Half term events....Pewsham Locks ..looking east... partnership working... another busy week!

The Sharing Heritage project got off to a brilliant start last week at Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre. Wilts & Berks Canal Trust volunteers teamed up with the Museum staff to provide half-term activities for children. There was tremendous interest and the children loved it. Activities included making model narrowboats from balsa wood, simple rope making and knot tying, canalware painting, archaeology challenge, colouring & word searches and a storyteller. There was an opportunity to talk to the children and their parents about the canal and its restoration. Many thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund for funding it and to all the volunteers that worked hard to make it a success. Many said they will attend the Open Days at Pewsham Locks on 20th and 21st June. Other good news at Pewsham – the planning permission for Top Lock and the Cottage has been granted subject to access agreements. And more .... a lease has been granted by the Bowood Estate for land either side of the A4.This will keep the MCC volunteers busy for some time! The team is taking advice from ecologists at Ellendale Environmental on the best way to clear the towpath and canal track with an eye to local wildlife habitat. A first meeting was held to discuss the strategy for the Eastern End of the canal now that the reservoir project seems to have disappeared into the long grass. It is important to raise our profile so that developers and land owners start to take the project seriously. We could do with more volunteers at this end to help plan and execute our strategies. A meeting between Wiltshire Wildlife Trust(WWT) and the Trust took place last week in the Swindon shop used by the Trust. It was arranged to discuss the possibility of sharing the shop premises but unfortunately there is not enough space. However the Trust offered to house a stand for WWT in the shop and various other ideas for working together are emerging. The Escape to the Country programme that included some footage of the Wilts & Berks at Pewsham went out as planned on 13th February. They described it as “an epic canal restoration”! However, I must admit that I have been a bit disappointed that the Trust has not received any feedback following the show. I’ll finish on a cheerful note - the slipway in Melksham is progressing well and now that the weather has improved and river levels gone down, it will hopefully soon be finished. Kath Hatton