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 12 km 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 7:30 pm at The Prince of Wales pub in Shrivenham High Street.
Weekly Work-parties are held on Wednesday & Saturday mornings, weather permitting, meeting at The Shrivenham Canal Park in Stainswick Lane at 10am. On many Wednesdays, work-parties are also held at Uffington Gorse.
Anyone is welcome to lend a hand, or just to drop by the Canal Park for information and a chat!
For more information please contact our Work-party Organiser - kenn.tagg@wbct.org.uk
Weather permitting, there will be a special work-party on Saturday 9th December for the planting of 120 tree saplings donated to us by the Woodland Trust.
Everyone is welcome to help - you don't need to be a Trust member - only bring a spade and stout footware as it is likely to be wet and muddy.
Just turn up at the Canal Park, Stainswick Lane, at 10 am. but, if possible, drop Kenn Tagg an email so we have an idea of volunteer numbers.
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
See our News Page for an update on what we have been doing recently.
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 50, 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