Wants to volunteer

AFTER hiring a narrowboat on the Trent & Mersey Canal it awakened my interest in the work on disused canals, writes Paul Harding.

With a view to volunteering, and living in Derbyshire, I spend yesterday afternoon perusing the  web sites of the societies in the area and was surprised in the difference of the activities of them.

Offering services

The two restorations I discovered within easy motoring distance are of the Derby Canal and the Chesterfield Canal, but whilst there seems to be no work at extending the Derby Canal by its society, there have been many miles and locks restored on the Chesterfield Canal, so it is the one that is full-steam-ahead for me, and I will take a run over there next Sunday and have a good look with a view to offering my services as an accredited builder.

Living towards the Nottingham border I also took a look at the Grantham Canal, but I could not even get into its web site as it wanted details of my Google account or create an account, which I do not want to do, as the last one I did resulted in constant emails and the hell of a job to stop them. 

It seems a poor policy to me if their web site is not open for anyone to see, as that is surely how to get interest.