Chairman’s Update – July 2019
Dear Members of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society,
Welcome to the latest edition of the newsletter,
I suppose the big news of the month is the horrific fire that was set alight under the bridge at Sandiacre. A lot of damage was done to the structure of the bridge in that it ended up as a major road closure for the local area.
Whilst we are talking to the Highways division of DCC regarding the plans for reintroducing road access as soon as possible, we have to ensure in that our legal rights to access in the future are secure, we are given in a proper legal document that ensures our plans for the future are not thwarted. Rest assured that a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to ensure this, and that we are in no way proposing a cut off to our route. More details will be available as and when we get the updates.
Trust AGM
July the 10th is the Trust AGM at the Royal Oak in Ockbrook at 7.30 pm (as already notified) that is open to all members, I hope you manage to attend and hear from the Trust about the current status of plans. Of course, I will update you all next month on the outcome. I myself have offered to stand again in my current role.
Society Meeting
This month’s speaker is Derek Hathaway; the meeting starts at 19.30 at the Coach and Horses.
Water – You either love, or hate, your local water suppliers. In our patch most of it comes under the remit of dear old Severn Trent and I am pleased to report that they are being very helpful on three sites that we are working on, we thank them and look forward to even closer relationships with them.
The WRGies
Talking of help, we have our friends coming back from the WRG group on 21st July, at Borrowash for a full week to help finish the Borrowash bottom lock, please turn up on any day to support or even if it is just to show your support and say hello –this camp was fully booked even before being advertised nationally – something that tells me we are reaching out across the country and getting our message across.
Again, thanks to Ockbrook and Borrowash Parish Council for their support in funding this.
Membership / Support
Do you know any one that would like the benefit of becoming a member or indeed
any one that could offer help and support in all our functions?
We are getting busy and need help – a couple of hours a week at any level would be
appreciated. Please contact myself or the Membership Sec, Roger, if you can help.
The Cottages
Work at the cottages is progressing well, we have managed to dig out part of the culvert ready for the pipes to go in, most of the pipes have now been laid into the culvert, the steel work in the cottages has gone well and we are on target for getting the rest of the floors in situ.
Draycott in Bloom requested that we put some input into the annual judgement day, and of course we obliged. Collecting and erecting two wonderful boards that draw attention to our canal. David stated that the judges only had allocated for five minutes at the site but this stretched into nearly 15 minutes and he reported that they talked about nothing else on the way back to the village – we wish the village well in the results and thank them for using the canal as a theme for this year. Another reason for encouraging local community involvement.
A big thank you to Jackie and Paul for the Gin festival, alas I missed this to a prior family commitment, but I
gathered certain cars had to be collected the next day, I always advise sensible drinking at all times…….
Situations available
Anyone with spare time, be it one or two hours per week, in any field. If you think you have a trade that may help us, please get in touch, I will be learning how to point brickwork next week, so if I can do it, so can you!
Regards
Eddy – Chairman