Newsletter Spring 2014

Welcome to our Spring Newsletter, which we hope will give you a synopsis of the work that we are doing and what we hope to achieve. New members and volunteers are always welcome to join us.

BREAKING NEWS

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE OPENING OF OUR CANOE AND KAYAK HIRE PROGRAMME FROM MARCH 30 th.
CANOE HIRE PROJECT

From 30th March canoes will be available for hire for the public for 45 minutes sessions on Sundays from
11.00 a.m to 3.00 p.m. on the Swansea Canal in Coed Gwilym Park, Clydach. We have 10 three-seater
canoes, and 16 single seater sit-on-top kayaks. Children under 16 years wishing to hire a canoe or kayak must
be accompanied by a responsible adult
Although we hope to hold these sessions throughout the summer, as these are manned by volunteers, please check on website for any
changes to the dates and times above.

Volunteers have received training from Simon Fenton, of Gower Adventures, and he will be working with volunteers in the early weeks of the project.

We would like to thank Swansea City Council, our Clydach councillors and members of this society for their help and hard work in achieving this result and we look forward with excitement to the official start of the project.

EXHIBITIONS

Retired Swansea Canal Engineer visits Clydach Library.

John Hutchings, who worked on the canal from the late fifties to 1994, came along to our exhibition in
Clydach Library, and had personal memories of many of the buildings in the historic photo section. He
identified several locations that had previously been unknown.

Brownster’s Café

Brownster’s in Clydach has become a canal themed café, with pictures of historic scenes on the canal and
a large board with more photos. If you are in the vicinity it is well worth calling in the café to see the completed display. We would like to thank Wayne and his wife for allowing us to use their café.

Virgin Media

We were invited by Virgin Media to have an SCS display for VM staff to encourage volunteering and involvement with the canal society. As always we were given great hospitality and in return for a cake, many members of staff, hijacked on their way to the canteen, took time to discuss what we were doing. Several people were interested in joining, and old
friends who had worked with us on previous volunteering days were happy to commit to more.

New Volunteers
We welcomed the service users from Whitehorns Day Centre who have joined the Tuesday work parties with their support workers. We are also looking forward to welcoming pupils from the ASD unit at Cwmtawe School and those of Year 10 doing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

Wild Weekend
We were pleased to welcome the Bumble Bee Conservation Officer, Sinaed Lynch to the canal and
along with Rhiannon Bevan, Water for Wildlife Officer, a Wild Weekend is planned on March 9th for planting native seeds and plants on the canal. Virgin Media volunteers are joining us to help with the planting.

Local Development Plan

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Local Development Plan, proposes to remove the safeguard from the piped section of the canal between Pontardawe and Trebanos. The Society and the Canal and River Trust
are hoping to restore this part of the canal at a future date to make a complete canal from Clydach to
Ynysysmeudwy, and we have a feasibility study in place to open the piped section.

If the protection is removed then the restoration is jeopardised. The society are strongly objecting to these proposals. The council is also proposing to lift the safeguard from the length of the dry section of the canal from Godre’r Graig to Woodmans Terrace in Ystalyfera. The route contains several CADW Scheduled Ancient Monuments including the magnificent Thick’s Lock. There are also the remains of several other locks whose stones were used to
provide the hard core for the A4067 in the early seventies. More photos, further details, reports and events
are on our website.

www.swanseacanalsociety.com
Chair: David Henry
Secretary: Martin Davies
Treasurer: John Gwalter
SCS, 238 Swansea Road, Trebanos.
SA84BY Telephone: 08442094548
info@swanseacanalsociety.com
Charity Registration Number 1105624