Canal and River Trust

  • £80K BILL after latest historic canal bridge vehicle strike

    £80K BILL after latest historic canal bridge vehicle strike

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    DRIVERS have been urged to take care after the bridge located on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal between Dimmingsdale Lock and Wightwick Lock was stuck by a vehicle for the fifth time in 14 years. Lucy Wood reports… The Canal & River Trust is carrying out urgent repair work, estimated to cost £80,000, to the…

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  • OVERLY COMPLEX PROCESSES could halt future restoration work

    OVERLY COMPLEX PROCESSES could halt future restoration work

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    CANAL restoration charities have slammed the Canal & River Trust after it revealed a new way of working with organisations that repair and renovate waterways. CRT says it will not support new projects at the expense of navigations it already maintains and will charge charities who do work on its property. But the Wendover Canal…

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  • GROUNDING advice from RCR

    GROUNDING advice from RCR

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    River Canal Rescue (RCR) is warning boaters about the risks of grounding after receiving 40+ calls in a six-week period, prompting a higher-than-usual number of call-outs. From 1 June to 11 July, rescue co-ordinators have been giving on the phone assistance to one/two people a day, and while many callers are then able to move…

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  • MUSICAL CELEBRATION on the Leeds & Liverpool

    MUSICAL CELEBRATION on the Leeds & Liverpool

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    A musical celebration on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was part of Bradford being feted as the UK’s City of Culture this year. Sally Clifford beat a path to the West Yorkshire market town of Bingley… MELODIC electronic beats play out from the lock chamber. The creator of this gentle yet funky compilation sits at…

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  • LIFE SAVED thanks to Lock Keeper

    LIFE SAVED thanks to Lock Keeper

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    QUICK-thinking volunteers and staff from the Canal & River Trust sprang into action to help save the life of a canal cyclist who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest near the historic Bingley Five Rise Locks in West Yorkshire. The incident occurred on May 2, when 61-year-old Bingley-born resident Joost Smeele collapsed on Beck Lane, near…

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  • CRT: New Chief Executive

    CRT: New Chief Executive

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    Lucy Wood reports… WATERWAYS charity the Canal & River Trust has announced the appointment of Campbell Robb as its new chief executive. Mr Robb will join the charity on October 6, after six years leading the social justice charity Nacro as its chief executive. He is replacing Richard Parry, who joined the trust in 2013,…

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  • BRIDGE REPAIRS: Complete

    BRIDGE REPAIRS: Complete

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    THE CANAL & River Trust has completed a five-month programme of works to refurbish Royal Oak Swing Bridge, which carries Woodhouse End Road over the Macclesfield Canal in Oakgrove, Cheshire. With the repairs requiring a road closure, the bridge reopened on April 25 following the work by the UK’s largest canal charity. The increased weight…

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  • SEDIMENT REMOVED by floating digger

    SEDIMENT REMOVED by floating digger

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    WATERWAYS charity Canal & River Trust is carrying out dredging on the Ashby Canal in Leicestershire as part of vital works to help ensure boaters can continue to use the centuries-old waterway. The dredging will see the charity remove around 7000 tons of sediment at various locations on the canal between Sutton Cheney and Market…

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  • VOLUNTEERS compile huge canal survey

    VOLUNTEERS compile huge canal survey

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    A VOLUNTEER-LED heritage survey of 2000 miles of canal network in England and Wales has started this year – the first in more than three decades. The work, which will take four years to complete, will create a vast digital database which will detail the history of the network and its associated structures. This is…

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  • EMERGENCY REPAIRS keeps longest canal lock flight closed

    EMERGENCY REPAIRS keeps longest canal lock flight closed

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    URGENT repairs to the longest canal lock flight in Britain will keep the locks closed until August. The Canal & River Trust is undertaking urgent works, costing £500,000, to Tardebigge Top Lock on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal after investigations revealed that the 200-year-old lock wall is in need of restoration. The work is vital…

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  • HERITAGE HEROES AWARDS recognition for canal volunteer

    HERITAGE HEROES AWARDS recognition for canal volunteer

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    A NORTHAMPTONSHIRE canal volunteer is celebrating after receiving recognition in the Heritage Heroes Awards, organised by the Heritage Alliance. Kathryn Dodington, who has volunteered with national charity Canal & River Trust since 2014, has been selected as a runner-up in the Lifetime Achievement category of the awards, which recognise the invaluable role that volunteers play…

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  • CANAL could run dry

    CANAL could run dry

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    THE Canal & River Trust in Wales, Glandŵr Cymru, has secured an emergency short-term supply of water from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) for the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. But it says there may not being enough water to keep the canal open for boaters during the coming months. In its website Boaters’ Update, the…

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  • PUBLIC ASKED to share memories of West Midlands canals

    PUBLIC ASKED to share memories of West Midlands canals

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    A PLEA has gone out for the public to share their memories and experiences of West Midlands canals to keep the history alive. The Canal & River Trust is launching a new heritage project, funded by the National Lottery, in the West Midlands and is calling on people to help make it happen. The trust…

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  • SCHOOL STUDENTS tackle climate change and flooding head on

    SCHOOL STUDENTS tackle climate change and flooding head on

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    Students from two East Midlands schools tackled climate change and the dramatic affect it can have on waterways head on during a recent journalism workshop at the University of Lincoln. The group, from Cleethorpes Academy and John Spendluffe Technology College, created a story package on flooding which included a video, podcast, digital story and social…

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