A very busy work party. 5 days, record volunteer numbers (again), multiple different activities. Apologies if this report is a little longer than normal.
“June was the second successive work party with two days of preparation before the main work party started on Friday. And once again, two full days of profiling the channel was required to keep one step ahead of the rapid progress by the lining and blocking team, enabled by such healthy volunteer numbers”. Said restoration project manager, Tom Fulda.
On Thursday, the opportunity was also taken to add riprap and soil over the liners above the level where the blocks finish (blocks finish below water level). This continued through the rest of the work party and is a fairly lengthy and laborious job, not least due to the distance travelled to deliver materials. On the offside bank, buckets of riprap must be barrowed over the laid blocks, and this work had progressed more or less in sync with the channel being lined and blocked. At least on the towpath bank, materials can be delivered by power barrow along the towpath, though none of this had been done so far this year. By Sunday afternoon, 150 metres of towpath bank had been completed and reseeded. With deliveries of these materials completed, it was finally possible to apply the wear course (very fine chippings/quarry dust) to the surface of the towpath.
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The main work party started on Friday when we were joined by many corporate volunteers – old friends from Arcadis who have now been returning each summer for several years, plus four new faces from Aico whose volunteers regularly boost the numbers. A new attendance record was set with 42(!) attending that day – that’s an awful lot of tea and cake, and a lot of progress too. A very big thank you to Kath, Margaret and Steve for the former.
Over Friday to Sunday, tremendous progress was made on all fronts. Lining and blocking continued with a further 45 metres completed. The seemingly endless task of excavating material though Schoolhouse Bridge progressed so well that the end does actually seem to be in sight, despite the 7.5 tonne excavator breaking down at lunchtime on Friday. Thanks to those who fixed it and returned it to operation 24 hours later. However, we lost count of the number of dumper loads removed. For the time being, this is being removed to the spoil heap in the compound, now affectionately referred to as “Monty’s Mountain”, which continues to grow. Although nothing is yet confirmed, potential “homes” for this material have been identified which do not involve waste disposal costs.
With a substantial quantity of material removed, it was possible to start setting out the position of the wash wall that will be constructed through the bridge. This will be a significant task occupying many of the forthcoming work parties.
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We now have four additional qualified dumper drivers. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Rob the trainer assessed Charlotte, Fiona, Josh and Peter on site. In addition to the theory component, there was plenty of practice driving to the top of Monty’s Mountain and delivering blocks to the channel lining team. Congratulations to all for passing with flying colours.
With warmer weather following the mild but very damp winter and early spring, vegetation is now growing rampant. A further task for the work party was strimming and weed bashing at both the Schoolhouse and Crickheath compounds as well as around newly planted and laid hedging.
As channel restoration on Phase 2 (north of Schoolhouse Bridge) is progressing rapidly and coming towards a conclusion, attention is now turning towards the channel in Phase 3 (Bridge 86 Schoolhouse Bridge to Bridge 85 Malthouse Bridge). Some initial clearance took place there last autumn and, now that the channel is just about dry after the wet winter, will resume in earnest over forthcoming work parties. A start was made on Friday.
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But it’s not all hard work; volunteers are permitted a lunchbreak! On Sunday, the raffle for the members 60th Anniversary Monty Cruise was drawn out of a ceremonial bucket. (Winners to be notified separately).
As ever, a big thank you to all those who made such tremendous progress possible this month.
Finally, we are very pleased to report on the visit by Shropshire Council and Canal & River Trust (CRT). Activity over the last couple of years has been funded by two grants from the Shared Prosperity Fund, awarded by Shropshire Council. On Friday afternoon, we were joined by Matt Potts, Service Manager for Economy, Funding and Skills, and Hannah Smith from Shropshire Council, plus James Dennison and Kate Hanks from CRT. All were very impressed and extremely grateful to see the great progress by so many volunteers, both completed and continuing.
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