Camp report Dauntsey WRG’s BITM regional group held its own Christmas camp on a length of the Wilts & Berks Canal at Dauntsey. Rachael Banyard reports... WRG BITM Christmas Camp Dauntsey, Wilts & Berks Canal Boxing Day dawned bright and clear, blue skies and sun, but alas it was too good to last. The next 24 hours threw just about everything at us – rain, hail, gale force winds – so that by the end of the afternoon a bedraggled crew returned with relief to the nice warm Foxham Reading Rooms. Apart from that the week didn’t proceed too badly, and there was only one day we had to hold back for an hour before going on site. Most of the rain otherwise fell at night. We had started on Boxing Day working to the west of my cottage, burning where Luke had strimmed and cut the hedge back where it was protruding onto the towpath. After that we moved to the east end of my section of the canal, again having nice big bonfires with loads of strimmings to burn. Tony was our bonfire monitor, with everyone else raking up materials to add to it. As we cleared each section, it revealed the saplings and small trees that needed tirforing out. You just have to blink and the willow trees have grown! There were eight of us on the camp, so the jobs could be shared out. I have a Canadian canoe at Dauntsey, and we brought that up on the roof of my car so we could reach the trees on the far bank. Obviously Alan, being a lifeboat man, was captain, towing the chains across to the offside stumps. We progressed each day, with never any shortage of work and stuff to burn. Most of us were oldtimers on BITM Christmas camps, and it was good to see friends again, and we also had one newcomer, Lesley from Droitwich, who fitted in very well, and was a valuable part of the team. This even applied to joining in with the usual jigsawing.. They all got so involved that no-one wanted to go out to the cinema or any other evening attractions – only three of us walked down to the pub one night – and three 1,000 piece jigsaws were completed by 11.45 pm on New Year’s Eve. The Foxham Reading Rooms have recently been refurbished, and are looking very smart, and apart from no shower (we all used the one in my cottage) is ideal for a smallish group. The two camp dogs got on well, with a little care to separate them at mealtimes, while Di fed the rest of us (separately). It might seem to some that we’re boring old f*rts, with time divided between working on site, eating and jigsaws, but we’re a happy band of navvies. We have at least one newcomer each year to add to the group, which is great. There’s something to be said for staying in the warm on later December evenings! My thanks to everybody for their hard work and their company, and I now have a nice clear section of canal. Rachael Banyard Just for the avoidance of any possible confusion, this was not a Wilts & Berks Canal Trust event but a camp run entirely by WRG’s BITM regional group. BITM also hold regular weekend working parties every month, with some interesting new sites planned for this year incuding the Maidenhead Waterways and River Parrett. See our diary for details.
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