3rd April 2014
A disparate group of enthusiasts gathered at the Hop Pole on March 29th for a litter pick with a difference.
Blessed by warm spring sunshine, some twenty members of the Chesterfield Canal Trust, the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, the Inland Waterways Association and the Canal & River Trust assembled. Peter Hardy, CCT Trustee, lead the assault. Armed with boat-hooks, scoops, rakes, long-handled grippers and other implements the enthusiasts stormed into action. They were accompanied by Seth Ellis – the Trust’s tripboat which is based in Retford.
The main attack on the litter was mounted from the decks of Seth Ellis. After five hours of hooking and scooping, forty seven black bags had been filled to bursting (some did) with vast numbers of plastic bottles and metal cans, all of which had been floating on the margins of the waterway. A small towpath party meanwhile combed the verges for more litter and collected a further nine bags full
The Canal & River Trust team had provided a disposal facility at Whitsunday Pie lock and it was most gratifying to see the pile of bags as they were stacked for onward transmission to a re-cycling facility.
Now, for a while at least, both the canal and Seth Ellis look equally smart and ready for the new cruising season.
Thanks are due to the Hop Pole pub for car parking and toilet facilities during the activities. Several participants enjoyed a late, but substantial, lunch on the waterside terrace mid afternoon. The Canal & River Trust loaned some of the equipment. Most of all, great credit is due to the volunteers who gave their time. It was good to have such a large team working smoothly together.
This is one of several recent Clean Ups on the canal. The Retford Civic Society had held one a couple of weeks before and the Canal & River Trust had one in Worksop recently.
