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May 2016 SWS volunteer bulletin by Caroline Kendall

Hello everyone: change of format to the bulletin slightly this month as May has been

another busy month on the waterway and there are a few items that I thought you might

find interesting. In particular I wanted to share with you the Board & Trustee visit to

Worcester, our developing relationship with Gloucestershire College, an update from the

SWS Partnership and the new signs out and about on the waterway. You will note that

there are no articles on our community partnership groups this month - that’s because I am

going to dedicate next month’s bulletin to highlighting all the fantastic volunteering that

they undertake for us across the SWS waterways. If you are one of our community partner

groups do let me know if there is anything you would like included by Friday 24 June 2016.

Board & Trustee visit to Worcester on May 11

We had an excellent visit from the Board & Trustees on Wednesday 11 May 2016 at Diglis,

Worcester. This was an opportunity for the executive team to come and see all the fantastic

work that goes on in Worcester. The day included a share the space event, the floating

welcome station, friends fundraising, an introduction to our community workboat and a

tour of Diglis industrial estate followed by a visit to Diglis River Lock Island. The following

photos highlight some of the key moments of the day.

Volunteers Gill and Alan at the Welcome Station / Caroline getting The Wanderer ready

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Richard Parry and Trustees meeting with volunteers at Diglis River Lock Island.

Special thank you to the volunteers who went the extra mile that day

Left Karen and David Hagg discussing the share the space event

The climax of the day ended with CRT hosting an evening reception at the Country Cricket Ground, very well attended by over 60 local stakeholders. We had a lot of very positive feedback from our visitors and can now confirm that Worcester is definitely on the map!

Youth engagement: Gloucestershire College

As you know youth engagement is a key area for development across all 11 CRT waterways

but in particular, as I mentioned in April’s bulletin, something that we are really keen to

foster in SWS for 2016-17. As such we are really delighted to highlight the volunteering that

has recently been and will be undertaken next month by Gloucestershire College students.

Over the last three years we have been developing a relationship with the Skills for Life:

Foundation Studies students and staff at Gloucestershire College. There are three

campuses; Five Acres in the Forest of Dean, Gloucester and Cheltenham, each with a

number of students on different pathways within the department. Much of the ground work

involved in developing this relationship has been down to Cassie Ward, Acting Supervisor on

the Mon & Brec and Jan Robbins, Work Placement Coordinator for Gloucestershire College.

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During April and May the work skills students gave six volunteering days, around 300 hours,

to CRT on both the Mon & Brec canal and the G&S canal carrying out key low-risk

maintenance tasks with support from the CRT Customer Operations team.

Cleaning St Anne’s bridge on the G&S

Painting at Brecon and getting ready at Pontymoile

Refreshing the path on the G&S at Patch Bridge near Slimbridge

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We are really pleased that this year the independent living students will be volunteering on

the Mon & Brec at Goytre, the G&S at Saul Junction and also the Kennet & Avon canals as

part of a volunteering residential designed to assist the students in developing skills in the

community. We have got some great tasks lined up for them and the CRT team are ready to

go. Lois Francis, SWS partnership member has also been in contact with Jan Robbins at

Gloucestershire College and is putting together a session on the history of Saul Junction to

share with the students as part of their learning experience.

We are very hopeful that this volunteering relationship will develop into a long-term

sustainable volunteering partnership and look forward to continuing working with both the

staff and students over the coming years. We are currently exploring the option of the

college adopting a mile of canal on the G&S which will include Saul Junction, one of our key

destination sites.

SWS Partnership

The partnership held their last meeting at Sharpness Port which gave the members the

chance to meet Ian Rogers, Customer Services and Operations Director and to have a tour of

the port. As a general rule our partnership volunteers are keen to get out and about on the

waterway and schedule their meetings at various locations on the SWS waterways. The

previous meeting in March was at Brecon where they had the chance to meet the

volunteers working on the lime kilns restoration projects and the next one will be in the

Worcester area.

Waterway Manager Nick Worthington explaining to SWS Partners and CRT staff how

things operate at Sharpness Port.

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Left Ian Rogers at Sharpness with local

staff whilst visiting the Port during the

partnership meeting

Message from David Hagg, Chair of South Wales and Severn Partnership

Year on year, the number of CRT volunteers is growing fast. Over recent weeks, I have met a

number of you in different parts of the South Wales and Severn region. What shines

through is everyone’s enthusiasm and desire to make a difference.

I find it fascinating how, as a result of updating or learning new skills, the nature and scale of

projects that you take on broadens rapidly. Together with the sterling work done by canal

trust/society volunteers around the region, there is a lot to celebrate. We are making a big

contribution towards the upkeep and improvement of the waterways.

I say ‘we’ as the South Wales and Severn Partnership is a band of volunteers too. We meet

with Nick and his team about six times a year to discuss what’s going on and help plan for

the future. We set ourselves tasks both as a team and as individuals - the CRT website has

the details. As Partnership Chair, I also have the opportunity to compare notes and

exchange ideas with the other regional chairs and Glandŵr Cymru board members.

Over the past month, I have met volunteers at Watton lime kilns, at the community

workboat in Worcester, the Gloucester ‘Share the Space’ event and the group at Diglis

Basin. There are many others I could list. All of you are doing a great job – keep up the good

work.

Best wishes David

Please note that The Partnership is currently recruiting for new members. If you are

interested follow the link to our SWS webpage: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/our-

regions/south-wales-and-severn-waterways/south-wales-and-severn-partnership/south-wales-and-

severn-vacancies

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New signs on the waterway

Our rebranding of the signage at Worcester, Gloucester Docks, Saul Junction and Swansea

has been completed so keep an eye out when you’re out and about. The new signage not

only welcomes people to the canal but warns cyclists and users of the towpath to slow

down, outlines the dangers of Weil’s disease and emphasises that motorbikes are not

allowed on the towpath which has previously been a problem.

Left Chairman Allan Leighton with Partnership Chair

David Hagg admiring the new welcome signage at

Diglis Basins

Below new signs on the Swansea Canal

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Other news…

Land & Water have removed cars from the G&S canal at

Hempsted (below) and trees from the River Severn

channel, in Worcester (left)

Remote operations

There was extensive media coverage of the remote operations mobile app trials at Sandfield

Bridge on Friday 20 May including

national press, local BBC TV, and

local BBC RSWS

Waterway Manager Nick

Worthington being interviewed at

Sandfield Bridge

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Volunteers needed

Message from Jackie Humphries, Enterprise Officer Wales

The Royal Welsh Show

Glandŵr Cymru – Canal & River Trust in Wales will again be attending the Royal Welsh Show

this year, which runs for 4 days from the 18 – 21 July. This show is a very important event in

Wales and for Canal & River Trust, it allows us to connect personally and to promote the

Trust to members of the public (thousands) in a very short space of time.

Jackie is looking for volunteers who would be available to support staff at the show and help

man the CRT stand. Anyone who is available to help out will receive free entry to the event

as well as their travel expenses paid. It is an excellent show and there will be time for you to

view some of the events at the show throughout the day. If you are interested, or you

require any further information, could you please contact Jacky on

Jackie.humphries@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Finally a social media reminder for those of you who use twitter if you are out and about

please follow us and tweet @CRTSWalesSevern

Thank you for continued support…

Caroline Kendall

Volunteer Development Coordinator, SWS Waterways

Tel: 07920534098 / email: caroline.kendall@canalrivertrust.org.uk