The last four weeks have been a challenge as the main holiday period and school
holidays have restricted the number of volunteers. The grandparents amongst the group
have been on standby for kids thought the six weeks. However the site at Summerhill is
now getting a huge amount of visitors from various groups and clubs not to mention the
general public who now use it regularly for walks. The Boat Inn has proved to be a very
useful place and has hosted some of the groups either before or after the towpath walks.
It was very good to see all the classic cars on the car park from the one group.
Along side the Boat Inn brick filled gabions (wire baskets) have been installed to retain
the pub at the top of the embankment. This work is proceeding well and ‘THE BOAT
INN’ is spelt out as people walk along the side of the pub. Filling these gabions has
used up a lot of recycled builders rubbish from along the canal as has the backfilling of
the lock. This goes to show that nothing gets wasted in canal restoration.
The lock is progressing steadily and there have been no issues so far regarding the sand
face. The retaining wall is now over two meters high and back filled with concrete. We
will soon be finishing the back wall so work on the lock proper can be planned.
More work on the canal side verge has also been ongoing down towards the aqueduct.
Recently corporate work parties have helped to bring the footpath up to a better standard
and the whole 1000 meters are looking good with the picnic area to benefit from another
groups work shortly. It is worth mentioning the volunteers at this point who have done huge amounts of work
sometimes in difficult conditions. I would like to thank all of them who attend the
Tuesday and Saturday’s. Unfortunately Brandon will be returning to university and the
team will greatly miss his valued efforts.
Roger and Jean have planted numerous new oak tree’s along the embankment and have
completed the hedge cutting. More new oaks are planned for the coming year and Roger
will be planting acorns from the oak near the lock so that future generations will be able
to appreciate our work.
Autumn has now arrived and the site is starting to receive its leaf carpet for the winter, a
fantastic place for dog walkers, ramblers and photographers to come and enjoy.
Paul Reeves
