With the barn dance, the pub quiz, snow and the fire brigade visit, those who were expecting big things from Dig Deep on the Basingstoke, were definitely not disappointed. Ably led by Andi Kewley - who by the way managed to recruit an unsuspecting jogger who stumbled across the WRG in progress - the weekend was a winner for all involved. But we all know the real winner was the old lady herself - the Basingstoke Canal. See below for some interesting historical facts on the old gal.

The weekend’s highlights (for me) were the Friday night pub quiz with London WRG teams picking up first and second prizes. Twenty pounds went to the anoraks…I mean ‘South of the River’, while ‘The Three Andy(i)s and a Gilly’ scored a bottle of red wine. Sadly the ‘Ambidextrous Twitchers’ (including me) finished in the middle of the field – not really knowing who was the first James Bond or which hand to use to twitch down the answers.

The excitement continued into the night with some spontaneous rounds of explosive farting to liven things up, in between the snoring and burping (sorry all - must have been the excitement of identifying the logos of those financial institutions).

On Saturday, after a delicious breakfast, we headed to site working mainly around Lock 8 on St John’s Flight, pipe laying, concrete polishing and scrub bashing. Ah yes, scrub bashing… the sound of machete on blackberry bush chiming in the delicate afternoon air, the armfuls of undergrowth feeding those hungry flames… Saturday’s highlights (for me) also included discovering my real calling in life. Which is devising a universal colour co-ordinated system for crisp packets - a bit like bringing the concept of the Euro to snack foods. Where I’m from a salt and vinegar packet is purple, plain is blue and chicken is green. Over here it’s like a different language. A co-ordinated system would definitely avert any more near misses with - heaven forbid - prawn cocktail! Other highlights included watching some very hard work being done indeed.

For example one team Andy, John, Richard and Sal were concrete polishing the inlet chamber for a back pump. It was then painted later on with waterproof paint to protect the concrete.

We also bashed the scrub clearing away brambles, weeds, dead trees, some blossom trees and vines. Moose and Maria’s German Shepherd’s Bess and Major also lent a hand with that.

Others like Nigel and Marcus dug and filled a trench with excavators (except when Marcus would stop to tell other people to do some work). Apparently over the weekend they laid four pipes in total after first clawing out a 2.5 metre crevasse below canal level. In the meantime, the road gang put gravel on the towpath and packed it down with a roller. I must say driving a roller really suited Aileen who did a grand job flattening out the gravel. Martin also supervised a few others including myself on the roller. I was pleased I managed not to roll it into the canal, and was very mindful of switching off the special compacting function when it was not in use so it did not shake itself into a hole.

And no one realised let alone mentioned they’d missed a tea break that afternoon…

Better still on Saturday night a minibus full of us went to the Dances for Tools, barn dance, while some stayed back at the ranch. At the barn we stripped the willows, slapped our thighs, upped our knees and rolled pound coins at bottles of hooch like there was no tomorrow. And who said barn dancing was not a contact sport.

Thankfully, Andi drove the minivan there and back and then was actually awake enough to make breakfast the next morning. But those eggs did look a bit scrambled to me – maybe they’d been left hand cracked, right hand cracked, both hands cracked, slap your knees. But I didn’t say anything, I was just so grateful to be provided with tea after the whole ‘missed tea break fiasco’ the previous afternoon.

Sunday also brought another gruelling day of shovelling gravel into the dumper for the towpath, chopping black berry bushes, pipe laying and concrete polishing. We were even treated to some snow. Then a few of us went to another site – called ‘site two’ where not that long ago I was told loads and loads of bracken and scrub had been bashed right down to size by WRG. There, we set to, chopping and burning saplings that threatened a fence near some large fishing ponds. I soon realised the need for the fence. One of the fishermen was very friendly towards Leslie and said he was so lucky to see us clearing the site - at least once every TEN years! Well I hope the fish are lucky enough to see him that often too. Unfortunately while there Aileen’s chin was also injured by some nasty undergrowth.

Back at ‘site one’ for lunch, which also included tea, things were hotting up.

That afternoon while we were scrub bashing a freak ember from the bonfire must have been blown by the wind and lodged itself in the ivy high up in a dead tree beside the canal. It was only a little blaze and it kept looking as though it was about to go out, but then it would flare up, smoke a bit, then die back until the next gust. The fire brigade was called, interrupting John G’s dumper training, and caused a much appreciated distraction, unfurling their hose to put out the fire with canal water. Although, I can’t say the same for a few hearts.

So then once all the jobs had been done, it was time to roll out the wagon train back to London, for more snow and some much needed tea.

A fun and productive dig.

Some information on the Basingstoke Canal

The Basingstoke Canal links Greywell in Hampshire and Woodham in Surrey. It was built between 1787 and 1794 - at a cost of £154,463 almost twice what was estimated. It was officially re-opened in May 1991 by the Duke of Kent.

It’s 32 miles and 29 locks are fully navigable and connects to the River Wey Navigation, which in turn joins the River Thames. Major engineering features are the mile-long cutting at Deepcut, the 1,000 yard long Ash Embankment, crossing the Blackwater Valley on the Surrey/ Hampshire border and Greywell Tunnel at 1,230 yards long.

Built to take agricultural produce from North East Hampshire to the London markets it proved its worth during the Napoleonic wars providing a transport alternative to coastal and Channel shipping craft when the French navy created havoc for ships in the Channel.

However, Woking did not exist before the arrival of canal in 1791 and it developed as an agricultural centre for tanning and brewing.

Further growth in the area came when the South Western Railway, opened to Woking in 1838. Residential development flourished in 1852 when the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company bought 2,000 acres of the surrounding land.

St John's had a thriving brick industry in the 18th and 19th centuries and in 1878 England's oldest crematorium opened there before cremation became legal.

However, competition from the railways in the 1840s threatened the livelihood of the canal and despite the building of Aldershot Camp in the late 1850s, in 1866 the company was bankrupt.

After that it was operated by a series of entrepreneurs, until WWI (1914-18) when it was run by the Royal Engineers and used to ferry materials and military stores to the Aldershot, Crookham and Deepcut Camps.

By the 1960s it had been so poorly maintained it was an eyesore and earmarked for development. However, campaigning residents formed the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society and for seven years fought for its restoration. If nothing else it provided a useful drainage facility. Ownership is now spilt 50/50 between Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council.

About 25 of Britain's 39 species of dragonflies and damselflies inhabit the canal with 92 species of aquatic plants.

Sources

Basingstoke Canal Authority: http://www.basingstoke-canal.co.uk/
Rushmoor Borough Council: http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=442
 

Jean Sims