On a very bleak and wet Monday morning 28 hardy volunteers arrived from Jaguar Land Rover to help us extend the footpath at Summerhill. The drizzle and rain set in for the morning as they enjoyed their bacon sandwiches (brought with them).
After the site induction and explanation of tasks for the day a small team led by Peter Buck went to resolve the drainage situation by the entrance gate and diverted the rain water into the drainage pipe and out into the bottom field preventing flooding by the gate. The remaining group went down to the towpath construction site. That group was split into two sub groups one to lay the timber edging the other to move and lay sand ballast and hard core topping. Once they got into the swing of the job considerable progress was made quickly exhausting the sand stock, requiring more sand to be excavated from the picnic area by Bob and the dumper truck.
The rain thankfully stopped by lunch and remained dry until the group finished work. Unfortunately as we were walking back to the
compound the sky blackened and a tremendous hail storm hit us. The group worked in far from ideal weather conditions with enthusiasm and good humour laying a total of 75 yards of new towpath, well done.
Satty Penasar from JLR said:
"We all arrived at Lichfield for 8.30 and it was raining heavy and continued through most of the day. But this did not put the team off with the challenge ahead. We all pulled together as a team and did an amazing job of 75 yards of new towpath by the time we finished.
We all left feeling very proud as JLR employees that did an amazing job towards an worthy cause. With the feed back from the team we would like to return in the future for another Community Project Day at the Canal and see the progress other companies including JLR Departments have made. Hopefully our next visit will be in better weather conditions. Peter Buck & David Hancock arranged the day well with the work that was required."
