A quintessentially rural canal, the 33 mile long Grantham traverses three shire counties
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October 2004
The weather before the camp had been very wet so setting up the site was hard going. The overspill weir is situated on the non-towpath side near the old railway bridge that carried the LNWR/GNR line from Newark through Bottesford to Melton Mowbray and on to Northampton. The weir had been a cheap thing built of concrete in sections with no foundations and no reinforcement. Water flowing over had found it’s way through the cracks between sections and washed out all the foundations, which was just soil, leaving the structure hanging in mid-air. If it hadn’t been for the fantastic growth of water iris and bull rushes whose roots were as thick as your wrist and growing well above the water level, any over flood would have washed it all away and considering the canal is on an embankment and is also part of the twenty mile pound doesn’t bear thinking about. We met up at Cropwell Bishop Memorial Hall where we were to stay for the week. I was on my last night of a week of nights so on the way to work I called in to claim a good pitch for my bed. On the Saturday I went straight from work ready for a famous WRG breakfast. For those not familiar with Waterway Recovery Group breakfasts they start with the best porridge ever followed by egg, bacon, sausage, beans, tomatoes and toast. It is not a place if you are on a diet unless you are prepared to work and then it is the perfect place. The crew were split into two with some working alongside the hall where the canal passes, clearing scrub. The rest were transported to Plungar to a farm where we parked up. The equipment had to be transported several hundred yards along the old railway track to the site. We, the GCRS, had managed to tow a site caravan for use as a mash point for the tea. We had the use of ‘Blue’ the IWA sponsored mini excavator donated to WRG and used countrywide plus a ‘brand new refurbished’ dumper on loan from WRG.
Smudge, the camp leader, operated Blue to remove all the old concrete and help prepare the site. All the old concrete was broken up manually with sledgehammers to make hardcore. The route of the spill weir was surveyed and scraped level even though it ran down hill - but you know what I mean. We obtained several tons of road planings, which is old asphalt, removed, from the roads to lay as a base which we covered with a nylon material sheet to act as a barrier, then another layer of planings covered with hard core. I, along with John, measured up and built the shuttering for the concrete which because of the isolated position had to be hand mixed so a mixer was dragged along into place, we even had to cart all the water that was needed because it appears we can’t use canal water to mix concrete. After spending hours making-shuttering BW paid a visit and rejected our design so we had to make all the shuttering again. This was at a time when rough shuttering ply was unavailable because it was all in America boarding up for the hurricanes so we had to buy top quality ply which was VERY expensive. We managed to adapt our work to the new requirements and carried on. Unfortunately this lost us two days, so two days running we started extra early and worked until it was completely dark, which trying to find your way back to the farm in almost total darkness is quite a challenge.
After fixing and lining up all the base reinforcement, which had been carried along the rail track (which was no mean feat), cut to size with an angle grinder and bent to pattern, the side shutterings were laid to allow the base to be as wide as the overspill with the sides sitting on it. The previous spillway had the sides laid first and the base poured inside it so when settling occurred the sides pulled away from the base and as its degree of being level was doubtful all the water ran down one side, unfortunately the one with the gap so it fell through and washed all the foundations away. When everything was measured and aligned we went for the big mix. This is where the youngsters on their Duke of Edinburgh Awards came into their own. A couple of the lads mixed non-stop and the girls barrowed and shot the mix into the foundations. We, of course, had hired a vibrating poker at great expense only for it not to start. The notice on the engine said that you would be charged for cleaning if it was returned dirty. This one had a covering of cement over all its moving controls so I set to very quickly to free them off. At last it started so the poker could remove air bubbles from the already firming mix. We managed to lay the entire base in a continuous pour, which incorporated two steps for waterfalls. The way the shuttering was built allowed expansion joints to form behind the steps so joints were not needed in the path, which could lead to cracks forming like the original. We worked until it had all been laid, pokered and floated off and after all the plant had been cleaned we made our way back to a well-earned meal.
The next day the inner side shuttering were fitted and braced and after measuring we went for it. We mixed all afternoon and as the sides were running down hill we had to get the mix just right to stop drooping. We worked none stop until the final floating off was done in total darkness. Because of the rainy weather we had to sheet it all down to protect the surface.
Next day, which was the last one, (don’t forget we lost two days with differences of opinion) we removed all the plant and equipment and tidied up what was basically a quagmire. We couldn’t remove the shuttering as we didn’t have time but as there was another camp in a couple of weeks – namely the WRG Bonfire Bash we waited until then and instead of us all working at Blue Hill some of us went and removed all the shuttering, cleaned the edges and back filled with earth to protect the sides.
It was a really fulfilling job with a great group of people of all ages and not only a successful camp for Smudge but a special one for her and Taz because that was where they decided to be on their own permanent work camp and decided to live together and finally get married in 2006. Good on ya mates!
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