WILTS & BERKS CANAL TRUST

The group met at 11am on Saturday May 1st and were guided along the opened up towpath from Cheney Manor, along the River Ray Valley, behind Nova Hreod School, to where the footpath emerges on Purton Road. At various locations along the route Ray stopped to give information on the history of the canal, the work that had been done as part of the BBC Breathing Spaces project and the future possibilities for restoration.

After the appearance of the Wilts & Berks Canal on Alan Titchmarch's BBC programme, "The Nature of Britain", the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust was invited to register on the B.B.C's "Breathing Spaces" web site. From this in the spring of 2008 came a grant from the B.B.C Big Lottery Fund of £10,000 to be used to open up the towpath. The site was visited by Swindon Borough Council Officials who gave their approval and a wild-life survey was also undertaken before work started. Over the following months, the path was cleared using two diggers, one dumper and many volunteers. This included removing an old car that had been abandoned there many years ago.

For those that wished to extend their walk the group carried on along the restored section from Thamesdown Drive into the Mouldon Hill Country Park, ending with a refreshing drink in a local hostelry .

A leaflet about the walk is available from the Canal Shop in Regent's Circus, Swindon or can be downloaded from the website: www.wbct.org.uk/information/walks.

Read Swindon Advertiser report on this event 3 May 2010