Towpath Talk

WRG volunteers return to Beggarlee extension work

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January 23, 2024

The Friends of Cromford Canal received planning permission to extend the Cromford Canal to Stoney Lane, Brinsley in Nottinghamshire and have now started the second pre-work stage for the Beggarlee extension. John Guyler reports… WATERWAY Recovery Group volunteers returned to work on the Cromford Canal’s Beggarlee extension in November with the aim of completing the…
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Giving something back…

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January 22, 2024

Ranger Maureen Readle is one of the many helping hands devoting their time to caring for the local canal network. Sally Clifford finds out more… CRUISING on the canal network for 12 years, Maureen and John Readle were keen to give something back. Maureen explained they were among the owners of a syndicate boat. “For…
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Starting this weekend: Open days

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January 19, 2024

OPEN days are being held by the Canal & River Trust on the Kennet & Avon and Shropshire Union canals and a London reservoir. Lock 75, Dun Mill Lock at Hungerford will open from 11am-3pm on Saturday, January 20 with a chance to see lock repairs. There will also be free history and ecology walks.…
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CRT Mail Changes

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January 18, 2024

THE Canal & River Trust is changing licence communications sent to boaters in 2024 to provide more clarity and advice around cruising expectations and to highlight help for those who are struggling. From June an advisory letter will be sent with every renewed licence instead of just with new licence applications and midpoint reminders about…
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Powering the move towards net zero

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Janet Richardson

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January 17, 2024

POLITICIANS were brought up to speed on how the UK inland waterways industry can work towards achieving net zero on leisure craft at a recent meeting in Westminster. Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Waterways (APPWG), its chairman Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, welcomed speakers Bowman Bradley, chairman of the IWA/RYA/Cruising Association Joint…
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Waterways Ireland: Public Consultation

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January 16, 2024

GENERAL MARINE NOTICE No. 04 of 2024 Public Consultation on the introduction of revised Canals and Shannon Navigation Bye Laws Phase 2 – 15 January to 26 February 2024 Waterways Ireland is inviting members of the public and interested parties to have their say on proposed revisions to the Shannon Navigation and Canals bye-laws by making…
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Fascinating history on the Regent’s Canal

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January 15, 2024

Nicola Lisle discovers how canals and ice cream are linked at the London Canal Museum in the latest in her museum series. NESTLED on a quiet stretch of the Regent’s Canal, overlooking the early 19th century Battlebridge Basin, the London Canal Museum is a gem among canal museums. It is the perfect place to escape…
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Schoolboys have a brush with history as they paint canalside infrastructure

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January 13, 2024

ON THE scorching-hot final day of the summer term 2023, 40 pupils from Berkhamsted Boys School in Hertfordshire set to work painting infrastructure along the Grand Union Canal, next to the school’s Castle Campus in the town, says IWA’s Amy Tillson. The day, organised through the Inland Waterways Association working in collaboration with the Canal…
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Tackle the Thames tideway in 2024

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January 12, 2024

BOATERS who have not previously tackled the Thames tideway will be particularly welcome on another of St Pancras Cruising Club’s regular trips on the weekend of June 28-30, 2024. This will start with a briefing session at Limehouse on the Friday evening. As well as the core voyage from Limehouse to Teddington, the optional extras…
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Brighter days ahead for Sankey-St Helens Canal

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January 11, 2024

Volunteers have responded to the threats faced by the historic Sankey-St Helens Canal by forming the Save Spike Island and Widnes Canal Restoration Group. THE newly formed restoration group has already built clay dams designed to contain salt water ingress from high tides on the Mersey into a canal bed currently low on water after…
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Volunteers get to work on offside vegetation

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January 10, 2024

IWA’s Lichfield Branch volunteers have been busy cutting back the protruding offside vegetation on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Having begun at Fradley Junction in October, they are currently working their way north to Great Haywood, and will then head down the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Since its inception in 2017 as a joint venture…
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Characters of the Cut: Mark Ellis Bowes – narrowboat Ellis

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January 9, 2024

Alice Elgie reports… IT WAS 2007 when Mark Ellis Bowes first had an epiphany about how to release himself from the rat race and an employer who was running him into the ground. Embarking on a first boating holiday as crew for his partner Andy’s retired parents, a seed was planted that there might be…
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Starting young…

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January 8, 2024

When it comes to volunteering Marc Kennedy is keeping it in the family, as Sally Clifford found out. MARC Kennedy has come a long way from ‘sweeping up’. Doing odd jobs around Shepley Bridge Marina kept the then seven-year-old occupied while accompanying his mum, Sue, during her voluntary skipper duties for Safe Anchor Trust, the…
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£1.2m scheme gives easier access to all

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January 6, 2024

A HALF-mile stretch of towpath and canal bank along the historic Kennet & Avon Canal at Aldermaston Wharf has been upgraded by the Canal & River Trust charity, making it easier for boats to moor and improving access for walkers, cyclists and those with wheelchairs or buggies. The £1.2 million project was funded by the…
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