You heard it here FIRST - hot off the press - British Waterways have appointed a new tenant (subject to signing the contract) at HARGREAVES YARD on the Aire and Calder Navigation at Castleford Junction.
Yes - after years of lying derelict - it is to reopen under new management. There is a lot of work to do to get the place ready, and in a fit state, to return these long lost services back to working order ready to serve the waterway users in the Castleford, Leeds, Wakefield area. The gates on the dry dock need to be replaced, the electric wiring has been stolen for its copper content in the out houses and needs replacing, however the new tenants are hoping that they can, sign, get in, get working and get operational before the start of the new 2012 season. A tall order, but achievable, and on top of that the ideas that they have to expand the services available from this yard are innovative and unbelievable. Not just using the wet and dry docks. So - who is the new tenant.
SUPREME MARINE ENGINEERING
A young company with extensive years of time served mechanical skills which they currently offer from their current premises in Wakefield to inland and coastal boats. The new premises will enable them to continue this service and extend into other areas, including sales of their own brand of Cat C RCD compliant boats which will be on show at the London Boat Show in Jan 2012. Supreme Marine Engineering currently offer engineering support to boats moored at Fairies Hill Moorings. More news as it develops. Their web site details are on our links page.
So back to Fairies Hill
Why do we always seem to be talking about winter? Probably because we are so busy during the warm, drier days we don’t see them flowing by all too quickly. The bigger projects where we need permission seem to take an age to get completed. Not so the smaller and some not so smaller jobs, they do get done and it is very satisfying to see. By far the most impressive to date has to be the laying of a gravel path just inside the entrance to the island where once mud and falling down sheds used to be an eyesore. We cannot, fortunately, claim all the praise for ourselves, instead we have to thank the efforts of a group of retired men amongst our moorers who did most of the work. Impressive as it entailed moving almost nine tonne of gravel from one side of the river to the other shovelfuls by shovelfuls using muscle power alone, loading it onto an eight by four sheet of ply screwed to the top of a row boat on one side and shovelling it off at the other. Well done Geoff, Ben and John. We like to think that it is the friendly, happy atmosphere we try to engender that causes our moorers to become involved, and we are very grateful that they do.
A recent 1960’s revival night laid on by the White Rose Boat Club brought out the crowds, with over a hundred people sitting down to listen to live music performed by ‘Mid Life Crisis’. Most turned up either in fancy dress or in original 1960’s clothes found in the back of their respective wardrobe - memories of miss-spent youth in the pockets!
British Waterways have finally agreed the design of the new lock landing stage. It is to be longer than the current one with three tier levels and concrete steps leading up to the lock, to be completed before March 2012, similar in design to Woodnook Landing Stage.
We our now an official outlet for the ever popular Towpath Talk