A bit of Bank Holiday boating and some painting

Mike Partridge undercoating the
fore end bends (Photo: KD)

Back to Mason's Deep Red
but still some tidying up
to do

On the Saturday of the Bank Holiday Sculptor was taken down to the A508 and winded. The plan was to leave her facing north outside the museum.  On the way down (at Lock 15) we met a gentleman who had been born on the butty Angel and who lives in Deanshanger.  He would like to join the Sculptor crew so hopefully we will see him again before too long.  It was decided not to moor facing north but rather to visit the winding hole by the tunnel and do a bit of gardening - many thanks to Rob Westlake who clambered around the winding hole and cut back a huge amount of undergrowth - it's not finished yet but will be soon we hope.

Sculptor was taken down to the A508 again on the Monday (no crews available for the Sunday) and a very nice quiet trip it was.

The fore end bends have been glossed in white and now undercoated (kindly by Mike Partridge) in order we can put a top coat of Mason's Deep Red to finish things off.  Many thanks to Mike.

Volunteer hours 18 (total 804 to date)

Sculptor Day

Sculptor with the top planks up

We enjoyed a Sculptor day on Saturday 16-May.

We had the pleasure of the company of Iain and John from Ellesmere Port.  Iain talked about the proposed maintenance schedule for Sculptor in the latter part of 2016 when she will go to Ellesmere Port for ongoing maintenance specifically, but not exclusively, looking at the gunwales along the full length of the boat and the keelson.  John is a 'heritage' carpenter who will oversee the work on Sculptor when she is at Ellesmere.

In the afternoon the side cloths were rolled back and the top planks raised and some cargo removed.  Thanks to all who helped.

Volunteer hours 25 (total 786 to date)

More CAATS Assessments

There was more CAATS assessments carried out on Saturday 9-May with the remaining crews who put themselves forward for assessment enjoying a day going to the top of the Northampton Arm.  Everyone who has put themselves forward has now passed the assessment.

Volunteer hours 20 (total 761 to date)

Collecting timber, CAATs assessments and some VIP Passengers

Loading the timber for the
interpretation project

Rolling back the clock a little were were asked to collect the timber for the Stoke Bruerne Interpretation Project recently.  That involved going down to wind at the A508, reversing through Lock 18 and coming alongside in Lock 19 in order that the timber (11 pieces of 9x9x60 - inches - of Oak) could be loaded easily. We were amazed that we should arrive at Lock 19 and the same time as the lorry which had come up from Devizes - the timber remains in Sculptor as the best (and probably safest) place to keep it.

The Sculptor crew with Ben Gordon
and Vicky Martin at the Northern portal

On the same afternoon we had the pleasure of the company of Vicky Martin (the new South East Waterways manager) Ben Gordon (a new trustee for CRT) and Louise from the museum on a trip through the tunnel.

Heading off for CAATs assessment

The Friday heralded CAATs assessments for four of us with Mike Dalzell from CRT.  We undertook a couple of pirouettes at the winding hole and then it was off through the tunnel to the top of the Northampton Arm and up and down Lock 1 three times followed by a return to Stoke Bruerne - a long day.  We understand we passed.

Richard Parry and Rob Westlake
bringing Sculptor through
Blisworth

2-May was the celebration of 200 years since the Northampton Arm was opened which was celebrated by an event at Gayton Sanitary station.  A good do all round put on by the IWA with a number of senior CRT people present including Richard Parry on his return from Canalway Cavalcade in London.  There had been some issue with the trains (it is a Bank Holiday weekend) and Richard was keen to delay his return home so we had the pleasure of his company from Gayton to Stoke Bruerne on Sculptor.

Volunteer hours 38 (total 741 to date)

A little bit of lubrication and a bit of fender erection

Steve D came over today with some new seal for the stern gland.  It's been dripping away for quite some which has required pumping out about once, sometimes twice, a week.  We found one of the studs had a thread-bound nut.  That was released with a couple of large scanners and the fitting removed from its housing.  Everything was cleaned up and new seal inserted.  There doesn't seem to be any water leaving past the seal - we have run Sculptor in gear just  to prove things and we'll take another look below the floors again in the morning.  We know the way she is loaded at the moment that the bottom of the hole in the rudder should be level with the water so it is any easy check to see if the seal has remained in place.

I have always been told that the rear fenders should be erect rather than floppy!  They are now more erect that they have been for some time.

Volunteer hours 5 (total 708 to date)

Doris Osborne's Funeral

We were privileged, on 2nd April, to have a very precious cargo, in the form of Doris Osborne's coffin.  We carried Doris' coffin from the southern portal of Blisworth Tunnel to the former James' family home at 3 Canalside. Doris was a daughter of Jack James, a boatman and later in life the lock keeper at Stoke Bruerne.  Jack started the museum in Stoke Bruerne.

There is a link here to images taken on the day by Steve Dean:

There is a link here to images on the Northampton Chronicle website:

There is a link here to a report of the funeral on the Northampton Chronicle website:

An appreciation of Doris' life by her sons Tony and Philip follows:

Farewell to Doris Osborne (née James)
6.5.1928 – 15.3.2015

Doris Osborne who was born on 6th May 1928 arrived in the canalside village of Stoke Bruerne on board a narrow boat and at her family’s request on Thursday 2nd April 2015 arrangements were made for her depart in the same way.

Doris was the daughter of Jack and Emma James and was born in Reading on board narrow boat ‘Emma’. She was schooled at a convent in Oxford whilst her parents worked boats over a large area. During the Second World War at the age of just 13 she helped the family run the boats Badsey and Balham as her elder brothers had been called up for war service. They often ran from Park Royal in London to Birmingham carrying a variety of loads the most notable of which was Guinness.

Jack and Emma James had come to know Sister Mary Ward in the course of their regular journeys through Stoke Bruerne and following the hard winter of 1947 they decided to purchase one of the canalside cottages owned by Sister Mary. Now the resident of No.3 Canalside Cottages, Jack decided to apply for the vacant position of Lock Keeper for the seven locks that climb up to the centre of the village. He quickly expanded his official duties and began tidying up the area and regularly won a national competition for the best kept lock. He also collected waterways artefacts and this was to become the foundation of the acclaimed museum in Stoke Bruerne.

In 1954 Doris married Reginald Osborne a jeweller and pawnbroker based in Regents Square, Northampton. They had three children, Anthony, Philip and Wendy. Doris lived a long and happy life and was involved in many voluntary roles and an active church goer, latterly at St. Peter’s in the village of Weston Favell. Doris was extremely proud of her heritage on the waterways and her family connection with Stoke Bruerne.

It was to honour and respect her past that she was carried from the southern portal of Blisworth tunnel aboard the narrow boat Sculptor the short distance to the front door of cottage No 3 above top lock. Sculptor was operated by volunteers, David Blagrove MBE, Kathryn Dodington and Rob Westlake with Doris’ sons Anthony and Philip on board. The towpath was lined by members of the family as well as boaters who were moored in the area, all paying their respects to a lady with such strong connections to the waterway network and village of Stoke Bruerne.

Volunteer hours 6 (total 703 to date)

Blogging again

It’s been a long time since I updated the blog for Sculptor. I am not going to offer any excuses.

We’ve had a few outings but nothing far afield:

• We undertook some training exercises when Sculptor was fully loaded in order that everyone could experience handling a loaded boat.  That was either through the tunnel to Gayton Junction or down to the A508
• We took part in the Stoke Bruerne ‘Carols on the cut’ event when Sculptor was illuminated.  We’ve been down to the A508.
• We’ve went through to Gayton Junction again in late January to practice in advance of CAATs assessments for operating Sculptor only to be thwarted on the Friday because of snow in Northamptonshire

The ill-fitting cloths

The cloths which were ordered for Sculptor in early October and should have been delivered in the same month finally turned up in mid-January for us to find that they didn’t fit at all so will, by 17-February, have been formally rejected. What a shame.  Sculptor has stood up well to the winter, which mercifully has been quite dry. The Friends of The Canal Museum have kindly agreed to a budget of £500 for new shutts – we don’t expect to have to use all of that money.

Bill Mann has refurbished the throttle quadrant (fitted by Bill and Richard) and the back cabin tidied up by Phil and Kathryn; all the doors and cupboards left slightly open in order they can breathe.

Engine hours since the last blog 50

Volunteer hours since the last blog 150 (total 697 to date)