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January 2009

The Magazine of theWest Riding Branch

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Contents

Branch Chairman’s Musings .............................................................................3Leeds Liverpool Canal Mileposts......................................................................6Unveiling of the New Mile Post.......................................................................10Bingley – Saltaire – Shipley Destination Delivery Plan..............................11Branch Annual General Meeting.....................................................................12North East Region Annual General Meeting...................................................13Meet Your Committee......................................................................................14Events...............................................................................................................15News From Yorkshire Ouse and Ure Section..................................................16First Year’s Training? To Be A Boatman........................................................18Notes for Mile Post..........................................................................................21Thanks..............................................................................................................21‘A Warm Welcome!’........................................................................................22South Pennine Boat Club ................................................................................22Letters...............................................................................................................23Using a Wood-burning Stove on the Canals....................................................24The Mile Post...................................................................................................25Map showing location of meeting venue.........................................................26Committee Members 2008 / 2009....................................................................27Programme of Events for 2009........................................................................28

IWA Headquarters .Registered OfficeThe Inland Waterways AssociationIsland HouseMoor RoadCHESHAMHP5 1WATelephone - 01494 783453 Web site www.waterways.org.ukNOTE: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarilythose of The Inland Waterways Association or of The West RidingBranch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our mem-bers and readers.

Front cover.One of the new mileposts which have been installed on theLeeds Liverpool canal. (see page 6)

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Branch Chairman’s Musings

from a Christmas Mooring in Worsley

“Let’s just wander into the middle of the road for a bit. Carsmight honk, just look confident and honk back.”

The line of Canada Geese caused traffic chaos, and the serenelack of concern for other road users gave me un-seasonalthoughts about BW and their million pounds on useless squarebollards installed by most of the narrow locks in the Midlands.It would be uncharitable to complain of HQ failing to follow-through their delegation to Regions, the need for ‘Health andSafety Professionals’ to understand canals and boating as it is,not consulting those who do know, and the political necessity ofavoiding financial disasters in these recessionary times, partic-ularly when the Government is reviewing all its capital assetsand BW management is expecting them to give it a path togreater financial certainty and independence from the short-term allocation of Government funding. Don’t even think abouteven-more-money going on making the bollards rounder…

But there are successes. We were moored on the StourbridgeCanal in September, just where it breached a week later; injust over 100 days, BW West Midlands completed £650,000 ofrepairs for a 19th December reopening, ahead of schedule.IWA has made a grant of £5,000 towards a feasibility studyinto the restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal. Our objection tothe Environment Agency selling Thames lock-keepers' cottagescontributed to EA’s about-turn on the issue. Waterways Minis-

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ter Huw Irranca-Davies visited the new Prescott Lock on BowBack Rivers, and announced £2million to support environment-friendly water freight in London; the new lock will be complet-ed early in 2009 and provide access to the Olympic area for350-tonne barges, taking hundreds of lorry journeys a weekfrom local roads. See http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/olympics

The Government-appointed Inland Waterways Advisory Council(IWAC) is chaired by John Edmonds, and he also chaired IWA’sconference of Waterway Societies in November: knowledgeand interest in waterways is an essential attribute, which wenow have from an able Waterways Minister and his leading civilservice advisor, who is not just a bean-counter. John said thatthe update to the Government's 2001 strategy document'Waterways for Tomorrow' is to seek input and commitmentfrom across a number of departments; we have a Golden Ageof Opportunity to get these strategic issues right and anopportunity to emphasise the wide scope of community bene-fits provided by waterways. In the Chancellor's Pre-BudgetReport, BW is to have a £5million capital injection for networkinfrastructure brought forward a year to its April 2009 alloca-tion.

Trevor Roberts, chair of the Bradford Motor EducationProject, spoke to our December meeting about the jointproject re-installing a number of missing mile posts on theShipley to Bingley stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.See http://tinyurl.com/LLposts(Also see page six of this magazine-Ed.)

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Our own IWA reorganisation has continued to raise passions:the North-East region is now to expand to include a thirdbranch, South Yorkshire and the Dukeries, and there is to bean election in Autumn 2009 for Regional Chairman, at which allmembers of our Region’s Branches may vote.

And those geese live on the Bridgewater Canal, which belongsnot to BW, but the Manchester Ship Canal Company: thatorganisation slipped out of public control in a far-from-obviousprivatisation by the Major Government in the early 1990s.Worsley is always worth a visit; the path to the mines entranceis protected by a padlock owned by the Coal Authority, anotherobscure piece of public ownership.See http://tinyurl.com/worsley

Crunching through the ice today, let’s hope for 2009 as a less(credit-)crunching year.

Compliments of the SeasonPeter Scott

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Leeds Liverpool Canal Mileposts

Over the years the mileposts which indicate the distancealong the canal from Leeds or Liverpool have fallen intodisrepair and in many instances have disappeared alltogether. In addition to the mileposts themselves therewere also ½ and ¼ milepost markers but you needed toremember the last milepost you have seen to know theexact distance from either end point of the canal. Whilenot installed when the canals were first built they wereadded to help with the collection of tolls and were morerecently used to identify locations where maintenancework was required. They are part of the heritage of thecanal and for some time voluntary bodies involved withthe Leeds Liverpool canal have been trying to restore themile posts in the Yorkshire region. A project was carriedout on the Apperley Bridge section a few years ago.

The latest project was initiated earlier this year whenrepresentatives met from British Waterways, Leeds-Liver-pool Canal Society, the Bradford Motor Education Project(BMEP), and IWA West Riding Branch. It was agreed wewould try and replace the Mileposts between Shipley andBingley 5 Rise, some 5 miles involving 6 posts.

BMEP works with young people who are having difficultywithin main stream education. It has a canal based activ-ity operating under the name of Dreamweaver. This grouphas now received the necessary training and authorityfrom British Waterways to carry out minor projects on thecanal system. They carry out such activity as clearingrubbish and vegetations and also recently repainted theMicklethwaite swing bridge.

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This milepost project offered some additional opportuni-ties for the young people and the Dreamweaver involve-ment was a practical way of taking this project forward.

The project was co-ordinated by Howard Tomlinson withtrainees Tom, Josh and Kieran. Initially the young peoplesurveyed the canal to establish what posts and plaqueswith mileage information would be required. Fortunatelyit was possible to source, from a BW store in Lancashire,a number of the basic posts which had been cast on anearlier project but no plaques or the patterns to makethem could be found. To make the new patterns we wereable to call on the expertise of Kevin Ratcliff and his teamat CarnaudMetalbox, which is located by the canal inShipley. The young people spent a week working with theCarnaudMetalbox staff in the pattern shop to produce the

Picture 1 - The patterns.

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new patterns. Patterns had to be made for the two differ-ent forms of plaque. One with the Leeds mileage and thesecond with Liverpool. Also, as each plaque requires adifferent mileage, each pattern had to be made such thatthe numbers could be easily changed at the casting stage.(see Picture 1)The patterns when completed were trans-ferred to Leach & Thompson, a foundry in Keighley,where, using the patterns, 12 different plaques were cast

with the different required mileages.The Dreamweaver team have then fixed the plaques tothe posts and are in the process of installing the posts.The first post was installed and unveiled on DockfieldRoad, close to the railway bridge 209A on the 23rd Octo-ber. Over 20 people, representing the parties involved andthe local council, enjoyed a journey along the canal from

Picture 2 A party arriving for the unveiling cere-mony on the Dreamweavers’ boat, Lady Rani.

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the Dreamweaver base at Shipley Wharf to the installationsite.(see picture 2) The unveiling of the first reinstatedpost was carried out by Mike Clarke of the Leeds LiverpoolCanal Society. (see Picture 3)Cash funding for the project was required to cover the costof the new plaques and the expenses of the Dreamweaverteam. IWA were able to provide the funds from donationsmade to it for use in improving the canal. Without thisfunding this project would not have happened but theenthusiasm of the Dreamweaver team and the supportfrom local companies was also key to seeing the reintro-duction of these mileposts. As a result of this success weare considering providing further funds to extend this worknext year.By William Jowitt

Picture 3. The unveiling by Mike Clarke.

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Unveiling of the New Mile Post

L to R - Mike Clarke, Howard Tomlinson, Kieran White, Josh Cromp-ton, Tom Deangelis, William Jowitt, Peter Scott and Trevor Roberts.

Kieran, Josh and Tom, the trainees from Dreamweavers, with Kevin andSteven from CarnaudMetalbox.

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Bingley – Saltaire – Shipley DestinationDelivery Plan.

British Waterways has chosen a stretch of the Leeds- Liverpool Canal,from Micklethwaite Swing Bridge in Bingley to Dock Swing Bridge inShipley, for a project known as the Bingley, Saltaire, and Shipley Desti-nation Delivery Plan. British Waterways hope that the project will openup the canal as a leisure, recreation, tourism and educational resource.

A BW ‘destination’ is a ‘hot spot’ on the network which draws visitors orhas the potential to draw visitors. Each of the areas of the destination hasits own character and draws visitors for various reasons.

Bingley attracts visitors to the historic Five Rise and Three Rise staircaselocks. One of the proposals is to rebuild the Three Rise Lock Cottage toprovide a heritage and interpretation centre to explain the role played bythe canal in the region’s history. A heritage lottery bid has been appliedfor in order to fund the proposals.

The World Heritage Site of Saltaire receives many tourists and day-trippers attracted to the heritage of the area and the visitor attractions inSalt’s Mill. Although the canal runs so close to the mill, visitors are notpresently encouraged to make use of it.

A waterbus which ran along the canal until 2001 may be brought back toferry passengers between Shipley Wharf and Three Rise Locks.

Another proposal is for additional moorings in Shipley, Saltaire andabove Five Rise Locks to encourage boaters to stay longer in the area.

The Inland Waterways Association, Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society,Craven Cruising Club and many other local organisations have been in-volved in the discussions about the project with British Waterways.

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Branch Annual General MeetingThe Annual General Meeting of the West Riding Branch of theInland Waterways Association will take place on Friday, 13thMarch 2009, commencing at 8.00pm, in the Social Club on thetop floor of Centenary House, North Street, Leeds.

Nominations in writing for the Branch Committee must reach theSecretary, Mr Ian Moore, 2 Eric Street, Leeds, LS13 1ET not laterthan first post Tuesday, 10th March 2009. New members areneeded to strengthen the committee.

A G E N D A

1. Apologies for absence.2. Approval of minutes of the previous AGM.3. Matters arising from the minutes.4. Chairman’s Report.5. Secretary’s Report.6. Treasurer’s Report.7. Any business notified to the Chairman *8. Election of committee.

* Note any member of the branch may propose business toappear on the agenda of an AGM of their branch, providedthat the branch chairman is notified in writing of the item atleast six weeks prior to the AGM. Any business not on theagenda for an AGM may, at the discretion of the chairman ofthe meeting, be discussed at the AGM but no decisions maybe made.

After the AGM it has been the practice in the past for members topresent a slide show. These occasions are usually most enjoya-ble. If you have any slides you would like to bring, please do, sothat we can all enjoy them.

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North East Region Annual GeneralMeeting

The Annual General Meeting of the North East Region of theInland Waterways Association will take place on Tuesday, 21stApril 2009. The venue is Bay Horse Public House, Marygate,York. at 7.30pm. Parking is available at Marygate pay and displaycar park (the pub is on the right near the river end of the car park).Light refreshments will be available at the bar.

Nominations in writing for the Regional Committee must reach theSecretary, Mr David Swabey, 18 Skottowe Drive, Great Ayton,Middlesborough, TS9 6DR by the first post on Tuesday, 7th April2009. All nominations must be signed by the proposer and second-er and contain the consent of the nominee.

New members are always welcome.

A G E N DA

1. Apologies for absence.2. Minutes of last AGM held on 22nd April 20083. Matters arising from the minutes.4. Chairman’s Report.5. Secretary’s Report.6. Treasurer’s Report & presentation of Accounts.7. Any business notified to the Chairman *8. Election of committee.

* Note any member of any branch within the Region may proposebusiness to appear on the agenda of an AGM of their Region,provided that the Region Chairman is notified in writing of the itemat least six weeks prior to the AGM.

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Meet Your CommitteeLiz PinderMinutes Secretary

Husband Chris introduced me to the canals over 30 years ago. We’vebeen West Riding Branch members for about 28 years and this is thesecond time I’ve served onthe committee. My enjoy-ment of the peace, quietand history of the water-way environment has in-creased over the years,whether we are walking,boating or cycling along.We’ve attended lots ofWaterway Festivals in-cluding every Nationalsince 1989, only missing2008 to attend our son’swedding! I read Rosie andJim stories to the 4 Yearolds I work with, I’ve knit-ted several sets of Rosieand Jim dolls for raffleprizes, make waterway re-lated cards and have start-ed tying knots and mademy own Tiller Tassel andnext year hope to walk the length of the Caledonian Canal.We’ve met lots of friendly, interesting and knowledgeable peoplethrough our involvement with the waterways and do our best to pass onour enthusiasm for the waterways to others.

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EVENTSThis listing only covers events that we were aware of when it was com-piled. If further details are required on an event please refer to the con-tact information below.

For further details of Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society events see web-site www.llcs.org.uk/. Or for information about society walks contactMike Hustler on: 01282 816476 or 07929 915487.

Saturday 28th February 2009 Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society tourof canal sites by train. Meet outside the ticket barrier at Leeds Station at9.30am after buying a West Yorkshire Rover ticket, currently £5.00 perperson or £8.50 for two for a day, for a visit to as many canal sites aspossible by train in the West Yorkshire area, returning to Leeds circa6.00pm. You could leave earlier if necessary using your Rover ticket.There will be a lunch stop at a suitable pub.

Thursday 5th March 2009 Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society.Talk by Mike Clarke on water supply to the canal for Upper WharfdaleHeritage Group at 28 Otley Street, Skipton.

Spring Bank Holiday 23rd - 25th May 2009  - IWA NationalCampaign Festival at Kiveton Park, near Rotherham, on thesummit level of the Chesterfield Canal. Jointly organised by IWA to-gether with the Chesterfield Canal Trust, The Chesterfield Canal Part-nership, and the Retford & Worksop Boat Club.

For further information please contact:Martin Bloomfield, Chesterfield Canal Trust0114 229 5355 secretary@chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk.

Or go to festival web site : www.kiveton2009.com.

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News From Yorkshire Ouse and Ure SectionMANY THANKS.First of all, I would like to thank all those people who have helped theYorkshire Ouse Section throughout 2008. A difficult year for manypeople. Not least because of the wet Summer, leading to high water levelson the River Ouse and the River Fosse. We only had two craft go throughCastle Mills Lock in York.

OPEN MEETING.The Yorkshire Ouse Section of the IWA is holding an open meeting onTuesday 3rd March 2009 at 7.00pm.The venue is St Olave’s ChurchHall, Marygate Lane, York. The speaker is Adrian Lovett who will talkabout horse drawn narrowboats.

CASTLE MILLS LOCK, YORK.We have taken the decision to provide a service all the year round, thoughduring the Winter months the booking system changes, so that four days'notice is needed. Whilst on the subject of the Castle Mills Lock, pleasenote the change of contact telephone number:  tel.no. 07588-236-597.The e-mail and postal addresses remain as:

amartin_assoc@yahoo.co.uk 69, Clarence Street, York, YO31 7EL.

BOATERS' WEEKEND - APRIL 2009.We plan to hold a weekend for boaters next April (2009). This willinclude guided tours round York and an evening's entertainment withYork's only poet, Adrian Spendlow, followed by an 'Open Mike Evening'.Both at the Minster Inn. There is also a couple of interesting talks on theSaturday morning at St Olaves Church Hall by Rev John Lee on sailingthe Atlantic and by Adrian Lovett on the joys of owning, and cruising in,a horse drawn narrowboat.There will be an Evensong at St Olave's Church on the Sunday evening.The dates are Friday 24th April to Sunday 26th April 2009. For more

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information, please contact the new number or e-mail the above address.

OPEN MEETING AT RIPON MOTOR BOAT CLUB.On September 11th, we held a successful open meeting at Ripon Motor-boat Club. This was kindly organised by Mel Bland and the ladies of theboatclub very kindly put on a buffet. John Reeve, the NE Region Chair,gave a talk on the restoration of The Ripon Canal. Many of the people atthat meeting were involved in the campaign and successful restoration, ofwhich John was a leading light.

An officer of British Waterways had been invited to give a talk about hiswork. Martin Walton had agreed to do this, but became ill and was awayfrom work for some time. However, the 'Questions for BW' session washeld as arranged, and answers were, eventually, conveyed back to themembers by way of Mel Bland.

I attended the recent Users' Group Meeting at the BW HQ in Leeds withDavid Meigh of York City Council.

This reminds me that we are soon to be the owners of two new life jacketswith the help of a small grant from York City Council. For the use of thetwo person crew that is needed to operate Castle Mills Lock successfully.Now, does anyone know of a reasonably priced supply of two-way radios?Many thanks, again.

Tony Martin, Chair of Ouse/Ure Corridor Section of the Inland Water-ways Association (IWA) in North Yorkshire.

Please use this e-mail address if interested in booking a passage throughCastle Mills Lock, York. amartin_assoc@yahoo.co.uk Two days' noticeis needed. OR telephone: 07588-236-597. 24 hour voice messagingservice.

Please leave your name, mobile number, name of boat and proposed dateof passage. Thank you.

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First Year’s Training? To Be A Boatman.Part One.

Had I been a brewer’s love child, on leaving school at fifteen years old, Iwould have wanted to be a boatman.

At this time, in the early 1950s I reckon that freight carrying was at itspeak on the Aire and Calder Navigation. Keels were being engined bythis time, but by night and day tugs towed long strings of dumb bargesbetween Goole and Leeds, many of which belonged to The Docks andInland Waterways Board, the forerunner of British Waterways. On someof these dumb barges women served as crew members, but they were thefirst and last barges I saw with women aboard, because when I came outof the army in late 1956, both tugs and barges had disappeared from thewaterways.

Hopelessly under-powered steam tugs, which were also wheelhouse less,the steerer exposed to the elements, as was the engineer who stood on thedeck behind him manning the set of huge levers, with which, on thesteerer’s instructions, he could change gear or control the engine’srevolutions. These tugs towed their ungainly trains of nineteen compart-ment boats, to give them their proper name, to a lot of pits in WestYorkshire, and to a lesser degree in South Yorkshire, where they wouldbe loaded with coal for trans-shipment into coasters on their return toGoole. To make towing these compartments easier when loaded, eachtrain had a short section of what looked like the bows of a barge. Nameda Jabus, it was placed in front of the first loaded compartment and brokethe tugs backwater before it could hit the flat end of the aforementionedcompartment. With the compartments empty, (light) the Jabus waspushed along in front of the tug.

These compartment trains or Tom Puddings, must not be confused withthe push/tow trains which were not introduced until the mid 1960s tobring coal from the local pits to Ferrybridge C Power Station.

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At the time, apart from the fleet of tankers owned and operated by JohnHarker Limited, Whittakers and Cooks also ran fleets of tankers andShell and Esso also had a tanker or two. Lots of other barges passedthrough Knottingley carrying a variety of cargoes further inland. But ofall the boats to be seen, only the long tankers of John Harker excited myinterest. And so with the help of one of the skippers who knew my fatherand told us when the company would be employing a new lad, I appliedand was given a job. However fifteen year old lads were not allowedaboard tankers, so I spent the first year of my working life as office boyat Harker House at Knottingley, the main office of the Lyon and Lyongroup of companies. This procedure had been in place for a few yearsbefore my turn, and continued for several years after, the young mengoing on to crew the ever expanding fleet of John Harker’s tankers.

I make no apology for what I have written as, what shall we call it, anintroduction perhaps, I have tried to give the reader a picture of the worldof a very busy working canal. A world I joined in the summer of 1952.

It was time to go to the infamous training boat, the Lincoln.

The skipper on the whole was surly, uncommunicative and verballyabusive. I was usually addressed by a good old Anglo-Saxon four letterword. The engineer, starters and stoppers, they were called, was as fly asa wagon load of monkeys. Even though he was getting part of my pay,short-hand money they called it, he never lifted a finger to help me orgave me a word of advice. Looking back I do not think he could havegiven me any advice with regard to boating anyway. A further word onthis so called short-hand money. With a lad aboard Lincoln, the wage thatwould have normally been paid to a qualified mate, was split three ways,the office kept a third, a third was shared between the skipper andengineer, the remaining third went to the lad, who did all the menial jobson board despite this unfair pay system.

I have long since forgotten Lincoln’s dimensions, but she was long andnarrow and even when loaded had not such a deep draught. This made hervery fast, as boats go, it also made her as wick as an eel. Lincoln’s mainjob was to load tar at York Gas Works, to be discharged at Knottingley

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Chemical Works, but her length prevented her from using Bank DoleLock and therefore all the other locks on the Selby Canal. So we had togo to Goole to pen out onto the Ouse. This long way round put hours onus doing the round trip.

We also picked up the occasional load at the small works that used toexist on the north bank of the Aire and Calder just below New Bridge,this too was discharged at Knottingley. Another much less frequent jobwas, along with several other tankers, we would load at Knottingley TarWorks, our cargoes to be trans-shipped at Goole into a coastal tanker fordischarge on the Continent. Once discharged after such a job Lincolnwould leave for York regardless of what time the tide was. If leavingGoole in the dark, I would be told that the mast would need to be loweredseveral times on our run up the Ouse for our passage under bridges. I wasnot told when, and before I got the hang of it after a couple of trips, I wasleft standing on the forward deck for hours watching for the red warninglight as we approached one of the four bridges between Goole andNaburn. The only break I got was when a shout from the wheel-housetold me, in colourful language, that tea was required for both the skipperand the engineer, who would be keeping the skipper company. Both ofwhom would be smoking countless cigarettes, usually bought cheap offthe ship we had recently left.

Arriving at the outskirts of York, Lincoln left the Ouse and entered theRiver Foss under the small blue bridge on the right of the river. Once upCastle Lock, and now with the wheel-box down to get under the low roadbridges, we nosed slowly up the narrow Foss until we came to a fork inthe river. The point of this fork was formed by a huge building that wasthen a warehouse for Rowntrees, the chocolate makers. Let into recessesin the building’s lower walls were big iron hooks, used for mooring theboats that used the warehouse.

By Ken Burden.

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Notes for Mile PostWe are starting to look for people to give talks at ourmeetings for 2009/10.  We start the season in excellentstyle with 'Get Outdoors and Dirty'!  by Helen Gardner.So put Friday 11th September 2009 in your diaries.

If you have any suggestions or requests for the return ofyour favourite speaker please let Katy and AlastairSayles know as soon as possible on 0113 393 4517 or kandal@btinternet.com.

Ellen and Ailsa Sayles have collected enough stamps for1 large envelope and box to be sent off to the WRG thisyear.  Many thanks for everyone who has helped us.Please keep collecting.

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Thanks.On behalf of the committee and branch members , we

would like to give a big thank you to William Jowitt, ourtreasurer, for all the hard work he has done in helping toget the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Milepost Project upand running.

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‘A Warm Welcome!’

The West Riding Branch extends a warm welcome to members who havejoined us since the last Mile Post. As this includes all the members whohave joined us from Northumbria Branch there are rather too many toname individually. We look forward to meeting you or hearing from you.

*******************************South Pennine Boat Club

5th Boat Club Rally & Open DaySaturday May 9th 2009

South Pennine Boat Club, Halfpenny Bridge, Wood Lane, BattyefordMIRFIELD, West Yorkshire, WF14 0ED

01924-491320Battyeford Lock – Calder & Hebble Navigation

On Saturday 9th May 2009, the South Pennine Boat Club will be openingits gates to the general public, between the hours of 11am and 5pm, withmany activities including Games, Side Stalls, Brass Band, Duck Race andBoat Rides with a Boating Exhibition and a Chandlery to name just a few.A Children’s entertainer will also be available and various activities,including Drum Majorettes will be performing in the main Arenathroughout the day. Food and drink will also be available, making it a funday out for all the family

Canal & River Boaters are also welcome to come and stay with us for theWeekend, when they will be able to join in the “Best Dressed Boat”Competition and with the entertainment organised for the evenings ofFriday 8th and Saturday 9th, finishing off with a Breakfast on the morn-ing of Sunday 10th May. Please contact the Mooring Officer, MikeFretwell, as soon as possible, for a mooring booking form on 07810582799 or email mooring@southpennineboatclub.co.uk.

Further details and contacts can be found on the SPBC club web site atwww.southpennineboatclub.co.uk

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Letters8th Dec 08

Dear Peter,

Following the demise of Northumbria Branch, there are some ex-members who wish to keep in touch at a local level. As most ofour ex-members are now in East Yorkshire or West RidingBranches, I would be pleased if you could put a note in yourBranch Newsletter to the effect that we hope to organise somesocial events locally, on an informal basis. Anyone interestedshould contact me, Fred Stearman, 01642 559565, and I will bepleased to keep them informed of what is going on.

Best Wishes for Christmas,Fred. (Stearman)

********************************Dear Editors,

I was intrigued to read in Mark Andrew's article on his family his-tory of one John Rothery being master of the barge "BENDLES"at Knottingley.The name Bendles is used by us freight barge skippers to refer tothe stretch between Cow Lane and Jackson's Bridges, Knotting-ley.Entering "Knottingley" in the search engine on my computer pro-duced a historical site, where "Bendles" was defined as(i) A clay area between Racca Green and the river in Knottingley.(ii) The name of a House in that area, which eventually becameabsorbed into Bagley's Glassworks, and(iii) The name of a Ropewalk in the same area.

Best wishes,Geoff Wheat (m.b. FUSEDALE H).

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USING A WOOD-BURNING STOVEON THE CANALS

Let’s be honest, if you live in a metal box surrounded by water inthe depth of winter you are going to need to keep warm, and ahuge number of boat owners choose to use wood burning stoves.It makes sense after all, wood is an environmentally friendly fuel,it only returns the CO2 to the atmosphere that the tree absorbedwhen it was growing, it is completely renewable and if more treeswere planted to provide fuel they would absorb more of thisgreenhouse gas. Best of all, it is often there for the taking and istherefore a free fuel; there are those amongst us that cannot affordto heat our boats by electricity or by smokeless fuel, which are thetwo obvious alternatives.

Our boat has been moored at its present mooring for at least fiveyears, and in all of that time it has had two wood burning stoves onboard. We use well- seasoned timber in our Morso Squirrel, as didthe boat’s previous owner. We reduced the stoves to a singleMorso this year to make it more efficient and economic, and havethereby reduced by half the smoke emissions from our boat.

All was well and good until one dissatisfied person complained firstto BW and then to the Council about smoke. But they never spoketo us first. We all live in a smokeless zone about eight miles fromthe city centre. I contacted the Council before any of this came tolight to ask if our village was within the smokeless zone and theyconfirmed that it was, but without prompting added that "vesselson the inland waterways are exempt from the Clean Air Act".(Section 44 Clean Air Act 1999)

One day recently, two inspectors from Environmental Health ar-rived and mentioned that there had been complaints about smokefrom several of the moored boats. I pointed out that our well-seasoned wood did not smoke once properly alight and thatanyway I had been told by their colleague that vessels were

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exempt. With that information, which they confessed to beingunaware of, they departed. One of my neighbours has nowreceived a telephone call saying that a complainant said "smokehad been in his property" and that the Council were now going toenforce the Clean Air Act on the five or six residents moored onour stretch of the canal. The Council have also said that they havea "whole range of legislation" that they can use, particularly theEnvironment Act 1995 but that there is also other Public Healthlegislation waiting in the wings. According to my neighbour theyare being "quite firm" in their dealings with us.

My initial instinct is to fight, I feel that with a huge number ofresidential boaters on the Canals, any ruling here could affect allresidential boaters; indeed any boat owner who chooses to light astove whilst moored or travelling along the canals of Britain.Do you know of any earlier cases which may have a bearing on mycase?

Thanks for your help, Chris.

[Ed - Any comments, information or similar experiences to theEditors please]

********************The Mile Post.

Is there anyone out there who could help the branch by writingsomething for inclusion in the Milepost. Have you been on aninteresting boating trip? Tell us about it.. Is there something water-ways related you feel strongly about? Write us a letter about it..Any amusing stories? Tell us all! E-mail us atboblaing@blueyonder.co.uk , hand it to one of us, or post it to anycommittee member before the end of April. We look forward tohearing from you.We would like to give a big thank-you to all the people whohave already sent us articles for inclusion in the Mile Post.You have made our job much easier and our magazine moreinteresting.

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Map showing location of meeting venueCentenary House, North Street, Leeds LS2 8AY

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ChairmanPeter Scott3 Moorbank DriveSheffield S10 5THHome 0114 230 1870

SecretaryIan Moore2 Eric Street,BramleyLeeds. LS13 1ETMobile 07989 112581E-mail westriding@waterways.org.uk

TreasurerWilliam JowittOak Lodge1 Oakridge CourtBingley BD16 4 TAHome 01274 567950

Membership SecretaryChris Pinder152 High StreetYeadonLeeds LS19 7ABHome 01132 509371

Minutes SecretaryLiz Pinder152 High StreetYeadonLeeds LS19 7ABHome 01132 509371

Mile Post EditorBob Laing25 Bankfield RoadShipley BD18 4AJHome 01274 581800E-mail boblaing@blueyonder.co.uk

Mile Post EditorTricia Laing25 Bankfield RoadShipley BD18 4AJHome 01274 581800

Committee memberElliott Mosley23 Glenholm RoadBaildonShipley BD17 5QBHome 01274 581413

Web EditorElaine Scott3 Moorbank DriveSheffield S10 5THHome 0114 230 1870

Non Committee Posts

Meeting Co-ordinatorsKatie & Alastair SaylesHome 0113 393 4517E-mail: kandal@btinternet.com

Telephone contactAlistair FurnissHome 0113 253 9401

Regional ChairmanJohn Reeve10 Perth GroveStockton-on-TeesCleveland TS18 5BFHome 01642 580350

Committee Members 2008 / 2009

28

Programme of Events for 2009.

All meetings take place at 8.00pm on the second Friday of the month, in the top floor Social Club,

Centenary House, North Street, Leeds, LS2 8AY.

13th February 09 Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal by John Fletcher

13th March 09 AGM

3rd April 09 Waterway Engineering(note -1st Friday of by Laurence Morganthe month!)

11th September 09 'Get Outdoors and Dirty'! by Helen Gardner.

Talks arranged by Alastair and Katy Sayles, 32 Pymont Drive,Woodlesford, Leeds LS26 8WA. Tel 0113 393 4517

Email: kandal@btinternet.com

All the meetings organised by the West Riding Branch are open andeveryone is invited. Any member of the general public is allowed to attendand members are invited to bring friends.The Inland Waterways Association campaigns for the Conservation, Use,Maintenance, Restoration and Development of the Inland Waterways,which are part of our heritage, and are there for the benefit of everyone.

For further information please contact 01274-581413