Welcome to February Edition of the Newletter,
Where do I start this month… January has gone, and we are now approaching Spring when the leaves start to turn green and wildlife comes back into our lives.
The big news is that the work on the Sandiacre Lock has started, excavation of the lock and the installation of the fencing around it is underway as I write. Please do come down and visit this first dig of the canal and see the work that is going on.
The Picture on the right shows the lock at Sandiacre just prior to our work starting; the picture in our next newsletter will show the difference (unless of course you wish to have a walk down, and visit in person).
Topping Out at Draycott
Another major milestone is the completion of the roofing at the Cottages at Draycott (see below). Under the wonderful supervision of Scott, we had a traditional “Topping Out” ceremony on top of the scaffolding prior to it being taken away – with Chris Madge wasting some good sparkling wine by pouring it over the new roof. A big thank you to the team of 42 helpers that have turned out in all weathers to assist.
We are also starting talks with the Borrowash in Bloom and Breaston in Bloom teams to see if we can work together to assist with their aims. A small working party helped out at Breaston to prepare a bed ready for planting this spring, ideally next to the Navigation Public House, right on the canal path.
Draycott Plans
Draycott village have adopted the canal as the theme for their plans for 2019 and we shall work with them and the local W.I. to the the Draycott stretch of the canal looking good again with two donated planters that we will site along the path.
Planning permissions have been submitted to the local authority regarding the dig out at Draycott, and indeed the Cottages, as i mentioned in the last two newsletters – again, no updates yet. Watch this space.
Amazon Smile
Do you or any family/friends shop on line? Amazon has created its own donation to charities link as you shop for things on line. As with ‘Give as you live’, you need to get to the Amazon shop via a web site called www.smile.amazon.co.uk. When you first register you are asked to nominate your charity. You just type in the box The Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust. When you get to the Amazon shop via the smile link you will see D&SCT in the top banner. As with ‘Give as you live’ which gets you to a lot of other shops, 0.5% of your purchase will go to the Trust to help our restoration plans. So don’t forget to add the smile link to your favourites!
Next Members Meeting
The Members meeting for February will at the Wilmott Arms in Borrowash, on Tuesday the 26th, starting at 7.30pm.
The guest speaker will be Peter Mosley giving us a talk on the Friargate bridge, please join us if you can.
The Packet
The next edition of the Packet will soon be in the hands of the printers, closing date for any submissions is the end of this month, please feel free to drop me a line if you have anything for consideration or indeed know of anyone that wishes to place an advert in the next three editions – prices on application.