Hastings

Thanks for setting it up, Ray. I wasn't at the talk, but have thoroughly enjoyed the YouTube video. And thanks also to Mike Askin for doing the video. Peter, ex-Audlem Mill

The signs are very close to the tunnel portal - might that little bit of land not actually belong to CRT? As you no doubt know, CRT own the offside bank on the Shroppie and some other canals, as laid down in the original Act etc.. They could own this small area ( I know it's T&M/North Staffs Canal, not Shroppie) - it's worth checking your property deeds. If you do own that land, why are they planting signs in your property?

The Shroppie Fly is reopening with new management later in the week, probably Friday. Drinks only initially, food later, I hear.

Yes, The Lord Combermere has had new owners most of this year, and we hear pretty good reports. The pub is no longer a tied house or owned by a pubco, so that augurs well.

I saw this hours after my last post. The Shroppie Fly (next door to us) was closed yesterday (Weds 9 Oct), and we hear that most staff have left or been sacked. Those who lived in have apparently been evicted. How a pub can go from being excellent and very busy to this in just two weeks is hard to understand! I will report if I know more. Alec - please see later posts. Better check first if you want to go to The Shroppie Fly! Peter

Mike Ager left the Shroppie Fly just two weeks ago, having annouced a few weeks before that he was retiring (and he is; he's not moving to another pub). He's currently boating on the Weaver/Cheshire Ring before the stoppages start. In his two years here, Mike turned a fairly poor pub into a significant success - the pub of choice for many locals and boaters - good food, a choice usually of 6 real ales, friendly and attentive staff, etc. We went in for a meal with friends a day or two after Mark and Helena took over. All perfectly good, though I have since heard that some staff have left, but I don't know reasons. The new people have suspended the parking "fines" system. Let's see how things go.

But Nantwich to Ellesmere Port won't take a 14 foot widebeam - a bridge north of Nantwich reduced the available beam width when rebuilt a long time ago.

The post office will not return in that unit; new tenants are being sought for the shop unit. Word on the ground in Audlem is that noone wants to take on a PO (I don't suppose that the Horizon debacle has helped!)

This is in line with my previous experience of HNBC which, from my previous very unpleasant experiences, is an organisation I never want to be associated with again. Therefore, for us, the gathering has ended anyway. Apologies that this all looks so negative. I have had some very enjoyable times in Audlem but it feels like that is reaching the end of an era which I had hoped would have lasted a bit longer or at least evolved more gradually. Alec Alec - the current Lord Combermere people have been there six months, and reports seem good. Audlem is lucky to have three pubs, two restaurants, two takeaways (three if you count the Italian for pizzas), and a cafe. But I agree that overnight parking is difficult, and it won't get any easier once the Council put ticket machines in the public car park - expected in October. As to the gathering of historic boats, we would have had to pay out around £500 to put it on this year - a combinatin of the CR event fees and their required £10m public liability insurance. The event has no income stream, so it's obvious that it would have had to cease. Or we would have had to charge participating boats £20 or so - which seems to make joining HNBC cost effective. Anyway, no-one else came forward to save the event!

Alec - things change, and the Priest House closed and hasn't reopened, but we now have very good Italian and Tapas restaurants. The Post Office closed as well. But everything else in Audlem continues. Leaving a vehicle in the village whilst boating has always been a bit difficult, and certainly will get more so, but Hack Green or Cox Bank lock (No. 3) are realistic possibilities. Thakns for your compliments on the historic boat gatherings we organised (for 13 years!). The gathering continues unchanged except that the boat has to be entered by a member of Historic Narrow Boat Club. If they hadn't taken it over, last year's would have been the last because of the new CRT fees and very high insurance cover requirements.

There have been questions about leaving a car in Audlem. I live by the wharf, so know what the situation is. Parking in the Shroppie Fly pub car park is now ANPR camera monitored, so expect a £100 parking charge if you are not a customer, or leave a car for longer than the time you are a customer in the pub. The car parks at the Bridge Inn and Lord Combermere are small, and are not really adequate even for genuine customers. The public car park is restricted to 11 hours, and is regularly monitored by the local council's Parking Wardens. Charges are being introduced from October, when more double yellow lines will be painted on roads around the village centre, where much on-street parking is already restricted to one hour. Audlem is not the best place to leave a car whilst you are boating, much as we'd love you to visit our shops, pubs etc.

In general, copyright in photographs normally ends 70 years after the death of the photographer, so a 1910 image could well still be in copyright. Let's assume the photographer was born in 1885 (so the photo was taken at age 25), and lived to 90, dying in 1975. The photo will be in copyright till 2045. Indeed, it's possible, though extremely unlikely, that an 1890 photo might just still be in copyright. I agree with the point about museums etc. who have copies of photos. Buying a collection of photos, even if curated and from a good source, doesn't automatically give you ownership of the copyright. That only comes if it was transferred in writing by the copyright owner. As a canal book publisher, I'm always conscious of these issues!

Lots of photos of canal cuttings and embankments up to the late 1960s (i.e. during the period they were used commercially) show few trees, and railways were the same. Maintenance staff got rid of them when they grew. With canals, the emphasis was probably on avoiding slippages like we see in Easenhall Cutting. With railways, there was of course another concern - avoing steam locomotives setting fire to bushes and trees. I remember Woodseaves Cutting on the Shroppie (possibly the longest deepest canal cutting) being virtually bare in the 1960s. Now it's full of trees - may be pretty, but probably not a good thing!

But the "everything else" takeaway does take cards. And, as a shop owner in Audlem, I know that around 90% of our sales value now comes from cards.

He does live in the flat.