The back-end of 2001 has
seen us starting to make progress again after the earlier work stoppages
brought about by Foot & Mouth and the summer holiday season. We have
managed to catch up on the grass cutting and hedge trimming that had
accumulated during the first half of the year and I must admit that the park
and towpaths look well cared for at the moment.
Our next major
restoration work on the canal is to be Steppingstone Lane Bridge. Readers
may remember that we obtained Planning Permission in March 2000 for this
work but up to now events have conspired to prevent much being undertaken.
Before work can start on the actual bridge, we must re-route the bridleway
as this is a heavily used thoroughfare for the local horse riding community.
Last year we built a dam either side of the bridge and intend to use the one
to the west as a causeway.
In order to prevent
damage to the bridleway, we had negotiated with the local farmer to deliver
20 tons of scalpings across his field direct from Station Road. However, we
had difficulty in letting a contract for the delivery and the field was
ploughed in before the scalpings could be delivered. Thus they were
delivered to the canalside car park to await us delivering them to the
bridge site.
It was proposed that we
had two work parties in November so that we could get the scalpings to site
and cut through the small copse to link the diversion with the extant
bridleway. The first weekend we hired a 3 ton dumper, large enough to reduce
the number of trips down the bridleway to the absolute minimum.
Unfortunately, we only achieved 4 deliveries as the hydraulics failed and
the dumper refused to turn right! The following weekend, dumper repaired, we
tried again.
We started early to
ensure that we completed the task in daylight but the best plans never run
true! When we started our Kubota mini-digger that was to be used to load the
dumper, it was found that the a connecting rod between the lever and the
blade control valve had sheared and the blade was stuck in the down
position! Whilst 3 stalwarts loaded the dumper in true navvy style (using
shovels!), Orph Mable was able to jury rig the digger to enable the blade to
be lifted. By mid-morning we were fully mechanised again and Phil Large was
able to use the both the digger and dumper to move the scalpings single
handed. This freed of the rest of the work party to move down to the bridge
and start clearing the diversion route.
By mid-afternoon there
was only about 1 ton of scalpings left on the car park, when again the
dumper started to refuse to turn right so couldn’t be used for this last
load. Undaunted, Phil Large and Orph Mable used our little towpath tractor
(converted lawnmower!) and trailer to clear the car park of scalpings by
moving them to our storage area. So by the end of the day the scalpings were
on-site, and the diversion cut through ready for a few stumps to be pulled
next time. The December and January work parties should see the completion
of the diversion.
On the social front,
November saw the Annual Skittle Challenge taking place between the Abingdon,
East Vale and West Vale branches. I am pleased to report that again West
Vale were the victors and retained the “beautiful” boat trophy. East
Vale came a close second with Abingdon supporting from the rear. Abingdon
member George Eycott maintained his record as the lowest scoring gent for
the third year running! It was a well supported event and a good time was
enjoyed by all.
Members
of West Vale Branch hope that 2002 is going to be the year when we get even
more canal back in water and we make good progress at Steppingstone Lane
Bridge. I am confident that is what I’ll be reporting this time next year.
Orph
Mable - Branch Project Co-ordinator