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Ellesmere Port MP speaks up for the waterways museums
ADJOURNMENT Debate Tuesday 11 January at 11 am in Westminster Hall
Supporting The Waterways Trust's campaign to obtain government funding for the nationally important inland waterways collection is Andrew Miller, MP for Ellesmere Port & Neston. Many of the gems of the collection, the historic boats, are housed at The Boat Museum, Ellesmere Port. The rest of the collection is at The National Waterways Museum in Gloucester and The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne, Northants.
Mr. Miller will speak on the need for the government to fund the three waterways museums at an adjournment debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 11 January at 11am.
The three museums hold the world's largest collection of historic inland waterway craft, the majority of which are at The Boat Museum. In a recent survey, nearly half the boats were reported as being in poor or very poor condition and many more are in need of restoration to bring them back to conservation condition.
The most rare and 'at risk' boats are the broad beam barges at Ellesmere Port. Among those in most urgent need of restoration is
"Mossdale", an 1860 Mersey "dumb
flat", an unpowered barge towed by a tug. She traded between Ellesmere Port and Liverpool for the Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Carrying Co. The cost of restoring
"Mossdale" will be in the region of £125,000. Another unpowered barge in urgent need of conservation is
"Scorpio", a Leeds and Liverpool long boat or 'Liverpool sider'. Built in 1890, she could carry about 73.2 tonnes of coal and spent most of her working life in this trade. The cost of her restoration is also estimated to be £125,000.
These and 14,500 other objects, together with the waterways archive of 80,000 items, are an outstanding resource for education and life long learning and tell the story of how our unique waterways have shaped modern life, characterised our landscapes, towns and villages, and now provide a major impetus for regeneration as well as leisure and tourism.
The Waterways Trust launched a campaign last August to win new government funding of £1.1 million per annum for the next ten years to safeguard the waterways museums and the inland waterways collection. Funding is needed for day-to-day management of the collection, to address a conservation backlog that will take ten years to complete and to provide free entry for all.
Despite being Designated as nationally and internationally important, the inland waterways collection receives no direct government funding. By contrast, the National Railway Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the National Coal Mining Museum all receive government subsidy worth between £8 and £19 per visitor and offer free admission.
Among the campaign's supporters are Vice Presidents of The Waterways Trust Paul Atterbury, Sonia Rolt, David Suchet and Timothy West. John Fletcher, Chairman of the IWA and Tony Lewery, canal art expert, have joined them in writing to Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, asking for the government to provide funding for the museums.
The Trust also has the full support of Parmjit Dhanda, MP for Gloucester, and Tim Boswell, MP for Daventry.
Roger Hanbury, Chief Executive of The Waterways Trust, said:- "We are very grateful to Andrew Miller for raising the issue of the funding for our museums in an adjournment debate. We hope that this will help to influence the government and convince them of the case for funding. The waterway museums and the inland waterways collection are important as the collections for rail, maritime and mining and they deserve to be properly funded. The inland waterways have been hugely influential on modern life and the museums tell an important story that spans the humanities, science, technology, the arts and economic development."
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New motoring service launched to help minimise risk and manage company vehicles
ZURICH Municipal, has launched a new safety service to help protect local authorities from legislation under which employers, who require staff to use a vehicle as part of their job, are responsible for the safety of their employees while they are in the vehicle.
The Health and Safety Executive has recently issued guidelines to clarify the existing legislation. Under the guidelines, vehicles are now considered as a place of work and employers are required to ensure that not only company vehicles, but also vehicles owned by any employee which is used for business purposes, are in a roadworthy condition.
Employers must also check the competence of the driver as they will be ultimately responsible for any drug, drink, medical, fatigue and mobile phone issues while the employee is driving. Examples of the risks that employers now face under the new legislation include:-
· staff using unroadworthy vehicles
· dangerous driving claims (drug and alcohol abuse)
· increase claims/litigation action
· potential prosecution
· not fulfilling obligations as an employer
Ian Gammans, Loss Control Manager at Zurich Municipal, said:- "It is vital for employers to have appropriate policies and procedures in place to effectively manage the potential risks brought about by these recent guidelines. If an accident occurs, employers failing to comply could face a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution and/or civil case for damages."
Through reviewing the effectiveness of current procedures in place, Zurich Municipal's motor risk management service can help identify and minimise potential motor-related risks. It offers bespoke and practical advice to help employers carry out cost effective fleet management, comply with HSE legislation and guidance and reduce their potential liability and claims.
Letters to Editor:- "Sponsorship money for Leukaemia Care."
Dear Sir/Madam
"Many people who had set their hearts on running in this year's London Marathon will have heard before Christmas that they had not been lucky enough to gain a place in the ballot that is held. There are however still a few guaranteed places available through ourselves and we are actively seeking people prepared to run for us and raise sponsorship money for Leukaemia Care.
Could I use your pages to invite interest from your readers in the last few places we have available? In addition to the guaranteed place in the race we provide our runners with lots of support that includes nutritional advice, training schedules, a pre-race reception in London and a post race leg massage to help rejuvenate tired legs at the end of the race!
Full details can be obtained by calling us on 0870 774 4266 or by visiting our special marathon web site at
www.run4leukaemiacare.org.uk.
Thank you."
Lyndsay Berryman, National Fund Raising Manager Leukaemia Care.
Bookworms unite!
FROM the original romance of Wuthering Heights to the hard-hitting tale of Kate Adie's 'The Kindness of Strangers', whatever your favourite book, Culcheth Library is giving you the opportunity to spend time with fellow book fans to talk literature.
If you enjoy reading and would like to join the informal book group, pop along to Culcheth Library, Warrington Road, on the first Thursday of each month from 7pm to 9pm and indulge in the delight s of literature.
March to July events include:-
* Thursday 3 March 05 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
* Thursday 7 April 05 The Shifting Tide by Anne Perry
* Thursday 5 May 05 The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
* Thursday 9 June 05 The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
* Thursday 7 July 05 The Kindness of Strangers by Kate Adie
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