Draycott Update – Spring 2018
The working parties of the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society have been working hard over the whole of winter 2017/2018; come rain or shine, snow or fog!
Particular focus has been at Draycott, with consistent volunteer turn-out for both The Golden Mile and the Canal Cottages.
Along The Golden Mile, we’ve performed a lot of general maintenance; trimming and preparing hedgerows for the summer, clearing weeds and young saplings in the wrong place, replacing fencing and generally keeping the stretch in good order. All the while, the pledges for the Golden Mile have been increasingly steady over the winter period, and we’re very pleased to say we’re £85,000 towards our £100,000 target and we’ve begun applying for match funding to turn the Golden Mile from planning into reality!
At the Canal Cottages, a real transformation has taken place! Almost all the over-grown vegetation has been removed, with a large number of diseased, dangerous or out-of-place trees having been cleared. Our container has arrived to help with on-site activities and storage, we’ve cleared out all the rooms (and found some really exciting relics from it’s recent past – separate web posts to follow in the future!) and we’ve started on the building restoration!
The scaffolding is up, which allows access to every level of the cottages; window frames and doorways are being carefully restored by our on-site heritage bricklayer and we’ve had the roof off to allow us access to make sure all the structural bits of the cottages are in good enough nick to survive the next 150 years!
As we approach summer, we plan to accelerate our progress, but it can only be possible with more volunteers supporting on the ground (and in the background!).
If you are at all interested in supporting us, either become a member (if you aren’t already) or come along to one of our working parties.
Everyone of every ability is welcome!
Finally, please enjoy our update video, which showcases some of the activities that we’ve been getting up to!