Our Volunteer Work Party is one of the backbones of the Trust. Amongst other achievements, they were responsible for the restoration of four of the five locks on the Derbyshire section. They designed and built the fifth from scratch because it had disappeared during open-cast mining.

The Work Party meets on Sundays and Thursdays. For further information ring 01246 273055.

April 19th 2011. The Work Party is currently rebuilding the narrows at the bottom of Constitution Hill in Staveley.
Note the superb workmanship in the curving wall.

Work Party at Renishaw, October 2009.

The Waterway Recovery Group helped our Work Party clear out Wheeldon Mill Lock, February 2010.

A tea break during the Wheeldon Mill clearout.

A digger at Renishaw, April 2010.

During the summer of 2010, the Work Party constructed a wall that will eventually connect the canal between Mill Green and the new Staveley Town Basin which is on the other side of the bridge.

As you can see, the work is done to superb standards.

The Waterway Recovery Group came to help for a week.

Dave and Terry are two of the stalwarts of the Work Party.

Pouring the foundations for the next section of wall, September 2010.

You can see from the photographs higher up that the washwalls are built with plain, modern blocks. These will eventually be below the waterline. For the coping stones the Work Party use old stone wherever possible. Here they are cutting up stone from the platform from Renishaw Central Station on the old Grand Central Railway (below). Note the curved platform edges.