Lock 4 Ironville: A new seat at Lock 4, paid for by walking groups has been installed set at an angle to give a good view up towards Lock 3. (Portal 28 report Feb – April). A volunteer made six posts for the future fencing repair, vee notching and tapering the bases
Casson street Ironville: In preparation for the Ironville village fair (early June) FCC work party prepared the site for the stalls, which means clearing the car park and the field up to the road bridge of the long grass and bushes.
The main work party continued to clear the footpath from the Church car park towards Pinxton Arm bridge. In the car park, the priority was to clear the original canal wall of bushes which were coming across on to the parking area about two metres and strimming the field directly behind the Church. The grass had been cut by DCC tractor, but strimming was needed where the tractor couldn’t get. The car park had many branches from the lime trees, which were hanging down to within three feet of the ground, which prevented vehicles from parking close to the wall. The canal wall was not fully cleared when the last work party were there and there was some serious cutting back to do. One big problem was about two ton of scrap, thirty tons of bricks, stone and reinforced concrete and four builder’s bags of waste plastic and general rubbish, plus loads of wood which our work party control burned.
Lower Hartshay: Volunteers were at the A610 steps on the Canal & River Trust section, where the steps were being covered in fast growing vegetation, so they all set too and cleared them to make a safe route to walk up and down to access the road. Two volunteers strimmed and mowed the towpath side making the path clear of fast-growing vegetation.
Three volunteers went on the FCC section, where they concentrated on clearing the footpath of over-hanging branches and on a couple of trees ivy was removed because it was thought to be adding a lot of weight to the trees.
The team has also been pulling Himalayan Balsam from the canal channel on the FCC section, and on the C&RT section. After a difficult session to access the channel the work party worked well to remove a large amount of Himalayan balsam. On the opposite side to the towpath is a very large amount of balsam which cannot be accessed.
WRG Training site, Lichfield: One volunteer spent one weekend at the WRG training camp, working on certification of dumper driving. He travelled home Saturday night and went back Sunday morning. Training was successful, so now the FCC have another qualified driver for working at Beggarlee.
High Peak Junction: Volunteers washed down the windows and shutters on the Wharf Shed and the ticket office, prior to painting. Loads of spiders were reported to have been disturbed, painting then commenced. DCC supplied all the paints and brushes etc. The colours are Crimson Lake & Cream These were the colours of the old LMS Railway who operated at High Peak Junction (the colours are affectionally known as Blood & Custard).
Two volunteers went to the old nursery near Lawn Bridge to strim around Stella, the dinosaur. We had a report from the Birdswood team that the grass was getting very high restricting vision of Stella from Birdswood as she passed. When they had finished there, both volunteers travelled to Casson St, Ironville to help there.
At High Peak Junction, three FCC volunteers, had taken on the task of painting the doors and gutter pipes of the wharf shed and the doors and shutters of the ticket office.
Three volunteers undertook manual weed removal at the winding hole using the metal work boat: two were in the boat pulling weed with cromes, into the boat, which had a rope securely held by one volunteer on the bank. The weed was cleared from the winding hole, first on the pump house side and towards the middle and then working at the opposite side where Birdswood’s bow goes up to the bank and then again towards the centre. A large amount of weed was removed. The boat was securely moored at the Wharf Shed after use.
Volunteers subsequently moved weed away from the Browns Bridge area and towards the Wharf Shed. They did receive a thank you from the crew of Birdswood.
The teams have also started work on painting the benches around High Peak Junction and on the railway narrows / High Peak Junction / Aqueduct Cottage area.
Golden Valley: three volunteers worked at the section of the abandoned Cromford Canal, where the old original houses are, to repair the wooden fence. They dug and replaced four rotting wooden fenceposts which necessitated removal of all the top and middle rails, along with some tree roots.
Sawmills: Teams cleared cut tree branches and the area around where the gate is to be re-erected. The gate and gate posts and a considerable amount of stone from a retaining wall was recovered for future use.
Codnor Park Reservoir and Ironville: Volunteers pulled Himalayan Balsam and cleared a couple of large bushes, (after an inspection for bird’s nests and other animals), at Lock 2, and pulled a large amount of Himalayan Balsam from the reservoir overspill towards the old Lock 1 area. A certificated FCC chain saw operative worked with six angling club members, to remove a fallen tree at peg 8 and a larger fallen branch at peg 46 which was in the water. The branch was cut into pieces and then hauled out manually, a further branch on an adjacent tree was suspended on ivy, was then winched down and disposed of.
Chase Road, Ambergate: Two volunteers, had intended to pull the Himalayan Balsam on the opposite bank to the towpath, which required crossing a field, but with animals in the field near the gate it was decided not to proceed. They walked the towpath from the end of in-water section at Ambergate to half a mile past Percy’s cottage, very little balsam to pull.
Lock keepers cottage: For the whole of the year, Shirley has tended to the Lock Keepers Garden at Lock 4 Ironville: produce such as Cauliflowers, Cabbage, Broccoli, Potatoes, Peas, Onions, Runner Beans and Dwarf French Beans has been donated to Age Concern at Eastwood
