It was another day with our volunteers multi-tasking on several fronts in the cool autumn air.

John Gw was soon up a ladder putting a coat of paint on the gate restraint bracket he fitted last week, before he and Pete cleared out a very messy trailer and loaded up one of our powered barrows for Gordon to take for a service. Then John, the busy chap, secured and riveted a rubber buffer around the gunwales of our latest boat acquisition, a small skiff.

Gary donned his new waders and continued pulling reeds and bull rushes, Burt pulled the greenery ashore and stacked it on the bank to drain. John Grav was in his kayak, and Gordon in our little boat Nellie further upstream doing the same in the seemingly endless battle against the forest of reeds!

Diane and Moira were weed-pulling on a smaller scale, clearing growth from the towpath alongside the Mond wall.

Martin, David and other vols were weeding, clipping, pruning and doing all-things tidying, around the boat basin and along the towpath, before coffee was taken al-fresco on the patio. Andy had dropped some delicious cakes off early as Sue was on sick parade today! Get well soon Sue!

We were delighted to welcome the new CRT Regional Director for Wales and the South West, Ben Cottam, to the Swansea canal for his first visit, accompanied by regional Operations Manager Lee Brain. Gordon and Alan gave them a tour of the stretch between Hebron Road and Coed Gwilym Park, explaining the society’s vision and activities and pointing out some exciting new developments – the Swansea Canal Centre, the Clydach (Buried) lock, and the soon to be restored Mond lock – all made possible by funding from Swansea Council and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. We look forward to seeing Ben again soon and working with him and his team as we continue our regeneration work.

The weather stayed dry and pleasant despite the occasional dark clouds as we went about our business, but for how many more weeks…?