STOP PRESS volunteers wanted on cromford canal

7-10 july (provisional)

As a result of the need for the Friends of the Cromford Canal to begin physical work on their Begarlee Extension project (*) before a planning deadline which falls in August, an ad-hoc WRG long weekend working party is being held there on 7-10 July (date to be confirmed). The work will involve demolition, concreting and culvert pipe installation as the first stage of diverting the existing land drainage under where the restored canal will go, prior to creating the canal channel.

If you’d like to help, contact Mike Palmer on 07764 354893 or email mike.palmer@waterways.org.uk

(*) For more details see Navvies 317 for a progress update or Navvies 303 for a full restoration feature, but basically it’s a reconstruction of the first missing section of canal north of where it leaves the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill, using the route of an old railway siding rather than the original canal line. This conveniently gets it through an existing bridge under a main road, but means building new locks to put the canal at the right level for the bridge.