The original speaker had to withdraw for health reasons and the ACA is grateful to Shirley Eaton from The Magic Attic in Swadlincote for stepping in at short notice. She gave an informative and witty presentation entitled “Crossing Places 2”. Thirty attendees learnt about the history of public travel from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the coming of the Canal Age.

Before the Industrial Revolution there were few options for public travel. Most people simply walked to their destinations, or went on horseback. The advent of public travel came with the stagecoach, a dangerous and uncomfortable form of travel in the early days. We then heard about the toll houses and the advent of road building. Pot holes, which we think of as a modern phenomenon, have in fact been a problem since before the Industrial Revolution. According to Shirley, the term ‘pot holes’ may have originated from the early practice of filling holes in the road with shards of pottery from Stoke on Trent!

We hope that Shirley may return at a later date to give us another presentation.

The ACA held their 8th annual quiz night at Stoke Golding Club on 16th November 2024. 69 participants formed 15 teams. Quizmaster Peter Oakden was this time assisted by Bob Taylor who kept the scores.

There were 8 rounds of questions and a picture round, which was handed out shortly before the arrival of the fish and chips suppers.

As usual, proceedings started off with a round of Stand Up bingo….

Each team of between 4 and 5 quizzers was allowed to play their joker in order to double their score on one of the eight rounds: Food & Drink, Wildlife, Sport, TV & Film, History, Geography and two rounds of Pot Luck.

The Wooden Spoon was gained by the young team of Callum’s Corner with 41 points….

Overall winners on the night with an impressive 95 points were The Treacle Towners….

Watch out for next details of next year’s Quiz Night!

Following due completion of remedial work to the towpath, the public footpath along the towpath is now open to pedestrians (1st November 2024).

Access for boats, however, is likely to remain closed for a further two weeks, that is to say, until the thick weed has been cleared from this section of the canal.

A further announcement will follow once navigation is again permitted.

25 people attended a presentation by David Hancock on the annual Round Britain Rally, which this year started at Snarestone Wharf on 24th March 2024.

The rally dates back to 1973, and David Hancock (who is also a member of Lichfield Cruising Club) is the current organiser. It is a a non-competitive, navigational and photographic event. Entrants are given a list of 83 landmarks and their rough locations in England, Scotland and Wales. Most of the entrants are motorcyclists, and the entrants have to find and visit these landmarks between April and September in that year. To prove they have found the location, entrants have to photograph their bike or themselves in front of the landmark.

The 2025 Round Britain Rally has already been arranged and David is busy sorting through the submissions. Having appeared in last year’s rally, the beams at Snarestone Wharf will of course not feature again this time round, but hopefully the RBR will visit Snarestone (or The Ashby Canal) some time in the future.

The site itself will still be open daily, as usual between 9am and 4pm, however the shop may not be. If the shop is closed please note the following:

If you need solid fuel, kindling, fire lighters or toilet fluids ONLY, and nobody is around please knock on either narrowboat ‘Rallentando’ or narrowboat ‘Draco’ ONLY between 9am and 5pm.

The ACA began their new season of social events with a talk by David Potter, the Advertising Director of Taylor’s Bell Foundry in Loughborough. Twenty five people braved the inclement weather to attend his talk at Measham Leisure Centre.

During the first half of the talk David related the history of the company, how it came to be located in Loughborough in 1839 – the proximity of the Grand Union Canal was an important factor – and how a bell is cast.

After the interval there was an impromptu talk on change-ringing, a past-time peculiar to England and which evolved towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth the First. Many of the carillons used in this hobby are manufactured by Taylor’s.

There is a museum on the site of the bell foundry which is open to the public.

After an absence of one year due to a waterlogged site the ever popular Moira Canal Festival returned in mid May. The sun came out and the crowds flocked in to sample the stalls, listen to the entertainment, see the flypast by a Battle of Britain Spitfire, and of course watch the perennial duck race. This year the Festival was run in conjunction with the IWA Trailboat Festival. The ACA was also present with a gazebo and an assortment of wares.

A large number of motorcyclists from all across the country assembled at the wharf on Sunday 24th March between 11 am and 2 pm for the start of their 2024 season.

The R.B.R. is a a touring and photographic event for motorcyclists and drivers of sidecar outfits and three wheeled vehicles of any age. Snarestone Wharf was the first landmark the entrants had to visit on their annual rally, taking a photograph of themselves in front of the pump engine beams in order to gain points towards an award.

The sun shone, and many of the motorcyclists bought hot drinks from the shop or purchased burgers and fresh hot food from an open BBQ supplied by ACA supporters, Shires Event Hire Limited.

At midday the organiser arranged for an informal group photo, before the participants gradually dispersed.

It was good to see so many visitors to the wharf for a non-canal related event, and hopefully the Rally will return to the wharf on a later occasion.

32 people attended the AGM held at Measham Leisure Centre on 21st March 2024. Chairman, Peter Oakden, reported on events that happened in 2023, Treasurer, Bob Taylor, summarised the financial state of affairs for the past year and Secretary, Gray Hetherington, supervised the re-election of 3 committee members, Peter Oakden, Bob Taylor and Mike Jeffs, who were all due to stand down by rotation. All three were duly re-appointed. There were no points raised either by those attending, nor by proxy, and the meeting was duly closed after around 20 minutes.

Following the formalities of the AGM, Kathy Belfield, an ACA member and former Tourism Coordinator for North West Leicestershire District Council held an illustrated, entertaining talk about travel and tourism and her visits to various canals and waterways around the world.

Over 20 people attended a talk by local historian and journalist, Anthony Poulton-Smith, on “The Etymology of English Place Names”. The speaker has written a number of books on regional place names, and these were on display and available for purchase after the meeting.

During the first half of his talk the speaker explained how many place names are based on topographical features such as hills and rivers. Others are based on farmsteads and the names of their owners. So for example, the suffix -ham means a homestead e.g. Birmingham, and the suffix -don denotes a hill, e.g. Bredon (Hill). Likewise, the ending -hay means an area of land enclosed by a hedge, e.g. Cheslyn Hay.

Whilst the Romans had Latin names for their towns, later settlers such as the Saxons, Vikings and Normans found these names incomprehensible and difficult to pronounce, and consequently most of the town names we have today relate to post-Roman names. The Viking occupation left us with the ending -by, meaning a village, as in Ashby. The Normans, by and large, kept these names and added their own, most noticeably Ashby de la Zouch – the village of Ashby, which was owned by the Zouch family.

During the second half the speaker held a question and answer session. This lasted for a good 45 minutes. A host of local names were put forward by the audience, ranging from Nuneaton to Worthington to the oft mispronounced Gilwiskaw (Brook). The latter name, unsurprisingly, somewhat flummoxed the speaker, and the origin of this name is unknown.

Throughout, the speaker related anecdotes and kept his audience entertained and amused with his somewhat idiosyncratic sense of humour.