In December we held our ever popular Christmas Social which again took the form of a quiz and buffet held at Hawne Basin. This year’s quiz was devised by Roy Kenn and very testing it was too. Especially the round based on the last edition of Boundary Post which your editor scored exceptionally badly on!

A recent British Waterways stoppage notice informs us that work is scheduled for the first fortnight of February on the Titford Canal. The work involves dewatering a section between Oldbury Junction and the bottom lock of the Crow so that essential work can be carried out to the inlet of the back pumping culvert. This is good news as it shows that more progress is being made on the Titford. Already, towards the end of last year, several sets of gates were replaced on the flight. Hopefully we will see many more boats using the Crow, both as visitors and on a more regular basis when the moorings by the Pumphouse are developed.

Canal-side Regeneration (“to breathe new life into”, according to my dictionary – it doesn’t mention anything about flattening) continues apace as more and more local authorities and developers realise the liquid assets which they have long ignored. A whole section of my local paper was recently devoted to re-development and regeneration schemes being put forward by our local authorities. Walsall’s Waterfront, for instance, is to create a buzz comparable to Birmingham’s Brindley Place. A 17 acre site will feature “waterside apartments, shops, restaurants and bars”.

Now, where have I heard that before?! The usual artist’s impression shows the Town Arm surrounded by new blocks tumbling, Hanging Gardens of Babylon style, down to the canal edge. A new bridge leaps, web like, across the arm while a solitary narrow boat makes its way along the blue water. The first time I ventured along the Walsall Town Arm it was a mysterious place with industrial buildings lurking behind high walls and fences and with the declining remains of the wharfingers cottage and warehouse at the end. Progress must take place but it needs to be tempered with a proper respect for our past.

Waterside apartments are now becoming ten a penny (possibly not the best analogy with the current state of the house prices, but you know what I mean) but as Mike Holder from the Birmingham City Archaeological Unit pointed out at a recent Canal History Workshop (see page 16) there are fewer and fewer buildings left reflecting the real history of the canals.

What a glorius opportunity Wolverhampton has to retain the industrial character of the stretch between Wolverhampton locks and Horseley Fields Junction, another area currently subject to “regeneration”.

2003 promises to be another busy and fruitful one for the BCNS. Please do what you can to support your Society.