RESTORATIONWORK ON THE RIVER GIPPING

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It makes an attention-grabbing impressionon the home page of the WaterwayRecovery Group's web site. “Fancy adirty weekend?” it asks – and it reallymeans it! For the group founded in 1970as a co-ordinating force to help canal and

river restoration schemes expects volunteersto really get their hands dirty – and has beenhard at it on the River Gipping, five milesnorth of Ipswich.

This year, group’s the first work camp tookplace before Easter and there are 22 furthercamps taking place up and down the countryright through to the Christmas Camp, whichlasts until New Year's Day.

And this is not just about spade work andbramble clearing – a fact driven home by thefact that the group’s magazine is calledNavvies! Work this year has included buildinga large dam across a canal to allow

restoration of a lock and work on a boat lift.“Those who want to play with big

excavators and dumper trucks, this could bethe project for you,” said the magazine. Notstuff for the faint hearted then!

Meanwhile, at Ipswich, a team got togetherto help restore the Gipping’s historic BaylhamLock carrying out brickwork, demolition,landscaping and a big pouring of concrete.

Team members were accommodated in

PERMISSION: Listed building consent was needed before the Waterways Recovery Group volunteers could work to replace the collapsed retaining wall.

Fancy a dirtyweekend?Greg Chapman finds out about the on-going campaign working to makethe Gipping navigable again. PICTURES: GREG CHAPMAN

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nearby Somersham village hall and with themaxim about the danger of all all work and noplay also took part in a variety of eveningsocial activities including a boat trip on theRiver Stour and a visit to Colchester Spa.

The team comprised about 15 men andwomen, including Colin Turner, who has beeninvolved in the Gipping restoration for 10years, nine of them as the Working PartyOrganiser for the Ipswich branch of the InlandWaterways Association. He is also one of thedirectors and trustees of the River GippingTrust, formed last year as a limited companyand registered charity to work towards thecompletion of the project.

Colin explained that a businessman hadbought Baylham Mill and much of the areaaround it in the early 1960s but after he diedabout a decade ago, the trustees of his estatehad particular problems with the mill.

“It was a Grade Two listed building and inneed of much work,” Colin continued,“However, the big problem was with the lockand mill race. We started negotiating to workon the lock three years ago, and after theEnvironment Agency dropped a claim that thelock belonged to them, we reachedagreement with the estate trustees about howto proceed.”

This was not straightforward listed buildingconsent was needed for the lock and planningpermission and listed building consent for theretaining wall above the lock, all requiringgreat tenacity to see it through.

But this wasn't the first lock rebuildingproject on the Gipping that the IWA hadbeen involved with. In 1996 they restoredBosmere Lock, two miles upstream fromBaylham, helping to produce a first class

feature in a local park.After that it was Creeting Lock and both are

now ready to receive new lock gates tobecome fully operational.

“If we can obtain permission to fit gates atBosmere we plan to obtain a boat able to takepeople on river trips,” said Colin. “This shouldbring the work of the Trust to the attention ofmany more people and help draw in thenecessary support and money to enable therest of the waterway to be fully restored – withthe aim of making it fully navigable as far asStowmarket.”

The total rise of the river from Ipswich toStowmarket is 90 feet with 15 locks along the16 miles of navigation.

With the winding up of the old Stowmarketand Ipswich Navigation Trust in 1932, theGipping was subjected to decades of neglectwhich finally resulted in the navigationbecoming impassable.

Restoration work began way back in the1970s, alongside the establishment of TheGipping Way, a public footpath from Ipswichto Stowmarket which follows the river’stowpath.

In 1994 work commenced to restoreBosmere Lock followed by Creeting Lock,work that took ten years.

Camp leader Liz Wilson, of the WRG, wasin charge of liaising with the local group tofind out exactly what the work camp wouldinvolve, assemble the equipment needed andthen take charge of the volunteer team.

Now aged 26, she has been involved withwaterway restoration for nine years and beeninvolved with camps on the BasingstokeCanal, the “Mon and Brec” and “Wilts andBerks” waterways alongside her full time job

with Network Rail.Liz and River Gipping Trust treasurer

Specer Greystrong negotiated a budget-priced rent for the village hall and the showersat the village football club so the “navies”could feel human again after a long day’s toil.

Their fellow volunteers were a mix ofboaters and people interested in conservationand community work – or a mix of all three.Some were just passers-by who had seenanother camp at work.

Martin Rowe was a typical recruit. It washis first camp and an interesting diversion

DIRTY WORK: Perhaps the muckiest job to be done onthe camp – collecting clay to plug the holes in thecofferdam.

JOB DONE: Colin Turner looks down at the work completed 12 years ago at Bosmere Lock. The plaqueindicates one of the many organisations that have supported the work in restoring the waterway.

BLOCKED: A mountain of silt in the foreground blocksaccess to the mill race, while camp members work oninstalling an additional pump to keep the working areaclear of water.

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More detailsRIVER GIPPING TRUST

The main objectives of the Trust are asfollows:

■ To maintain and improve for the benefit ofthe public the navigation of the RiverGipping

■ To advance the education of the public inthe history, industrial archeology and naturalhistory of the Ipswich & StowmarketNavigation

■ To promote and develop the recreationalopportunities along the river

■ To promote and develop the naturalenvironment of the Gipping Valley

CONTACTThe Secretary, River Gipping Trust, ChurchCottage, Capel St Mary, Ipswich IP9 2ELTelephone: 07767 393679E-mail: secretary@rivergippingtrust.org.ukWebsite: www.rivergippingtrust.org.uk

The trust is staging its first public meeting atthe district council offices in NeedhamMarket, on Friday September 26 at 7.30pm.All are welcome.

WATERWAYS RECOVERY GROUPPO Box 114, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire WD3 1ZYTelephone: 01923 711114E-mail: enquiries@wrg.org.ukWebsite: www.wrg.org.uk

from his desk job as technical author. Hewrites avionics equipment manuals forMarshall Aerospace in Cambridge and hadbeen looking for a more adventurous holidaywhen he came across the WRG stand at anoutdoor show.

Meanwhile, Sarah Patey, from Woodton,near Bungay, was back on the Gipping for asecond year running but had also worked onthe Caldon Canal, in Staffordshire, and wasfinally getting to learn bricklaying, which wasone of her aims when she originally signedup.

Finally, I encountered someone who metmy stereotype of a canal glutton. PeterBowers, from Harwich, was just back from asix week cruise of the canal system aboardhis own boat. Starting from his mooring atTring and working up the Grand Union, hehad completed passages of the RochdaleCanal and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.“990 lock miles, single handed.” There wasn'tmuch more to be said. I was just left feelingjealous.

CREETING LOCK: Another that has been restored onthe Gipping by the IWA Ipswich Branch and WRGmembers and now ready to receive lock gates. TheEnvironment Agency fences the locks for safety untilthe locks are in use.

DUAL FUNCTION: Beside Bosmere Lock this stop plank store was built with a dualfunction that also provides seating for the park alongside the lock.

MIXING IT: Mixing the cement for the replacementwall. The stock of reclaimed bricks is stacked outsidethe large shed, used as the camps headquarters.

WHAT’S NEXT? Baylham Mill inthe background, as workersdiscuss how the next stage of thework is to be carried out from thebridge at the tail of the lock.