Notes from the Editor
1968 - What happened that year?
1968 was the year of sex, drugs and rock and roll; it was also the year of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assaaainations, the Prague Spring, the Chicago Convention, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the anti-war movement, the student rebellion that paralysed France, civil rights, the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union, the birth of the women's movement and the start of the
Birmingham Canal Navigations Society
What a year that was!
For me personally I was in the middle year at teacher's training college and a time for enjoying myself. Canals were almost unknown to me as I grew up in Swansea and the only thing I ever heard about a canal was a filthy ditch near the railway at Port Tennant where my great aunt lived.
There is now a society for this:
Neath & Tennant Canal Preservation Society...
www.neath-tennant-canals.org.uk : proposes that both the Neath and Tennant canals should be fully re-opened and along with the Swansea Canal, to form a new network of waterways that would give sufficient lenght to promote a hire boat business.
Who knows how involved I would have been if I'd stayed in Swansea like Darryl Foxton and his contemporaries attending University in Birmingham (Aston) in the early days of the BCNS. see Walsall Canal Cleanup -1972 in this edition of BP.
In the first years of BCNS work parties were the main concern, working every week on some part of the BCN but sometimes elsewhere and linking up with pther groups. The earliest I could find was with the Wareways Recovery Group (WRG).
In this special edition I have included memories from the past from people who have been members since the very early days. Some are still very active today while others have moved away from the area and cannot manage the involvement they used to have. Though saying that, David and Mytle Smith are alomost always to be seen at BCNS functions while living in Lincolnshire. What a particularly active President we have! Many thanks to David for his dedication to the Society. Ron & Sheila Cousens are also very active in the Society with their talks but sometimes something a little special comes up as you will read on page 10.(T.V Fame at Lst)
We often receive accounts of journeys around the BCN but not written quite like the one featured in this issue from David Simmons page 22.( Where is that Cormorant?). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
We had a really good Anniversary Rally - sorry if you missed this special occasion - you'll have to wait for our 50th! After it all finished there were many memorable parts spoken of - Life Memberships, Mad Mike, Dandy, lots of real ale, but one thing that stands out most is the camaraderie and sheer helpfulness of the boaters. We had members join us from "up north" and "down south" and they all said what a good time they'd had.
See you all next year?
Brenda
