It’s been a while since our last report and a lot has happened! The Lichfield Canal at Darnford Moors is now looking like a canal, holding water for the first time in over 50 years, as part of our ecology park.
Thanks to funding from ERDF and HS2 CEF, our contractor, Onsite Central Ltd, completed phase one of the work and started water testing at the end of June. It took several weeks to fill, but is now looking beautiful.
In July, we hosted two Waterway Recovery Group canal camps, and the visiting volunteers carried out a huge amount of work over the two weeks. They installed ducting for electric cables, which will power a pump to keep the canal section topped up and will also eventually power charging points for electric boats. They also continued to build the towpath, and a turn-in to the lift bridge.
Our own volunteers continued the work started by the WRG volunteers and completed laying chippings for the towpath along phase two.
They have now started preparing phase three digging out the section leading up to Darnford Lane, while our contractor, Onsite Central Ltd, continues the last section of lining in phase two. It’s all go!
