Wednesday 17 February
Today's news from the web
- Drama as body is dragged out of Birmingham canal birminghammail.co.uk
Onlookers were shocked today as a body was dragged out of a Birmingham canal. But the drama was just that – a scene being filmed for the BBC soap Doctors. It’s part of a hard-hitting storyline about homelessness which will be screened over a week in May. ...
- Canal boats: a great way to get children outside and hands-on telegraph.co.uk
Canal boats: the perfect hands-on experience for kids...
Tuesday 16 February
Today's news from the web
- Stranded canal boats moved back into water at Elland Bridge itv.com
Canal boats which have been stranded since the Boxing Day floods have been lifted back into the water at Elland near Halifax. The barges are among 30 boats in West Yorkshire which have had to be rescued. Work can now begin to build a footbridge to carry water, gas and electricty cables. Elland Bridge is being rebuilt after being damaged in the floods and will be shut to traffic for a year....
- Canal enthusiast rows through Lancaster Canal tunnel for first time in almost 70 years thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk
A DINGHY manned by waterways enthusiast Colin Ogden has become the first craft to sail through the Hincaster Tunnel for nearly 70 years. The brick-lined, 345-metre-long passage on the Lancaster Canal's Northern Reaches was last used commercially in 1944. Heating engineer Mr Ogden, 62, from Burnley, completed the adventure with friends to share his enthusiasm for the waterway and to help promote its restoration....
Thursday 11 February
Floating tractor clears a blockage in Standedge Tunnel
A specialist ‘amphibious tractor’ is venturing into Standedge Tunnel to clear a blockage that built up during the recent heavy downpours that caused widespread flooding across the North of England.
The unusual work, which requires the help of a specialist mining consultant, is expected to take two days to complete. A hydraulic bucket on the front of the amphibious dredger, known as a Truxor, will be used to clear the blockage so that boats will once again be able to navigate the 3¼ miles through the tunnel.
It is thought that during the unprecedented wet weather, approximately 8-9 cubic metres of sand, gravel and other debris were swept into the tunnel by a stream that flows into the tunnel about 250 metres from its entrance at Diggle.
Mark Weatherall, senior project manager at the Canal & River Trust, said: “Working deep underground in a tunnel on a floating dredger is quite unusual and poses many new problems. Not only have we had to bring in specialist equipment, we’ve had to take specialist advice from a mining consultant who is experienced in confined spaces.”
The work to clear the blockage should not affect the tunnel's reopening for the 2016 summer season on 19th March.
Andrew Denny | 11.38am | add a comment
Today's news from the web
- Montgomery Canal restoration bid to cost about £30 million shropshirestar.com
The restoration of the Montgomery Canal to link Welshpool to the national network would cost £30 million, it has been revealed. A steering group including Welshpool and Llangollen town councils, Montgomery Canal Partnership, MPs and Assembly members and specialists has drawn up a plan to take the work forward. It now wants other groups with an interest in canals to support its work, and is launching a consultation which will run until March 4....
- West Midlands CRT recruits 1,000th volunteer birminghampost.co.uk
Birmingham's canals are enjoying a renaissance after a surge in volunteers pledging to help preserve the network. The Canal & River Trust, which was set up in 2012, has recruited its 1,000th volunteer from the West Midlands to help support work to clean-up the historic canals....
Wednesday 10 February
Today's news from the web
- Band of jolly volunteers clean up Worcestershire canals worcesternews.co.uk
It’s the last day of the month-long Canal and River Trust deep clean operation along the Worcester and Birmingham Canal from Worcester to Wast Hill (near Hopwood) and the Droitwich Canal. And it’s a far cry from the day they started, said the trust’s customer operations and volunteer team leader Timothy Booker. ...
Tuesday 9 February
Today's news from the web
- Heartbroken owner of sunken narrowboat stunned by £25,000 donation from anonymous Samaritan mirror.co.uk
A hero narrowboat owner who was heartbroken when it sank after smashing into a bridge was stunned after receiving a £25,000 anonymous donation from a wellwisher. The boat belonged to John Simmonds who suffers from Asperger’s and was distraught to find it submerged in the Thames at Oxford. Mr Simmonds said he had only left his £60,000 boat for half an hour to get some lunch and believed it was subject to sabotage which caused it to crash. ...
Monday 8 February
Today's news from the web
- Stranded Oxford narrow boat lifted from Thames by crane bbc.co.uk
A narrow boat stranded for four days after crashing in the River Thames has finally been hoisted out the water by a crane. The Environment Agency pulled the 25-tonne boat out of the river after using a digger to clear its path. The vessel, One Old Peculiar, was one of two boats that came loose on Monday and crashed into Botley Bridge....
- ‘Canal is looking like its usual self’ say Sowerby Bridge volunteers halifaxcourier.co.uk
Volunteers came together to clear up and repair the flood hit towpaths and waterways of Calderdale last weekend A task force of helpers rallied around at Sowerby Bridge wharf to spend a day fixing problems that arose on the Rochdale Canal following the damage caused by the deluge on Boxing Day....
Thursday 4 February
Today's news from the web
- Oxford narrow boat to be winched from river bbc.co.uk
Engineers are attempting to winch a stranded narrowboat out of the River Thames after several previous methods to remove it have failed. The Environment Agency has tried pumping water and towing it with a tractor after it came adrift in Oxford. It is one of two boats that came loose on Monday. It has crashed into Botley Bridge causing an obstruction. Russell Robson, waterway operations team leader, said he was "optimistic" the latest attempt would work....
- Thieves cross Erewash canal at night to steal canaries from Ilkeston aviary ilkestonadvertiser.co.uk
Canary thieves went by boat across a canal to raid a Derbyshire aviary at night. They broke a lock, jammed 12 birds in three small cages and made the perilous journey back across the Erewash Canal. They made the bizarre approach because bird fancier John White has tight security at the front of his Ilkeston home....
Tuesday 2 February
Today's news from the web
- £250,000 lock repair work for Shropshire Union Canal shropshirelive.com
Boaters on the Shropshire Union Canal are to benefit from a £250,000 upgrade to three Grade Two-listed lock flights near Market Drayton. Staff from the charity Canal & River Trust have braved daily downpours, storms and mud to work on the Tyrley, Adderley and Audlem lock flights on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border – a total of 25 locks. They are battling through horrendous weather and ground conditions to refurbish or replace eight sets of lock gates, replace and re-work 14 lock ladders and carry out vital masonry repairs and ground stabilisation work....
- Walsall Canal through time - pictures from Birmingham Mail birminghammail.co.uk
This week we are celebrating the Midlands' man-made waterways that played such a big part in our industrial past. Today it's the turn of the Walsall Canal The story of the creation of Walsall Canal, which began 250 years ago, is said to have been one of “great rivalry”. Historians tell of one group in 1770 promoting a plan to take a canal from Walsall to Fradley, via Lichfield, but that it was met with the disapproval of the “powerful” Birmingham Company. The company instead choose to cut a line from Wednesbury Canal at Ryder’s Green in West Bromwich, to Broadwaters at Moxley....
- Smoke alarm saves sleeping Lechlade man during narrowboat fire at Riverside Marina wiltsglosstandard.co.uk
A narrowboat dweller in Lechlade-on-Thames was saved by his smoke alarm when his boat went up in flames while he slept. At around 6.30am this morning (February 1) Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service was called to Lechlade’s Riverside Marina after reports of a fire on-board a 57 foot narrowboat, moored outside The Riverside Pub. The owner of the narrowboat was unharmed, though this is the third boat fire incident at the marina, part of the River Thames, in just over six months. ...
Sunday 24 January
Today's news from the web
- Government announces £5.5 million to repair Calder & Hebble Canal bridge gov.uk
Ministerial Flood Recovery Envoy for Yorkshire Robert Goodwill today (17 January 2016) announced up to £5.5 million of funding to rebuild Elland Bridge in Calderdale, West Yorkshire and construct a temporary foot bridge nearby, after the historic crossing was damaged in the recent floods....
Friday 22 January
Today's news from the web
- Mystery of dead pigeons found in canal stokesentinel.co.uk
A KEEN walker has spoken of her concern after she saw up to 15 dead pigeons in a canal. Carole Williams saw the dead birds when she was on her daily walk near Westport Lake yesterday morning. The 53-year-old from Knutton said: "At first I just saw two dead pigeons, which I thought was strange. ...
Wednesday 13 January
Today's news from the web
- Paris city chiefs drain Canal Saint-Martin for the first time in 15 years dailymail.co.uk
Old radios, motorcycles and LOTS of bikes: Paris drains iconic canal for the first time in 15 years and uncover a host of discarded debris....
Friday 1 January
Today's news from the web
- Sheena makes it to finals of ‘rural Oscars’ with her narrowboat tours with a fresh perspective on the Fens cambstimes.co.uk
A businesswoman who set up a narrow boats tour of the Fens from her home in March Riverside, Upwell, has made it to the national final of the Countryside Alliance Awards, known as the Rural Oscars....
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