Watching last year’s industrial scale dredging above Clydach Lock (as shown below), our chairman Gordon Walker (as shown above, in blue) noticed a flaw in the process. To paraphrase the immortal Harry Belafonte, ‘There was no hole in the bucket’. Hence, as the dredged silt  had to be taken by lorry away from the site most of the weight was water. You can shake a bucket as hard as you like but without some  drainage holes you will get rid of very little water. A lot of that will also contain invertebrates.

So, scouring refuse tips worldwide, Gordon produced a brazier-sized rusty iron object with holes the size of golf ball in the sides and bottom. This was then attached to a winch and pulley on either side of the canal so that the work party could get down and dirty to do a bit of do-it-yourself water-lite dredging of the canal. It would have been a sight quite common in the nineteenth century. The colander was hauled across the canal, picking up silt but letting out water,  allowed to drain on the side and then the contents were barrowed away. Below you can see the bucket/brazier/colander/sort of thingee, being emptied into the wheelbarrow. Well done, Gordon. Necessity is the mother of old bits of iron with holes in them.

Blog and photos by Martin.

Blog and photos by Martin