
THE CANAL BENEATH OUR FEET: Restoring the Piped Section (3): 15.2.17.
Gordon and Gareth have been busy once more. The demolition work site in the Old Highway Depot has now been secured. Not only is the building to be demolished (pictured left) carefully screened with HERAS fencing but the lock over which it was built is also safe. You can now watch the water flowing through what remains of the lock from behind safety fencing. Gordon removed the heavy feet from the metal fencing and instead used wooden poles driven into the tarmac and concrete to connect the metal barriers. He even put a heplful arrow sign up to stop anybody walking or cycling into them.
To the left of the building is the boundary wall between our yard and the car park of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Pontardawe Road.
Father Henry Nevin, the parish priest there, has been extremely kind to us. He has given the Society permission to take down a few sections of the wall to allow us access to the work site from Pontardawe Road. This will be invaluable when the time comes to restore the canal towpath. We are very grateful to him and the Diocese for this wonderful gesture.
In return, we will be clearing the bramble and undergrowth from the half of the church’s garden borders next to their car park which have beome overgrown (pictured below). The church has always had wonderful floral displays and we hope that our efforts will be the first step in our attempts to make our part of the depot as ‘green’ as St Benedict’s.