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| Volume 7, Number 1 - Spring 2009 | |
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From the Editor, Dave SmallshawThe AGM passed off well at The Friends Meeting House in St Helens, to whom we are most grateful for allowing their delightful and historic rooms to be host to a meeting of both 'highs' and 'lows'. Firstly let's look at 'the lows'. Andy Screen, who has ably led the team for the last twelve months, has had to relinquish the role due to mounting work pressures caused by the economic situation we are all facing to some degree. Andy has put much into this last year but felt he was unable to fulfil the role of chair due to heavy constraints on his time. He has, however, agreed to remain on the executive, for which we are very pleased, as his input is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Andy, for all your efforts and we hope you will be as active as you can for our cause in the future months. The other 'low' is that everyone else involved in the team has a full workload and, as such, no one currently feels that they too have the time to combine their roles with the job of the chair. We appealed at the AGM for any further voluntary input but a sudden bust of inactive silence overtook the room and not a hand stirred. So the message goes out from here to those who didn't or couldn't attend - you do or don't have to get involved with committee work but we really need help in some of the smaller tasks that are taking up our hard pressed team's time. Things like arranging the social programme, dealing with the membership records, watching the local press or council notices for things that affect the waterway or by just being a local contact or 'lengthsman' for your stretch of the canal. Other help in research, wildlife monitoring or whatever you wish would be a great help to us and make us feel that we are not wasting our own time on a dying organisation. Please give it a thought and contact anyone of the team. Now to the 'highs'. The Society was honoured and very pleased to welcome the mayor of St Helens, Councillor John Beirne, to the meeting. His views were supportive and his positive contribution was greatly appreciated, and we have promised to act upon some of his suggestions. The presentation by Paul Wright, the Landscape Services Manager of Halton Borough Council, was extremely upbeat and we really feel things are finally stirring in the lower reaches of the waterway with the eager anticipation of more navigation possible in the foreseeable future. We have interesting plans to involve the Society with more strands of activity in the whole of the Sankey Valley and Mersey estuary but, to do it effectively we will really need that little bit of extra help, so what can YOU do? Thanks to those who have responded to our request for fresh contributors to this magazine. Your contributions are greatly valued… as is our magazine, as the letter printed below testifies. Best Wishes, Dear Dave, Another very interesting edition of the magazine. In particular, we were very interested in the piece about the WCICo on page 20. I think it would be appropriate to re-print it in the Boat Museum Society newsletter, RePort, perhaps with a few additions to bring it up to date. The buildings and the shed over the dock have recently been demolished - not sure what is planned for the site, but will find out. Census returns I have looked at for E Port show a lot of people who originated in Wolverhampton. Indeed a major employer. I know of ex-boatpeople who came off the boats in the 1940s & 1950s and obtained work at Burnells. Who is the author? If it is not yourself, please could you put me in touch. The pictures of the Bridges in Warrington were good!! All best wishes, Cath Turpin, MEMBERSHIP MATTERSWelcome to two new members: Walter Hart, Warrington
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