The Melksham, Calne and Chippenham Branch
of the
 Wilts & Berks Canal Trust
 
Branch Minutes
 

Links
Home

What's On

MCC News

Work Parties
Features

Press Releases

Pictures

Branch Officers

Contact us

 
Canal Map

 
Trust Website
Join the Trust!
 

 

MELKSHAM, CALNE & CHIPPENHAM BRANCH MINUTES

Tuesday 9th February 2010

Minutes of last meeting: 

Minutes of last meeting were approved and signed.                                

Matters Arising:

Minutes of last meeting were approved and signed, after correction to

Piano Petes at   Redlands School, not as shown under “future events”.

 

Chairman’s Announcements

Exciting news to come from our fundraising team

Boat trips – May 29,30 &31 at Chippenham Folk Festival

July10 at ‘Art in the park’ Chippenham

Piano Pete Gig raised £1200  (£600 for MCC)

Wiltshire Life Dinner at Wilton House attended by Robert Jones, Doug Harris , Colin Fletcher & Justin Guy

Container – Dave Moloney and friends raised £500 for the container which will be delivered Thursday 11 February.

Quiz night – Kath Hatton collecting entries, 6 so far, and some raffle prizes.

Future Speaker – Mike Stone of Chippenham Museum, date to be arranged.

Claire Guy resigned as Trust Director

Annual Dinner & Awards – 25 March  at Somerset Arms

Melksham Town awards – Trust invited by Richard Wiltshire (Mayor) Friday
5 March.

Work Party Report:

Doug Harris gave his report - attached

 Project Report:

Colin gave his report which  is attached.

 Fund Raising:

Kath Hatton’s report is attached

Future Events:

23 February 2010      Annual Quiz night, Rachel Fowler Centre, Melksham

25 March 2010 – Annual dinner and awards at Somerset Arms

3 April 2010 – Easter Bunny Hunt Boat trips at Calne.  

25   April Sponsored Walk 10am Market Place, Chippenham

16 May 2010- Rowdeford School

29/30/31 May – Chippenham Folk Festival boat trips

10 July 2010 – Art in the Park, Melksham

July 2010-  Melksham Carnival                                               

Treasurers Report:

The Balance  in the bank is sufficient for present restoration needs.

 Any Other Business:

Alice Boyd invited as many  as possible to ‘Pancakes and Pearls’ event at the                        K  & A Trust meeting room, Devizes Wharf on Saturday 20 February.

 K & A Trust will enter two teams in W & B Quiz

Next meeting-   9 March 2010 .  20.00hrs at Rachel Fowler Centre.

  
   

Return to top

  
       
  a

 

  Working Party Report — January 2010

Just one work party since the last Branch Meeting but a significant one never-the-less as on the 31st January the team started the scrub clearance on the canal where it crosses the A4 road at Pewsham. The aim of this was to advertise the presence of the canal to the passing public. Wiltshire Council through the good offices of the Canals Officer, Ken Oliver, erected an official sign on the verge indicating that this was the Wilts & Berks Canal.  I was not able to attend being away in sunnier climes but 18 members of the team were and did a magnificent job in about 4 hours—without me.

With the good news of Kath’s success with funding applications we can look forward to a busy Spring & Summer. Some of the funding has to be spent by the end of March so as soon as the weather becomes a bit more open we will begin the rebuilding of the main spill weir below Bottom Lock. In the meantime we have to clear the remains of the large Ash tree that was growing out of the masonry and all the displaced brickwork.

Following that, the repairs to the two remaining culverts below Bottom Lock have to be completed and puddled before we can begin the dredging.

At Calne there remains the clearance of the towpath to do which we hope to complete during the coming weeks. Also the Castlefields Canal & River Park Association (CARP) are well on their way to securing funding for the rehabilitation of the lock and have passed Stage 1 of the their application. Together with ourselves in the Trust and CARP we have to convince the ‘Facilitator’ that we can complete the Project. One of the benefits of this work, apart from an improvement in the appearance of the lock, is that more water may be extracted from the River Marden, when permitted by the Environment Agency, which will refresh the water in the canal near the lock. It will also enable us to re-water further extensions of the canal with confidence.

All very exciting stuff.

During the whole of January the team, worked a total of 212 man-hours which amounted to £2587 in volunteer value matched funding. Not bad for starters.

Douglas Harris
Return to top
 
       
  b

 

PROJECT DIRECTOR (West).

Colin Fletcher reported that Ken Oliver had given a talk to Melksham Area Board on February 3rd which was supported by a number of branch members. The Melksham Water  Project was described to the meeting and this was the first Public announcement of the detail of the new route.

 PEWSHAM PROJECT

Preliminary work needed to enable the re-watering project to start: the levelling of the Top lock storage area.
Removal of tree roots at the spill weir, and at triangle wood Culvert.
Also any small scrub plants will be in the way of dredging and must be removed in the next few wee

BOWOOD PROJECT

Trust central funds will be used to pay for the land agents fees in respect of the Tenant farmers interests. The branch will raise funds for the rest of the project

 

  
   

Return to top

  
       
  c

 

Fundraising Report for February Meeting

Fundraising Report Feb 9th 2010

January 2010 was a very good month for the western end of the Wilts and Berks. We raised £28,000 from the Landfill Communities Fund, courtesy of Community First and Viridor and £4292 from Chippenham Area Board.  In a way the Area Board award is worth more than the actual amount of cash, as I understand that there was a good deal of support and it went through on a unanimous vote.  We have brought the canal to the attention of Chippenham councillors which has to be good for the future. In addition on the Community First panel, there were representatives from other Area Boards so in all these bids are very good financially and have brought the canal to a lot of local people’s attention.   

We have now put in two further bids for the Cocklemore Reach project, one to W F Southall Trust and one to Charles Hayward and we wait to hear about these.

At our last fundraising committee meeting, ideas were discussed for a possible boat rally in August/September which will be discussed tonight at the meeting as we need to assess if there is enough enthusiasm amongst the members.  (Race night, Marquee hire, hog roast, band, helpers...)

We also discussed future restoration projects so that we can try to get funds in place in good time: Firstly Martin Stubbs is starting to cost the work to restore Pewsham Bottom Lock and secondly we want to arrange a feasibility study for Bewley Common, as Ken Oliver needs the details for the Local  Development Framework.   At Bowood,  Colin has a timetable in place for work which is included in his report this month.

I have had an offer from a friend to paint a watercolour of the canal from a photograph – perhaps a lock or a bridge, needs to be a structure of some sort etc which she will give to us to raise funds. We need to find a good photo to give her to paint from.

 

  
   

Return to top