More WRG activity boosts restoration progress The IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) has continued to support local canal restoration projects and has announced details of its Summer 2014 work camps. WRG volunteers returned to the Montgomery Canal in early November to tackle another obstruction, this time at Pant, where the railway bridge across the canal has been replaced by an embankment which will have to be removed if boats are to reach Llanymynech once more. Since the canal was formally abandoned in 1944 it whas been obstructed in many places, bridges were dropped and lengths of the canal simply dried out. Although many obstructions have been removed in the years of restoration and half the canal is now open for boating, much remains to be done. The WRG team spent the weekend investigating the embankment, clearing vegetation and discovering the remains of the old bridge, to see what will be involved in clearing the line of the canal. WRG volunteers have been involved in the restoration of the Montgomery Canal for over forty years and it is hoped this latest visit will help speed the removal of the railway embankment at Pant.
WRG is raising funds to purchase a new excavator. Will we see it at Meretown? Photo: IWA/WRG
Later this year WRG will be arriving on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals to support the restoration work being undertaken by SNCT. A work camp will take place from August 16-23 offering a variety of tasks working at Meretown Lock at Islington, Shropshire. Volunteers will undertake lock clearance work, removing soil from the chamber, as well as profiling around 200m of canal bed and creating a temporary dam. They will also have the chance to carry out stonework, lime mortaring and scrub clearance work in and around the lock. Any readers interested in joining this or any of the other WRG working holiday camps can find out more at https://www.waterways.org.uk/wrg/canal_camps/ canal_camp_dates. Michael Haig Spring 2014
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