Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers celebrate reaching major milestone five months ahead of schedule during latest work party

The Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) has issued an update on its work on the Crickheath South section of the Montgomery Canal, with another milestone reached during work from November 1 to 3.

The work party saw the completion of all channel and towpath deliverables for the original scope of the Rural Prosperity Fund (RPF) grant - five months ahead of schedule.

Project manager Tom Fulda said: “Given the torrential rain and flooding during October it was a pleasant relief to have dry, calm, mild weather for the entire work party, albeit overcast. Once again, substantial progress was made."

The group set out on three main activities during the work party, aiming to complete the towpath and bank works in Phase 1A (wharf area) that in turn would complete the original scope for the RPF project, as well as to continue channel profiling in Phase 1B beyond the area already completed, and to maintain hedges to kick off their winter environmental works.

Four volunteers also took a refresher brush cutter qualification on Friday, November 1, that is essential for them to deliver all the scheduled environmental activities.

At the start of the work party, on the morning of the Friday, there remained 65 metres of towpath to construct in Phase 1A as well as 60 metres of bank to complete with riprap (large aggregate) covered by soil above the blocked area. The society added that the entire length of the towpath in Phase 1A - that runs opposite the tramway wharf area - also needed to be dressed with a wear course of quarry dust.

But thanks to the volunteers' speedy hard work, the jobs were done by lunchtime on Sunday, marking another major milestone and the completion of all the channel and towpath deliverables in the original funded scope that was scheduled to finish by the end of March next year.

Practical completion for this funded scope is for the two completed sections of channel to be in water by the end of next March.

The society said that the sections are filling with rainwater and it is expected that the stop planks by Crickheath Bridge will be cracked open in January or February to equalise the levels with those in the now navigable Crickheath Basin.

Further along the site towards Schoolhouse Bridge, work continued to profile the channel. In the area that has been worked on, no lining and blocking is required, and an impressive 70 metres of the canal is now complete.

Just beyond this area in the direction of Schoolhouse Bridge, hedge laying picked up from where work had finished last winter. 

During two days and with a number of ‘new hands’, 23 metres was completed by volunteers.