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The East Anglian Waterways Association The EAWA campaigns for the preservation, restoration and good management of all inland and tidal waterways in East Anglia. North Walsham & Dilham canal : TheCanoeMan | Canoeing on the Norfolk Broads reports on Facebook that During the week we spent a day paddling in the sun on Dilham Canal. We had a TV crew with us filming "Four in a Bed" for Channel 4. Mr Darcy was the star! (Mr Darcy is his dog...) Fens: Ambitious Waterways Plan Announced Posted on THE NORFOLK BROADS.NET March 1, 2012. Full plans of the Fens Waterways Link have been announced giving details of what is being described as “the biggest waterway enhancement scheme in Europe” and the most important inland-navigation building project in two centuries. The project aims to open up 240km of waterways, build 80 km of new waterways and give increased access to a further 160km of waterways.It also promises to link the cathedral cities of Lincoln, Peterborough and Ely for the first time as well as providing links to the market towns of Huntingdon, Boston, Spalding, Crowland, Chatteris, St Ives and Ramsey. Link to Fens Waterways === www.fenswaterways.com From: DENISE TROUGHTON. Subject: Date for the diary - 28th October 2011. We are planning an Appleyard and Lincoln skipper get together ( the first ever) on 28 October 2011 in Ely and hope to have a Appleyard and Lincoln boat get together in May 2012 - final details to be confirmed. As you know the ex workers of Appleyard and Lincoln started having a reunion a few years ago at the Ely Beet Club and we hope to amalgamate the current skippers and crew with the people that actually designed and built the boats....more to follow. I will email all our A-L contacts and had a meeting in Ely a couple of weeks ago with another AL chap. Len Reynolds and Hugh Easton came along too so the "network" is getting bigger! “Appleyard’s Boathouse, built in 1877 at Ely in Cambridgeshire, was taken over in 1946 by Harry Lincoln and became Appleyard Lincoln & Co (Boatbuilders) Ltd. During the next sixteen years they built over a thousand wooden constructed boats of which Orchard Delight was the last. Harry, whose name was associated with innovation and quality, was a pioneer of Glass Reinforced Plastic to which they switched in 1962. They went on to build over a thousand GRP boats before he retired.” A design of theirs, the Elysian, would – after a slow start - prove to be very popular: it is easy to find these boats described and offered on the internet. The Broads are a key area together with the main rivers of East Anglia -The Great Ouse, Nene, Welland and the Witham. And less known rivers are covered-from the Chelmer in the south, the Blythe in the east, the Ancholme in the north to the Ivel in the west together with the extensive Middle Level Navigations in the middle. The EAWA is a believer in "Waterways for All" - promoting access to our navigations for the community-whether walkers, nature lovers, anglers, canoeists, boaters or gongoozlers. We work and support many local societies, trusts and other user bodies in the area. The EAWA publishes a regular newsletter The Easterling- bringing together information on the waterways of our area. It also arranges work parties, offers advice and funding to local organizations.   The Past: Amongst out notable successes, where we have worked hand-in-hand with other organizations, are: the reopening of the Great River Ouse to Bedford; the reopening of Well Creek; the dredging of the Old West River in the mid 1960's; the restoration of Welches Dam Lock; the purchase, restoration and declaration of a public right of navigation for Dilham Dyke on the Broads; lock lengthening on the Middle Level navigations. and recently, donations to help the Sleaford Navigation Trust purchase part of their navigation and to the Peterborough IWA to help raise the Ramsey Hollow Bridge on the Forty Foot River   The Present: Holding monthly work parties on the North Walsham and Dilham Canal, in co-operation with the owners and the Canal Trust, to help to prevent further deterioration of the navigation. For details of the next work party please call David Revill, (or checking on Work Party on this site.) Working with partners, encouraging the first phase of the Fens Link from Boston through the South Forty Foot Drain. Working with the Sleaford Trust towards reopening the Upper part of the Navigation within the town Representatives on the Nene Waterway Task Group, Great Ouse Boating Association. Giving advice to help the setting up of a River Gipping Trust. Working with the Broads Authority and other bodies with an interest in the Broads. Arranging the AGM to coincide with a trip or other activity on a local waterway.   The Future: We are working towards: The Consolidation of the new North Walsham and Dilham Canal Trust. The reopening of the Little Ouse from Brandon to Thetford. The Fens Link joining the Cathedral Cities of Lincoln, Peterborough and Ely The Milton Keynes and Bedford Canal The Nar Link-linking King's Lynn to the Inland Waterways Network. As well as numerous smaller projects around the waterways of East Anglia-opening access to all.

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Tony Hales, C.B.E. Chairman British Waterways 64 Clarendon Road Watford Hertfordshire WD17 1DA Tel: 01923 201346 Fax: 01923 201455 Enquiries:   Website - britishwaterways.co.uk 14 October 2010. Dear waterway supporter GOVERNMENT GIVES THE GO AHEAD FOR A `NATIONAL TRUST' FOR THE WATERWAYS The Government has today made an important announcement about the future of the inland waterways in England and Wales, in probably the biggest shake up of our canals and rivers since nationalisation in 1948. The plan, to move the waterways out of state control and into a new independent national charity, builds on the proposals I launched at the House of Commons in May last year and on Robert Aikman's vision for a `National Waterways Conservancy' half a century ago. When we called this proposal `2020', we thought it would take a while to achieve. The fact that the Government now wishes to adopt it as policy, replacing British Waterways with the new charity by April 2012, is a tremendous achievement and I have congratulated the waterways minister, Richard Benyon MP, on his imaginative and positive response. The waterways have been utterly transformed for the better in the time since British Waterways was established in 1962 and they are used and enjoyed by more people, in a wider variety of ways, than ever before. This transformation owes its success to the contribution of countless staff, volunteers and enthusiasts. Moving the waterways into a charitable body recognises the need to build on that enthusiasm and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their history. The Board and directors of British Waterways believe that this is absolutely the right next step for the nation's magnificent waterways. The move will attract new funding for waterways maintenance, safeguard investment and give everyone who uses and enjoys the waterways a greater role in how they are cared for. I don't underestimate the challenges ahead in making it happen, but history has shown that the waterway movement, when it pulls together, can achieve great things. There is still a lot of work to do to: develop the new governance model; agree a long-term funding contract with government and; put in place transitional arrangements. Defra will examine the inclusion of the Environment Agency's navigations, as part of a coherent plan for the waterways it funds in England and Wales, and the Scottish Government will decide whether Scotland's waterways will be in the new body. British Waterways will continue to work with government officials and waterway stakeholders to ensure good continuity, a smooth transition and a successful launch for the new body. The question for us all now is not whether we should form a new waterways charity, but how we can do it. Open dialogue and involvement will be vital to making this happen and I know that Defra intend to consult with waterway stakeholders as they develop the content of the Public Bodies Bill, through which the new charity will be set up. I cannot overstate what an enormous opportunity this is for the waterways, and for all those who feel passionately about their future. We must all make sure our views are heard and I look forward to many interesting and constructive debates during the next six months. With this in mind, please pass this letter on to any colleagues, friends or members who you think will be interested and feel free to reproduce it in your own publications or websites. Yours faithfully TONY HALES, C.B.E. Chairman

Aylsham Navigation The community project plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the closure of the Aylsham Navigation. The waterway closed in August 1912 after heavy floods washed out the 5 locks between the current head of navigation on the River Bure (part of the Broads) at Coltishall and the town of Aylsham. The waterway had been in existence since 1779. The waterway served the communities of Coltishall, Horstead, Hautbois, Buxton, Oxnead, Brampton, Burgh and Aylsham itself. Along its banks were a number of staithes (local term for dock or landing stage) and Mills. The locks at Coltishall, Buxton, Oxnead, Burgh and Aylsham were mostly designed to get around pre-existing Mill streams. The Project: eastinvolve.net/aylsham-navigation/ The EAWA Page: upper-bure.html

The Complete Anglian Waterways Navigation Guide Suite Has Arrived! Paul Separovic, the Anglian Waterways Development Recreation Officer - Central Area (River Great Ouse) has recently announced that the completed Navigation Guides Suite is now finished and is available in hard paper format and electronic versions. The complete suite consists of the following publications: 'enjoying safer boating, Staying Safe on Anglian Waterways, Safety Guide' 'boating the right way, Recreational Byelaws, Anglian Waterways' 'The River Ancholme, a guide for river users' 'The Rivers Welland and Glen, a guide for river users' 'The River Nene, a guide for river users' 'The River Great Ouse, a guide for river users' 'The River Stour , a guide for users of the navigation' Fens Waterways - There is a brochure request option on this page, otherwise please write to; Waterways Team, Environment Agency, Kingfisher House, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, PE2 5ZR. Although available online - and useful for browsing or for a screen shot - the best print can only be obtained by sending for an original. Ivan Cane

Our Lodes - e-Petition reply 17 July 2008 We received a petition asking: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that the Cambridgeshire Lodes don't get ditched!" Details of Petition: "Some 30 years ago, a successful campaign was waged to save The Cambridgeshire Lodes, ancient canals of probable Roman origin - principally Bottisham, Swaffham Bulbeck, Reach, Burwell and Wicken Lodes - which were threatened by the then authorities. A decision was made to maintain and to preserve The Lodes. Such is the situation today: The Lodes have been maintained and preserved. But new documents indicate that The Environment Agency has commissioned a 'scoping report' costing some £200,000 and that it is looking critically at The Lodes, an option again being that of converting all or some of them into ditches. The old campaign slogan - 'Don't Ditch Our Lodes!' - is just as relevant now as it was in the 1970s. A new factor is The National Trust's plans to buy up and partially to flood some 10,000 acres of rich fen land and the Trust says that 'lowering' some of The Lodes would be 'acceptable.' Lowering is much the same as ditching. The Swaffham Internal Drainage Board and Swaffham Prior Parish Council support The Lodes being maintained. But the Philistines could be triumphant if their opponents are inactive. So, this is a call to those with influence to use it!" Read the petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ourlodes Petitions home page http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ Read the Government's response There is a long history of slips and leakage through the embankments that contain the Lodes. From time to time it has been necessary to make repairs to the embankments to prevent massive failure, which would result in flooding of the surrounding land. Continued shrinkage and wastage of the fen peat could cause a worsening of this problem, particularly on Reach Lode as this is the highest and least stable of the Lodes embankments. Maintenance and rebuilding works could be needed indefinitely. At the end of 2007, the Environment Agency published the Ely Ouse Lodes Strategic Environmental Assessment - Consultation Document. The Environment Agency's aim is to formulate an appropriate and sustainable approach to the future maintenance and operation of the Lodes on the basis of current land use, whilst taking into consideration potential land use changes over the next 100 years. The consultation document gave everyone the chance to comment on the options for maintenance of the Lodes. The option preferred by the Environment Agency and most of those who responded to the consultation, is to maintain the Lodes at their present level and undertake repairs as and when required. The final Ely Ouse Lodes Flood Risk Management Strategy Report was published in April 2008, along with a Strategic Environmental Assessment. The report concluded that the preferred option is to continue maintaining the Lodes at the current level by carrying out repairs as and when required, unless a change in landuse causes a raised groundwater level. An increase in groundwater level may, depending on the degree of increase and height of the Lode, cause the risk of failure of the Lode banks to become unmanageable. In which case a further flood risk management option would be adopted, whereby the embankments would be strengthened to reduce the risk of having to carry out future repairs.

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        19 February ,2010