• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Don clive...lock keeper

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
hi folks.. Because of my love of the canals over the past few weeks i have been chatting to one of our members don clive who for the last 12 years of his working life until his retirement in 1995 was lock keeper at curdworth on the fazeley canal..:) he very kindly sent me an article written about him in the new ways magazine and i found it so interesting that i asked don if could have his permission to post it for you to read for yourselves...don thinks that it wont be of much interest to anyone but i have told him i am sure it will be as there are quite a few of us interested in the canals...what a lovely way to end your working days..:) i am also posting a pic of don and his wife joans lovely lock keepers cottage taken in the winter time...don still owns his own canal boat which he named englands glory...:)

lyn
 
don and joans lock keepers cottage...thanks for sharing your story with us don....although i bet you could write a book about your experiences...:)

lyn
 
Wish my job interviews went like that - of course they are of interest - great story & lovely photo's Lyn - Thanks
 
hi aidan...what a wonderful life for those into canals....im so pleased that don allowed me to start this thread...

lyn
 
Thanks for posting that lyn,its really interesting to know how people come to do the jobs they do.It must have been a culture shock
to work somewhere so quiet after working for a big company.Fancy having your own canal boat as well,brilliant.
lynne
 
Thanks for posting Don's story Lyn it was lovely and enlightening to read. Don is a lovely man with so many stories as you say he should write a book. The photo's are great too.
 
lyn excellent :) canals are so important, hope Don can post a bit of info about the cottage in the Curdworth/Dunton Island area alongside the Cut, they had to move/rebuild, Dave
 
hi wend..yes don is a lovely man and so modest...dave i also hope this thread will encourage don to tell us more about his life on the waves and of course the cottage..:)

lyn
 
hi jean..the only pub i know on the canals is the swan at fradley...oh there is another one i always meant to visit and thats the dog and doublet but ive not got round to it yet...:cry:
 
Great thread Lyn, I used to paint lots of narrowboats with Roses and Castles, but never thought to take photos, it was way before digital came in.
The pub is called The Boat, on the Old Kingsbury Rd.
 
John Pete said it could be and now you have confirmed it and thanks. I think you can just about see it from the road?. Our friend up the road has a boat on Fradley and he collects all sorts of plates with holes round the edge and jugs and vases with roses on. Jean.
 
I wasn't sure what they were called and we have a large one on the wall but am not sure if it is the same as what the boat folk collect. Will put a photo on later. Jean.
 
The proposed demolition of the lock cottage at Dunton (Curdworth) was a real shock, I was actually working at the top lock one day in 1986 whe a chap came along the towpath with a large roll of paper in his hands, he asked me if I was the lock keeper, and when I said yes, he said he wanted to show me where the new motorway would run, they've finished the motorway, I said thinking he meant the M42 which was only a couple of hundred yards away! no not that one, he was struggling to unroll the paper, so taking him into the house he rolled it out and said "Theres the motorway", at the moment it's called 'The Northern Relief Road' and pointing to the centre of it, there's your house!" but the motorway runs right through it, I said, "Thats right". I immediately phoned the British Waterways local office, and spoke to my manager, he knew nothing about it even though the fellow I saw insisted that work would commence in about 12 months time, it did'nt, it was 1996 before the cottages and the lock disapeared and were rebuilt. Don Clive
 
Don Thanks for your memories :), did they use the old bricks or anything of the old Cottage :) Dave
 
thanks don..you have a wonderful memory for detail and i do hope that now you have started you will continue to recount some of your memories and stories of your days on the canals.:thumbsup:eek:h and if you have any pics that you could post that would be great...

cheers..

lyn
 
Yes, Dave, I went over to the cottage two three times while they were demolishing it, the demolition boss had four teenage lads doing nothing but 'dressing' the bricks as they were taken down by hand, he told me they were worth much more than new bricks since anyone who got permission to alter certain old properties had to use the same age bricks. He was surprised when I informed him that the bricks were made from 'Marl' dug out of the ground near the 7th lock where the canal builder also built a brickworks and all the bricks used originally on Curdworth loks and cottages came from there! they were even into 're-cycling' in those days--- when they finished building the locks, they demolished the brickworks and built two more cottages at the bottom lock. Don Clive
 
How wonderful we are lucky to have your memories Don as these are the things that are not recorded. Now there are many re cycling places that demand high prices for these bricks.
 
Great to see a post on canals! I sold my own narrowboat about 18 months ago as I simply hadn't the time to spend on it & it can be a money pit! Life is so much better/simpler & friendlier on the canals - people have time for each other.
Incidentally, not sure if any of you have seen my piece on researching black history, but I'm trying to track down more info on the life of 'Black Jack' - a Black lock keeper on the Grand Union. If you come across him, please let me know
 
Wendy, you say about recycling bricks, the man who lived across the canal from me at Curdworth a number of years ago, told me a story that, knowing him I believe to be true..... When 'Bingley Hall' was about to be demolished, he obtained the salvaging rights to all the bricks, the government at the time ran a 'Youth Opportunities Scheme' where employers were subsidisedto provide employment to youngsters, he used to employ teenagers to 'dress' the bricks as the place was demolished, stack them on pallet's wrap them in plastic and he then exported them to Germany. Why Germany? they were either made there originaly, or made to German specifications, they were longer, wider and shallower than British made bricks, my wife and I used to call him our local 'Arthur Daly' --- mind you it save digging a big hole to bury them! Don Clive
 
Don I think you should write a book you have so many interesting tales of Birmingham, surrounding areas and it's people.
 
wend ive been saying that very same thing to don for weeks now...not only the canals but his memory and stories of growing up in aston are second to none...do you know he still has a jug that came from the house that jack built...there is a story behind that too...:)

lyn
 
Oh my goodness Lyn! I love Don's memories and stories. I am sure it's not just us two who enjoy them. Just imagine owning a jug from The House That Jack Built! I must make time to pay him a visit I would love to see that jug!!!:)
 
wend ive seen the jug...don mailed me a pic of it...don has sent me so many memories of the old days and i think he said his mom sent him to buy the jug for his baby sisters milk...or something like that..i will get told orf soon for going from canals to jugs:cry: hope don comes back soon with more of his memories...

lyn:)
 
Dave I was ironing upstairs but Pete watched some of it. Said it was good. He used to camp at Bev weer and said it was beautifully kept. Jean.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top