One advantage of spending the winter in one place has been the chance to formally become volunteers with the charity that has responsibility for the waterways we live on – Canal and River Trust.
On 2 July 2012, CRT, as a charity, took over from the previous government authority, British Waterways, who ran the network before them. BW also had a charitable arm, The Waterways Trust, which merged with CRT and brought with it the responsibility for museums on the network at Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire, Ellesmere Port and Gloucester Docks.
The Waterways Trust and BW benefitted from volunteers, and thousands of people now volunteer with CRT every year. Boaters like us sometimes see volunteer lock keepers helping in the season with particularly difficult or busy places like the lock flights at Hatton, Foxton, Caen Hill, Hillmorton, and Watford.
We also have seen volunteers out maintaining towpaths and structures like steps and lock landings, cutting back undergrowth from the land and the water. Until now I really wasn’t aware of the scope of volunteers roles within the Trust, the importance of their work for the charity who like so many charities depend heavily on the continued, consistent commitment of their volunteer force. Their contribution enables the Trust to spread its limited budget more effectively across the 2000 mile network.
Being able to sign up as volunteers and commit regularly to working with others who give their time and effort to support not only the Trust’s work but the network of waterways in their own local area has been both humbling, inspiring, educational and invigorating.
Since completing our basic initial training, both the Skipper and I have been undertaking different tasks. Boatdog and I have become enthusiastic litter pickers and undergrowth clearers whilst the Skipper has been carrying substrate to fill towpath holes, wielding loppers, and working with others to clear overgrown steps and paths.
Volunteers are managed in geographic groups, mostly supporting the area where they live or have connections. Some are boaters, and a few like a couple we met this week are live aboards who live in a marina, but all we’ve met have affinity to a single place. This week, we joined with another group, and together, the two groups tackled litter around Belgrave Lock in Leicester on the Grand Union Leicester Line. With two volunteer managers employed by CRT and a work boat, we attacked the debris and detritus around the lock island, surrounding trees, bushes, and towpath.
Between us, 50 bags of rubbish and a huge amount of other items from rubble sacks and all manner of containers were collected in a single day. I found underwear (ugh), 2 t-shirts, 3 boots (all different sizes and 1 sari among the items strewn in trees and near the lock. Removing those along with all those bags of plastic, metal and glass will reduce issues for locks, boats, and wildlife habitats as well as making the entire area look better.
It’s an effort which we’ve signed up to continue over the rest of the month, working steadily along the canal towards Birstall Lock. Together with the same dedicated team we will make a significant difference. That team includes volunteers like Kenneth, an awesome volunteers who is an example to us all. He took to the workboat, cutting and moving rubbish and debris, and Kenneth is 94 years old. He reckons volunteering keeps him essentially active and was awarded his 500 hours recognition at the end of last year.
Kenneth and all the other volunteers each contributing when and how they can have spurred me on to do more. On Valentine’s Day the Skipper and I have signed up to spread some love among the inner city wildlife setting up bird and bat boxes at Memory Lane mooring, and of course litter picking once more to try and give them a better environment. I’m also keen to get local schools in the area involved in recognising the dangers and problems litter creates for the environment and the creatures that live in it. If we can reduce litter from collecting in the first place, we can focus volunteer efforts in other areas where they are also needed.
Spreading the word about the waterways and the value they bring to so many people, creatures and the environmental benefits is yet another role of volunteers, and one which many undertake.
On a selfish note- this volunteering has immense benefits for us, too. Not only do we get to cruise and live in cleaner, safer environments which are more pleasant, more populated with wildlife but we also get to work in often beautiful places out in the fresh air, being active as Kenneth says, and crucially undertaking tasks which give the immense satisfaction of being able to see the impact of what we are doing.
My step count is clearly benefitting from volunteering days, as is Boatdog’s! We get to meet and spend time with enthusiastic, interesting people, to learn more about the area we are working in, see the waterway from a different perspective, and recognise a job well done.
Volunteering like this in Towpath Taskforces and as Rangers is something which we are keen to continue when we leave our winter mooring at the end of February and return to continuous cruising. Who would want to give up something that makes you feel so good? And as Kenneth has shown us – we’ve got decades of volunteering still to give!
Pickingupducks 