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Latest News
16th August 2007
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50th Anniversary of the Coventry Canal
Society. Click the image for information. |
24th April 2007
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Doesn’t she look different? 52 year old David King from Hertfordshire
has now been charged by the police and further details will now only
emerge during/after the matter is heard in court. Although the boat
looks quite good in the photographs, the boatyard say that closer up
that is not the case. With the fleet being one boat down, there were of
course difficulties with coping with hirers who were expecting to take
Holly on their holidays. The good news is that nobody lost their holiday
through shifting bookings around, but the company were not able to
fulfil new enquiries for a number of their boats so therefore lost
money. Added to which is the restoration of Holly back to Middlewich
fleet standard, both inside and out.
Thanks to anyone who spent time looking for the boat. |
21st April 2007
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Nb Holly has been found (in the process of being painted black). She was located at Pigeon Lock, Kirtlington on the Oxford Canal (between Banbury
& Oxford). Her identity has been confirmed by staff from Middlewich Boats and at last update were waiting for the Police to arrive to
continue the investigation further. When found, a male was seen to be repainting her black. It cannot be confirmed at this time who the male
is, and it would not be appropriate comment further, pending the outcome of the Police investigation.
Trish and the team at Middlewich Narrowboats would like to thank everyone for their help. They have been very grateful for all of the
phone calls from people, and the messages of support. A happy outcome all around! |
17th April 2007
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Re: 3rd April - Nb Holly. Statement from Middlewich Narrowboats. “I can confirm that the boat has been spotted on the Hatton
Flight on 29 March. A gentleman has sent us a picture which our Manager and engineers have confirmed is Holly, now painted blue, the cratch covers and
cratch boards have been removed and so the boat does look totally different. The gent. on the boat said that he was heading to Oxford doing up the boat and
selling it”
It is now clear that the boat has been stolen. The helmsman on the boat at Hatton has been identified as the missing man, a Mr King.
Therefore his story about going to Oxford should be regarded with some circumspection.
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3rd April 2007
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Nb Holly, a 47ft hire boat from Middlewich Narrowboats was collected by a single male hirer on 9th March 2007 and due to return to base on the
23rd March. The boat did not return and there is now very serious concern for the welfare of the hirer. There has been 1 unconfirmed
sighting of the boat heading from Wolverhampton locks towards Birmingham (20th March) and nothing has been seen of the boat or hirer since.
This does not appear to be a normal theft of a narrowboat as the hirer has left a car at the boat yard, paid by a credit card registered to his
home address, and it appears that no-one has been inside his home address since the 9th of March.
I would be very grateful if all members could keep an eye out for this boat. If you see / have seen it please contact Middlewich Narrowboats on
01606 832460 or contact Cheshire Police on 01606 480000 quoting incident 421 24/03/2007. |
1st February 2007
Rugby Observer.
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Newspaper story from The Rugby Observer
Newspaper. |
23rd January 2007
Stoppage: North of Bridge 1, Drapers Fields Bridge.
A recent engineering inspection has highlighted a leak
occurring 100m north of the Coventry Basin. Consequently an emergency stoppage
has been scheduled to take place from 8am on Monday 22 January 2007 until 8am on
Monday 5 March 2007 to enable our engineering team to carry out the necessary
remedial works. The towpath will be closed during the duration of these works;
however a diversion will be clearly signposted. British Waterways apologise for
any inconvenience caused. A section of the canal located north of Bridge 1 will
be dewatered for the duration of these works. Winding hole at Bridge 3, Prince
William Henry Bridge. (Enquiries: 01827 252000)
Whilst the basin is closed the last winding hole is at
Courtaulds near bridge 3 and there is no other available winding hole after
that.
26th November 2006
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Twenty boats including seven working boats
crammed into the turning basin and Hawkesbury Junction in Coventry
earlier today. They were protesting about the cuts to British
Waterways Grant-in Aid (GIA) via the Department of Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). It was one of twenty six events taking
place nationally over the weekend of 25th/26th November. The boaters
were joined by hundreds of local people also sympathetic to the
cause. The protesters fear that the cuts will have an adverse effect
on the safety, maintenance and ultimately the integrity of the
fragile 200 year old plus inland waterway system of England and
Wales, much of which has been restored and cleaned up by volunteer
labour. Indeed the very first canal restoration by volunteers was
here in Coventry. More newspaper clips can be
found under online articles and newspaper articles. |
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Rugby Observer - 30th November
2006 |
2nd November 2006
Come and join the protest at Hawkesbury! As you may know
The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (DEFRA) who are
charged with providing British Waterways and the Environment Agency with their
annual grants have three times this year announced cuts in funding those grants.
The reason for this is that they failed to make the
required payments to farmers on time. As a consequence they have been “fined” by
Brussels so various recipients are having drastic cuts in funding. The cuts in
BW’s case are so large that the very fabric of the 200 year old waterway system
is at risk. We believe this to be unfair. So we are inviting those interested in
the waterways of England and Wales to join one of the protests being held around
the country over the weekend of 25th/26th November 2006.
Our local protest is at Hawkesbury Junction. The protest is
planned to start around noon with a photocall between 12.30 and 1.00pm. It is
anticipated that some of the boats will be leaving around 2.00pm in order to get
back to their home moorings before dark.
We are expecting boats from our home club and others on the
Oxford, Coventry and Ashby Canals to take part.
Watch this space for further news.
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