want to see the towpaths adjacent to the Mailbox full, from 11.00am to 1.00pm on the Sunday, please encourage people to come and support us.

Just a few ‘instructions’, the event has a serious objective but we are sure that you will enjoy the weekend and the opportunity to meet up with fellow boaters. We are not managing the moorings on the Saturday evening, just gather at a convenient location. Some suggestions were included on the entry form and we hope to get around to most of these to say hello! You just need to be near enough to the city centre to cruise comfortably to the Mailbox by 11am on Sunday, remembering that it will be busy.

On arrival at the Mailbox (Salvage Turn) there are no precise moorings, we will have volunteers to assist with getting the fleet into as good an order as we can (ok a degree of chaos is part of the fun), To speed up the process please avoid complex manoeuvres and when leaving just continue in the same direction, there are plenty of winding points a little further away.

As near to 12 midday when we have the fleet reasonably located, listen out for three short blasts of a horn and then let’s have a long and loud 10 sec blast to wake Birmingham up. Soon after that, there will be a presentation including short speeches. A PA system doesn’t work over the large area so we are going hi tec and using an online webinar link which you can access from the link or QR code below. This will also be shown around the site for the benefit of spectators and we have a gazebo by the bridge to the Mailbox if you need help or more information.

Please take the opportunity to explain to the general public why we are there and encourage them to support the campaign. We are expecting good coverage from the press and media, getting the message spread is what the event is all about, so be prepared to be photographed or make is clear if you would rather not. Once activities have quietened down, please move away slowly to gradually clear the area around the Mailbox. Again, we are not organising moorings on the Sunday evening but we are sure that boaters will gather and make their own entertainment or visit local hostelries.

A couple of general points; trip-boats, hire boats and the go-boats have all been notified and recommended to stay clear of the area but please be sympathetic of other canal users. We are not expecting canoeing or other non-powered craft but do keep a watch out, just in case.

In case of any emergency please ring Ivor on 07778 685764.

Many thanks again and do enjoy the weekend as well as contributing to this important campaign.