West Vale Branch
Links

Here are some links which I hope you will find interesting and/or useful. There are other links at relevant points throughout this website.

• Official Wilts & Berks Canal Trust website.
• Old Wilts & Berks Canal Trust website maintained by Doug Small. We have our own introductory page written by Orph Mable on the site here. A membership form is available here.
• Doug also maintains his own personal Wilts & Berks Canal Trust website here.
• Finally, Doug also maintains the Wessex Waterways Network website which has information about all the canals and other waterways that surround the Wilts & Berks Canal.
• The Swindon Branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust have started their own website...
• ...as have the Melksham Branch.
• Peter Smith's Wilts & Berks Canal pages have copious amounts of information about every stretch of the canal.
• Jim Shead has brief technical details of the Wilts & Berks Canal here.
• David Roberts has some information here. Particularly relevant are the before and after pictures of the canal near Shrivenham.
• Swindon's infamous Magic Roundabout lies on top of the site of Swindon wharf.
• The canal seems to get more than its fair share of mentions in parliament.

• Official Cotswold Canal Trust website for information about the Thames & Severn Canal restoration.
• Unofficial Cotswold Canal Trust website.
• Official Kennet & Avon Canal Trust website.
• Thames path website seems to be one of the few that actually acknowledges the river's existence outside London.

• The Vale of White Horse is in Oxfordshire.
• The West Vale Branch is based in Shrivenham.
• The Branch's stretch of canal starts in Uffington - the village associated with the White Horse.
• A brief introduction to the White Horse (grid reference SU302866) can be found here or here.
• The Vale & Downland Museum in Wantage is an excellent introduction to the area and has some information about the canal.

• George's Canal Boating in the U.K. and Europe. A mine of information: almost every waterway related link you'll ever need.

• Jim Shead honoured us with a mention in his "clicking.on.canals" column in June 2002's Waterways World magazine. His useful site can be found here (in case you missed its mention above).

• British Waterways are responsible for maintaining the majority of our inland waterways.

• The Inland Waterways Association started it all 50 years ago.

• The Waterways Recovery Group help restore canals and help out regularly on the Wilts & Berks Canal (when they're not having brew, that is!)

• Narrowboat World is frequently updated with news from arround the system.

• The Pennine Waterways website has details of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal's restoration. It shows what can be done with a lot of hard work, determination and a huge lottery grant.

• As well as being a member of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, I am a life member of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society and also a member of the group working to restore the Lapal Tunnel (link broken 2 July 2002).

• One of restoration schemes I am most excited about is the Anderton Boat Lift in Chesire. It is hoped to complete restoration in 2002. Alan Carr has some pictures here and some samples from a CDROM are available here and here.

• Our former Project Co-ordinator, Orph Mable, moved away in June 2004 and now runs Oxley Marine on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal between Aldersley and Autherley junctions near Wolverhampton.

• I had my most satisfying holiday ever on Lundy Island. 12 miles off the north Devon coast, it's only 3 miles long and half a mile wide.

• The Lutyens Trust, of which I am a member, aims to "protect the spirit and substance of the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens OM".

• For new books try Amazon.

• For used books try Abebooks.co.uk or Powells.

• For music: let me know when you find a decent one - all the mainstream ones are still far too expensive.

• For DVDs try Play 24/7 (for regions 1/2 and CDs) or DVD Box Office (for region 1). Both have the best prices and excellent service (so far).

• This website is hosted free by www.contributions.org.uk.