Canal Closed For Duck Race!

[n.b.Goldie]

Leeds & Liverpool Canal - Lock 86 to Lock 87 (Wigan)

 

Sunday 30 June 2013 - Sunday 30 June 2013

Due to a charity Duck Race event, the pound between Locks 86 & 87 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal will be closed to navigation between 10am and 6pm on 30 June 2013.

 

All boats moored in the pound will be asked to vacate the area during the event times specified above.

 

Enquiries: 0303 0404040

 

You can find all stoppages at the url below:

http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppages

 

Please do not reply to the email. It has been automatically generated.

 

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Thin edge of the wedge?

Regards

Ditchdabbler

[lydfordcastle]

How does that work then? I thought a flow of water was needed for a duck race? These must be powered ducks so hopefully CaRT are charging the appropriate license fee for each duck?

Seriously though, it's a bit much if you've worked out a cruise including that pound only to be held up for a day by a duck race. Legality question here?

[matty40s]

quackers idea if you ask me...

[john6767]

I don't see any problem in stopping boat traffic whilst an event is in progress, but 8 hours, that does not seem reasonable to me.

[bigste]

Wife tells me there is a flow through the pound, (maybe they open a paddle in the lower lock), and you buy a yellow plastic duck and cross your fingers. It's an annual event attended by many so it is very very popular.

[Guest]

'tis for a good cause.

 

http://www.daddysduckrace.co.uk/

 

About Daddy's Duck Race

Daddy’s Duck Race is a charity event created by Corey Coggins, aged four, Bobby Goode, aged seven and Ted Goode, aged five. The duck race aims to raise awareness of two causes close to the boys' hearts; Bowel Cancer and Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.

Corey lost his daddy to Bowel Cancer in 2011, whilst Bobby and Ted lost their daddy to Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency in 2009. The event will also raise funds for Wigan and Leigh Hospice, which is the boys' chosen charity.

 

 

(ed as got the charity wrong)

Edited June 24, 2013 by The Dog House

[mayalld]

Leeds & Liverpool Canal - Lock 86 to Lock 87 (Wigan)

 

Sunday 30 June 2013 - Sunday 30 June 2013

Due to a charity Duck Race event, the pound between Locks 86 & 87 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal will be closed to navigation between 10am and 6pm on 30 June 2013.

 

All boats moored in the pound will be asked to vacate the area during the event times specified above.

 

Enquiries: 0303 0404040

 

You can find all stoppages at the url below:

http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppages

 

Please do not reply to the email. It has been automatically generated.

 

To unsubscribe from this service please go to: http://www.waterscape.com/login and uncheck the relevant box.

 

 

 

Thin edge of the wedge?

Regards

Ditchdabbler

 

Indeed so, and not at all in accordance with what they have to say in their terms and conditions when you took out a licence;

 

9.1. We will do our best to keep the Waterway open for cruising. The Licence fees are calculated on the assumption that you will be affected by closures from time to time and accordingly refunds of Licence fees will not be made for closures as described in this condition.

The age of the Waterway will inevitably mean occasional unforeseen failure requiring closures. Essential maintenance work may also require closures but, except in emergencies or for other unavoidable reasons, we shall try to arrange our maintenance work to cause you the least disruption. This means that most work requiring closures will be done between the beginning of November and the end of March. There may be other occasions when, due to causes beyond our reasonable control, we have to close part or, (exceptionally) all of the Waterway.

 

Arbitrarily closing a canal for a reason unrelated to essential maintenance is NOT what licence holders signed up for, and a complaint would be quite in order here

[cheshire~rose]

I think people should lighten up a bit.

 

While I understand it can be frustrating if you need to make progress I suspect it will not be closed for the entire 8 hours but will open again as soon as the race is finished - that is what usually happens with this sort of thing.

 

It is a charity event that has been going on for years. It raises some money for a good cause and puts a lot of smiles on a lot of faces in the process.

 

They are giving people fair warning that is it going to be closed for a few hours that day, people can either speed their journey up a bit through this week to get past or even slow down so it does not affect them

[mayalld]

'tis for a good cause.

 

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/features/duck-race.aspx

 

That appears to be ANOTHER duck race the following week.

 

Looks like we aren't even at the thin end of the wedge.

[Nightwatch]

quackers idea if you ask me...

Who's going to foot the bill?

Edited June 24, 2013 by Nightwatch

[matty40s]

perhaps we can get the scouts down there volunteering with windlasses to speed the process....

[Allan(nb Albert)]

perhaps we can get the scouts down there volunteering with windlasses to speed the process....

Better to get to Wolverhampton 21 vandals down there..........

[Guest]

 

That appears to be ANOTHER duck race the following week.

 

Looks like we aren't even at the thin end of the wedge.

 

No my error. The original link I posted was for a children's hospice last summer.

 

I've corrected the link.

[bizzard]

Who's going to foot the bill?

You'd kick a duck in the beak!!!

[Guest]

I think people should lighten up a bit.

 

While I understand it can be frustrating if you need to make progress I suspect it will not be closed for the entire 8 hours but will open again as soon as the race is finished - that is what usually happens with this sort of thing.

 

It is a charity event that has been going on for years. It raises some money for a good cause and puts a lot of smiles on a lot of faces in the process.

 

They are giving people fair warning that is it going to be closed for a few hours that day, people can either speed their journey up a bit through this week to get past or even slow down so it does not affect them

 

I've got to agree - it does make us boaters look like a bunch of miserable old sods.

 

More background here

Edited June 24, 2013 by The Dog House

[BargeeSpud]

 

Indeed so, and not at all in accordance with what they have to say in their terms and conditions when you took out a licence;

 

9.1. We will do our best to keep the Waterway open for cruising. The Licence fees are calculated on the assumption that you will be affected by closures from time to time and accordingly refunds of Licence fees will not be made for closures as described in this condition.

The age of the Waterway will inevitably mean occasional unforeseen failure requiring closures. Essential maintenance work may also require closures but, except in emergencies or for other unavoidable reasons, we shall try to arrange our maintenance work to cause you the least disruption. This means that most work requiring closures will be done between the beginning of November and the end of March. There may be other occasions when, due to causes beyond our reasonable control, we have to close part or, (exceptionally) all of the Waterway.

 

Arbitrarily closing a canal for a reason unrelated to essential maintenance is NOT what licence holders signed up for, and a complaint would be quite in order here

 

Hear, hear, although I think making a formal complaint for a one-off might be a little OTT. If such closures were to become more frequent & widespread, then that becomes worth formally complaining about.

 

I'm not sure, but I think we once had the Marsworth flight of locks on the GU closed for a weekend for a kid's fishing match. Whether that was actually true or not, we know anglers would love to have the canal closed for matches.

 

I think people should lighten up a bit.

 

While I understand it can be frustrating if you need to make progress I suspect it will not be closed for the entire 8 hours but will open again as soon as the race is finished - that is what usually happens with this sort of thing.

 

It is a charity event that has been going on for years. It raises some money for a good cause and puts a lot of smiles on a lot of faces in the process.

 

They are giving people fair warning that is it going to be closed for a few hours that day, people can either speed their journey up a bit through this week to get past or even slow down so it does not affect them

 

Very fair point, well made & difficult to argue against. Still doesn't really make it right though, in my opinion.

[Guest]

Very fair point, well made & difficult to argue against. Still doesn't really make it right though, in my opinion.

 

I agree that a control needs to be kept on such events but this particular one would I estimate would affect a handful of boaters.

 

If it was happening on a busy section of the GU down South there may be greater cause for concern but on one of the quietest parts of the system?

[jonathanA]

actually the times have been changed its now 11-5pm so time for anyone to work through before/after I'd have thought and plenty of help around presumably which would be a pleasant change on the wigan flight...

 

my only concern would be the apparent short notice which could affect someone out cruising planning to to pass that way next weekend...

[BargeeSpud]

 

If it was happening on a busy section of the GU down South there may be greater cause for concern but on one of the quietest parts of the system?

 

Not for a one off I'd have thought, but these events sometimes get out of control when other organisations think it's a good idea & start jumping on the bandwagon. The tricky question is how many events, & their frequency, occuring on the same canal become a nuisance to other users? Assuming CRT have to approve such events, at what point does a line get drawn? 2,3,4 or more events/year? Difficult balancing act I'd say & I don't envy those that might have to make it.

[mayalld]

 

I've got to agree - it does make us boaters look like a bunch of miserable old sods.

 

More background here

 

The tyranny of the charity event.

 

"I am doing this for charity, therefore you must accept the inconvenience, because if you don't you are a bad person"

 

Yes, this is on a quiet part of the system, and only a few boaters would have gone through in any case, which means that it is all the more perplexing why an 8 hour total closure is required, or the removal of boats moored there.

 

If the notice was to say that duck races were being held, and that boaters may have to wait for a short time whilst each race took place, and that they would be able to navigate during the gaps between races, that would be reasonable.

[Janet S]

FFS....it's a bloody charity event for a child who's lost his father and wants to remember him and benefit other people...

 

...what's a few hours inconvenience compared to that?

 

It's a world away from the "chuggers" who accost you in every shopping centre with pleas for their charities...

 

Let's get this little guy a bit of support rather than condemnation because one or two boaters may be inconvenienced for an hour or two...

 

Janet

[mayalld]

FFS....it's a bloody charity event for a child who's lost his father and wants to remember him and benefit other people...

 

...what's a few hours inconvenience compared to that?

 

As I said, the tyranny of the charity event.

 

Wheel out the "its for charity" label, and sensible decision making has to be discarded, because you can bet your life that had CRT said "sorry, no you can't just close the canal for the day, they would have been slammed in the press"

 

Yes, here we have a child who has lost his father (actually, three children who have lost their fathers). It is dreadfully sad, but hardly unique. Is every deceased parent to be accorded a one day canal closure?

[Guest]

 

The tyranny of the charity event.

 

"I am doing this for charity, therefore you must accept the inconvenience, because if you don't you are a bad person"

 

Yes, this is on a quiet part of the system, and only a few boaters would have gone through in any case, which means that it is all the more perplexing why an 8 hour total closure is required, or the removal of boats moored there.

 

If the notice was to say that duck races were being held, and that boaters may have to wait for a short time whilst each race took place, and that they would be able to navigate during the gaps between races, that would be reasonable.

 

As I've said already as long as the situation with this type of stuff doesn't get out of hand I personally have no issue with it.

 

Any resulting inconvenience pales into insignificance when you compare the impact of the likes of the London Marathon or Great North Run, proportionately of course the amounts raised and the charities helped are much greater but if this had been the thoughts back when they were conceived they would never have got off the ground.

 

If it was me and I came up against the stoppage I would just moor up and join in the fun!!

[cheshire~rose]

 

As I said, the tyranny of the charity event.

 

Wheel out the "its for charity" label, and sensible decision making has to be discarded, because you can bet your life that had CRT said "sorry, no you can't just close the canal for the day, they would have been slammed in the press"

 

Yes, here we have a child who has lost his father (actually, three children who have lost their fathers). It is dreadfully sad, but hardly unique. Is every deceased parent to be accorded a one day canal closure?

 

Maybe if people got into the spirit of the event, supported it and maybe (God forbid) even enjoyed themselves then there may, in the future be a few less children who lose their fathers through these circumstances

 

(deploy tongue in cheek smiley) ..... So maybe the canal won't have to close so often in future for this type of circumstance

[Janet S]

Wheel out the "its for charity" label, and sensible decision making has to be discarded

 

 

Eh?...where did I say that?

 

A one-off event on a quiet section of canal? I really can't see any problem there and if I can make it, then I'll be there to show my support and donate to their cause...

 

janet