The BW stoppage outside the Club has now ended. The work to the culvert was completed ahead of schedule, despite the start of the stoppage being delayed several times.

Initially the contractors had planned to start the stoppage on November 5th, but this conflicted with the date of November 12th published by BW in their stoppage list. The published date had to be honoured, and by the time the error was spotted, the contractor was unable to re-schedule the intallation of the temporary dams until the 16th. When the dam installation team started, however, they discovered that the planned location for the dams was too deep. The alternative dam locations chosen necessitated the moving of more of the boats off the main line moorings, which meant that the dams were not finally installed until November 20th. The photo here was taken during the first abortive attempt to install the dams in our oh-so-deep canal.

Despite these early difficulties, the contractors, Morrison Construction, have completed the bulk of the work to get the canal open again ahead of schedule, whilst at the same time causing minimum disruption to Club members. Well Done!

Those Club members who moor on the main line can now sleep easier at night in the knowledge that their boats are not likely to disappear "down the plughole", which undoubtedly would have been the case had the culvert failed!

Members of Lichfield Cruising Club have had their cruising seriously curtailed since the middle of November as British Waterways carries out vital repairs on the Coventry Canal. A hundred metre long stretch of the canal outside the LCC Clubhouse has been dewatered while a culvert - an under-canal tunnel - which safely routes a brook, is repaired. As well as preventing members from cruising up towards Tamworth, the work has meant six members' boats have had to be temporarily moved from the main-line and breasted up in the Huddlesford Arm.

The project is expected to take a month and it is hoped the canal will be open again in time for Christmas. Meanwhile some of those members who moored in the spot have been seen desperately trying to find a variety of objects previously lost in the canal. One member wanted to recover a hard rubber dog toy and a chinaman's hat, without any success.

The work is being carried out by Morrisons' Construction on behalf of BW, and they have installed a works compound on the Club field and large pumps to carry water from the brook while the work goes on. It had originally been planned to dewater only a short stretch but as the dams were being constructed it became clear the canal was much deeper than expected and they had to be re-positioned.