News
The Portal Wins Lottery Funding
(posted 25/5/2013)
Ale Aboard! Update
(posted 17/5/2013)
A New Video In Little Tess Cavern
(posted 17/5/2013)
Special Members Tunnel Trip
(posted 27/2/2013)
DCT Beer Festival
(posted 27/3/2013)
The Portal
After several years of development work and with enormous thanks to all who have contributed, DCT (Trips) Ltd has been successful in securing a confirmed grant of up to £989,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Portal project. Subject to securing the required partnership funding this will enable the first phase of construction to be planned for spring next year, with the building being ready to use by autumn 2014. Taking into account work done to get to this stage and forthcoming construction costs, DCT and DCT (Trips) Ltd have between them pledged over £500,000 towards the project. The focus now is on securing the balance of around £320,000 required to enable the first phase of construction to proceed.
This fantastic news comes hot on the heels of a partnership agreement with Dudley College, whereby catering lecturers and students will provide the catering function within the Portal building, meaning a valuable training kitchen for students and high quality food for visitors.
The Portal building will create a welcome for visitors in keeping with the labyrinth of canal tunnels and magnificent limestone caverns within Castle Hill, a unique gem of the Black Country that is hidden underground and only accessible by boat. As members of DCT are aware, the site is of regional, national and international significance for its geology, links with our industrial past, and history of canals. The Portal project aims to bring the importance of this heritage site to the attention of a wider audience and in turn provide it with a secure future and long-term public access.
An enhanced educational programme will be introduced, to include new opportunities for volunteers. The project also includes a covered area for trip-boat embarkation and a pedestrian swing-bridge to encourage visitors into and from the Black Country Living Museum.
The Portal building will serve as an access point for visitors using the Castle Hill recreational trail that is currently being developed to provide a physical link between the three heritage attractions at Castle Hill: Dudley Castle & Zoological Gardens, Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Canal Tunnel & Limestone Mines. The Castle Hill Vision is a separate initiative being organised by a steering group led by New Heritage Regeneration Limited and Dudley Council.
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the HLF aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places, to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, HLF has supported almost 35,000 projects with more than £5.3bn across the UK.
(more details on:
www.hlf.org.uk
)
(posted 25/5/2013)
Ale Aboard! – Update
Real Ale and canals seem naturally to go together, so Dudley Canal Trust has decided to hold its first Real Ale and Cider Festival on its site by the Dudley Tunnel at Todd’s End, off the Birmingham New Road, just around the corner from the Black Country Living Museum.
Unashamedly, this is, in part, a fundraising event, but also it is a bunch of Real Ale lovers putting on a festival for like minded people.
The dates and times for your diary are:
Thursday 27th June 2013 6pm to 11pm
Friday 28th and Saturday 29th June 2013 11am to 11pm
We will be putting on 30 plus beers, some not usually seen in the area and some from closer by. There will also be ciders, real, of course, and some English wines. Drinking ales often produces an appetite and so there will be a variety of hot and cold food available.
Please come along and enjoy ale, cider or wine in our canalside setting and if you cannot make it, why not recommend it to friends and neighbours - they’ll enjoy it and help the Trust at the same time.
If you are able to spare us an hour or two or more helping out, that would be great - please contact Pauline Farnell:
or
(as a small incentive the beer and cider will be a little cheaper while you are helping).
Important - Entry is free at all times to Dudley Canal Trust members, so don’t forget to bring your membership card.
For further details please contact June Hodgetts on
Jeff Luesly
Chairman, DCT(Trips) Ltd
(posted 17/5/2013)
A New Video In Little Tess Cavern
DCT (Trips) Ltd has recently installed a new video in Little Tess Cavern which is seen by the public as part of our boat trip into the mines and tunnels. The video has a similar theme to the old one but uses state of the art computer graphics and scenes shot on location to trace the history of Castle Hill from the earliest geological times, through to the industrial revolution and the period of canal building and mining.
The video has been produced by Anachronistic Productions Ltd, a London based company who specialise in using computer graphics to re-create scenes that occurred before the advent of film or video – in our case even before human life existed. During the making of the video we have worked closely with Graham Worton, Dudley’s geologist, to ensure the accuracy of the geological features. To present the video to its best advantage a new five metre wide screen was installed in the cavern and a new high definition solid state video store feeds the show to the projector.
The new show was launched in April with a VIP trip and reception. In addition to many local newspaper representatives we were fortunate to have Mark Gough and a cameraman from Central ITV present and an excellent report duly appeared on Central News.
I would like to thank all those who assisted in this project and also those who accepted our invitation to the launch.
Derek Gittings
Go and see the new video. DCT members enjoy unlimited standard trips in to the Dudley Tunnel and limestone mines (subject to booking at the towpath office)
(posted 17/5/2013)
Special Members Tunnel Trip
We will be holding an exclusive boat trip through Dudley Tunnel on Saturday 6th April for our members. The trip will go from the Parkhead end of the tunnel and will include the audio visual display. There will be a coach waiting at Todd’s End to take us back to our cars at the Pumphouse when the trip finishes.
The itinerary is as follows:
11.00 Meet for tea/coffee and biscuits at:
Blowers Green Pumphouse,
Peartree Lane,
Dudley, DY2 0XP
11.30 We will take a short walk to the waiting trip boat.
12.00 Boat trip begins. Our skipper will take us through the tunnel and through the audio visual display. The trip will last about 1½ hours.
13.30 (approx) Arrive at Todd’s End where a coach will return us to the Pumphouse.
You will need to wear warm clothing, sturdy shoes and consider bringing a waterproof coat.
The trip is free to all DCT members (guests of members can be booked at £5 each).
This trip is subject to there being enough interest and is on a first come first served basis.
Please confirm no later than 1st April if you wish to attend.
Pauline Farnell
call or text
(posted 27/2/2013)
Beer Festival
Have you mentioned to people that you are a member of Dudley Canal Trust and they have asked you what that is? When some realise where our attraction is, many respond “Oh isn’t that part of the Black Country Living Museum?” We believe that we must constantly try to raise the profile of the Trust so people know about the unique limestone mines that we have the privilege of showing to the public.
To this end, we have decided to run a Beer Festival on the evening of Thursday 27th June and all day on 28th & 29th, which will take place on the car park at Todd’s End.
For any of you that have ever been involved with a Beer Festival, you will know that running this will be quite hard work.
I am, therefore, appealing to Trust members to put these dates in your diary and, if at all possible, come along and give us a hand. We would like help to set the Festival up on the Wednesday and take down on the Sunday. Of course, we shall also need help to sell the beer when open! An hour or two given at any time would be much appreciated. If you would like to help or would like further information, please contact me. Even if you are unable to help, please come along for a drink and try to bring a friend!
We shall be offering about 30 different real ales, real cider and English wine. There will also be food available offered by local outside caterers.
Full details will be advertised in the next Legger.
Jeff Luesley
Chairman, DCT (Trips) Ltd
DCT Office:
(posted 27/3/2013)