|
. 
NO 82NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978
 .1
 2,3
 4,5
 6,7
 8,9
COMMENT - THE FUTURE OF THE WATERWAYS
While the Basingstoke Canal is an independent waterway in the sense that it is not part of the nationalised network run by British Waterways Board, it is nevertheless linked to the system via the River Wey Navigation and the Thames. When the Basingstoke is eventually re-opened it will again be possible to cruise from Odiham to as far as Oldham. Which is one reason why occasionally we like to look outside our own problems.
In Newsletter 80 we briefly reviewed the Fraenkel Report which was commissioned by the Department of the Environment to investigate the cost of operating and maintaining BWB navigations. Following publication last autumn, an all-party Select Committee spent six months studying the 229 page Report, and accepted many of the recommendations made by Peter Fraenkel & Partners.
The Government, however, rejected virtually all the recommendations made by the Committee, with the exception of the £10 million development scheme for the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation which was recently approved.
But for the rest of the waterways network, especially 'remainder' waterways, in urgent need of cash for essential maintenance work quite apart from improvement, the future looks as uncertain and gloomy as ever.
The seriousness of the current situation can be seen from the figures alone. The cost of maintenance arrears has now risen to an estimated £60 million. Last year BWB's earned income was £5.3 million plus a Government grant-in-aid of £12 million against operating costs amounting to £15.8 million.
And lack of finance is not the only concern. The Government seems intent on reducing BWB's responsibilities for the waterways by a merger with the water industry in a National Water Authority. What is more, the Government wants to review the Board's statutory obligations under the 1968 Transport Act. This surely means the Government has no intention of restoring our lost rights of navigation and will make it even harder to save the 'remainder' canals. In fact, it appears abundantly clear the aim is to reduce the existing 2,000 miles of inland waterways to a few trunk routes and abandon the many attractive 'minor' canals.
The Inland Waterways Association has already taken action but it also needs the support of every individual waterways enthusiast to voice their opinions.
What can you do? First get acquainted with the facts - we will gladly send you copies of the Fraenkel Report review and comments which were published in the IWA's magazine 'Waterways' Nos. 122 and 123.
Then it's up to you. Write to your local papers, get on local radio phone-ins, television, and write to your Member of Parliament, particularly to the Rt. Hon. Denis Howell c/o The House of Commons, London SWA. OAA.
This could be a decisive time for the future of the waterways. You can make
sure there is a future. ACT NOW.
A FANTASTIC FIRST SEASON
At the end of its first season of trading on 6th November, 1978, the 'John Pinkerton' had netted a remarkable £4,250 profit. What an achievement in only twenty-four weeks with an average of eight trips fully laden (i.e. about fifty-six passengers) a week! It is perhaps worth noting that the total profit from the operation of the boat is about equal to the total annual income of the Society from members' subscriptions.
[back to top]
COMMITTEE WELCOMES SURREY PROPOSALS
In a letter to the County Planning Officer, the Committee has welcomed Surrey County Council's draft proposals covering recreation, landscape, conservation and management of their section of the Basingstoke Canal.
The Committee has expressed the hope that the Council will take action over Tree Preservation Orders which are felt to be essential for the protection of trees, particularly in urban areas of the Canal.
Little comment has been made on the recreational proposals except for the suggestion for the construction of special staging for anglers which is not considered desirable.
The Committee also considers swimming might be permitted where suitable, away from the main navigation channel.
On the subject of boating, the Committee agrees that stringent controls should govern the number of moorings in urban areas to avoid excessive linear moorings. But the Committee considers there should be no restriction on the registration of suitable canal craft which the draft proposals suggested should notexceed 72' x 6'10" or 35' x 9' (the canal was built to take barges up to 72' x 13'10").
An assurance is sought by the Committee that reference to closure of the navigation would be for emergency or maintenance only. Likewise, as regards the control of locking, holiday boat users should be put to a minimum of inconvenience.
Finally the Committee suggests the acquisition of land at the back of the houses at Lakeside, Frimley, and the construction of a stop gate at Mytchett Place Road Bridge.
[back to top]
CANAL TRUST PROPOSAL
At the request of Hampshire and Surrey County Councils, the Committee has submitted a 109-page recommendation for setting up a Trust to be responsible for the completion of restoration and to run the Basingstoke Canal in the future.
In a covering letter, the Society's Secretary, Lise Hamilton, summarises the advantages of an autonomous management, one of the most important being the ability to manage the canal as an entity and so simplify administration, ensure a common standard of restoration, avoid staff duplication and minimise overall operating costs.
From a fund-raising angle, a Trust would encourage more charitable foundations to make donations and attract central government grants which would not otherwise be made.
The Committee also considers that voluntary input would be increased and should be given official status through the management by a Trust.
Restoration projects elsewhere in the country have benefited from trusts like the Lower Avon Navigation Trust which raised nearly £78,000 and successfully re-opened the waterway between Tewkesbury and Evesham; and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust which the biggest local canal restoration organisation in the country.
[back to top]
OPERATION ASH EMBANKMENT
Huge bonfires blazed as more than 60 volunteers of all ages, led by David Millett set about clearing small trees and dense undergrowth from Ash Embankment at the end of October.
The 1/2-mile long embankment has been dry since 1968 when it was breached during the September floods and a dam has been built across the head of Ash lock.
Clearance work started at the Ash Wharf end of the embankment. Under the coordination of Martin Bowers, the aim is to clear the whole embankment, and dredge a 100-yard length of the bed and fill it with water to act as test section.
No date has yet been fixed for the repair breach which is situated just over the county boundary, in Hampshire.
TRUST FUND DONATIONS
The Society offers its sincere and grateful thanks to the following charitable trusts for their donations towards the Society's restoration funds:
Leche Charitable Trust £200
The Miller & Tilley Charitable Trust £100
Robert Kiln Charitable Trust £400 plus further £500
Four Winds Trust £100
Landmark Trust £ 50
[back to top]
POULTERS BRIDGE FACE LIFT
After 15 months' work, members of Crookham Village Association celebrated the completion of repairs to Poulters Bridge, Crookham in September.
To mark the occasion, Hampshire County Council's chairman of the Recreation Committee, Councillor Maurice Jones, unveiled a comemorative plaque.
The £50 proceeds of a Cheese and Wine party held after the ceremony were present by CVA Chairman, Mr. Brian Needham, to Mr. Jones as a donation towards the canal's restoration funds.
[back to top]
NEW DREDGER DIGS IN
A 40-foot pontoon with a whitlock excavator mounted at one end, powered by a 3-cylinder Lister diesel engine, has started dredging the Hampshire section of the Canal.
The excavator has been loaned to the Society by our member, John Heathers, a technical representative for County Commercial Cars at Fleet. Fitting was undertaken by Brian White with the help of Brian Bane, Dave Gerry and hydraulic experts Roger Caesley and Ron Jesse.
Although something of an experiment, the 'Backacter' has already successfully cleared the restricted passage through Swan cutting and will be invaluable in clearing bridge-holes ahead of the Society's steam dredger 'Perseverance' which cannot easily operate where headroom is restricted.
NAVVIES KIT
In addition to the normal range of work clothing offered in 'Navvies', W R G (Stores) can now offer a range of top quality second hand gloves, safety helmets and storm coats. Full details and/or sample copy of Navvies sent upon receipt of SAE to Jim Woolgar, WRG (Stores), 56 Connaught Crescent, Brookwood, Woking, Surrey.
[back to top]
WORKING PARTIES
The Society's working party effort at the moment is concentrated on a relatively small number of projects, so there should be no danger of spreading our resources too thin. Still, volunteer attendance on the Deepcut Flight have rarely been as high as we'd like to see. Now that our efforts there are concentrated on Locks 19 and (particularly) 16, members are urged to identify with this work and come along and help. It's up to us to show the Job Creation Project that they're not the only people who can restore a Deepcut Lock.
Dates and locations of parties are given below, but you are urged to check with your working party leader a day or so before intending, in case there should be any last minute changes.
Every weekend
While the Job Creation Project finish their work on Locks 23, 22 and 21, volunteer
working parties are now concentrated on Locks 19 and 16, where they are starting
to make a real impact. Lock 16 is entirely this Society's Lock, while Lock 19
we share with Southampton Canal Society, Kent and Last Sussex IWA, and other
visitors. On both locks, two courses of bricks have to be taken down from one
entire chamber wall, and a new set of courses built and tied into the remaining
wall, and the other wall will in each case need a fair amount of repair, besides
sundry other brick repairs all around. This is work where there will be a sizeable
construction element and which the Society has identified itself with. It can be
fairly heavy, dirty work, but it needs more volunteers who are prepared to tackle
a job like this.
The co-ordinator for volunteer work on this flight is MIKE FELLOWS on Wokingham 787428, and for further details you should contact him or one of the working party leaders. The parties, with leaders and dates are:-
First weekend of the month
2/3 Dec. 6/7 Jan. 3/4 Feb. - Lock 16 - PETER JONES, Aldershot 313076.
Second weekend of the month
9/10 Dec. 13/14 Jan, 10/11 Feb. - Lock 19 - PETER DATES (Southampton Canal
Society), Botley 3844.
Second and Fourth Sundays of the month
10 Dec. 14 Jan. 28 Jan. 11 Feb. - Lock 16 - ALAN GRIMSTER, Farnborough 45032.
Third weekend of the month
16/17 Dec. 20/21 Jan. - Lock 16 - JULES WOOD, Farnborough 515737
Fourth weekend of the month
25/26 Nov. 27/28 Jan. - Lock 19 - JIM CHISHOLM, Wokingham 785146.
Every weekend there is maintenance and operational work to be done on the Deepcut Narrow-Gauge Railway, to deliver restoration materials to the work sites at the locks. Further details from JOHN PEART on Farnborough 46554 or STAN MELLER on Camberley 32096.
Note: there are no working parties planned for the weekends of Christmas and
New Year, but if you feel keen to work at these times you should phone Farnborough
45032 a day or two beforehand to find out whether any informal, last minute,
working party has been arranged.
Every weekend Dredging in Hampshire
The Society's steam dredger 'Perseverance' has just passed her annual boiler and crane inspection and is now heading east again and approaching Baseleys Bridge. A Backacter barge has been adapted as an auxiliary dredger to help clear out bridge holes, which have proved a bit of an obstacle to 'Perseverance' in the past. More helpers would be welcome on this party, the access point now being Baseleys Bridge. Further details from BRIAN BANE on Hook 3627.
Every Sunday
In preparation for re-linking the two halves of the canal end the two counties, a working party is now being established to clear vegetation from the Ash Embankment during this winter. The aim is to clear undergrowth and remove saplings. A pilot scheme is planned for a test section of 100 yards at the eastern end to be cleared down to the clay puddle, and then filled with water, to better assess the problem. It is hoped that a working party can be arranged for each weekend. Some of these parties will be visiting groups, but normally society volunteers will be quite welcome to join in. The work will be of a nature suitable for family parties to take part.
On the last Sunday of the month, the party will function as a continuation of the previous Hampshire off-side working party - 7 January (to avoid Christmas and the New Year), 28 January - details from DAVID MILLETT on Fleet 7364.
For details of the parties operating on all other weekends, contact MARTIN BOWERS
on Farnborough 543095.
Second weekend of the month Lock 6 (Sheerwater)
9/10 Dec. 13/14 Jan. 10/11 Feb.
The sand foundations of the apron of the previous bottom cill have been removed and replaced with clay (or that's what they told us the stuff was), and a new re-inforced concrete apron has been laid. The next job is to lay the mitre at the bottom end, and then the brickwork of the gate recesses and the bridge hole will require some further work. Further details from PABLO HAWORTH on Byfleet 42081
Third Sunday of the month Lock 1 (Woodham)
17 Dec. 21 Jan. 18 Feb.
Quite a lot of useful work has been going on here, topping and bywash outlet an repairing brickwork on wingwalls, despite the continuing difficulties in keeping water out of the lock chamber. The next job is to be excavation of the top apron but it depends partly on what the prevailing weather and water conditions will permit. Further details from DICX HARPER-WHITE on Weybridge 42074 or PETER JACKMAN on Woking 72132, who hope that the recent encouragingly high attendance can be maintained.
ANSAPHONE:
The Ansaphone service is being discontinued, when its lease terminates in Dec etc.
However, on the same number, Farnborough 45032, ANDREA and ALAN GSIMSTER will
continue to provide an information point for working party and other canal matters.
[back to top]
VACANCIES FOR POSTMEN
Postmen are urgently needed for the CAMBERLEY area. Offers please to Mrs. M. Bend, 5 The Fairway, Frimley, Camberley (Tel: Camberley 28554).
WORKING PARTY ON ADMINISTRATION OF THE SOCIETY
At the request of the Executive Committee, the Administration sub-Committee
has set up a working Party consisting of four members of the Society and
including one member in the legal profession to look into and report on
the following:-
(a) Company Procedure and Laws as they affect the Society.
(b) Interpretation and/or possible changes in and simplification of the
Memorandum and Articles of Association.
[back to top]
SOCIAL JOTTINGS Social Secretary Hampshire: David Millett, Fleet 7364.
Surrey: Mike Grist, Woking 71581
FARNBOROUGH SOCIAL EVENINGS
Wednesday December 13th at 8pm. Teachers Centre, St. Albans Hall, Lynchford Road, (opp. Lloyds Bank) CHRISTMAS SOCIAL EVENING. Music, competitions and other items, including mince pies. Cost 30p. per head. Come along, meet your fellow members and have a festive pre-Christmas get-together. Sales Stand will be in attendance fc those last minute presents. LICENSED BAR (including newly introduced John Smith's Yorkshire Bitter). Coffee and biscuits.
Wednesday 10th January, 7.45pm. Teachers Centre, St. Albans Hall, Lynchford Road.
ILLUSTRATED TAIK by Roger Squires entitled 'Canals of Brittany'. A chance to see
some of the beautiful scenery of North West France coupled with a canal environment.
Wednesday 14th February, 7.45pm. Teachers Centre, St. Albans Hall, ROUND THE WORLD RACE ILLUSTRATED TALK by Roger Caesley entitled 'Across the Southern Indian Ocean'. Roger was a member of the crew of the Royal Navy entry and his slides feature the Cape Town - Auckland leg, where icebergs were encountered. Also the OFFICIAL FILM of the same race kindly loaned by the Royal Navy (40 minutes in length).(Talk postponed from November 8th).
WOKING SOCIAL EVENINGS
Monday 11th December, 7.45pm. Woking Centre Kails. ILLUSTRATED TALK by Dr. John
Healey of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, entitled 'Birds of the
Inland Waterways.'
Monday 8th January, 7.45pm. Woking Centre Halls. A TALK on the History of the Basingstoke Canal together with Film and Slides on the recent and current Restoration scene. Also featuring the operation of the Trip Boat John Pinkerton last summer.
Monday 12th February 7.45pm. Woking Centre Halls. Peter Gates of the Southampton Canal Society, who works for the Ordnance Survey, will give A TALK entitled 'Ordnance Survey Maps in relation to the Basingstoke Canal features and environment'.
SOCIETY CLUB NIGHTS continue at the Railway Enthusiasts Club situated immediately on the south side of the M3 motorway bridge on the A323 Farnborough/Reading Road, LICENSED BAR (King and Barnes Horsham Bitter). A chance for members to meet informally - last Thursday in month (not Dec.).
PUB EVENINGS
1st Monday monthly at the Fox and Hounds, Crookham Road, Fleet (Canal Lounge). 3rd Wednesday monthly at the Bounty, Bounty Road, Basingstoke.
If there are any suggestions for a Pub Evening anywhere else, please contact
Mike Grist or David Millett.
[back to top]
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Notice is hereby given that the Second Annual General Meeting of the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society Limited will be held on Saturday, 17th March, 1979 at St. Andrews Hall, Frimley Green (next to Mid Southern Water Company) commencing at 7.30pm.
Nominations for the Executive Committee for 1979 close on Saturday 6th January, 1979. Nomination Forms are available from the Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Lise Hamilton, 2 Frome Close, Farnborough, Hampshire (Tel: Farnborough 49651). Nominations must include the signature of the Proposer and Seconder together with confirmation of the nominee's willingness to stand.
[back to top]
KING JOHN'S or ODIHAM CASTLE (Cont'd) David Gerry
Since the last newsletter appeared with the first section of this article on Odiham Castle, I have been rebuked by my Winchester-based colleague, John Holder, because we do now know that Odiham Castle had a lead roof; we have records of it being repaired, so my guess of a thatched roof was wrong.
It seems probable that the entrance was on the first floor, probably from wooden
steps or ramp with perhaps a lift bridge in it for security. There may well have
been a chapel, but if so, it was wooden and stood close to the moat. There
were probably several wooden buildings around the central tower. There are
some very large stones lying at the edge of the moat and, as yet, their purpose
is not clear.
Odiham Castle was the main building in the royal park of Odiham which further back in time, saw a Roman villa established near Lodge Farm; indeed the tiles over the chimney place in the castle may well have come from there.
It is possible that a settlement;existed on the castle site long before the building we see was started, but why build in this rather damp area? The river, of course, provided water and may be aided the defensive works.
It seems possible that, in Norman times, the main road from London to Portsmouth or Porchester passed close by the castle. The road probably turned off the Winchester Road, now the A30, just east of Hook, having crossed the river Whitewater near the "Crooked Billet". The road crossed North Warnborough Common, re-crossed the whitewater on the ford that still exists in Tunnel Lane near the canal lift bridge, crossed the line of the canal and today is a footpath leading across to the Greywell Pumping Station which stands beside, if not on, it. The road then continues as a bridleway past the Spring Heads of the Whitewater to Upton Grey and over the hills to the coast.
In the field beside the towpath and next to the outer moat of the castle there are
many strange lumps in the ground and peculiar marks showing up in the turf during the
drought of 1976. Could that be where the first village of Odiham was? In the field
by the towpath, close to the lift bridge, before we covered it with silt, there was
a regular pattern of ditches. The owner of the field, Lt. Col. 0. Newton-Dunn, has a
theory that this was the horse lines for the castle. (If you like, it served the
purpose of a car park today,). He thinks that there may well have been hitching rails
along the ridges between the ditches, perhaps with crude thatched roofs to protect
the horses parked for the night and, of course, each morning serfs would have come
with baskets and cleared the ditches of manure, probably dumping it not far away on
the common.
Well, this is all conjecture - what about FACTS?
We know that King John came to Odiham some time between 3 and 7 June 1215AD on his way from Windsor to Winchester and that he was back in Odiham on 9 June and then back to Windsor and Runnymede where, after 2 or 3 days' negotiation, he signed the Magna Carta.
In 1216 the castle was besieged by the Dauphin of France, who got clearance from the
Pope to attack - you remember King John had been excommunicated for appointing his
Archbishop of Canterbury. The siege lasted 15 days and then the defenders' gave in
on condition that they could go free. The French were surprised to find that the
garrison consisted of only 13 men all told.
From 1346 to 1357, King David of Scotland was kept prisoner here until a ransom and hostages were handed over.
The Countess of Leicester made her home in the castle in 1265 and records in the
British Museum give much detail of life in the castle at that time, listing purchase
of food and wine and the fact that she fed 800 paupers with bread, cider and three-quarters of an ox.
At about the same time a stud was maintained to breed horses for the Crown.
I suspect that by the time Good Queen Bess was on the throne, the castle was getting rather neglected. A large new house had been built in Odiham, sometimes called Odiham Palace and probably the peasants living near the castle moved away to higher, drier ground and nearer to their work at the big house in the expanding new town of Odiham. A fine engraving of the castle in 1772 shows it to be in a similar state to that in which we see it today, but without any pine trees growing so close to it, and another engraving from the middle 1800's does show the pine trees.
In the late 1780's, John Pinkerton was probably walking in the area, supervising the navvies working on the new canal, perhaps discussing with William Jessop, the consulting engineer, the problems of the castle moat and whether to build a culvert under the canal to connect the severed section of the moat, and agreeing with the landowner Sir Henry St. John Mildmay, lord of the manor, that they could divert the river Whitewater into the outer moat and so save some digging when the aqueduct was built.
The Mildmay estates were broken up just after the 1914-8 War, and Odiham Castle pass to Lord Dorchester of Greywell who, in 1963, gave it to the people of Odiham. An attractive sketch of the castle appeared in the Peterborough column of the 'Daily Telegraph' at the time. Now the castle is in the ownership of Hampshire County Council, who have carried out a lot of protection works into the walls in recent year The castle is managed by the Recreation Department and Canal staff keep it generally tidy; occasionally, when more work is to be done, Countryside Rangers from Yateley and Basing House come in to help. It is hoped to dredge the moat in the near future and to build a new footbridge, from the towpath to the keep across the inner moat.
The castle has never been systematically excavated by archeologists; if the work is ever done, I wonder what will be found?
[back to top]
SOCIAL DIARY
4 Dec. Pub Evening Fox & Hounds, Fleet.
11 Dec. 'Birds of Inland Waterways' talk, Woking Centre Halls.
13 Dec. Christmas Social Evening, Teachers' Centre, Farnborough.
20 Dec. Pub Evening, Bounty, Basingstoke.
1 Jan. Pub Evening, Fox & Hounds, Fleet.
6 Jan. Nominations for Executive Committee close.
8 Jan. History of Basingstoke Canal, talk, Woking Centre Halls.
10 Jan. 'Canals of Brittany' talk, Teachers' Centre, Farnborough.
17 Jan. Pub Evening, Fox & Hounds, Fleet.
25 Jan. Society Club Night, Railway Enthusiasts Club, Hawley.
5 Feb. Pub Evening, Fox & Hounds, Fleet.
12 Feb. 'Ordnance Survey Maps in relation to the Basingstoke Canal'
talk, Woking Centre Halls.
14 Feb. Capetown-Auckland leg of Round the World Race, talk, Teachers'
Centre, Farnborough.
21 Feb. Pub Evening, Bounty, Basingstoke.
23 Feb. Society Club Night, Railway Enthusiasts Club, Hawley.
17 Mar. AGM. St. Andrews Hall, Frimley Green.
[back to top]
JUMBLE SALE
The Society is holding a Jumble Sale on Saturday, 17th February, 1979 at FLEET CIVIC HALL, 10.30am. to 12.30pm. Jumble always welcome at:
14 Dinorben Close, Fleet (Tel: Fleet 7364) or 7 Gorseway, Fleet (off Velmead Road) (Tel: Fleet 7465)
Please telephone for collection.
[back to top]
LOCK GATE BUILDING WORKSHOP
A derelict army swimming pool found in the woods at Deepcut, adjacent to Lock 28,
has been ingeniously converted by Job Creation workers into a covered workshop
for building lock gates.
Originally it was intended to fill the pool, built in the 1930's, and use it for storing the completed lock gates but, having learned to build lock gates, and with timber available from Surrey County Council, J.C.P. co-ordinator, Frank Jones, still hadn't solved the problem of where to build them. It was then that the County Countryside Officer, Ray Stedman, suggested the swimming pool conversion.
J.C.P. workers cleared 2ft. of vegetation from the pool, thick undergrowth and the old corrugated iron changing rooms surrounding it. They then demolished one end of the pool, extended the walls and built a roof over one half of the 2250 square foot area of the pool, including a store, mess room and office above.
A railway has been laid from the workshop to the canal for transporting finished
lock gates to be floated down to the chambers.
A set of four lock gates has already been completed for Lock 28.
[back to top]
£1,500 BOOST FOR CANAL RESTORATION FUNDS
The first large-scale Draw organised by the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society to rajse funds for restoration of the Basingstoke Canal made a profit of £1,520.
Nearly 18,000 tickets were sold for the Draw described by the promoter, Mr. Ted
Williams of Basingstoke, as the Society's biggest single money raising event of
the year.
First prize of £100 was won by Mr. W.G. Abbott of Nuneaton whose son is a Society Member living in Fleet. Mr. R.G. Lock of Bridgefield Road, Farnham won the second prize of a canal holiday, and third prize of 25 gallons of petrol went to Mr. J. Achieson of West Byfleet.
Other lucky prizewinners were M. Stagg, Frimley; chocolates; Mr. Pierce, Pamber Heath, ten roses,; K.N. Hackett, Buckskin, Basingstoke, Sikka-basket; Mrs. R. Greenfield, Milton, Portsmouth, two bottles of wine; Mr. Phillips, Farnborough, Shell Book of Inland Waterways; Mrs. J. Smith, Egham, two toy lambs; O.L. Goddord, Fleet, Lumogaz; J. Doorman, Woking, blanket; D. Thompson, Canningtown E.16. bottle of whisky; P. Skipper, Richmond, bottle of Gin; Page-Smith, Old Woking, bottle of Champagne; A. Kriss, bottle of Champagne; P. Robinson, Sutton, bottle of Scotch; S.C. Budd, Fleet, half bottle of Scotch; Mrs. A.E. Barton, Brookwood, can of oil; K. Larking, Purley, Reading, bottle of wine.
Special prizes for those selling most tickets were awarded to Jeremy Browne of Fleet who sold 77 books (£5) and to M.J. Hampton of Chobham who sold 26 books (£5) and a number of members who sold over 20 books.
STOP PRESS
MEMBERS GIVE GO-AHEAD TO BOAT COMPANY AT S.G.M. ON 8TH NOVEMBER, 1978
[back to top]
GONGOOZLERS' GOSSIP
WANTED GARAGE ACCOMMODATION
Garage or similar lock-up accommodation required for dumper truck in Woking/Byfleet/New Haw area. Offers to Pablo, Byfleet 42081 please.
MISS R.M. THOMAS
We learn with regret of the death of one of our longstanding members, Miss R.M. Thomas. Miss Thomas has made a bequest of £100 to the Society towards restoration of the canal.
FOR SALE
18 foot wooden marine ply 3 berth boat - needs work (hole in bottom) - £100 o.n.o.
Morgan, 65a Connaug-ht Road, Fleet (Tel: 23246)
DONATION
The Society acknowledges with thanks the donation of £10 to Society funds from Crookham Village Association, this sum being raised at the Cheese and Wine Party held by the Association at Canal Cottage on 9th September, 1978.
[back to top]
FRONT COVER
(top). Frank Jones (centre) with J.C.P. carpenter Pat Bere (left) and builder Chalky White.
(right) in the lock gate building workshop at Deepcut.
(bottom left) A completed pair of upper gates standing outside the workshop.
(bottom right) Assembling a gate.
INSIDE FRONT COVER
(top left) Martin Bowers (extreme right) supervises volunteers clearing; Ash
Embankment.
(top right) Tug 'Sparkle' under Sandy Hill Bridge, Winchfield.
(Centre Left) Christopher Firth of Ash Vale and Nickie Court of Fleet on Ash
Embankment.
(Centre right) Roger Caesley (centre) making final adjustments to the 'Backacter'
dredger at Colt Hill.
(bottom left) Hymac dredging canal bear to the 'Swan' at Ash Vale.
(bottom right) Cleared canal bed at Morris Bridge, Pyestock.
[back to top]
WE WISH ALL OUR MEMBERS AND READERS A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR
COPY DATE FOR JANUARY.NEWSLETTER : 1st JANUARY 1979
Published By Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society Limited, a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee.
Editorial Office: 75 Middle Bourne Lane, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 3NJ
(Tel: Farnham 5230)
Chairman: Robin Higgs, 18 Barnsfcrd Crescent, West End, Woking.
(Tel: Chobham 7314)
Treasurer: Peter Fethney, 5 Longdown, Courtmoor, Fleet.
(Tel: Fleet 5524)
Secretary: Mrs. Lise Hamilton, 2 Frome Close, Cove, Farnborough.
(Tel: Farnborough 49651)
Membership Secretary: Alan Babister, 31 Elmsleigh Road, Cove, Farnborough.
[back to top]
|