I make no apology for focussing yet again on the aqueduct over the M6 Toll Motorway. It has dominated my Chairmanship and the work of the Trust for over three years but now the victory is finally achieved. As you cannot fail to know from all the publicity in mid-August, the aqueduct is in place. It has been a nail-biting experience in many ways but it will now stand as a monument to the determination of the Trust to triumph over difficulty.

We cannot really separate this achievement from the success in installing the culverts at Churchbridge. The help we had then from David Suchet, politicians, councillors and many, many others created the climate in which we could go on to tackle the aqueduct. Sometime, the whole story must be told and everyone given their full credit. In due time, and with the funds to match our ambitions, even Midland Expressway realised that we must be taken seriously. It has been a very pleasant experience to attend meetings with representatives of the Highways Agency, MEL and CAMBBA which were positive and helpful. I must pay tribute to the dedicated work of our engineer John Horton who has overseen the work from the very beginning right through to the exciting moment when the troughs were dropped into place.

Yet it must be to you, the members that the full credit must go. It has been the constant backing of the waterways enthusiasts which has really made this possible. There has been an enormous pool of good will which has helped us with the political aspects of the campaign. The financial inflow to the David Suchet Appeal has been truly amazing.

We are now allowing ourselves a few brief moments of rejoicing but there is still a great challenge - we still have two canals to restore. If we thought that completing the aqueduct would bring us some respite we were wrong. At the practical level the aqueduct has provided match funding for us to obtain a substantial tranche of European money. This will finance the reconstruction of Cappers Lane Bridge on the Lichfield. Although our Finance Director, Bob Williams, has arranged a clever package which will give us time to manage the project properly, work must start this year. This is an exciting step forward and is a vital building block in the rebuilding of the Lichfield Canal from Huddlesford Junction to Lichfield.

Another vital area where we are beginning to make progress in is the purchase of land. I am often asked what powers we have to acquire land and, of course, the answer has to be "none" We can only regain our route through purchase by agreement with existing landowners. We can hope for donations or sale at favourable rates but we must expect to pay the market price. Since the completion of the aqueduct there has been a noticeable increase in the number of owners who are approaching us with a view to selling us their part of the canal track. This is very welcome and we are following these through but it will clearly place a great strain on our resources. Although the aqueduct is paid for, we have had to draw down on our general funds to top up the Suchet Appeal.

In the year ahead we will be looking to re-launch our fund-raising as we get back to the more mundane areas of canal restoration. The great lesson we are learning is that we can never be sure when challenges will become opportunities. Three years ago we thought the M6 Toll was a near impossible challenge but it proved a great opportunity. Likewise, until this year we have not had a very favourable response from landowners. Our Land Officer, Mike Smith, has identified all the ownerships along the route and has been in touch with most owners. We can fully sympathise with those who have created gardens on former canal land and are safeguarding their privacy. It is a long haul to persuade them of the benefits of having a canal near their houses both in terms of ambience and value

As we look forward to 2004 we see the need to continue to be a vibrant restoration trust with clear objectives. We will not be resting on our laurels but be driving our restoration forward. I hope that I will soon be able to answer that most frequently asked question - "when do you expect to have boats passing along your canals". We have been in existence for 15 years and the challenge remains the same. There is much to do.

Brian Kingshott

AQUEDUCT The Lichfield Canal Aqueduct is complete and we are including colour photographs of the installation of the trough and walkways in August and the inauguration ceremony. This marks the culmination of 15 years of campaigning and nearly 3 years of fund raising to counter the severance threatened by the construction of the new motorway. We may not have got all that we wanted, or indeed that the public inquiry inspector recommended, but what we have achieved is 2 major culverts enlarged to navigable size for the Hatherton Canal and an aqueduct for the Lichfield Canal, and on the back of that more funding for engineering, economic and environmental reports on the Hatherton Canal plus some land purchase and, we hope, some advance pre-cast bridge units and finally, as explained below, a new bridge on the Lichfield Canal. Not bad for a bunch of amateurs ! However, we know that we have still barely scratched the surface of what needs to be done so that the celebrations, whilst deserved and enjoyed, should give no cause for complacency but provide a spur to even greater endeavour in future.

SHORTBUTTS LANE
The Trust has objected to a planning application for housing development on part of the original canal route in Lichfield at Shortbutts Lane. Although this section of the canal is not likely to be restored due to the need to divert alongside the proposed Lichfield Southern Bypass to avoid the section built over by Bison Concrete and Essington Close, until that route is formally protected through the Local Plan process or otherwise secured we need to protect what remains of the original route. Local people are strongly opposed to the housing and would also prefer not to have the road built but the canal restoration is widely welcomed. They have applied to register as a Village Green the public open space land that includes the old canal route, but this covers not only the section at Shortbutts Lane but right back to London Road which could give us a problem. Whilst we support in principle the retention of the land for community use, the law on village greens is far from clear and it could handicap or even prevent the canal restoration. The matter has been given a good airing in the local press where we have been incorrectly quoted as supporters of the Save Our Green Action Group. The position is further complicated in that it is the Lichfield City Council that want to sell the canal land for housing and we are dependant upon them for our licence to restore the rest of the canal through the City, including at Tamworth Road. We are caught in the middle of a dispute between the local people and their representatives, with no wish to offend either, but it is likely that we will now have to formally object to the Village Green registration, asking that at least the canal from London Road to the point at which it will divert should be excluded from the area if it is to be registered.

CAPPERS LANE BRIDGE
The excellent news that we have been offered a further £512,330 of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support towards reinstating a bridge at Cappers Lane is a further cause for celebration. Cappers Lane is the first road blockage on the Lichfield Canal up from Huddlesford Junction towards Lichfield, just beyond the Lichfield Cruising Club moorings. The design will provide a new access for the club and a nearby house and involves raising the road to cross over the new bridge constructed from pre-cast concrete sections with a brick facing. The background to our application was explained in Funding News in CBW36 by Bob Williams, and it is largely down to his vision, hard work and perseverance that we have been able to secure the offer against an impossibly tight deadline, with vital support from Mike Smith in negotiating the land required to make it possible. We have also had magnificent support from Staffordshire County Council Highways who have completed the outline design work and the planning application documentation in record time and have agreed to take on the detailed design, tendering and construction supervision. This will enable us to spend the grant quickly to meet the ERDF timetable conditions, and we hope to see work start on site early in 2004. As Bob has explained, this uses the money spent on the aqueduct as the match funding, levering out almost as much again in grant, so that all those donations to the David Suchet Appeal and the Manifold Trust and other grants will now effectively be doubled in value ! Grateful thanks to everyone that has made this possible.

Proposed design of Cappers Lane Bridge

LAND OWNERSHIP
Negotiating with landowners to buy back sections of the canal route or acquire new areas of land required for the restoration is a most important part of our activities, and Mike Smith has been making good progress of late. On the Hatherton Canal we are working with Staffordshire County Council and in discussion with several private owners about sections of the new route east of Churchbridge. On the Lichfield Canal we have recently agreed terms for purchase of small areas of agricultural land adjoining Cappers Lane and near the aqueduct, both needed for widened embankments, the former for the road and the latter for the canal. It also appears that the long running boundary dispute between an adjacent landowner and Lichfield District Council, which has prevented us working at Fosseway Lane for many years now, has at last been resolved with the transfer of the land to the Council. We are also in negotiation with several other owners about key areas. Whilst our charity status precludes us paying over the odds for agricultural land, nevertheless it does not come cheap, and our Land Fund will become a major focus of our future activities now that the financial demands of the M6 Toll are largely behind us.

Phil Sharpe

We started the year with much trepidation; would we have enough money in the David Suchet Appeal fund to place an order for the steel aqueduct trough over the M6 Toll road. We had already paid out £130,000 for the Churchbridge culvert 155 from the David Suchet fund and we had to place the order with Rowecord, the steel fabricators of the aqueduct trough, by the middle of February to meet the dead line for CAMBBA's construction program.

At the monthly Council meeting of the Trust on Wednesday 8th January 2003, after much discussion, although we were still some £45,000 short of our target we all felt the opportunity should not be lost and we agreed to place the order for the trough, subject to approval of contract. We were confident the short fall in funds would be met.

By the time Cut Both Ways Issue 37 appears on your mat the Aqueduct will be another page in the history of the restoration of the L&H. I must thank all members and friends who have donated so generously to the David Suchet Appeal. We are still some £15,000 short, but I am confident our target will be met.

Although we all work together as a team on the Trust, Directors, Officers and members of the Marketing group, I think at times we need to sing the praises of individual people. John Horton who has been the driving force behind the Aqueduct project with his engineering expertise and experience, has spent many hours in meetings with the consultants and builders of the M6 Toll. I would also like to mention Bob Williams who as finance Director has had the mammoth task of organising the finances and keeping track of the David Suchet Appeal. Thank you on behalf of every one involved in the Trust.

Past Events
July
Working Boat Gathering, Cambrian Wharf Birmingham, 26/27July.
Total money raised £476. 2 new members. A busy week-end with many thanks to Bob & Sue, Derek & Margaret, Mike & Bobbie for all their hard work.

August
Charity Stall, Walsall Market, Saturday 2nd August.
A very hectic day. We were all run off our feet but had great fun fending off dealers who tried to play us off one against another. Many thanks to Derek, Margaret and Bobbie for helping on the stall. Total raised £313.00

Forest of Mercia Open Day, Sunday 3rd August.
Very hot, definitely a day for ice creams all round. Total raised £79 and 1 new member. Many thanks to Sue, Bob and Mike Battisson.

I.W.A. National Festival, Beale Park, Fri. 22nd - Mon. 25th August.
Many thanks to Bob & Sue, Derek, Eric Wood, Malcolm Lilley, and Philip & Frances Dumelow for their hard work over the week-end. Total raised £949.
12 new members and 5 renewals.

David and Sheila Suchet paid a visit to the L&H stand at the National at Beale Park on Sunday 24th to offer their congratulations and share the excitement of the fact the Lichfield Canal Aqueduct was up at last. The threat that the M6 toll brought to our canals had finally been overcome, mainly because of the David Suchet Appeal which has brought in so much public support and donations from all over the country.

To mark the occasion Brian Kingshott presented David and Sheila with a framed collection of photographs (taken by Harry Arnold) of the aqueduct trough being craned into position on the 16th August.

Looking at the photographs David said "For Sheila and I this is the culmination and fruition of the moment I stood up at the Earls Court Boat Show, all that time ago, and pledged that the Lichfield and Hatherton canals would be saved. Congratulations to everyone who has made it happen. We are very happy."

Malcolm Burge of Alvecote Marina also visited the L&H stand to present us with a generous cheque for £1200, representing the first of 5 years mooring fees for one of two spaces at the marina kindly donated by Malcolm to the Trust.

Wychnor Boat Rally, 23rd -25th August.
Weather not as good as promised, but a profitable and enjoyable week-end. Many thanks to the team; May Brown, Jan Horton, Barry Kenn, Bobbie & Mike Battisson, Terry Brown, Jean Handley, and Roger Bator. Total £681.
4 New members and 1 renewal.

September
Sandfields Pumping Station Heritage open day, Saturday 20th September.
The sales and display stand was manned by Bob Williams and Mike Battison. Thanks also to Chris Pattison for inviting our team to the open day and for the generous donation of £79.65. We also sold L& H goods to the value of £90.

Greyhound Boat Club, Burton on Trent, Saturday 20th September.
The sun shone and May and I spent a very pleasant and worthwhile day at Horninglow Basin as guests of the Greyhound Boat Club. Total raised £108.

Our press and publicity report this quarter covers July, August and September 2003.

As always, David Suchet's welcome support for our cause attracted the headline writers and photographers. Canal & Riverboat for August reported "David Suchet attends L&H AGM" with a photo of himself at the aqueduct site. David's image also illustrated a piece in the Lichfield Post looking forward to "Aqueduct over M6 toll road". IWA's Waterways for August carried a letter of thanks from David for their grant and pictured him meeting officers of Lichfield Cruising Club. Presentation of the IWA's cheque at Crick was shown in Canal Boat & Inland Waterways in August and similarly in Canal & Riverboat in September. Meanwhile, our dumb friends got a look in with the August Waterways World sniffing out the story of "A dog's life" about our Pets Club.

Pet's Club member Belvoir with owners Phil and Frances

Reports in July of the Trust's objections to houses being built on part of the original canal line in Lichfield appeared in the Express & Star as "Battle line drawn in beauty spot land fight" and "Homes bid is put back". The August edition of the magazine Living History highlighted voluntary restoration work by WRG and the Trust's work on the Lichfield Canal in "Hands on History".

As the time for installing the aqueduct trough approached, the Express & Star in July publicised "£18,000 needed for work on canal" whilst several newspaper articles expressed "Canal trust's thanks to CAMBBA" (Lichfield Mercury), "M6 Toll builders thanked on canal" (Express & Star) and "Canal trust's thanks to M6 Toll builder" (Rugeley & Cannock Mercury); all part of the softening up process ! "Lichfield M6 Toll Canal Cash Plea" was spotted on newsagents billboards for the Birmingham Evening Mail, whilst the article, with obligatory photo of David Suchet at the helm of a boat, punned "Only £18K Tiller We Get There! " and "Canal aqueduct cash target hoves into view". The Lichfield & Burntwood Express & Star in August rather prematurely announced "Final Link For Canal" on their front page and a later edition said "Aqueduct is the final part in canal link-up". Just before the big day the Rugeley Post had "Sneak preview of new aqueduct" with a photo of the trial assembly of the trough in the factory in South Wales.

The trial assembly of the aqueduct trough at the factory of Rowecord Ltd

Apart from the usual Summer maintenance work at all 3 of our sites, and the fitting of a roll bar to our small dumper, most of our progress this last quarter has again been at Lock 26 at Tamworth Road. We have levelled and gravelled the towpath ramp and backfilled the new quadrant wall. The bricklaying on the bywash apron was completed, using new 'imperial' size engineering bricks to fit, and the brickwork patching in the lock chamber has been finished. Many more bricks have been cleaned, a further 25 foot length of towpath wall below the lock was stripped back to its foundations and a good start made on rebuilding it. Beyond here the wall has no proper foundation, and the generous loan by Chasetown Civil Engineering of a 360o excavator with driver, fuel and transport for a weekend in early September enabled us to expose its remains right down to the A38. Only for the further half of the length is there sufficient wall remaining to build on. The digger also enabled us to level the towpath, excavate some more of the bed and build up a further section of offside bank, as well as recovering lots of old bricks.

The usual Summer activities of towpath strimming and mowing, hedge trimming and facing, and rubbish clearance between Roman Way and Oak Lane have occupied us lately on our regular monthly work parties, supplemented by some mid-week help with the mowing. We have had some assistance from a Forest Of Mercia team who carried out a major scrub bash from Oak Lane towards the M6 in preparation for the third and final season of the Hatherton Hedgerow Project. They have also installed some steps up to Saredon Mill Bridge to access this vantage point more safely than by the previous slippery slope. From November onwards we expect to be assisting the hedgerow contractors again with access clearance and gathering the brash from their hedge laying, providing the material and perfect excuse for some therapeutic bonfires !