This is where you can find out how to volunteer for the canal project
Published: Tuesday, 25 June, 2019
Whether your interest is engineering, history, horticulture or wildlife, there’s a place for you on Stroud’s award winning canal project.
Come along to the Meet the Volunteers event on Saturday 29 June and chat to people who volunteer and find out first-hand what they do, and why they enjoy it.
As a volunteer you’ll learn new skills, make new friends and have plenty to put on your CV if you’re job hunting.
Volunteer tasks include bricklaying, machinery maintenance, landscaping, and labouring, as well as research, legal, marketing and retail.
Give as much or as little time as you are able; there are organised weekly and monthly work parties, casual drop in sessions, weekend jobs and plenty to be done in between.
Since 2013 canal volunteers have given over 138,000 hours to the project, valued at over £1.7million and have helped to restore over 5 miles of canal between Stonehouse and Thrupp, nine locks and six miles of towpath.
The next phase of the project is to connect Stroud and Stonehouse to the nation’s inland waterway network. Together with the Cotswold Canals Trust, Stroud District Council received crucial initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (now known as the Heritage Fund), which awarded the project £842,000 development funding in 2018 so we can ensure everything is in place before applying for a further £9million to complete the project.
“The canal restoration wouldn’t be possible without our hard working volunteers”, said Stroud District Council’s Volunteer Manager Jon Pontefract.
Visitors on Saturday will be able to see demonstrations of many of the tasks that our volunteers undertake, from vegetation management and landing stage construction, to working in the Cotswold Canals Trust bookshop and visitor centres. Whatever your interest, ability or the level of commitment you can give you’ll be made to feel welcome and supported when you join us,” he added.
The Meet the Volunteers event will be held from 11am-2pm on Saturday 29 June at the canal-side Queen Elizabeth II playing field, Dudbridge, GL5 3HQ.