SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17th Our next event, at the Winwick Dry Dock, was held in conjunction with "Canalboat & Inland Waterways" magazine, and was also billed as a part of our Millennium Festival, giving the public the opportunity to share in our restoration work.
Unfortunately the date coincided with the petrol shortage, and the turnout was lower than expected.
The task was to clear the dock of rubbish and vegetation which had built up since our last visit three years ago.

As volunteers began to arrive so work started on clearing the walls of the dock, by dinner time this was completed and the waste piled up in the bottom of the dock. Clearing the bottom of the dock looked a daunting task as we sat on the edge of the dock eating our dinner, but once we had worked out a system for emptying the wheelbarrows the waste soon began to vanish to the tipping site.

By 4 -30pm the job was complete and people began to make their way home. Many thanks to the volunteers for their efforts, to Warrington Ranger Service for their continued support and to "Canalboat & Inland Waterways" magazine for the publicity.

This is the third time that Society members have cleared the dock over the years. As it is within the Sankey Valley Park there is an understandable reluctance on the part of Warrington BC to spray the vegetation, but this had been done in advance of the work so the task was made a little easier. Further spraying would help to prevent the regrowth of the vegetation but care has to be taken to avoid damage to nearby wildlife habitats.

The stepped walls of the dock were stripped of their moss growth, plants and shrubs to reveal the true shape of the dock, with straight sides and subtle curves created in the stonework to cater for the prows of the flats using the dock.
The floor of the dock had once been concreted over but this surface had deteriorated through time, allowing some fairly strong root systems to take a hold, but eventually all the debris and undergrowth were removed, revealing the true size of the structure.

Many of the blocks which supported the flats in the dock have survived, along with a central drainage channel and simple sluice system to empty the dock into a small stream flowing behind it. The flats would be worked in and out of the lock with no mechanical assistance or pumping, so cleverly did the engineers who built the dock select its location.

A fair amount of work will be needed in the future when the dock is made ready for use after the canal has been restored. Many of the stone blocks are missing whilst others have cracked and crumbled over time. These will have to be made good and the whole dock pointed up to make it watertight, but that is a small price to pay when one considers that it could have been filled in completely, just like the canal alongside. Why it was left as it was is a puzzle but we are very grateful that it happened.

The Mayor of St.Helens , workers, and the Chairman gather round a WRG dumper

SUNDAY OCTOBER 8th St.Helens Ranger Service and Waterway Recovery Group joined us in this annual clean-up weekend which is organised by the Mersey Basin Trust. After a week of torrential rain it was amazing that the weather took a turn for the better and gave us an almost a perfect day.

NEWTON COMMON LOCK A team of volunteers with the aid of WRG’s mini excavator "Blue" made further inroads into the infill which covers the site of the lock.
The amount of activity in this area was very popular with people stopping to watch and talk about their memories of the canal, plus the attraction of SCARS sales stall and photo display boards along with the Rangers excellent mobile exhibition unit.

PENKFORD BRIDGE A larger team of volunteers got stuck into clearing out the canal under and at either side of the bridge.
St.Helens MBC generously provided a skip and this was filled with rubbish and vegetation as it was pulled from the water.
Other work on this site included strimming the grassy banks and the clearance of weeds from the footpath.

During the lunchtime break all of the volunteers assembled at Newton Common Lock for the visit of the Mayor of St. Helens Cllr. Pat Robinson, who stayed to chat to people and to offer us encouragement to keep up the good work

The Society’s annual contribution to the Campaign took place on two sites on Sunday 8th October. Whilst a small party worked on Newton Common Lock with a small digger and dumper trucks a larger party took itself off a few hundred metres to Penkford Bridge where they proceeded to clear the canal of litter and weed growth.

Tea, coffee and biscuits were available throughout the day whenever the workers chose to have a break, and the same facilities were extended to The Mayor, Councillor Pat Robinson, a member of the Society’s Executive Committee, who came to visit the site as part of her Mayoral activities.
After examining the work going on, Pat posed for a photocall before being driven off to her next engagement. It might have been Sunday but being Mayor is not a five day week.

At the lock the heavy rains of the previous week had collected to form a wide stretch of shallow water in the existing excavation so at first glance the lock looked as if it was back in water, but this meant that water as well as infill would have to be removed. Members of the Waterway Recovery Group controlled ‘Blue’ the mini-excavator, digging away the spoil covering the lock chamber down to coping stone level.

This was loaded into the two dumper trucks, which delivered it to the tipping site a short distance away. Tipping did not take place in a haphazard fashion, but instead each load was raked out to create a new flat surface downstream from the lock chamber. Over the course of the day five volunteers and three machines moved many cubic metres of spoil, and made a considerable impression on the site. Only one more work party should be needed to finish this phase of the work, opening out the lock to the valley below and making it much more obvious that a canal once passed close by.

At Penkford Bridge the group worked first of all to the north, clearing weed growth and tidying up the bank of the canal. This was a wet and muddy job, but there was a great sense of achievement when it was finished, and the weeds were in the skip rather than in the water. Work to the south of the bridge was more demanding since all the weeds, reeds and vegetation taken from the canal had to be barrowed under the bridge. This doesn’t sound too bad but there is not enough room to stand upright under the bridge so wheeling a loaded barrow underneath it called for some adaptation of posture to say the least. Again the area was much improved as a result of the efforts of the volunteers.

Since the Society began practical restoration work in 1985, our work parties have experienced very few accidents, and these have been of a very minor nature. Unfortunately, this time, after all the work had been finished and all the tools had been packed away one of our volunteers slipped on the wet surface and fell. In the classic manner he stretched out his hand to stop himself and promptly broke his wrist. An ambulance was summoned and the casualty was taken to Warrington Hospital where an operation was found to be necessary. The Society regrets that the accident occurred and wishes him a speedy recovery.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the events. Anyone interested in joining future working parties can contact Colin Greenall, by telephoning 01744 732031 (daytime) /731746 (evening).