Hello, how you doing? This isn't the Shropshire Union Canal hang on a minute.
Well what a busy couple of weeks I've had. I went up onto the Trent & Mersey then
turn left onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal on my way to the
Shropshire Union and exactly two weeks ago tonight, an absolute disaster happened on
the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union.The canal bank
burst, right next to an aqueduct and all the water from the canal went rushing
down into the river below. Caused complete chaos, stranded sort of 27 boats
I think it was, all sat on the mud. Complete disaster. Now I wasn't going on
the Middlewich Branch until later on in the summer but it'll be out of action
for months and months and cost a lot of money. Millions and millions of pounds to fix.
Now remember Canal & River Trust that
I pay my licence to is a charity and yes they must have some sort of contingency
funds for for disasters like this but, this is going to cost them so much money.
So I've included a link below to their Just Giving page and let's see if we can
donate some money in and get it fixed. Now the reason why I'm not going on the
Shropshire Union, even though it hasn't affected me directly, is a number of
viewers got in contact saying that because there's a lot of hire boat
companies on the Shropshire Union and also on the Llangollen, they've now got nowhere
to go. They're sort of stranded on the journey
of the Shropshire Union and left on Llangollen.
Now they are long canals and they won't be affected hire boat wise, but you
know me, I don't really like going to areas where there's lots and lots of
people. So I moored up in Stafford Boat Club for a couple of days. I took a
couple of days off, went and did some work and I've turned around and come
on to the Trent & Mersey Canal. You can't travel north towards Stoke-on-Trent
without passing Wedgwood. It's a fine china, porcelain and luxury accessory
manufacturer. There are lots of mooring spaces before and after bridge 104. It's
then a quick walk up the road to the factory. I posted a few comments on
Twitter and Facebook that I was coming here today and boy did I get some funny
comments. Ian Dickson was the first one that made a funny comment he said
I knew it would happen after such a drastic change
in the way you live, you've finally going potty,
lets hope you don’t crack as well!
Nice little jokes there Ian seeing as I was going to a pottery factory and
John Rushworth commented
Crockery what happened to batteries and stuff. Anyone would
think you on a permanent holiday!
Well John, that's exactly it. I wanted to mix
it up a little bit. For the last couple of videos, I've done nothing but batteries,
cables, connectors, so I thought there's nothing more drastic than a
video completely the other end of the scale, which is about pottery. So I went
inside and let's have a look at how I got on.
Josiah Wedgwood worked with the established Potter Thomas Whieldon until
1759 when relatives leased Ivy house to him, which is just northeast of the city.
It allowed him to start his own pottery business on this large Staffordshire
estate. In 1765 Wedgwood created a new form of earthenware which impressed the
then, British Queen consort. She gave official permission to call it
Queen's ware, which sold extremely well across Europe. Obviously there's a lot of
testing involved when doing pottery. In these drawers there's all the different
types of glazing and the different colours that they used. After thousands of
tests and experiments, Josiah created Jasper, the most famous of
his inventions in 1774. It was an unglazed stoneware made from blue, green,
lilac, yellow, black or white. The iconic light blue Jasper gave rise to the
expression 'Wedgwood Blue' and remains a recognisable Wedgwood signature
worldwide. The museum here at Wedgwood is really quite big. It explains the full
history of the pottery company right back to the 1700s. Josiah Wedgwood
quickly became Britain's most inspired and successful ceramics pioneer. His
genius led English pottery from a cottage craft, to an art form and
international industry that is still going today. There's a factory tour here
but photography is strictly forbidden but I've been granted special permission
to show you inside. Fourteen and a half thousand new pieces are made here every
week. The vast factory floor buzzes with
hundreds of items traveling along conveyer belts, in
and out of ovens in every direction. There are different things going on.
Porcelain is painted in one direction and crafts men and women are patiently
modelling and decorating exclusive signature pieces in another. As with all
factories, there is a shop here where you can buy all manner of items. Or simply
have an afternoon tea
I went to the restaurant to have a traditional British lunch
of fish and chips - and yes, it was served on Wedgwood crockery! It was then time
for me to put on my apron and throw my first pot.
I wanted to make something similar - ish to number 2. After doing so well, I got
a bit of a wobble on. Luckily Mandy was on hand to help me
de-wobble my new jug.
Oh it's getting there. Then using a wire I cut it from the wheel. It'll now be
glazed, fired and post it to me. I don't think I'm gonna have a job here but
anyway!
Give us your paw... Good Girl.
Yeah you are, you're a good girl. yes you are.
I've just got round the corner from the Wedgwood factory into the lock and
there's loads of people here helping and lots of boats waiting to go up and down.
Well I've got my brand-new Wedgwood mug, with a fresh cup of coffee and I'm
heading north towards Stoke. But before I go, a viewer got in contact with me this
week as her son has something to say. Take it away Henry!
2, 4, 6, 8 who do we appreciate?
Not the king, not the queen but Jono, Jono, Jono! (Thanks Henry!)