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  Working Party Report — May 2010

 Annual Report of  Working Party for 2009/2010

The Branch Work Party Team have enjoyed another productive year with the workforce exceeding 20 persons on several occasions. With such large turnouts the progress was impressive. Most of the work took place at Pewsham where we worked over 40 occasions and on other sites over 16. These other sites included Calne where scrub was cleared, with the help of Kent & East Sussex canal Recovery Group (KESCRG), Forest Farm and the A4 Crossing at Pewsham Village. Here a brown official sign depicting the Wilts & Berks Canal was erected by Wiltshire Council.

 Pewsham

In July we hosted a week’s camp from Waterway Recovery Group. Here they carried out clearance work in Top and Middle Locks but it was a massive task and they have left plenty for us to do.  Preparatory work was carried out on the entrance portal of Cocklemore Brook Culvert which the MCC Workparty Team plan to complete during the next few weeks.

Several large trees that were growing near or on canal structures have been felled using tree surgeons in some positions where potential collateral damage had to be avoided. The remaining stumps were left long so that their ultimate removal was made easier. This was far removed from reality. The stumps were huge and took the team several weeks to extract using all of our winching gear and muscle leaving massive holes where once the trees stood. These stood in the way of our dredging plans for this year including the restoration of the Spill Weir below Bottom Lock. Rebuilding work of the Weir is well underway and is due for completion before stage two dredging—Triangle Wood to Bottom Lock. The canal bed for Stage 1 dredging (Triangle Wood to Winding Hole) has been cleared of trees and their roots and the masonry of Triangle Wood Culvert repaired.

We now have a secure lockup steel cabin located at Top Lock thanks to the efforts of Dave Maloney, where we now keep our building materials, hand tools and scaffolding. This saves a lot of work getting material and tools to site.

Most of the Pewsham Section has been mowed but the section south of Double Bridge remains. It is hoped to complete this tomorrow.

Forest & Queenfield Farms

The whole canal at Forest & Queenfield Farms was mowed at the end of September last year. This improved the canal’s appearance then but I expect it is well overgrown again by now. Such is the nature of things.

Calne

We have had a bit of a set back with our plans for the restoration of the Calne Branch. Our request to the Environment Agency for an extraction licence from the River Marden was granted with a maximum limit of 14 Lts per minute. This limited amount of water is unlikely to be sufficient to keep the branch in water let alone becoming a major feeder for the main line at Stanley. Because of the restriction in extraction and the fact that the water level in the Marden was not going to be raised CARP thought the expense of laying a pipe through the Town Lock was not justified. Their preferred option with their funding was to commission a replica canal boat to be set in the lock chamber as an illustration of what the lock used to look like. I prefer restoration to interpretation but without the money we have to concentrate on the main line of the canal rather than branch lines. The work started last December on Mrs Sutton’s land will be completed and rewatered as planned.

Attendance at work parties has remained high at a steady 20 on major events, with a maximum of 21 on some occasions. Recruitment also remains good with several promising volunteers joining us over the past year.

We have held over 57 work parties since the last AGM, clocked up 4635 man-hours of work and travelled over 9037 miles to attend the work.

This activity is evaluated as £63,727 in Volunteer Matched Funding.

Well done again everybody.

Douglas Harris

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  Project Directors Report — June 2010

Melksham Route

Meetings in Melksham continue to hammer out a consultation procedure for the new canal route attended  by The County Canals Officer, Trust directors and MCC branch members.

A number of consultation events have taken place in Melksham and Berryfields in recent weeks and it is suggested that the ‘party in the park event’associated with Melksham carnival will be a further opportunity to discuss the proposal.  Brian De’ath has been involved in these events and the associated planning meetings.  The Melksham Area Group will have a stand at which they will outline a number of projects in Melksham for which they plan conduct a consultation process. They will not single out the canal route proposals on that day but will direct enquirers to our gazebo on the river bank.  Brian De’Ath and John Laverick  will be on hand to answer questions.

Reybridge

Mike Lee has also looked at the complex issues along the line of the old canal at Reybridge.   Route variations are being considered and a full level survey will be required.  Kath Hatton will look at potential funders when time and personal circumstances permit.

Cocklemore re-watering issues.

Ecologist Iain Donald has reported on the current state of the badger setts at Pewsham.  The setts near bottom lock are active and work will not be allowed except during the badger window from July to October.  Two old setts further along the canal have not been used for some time and will not affect the dredging work. He has also investigated stagnant water for great crested newts, but none have been found.  The storage area at Top Lock is working well and four loads of puddle clay have been delivered ready for sealing of the culverts.  Volunteers have removed some very large tree roots from the bed of the canal ahead of the dredging programme planned for the summer, and have begun repairs to the original brick spillweir below Pewsham Bottom lock.  Attempts to re-puddle the culvert at Triangle Wood have been hampered by soggy conditions.  Preliminary works including tree root removal,  sealing culverts and the rebuild of horse-shoe spillweir are proceeding well.  A local contractor came to the site last Wednesday and made some suggestions  about the dredging programme.  We are assessing these and other practical alternatives with regard to cost, speed and interruption to towpath use.

Colin Fletcher 8^th June 2010.

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  Fund Raising Report — June 2010

There is good news about the training grant for chainsaw courses – we won the bid for funds from IWA. We will receive a cheque for £720 which is 75% of the cost for 2 persons to attend the first level course at Lackham. I have booked 2 places for July 12/13 for Mario and Dave Maloney.  The fundraising committee feels, subject to your approval, that the branch should fund the next course for these trainees (approx £1000) and then the branch will have its own little forestry team. It was proposed and adopted at the meeting that the next course will be paid for from this year’s Sponsored Walk funds.

Waitrose situation still the same – we have not been included in the green disc scheme yet.

Before my husband John died he had asked for donations at his funeral to be made to the Wilts and Berks  Canal Trust. I have now totalled up these monies and handed to Diana for banking  - an excellent total of £925. We plan to wait a bit and try to find a suitable project to spend this on for his memory.

I attended a course run by the Charities Information Board in Devizes which was free and enabled me to meet some people who could help us with future bids, for lottery money etc.  You may know that at the last Council of Management meeting I was co-opted on to the Council as Fundraising Co-ordination Director starting July. I shall still be fundraising for MCC but also this means that we can have a more organised push for funding for the whole route.  Also I will be attending the monthly finance committee meetings so will be able to report back anything of interest.

Other news : I am drafting a letter to the  De Freitas Trust for some new batteries for Willow.

Martin Stubbs is going ahead with the Wilts and Berks calendar for 2011 – it will retail at approx £4.99 which will generate a profit which Martin will then donate to the branch. He is setting up a website for it and also we will be selling them on the stand at Melksham &, Lacock etc.  You can win a voucher for one tonight!

The bid to Charles Hayward has gone astray, so we are going to push ahead with a bid to Community Spaces as soon as possible for the rest of the dredging and resubmit the Charles Hayward one in the autumn for another stretch of canal.

Martin Stubbs is continuing to do the costings for Pewsham Locks and following advice we are probably going to bid for the whole cost in one go – maybe towards the end of this year, because bids take a long time.

Colin is trying to sort out the lease for Bowood so that we can work there next winter/spring 2011

We are going to get a level survey done at Bewley common to determine the best route for the canal. We need to raise £1500 to £1800 for that.  I’m looking into it.

We are applying to Melksham Town Council for a small grant to reprint the leaflet – Lost Route in Melksham – Martin S is updating it. The Tourist Information centre is asking for more copies. 2500 or 5000? £236 or £296.

*Midsummer Walk and BBQ at Wootten Bassett - June 19^th

Kath Hatton June 2010

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