You may have seen us fishing all sorts of things out of the Birmingham canals. Not fish but shopping trolleys, mattresses, bicycles, motorbikes, even cars.
Hooked from the bottom of three bridge holes on the Tame Valley Canal
Why do all these things end up in a canal? Perhaps because they are then out of sight and forgotten. Only they are not – a boat comes along, gets stuck, or has something wrapped around the propeller, and the “out of sight and forgotten” turns into a lot of huffing and puffing by the unfortunate ones to discover it.
Many of the Birmingham Canals are under-used, so the harm done by the “chuck into the cut” boys and girls might well be out of sight for them.
Canal clean-up
The Birmingham Canals are worth exploring them, we clean them to make them even more accommodating for those unfamiliar with the BCN, and to keep them as the interesting places they are.
Join us on one of our clean-up events, we do them on our own, and in cooperation with the Waterway Recovery Group and the National Citizens Service. Clearing a stretch of canal is far more satisfying than “chucking stuff in”. It will be a fun day out and about. You might be out on the canal in our own workboat Phoenix!
BCNS owned workboat PHOENIX during a canal clean-up
You don’t have to be a member to take part – check our upcoming events!
NCS workgroup on the Titford Canal during the July 2019 BCNS and National Citizen Service weekend
Comments 2
My 11-year old son is keen to be involved in local historical groups, especially to lend a hand cleaning the canals close to home in and around Pensnett/Brierley Hill/Wordsley, after a towpath walk along the Dell Canal east of Pensnett Rd. yesterday.
Is there a chapter of ‘canal friends; or a local historical society, which runs periodic clean-up days on which he could volunteer? Also any archaeological activities?
I would of course also lend a hand where I can!
Thanks,
Rob
Good afternoon,
I am the deputy facilities manager at the Mailbox in Birmingham. We are having lots of issues with waste build up at our end of the canal and would like to request some assistance if at all possible. We remove as much waste as we can on a daily basis using a net but are unable to reach all of it and have no way of reaching the opposite side.
If this is something you could help us with at all we would be very grateful and I am happy to send some pictures if necessary.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards
Elizabeth