ST GEORGE'S LADIES GROUP

Popular speaker, Roger Bricknell came again to talk to the Ladies Group, this time about Canals and Canal boats.

Birmingham is the centre of a network of canals and it was in this area that a coalmine owner decided to build a canal to transport coal from his pit to the suppliers. Transporting coal by horse and cart was expensive and when the canals started to be used the price of coal came down considerably. Soon other businessmen in the area, such as Josiah Wedgwood, saw the advantage of canals and provided money for more to be built. Soon factories were being built beside the canals.

Narrow boats were pulled by a horse that walked on the towpath. In the 19th century a family would live on a boat in a very small space, 14 feet x the width of the boat, which was 6 feet 10 inches. As the children spent all their time travelling up and down the canals, they received no education, but in the 1930's an Act of Parliament was passed making schooling compulsory. Schools were set up by the canals and children boarded at these.

"Leggers" were taken on board when the boat went through a tunnel, they would lay on their backs and walk their feet along the walls of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel they would board a boat entering the tunnel and start all over again. This was very arduous work and they spent twelve hours walking and six hours resting. One of the longest tunnels is five miles long and it must have been very eerie travelling through it in complete darkness.

As canals were built at different levels, locks were built to enable boats to get to another level. On one canal there is a flight of over 20 locks and it takes five hours to take a boat through them. Where there was a huge difference in the level of the canals hydraulic lifts were built to carry the boats up or down. Aqueducts were built over gorges and one of the highest of these is in Wales where the drop is 110 feet.

Nowadays many of the canal boats have been bought by people who wish to spend their holidays on them and many companies hire boats out. Occasionally you will see a horse drawn boat but most are now powered by diesel.

As the roads become more jammed by traffic many people are finding it more relaxing to take a boat into the centre of a city where they can moor and stay as long as they want.

MARGARET DEAL