CaRT gets help with vegetation

THE crew of the Chesterfield Canal Trust's ex-British Waterways working boat, Python, has been helping to clear overgrown vegetation from the Chesterfield Canal.

Canal & River Trust handed over a hopper together with Amanda Morgan, its Volunteer Leader, who gave a  briefing on the day's volunteering. She came bearing all the tools and Health & Safety equipment that would be needed.

Lopped with speed

Despite very strong winds, Richard Allsopp, the expert helmsman, managed to manoeuvre Python and the hopper into the very shallow offside bank near Wiseton, and before long, we are told, lengths of willow, ivy and other unidentified bits of vegetation were being lopped with incredible speed and efficiency.

Later in the day, the group met a CaRT crew hard at work with a mini-digger repairing the side of the canal. This demonstrated why such work is so useful. The volunteers could do the simple cutting-back in order to free up the skilled people from the Trust to perform the more heavy-duty repairs to the bank side.