Summer is coming to an
end as I sit and write this, and I must confess that our branch
has underachieved somewhat, so far this year.
This has been due to both the F&M and the terribly wet weather
early in the year plus delays in gaining the necessary leases that we had
expected to have in place in the spring.
The situation with leases
for the area around Savernake Brake and Steppingstone Bridge are still not
in place as I write (early September) but we hope to complete the former in
the next few weeks, our solicitors having already exchanged comments on the
proposed lease wording. As for the
other lease, it is very difficult to get Land Agents to work on what is to
them “small beer” with any sense of urgency and it does stretch the art
of diplomacy to the extreme! This despite agreement in principle with the
agents, the owners and the tenant farmers. Still,
who said it would be easy!
We have also been putting
in some “back room” effort in those low profile areas such as article
and letter writing, and also supporting the group stand at the IWA Festival
at Milton Keynes. Chris Forward, our WPO attended a group course at South Marston
village where the topic was “Method Statements and how to prepare and
submit them”, which will enable our
branch to improve its professionalism when preparing to carry out work on
our sites in the future.
We are now beginning the
preparatory work on the Steppingstone Bridge bridleway diversion, and have
taken delivery of several tons of scalpings.
Unfortunately the stones have had to be temporarily stored on the
canalside park car park as the access to the site was not suitable for the
heavy lorries. It is planned to moth
these scalpings to Steppingstone Lane Bridge during the September work
party. But this will have to be
in small batches to avoid damage to the bridleway access path.
Very labour intensive!
The branch again
supported the Shrivenham Fete on August Bank Holiday Saturday by providing a
W&B information stand
during the fete and later hosting the aprés-fête BBQ and firework display
at the canalside park. The BBQ was very well supported with over 100 villagers and friends
attending. This has now become an annual event which raises the profile of
the canal in Shrivenham and also generates a small amount of cash although
the returns are small for the effort expended.
Again our thanks go to Liz and Phil Large who organised the food and
led the branch team. It is worth
noting that when the clear-up team set to work (The Wombles?) they were very
pleased to find only 1 item of litter, a paper cup.
This demonstrates hopefully, the regard that the villagers hold for
our canalside park.
As part of the fete
activities, the use of the Shrivenham Circular Walk ,which utilises much of
the towpath in our section, is encouraged, and we were delighted to have the
fete committee team strim and tidy the paths.
During the fete, Alan Norris, our branch chairman, was presented with
a cheque for £350 by the Shrivenham and District Gardening Club.
This was from the proceeds of their “Shrivenham Open Gardens”
event which was held in July this year. It is heartening to see this
improving support and recognition that the canal is now getting locally.
Richard Breese, our
branch Webmaster, is reporting that there is increasing interest being shown
in our branch website, which can be found at www.westvalecanal.fsnet.co.uk,
with several hundred “hits” a month. This
can only be good for our cause. [04/09/01: An average of 230
"hits" (page impressions, not visitors) per month for the last
three months. RB]
I look forward to being
able to report more progress in the next edition of Dragonfly but hope to
see many at the AGM in October where I expect our branch to be well
represented.
Orph Mable