| January 2003
Diary | Directory
EDITORIAL COMMENT ~ Steve
Jones
Some things never change! Tony Clarke, who is still attending
working parties after 25 years recalled in a recently published
letter to a well known monthly magazine, how on the Basingstoke
Restoration, he started by driving dumpers, parts of which
may well have been held together ‘by that universal agricultural
spare part - baler twine’. Tony then went on to compare them
to (and here’s where it’s relevant to us) ‘the rather swish
2002 version I drove recently on a Wey & Arun Canal working
party: Four-wheel-drive? - well, we did have approximately
4 wheels. Power steering? - no, just a highly entertaining
½ turn of slack in the steering mechanism. Power breaks? -
You certainly needed a powerful leg to stand on the pedal
to occasionally experience a slight deceleration. A more reliable
stopping method was to select an area of stout foliage and
aim for it! Key start? No, just a press-ganged team of handle
twirlers whose stupefied expressions can only be attributed
to the combined effects of a Burton Ale hangover and the copious
quantities of ether lingering in the air from aerosol cans
with the hilarious label of ‘Easy Start’. Once started, the
problem was solved and you just left the engine running all
day (and night)’. (Incidentally, this was a hired dumper -
Ed)
Some things do change and then go back to the way they were.
It was just over 10 years ago down at Lee Farm, that we held
the ‘Big-ish Dig’ for 250 volunteers from all over the country.
Over a mile of canal received some clearance work and this
was continued through the winter months by our own working
parties. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, this stretch
has seen very little attention since then, and has reverted
pretty much to the way it was. Let’s hope the Mid Week Working
Party can turn back the clock this winter.
Some things stay the same, and to that I hope you will join
me in raising a glass (shouldn’t be difficult at this time
of year) to toast firstly, Bill Nicholson and the ‘Dig Deep’
consortium who are still committing themselves to specific
canal restoration projects in the south of England. Now 10
years old, and incidentally launched at that ‘Big-ish Dig’
where they spent several weekends finishing the restoration
of Lee Farm Lock. And, secondly to Working Party News,
which is 10 years old with this edition. I can’t believe
I’ve been churning this newsletter out with the aid of all
your contributors for ten years! So perhaps you can forgive
me forgetting to change the months in the last edition, as
many of you pointed out to me.
It just remains then, to wish you all from W.P News production
team and our site managers - that’s Brian, Colin, Eric, Peter
and Winston, an enjoyable Christmas and a Happy New Year.
|
|