When I mentioned to Gordon that I was going to write this piece for the Newsletter, he thought I was talking about his three fellers, namely Carl, Andy and myself. But that's the Irish for you. We can't understand him, and he can't understand us, in more ways than one. Now "tree felling" is what his tree fella's do! Although no mention was made of it in our job description or interview, and we can understand why, we are certainly doing more and more of it.
Any old pictures of the Avon taken up until about the 70's from the Dundas aqueduct show the river quite clearly, virtually all the way to Warleigh and Claverton and beyond to Bath; nowadays if you stand up there and look down in mid-Summer you are lucky to see the basin, let alone bad corner. Certainly it was an advantage to be a horse rider if you were coaching prior to the 60's, as along the fields on the Conkwell side of the river there were no obstructions and the river could be seen clearly all along the straights. Having said that, there were a couple of ditches to jump over. All that has changed recently, not only because of the lack of live-stock that used to graze right up to the banks, thus eating all the new saplings but also because of the proliferation of ash and willow that has been self-seeding in the Conkwell and Warleigh woods up above the river. They have now worked their way very successfully all the way down to the banks. Various other varieties are present as well, including Blackthorn, Alder, Beech and Oak but it is the Ash, Sycamore and the Willow that are the real weeds, and it is those that we spend most of our time keeping at bay. In doing so of course we make the problem worse for the future, as for every branch we cut off another 20 shoots appear on the main bough!!
The Summer months have seen Andy and myself at least trying to make some impact on them, Andy driving one of the launches and myself sawing with a large bow saw (no chain saws in boats as both of us would probably end up either armless or legless). Just recently it has been the other way around, with Andy in the river up to his waist and myself at the controls in the boat. Old age and seniority does have its advantages! So far we have only managed to sink the launch once this year, when a Willow bough landed in it, much to the amusement of the audience viewing from the safety of the top of the aqueduct. Fortunately there was no damage to bodies or the launch but a lot to our pride as we had to save the outboard and ourselves by swimming back to the bank.
The tree itself ended up on its way to Bath. As a rule we do try to get them out of the river, using the new stage, where they end up as fuel for wood burning stoves in the many narrow boats up above on the canal. But inevitably some end up on Pulteney Weir for the tourists to look at, and whilst rowing at Saltford I can recognize some floating past with our names on them. Some of them, namely the Blackthorn and Alder just sink to the bottom of the river never to be seen again.
The legality of all this husbandry is a bit nebulous as the banks are the responsibility of the riparian landowner, and in our case on the railway side of the river it is Rail Track and on the Conkwell side it is the local farmer, both of whom show not the least inclination of to do anything in the way of trimming or maintaining their respective banks. The British Waterways Board, which is responsible for the river, but not the banks, will only take a tree out if it constitutes a flood hazard, i.e. it impedes the flow, and then charges whoever's bank it is an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege. This leaves the Boat Club in the form of Gordon and his tree fellas, to carry out any work that is necessary, and no doubt we will be 'lumbered' with it forever - more fool us - and perhaps the job description should be changed the next time it is advertised after we retire!!
Mike Smith