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Editorial
We were delighted to be able to co-opt David Phillips to the committee
of Trustees of the Society. He has already done sterling work but we would
still welcome some more volunteers on to the committee. We still lack
a chairman for instance. We are taking it in turns to chair committee
meetings which works well on the whole but the successful members ae either
reluctant to vacate their present posts or are unwilling to accept the
responsibility.
We have had some interesting outings already and have more events to come
during the summer as you will see below. Our financial position is sound
and we are committed to donating £1000 to NCDC when required to
implement the plans for restoring the canal.
Walkers are beginning to visit the Barge Workshop on Sunday afternoons
so we feel that our three hour stints are worthwhile.
Lawrence Wheatley
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Visit
to RNAS Culdrose
On a day for flying
kites and gliders (we did see one glider!) at ll am on Saturday 12 April
twenty members of the BC&HS gathered in the car park outside the security
gates of RNAS Culdrose. I did wonder if leaving Ashwater at 0840 hours
was really going to be worth the long journey. I wasn't disappointed and
neither was anyone else I'm sure.
Lt Cmdr Wendy Wheatley, the Senior Met Officer, had kindly arranged this
visit with her mother-in-law and Betty Moore.
We followed Wendy (and her husband and two children) in convoy on to the
station after she had explained that Lt Cmdr Craig Miller would give us
a short talk about 771 Squadron, Search and Rescue, and then we would
see one of the helicopters used in these rescue missions.
The talk, illustrated with slides and a short video, taken from a Sea
King helicopter, of a large trawler wallowing helplessly broadside on
to heavy seas, proved to be very in teresting with facts and figures about
incidents concerning ships in difficulties at sea, people who had fallen
off cliffs, or stranded by incoming tides.
He then took us across to a hangar housing several Mk 4 & 5 Sea King
helicopters. Adults and children alike enjoyed climbing inside one while
another was pushed in to park alongside. .
After this 'extra' we all jumped into our cars for the short trip to the
Control Tower where the Meteorology staff have their offices. We all crowded
in and were shown various computer screens displaying weather patterns,
cloud cover, weather front predictions and much other information most
of which comes from Bracknell, the main weather station.
Weather is a fascinating and very British subject and I'm sure some of
us wished we had such information available at the touch of a button at
home. Amongst all this technical equipment Wendy did not fail to point
out the windows facing south west whence comes most of our weather and
is their first point of consultation.
Finally, we climbed stairs to the aircraft control centre with its rows
of panels. We were given a short talk by Lt Cmdr Phil Wheatley RN (retd)
on the various points of interest to be seen all round Culdrose and the
surrounding area.
Many qustions were asked and we were so interested that we were almost
late for a very good lunch at the Harbour Inn, Porthleven.
Many thanks to Betty for organising this enjoyable outing.
Jill White.
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Early
Summer Walks
The Society played host to the Cornwall Federation of Women's Institutes
during two evening visits to Bude on the 14th & 15th May.
After gathering on the Crescent Car Park the visitors were split into
three groups; one went on a canal walk led by our Treasurer, Chris Jewell;
the second for a town walk led by our Secretary, Bryan Stamp, and the
third for a nature walk round the Marsh canal Nature Reserve led by Tim
Dingle of the North Cornwall District Council..
After the walks the parties met at the Falcon Hotel for refreshments before
returning home. Warm letters of thanks have subsequently been received
from the W I Secretary. so the event can be accounted a success - even
our changeable weather was kind to us.
Bryan Dudley Stamp
Interest in our canal from outside the area continues to be shown by the
requests for information and/or short tours received by Trustees.
One such request from a Mr Peter Chapman, a free-lance journalist, began
with my meeting him on 29 May in glorious weather at the sea-lock
where I gave a brief explanation of the reason for, and function of lock,
breakwater, and canal generally.
The I drove Mr Chapman up to Helebridge where he saw the whole former
transhipment area there, basin, canal bridge and start of the Marhamchurch
inclined plane. Having furnished him with leaflets and a walking guide,
I then pointed him in the direction of the towpath back to Bude and left
him to explore the canal in his own time.
Audrey Wheatley.
Our summer programme
of manning the Barge Workshop on Sunday afternoons from 2 - 5pm throughout
June, July, August, and September
and leading a walk once a month has started well. We have had between
twelve and fifteen visitors on each of the first three Sundays and three
enjoyed the first walk. This is not bad so early in the season.
When Quando arrived
here last summer she had great dfficulty getting over the cill at the
top gates into the basin. This was eventally traced as due to silt dropped
into the side ot the temporary dam to fill a leak during the installing
of the new gates..
Your committee wrote to the Council pointing this out and asking for the
canal to be dredged at that point. The Council replied that they could
not afford this but a second letter resulted in a consultation at the
canalside and the eventual agreement of the council that it was necessary.
Within two days the work was done.
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Visit
to Maritime Museum, Falmouth Saturday 17 May 2003
Twenty three membes and friends boarded a coach in the Crescent car park
Bude in steady rain and set off or Truro. On arrival we queued for tickets
at a kiosk whose occupant had no change; I gave him the contents of my
purse which amounted to about fifteen pence short of the eight pounds
required for two tickets. When we had all been satisfied a frantic head
appeared begging us to return our tickets since he had given us all return
tickets instead of singles....We continued to wait - in continuing rain-
until a bus appeared to transport us to Malpas the highest point up the
river which the Enterprise could reach at the state of the tide.
We continued to wait - in the bus this time as it was still raining until
evlentually the boat arrived and we trudged down a hill and waited for
the passengers to disembark before we could descend the narrow gangway
to the landing stage and the boat. We huddled inside until after about
five minutes sailing down the winding river Fal we turned back to unload
a small boy and his parents since the lad had been taken ill. Once more
we set off and shortly the rain abated and we were able to use the open
decks and admire the scenery and the King Harry ferry and several merchant
ships of varying size which had been moored in the to await a purchaseer
or the trip to the breaker's yard.
As we reached the Carrick Roads the wind was strong but glimpses of blue
sky appeared and we eventually disembarked at a jetty in the centre of
Falmouth.
Four of us set off on the long trek to the Museum where we managed to
persuade a charming attendant to let us in without waiting for Chris Jewell
to arrive and pay the admission charges for the party.as we were dying
of hunger. She kindly directed us to the cafe where we had an excellent
meal in pleasant durroundings.
When Chris arrived we were able to enter the museum with clear consciences
and enjoy the many exhibits with their moving pictures and accompanying
explanatory spiels The museum is splendidly set out with real boats suspended
from the ceiling or on the lower floors. There is workshop in which students
from the Falmouth College engage in repairing various odd gigs and whalers.
Shrinkle and Little Mary were two there at the time.
There is a tower with a lift which goes down to the bed of the river with
a glass panel in which one can observe the state of the tide. On our first
visit the water level was about two feet above the sea bed. Audrey returned
some hours later to find the level way above her head.
My delight was an artifical pond containing six model yachts and for fifty
pence Audrey obtained a token which enabled me to operate one of the yachts
by means of two knobs one of which caused the sails to open or close and
the other to steer the boat, presumably by radio waves. An artificial
wind blew across the lake and it was necessary to close haul the sails
to go into the wind and open them for a following wind. There was nobody
there when I started but soon all six boats were careering about the pond
- except mine, of course which maintained a decorous course avoiding the
other wildly manoeuvring yachts. Soon there was a queue waiting for a
vacant boat after the six minutes allowed.
At five o'clock, tired out, we made our way to the Moors where we boarded
the coach to return. Audrey and I commented on the fact that we appeared
to follow a different route out of Falmouth until I suddenly remembered
that, of course, we had entered Falmouth by boat!
We returned to the Crescent just over ten hours from leaving. A most enjoyable
experience which I thoroughly recommend though the two octogenarians in
our party found the standing and walking very tiring and my ankles and
back were stiff next day (Sunday)
Lawrence Wheatley
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Treasurer's
Report
The balances for the accounts as at 30 June 03 are as follows:
Account 1 £1250.80
Accouint 2 793.19
Account 3 1315.49
Total £3359.48
The Account 1 balance
includes the Gift Aid refund of £225.20 from Inland Revenue for
the year 6 April 2002 to 5 April 2003 and will be transferred to Account
3
The increase in Account 2 is due solely to the very generous donation
by two life members and Trustees: Mrs Anne Longley and Mr David Phillips.
This money will be used to effect a revision and reprint of a tourist
leaflet about the Bude Canal. This will be done in partnership with Bude
Stratton Town Council and Bude Area Tourist Board and the costs shared
between them.
Mr Phillips was recently co-opted as a Trustee.
The Account 3 balance of £1315.49 includes the £1000 pledged
to North Cornwall District Council for the Canal Project in due course.
The Trustees have agreed to comply with the best practice for charities
to set up a separate account to administer the income and expenditure
relating to Bude Canal Day. This matter is in hand. At the end of each
year any surplus to a working balance will be transferred to Account 3
- Project Fund.
IMPORTANT
If you pay your subscription by standing order mandate, please read the
following:
At the AGM in February 2003 it was agreed that subscription rates would
be raised to meet the increased costs of administration. Many of you that
pay by standing order have kindly completed the mandate form sent out
in April with issue No. 23 of The Tub Boat to authorise your bank to pay
the increased subscription as from 1 September 2003. If you have not done
this would you please complete the mandate form and return it to the Membership
Secretary, 17 Cricket Park, Marhamchurch, BUDE, EX23 OEL by 15 August
2003.
Replacement forms can be obtained from the Membership Secretary as above
or from the Hon Treasurer, 4A The Crescent, BUDE, EX123 8LE. Please try
to do this before 15 August 2003
Chris Jewell Hon Treasurer.
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"Reed"
This.
An interesting exhibit was seen at the RNLI model boat days on 4th &
5th May 2003. Not a model but a restored full size reed boat. The boat,
owned by Mr Len Benson of Bude, was acquired in June 2002 from a dealer,
following a casual offer earlier that year. The accompanying photographs
show the poor state of the boat at the time of purchase. Mr Benson, who
has a keen interest in restoring all manner of machines and vehicles,
set to and up to May 2003 had restored the vessel as far as he could.
The other photos show the work done so far.
He hopes to replace the wooden paddle blades with the proper metal blades
that the vessel had when it was in operation.
For the technically minded: as far as can be determined the boat was built
by Howard and Dennis Ltd, Engineers of Bedford England, circa 1939. It
is a reed cutting barge, 21'6" long, 4' wide with 1'3" draught
and 9" freeboard and is powered by a 1939 Ford 4 cylinder side valve
10hp petrol engine.
Mr Benson is currently pursuing information, obtained at the model boat
event, that a company in Bedford was still making these vessels in 1975.
He hopes to gain more information and possibly a source of spare parts
and/or engineering drawings of the vessel.
He has learned through his research that there is good evidence that such
craft were used for reed clearance in the Neath Canal and the Norfolk
Broads to great and effective benefit.
The Reed Boat will be on display on Bude Canal Day, 27 July, on the Barkhouse
Green. There is a chance that Mr Benson may take the boat on the canal
and that would be something to see.
Chris Jewell
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Bude
Canal Day 27th
July 2003
Following the successful first Canal Day on 20th July 2002, it has been
agreed to hold the event again this year on 27th July 2003, with the consent
and support of North Cornwall District Council.
There are two main changes this year:
1. The event is to be held on a Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. The purpose is
to accommodate the general preference for such a change and to have the
best tidal conditions for anticipated use of the sea lock.
2. The event will incorporate a celebration of the work and times of Goldsworthy
Gurney, Bude's forgotten genius. This is in agreement and partnership
with Bude Stratton Town Council, who wished to have a ‘Gurney Celebration’,
but not in October, to highlight the continuing efforts to achieve the
aims of ‘Project Limelight’.
The Society were pleased to be able to incorporate the Gurney Celebration
into their Canal Day. Goldsworthy Gurney built his castle beside the Bude
Canal when the canal was a mere 7 years old. Later, Gurney lived at Hornacott,
Boyton and was a riparian owner adjacent to the Launceston Branch of the
canal.
The Town Council will organise their event based in the Castle grounds
in conjunction with the other activities of Canal Day.
The event will be officially opened by Capt. G. A. Hogg. R.N, a Trustee
of the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall, at 2 p.m. in the Castle Grounds.
The following shows the activities taking place during the day:
Bude Canal
7 – 12 noon Bude Canal Angling Association – Club Competition
for the‘Falcon Cup’.
2 – 5pm Heats and final for the ‘B.C.H.S Shield’ for
canal polo.
4.30pm – 5pm Operation of Sea Lock to lock in local and visiting
vessels.
Subject to tide and weather conditions.
During the afternoon Minuet yachts will operate on the canal basin.
Barkhouse Green Lower
Wharf
2 – 6pm Stalls and displays by local groups and authorities. ‘Splatt
the Rat’, face painting, traditional music and dancing
5.30pm Prize presentation.
Castle Grounds
2 – 6pm Displays by steam enthusiasts, including replica of Trevithick's
engine.
Display of vintage vehicles by Bude Motor Club
The fair organ of Mr Mike Dean, Beaworthy, Bude Town Band and Bude Metric
Band will provide the contrasting musical interludes.
Parkhouse Centre Ivor
Potter Hall
2 – 6pm Gurney Display
On display over the
Weekend 26th/27th
Entries for the painting Competition for local Junior and Infant Schools,
organised by the society – including the winning entries for the
2 classes.
The Brendon Arms Adjacent
to the canal
2 – 6pm A promotion by Sharpes Brewery
The Acland Room Falcon
Hotel Adjacent to the canal
8pm A concert of traditional music, featuring Phil Williams and Sarah
Deere-Jones, supported by Bude RNLI’s very own ‘Friggin Riggin’
Admission at door - £2.50 U.16 Free
Phil and Sarah are professional musicians who now live at Whitstone. They
specialise on the harp and Northumbrian pipes, as well as other instruments.
They are not to be missed!
The Bude Canal and Harbour Society and Bude-Stratton Town Council hope
you will come and support the events and have an enjoyable afternoon.
If you would like more information about Canal Day or the Bude Canal,
please contact, Mr Chris Jewell 01288 352298. If you would like further
information about ‘Project Limelight’, please contact Mrs
C Kett, Town Clerk, Bude-Stratton Town Council 10288 353576.
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Virworthy
View
I think I told you
in the last issue that I had not seen any frogspawn. Well. shortly after
that I noticed large black patches at the bottom of the canal. On close
examination these turned out to be literally thousands of tadpoles. So
I do expect to see many frogs this year. The weather has been conducive
to good growth of everything from the grass upwards. We have managed to
keep the aqueduct section of the towpath cut but I’m afraid the
rest of the paths have not had the attention this year because of manpower
shortages due to illness – any volunteers?.
There seems to be more walkers this way than last year. A few days ago
I encountered a couple of artist painters sitting at one of the tables
in the wharf area merrily painting. I didn’t see them go and they
didn’t leave any pictures!
After letting out the five peafowl at seven thirty the other morning they
promptly disappeared. Some hours later we found them at Virworthy Mill
and made them walk home, the long way round. Turkey Hen is sitting again
perhaps she will raise some more peafowl. Without a Stag Turkey her eggs
are for the table only – eggcups are a problem though.
Our trip to The Royal Cornwall Show was not too successful – we
didn’t get a place with either of the two ponies. We did count that
there were 97 Shetland ponies and 47 of them were miniatures – a
lot of competition. We have put Maddy to a stallion now hoping for a foal
next year.
Has anyone got a suggestion for the treatment of a duck with vertigo?
Antibiotics haven’t helped, just given me a large vets bill!
I have recently repossessed the summerhouse from the geese and have had
to replace the rotten floor. The geese have a nice new house but the swallows
have now taken up residence in the summerhouse and I still haven’t
heard a cuckoo this year!
Geoff Lowe
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Peter
Herbert becomes a Shipowner
In 1835 the newly established shipyard of Robert Stapleton in the Bude
Canal basin launched the 'Lady Acland', a 53 ton smack, for local trade.
Over seventy years later she was hauled out of the canal again to be rebuilt
by his grandson, another Robert Stapleton.
Having hauled the ship out on to the canalside yard (a major undertaking
in itself) she was partially stripped of her planking and cut in half
(no chain saws then). Winches were set up and the forward section was
dragged away by thirteen feet. A new longer keel was installed, partially
English and partially American elm, new frames put into the gap and she
was replanked to emerge some months later as the 67 tons 'Agnes'. The
mainmast came from the Padstow ketch 'Wild Pigeon', wrecked under Summerlease
cliff, Bude in February1904 and the mizzen made from one of the yards
of the Austrian barque 'Capricorno' one of the more spectacular wrecks
on the Bude breakwater in December 1900. She carried cargoes of grain
and coal between South Wales and the Cornish coast, and flour from the
mills at Bristol to North Devon with Captain William Mitchell.
Peter Herbert had known her at the end of her ownership in Bude when he
was very young. and when Captain Mitchell died in 1954 he bought her for
£1000 from Mrs Mitchell. He plied around the Bristol Channel and
down to Cornwall hauling anything and everything; grain and animal feeds,
from Swansea and Bristol to Barnstaple and Appledore with return cargoes
of scrap from Hayle to South Wales. Peter's son, Richard,was christened
aboard her alongside Appledore Quay in November 1955. A few trips were
made to Lundy in 1956, a cargo of agricultural machinery being taken early
in that year and a family and their possessions taken from Swansea to
settle on the island. Loading was easy with dockyard cranes but the discharging
was not, requiring numerous trips in small boats.
Late in 1956 she was bought by a man, Alistair Barr, who intended to take
nine men and nine women to Australia. They eventually reached the Bahamas
with the intention of going through the Panama Canal to the Pacific but
the money ran out and the passengers were put ashore. Barr attempted to
make some money by cargo work around the Caribbean but without success
and finally the poor old 'Agnes' was wrecked off Barbados in a hurricane.
Peter returned to working on other people's vessels, one of which was
the Kathleen & May but returned to captaining his own boats in 1960.
Sadly Peter died on
26 June 2003 after a long illness bravely borne. He tried hard to encourage
the use of Bude Harbour by more ships. The above may stand as a tribute
to him.
Editor.
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Forthcoming Events:
Saturday 27 July Bude Canal Day/Gurney Day
" 16 August Bude Carnival Day
Sat/Sun 23/24 " RNLI Weekend
Sunday 28 Dec. Sherry & Mincepie Walk
_______________________________________________________
Copy for the next edition of The Tub Boat should be addressed to
The Editor, Tregea, Lower Upton, BUDE, EX23 0LS
to reach him by 17 September 2003
_______________________________________________________
Trustees:
Chairman (vacant)
Vice-Chairman Audrey Wheatley
Secretary Bryan Dudley Stamp
Treasurer Chris Jewell
Events Secretary Betty Moore
The Tub Boat Editor Lawrence Wheatley
Other members Jill White
Anne Longley
David Phillips
Membership Secretary
Mike Moore
The views expressed by the contributors to this newsletter are not necessarily
those of the Bude Canal & Harbour Society which does not accept responsibility
for them.
Published by BUDE CANAL & HARBOUR SOCIETY Enquiries to th Hon Secretary,
Tel 01288 352 808
Ebbingford Manor, Bude, Cornwall EX23 8LN
Contact
the Society
Registered Charity
Number 1086646 |
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