The Shropshire Union Canal Society's working group in January saw a large number of volunteers clearing vegetation along the waterway.
Some activities had to be postponed due to the icy conditions which resulted in the ground, canal and paths being covered in ice.Before work (Image: SUCS)
However, the volunteers put their time to good use by clearing 170 meters of the canal channel of brush and over 2,000 saplings.
Tom Fulda, head of the restoration project, said: “With temperatures as low as minus 7 degrees Celsius overnight, 'campfire management' was a popular activity.”
More than 2,000 large saplings were felled from 170 meters of canal west of the Schoolhouse Bridge.
Channel profiling (Image: SUCS) The cleared material was transported to the campfire site and burned to keep the volunteers warm.
The efforts will allow work on the canal rehabilitation to progress rapidly. The company expects to move from the Crickheath site to a new site at Schoolhouse Bridge later this year.
Access to this new site was improved during the work group by widening the ramp from the road and reducing the gradient to accommodate larger delivery vehicles.Rolling the access gateway (Image: SUCS)
Further work was undertaken to profile the canal channel at the Crickheath end of the site.
The aim is to line 80 meters of the canal – made difficult by the frozen ground. After work (Image: SUCS)
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Once the thick frozen soil crust was broken up, the work proved to be “relatively straightforward.”
Just before Christmas, the stop planks at Crickheath Bridge were broken down, allowing the water level in Phase 1A at Crickheath Wharf to be brought into line with the navigable waterway at Crickheath Basin.
This left the canal covered in thick ice, which provided some “attractive photo opportunities” but prevented the connection of a pipeline between Phase 1A and the isolated Phase 1B, which now needs to be completed at a later date.