Earlier in the year the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands decided to recognise the 50th anniversary of the legal entity called the West Midlands County by recognising 50 residents of each of the 7 Boroughs for their voluntary service during that time.

Our very own Chris Dyche, a long-standing Trustee at Stourbridge Navigation Trust, was justifiably one of those to be recognised. He was invited to a prestigious gathering in the Great Hall of the University of Birmingham on the afternoon of Sunday, 23rd June, accompanied by his daughter, Sharon Steventon, to be recognised by the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Sir John Crabtree CVO OBE.

It is so pleasing to all of the fellow Trustees at SNT and indeed the Severn Valley Railway to see that he is to be honoured at such a high profile event for his significant voluntary efforts.

Chris has made a massive difference to the community and is an exemplary example of volunteering. His voluntary work started at least 50 years ago as a Member of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society (SWCS) from the early 1970’s.  During the 1970’s he was a member of the Society’s Stourbridge Sub-Committee, and involved in the early restoration work on the Stourbridge Town Arm Canal. (At that Time the Canal was totally unavailable & the Tow Path impassable in places). He then became Treasurer of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society in June 1979, a position he held until June 2020 before a step up to Chairman of SWCS for four years in early 2001 – 2004. Following this, he also served a year’s term as the Society’s President and is now a Society Vice President.  Ultimately he was awarded Membership of the Society in 2008.

When the Stourbridge Navigation Trust was formed as a stand-alone organisation c1984 he became Trust Treasurer. Stourbridge Navigation Trust Ltd incorporated in 2002 and he became Financial Director, a post he still holds today. He also serves as Financial Director of Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. (A full owned subsidiary of Stourbridge Navigation Trust Ltd.) .He is actively involved in most of Stourbridge Navigation Trust’s activities including holding key responsibilities for the Trust’s Annual Open Weekend from which started in 1983 and runs to date.

As an addition to the above waterways oriented roles Chris was an ordinary member of the Severn Valley Railway from the late 1960’s and became a regular volunteer at Kidderminster station as a Booking Office Clerk since 1996. He rose to the position of Chairman of the SVR’s Stourbridge Branch for about the last fifteen years.

So, you can just imagine the time and effort that Chris has selflessly put into these organisations and surely they would be lesser entities if he had not been around.

Once again hearty and well deserved congratulations to Chris who has volunteered with SNT for the whole of the 50 years and more.

He confesses to being a bit overwhelmed by this recognition, as he isn’t an accolade person, but he did report that he thoroughly enjoyed the event at which he was accompanied by his proud daughter Sharon.

Stourbridge Navigation Trust, based at The Bonded Warehouse, is always on the lookout for new volunteers so it is perhaps an opportune time, inspired by Chris’s achievements, to issue a plea to people who might be looking to do some voluntary work at the Trust or indeed to become a Trustee – if you wish to get involved at whatever level please get in touch and you will be made most welcome – it’s very rewarding and has a good social atmosphere with like minded local people.

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.

This week marks the 60^th 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.

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]

The Mayor of Dudley has officially unveiled a new potentially life-saving canal side Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) near Stourbridge’s historic Bonded Warehouse.

Stourbridge Navigation Trust has bought and installed the equipment, which can re-start a heart in the event of cardiac arrest. A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest. This high energy shock is called defibrillation, and it’s an essential lifesaving step in the chain of survival.

The group, which looks after the Bonded Warehouse and Stourbridge Canal Arm, secured nearly £2,000 funding from the Norton, Pedmore and Stourbridge East, and Wollaston and Stourbridge Town Community Forum.

The defibrillator was officially unveiled on 27th February by Councillor Alan Taylor as trustees, volunteers and local business representatives watched on.

Lance Cartwright, Trustee for Stourbridge Navigation Trust, said:

“The area along the canal is very popular with walkers, runners, cyclists and visitors to the Bonded Warehouse itself so we felt it was very much in the interests of everyone in the local community to invest in a defibrillator which could potentially save lives in the event of a medical emergency.

We were delighted that the Mayor was able to attend to officially unveil it.”

Councillor Alan Taylor, Mayor of Dudley, said:

“It is a medical fact that having defibrillators in close proximity can literally be the difference between life and death for people who suffer a heart attack.

This defibrillator will be available to anyone who needs it, and trustees and volunteers of the trust will be trained in how to use it should an emergency arise. Local businesses will also be able to take advantage of training too.

It is an excellent example of how organisations can use the Council’s Community Forums to secure funding for projects to benefit everyone.”

Training in how to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and when / how to use the Defibrillator was given to over 40 local people who live , work or use community facilities based at the Bonded Warehouse later in the day by Paul Grove from Blackcountry Fast Aid.

Access to and use of the Bonded Warehouse PAD

The PAD is retained in a secure cabinet located on the outside wall of the office building, near to the weighbridge – it’s easy to spot the bright yellow box ! Access is via a key coded lock that SNT and the West Midlands Ambulance Service  have custody of.  In the case of a public 999 emergency call being made, the ambulance service will instruct the caller that this is their nearest PAD and tell them the code to open the security case. Once used the PAD is returned and a person responsible for it at SNT will be contacted about the incident.

Defibrillators are used as briefly described below by the British Heart Foundation:

• If you come across someone who is not breathing or breathing erratically, the most important thing is to call 999 and start CPR to keep the blood flowing around the body. After a cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces someone’s chance of survival by 10 per cent.

• If you’re on your own, don’t interrupt the CPR to go and get a defibrillator. If it’s possible, send someone else to find one. When you call 999, the operator can tell you if there’s a public access defibrillator nearby and the code to open the cabinet.

• Once the defibrillator is open and in position, all you have to do is follow the spoken instructions. The PAD installed by SNT is “fully automatic” and will give verbal instructions of how to use it. The defibrillator detects the heart’s rhythm, it won’t deliver a shock unless one is needed. You should resume CPR as soon as instructed by the defibrillator.

We hope that the defibrillator is never used but also feel that if a heart-related emergency does occur then it might just help to save someone’s life.