WILTS & BERKS CANAL TRUST

We have the ongoing discussion about the M4 tunnel with Wichelstowe (that's the front garden to you and me).

We have the Cricklade Country Way lottery bid for the North Wilts Canal, Moredon to Cricklade with our Partners valued at over £12 million

Plus we now have the Swindon Council doing a survey to find out the feasibility of using all or part of the old route through the town centre in its regeneration plans.

But we have to keep our minds on the Branch and its work.

The narrow boat ( Jubilee ) which we had in Canal Walk in July is still generating interest and comments from people that we talk to.We have had over 40 write up in the local press in the last 3 months and since the beginning of August another 10 have appeared. This level of publicity is very important as it keeps us continuously in the public eye at a very crucial time.

The £5,000 that we were given by the Swindon Charity Ball is now being spent on Kingshill and Moredon to make both places more people friendly and improve the environment.More on this and pictures in the next edition we hope.

The work parties are out most weekends battling with the weeds but the Council have now put the Weevils in the Canal to eat the Azolla so we might be getting somewhere now.Our old boat Pioneer has now been burnt up and has gone to Valhalla, ( the great hall where heroes dwell eternally).Ron the Trust's Brickie gave us his old boat which was also past it's sell by date, We towed it down to Westleaze, Tilted it slightly to one side just near the bridge, Painted it Trust colours, and planted it up, so that next year there will be a riot of flowers at Rons Bridge ( sorry slip of the pen Beavens Bridge ).We have rebuilt the compound and fixed up the cowshed that we call our storeroom.
We still have about 16 leaks to fix and so far we have caught none of the Mink that have been spotted in the area.

I gave a conducted walk through Swindon for the Motor Neurone Disease Fund which everyone said they enjoyed immensely.Using Jan's collection of old pictures and Keith's old history notes we all had a great time.One of the ladies on the walk said she had lived in Swindon all her life and did not know the canal was back in water in places, So maybe we still have some publicizing to do.

At 7am on a Saturday morning the guy's from West Vale Branch turned up to collect the formers that we used to build Beavens Bridge with.They are going to use them in the rebuilding of Steppingstone Bridge.

I followed the lorry that E.M.R. ( that's Coopers to you and me) sent to pick up the formers but as they still stood well above the top of the lorry it could not go under Acorn Bridge so we went on the back roads.I stopped 5 times to pick up branches that it scythed down from overhanging trees and when it arrived and the back was opened it looked like the Eden Project inside the back of the lorry.Never mind this was once again an example of branches working together for the overall concept of the canal ( 9 branches but just one Canal ).

In August Henry Smith, (Swindon's Ex Branch Chairman ) was invited to the Brunel Centre where he received a certificate from the Community Star Awards for all the work that he has done for the Canal in Swindon especially the Westleaze Millennium Project which restored about a mile of Canal from Kingshill to Mill Lane.Well done Henry you of all people deserved that Accolade.

Finally as many of us that could made our way to Abingdon on Wednesday 30th for the Grand Opening of the Jubilee Junction which I am sure they will what to tell us all about.It may be East Vales patch but we all felt like it belonged to us on that day.This was what we all have been working towards for so long.Thanks to Vic Miller for giving me a ride on his boat so that I could also say that I was one of the first people to travel on the Wilts & Berks Canal for over one hundred years.

Roy Cartwright
Chairman Swindon Branch.