Race to finish Staveley Town Lock

THERE is a race to complete the restoration of Staveley Town Lock on the Chesterfield Canal in time for its Festival at the end of May.

So that access can at last be made into Staveley Basin in time for the festival on the 28th May, the lock has to be completed and ready for use, that however has not been helped by the weather.

Mechanical problems

It needs its coping stones and gates fitting, with the gates already made, and the Trust's volunteer Work Party striving valiantly to get everything completed, but certainly not helped by its ageing excavator, known as Denis, developing frequent mechanical problems. But we are told that JCB/TCHarrison has been magnificent in lending support to the Trust in helping to fix these breakdowns.

The picture above shows what is known as Hartington Harbour, below the lock, that has been flooded for most of the winter, with the picture below showing the volunteers fitting the spill weir culverts.

Problem

Then there is the problem of completing the 328 yards of canal below the lock, known as Hartington Harbour. This area has been, at best, ankle deep in mud and at worst totally flooded since November, but work goes on with the trustee in charge of the volunteers, David Kiddy, explaining:

"I am very proud of our volunteers. Many have come to work on four or five days a week throughout the winter, frequently working in atrocious conditions. We have to build the next bit of canal below the lock. We can't just empty the water from the lock into a field and we need a space for boats to turn round."

This site and the canal belong to Derbyshire County Council. It is part of the Markham Vale development. The Chesterfield Canal Trust volunteers work under the direction of DCC engineers.

Done by volunteers

Most of the visible work has been done by volunteers from the Trust, with occasional help from the volunteers of the Waterway Recovery Group. The bridge at the end of the lock, the bywash and the spill weir base were done by contractors. Everything else—the lock, the excavations, the walls, the L-shaped reinforcers, the blockwork, the brickwork—has all been done by volunteers.

The Chesterfield Canal Trust has invested around £100,000 so far in the project. Nearly half has come in donations, the rest has come from other activities like its trip-boats, membership fees, sales etc. Markham Vale pays for the contractors and has paid for some of the blocks and concrete and all of the L-shaped reinforcers. The lock gates were bought with a grant from Veolia.

National Trailboat Festival

The Trust is hosting the National Trailboat Festival on behalf of the Inland Waterways Association on May 28th and 29th. It is hoped that all the work will be done by then and that boats will be able to use the lock, turn in Hartington Harbour and come out again.

The Festival will run from 10am to 5pm on both days and will include boat rides, canoeing, children's rides, plenty of entertainment, dozens of stalls plus food and drink including a Real Ale bar run by Brampton Brewery.