Society chairman Neville Kenyon makes his latest observations.
(Winter 2009)
It has been "all change" at British Waterways once again.
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal has now been placed within the new Manchester and Pennine Waterways unit. The good news! And, I believe it is ALL good news, that once again our canal, both east and west, is under the direction of the same BW unit. Hitherto we have had the sometimes problematical situation where we had to deal with Wigan for the West side and Leeds for the East side. To bring the two under the same management will help to ensure a much greater degree of coordination. To me the only problem is that the BW office for our canal is based in Stoke on Trent!
David Baldacchino, with whom we had our first meeting recently, has been appointed manager of the Manchester and Pennine Waterways which in addition to the HNC includes part of the Trent and Mersey, Macclesfield, Peak Forest, Manchester Bolton and Bury, and the Ashton canals. David assured me that his office, being adjacent to the M6 motorway is within easy travelling distance of all parts of our canal!
Graham Lea is our new contact for maintenance issues and he replaces Iain Weston who is still with North West Waterways based in Wigan. We took the opportunity to thank Iain for his unswerving support to our Society and I could detect a moistening of his eyes when he told me of his move from his well-loved Huddersfield Narrow and Peak Forest with which he had been so conscientiously involved for eight years. He is now responsible for the Liverpool and Lancaster areas.
When one looks at the map of canals in England, it is extremely difficult to split them for management purposes into convenient geographical regions. I imagine that such a thought was furthest from the minds of the 19th century canal builders. In today's bureaucratic culture a national management strategy would doubtless be the driving force behind where canals were opened rather than the imperative of an efficient and cost effective transport system!
We wish David Baldacchino and his team great success in their undertaking. The list of problems with which they are confronted is immense and only aggravated by a chronic lack of funding.
David and Graham attended a recent meeting of the Operations and Maintenance Agreement group which includes HCS, BW and the three local authorities through which our canal corridor passes. Each authority agreed at the re-opening of the canal in 2001 to make a contribution to BW for the maintenance and regeneration of the canal and its environs. The group meets twice a year to examine progress and assess value for money on behalf of the local tax payers. Although both Tameside and Oldham Councils were represented, there was no one from Kirklees. I hesitate to criticise Kirklees because they do give our Society a degree of support but compared with the other two authorities, their commitment to the canal tends to be more muted. They do lend support to the visitor centre at Marsden which is in their patch but the relative remoteness of the BW unit office in Stoke on Trent will do little to galvanise either their councillors or officers to proactively promote the canal.
Some dates have now been fixed for the bicentenary celebrations in 2011 of the opening of the canal. From 1 - 4 April 2011 there will be the BW sponsored celebrations at Marsden. From 4 - 12 June 2011 the Saddleworth Arts Festival takes place and the Society is pledged to support this event which is held every four years. On 18th September 2011 we are holding our own bicentenary festival at Diggle and on 17th September our HCS Promotions Group are planning to organise a rally for boaters at the top of the Diggle Flight.
On Easter Sunday, 4th April 2010 we have agreed to accept Oldham Council's offer of a substantial grant for holding an event at Brownhill Visitor Centre - about 200 metres along the canal from our office. Our thanks go to Eleanor Sykes and Simon Papprill of Oldham Council's Economy, Places and Skills unit for instigating this exciting event for the promotion of our canal. We are indeed grateful to all our partners who ensure that our Society maintains a high profile within local communities.
Thanks also to British Waterways managers Laurence Morgan (Leeds) and Debbie Lumb (Wigan) and their staff who have helped and supported us so unswervingly until the recent re-organisation. We shall miss their direct involvement with our Society and we wish them every success in their new responsibilities.
We as a Society record our thanks to Jack Carr who has retired from Council after 20 years loyal service. Jack is remaining a Society member and we hope to see him at some of our events.
And finally... Pennine Link editor Alwyn has launched "Itchy Feet" as will be observed elsewhere in this Issue. We congratulate him on a job well done. The publicity he achieved in press and TV was impressive!
Neville Kenyon