Little has changed since my November report about the Tamworth Road site. As predicted, most of our efforts have been focused on the work we are doing at the Darnford Moors length.
Throughout Autumn we had superb weather for the most part, although it rained heavily a couple of times, washing the mortar from between the bricks and turning the site into a small-scale representation of the Somme. Then came the frost with the ground frozen solid in mid afternoon.
A simple little task, Won't take more than a few days or a week or so. That 's what I thought when we started work just the other side of the lift bridge by the Darnford Moors Golf Club. How wrong can I be?
As predicted in my September Blog, the finishing touches to the area between the narrows and the A51 were successfully completed.Read More
The Trust volunteers activity over the last couple of weeks has been creating a great deal of interest with the regular dog walkers and users of the Fosseway Heath section of the Lichfield Canal.
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Nearly there, so nearly there, and the work being undertaken beyond the narrows and Tamworth Road will be finished. The only holdup now could be horrendous weather, but that is not forecast.
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.
Following on from my July Work Party Blog, the work down between the A51 and the narrows of pound 27 has progressed steadily. All the concreting of the canal base has been completed. The only concreting left to be done down there is the back filling between the wall...
It's hard to believe that it has been over two months (6th June) since Peter Buck marked out Lock 9A and work began. There has been steady progress with the work and stringent safety procedures have been put in place every step of the way.
The gang have worked tirelessly down between the narrows and the A51. During this month we have seen great strides towards completing the concreting down there. As before, as mentioned in the June blog, we again took delivery of another couple of loads of concrete from a 'mix it on site' source in July.
This month has seen some amazing work done at the Summerhill site. Work on the basic towpath was completed as far as the new steps "Dora's Descent" that climb up the embankment to the Boat Inn.
You can never be sure when the weather is going to catch you out. Since my last blog the team had been making great progress in Pound 25.
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This month has seen dramatic improvements to the Summerhill stretch of canal. Work began with us identifying the line of the old towpath at the Boat Inn end and the embankment was scraped down and the hedge was trimmed.
It's a case in this blog of either being encouraged by the progress made during the recent fine weather, or down-hearted by our failure to get the big pipe removed out of pound 25.
Also includes a Summerhill Update.
This last month has seen some remarkable progress down at Tamworth Road mostly down in Pound 25. Progress on the canal beyond the narrows by the A51 has been, and still is, blighted by water in the base of the canal which refuses to dry up.
Although a lot of hours of work have been put in at the Tamworth Road site over this period, there is little to report in the way of progress. It is a case of ongoing work rather than goals achieved.
This Wednesday Tom Hogan brought his tree chipper to Darnford Park again and with a large enthusiastic group of our volunteers set about reducing the brash from earlier forestry clearance work to wood chips.
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I have been on holiday for ten days at the beginning of February, getting some much needed winter sun. So this report is basically in two halves, before and during this holiday period, and I'm sorry it's late.
The Festive Season is now well over and drifting into the distant past. We've had a long break from working on the canal, (those of us who usually work down at Tamworth Road any way,