A big day at the Swansea Canal Centre today as we tidied up outside in preparation for the Summer Craft Fair on Saturday. The weather was sunny but pleasantly cool – in marked contrast to the ridiculous heatwave of last week.

The first task was to clear the kit from behind the workshop and stash it all away. It was amazing to see the transformation and just how much could be crammed in.

The gardeners tidied the beds, partly for the fair and partly as “Clydach in Bloom” will be judged next Sunday. Fingers crossed!

Tom mowed the grass around the stone barge.

Phil laid a mulch of old straw bales along the lower path.

The big task was to remove the old lock gate that had been found in the Buried Lock site but first James took fifty or more photos that a wonderful app on his phone converted to a 3D image of the gate.

We wanted to cut a D-shaped length from the gate to be used as a buffer on the basin but first a tie-bar had to be removed. No easy task! Gordon’s cutting of the gate was thwarted first by an unexpected iron bar and then by the reluctance of his chainsaw to start. In the end, after a great deal of huffing and puffing, brute force demolished the gate into manageable pieces.

The Canal and River Trust donated to us an intricately carved seat originally destined for Abercraf as part of the “225 in 2023” celebrations but now no longer needed. We decided to mount it on the plinth in front of the stone barge. After some careful sawing by Gordon, Alan and Lance secured it safely in place. It looks as if it was designed for precisely that spot.

Tea was taken in the warm summer sun with a selection of lovely cakes baked by Chris plus others provided by Leanne. Gill popped in to see us, check on how work was progressing and pay her membership subs.

After tea, work to break up the lock gate continued. Eventually it was stashed away so all that was left was to clear the debris from the car park where it had been stored. A master class in sweeping technique by Gordon provided an excellent learning opportunity for us all.

Quite hard graft today but well worth it as the entire surroundings of the Centre are looking tidy for the first time in a long time.