August 2008 – New Horizons news
New Horizons is having a great season, despite a shaky start and a few problems.
Easter was early this year and the weather was poor. By April the weather had improved and most Sundays have seen plenty of visitors and it's good to see familiar faces. Now that word is getting round about our trip boat, Greg is receiving frequent calls from people who are interested in arranging special boat trips for parties.
Now that no boats are able to come onto the canal because Cottingwith Lock is out of action, weed is an even bigger problem and we have had problems with trees falling across the canal this year.
Despite these problems, New Horizons has already seen more use this year than any year since we started running trips in 2004, and it's only August.
May 2008 – Pocklington Canal on Countryfile
John Craven has chosen the Pocklington Canal as BEST FOR WILDLIFE in his Best British Canals.
Country file website
Article in THE PRESS
Winter floods
Although the floods in June were unexpected, the River Derwent and lower end of the Pocklington Canal frequently flood during the winter months. Here are some interesting pictures of the canal in flood, taken by PCAS member Owen Morgan. I've converted them to a QuickTime movie to save work. You will need QuickTime Player or another media player, and broadband, to view the sequence of pictures.
NEWS ARCHIVE
November 2007 – Thornton Lock
Good progress is being made with the refurbishment of Thornton Lock by British Waterways. The main task has been re-planking of the gates, which were leaking badly. Hopefully this will allow us to take New Horizons, the PCAS trip boat, through the lock in 2008.
Lock gates for Cottingwith Lock are being made at British Waterways' workshops at Stanley Ferry, though when they will be installed (the more expensive part of the job) is still uncertain. For the time being, Pocklington Canal will remain as the canal with only five boats (plus the odd canoe)!
August 2007 – Cottingwith and Thornton Locks
Apologies for not providing an update on the canal closure. PCAS has not been provided with any definite information about replacement of the gates at Cottingwith Lock. It's not just a case of purchasing gates since there are access problems. The only definite information was that PCAS had offered £10,000 towards the new gates and we would like to reinstate traditional wheel-operated paddlegear on the bottom gates, similar to that installed at other restored locks. The most recent information from British Waterways is that gates are to be ordered soon and it is planned to install them in the new financial year.
Thornton Lock was restored under a Manpower Services Commission training scheme in the late 80s and new gates were installed in 1990. Looking back at an old copy of Double Nine, PCAS donated £5000, which was most of the cost! It has never been possible to use the lock because of the amount of silt in a short stretch of canal below the feeder between Thornton Lock and Church Bridge. BW hope to remove these gates for re-planking 'soon', though there are access problems here too. When the gates have been reinstated it should be possible to take our trip boat through the lock because the shallow section was dredged recently.
June/July 2007 – Flooding
The heavy rain that caused havoc in Hull and Doncaster also affected Pocklington Canal. It is common for the Cottingwith end of the canal to disappear under water when the Derwent floods, but the heavy rainfall resulted in a high water level at Melbourne. It was necessary to cancel or postpone boat trips for safety reasons.
Some trees collapsed, some died as a result of the floods and land has been damaged as a result of being under water for an extended period.
April 2007 – Replacement of gates at Cottingwith Lock
British Waterways plan to replace the gates at Cottingwith Lock in August or September. PCAS will make a contribution to the cost of the work, which may cost up to £70,000. The existing gates were installed in 1987. Stop planks will be installed in early May and their installation was delayed to allow passage of boats. Some boats have temporarily moved from the Melbourne Arm to avoid being trapped on the canal until the lock is reopened.
April 2007 – New Horizons ready for another successful season
British Waterways assisted passage of New Horizons to make a return journey to Goole for overdue winter maintenance. She was taken out of the water to allow cleaning and painting of the hull, which is necessary every two years. Painting and other maintenance was carried out at the same time and New Horizons returned to Pocklington Canal in time for the first boat trips – on Good Friday.
Please contact Greg Dixon, our Bookings Manager, if you are interested in arranging a boat trip for a group of up to 12. Boat trips and bookings
March 2007 – Dredging completed below Thornton Lock
A short length of heavily silted canal has been dredged, thanks to a generous grant of £5000 to PCAS from IWA (The Inland Waterways Association). The work was carried out by British Waterways' contractors and was necessary because of the accumulated silt brought in by the canal feeder between Thornton Lock and Church Bridge.
British Waterways had planned to do some repairs on Thornton Lock, which was restored in 1990 but has remained unused since because of the need for dredging. The failure of the lock gates at Cottingwith Lock means that the work will be postponed until next year.
March 2007 – Canal to be closed because of failure of gate at Cottingwith Lock
On 12 March, British Waterways closed Cottingwith Lock because the top of the heel post of the offside bottom gate had rotted away. The planking on the top gates is also leaking and BW intend to put in stop planks to ensure that the level of water above the lock is maintained. BW will assist passage of boats through the lock until the stop planks have been installed. PCAS is in discussion with BW to discuss funding and installation of new gates. More information
February 2007 – Social event at Wheldrake
PCAS held a social event at Wheldrake Village Hall on Friday 23 February. The presentation about the Pocklington Canal and the Canal Society included a viewing of old cine film of canal restoration, dating from the late 60s and early 70s. Not a hard hat or Risk Assessment in sight – just locals working hard and enjoying themselves.
It is always difficult to predict how many will come to events, so we were delighted that the hall was well filled, with over 40 guests plus a good turnout of Society members. We now have some new members, all from Wheldrake and we thank everyone who joined us for the evening. Special thanks to Carol Booth, of Wheldrake, who organised the event.
July 2006 – Pocklington Canal among BW's top ten wildlife sites
The Pocklington Canal has been named by British Waterways as one of the top ten places to spot wildlife. A guide to the ten sites is available from BW offices. Read more...
(Unfortunately the 'top ten' page has been moved or deleted on the BW Waterscape website. Hopefully it will reappear.)
July 2006 – Boat trips on New Horizons
Neal Topham's team from the Rural Development Service in Leeds spent a day on New Horizons. A good day was had by all and Andrea has apologised for her poor steering.
In October, RDS will become part of Natural England, as will English Nature.
Here is the RDS team, back at Melbourne Arm.
Members of the Yorkshire branch of The British Dragonfly Society met with British Waterways and visited the Pocklington Canal. It was a bright sunny day and the trip boat provided a close up view of plenty of species including the red-eyed damselfly, for which the canal is an important local habitat.
New Horizons is having a remarkably successful season, with pleny of local interest in scheduled Sunday boat trips. Most of our recent new members have joined after a boat trip.
Charity Shop and fundraising events
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have been accumulating donated items faster than we could sell them. Not any more! Monica Isle came to the rescue by running a very successful Charity Shop in Pocklington, for a whole week in July. Since then, we have had two special sales at Canal Head and a Charity Stall in Pocklington, on market day. All this effort has paid off and has raised a lot of money for PCAS. We are grateful for everyone's help, including Barkers Dairy for providing a venue for the Charity Shop. Thanks also to everyone who donated things for us to sell.
This photo shows Carol Booth with her assistants Rosie, Jim & Duck at the Charity Shop.
May/June 2006 – Wild Things Around The Ings
English Nature held a month of events in and around the Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve. PCAS was invited to join in and our contribution started with a pleasant evening Canal Walk from Canal Head to Sandhill Lock. Then next event on the Canal was Sunday boat trips, when we had to tell around 35 people all wanted to come on board at the same time. By running short trips, no-one had to wait too long. The final PCAS event was a display on the history of the Pocklington Canal in the English Nature marquee at North Duffield Carrs. Wild Things Around The Ings will be the last major local event before English Nature becomes part of Natural England.