Canal Camps 2022 Brochure

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canal camps

Volunteer with us

waterways.org.uk/canalcamps 1

Why you’ll love volunteering for Waterway Recovery Group • Meet new people and make lifelong friends • Be part of a friendly and diverse team • Learn new practical skills • Gain valuable work-related experience • Help restore our industrial heritage

“I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience of a Canal Camp – the combination of fresh air, mud and getting hands-on experience of restoring our heritage, all in the company of friendly people, was the perfect way to spend a week!”

-Charlotte 2

Camps & Dates for 2022 26th March W aterway Restoration Conference (WC2022) 21st May L eadership Training (LTD2022) 25th-26th June T raining Weekend Wey & Arun Canal (TW2022) 2nd-9th July H erefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal (KESCRG) (CC202201) 9th-16th July H erefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal (CC202202)

20th-27th August Wey & Arun Canal (NWPG) (CC202211) 21st-28th August Shrewsbury & Newport Canals (CC202212) 3rd-10th September Swansea Canal (CC202213) 10th-17th September Monmouthshire Canal (CC202214) 17th-24th September Swansea Canal (CC202215) 28th-30th October Family Camp - Wendover Arm Canal (FC2022)

16th-23rd July H erefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal (CC202203) 23rd-30th July C helmer & Blackwater Navigation (CC202204) Lichfield Canal (CC202205) 30th July-6th August C helmer & Blackwater Navigation (CC202206) Lichfield Canal (CC202207) 6th-13th August Lapal Canal (CC202208)

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All volunteers attending a Canal Camp this summer will be required to take a lateral flow test before departure to the camp. If the test is positive you will not be able to attend the camp.

COVID-19 Staying Safe Measures As a volunteer, you are an integral and valued part of WRG, and we will do our best to ensure your experience is safe, enjoyable and rewarding. In return we ask that all volunteers agree to appropriate standards of personal conduct in regards to Covid-19, as we do with site based health & safety.

It is important to remember that at the start of the camp you are essentially forming a family, a new household of volunteers, for the week. We are therefore asking you to take on an element of individual responsibility to ensure the collective safety of everyone on a camp this summer.

Visit our website to find out more: waterways.org.uk/canalcampcovidfaqs 4

Duke of edinburgh's award A Canal Camp is a great way to complete the residential section of your Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. All volunteers participating in the Award are expected to attend the Camp for the full seven days.

Book Now

Join our Canal Camp for just £70 per week

01494 783 453 waterways.org.uk/canalcamps 5

Just add volunteers Canal Camps are a great experience for anyone who loves being outdoors and enjoys meeting new people of different ages and from a variety of backgrounds. Run by the Inland Waterways Association’s Waterway Recovery Group (WRG), Canal Camps allow participants to learn new skills whilst helping bring derelict waterways back to life.

Transport Car parking is provided. If you arrive by train or bus, we will pick you up from the designated station. We also provide transfers between the accommodation and site.

accommodation Volunteers sleep in a village hall or similar with access to electricity, toilets and draughtfree sleeping areas. Hot showers are provided at the end of the day. You will need to bring a sleeping mat or camp bed.

Each Canal Camp costs just £70 per week

food There will be a cooked breakfast, lunch on site and a home cooked evening meal along with plenty of tea and cake. Let us know if you have special dietary requirements.

age limit WRG Canal Camp working holidays are open to anyone aged 18 and above.

experience Free time

It doesn’t matter whether you are a complete beginner or already have some skills, you will be guided through every task by the Canal Camp leadership team.

Evenings are free to socialise with your fellow campers.

Camp Leaders will organise activities such as bowling, cinema or go to the pub, so don’t forget to bring some extra money if you want to join in.

kit list You’ll be sent a list of what to bring. You will need steel toe capped footwear. We will supply safety wear, such as such as hard hats, safety gloves and specs.

Navvies Our magazine will update you on our restoration activities.

First time volunteers will get one year’s free subscription.

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Training Weekend (Free)

leadership training day (Free)

Location: Wey and Arun Canal, Surrey Activities: Heritage training & machine operation Dates: 25th-26th June

Location: Rowington Village Hall, Warwickshire Activities: Leadership training Dates: 21st May

Want to get a head start on your Canal Camp, learn how to use new tools and equipment or try your hand at operating an excavator? Our Training Weekend upskills volunteers involved with canal restoration or looking to give it a go! Learn transferable skills and get to grips with operations carried out on construction projects under the supervision of our fully trained Instructors.

Every year we run a Leadership Training Day for volunteers running Canal Camps and for those who are interested in getting involved or considering giving it a go. Join us on this relaxed and inclusive day and find out more about what our Leaders and Assistants do. We always welcome eager volunteers and will provide all the support and training needed to help you lead or assist a WRG Canal Camp.

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Sites for 2022 Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal £70

Technical Plant Camp

Wey & Arun Canal £70 Location: Surrey Activities: Civil engineering Dates: 20th-27th August

Location: Newent, Gloucestershire Activities: Machinery and brickwork Dates: 2nd-9th July, 9th-16th July, 16th-23rd July

Volunteers on this year’s camps will be working towards building the second of two new lift bridges needed to bring the Birtley section of canal back into working order. The work will involve preparing the site for future projects and to begin the construction of the bridge. This camp is a perfect opportunity for budding engineers and construction enthusiasts to experience first-hand what it takes to work on a significant infrastructure project. The Newbury Working Party Group will be supporting this week.

The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal has recently got planning permission to reinstate 600 metres of filled-in canal at a new site at Malswick.

WRG volunteers will be undertaking a big ‘muck shift’ using excavators and dumpers to excavate the new channel using a ‘cut and fill’ method. We will also be extending a culvert under the canal. This is an exciting project for WRG to be involved in with plenty of machine work.

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lichfield Canal £70

lapal Canal £70

Location: Staffordshire Activities: Brick and block laying Dates: 23rd-30th July, 30th July-6th August

Location: Selly Oak, Birmingham Activities: Towpath improvement work Dates: 6th-13th August The Lapal Canal Trust was established in 1990 by a group of environmental and canal enthusiasts with the objective of restoring the Dudley No 2 Canal from Selly Oak to Halesowen. The Trust are now focused on restoring the canal from Selly Oak to California. This camp will spend the week resurfacing a section of the towpath as well as creating a new path that connects the canal, over a bridge, to Selly Oak Park.

The Lichfield Canal covers a distance of over seven miles through 30 locks.

Despite the challenges, such as new main roads built across the line of the canal since it closed, restoration continues to make significant progress.

Our job for this summer is to rebuild a canal bank retaining wall above Lock 18, near Fosseway Lane, using concrete blocks and facing brickwork.

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chelmer & blackwater navigation £70

Technical Brickwork Camp

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals £70 Location: Shropshire Activities: Heritage repairs and construction Dates: 21st-28th August

Location: Essex Activities: Brickwork and towpath repairs Dates: 6-13th August and 13th-20th August

The goal of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust is to form a continuous navigable waterway linking Norbury Junction with Shrewsbury. This summer we will be working on two projects at Berwick Tunnel, rebuilding the stone lengthman’s hut next to the entrance of Berwick Tunnel and as undertaking repairs to the actual tunnel portal.

This is ‘our own’ working waterway – WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association took over the running of the Chelmer and Blackwater over 10 years ago through its subsidiary Essex Waterways. This summer we will be working with the Essex Waterways Team to undertake significant brickwork repairs to Stonham’s Weir where both wingwalls have decayed.

Week 2 of the project may also involve towpath repairs near Barnes Lock.

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Swansea Canal £70

monmouthshire canal £70

Location: Swansea Bay, South Wales Activities: Heritage construction Dates: 3rd-10th September and 17th24th September

Location: Cwmbran, Monmouthshire Activities: Heritage stonework and painting Dates: 10th-17th September

A perfect opportunity to learn heritage restoration skills whilst making a positive impact to the area. Our team will be returning to Trebanos Lower Lock to continue work rebuilding and repointing the lock chamber wall.

There may also be the option to work at Ynysmeudwy Lock, digging out a buried length of canal or Coed Gwilym Park helping build the walls of a new slipway.

Whatever the work it’s going to be a great week!

This summer we make a return to the ‘Mon & Brec’. Our team will be working to repair an overflow bywash weir on the Ty-Coch Flight of locks. The weir will need to be carefully dismantled and rebuilt using stone and traditional lime mortar. We will also be spending time repainting lock gates. This is a great camp for anyone wanting to learn heritage stonework skills.

The Swansea Canal originally ran for 16.5 miles and was steeply graded, needing 36 locks to enable it to rise 373 feet over its length. Subsequently parts of it were closed and filled in but around 6 miles of it remains in water.

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Family weekend camps £15 per person Location: Tring, Hertfordshire Activities: Environmental Date: 29th-30th October (arrive Friday evening) Family Canal Camps are back for a fourth year! This year we are looking forward to welcoming families to Whitehouse’s Pocket Park on the Wendover Canal for a weekend of fun environmental based activities.

Families will be provided with accommodation at Green Park Outdoor Centre. The activities undertaken will make practical improvement to the canals, help enhance the waterways for wildlife and to teach children what it is like to ‘live like a Navvy’!

open to families with children aged between 6 and 14

Book Now Contact us |

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01494 783 453

love your waterways restoration Over five hundred miles of the UK’s waterways have been saved from dereliction since the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) was founded in 1946.

Many more miles are gradually being brought back to life thanks to the work of IWA and WRG volunteers as well as the extraordinary hard work and dedication of restoration groups all over the country.

WRG is part of IWA and together we aim to support, enable and champion restoration nationally. IWA spends around a third of its membership subscription income to benefit WRG’s practical hands on work. And it’s not just financially that IWA supports restoration. Volunteers regularly lobby politicians, provide advice, expertise and publicity and combined with WRG volunteers our aim is to ensure the future of our waterway heritage.

Keep up to date with WRG @wrg_navvies facebook.com/waterwayrecoverygroup 13

NEW VIRTUAL RESTORATION HUB The Inland Waterways Association’s Restoration Hub was formed in 2017 to provide a centralised service for advice and resources, plus practical hands-on support, to enable waterway restoration groups to manage their waterway projects. The Hub supports the creation of a robust and vibrant waterway restoration sector, delivering re-openings of waterways and preserving our unique waterway heritage structures.

As part of the Hub, we have recently launched IWA’s virtual Restoration Hub which is a shared space for waterway restoration volunteers, organisations and other groups.

The virtual Restoration Hub contains useful resources such as:

• • • •

WRG’s Driver Authorisation – forms and information Series of toolkits on fundraising, safety, technical and environmental issues Restoration TV Details of the Annual Waterways Restoration Conference, events and workshops

This is a free resource but donations are always welcome to help continue our support to restoration.

Like many waterway restorations this area of the site is a work in progress and we will regularly be updating the site with the latest news and information.

Contact us for more details waterways.org.uk/restorationhub 14

“It was great to work with a lovely mix of people and ages; I particularly enjoyed learning new skills such as how to use a survey level as in the future I would like to become a civil engineer.”

-James, aged 18 15

waterways.org.uk/canalcamps Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association (registered office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA). The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89. Copyright Waterway Recovery Group 2022. WRG reserves the right to decline bookings without a specified reason. Photos supplied by WRG volunteers.

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