West Vale Branch
The West Vale Branch section has the Wiltshire / Oxfordshire border as it's western limit (where the canal crossed the River Cole) and extends some 12km to Uffington Gorse wood, just east of the village of Uffington. The canal meanders through the Vale of the White Horse skirting the villages of Bourton, Shrivenham, Longcot and Uffington. Being rural, the line is quite apparent for much of this length; except where crossed by the railway (twice), by roads and access tracks and for a section around Uffington.
(Extract from the Trust Interactive Map showing the area of the West Vale Branch)
Monthly Branch Planning Meetings, open to all, usually are held on the third Tuesday of each month, starting at 7:00 pm at The Prince of Wales pub in Shrivenham High Street.
Weekly Work-parties are held on Wednesday & Saturday mornings from 9:30am, weather permitting, meeting at The Shrivenham Canal Park in Stainswick Lane.
On most Wednesdays, work-parties are also held on our site at Uffington Gorse, on the road to Baulking.
Anyone is welcome to lend a hand, we have lots going on as noted below, so extra hands are always much apprecitaed. Training on the use of our equipment can be arranged.
Or just to drop by the Canal Park or Uffington Gorse for information and a chat.
For more information, please contact our Work-party Organiser - kenn.tagg@wbct.org.uk
If manual activity is not for you, perhaps you could assist our local projects by helping with publicity, fundraising, organising events or donating unwanted DIY tools, gardening equipment & mowers. Visit us at a Branch Meeting or at the Shrivenham Canal Park, as above, or contact us at westvale.branch@wbct.org.uk .
Or maybe even donate something from our Amazon wish list of kit that we really need - Wish List on Amazon
Current Activities - April 2024
It will be no surprise that the continuing very wet weather has hampered progress on our projects.
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At Shrivenham Park The path linking the two recent ditch crossing in the new meadow area was completed with large quantities of wood chippings.The third new crossing in the NW corner of the Park into Coppidthorne Meadow is well advanced but as the area and spoil used to form the path is waterlogged, completion will have to wait for some drier days. |
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At Uffington Gorse |
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The southern area of the wood is rather waterlogged, with the main paths exceedingly muddy. Our volunteers plan to further improve the drainage channels. (The situation was somewhat worsened by visitors blocking these channels with logs. A temporary ‘pallet crossing’ was installed to alleviate the situation.) At the end of last month, the fallen trees & branches blocking the towpath were cut. It is now possible to follow the length of the towpath without having to duck under or climb over branches. Work will continue to clear the fallen trees and tree stumps from along the towpath. As the water in the canal is very high, the path remains very wet, muddy and slippery. |
See our News Page for an update on what we have been doing over the last few months and have a look at the Projects pages for details of each of our restoration sites.
To visit our lengths of canal & sites open to the public please see our
Local Information Page.
We welcome "Corporate Volunteer Teams".
Many local firms have visited us for a fun day away from the office/workplace volunteering on canal restoration. We have a variety of jobs always on offer depending upon the time of year and the physical abilities and numbers of visitors. Work can be arranged for small groups, two or three, up to about 30, for a couple of hours or for a full day.
Contact our Corporate Volunteers Co-ordinator - alan.norris@wbct.org.uk
Click here for further information and previous volunteer groups
For further details about West Vale Branch please contact our chairman - Ian Mitchell at ian.mitchell@wbct.or.uk