Today Arran & Fred did some work trimming the hedgerow on the towpath side at Snarestone Wharf. There were a number of ‘sticky uppy bits’ that required tidying up and were niggling away at them.

We recently received a grant from the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) for the sum of £10,000 to help fund a project to instate a new footpath between the towpath at the current terminus of the canal just past Bridge 62 at Snarestone and start of the Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail in the neighbouring town of Measham. The footpath will follow the restoration route of the canal and once the restoration is completed will be replaced by the towpath.

We identified the part of the route which would be most suitable to begin working on to kick off the project and this happened to be a small copse area on the corner of Bosworth road and Gallows Lane between Measham & Snarestone. The land once housed a couple of buildings, one thought to be a pub of some sort once upon a time but was now just an overgrown plot that we would need to clear a path through. A small team of 6 (due to COVID-19 restrictions) got to work on this today and we made great progress as can be seen below.

After receiving many contributions to our ‘Buy a Brick’ Gilwiskaw brook aqueduct appeal over the last few years we recently decided that it would be a good idea to source a supplier to manufacture the bricks we have so far and put them on display at Snarestone Wharf. The idea being that this would make a nice feature for everyone to see until they take their final place around the aqueduct when it is finally built.

A local company, Ibstock brick very kindly agreed to manufacture these bricks for us free of charge meaning that 100% of the funds raised would be able to go towards the manufacture and installation of the aqueduct. For this we are very grateful.

Today we received this first batch of bricks and set about putting them on the recently custom built display as can be seen below. This is just an initial placing of the bricks and we aim to make it more visually appealing in the coming days/weeks.

Today we were treating all of the individual wooden pieces that once installed will together form a valance for the new shop canopy and give it that traditional ‘railway station’ look.

Firstly we have treated them with a protective stain by a company called Barrettine. This is the same product that we use to treat our benches and notice boards with in order to protect them against infestation and rot etc. Once in place on the canopy we will then paint them with a cream coloured exterior gloss paint as their final coat.

Today 5 of us met up near Frieston’s bridge (Bridge 21) and set out to do some bench & notice board maintenance plus some littler picking and necessary pruning along the way. We first set off with 2 of us doing the bench down past bridge 20 whilst the other 3 did some litter picking & pruning between bridges 20 & 21. We then walked back to our cars and drove the short distance to Bridge 22 on Basin Bridge Lane where there is a nice picnic area and some parking spaces and set about treating the notice board & benches that are there.

Today Arran & Anne-Marie were painting the trim detail on the metal posts for the welcome sign. The posts had previously been painted green but still required some orange and black detailing to be added for them to be complete.

Today Dave, Arran & Anne-Marie were collecting and transporting soil destined for filling the new planter area under the welcome sign at Snarestone Wharf. A local homeowner in Measham had kindly offered the soil as they had some that was surplus to requirements after having some ground works done at their property.

It took several trailer loads to sufficiently fill the planter so it was quite an energetic day for all involved. Michael will now plant some wild flower seeds in there and before long we will have a very pretty display below the sign for all to see as they approach the Wharf up the canal.

Today Arran & Anne-Marie visited Gopsall Wharf to perform some maintenance on the notice board. It was in need of some TLC so it got a fresh coat of paint. Unfortunately so did Anne-Marie’s trousers. Oops!

Today there was a work party held at Ilott Wharf to trim back the trees and bushes running alongside the hedgerow at the side of the site adjacent with the road. There was a good turnout and quite a lot was achieved. Despite all of the usual Health & Safety measures being followed we still appeared to have caught a child in a tree!

At the beginning of the year, during the snow we planted a large number of tree whips a few feet away from but following the fence line along the inside border at Ilott Wharf. During the course of the spring & Summer a lot of brush had grown and had filled the space between the fence and the young tree whips. This overgrowth would of course make it difficult for the trees to grow as they would be starved of light etc so we worked our way along clearing the brush from the fence to just behind the whips, being careful as we went along to not accidentally damage any of the whips that were now hidden deep amongst the brush.

We had a reasonable turnout and managed to achieve what we set out to do. When we got closer to the end of the run we came to an area where there had been some damage sustained to a tree during a recent storm and this had subsequently damaged the fence below. We did some work to detach the damaged part of the tree so that it could be cleared from the fence but repairs to the fence itself would have to be left until another day.