The Canal & River Trust have a useful PDF Boater’s handbook available for download, free of charge, from this page; there is also a video thingie.
The handbook naturally concentrates on British inland waterways, with narrowboats on canals and rivers but not on lakes, but there is nonetheless much useful material. Even experienced boaters might find it of interest, if only for briefing any non-boaty friends they’ve invited along for a trip.
An interesting article [h/t celr] about the setting up of the Canal & River Trust, which runs (it says itself) 2000 miles of waterway in England and Wales. The article is not, perhaps, to be seen as an objective evaluation of the benefits of the UK’s Public Bodies Reform Programme, but the idea of transferring a large operation to the voluntary sector is an interesting one, as is the scope for volunteer donations and involvement (British Waterways, C&RT’s predecessor, had nothing like as high a proportion of lockkeepers as Waterways Ireland has).
I have occasionally been asked, by British folk, whether the possibility of transferring Waterways Ireland to the voluntary sector is being considered here. I have explained (a) that WI has nothing like as significant an independent (non-grant) income as BW had and (b) that any such transfer would require the rewriting of the Good Friday, St Andrew’s and (now) Stormont House Agreements. So we are stuck with the current arangements, which at present are leaving WI at the mercy of budget cuts, a disastrous pensions arrangement, disputes between its two governing departments and a nitwitted demand, from Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil and perhaps from Fine Gael too, for a pointless canal reconstruction.
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged canal, canal & river trust, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Erne, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Ireland, Lough Neagh, North South Ministerial Council, north south pension scheme, Operations, Saunderson's, Sinn Fein, Ulster Canal, waterways
See the bottom of a lock (with no water in it). This is Carpenters Road Lock in London, which also featured here.
h/t CELR
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged canal, canal & river trust, Carpenters Road Lock, gates, lock, Operations, sill, stop-planks
Robin Evans, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, was interviewed in the December 2012 issue of Waterways World. CART, a charitable trust, has taken over from British Waterways in England and Wales, but not in Scotland.
Robin Evans pointed out in the interview that, whereas waterways in Scotland get 98% of their funding from the state, CART’s English and Welsh waterways get only 35%. Amongst other things, CART is seeking donations and getting people to volunteer as lockkeepers and in other roles.
I’ll bet the Irish government is looking on with interest.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged budget, canal, canal & river trust, charitable trust, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, donation, Erne, finance, Ireland, Operations, Robin Evans, Shannon, volunteer, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Irish waterways history 