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I had forgotten what a very popular stretch of canal can be like on a summer Sunday afternoon until I cruised along the top of Calcutt locks to Napton Junction and then Braunston the other day. Any motorcyclist will tell you about defensive riding techniques - along there you need defensive steering techniques ! Rather a contrast to the morning when I left Titford after the Pumphouse Rally a couple of days earlier. Then we only met three boats all the way to Birmingham and two of them were tied together. A hundred yards before we came out of Smethwick Junction President and Kildare steamed along the Main Line and were momentararily framed under the iron junction bridge. A classic picture in the making. My camera was out of reach, hanging up inside the boat. The moment passed. The other time that happened to me was just before coming onto the Main Line off the Bradley Arm once when Caggy similarly cruised past the junction. Memo. Keep the camera in a more accessible position !
The Pumphouse Rally held at the end of June was a successful one, enjoyed by those who attended it. Please read Martin's Chairman Notes about the event; it would be good to see more people getting involved.
Humble apologies to some contributors. I have had to get a new computor and a couple of contributions are apparently locked irretrievably i the hard drive on my old one. I'm very sorry but if you would like to submit them again I'll put them in the next issue.
Litle did I think, in Spring 1997 when we printed the first in the series of Edward Paget-Tomlinson's "A - Z of the BCN" and Ray Shill's accompanying article, that I would still be hammering the BP keys twenty six editions later. We've reached "Z is for Zinc" and the end of the series. I am sure that all members will wish to pass on a great thanks to Edward and Ray for sharing their talents and erudition with us over the past six and a half years !
It is extremely sad that yet another significant historic canal side building seems likely to be lost, the former Fellows Morton and Clayton warehouse at Horseley Fields in Wolverhampton. And guess what it's going to be knocked down to make way for another housing development. What a shame it's not near a motorway so that it could at least be wrapped in advertisements like the Chance's Glassworks Building between the Main Lines at the top of Spon Lane locks.