waterways KEEPING OUR WATERWAYS ALIVE
WRG NEWS WRG’s John Hawkins is a Hero of the Waterways
In March CRT awarded WRG volunteer, John Hawkins, its Heroes of the Waterways Award. This new award aims to celebrate and recognise the long service of volunteers who have worked to support the canals and rivers. Over the past 35 years John has been a dedicated waterways volunteer at both a local and national level. Last year alone he spent over 360 hours of his time volunteering with WRG on canal restoration projects across England – from helping restore Black Jacks Bridge on the Grand Union Canal to bricklaying at Meretown Lock on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals. John is also a regular volunteer with the Rickmansworth Waterways Trust and is part of the ‘Learning at the Lock’ team, which encourages local primary school children to respect and value their waterways, as well as teaching them how to operate locks and about the history of the canals.
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES WRG’s leadership teams are responsible for making sure each canal camp is a fun-filled, enjoyable experience – they run the canal restoration site, organise social activities in the evenings, and ensure that everyone is still smiling by the end of the week. If you are interested in becoming part of a leadership team or cooking on a Canal Camp why not come along to the Leaders Training Day (9th May) at Rowington Village Hall, Warwickshire. More details at www.waterways.org.uk/ wrg/volunteer/get_more_involved. As always, we are open to and indeed welcome suggestions as to what sort of skills you feel you or ideally a group of volunteers may need for projects this year. There are plenty of opportunities for training on plant and machinery as well as instruction on scaffolding, levels, vans and trailers. Please make your suggestions known soon and we will do our best to set something up. To register your interest in attending WRG’s Training Weekend on the 13th14th June on the Chesterfield Canal contact WRG Head Office on 01494 783 453 ext 604 or go to www.waterways. org.uk/wrg/canal_camps/wrg_training_ weekends/training_weekend_2015.
New Excavator for WRG At the end of March WRG’s new 2.7 tonne Volvo excavator arrived. This follows a successful appeal in 2014 that raised nearly £20,000 to fund the purchase. WRG has also bought a new trailer so that the excavator can be easily transported around the country to where it is needed most. This will enable other waterway societies to also make use of the excavator, and save on the costs involved in commercial plant hire… it has
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already been put to work on the Wilts & Berks Canal. The new excavator has a busy summer planned – it will be used to train volunteers at WRG’s Training Weekend on the Chesterfield Canal (13th14th June) along with potential outings with WRG’s ‘Drive a Digger’ publicity stand at the Lancaster Trailboat Festival (30th-31st May) and IWA’s Northampton Festival of Water (29th-31st August).
Summer 2015
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