Chairman presents certificates to Heritage Boatyard Trainees
L-R Connor Parker, Heritage Boatyard Trainee, Andrew Holme, Heritage Boatyard Trainee, Tony Hales, Chairman British Waterways and Anthony Sayle, Heritage Boatyard Trainee at the National Waterways Museum
Tony Hales, Chairman of British Waterways, visited the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port (formerly the Boat Museum) to present trainee completion certificates to three young trainees at the museum’s Heritage Boatyard – Anthony Sayle, Andrew Holme and Connor Parker.
The trainees have spent six months working at the boatyard, developing skills such as metalwork and woodwork to help improve their employment prospects for the future.
John Inch, Museum Manager, said: “We have been really pleased with Anthony, Andrew and Connor. Over the past six months, they have worked hard to learn new skills and help to restore and conserve boats from the historic collection at the museum.
“The practical skills which they have developed are complemented by a range of skills that are less noticeable but equally as valuable to employers such as time keeping, working as part of a team and communication, making Anthony, Andrew and Connor ideal job candidates for a range of industries.
“We were delighted that Tony Hales was able to visit the museum to present the course completion certificates. Tony has been a strong supporter of the Heritage Boatyard and all that we are trying to achieve, especially working with young people to help them to develop the skills needed in this sector.”
Anthony Sayle, 19, started as a Heritage Boatyard Trainee after volunteering to work in the boatyard through the Waterways Action Squad. “I work with Dave, the Boatyard Supervisor, and John, the Boatyard Officer, learning woodworking and metalworking skills with other trainees. We get put to put these into practice on boats currently in the yard such as Mendip. I’ve learnt masses of woodworking and metalworking skills that I have found really interesting and hopefully will be useful in future jobs. The Future Job Fund which is funding my job will end soon but I am still going to stay on as volunteer with the Waterways Action Squad to see the work finished on Mendip.”
The Heritage Boatyard Trainees are funded through the Future Jobs Fund. back to list
£110k to help waterways museum pass on heritage skills
The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port (formerly the Boat Museum), in partnership with National Historic Ships, has received £110k from Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘Skills for the Future’ programme to help expand its successful Heritage Boatyard operation.
The funding means the museum will be able to employ more trainees, vastly increasing its ability to conserve its collection of historic canal boats.
Through the training programme, the trainees will develop skills in traditional boat building whilst helping to conserve boats listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels (NRHV), a number of which are based at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port.
John Inch, Museum Manager, said: “It is absolutely fantastic to get this funding. It is vital to our ambition of creating a sustainable working boatyard at the Museum. As well as maintaining and restoring our historic boats, it will help us to keep these important heritage skills alive by allowing us to train more people.”
The Heritage Boatyard has been developed in partnership between The Waterways Trust, the Boat Museum Society, National Historic Ships and West Cheshire College. It is thanks to this partnership approach that, in addition to working at the Heritage Boatyard, the new trainees will be able to broaden their skills and extend their experience of historic vessels and workplace environments by gaining short-term experience at a range of other sites including:
Windermere Steamboat Museum – working on a unique collection of leisure vessels listed on the NRHV
Harker’s Yard Pioneer Skills Centre, Essex – helping maintain the sailing smack Pioneer as well as restoring other historic vessels and building new craft
Project Boleh, Portsmouth – working on the conservation of Boleh, a junk yacht listed on the NRHV
Brinklow Boat Services – gaining experience of working with both metal and wood at this well-established boatyard.
John continued: “There is a serious shortfall of heritage boat building skills, especially in the inland waterways sector. By the end of their placements, the trainees will have undertaken extensive work on the collection of historic canal boats at the National Waterways Museum and will be highly competent in practical boat building skills and will be able to work on any project within the maritime and inland waterways heritage sector.
“The expansion of our working boatyard further broadens the appeal and relevance of the National Waterways Museum to today’s audiences. It is fantastic that visitors are able to see restoration work in action with young and old working together.”
Hannah Cunliffe, Policy & Project Manager for National Historic Ships, said: ‘The decline in skills and facilities to maintain the UK’s National Historic Fleet has been of growing concern to National Historic Ships and I am delighted that HLF has supported our joint application with the National Waterways Museum. This project will focus on the transfer of knowledge in heritage techniques and will develop associated accreditation to ensure that future generations have the necessary expertise to conserve our maritime heritage at the level its significance deserves’.
The vacancies will be advertised through The Waterways Trust towards the end of 2010 and will be aimed at young people aged 18-25 but are likely to also appeal to people looking for a change of career. back to list
A popular event in May evoked the heyday of horses on the canals. A crowd of spectators watched the preserved horseboat Gifford setting off from the Museum being pulled along the canal by Bonny the boathorse. They also appreciated the special boathorse harness as described to them by Sue Day of the Horseboating Society.
Meanwhile Jezebel – a beautiful shire horse – brought cargo to the docks on a traditional flat waggon with its wooden wheels and iron tyres. There once was a sizeable population at the docks with all the boatpeople, porters and their families, so a baker’s van would have been a regular visitor. On this occasion Ray Wardle’s preserved horsedrawn bread van arrived with a selection of loaves (kindly donated by the local Morrison’s store!).
The Parkgate Pony Sanctuary provided entertainment for children and families including pony rides, pony feeding, and play-acting and music to tell the real-life story of Apache the pony who was found abandoned at Ellesmere Port and then rescued and brought back to health by the Sanctuary.
The serious side of the event was to remind everyone of the importance of horse power in every aspect of life on the canals before the days of powered boats and motor lorries. The activities taking place in every part of the Museum site ensured that everyone had a very enjoyable time. back to list
EASTER GATHERING 2010
Pictures of the gathering were taken from the point of view of a regular attender and from that of a first time visitor to the Museum - click on the picture caption links to see them.
Temperatures in single figures, torrential
rain, gale force winds, and snow in the
days immediately preceding the weekend
couldn’t deter over 50 boats from making
their way to the Gathering.
The following
is an account from one of the boaters. “Easter at The Port….
Boating to The Port for Easter 2010 was
memorable chiefly for the weather. The
canal was fine – plenty of water and
everything working in its usual worn-old shoe
way – but the weather was like the
bad special effects of an old film. Holy
week? Hmmm. So we were well
prepared for the usual maelstrom as we
emerged from the motorway bridge on
Good Friday and ‘Saturn’ set off in full sail
to investigate the new houses. However
the boats behaved themselves as soon as
people stopped looking, and in no time ‘Saturn’ was on the wharf and ‘Buckden’ joined the others in the Top Basin.
This year the gathering of historic boats
had a regional rather than a national
flavour, as the Historic Narrow Boat
Owners Club comes to The Port every
other Easter, and this was an ‘away’ year,
with them gathering at Coventry. The
extra space did mean that visitors could
see individual boats, rather than the usual
Easter forest of chimneys, and a particular
delight for eyes and lenses was Clayton’s ‘Spey’ breasted up with ‘Gifford‘ – a
seriously authentic pairing of tar boats!
Meanwhile the rest of the place had really
come alive, and stayed that way for the
weekend. The rattle of paddle gear as a
succession of boats locked through, the
incredulous “Ooo”s of the visitors to tiny
back cabins, the refrain of “We had one of
those” in Porters’ Row, the hubbub of
shared skills and excitement in the crafts
stalls upstairs, whilst the syncopated throb
of ‘Worcester’s' engine laid down the bass
line, it was all music to our ears. It was
great to hear the regular boating visitors
say that they could see how the museum
had ‘turned the corner’ and was on the
way back up – more music to our ears…..”
Like all success it doesn’t happen by
accident: the weeks of planning by the
sub-committee; the site gang’s efforts
getting the everywhere cleaned and
painted; publicising the event, ordering the
extra equipment (and not forgetting
finishing the Elsan point); and doing the
other 1001 things that can so easily be
forgotten, plus everyone’s efforts over the
weekend all added up to make the event a
success. back to list
Appeal launched to help protect Britain’s waterway birds
The Waterways Trust has launched an appeal backed by wildlife presenters Miranda Krestovnikoff and Mike Dilger to help provide homes for some of the nation’s most threatened species of waterway birds.
The banks, reed fringes, grassy towpaths, trees and hedgerows along canals and rivers offer a rich array of places for birds to nest, feed, shelter and gain protection from predators. Many hundreds of bird species such as kingfishers, grey wagtails, tufted ducks, terns, sedge warblers and barn owls depend on these inland waterways for their survival.
Wildlife experts are already comparing this winter to that of 1962-63, when the big freeze began on Boxing Day and did not being to thaw until the first week of March. During that period, it is estimated that half of the birds of Britain died. The cold weather was particularly harsh on kingfishers.
Joanne Darlington, Development Director, said: “The kingfisher rarely lives longer than one breeding season and is vulnerable to cold weather. Also, with only around seventy-five breeding pairs each year, the bittern is under threat in the UK and has a red conservation status meaning it needs urgent help.
“Through our Waterway Birds appeal, we want to raise money to create vital habitats for threatened birds by installing bird boxes at key waterside locations, installing and repairing floating reedbeds and planting and maintaining hedgerows as well as undertaking other essential tasks to improve feeding and nesting sites along our canals and rivers.”
The appeal is backed by Miranda Krestovnikoff, TV presenter and wildlife film maker and Mike Dilger, Wildlife Presenter on BBC’s The One Show.
Miranda explains: “I really enjoyvisiting our lovely canals and rivers and seeing all the wonderful wildlife that thrives there. Our waterways provide excellent habitats for a wide range of birds, including some protected species. But it’s important to keep adding new wildlife homes, particularly for the more sensitive birds like kingfishers, grey wagtails, barn owls, tufted ducks and terns. By donating to The Waterways Trust’s Wildlife Appeal, people will support vital habitat improvements to help ensure the survival of threatened bird species.”
Mike continues: "There's only one thing that beats messing about on the water, and that's walking and stalking along the river bank with binocs in hand whilst tracking down the cobalt streaking bullet that is the kingfisher! In my adopted home of the southwest I feel spoilt for rivers in the form of the Avon and the Frome, and regardless of the time of year there is always something for the wildlife enthusiast to get to grips with in this most mercurial, wonderful and fragile of habitats.
“I have forgotten how many times I have filmed on the River Test in Hampshire or filmed native crayfish in Cumbrian becks, one thing I never forget however is that we must not take these precious habitats for granted. Our rivers and canals are now cleaner than they have been for over a generation, but there is still no room for complacency!"
The Kingfisher Project in The Waterways Archive, Ellesmere Port
Volunteers working in the Archives
The archive service was suspended for 2 months earlier this year to enable staff and volunteers to focus on the Kingfisher Project. The help and support of Linda Barley and the volunteer team was crucial in the project’s success.
The benefits of this project:
It has given us a clear way forward with the future care, management and accessibility of the archives.
We have familiarised ourselves with the different documentation systems used in the management of the collections – this will enable us to bring all documentation into line with professional standards.
Physical access to the collections will be much improved.
It will enable us to make collections more widely available via online resources and outreach activities.
We now have a 5-year action plan to continue the work of the project.
5-Year Action Plan, April 2009 – March 2014
Now that the review of the archive is now complete, it is providing the basis for future collections management and will contribute to the museum’s strategic objectives. The aim from this point is to upgrade collection quality, improve preservation, further improve access to collections, integrate the archive into museum activities, upgrade the visitor experience, exploit secondary resources and tap into further funding resources.
Future Activity
Below are a few of the activities planned for the near future, or already underway. If you would like to see it, the full action plan is available in the archive.
Revision of the acquisition and disposals policy.
Deaccessioning of low grade and reference material.
Creating authority files to improve collections knowledge.
Conducting 4 workshops per year and other outreach activities.
Training for staff and volunteers in housekeeping, environmental monitoring, archive cataloguing and ICT.
The large amount of secondary material that has emerged is being arranged in the library, which is now such a large resource in its own right that the museum has decided to create a library in the room next to the actual archive, which will be run by volunteers. This will provide the friendly face to the resources available and will free up further space for the remaining archive material. The opening hours of the library will extend beyond those of the archive, making many of the resources more accessible, whilst enabling the archive team to deal with enquiries and open up the archives to more people.
An application is planned for funding for a cataloguing project to include all remaining archive material in May through the National Archives’ National Cataloguing Programme. If successful, the project will begin in May/June 2010 for 12 – 18 months and will enable us to complete the catalogues of most of the remaining archive collections, including the image collections, which will then be made available on the Virtual Waterways website.
There are also plans to complete the National Preservation Office’s Preservation Assessment Survey to inform all our preservation work.
Volunteer work
New and established members of the volunteer team have already become involved with these new activities. Plans for the establishment of a library in what is now ‘The Hidden World’ exhibition area are well advanced and once this is set up, we will need plenty of volunteers to help staff it during the week and particularly at weekends.
Lots to do! If you would like to be involved in the work of the archive
Why not leave a legacy to help the future work of
The Boat Museum Society
The Boat Museum Society is a charity (number 501593) and welcomes donations which may be made by Gift Aid provided the donor pays sufficient income tax to cover the gross amount of the money given.
The Boat Museum Society welcomes legacies to help fund its work in furtherance of its objects. As the legacies are given to a charity they are exempt from Inheritance Tax.
As circumstances change over the years it may not be possible to fulfil specific donor requests such as the preservation of a particular boat so anyone wishing to leave a gift to the Society in his/her will should use the words
"I give the sum of £... to The Boat Museum Society for the general purposes of the Society."
When the will takes effect the Trustees of the Society will discuss with executors the most appropriate use of the gift in the light of current needs and projects and the donor's known areas of interest in the work of the Society.
