2020 ended on a high for the team working at the Trust's latest major restoration project at Tickner's Heath in Alfold, with setting up the compound reaching completion.
The project at Tickner's Heath, near Cranleigh, involves creating a new canal cut and the construction of a road crossing and pedestrian footbridge. In a project lasting several years volunteers will construct a new length of canal, approximately 180m long, to divert around the existing causeway and create a new road bridge at a point where Dunsfold Road is straight. A pedestrian footbridge will also be constructed.
Volunteers led by site restoration supervisor Dave Evans have been working at the site since late summer, starting with tree work and then concentrating on constructing the compound on adjacent agricultural field. Culverts and ditching have been put in, fencing erected, a base for power connections set up, and temporary car park added.
Managing the mud in the compound became a priority as the year drew to an end and the weather turned. Matting used at the Birtley Bridge project was called into use and many tonnes of hard core, limestone scalpings then Tarmac laid to create an access route and working area.
Just before Christmas cabins were craned in and a 24/7 security system from PID Systems, a division of the SmartWater Group, set up. Alongside the high-tech security units, all equipment on site has been tagged with SmartWater, a water-based traceable liquid that contains a unique forensic signature.
Project manager Tony Ford said: "Having the welfare and office cabins in situ, fencing erected and the security system installed means we can now concentrate on the next steps in the project. The next priority is to get piling underway to allow the construction of the pedestrian footbridge. Contractors will be employed for this, but volunteers will carry out a significant proportion of the footbridge’s construction and landscaping work."
You can read more about the project at: https://weyarun.org.uk/restoration-tickners-album.
All Wey & Arun Canal Trust working parties are now stood down, until the current lockdown period ends and the Covid situation in the South East improves.
