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A boat needs your help on the River Soar

Roger t' Bodger

By Roger t' Bodger
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Roger t' Bodger Community Regular

Roger t' Bodger

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The Riverside Rangers manager Adrian Lane emailed me on Friday requesting that I pass on his plea for concerned folk to vote on a website to enhance the chances of them receiving some desperately needed funds to help maintain the waterways in Leicester. King Learie was overjoyed as it meant he had something useful to do while the rain hammered down on Sunday afternoon so he got going with photos and video clips to produce a homage to this valiant team of Rangers. See it here :- http://vimeo.com/6375880

 

Here is part of Adrians email detailing the way you vote for the proceeds of crime to be spent educating the citizens of Leicester in how to enjoy the river without polluting it and picking out the rubbish that is thrown in it involving the help of volunteers.

 

Here's Adrian's email:

 

Leicester Riverside's GreenLife Boat project is in the final local round of voting to receive funding from the Community Cashback scheme being run by the Criminal Justice Service. I have submitted a bid to fund the resources needed to start tackling areas of the river we cannot as yet do and go out to spread the word about keeping our rivers clean. The project will continue to involve all members of the community as volunteers and is a common problem that affects us all wherever we live from the main river and back along all the watercourses which run through all the areas of the city and beyond.

 

If we are successful in the local vote it is then put forward to a judging panel at the CJS for final approval.

 

If you follow the link and then click on Leicestershire and Rutland. http://cashback.cjsonline.gov.uk/

 

Click on the "Have your say" button.

 

On the list click on the "GreenLife Boat".

 

Click this title agin to insert a tick against it.

 

Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Have your say" button again to submit your vote.

 

If we are successful we will be told towards the end of September and this would immediately give us a vital boost in tackling the litter and rubbish in our canal and river over the years ahead.

 

Remember you can vote from work and home.

 

If you could also spread the word to get others to support this project I would be most grateful.

 

Adrian Lane

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

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DONE IT,

I spent 2 hours at the lock nearest the space station,there were 4 black binbags floating around so I decided to hook them out. every-one split before landing(being full of water) and all the rubbish was hooked out separately, bag by bag, for most of it was in individual shopping bags.

 

The rubbish was obviously picnic rubbish, bagged up and then deposited in bin liners, (from bins ???? in Abbey Park??....) .

Perhaps the job of the canals is being compounded by lazy council parks staff locally???????????????????????????????

lots of questions, but I did this before Easter ,in a nice weather spell, what's it been like for the Green boat over summer.

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Roger t' Bodger Community Regular

Roger t' Bodger

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Throwing rubbish in the waterways is bad karma and pulling it out is very good karma (especially if you are not paid to do it) It beggers belief what some people do for a bit of a laff but it is all part of a dynamic society where one lot wind up the other with their actions which in turn stimulates a positive reaction.... or something like that!

 

If rubbish is deposited carefully in a bin and awaiting collection and some drugged-up scroats finds it serious fun to chuck it all in the water then there isn't a lot anyone can do except provide better education along with going to pick it up. That's what Adrian and his team try to do. BW were very impressed with the Greenlife setup and are trying to copy some of the volunteer aspects. Unbeleivably the Rangers aren't highly regarded within the council as they tend to show everyone else up as under-achievers, clock watchers and job worths. It must be something to do with the water!

 

DONE IT,

I spent 2 hours at the lock nearest the space station,there were 4 black binbags floating around so I decided to hook them out. every-one split before landing(being full of water) and all the rubbish was hooked out separately, bag by bag, for most of it was in individual shopping bags.

 

The rubbish was obviously picnic rubbish, bagged up and then deposited in bin liners, (from bins ???? in Abbey Park??....) .

Perhaps the job of the canals is being compounded by lazy council parks staff locally???????????????????????????????

lots of questions, but I did this before Easter ,in a nice weather spell, what's it been like for the Green boat over summer.

 

The weather is the same for everyone but it doesn't put off the team or the volunteers. I've been with them when it's sleeted, hailed and the clip in the video where the boat is receeding into the distance, a violent thunderstorm in July was in progress, I was having to shelter under the new Upperton Road bridge as it was too bad to follow them with the camera.

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Roger t' Bodger Community Regular

Roger t' Bodger

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Dscf2160.jpg

Here is Greenlife at the unique bridging of the old Soar, where Duns Lane bridge and Braunstone Gate Bridge cross over each other. Soon it will be just the river bridge here as the old railway bridge is to be demolished. :lol:

 

Adrian just rang me to say that the voting system allows you one vote each day so everyone has 12 more votes before the closing date of Monday the 14th September. I have now voted 4 times but of course all the other projects vying for funding can do the same. the only difference is that they are all on the bank!!!! :lol:http://cashback.cjsonline.gov.uk/

http://vimeo.com/6375880

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Big John Community Regular

Big John

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Are there any other areas that have waterway based projects? Now if BW had their voluntary sector hat on, there would be lots of projects like this one and they would be emailing all their licence holders to invite them to vote. Way to go?

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Roger t' Bodger Community Regular

Roger t' Bodger

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Leicester's waterways history is unique in that the Victorian Flood Prevention Scheme caused 4 miles of waterways to be completely remodelled, that belonged to two canal companies. As a result the Corporation decided to maintain the waterways in this section at no cost to the canal companies to ensure that the watercourses were doing their job to avoid serious flooding in the city. It was in the 1970's when an council accountant noticed this anomally in that BW maitained most waterways in the country except in Leicester. Suddenly BW found it was looking after 4 more miles of navigation.

Leicester had it's own maintenance fleet including dredgers tugs and hoppers, these were sold off but the concept of having it's own boat just managed to survive until Greenlife came into being.

 

I met some Coventry Riverside Park Rangers at Hawkesbury Junction in 2007 but they were firmly on the bank and I'm sure other cities have similar set-ups but no boats. The reason why Leicester has one now is due the determination that Adrian has sustained over the past 20 years fighting to maintain a budget to animate the project.

 

All successful projects have someone like Adrian Lane fighting its cause, BW could learn a lot ffrom Greenlife but I don't think they have the right structure for managers to be able to plan long term which is exactly what is needed. Some of Greenlife volunteers have been regulars for years and some are live aboards from Thurmaston.

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Theo Veteran

TheoDonate to Canal World

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Leicester's waterways history is unique in that the Victorian Flood Prevention Scheme caused 4 miles of waterways to be completely remodelled, that belonged to two canal companies. As a result the Corporation decided to maintain the waterways in this section at no cost to the canal companies to ensure that the watercourses were doing their job to avoid serious flooding in the city. It was in the 1970's when an council accountant noticed this anomally in that BW maitained most waterways in the country except in Leicester. Suddenly BW found it was looking after 4 more miles of navigation.

Leicester had it's own maintenance fleet including dredgers tugs and hoppers, these were sold off but the concept of having it's own boat just managed to survive until Greenlife came into being.

 

I met some Coventry Riverside Park Rangers at Hawkesbury Junction in 2007 but they were firmly on the bank and I'm sure other cities have similar set-ups but no boats. The reason why Leicester has one now is due the determination that Adrian has sustained over the past 20 years fighting to maintain a budget to animate the project.

 

All successful projects have someone like Adrian Lane fighting its cause, BW could learn a lot ffrom Greenlife but I don't think they have the right structure for managers to be able to plan long term which is exactly what is needed. Some of Greenlife volunteers have been regulars for years and some are live aboards from Thurmaston.

 

Just voted.

 

I wonder who the live aboards are. I am on nodding terms with a few and chatting terms with one or two.

 

N

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