Ashton Boatman

After being confined to the spare bedroom for a bit the man came to fit extra handrails and I had the run of the house again. Soon, with the help of friends, I started to make forays outside, walking to the park or round the block. Soon I was able, with the aid of a stick, to walk to the corner shop. I was making a really good recovery. I could walk short distances without a stick, albeit rather jerkily. I was very proud of my progress. We all know what follows pride!

Before my stroke 1had about 240 items listed on Ebay on behalf of the Wooden Canal Boat Society. A few people got very upset because their purchases didn't arrive as I wasn't in a position to post them. I gave Emuna my login details and she managed to delist them all while I was in hospital.

Ended listings on Ebay don't stay in limbo for ever, they eventually disappear and you have to start from scratch if you still want to sell them. I didn't fancy that, so I started to re-activate the listings. The first time I got a sale I had a lit to and from the shop, where sales items are store, with Canis in the van.

Next time I had a lift in, then walked to the 'bus station and got a 'bus home. It was the Hazelhurst circular service. Em had warned me about this 'bus being full of unpleasant young people who wouldn't let her have the priority seat and told her she didn't need her wheelchair. Sadly, this kind of behaviour towards disabled people is all too common. My experience was very different. The passengers were mostly old ladies. I had a nice chat with a lady  in her eighties who still enjoys line dancing as we travelled up to Hazelhurst. I eventually got off at the penultimate stop on Henrietta St as the 'bus returned to Ashton.

I enjoyed that day, but it exhausted me. One effect of a stroke that takes a long time to go is extreme tiredness. I rested the following day. 

My confidence was building. I kept looking at my unemployed bike in the garden. 

I sold another item so, before Em was up in the morning I wheeled it out on to the road. My first attempt at riding wasn't successful. I tried to start off with my left (good) foot but found that my right foot couldn't find the pedal quickly enough to keep going. I tried again starting with my right foot, and I was on my way. 

Although I was keen not to fall off I wasn't too worried as I've fallen off bikes loads of times and never done more damage than scratches and bruises. 

By carefully timing my arrival at traffic lights I reached the shop with only one stop, with a handy kerb on my left to put my good foot on.

Stopping at the shop was a different matter. I fell over, but didn't hurt myself.

I soon had the items wrapped up so I set off again to post them at the corner shop near home. My route took me through the market place which, being currently regenerated, had narrow walkways which were crowded. I got stuck behind some ambling pedestrians and had to go unsustainably slow. The proprietor of a stall selling electtricity or time share or somesuch took the mickey out of my wobbly  riding. I responded fiercely. I simply couldn't keep going at that speed so I dismounted successfully, if a bit unsteadily. A shrivelled old lady with two sticks came to ask if I was OK. We had a brief conversation about our ailments. She had arthritis.

With no suitable kerb for getting started I had to walk to the Prince of Orange before I could remount. From there I headed past  the council offices and up Penny Meadow as I'd mislaid my favourite hat at the Jasmine Cafe. It was shut, so I carried on to the traffic lights. The uphill bit was  hard but I managed.  I followed the back streets then managed a wobble free stop at home. Success!

My riding could only get better, or so I thought.

Next week I had more sales, and the WCBS newsletters needed posting. I arranged to meet Helen Kanes at the shop to help me get these things done.

My ride into Ashton was straightforward. I reached the shop before Christine arrived to open up. As I came to a halt on the pavement I thought through my strategy for dismounting, then, something strange happened. My mind suddenly went blank. The bike, inevitably, toppled over, depositing me on the hard paving slabs. My right hip took the main blow and it hurt.

Someone came out of the hairdressers with a chair for me to sit on. Passers by helped me to get up and sit in it, but the pain was excruciating every time my right leg was moved.

Christine and Helen arrived to open the shop. Somebody called an ambulance, then Helen waited with me for a hour or so until it arrived. I kept insisting that I was only bruised, but deep down I knew that it was worse.

When the ambulance arrived the crew confirmed that my hip was broken. More excruciating pain as they loaded me on to a stretcher.

Helen came with me to the hospital where I was quickly Xrayed. 2 days later I was fitted with half a new bionic hip. Apparently the socket bit was OK but the ball that fits into it was smashed.

Once again I'm learning how to walk, this time with the aid of a zimmer frame.

I've been riding bikes since I was 8 and in that time I've fallen off countless times. Each time I got cuts and bruises, but nothing to worry about. Of course, in the past, my bones were made of rubber.

I'm 73 now and the rubber seems to have transmuted into bone china.

I've just been studying adverts for electric trikes.

Lets face the music, and dance.

A few years ago we had a visit from Tony Conder and Roger Hanbury, then curator and chief executive respectively of The Waterways Trust. Tony paid our work a brilliant compliment, “you're working wonders on next to nothing” he said. Certainly, up to then the society had led a hand to mouth existence and it was a wonder we were able to keep the boats afloat and functioning.

When Fiona Jones was working for us, trying to raise funds for our different projects, I would often have the following conversation with her:-

Me “What we really need is continuous funding for 3 full time boatbuilders”.

Fiona “ Sorry, but there aren't any funders who will do that, we always have to fit in with their objectives”.

Me “But we need funding for 3 full time boatbuilders”.

Fiona “But there are no funders who will provide that”.

Thanks largely to Fiona's tenacity we eventually got funding, in the nick of time, for Hazel's rejuvenation. This has funded two people to work on Hazel, but the other boats have been suffering in the meantime because we really need someone working full time on maintenance to keep everything afloat and functioning and to carry out the many stitches in time that will otherwise cost us dear in the long run.

I mentioned that Hazel's funding came through in the nick of time. She had sunk several times in the preceding few years and I was doubtful about how long we would be able to keep her in one piece so that there was actually something to work from when it came to restoration. Certainly, when we slipped her we discovered how weak she had become. By the time the restoration started we had had Hazel for 23 years. In that time she had been docked numerous times and essential maintenance carried out, but, nevertheless, it was clear that rot was steadily eating through the structure of the boat and there was nothing that we could do about it without the kind of major replanking job that we've carried out in the past 18 months. The fact is that, without our 3 full time boatbuilders, both the completed Hazel and the 5 other boats will gradually subside back into dereliction.

Jobs currently awaiting the time, money and boatyard space include the following:-

Lilith, Needs her stern end rebuilding and a new back cabin.

Forget me Not, Needs a mid life overhaul including renewing the top bends and lining planks, renewing a lot of the shearing, clothing up and renovating the back cabin, not to mention overhauling and installing the Bolinder.

Southam , Needs a lot of strengthening of the bow and most of the planks down the left hand side replacing. This would give an opportunity to put her on a diet so that she is less likely to get stuck in locks. There are also ongoing mechanical problems to address.

Queen, Needs a complete rebuild similar to the work that is being carried out on Hazel. We also need to find a Kromhaut semi diesel engine for her.

Elton Needs a complete rebuild, similar the work that is being carried out on Hazel.

Obviously, these jobs, especially Queen and Elton, are not going to be carried out overnight, even with our 3 fabulous boatbuilders, but it's essential that our work on the boats speeds up so that wood is being replaced faster than it's rotting away. It took 23 years to get work started on Hazel. Queen and Elton are unlikely to survive another 23 years without rebuilding, and, at a rate of 23 years per boat, that means poor Elton would have to wait 46 years for work to start on her.

So, why can't volunteers do all this work? Once upon a time I used to spend my spare time firing steam engines on preserved railways. Sometimes I go for a day out to one, or read about them in the railway press, and it makes me turn a bright shade of malachite green to see all the skilled work that is carried out by volunteers. Not only have volunteer led organisations rescued and mostly restored all the engines that were once consigned to Barry scrapyard, but now they are building replicas of the ones that were missed, not just great express locos like the famous Tornado but now humble tank engines and, believe it or not, diesels.

This is what can be done, but the supply of skilled volunteers for boat restoration is extemely restricted. There are simply not as many boat fanatics as there are railway fanatics, and many of those who do exist can satisfy their boating needs by owning a pleasure boat. Though the Hazel project has brought to us some excellent and highly skilled volunteers, they are still heavily outnumbered by the tasks that need doing. It would be nice if I could just find volunteers to reliably do simple jobs like printing and distributing recycling leaflets and keeping the firewood supplies topped up. We need to keep up the publicity about what we're doing ( there's another thing, we've never had a volunteer to take charge of publicity over a sustained period) in the hope that this will bring in more volunteers, but, relying entirely on volunteers will not get the boats restored, though conversely, neither can the job be done without them.

So, how much would these 3 wise boatbuilders cost? Luckily, many skilled people are prepared to work for a project like ours for well below what they could earn doing an easier job for a commercial company, but the costs are more than just wages. If someone is working full time they use up a lot of materials, which cost money. They also make it possible for more volunteers to work alongside them, and they also use expensive materials. The work that we've been doing on Hazel with two paid workers has been costing about £50,000 a year. That works out at £25,000 per worker, or £75,000 for the three. Hardly a bankers bonus but nevertheless, a lot of money to pluck out of thin air. Where will it come from?

It's amazing how many people just assume that we are getting huge grants to underwrite our work. I often get asked by people who have just taken on a historic boat where to apply. The reality is that you only get grant money if your project fulfils the objectives of the funder. Mostly these are social objectives of some kind. Pure heritage funds are scarce and fiercely fought over by well resourced museums and heritage railways etc. The funding that we've had for Hazel is purely to do with the work that she is going to do when she goes into service. Our funders probably couldn't care less that she is the last Runcorn wooden header. While it is entirely possible that we will be able to find more projects that fit with the objectives of a funder, there is always the danger that we will turn somersaults with our plans in order to fit a funders objectives, only to end up reluctantly running a project that wasn't what we really wanted to do. Luckily we have only had to very slightly tweak the pre existing Hazel project.

I'm not knocking grant funding, I'm sure it can play an important part, but it's always likely to be the icing on the cake. This is how it should be. Charities that rely too heavily on grants are always deeply vulnerable to recessions, government cuts and changes of policy on the part of funders. It also needs a lot of rather tedious work, not only in filling in the forms but in gathering the information that they need. For example, while we have figures for volunteer hours at the boatyard and in the shop, we have no idea of the overall annual total of volunteer hours, which is something that funders want to know. We need more volunteers with the time, skill and inclination to put together all the necessary information, fill in the forms and, most important, talk with funders. At the moment Nick Lowther is doing a great job on this, but there's only one of him!

When Hazel is in service she will, inshallah, earn her keep, but she shouldn't really be funding the other boats. She needs to cover her costs and put a bit to one side for her own long term maintenance. I calculate that we will need to put aside £6000 a year to ensure that Hazel never falls into dereliction again. If she starts earning more than running costs plus £6000 then we should be looking at reducing charges for her users. Associated with developing the Hazel project will be the development of a training project to make sure that we are never stuck for qualified skippers. While initially this will be for our own purposes, there is scope for making some money at this in the longer term, but I've no idea how much. We need someone to do a realistic business plan.

The growth of the WCBS has been quite amazing, and quite scary at times, like riding a powerful motorbike that you don't know how to control. In 1988, the year that Hazel was donated to the infant Wooden Canal Craft Trust, the total annual income was £3200, with expenditures of £2500. I don't yet have figures for 2012, but the total turnover is going to be well over £100,000. This has its down side as some people see us as well off and so are more mercenary in their dealings with us than used to be the case. The fact is that for the last 3 years expenditure has exceeded income, something that can't carry on for too much longer. The only reason that we've been able to afford to run a deficit is that we have some, rapidly dwindling, reserves, put by when we had the good fortune to be given a rent free shop for 14 months during 2006/7.

The main engine for this growth, since 1996, has been the recycling project and its offshoots, the market stall and various shops. I don't, again, have the 2012 figures yet, but it looks likely that our current shop, a former woolworths and the biggest charity shop in Ashton, will turn over about £60,000 this year. The down side of this is that its running costs are likely to be round about £50,000, putting only about £10,000 into WCBS funds, which is mostly swallowed up in overheads, licenses, insurance etc. The reality of running a charity shop is that, if you are paying a market rent for your premises, the main beneficiary of your efforts is going to be the landlord. That's not to say that it's not worthwhile renting a shop, it gives us security of tenure. We were very grateful for the free shop mentioned above, but it was a bit of a nightmare when we were given 11 days to vacate the premises because it was going to be sold.

The current shop has a problem. When we moved in, Stamford St was a busy shopping street, not quite in the very centre of Ashton, but not far off. Gradually, under the influences of out of town shopping, online shopping and the recession, the town centre has been imploding. Many of the shops on Stamford St are now empty, others have become offices or takeaways. The footfall is reducing. Despite this, Sarah's efforts have kept the shop income up, though the last few months have been a bit disappointing.

How do we move this business on so that it will generate the £75000 a year in profits that we need. We really need to start being a bit more enterprising. I get a bit sick of hearing all the excuses for not doing things, just drifting. One of the big ideas for our current shop was to start a cafe there, but it's never happened.

As many of our customers are now buying online, we need to start moving there ourselves. Some work has been done on this recently and we're now earning about £100 a month through online sales. This could be expanded greatly , and a lot of the goods that currently goes to the tip turned into money,with more volunteers to do the work, yet when it comes up for discussion I'm always told it's not worth bothering.

Another thing will be to look for another free shop. Our esteemed treasurer will, of course, point out that nothing is completely free, there are always electricity bills and water rates etc to pay, but the potential income from rent free, albeit temporary premises, is huge. The gain for the landlord is that they get property that is awaiting redevelopment looked after and can get it back when they need it. The problem then, of course, is staffing it. This genuinely is a challenge and, despite 'Big Society' rhetoric, government policies are actually discouraging genuine volunteers. However, we managed it before and, with real effort in recruiting volunteers, and with possibly a paid manager on a short term contract in case the shop has to close suddenly, it can be done again. I for one am willing to put some effort into this once Hazel is finished. Any more offers? We really need more volunteers who are able to get stuck in and make things happen.

I originally posted this in 2012, but it's still valid. Don't just sit there gongoogling, come and help. Even if you live a long way away there's stuff you can do.

More volunteers needed.

I've just been writing something for the WCBS committee about how we can develop online sales. At the moment, like most charity shops, we send a lot of stuff to the tip. You simply can't run a viable shop by keeping everything, and yet almost everything has a potential buyer somewhere. I've been experimenting with selling items thrown out by the shop on ebay, with a lot of success. The trouble is, I don't have the time to really pursue it. There is huge potential there to boost the WCBS income, get more boats restored and put into service for the community and reduce waste. The barrier to doing it, as usual, is finding a willing volunteer with the right combination of time, inclination and ability.

IT COULD BE YOU!!!!!

At the moment we're doing OK for volunteers on "Hazel",( Though, if you'd like to help, we can always do with more) but there are big areas of sales, publicity, engineering, and boat maintenance where we're really struggling. It's the self organising volunteers we really need. The ones who can just be given a few guidelines and left to get on with the job.
Any offers?

Let me know.