www.wrg.org.uk
waterway recovery group
VOLUNTEER 2014 ...and help restore the waterways
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“Going on a WRG ca mp has ticked so many boxes for me – fresh air, exercise, friendship, community involvement, and a holiday!”
www.waterways.org.uk
ay rw te ery wa cov re oup gr
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Holidays With a Difference
WRG is part of:
About Us
Tell Me More
Camp leader and their assistant. Our
standard of accommodation is best
working holidays are open to anyone
described as basic, with volunteers
Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) working holidays, called ‘Canal Camps’, are a great experience for anyone who loves being outdoors and enjoys meeting new people from different backgrounds and of different ages. Our Camps also offer you a fantastic chance to learn new skills such as bricklaying, stone walling, machine operation and restoration techniques.
In groups of up to 20 volunteers, you
aged between 18 and 70. Volunteers
sleeping on the floor in one large
can help with essential restoration
come from all walks of life... so why
room, but you can expect electricity,
work on the derelict waterways of
don’t you join us on a Canal Camp and
flushing toilets and dry draught-free
England and Wales. Volunteers will be
try something completely different in
sleeping areas! If the accommodation
able to take part in various tasks from
2014!
does not have showers, they will be
vegetation clearance to learning how to build a lock wall. Whether you are a complete beginner or have tried your hand at restoration before, you will be guided through every task by the Canal
Accommodation Most of the accommodation is in village halls, sports clubs or similar. The
arranged locally. Don’t forget a comfy sleeping mat, airbed or camping bed to make your sleeping experience more enjoyable!
Volunteer Now It’s easy to book onto one of our Canal Camps and become a 21st century canal Navvy! • book online • call • use the
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The Working Day
D of E Award
Our week-long working holidays usually
WRG welcomes participants completing
start around 4pm on the first Saturday
the residential section of their Gold
and finish at lunch time on the following
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. All
Saturday. The working day normally
volunteers participating in the Award
runs from 9am to 5pm (depending on
are asked to attend the Camp for the
the weather!) with plenty of tea-breaks
full seven days.
and lunch on site. A cooked breakfast and a substantial, home cooked
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01494 783 453 ext. 604
booking form at the back of this brochure
rs d o n ’t g et pa i d, n Vo l u nt e e s, but be ca u s e ot be ca s e l h t r o w they u a re s p
You’ll be sent a full list of what to bring, the essentials being…
a re hey ! e t i ce le ss r
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WRG volunteers come from all over the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and even as far afield as Australia!
www.wrg.org.uk
s leeping bag & camping mat (or airbed) waterproofs old work clothes steel toe capped boots/wellies We will supply any other safety equipment required, including a hard hat. ...most importantly remember to pack a sense of humour!
evening meal will be provided each day.
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South West & Wales
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k
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Activities: Heritage bricklaying, lock restoration
te s Da12th - 21st April *
5th - 12th July 9th - 16th August 16th - 23rd August 23rd - 30th August
Join us for WRG’s Big Dig Weekend on the 23rd - 25th August - £20
Inglesham Lock is at the eastern end of the Cotswold Canals, in a picturesque spot where the canal meets the Thames. We’ve been aiming to restore this for a while, but the Project Team has had a lot of behind-the-scenes planning to do first. They’ve now sorted out how we can safely dam it off and pump it out so we can get down’n’dirty in the bottom of the chamber! Once it’s dry(-ish), we’ll put up scaffolding so every inch of the lock walls can be surveyed, so we’ll know what’s needed when we come to restore it in 2015. In the meantime, we’ll be repairing the wing-walls (at the top end, where the lock leads on into the canal proper) and clearing vegetation from around the lock.
These camps offer volunteers a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a technical stage of a lock restoration.
Details Cost: £56 Location: Cotswolds Activities: Heritage brickwork, lock clearance, scaffolding and vegetation clearance
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Details Cost: £56 / £72* Location: Cotswolds
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In 2013 WRG helped the Cotswold Canals Trust restore Griffin Mill Lock near Stroud and in 2014 our camps will focus on restoring two further locks, Ham Mill Lock and Bowbridge Lock. Volunteers will undertake a wide variety of activities, including removal of damaged brickwork and bricklaying to reconstruct the lock chamber
wall. These will be busy, funfilled camps which will keep both experienced WRGies and newcomers entertained!
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Thames and Severn Canal and Stroudwater Navigation (collectively known as the Cotswold Canals) once linked the Thames, through the Cotswold Hills, to the Severn. Although the canal closed over fifty years ago, the waterways are still part of the landscape with many sections still visible today in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Inglesham Lock
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Cotswold Canals
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19th - 26th July 26th July - 2nd August 2nd - 9th August
Cost: £56 Location: South Wales
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Activities: Heritage construction skills, vegetation clearance
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12th - 19th July 19th - 26th July
Monmouthshire Canal
Details
Generally referred to as the ‘Mon & Brec’, the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny canals form a 50 mile link between the Brecon Beacons National Park and the South Wales Valleys. Over 30 miles of the Mon & Brec are already open, and many boaters rate it as Britain’s most beautiful waterway.
Cost: £56 Location: South Wales
Volunteers will help the local canal trust further their ‘Waterworks Project’ on the Ty Coch Lock Flight, south of Cwmbran, by undertaking the restoration of several disused locks to create a destination and resource for the local community and visitors in Cwmbran. Work will include lock chamber stone and brick repairs, lock gate construction and hedge laying. This is a great camp for all abilities whether you are a beginner or more experienced ‘navvy’.
Activities: Heritage construction skills, vegetation clearance
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Details
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WRG volunteers will spend the week working alongside the Swansea Canal Society and Canal & River Trust staff helping with the restoration work on Upper and Lower Trebanos Locks. Volunteers will replace fallen coping stones, rebuild the wing walls and quadrants of the two locks, replace a brick section of the canal bridge with stone, and finally repair the floor of the Upper Trebanos Lock overflow channel.
With pleasant surroundings, a fun project, and excellent local support this will be a popular camp.
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Swansea Canal Whilst much of the original canal has been infilled and associated industries have disappeared, the Swansea Canal remains an attractive wildlife corridor with around 6 miles still in water. The long term aim of the Swansea Canal Society is to recreate a navigable link along the canal into the River Tawe and from there to join up with the Neath and Tennant Canals.
© Ralph Mills
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k
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5th - 12th July
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Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Somerset Waterways
Lapal Canal
Cost: £56 Location: Somerset Activities: Creation of landing stages
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Working with The Inland Waterways Association’s West Country Branch, WRG volunteers will be helping rebuild landing stages by Firepool Lock on the recently dredged River Tone.
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30th August - 6th Sept
Thanks to a major campaign by local canal supporters, developers have recently been persuaded to restore the first section of canal at Battery Park – and in 2014, WRG volunteers will keep the momentum going by helping to dig out the next 100 metre section of canal
leading through Harborne Lane Bridge and into Selly Oak Park. Work will include exposing and repairing the old wharf wall, installing a dam to allow the next section of the canal to be cleared out and re-routing a path which currently crosses the waterway.
Details Cost: £56 Location: West Midlands Activities: Canal clearance and machine operation
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Details
The Dudley No. 2 line canal was authorised in 1793 and opened to traffic in 1798 and was built as a bypass canal to avoid the original Birmingham Canal (known as the Old Main Line). The western end of the canal is still in a good condition, but the eastern half, known as the Lapal Canal, has been abandoned and slowly filled in since the mid 1950’s. The long term aim of the restoration project is to restore the entire length of the canal, creating a valuable cruising ring on the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
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This will allow boats to use the landing stages safely when mooring up before the Lock in order to navigate into Taunton Town Centre.
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In Somerset there is a wealth of waterways and canals ready to be rediscovered as an important local asset. In 1697 34 ‘conservators’ from the Taunton region banded together to force improvements to the River Tone and enable small river barges to reach Taunton from the Bridgwater Dock, a difficult task even in good conditions. It was 1824 before the complete Bridgwater to Taunton Canal came into being and although open to boats, it needs volunteer support to keep it in good condition.
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5th - 12th July
© Julie Arnold (Waterways Images)
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Uttoxeter Canal
Details
Cromford Canal
Details
Essentially a rural waterway, the Uttoxeter Canal was built in 1811 and ran for 13 miles from a junction with the Caldon Canal at Froghall to a terminus in Uttoxeter. By the mid 1840’s it was taken over by the North Staffordshire Railway, who went on to close it. In 2005 the first section of the canal was reconnected to the network at Froghall Basin.
Cost: £56 Location: Staffordshire
The Cromford Canal is a waterway being reborn in the heart of the Peak District. The canal originally ran for 14 miles from Cromford to the Erewash Canal carrying coal, lead and iron ore, but in 1944 most of the canal was abandoned and it slowly fell into a state of disrepair.
Cost: £56 Location: Derbyshire
12th - 19th July
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Having focused on the northern stretch of the canal for several years, this year work moves south to start investigations on the Ironville Locks. Work will include clearing the lock chambers and the channel between, exposing the base and walls, and scaffolding the chamber so that surveys can be carried out. These camps are going to be busy, muddy and fun-filled so do something different this summer and join us on the Cromford Canal!
Activities: Lock clearance and investigation work
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Volunteers will be working at Bridge 70 on the Uttoxeter Canal continuing work started in 2013 to restore the bridge back to its former glory by undertaking lime mortar repairs and relaying stonework. Volunteers will also be involved in path improvement work, installing wooden fencing and clearing the non-native invasive plant, Himalayan Balsam, from along the line of the canal.
Activities: Heritage stone work, towpath improvements, fencing and vegetation clearance
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19th - 26th July 26th July - 2nd August
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New
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Cost: ÂŁ56 Location: Derbyshire
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In 2014 WRG will continue with work started in 2013, helping to complete the construction of the canal wall below the Staveley Town Lock. Volunteers will spend the week building the wall using concrete blocks, with some additional brickwork required. There is also blocklaying to be completed in the lock chamber. This new lock is an important step in the restoration of the canal and considerable progress should be seen during the camp.
Activities: Lock construction, brick and block laying
s Da t e
2nd - 9th August 9th - 16th August
Shrewsbury and Newport Canals The Shrewsbury Canal was opened in 1797, but remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Newport Branch was built linking Norbury Junction to the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. The Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust is actively campaigning to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore it to full navigation. This camp will offer volunteers a variety of tasks working at Meretown Lock at Islington. 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. Volunteers will also have the chance to carry out stonework, lime mortaring and scrub clearance work in and around the lock.
Details Cost: ÂŁ56 Location: Shropshire Activities: Lock chamber and vegetation clearance, stone work
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Details
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Chesterfield Canal The Chesterfield is one of the most beautiful and varied waterways in England. Officially opened in 1777, its most famous cargo was stone to rebuild the Houses of Parliament. Restoration work is now well advanced with much of the canal re-opened to boat traffic and other recreational activities.
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16th - 23rd August
Site
New
Site
South East
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Ashby Canal
Details
Basingstoke Canal
Details
The Ashby Canal is 22 miles long with no locks and runs from the Coventry Canal at Marston Junction to Snarestone. It was originally 30 miles long to a terminus at Moira but the northern 8 miles have progressively closed due to coal mining subsidence. A short length has been restored, extending the current terminus by around 150m, to incorporate a chamber and a slipway. Now, involving a local developer, plans are in place to restore a further 400m. This includes the rebuilding of bridge 62.
Cost: £56 Location: Leicestershire
The Basingstoke Canal is one of the few canals we work on that is already open to boats. In the early 1970’s restoration work began, and although 32 miles of the canal have been restored, there is an on-going need for maintenance and improvement works to sustain it.
Cost: £56 Location: Surrey
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25th October - 1st Nov
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This camp will be primarily focused around Brookwood Country Park with volunteers spending the week installing 40m of wooden visitor mooring, paving around 800m of towpath and undertaking brickwork repairs on a leaking weir. This camp will give volunteers the chance to try their hand at lots of different tasks and there may be the opportunity to operate machinery.
Activities: Towpath and brickwork repairs, construction of moorings
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In 2014 WRG volunteers will be involved in the initial bridge construction works which will include formation of the concrete foundations, installation of formwork and bricklaying. Volunteers will then return in 2015 to continue with the bridge building project!
Activities: Bridge construction work
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30th August - 6th Sept
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Lancashire &Yorkshire
Site
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k The northern part of the Lancaster Canal was cut off by the building of the M6 motorway. The Lancaster Canal Trust’s main objectives are to restore and open the canal to full navigation, from Tewitfield, just north of Carnforth to Kendal.
Cost: £56 Location: Lancashire
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This summer WRG volunteers will be returning to Stainton to complete earthworks and reline a 225 metre section of the Canal. Once complete, this new section will be re-watered and reconnected to a part of the canal that the Trust uses for its trip boats. Volunteers will also be involved in towpath improvement work and vegetation clearance along the next section of the canal. Book now and join us in the beautiful setting of the Lancaster Canal this Summer!
Activities: Channel construction and relining, towpath improvement work and vegetation clearance
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26th July - 2nd August 2nd - 9th August
Driffield Navigation and Pocklington Canal This year WRG will be holding a joint Canal Camp on the Driffield Navigation and Pocklington Canal. The Pocklington Canal is a charming rural waterway in East Yorkshire which acts as an important wildlife sanctuary. About 18 miles east of Pocklington is the tranquil Driffield Navigation. Much of the navigation has been restored and is enjoyed by boaters, cyclists and ramblers alike! Volunteers will spend the week working on two sites constructing a new trail for pedestrians and cyclists on the Driffield Navigation, and carrying out towpath improvement work on the Pocklington Canal. It is hoped that the towpath works will create an amenity
for the local community and improve access along the line of the two canals. Volunteers will be involved in vegetation clearance, towpath construction and there will also be the chance to operate small excavators and other machinery.
Details Cost: £56 Location: East Yorkshire Activities: Towpath construction and vegetation clearance
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Details
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Lancaster Canal
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16th - 23rd August
Other Events
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k BCN Cleanup
Details
WRG Reunion Weekend
Details
The Birmingham Canal Navigations Cleanup weekend is a great opportunity to have fun and meet new people whilst making a difference… plus you never know what exciting rubbish you might find lurking in the water!
Cost: £13 Location: Birmingham
This is WRG’s Big November Bash, the reunion for over 100 volunteers. It brings together first-timers from this year’s camps, old hands and regulars from all of WRG and other regional working party groups for a major bit of canal restoration work and big party on the Saturday evening.
Cost: £13 Location: TBC Activities: Vegetation clearance and bonfires
5th - 6th April
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We haven’t decided on a site for 2014 but keep checking the website for more information!
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Volunteers who attended in 2011 will remember the WRG site at Bordesley, south of Birmingham. Volunteers cleaned out Garrison Locks (officially Grand Union territory) and had very rich pickings indeed! We will be returning in 2014 to help clean up this section of the canal, as well as various other sites along the BCN at the Ashted Flight, into Typhoo Wharf, and up Camp Hill Locks.
Activities: Canal cleanup
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8th - 9th November
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Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Manchester Cleanup
Details
Christmas Camp
Details
Why not head north in the Autumn for the Manchester Cleanup! It’s a great opportunity to have fun while making a difference by pulling rubbish out of the canals of Greater Manchester.
Cost: £13 Location: Greater Manchester
Our main Canal Camps programme ends in October, but that doesn’t mean we go into hibernation for the winter. WRG works all year round and every year we run a Christmas Camp from the 26th December through to New Years Day. Work will include vegetation clearance, so there will be plenty of scrub bashing, bonfires and other winter activities.
Cost: £56 Location: TBC
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4th - 5th October
It’s the perfect way to work off your Christmas dinner and start the New Year in style!
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Activities: Vegetation clearance, bonfires and other winter activities
We haven’t decided on a site for 2014 but keep checking the website for more information.
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Last year over 100 volunteers from The Inland Waterways Association, WRG and Canal & River Trust took part in a large multi-site canal cleanup on the canals of Greater Manchester and pulled out in excess of 30 shopping trolleys, 6 bicycles, numerous road cones, fencing panels, scaffold poles and a motorbike. Volunteers also helped to improve the canalside environment by clearing vegetation, litter and repainting lock furniture. Get involved in 2014 and help us make a difference to the canals of Manchester.
Activities: Canal cleanup, litter picking, painting
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26th December – 1st January 2015
Boo k n ow www. w rg. o rg. u k Navvies Magazine
Dirty Weekenders
Keep up to date with waterways volunteering and subscribe to our magazine ‘Navvies’!
A lot of voluntary work has to be done at the weekend, and between them WRG’s regional groups ensure that almost every weekend there will be volunteers at work somewhere in the country restoring the waterways. Despite being ‘regional’ groups, most attract volunteers from various parts of the country.
Published six times a year, each issue gives full details of forthcoming work parties and progress reports from all over the country. It’s an interesting, useful & entertaining read and it only costs £3 for six issues. The subscription cost is kept artificially low so that everyone can afford to subscribe. If you can make a donation in addition to the minimum subscription, this is always appreciated. To subscribe go to www.waterways.org.uk/navvies
Weekend dig dates can be found on the WRG website www.wrg.org.uk
Details
WRG North West
WRG BITM Essex WRG London WRG WRG South West
Cost: between £8 & £15 (includes food & basic accommodation)
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Calendar
Book now!
August/September
2nd - 9th August Chesterfield Canal CC201413 Lancaster Canal CC201414 Inglesham Lock (Cotswolds) CC201415
April
5th - 6th April BCN Cleanup BCN2014 12th - 21st April Cotswold Canals CC201401
May
10th May TBC Leaders Training Day LT2014 21st - 28th May Trailboat Camp (Grand Western Canal) TB2014
July
5th - 12th July Cotswold Canals (NWPG) CC201402 Lapal Canal CC201403 Monmouthshire Canal CC201404 12th - 19th July Uttoxeter Canal CC201405 Swansea Canal CC201406 19th - 26th July Cromford Canal CC201407 Swansea Canal CC201408 Inglesham Lock (Cotswolds) CC201409 26th July - 2nd August Cromford Canal CC201410 Lancaster Canal CC201411 Inglesham Lock (Cotswolds) CC201412
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online: www.wrg.org.uk call us: 01494 783 453 ext. 604 email us: enquiries@wrg.org.uk
9th - 16th August Chesterfield Canal CC201416 Cotswold Canals CC201417 16th - 23rd August Driffield Navigation and Pocklington Canal CC201418 Shrewsbury & Newport Canals CC201419 Cotswold Canals CC201420 23rd - 25th August Big Dig Weekend - Cotswold Canals BD2014 23rd - 30th August Cotswold Canals CC201421 30th August - 6th September Basingstoke Canal CC201422 Somerset Waterways CC2011423
October
4 - 5th October Manchester Canal Cleanup MCH2014 25th October - 1st November TBC WRG Forestry Camp WRGFT2014 26th October - 1st November Ashby Canal CC201324
November
8th - 9th November TBC WRG Reunion Weekend BB2014
December
26th December - 1st January TBC Christmas Camp CC201425
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Booking Form Continued... Medical & Access Information
Cancellation Policy
Please let us know if you have any conditions for which you are currently seeing a doctor for treatment (e.g. asthma, epilepsy, allergies, or other health issues) and/or if you have any access needs. Please also include any information about medications including the dosage. This information will help the leader plan suitable activities for the canal camp. Please advise us of any changes before the start of the camp.
If you wish to cancel or transfer your booking, please inform us 21 days before the start of the camp. Your payment will be refunded less a £10 administration fee, or transferred to another camp free of charge. If you cancel less than 21 days before the start of the camp, no refund can be made.
Please read the following before signing: I agree that information on this form may be stored on an electronic database and that this information may be provided to organisers of the camp that I will be attending and to other authorised WRG Personnel. WRG may use the information you supply for administrative purposes and to send you information about our activities.
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Please Return Your Completed Form to: WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA
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 2013. WRG reserves the right to decline bookings without a specified reason. Photos supplied by WRG volunteers.