Can you offer skills to help restore canal?
THE Friends of the Cromford Canal are looking for new trustees to move their restoration plans forward in 2022.
We have planning approval for a significant restoration project at Langley Mill but we need new enthusiastic trustees from all backgrounds to help guide us through these exciting times.
We are an active charity whose aim is to restore the Cromford Canal to navigation over the 14.5 miles between the end of the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill Basin and Cromford Wharf.
Presently, there is only a 1.5-mile length of canal in navigation, between Cromford Wharf and the Derwent Aqueduct at the northern end of the canal, and a short length at the southern end from below the road bridge through the first lock to the end of the Langley Mill basin. In between, the line of the canal is still present on some reaches, whereas other sections have unfortunately been lost to new development and a new alignment will be needed.
Last year, we obtained planning approval for a 1km reach of the canal which is known as the Beggarlee Extension, starting from the Langley Mill basin heading north up the Erewash valley.
We operate a trip boat on the northern section of the canal on a commercial basis to provide some funding for modest repair and maintenance work along the canal and have aspirations to extend this section of the canal further.
The charity’s management board realise that we need an urgent trustee-refresh and we are looking for people with a background and interest in canal restoration, and preferably who have specific skills to bring to our team. We are particularly short of engineering and finance skills.
So if you think you can help us accelerate our restoration and development aims please get in touch: we are looking for enthusiastic and energetic individuals who can work co-operatively with existing trustees.
Please see our website www. cromfordcanal.org for more detail on our canal and aims.
Interested parties should email the chairman David Martin for an informal chat at chair@ cromfordcanal.org.uk
David Martin, Friends of Cromford Canal