Winter - Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust Ltd

LICHFIELD CANAL WORKING PARTY NEWS
Lock 25 by wash and spillway.
Lock 25 off-side Jan,09
The circular drop shaft is now
complete, and brick foundation walls
for the bridge over the spillway have
been added. Quotations for the steel
bridge and railings for around the drop
shaft are under consideration and an
order for this work should be placed in
the New Year. The stone walls each
side of the spillway are well under way,
and the laborious task of cutting up the
large stone blocks into suitable sizes
for building continues. Using this stone has created a lot of extra work, but as it was
donated and even delivered free,
it will make a considerable saving
over the cost of the nine thousand
bricks which would have been
required if we had not had the
stone. We hope to complete these
walls within the next few weeks,
and then work will begin on
building the new weir for pound
25.
Estimating completion dates for
these projects can be something
of a gamble, as it depends on the weather at this time of the year, and even more
importantly the size of the
workforce. We have a great little
team of regulars who turn up
every week even in wet or very
cold weather, and this team, along
with the WRG visits is what keeps
the work ticking over throughout
the year. Obviously when working
on a project like this spillway, there
is not room for a large labour
Bywash drop shaft completed Aug,09
Building up the bywash drop shaft Jul,09
force, but a few extra hands to
help in keeping the site and yard
buildings tidy and handing tools and materials to the bricklayers can speed up the
job considerably. When we have a large labour intensive task, such as mixing and
laying large areas of concrete, we put out an email appeal for extra workers which
usually bring a good response. Thank you all for that.
Brian Davis
Cut Both Ways 27
Winter 2009/10