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'June' A Short Boat


Peter-Bullfinch

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In 1969 a group of Venture Scout friends left Burscough for a holiday to Skipton on the Leeds and Liverpool on board 'June'. This was my first

 

narrowboat holiday but I had been brought up adjacent to the L&L, first in Maghull and then later on near the Rufford branch. The boat on our

 

holiday was steered by a man named 'Bill' if I remember corectly and he was completing a law degree at Kings in London maybe?

He is seen here holding the tea towel with us at Burscough.

 

Top-17bmp_zps65aacba9.jpg

 

We recently saw 'June' again at Fiskereton Wharf on the Trent as we passed by in our boat Bullfinch. We moored for the night at the pub there

 

and wandered over to see the boat which had been so instrumental in forming my fascination for our canals and boats.

 

Fiskerton_zpsf242bc1c.jpg

 

I understood 'June' to be 57'6" and was operated by James Monk and Sons of Adlington and was named after his daughter perhaps. In the 60s it

 

seems to have been carrying coal on the Bridgewater to Barton Power Station. Maybe he converted the boat by removing the deck gear from its

 

'keel' style.

 

I think Peter Froud used 'June' as a camping boat after he had used it for timber and other cargoes around Manchester as part of Pennine Water Transport. The camping trips

 

seemed to have been around 1969 to 1971. I believe Tim Leech will know more because he steered a few trips.

 

June_zps1b0a450a.jpg

 

In the 1970s June seems to have been on the gravel traffic, Thurmaston, on the River Soar. I don't know when 'June' was built but possibly the

 

length made it possible for her to navigate the Calder and Hebble.

 

In the 1980s it seems that Chris Topp coverted 'June' again to keel rig and then maybe 'June' then went to Sheffield before finding her way to

 

Fiskerton. I am unsure if this incomplete history is at all accurate but I am sure some here may well help me with correcting and filling in

 

more of the details.

 

june100423fiskertona_zps6775773b.jpg

 

I acknowledge the pictures and thank their owners, some taken from Google Images.

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In 1969 a group of Venture Scout friends left Burscough for a holiday to Skipton on the Leeds and Liverpool on board 'June'. This was my first

 

narrowboat holiday but I had been brought up adjacent to the L&L, first in Maghull and then later on near the Rufford branch. The boat on our

 

holiday was steered by a man named 'Bill' if I remember corectly and he was completing a law degree at Kings in London maybe?

He is seen here holding the tea towel with us at Burscough.

 

Top-17bmp_zps65aacba9.jpg

 

We recently saw 'June' again at Fiskereton Wharf on the Trent as we passed by in our boat Bullfinch. We moored for the night at the pub there

 

and wandered over to see the boat which had been so instrumental in forming my fascination for our canals and boats.

 

Fiskerton_zpsf242bc1c.jpg

 

I understood 'June' to be 57'6" and was operated by James Monk and Sons of Adlington and was named after his daughter perhaps. In the 60s it

 

seems to have been carrying coal on the Bridgewater to Barton Power Station. Maybe he converted the boat by removing the deck gear from its

 

'keel' style.

 

I think Peter Froud used 'June' as a camping boat after he had used it for timber and other cargoes around Manchester as part of Pennine Water Transport. The camping trips

 

seemed to have been around 1969 to 1971. I believe Tim Leech will know more because he steered a few trips.

 

June_zps1b0a450a.jpg

 

In the 1970s June seems to have been on the gravel traffic, Thurmaston, on the River Soar. I don't know when 'June' was built but possibly the

 

length made it possible for her to navigate the Calder and Hebble.

 

In the 1980s it seems that Chris Topp coverted 'June' again to keel rig and then maybe 'June' then went to Sheffield before finding her way to

 

Fiskerton. I am unsure if this incomplete history is at all accurate but I am sure some here may well help me with correcting and filling in

 

more of the details.

 

june100423fiskertona_zps6775773b.jpg

 

I acknowledge the pictures and thank their owners, some taken from Google Images.

Met June in a bridge hole when we cruised the L& L in 1964. Frightened the life out of us.A fine sight.

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In 1969 a group of Venture Scout friends left Burscough for a holiday to Skipton on the Leeds and Liverpool on board 'June'. This was my first

 

narrowboat holiday but I had been brought up adjacent to the L&L, first in Maghull and then later on near the Rufford branch. The boat on our

 

holiday was steered by a man named 'Bill' if I remember corectly and he was completing a law degree at Kings in London maybe?

He is seen here holding the tea towel with us at Burscough.

 

 

We recently saw 'June' again at Fiskereton Wharf on the Trent as we passed by in our boat Bullfinch. We moored for the night at the pub there

 

and wandered over to see the boat which had been so instrumental in forming my fascination for our canals and boats.

 

I understood 'June' to be 57'6" and was operated by James Monk and Sons of Adlington and was named after his daughter perhaps. In the 60s it

 

seems to have been carrying coal on the Bridgewater to Barton Power Station. Maybe he converted the boat by removing the deck gear from its

 

'keel' style.

 

I think Peter Froud used 'June' as a camping boat after he had used it for timber and other cargoes around Manchester as part of Pennine Water Transport. The camping trips

 

seemed to have been around 1969 to 1971. I believe Tim Leech will know more because he steered a few trips.

 

 

In the 1970s June seems to have been on the gravel traffic, Thurmaston, on the River Soar. I don't know when 'June' was built but possibly the

 

length made it possible for her to navigate the Calder and Hebble.

 

In the 1980s it seems that Chris Topp coverted 'June' again to keel rig and then maybe 'June' then went to Sheffield before finding her way to

 

Fiskerton. I am unsure if this incomplete history is at all accurate but I am sure some here may well help me with correcting and filling in

 

more of the details.

 

 

I did a lot of the 'conversion' for camping use (basically putting up plywood bulkheads!), must have been 1968, and yes I did steer the boat on a few trips.

I don't remember who 'Bill' was, I was busy elsewhere for most of that summer.

June was built for the Calder & Hebble, I believe as a 'Fly boat'. Pluto probably knows more detail.

I wasn't aware that it had ever been on the gravel traffic, just shows that (if true) you learn something new every day.

 

I do remember having to go out to it, first trip of the season, after the engine (JP) fractured an oil pipe and George Page kept it running until it died - oil all over the engine room and big end knackered with the crankpin seriously oval. I borrowed a pair of big end shells out of the engine on the Finch (Short Boat), luckily they were undersize so I was able to shim them out to give a running fit, then removed shims at intervals during the season to keep it going, until it was brought 'home' at the end of the season for repair.

 

I've posted a picture before, of when it was taken by road from Preston Brook to Weston Point docks after the major Bridgewater breach at Bollington, thought it was still on my Photobucket page but can't find it.

 

Edit to add a picture

 

June-3.gif

 

 

Tim

Edited by Timleech
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we were on the L%L during that era, and I am gutted to say that I don't remeber June :( I thought i had a good memory for the old L&L boats, but clearly not as good as I thought.

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In 1969 a group of Venture Scout friends left Burscough for a holiday to Skipton on the Leeds and Liverpool on board 'June'. This was my first

 

narrowboat holiday but I had been brought up adjacent to the L&L, first in Maghull and then later on near the Rufford branch. The boat on our

 

holiday was steered by a man named 'Bill' if I remember corectly and he was completing a law degree at Kings in London maybe?

He is seen here holding the tea towel with us at Burscough.

 

Top-17bmp_zps65aacba9.jpg

 

June was an Aire & Calder Navigation fly boat built circa 1880, one of several to survive. Paul Lorenz's Pauline is another. The surviving ones are all slightly different having been built at different times with different carrying capacities. Boats got progressively deeper over time for the same lock dimensions.

 

I am sure that the photo was taken at Skipton and not Burscough, where the warehouse is built from brick. The one in the photo has a flat lintel over the taking-in opening which confirms that it is Skipton. Early warehouses in Lancashire have curved arches over their landing bays.

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I wasn't aware that it had ever been on the gravel traffic, just shows that (if true) you learn something new every day.

 

 

When I was planning the Thurmaston-Syston gravel traffic it was expected that the short boats Wye, Weaver, Irwell, and Shirley would work the job, with Threefellows Carrying (operators of Shirley) acting as local traffic managers. The aggregate company people were adamant they did not want narrow boats! In fact rather late in the day neither Weaver nor Irwell were available so I arranged for Chris Topp to provide June. I also persuaded Pontylue Sand & Ballast try try a narrow boat and so Wye, Shirley, June and Whitby loaded on 3rd May 1976. June was awkward to load, and to manage, and didn't carry well in that very shallow section of the River Soar (about 35 tonnes on a maximum 3ft 6 in draft) and according to my records her last week on the traffic was the week commencing 6th November 1976. By then more of the Threefellows narrow boat fleet had joined the remaining wide boats, with a weekly tonnage carried averaging about 3000 tons, though week commencing 21st June 1976 I have 3870 tons recorded. Threefellows Carrying took over the contract from Apollo Canal Carriers on 1st January 1977 though Apollo's short boat 'Wye' remained on the traffic for some time afterwards. With hindsight, of course, the ideal boats would have been tugs and wide pans and this is what Northern Tug & Barge Co used for the final years of the traffic until 1996. I hope that is of interest.

regards

David L

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