Grantham lock rebuilt at astonishing rate

THE Grantham Canal Society has enjoyed the services of the volunteers at four Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) camps during July, whose ages range from 18 to 80, and have rebuilt the brick walls at Lock 15 at an astonishing rate—almost faster than the Grantham Canal Society (GCS) regular teams could pour the concrete!

The ‘before' picture below (photographs by D Cross) was taken at the end of June whilst preparations were being made for the first of four pours of concrete to provide the wall supports. The mass concrete came from Newark Concrete, part of the Tarmac Group, in big wagons and not from the little cement mixer! However, note the position of the cement mixer as a point of reference!

The construction pattern

Pour a layer of concrete on each side of the lock chamber—Build a wall of blocks on the canal-side concrete and erect shuttering on the landward side—Pour the next layer of concrete—Face the block wall with two courses of brickwork—Repeat until the top is reached!

The photo taken last Saturday shows the progress in construction. Okay so the scaffolding now fills the lock but the mixer hasn't moved so you can see the height reached during the four weeks!

Worked well together

WRG and GCS volunteers worked well together and the latter will continue the work as before. The GCS teams have worked five days per week for 52 weeks of the past year at the site so if any reader wishes to offer their services please contact the society.

All involved wish to say a big ‘Thank you' to the WRG people for their contribution and commitment to the project. And they are welcome back next year—there are another three locks to do to complete the flight!