We won!! The Heart of England 'Britain in Bloom' competition. In the category of 'Small City' the gold award was presented, this month, to Lichfield for 2018. The presentation was attended by Peter and Jean Buck who represented the Trust. A huge thanks to all who made this possible. Thanks to the efforts of Chair Christine Bull for the effort put into the decorated canal boat along the Tamworth Road. Not forgetting the imput of all her young helpers. Thanks to all who, with Peter Buck, recovered the remains of the historic Gallows Wharf and reconstructed it to such a high standard. Both of these projects must have had a big influence on the 'Britain in Bloom' judges.
The Lichfield 10K run took place on the 9th September. Our six runners attracted
sponsorship in excess of £900.00 Well done lads!. In the afternoon, following the10K run
a B.B.Q. was held at Gallows Wharf, It was a great success and proved that the wharf
was an ideal place to hold such an event. Thanks to David D. for cooking all those burgers
and sausages.
Apart from all the above distractions from our normal volunteering work parties, the focus of work is now virtually 100% at our Fosseway site. Work continues at the 'wet lands' part with Tony C. having all but completed the new boardwalk. The two mini islands still need to be completed before the boardwalk can be walked from one end to the other. Clay is being placed beneath and around the boardwalk to allow the area to be watertight and hopefully the water loving plants can thrive therein. The old towpath wall has now been dismantled all the way to the Falklands Road turn and is rapidly being reconstructed.
The new wall has a concrete base on top of which there are some two or three layers of concrete blocks. These are topped with courses of brickwork for which we are reusing the original bricks. Roger B. and Phil.C. are doing a great job here as is John M. who is busy laying the foundation concrete, together with their helpers. The sandbag wall running parallel to the railway line will be all but finished by the end of the month, at last count there are only another 75 bags to be filled and placed to complete it. Stirling work by the bag fillers has enabled about 2000 bags to be filled and placed to make this wall. Thanks to Chris A., Emlyn W. Simon C. Derby Bob, and John M. in particular for performing this task.
All this work has been made much easier, indeed possible, by the efforts of Tony G. and Steve W. who have moved such a lot of soil and sand around this month with machines that they have maintained and repaired. Also thanks to Tony and Steve for sourcing additional construction plant which they have loaned to the Trust for less than a pint of beer. Finally, this month we have played host to many corporate volunteer groups. They have worked on the new towpaths and footpaths to great effect. One gang installed the new gates at the top of the footpath adjacent to the railway line.
In all a good months work. Keep it up and thanks to ALL who gave of their time.
Hugh Millington
