Society Activities and Events
Section 1: Information & Education
by Peter Keen, Hon. Secretary
1: Presentations and Talks
Again the Society has been fortunate to obtain the services of some top class speakers over the year, thanks to the contacts and hard work of its committee.
Our first visitor was Harry Arnold who began his talk on North West Canals by saying that he didn't give talks then went on to give a fascinating glimpse of his childhood and the manner in which he became interested in waterways. Although his family had contacts with various canals it was not until he had finished his National Service and he took his first holiday afloat that the boating bug bit. He made his long experience of the canals available to the meeting via his unique collection of photographs showing every imaginable aspect of life on and along the water, from the canals, the boats and the boaters to the architecture and engineering so essential to keep the waterways operative. He served up not only an interesting and entertaining programme but also a valuable historical record of the canal world. A long time supporter of SCARS, Harry has made much of his work available for publication in Canal Cuttings for which the Society is most grateful.
Les Brown is well known to some SCARS members as a member of the Runcorn Locks Restoration Society. He came to speak about the Bridgewater Canal and the intended restoration of the surviving but filled in flight of locks at Runcorn. The Manchester end of the canal is familiar to many with its underground coal workings, swing bridges across the Manchester Ship Canal at Barton, Castlefields Basin, and connections to other canals. The western end of the canal was a later development, taking full advantage of its lock free course to Runcorn. Here cargoes needed to descend from canal level to the Weaver and Mersey below for transhipment to coastal sailing craft so the lock flight was built. Demand was so great that a second flight was built to cope with the massive tonnages of materials on the move. The later decline in canal traffic resulted in the demolition of one flight and the filling in of the other. It is this latter which the Society hopes to restore to working order following the building of the new road bridge across the Mersey. Les concluded his talk with an informal look at his working life on the MSC. As a diver he got into places the ordinary worker would never even see including ship salvaging, recovering explosives and exploring rat infested culverts.
Having postponed his original talk through ill health, Keith Naylor was rescheduled to talk about the Vulcan Locomotive Works. He went through the history of the factory, from its foundation in 1830 by Charles Tayleur through its glory days of steam loco production to electric and diesel locos and eventual closure. Keith had a personal interest in the Works since his Grandfather had spent much of his working life there. Photographs were displayed of locomotives of all shapes, sizes and gauges, for countries all over the world. In the early days of railway travel Britain was the only source of locos, rolling stock and permanent way equipment for the fledgling railway systems abroad, but even later, when they were able to supply some of their own needs, the Vulcan Works continued to produce and export its top quality products world wide. Exporting locos caused its own problems when ships' loading equipment was inadequate for the purpose and locos had to be stripped down into lighter manageable sections. Later years would see lines of locos waiting on the quayside at Manchester or Liverpool Docks for lifting aboard freighters. Vulcan was adaptable too, producing tanks, shells and gun mountings for the war effort, and austerity locos immediately after WW2 when materials were in short supply. Many Vulcan locos are still at work around the world, a tribute to the men and materials of Earlestown.
One of the earliest restoration groups was the Inland Waterways Preservation Society (IWPS) which began in 1968 with its main objective of restoring Bugsworth Basin at Whaley Bridge in the Peak District. Ian Edgar and Don Baines came along to tell us about the site, its early history and recent progress. The complex of wharves, tramways, warehouses and loading tipplers formed one of the busiest inland ports in England at the height of the limestone extraction industry. Limestone was obtained from Dove Holes Quarry, some distance away, brought by tram-road down to the port where it was either burned into quicklime or transhipped as stone into barges for transport along the Peak Forest Canal to Manchester and all points between. Huge amounts of material passed through Bugsworth at its busiest but, as elsewhere, the railway took over the role of the canal and it fell into decay. IWPS has spent 38 years working on the site restoring wharves, rebuilding bridges and creating an excellent destination for boaters. During that period they have had to contend with vandalism, unhelpful authorities, the construction of an adjacent bypass which caused a massive landslip and most of all repeated leakages of canal water. On the plus side they have built up working relationships with all manner of waterway groups, obtained much help "in kind" from friendly contractors, obtained building materials from a co-operative railway company (which was demolishing stations), and, by developing a method of splitting the site into small manageable sections for restoration, saw the first load of limestone for many years carried off to Manchester in 2005. Work continues on site to develop its tourism aspects for non canal visitors.
Many films have sequels and, following an earlier appearance, Chris Coffey paid a return visit with his archive films to illustrate the Heritage of the North West. Much of his material is rare, so his clips from the region were an eye opener to many. Beginning in Wigan with its "pier" he made mention of the Wigan History Shop, a modern source of archive material. He moved on to Widnes where he demonstrated the town's development from a small farming community into a mass of polluting industry. A highpoint of this section was colour footage of the old transporter bridge. The airbase at Burtonwood was featured next with its big bands and film stars, but we then saw aircraft being destroyed following the end of the European War, despite the fact that the Pacific War was still going on. Chris then covered Fidlers Ferry Inn with its links to the English Civil War, a look at the development of Warrington, some unpleasant history at Bewsey Old Hall involving murder and a quick visit to the newly opened Transport Museum in St. Helens. For the railway buffs he included a footplate ride through the site of the Rainhill Trials, probably little changed since those far off days in the 1800s. Best of all Chris offered to bring more film to future meetings.
In complete contrast to the IWPS we had a newcomer next on our programme, the Hollinwood Canal Society which came into being only a few years ago. The Hollinwood Branch of the Ashton Canal is little known outside its area, but it served the same purpose as other canals, linking coal pits with their markets, in this case in and around Manchester, Martin Clark described his Society's objectives, not total restoration since it would not be very sensible to rebuild a flight of four locks which only led to a short terminus branch in Hollinwood, but certainly the rest of the waterway, and with a touch of commendable ambition, to build a short new link westwards to the Rochdale Canal. He then took us along his canal which, although of only six miles in length, was situated in a hilly area which demanded the construction of locks, tunnels, aqueducts and a pumping station. Although locks and aqueducts survive they have suffered with the passage of time and are in need of attention. In tandem with coal mining comes subsidence and the Hollinwood has examples of this. An early tunnel was so badly distorted that it was converted into a cutting, a blessing to the present day Society.
Not quite so convenient is the sinking of bridges, some of which are intact but too low to allow navigation, so will have to be rebuilt. Whilst most of the canal's course survives there are some problems. A set of bungalows built along the canal will have to be bought and demolished since there is no alternative route available. The greatest obstacle intrudes twice, where a local motorway cuts off a loop of the canal, calling for expensive remedial work with either new aqueducts or perhaps a drop lock or four with a couple of tunnels. Plenty for Martin and his colleagues to get their teeth into.
2: Conferences and Events.
The Society continues to maintain its links with other waterway groups. SCARS representatives regularly attend the Leeds Liverpool Canal Users Group to maintain the Society's profile. They also regularly attend meetings of the Northern Canals Association, and in March of 2006 acted as hosts to the Association's meeting.  This took place at Fidlers Ferry Boat Club which kindly extended its hospitality. It was an excellent venue and the Club's efforts were much appreciated by all who attended. Afterwards we showed delegates some of the Sankey (left). There is regular contact with the IWA at both local and national level. Some SCARS members also have IWA membership and we have official IWA representatives on our Executive. Our Talks season is arranged with the IWA's Merseyside Branch. Contact is being developed with Angling groups in Newton and Warrington since many of their objectives regarding the future of the Sankey Canal reflect those of SCARS.
Committee members continue to publicise the Society by giving talks to local groups. New contacts can be made, and often new information is forthcoming, or an item of archive material is made available during these visits. This year has seen talks given in Widnes, St. Helens, Whiston, Hale, Stoke-on-Trent, Ashton-in-Makerfield, and Liverpool.
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