1. VOLUNTEER YEAR
2. VOLUNTEER HELEN, keeping dry
3. VOLUNTEER ALAN, gets muddy
5. AMY - “Why do I volunteer with the Canal Trust?”
7. VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES & 7th JUNE VOLUNTEER SHOWCASE
8. VOLUNTEERS SOCIALISING
9. 5th JULY, Volunteers & members ‘picnic in paradise’
10. WORK PARTIES Volunteers achieving
This newsletter features our VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT DRIVE. Some great volunteers give us their thoughts on volunteering with our unique, local charity.
YOU CAN HELP and SUPPORT US by spreading the word to friends and family members that we really value and need volunteers to help in various roles and teams.
Our support for the canal proprietors has led to successful restoration of parts of the navigation and some of the locks and spillways along its length, but there is more to be achieved, as well as the ongoing maintenance and the vital administration and organisation.
In return for a few hours volunteering we offer opportunities to have fun with others, develop skills and knowledge and make a difference in your community.
Contact: chair@nwdct.org or
When I asked Helen how she became a volunteer with the NW&DC Trust she happily explained that she had enjoyed coming so much to both days of the 2024 Canal Festival that she asked there and then about volunteering opportunities. She was delighted to find out at her induction that she didn’t need any particular knowledge about canals or particular qualifications or experience with tools or equipment and that the other volunteers would welcome her and give her the encouragement to learn on the job.
We explained the health, safety and environment procedures and emphasised that, if these are followed, then she will be covered by Trust Insurance. Thereafter, enthusiasm for the restoration of the canal would be the main quality needed as a volunteer.
Volunteering with the Trust has given Helen the opportunity she says to practice and learn new, interesting skills, such as driving the work pontoon, Sue B, which is fitted with the Trust weed harvester and working the harvester too. In this photo she is helping to pull out a large fallen tree which had been blocking the navigation.
Helen laughingly said “I’m surprised I haven’t fallen in the canal yet; I always bring a change of clothes, but haven’t yet needed them.” Helen had previously undertaken some conservation work elsewhere, but really likes the variety of work with the Trust. Talking of laughter and fun, Helen also values working with really welcoming volunteers, as part of the Trust’s volunteer team - all of them keen to help each other with the restoration of the canal.
The wonderful, tranquil environment, packed with wildlife at every turn is also part of the attraction for her and the other volunteers. Helen speaks with delight of watching a heron fishing, catching sight of a kingfisher and loving the serenity of the swans sailing the canal. She encourages others to come and ‘give it a go.’
Or, “Why no one needs be cold on an Alan-led work party!
Alan told me that his enjoyment of and commitment to restoration and conservation of our transport heritage was shaped since his youth, when his family explored Norfolk and Suffolk on holidays from where they lived in London, with Alan becoming a member of the fledgling Transport Museum in Lowestoft aged just 18.
His hands-on tram restoration was initially in London for the Crich Transport Museum in Derbyshire, but it was to be several years later that he volunteered at the Lowestoft Museum - volunteering, as well as driving the trams and trolley buses and then eventually becoming a Trustee.
Alan quipped: ” I never had a problem getting wet and mucky, where that might be an outcome.” The photo of Alan above in the lower Swafield lock on the NW&D Canal illustrates this perfectly - up to his knees in water!
His fascination with canals grew through the enjoyment of many narrowboat holidays on various canals with pals from transport heritage organisations. It was in an article in Waterways World that Alan first read of the restoration work near North Walsham on a disused canal. He didn’t know then that he would join that mission some years later.
His environmental interests, in his youth, led to him volunteering for some years with the Epping Forest Conservation group, eventually leading work parties. When he moved to Suffolk he happily worked as a conservation volunteer with a part of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. When that part of the organisation folded he joined the North Walsham and Dilham Canal Trust to help with the restoration and conservation.
Over time Alan’s breadth of skills and experience, have resulted in his becoming a popular work party leader for the NW&DC Trust and an accomplished archivist of work party photos.
Alan had always intended to only take part in work parties, with the demands of the Transport Museum being the main call on his time and a serious responsibility, so we are very fortunate that he continues to work in his work party leader role. It could have been very different!
When he turned up in 2010, for his first NW&DC Trust work party at Briggate Mill Pond he recalls that it was snowing. It didn’t quash his enthusiasm. Maybe that’s why one of his skills that we all admire is his ability to get a great fire going by the canal when we need to burn the damp cut vegetation (and keep us warm!!)
I am a busy working Mum living in Norwich so what makes me volunteer then? Well, its all down to a chap called Arthur Waters!
Arthur Waters, taken from the 1966 film, (see UEA link below)
The title of the film is 1966 – UEA EAFA – Norfolk Broads – History of the North Walsham and Dilham Canal – Arthur Waters of Ebridge remembers
The NWDCT website has many resources available herehttps://nwdct.org/links-film-and-video/
I’m never going to be a captain on the wherries but what I can do is play my small part in keeping the canal alive and literally walking in the footsteps of my Great Grandad and Grandad so I decided to join the Work Party Volunteers.
I don’t have any specific skills or experience but that doesn’t matter. The work is varied and it’s easy to use a rake or loppers but there are other more skilled jobs too and I can learn ‘on the job’. They are such a friendly group and they meet every other Sunday and Thursday so all I do is check if I am free and then join them if I can.
I have been volunteering for several months now and really enjoy it. I don’t volunteer regularly; sometimes I’ve been out there with just a couple of weeks between days, other times it’s been several weeks and other times I just stay for as long as I can but that doesn’t matter. There is never any pressure at all to attend sessions
When I am out there working it is really laid back and we always stop for lunch and have a natter. A lot of the more regular volunteers are so knowledgeable so it’s always interesting finding out about the history and the area. It’s a great way to get some physical work, meet people and to do our little bit to help keep the canal going, particularly as every single aspect of it relies on volunteers.
That’s my reason for volunteering but there are so many positives from doing this and without having to commit to regular times. There are also multiple opportunities to volunteer away from the canal such as administration work; even for an hour a week. It was really easy to find out about volunteering and to become part of the team.
Written by Amy Waters, Volunteer
The Volunteer Showcase, like the Big Bash, is organised by North Walsham Community Network, who aim to connect and support local people and groups.
Some of us Trust Volunteers will be at the VOLUNTEER SHOWCASE to be held on 7th JUNE at the NW Community Centre from 2 to 5pm, where you will have an opportunity to choose a living 'book' in the Human Library and have a chat with us about what we do and why.
Opportunities for Volunteers to join these Teams
What a happy gathering in North Walsham on Saturday 5th April, around the much admired Postbox Topper, made by Yvonne, the talented craftswoman and sister of Ian Hibbert, our Work Party Co-ordinator.
Volunteers and members met to mark and celebrate the start of the Bicentennial Celebration of the canal construction; as the first “sod was cut” 200 years ago on 5th April 1825.
The merry band of members and volunteers walked down the market place in the evening sun to enjoy a pie and a pint at the Black Swan.
As the photo shows some folk dressed brilliantly as 1825 Navvies.
Afterwards, others said they wished they’d been there. So, dear members and volunteers, remind your families, mark your diaries and dust off the picnic baskets.
All Members & Volunteers of the Trust & close family members
An invitation from Luke and Louise Paterson
5th JULY 2025, 12 midday to 3pm
You are invited to bring your own refreshments and picnic at the Smallburgh Pound of the North Walsham and Dilham Canal
The second of the celebrations of the Bicentennial of the canal construction. A fantastic invitation to picnic free of charge by the canal in an idyllic setting and meet up for fun with other enthusiastic supporters of the canal restoration
Please note: this event is not open to the public
1825 style costumes would be fabulous, but not essential
Luke and Louise ask that we respect and enjoy the tranquility, next to a site of SSSI, with local wildlife, nearby horses and Dilham Hall Retreats guests.
No food trucks, bar or entertainment provided. Please take all litter home or use bins provided.
Luke and Louise have waived the usual parking fee for this and would like any donations to go to the North Walsham and Dilham Canal Trust.
Also, at a special rate for this one afternoon, Dilham Hall Canoes will be available for hire for £15 per canoe (which takes up to 3 people). Some folk plan to set off around midday for a paddle or a walk and return to enjoy a picnic on the meadow.
Last autumn the North Walsham and Dilham Canal Trust (NWDCT) published its strategy for a 10 year period starting in 2024. It detailed what the Trust would like to happen in terms of the restoration. However, as stated in the strategy, the Trust is very much in the hands of the Proprietors (Owners) of the canal as to the actual work undertaken.
Each year an Annual Plan is created to look at the works that might be undertaken by the Trust’s work parties in the coming financial year of the Trust (June 2026 to May 2026). This plan is, of course, informed by the strategy and has the same constraint – we work in support of the owners and must conform to what they plan to do in terms of the restoration of the canal. A brief summary of the plan follows: -
E.1 Overall objective (see above)
E.2 Priorities of the work
The following is the agreed priority of work from the NWDCT Strategy
Undertake maintenance on Pounds 1 (Smallburgh) and 4 (Ebridge)
Establish with the NWCC what can be achieved on Pound 2 (Honing) and Pound 3 (Briggate) and adjust plan accordingly
Support the OCC to progress work on the re-watering of Pound 5 (Bacton Wood Mill)
Support the Starlings in their conservation work on Pounds 6/7
E.3 Project work and programme
Project work cannot be fully considered until progress is made with the NWCC and the OCC as to the work on Pounds 2,3 and 5.
The Trust continues to discuss the way forward with the Proprietor of Pounds 2 and 3.
On Pound 5 the main future project is to support the OCC to undertake the work necessary to re-water the Pound, possibly in stages.
A fundamental principle of the Trust is that it raises public money for the public good. There must be some agreement with the Proprietors that any project work or maintenance that the Trust contributes to has to be on the basis that the public have reasonable (but not necessarily open) access to the areas that are restored and/ or conserved.
The Trust will continue to support the Proprietor of Pound 1 to maintain the channel. This includes, but is not limited to, the removal of sunken logs, light trimming of vegetation adjacent to and overhanging the canal and cutting/removing vegetation (including invasive species) within the channel, as directed by the Proprietor.
On Pounds 2 and 3 it is envisaged that the Trust will continue its maintenance work at Honing Lock, Honing Staithe (including the canal walk) and Briggate Lock/Mill pond.
Any other work is subject to prior agreement with the NWCC.
The Trust will continue to work in support of the OCC on the maintenance on Pounds 4 and 5 as directed by the OCC.
On Pound 4 the main OCC activity will be the removing vegetation growing within and/or over the channel of the canal, removing excess material from within the channel and the periodic maintenance of the banks in general accordance with the Mitigation and Compensation Plan.
The main work on Pound 5 is currently in abeyance as the OCC resolves matters with the EA and other parties.
Assistance will be offered to the Proprietor of the top end of Pound 5 and Pound 6/7, visiting the locks of this section to undertake conservation work.
Despite there being no major projects in progress a lot of good work has been undertaken this spring. Some work is restricted in recognition of wildlife activity. (Checks are undertaken throughout the year to avoid disturbing nesting birds and water voles generally and fish spawning in the spring.) Hopefully our work contributes to the healthy position of the pounds in water in regard to certain key species.
Numerous outings doing various works that included removing Floating Pennywort (under the control of Norfolk County Council), canopy trimming, aquatic reed/weed cutting and removal of sunken logs/fallen trees.
Visits to Honing Lock/Staithe to cut back vegetation along the staithe and the canal walk.
Cutting vegetation at Briggate lock, on the island and adjacent to the lock.
Grass/vegetation cutting and tidying up at Ebridge lock, Spa Common and along the banks.
Cutting vegetation around the lock. Cutting the vegetation on top of the banks for access.
Vegetation was removed from within and around the upper lock and along the back soke for Pound 6 between the two Swafield locks.
In addition to work on the equipment and keeping the unit tidy, materials have been obtained to create a ‘boating corner’. This will allow equipment such as the outboards, batteries, chargers, buoyancy aids, etc to be stored in one location within the unit and also rationalise how some of the other tools are stored.