Progress roundup

Work continues on the Wendover, regular work-parties get going on the Derby, and there’s good progress - and a boat - on the Buckingham

Grand Union Wendover Arm Derby & Sandiacre Canal

BCS The Wendover Arm Trust’s May and June Working Parties both started with the Friday spent pumping out water! During May work had to be restricted to bulk excavation but things improved in June; 27 metres of both banks were profiled ready for lining.

For the July and August Working Parties, work could now progress on lining both banks and follow with bed lining.

Whitehouses: The work now forging ahead on the channel means that work will reach Whitehouses probably before CRT even begin work on the pseudo weir at Whitehouses; we still await their estimate for the work.

Tidy Friday: John Reynolds and his team continue with their good work of vegetation control This is valuable work and I am sure John would like to hear from anyone able to spare a Friday once a month. Roger Leishman The Derby & Sandiacre Canal Socity currently hold between two and three working parties each week. On Wednesday we can be located at the bottom lock in Borrowash, restoring one of our locks along with the help from locals.

Fridays can find us at the recently acquired derelict cottages that we are restoring in Draycott, all building skills along with general labour are appreciated to help us keep costs under control.

Every other Sunday we are at various sites along our route depending on work needed to maintain pathways and walks.

Full details can be found on our website: www.derbycanal.org.uk or contact me direct via coordinator@derbycanal.org.uk Eddy Case, Chairman

Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society 07523 896645

We hope to have a Derby camp report next time

progress Buckingham

Buckingham Canal

Work on the restoration of Bridge No1 (at the far end of the surviving length used for moorings at Cosgrove) is well underway, with much of the original stone work still in good shape. Our volunteers have completed the task of building a platform in the bed of the canal to provide a base for them to work from when the next stage of the restoration begins. You may recall that back on 10-11 February we were joined by a group from London WRG who worked alongside our own volunteers, removing more of the soil from the bridge’s wing walls and building a flight of steps on the steep slope up to the bridge. These steps have since proved very popular with walkers, particularly when the towpath is very wet and muddy. They have certainly made the climb and the descent a lot easier. On 6 March a group of students attending a brick laying course at Milton Keynes College visited the site with their teacher, in preparation for them to help with the work of restoring the bridge. LWRG joined us again for the weekend of 21-22 April, when they completed one corner of stonework and erected a second scaffolding tower, and they are due to visit us again on 22-23 September. Regarding the bridge reconstruction our structural engineer, Keith Rawlings, has submitted his recommendations, and subsequent discussions took place with Phil Emery, the Senior Heritage Advisor with Canal & River Trust. We sometimes forget that the restoration of the canal is about protecting some 220 years of industrial heritage, and when Phil saw what we had uncovered, he was highly delighted about how much of the original structure remained. The original design of a hump back bridge will now change to a flat deck, and the principal reason for this design change is the load transference when heavy farm vehicles are present. The new design approach is to put a flat bridge deck slightly above the original stonework, wide enough for a combine harvester. It will be supported on steel beams with transverse concrete beams infilled with concrete blockwork and overlaid with a concrete and mesh screed as a wearing surface. These techniques will show a clearly visible differentiation from the original construction of this structure, but are in accordance with modern restoration practices, whilst also following the guidance issued by the current CRT Senior Heritage Advisor. Nevertheless, the original stonework shall remain wherever possible as a visible monument of the past, as well as a valuable contribution to the future. Final discussions with Phil Emery are upcoming and we are anticipating that we will now progress with getting the formwork in place and steels to site in readiness to enable some good and productive progress over the next few months.

The commitment of Buckingham Canal Society to original and historical construction should stand us in good stead with a future grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), aimed at furthering the restoration of our canal from Wicken to Buckingham.

Whilst work continues at the bridge, our efforts are also focused on progressing west toward the A5. Because of the amount of rainfall we had in the spring, alongside the extra pumping carried out by BCS volunteers, the canal at Cosgrove started to look again like a ‘real canal’ with plenty of water in it, which is always good for publicity! And we even put a boat in it.

Our next big project, known as the New Channel (which deals with the diversionary route around the length obstructed by the A5 and Old Stratford) proceeds at a healthy pace. Good progress is being made, with the initial formal submission to the EU now underway. Web access for this has been granted, and the project team is actively working on our submission. The Society has had preliminary discussions with the Old Stratford Parish Council about potential grant funding which would enable us to buy the land between the A5 and Watling Street. Our intention is to apply for a change of use for this land, and the descent channel across the MK Dons land.

A meeting has also taken place with the South Northamptonshire Council (SNC) Planning team to discuss the overall New Channel proposal. This was very positive with fruitful discussions on both sides.

navvies News

Another WRG North West mini-camp on the Mont, the opening of a slipway on the Wey & Arun, first mention of the C-word... ‘Christmas’

W&A Slipway opening

I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has been involved in the construction of the Wey & Arun Canal’s summit slipway over the past 2 years

We will be holding a opening ceremony on Sunday 30th September to open the slipway and canoe landing stage (assuming with the assistance of the London WRG camp on 1-2 September it’s finished! Which it will be!) Please feel free to pass on the invitation to anyone who has been involved.

The Wey & Arun Canal Trust is also inviting boaters to join in by bringing canoes, kayaks, paddleboards and other small craft - it will be possible to launch trailable craft using the slipway. See weyarun.org.uk for boat entries and details.

Dave Evans

Congratulations...

...to Lucy and Chris Byrne on the arrival of Amber Jade Byrne on 11 August.

Coming soon (1)

WRG North West are running another ‘mini camp’ on the Montgomery Canal, this time concentrating on waterproofing a leaky length of canal near Redwith. The work will involve digging out behind the canal wall, removing rubble and replacing with a more leakproof material, plus removal of bushes and a tree and then making good any damage to the landowner’s garden from the work. It will need dumper and excavator drivers (the latter need to be capable of precise work). Accommodation is likely to be at Llanymynech.

Contact Ju Davenport (see diary pages) for details and to book.

Coming soon (2)

Plans are already in hand for the London WRG and KESCRG Christmas Party Dig on 12 December on the Cotswold Canals. Well, when I say ‘plans’, I mean we’ve already decided the theme for the Saturday night fancy dress and fun - it’s “Food and drink”.

We’ll have more details of the work, how to book, and also information about the rest of the Christmas camps and work parties, next time.

Alan Faulkner R.I.P.

We are sorry to have to bring you the sad news of the death of Alan Faulkner, who had a pivotal role in a number of canal restoration projects particularly on the eastern side of the country. He was involved in the restoration of the Great Ouse, completed in 1978, and more recently in the setting up of the North Walsham & Dilham Canal restoration project as well as the Fens Link scheme and many other schemes - and in the East Anglian Waterways Association, an umbrella body for waterways in that area, being the long-serving editor of its magazine The Easterling.

He was also a prolific author of canal history books, writing heavyweight histories of the canals which made up the Grand Union system, as well as a series of booklets on working narrow boats.

London WRG...

...would like to put on record our heartfelt thanks to the anonymous donor who surprised us all by offering to pay for a new Tirfor winch when ours was found to be beyond economic repair.

Also to the Inland Waterways Association (North and East London branch) who, when our Burco broke, heeded our cries that it would not be possible for us to continue restoring canals if our supplies of tea and coffee were cut off, and chipped in for a new one.

Seriously, many thanks for ensuring that London WRG is fully equipped to face the approaching winter scrub-bashing season. Martin Ludgate page 41