We have delayed this issue of Cut Both Ways so that we can bring you the final pictures of the rebuilding of Capper’s Bridge and the ceremony on 21st April. This is another great landmark in the history of the Trust and represents the culmination of three years of work. The actual work, carried out very proficiently by McPhillips (Wellington) Ltd, took less than six months but the discussions and protracted negotiations took years. We are very grateful to Mike Smith who handled most of the tricky discussions with landowners, British Waterways, Lichfield Cruising Club and Staffordshire County Council. David Piggott was our main link with the contractors and brought all his professional expertise to bear to ensure that all the terms of the contract were fully delivered. The end result is a most pleasing structure which now desperately needs water under it to make the picture complete. In all events, the bridge is another demonstration of our determination to take the canal from Huddlesford Junction to Lichfield and ultimately to the BCN at Ogley. We are grateful to the people of Whittington and everyone else who has been inconvenienced by the closure of an important through route for their forbearance. We also appreciate the helpful attitude of Lichfield Cruising Club whose access route to their moorings has been disrupted through the winter.

Most of our efforts through the winter months have been concentrated on the problems posed by the Lichfield Southern Bypass, especially at the intersection with the Birmingham Road. After our setbacks in the autumn we decided that we must now work to find practical solutions to the problems, whatever our previous misgivings. We have been very grateful for the good offices of Tony Harvey, Central Shires Manager for British Waterways. With the support of BW at the highest level he has opened up channels of communication with both Staffordshire County Council and the developers, Persimmon. When the ground had been prepared the Trust was invited to join the discussions and to explore the engineering options. The all important question was then how much this would cost and would the Trust be able to meet any obligations placed upon it. Hopefully, by the time CBW 48 reaches you in the Summer we will know exactly what has to be built and how much it will cost.

Engineers at British Waterways worked with their counterparts at Staffordshire Highways to find a way in which the canal could be contained within the 40 metre environmental strip allowed for the road and then cross under the Birmingham Road. We are grateful to Roy Sutton, the honorary consultant engineer to IWA, who is advising us and who has met the other engineers involved. Time is of course, of the essence and, as we go to press, matters remain unresolved but with a strong hope that the canal structures can be built and paid for. It was essential that we should launch a public appeal for funding as we anticipate that the final bill for this work will be in the region of £½m. Finance Director, Bob Williams, has worked very hard to explore all the funding options and to launch The David Suchet (Mark 2) Appeal.

It is very trying and testing that we are once again compelled to finance a major road crossing at short notice. It is vital that we succeed and we hope that the waterways movement will be as generous and understanding this time as it was when we built the aqueduct. At a later time, all the political implications will have to be explored in the hope that no other restoration project will ever again find itself in such a tight corner. The other important message which comes from this experience is the need to sell. and to continue to sell, the whole restoration scheme to local people. Over the nearly two decades of the Trust’s existence support has grown and we have many good friends in the local communities. However we will only make the real breakthrough when everyone sees the Lichfield and the Hatherton as “their” canals and not as “ours”. In that dreadful but telling modern expression we need local people to “take ownership” of the canals.

At our Annual General Meeting I will be making my annual appeal for people to come forward take an active role in our work. There is so much still to do. Phil Sharpe has recently stood down as Vice-Chairman and will not be seeking re-election as a Director at the AGM. The Trust will always be greatly in his debt for the tremendous hard work and dedicated service he has given for so long.

We now face the great challenges of the next few months. The greatest of these, will be the financial ones. We are committing the trust to heavy expenditure and this burden will last for several years. We will endeavour to keep all our work going but the priority will have to be dealing with the costs caused by the building of the projected culvert under the Birmingham Road in Lichfield. There are so many other things on which we could be spending such a large sums of money from practical restoration to land purchase. In many ways this big project which has been laid upon us is a kind of tax on restoration but we have no choice but to meet it. I can only ask for your generosity and fullest support.

The end of the month saw the team at our biggest challenge, the Boat, Caravan and Outdoor Show at the National Exhibition Centre. Ten days of intensive talking and selling resulted in a net profit from the show of £1,442. Our theme for this year was the ‘Key to the BCN’. Fortunately on the day we opened we got confirmation that we had passed the first hurdle for a grant from the Big Lottery Living Landmarks scheme; our I-CON project for restoration of the Hatherton Canal had met the criteria. I say fortunate because half our stand was devoted to promoting the scheme. If we had not been accepted then there would have had to be some very quick thinking! The display promoting the bid was the work of Beverley & Paul Marshall and Mike & Bobbie Battisson with, I understand, some help from a neighbour, and I am very grateful to them all for the excellent result.

The stand at the National Exhibition Centre.(Photo by Dave Moore)

The organisers reported an attendance of 142,954, an 8% increase on last year and bucking the trend of reducing attendances which has been the experience of other similar shows. Although the word Boat comes first on the title it is clear that most of the visitors are interested in the caravan and camper vans and that was evident by the crush of people in that part of the event. There were more boats on show this year although quite a number of them were glass fibre cruisers rather than narrow boats.

Our message this year was the importance of the restoration of our two canals to the revival of the northern parts of the Birmingham Canals Navigations system. Our thanks must also go to Geoprojects who supplied us with a new map of the BCN with our two restoration schemes prominently shown. Further to our theme of the BCN, the Trust has commissioned ten more sets of the brass BCN map. It comes as 9 brass plates which together form the map. It can be seen on the stand in front of Sue as she unveils the stand for another busy day.

Although not officially launched, we did take the opportunity to mention the forthcoming David Suchet Appeal to anyone who enquired about the By-pass situation, and there were a surprising number of people who had heard of our little problem. A start was made to the appeal when we received a cheque for £200 from the IWA Stoke-on-Trent branch. This money will go towards the printing of the new appeal brochure which should accompany this magazine. In addition to the £1440 raised, the team also recruited 25 new members. Our attendance at the show is due to the continuing sponsorship of Lichfield Tourism, Cannock Chase Tourism, Dains, Staffordshire Tourism, Michael Stimpson Associates, Pritchard Group and Harral Brokerage Services to whom we are very grateful.

In all some twenty two members of the Marketing team worked on the stand during the ten day event.

Trust President Eric Wood receives a cheque from Alison Smedley and Roger Savage.(Photo by Dave Moore)

Saturday 4th March saw the team out at Penkridge for a jumble sale. This was a joint event with IWA Lichfield branch. The weather could have been more kind to us and I think the snow persuaded many of the usual customers to stay indoors. The total take was only £300 which will be split between the two groups. As is usual with these events it is difficult to tell which hat the members of the team were wearing, as many of them support both organisations. So, I can only say thank you to all who turned up to help.

The season of rallies and outdoor events is fast approaching and again the Trust will be represented at many local shows. With our need for another successful David Suchet appeal it is particularly important that we make a good showing, so if any member fancies having a go please contact me or any one of the Marketing team. It really is good fun and very rewarding. No previous experience is needed, although if you have done it before it will be doubly appreciated, and there is a good team spirit.

The main events where we will need assistance are Moira Festival (13 & 14 May), Crick Boat Show (27-29 May), Lichfield Bower (29 May), the IWA National Festival (26-28 August) and the Huddlesford Boat Gathering (23 September). There are about 10 other events to cover so any offer of help will be appreciated.

COUNCILS We thank Lichfield City Council for granting another £500 and also Lichfield District Council for granting £1,000 towards the ongoing restoration work on the Tamworth Road section in Lichfield. ERDF Government Office for the West Midlands considered our application for an additional £25,000 European Regional Development Fund grant for work on the Hatherton Canal, but regrettably this was declined.

BIG LOTTERY FUND, LIVING LANDMARKS
The Big Lottery wrote to us in February to confirm that our I-CON Scheme, Hatherton Canal Project bid for £15million described in the last issue had satisfied their eligibility criteria for Stage 1. However, just before going to press, they advised us that there were too many bids chasing too little money so we would not be among the 75 projects being considered for Stage 2. Readers of the waterway press may have seen reports of fierce competition for Living Landmarks funding just from canal projects, let alone bids from other sectors. We shall have to wait until the next funding opportunity arises and press our case even harder through an alliance of match funding partners.

DAVID SUCHET APPEAL
David Suchet OBE, our Vice-President has kindly agreed to spearhead a new funding appeal in his name, targeting to raise £250,000 towards the Birmingham Road culvert. Thirty thousand appeal leaflets have been widely distributed through the waterway press. The future of this northern link to the Birmingham Canal Navigations depends on having a canal channel built now under yet another piece of new road. The campaign message is PLEASE HELP US! Can YOU please help us?

GRAND PRIZE DRAW
Our annual “raffle” launched at the “NEC Show” in February has started well with valuable prizes to be won, especially the first prize of a week’s cruise for six, kindly donated by Tillerman Boats. We ask if members can make a special effort to sell just ten tickets before the draw is made in November. Total sales last year made over £4,000 so how about doubling that this year?

BIRMINGHAM ROAD CULVERT LOANS
This subject is covered in more detail elsewhere in this issue, but construction depends on whether the Trust can amass all the funds NOW. The best cost estimate we have from Staffordshire County Council is at least £460,000 which we are trying urgently to assemble to make stage payments over 6 months through a combination of the following:-

• Available cash resources of £90,000,
• 25-year secured loan offer of £255,000 from The Charity Bank Ltd (linked to Charities Aid Foundation),
• 3-year unsecured loan offer of £70,000 offer by Venturesome Ltd (also linked to Charities Aid Foundation and co-operating with The Charity Bank) to pre-finance income from the new David Suchet Appeal (see below),
• David Suchet Appeal income bringing another £45,000 by the end of 2006.