The Canal & River Trust Council election

The Canal & River Trust Council

December 2011

You may have read that the Canal & River Trust are establishing a Council which represents the various groups with an interest in our Inland Waterways. Most of the members are co-opted on, but four seats have been reserved for representatives of the boating community, elected by single transferable vote.

The Council performs an essential role as the guardian of the long term values and spirit of the Trust. The Council will have an important role in helping to shape policy, raising and debating issues, providing guidance and providing a sounding board for the trustees, who determine the policy and strategy of the Trust.

Now here is the thing. Having given the matter much thought I have decided to stand for election as a boater representative. You will be aware of my passion for our waterways, but there are some aspects to Captain Ahab that are not immediately apparent from my blog, aspects which are very relevant to my desire to serve in this way.

When I am not boating, or thinking about boating, I have a busy career overseeing the operational integrity of the European arm of a multinational company. This role involves taking a commercial approach to big decisions, weighing the risks of the various options, all within the confines of a big bureaucracy. What is more, I spend much of my time wrestling with the application of various rules and regulations coming out the government. Quite often my role seems to be stating what I see as the blindingly obvious - the fact that the emperor has no clothes, if you like. There seem to be a lot of similarities between my professional life and the role expected of a C&RT Council member

Nothing would give me more pleasure than to be able to apply my thirty years of commercial experience to my forty year passion for our inland waterways. Having grown up holidaying on the dirty ditch canals and rivers of the 1960s, I have watched them regenerate into the splendid resource that they are today, bringing joy to millions. We hold this unique network in trust for future generations and the migration to the new Trust represents a pivotal moment in it's history. It is therefore essential that we get it right first time and avoid costly mistakes.  

With your support I would like to play my part in ensuring the successful development of our inland waterways resource. With love, care and lots of good management I hope to see Jeff cruising an improved and extended network in another 40 years time.

So what next? Well, the elections will take place in February / March 2012 but in the meantime it would be great if you could lend my candidacy your endorsement. The boating community is a large and diverse population and I don't stand with any body, group or organisation behind me. I won't seek to represent any specific boating sub group, but rather the boating community in general. 


I guess you could say that if I am to gain enough votes, I will need to attract the "floating boater" (aargh - what a terrible pun!). But seriously, we boaters are a geographically spread bunch and communication is a challenge. If you feel you could lend me your support, can I ask you to make my candidacy known within your own boating circles please? 


I have to admit to feeling a bit nervous about standing, so I want to say a special thank you to those of you that have kindly agreed to nominate me. Your demonstration of support and words of encouragement  are much appreciated.


Andy Tidy

Off to have our bottom blacked

Journey to Stafford Boat Club

November 2011

Other posts in this series:
1. Journey to Stafford Boat Club - this post
2. Stuck on slipways
3. Stripping and bare bottoms
4. Big black bottoms
5. All tanked up
6. Slipping back
7. A peek at my bottom

Its two and a half years since Wand'ring Bark was last out the water to have her bottom blacked and her hull is in need of some TLC. The bit above the waterline looks scrappy, but its the rust blooms beneath the surface which give cause for concern.

Teddesley Park Bridge

This will be the third blacking we have competed but till now its a job I have always left to the professionals. I like to do  what I can to the boat and re blacking the bottom is an obvious next task for the DIY list. Its not that I have been dissatisfied with the previous bits of work, but I would like to know exactly what state the hull is is as we approach her 10th birthday.

I cast around for somewhere to do this task and settled on Stafford Boat Club who are convenient and charge a competitive £250 for a winch out and a week on the hard standing. The dry dock at Stourport costs about the same and has the added benefit of a roof, bit it is two days cruising away and correspondingly further to drive.

Stafford Boat Club has a enthusiastic and friendly membership and its good to know that my money will be reinvested in their site.

It all turned out to be a bit of a rush in the end. I flew back from Kazakhstan on the Friday afternoon, Bones cane to stay and we had to drop a car off in Stafford, buy materials from Midland Chandlers in Penkridge and get some food before we could get to Calf Heath Marina, In  the end we cast off just before 1.00pm with about five hours of cruising ahead of us - there are not enough hours of daylight in late November!

The sun was setting was we passed through Penkridge and the last glimmers of sunshine slanted down the cut as we passed Teddesley Bridge. It was odd to see another boat occupying  Lady Hatherton's mooring at Teddesley - does anyone know where she is?

We were onto the headlight at Acton Trussell and stayed that way for the next hour and a half, passing a surprising number of moored boats, far more than I would expect this late in the season. We finally crept into Stafford Boat Club at 5.30pm and were promptly invited to the Country and Western evening. The head was willing but the body was just too weary, so we settled down to a couple of DVD's and an early night. Not bad for an end of season bonus.

Wainwright the biography - book review

Wainwright the biography
Book review by Hunter Davies
December 2011

I have a long held appreciation of Alfred Wainwright, or just Wainwright as he known to the thousands of his devotees - fell walkers who follow in his footsteps via his seven lovely hand drawn walking guides to Lakeland.

I came across Wainwright in the late 1970's, ten years after he completed the guides and about 15 years before his death - stumbling over his books which covered the central and north eastern fells. I came to love those high high peaks which became as familiar to me the the BCN does today, Haystacks, Red Pike, Pillar and Great Gable giving way to Titford, Ryders Green, Engine Arm and the Curley Wyrley.

I was a young 18 year old taking my first tentative steps into those majestic but forbidding peaks as he was taking his last, age and failing eyesight limiting his expeditions to escorted trips organised by the BBC. I fell in love with his little pocked sized books with their idiosyncratic maps and engaging prose. I am particularly reminded of the time I made my way from Scafell Pike to Scafell via Mickledore and was confronted by Broad Stand, which presented a seemingly impossible barrier to my progress. Out came Wainwright and I was soon making my way round the edge via Lords Rake and then across the climbers face via the West Wall Traverse. With Wainwright on my pocket I never felt really alone. Then there was the time I wanted to get to Pillar from Great Gable. Wainwright persuaded me to stray off the main track and descend a steep gully to the 'high level route' which offers great views of Ennerdale as you cross the Shamrock Traverse and the back of Pillar Rock. All the way Wanwright sat on my shoulder whispering hints and suggestions to help me get the most out of his beloved landscape.

So what of the man himself? If I am absolutely honest I am not entirely sure I would have liked him very much, certainly not in his rather anti social pre retirement phase. The biography does not paint an altogether flattering picture of an anti social accountant who played a full part in creating a deeply unhappy marriage which lasted 30 years and ended within weeks of his retirement. I tried to keep reminding myself that he was a man of his time,  born in 1909 - half way between my grandfather and my fathers years of birth. The world was a different place then.

He was a man of intense solitude, shunning social  events and public gatherings. Its said that his preoccupation with his guide books caused the breakdown of his marriage but in fact the cracks existed from the start and its probably fairer to say that his obsession was more a symptom than a cause. 

The biography is a patchy read, intensely interesting regarding his passion for the fells and the creation of his books but slow and downbeat in its coverage of his family life. His books are his lasting legacy, and there are so many of them. Most were published by the unknown Westmoorlond Gazette and later by Michael Joseph of London.

Its amazing that his guides remain in print and as relevant and attractive as ever. They remained unaltered till his death after which they were edited and updated - but carefully to retain the quirky essence which has appealed to generations of walkers. 

Then there is the animal refuge. Wainwright was never motivated by money and all his profits were donated to the creation of a refuge in Kendal. If you are a stray Kendal is the place to be!

All in all its a good and insightful read which will appeal to lovers of his books. My advice - get hold of the guide books first and only after you have fallen under their spell should you tackle this book. If you appreciate his guide books you will soon find yourself forgiving the man his very significant oddities. He has left the world is a richer place.

The Brownhills miner

Brownhills miner statue
December 2011

If you ever drive through Brownhills to the north of Birmingham you can't help but see the huge contemporary aluminum statue of a miner. It stands in the middle of the roundabout near Tescos, its arms raised bearing a pick axe and lamp in a silent salute to the abandoned coalfield to the north.

Its impressive in the daytime but its best viewed at night, when this series was shot.

Taking photos is sometimes like going fishing - the best ones always get away. Its the same with this statue - a few months ago I was passing as the golden rays of a setting sun broke from under an ominous dark sky. The statue was bathed in blood red light but frustratingly by the time I had parked and walked back the moment was gone. Never mind - there is always a next time!

Horstead Mill - Autumn Colours

Horstead Mill - Autumn Colours

November 2011

We recently attended my mothers 80th Birthday celebration in Norfolk and our return took us past Horstead Mill, one of my favourite locations.

I realised that Belle had never seen this spot, and maybe, just maybe, there would be some beech leaves clinging to the branches of the trees near the site of the old lock keepers cottage.

We walked over and were rewarded with a splendid autumnal display.

If I were to be cremated I would like my ashes sprinkled here - but as I plan to be buried that could be a little difficult.......