Wednesday 3rd July
High Peak Junction, the planned work party at High Peak Junction, painting the fencing near the pump house was cancelled, due to poor weather.
High Peak Junction; Wednesday 10th July
The work party met at Cromford Wharf, the work was clearing the wharf of weeds, some of which were very high, then a few volunteers moved along the towpath clearing obstructing vegetation.
Five of the Cromford volunteers were at High Peak Junction, painting the fencing at the winding hole and further along towards the Aqueduct swing bridge which also required repainting. This work party were rubbing down and scraping the old paint work on the fences and bridge. Some vegetation had to be strimmed to allow the fence posts to be fully exposed.
Wednesday 17th July
At High Peak Junction, four volunteers finished off painting the fencing at the winding hole opposite the pumping station. Some weed around Browns Bridge was also removed. The work party finished at 3.00pm just as the Police turned up to a call from the water bailiff, they were responding to an incident presumably
Wednesday 24th July
High Peak Junction, Carrying on with the fence painting and vegetation clearance at Leawood Pump and the Aqueduct Cottage swing bridge
Wednesday 31st July
High Peak Junction, Three, of the FCC work party painted Browns Bridge and the rest (7) cleared the vegetation along the wall and the canal edge against Leawood Pump house.
No more vegetation clearance is to be undertaken past the pump house on the aqueduct bridge, because of a protected species identified living in the wall.
Wednesday 7th August
High Peak Junction: painting the fence outside the Leawood Pumping house and the swing bridge at Aqueduct Cottage. Undercoat only, gloss will be later in month.
Wednesday 21st August
High Peak Junction, continuation of painting the swing bridge at Aqueduct Cottage and the fencing at Leawood Pump house, all under coated. Also started rubbing down the doors and window shutters at the Lengthmans hut.
Wednesday 28th August
High Peak Junction: The final stage of painting the fencing at Leawood Pumphouse and the bridge at Aqueduct Cottage took place, The final glossing was finished. The bridge had to be opened to allow our group to paint the skirting at the centre of the bridge, when required the bridge had to be cleared and moved into position to allow people to cross. A large amount of vegetation was cleared from the railway wall at Browns Bridge. Work started on the Lengthman’s hut, painting a quick drying undercoat and then glossing the doors and shutters. A discussion with various rangers at DCC to determine whether the guttering was to be painted. Initially, we were instructed not paint the guttering because a contractor was being brought in to replace rotten sections. Now, we have been given clearance to scrape and paint the guttering.
Wednesday 4th September.
High Peak Junction: Continuation of clearing vegetation along the railway wall and rubbing down and undercoating the wooden guttering at the lengthmans hut.
The vegetation group had to move away from the railway wall because of a large number of frogs of all sizes in the undergrowth. They worked clearing around the swing bridge and then towards the Leawood Pump clearing the top of the wall and cutting overhanging branches. At the Lengthman’s hut, three volunteers rubbed the wooden guttering down to remove the old peeling paint from many years ago. The first coat of undercoat was applied.
Wednesday 11th September
High Peak Junction: Heavy rain and showers led to the cancellation of the painting of the guttering at the Lengthmans hut. All that was painted were the two door frames in LMS custard colour. Water was pouring through the guttering making it impossible to paint. The guttering needs some urgent attention. The main job continued with a few rain interruptions, clearing the piles of cut reeds which were spread along the from Browns Bridge to the Wharf shed. We moved several tons to disposal around High Peak Junction. This was from the weed cutting boat the previous week.
Wednesday 18th September
High Peak Junction: Two volunteers continued the painting of the Lengthman’s hut, the weather was much better this week for painting the guttering. The painting of the lengthmans is now finished, just the small building, which I believe was the engine crew shed when the railway was operating, to finish when the weather and time permits.
Wednesday 18th September
Pinxton Wharf: A large tree which had fallen due to high winds had to be cleared. The tree near the Pinxton weir had fallen at an angle to the towpath, it wasn’t blocking the towpath but the majority was in the canal channel. Due to its size and location it proved very difficult to cut up and clear. It was a long day. There was litter picking, one bag of litter was cleared.
Total volunteer hours by the FCC work parties (July- September 2024) on DCC sections
= 446 volunteer hours & 91 travel hours
Total hours given 537.
For; Friends of Cromford Canal, J Guyler, 30th September 2024