Ashton Boatman

Here's a picture of my mum enjoying a cup of tea in her garden. In May 2006 she had her 90th birthday. She'd always disliked me having long hair and a beard so I decided to have it cut for her birthday. This pleased her, but people asked why I hadn't raised some sponsorship money to have it done. To be honest, I hadn't thought of it. 

Every year there used to be the Tameside Canals Festival on the second weekend in July. I decided to leave my hair and beard uncut until then and get sheared at the festival for sponsorship. As the months passed by I started to look like an old testament prophet.

Plans for the festival weekend became complicated when one of my nephews arranged to get married in Somerset on the Saturday of the festival weekend.

I was living aboard Hazel at the time. She was becoming increasingly difficult to keep afloat. Three days before the Canals Festival she sank. This was both distressing and embarrassing. We really didn't want a sunken boat while the  festival was on.

When I  was at Ellesmere Port many years ago we had a friendly arrangement with the Fire Brigade. They would turn up with pumps, raise the boat and put it down as training.

I tried Ashton fire station. I was greeted with a loud sucking of teeth, muttering about elven safety (got to keep those elves safe) and a firm NO!

Nevertheless, I gathered together what pumps I could and hoped for the best.

On the Friday we set up our stall ready. Early in the morning I clad myself in the poshest clothes I could find and set off in the van. I got there in good time to see Robert and Marie wed, but had to be very careful about alcohol consumption at the reception afterwards.

My other two nephews wanted a lift home to Rugby, so I drove them up the Fosse Way, dropped them off, then carried on Northwards until, somewhere in Derbyshire, I started to think it would be wise to take a break.

The cab in that old Transit had comfortable seats to sleep on and the sun was quite bright by the time I woke. I drove home, over the high moorland way, and changed into my scruffs.

When I reached Portland Basin I was pleased to see that there was a fire engine on the wharf. They usually put in an appearance at the festival to promote their charity work. 

Even better, I knew one of the firemen. I asked if they'd help us to raise the boat. They couldn't wait to get started. Immediately portable pumps were set up and hoses  rolled out from the appliance.

Soon water was flying about everywhere.

Ashton Packet Boat Co lent us their Coventry Godiva pump but it was reluctant to work at first,

Then we got it going.

We kept pumping like crazy, but the boat wasn't lifting. The water was coming in as fast as we were pumping it out

There was only one solution. I had to get into the water with armfuls of old clothes, blankets, duvets etc to stuff into the gaping holes in the side.

She began to lift, imperceptibly to start with, but the it soon became obvious.

We were nearly there when a problem cropped up. It was the end of the firemen's shift. They had to return to the station and hand over to another group of firefighters. Most of the water was out but she was still not sitting high enough to stop some serious leaks. The fire brigade were the only ones with equipment that would pump down to the last few inches. If they left immediately there was a real danger that she would go down again, I persuaded them to hang on for another ten minutes. By then we were able to handle the remaining water with a 12 volt submersible pump.

The fire brigade left. I stood on the wharf, soggy and dripping, wondering about my next move.

Emuna's dad used to be the mace bearer for Manchester City Council. When he retired they let him keep the hat. It resides in the cupboard under the stairs in her house. I thought, if I borrowed it, I would look more piratical.

At that time one of our keenest volunteers was a chap known as Spider. He's a big ex military lad with a bald head and tattoos. He's a really nice guy, but useful to know if somebody requires intimidating! He kidnapped me, tied me up and dragged me over to the main festival site.

I was secured to a chair in front of our stall. Spider's wife ( sorry, her name was recorded in a cluster of brain cells that are now deceased) had volunteered for the mammoth task of shearing me.

Two coppers turned up to see if a crime was being committed. They hung around in case I tried to escape.

Quite a crowd gathered to watch. One young lad had a plastic cutlass and kept making throat cutting gestures with it, which I found disconcerting. I wonder if he grew up to be a serial killer.

So there I was with my face revealed in all it's nakedness. We raised over £200 towards Hazel's restoration.

The sharp eyed may have noticed a boat in the background called Squeers. Why anyone would name their boat after the unscrupulous  proprietor of Dotheboys Hall School escapes me. Anyway the owner of that boat watched our boat raising. He also observed some inebriated spectators drinking strong lager from cans and, for some reason, thought they were part of our crew. That evening he went on to a waterways forum and railed against the Wooden Canal Boat Society, saying that we were a load of drunken layabouts and if we ever got that boat restored he'd show his whatsit on the town hall steps.

(photo by John Tickner)

We're still waiting, and will wait in vain as I've been told that the gentleman concerned has since given an account of his wrongdoings to St Peter. It demonstrates the folly of jumping to conclusions, then going online and sharing them. Of course, it may have done our charity some reputational damage. I know it did when somebody spread a rumour that we were funding the boats by drug dealing. However silly the rumour, some people will believe it and pass it on.

I was shocked recently when a someone who has never restored a boat told me, in an authoritative tone, that Queen was beyond repair.  Queen is probably our most important boat from a historical point of view, being the oldest surviving wooden motor narrow boat and a style of boat that died out in the first quarter of the last century.

Like most wooden narrow boats that survive today, she provides just a pattern, a set of ironwork, a history and a lot of work. Providing that the main structure survives, albeit full of fungus, nothing is beyond repair. There may be philosophical questions like, if you've replaced all the wood is it still the same boat? You could ask the same about 160 year old Talyllyn , still hauling trains on the Talyllyn railway. All her working parts were renewed in about 1960. 

A museum minded person may prefer to follow the preservation route. At Ellesmere Port they've put most of their wooden boats into dry storage in an industrial unit. That's fair enough, but no-one will ever see them in action on the canal again. 

When we restored Hazel we replaced every bit of wood in the hull. I have seen boats that have been restored that bear no resemblance to their original form. With Hazel  we carefully made accurate moulds to ensure that new planking would bend to the same shape as the original. For each plank we carefully made spiling boards to transfer the shape on to the new wood. At 12 inch stations we copied the bevels of the edges of each plank into a bevel book so that the edges of the new planks could be planed to fit each other, just like the old ones did.

Essentially, transforming boats like this is what the WCBS is set up to do. Hazel  has gone from a complete knacker to a boat that gives lots of people the opportunity to enjoy the canal, while still remaining faithful to the pattern set by boatbuilders in 1913.

Back in the 1970s I was chief boat pumper out and vandal chaser off at Ellesmere Port. I was well into replanking Lilith  and already contemplating the task of restoring Forget me Not. She became a bit of a problem to keep afloat and I doubt if there were many people who thought she'd ever become an active motor boat again.

This is her in 1979!

Being slipped for restoration in 1987.

And at the Braunston Boat Show 1995, loaded with 10 tons of stone setts for delivery to Braunston Marina.

It took a long time and everything was done on a shoestring, but we did it. For Hazel  we had much greater resources, but still much less than the cost of just taking her to a commercial boatyard and writing a big cheque.

To do this requires strategic thinking rather than tactical thinking. When we raised Queen from the bottom in Buckinghamshire we had no prospect of restoring her in the short term. To leave her where she was would guarantee her destruction. So began over 30 years of careful conservation.

When an opportunity came up to buy a water drip Bolinder engine, of the sort that powered her from 1924 until 1947, we bought it. They don't come up often, especially at affordable prices.

It was the same with Hazel. The stem and stern posts were a tree from someone's garden in Wythenshawe, years before we were able to start the restoration. The wood for the bottom was donated by someone in Aberdeen, delivered, then stored until we had the funds to start work. I'm constantly on the lookout for suitable trees being felled. Just going to B&Q doesn't work.

Now we're moving into a time when we need to do more tactical thinking, bringing together the funds, the materials and the skilled labour to get Queen up and running again. If you can help please leave a comment.

Queen as we found her 1994.

People keep asking me when Hazel will be back in service. I had hoped by the end of the month, but, with only a week to go that's looking a bit unlikely. People wonder why it's taking so long. Here's my excuses.

1)   I keep being diverted on to other tasks. It would be nice if there were more volunteers to do the other tasks. It would be even nicer if they were self organising volunteers. A lot of the time I end up spending more time explaining how to do a job, finding tools and materials and checking its being done properly than it would take me to do it myself. I'm also still spending a day every week running the shop so that Christine can have a much needed day off.

2) I'm doing the job properly and carefully. The electrical cupboard was rather thrown together when it was first made as we were under pressure to get the boat into service. Whilst getting the boat back into service is important now, I intend the work that I'm doing to outlast me. I reckon that Hazel will need a comprehensive renovation sometime around 2045. It should last until then. It's conceivable that I'll still be around then, aged 92, but I won't be doing much boatbuilding.

3) I'm insisting on having a day off every week. Well, sort of. I've chosen Wednesday, so that I can attend Latihan, but most Wednesdays I seem to spend catching up with office work and writing.

4)  I put a brave face on it but I'm still not very well. I get tired easily. I put it down to Long Covid. Whatever it is, it's a blasted nuisance.

Anyway, having got my excuses in first, what have we been doing? Nessie has largely repainted the interior. Currently he's putting trims round the windows where we've bulked up the insulation (because of hot summers rather than cold winters). The trim is made of strips of copper cut from an old hot water tank that was donated as scrap. The extended central heating is nearly ready to be tested. The LiFePo batteries are now charging off the sun and running all the electrics. I'm just finishing off the woodwork around the electricity cupboard, which will now include shelf space for tools etc, and more accessible fuses, switches etc. 

The windows.

The electrical cupboard.

I haven't been posting much because, well, nothing very exciting has happened. I've been plodding away at repairs and improvements to Hazel. Just lately this has mostly been in the electrical cupboard. This is under the foredeck and it's where the batteries and all the fuses and switches go. I was never very happy with it as the woodwork was rather thrown together (under pressure to get the boat finished) and the fuses etc were very inaccessible. The need to replace the batteries gave an excuse to rip it all out and do it better.

The new LiFePo batteries are now installed and charging nicely off the solar panels. The switches and fuses etc are being re-fitted in a much more ergonomic manner. There will actually be more storage space inside the cupboard too. 

Meanwhile Nessie and Helen have been doing internal repainting.

Joe the Tree Surgeon has finished docking his boat Benevolence  at Guide Bridge and has tied her next to Hazel while he returns to Cumbria where he has work. He's looking to base himself aboard Benevolence  half the time and try to get work around Greater Manchester. 

Today we ran a trip to Hyde and back, stopping for a while at Jet Amber Fields. The crew was me, Aaron Booth and new recruit Sharon Watson. 

At the moment we're a bit restricted where we can go. The Marple flight is closed because of water shortage. Two of the reservoirs that feed the summit are in need of repair and so the only water supplying the upper Peak Forest has to be pumped up from the river at Whaley Bridge.

The Huddersfield Narrow canal is, at the time of writing, still open, but this waterway also suffers from water supply issues. A particular problem for us is the long pound between Ashton and Stalybridge, from lock 3 to lock 4. Because lock 3 leaks so badly (and has done for years) this is constantly low. There are also several places on this stretch where rubbish gets dumped into the water, further reducing the depth. We have offered to remove the rubbish but are not allowed to because we might disturb the wildlife (!!!!???). There have been several occasions when we've spent hours working through this pound, dragging the boats laboriously over old bikes, shopping trolleys etc.

We had a booking for a well being trip for a couple who I had met by chance at the museum. The plan was to go up to Marple and, after winding below the locks, spend a night near the aqueduct, then return to Ashton.

It all went fairly smoothly. Our crew consisted of Aaron Booth, Geraldine Buckley and John Lupton. The winding hole at Marple was, for once, fairly clear of CRT boats. There was quite a concentration of boats moored in the area and we couldn't get in at our usual spot between the aqueduct and Rose Hill tunnel, so, after winding, we had to go back through the former tunnel and tie at the end of the line of moored craft.

On the towpath side here there is a steep wooded cliff dropping down to the trickling River Goyt.

 On the outside is a field, virtually grazed out by the raucus Canada Geese that now dominate the canal.

 I had always wanted to explore the Goyt valley here but never got round to it. In the morning, after a little pottering in the engine 'ole, I walked along the towpath the short distance to Hyde Bank tunnel then, rather than climbing the steep horse path over the top, I plunged into the untrodden ways of the thick, steep woodland. Back in 2020 I prepared a ghost story for a halloween event that never took place because of the pandemic and this marginal land is the home for one of the characters, Old Mags the witch. Perhaps next year!

This woodland is one of the rare places where nature is allowed to take her course. It is too steep and pathless for an easy stroll. Huge trees dominate, but where there is a gap for light to get through there is a dense understorey of nettles, brambles bushes etc. Although the 2022 heat wave had only just got started the woods were already bone dry. I came upon a carpet of wild garlic, all wilted by the drought. Because humans rarely penetrate, dead wood is not removed. The steep slopes are hard to navigate and several times I grabbed hold of a branch to steady myself, only to have it break off in my hand.

I descended via a dried up side valley to the trickling river, following it upstream. There were paths here but they would suddenly disappear into bushes, presumably they were made by foxes rather than humans. The inevitable Himalayan Balsam enjoyed a waterside foothold.

I climbed up again to rejoin the towpath near a huge oak that had fallen but was caught by its sister trees, continuing to grow vertical shoots from the horizontal trunk.

Beside the canal I met an elderly lady briskly walking. She was slim and brightly dressed. By her accent I took her to be German. We praised together the beauty of nature and the amazing efforts of the canal builders before each continuing in our opposite ways.

Aaron arrived on his bike and Geraldine and John made their way down the towpath from the station. We had a pleasant and uneventful trip back to Ashton in the growing heat.

Our guests thoroughly enjoyed the trip. When we got back to Portland Basin we got "Hazel" cleaned and her batteries charged ready for the next outing. This was a two night booking  for Jeff, his daughter Sarah and partner Jackie, all enthusiastic punk rockers. We had promised them a trip up the Huddersfield Narrow, but, I checked the water levels and decided that it was unwise.

We had to make another foray out to Marple instead.

Aaron was unable to join us for this trip as he was on dogsitting duties. Geraldine and John steered the butty while new recruit Steve Shipley  made a good job of steering the motor while I sat on the deck supervising.

The rising heat was baking us as we went along. The canal was in many places matt green with a surface scum of algae brought out by the relentless sun. The winding hole at Marple was completely free of CRT boats as the last one, the 'josher' motor "Gailey", had moved  to Dukinfield where the team were tracing leaks in the embankment. This time we were able to tie in our preferred spot near to the aqueduct.

Our guests all have mobility issues and were a bit disappointed that there were no pubs or restaurants within easy walking distance. By the time I learned that it was too late to move as our crew were all heading off for the station. I suggested we make a short trip to Romiley the following day, where there are hospitality venues a plenty.

Crewing was a problem as none of the first day's crew were available. I spent the evening on the 'phone and the laptop trying to round up a crew. Luckily Patricia Ekaete was able to join us from Ashton and Mike Heap from Marple. Neither had crewed for some time so it was nice to see them.  I was showing Patricia the aqueduct when Mike arrived. He was involved it the efforts to save the structure, and the canal, back in the 1960s.

 We had a pleasant journey through the tunnel and past the lovely gardens and woodland of Chadkirk to tie near the main road bridge at Romiley. Having arrived by train Patricia elected to walk home along the towpath.

Our guests went out for a meal at 'Platform One' next to Romiley station. They don't recommend it. I spent most of another evening rounding up the next day's crew. This consisted of Kim Tranter and Dave Evans. Navigating the tortuous bends through Gee Cross in the sweltering heat we were glad of the shade from the mature woodland. We arrived back at the basin mid afternoon, bade farewell to our guests and crew, then put the boats away for the night, ready for another trip, as far as Gee Cross, the next day.

It's been a while since I posted anything. We've been having a busy time and I haven't been taking many photos. About a fortnight ago we took the boats down to Ducie St, Manchester (or Paradise Wharf as it's been renamed) for some airbnbers.

On the return trip we managed to pick up lots of textiles on the blade.

Halfway up the flight the bracket that holds "Forget me Not"s gear change linkage broke. I removed the broken item and cycled with it to Dukinfield where our friends Dixon & Smith (Motor Engineers) welded it back together and added extra metal to make it stronger.

We had to stay where we were overnight

before carrying on up to Ashton in time to get "Hazel" ready for some wellbeing guests who just wanted to stay on board rather than go for a trip.

 Last weekend we had two Marple trips. On the Saturday we took some of Liz's Guiding friends for a trip to Marple and back. 

That turned out to take longer than expected, partly because of the water level being low so we stemmed up a couple of times and collected some impressive bladefuls.

As well as that the winding hole at Marple was clogged up with CRT work boats and it was impossible to wind without moving some. Even then, we could only wind the boats singly rather than as a breasted pair. "Community Spirit 2", which is about 50' long also did a Marple trip and had difficulty winding.

We had to move a couple of the boats. If they'd been tied a little more thoughtfully this wouldn't have been necessary.

On Sunday we took a care worker and her family to Marple, winded, then tied for the night at Chadkirk. That evening I had a meeting with Liz in the Friendship pub in Romiley. Unfortunately it has changed landlord since last time i visited and it's now a noisy sports pub.

Monday afternoon me and Aaron had a lovely uneventful trip returning our guests to Portland Basin.

 I had Tuesday to get jobs done on the boats, then it was a trip down the locks to Manchester where we're tied at Dale St, or Piccadilly Wharf as they've renamed it. There are some Airbnb guests on board now, attending a festival at Trafford Park. I'm staying on "Forget me Not" to keep things safe before we return the boats to Ashton on Monday. I haven't been able to go home as Emuna contracted covid whilst I was away.

I just got back from running a 2 day trip for care worker Laura. She has worked through the pandemic looking after elderly people with challenging behaviours. She deserves a break, and, thanks to the National Lottery Awards for All fund, we were able to give her one. Laura brought along her fiance, Philip, and their friend, Steve.

It's sometimes hard to find enough crew on weekdays and unfortunately one crew member dropped out at the last minute because of a headache. This left just me and Aaron to run the trip, though Nessie helped by raising the lift bridge as we set out.

There were no other boats moving, save for "Community Spirit 2" which followed us as far as Hyde.

The weather was intermittently raining as we travelled up the Peak Forest canal. We had to stop once to remove plastic from the propeller. The law of Sod kicked in as we approached Hyde Bank Tunnel. Having met no boats all the way from Ashton, one had just entered the tunnel coming the other way. We had to stop the pair in the shallow water and hold them there until it emerged.

At Marple the winding hole (canal speak for a place where you can turn round) was full of CRT maintenance boats, some of which we had to move in order to wind. Winding completed, we headed back over the aqueduct and tied just before Rose Hill 'tunnel'.

Over the past few weeks we've had to cancel or postpone trip after trip on "Hazel" for various reasons, mostly weather related but health problems of guests have figured too. Today I thought at last we had it right. The weather was nice and we had guests on board for an overnight trip. It was a bit windy but nothing like we have experienced lately. Everything was readt so me and Aaron started to back the pair, breasted, into the basin ready to swing round and head off up the Peak Forest canal. All of a sudden the engine stalled. I restarted it but, as soon as I engaged reverse gear it stalled again. I had a look inside  the gearbox to discover that it was jammed in forward gear. The gear change mechanism was working correctly but the forward gear clutch simply wouldn't disengage, so, when you put it into reverse it's trying to go forward and backwards at the same time. This means I'm going to have to take the gearbox out and get it professionally looked at. How long this will take and what it will cost I know not.

Our guests seemed to have a nice afternoon chatting and exchanging life experiences. One is staying tonight and another has asked if she can come and stay on board with her dog sometime, which, of course, she can.

Here's a couple of photos of me and Aaron reversing the boats just before it all went wrong. Photographer Cheryl Louise Dinsdale.

Tomorrow we have wellbeing guests arriving for a trip up the Peak Forest canal to Marple aqueduct. We'll stay there overnight then come back on Monday. Me and Aaron have spent most of the day cleaning and sorting her out after her use as a film location. We took her over the Tame aqueduct to charge her batteries at the workshop of Dixon & Smith (Motor Engineers) in Dukinfield. She goes there by people power, on this occasion me and Aaron. The reason they built canals was that they enabled huge loads to be moved for very little energy expenditure. "Hazel" weighs about 20 tons but she's no problem for us to move.

Aaron keeps warm and dry in his new dayglo ski suit.