Postcode Lottery grant helps Montgomery Canal restoration project
The Shropshire Union Canal Society has been awarded a grant of £13,335 from the Postcode Local Trust for the restoration of Montgomery Canal.
This grant has been funded entirely by player's of the People's Postcode Lottery which provides support to projects such as the team of volunteers at Montgomery Canal.
The grant is important to the team in their on-going restoration project to link the Schoolhouse Bridge, Crickheath, with Crickheath Basin.
It will also be spent on items necessary for volunteers to continue working as they are set to face a busy final season on the present section of restoration approaching Crickheath Basin.
This includes the laying of 40,000 concrete blocks and new hands are welcome on the restoration project, with other tasks available if volunteers do not want to take on the role of concrete laying.
Preliminary preparation has begun for this part of the project, with surveys and vegetation clearance taking place, and at Crickheath Wharf, where engineering, heritage and ecological planning is underway.
The fresh funding will also enable the society to divert other resources to the initial works on the next section – south of Crickheath Bridge – which will begin next year.
The Montgomery Canal Partnership brings together all the groups involved in the restoration of the canal, including the Shropshire Union Canal Society.
The long term aim is to reopen the entire canal, which stretches from Newtown, through Welshpool and across the Shropshire border to join the Llangollen Canal near Ellesmere.
The 'Monty' closed in the 1930s. Work to reopen it began in 1969 and has been continued by volunteers for more than five decades.
Last year the Government announced a £16 million grant to help with the restoration.
A working day was held in January, on the current project site, to remove the remaining I.B.C’s – Bulk Containers from the compounds at Crickheath and Pryces Bridge.
The project will specifically focus on progressing the restoration of navigation to a 4.4-mile section from the Wales-England border at Llanymynech to Arddleen.
To join the team in their goal to restore Montgomery Canal visit shropshireunion.org.uk.
