More Open Days

DURING November Canal & River Trust is launching 15 Open Days, free to the public, as part of its winter maintenance.

The open days will give the public the chance to go down and see the working of a lock, walking along an aqueduct or into other examples of the waterways working industrial heritage, with the full list seen at: Open Days.

Recording rubbish

As part of the programme, the Trust is running a three months survey to record the volume and variety of rubbish discarded in Britain's waterways. From the ubiquitous shopping trolleys, traffic cones, tyres, bikes, bottles and plastic bags to the more unusual safes, unexploded bombs, cars and war medals, the Trust spends nearly £1million hauling lost and discarded items from the waterways each year.

It aims to raise public awareness of the impact of rubbish on Britain's canals and rivers and will be publishing the results of the survey in the Spring.

Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, explains:

"As part of this maintenance we will be recording everything we find when the water is drained. Sadly a small number of people think it's acceptable to dump things like shopping trolleys and other rubbish in our canals and rivers. Our staff and volunteers work tirelessly throughout the year to clear this up to maintain them for the benefit of millions of people who visit each year. We need to highlight the issue to make people realise the damage that rubbish can cause to our visitors, boaters, wildlife and the appearance of our waterways."

164 lock gates

As part of its maintenance programme, the Trust advises that it will be working on around 164 lock gates across the country. The new lock gates are made in the Trust's specialist workshops at Bradley in the West Midlands and Stanley Ferry in Yorkshire.