Picture by Edward Ody
Bon Voyage Rock 'n' Roll
12 years ago
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Bust Easter at Bradford-on-Avon
The sun enticed just about everyone to Bradford-on-Avon Wharf this weekend:
Picture by Edward Ody
Picture by Edward Ody
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Rose of Hungerford: Cancelled Trip
PLEASE NOTE: The Rose of Hungerford: there will not be a public trip at 2.30pm on Easter Day due to circumstances beyond our control
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Tribute to an inspiring lady
Above: Wyn & John Gould Image courtesy of the Canal Archives
“It is with great sadness that the Trust has learned that Wyn Gould, the widow of Trust pioneer John Gould, has passed away at the grand old age of 95. Wyn was without doubt the Trust’s oldest member having partnered John from the early days of the Trust in campaigning and driving for restoration. After John’s death in 1999, Wyn remained engaged with the Trust and was a regular attendee of Newbury Branch meetings until ill-health made that not possible. Her last public Trust duty was opening the Newbury Waterways Festival in 2006. Wynn’s funeral will take place next Thursday, 28th April at 2.30 at St Nicolas’ Church, West Mills, Newbury, RG14 5HG.”
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
K & A Workshop
Monday 18th April 7pm at the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Museum, Devizes
Be part of the exciting Bath Open Air Museum project
for more details, click here
Be part of the exciting Bath Open Air Museum project
for more details, click here
Thursday, 31 March 2011
A new era for the Waterways
A consultation on the Future of Inland Waterways in England and Scotland.
At a meeting hosted yesterday by our ex-Vice President Richard Beynon, the Waterways Minister, Defra (the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) formally launched a consultation on proposals to replace British Waterways in England and Wales by a New Waterways Charity. Navigable waters controlled by the Environment Agency could be incorporated at a later stage.
The objective is to secure a sustainable future for our waterways. The proposed new charity would be similar in size to the British Red Cross or Save the Children. To give this charity a good start, Government funding is guaranteed until 2023, at the level of the agreed 2012 grant of £39 Million. BW’s present extensive property portfolio, which already accounts of about 40% of BW’s income, will be transferred to the new charity as well.
The results of the consultation will have a huge and fundamental effect on the way in which our waterways are run in future years. We urge all those interested in any aspect of our waterways to read the consultation document in full and to make their views known to Defra, either by responding to any (or all) of the 29 questions that they pose in the document and/or by sending other comments that you consider appropriate.
The consultation document can be downloaded from:
www.defra.gov.uk/consult/waterways-1103
Impact on the K&A Canal Trust
Clearly, the establishment of this new charity will have a direct impact on the way your own Trust operates in the future. There are, for example, many areas in which we might end up in a competition for funding, volunteers, commercial activities, etc. Your Trust will be making a formal response to the proposals in due course. To do this properly, we need the views of our members.
The Trustees will therefore be holding three consultation meetings over the next few months, to discuss the Defra proposals and to review any possible impacts on the way that the Trust operates. We will also be undertaking a parallel web-based survey. These activities will ensure that the Trust has enough time to prepare a well-reasoned response reflecting member views, and will also assist us in ensuring that we are in fit state ourselves to face this new era!
So please respond to the Defra consultation yourselves, but do also send a copy of your response (photocopy or e-mail), plus any other comments you think relevant, to the Trust Office at Devizes (consultation@katrust.org.uk). We will not be able to answer detailed questions about the Defra proposals but we will ensure that your views are taken into account when preparing the Trust's response. (Please also remember when responding to Defra that you are giving your own views. By all means mention that you are an active member of a well-respected canal society, but please don't state or even imply that you are responding on behalf of the Trust. That response will be prepared by our Trustees, only after we have received the views from as many of our members as possible. Please help us by making your views known to us in good time!)
Timescale? The Defra consultation opened on 30 March and responses can be submitted any time before the closing date, the 30th June 2011.
Mike Rodd
Chair of the Trust Council
At a meeting hosted yesterday by our ex-Vice President Richard Beynon, the Waterways Minister, Defra (the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) formally launched a consultation on proposals to replace British Waterways in England and Wales by a New Waterways Charity. Navigable waters controlled by the Environment Agency could be incorporated at a later stage.
The objective is to secure a sustainable future for our waterways. The proposed new charity would be similar in size to the British Red Cross or Save the Children. To give this charity a good start, Government funding is guaranteed until 2023, at the level of the agreed 2012 grant of £39 Million. BW’s present extensive property portfolio, which already accounts of about 40% of BW’s income, will be transferred to the new charity as well.
The results of the consultation will have a huge and fundamental effect on the way in which our waterways are run in future years. We urge all those interested in any aspect of our waterways to read the consultation document in full and to make their views known to Defra, either by responding to any (or all) of the 29 questions that they pose in the document and/or by sending other comments that you consider appropriate.
The consultation document can be downloaded from:
www.defra.gov.uk/consult/waterways-1103
Impact on the K&A Canal Trust
Clearly, the establishment of this new charity will have a direct impact on the way your own Trust operates in the future. There are, for example, many areas in which we might end up in a competition for funding, volunteers, commercial activities, etc. Your Trust will be making a formal response to the proposals in due course. To do this properly, we need the views of our members.
The Trustees will therefore be holding three consultation meetings over the next few months, to discuss the Defra proposals and to review any possible impacts on the way that the Trust operates. We will also be undertaking a parallel web-based survey. These activities will ensure that the Trust has enough time to prepare a well-reasoned response reflecting member views, and will also assist us in ensuring that we are in fit state ourselves to face this new era!
So please respond to the Defra consultation yourselves, but do also send a copy of your response (photocopy or e-mail), plus any other comments you think relevant, to the Trust Office at Devizes (consultation@katrust.org.uk). We will not be able to answer detailed questions about the Defra proposals but we will ensure that your views are taken into account when preparing the Trust's response. (Please also remember when responding to Defra that you are giving your own views. By all means mention that you are an active member of a well-respected canal society, but please don't state or even imply that you are responding on behalf of the Trust. That response will be prepared by our Trustees, only after we have received the views from as many of our members as possible. Please help us by making your views known to us in good time!)
Timescale? The Defra consultation opened on 30 March and responses can be submitted any time before the closing date, the 30th June 2011.
Mike Rodd
Chair of the Trust Council
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
BIG FISH LEAVE SMALL POND
British Waterways is relocating over half a tonne of fish from the side ponds of the famous Caen Hill Flight of Locks on the historic Kennet & Avon Canal, near Devizes, to improve conditions for aquatic wildlife including dragonflies.
The relocation follows a successful trial project in 2009, which saw a tonne of fish, including large tench, carp, bream, roach, perch and pike removed from the ponds.
The significant numbers of boats that move through the locks at Caen Hill stirs up silt and so do, perhaps surprisingly, large fish feeding on the bottom of the ponds. This stirring of the silt causes the growth of algae due to the subsequent release of nutrients in the water. Over recent years, the water in the side ponds has, therefore, become less suitable for invertebrates such as dragonflies and damselflies, as well as scarce aquatic plants that rely on clear-water environments. By removing the large fish a more natural balance will be created in the ponds, as there will be reduced excessive predation from these larger fish on the younger and smaller fish and other invertebrates.
British Waterways’ ecologist, Oda Dijksterhuis said:
“In 2009 we removed the first batch of big fish from the ponds and installed silt screen curtains. The results of this habitat management work have been fantastic with aquatic plants, such as the rare potamogetons and hornworts returning to the ponds that we haven’t had in the waterway for years. In addition to these plants we have seen an increase in dragon and damselfly populations, the ponds are now teeming with diverse dragonfly larvae and other invertebrates such as the water scorpion.
“The fish relocations happening this week will help to improve the habitat of the other ponds on the flight, so hopefully we’ll see more plants and invertebrates appear in the coming months around all of Caen Hill’s ponds.”
British Waterways has employed a specialist fisheries team to co-ordinate the relocation of the fish, and initial works have suggested that there will be many large pike relocated from the ponds.
Many of the fish will be relocated along the Kennet & Avon Canal, where local anglers will be able to fish for them, and a proportion will go to Toddbrook Reservoir in the Peak District which needs restocking following works at the site.
The Caen Hill side ponds were originally designed 200 years ago as ‘holding tanks’ to store the water needed to operate this extraordinary flight of locks, due to the steepness of the terrain. Together, these side ponds represent one of the largest stretches of open water in this part of Wiltshire and are a great wildlife habitat for species including grass snakes, various birds and water voles.
Once the water in the side ponds has been drained down to a level of about two feet, a the fisheries experts will use 100m seine nets to trap fish before wading in to scoop up the largest. The fish will be carefully transferred into aerated tanks before being transported to their new home.
John Ellis, fisheries manager for British Waterways, says: "We take great care of the fish throughout every part of the process and local anglers will welcome the release of some of these larger fish into the canal."
The relocation follows a successful trial project in 2009, which saw a tonne of fish, including large tench, carp, bream, roach, perch and pike removed from the ponds.
The significant numbers of boats that move through the locks at Caen Hill stirs up silt and so do, perhaps surprisingly, large fish feeding on the bottom of the ponds. This stirring of the silt causes the growth of algae due to the subsequent release of nutrients in the water. Over recent years, the water in the side ponds has, therefore, become less suitable for invertebrates such as dragonflies and damselflies, as well as scarce aquatic plants that rely on clear-water environments. By removing the large fish a more natural balance will be created in the ponds, as there will be reduced excessive predation from these larger fish on the younger and smaller fish and other invertebrates.
British Waterways’ ecologist, Oda Dijksterhuis said:
“In 2009 we removed the first batch of big fish from the ponds and installed silt screen curtains. The results of this habitat management work have been fantastic with aquatic plants, such as the rare potamogetons and hornworts returning to the ponds that we haven’t had in the waterway for years. In addition to these plants we have seen an increase in dragon and damselfly populations, the ponds are now teeming with diverse dragonfly larvae and other invertebrates such as the water scorpion.
“The fish relocations happening this week will help to improve the habitat of the other ponds on the flight, so hopefully we’ll see more plants and invertebrates appear in the coming months around all of Caen Hill’s ponds.”
British Waterways has employed a specialist fisheries team to co-ordinate the relocation of the fish, and initial works have suggested that there will be many large pike relocated from the ponds.
Many of the fish will be relocated along the Kennet & Avon Canal, where local anglers will be able to fish for them, and a proportion will go to Toddbrook Reservoir in the Peak District which needs restocking following works at the site.
The Caen Hill side ponds were originally designed 200 years ago as ‘holding tanks’ to store the water needed to operate this extraordinary flight of locks, due to the steepness of the terrain. Together, these side ponds represent one of the largest stretches of open water in this part of Wiltshire and are a great wildlife habitat for species including grass snakes, various birds and water voles.
Once the water in the side ponds has been drained down to a level of about two feet, a the fisheries experts will use 100m seine nets to trap fish before wading in to scoop up the largest. The fish will be carefully transferred into aerated tanks before being transported to their new home.
John Ellis, fisheries manager for British Waterways, says: "We take great care of the fish throughout every part of the process and local anglers will welcome the release of some of these larger fish into the canal."
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