Crew: Dave Davies, Andy Belton
and Roger Hutchinson.
All the plans had been made, the boat
entries booked and the boats were
moving down from Stoke Bruerne
to London for the first event of the
season, IWA's Canalway Cavalcade.
First stop was Soulbury,
then Marsworth and
Croxley. The final
leg to Little Venice
was due to start in a couple of days
when disaster happened.
I received a phone call from Graham
Scothern, saying that there had
been a breach at Cowley.
A dredger had apparently dug through
a culvert and it was going to take
a couple of days to repair, reopening
late Thursday afternoon. Ok, not such
a disaster. It should be fixed by
the time we get there.
Dave Davies, John Bull and Roger
Hutchinson brought the pair from
Croxley to Uxbridge
on Thusday, only to be told that the
breach was far worse than originally
thought and would not be fixed until
the following Wednesday! This was
reconfirmed on Friday morning and
I phoned round to tell those that
needed to know, that we would not
be at the Cavalcade after all. Then
in the afternoon, there was a further
update, saying that while the offical
line was still Wednesday, the people
actually carrying out the repair expected
to have it finished by late Saturday
afternoon. I arranged to join Dave
and Roger in the morning to do
some work on Brighton, before
resuming the journey if and when the
stoppage was lifted.
In fact Dave phoned me at
nine on Saturday morning to say that
the repair had been completed and
the canal would be reopend within
half an hour. I joined them about
an hour later and after important
pre-trip procedures (having a brew)
had been completed, we set off for
Cowley lock.
There were a couple of boats going
down when we arrived and another two
came up but we were at the front of
the queue for the next passage. There
dredgers moored further down identified
the the location of the breach but
there was little evidence now that
the canal had been reopened.
We continued on, past Packet Boat
Marina and the end of the Slough
Arm at Cowley Peachey,
before passing the old transhipment
sheds between the canal and railway
at West Drayton.
At Bulls Bridge we
turned left into the Paddington
Arm, passing the site of
the Jam 'ole on our
right. After stopping briefly at Northolt
for water, the surroundings changed
from an industrial landscape to residential.
Firstly flats and small houses then
larger houses and luxury apartments.
To our right loomed Trellick
Tower, a 1960's monolith
rising out of the ground like the
black slab in 2001 a Space Odissey.
As we approached Little Venice,
the houses were replaced by large
London terraces and Georgian collumned
mansions on one side and the A40M
Westway on the other.
At the stop, I stepped ashore and
went to find a harbourmaster. We then
dropped the butty at its side-on mooring,
in Browning's Pool,
by Harrow Road Bridge and the motor
carried on under the bridge, winded
in Paddington Basin
and returned to the pool to moor end-on
with other historic boats.
After a farewell pint in the Bridge
House, Dave and Roger departed
for home and I spent some time clearing
the hold on Brighton to allow
the public on board, before heading
for the entertainment which was provided
by Bill Bailey and his Jazz Band.
Canalway
Cavalcade, Little Venice, London.
29th April - 1st May
Volunteers present: Gill and Peter
Clutterbuck, Tim and Cathy Stevens,
John Fevyer and Andy and Tommy Belton.
On the Saturday evening, after waving
goodbye to Dave Davies and
Roger Hutchinson, with whom
I had travelled down the Paddington
Arm that afternoon, I made
for the entertainment marquee. The
'marquee' turned out to be a basement
room next to an amphitheatre in the
new Paddington Central development.
The entertainment was in the form
of Jazz music from the Bill Bailey
Band. They had planned to be in the
amphitheatre, but the weather was
expected to be colder that evening,
so the performance had been moved
indoors.
Much work had been done over the winter
to make the boats look good externally
and Pat Hiscock had got the
cabin looking spick and span the previous
week. However the hold still looked
like a sight after the winter maintenance.
After spending a couple of hours building
a flight of access stairs, I gave
up any notion of having them finished
for this event and started to clear
out the hold. Despite an early start,
it took me until nearly midday to
get all the paint pots tools, Ironmongery
and general boat junk packed away
in lockers or under the cratch.
Not long after twelve the other volunteers
turned up. Firstly Tommy Belton
(Dad) who had actually only came
to visit but ended up demonstrating
the space saving devices in the cabin
to many of the visiting public. Next
to arrive was John Fevyer
followed closely by Gill, Peter,
Tim and Cathy, who arrived
together.
Brighton could not have been
moored in a better spot. At the Harrow
Road end of Brownings
Pool, we were right in the
middle of the action, with trade stands
all the way down the side of the Pool
and the food stalls next to the Paddington
Basin Arm. The only way to
get from one to the other was to walk
past us. As soon as we put out the
Welcome signs there were
people of all ages eager to climb
aboard and learn about the working
boats. The stream of visitors was
more or less constant until around
five o'clock when numbers started
to diminish as people went home. The
event closed to the public at seven.
With Gill and Peter
in the Butty and Tim and Cathy
on Nuneaton, I was going
to be left out in the hold, so to
speak. Luckily, I have some friends
who live in Westminster so I Had arranged
for Dad and I to stay at their place
for the night. They joined us at the
boat and all eight of us went for
a meal at The Union, a
big bar in the Paddington Central
Complex. After drinks back on board
Brighton, we went our separate ways
for the night.
Sunday morning, like the day before
started off raining, but it soon brightened
up. All my good intentions of getting
up early were scuppered by my failure
to set my alarm clock for seven. It
woke me up at six, so what did I do?
Went back to sleep of course. It was
nearly half past eight by the time
I came round again. By the time Dad
and I got to the boats at around ten
o'clock it was opening time for the
public and we launched straight into
the routine of welcoming visitors
aboard. I spent much of the morning
working on the new stairs after barricading
off part of the hold to prevent small
children getting anywhere near sharp
tools. Occasionally I would have a
break from this to fill in at the
boarding ladder or in the cabin when
someone else needed a break. At lunch
time, we had sandwiches that Gill
had prepared earlier in the morning
before we opened to visitors. John
Fevyer joined us at this time
and Dad left for home. John
took Tim and Pete out on
Nuneaton for the Historic
boat parade, leaving Gill, Cathy
and myself to hold the fort.
When the parade started, we closed
to the public temporarily so that
we could watch and take photos of
the boats taking part.
When the parade was over John moored
alongside Brighton facing
the opposite direction, ready to pull
her round in the pool when it was
time to depart. We were joined later
by Martin Ludgate, who took
notes and photos for a full page article
about the Narrow Boat Trust which
should appear in the August edition
of Canal Boat magazine.
Gill, Peter, Cathy and Tim packed
up and tidied up before leaving at
about seven, while I carried on with
the stairs for another half hour before
tying up the side cloths, John
reappeared to say farewell and went
to pack away the IWA shop and I Locked
up and left at around eight.
All in all the event was a huge success,
we worked hard but had a most enjoyable
weekend, a great deal of interest
was generated in the boats and we
more than admirably fulfilled the
educational aims of the trust.
The boats will return to Uxbridge
on 6th May for Nuneaton's
engine to be looked at. Then the next
event is the Rickmansworth
Canal Festival on the 20th
- 21st May.
Andy
Belton.
