18 July 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk
LETTERS
WRITE IN AND
WIN
I have just read your article on the CRT
wasting millions again. The new sign, in my
opinion, looks like a half filled toilet.
The real problem with regard to public
awareness of CRT is that there are not
enough signs. Changing the logo is no
solution at all and completely discards all
public awareness that there is at the
moment.
Many existing signs are too small,
overgrown, and badly located. There’s
plenty of room for improvement and you
don’t need to be Brain of Britain to work out
what needs to be done.
From a boater’s point of view I have some
suggestions:
Lock sidings and visitor moorings - ‘ NO
FISHING’
Bridges and tunnels - ‘GET OFF YOUR
BIKE AND WALK IT THROUGH’.
It should be highlighted with many more
signs that cyclists should give way to
pedestrians.
I would also appreciate signs saying
‘CYCLISTS USE YOUR BELL’.
Finally with regard to direction signs, too
many times I have discovered the sign telling
me which way to go at a junction only when I
am actually alongside the sign. This is crazy,
particularly on rivers, as by then it is usually
too late. The signs are also often too small
and overgrown.
Lots of ways to improve signage and get
the logo seen. But changing the logo? Has
the CRT really got this money to waste? This
isn’t a good idea and won’t improve
anything.
CRT surely has more income since the
changes in licensing, so perhaps they think
they can afford it. (Does anyone else
remember the consultation that promised
to be a non-revenue raising review?) The
average boater ( 57-60ft narrowboat) is 8
percent worst off. Also, CRT still doesn’t do
any green concessions for hybrids or other
greener systems.
Seeing money thrown away with
hare-brained ideas like a new logo is crazy
when there are other things so much more
deserving. I could make a list – lock
maintenance, improved dredging but the
dog needs a walk so I’ll get off my soapbox.Steven WinningSigns of the times?
Blooming marvellous
On Friday the 13th April – unlucky for some- Spring finally arrived at Braunston Marina
when the sun came out to grace the famous
quayside Pandora blossom trees that had
bravely come to life a week earlier in the
chilling wind and rain.
The four mature Pandora cherry trees
seen here, were planted in 1995 to celebrate
the twinning of the English Grand Union
Canal with the Irish Grand Canal. The one
seen on the right by the Irish Senator Pat
Magner who then held political
responsibility for the Irish canals, and the
other three by Daventry’s then MP Tim
Boswell (now Lord Boswell), Bernard
Henderson the then Chairman of British
Waterways, and the then Mayor of Daventry,
Chairman of Daventry District Council
Councillor Steve Osborne. In the years that
followed, Senator Pat Magner enjoyed
saying that his tree had done so much better
than the others – and ‘without recoursing to
giving it Liffey water’.
Braunston Marina has won many
environmental awards for its commitment to
building a better environment, with over
2,000 trees planted since it was acquired by
me in 1988. Last year it won the Dennett’s
Garden Centre Cup for the best business
garden in Braunston.
Monarch is Braunston Marina based and
will be participating in this year’s rally.Tim Coghlan, Managing DirectorHaving travelled the
network for the last 10
years and avidly awaited
each month’s magazine, I
was very disappointed to
read the reply to Jaybuck 77
about canals around
Gatwick and Birmingham.
As he says, Birmingham
has a maze of canals.
However, he fails to mentionthat Alvechurch Marina
with its ABC hire fleet is only
19 miles east along the M
from Birmingham airport
(travel time about half an
hour by car).
He does go into the
possible difficulty of not
having a car but, again, fails
to mention that it is under
an hour by train, with onlyone change at
Birmingham New Street
or that the station at
Alvechurch is right next
door to the marina!
Furthermore, I can
assure the visitors that a
better cruising area would
be hard to find.Alan LonghurstCruise route is well connected