A year of Victor

NEVER done it before, but with such a contentious year, I am going to give you my headlines from each of the past twelve months, to see how they relate to the present:

January

I WAS delighted to see that our masters had at last acknowledged our snap poll that so censured British Waterways hierarchy.

So much in fact that British Waterways made a vain attempt to nullify it by the pronouncement that 'British Waterways are confident that the result of the poll, while reflecting the opinions of narrowboatworld, is not representative of ministers, trustees or waterways stakeholders as a whole'.

Oh no! It certainly did not reflect the opinions of narrowboatworld. It reflected the opinions of 3,825 people—having no connection with narrowboatworld whatsoever. And the question was purposely not weighted in any way, and was in fact during the time Chairman Hales had written to every boater outlining his own opinions, so any influence that we had would surely have been negated.

[The poll asked: 'Should Evans, Hales & Co remain in Office when BW becomes Canal & River Trust?' Only 83 agreed that they should remain in office with 3,742 stating they should go.]

February

Ridiculous statistics seem to be the order of the day—especially in the boating community.

The latest, and totally unbelievable statistic is from the recently opened Droitwich Marina on the Droitwich Canal that will have us believe that this marina—wait for it—will bring £2.75 millions to the local economy each year!

That means every single one of the boaters in the marina, and it will have to be packed full, will have to spend £11,554 each every year! Of course for the first year it will be pushed to be half full, which means every single boater will then have to spend £23,108 each!

It must refer to boaters, as I can't see much visitor spend. Stupid isn't it?

March

The latest gimmick from our masters is a web based Boat Owners Survey, in the form of 47 sections no less, from British Waterways Head of Boating Business Sally Ash.

Its purpose we are told is for British Waterways to learn about our experiences boating on its waterways, what we liked and what boaters think it needs to improve for the coming year.

Well, dear Sally, it certainly doesn't need 47 sections of a survey to tell you that, as though you don't know already. It wants money spent on maintenance and less thrown away on stupid 'investments'.

[Haven't heard a single thing about it since.]

April

Anybody besides myself out there remember the balmy days of British Waterways Chief Executive Dr. David Fletcher? He was a narrowboat owner for 20 years, who was keen on eliminating British Waterway maintenance backlog by 2012, and set easy targets for it to be achieved.

But then came in the big spenders—but alas not on maintenance—and as they say, all is now history...

Do you know, I can find no mention of Dr. Fletcher, (pictured) or even his Chairman George Greener anywhere in any British Waterways publications.

It would seem the present incumbents would prefer that that illustrious pair were forgotten. I wonder why?

May

I have often been in trouble putting the blame where it lies with people coming to grief in the waterways, and my objecting to the resulting knee-jerk reactions.

My sympathy here lies with British Waterways paying out half a million quid to the girl who had her legs smashed in the incident with the swing bridge on the Ashton Canal.

I too was appalled at the poor girl having to have her lower legs amputated, but what on earth could British Waterway have done to prevent it happening—or happening again? There were teenagers who had released the bridge and were swinging it whilst the girl was sat on the bank with her legs over the side. And the inevitable happened.

What does British Waterways now do? Fence them off completely? What about the single handed boater?

I've told this before, and will undoubtedly tell it again—people have to take responsibility for their own safety...

June

Help!—I am now totally confused about exactly how many people there will be running CaRT when it eventually comes into being. There is a committee and seemingly an ever increasing number of trustees and of course the British Waterways contingency.

Anybody out there know the actual figure so far? It's getting so big and cumbersome that one thing is for sure—bugger all will ever get done.

Another thing that is for sure, is that many boaters are very annoyed that though they make up the shortfall from the government of many millions of pounds they have no independent representation whatsoever.

If that isn't criminal I don't know what is. And please don't tell me about the four that the Inland Waterways Association hijacked either—no way are they independent. Little wonder British Waterways didn't (or wouldn't) include a preventative measure...

July

So without the pomp and circumstance of £23,720 worth of bunting and flags CaRT was launched.

To very much an invited audience, comprised solely of followers and the gullible who would accept that everything in the garden is lovely, and perhaps it is for all those cyclists, anglers, nature lovers, etc, whose interests comprised of such a large part of the proceedings.

We were certainly not invited, and it seems no one else was who had had the temerity to tell it like it is, and used narrowboatworld, seemingly the only publication that dare do so. But Del Brenner, though holding two waterway related positions, also obviously was not invited, but whose patch they had invaded, so most certainly wasn't going to be left out-so was able to tell, and did so very well too.

August

The ever increasing cost of boating is obviously leading to more and more taking up a continuous cruising licence to avoid the massive cost of mooring, but many, as the furore over those being moved from around the Olympics show, have no intention of cruising.

It was many years ago that I coined the now accepted phrase of 'continuous moorers', and they are prevalent at many areas, such as the Kennet & Avon and South Oxford, many having local jobs and/or children at school, clearly proclaiming their intention of not moving as they should.

So whilst the Canal & River Trust is to be applauded for its crack-down on licence dodgers it must surely contain the ever increasing number of continuous moorers that are making life so difficult for bonâ fide boaters by taking up the best moorings, and often annoying those who actually pay for such moorings.

Kevin McNiff sums it up rather well—British Waterways did precious little to deal with it and I wonder why any of us with on-line moorings don't rise up and refuse to pay for them until CaRT gets a bloody grip!

September

Did you see the first official notice about the two breaches on the Trent & Mersey? The word breach was not mentioned, it was 'overflow'!

The trend now of course is to play down anything that reflects adversely on the waterways, and we couldn't have anything as nasty as a breach - until YouTube gave the game away, showing just what a mess it all was, followed by our picture.

But still an excuse was required so 'Our canals weren't built to cope with extreme rainfall', was peddled! Yes! Canal & River Trust is blaming James Brindley!

Come off it, lads. Haven't you seen the old pictures of the canals during heavy rainfall? It's not a new manifestation—there have always been exceptional heavy rainfalls, so don't abuse those worthies who built our canals by your own inadequacies of no longer being able to look after them properly.

October

'Silencing the opposition' I thought a good title for the latest faux pas by the Canal & River Trust, threatening the lady editor of a website who dared to complain.

There is plenty of case law in the public domain about the 'Derbyshire principle', whereby an authority cannot sue for defamation or libel.

CaRT's statement 'to be calculated to disparage Canal & River Trust and its directors and are therefore defamatory' and the subsequent demand for withdrawal, apology and money from the editor of the Kennet & Avon Canal website has no justification, and to me is nothing more than an attempt to stop criticism.

The authority is unable to bring any action for such defamation, though any of its directors can, but that particular director has to sue on his or her own and prove defamation.

It's a no brainer, but rather indicative of the new charity and its compulsion for the ridiculous. Perhaps it should settle down and donate more of its energies to the waterways...

November

I certainly agree with David Hymers that such as Twitter or Facebook are not suitable channels for contacting Canal & River Trust to report problems that are not particularly urgent.

David's suggestion of a well publicised email address that is attended by a real person would solve the problems associated with contact by telephone.

There are too many egotists out there who cannot resist Twitter as a medium for twisting any subject to show off their limited intelligence. As to Facebook, I can see it does have its uses, but again is hijacked by too many who believe we are interested in their most uninteresting lives.

December

So there your have it—a year of my headlines, that could evoke some memories. A year when British Waterways metamorphosed into Canal & River Trust, and as far as I—and seemingly many others—can see, for the worse, helped by the hijacking of the four only places for boaters (out of approaching 100) by the Inland Waterways Association and its often suspect endeavours.

Most chuffed that my invention, some considerable time back now, of 'continuous moorers' has become officially recognised, not only by CaRT but by IWA too—does quite a bit for the ego!

So finally, hope you all have a good holiday and a healthy New Year.

Victor Swift