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Preston End Clean Up |
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| Posted by Mike Valiant (mike) on 14th November, 2011 | |
| News >> Trust News |
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Sunday 13th of November, apart from being Remembrance Sunday, was also Canal Clean Up day in Preston. The Lancaster Canal Trust had invited its usual work party volunteers and the IWA had contacted its local members. In addition a set of signs had been placed along the towpath urging the local community to join in and help litter pick and tidy up the area around Haslam Park.
It was a surprisingly warm and sunny day for November and there was a good turnout. At the end of the day over 38 volunteers had signed in and signed out of the event. Some came for just a few hours while others made a day of it. The project team had erected a gazebo on the verge at Haslam Park car park which acted as the coordination point for activities as well as dispensing tea, coffee, biscuits and cake to the volunteers. This was run by Sheila Slater and Madeline Dean who also ensured that new arrivals checked in, read the safety briefing, collected the appropriate equipment for their task, were wearing suitable gloves and were in hi-viz while on the towpath. Hazel Mayow from British Waterways also attended the event in the morning and monitored the health and safety practices such as wearing life jackets while working near water or having a safety line available where necessary.
After the initial safety briefing teams were dispatched northwards and southwards along the canal with litter-picking tools and rubbish bags. A few also set off with grappling hooks to see what could be pulled out from the bed of the canal. We also had the assistance of two small boats who were able to collect floating items which were out of reach of the litter pickers and throw them to the towpath for bagging. By coffee time many bags had been filled with the usual kind of rubbish that the less considerate members of the community tend to drop in public areas, namely plastic bottles, beer cans, wine bottles, carrier bags, crisp packets and the like. At 11am the group paused to observe a minute's silence after which efforts were directed to the southern end of the canal where there was the worst rubbish.
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Tony Dunning and Paul Shaw organised the collection of the filled bags from access points alongside the canal and removed them to a skip which had been provided by a local recycling company free of charge. The grappling hook team worked their way down the canal dragging the bottom every yard or so. Their catch include several bicycle frames, car tyres, traffic bollards, a moped, a children's trampoline as well as numerous bits of plastic bag. One intrepid volunteer had come with his chest high waders and spent the afternoon collecting all manner of floating debris out of the canal basin as well as dragging up stuff from the canal bed. Many trips were made using Paul's Landrover and trailer, picking up the collected rubbish and transporting it to the skips.
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The IWA and LCT were please to see alot of interest, and some volunteers, from the local community which resulted in several people taking away leaflets about the respective organisations. By the end of the day the whole length of the canal from Haslam park to the southern terminus had been much improved and hopefully visiting boats will experience fewer under water obstructions.
Many thanks are due to the organisers and project leaders: Tony and Janet Dunning, Trisha Buzzard and Paul Shaw, as well as to all the volunteers who turned up and helped.
Photos: Janet Dunning.