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Hot on the heels of Episode 003, I’m excited to bring you Episode 004 of Up the Cut.

In this unedited, rambling conversation with comedian, former teacher and “Angry Boater” Joel Sanders, we talk about the evolution of his Angry Boater routine, the highs and lows of being a continuous cruiser for seven years, dealing with the learning curve of having to fix everything, whether angry people are more likely to be on widebeams, the anti social people who use canoes to prevent breasting up, why newbies can be annoying, why I don’t get along with everyone where I live, Joel’s boating podcast – Does it get cold in winter? – and the price of chocolate and bottled water in corner shops near the Angel, Islington; amongst other things. He also does a passable impression of Harry Hill.

This will be the last episode I put out for a little while as I want to get organised with a view to ensuring that I can sustain a consistent, regular level of content in the new year.

Joel’s website

You can find the episode at…

UTC web player

Overcast (cross platform)

Music by Bensound

 

 

 

In this, the third episode of Up the Cut, I visit the bank* and speak with Lorraine Newman about the Waterways Chaplains. Lorraine is the team leader for the Waterways Chaplaincy for the London region, which covers 100 miles of canals and rivers from Batchworth in the west, through central London, and out to Hertford and Bishops Stortford in the east.

The Waterways Chaplains is a group of volunteers who help users of the canals and rivers (not just boaters!!) when they find themselves in difficulties. This could be anything from finding themselves in the CRT enforcement process, having difficulties with their benefits, to just needing someone to talk to.

In the interview Lorraine speaks about what sort of people become Waterways Chaplains, who the Chaplaincy is there to help and how they do it, and the increasing workload she personallt has on the Lee Navigation, both as the result of the Chaplaincy becoming more established and the increase in the number of boats as the centre becomes more congested.

The Chaplaincy is looking for chaplains to work on the Regent’s Canal…if you are interested check out the Waterways Chaplaincy website. You can also contact them through the website if you need their help with anything.

You can find the episode on….

The UTC web player

The Apple Podcast App

OVERCAST (Cross platform)

SPOTIFY (NEW!)

 

*The bank – boater talk for the land

In the second episode of Up the Cut I speak with dramatist, performer and boater Kate Saffin. Kate has lived on her boat since 2009 and is currently a constant cruiser. I travelled to Banbury, site of the historic Tooley’s boatyard, where she was waiting to go into dry dock for blacking.

We spoke about the work of the Alarum Theatre company and in particular Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways, a performance piece about the women who came to the canals in the Second World War to crew workboats. The show toured the Grand Union on historic workboat Tench for 15 week’s during 2017, following the route the women would have taken during the war, and its success means that it will tour again in 2018.

The recording became victim of the curse of Rosie and Jim for the first time, so there’s a bit of a break in the recording while I erased previous recordings from my digital recorder.

While in Banbury I also visited the lock which had been drained for gate replacement; as is now customary, Canal and River Trust were holding an open day at the lock and visitors were able to go down onto the floor of the lock.

Banbury:

Kate Saffin:

Tea and Cake at Tooley’s:

The dry dock at Tooley’s:

The floor of Banbury lock. During WW2 the lock received a hit from a Luftwaffe bomb. The lock gates were not destroyed, saving the town from flood, but the lock floor was damaged and to expedite rapid return to use was repaired with concrete for much of its length rather than bricks:

The old gates:

Episode links:

Up the Cut Episode 002 on Overcast (cross platform)

Up the Cut Episode 002 on the Stitcher app (cross platform)

Up the Cut Episode 002 on the Apple podcast app

Up the Cut Episode 002 on Libsyn web player

Alarum Theatre Company

Alarum Theatre YouTube

Alarum Theatre on Facebook

Tooley’s Boatyard on YouTube

Banbury Lock open days on YouTube (Canal & River Trust)

The first full episode of Up the Cut is now on the webisphere. In it I speak to Alan Wildman, the Chair of the Residential Boat Owner’s Association. We begin by speaking about his boating history before going on to discuss RBOA’s recent controversial statement on boaters without a home mooring, the current licence consultation and CRT’s latest attempt to solve the “London Problem”.

Links from the show:

RBOA

National Bargee Travellers Association

Inland Waterways Association

National Association of Boat Owners

You can find the podcast on iTunes or at my Media Hosting site. Please take the time to subscribe.