Alison Smedley
IWA at Work LEICESTERSHIRE BRANCH Volunteers head off to tackle Floating Pennywort.
Leicestershire Branch combined its Himalayan Balsam pull on the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal on 22nd July, with a work party to remove Floating Pennywort. Eighteen volunteers met at Leicester Rowing Club where two work boats were available. The Himalayan Balsam was cleared from the towpath side above Freeman’s Meadow Lock, and the Floating Pennywort was removed from the river above the weir.
LANCASHIRE & CUMBRIA BRANCH
On Saturday 19th July, Lancashire & Cumbria Branch held a Himalayan Balsam pulling work party in partnership with the Friends of Haslam Park and Preston City Council on the Lancaster Canal. Fourteen 1-tonne builders’ sacks were filled with the pulled up vegetation and emptied by the park wardens for rotting down in their yard.
SHREWSBURY DISTRICT & NORTH WALES BRANCH Over a dozen people tackled the Himalayan Balsam on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal on Saturday 12th July at a work party supported by Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch. The area to the east of Town Lock was cleared of Himalayan Balsam, as well as some work being carried out along the banks through Victoria Park. Body harnesses were used to access the area immediately below Fishers Lock where the bank dropped away and the invasive plant was hard to reach. Two boats were used to take people across
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the canal to access the offside and other difficult areas and to transport vegetation across the canal for disposal. In the afternoon the volunteers helped members of Shrewsbury & Newport Canal Trust who were taking part in a ‘dinghy dawdle’ along the full length of the canal. Participants paddled when they could and manoeuvred the boats around obstacles like infilled locks by hand. Three canoes took part and it was good to see pleasure boats on the canal in Newport again.
Winter 2014