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www.ilkestonlife.com ILKESTON LIFE January 2022 14
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Boyhood memories we swam either. We swam in all

We would like to wish by Larry Pique the locks from Potters lock near
Cotmanhay to Stanton lock. Below
all our readers, adver- Stanton lock was a stretch of water
tisers, contributors and Down known locally as “hot waters”. It
was on this stretch that Stanton
volunteers Ironworks emptied the cooling
water from its blast furnaces which
A happy and the Cut raised the temperature considerably.
It was like swimming in a warm
bath – lovely.
healthy new year (the Erewash Canal) About half a mile above Gallows
there was a man who used to rent
uring the summers of the out a few boats. There were several
fibre-glass canoes and a rowing
D1970s one of the abiding boat. The canoes cost us 2p for an
We appreciate all you memories of my childhood hour – he didn’t really time us - and
do to help us produce was when one or another of my I think the rowing boat was 5p. We
and distribute the mates would suggest “going spent many an hour paddling up
paper each month down t’cut”. and down, exploring the reed beds
This, of course, meant going down and any other nook or cranny. One
to the Erewash Canal to entertain summers day we even found mus-
sels breeding at one shallow part
with Pest and Diseases: Witch hazels ourselves. More often than not it near the bottom of Station Road:
was “down Gallows” which was
can sucker. To minimise this prob-
Life in the Garden Gardener lem, avoid planting too deeply and the Gallows Inn lock at the bottom maybe they still are.
Nowadays I cycle to work along the
Steve do not bury the graft union. of Nottingham Road where the cut from Hallam Fields to Sandiacre
humpback bridge goes over the
Hello done whilst they are dormant. Winter Interest in the canal; there we would strip down to – at midnight. It rarely rains on me
so it is a really serene and beautiful
Gardeners… Gardener Steve’s Plant of Garden nowt but cut-offs – usually an old little trip especially if there is a
pair of jeans with the legs cut off –
Welcome to January‘s Life in the the Month Winter is often thought as a dull and dare each other to be the first to starry and moonlit sky. Most nights
time in the garden but there are
I am accompanied by a bat who, for
Garden and may I wish you all a HAMAMELIS MOLLIS still plenty of plants that offer jump into the murky, greeny-brown some reason unknown to me, flies
very happy and healthy gardening Chinese witch hazel colour and interest there are flow- water. I was rarely the first one in alongside and above me for most
new year! ering shrubs that give fragrance but often I was the last one out. I of the ride. It might be several bats
I hope you are all ready to get Hamamelis are deciduous shrubs during these months and colour loved swimming; had done so since rather than just the one but for most
started in your gardens again. belonging to the Hamamelidaceae can also come from the stems and my mum had taught me to swim of the journey they flitter happily
at the old open air baths at the top
Spring isn’t far away. I have add- family with large ovate or rounded bark during the dormant season end of Wharncliffe Road – she did along silhouetted against the night
ed some jobs for you to be getting leaves, widely grown as orna- of trees and shrubs. I always try this before she could swim a stroke sky. One night as I rode down onto
on with. mental plants and are beautiful to encourage interest through the herself; just endless patience and the towpath at the start of my night-
My motto is that we carry on with specimens in any garden border. winter so here are some that can gentle coaxing and before long I ly ride something hit me straight in
colour and interest in our gardens They have fragrant yellow to red be added to your winter garden. was swimming like a fish. the face and I felt its leathery wings
for 12 months of the year and flowers with four narrow petals, We’d spend hour after hour in those fluttering as it slid to my right and
January is no exception. Below I borne on the leafless branches in Plants and Trees for stem and summer months, in and out of the off into the night.
have given my favourites that can late winter, also stunning autumn bark interest: water, diving off the lock gates to The strangest thing I saw was this.
be used in your gardens that will leaf colour. 1. Acer griseum the lower reach and being swept As I approached the first part of
do just that whether it be flower or A beautiful shrub for a woodland 2. Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter further down by the weir outwash Sandiacre I could see, in the dis-
stem colour there’s a plant there edge, or winter border or along- Fire’ then clambering out and running up tance on the road that runs parallel
for everyone. side a path, where its fragrance 3. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ the towpath, over the road on bare, to the cut, blue flashing lights and
Happy Gardening Everyone! can be appreciated. It has also won 4. Prunus serrula wet feet for another go. There were a torch making its way across
the Royal Horticultural Societies 5. Salix alba var. vitellina fewer narrow boats in those days
January Jobs Award of Garden Merit (AGM) Plants for fragrant blooms as the canal was no longer used to the field towards the canal. As I
came closer I could see what was
Flowering period: December -
Buy and plant snowdrops that are February. 1. Chimonanthus praecox transport freight and pleasure boat- happening. There was a horse in
ing was in its infancy so when one
in the green, potted and are ready Position: Full sun, Partial shade 2. Daphne bholua did come along it was so exciting the canal! He seemed quite happy;
to flower. Height and Spread: 3m x 3m (9ft 3. Lonicera × purpusii ‘Winter to see the lock used for the pur- munching away at the grass on the
Continue planting trees and shrubs x 9ft). Beauty’ pose for which it was intended. We bank and oblivious to the fuss he
while they are still dormant. Soil: Most garden soil. 4. Sarcococca confusa would scramble to help by opening was causing. There were at least
Try forcing rhubarb plants by Hardiness: Hardy shrub. 5. Viburnum × bodnantense the sluices on the lock gates to two fire engines and two police
placing an upturned bucket or bin Propagation: Propagate by seed ‘Dawn fill the lock for those boats going cars. I would have loved to stay and
over the crown. This will force sown in containers as soon as ripe, Remember please keep getting in downstream; then, in teams of two watch them get the poor creature
tender pink stems to grow that will by simple layering of suitable touch with your stories, photos, or more we would open the gates out, which I’m sure they did, but I
be ready in about 8 weeks’ time. shoots in spring, by grafting in late events, general gardening advice themselves to allow the boat into had to get to work. He wasn’t there
Start chitting (sprouting) early winter or by chip budding in late and help with plant identification the lock. If we were really lucky a the next morning and there was no
potatoes - stand them on end in a summer. just email me at gardenerste- boat owner would let us ride down activity at the spot so I’m sure it
module tray or egg box and place Pruning: Lightly prune after flow- ve24@live.co.uk the lock in his boat – a real novelty. all went …… er …. Swimmingly.
in a bright cool frost-free place. ering in late winter - early spring I ook forward to hearing from you It wasn’t just Gallows where Sorry!
Begin pruning apple trees and pear remove any misplaced, crossing or and See you all in February.
trees, this is carried out whilst diseased branches. Gardener Steve.
The weir
beside the
Erewash
Canal at
‘Sandy
Bottoms’ -
a popular
place for
summer
time
bathing
years ago.
Stanton’s
slag tip
can be
seen in
the back-
Gardener Steve’s Plant of the ground.
Month - Witch Hazel