Ken mentioned last week the Wilts & Berks contribution to the national survey being carried by CRT/IWA that he has been working on. In addition to this, he has been working on an update to the Partnership Strategy Document – this is a very comprehensive look at the whole canal and how each section is to be tackled. It is in draft form at the moment but I am sure it will prove a very useful document for us all. It has detail on the whole canal restoration, including the North Wilts Canal and the branches.
This coming
weekend the Food and River Festival will take place in Melksham over both days
the 5th and 6th of September. This event is being
sponsored by Waitrose and organised by Melksham Town Council and the local
branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. Saturday being the LittleFest with
tasting of locally produced food, some children’s entertainment, boat trips on
the river and Try Canoeing. Sunday is the main day of the Festival with over 70
stalls selling a wide array of local food, drink and food
related products. Again there will be boat trips on the river,
Try Canoeing and also demonstrations by Bradford on Avon
Diving Club, and the Fire Service Water Rescue Team.
Both days the events start at 10.30am. It should be a great weekend,
please come and support the MCC team if
you can.
We are
hoping for drier weather this week for the Studley Grange project – in fact we
need a month of dry weather! We are hoping to be able to show off the works for
the next Partnership meeting and then again for the AGM in October. It is a
really impressive project and brings the whole concept of the restoration
alive. The funding appeal is still open
for donations large and small – all contributions very welcome. BT Donate
offers an easy way to give money online or Just Text Giving from your phone. See our website on how to give: www.wbct.org.uk
Last week
there was a meeting of the Project Board where all current projects were
reviewed and a couple of new ones added to the list. Top Lock at Pewsham was
one of those – the team have now calculated the cost of materials for the
volunteer led restoration – just over £100K. With the project now in place and
the costs worked out we can now start fundraising in earnest.
This week our
Chairman and Company Secretary are doing the rounds of branch meetings to consult
on the changes being planned to the management of the Trust and there will also
be a non-branch event to try to include as many members as possible. They will
be attending Swindon and MCC branches tonight, and Wootton Bassett branch next
Monday, the 7th. The two open meetings
so far planned for members who are not affiliated to a branch, or are unable to
get to a branch meeting, are at 7.00 pm on Thursday 3rd at the Peterborough
Arms, and Thursday 10th at 8pm at the Royal British Legion, East Hanney. We would welcome as many of you who can come.
Receipts so
far for this year’s Grand Draw in aid of Restoration are just over £2000. If
you have tickets to sell I would be very grateful if you could get your stubs
and monies to me in September – gives me a chance to get them all folded ready
for the AGM.
Kath Hatton
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