Restoration Round-Up

First of all I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope that you all had a Merry Christmas. Over the last few months we don't appear to have been very active this as been due mainly to other society events such as local shows and rallies, however we still managed to take part in the Mersey Basin Week 2001 event in October.

Our activity took place on Sunday 7th and saw us once again joining forces with St.Helens Ranger Service to clean up the area of canal at Penkford Bridge in Earlestown.

Thanks to the ten volunteers who turned out on a day when the weather was doing its best to be unpleasant, we managed to fill a skip which had been provided by St.Helens MBC.

Dave Crawford from the Ranger Service used a strimmer to clear the banks of overgrown vegetation, John Hughes braved the deep water (3ft) to clear growth from the canal wall on the opposite bank, while Paul, Roy and Brendan pulled out the reeds in the channel.

While all this was taking place in and around the water, the rest of us where busy raking grass into piles, clearing the path under the bridge and wheelbarrowing rubbish to the skip along with all the reeds and other debris found in and around the canal.

I would like to thank Mersey Basin Campaign for inviting us to take part in this annual event and also Montgomery Watson Harza for the £100 grant which went towards new equipment for the event, and a big thank you to all the volunteers.

HULME LOCK COTTAGE

On the 4th November Peter Keen, Ian Hornby and I made a site visit to survey the well cover which had recently been installed by contractors. We found was that the well cover, although strongly built and adequate for the job, had in fact been poorly installed - being bolted down into old decayed bricks which in turn were loose in their foundation.

Sunday 11th November
Following the previous week's survey of the site, our task this week was to remove the well cover and to rebuild the top of the well walls in new brick. While the brickies got to work on the well, the rest of the team set about tidying up the site which was looking rather untidy after a year of neglect and visits from the uninvited. Most of this involved clearing overgrown vegetation, rebuilding revetments and the removal of unwanted rubbish.

Mel Hutchins (Warrington Ranger Service) has been in contact with the contractors who made the cover and they have promised to weld a wide strip of metal round the bottom edge so that it can be bolted down and then bricked in by a Work Party early in 2002.

Friday 16th November
Newton Common Lock :- Site meeting with Bob Massingham and Rick Rogers from St.Helens MBC by Peter Keen and myself from SCARS, and Brendan Cassin from Groundwork, to discuss the future restoration of the lock and surrounding area.

Bob had brought along plans that had recently been drawn by the planning department for a new car park and landscaping of the lock area and beyond towards the viaduct.

The landscaping included digging out the top metre of infill in the lock chamber and excavation of the by wash channel plus the clearance of the area where the lock cottage stood.

We hope to have further consultation on this project, and there should be plenty of opportunities for volunteer intervention.

Anyone interested in joining our work parties please contact:

Colin Greenall Tel 01744 731746 (evening) or 01744 732031 (daytime)