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Hello and welcome to the newsletter for August 2024. Is anyone else feeling the first hints of autumn in the air, after a pretty poor summer? If I'm not quick, it'll get too cold to do any fibreglassing on Twiggy soon and the boat renovations will end up stalled until Spring. Oh my!
Let's crack straight on with the canal news.
Cheers
David |
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News from the canal world.
*** Press releases or other news snippets can be sent to me at newsletter@cruisingthecut.co.uk ***
Name Your Poison
The biggest story this past month has been a major chemical spill into the Walsall canal near Birmingham, which poisoned the water over a 12km stretch, killing many fish and presumably not doing the rest of the wildlife much good either.
The chemical in question was sodium cyanide (!) which can also cause seizures and vomiting in humans. The spill was declared a "major incident" by the Environment Agency.
A company called Anochrome Ltd admitted a "chemical incident" had "regrettably" released the 4,000 litres of toxins into the water.
Despite that admission, the Canal & River Trust somewhat bizarrely decided to ask the public to pay for the clean-up and even more bizarrely, an unknown person did cough up the full £10,000 they were asking for.
The CRT said it was because suing for the money would be a long legal process so while that happens they needed the cash to get started.
Several days later, the canal was in a much better condition but work remains to dredge the silt and use aerators to put oxygen back into the water.
There's more info at https://go.walsall.gov.uk/newsroom/toxic-chemical-spill-walsall-faqs
The Works
Plans for this year's annual winter maintenance works have been published by the CRT.
The jobs are done between November and March when the canals are quieter and can lead to closures where major renovations take place.
159 sites will see repairs this time around including installation of 129 new lock gates plus masonry repairs to bridges, tunnels and wash walls, as well as leak fixes and inspections of infrastructure including Islington Tunnel, York Street Aqueduct in Burnley, and Gloucester Lock.
See the dedicated website for the full list, at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices
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Dates for the diary
Saturday 7th September: Shardlow Inland Port Festival. "A community based festival to celebrate the heritage of the Inland Waterways Port of Shardlow, bring boat traders in to display and sell goods and showcase the village to the general public." See www.facebook.com/groups/144705997759926/
Friday 13th September (evening) to Sunday 15th: Black Country Boating Festival, Bumble Hole Nature Reserve, Dudley. Floating traders, beer tent, live music, trade and craft stalls, dog show, classic vehicles and more! Visit bcnsociety.com/event/black-country-boating-festival-13-15-september-2024/
Saturday 21st Septembe: Oxford Canal Festival, Aristotle Lane Recreation Ground. Live music, spoken word performances including Sir Philip Pullman on stage, trading boats, childrens' activities and so on. More info at www.oxfordcanalfestival.com
Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd September: Tipton Canal & Community Festival, Coronation Gardens, Tipton. Floating traders including food boats selling cheese,jams, cakes etc. Canal photo competition and lots of good fun for all the family. Info at www.facebook.com/groups/841132494128713/
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My recent videos
Not a month goes by without someone messaging me to say that YouTube has unsubscribed them without warning from my channel or has failed to notify them of new uploads, hence this monthly recap of my most recent videos.
This time they are: the efforts of a group of volunteers to restore a waterway link between the Staffs & Worcester canal and the town of Stafford; my DIY attempt to see how rotten the wood transom core is on Twiggy (very rotten); and a wonderful cruising day out on my friend Lorna's boat.
Click the links below to watch.
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Book your perfect canal boat holiday! |
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I've teamed up with Roam & Roost Canal Boat Holidays, a group of independent canal boat hire companies. Book through my link for great rates and a range of locations (and I get a small commission too)
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What am I up to?
I've been busy filming recently. The next video to be released is about a pair of very rare aluminium canal boats which have an unusual design; I really like them! This filming got postponed by a couple of weeks due to poor weather. Then after that it's time for an update on Gabs, the young woman who bought an old widebeam boat in order to strip it out and rebuild it to her perfect liveaboard spec; I filmed with her at the start of the project three months ago and she's made good progress though the boat does look like a building site! Finally for September I would hope to have a further DIY video on Twiggy but let's see if my procrastination actually lets me get around to it...
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My YouTube top pick of the month
In this section, I like to suggest other YouTube channels that I think are worth a watch. This time it's all about the floof, as I have become addicted to a woman who grooms cats and dogs (seriously).
If you like animals, you'll enjoy watching Vanessa on "Girl with the Dogs" wash, dry, cut, shave, brush and generally sort out a huge range of pets, which she does for free in exchange for a donation to local charities.
In fact she has two channels:-
www.youtube.com/@girlwiththedogs
www.youtube.com/@girlwiththedogs212 |
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A social recommendation
Do you fancy watching a small fibreglass cabin cruiser get restored? No, not mine - this one's actually being done and at a decent pace!
Have a look at Sailing Aventura on Instagram, it's a 1980s Seasafe Dandy.
www.instagram.com/sailing.aventura
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Meanwhile, you can connect with me on social media by clicking on the buttons below:- |
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Final Thoughts
A bit of a sombre note to end on but in a recent comment on YouTube I was rather bluntly accused of selling on my newsletter subscribers' email addresses.
For the record, I have never done so nor have I passed them on in any way whether for money or otherwise.
It is possible, I suppose, that my server could be hacked and the list downloaded by unscrupulous ne'er-do-wells but as far as I know that has not happened and there is a comprensive security system built into the website to stop that kind of thing which, as far as I'm aware, is doing its job.
On the offchance I really have been hacked therefore, I'd be curious to know if anyone else thinks their email address is now receiving spam that it wasn't previously, specifically as a result of signing up to this newsletter (and if you have any evidence to back this up).
Until next time, I hope you have a great September.
Cheerio,
David |
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