[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > ? [Any ideas for instance why the previously used open ground just past Rem= > brandt Gardens was not used for stalls & suchlike?]
If you mean the mainly grassed area on the east side of the Paddington Basin arm just through the bridge from the Pool, my understanding is that it's the dreaded elf'n'safety. That area (known as the 'grass site') was getting more and more rutted and uneven underfoot in the latter years that we used to use it, and regarded as a trip hazard. In addition, easy access from the towpath was only possible via a floating pontoon bridge which had to be manned at all times - partly so that it could be moved every time a boat went through, and partly to enforce a strict limit on the number of people on it at once to prevent it ceasing to be a floating bridge! I rather suspect the risk assessment for this operation might be tricky today... In addition, part of this site has been fenced off as it is the site for the aborted (or shelved) plan to build a new footbridge - I think the footings were put in but no more. If this idea is resurrected (and one proposal is to reuse the former Brunel-built structure which used to carry Bishops Bridge Road over the Arm until it was removed and stored by English Heritage as part of dismantling works prior to the new road bridge over the railway and arm being built a couple of years ago) it might also involve some landscaping of the grass site and enable its use at future Canalway Cavalcades. Martin
