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SCS were very pleased today to welcome eleven Virgin Media Call Centre Volunteers to work with us on the canal at Clydach Aqueduct.  Our seven SCS volunteers split up to assist the Virgin Media staff in the three tasks that were on offer near the Aqueduct.    Some chose to clear flowerbeds and pathways  and re-plant them with Welsh daffodil bulbs grown in Pembrokeshire.

Others got down and dirty in the mud to widen the canal which has narrowed over the years with the build up of vegetation growing on the fertile silt.

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The job of litter-picking is a constant necessity so other volunteers  scoured the area with our recycling bags (pink for plastic,  green for cans and glass), and amassed a grand total of nineteen bags of recyclable material. We will draw a veil over the contents and number of  full black bags containing..well, non-recyclable ‘things’.

Tea, cakes and coffee were on offer at lunch time, and we ate al fresco thanks to the weather.

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A good length of the canal bank had now been cleared back to the original stonework which allowed everyone to pose for rather fetching reflections in the canal water.

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Down the paths to the River Tawe the bramble had been cleared and the pathway mud shovelled up to reveal some lovely brickwork.

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The tasks finished, the tools were packed up in our trailers  which have been so useful since Vale Inco donated them.

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The silt and mud and vegetation had been removed from a substantial portion of the canal up to Pont John bridge.

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The SCS is extremely grateful to all the Virgin Media volunteers who worked so hard and  were a pleasure to be with.  The whole day went exceptionally well, and we hope that all the volunteers enjoyed themselves as much as we did.   We will be delighted to work with you again.  We hope you will visit us again in the spring to see the daffodils which you planted, in bloom.

Special thanks have to go to Gill, our Business Volunteers Organiser, who did most of the preparation, organisation and catering for the day.

Thanks also to Bea who arranged everything at the Virgin Media end.