Publicity and more publicity

Lots of good publicity this week for the Melksham Link with the release of the story of the economic and tourism benefits that the canal will bring to Melksham.  Chris has been on the radio a couple of times, the story featured on ITV West Country News and all the local papers have covered it too in print and on their websites.  Social media has been buzzing with the story too.

Watch out for more stories soon – the HLF funded Open Days at Pewsham are drawing  close – Friday June 20^th for the school children and Saturday 21^st June for the general public. The small committee, led by Val Melville, have been working very hard on preparations  and I think everyone will be impressed at their professionalism.  One of the most interesting aspects will be the stories that have been researched of the canal people who lived and worked in this area when the canal was flourishing. I understand that our Patron was interested to hear about the event even though she is not able to attend. I have promised some photos.

Preparations also quite advanced for the Melksham River Festival on 6^th and 7^th September which will commemorate the abandonment 100years ago. We have tested the slipway which is nearing completion and managed to float Damselfly off  the trailer. Dragonfly will be brought from Swindon  and craned into the river and I am sure will be quite an attraction. There will be Wilderness boats and steam boats and all kinds of events on land and in the river.

At Studley Grange we are close to agreeing a lease from Biffa and planning consent is imminent. The Trust has been working on preparation at this site for a number of years and so it is exciting to be able to see that we are getting close to excavating this very attractive kilometre of canal.

I’m off for a week’s rest in France so au revoir for now.