■ Cotswold landslip appeal closes after passing £ 250k
THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust steamed past its £ 250,000 appeal target to help the Cotswold line pay huge bills to repair an embankment landslip south of Gotherington station - work on which has now almost been completed.
The trust, the charitable body which supports the 14 mile railway, launched its appeal in mid- March - and by June 1 around £ 255,000 had been donated by supporters.
Due to the cancellation of train services due to the coronavirus pandemic, the railway was left with no income to pay for essential repairs repairs.
Trust chairman Glyn Cornish said: "£ 250,000 was the expected cash shortfall the railway would face in paying for the embankment repairs so we set our sights high, hoping to raise a substantial part of that sum.
"To have reached the full amount in just 1 O weeks and at a time when so many people are facing their own difficulties; and when there are so many appeals for help, is just astonishing.
"I know that all of the volunteers on our railway are deeply grateful for every penny contributed. More than 1300 people have made contributions and contributors can be assured that every penny raised has gone into the landslip repair.
"It is very humbling to know that our railway is so well loved by so many people:'
"While we can't say for certain that something like this won't happen again, we know we can effectively repair such embankment slips and we are working continuously on improving drainage to avoid such future occurrences:'
The landslip has been repaired by specialist contractors, using both soil nailing and sheet piling techniques to permanently secure the embankment between Bishops Cleeve and Gotherington. More than a century old, it is built over ancient ridge- and- furrow farmland which has proved unstable and exacerbated by a long dry summer followed by a very wet winter, the embankment started to become unstable.
While the appeal is now closed, if supporters still wish to contribute to the future work of the trust, their donations will be used to support other projects.
The railway has announced that it will remain closed at least until the end of August because of the Covid- 19 crisis and has cancelled all remaining special events on the line - including including Santa specials this Christmas - along with the remaining fish and chip trains and fire and drive courses are all also now cancelled.
For updates, visit www.gwsr.com