Canal Trust volunteers ‘Heritage Heroes'

THE Wey & Arun Canal Trust volunteers have been thanked for their endeavours in getting the canal under the High Street at Loxwood, after 130 years of the route being blocked.

This was on Wednesday (8th December)  in the splendour of the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London when the ‘Heritage Heroes' certificate was presented by Loyd Grossman OBE, the Chairman of The Heritage Alliance.

Paid tribute

The presentation was followed by a speech by Jeremy Hunt MP, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. He paid tribute to the canal volunteers who are working on a project which few, if any, will see completed in their lifetimes.

The work to get under the High Street took several years and cost £1.9 million, all raised independently from central or local government money. As the road could not be raised, the Trust had to lower the canal by around 6ft for a distance of over 400 yards.

Major reconstruction

This had involved the major reconstruction of a lock at Brewhurst, (pictured) the removal of 18,000 m3 of clay, the construction of a bridge tunnel and the building from scratch of a new lock at Loxwood.

Many of the volunteers during those years were Trust members, but a great number came from visiting Waterway Recovery Groups.

The canal at this section was re-opened to boat traffic in April 2009.