The weekend of August 29/30 has been busy at Gallows Wharf with DofE volunteers and green and grounds giving the place a good tidy up and finishing fencing. We also took the opportunity, whilst the weather is still in our favour, to remove some more soil. This weekend has seen in excess of 1,500 tonnes moved to Tamworth Road pending transportation elsewhere, and we have now made progress up to our works compound. This is where it starts to get tricky as the big pipe has emerged once again and is heading to a deep manhole of which we can’t reduce in height any more or remove.
The area is now starting to take shape and with the weekly volunteers rebuilding the wall and reinstating the towpath it’s beginning to resemble what was once a busy canal and wharf. Some strange curiosities have emerged this weekend. We nearly have enough old car parts to rebuild something, not sure what! And also large concrete blocks have emerged and were somewhat of a battle for the digger to remove. Each block is in excess of two tonnes and they are all cast roughly the same shape. Again a big thanks to those who came along and helped this weekend. Especially those on the dumpers as it’s not the nicest jobs and not the easiest on the body. Steve was on the excavator, Harry and Simon on the dumpers and Adrian on our little excavator levelling the spoil at the other end.
Thanks to Adam Westwood for the loan of his excavator again!
Steve Webster
Jeanne and Peter took the dog for a walk along the Lichfield Canal at Summerhill, beside the Boat Inn on Walsall Road, and were reminded what a lovely walk it is up to the trust's aqueduct over the M6 Toll. While most of our volunteers are concentrating efforts at Fosseway and Gallows Reach, a very small team has been working hard at Summerhill, keeping the brambles at bay, repairing the towpath where it has been broken and keeping the grass cut along the 1000 metres of Heritage Towpath Trail.
The whole section of the canal has matured well since the towpath was cut through by hardworking workparties, including visiting corporate volunteer groups. The old hedges, which were laid by Roger and underplanted with new young hedging whips, are all now flourishing with plenty of wildlife established along the canal. For those who pick blackberries from the hedgerows there is plenty of juicy fruit to be picked for the next pie. If you want a great walk, try Summerhill next time. And thanks again to Mick and Bill for keeping this stretch of our canal in tip- top condition!
At the Garden of Reflection at Gallows Wharf some donated kerbstones were placed along the edge of the flower bed beside the garage. We had very good turnout at Gallows Reach with both Duke of Edinburgh students and our Green and Grounds team working on several tasks. The east end of the wooden fence in front of Gledhill House was completed up to the end of the environmental mound ready for the next stage of painting. The brash from earlier tree-trimming operations, which had been stacked in the canal bed, was loaded into the trailer to be processed at Fosseway. .
