Work Party Organiser's Report

Athina Beckett

I'm writing this report in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis - when you read it things will, I hope, have improved and we will be back working on the canal again!

Because of the close proximity of the canal to farmland at Cosgrove we have cancelled all work parties as I write. We were expecting the Brackley Post to cover our Sunday work party in March with an article and a photo - but these things happen and of course it's the farmers we should feel for.

On a brighter note, the work has progressed very well at Cosgrove helped by the number of volunteers who now turn up and the extra help from BITM and Essex WRG. I would also like to thank Milton Keynes IWA for their generous donation of £250 which will help us purchase some new tools.

Walkers on the tow path seem far more interested in restoration nowadays, perhaps because the canal is partly in water thanks to all the rain we have had this year - it looks like a canal again! British Waterways have written to say that they support the restoration of the Arm: so with the IWA National Festival in Milton Keynes in August, the chance to plug restoration for the Buckingham shouldn't be missed!

From April onwards we shall be back working at Buckingham again. The plan is to finish clearing the canal bed up to the lock cottage, removing all remaining tree stumps, and then to rebuild the spillweir: so you will all have the chance to learn brick-laying!