November 2021 Narrowboat gathering for winter fuel
WITH Covid-19 restrictions being eased, the now long-established winter coalloading of the Narrow Boat Trust’s pair of historic narrowboats – Nuneaton and Brighton – returned to the historic wharf at Braunston where coal has been loaded and unloaded by hand for well over 200 years.
But last year, following Covid-19 restrictions, the quayside had to be fenced off to keep the public away from the staff working area – so the loading had to take place at the wharf above Buckby Top Lock.
To mark those boats’ return, it was decided to celebrate and make a small informal weekend gathering of former working narrowboats – now with close Braunston Marina connections – and also invite the Friends of Raymond’s Nutfield and Raymond moored here, the Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne’s
Sculptor and the now Braunston Marinabased Effingham.
So six in all – enough to make a colourful and festive reminder of the erstwhile Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rallies, though the numbers mustered were small in comparison to the 90 or so boats which had annually attended past rallies. These had been cancelled for two successive years because of Covid-19, but hopefully will be back in full swing over the traditional last weekend in June next year.
The plan had been for Nuneaton and
Brighton to set off on their six-week challenging coal-run on the Sunday afternoon, following the presentation of cheques of £1000 from Braunston Marina to the Narrow Boat Trust, the Friends of Raymond and the Friends of the Canal Museum – which they had all received for many years from the proceeds of the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally.
These historic narrowboats still need maintaining and the marina’s continued support is an important lifeline. While the loading and cheque presentations was not publicised in any form, the proverbial ‘towpath telegraph’ had spread the message and with a fine weekend, there was a good turnout of canal enthusiasts.
Among them was former working boatman Ron Withey, who was born on a narrowboat on December 31, 1939 and is now in his 82nd year living ‘on the bank’ in Braunston village. When he was born, his parents worked for Fellows, Morton and Clayton. After the company’s nationalisation in 1947, the family went to work for the new British Waterways, which took over the fleet.
I was well aware that in his later teens, Ron went on to run various pairs of boats for British Waterways with Charlie Powell, then a solo motor and subsequently various pairs of boats for carriers Willow Wren, later with Charlie’s sister whom he married in 1961. But when I was standing with Ron on the stern counter of Nuneaton, as my honoured guest for the cheque presentation photograph, he announced to me – out of the blue – that in 1958, when aged only 18, he had worked that very motor for about a year and a half with Charlie Powell and the motor was paired with the former GUCCC wooden Ricky butty, Feltham.
They had loaded at Brentford Dock on the Thames, with tomato purée and aluminium for Birmingham and wheat for Wellingborough. On the return runs, they had loaded coal round the Coventry coalfields, and carried it south to the papermills at Croxley, Boxmoor and elsewhere. So here was living history.
Amazingly no one in the Narrow Boat Trust, who was present, was aware of this – including its chairman Kirk Martin, who had just written a small book on the history of the Narrow Boat Trust – Still Carrying - Fifty Years of the Narrow Boat Trust – with trust archivist Fabian Hiscock. Kirk pointed out that booklet started with the formation of that trust in 1970 and did not concern the boat’s previous 34 years of canal carrying, about which there was only fragmentary information.
In their working days, the Nuneaton and Brighton could carry over 50 tons of coal between them – though there is no
evidence that they actually