Newsletter of The Friends of The Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne
MUSEUM MATTERS MAY 2014
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 2
ell! It has certainly been a busy
spring this year! Not everything
has gone as smoothly as we would
normally expect in the world of the
Museums & Attractions Partnership
and here at Stoke the huge task of
overseeing the refurbishment,
relighting and rewiring of the
Museum has largely fallen to Louise,
who, it must be said, has done a
superb job. Starting with the
unexpected loss of David Henderson
in January, the M&A Partnership has
been beset with a sea of unforeseen
personnel troubles, but it does
appear that things are now turning
the corner. The latest weekly update
from CRT not only gives an account of
the Museum reopening ceremony on
30th April, but also has a picture of
Louise at the start of a short video
presentation about the revitalised
Museum. This last stars Louise, Richard
Parry, Chief Executive CRT and Mike
Constable, our Honorary Curator, and is
well worth a look. It can be found on
CRT’s website under the title ‘News’.
Our volunteers and honorary curators
and the CRT’s own staff worked like
trojans in order to get the displays up
and in position before the final opening.
As I said at the opening ceremony, my
part in it was merely to say ‘well done
chaps’, but I say it again with full
sincerity.
Anyway the reopening ceremony went
very well. Richard Parry was most
complimentary about our input, Louise
was given full recognition of the part
that she has played and, most
interestingly for me, the Grand
Junction Canal Company’s Roll of
Honour, 1914-18, recently
rediscovered in Brentford, was
installed in a case with due ceremony.
W
Volunteers, from left, Lorna York, Rose Grahaghan, Brian Mayland and Olive Minney with CRT’s James
Clifton at the Museum reopening (Photo; KD)
In this Issue
Chairman’s Jottings 2
The Original Idle Woman 7
Jack James 10
Council Matters 15
Canal Family Festival 16
FoCM Diary 17
Museum Reopening 18
Flagpole Recomissioning 20
Village at War 22 A personal memory of Robin Smithett 23
Cover Picture: Richard Parry (Chief Exec CRT), Louise Stockwin, David Blagrove and Lorna York on Sculptor at the reopening . (Photo: SD)
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
‘
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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The interest for me is that Lorna York
and I have been working for some
months on a project to rediscover those
men and women of the canals and
of Stoke Bruerne who played their
part in the Great War. Bearing in
mind that the population of Stoke in
1911 was 331 and Shutlanger was
smaller, at 323, the fact that at least
102 men and women from the two
villages served in that War would
have meant that the male
population between the ages of 17
and 45 was reduced to virtual non-
existence, while many women were
also engaged in war work. For
much of that war the two villages
must have been virtually populated
by the very young and the very old, at
least during the day. All classes were
affected and one of the most
remarkable results of the war was a
dinner held in July 1919 at Stoke Park
and given by Colonel Vernon, the then
owner, for every man who had served
and survived the war. Vernon himself
had been awarded a Distinguished
Service Order for his gallantry in leading
his battalion during the Somme battles
and he and his wife duly entertained
some 80 men at Stoke Park House.
One of the surprises of the
Reminiscence Day (see below) was the
emergence of a printed menu card
produced by the grandson of one of the
men concerned.
Similarly the effect upon the canal was
severe. From my researches into
Braunston’s records it is plain that
before 1914 quite a number of boating
families had settled in the village and
had homes ‘on the bank’ with their
children attending the village school
while the menfolk, unmarried or older
women worked the boats. All this
changed as men rushed to join up, and
the ensuing shortage of labour caused
many women to leave their homes and
work on the boats bringing their children
with them. Fellows, Morton & Clayton
Ltd, then the main carriers on the Grand
Junction Canal, were forced to pay a
war bonus in order to keep men at work
(and also to compensate them from
being awarded white feathers by
civilians who thought they should be in
uniform). It was not until after the
slaughter of men on the Somme in
1916 that the Government took action
to organise the canal system to cope
with wartime. Although the railways had
come under Government control from
the 4th of August 1914, the canals were
not so controlled until 1917. Many
boatmen who had joined up in the early
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
The Roll of Honour (Photo: LS)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 4
stages of the war, including our own
Jack James, were ‘combed out’ from
the front line and sent to work on the
French and Belgian canals or to the
cross-Channel barging services based
at the new port of Richborough in Kent,
or even to such exotic places as the
Tigris and Euphrates. The reasoning
was that such men were far more
valuable doing these skilled jobs than
being shot at or sent ‘over the top’. In
the meantime, at home, the GJCC’s
Roll of Honour, now in the Museum,
shows how the administration of the
canal as well as its traffic labour force
suffered. Lockkeepers, engineers, traffic
clerks, carpenters, bricklayers, tug
drivers and even noble Directors, such
as Viscount Churchill, were away
serving, so the increased traffic of
wartime merely served to exacerbate
maintenance problems. It is our
intention to produce a display
commemorating the efforts of all the
men and women that we can identify as
the tribute of a later generation to those
who so willingly went to serve their
country, and of course to
those who never made it
back home after the war.
There were eighteen men
and one woman from Stoke
Bruerne and Shutlanger
who gave their lives and a
similar number of GJCC
workers. They should not be
forgotten.
In other ways this has been
a busy time. The Museum
refurbishment was sparked
off by our obtaining, through
the efforts of Lynda Payton,
a substantial Arts Council
Grant for overhauling the lighting; now
the efforts of Lynda and Helen
Westlake on behalf of the Stoke
Bruerne Canal Partnership are
beginning to bear fruit as the
Interpretation Project gets under way.
During April a Reminiscence Day was
held in our marquee on the Museum
Green, and this was a remarkable
success. Many persons came forward
with useful recollections and
mementoes, including the menu card
mentioned above. Since then the
project has moved towards finalising the
design of the Interpretation Panels and
a seemingly endless stream of e-mails
has been flying into my computer from
the consultants and others concerned.
It is early days to be making much
comment, but the results of all this
Volunteers and local councillors enjoying the reopening of
the Museum on a lovely spring day (Photo: KD)
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 5
should begin to be apparent later on
this summer. It is hoped that all will be
completed by the time of the Village at
War event in September.
Readers will recall that the
editorship of this journal
changed during the winter
when Kathryn Dodington
took over from Lynda
Payton, who had been in
the editorial chair since our
foundation. Kathryn bought
No 2 Canalside last year
and since her arrival has
entered into the life of the
village and the Friends
alike with gusto. One of her
first actions was to take in
hand the matter of the
flagpole by top lock, which
has been without halyards for many
years and furthermore could not be
lowered to replace these because
someone at BT had strung wires across
the canal in such a manner as to
prevent this in the meantime. It
happened that soon after her arrival at
No 2 Kathryn was asked, in the course
of a courtesy call from BT, whether
there was anything more they could do
for her and her answer was ‘yes’. The
upshot was that after some little
persuasion BT’s engineers eventually
turned up in early April and removed
the offending wires, a result that the
Canal Partnership had been trying to
achieve for some years. On St George’s
Day a ceremonial recommissioning took
place with the Rose & Castle Morris
side performing a special North
Western-type clog dance, children from
the village school singing and the
Secretary of the Royal Society of St
George, Rodney Wardlaw presenting a
St George’s flag to the Morris side to be
duly hoisted. Rain and a chilly evening
failed to dampen spirits and about 150
people were present to see the
ceremony. Kathryn has now taken upon
herself the guardianship of the pole and
flags and has instituted a custom of
raising an appropriate flag on certain
important days. The first such occasion
was, appropriately enough for Kathryn,
who originally hails from New Zealand,
on Anzac Day, 25th April, when the New
Zealand flag was hoisted.
Work on Sculptor continues apace.
Since the New Year volunteers have
replace rotten panelling in the cabin and
rubbed the woodwork down for
repainting, the inside of the drawers,
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
The New Zealand Flag flying from the recommissioned flagpole to commemorate ANZAC Day (Photo: KD)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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table etc. undercoated and the area
round the cabin doors grained and
varnished. At the time or writing rewiring
is greatly advanced and should be
completed shortly and at last
completion of all the cabin works is in
sight. On 1st May the boat left for her
first lengthy voyage of the season,
having been loaded with all manner of
gear for the IWA Gathering at
Braunston Marina. The next outing will
be to the Crick Show at the second May
Holiday, at which CRT have asked for
the boat to be present. She should be in
first class order by then. Several new
volunteers have joined us during the
winter and our thanks are particularly
due to Iain Dunkley for expert carpentry
work in the cabin and Mike Gardner for
work on the electrics.
Finally, although not part of the Friends
organisation (most of its members are
our members), I might mention the work
of the Volunteer Group. These meet
once a month (as from May this year on
the first Wednesday of the month) and
the current task is tidying up the area
round locks 14 and 15 (the two top
locks) ready for the Family Festival in
June. New volunteers are always
welcome; all that you need do is to turn
up on a volunteer day at 9.30, or either
ring me on (01604) 862174 or e-mail
[email protected]. There is plenty
to do; the next date will be 11th June.
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
A DAY OUT WITH THE FRIENDS?
A day trip by coach is planned for members and friends to visit
the Kennet and Avon Canal for the Crofton Beam Engine Gala, together with a stop at the Devizes Canal Museum.
See the Crofton Beam engine at work
Enjoy all the other attractions over the Gala weekend.
Visit Devizes Canal Museum
Refreshments available at both sites
Normal parking charges will apply at the Museum.
Coach from Stoke Bruerne on Saturday 27th September
Depart 9am, return 7pm approx.
Cost approx. £22 per person
There are 53 places available. If you would like to reserve a place to go on what promises to be a very special trip, please email Denis Atkinson
[email protected] with number of places required. First come first served!
CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS
David Blagrove
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 7
As Della is indisposed at the
moment, in place of the next article
about Sister Mary I thought you
might be interested in an article
written for her Oxford College by my
aunt who was the original Idle
Woman.
hen I started boating in 1941 the
snow was deep on the ground
and there were no women skippers.
When I left the water for the bank this
summer, practically the whole system of
inland waterways had been covered by
amateur boatwomen trained by two of
my early ‘mates’. An advertisement for
the first of these brought applications in
a number and variety that surprised me;
they ranged from ballet-dancers to
moneylenders and from sailors to
‘service-dodgers’.
It was two years before I attained the
competence and social standing of a
professional boatwoman, and my
experience was gained at the cost of
long hours, some spent in the heavy
work of handling cargoes, anxious
moments at the tiller, and exposure to
all weathers.
The romantic features of boating have
already had their share of publicity, but
details of the work done by boats and
boat people are usually left behind the
curtain of obscurity which veiled the
canals and everything to do with them
until AP Herbert published his Water
Gypsies. In four years our Heather Bell
carried more than 7,000 tons of cargo.
She took slack to Worcester, spam to
Nottingham, sugar to Wolverhampton,
and flour to Tipton, sauce to Wigan,
coal to Oxford, copper and aluminium to
Birmingham, shell-cases to the
Potteries, grain to the Mersey, and RAF
stores to the Bristol Channel. Each
cargo had its own peculiarity, and each
canal its rule of the road. On some
‘cuts’ boats keep to the right, on others
the left, on some empty boats must give
way to loaded ones, and on others
uphill takes precedence over downhill
traffic.
Our usual round trip started with loading
352 sacks of flour at Worcester for
Tipton. In the first fifteen miles there are
36 locks. If these were against us, we
had to draw them off as well as fill them,
which meant double work for us both.
Novices used to complain of having
been made to run half way to
W
Stowing the cabin strings at Tipton Green – April 1941 (Photo: IWM)
THE ORIGINAL IDLE WOMAN
Kathryn Dodington
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Birmingham. At the top lock we would
thankfully take the shining handles or
‘windlasses’ from our belts where we
carried them and stow them in the cabin
for ahead of us stretched a 15-mile
‘pound’, with three tunnels, the last 1¾
miles long. There is no lighting in these
tunnels, so we carried a headlamp. If
another boat had just gone through, her
smoke reduced visibility sometimes to
15 feet, which made steering difficult, as
the boat is 71 feet long.
At the Bar Lock we would give our
tickets to the toll-clerk, hear the latest
boating news, fill the water-can and
perhaps stop for the night at a tie-up.
These recognised stopping places
which usually boast a lock, a shop, a
village inn (the ‘boozer’) and a stable,
are often called after lock-keepers,
some still alive, some living in the
memories of old boatmen, and others
long since forgotten: at Gill’s,
Parkerses, Dick’s, Denny Merril’s
Mother’s lock live the families who have
given their name to the place, but
‘Ammonses’ is no longer kept by a
Hammond.
At Tipton the flour was unloaded in a
couple of hours and then we set off for
Cannock Chase for slack. Here we
made friends with the day or ‘Joey’
boatmen who have homes ashore, and
never go far from the collieries. I have
been glad to know the Black Country,
which looks at its best from the water,
and its inhabitants – kind people
with a good sense of humour.
Another trip we often did was to
go empty to Sharpness for grain.
We locked down into the Severn
at Worcester, keeping a good
look-out for the petrol tankers
which ply up and down the river,
and whose crews are always
ready to give us a tow: their 160
horse-power was a big help to
our 10 if we were trying to reach
a tie-up before dark. In the
summer the river is lovely, though
you have to be careful to avoid the
shallows: in the winter there is
sometimes too much water for comfort,
especially if you run across the tide as
well, because the Severn is tidal as far
as Tewkesbury.
At Gloucester we locked up into the
Docks and Berkeley Ship Canal with its
low white bridges rather like those over
Dutch canals. Sixteen miles further on
in Sharpness we loaded bulk wheat
THE ORIGINAL IDLE WOMAN
Kathryn Dodington
Heather Bell at Tipton Green Top Lock – April 1941 (Photo: IWM)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 9
from the silo, and if we had time we
would brush up our French,
Norwegian, or Dutch with the sailors
there. In Sharpness before D-day
there was a grand array of ships, all
flying the B flag: ‘I am loading or
discharging explosives’. We were
glad to hear that of the sixteen ships,
which went to Normandy sixteen
came safely back.
Fog, wind and ice were our worst
enemies. It was on a foggy
December evening in 1941 that the
Darleydale – the biggest tanker on
the river – ran into us. We sank in 8
feet of water in 8 minutes, having
luckily salvaged enough blankets to
spend the night in moderate comfort
on the floor of a Gloucestershire
cottage. ‘Fishers History of Europe’
stood up well to its three days
immersion.
At Whitsuntide or in August we used to
go down the Shropshire Union Canal. If
locks had to be repaired, they were
generally done then, and boat after boat
took her place in the queue waiting for
the work to be finished. Those were
blissful days with time to paint, shine
the brass, scrub the cabin, or de-
carbonise the engine at one’s leisure,
and afterwards to yarn with the boat
people or play the accordion, knowing
for once that there was no more work to
be done. Then when the ‘stoppage’
was over, everyone set off again in a
mad hurry, often going all night to make
up for lost time. Twice we went ‘fly’ like
that from Ellesmere Port to
Wolverhampton: thirty-three hours non-
stop, with about an hour’s sleep each.
Day and the fields of Cheshire changed
slowly into night and the sandstone
cuttings of Shropshire. Dawn came at
the top of Audlem locks, and the first
boat we’d meet would say: ‘What, you
two girls been night-‘owlin’ again?’
I shall miss the cut and all my friends
there, but it is a community that does
not change and it is nice to know that
Big-Mouthed Bella, Sam and Flo,
‘Stickemup’ and Soapy Joe, young Ada
and all the rest of them will probably be
about when I go back every now and
then.
THE ORIGINAL IDLE WOMAN
Kathryn Dodington
Heather Bell unloading flour at Tipton – April 1941 (Photo: IWM)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 10
t would be about this time that Jack
had two mates, one called George,
who kept an ancient muzzle-loading
shotgun for the replenishment of
the boats’ supplies, the other
known as ‘Sailorman’ or
‘Sailorboy’, since he had been a
merchant sailor. The Ashby Canal
was notorious for the weed that
grew on the bed. It rolled up
underneath a boat forming what
the boaters called ‘rolls of oakum’.
George would stand on the
foredeck as the boat went along
armed with a spear on a long
stick. Between Hinckley and
Shackerstone the canal was well-
stocked with fish, tench, perch and
pike particularly. George would
harpoon the rolls of weed in which
fish had managed to get themselves
entangled. On arrival at the colliery
basin at Moira he would lay the fish out
on an old washing tray and sell them to
the miners, which would give him a ‘few
coppers’ pocket money for his evening
drink. Sometimes the boatmen would
go to nearby Swadlincote, where there
was a pub, or else Jack, if he had a ‘few
coppers’ to spare would, in his own
words, catch a tram ‘across the fields to
Burton-on-Trent and have a night there,
then finish up in the pub on the way
back with the miners and have a sing-
song and a bit of step dancing.’ Like
many boaters of the time, Jack could
play a melodeon, which was always a
useful accomplishment, since a pub
musician would rarely have to buy his
own beer. The ‘tram’ was the Burton
and Ashby Light Railway, which was
similar to an American ‘inter-urban’
railway, running as Jack said across
fields between Burton-on-Trent and
Ashby de la Zouch. It closed following
the General Strike of 1926.
Sailorman was, Jack once told me
‘breasted like a woman’ and was ‘stout
and stocky, a good swimmer and a
fighter too’. In other ways Sailorman
was quite a character. Jack was told by
several Fellows, Morton & Clayton
steamboat crews who knew him that he
had once swum through Braunston
Tunnel for a bet. This was when there
was a pub called ‘The Anchor’ at the
top of Braunston locks where horse
boats waited their turn for the tunnel
tug. The story went that Sailorman met
the tug in the tunnel, which must have
caused some consternation. The pub
closed in 1916, so the swim must have
been before then. He was only with
I
JACK JAMES A serialised biography by David Blagrove – Part 8
High Bridge Wharf c1924 (Image courtesy David Blagrove Collection)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Jack two or three months before he
joined another boatman to run three
boats to the Oxford Portland Cement
Company, then based near
Bletchingdon on the Oxford Canal. This
job involved taking coal southwards to
the cement works, where it was
unloaded into the boiler house with
shovels and wheelbarrows, and then
loading with bags of cement which were
delivered to a warehouse near the ‘top
o’ the old thirteen’ (Farmers Bridge
locks) in Birmingham. The unloaders
were refreshed with beer, brought in
one or two gallon stone jars in a cane
basket from the ‘Three Pigeons’ pub,
some distance down the canal. The
unloaders betted Sailorman that he
could not swim along the canal to the
‘Three Pigeons’ with an empty two
gallon stone jar for filling. He stripped
off his shirt, strapped the jar on his back
with a boatman’s belt and set off. On
the way he met Jack James’ boats
coming back from Oxford empty and
told him about the wager. Later Jack
learned that Sailorman had completed a
round trip with the beer and won the
bet.
In 1923 Jack married Emma
Bray, then aged twenty,
daughter of Joseph Bray, a
boatman from Yiewsley, near
West Drayton in Middlesex.
The Bray family worked boats
from the Coventry coalfield
down the Grand Junction to
the London area and so their
routes would have coincided
with Jack James’ regular runs
in the section between
Braunston and Marston
Junction. Boat people’s
courtship in those days
tended to be circumscribed by
the routes that the parents’
boats took and meetings were
frequently confined to the odd
occasions that the respective families’
boats were tied up together, although
other stratagems, such as catching
trains, and later buses, to meeting
places were often brought into play. Not
surprisingly courtship was sometimes a
prolonged affair. Jack’s apparent
regular tying at Marston Stop Lock
might have had something to do with
the matter. Suffice it to say the couple
were married at Bedworth Parish
church on 2nd April 1923. The curate,
John Thomas Owen would appear to
JACK JAMES A serialised biography by David Blagrove – Part 8
The Simonds Brewery in Reading shown in an old brewery advert showing the K&A passing through the
brewery centre c1920. Note the narrow boats in evidence (image courtesy of David Blagrove Collection)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 12
have been familiar with the ways of
boat people, for the certified copy of the
marriage certificate is evidently
completed in his handwriting. Both
Emma and Fanny Jackson, who were
witnesses have crosses and ‘her mark’
by their names, but the signature of
Jack duly appears, although the copy is
in the curate’s handwriting.
Jack’s new married status meant that
he now reverted to a single boat,
appropriately named Jack, which
Hubert Hawkins dispatched to Reading
with a load of coal. This was
presumably loaded at Moira, for a
photograph of the boat in Blakes Lock,
Reading, apparently shows it loaded
with large housecoal. His sister Amelia
(‘Milly’) appears in the picture on the
towpath leading the horse, Emma is
steering and Jack is sitting in a
proprietorial manner on the cabin top,
his legs partially obscuring Hubert
Hawkins’ name on the cabin side. By
this time narrow boat traffic on the River
Kennet was not common and the arrival
of the boat seems to have caused a stir
locally, for a number of local boys and a
girl are also to be seen in the
background looking on curiously. Barge
traffic still passed from the Kennet to
the Thames, but the one-time
common coal traffic from the
Midlands to industrial plants in
Reading and the Kennet
Valley had ceased. Exactly
where this load went to is not
known, but Jack evidently
made some useful contacts at
Reading, for he was
eventually to return there on a
permanent basis.
For the meantime Jack seems
to have returned to the Oxford
Canal and taken on another
boat with the assistance of
Milly. His first child, John, was
born the following year, his
birth being registered at Foleshill (north
of Coventry and the parish that includes
Hawkesbury Junction) and thereafter
the couple produced another five:
George born 1925, Doris and Thomas
both born 1928 but not twins, Noel born
1932 and Christine born 1938. All the
latter children’s births were registered in
Reading. By 1928 Jack had saved
sufficient to achieve the ambition of all
independently-minded boatmen, the
ownership of his boats. He appears to
Jack, his wife Emma and sister Millie (on towpath) at Blakes Lock, Reading c 1924 (Image courtesy of David
Blagrove Collection)
JACK JAMES A serialised biography by David Blagrove – Part 8
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www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 13
have acquired two boats from his father,
for Jack had two boats registered under
the Canal Boats Act in that year. The
Two Brothers was registered at
Banbury on 20th February 1928
presumably named for Jack’s first two
sons and Thames Valley on 23rd April
1928. If they were indeed bought from
his father they must have been formerly
Doris and George Henry, but which is
which is not certain, although Doris was
formerly called Two Brothers. George
James changed it to Doris, so Jack may
have merely changed the name back to
its original one. It would appear that
Jack had based himself in Reading from
1925 onwards. In 1928 his name
appears on business correspondence
as ‘The Wharf, Bridge Street, Reading’.
This was in fact sited on a backwater of
the Kennet, once a mill headstream and
known as ‘The Jack o’Newbury stream’.
It was entered from the Kennet
immediately above County Lock (No.
106) and from Bridge Street by a lane
running west immediately south of the
bridge over the
main river. Today
the Reading Inner
Distribution road
runs above the
site, but it is still
partly visible. The
entry to the ‘Jack
o’Newbury
stream’ meant
dropping the
boats stern first
from immediately
above County
Lock. A shoal had
built up by the
entrance to the
stream making
the approach
difficult for loaded
boats. There was
however a railway siding on the
opposite bank and sometimes a friendly
engine driver could be persuaded to
drop a long towline over his coupling
hook and pull a loaded boat over the
shoal. Although there was a good
towpath on the Kennet above Reading,
the river through the town had none
between Bridge Street Bridge and High
Bridge about a quarter of a mile
downstream save for a short, isolated
length of about a hundred yards. This is
still the case today but the stream has
JACK JAMES A serialised biography by David Blagrove – Part 8
The Brewery Gut plan shows the same area in more detail, including
the tortuous path that the boat horses had to follow through the centre of Reading (Image courtesy of David Blagrove Collection)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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been considerably widened and an
awkward bend above High Bridge has
been eased. The Kennet is a stream
that is fed from chalk country and also
has a considerable hydraulic gradient,
which means that although it takes a
good deal of rain to raise the water
level, it flows much faster than the
Thames and when the stream becomes
strong it does so for much longer than a
river draining clay country.
Consequently the ‘Brewery Gut’ or
‘Gullet’, as this stream is called, is a
very dangerous stretch of water for
novices. In former times it was even
more dangerous for horse-drawn boats.
These had to negotiate the ‘Gut’
downstream by drifting with a ‘log’ or
weight over the stern, and in times of
strong current by winding below County
Lock and drifting stern first with the
weight off the fore end. Coming
upstream a very long line had to be
floated down from above Bridge Street
Bridge, using a float kept nearby for this
very purpose. There was a snatch block
cemented into the wall of a building on
the south side of the bridge and another
on the bridge abutment close to the
spandrel of the arch; the towline was
run through these and the horse set off
along Bridge Street at right angles to
the river. The towline passed in front of
house doorways imprisoning the
occupants until the boat had come up
through the bridge. Jack Garner, who
married Amelia, told me how his father
had lost a boat loaded with plaster of
Paris when the towline parted in a flood
and the boat was swept backwards
against a wall at the foot of the ‘Gut’
and broke its back. This was in 1904
and in 1950 the motor boat Columba
narrowly escaped a similar fate. In the
1920s matters were no easier when the
navigation was controlled by the Great
Western Railway, who had no
inclination to do anything to assist a
rival form of transport, although obliged
by law to keep the navigation open.
Because of the difficulty of approaching
his new premises from downstream,
Jack acquired a tug to move craft
through the ‘Gut’. This was not a
particularly grand vessel, being no more
than an ex-ship’s clinker-built lifeboat
fitted with a single cylinder water-drip
Bolinder semi-diesel engine, but it
certainly did the job. Moreover both
locks between his wharf and the
Thames were long enough to accept
two narrow boats abreast and a tug.
JACK JAMES A serialised biography by David Blagrove – Part 8
The Friends of The Canal Museum at
Stoke Bruerne may not agree with the
opinions expressed in this newsletter,
but encourages publication as a
matter of interest. Nothing printed
may be construed as policy or an
official statement unless so stated.
Latest - Welcome to Mat
On Friday 16th May, Mathew (Mat) Bradley joined The Canal Museum team to manage the day-to-day operation at Stoke Bruerne with Louise, working alongside Anna, Becca, Charlotte, Emi, Grace, Sarah and Shivani. Mats origins are in Australia where
he predominantly worked within
the tourism industry so, it’s an
exciting time for both Mat, me and
the Museum & Attractions team.
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 15
Financial Matters
ollowing the recent serious illness
of our Treasurer, Rick Thake, I
have temporarily taken control of the
finances of The Friends. This is not a
satisfactory position and it would be
appreciated if another member would
be prepared to take this matter on,
possibly permanently.
In the meantime I can report that the
finances of The Friends are in
reasonable shape and the position, as
at the 20th May 2014, is as follows:
Balance at Bank on behalf
of the Charity account
£26,119.54
Balance at Bank on behalf
of the Company account
£13,859.67
Business reserve account £1,051.71
Cash in hand £0.00
Total liquid assets £41,030.92
Additionally the Friends
have assets of
£4,227.99
The sum in the Trading Company's
account is to cover setting up expenses
for the Family Festival and Village at
War events and to provide a float. This,
plus any profits from the events, will be
returned to the main Charity in the form
of a donation from the Trading
Company after the events concerned.
David Blagrove, Chairman
F
David Blagrove, Jenny Copeland and Denis Atkinson at the award presentation
(Photo: LS)
At a meeting of Council
last November it was decided that
an annual Award should be made to
a member of The Friends who, in
the opinion of Council, had
performed outstanding service on
behalf of the Friends during the
preceding year. It was subsequently
unanimously decided that the
current award should go to Jenny
Copeland, who initiated the idea of
our most successful Village at War
event back in 2008 and who has
continued to play an important role
in the organisation of the event each
subsequent year. Since Jenny was
out of the UK at the time of our
AGM, the award was made to her at
the first Council meeting after her
return, in January last. The Award
Trophy consists of a turned wood
bowl, which is held for a year, with a
miniature version for keeps. The
Award is open to all members
COUNCIL MATTERS David Blagrove
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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2014 FAMILY FESTIVAL
Lynda Payton
FAMILY FESTIVAL Lynda Payton
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 17
CAN YOU BAKE A CAKE, MAKE A PROMISE OR DONATE AN ITEM FOR OUR AUCTION?
At the Stoke Bruerne Family Festival this year we are having a Boaters Auction combined with an Auction of Promises
so as well as donations of boaty bric-a-brac, we need promises of all sorts of things we can auction to raise funds to help The Canal Museum.
These could be a service you can offer or couple of hours of your time, for example gardening, decorating or boat servicing, or you might be able to offer a boat trip, a meal or a weekend away in your holiday home.
We will also have a Sales, Cake and ‘Find the Wine’ stall – and could really do with cakes and help for an hour or two running them.
If you can volunteer an hour or two of your time or can donate something - please contact Sandie Morton (01604) 858294 or Lynda Payton (01604) 861205
We look forward to seeing you there Thank You!!! For full details please see www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk/sb-family-festival
FAMILY FESTIVAL Lynda Payton
June
1st Canal Museum Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club 08:00
14th / 15th FoCM Canal Family Festival 10:00
22nd Mikron Theatre ‘Troupers’ - Museum Green 14:00
August
7th Canal Museum Heritage walks for Grandparents / Grandchildren
14:00
16th / 17th Canal Museum Pirate Weekend 10:00 28th Canal Museum Wildlife Safari 14:00
September
13th / 14th FoCM Village at War 10:00 20th / 21st
Canal Museum Roses and Castles
Painting 10:00
December
6th FoCM Illuminated Boats and Christmas Carols
16:00
FOCM 2014 DIARY
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Jack James’ two daughters Christine Ratledge and Doris Osborne at the Museum reopening
Richard Parry, David Blagrove and Louise Stockwin reopening the Museum
MUSEUM REOPENING Both photos: SD
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Visitors on the Museum Green for the reopening
Richard Parry (CRT), David Blagrove (FoCM) and Wendy Capelle (CRT)
MUSEUM REOPENING Both Photos: KD
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Steve Bignal (Squire of Rose and Castle Morris) receiving the flag of St George from Rodney Wardlaw (Royal Society of St George)
Children from Stoke Bruerne Primary School providing entertainment
THE FLAGPOLE Both Photos: JR
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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THE FLAGPOLE
Rose and Castle Morris side dancing at the flag raising (Photo: JR)
Rodney Wardlaw (Royal Society of St George) with Rose and Castle Morris men and David Blagrove (Photo: SD)
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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VILLAGE AT WAR
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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ehind the photograph of this tree
lies a story of which few people are
aware. Since meeting Robin in 1994,
each year he would wait for the ideal
opportunity to take a photograph of this
tree. I was given the task of informing
Robin when it was at its best and in full
bloom. As the buds began to open
each year, I would call Robin and inform
him they were on their way. Eventually
the tree would be in full bloom and I
would tell Robin, as he would have to
drive from Hereford.
Unfortunately each year an obstacle to
prevent Robin securing an image of this
tree occurred. Robin would either be
too busy photographing in other areas
and missing the moment, the strong
winds would sometimes get there
before Robin and on one occasion I had
telephoned Robin, he was on his way, I
was arranging lunch for us both; he
planned to take the photograph before
lunch, unfortunately on his journey we
experienced a tremendous
thunderstorm, coupled with strong
winds and hail. I looked out of my
window to find all the blossom had
disappeared from the tree; a soggy
Robin was standing amongst the fallen
blossom like confetti at a wedding. He
looked at me, chuckled to himself and
enquired as to whether I had the kettle
on.
This tree is my abiding memory of
Robin.
B
The flowering cherry at top lock, Stoke Bruerne (Photo: KD)
FOND MEMORIES OF ROBIN SMITHETT Mike Partridge
© Friends of The Canal Museum 2014 Registered Charity No 1121146
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Chairman David Blagrove (01604) 862174 also member of the Curatorial Group & Trustee Vice-Chairman Lorna York (Trustee) Treasurer Rick Thake ([email protected]) Minutes Secretary Denis Atkinson Membership Secretary Jenny Copeland ([email protected]) Publicity & Website, Grant Funding & Awards Lynda Payton (01604) 861205 ([email protected]) Newsletter Kathryn Dodington ([email protected]) Museums & Attractions Partnership John Alderson Volunteer Co-ordinator Trevor Allum Other Museum Manager (ex-officio seat) Jenny Copeland (Trustee) Bill Mann (Catering) Michael Butler (Village at War) Events Sub-Committees Trevor Allum, Dennis Atkinson, Michael Butler, Jenny Copeland, David Daines, Bill Mann, Sandie Morton, Museum Manager, Mike Partridge, Lynda Payton, Victoria Powell, Terry Richardson, Graeme Scothern, Laura Sturrock, Rick Thake, Helen Westlake, Liam Whitby. Non-Council Posts Roger Hasdell Assistant Newsletter Editor Terry Richardson Assistant Publicity Officer Brian Collings Curatorial Group Rose Granaghan Winter Talks Organiser Laura Sturrock Trustee
FOCM COUNCIL 2014
Photographic Credits
LS Louise Stockwin CRT KD Kathryn Dodington FoCM JR James Rudd NN12 SD Steve Dean IWM Imperial War Museum