Volunteers lend bigger hand to keep things going

The narrowboat Two Shires looks like any other pleasure craft cruising on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal until it suddenly veers across to a tree-lined bank and slows to a halt, then two men start to prune the overhanging branches with pairs of loppers.

Further along the canal is a lock known as Dowley Gap, where the lock gates have clearly not been maintained for many a year. But now they are being spruced up for summer, not by British Waterways staff but volunteers.

“It’s working out great,”says BW’s staff supervisor Paul House. Since he started working on the Leeds-Liverpool almost 14 years ago jobs have always had to be prioritised, especially the repairing locks and embankments, and there’s sometimes been no time for things like cutting down vegetation from the canals on blind corners, and painting the woodwork at locks.

Last autumn, BW announced that it was changing its status from wholly state-owned in order to take control of its own destiny. In future it would be run as a charity, a kind of National Trust for Britain’s 250-year-old waterways network.

The amount of Government grant for upkeep of the canals – just over £50m a year – had been under threat of reduction for years. Also, the Government had attempted to sell off adjacent land owned by the old waterways companies which now provides a significant part of British Waterways’ income.

However, the new status means that the waterways now have to pay their own way, and an essential part of the plan is for people who love the canal system to become actively involved.

The first stretch of canal in Yorkshire to be adopted under the new scheme is 2.5 miles of the Leeds-Liverpool between Shipley and Bingley. The towpath is one of the most popular walks in West Yorkshire and this part of the canal is popular with narrowboaters because it connects the Saltaire World Heritage Site with the famous Bingley Five Rise Locks.

Last week, BW’s Paul House agreed a long list of maintenance jobs with a charity called James – the Joint Activities and Motor Education Service – which has just adopted this part of the canal.

“This is work that historically would have been done by us,” Paul says, “but since we don’t have as many staff now we will depend on the adoption scheme to keep on top of things.”

James works with vulnerable young people around Bradford and Keighley. It also helps the long-term unemployed through the Future Jobs Fund.

The charity’s operations manager, Kevin Metcalfe, says this part of the canal is right on the doorstep of many of those assisted by James.

Kevin says, “We’re also going to invite some parents with children who are on our programmes, so that it can become a family thing – mums, dads and kids all working together to feel they have a personal stake in their local canal.”

The narrowboat Two Shires used by James is skippered by Mark Freear, a youth worker who has known this stretch for years. “I have an emotional interest in keeping this waterway and its towpath in good condition,” he says.

The tasks are agreed with Paul, who receives a list of roughly 200 jobs from the BW “length inspector” following a monthly check to see what jobs are required. These will include cutting back overhanging vegetation, cleaning locks and repairing towpaths. But the scheme also allows groups to record and improve wildlife habitats, promote their stretch among the local community, run educational events, and organise guided walks.

Most waterways adopted are expected to be fairly close to communities. The long rural stretches might be less appealing.

It’s aimed at organisations, local businesses and groups of friends and involves making a commitment to volunteer for a minimum of 12 months. The stretch will normally be between one and two miles. Adopters will be supplied with materials and be guided initially by BW staff.

Details: www.waterscape.com/adoptions

Mark Holdstock writes: David Greenwood was a lorry driver before he retired. He was a longtime visitor to the Yorkshire Dales for his holidays and like many others he moved here permanently two years ago with his wife to live in Hawes. Today he’s at the wheel as a volunteer driver as we set out from Hawes for the first journey of the Little White Bus.

He had spotted an advert for it in the local parish newsletter. “I’d been working on the house for two years and I thought it was about time that I got out and met a few people. I thought about it on a slightly selfish basis. It suits me to get out and meet more people. It’s a way of getting into the community.” Five months ago the vital bus that linked the Settle to Carlisle Railway at Garsdale with Hawes, the biggest town in Upper Wensleydale, looked doomed as North Yorkshire County Council which funded it looked for savings.

“We were worried that the service could be lost,” says Councillor John Blackie, who represents the area around Hawes on the County Council as well as on Richmondshire District Council, where he has just taken over as leader.

“It had run for seven years as a scheduled service. People could jump on the train and know the bus would be there, and it was carrying about a 120 passengers a week.”

The bus link was used by tourists coming by train to visit Wensleydale and by locals for work or education. After a vigorous campaign, North Yorkshire agreed to look at keeping the service, at a reduced cost. An organisation which runs many of the local services for Hawes, the Upper Wensleydale Community Partnership, put in a bid to take on the routes. Councillor Blackie, who chairs the partnership, says that using volunteers was the only way of making a full service affordable.

“We were able to pay two part-time drivers, but that won’t be sufficient to cover all the journeys we’ve tendered for. So we now have a team of four volunteers – including myself – and another four lined up.

“They have to do Midas (the Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme) training first of all. A team of eight volunteers, gives us one for every day of the week and one spare.”

An example then of the Big Society in action and a win-win for everyone concerned? The Community Partnership won the bid in competition with the existing operator, the Little Red Bus company in Harrogate and its chief executive, Lyn Costelloe, is not impressed. “As a result of this there has been a dismantling of a very cost effective community initiative,” she says.

The Little Red Bus company is still providing school transport and ‘demand responsive’ and group services in Upper Wensleydale. Colin Speakman, the chairman of the Yorkshire Dales Society, runs similar bus services, using employed drivers, with the Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company.

He welcomes the Hawes idea, but sounds a note of caution about relying on volunteer drivers.

John Blackie is optimistic it will work. “I have to say that I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who are willing to volunteer for this new service.

“I believe that we have provided considerable savings to the county council, tens of thousands of pounds. We have kept an essential service going, and have managed to have some part time employment as well.

“Communities in the upper dales have a long and strong history of independence and self-reliance.

“For them the Big Society is nothing new at all, it’s been happening here for centuries.”