20/3/2008

Local News

Not a plane but a boat!

WATER COMEDOWN: Returned to the canal

A CANAL boat which carries paying passengers along the Basingstoke Canal to raise money for charity has had a second maiden voyage – this time in the air.
The John Pinkerton trip boat recently had to take to the sky in order to return to its operating base at Colt Hill, Odiham, at the western end of the Basingstoke Canal, ready for the start of the cruising season at Easter.
The boat, owned and operated by volunteers from the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society, was unable to make its normal waterborne trip from its winter base at the Canal Centre at Mytchett to Odiham due to problems with the overrun of work at the Ash Vale Railway bridge, where the bridge is being replaced by Network Rail.
A section of the canal has been drained to construct a new box culvert which will eventually support the replacement railway bridge.
The bridge contractors, Nuttalls, arranged for the boat to be lifted out by crane at the Potters Pub at Mytchett, courtesy of entrepreneur Bob Potter, and transported by low loader to the canal car park by Wharf Bridge at Aldershot, adjacent to the A325, where it was lifted back into the canal ready to make its passage to Odiham along the Hampshire section of the Basingstoke Canal.
The John Pinkerton had a very successful 2007 season of charter cruises and public trips on the canal, ending up with a record surplus of over £26,000 which will be ploughed back into improvement works by Canal Society volunteers on various sections of the canal.
Details of the forthcoming Easter trips and general charter hire of the boat can be found at www.s-h-c-c.co.uk or by calling Marion Gough, Bookings Manager, on 01962 713564

First printed in: Surrey Hants Star