A quintessentially rural canal, the 33 mile long Grantham traverses three shire counties
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March 11th and April 1st 2006
My thanks to the eight stalwarts who braved the really cold and wet weather turning out to help at Denton Wharf on 11 March . We completed the droppable lockable anti ram raid bollard on the slipway, despite the unforgiving ground materials put in by the GCRS team back in the eighties, and made a start on 2 other jobs, the foot rail fence and the picnic tables/seats.
We meet again on the 1 Apr, and hope to blitz both the picnic table fitting, and the fencing rails in one day, completing our work on the Wharf.
The 1st of April could have been a bit of a joke but except for the gusty rainsqualls we did pretty well. We assembled at the container at Woolsthorpe where we keep our equipment and loaded the huge trailer and set off in convoy to the wharf. It was really dazzling sun when we arrived and we split into two groups. I am hopeless at remembering names of everyone so I apologise before I start. There were around six in number and one group started digging in the very hard compacted wharf to make postholes for a low-level square section rail to note the edge of the parking area.
Two of us set up the new picnic tables which are made from recycled plastic bottles- in fact 2000 in each table. We had to devise a fixing to hold them to the original concrete base. We drilled down at an oblique angle through the base of the legs and concreted and epoxy resined the rods in place. We used our brand new 1.9kw diesel generator for the drilling. I used my SDS pneumatic chisel for the holes and when finished we tried to weld up the threads on the nuts to stop removal but the welder was just too big for the generator. We must either trudge the 3kw diesel generator to the site or find another welder to complete the task.
During the course of the day we saw huge dark clouds racing towards us and had to run for shelter several times but it was always a good time to demolish a sandwich or slurp some tea. The job was completed by both groups and we stood back to admire the work. The square section rail which looks diamond shaped because it is laid on it’s edge was straight as a die and totally level which in the circumstances of the rock hard ground was brilliant. The tables nestling in the trees looked the part but for how long is anyone’s guess. One of the last ones had a huge hole burnt in it by a portable bar-b-que. I think that a brick structure with steel grill should be built for people to use as a hearth as they do in Australia because there is nowhere to put a small ‘table top’ barby and these plastic tables will just melt into a huge blob. Anyway we completed what we were asked to do to a high standard as usual and we all went home satisfied with a job well done. It has nothing to do with getting the canal open but it keeps the visitors happy. |
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