Volunteers launched an environmental initiative at City Road Basin last Thursday to celebrate the two-hundredth birthday of the Regent’s Canal.
Towpath Taskforce is a new volunteer mission that encourages local people to meet regularly and help clear rubbish, paint railings and cultivate plants around the canal.
Leela O’Dea is environment manager at the Canal and River Trust, responsible for the care of the canal network.
“People imagine it is just picking up litter but there’s more to it than that. We can clear the undergrowth in ways that mean slow-worm habitats can form. It’s important to explain why we’re doing it. We want to teach.”
“We are still using the original structure replacing like for like so that the true fabric of the canal remains the same.”
Tony O’Dell has been volunteering since January and says, “it’s like being in the countryside”. Two months ago he painted the lockside building to cover up graffiti and the building remains pristine today. Tony is not surprised: “If people see things are being done they might respect it a bit more.”
Claire Cooke, 33, is in the process of setting up a children’s education business. She was looking to do “something a bit more social”, and having seen the poster advertising the anniversary event, decided to join. She describes the canal as “such a beautiful place…London’s so class-divided but the canal links it all”.
Rob Lansdown, who works for the London Transport Museum, has just signed up to be a Towpath Ranger. During his regular walks by the side of the canal, he often thought: “If only I knew who to report things to.” Now, he is that person. Rob relies on volunteers at his day job and considers this his chance to give something back.
The volunteers were fed by Martin Savage who, subject to a council decision, will be opening a café by lock five in mid-November.
