Imagine the scene: an early frosty morning in the January of 1954 around Pelsall Common, at the northern edge of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.rnSnow has been falling for some days, and has blanketed the canal and surrounding land of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. Nevertheless, the coal boat crews still have a job to do - to get their coal from the pits around Cannock to the waiting wharves. Some coal companies like Leonard Leigh and Alfred Matty have tugs which are capable of breaking a road through the ice, as long as it isn't too thick. Other boats must wait until the company ice-boat has gone through; so they wait patiently, shivering in the hatches until they can get under way.
展开▼
