North West News February 2021 - Canal & River Trust

North West News                              February 2021

  Welcome to our February volunteering newsletter. As you may well imagine
  things are currently quiet on the volunteering front. A very big thank you to
  those few volunteers that have been assisting our teams in essential
  operational tasks and we hope to see anyone who hasn't been able to return to
  volunteering soon! Our decisions on volunteer activity are directly related to
  governmental updates so please bear with us, we will be in touch when we
  have an update.

Regional Q&A Sessions
The next regional Q&A session with North West Director Daniel Greenhalgh is planned for
Thursday 25th March 3pm - 4.30pm. This session will include an update from our Strategic
Programmes team with details of their ongoing funded projects across the region. There will also
be the usual opportunity to ask questions directly to Daniel and the wider team.

We are looking for feedback about who and what you would like to see at our regional
Q&A sessions. If you can spare two minutes to let us know please complete this survey.

All notes & pre-submitted questions for Q&A sessions will be available for all volunteers to
access on the 'volunteer news and updates' section of the 'MyTrust' portal on the Trust website
HERE or by email request. If anyone needs assistance logging into MyTrust please contact their
local task manager.

  Urban Engagement Update

  The ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and lockdown are still disrupting our face-to-
  face engagement programmes and activities. Whilst this is frustrating, we are
  working hard to plan for what we hope will be a busy summer of events and
  activities to reconnect with the communities around our waterways.

We have also moved our activities online, so people can still have benefit from
  the work the Trust does, even if we cannot get out and about as much as we
  might like to. In March we are launching our ‘Lets Walk From Home’
  programme aimed at people who live in the Liverpool City Region, this
  programme features self-led activities to encourage people to get active and
  enjoy the waterways on their doorstep. You can find out more about the
  programme here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/north-
  west/lets-walk-from-home-liverpool-city-region . We are also planning a similar
  programme in Manchester.

  We have also launched a new volunteer opportunity to support our growing
  community engagement offer in Liverpool. We are recruiting for Community
  Research Volunteers to work with us to identify the key communities who live
  around our waterways in the city, and to help the Trust better understand their
  needs when we are planning our work.
  https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/volunteer/opportunities/OPP0008540-liverpool-
  community-research-volunteer

  For further info on any of these projects please email
  james.long@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Virtual Open Days
Every year the Trust spend millions of pounds on our planned winter maintenance
programmme and this year is no exception.

Across the country we are running eight virtual open days, which will give you
behind-the-scenes access to some of our biggest projects. You’ll get to hear from the
project team and be able to view our work up close, from the comfort of your own
home.

In the North West we are showcasing the stoppage in Manchester at Lock 83 on the
Rochdale canal. To see the footage please visit the Trust website HERE.

Learning & Skills Update
The North West learning and skills team have been working hard to develop learning
resources that are focused on sites and locations in the North West. These are now
available to all on the Trust website and feature on site lessons filmed at Anderton
Boat Lift and the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. If you or your
family members are home schooling and looking for some fun and interactive canal
based learning resources take a look at the wide variety of free learning bundles
available to all HERE

Volunteer Spotlight on:

Barry Green, National Waterways Museum

- How long have you volunteered for the Trust and what roles have you undertaken?

I have volunteered for 9 years at the museum. I joined working with site maintenance where we
developed the site maintenance work schedule spread sheet. I then became involved with the
Windows on the World and was lead on clearing the slipway. This involved moving some of the
artefacts to the Northwich site where we created on off-site store but we had to first procure and
install pallet racking. We moved 5 boats, winches, silent dredger bucket, hydraulic piping, cranes plus
numerous pallets which we loaded with items from the Lime Shed. Everything we moved was
recorded and their location noted in the store.

- What’s the best aspect about volunteering with us?

Over the 9 years the volunteers and staff have worked well together to improve the Museum and this
will lead to increased footfall once we move out of the lock down and this will make all our hard work
worthwhile.

- Any memorable events or sights during your time with the Trust?

The greatest achievement was being Volunteer Project Manager for the Arts Council grant to move
the 4 floating boats at Gloucester and the lift 10 sunken boats from the top basin. I addition to this we
were to move Mossdale from beside Porters Row to the current position in the boat yard plus 2 land
based boats. The first challenge was to find a suitable store for all these vessels and make all the
sunken boats float!

What a fantastic team effort it was with the boat care group heading up getting the boats to float,
managing our primary contractor CBS who were so professional and working with the Trusts Property
division to secure Rossfield Road in a very tight timescale.

In October 2017, we had a 4 day window to make it happen and we did although our hearts stopped
on day 2 when the wind picked up and lifting stopped but everyone worked to their limits and we
achieved our goal. There was a group of very proud Trust personnel, volunteers, and contractors.

- Can you tell us what you’re most looking forward to in 2021 in your role with the
Trust?

I am now volunteer PM for the new play area which will open this year plus the work on
Porters Row garden. Due to the present shutdown all the work on the gardens is being
carried out by NWM & Anderton staff to whom I am very grateful.

We are now working towards developing our ‘Green’ credentials and involve more gardening
volunteers in the maintenance of our lovely site.

By the Waterside Café we will be planting a series of 'crate' planters initially with bedding
flowers like geraniums, lobelia, etc. but in future years we hope to grow plants that reflect
what the canal people would eat.

Porters Row terrace garden is being transformed into a heritage garden with a selection of
fruit trees which will include apple, pear, gooseberries, currants, and rhubarb. Another
section will be dedicated to attracting wildlife so will have fox gloves,
honeysuckle, buddleia and winter jasmine plus other flower beds with fuchsias, hydrangea,
day lilies, lupins, and other period perennials.

We will have an area where herbs & vegetables will be grown so we can show children how
they were used in cooking and making their lives smell sweeter!

To achieve these changes, we realise it may take a couple of seasons to see the fruits of our
work, but we hope to show our visitors an insight how our elders used to live.

Meet the..........Strategic Programmes Team
Our North West Strategic Programmes Team is currently delivering 9 projects across
the region with funding from Sport England, People’s Postcode Lottery, National
Lottery and Arts Council.

Our project team help deliver our wellbeing and beauty on the doorstep programmes
in the region and each project has a unique offer for volunteers and the communities
they aim to engage. Our projects are: Active Waterways in Cheshire, Community
Roots in Sefton and Pennine Lancs, Super Slow Way in Pennine Lancs, Finsley
Gate Restoration in Burnley, Stainton Towpath Trail Project, Tackling Inequalities
Fund (Sefton) and coming soon Kickstart (Pennine Lancashire) and the Green
Recovery Challenge Fund project (Manchester & Rochdale).

With the support of volunteers, our Project Leaders provide a wide range of activities
for community partners, families, young people and individuals to engage with their
local waterways, improve wellbeing and increase physical activity. The Covid-19

pandemic hugely impacted the work we do. As restrictions increased we adapted our
delivery and remained connected with local people through our virtual offers. Our
volunteers received training and supported the new virtual engagement. We have a
whole range of activities planned for 2021 and are currently recruiting volunteers for
an exciting variety of opportunities. Please come meet us at the Q&A
session on 25th March.

Check out this video on Youtube. This is Active Waterways in Cheshire showcasing
the work they've done last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQstzQXGNBs

Museums & Attractions Update
It has been all hands to the pump, literally, at the National Waterways Museum
Ellesmere Port and Anderton Boat Lift over the last few months with storms bringing
additional challenges to both sites.

Whilst the museum remains closed, and on-site volunteering suspended due to the
latest Government COVID regulations we were so grateful for the assistance of a
small team of volunteers who were able to answer a call for help.

We have also been delighted to re-engage existing volunteers from the Steam &
Diesel, Collections (small objects) and Archive teams in remote volunteering
opportunities supporting the marketing and communications team with social media
content and resources. You may have seen some of their work on our Museums and
Attractions social media pages, if not check them out:

https://www.facebook.com/NationalWaterwaysMuseum

https://www.facebook.com/AndertonLift/

Planning for the Future

It is said that every challenge brings with it an opportunity for improvement, and we
have certainly had a challenge over the past few months. We have taken this
opportunity to look to the future, to plan new volunteering opportunities and ways of
working, and to ensure that all our volunteer recording, training and H&S processes
are the best they can be.

Among the key priorities for NWME is the widening of our volunteer opportunities
and a key focus on the creation of new ‘Green’ volunteering roles in support of our

Green Flag and Heritage Green Flag applications. Check out this edition’s Volunteer
Spotlight where Volunteer Barry Green explains all.

Work is progressing with planning for Spring 2021. Watch this space for new
volunteering opportunities coming up shortly (*subject to COVID restrictions).

Christmas Photo Winners
A big thank you to all those that entered our festive photo competition. The winning
entries were chosen due to their links with the North West and their artistic flair and
& sense of fun.

Our winner was Andy Berry with Betty feeling festive at the National Waterways
Museum. Runners up were Mel Weeks for her image of 'Santa Splash' in Bootle
2019 and Ian Jackson for his frozen image of lock 44 on the Rochdale canal.

If you have a story that you think could be featured in an upcoming newsletter or there is any
content you would like to see please contact volunteer.northwest@canalrivertrust.org.uk