All posts by Bonded Warehouse

WORK OF SNT VOLUNTEERS HONOURED

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Volunteers have been at the heart of Stourbridge Navigation Trust since its inception. Following over a decade of restoration work led by volunteers the Bonded Warehouse was opened for community use in 1985. The present Trust is the culmination of 5 decades of voluntary effort, continuing the ethos of volunteering and seeing this as the sustainable way forward.

 The Trustees recently agreed that an Honours Board should be displayed to recognise the efforts of the main stalwarts of the Trust who gave their time, skills and energy freely to firstly restore and then manage, maintain and improve the facilities over the years both past, present and into the future.

 The Honours Board, skilfully hand crafted from scratch and hand lettered by local artist, Meg Gregory, was officially unveiled by the Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Andrea Goddard, and the Chief Executive of the Canal and River Trust, Richard Parry, at the 2023 Stourbridge Open Week-end and will take pride of place on public display in the Bonded Warehouse.

 Chairman of the Trust, Ian Cowdale said at the unveiling “Without the efforts of many people, I believe the Bonded Warehouse would now be no more than a distant memory suffering the same fate as other listed structures in the locality. The Stourbridge Town Canal Arm has only survived thanks to the volunteer activity at the Warehouse. As visitors stand and admire the new Honours Board and use the facilities today they can, just for a moment, remember the hard work put in by a dedicated volunteer force.”

 The Trust has a responsibility to maintain the standard of the area they control along the town Arm and also maintain the Bonded Warehouse and associated buildings and structures. The Trust is always keen to recruit new volunteers who wish to get actively involved in fulfilling their aims – they are sure to receive a warm welcome by our enthusiastic team.

The gallery of photographs below illustrate the making of the Honours Board and celebrations of volunteers and Trustees after the official unveiling.

Severn Valley Railway Association (Stourbridge Branch) – 2026 Meeting Dates and Topics

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SVR Stourbridge Meetings Programme 2026

We are pleased to confirm the Severn Valley Railway (Stourbridge Branch) meetings programme for January to March 2026, held at The Bonded Warehouse. The specific topics to be presented are highlighted in the poster above.

Meetings are usually held on the first Wednesday of each month in the Brindley Room commencing at 7.30pm.

We welcome a variety of speakers covering all aspects of railways, and sometimes other types of transport as well. A small charge of £3 is made to cover room costs.

For further details contact Chris Dyche 01384 375582.

2022 Open Weekend is a major success

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The popular annual Open Weekend which had been postponed due to Covid-19 for the past 2 years finally returned to the Bonded Warehouse and the Stourbridge Arm of the canal over the weekend of 15th / 16th October 2022. With the benefit of fair weather and consequently a large public turnout it was a resounding success with thousands of smiling visitors coming along to support and enjoy the event.

The Open Weekend featured food stalls including the popular hog roast, a plethora of colourful craft stalls, a rally of 45 boats, a display of fantastic classic vehicles, a real ale bar, children’s rides, live music with broadcasting from Black Country Radio’s double decker bus, and numerous other traders showcasing the best of local business or as representatives of voluntary groups engaging with the community.

We were pleased to welcome local MPs Suzanne Webb and Mike Wood, Dudley’s Deputy Mayor, The Leader of Dudley Council Patrick Harley, the CEO of Canal & River Trust Richard Parry with Richard Preston on the VIP boat.

Stourbridge Navigation Trust are absolutely delighted that the event ran smoothly, despite a few inevitable niggles, this mainly due to the efforts that went into the detailed planning in the preceding months and on the day as a result of the tremendous work done by the SNT volunteers. It was indeed a great success, much enjoyed by the local community to whom we are grateful for their support – we look forward to welcoming you back to Canal Street and the Bonded Warehouse next year!

A Gallery of photographs (courtesy of Trustees Geoff Cooke and Paul Collins) illustrating the event can be viewed below – we hope you enjoy them! If you have any photographs which you think would benefit the gallery then please send them in and we’ll gladly publish them.

60th Anniversary of the Battle of Stourbridge

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This week marks the 60th anniversary of The Battle of Stourbridge which took place an unbelievable 60 years ago this week back in 1962. The aim was to regain navigation on the Town Arm Canal and hold a rally in order to highlight the plight of the then closed Stourbridge ’16’ locks. Thanks largely to the endeavours of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society, with help from the Inland Waterways Association, following a legal battle with The British Transport Commission, the rally went ahead.

By 1964, the Society had made an agreement with the then newly formed British Waterways Board that the ’16’ would be jointly restored using both volunteer and paid Board labour. This made history in being the first such agreement in the country. The ’16’ Locks, and with It the through route to Birmingham, was reopened at Whitsun 1967.

Undoubtedly, had this not happened most of the canal routes in the area would have been filled in and been made into additional road infrastructure. Indeed, the Arm was threatened with this possibility in the early 1970’s, hence the Staffs & Worcs.  Society taking on the restoration of the Town Arm, and subsequently the Bonded Warehouse and its environs.

It’s interesting to reflect on what could have been and how Canal Street, the Bonded Warehouse and the canal route might have looked now if those in power had their way at that challenging time. Certainly looking at the local community enjoying themselves over the recent hot spell in a vibrant Canal Street with the now well maintained and well used Bonded Warehouse, cared for by the Stourbridge Navigation Trust, looking over it all with moorings permanently occupied by residential boaters all of this would have been lost forever if the infamous Battle of Stourbridge hadn’t been fought by local people for the benefit of the community.

Some of the pictures below show the scenes when the rally took place and also a recent portrait of Chris Dyche, SNT Treasurer, who took part in The Battle  and supplied the information above.

  • The Bonded Warehouse - note the lack of windows on the curved brickwork (now opened up).

Stourbridge Navigation Trust Introduces an Online Donation Facility

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Stourbridge Navigation Trust Introduces an Online Donation Facility

The Bonded Warehouse and Canal Company Offices has become one of the most well-known landmarks in Stourbridge. It has come a long way from the derelict building and adjacent canal, both which were under threat of being obliterated, when the Stourbridge Navigation Trust, a voluntary charitable body was set up in 1980s to save these historic assets.

Two hundred year old buildings however require substantial ongoing and costly maintenance to fight both the ravages of time and the current wear and tear of a variety of community usage. Consequently we constantly need to work hard to generate the necessary funds to keep them in good order. This has been particularly challenging in recent times as Covid restrictions have prevented some of our major annual fundraising events that are usually well supported by our local community taking place.

As a new way to generate financial support our Trustees, Geoff Cooke, Lance Cartwright and Chris Dyche have recently been working on setting up an Online Donation facility that as you can see from today’s launch, has just been added as a “Donate Button” to our Bonded Warehouse Website Home Page.

The system we have chosen to underpin our Online Donation channel is well-proven and secure and is used by over 6000 UK charities to raise funds and process donations. It also makes it quicker and easier for people wishing to support the Trust to make their donation using what has become commonplace technology for many. We will also soon be introducing a QR Code link to the Online Donation system on our stationery and posters.

However, if you’d like to donate by phone, do give us a call on 01384 395216 between 9am and 3pm, Monday to Friday, and our Trust Manager, Heide, will be happy to help.

Alternatively if you want to pop a cheque in the post you can send your donation to Stourbridge Navigation Trust, Canal Street, STOURBRIDGE, West Midlands, DY8 4LU. Please make cheques payable to Stourbridge Navigation Trust.

Stourbridge Navigation Trust is committed to preserving its historic buildings and associated structures into the future and is really grateful for any financial support it receives from you to achieve this. It helps us to keep working hard on a facility that we’re passionate about and really makes a difference in helping to maintain and improve our unique buildings for the local community.

Ian Cowdale,

Chairman, Stourbridge Navigation Trust [Registered Charity Number: 1094294]

External Bonded Warehouse Repairs and Painting.

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Passers by in Canal Street may have noticed over the last couple of months the Tuesday Club volunteer group have been really busy and taking advantage of the fair weather to tackle the maintenance work on the windows and doors of the Bonded Warehouse which have been left largely untouched for many a long year.

The work required was certainly more than the proverbial ‘lick of paint’ with the high top floor windows in need of a lot of preparation before the final coat of paint could be applied. The wooden frames where they adjoin the concrete cills were very rotten as they are exposed to the sun during the day and the extremes of rain, frost and wind in the winter months. The work required gaining access by erection of our platform scaffold for the safety of our team and then gouging out the rotten timber until it was sound enough to apply wood hardener and then filler. Of course as the Tuesday Club only get together once a week the work was spread over an extended period of time which at least allowed each stage of the process to settle down and dry thoroughly before receiving the primer, undercoat and top coats of paint.

I must say that the windows and doors on the Canal Street side and ends of the Bonded Warehouse look much smarter now with shiny new coats of paint and we hope that this lasts a good few years before we need to tackle it again. Doing the same job on the canal side of the building is going to be significantly more interesting  in terms of gaining access!

Whilst a small team was working on this project other volunteers worked on the inside of the building, giving the beams in the Brindley room a really good dusting followed by a coat of varnish as well as making good a few areas of the ceiling where the white paint was flaking. The cast iron bridge at the entrance to the moorings has also been rubbed down and re-painted, though the underside remains to be done until when we can ‘borrow’ a boat to paint from. The steps to the Bonded Warehouse and the underside of the lucum above the main entrance has also been given a coat of wood treatment. The fire escape to the side is also being maintained with just a final coat of paint required to finish it off nicely.

The volunteers have done a great job and have saved the Stourbridge Navigation Trust a lot of money by taking on this large project on a voluntary basis in order to keep the building maintained to a good standard for the public. The reward however is the immense pride they take in looking after the building as well as the enjoyment of spending social time with a great bunch of fellas. We are always on the look out for new people to join us so if you are interested in talking to us about joining the team, always pop down on Tuesdays and we can tell you more about the various tasks we undertake.

Bonded Warehouse Artefacts discovered in New Zealand

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We were delighted earlier this week to receive a random email from Michael Hammond in Auckland, New Zealand.

He tells us that he was just having a look in a charity shop, rummage around in a box and something caught his eye – some Middleport pottery. He used to live around the corner and bicycle to work in Kidsgrove using canal tow paths where possible.

And after a bit of a search through a box he came across some mug coasters and got this ‘set’ for about a pound. As you can see from the photographs of the items the coasters are of local canal scenes, featuring the Bonded Warehouse.

Who knows how they managed to end up in New Zealand , but Michael thought that maybe one of our members or canal users might recognize the images of the coasters which perhaps date back to perhaps in 70-80’s?

Fellow Trustees have provided further information of what the images depict as follows:

Top Left, Broad Street Wharf, Wolverhampton (top of the 21)

Top Right, Bonded Warehouse before the dry dock was built but after the winding hole creation. So if my memory is correct the photo is post 1990. The first boat named Dadford went into the dry dock in 1997.

Bottom left, Bratch Locks, Wombourne.

Bottom Right, Gas Street Basin in Birmingham before its re-development.

We suspect that they were sold by Inland Waterways Authority and other canal shops including the Blackcountryman shop. They were probably a holiday memento present to relatives back in NZ as we do have a surprising number of visitors from down under, who hire boats often for 4 weeks or more.

Of the two boats moored alongside the wharf (where the Dry Dock is today, the boat on the inside is OLLY which was owned and liked on by Colin & June Beard. June was SNT Manager from c1988 until 2000.

If you have any personal recollection of the coasters or indeed have some of your own we would be pleased to hear from you to add more detail of these items found on the other side of the world.

2020 Open Weekend and Santa Boat Trips Cancelled.

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With there still being much uncertainty about the ongoing risks and longer-term impacts of the current Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, after much consideration and discussion during a meeting of the Trustees of the Stourbridge Navigation Trust, with reluctance it has been decided to cancel both the Annual Open Weekend in October 2020 and the popular Annual Santa Boat Trip experience at the Bonded Warehouse on all weekends in December 2020.

It is our sincere hope that it will be possible to safeguard all of our volunteers, visitors, boaters, traders, entertainers and food retailers, sufficiently to organise the Open Weekend in 2021 in its traditional usual weekend of Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th October 2021.

Santa sends his sincere apologies and his elves are distraught at the thought of disappointing all of the lovely children who come to see him. However, we hope that you will all understand why this decision needed to be taken. It does give the elves an opportunity to plan for a bigger and better Santa experience in 2021 and we have already pencilled in the dates for weekends next year (10th/11th/12th December and 18th/19th December) as Santa is a busy man!

Trustees and volunteers thank you for your continuing support and understanding in these difficult times.

“We, including Santa and his elves will be back!”

Stourbridge Army Cadet Force “armed” by SNT

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The Trust’s complimentary association with the Stourbridge Platoon of the Army Cadets Force has been going for 2 years now and has proved to be mutually very beneficial. Visitors to the recent Open Weekend would have seen the local platoon being highly visible either at their recruitment stand or helping out around the site during the course of both days. All of this voluntary work  is great evidence to support  their contribution to “community activity” for Duke of Edinburgh awards, so counts for not only the platoon but also for individual cadets aspiring towards this hard earned and prestigious award.

In exchange for their valued efforts a number of  “Tuesday Club” volunteers down at the Bonded Warehouse have,  over the last year, carefully tooled an armoury of wooden rifles which were in short supply and would have cost a lot of money to have been commercially produced. The work was quite intricate actually as there are some very tight angles to cut and a good amount of detail in the wooden weapons.

The Trust was delighted to receive a “Thank You” card from the platoon with the message “Dear Stourbridge Navigation Trust Volunteers, thank you for all your hard work producing wooden rifles for our Cadets. They are outstanding quality and really enhance training. As you can see in the covering photograph they will be well used, best Wishes, Stourbridge Platoon, Army Cadet Force.”

The photograph above shows the SNT Chairman, David Caunt, who has personally spent a lot his time helping to produce the rifles, lined up with a number of Cadets sporting the new rifles.

We look forward to continuing our effective working relationship with Stourbridge Platoon in the coming years.

 

 

New wall and railings now in place.

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It had been noticed for some time that the wall acting as a boundary between Stourbridge Navigation Trust and what will soon be re-named “The Old Wharf” was starting to lean quite noticeably – our regular Tuesday Club volunteer, John Ganner, a former builder, expressed his concerns and so did Jack the new proprietor of the soon to open pub – there was only one course of action to take.

A few quotations were acquired and various options explored as to how the work might be done, what we all wanted it to look like and of course as a Charitable Trust we were very mindful of the potential cost. In fairness it didn’t take too long to put a plan in place and over a couple of months the old wall which featured blue bricks showing the “SNT” initials was demolished, new stronger footings put in place and the new walling built. The final part was the installation of attractive railings on top of the wall to serve as the boundary, providing security for our moorers and giving a nice view from the pub’s outside space up the Stourbridge Arm.

The photo gallery below shows the various stages of the job from day one to demolition to rebuilding and the end product which all agree is very smart. That’s another job off the list and quite a considerable sum spent from the Trust’s bank account.

There’s only one small job to do now to complete the job and that is to re-instate the plaque which heralded the building of the original wall in 2003 – it’s only right that the history of the site is preserved. Photographs of the plaque is also shown in the gallery below and this will be fixed in place very soon.