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An update on the first proper summer Canal Camps programme since 2019 - and the latest news on some other forthcoming events

Canal Camps update

For ‘Lichfield’ read ‘Wendover’: Unfortunately some issues with permissions have meant that we couldn’t go ahead with this summer’s planned camps on the Lichfield Canals. So we’ve relocated both camps on 23-30 July and 30 July-6 August to the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. We will be supporting the Wendover Canal Trust’s project to build a narrow vertical-sided section of new canal channel just beyond the current limit of navigation beyond Tringford. This will involve plenty of blocklaying and brickwork. (see also page 32) Wendover job: build a channel here! (note boat just visible at right)

Leaders wanted!

A few camps don’t yet have their leadership teams confirmed. If you can help, our head office would very much like to hear from you. Also if you haven’t led a camp before (or not for a while) but fancy getting involved, see page 10 for details of our Leader Training Day. (In fact even if you’re a regular camp leader, the Leader Training Day can provide you with lots of useful help). Booking up fast: as we go to press, a lot of the Canal Camps are already fully booked or getting that way, so if you want to go on a Camp you’ll need to hurry to avoid disappointment. If there’s no space available on a camp, you can contact head office and get your name put on a reserve list in case of cancellations. Family Camps Return! – An October Visit To Wendover Canal After a

topsy-turvy couple of years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been a priority to get a full program of camps and events running again, for all to enjoy. Which is why we’re delighted to announce that we shall be making a return to the Wendover Canal, to run a Family Camp during the autumn half-term, from 28 to 30 October 2022. After fantastic events hosted at Wendover Canal in prior years, it made perfect sense to return for the restart of Family Camps.

Unlike most seven-day Canal Camps, the family camps run from Friday to Sunday and cost just £15 per person, which includes accommodation and all meals. The activities involved over the weekends are chosen to help make practical improvements to the canal and to help enhance the waterways for wildlife, plus families learn first-hand about restoring the page 8

UK’s derelict waterways.

We will be re-visiting the Whitehouses Pocket Park, along the Wendover Canal Arm, to provide practical environmental improvements to the site, help enhance waterways for wildlife and to teach children what it is like to ‘live like a Navvy’. In previous visits we have made bird boxes, bug houses and environmental improvements to the site, and rest assured, it will be a full day of activities with fun & games in the evening time to keep the families entertained!

We look forward to welcoming families on this weekend adventure, and look forward to showing more of what we have planned in time! Keep an eye on the website to register your interest in attending, there will be limited spaces! https://waterways.org.uk/ waterways/sites/waterway-recovery-group/events Family camp: young volunteer installing a nesting box

Canalway Cavalcade site services camp

We included full details of this in the last Navvies, but just a reminder that as this issue is published the May Day holiday weekend is fast approaching, and if you’ve got some time to spare then Pete Fleming and his team will welcome any volunteer assistance at the Inland Waterways Association’s Canalway Cavalcade festival at Little Venice in London. Contact Pete at Pete.Fleming@waterways.org.uk if you’d like to help.

Reunion / Bonfire Bash weekend?

Normally we would hope to be announcing a site for our Reunion, a major annual working party held around the first weekend in November and a big social gathering. (Or alternatively we would be desperately trying to find a site for it...) But the last couple of years have of course been anything but ‘normal’. Whilst our Covid-19 working group have come up with extra precautions and new methods of operation which have enabled WRG to re-start canal camps (and regional groups’ weekends have also got under way again), big social gatherings have been one thing that’s had to stay off the agenda. Hence no Reunion and no BCN Cleanup for two years.

However, subject as ever to whatever the future holds as regards the pandemic, we hope to be able to hold some kind of Reunion event this autumn. Whether it’s on the traditional date (5-6 November), whether it’s a traditional big scrub-bashing weekend, or whether (for example) we might consider combining it with a BCN Cleanup type event, is yet to be decided. But in the meantime, if any canal societies out there can find suitable work and accommodation for 100-plus volunteers, please get in touch with us right away.

Christmas / New Year camp?

...and the same applies to our regular festive camp which traditionally runs from 26 December to 1 January. Again, it’s something that falls into the ‘big social gathering’ category (as well as doing lots of useful work, usually scrub-clearance) and has therefore had to take a two-year break, but we’re looking to reinstate it - if you’ve got a site for us, get in touch! page 9