21st August

A group of volunteers cleaned up a section of canal at Renishaw on Sunday. The Chesterfield Canal Trust organised the event following complaints from local residents.

Hundreds of cans, bottles and plastic bags were removed from the canal along with several tennis balls that had presumably come from neighbouring gardens. A tyre and a shopping trolley were amongst the more interesting finds.

Besides removing rubbish from the canal itself, litter was cleared from the towpath and a nearby pond.

Councillor Brian Ridgway was one of the group. He said “We are delighted that the Chesterfield Canal Trust has organised this clean up. Things look much better now. We hope that the local residents will help to keep the area clean in the future.”

The canal at Renishaw is an isolated stretch of the Chesterfield Canal, which was restored when the old Iron Works were removed and a new housing estate was built. Despite the rubbish, the water is clearly healthy because there is an abundance of small fish and lots of dragonflies and damselflies. Following long delays, a water main is currently being moved. This will eventually permit further restoration work to be carried out.

The volunteers would like to thank the Derbyshire County Council Countryside Service for providing the specialist equipment such as grappling hooks and cromes needed to do the job and for removing several rubble bags containing the rubbish afterwards.

The Chesterfield Canal Trust is campaigning for the whole canal to be restored so that boats will be able to get through from the River Trent to the new Waterside development in Chesterfield. Of the twenty miles that were once derelict, eleven miles, eleven major bridges and thirty six locks have been completed so far. Another half mile will be done when water flows into the new Staveley Town Basin this autumn. For further information go to www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk or ring 01246 477569.

Some of the volunteers pose behind their treasure!