THOMAS BANTOCK & COMPANY, WOLVERHAMPTON.

Thomas Bantock was born in 1823 in the little village of Golspie near Inverness, the son of Benjamin Bantock, a gamekeeper. Though a prize-winning schoolboy, he left school at 16 and was taken into the employ of the Trustees of the Duke of Bridgewater, who had large interests in collieries and canals. He started work undertaking various duties in the collieries, canal and transport departments, a position which he held until 1849.  Bantock moved to Wolverhampton in 1849 and married a local woman called Mary Dickinson in 1852 and by 1867 he had moved into Bantock House, then known as Merridale House, with his wife and ten children (seven daughters and three sons).  He was sent to Wolverhampton as an agent of the Trustees in 1849, at the age of 26. Here he soon saw that the transport of goods in the future would be by railway and that the canal traffic was bound to decline. By 1858 he had a valuable contract in his own right with the Great Western Railway. By 1861 he was the Trustees' district agent, though he also worked for the Great Western Railway.

He then set up in business in 1858 as Thomas Bantock & Company, with offices within the Great Western Railway’s Wolverhampton low level station and in his own right he became an ironmaster, mined coal at Ettingshall Lodge Colliery, Springvale in Bilston and built boats and wagons at Ettingshall dock, Millfields, Ettingshall. It was as head of Thomas Bantock & Co. that he escorted Queen Victoria on her visit to the town in 1866.  He had strong Christian principles which led him into politics as a Liberal and he was elected in 1861 to represent St Mary's Ward, which was one of the poorest areas of the Town.  In 1869 he became Wolverhampton’s Mayor, and spent the next thirty-three years as a member of the Council before retiring in 1893.  At the time of his mayoral election, in 1869, Thomas Bantock was working for the Great Western Railway Company in the transport department, as well as having his commercial interests in the local coal and iron trade, having his own Company offices at Herbert Street, at the rear of Albion wharf and also at Ettingshall Lodge Colliery, Bilston.

He died on 20th July 1895 and was remembered as "invariably found honourable, straightforward and honest in all his transactions".

Thomas Bantock’s main boat building business was carried out at Ettingshall Dock, Millfields and was located on the off side of the BCN main line between Ettingshall road bridge and Jibbett Lane bridge.  The dock was 224' deep and 47' wide leading due south off the canal and ending right at the roadside. This was 160 yards west of the Jibbett Lane bridge.  This is clearly shown on maps right up until 1938. The 1919 map shows that immediately on the other side of Millfields Road was the Bilston Flour Mill and next to that (to the east) Holy Trinity Church. The vicarage was on the north side of the road and to the west of the dock, by the canal. Beyond that to the west was the Highfields Boiler Works and then the Britannia Boiler Works.

Thomas Bantock & Co built mainly for themselves, a fleet which was shared with the GWR and having a fleet number system which encompassed both concerns, the last fleet number being 99 for a boat built in 1910.  They did build a few boats for private buyers and they certainly built some fully fitted long distance horse boats, but the majority of the boats they built were not ‘buttys’, as they are wrongly advertised nowadays, but were horse drawn day boats used on short haul work around the BCN, however they were built to unusually fine lines for day boats.  By 3^rd July 1895 they had built a total of 116 boats

The original Bantock boats were built to a unique design, of composite construction and having a wooden lower strake of oak and an elm bottom, hence the dog leg knees evident in some boats.

The next generation of boats had iron sides and bottoms and were not so fine lined having omega iron guards instead of proper guard irons.  The last boats they built had a few very subtle differences to the bow and stern.

 Manny of the Bantock boats still exist in the form of shortened, motorised and converted pleasure boats, unfortunately due to the large number of boats just being known by numbers, many of them have been given names by their owners and their original identities have been lost.  I have listed a few below, just as examples of these unique craft.

No 15

Built by Thomas Bantock for the Great Western Railway Company in about 1900.  One of the cCompany later designed boats, being of all iron construction and having Omega iron guards. This boat is on permanent exhibition at the Black Country Living Museum in Tipton.

EUSTACE

Built for short haul traffics from the  railway transhipment depot’s around the BCN. In the 1950s a cabin was added by Alfred Matty & Sons of Deepfields, Coseley and was used as a spoon dredger for canal clearance work.

MAFEKING

Originally an open day boat built for the Great Western Railway. She was converted to an un-powered hotel boat in 1958 with a new wooden. She was taken over by a private owner for residential use in 1962. Her stern was replaced and she was converted to diesel power in Coventry in 1976. Her wooden topsides were over plated with steel and major renovations were carried out in 2006.

ORIANNE

Of iron construction, with a steel bottom, believed to have been built in 1884 by Thomas Bantock of Wolverhampton. She was originally a horse drawn boat but now has a Petter PJ4 diesel engine.  Probably used as a 'railway boat' by the Great Western Railway on the Birmingham Canal Navigations system. Around the turn of the century ORIANNE was sold to the T & S Elements fleet and renamed EILEEN

In 1972 she had ceased commercial carrying and was discovered in a poor state at Fradley Junction. She was then purchased by Tony Higgins and shortly afterwards taken to Ken Keays boatyard in Walsall where a new steel bottom was fitted.

CENTAUR

Built circa 1890 by Thomas Bantocks either for themselves or the Great Western Railway. She worked on the Birmingham Canal Navigations.She is an unpowered narrow boat and is one of the few surviving examples of an unusual composite narrow boat construction, whereby the main upper sections of the hull sides, in wrought iron, are fastened to a timber strake; the timber strake then being fastened to bottom boards in the manner usual with timber constructed narrowboats.

PAMELA

An early Bantock boat originally having a wooden bottom plank. In the 1960’s was converted and used as a horse drawn hotel boat.

ELECTRA

Worked for the Great Western Railway Co. based at Withymoor Basin, where there was a major transhipment centre. The name was given by Dudley Canal Trust.. The bulk of the traffic at Withymoor was that connected with Noah Hingley’s Iron works, although goods from Dolton’s Rowley Pottery and the Hartshill Iron Co. were also handled. Withymoor basin closed in July 1965 and GWR boatages ended in 1969. 

Well once again there you are, a potted Blossom history and as always,
Don't bang 'em about
Blossom

Braithwaite & Kirk

Just thought it might be of interest to some readers if I were to record some of the information that I have gathered about some of the lesser known boat builders.  Especially as this one was based on my local patch, so to speak.

History in Brief.

Date	Event
1848	Riley, Fleet & Newey set up Engineering Company at Crown Works, Swan Village.
1861,	producing wrought-iron steam engines, boilers, gas-holders, purifiers, tanks, bridge and other girders, iron roofings, Thames and canal boats, evaporating and sugar pans, water-barrels, barrows, and miners' tools.
1884	Company changed name to Braithwaite & Kirk
1912	FMC commissioned Braithwaite and Kirk of West Bromwich to build 24 iron composite butties
1913	Braithwaite & Co Structural Ltd was established as the  Indian subsidiary.
1978-80	Braithwaite & Co Engineers Ltd moved all operations to South Wales
Present	Now part of the Rowecord Group of Companys.

Braithwaite & Co Engineers Ltd is now part of the Rowecord Group, and has a diverse portfolio which includes the design and supply of the largest GRP and Steel water storage tanks in the world. It’s heritage can be traced back to the company Braithwaite & Kirk, engineers and contractors of Crown Bridge Works, West Bromwich, which was established in 1884. At some point in the early twentieth century, the name Braithwaite & Co Engineers Ltd was adopted. The Company was engaged exclusively for a number of years on the manufacture of steel Bridges, the majority of which was for export.

Very early beginnings

Joseph Newey, who became a member of the construction engineers, was born on 15 December 1846 in Poplar, London, the fourth child of eleven children born to George and Sarah Newey. His father was a boiler maker employed by the shipbuilders Ditchburn & Mare of Deptford, London. Later as CJ Mare & Co, George Newey was employed as one of five foremen on the construction of the Britannia bridge, where he met up with Thomas Fleet and together

with James Riley, formed the firm of Riley, Fleet & Newey in 1848, as subcontractors to the Britannia bridge fabrication.

 In 1861, aged fourteen years, Joseph Newey was articled to his father's firm, the Crown Works of Fleet & Newey of Henry Street, Swan Village, West Bromwich. There he learnt all aspects of working with iron, and with time he was involved in the design, working drawings, manufacturing supervision and erection on site of lattice girder iron bridges, in England and abroad. Projects such as railway bridges over the Itchen river, Southampton in 1866, along the railway line from Port Louis to Mahbourg in Mauritius for Thomas Brassey in 1864, along the railway line from San José to Puerto Limón in Costa Rico for Minor Cooper Keith in 1871, along the railway line from Santos to Sao Paulo in Brazil for Robert Sharpe & Son in 1867, and other bridges in New Zealand, Jamaica and India.

By 1861, Fleet & Newey, were producing a wide range of engineering facilities at their Crown Works near Swan Village including wrought-iron, steam engines, boilers, gas-holders, purifiers, tanks, bridge and other girders, iron roofing’s, Thames and canal boats, evaporating and sugar pans, water-barrels, barrows, and miners' tools. They also advertised themselves as general smiths.

A Company name change in 1884 and Fleet & Newey became Braithwaite & Kirk, engineers and contractors of Crown Bridge Works, West Bromwich.

The extensive Crown Bridge Works of Braithwaite & Kirk Ltd. Was located on the Balls Hill branch canal Just off Henry Street and south of Ryder Street the site originating in the mid-19th century when Riley,

Map of Swan Village 1890, Braithwaite & Kirk were situated on the outside of that sharp turn by the words Swan Village. 

Fleet & Newey started their structural engineering  business there.  The works was serviced by two basins provided for the delivery of raw materials as well as the despatch of finished goods.

In 1912, FMC commissioned Braithwaite and Kirk of West Bromwich to build 24 iron composite butties, at £190 each. They are recognised by having much finer fore-ends than the Saltley butties, with very little tumblehome on the top bends. Many of these boats had fore-cabins, and the majority were named after towns. The batch commenced with GRANGE in May 1912, and was completed in April 1914 with YARMOUTH. Particularly well regarded by boaters, as they will bow haul into a lock at almost any angle without stopping.

The 24 Braithwaite Horse Boats

FMC Fleet No	Name	Build Year
261	GRANGE	1912
262	GRANTHAM	1912
263	GRAVESEND	1912
264	GREET	1912
265	GOOLE	1912
266	GOSPORT	1912
267	HAMPTON	1912
268	HEREFORD	1912
269	ILFORD	1912
270	ILKESTON	1912
271	JAMES	1912
272	JOHN	1912
273	KIDSGROVE	1912
274	KILDARE	1912
275	KILSBY	1912
276	KINETON	1912
277	KINGSBURY	1912
278	KINGSTOWN	1912
279	RUGBY	1912
280	RHINE	1912
281	ROMFORD	1913
282	URMSTON	1913
283	UPWOOD	1914
284	YARMOUTH	1914

GRANGE

GOSPORT

HAMPTON

HEREFORD

ILFORD

ILKESTON

KILDARE

KINGSBURY

KINGSTOWN

YARMOUTH

Braithwaite’s Spreads it’s wings.

Braithwaite & Co Structural Ltd was established in 1913 as the Indian Subsidiary of Braithwaite & Co Engineers Limited (U.K.), for undertaking fabrication of Structural Steel Works. The Company was incorporated in Bengal as Braithwaite & Co (India) Ltd on February 28, 1930. The Clive works in Calcutta commenced manufacture of wagons for Indian Railways from 1934. In the year 1960, Braithwaite's Angus Works located at Bhadreswar, Hooghly District was setup for manufacture of Cranes, Foundry products, Machinery components etc. The Project Division at Calcutta was established in 1978 to execute turnkey projects for material handling plants. In 1987 Victoria Works was taken over, which was equipped with all facilities for manufacture of Pressure Vessels, Railway Wagons and Heavy Structures. Braithwaite & Co Limited was registered and incorporated on 1 December 1976 as a fully owned Government of India company and was put under BBUNL after the formation of this holding company in 1986. 

End of an Era.

Braithwaite & Co Engineers Ltd moved all operations to South Wales in the early 1980’s bringing to an end over 125 years of heavy engineering on that site

Braithwaite & Co Engineers Ltd became part of the Rowecord Group and is operated from the Neptune Works in Newport, South Wales. It has a diverse portfolio which includes the design and supply of the largest GRP and Steel water storage tanks in the world.

Finally, majority of the remaining Braithwaite & Kirk horse boats are now one hundred years old being built in 1912 so, if you see one out on the system,

Don’t bang ‘em about.

Blossom

Podged rugs

Anyone who grew up in the Black Country in the 1950’s or earlier will know exactly what I am talking about as they will have probably been a party to this activity as a child or even observed mother or grandmother podging a rug.  No household worth its salt would have been without its podged rug on the hearth in front of a roaring coal fire and a wonderfully comfortable place for a small child to lay and also a wonderful habitat for another resident, the silverfish.  Anyway back to podging,  all you needed was an old erden bag (hessian sack), usually obtained from the husbands place of work, a broken dolly peg, the remaining leg whittled into a podger, and old worn out clothing , cut into strips approximately an inch wide and 3 inches long.

I can remember quite clearly when from about 8 -10 during the school holidays and while my parents were both out at work,  I would be ‘child minded’ by a woman down our street who had twin son’s a couple of years younger than me and a daughter the same age.  Our time, and our minds were always engaged during the whole time by educational activities.  These consisted of putting hook and eyes, press studs, knob pins and safety pins onto printed cards.  A local manufacturer in Tipton called Newey & Aires employed lots of local women as ‘home workers’ who went to the factory, collected the above cards and products in large quantities and returned home to ‘assemble’ them then return them to the factory and get paid.  No doubt very little payment (pre minimum wage days)  I remember going with this family on a couple of occasions armed with an old perambulator loaded up with empty ammunition tins to load with the educational toys.  Manny a happy hour I have spent sat on their hearth fitting thousands of pins or press studs.  Another activity she had us participate in was podging rugs.  One would sit cutting the old material into inch wide strips, another cutting the strips into 3 inch length and the remaining two armed with podgers making the rug.

How it’s done.  The podger is pushed through the erden bag, opening up the strands, then back up through missing out a counted number of strands (3 or 4) a strip of material is held over the pointed end of the podger and pushed through the holes created in the sacking taking the material with it, finally being pulled to equal out the two ends of material sticking out.  This process is then repeated a couple of strands away for the next loop of material and gradually the whole of the erden bag is filled to complete the rug.  It has become quite popular in recent years to have a podged rug in the back cabin, however this would have been highly unlikely years ago as 1 boat people would not have had the time to sit podging and 2 by the time boat people stopped wearing an item of old clothing there would not be a lot left of it to make into rug strips.  Over the last couple of years Dawn has took to podging rugs although she uses a modern podger

This is pushed through the erden bag then back up the opposite way, then the material is then gripped in the jaws of the podger and pulled back through.  She now sits on winters evenings with a pile of strips on her chest, the erden bag on her lap, and watches her favourite TV programs while busily podging, completing a small rug in several nights depending on the pattern of cause.  Traditionally podged rugs would be made from dark materials, so as not to show the dirt, and in the centre would be a red circle or diamond.  This was said to be attributed to their men folk off fighting the Crimean War. Dawn has followed this tradition with the red centres but tends to use brighter colours in a lot of cases.  Below I have pictured just a few examples of her podging.

And so there you are, so get podging, and if you don’t fancy it but would like a rug, why not ask Dawn next time you see her out and about as I’m sure she would oblige, so till next time,

Don’t bang ‘em about

Blossom.

Update 3 All was going well until there was a loud ‘crack’

(19^th, 20^th & 21st Nov 2011) Dawn and I had been invited to a 50^th birthday party from Sally off our moorings.  It was being held at Weston village hall so, to save either of us driving I suggested that I took Darley up to Weston on the Saturday morning and we could stop on her overnight and bring her back on the Sunday, jobs a goodun!  I loaded the car up with clothes, food and dog and headed off up the mooring at about 10.30am.  With everything loaded I lit the range and headed down to Haywood junction to wind then off I went passing Haywood marina, then as I approached Hoo Mill lock the bottom gates opened as a boat came out leaving the lock ready for me to slip straight in After locking up Hoo Mill and creeping past all the moored boats above, I was out in open cut and hammered off through Pasturefields and Ingestry finally holding in on the lock landings for Weston lock at about 11.45am.  As I came under Brinepit bridge and up the steps to the lock their was a boat going uphill as well and just waiting for the lock to fill.  As it filled I stood chatting to the couple off it who were interested in Darley as he helped out with the Camden Community boat Tarporley.  I spent the next 5 minutes educating him in the recognition of Grand Unions and the difference between Tarporley, A large Northwich and Darley, a large Woolwich.  After they had left, I closed the top gate for them then turned the lock. With bottom gates opened I headed Bck down under the bridge to bring Darley up.  Another boat was approaching the lock landings as I pulled into the lock, almost stopping Darley in the tail of the loack, then slipping her ahead on tickover and jumped off to work the lock.  I drew the ground and gate paddle then sat on the balance beam to wait for the lock to level.  As Darley was still in ahead on tickover, as the water levelled, Darley started to nudge the top gate open. By this time the woman off the boat below had walked up to the lock and stood close by and started talking about Darley and how nice it was etc. etc. I dropped wound both paddles down just as Darley’s engine ‘ole was approaching the top gate and stepped onto the counter and put her in astern.  With this done I turned and stepped off the counter onto the lockside copings ready to close the top gate behind me, I did not even notice the 40mm step in the surface of the sandstone block as I was still talking to this woman but I certainly felt it.  I stepped with the edge of my boot just on the edge of the step which caused my ankle to crank over followed by a loud crack as I followed through ending up in a heap on the lockside and in severe pain.  The woman was most concerned asking if I was alright and should she stop the boat.  All I wanted to do was wee myself and swear, but I did not, I managed to get up and hobbled back onto the back end as she said she would close the top gate for me.  I only had another 15 minutes to go so I carried on until I approached Touchwood, Monarch & Grimsby tied outside  the Saracens Head.  As there was no room, I dropped through Weston upon Trent Bridge and tied up on the pilings.  The guy I had been talking to at Weston lock had also moored outside the Saracens head pub and he walked down and shouted for me to throw him my middle rope and helped me to moor up.  When once ties up, I struggled into the engine ‘ole and stopped the ‘cement mixer’ then just sat on the back end boards.  Already my ankle had begun to swell, then Si came walking through the bridge ‘ole to me and said “we’ll fetch you back later if any of them move” “If I can manage” I replied as I hobbled to the back end.  He asked what I done and I told him I had fell at Weston lock and sprained my ankle.  He invited me back to Browny’s boat as they were just about to have coffee and bacon sandwiches.  It took me about 5 minutes to hobble the 100 yards to the boat.  With coffee drunk and sandwich eaten I hobbled back to Darley and Si came with me as he had breasted Grimsby up leaving me space to put Darley.  We reversed back through the bridge and moored next to their boats,  I went into the back cabin to put my foot up.  I phoned Dawn to let her know I was here and what had happened.  She turned up at about 7.00pm with a walking stick for me and boy was I grateful.  Suitably washed and changed I hobbled a little better with the aid of my stick to Dawn’s car which she drove us all down to the Woolpack pub on the village green for a couple of warm up drinks before we went to the party where we got seated on a table with a couple of other couples off the mooring and Tery and Tina who I bought Darley off.  Drinks, hog roast and a chat saw the evening pass until it was time to leave and we then popped back to the Woolpack pub for the last couple of drinks to end the night off.

Fun at The Woolpack.

 Viv drove Dawn’s car, as she only drinks orange, and took us all back to the boats where we were soon in bed and with the pain suitably anesthetised by Guinness, I was soon off to sleep.  Next morning my ankle had begun to go black and the swelling had increased even more, but after Dawn had cooked Sausage sandwiches for everybody we were soon off up to Sandon lock and the winding hole for our return journey.  About 2½ hours later we were tied up back at our mooring and returning home.   Without the benefit of ‘anaesthetic’  I did not have a very comfortable night and kept waking.  When The alarm went off at 7.00am I tried to get out of bed but struggled to put any weight on my foot at all so Dawn said “I’m taking you up the hospital.”  She got up and got dressed then assisted me to get dressed, assisting with jeans and socks etc. then bundled me into her car and took me off to Stafford A & E.  I can only say that all the staff concerned at the hospital could not do enough for me being most helpful and within 1½ hours I was getting back into the car and on my way home absolutely plastered!  An X ray revealed that I had fracture my Tibia with a clean break through just above my ankle. 

My temporary leg plaster

Six weeks in plaster was the prognosis which means I will be in plaster for Christmas boo hoo and no boating for the short term.  And so it is that I am now confined to barracks unable to do the most simplest of things for myself until I go back next Monday and have a walking plaster fitted.  Still should give me plenty of opportunity to update my blog regularly and of cause I must make sure that I Don’t bang it about!

Blossom.

Update 2 Cloths , strings and huge bangers.

(12th & 13^th Nov 2011.)  Spent all day Saturday in the garden so of no interest here! Sunday morning we were up quite early and by 10.00am we were off down to the boat as there were quite a few jobs I wanted to do in preparation for the winter (being as Darley has a Petter PD air cooled engine no need to winterise that, Hooray!) When we got to the moorings, Dawn went into the farm shop and came out with homemade ‘farmhouse sausages’ (mmm very tasty) and a small, still warm, crusty bloomer ( mmm very very tasty)  Dawn disappeared into our ‘galley’ under the cratch and set about cooking breakfast, while I started stripping out all the cabin brass and lace ready to bring home and clean, wash and polish.

All the cabin brass polished at home

 With everything packed away into a large plastic ‘recycle’ box Dawn called to say breakfast was ready.  These sausages were huge big fat buggers and full of meat.  Dawn said that no fat came out of them at all while being cooked.  We sat in the back cabin and stuffed our faces while Bruce drooled.  Suitably fed and watered, we then set about clothing the boat up to keep out rain and leaves.  Dawn spent the next hour sweeping the hold out, again, as we moor with the bows under a huge willow tree the hold was full of wet leaves. I placed the top planks on top of mast and stands then got the top cloths out and put them on the bank ready.  Next I got out all the uprights, 14 in all, from under the cratch.  Have never understood why there were 14 of these on Darley as you only need six, a pair positioned in the middle of each room, I was soon to discover why.  On close examination they were of three differing lengths, 4 short, 4 medium and 6 long.  Upon trying them none of them fit as the longest were too long and the medium too short.  The next hour was spent adjusting their length and re cutting the vee to fit.  With these all fitted my next stage was to untie all the knee strings holding the side cloths rolled up.  Upon unrolling the side cloths for the first time since purchasing Darley, I discovered that they did not have any strings tied to them so my first job was to find some suitable rope, tie and splice side cloth strings, 20 in all. At this point Dawn had finished sweeping the hold and came to me asking “is there anything I can do” I just answered “can you splice? I spent the next hour teaching her to splice some ends of some scrap tatty ropes I had whilst I made up the side cloth strings out of anything I had to hand.

The temporary set of side strings

 The result of this was that I didn’t get the side cloths up until late on , so with no time to put the top cloths on we just loaded them back into the hold and finished for the day.  On getting home I ordered 100 mts of 8mm Hempex from Rope Services which arrived by the middle of the week and so I spent the next night splicing up 20 new side cloth strings.

Glossary:

SIDE CLOTHS : (Originally canvas but nowadays mainly man made material) Approximately 3ft wide Tarpaulins running the length of the hold with  one edge fixed to the gunnels with oak strips, the other edge having brass eyelets every yard. Thin ropes, called strings, are spliced through the eyelets on the one set of side cloths which are passed over the top of the top planks and through the eyelets on the opposite side then back up to the top planks where they are tied off securing the side cloths.

UPRIGHTS:    Lengths of 3x2 timber with a vee cut in each end, one sits on the top of the gunnel and the other on the edge of the top plank, which work as a diagonal brace between the top planks and gunnels half way along each room.

ROOM:            A working boat’s hold is divided into four rooms sectionalised by the cross beams, so from the bows to the mast, mast to the first stand, stand to stand and from the stand to the back cabin.

Blossom

Update 1 Nightboating, fireworks and eating out

(5^th, 6^th & 7^th Nov 2011)As both Dawn and I were off work on the Monday we decided to have a week end off boating and we decided to surprise our good friends Viv & Si off Monarch and Grimsby and Keith Browne off Touchwood a motorised BCN day boat who we knew were tied up at the bottom of Stone.  This also gave Dawn the opportunity to do something she had not yet tried, Night Boating. Saturday morning I got everything ready and loaded into the car including food, drink and clothing so that when Dawn came home from work we could head straight off.  Dawn got back just after 1.00pm and after a quick call to Aldi for extra shopping we were on the boat and heading down to Haywood Junction to wind by 1.45pm.  I love Winter boating! Mainly as there are very few others about most of the hire boats are back at their hire centres and most of the private boats are back in their marina’s for the Winter, just leaving the ‘live a boards’ and the hardened cruisers.  As we locked up through Weston lock the light was just starting to fade and by the time we got up to Salt Bridge it was dark and time for the headlight.  As we passed the small online ‘marina’  above Weston lock the residents were just preparing for their bonfire party and had built quite a large bonfire on top of which was an excellent ‘Guy’ in the form of Osama Binladen which had me in stitches much to the amusement of the 20 or so assembled in a gazebo sat on white plastic patio chairs.  As we passed I shouted “you gonna burn him then?”  which amused them even more.  Soon we were locking up Sandon lock then bouncing our way along the terrible pound up to Aston lock with it’s really shallow scour from the lock by-wash. Half hour later , at about 7.00pm we were pulling alongside Gimsby at Whitebridge Park and mooring for the weekend right next to the Scout headquarters where they were holding the official Stone bonfire and fireworks display..  Our timing was perfect as the bonfire and fireworks were at 7.30pm so, when once the boat was sorted out we all stood on the towpath and had a ringside view as the huge bonfire was ignited and for the next half hour over £5,000 worth of fireworks lit the sky above us, they were awesome.

The awesome firework display

 By 8.30 all had finished so we made our way up the canal to Stone bottom lock and The Star pub where there was an open fire (after we had lit it!) and the beer was good and the company very friendly, only complaint was the service tended to be a bit slow, but apart from that a good night was had. By 11.20pm the barman was after our glasses so we drank up and left not wishing to outstay our welcome.  On spilling out onto the towpath, we were serenaded by the sound of a live rock band at the pub just up the road, The Swan, and so we followed our feet across the lock and up the road to enter into a packed house which was absolutely jumping.  With drinks from the bar we secured some seats and enjoyed the last half hour of the show.  I stuck to the Guinness but Browny had some Black Rat cider at 8% which looked like Orange juice! While the rest stuck with the Old Rosey (Jim & Sarah off Chertsey and Bakewell would have loved the choice of about 15 real ales on offer)  We finally left the Swan at about 1.00am and tottered back to the boats agreeing that we would all go up to Wetherspoons for breakfast the following morning.  Sunday morning came quite late for us all, due to the previous evenings frolics, and so it saw me cooking bacon butties and coffee for everyone as we had decided to have dinner at Witherspoons instead.  At about 11.30am we all headed off up into the town and went into Wetherspoons for our Sunday roast and value for money I must say.  A choice of roast beef, pork or chicken Yorkshire pudding, seasoning, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, cauliflower and a pint for £6.50.  Suitably fed we stopped on for a couple of pints (well it would be rude not to) then we ambled back through the town down to the canal, stopping of in The Swan for a couple of pints (well it would be rude not to) then on leaving there we crossed Star Lock and popped into The Star for the last couple more pints ( again very rude not to) finally heading back to the boats at about 6.30pm where we all assembled in Browny’s boat for a Spag Bog cooked by Viv.  Then, suitably fed again we were up and off again going back to The Star for the rest of the night for a quiet evening chatting and having a laugh with the locals and other customers.  By 11.00am on the Monday morning we were up and off, winding just below the bottom lock and heading back to our mooring at Great Haywood having had an extremely enjoyable weekend in good company.

Blossom.