Author Bill Bryson backs Huddersfield clean-up

[Robbo]

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-...86081-23125251/

 

A TOP author wants a spring clean in Huddersfield.

Huddersfield Narrow Canal is set to receive a facelift, with the help of best-selling author Bill Bryson.

And a short stroll along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal towpath reveals it is long overdue.

Within a few hundred yards there are litter hot-spots, with old clothes, cigarette butts and empty takeaway boxes lying abandoned along the path.

Bryson, who is President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), is backing a clean-up of the canal, restored to full use at a cost of £30m.

He is urging volunteers to dig out their wellington boots and take part in British Waterway’s Towpath Tidy 2009.

The Towpath Tidy, part of the CPRE Stop the Drop campaign, will consist of co-ordinated activity days taking place along the canal near Marsden and the Standedge Tunnel and Visitor Centre.

The big tidy-up will take place on Tuesday, March 24, and Friday, March 27.

Children from Marsden Junior School and the Huddersfield Canal Society have already signed up, but more volunteers are needed.

Laurence Morgan, British Waterways general manager, said: “Our local canals are enjoying a long overdue renaissance, often used and enjoyed more than at any other time in their 200 year history.

“Volunteers have become essential to the waterways ongoing success and Towpath Tidy is an enjoyable and rewarding occasion.”

It is hoped the volunteer effort ahead of the summer visiting and boating season will encourage both wildlife and environmental benefits, as well as providing a boost to the year-round work carried out by British Waterways.

Bryson, writer of Notes From A Small Island, said: “Britain’s waterways are of vital importance, providing everyone with the opportunity to experience their cities, towns and countryside from a unique and tranquil perspective.

“It’s a disgrace that some people choose to treat their waterways as an open litter bin or a place to dump their discarded waste.

“I urge everyone who wants to get the country clean to join in and tidy a towpath.”

For further information on the Towpath Tidy, visit:

www.water scape.com/towpathtidy