RGT NEWS

ISSUE 3

OCTOBER 2009

EDITORIAL Should this newsletter be headed by Editor's Notes or Secretary's Ramblings? -

as it comes from the same computer, it does not really matter so ‟Editorial‟ will suffice.

It has been a very busy period since the last Newsletter. The AGM was well at-tended and the evening concluded with a visual presentation by one of our members, James Baker, on the work of Greenways. Looking ahead, we have already tentatively booked a speaker to follow our next AGM !

In the early summer, we were able to welcome our new Chairman, Gordon Paton. Gordon. His CV is on Page 4! We look forward to a long and successful asso-ciation.

On the subject of EA, we had a most interesting meeting with them (our report on the meeting appears on Page 10 & 11), but were unsuccessful in being able to add to the representation on two of their Advisory Boards.

Our first Open Day and the Hawks Mill Clearing are also reported in this issue, as also are the various Presentations with which we are involved. These latter are be-ing very well received and have a double purpose - firstly in arousing interest in the Gipping and secondly in proving a valuable fund-raising exercise. There are five speakers involved in carrying out these presentations - if you know of any organisation which would like a visit, please contact Charles Stride who is co-ordinating the book-ings on trustee001cs@rivergippingtrust.org.uk

We are also gaining valuable publicity around the area and in particular must thank Dr. John Blatchly for a full page article in the EADT and Lesley Dolphin of BBC Radio Suffolk for continued interest and support. Added to the above, various e-mails, telephone messages and comments are resulting in an increasing interest in the River Gipping and its environment. Please continue to support the Trust. We are shortly de-termining our long-term strategy.

Finally, of concern to us all is the future funding of the waterways - please sup-port the SOS2010 Campaign (on Page 3) LEWIS TYLER (SECRETARY)

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OPEN DAY AT BAYLHAM LOCK - SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH A really successful launch of our first Open Day. The weather was glorious which allowed everyone to walk round the site without having to resort to wellies! Our photographic display in the mar-quee was well received as was the slide show. Although we didn't do a head count I would guess we had 50 to 75 people visitors during the day to see what we've been doing over the last couple of years. The hot dogs, bacon rolls and fresh cream and strawberry jam scones were also very welcome. Colin and Chard were sporting sore throats by the end of the day as they had been explaining to anyone who wanted to listen, the history of the Ipswich & Stow-market Navigation. Hopefully we will be getting several applications from new members over the next few weeks. Although lots of people were involved in setting up the Open Day, two of our members deserve special thanks. First Chard who had to collect the trailer, load the tables, marquee and lots of other stuff in advance of the day. He then arrived at 8.00 am Sunday morning to direct the setup of the marquee and everything within it. At 4.00pm he then had to pack everything away again and return it to its storage. All this despite the fact that he'd been involved in an IWA event the previous day that started for him at 5.00am and finished at 8.00pm.

Second Gerry who organised the entire ca-tering arrangements in-cluding buying every-thing, cooking it all and clearing up afterwards. He even donated the food cost to the Trust.

Thanks Chard and Gerry. SPENCER GREYSTRONG

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CHAIRMAN’S PROFILE A LIFE SO FAR………………..

A Geography degree from Edinburgh University was followed by a short service commission in the Royal Navy, mostly spent instructing at HMS Ganges in Suf-folk. A teaching career followed, culminat-ing in a 28-year spell at Ipswich School as Head of Geography, Outdoor Education and O.C. of the R.N.Cadet Force.

In 1976, I became involved in local

politics, serving for 31 years on Stowmar-ket Town Council, with three spells as Mayor, the last being in 2004/2005. Elected to Mid-Suffolk District Council in 1999, I later held to Environment and Planning Portfolios and became Vice-Chairman of the Council in 2006/2007. At that point, I decided to retire from politics before becoming too long in the tooth!

This decision has allowed me to spend more time with Eve, our four children and

three & three-quarters grand-children. With the marriage of our youngest daughter, Liz, in May, three fine sons-in-law have now joined our family. Although we are all keen mountaineers, only one shares my passion for golf! We are also experienced travel-lers, visiting all seven continents between us.

In 2000, I qualified as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide. The course included a re-

search project on the influence of transport on Stowmarket. This enabled me to learn a lot about the Gipping Navigation and its major effect upon the town‟s economy. In 2008 I became a member of the East Suffolk Internal Drainage Board, which includes the whole of the Gipping Catchment.

I hope that my experience will be useful to the Trust. It is an honour to chair such

an enthusiastic and hard-working body of Trustees GORDON PATON (CHAIRMAN)

FROM THE TREASURERS COMPUTER

The Trust‟s finances continue to go from strength to strength. As I hinted in our last newsletter we have now received a magnificent donation of £12,499 from the Inland Waterways Association. This represents £10,000 given by Anglian Water to the

IWA Ipswich Branch back in 1997 when they won the Premier Award in the Caring for the Environment Awards. This money had been held in a separate account and had attracted an additional £2499 interest. Anglian Water told IWA that the money could be used for restoration work any-where on the river so it was particularly welcome with the upcoming costs at Bayl-ham Mill Lock.

We also received £1363 in other donations, £120 Gift Aid, nearly £500 in membership income and a further £400 from the sale of scrap metal. In total in the 5 months from 1

st May we have earned

over £15,000, a magnificent achievement. As a charity we have to be very careful how we invest our money which means

interest rates are not great but at least its safe.

Because the Trust is now attracting so much interest from the residents of the Gipping Valley we were in danger of running out of membership leaflets and our Vision statement. Clearly both items are vital for our continuing success so we have spent just over £1300 on a further 5000 leaflets and 1000 booklets.

The largest item of expenditure over the last 5 months has been the cost of restoration work on Baylham Lock. In total that comes to just under £7,500 and we have not yet completed the restoration. The two really large numbers in that total were the £1450 we spent on ready mixed concrete and the £2700 on hiring in dump-ers and diggers. It may be necessary to hire in some more equipment to complete the restoration but we will be mixing the remaining concrete using our own machine. We will still have to buy the sand and ballast at around £35 a tonne and the cement at about £3 a bag, not to mention shovelling it all into the mixer and then barrowing it to the work area!

Although it only cost the Trust a tenner for some strimmer blades I really

should mention the magnificent job done by the working team down at Hawks Mill. I am hoping that we will get several new members as a result of all the favourable comments we received from people as they walked past. We haven‟t completed the job yet and will be returning soon.

We‟ve still got Trust T-shirts, polo and sweat shirts available at £8.00, £13,50

and £16.00 respectively SPENCER GREYSTRONG (TREASURER)

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RESTORATION OF HAWKS MILL POOL At the end of September a team of volunteers from the River Gipping Trust spent two days clearing trees and shrubs that had overgrown the Hawks Mill Pool. The open water and grassed area in front of the Hawks Mill had for many years been a pleasant public space. Many residents in Needham will remember visiting the pool to fish, to paddle, to sit and enjoy a sandwich, refresh their horses, or just to enjoy a few quiet minutes and watch the world go past. Parties of school children regularly visited the pool on organised project outings to learn a little about rivers and mills, and many couples had their wedding pictures taken beside the water. The area was for a long time kept neat and tidy by local residents, including

the late Mr Steward, but in recent years the lack of regular care has led to the faster growing trees and shrubs taking over the banks, overshadowing the pool, obscuring views of the Mill, and blocking the visibility for cars negotiating the tight bend by the Mill. The work carried out by the Trust‟s volunteers is a major step towards restoring the area to its for-mer pleasant, and accessible environment. A little more work will be carried out over the next few weeks to complete the tidying of the site, to

clear at least some of the less attractive weeds that have become established in the water, and to spread some grass seed over the cleared area. The area will become, once again, a pleasant place where people can come to enjoy the river and the Mill which have played such an important part in the history and development of the town. As the Mill lies in the Conservation Area, the Trust obtained permission for the work from the local planning authority. The Trust are grateful to Mid Suffolk District Council who kindly loaned an industrial “chipping” machine together with enthu-siastic, trained operating staff, and to the Tree Officer for his advice on the trees that needed attention. Several Councillors from the Town and District Councils, and from neighbouring Creeting St Mary Parish Council gave their support for the project, and visited whilst the work was underway. GORDON CROSBY

RESTORATION REPORT In the last news letter I reported that we had been successful in obtaining two canal camps and a London WRG weekend camp to assist with the restoration of Baylham Lock. These duly took place and despite the doubts pre-viously expressed by some, were a great success. but we had our moments! The plan was to remove an ineffective concrete base that covered half the length of the lock and would have reduced the draught of boats that could use the lock. As it was thought that the invert was missing beneath the base we could only remove a third of it at a time or risk the lock walls moving in. The first camp cut out the first third and made ready to pour the first section. The first load of ready mix concrete was scheduled on the last day of the camp, it ar-rived an hour late and its arrival coincided with the start of a thunder storm. The rain got heavier as the unloading into dumper trucks proceeded. We could not unload di-rectly at the site as there are two bridges limited to 8 tons on the approach road. As each dumper load arrived at the lock the mix was wetter than the last. By the the end it was so wet it would not hold to the slope to which we had to lay it and slumped to the middle of the lock. Then the river level rose, came over our downstream dam and flooded the lock. Time to abandon the lock and leave the concrete to its fate. A disap-pointing end to the first camp after everything had gone so well up to that point. However all was not lost; the side of the invert shaped with concrete from the first dumper loads had held its shape and we were advised that we only needed to cut out the last section to be laid and relay it. The problems experienced with the first pour convinced me that we did not have enough volunteers, outside of canal camps, to handle a 6 cubic metre concrete pour, so I changed our plans. Ed Walker, leader of the second camp, was one of the volunteers with the London WRG when they arrived for their weekend. We agreed with him that the second camp would do two concrete pours, one at the start on Monday and one at the end of the week. In preparation for this, London WRG broke out all the remaining two thirds of old concrete base and fitted Acrow props across the upstream third. The trust were to have prepared the base for the next concrete pour before the start of this camp. However we decided that in case of more rain we had better fit stop planks to the lower end of the lock. As a result, at the start of the second camp the base had not been prepared so they had a very busy Sunday digging out, fitting drainage pipes, and laying a blinding course.. The concrete arrived on time, the sun

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shone, and the pour was carried out with no problems. On Tuesday after the previous days pour was set the tasks were to prepare for the third pour and cut out the defective section of the first one. When we came to cut it out there was no doubt about its strength, it took all day with a hydraulic breaker to get back to the point where the concrete was 200mm thick. As for preparing the base for the third pour, there was a lot of hard work to do. In our haste to get ready for the second pour all the spoil had been thrown on to the third section. It now had to be removed from the lock together with the spoil from the third section. The excavator could not reach so it had to be shovelled into its bucket by hand At the end of the day there were a lot of very dirty volunteers ready for a shower. The task was not finished so Thursday was a repeat. By Friday morning all was set for the last pour, the concrete arrived on time, the sun shone, the third section was laid and the first section repaired. The end of a very successful if hard work period, „all‟ we have to do now is rebuild the Eastern wall and get rid of the spoil. My thanks to all the volunteers from the two Canal Camps, London WRG and our own members who put in a lot of extra days. COLIN TURNER (RESTORATION MANAGER) p.s. There is an excellent report on our work at Baylham lock in the November issue of Canal Boat.

IPSWICH & STOWMARKET NAVIGATION THE RIVER GIPPING

TALKS DIARY

DATE/ ORGANISATION PLACE LECTURER

Wednesday 14/10/09

Mendlesham Local History Group

Old School Room Mendlesham

Spencer Greystrong

Thursday 29/10/09

Creeting St. Mary Conservative Assoc.

Creeting St.Mary Village Hall

Lewis Tyler

Wednesday 4/11/09

Stowmarket Agricultural Club

Cedars Hotel Stowmarket

Lewis Tyler

Tuesday 2/11/2010

Tostock Past & Present Society

Village Hall Tostock

Chard Wadley

Tuesday 16 or

23/11/10

National Trust Ipswich

Ipswich St. Matthews School

Spencer Greystrong

IPSWICH & STOWMARKET NAVIGATION THE RIVER GIPPING COMPLETED TALKS

DATE ORGANISATION PLACE LECTURER

Monday 1230 8/09/08

Aldeburgh & District Probus Club

White Lion Aldeburgh

Charles Stride

Wednesday 10/09/08

Rotary Orwell Branch Bistro on the Quay 3 Wherry Quay Ipswich

Spencer Greystrong

Tuesday 2/9/08

Rotary Ipswich East Greshams Ipswich

Lewis Tyler

Wednesday 29/0/08

Rotary Ipswich Wolsey Belstead Hotel Ipswich

Lewis Tyler

Monday 1/12/08

Hadleigh Naturalist Hadleigh Colin Turner

Wednesday 19/11/08

Stowmarket Young Farmers Stowmarket Lewis/Spencer

Thursday 1930 22/01/09

Bramford Local History Group

Church Room Ship Lane Bramford

Spencer Greystrong

Monday 16/3/09

St. Margaret‟s Church Women‟s Group

Leiston Charles Stride

Monday 20/04/09

Stowmarket History Society Salvation Army Hall Violet Hill Road

Stowmarket

Spencer Greystrong

Thursday 14/5/09

Ipswich & Suffolk Club Northgate St Ipswich

Lewis Tyler

Wednesday 20/5/09

Needham Market Soc. Community Centre Needham M

Spencer Greystrong

Monday 1/6/09

Manchester Unity of Oddfellows

Old Library Ipswich Road Stowmarket

Spencer Greystrong

Tuesday 14/7/09

Pickerel Project Stowmarket Town Council

Charles Stride

Monday 10/8/09

WI Bramford

Lorraine Victory Hall Ship Lane Bramford

Spencer Greystrong

Tuesday 1/9/09

Wolsey theatre Club Kirby Street Conservative Club, Ipswich

Lewis Tyler

Thursday 10/9/09

IWA Chelmsford Moulsham Hall Chelmsford

Spencer Greystrong

Thursday 1/10/09

London Canal Museum London Canal Museum Kings Cross London

Spencer Greystrong

Wednesday 7/10/09

Walsham-le-Willows History Society

Priory Road Walsham-le-Willows

Spencer Greystrong

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REPORT OF MEETING OF THE RIVER GIPPING TRUST WITH REPRESENTA-TIVES OF THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY ON WEDNESDAY 29

TH JULY 2009 AT

CHURCH COTTAGE CAPEL ST MARY

Present Colin Turner (CT), Chard Wadley (CW), Lewis Tyler (LJT) (Trustees RGT), Daffyd Evans (DE), Peter Marjoram (PM) (Environment Agency, Stella Saunders (SS) (Riparian Owner) and Mitzi Tyler (RGT) Minute Secretary Apologies had been received from Spencer Greystrong (RGT Trustee) Introduction of those present

CW, acting as Chairman, welcomed those present.

Discussion regarding the RGT Mission Statement DE queried origin of this, and it was explained that the Trust arose from the Ipswich Branch IWA, and was formed to acquire support for the project of restoring navigation to the River Gipping. An Inaugural Open Meeting in September 2008 to which all landowners and riparian owners had been invited and was attended by 80 interested parties. There had been no objections to the Statement, this key group being mainly very supportive. How do our aims coincide/conflict with those of EA The Trust had been endorsed by local authorities, and the formation had led to talks being given to outside bodies, thus improving the awareness of the general public. The ultimate aim was to re-store navigation from Stowmarket to Ipswich. The locks having been built in 1790-93, the river fell into disuse after the railways came. By 1932 as there was no income, the Trustees petitioned Par-liament to revoke the order of the rights of navigation SS queried the navigation rights, but was informed that these had reverted to the Riparian owners. What external constraints are imposed on EA PM confirmed that the EA own all the Gipping locks within the navigation, with the exception of Baylham, as well as the water rights. They have universal permissive rights to protect the general public from flooding, with wide ranging powers. Flood defence management is a priority with rec-reational duty to promote the water framework directive for all rivers and water courses. There is presently an environmental drive to improve all rivers etc. to a good ecological status. The Gipping has not got a good environmental status at present. EA is involved in an ecology drive as well as a fisheries drive to improve the flow in the river. At present the flow and oxygen levels are low on the Gipping Is there an EA policy statement on the use of volunteers on restoration projects The EA policy regarding volunteers working on the river was queried. This was stated to be the same as that for BW regarding restoration work and a copy would be supplied to RGT Land drainage consent at Baylham CT queried land drainage consent time scale, and ownership of Baylham lock. Delay was caused

by difficulties in ascertaining the ownership of the site No permission was needed for the removal of two trees at Baylham lock, nor for the tree at Hawkes Mill.

How does the involvement of EA equate with Mid-Suffolk plans for Stowmarket town centre which includes restoration of river navigation for leisure purposes CW defined the Navigation intentions of the RGT as basically a plan to run a trip boat in the Needham Market area and introduce the public to the river and its history. He made members aware of the definitive plan by the Mid Suffolk District for the centre of Stowmarket. The Pickerell project was involved with this project and the aim is to restore the river from the head of navigation to the Munton Fisons area. All organisations need to be related to the EA Work on Pipps Ford Bridge Regarding application from owner of Pipps Ford to repair bridge, ownership of lock is uncertain. Future Work on Badley Lock Badley lock was discussed and the need for its restoration as one of the few remaining turf sided locks. Trees need to be removed from the concrete. EA to inform RGT regarding ownership of Bad-ley lock and mill. EA has right of access but approval needs to be tied to specific action. How can RGT assist EA

Action: RGT to have closer liaison with EA, need to understand flood risk. Advised to ask early for advice and have discussions regarding any conflict. Need for information as to what is being done in other areas. Consideration should be given to providing one of the RGT Powerpoint Presentations to EA How can EA assist RGT Regarding the time scale of consent Trust was advised to apply for L.D.C. for a section of the river rather than for a specific individual area. Consent has to be approved by whole EA department which includes conservation etc. and therefore takes time. Advised to talk to EA before applying for L.D.C. so that pitfalls can be discussed, then to contact Will Todd. There was no plan to desilt the river Gipping on the National dredging programme. With regard to flood protection, the stretch from Ipswich to Bramford was described as high risk, then to Hawks Mill medium risk, but from there to Stowmarket it was high risk again. High risk systems would come first. Noted that asset inspectors walk the rivers and EA depend on their reports for funding. Lock fences were queried, EA stated that these were to comply with a national policy for public safety and were a result of a toddler test which produced small mesh fencing. This will be standard for all areas owned by EA. DE would supply copies of the EA document „Living on the Edge‟ PM produced a list of maintenance due to go ahead this year, and suggested that RGT produce a 10 year programme of short term aims, and to share views with EA. This to be an item on the next Trust meeting‟s agenda. Future co-operation and future meetings It was felt that the meeting was very worthwhile and underline the fact that communication between all parties w involved was important for future progress It was agreed that regular meetings were un-necessary but that all parties would be available for further discussion as and when required. DE ,PM and SS were thanked for their attendance and the meeting closed at 4-30pm.

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WORKING PARTY DATES AT

BAYLHAM LOCK - 09.00 -17.00

Editor: Lewis J. Tyler. Church Cottage, Capel St. Mary, Ipswich, IP9 2EL (01473) 310381

secretary@rivergippingtrust.org.uk www.riivergippingtrust.org.uk

This edition produced in Microsoft Publisher 2007

Views that may be expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily the views of the River Gipping Trust or its Trustees

Just room to congratulate one of our

members, Tom Gondris, on being

awarded his MBE for “voluntary

services to conservation and heritage in

Suffolk”

2009 2010

Wednesday October 21st Saturday January 2nd

Wednesday October 28th Wednesday January 6th

Wednesday November 4th Wednesday January 13th

Saturday November 7th Wednesday January 20th

Wednesday November 11th Wednesday January 27th

Wednesday November 18th Wednesday February 3rd

Wednesday November 25th Saturday February 6th

Wednesday December 2nd Wednesday February 10th

Saturday December 5th Wednesday February 17th

Wednesday December 9th Wednesday February 24th

Wednesday December 16th Wednesday March 3rd

A quantity of demi-johns

50p each Proceeds to RGT

Colin on 01473 730586