Thank you Crt and volunteers

[noone]

I prefer 6 blokes in a boat cutting back offside vegetation passing my boat during a lock down?. As opposed to the 1000's of cyclists,joggers and pedestrians that passed on the towpath during the last one!!?

[Grassman]

I am one of those volunteers. It's a joint CRT/IWA Lichfield Branch venture. In the last 3 winters we have been cutting between Great Haywood and Fradley on the T&M and then from Fradley to Fazeley on the Coventry Canal. This time it's from Fazeley heading south to as far as we can get. It's all done with volunteers although CRT do sometimes have a staff member with us. CRT have provided us with all the equipment and training and any support we need.

 

This time we are having to work differently due to Covid so progress will be slower. We try to achieve 5 days a week but this depends upon availability of volunteers, and this year a few have dropped out due to concerns about Covid. So there will be days when no work is being carried out.

 

It's hard work and painstakingly slow and some parts we've had to miss and concentrate instead on the bad parts such as bends, narrow sections, bridge approaches, opposite popular moorings etc, especially towards the end of the winter as we have to stop early March because of nesting wildlife.

 

It's a bit soul destroying seeing how quickly some parts have grown back and it looks like nothing has been done, but it's only if you can remember how bad it was beforehand that it can be appreciated how much of a difference it's made. 

 

If anybody is interested in joining us, contact IWA Lichfield branch, CRT Fradley depot or send me a PM. Most just do one day a week and there is no pressure to do every week although you are expected to do quite a few over the winter especially if they've invested in giving you training. It's good exercise out in the fresh air, we all enjoy the banter, and it gives us something to do in the winter when we aren't out boating. Also, my wife enjoys getting me from under her feet!

[Rob-M]

3 minutes ago, Grassman said:

I am one of those volunteers. It's a joint CRT/IWA Lichfield Branch venture. In the last 3 winters we have been cutting between Great Haywood and Fradley on the T&M and then from Fradley to Fazeley on the Coventry Canal. This time it's from Fazeley heading south to as far as we can get. It's all done with volunteers although CRT do sometimes have a staff member with us. CRT have provided us with all the equipment and training and any support we need.

 

This time we are having to work differently due to Covid so progress will be slower. We try to achieve 5 days a week but this depends upon availability of volunteers, and this year a few have dropped out due to concerns about Covid. So there will be days when no work is being carried out.

 

It's hard work and painstakingly slow and some parts we've had to miss and concentrate instead on the bad parts such as bends, narrow sections, bridge approaches, opposite popular moorings etc, especially towards the end of the winter as we have to stop early March because of nesting wildlife.

 

It's a bit soul destroying seeing how quickly some parts have grown back and it looks like nothing has been done, but it's only if you can remember how bad it was beforehand that it can be appreciated how much of a difference it's made. 

 

If anybody is interested in joining us, contact IWA Lichfield branch, CRT Fradley depot or send me a PM. Most just do one day a week and there is no pressure to do every week although you are expected to do quite a few over the winter especially if they've invested in giving you training. It's good exercise out in the fresh air, we all enjoy the banter, and it gives us something to do in the winter when we aren't out boating. Also, my wife enjoys getting me from under her feet!

Not sure if a couple I know have done any this year but I saw them a couple of times when cutting back between Great Haywood and Fradley.

 

[Jerra]

4 minutes ago, Grassman said:

I am one of those volunteers. It's a joint CRT/IWA Lichfield Branch venture. In the last 3 winters we have been cutting between Great Haywood and Fradley on the T&M and then from Fradley to Fazeley on the Coventry Canal. This time it's from Fazeley heading south to as far as we can get. It's all done with volunteers although CRT do sometimes have a staff member with us. CRT have provided us with all the equipment and training and any support we need.

 

This time we are having to work differently due to Covid so progress will be slower. We try to achieve 5 days a week but this depends upon availability of volunteers, and this year a few have dropped out due to concerns about Covid. So there will be days when no work is being carried out.

 

It's hard work and painstakingly slow and some parts we've had to miss and concentrate instead on the bad parts such as bends, narrow sections, bridge approaches, opposite popular moorings etc, especially towards the end of the winter as we have to stop early March because of nesting wildlife.

 

It's a bit soul destroying seeing how quickly some parts have grown back and it looks like nothing has been done, but it's only if you can remember how bad it was beforehand that it can be appreciated how much of a difference it's made. 

 

If anybody is interested in joining us, contact IWA Lichfield branch, CRT Fradley depot or send me a PM. Most just do one day a week and there is no pressure to do every week although you are expected to do quite a few over the winter especially if they've invested in giving you training. It's good exercise out in the fresh air, we all enjoy the banter, and it gives us something to do in the winter when we aren't out boating. Also, my wife enjoys getting me from under her feet!

Thank you for your (and all the volunteers) efforts.

[ditchcrawler]

10 hours ago, Grassman said:

I am one of those volunteers. It's a joint CRT/IWA Lichfield Branch venture. In the last 3 winters we have been cutting between Great Haywood and Fradley on the T&M and then from Fradley to Fazeley on the Coventry Canal. This time it's from Fazeley heading south to as far as we can get. It's all done with volunteers although CRT do sometimes have a staff member with us. CRT have provided us with all the equipment and training and any support we need.

 

This time we are having to work differently due to Covid so progress will be slower. We try to achieve 5 days a week but this depends upon availability of volunteers, and this year a few have dropped out due to concerns about Covid. So there will be days when no work is being carried out.

 

It's hard work and painstakingly slow and some parts we've had to miss and concentrate instead on the bad parts such as bends, narrow sections, bridge approaches, opposite popular moorings etc, especially towards the end of the winter as we have to stop early March because of nesting wildlife.

 

It's a bit soul destroying seeing how quickly some parts have grown back and it looks like nothing has been done, but it's only if you can remember how bad it was beforehand that it can be appreciated how much of a difference it's made. 

 

If anybody is interested in joining us, contact IWA Lichfield branch, CRT Fradley depot or send me a PM. Most just do one day a week and there is no pressure to do every week although you are expected to do quite a few over the winter especially if they've invested in giving you training. It's good exercise out in the fresh air, we all enjoy the banter, and it gives us something to do in the winter when we aren't out boating. Also, my wife enjoys getting me from under her feet!

Do you get any hassle from the home owners when you trim their trees, I remember what I was on the S Oxford one home owner had put up a notice for BW not to trim the willow

[Grassman]

30 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Do you get any hassle from the home owners when you trim their trees, I remember what I was on the S Oxford one home owner had put up a notice for BW not to trim the willow

Only occasionally thankfully. If they ask us not to cut something and it isn't likely to pose any issues for navigation then we will leave it. The worst incident we had was at Little Haywood on the Trent & Mersey. A few years ago there was a tree branch hanging very low right into the middle of the canal, so low that it was only just above boat height. It was a large branch and we'd began to cut it with the pole chainsaw when a bloke ran down his garden and began threatening us. We'd already cut well into the branch so there was no way we could leave it like that. Despite us trying to explain this to him he leapt onto our boat and began to be aggressive. That was until he realised how togged up we were with PPE and the nature of the tools and implements we had at our disposal. Unfortunately we wanted to cut a few more of the adjacent branches down but we had to leave them.

 

Most home owners either aren't bothered or are quite pleased we are doing it. There was a problem with a tree on the approach to Rugeley, right on the bend after the railway bridge at the beginning of the visitor moorings, rendering two of the moorings unusable. The house owner allowed us to step off the boat into his garden to enable us to cut it back further. That was 3 years ago but unfortunately despite this I've noticed it's growing out into the canal again. 

 

On a different matter, the worst to deal with is hawthorn/blackthorn and dog rose. These are painfully slow to sort and sometimes we have to make the decision to leave some sections unless it particularly restricts navigation, because just a 20 yard length of it can take over an hour. And the most frustrating is weeping willow because the actual branches are too high to reach, even with the extendable pole chainsaw, so all we can do is trim them, but it just grows back in no time. Like a lot of boaters do, I often trim a little off as I pass under them in my own boat.

[ditchcrawler]

36 minutes ago, Grassman said:

  And the most frustrating is weeping willow because the actual branches are too high to reach, even with the extendable pole chainsaw, so all we can do is trim them, but it just grows back in no time. Like a lot of boaters do, I often trim a little off as I pass under them in my own boat.

It was nice to be able to pass under the ones you had trimmed last Wednesday

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Do you get any hassle from the home owners when you trim their trees, I remember what I was on the S Oxford one home owner had put up a notice for BW not to trim the willow

But it's not the home owner's call. CRT (or any other landowner for that matter) can cut back branches from a neighbour's tree overhanging their land or water.

But in the interests of good public relations it is probably best if CRT first advise landowners that branches of their trees overhanging the canal are becoming a nuisance and need to be cut back. And then when the landowners don't cut back the branches or even respond to the letters, then CRT (or their volunteers) can go in do the work.

[Grassman]

10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

It was nice to be able to pass under the ones you had trimmed last Wednesday

I wasn't with them on Wednesday but I suspect you're talking about the one by The Gate pub in Tamworth.

[Grassman]

 

 

David, you are correct it is not the homeowners call but it would be good practice if CRT informed them in advance that the cutting was going to take place. Unfortunately they don't have the time or resources to do this, but in fairness these incidents are so rare that it isn't really a problem anyway.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Grassman said:

I wasn't with them on Wednesday but I suspect you're talking about the one by The Gate pub in Tamworth.

The werent working Wednesday when we passed but the chipper was at the pub and the motor at Glascote. I spoke to them on Tuesday by the pub if you were there

[matty40s]

14 hours ago, Grassman said:

 And the most frustrating is weeping willow because the actual branches are too high to reach, even with the extendable pole chainsaw, so all we can do is trim them, but it just grows back in no time. Like a lot of boaters do, I often trim a little off as I pass under them in my own boat.

I do the large willow in the winding hole by Weedon wharf a couple of times a year. Doesnt take long, in fact, its nose against the bank, tiller over, on roof to front end, trim away to just above my head height as the boat slowly turns, then when I'm parallel with nb Requies, walk back and reverse off.

Edited November 8, 2020 by matty40s