The work party on the Soho Loop was a major success – much rubbish and scrap metal retrieved from the canal bed. Some of it needed serious effort to get it off the canal bed – Mike Powell’s “Anson” provided a good test of the breaking strain of synthetic line hauling a shopping trolley buried deep in the mud. (The …
Latest plans for the Selly Oak Sainsbury’s endanger restoration of the Lapal link
Plans have been submitted and approved for the redevelopment of the Battery Site, at Selly Oak, where the Dudley No 2 canal joined the Worcester and Birmingham. If the Lapal Link is ever to come to fruition, this site is critical. For many complicated reasons, these plans are being modified. More details are on the Lapal Canal Trust website, the Bournville Village website …
The start of the BCN Society
The BCNS came about not from a ‘Big Bang’ theory but more like a creeping inevitability. It all began with the Government publishing a White Paper on the canals in 1967. Barbara Castle was Minister of Transport and we all expected Labour to champion the waterways cause. Most people were happy with the White Paper. BCNites were not. At a …
Kings Norton Cleanup – November 2011
Congratulations to the team taking this out of the canal in November 2011 How on earth did anyone get these railings into the canal?
Graham Whorton
It was with great sorrow that we learned of the passing of our previous Chairman, Graham Whorton on 26thJanuary 2012 A long standing member of the BCN Society, Graham offered his services as Chairman at the end of 2007. He immediately oversaw the celebrations for the 40thanniversary of the Society and the 1858 Dudley Canal improvements. In 2009, Graham …
Pelsall Festival 2011
Gary Perry, Mayor of Walsall opened the Canal Festival organised by the Society at Pelsall Common on 11th & 12th June 2011. After more than 10 years absence the Pelsall Canal festival was a great success. Around 160 boats, including over a dozen heritage craft, lined the Wyrley and Essington Canal and the Cannock Extension. There were over 60 stalls, …
The Pump at Titford
The Sulzer Pump, initially installed at Titford Pumphouse in 1965 to replace a Tangye horizontal oil engine, has been restored by Jeff Barley and is now re-installed at the pumphouse with support from Smethwick Industrial Services Ltd. (News item originally from 11 Jul 2011)