Restoration Hub

restoration HUB: 2021 Updates

Restoring Confidence Project draws to an end

In 2019 IWA was awarded £30,000 from the National Lottery’s Resilient Heritage Fund to run our Restoring Confidence Project. The grant has enabled us to improve our support for the restoration sector over the past 18 months. Project activities included upskilling key volunteers and staff, offering heritage training to volunteers, and providing guidance and training to groups on strategic issues such as diversity, the environment and governance.

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted our ability to deliver the planned programme of events and activities but also presented us with opportunities. Restrictions on activities in 2020 gave us the time reflect and review our current working models and explore what could be achieved through digital channels. As a result, we have been able to create more accessible formats for many of our events, which have attracted a wider range of participants.

Some key outputs include:

n 860 attendees at our new Restoration Hub webinars, workshops and other training events. There was a wide range of sessions covering topics on governance, fundraising, biodiversity net gains and how to run outdoor restoration events during Covid-19 restrictions. n 194 queries were received by our Restoration Hub Hotline. These included things like requests to undertake preliminary Environmental

Surveys and helping develop volunteer training programmes, to technical advice on rebuilding bridges and locks. n Strategic thinking on Environmental Issues. We formed the Biodiversity

Net Gains Working Group for Waterway Restoration to ensure the sector seizes any opportunities as this legislation comes in. n Creation of IWA’s new digital Restoration Hub. A dedicated space on IWA’s new website full of resources for waterway restoration groups is due to launch November. We have also created Restoration

Hub TV on IWA’s YouTube channel – 15 webinars and guidance videos have received over 2,600 views. n 105 volunteers gained new skills. Restoration volunteers have developed a wide range of skills by attending courses – we now have more first aiders, mental health first aiders, slingers and chainsaw operators.

The project has also led to a better understanding of the future challenges the waterways sector is facing. One area that has been a recurring theme is the need to improve diversity and inclusion in the sector and making sure we are relevant and engaging to young audiences. There is a huge opportunity for the sector to engage with young people and build stronger, more sustainable organisations so we will look to develop this aspect of engagement going forward.

The work of the Biodiversity Net Gains working groups has encouraged the sector to visualise construction-focused heritage projects as eco highways. The 2021 Restoration Conference, The Big Green Conversation, continued this greener sector outlook.

IWA’s restoration sector support is funded through memberships, donations and grants. IWA would like to thank the National Lottery Fund for supporting this project.

Ecological Survey Training on the Sleaford Navigation.

A volunteer undertaking first aid training during Covid-19.

Waterways in Progress: Ashby Canal Trail

Work is underway to build a new trail for the Ashby Canal, which has been funded through our Waterways in Progress grant.

Volunteers rolled up their sleeves to clear and level a section of the path. Several new gates are now installed on the trail that will create a safe pathway link between the village and the canal. A delivery of 20 waymarkers are also keeping the hardworking volunteers busy.

The village of Snarestone at the terminus of the canal is a short walk from Measham. However, there is little to link the two settlements. Waterway users arriving at Snarestone along the canal often aren’t aware that Measham, with its shops and facilities, is close by. To get to the village, people must currently walk along country lanes with poor visibility and unsafe verges. We hope the trail will help to regenerate the area, as well as highlight the local heritage.

Our Waterways in Progress grant scheme was made possible by legacies that have been left to the Association.

New gates installed along the Ashby Canal.

Duke of Edinburgh Award students at Schoolhouse Bridge on the Montgomery Canal. Stonework at the Derby Canal Camp.

Five restoration projects boosted by Canal Camps

Starting small young volunteers at the Wendover Arm family day.

IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group organised a series of small-scale Canal Camps and a family volunteering day over the summer to help bring the waterways back to life. This phased return to activity involved over 70 volunteers on five different sites supporting restoration work on the River Waveney, Montgomery Canal, Wendover Arm, Derby & Sandiacre Canals, and Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. New ‘Staying Safe’ Covid-19 measures were trialled on these projects, which included smaller participant numbers and lateral flow tests before and after the events.

The family volunteering day on the Wendover Arm Canal was particularly successful with ten children and their families joining in with the activities. The kids spent the day learning how to lay bricks and exploring nature along the restoration project, which included building a bug hotel and hedgehog house.

Since the trial events in August another mini Canal Camp has been held on the River Waveney in order to complete the restoration of the south wall of Geldeston Lock.

In October, WRG volunteers worked with the Burslem Port Trust to create a new footpath. The Burslem Port Footsteps project aims to provide a walkway from the Trent & Mersey Canal along the line of the Burslem Branch Canal. The work, funded by a local council grant, will reopen this heritage green space to the public and help the trust increase its community engagement. It will also demonstrate to the wider community and funders that BPT has the ability to undertake and deliver a major project.

While the decision has been made not to run any big reunion events this year, further small-scale Canal Camps and weekend digs are planned for the autumn and winter. Regional groups are also planning to support the Buckingham Canal, Wey & Arun Canal and Schoolhouse Bridge (Montgomery Canal) restoration projects.

For details of upcoming events and to sign up to receive our 2022 Canal Camps brochure go to waterways.org.uk/wrg.

Lou I se Be LLA ers Rebuilding Geldeston Lock on the River Waveney.