I will start with the most recent event which I know many of you attended. On Saturday 2nd October there was a very happy and successful event at Huddlesford Junction. It sprang from the "Celebrate 18th" festival organised in Lichfield. The focus of the day was the unveiling of a new arm on the fingerpost on the junction. Thanks to the enthusiasm and drive of Jan Horton, strongly supported by Sue Williams, the Marketing Group and many others, this mushroomed into a major canal event. It proved to be a remarkable exercise in co-operation between many organisations, working in harmony and "partnership".

The fingerpost belongs to Coventry Canal Society which was very happy to provide a new arm, pointing to Ogley, and we were very pleased to involve them in publicising our restoration project. Lichfield Cruising Club, with their moorings currently on the line of the Lichfield Canal, were enthusiastic supporters of the event and provided the field and all the facilities of their club house. The Birmingham Canal Navigation Society, which owns the matching fingerpost at Ogley also joined in. British Waterways supplied their Waterscape boat to act as the VIP Boat and hospitality centre.

On the day, despite the occasional heavy rain, there was strong support from the public and boaters. In addition to the private boats there were several historic working boats including President and Kildare. The scene around the junction was one of bustling activity and many of those who came are asking when we will be "doing it all again". The unveiling ceremony was carried out by Lichfield MP, and Trust member, Michael Fabricant. He was introduced by our President, Eric Wood. Plenty of the public came out to support us, dodging the showers, and enjoying the wide variety of entertainment's and displays.

Clearly this was a happy and successful occasion and a remarkable exercise in co-operation and I must record the gratitude of the Trust to all who worked so hard. Such occasions have many purposes but key among these must be publicity. Those of us who attend so many meetings, beaver away on the work sites and are involved in so many detailed negotiations can easily lose sight of how the members, and indeed the general public, perceive what we are doing. After the excitements of the building of the aqueduct and the installation of the culverts at Churchbridge things may appear to have gone quiet. We raised expectations to very high levels and many seem have seen the full restoration as imminent or, at least, likely to happen in a comparatively short time. Would that this were so!. There is still so much to be done.

I could list all that we are currently doing and how hard our small Trust Council is working. Yet it is perception which is all. We have to keep what we are doing fully in the public view and we need events like that at Huddlesford to help us do this. We must continue to "sell" the restoration hard to keep and to enhance general support.

Recently, so much of what we have done appears to have concentrated on the Lichfield Canal yet we know that we are a two canals but one restoration scheme Trust. The Hatherton and Lichfield Canals are equal in merit in all respects. I have been told that we rarely mention the Hatherton yet we are working hard there. Much of what we are doing is "behind the scenes" with all kinds of negotiations and developments which have not reached a point at which it would be helpful or sensible to bring them fully into the public domain. In due course we will have exciting news on both our canals.

As part of the "selling" process we are well into a programme of strengthening our ties with our local authorities. We have had briefing meetings with the Chief Executives of Lichfield District Council and more recently that of South Staffordshire D.C. We have also spoken to a meeting of senior officials and elected members of Cannock Chase D.C. We were well received, gained considerable knowledge and were able to bring everyone up to date on our work. We need the help and co-operation of all these bodies and many others. Yet, even in these well-informed circles, there is still much to do to ensure that everyone knows what we are doing and where we are going. Everyone has heard of the aqueduct and some know about the culverts but beyond that the mists begin to descend.

There is much to shout about. Anyone who passes our work site at Tamworth Road in Lichfield must be impressed by the progress made by our volunteers and by the many visiting work parties. Our Vice-Chairman, Phil Sharpe, has progressed his scheme of work with great vigour and efficiency. The area between Locks 24 and 25 now begins to take shape as a recognisable canal bed. We can now see the tail of Lock 24 and envisage how this section will look when restored. We are very grateful to local residents and to the Darwin Walk Trust for their understanding as these considerable works go forward.

CAPPERS BRIDGE Our long-delayed planning application for Cappers Lane Canal Bridge (see CBW 39) was finally approved by Lichfield District Council in July. I addressed the planning committee to help counter some misconceptions by a local objector, and it was noticeable how many councillors had to declare an interest as members of the Trust! Our friends at Staffordshire Highways are now finalising the detailed tender documents with the intention of letting the contract for a start on site next February and completion in July. We will not know the final bill until the contract is let but will then have to find the balance, so any donations towards the estimated shortfall of up to £50,000 would be most welcome.

HATHERTON FEASIBILTY STUDY
Another much delayed initiative is now progressing well with the appointment of ARUP under BW's Professional Services Contract to undertake the full suite of Feasibility Studies for the Hatherton Canal funded by our ERDF grant obtained nearly a year ago. Drawing up a detailed Consultants Brief took longer than expected but the result was a very comprehensive document that defined and will guide the studies, with a target date for completion by next March.

ANOTHER M6 TOLL?
One of the matters that ARUP will now need to investigate is the effect of the proposal for a new M6 Expressway. As if one toll motorway crossing our canals was not bad enough, we are now faced with the threat of another. For about the past 15 years the Department of Transport have been drawing up various plans to widen the existing M6 between the midlands and northwest, firstly by adding lanes on each side, then by parallel widening, and more recently by a mixture of the two. Numerous consultants have been employed, plans produced and consultations launched but the actual construction seemed as far away as ever. Yet even whilst a public consultation on alternative Route Management Strategies was underway, the Transport Secretary Alistair Darling suddenly produced, like a rabbit out of a hat and with no prior consultation with anyone, a scheme to build a parallel private toll motorway instead.

His argument seems to be that the M6 Toll has been so successful that we must have another and longer one. Others may think that the M6 Toll has singularly failed in its primary aim to take HGVs off the existing M6, and that its long term economic success is far from certain, whilst its environmental effects are devastating to the Green Belt. Mr Darling, however, gives little weight to the increased land take, more destruction of countryside, greater spread of noise or other environmental damage that a second motorway would cause compared with widening, so we would not expect him to have even considered the effect on the Hatherton Canal.

Whereas a widened M6, depending to some extent on which side it was widened, offered the expectation that a navigable culvert would be included under the new Government policy that our battle with the BNRR helped bring about, a completely separate motorway, whilst providing its own bridge, would do nothing to resolve the present M6 crossing. However, after many conflicting press reports, the new consultation document contains no plans or routes or construction details other than vague diagrammatic sketches, and the proximity to the new junction 11A, which was built with no provision for separated carriageways, means that the effect of the scheme on our canal is very difficult to assess. Opposition to the idea is strong and growing, particularly among communities likely to be badly impacted such as Penkridge and Stafford, and the Trust will be adding its concerns to the responses. We are promised (threatened with?) a decision early next year, although experience suggests that there is time for several more u-turns in transport policy, changes of Minister and even Government before the bulldozers move in.

Future Events:
That leaves us with the Christmas Fair held at the Brownhills Community Centre on Saturday November 28th as our last event of 2004 .

January 2005 sees us preparing for the National Caravan and Outdoor Leisure Show to be held at the NEC, Saturday 19th - Sunday 27th February.

Thanks mainly to our Publicity Officer Jan Horton, the Trust has again achieved good media coverage of our activities in the period July to September 2004.

First, however, a late entry for June was a picture of the Trust's marketing display at the Moira Canal Festival the previous month, as seen in the locally distributed Towpath Talk newssheet. The donation of the well-travelled boat-load of bricks by Mike & Cath Turpin continued to attract attention with The Lichfield Mercury reporting in July that "Bricks help rebuild canal", whilst the August Canal Boat & Inland Waterways magazine pictured "Bricks by boat" and the September Canal & Riverboat had "Heritage boats deliver bricks", all illustrated with a picture of the unloading at Streethay Wharf. In August Canal & Riverboat had illustrated our Easter event as "President's Garden Party raises £1300" and the donation of Huddersfield Canal Society's trailer as "Society donate their stand to the L&H", whilst the September edition also reported on our display at the Lichfield Heritage Centre in "Lichfield & Hatherton Exhibition". The exhibition was also covered by a brief item in the August Canal Boat.

Canal bridge gets go-ahead" was the welcome news about planning permission for Cappers Bridge in the Express & Star in July, although in August a report claimed that the application for 'village green' status for land at Wordsworth Close in Lichfield could prevent development not only of housing and the bypass, but also of a community hall and the canal. Obviously someone at the Express & Star reads our magazine as a short piece "Volunteers in work on canal" reminded readers of our August work party at Hatherton. September's Canal Boat also publicised forthcoming work parties at Lichfield; illustrated by work on the ladder recess at Lock 25, whilst brief news items covered the planned Huddlesford gathering, our prize at the Lichfield Bower, and clarified details of their earlier report on the bricks. The Bower prize was featured in Canal & Riverboat News as "L&H float wins prize", picturing Peter and Pat Magee's 1960's Mercedes Unimog cleverly disguised as canal boat 'Cut Both Ways'! See News 2004

Work Party News
So much has happened over the summer that it is difficult to know where to start; but here goes. Our own regular work parties twice a month at Tamworth Road have been supplemented by extra days, by a Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camp in August, and by well attended weekend visits in September from London WRG and WRG BITM (Bit In The Middle - don't ask!). Several major jobs have been completed and numerous others progressed.

July saw us completing the brick capping on the section of towpath wall below Lock 26, backfilling and bracing the bridge abutment wall below Lock 25, starting the foundations for the towpath side bottom gate thrust-block wall on Lock 25, continuing excavations on the pound wall up to Lock 24, brick cleaning, mowing, weed killing and moving plant. August started with us concreting the bridge abutment wall and recovering and stacking bricks and the smaller stones. The gener-ous loan from Chasetown Civil Engineering Co of a 13 tonne excavator and driver, enabled us to lift out the cache of large coping and quoin stones found against the wall below Lock 24 and stack them out of harms way near the head of Lock 25, as well as finally removing the troublesome sycamore roots. Two evenings were spent collecting about 800 bricks donated to us by Kevin Dickenson from Fradley, after which the bridge abutment wall bracing was dismantled and the coping bricks for it were moved to site and then laid by Barry during the Camp.

Lifting and stacking the large coping and quoin stones and removing the sycamore roots with the aid of the 13 tonne excavator and driver on loan from Chasetown Civil Engineering.
Photos by Phil Sharpe

The Canal Camp in mid August had a full attendance of 20 volunteers, many of whom were old hands with lots of experience and all of whom were very hard working. It is always amazing how much can be done in a full week and progress on the main job of rebuilding the pound wall was particularly impressive. The loose brickwork was removed, mostly the top 2 rows, and then replaced and the bricklaying continued upwards to bring the wall up to a common level, accompanied by mountains of brick cleaning and considerable areas of re-pointing on the lower courses and also on the entrance walls of Lock 24. Considering the variety of brick types and sizes to work with, the result was commendable, and we also made extensive use of lime mortar for the first time. However, heavy rain on the final afternoon prevented the top course being levelled and there was also a large gap in the middle where the Sycamore tree had been and its roots had penetrated the brickwork. Other jobs done by the Camp on and around Lock 25 included removing a tree stump, finishing the thrust-block excavation and building the block wall, and completing the breaking out of the ladder recess. The excavation in front of the retaining wall was also started and finished off by Keith the following week. Another major job carried out during the Camp was plugging the breach at Darnford Lane, which is covered in a separate report. WRG also found time to pose for the camera filming for a new series of 'Waterworld', so look out for that sometime next year.

The offside pound wall takes shape during the Canal Camp in August.
WRG campers building the block wall for the Lock 25 thrust block.		Filling the breach with clay using the dumper and CAT excavator.
Photos by Phil Sharpe

The IWA National at Burton provided a brief change of scene, and resulted in a donation of 2 packs of engineering bricks, sand and cement surplus from the Festival, but restoration work resumed apace in September. The top course of the pound wall was completed and the root damaged courses were taken down lower, excavation of the footing for the Lock 25 quadrant wall was started, and more bricks cleaned and rubble cleared. On the welcome return visit of London WRG the gap in the pound wall was rebuilt and work was started on the lockside retaining wall. One end of this was unstable and Barry took it down and rebuilt it whilst the visitors concentrated on filling a hole in the wall, demolishing loose courses and cleaning the joints. Meanwhile the trench for the quadrant wall foundation was completed and blinding laid, and the crumbly old bridge abutment on the towpath side demolished, accompanied by much brick cleaning.

The visit by BITM the next weekend gave an opportunity to continue work on the retaining wall by replacing the top courses, patching and pointing, and starting the blue copings, until we ran out of lime! They also finished off the quadrant wall foundations with rebar and concrete and started on the facing brickwork of the wall, using the bricks donated from the National. The back of the pound wall was dug out for future concreting, a brick mountain at Lock 26 was moved from the channel to the offside bank and a section of towpath levelled. For variety, a party also went up to Kings Bromley Wharf to unload about 3,500 bricks from narrow boat Lilly, kindly donated to us by Len Caldicott of Bromley Diesel Centre. The loose bricks were off-loaded and palleted and the other packs lifted out using straps. Peter Magee subsequently arranged for their transport to Lock 26, with thanks again to Chasetown CE.