A week for more good news...

We had a busy well attended Council of Management meeting last evening with much to discuss. We heard from Tim Pyatt that the bid to Locality for a Feasibility Grant for the Dauntsey Lock Canal Centre project has succeeded and the Trust has been granted £30,000. This will help with legal fees, architect’s plans, researching the business plan, project management, surveys and more. Pledges for the loans are still coming in and negotiations with the owners for the purchase of the Peterborough Arms are continuing. Sadly, it was the last Council meeting for Mel and George who are stepping down from their Director roles due to time pressures. We shall miss them. Good news on the slipway at Melksham – the application for funding from Viridor was successful and work will be able to start in a few weeks. Planning for the Melksham River Festival next September continues with regular meetings being held. There is a new Waitrose store being built at Wichelstowe and the developers Midas Construction have contacted the Trust to ask if they can do anything for us under the Considerate Constructors Scheme. We are urgently holding meetings to discuss. In addition, Waitrose themselves have offered some help – possibly with wild flowers or other planting and/or bat conservation measures. All projects have to be completed by Easter 2014 when the store opens. Two more small bids have just been submitted, one to Heritage Lottery Fund for the Sharing Heritage programme. If successful, this will fund some educational events at Pewsham Locks and Chippenham Museum next year to highlight the history of the canal. MCC also submitted one to Chippenham Area Board for some more bank stabilisation by way of sand bag walls between the meadow and the winding hole. This is needed so that the path can be improved and the canal will be a better depth for the work boat when it is launched next year. And finally...... good news from Crappers’ landfill site – they have been exceptionally busy lately and the funding that they regularly give the Trust is much more this year. Many thanks to them for all their support. Kath Hatton