Buckingham Canal Society

Buckingham Canal Society

At a glance

Causes

  • Environment
  • Local / community
  • Museums / heritage
  • Voluntary sector support

Other details

Organisation type: 
Charity
Geographical remit: 
Local

Objectives

The Buckingham Canal Society (BCS) was founded in January 1992 with the aims of:

  1. Restoring the Old Stratford and Buckingham Arms of the Grand Union Canal to good and navigable order and to promote the maintenance and improvement of the Waterway for the benefit of the public.
  2. To promote the fullest use of the Waterway by all forms of water borne traffic and for all forms of water related commercial, local amenity, tourist and recreational activity for the public benefit.
  3. Education of the public in the history and use of the canals and waterways and Buckingham Canal in particular.

Restoration work has commenced at a number of sections of the canal: A short section at the Buckingham end has been relined and re-watered and is now an attractive community feature; Hyde Lane is a nature reserve leased from BBOWT where a lock has been conserved and we plan to re-water the canal in the near future; A stone bridge at Little Hill Farm has been conserved. Our main focus at the moment is at the Cosgrove end where we a performing a full rebuild of Bridge 1 and re-watering the section.

The next phase of work is a major one: creating a new canal channel from Cosgrove to the west of Deanshanger to replace the section lost to housing and road development during the 1980's and 90's. This will involve joint efforts with landowners, councils, commercial organisations, funders etc..

As well a volunteers to perform the physical restoration, conservation and construction we need professional people to help run the charity and drive forward our plans.

Activities

Regular maintenance work parties take place on weekdays and weekends along all sections where our regular volunteers ensure the paths are clear of vegetation regrowth providing free access for visitors.

We host Corporate volunteer sessions where workers in local companies are "released" to come and help us in anything from litter picking to hedge-laying to footpath construction etc.

The annual Cosgrove Canal Festival and Craft fair is organised by ourselves to promote canal life, boats and associated skills.

A small team of professional volunteers work to run the society, source funding, liaise with the general public, landowners, councils, and other organisations. We are advancing plans for the creation of the new channel and developing ideas to provide a sustainable income for the charity to help us achieve our aims.

Current opportunities

Buckinghamshire, MK15 8AX

Buckingham Canal Society a local charity working to restore the Buckingham Canal and improve the environment.