jason, Author at Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

New Location Guides

13 December 2022 by jason

Our intrepid volunteers have produced three new location guides to help you navigate safely along the Kennet and Avon Canal. In an emergency its important you can provide the emergency services with accurate location directions – especially as our canal crosses rural areas often without direct access to a main road.

Researched and produced by Bo Franklin, a Bruce Boats volunteer, they cover Bedwyn to Reading, Bedwyn to Foxhangers, and Foxhangers to Bath.

These clear maps with simple location information are an aid to a safe trip and will be of immense help should you need to contact the emergency services during your trip.

The guides can be found on every boat, please ask your Despatcher to show one to you.

Here’s an example page…

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Training for your holiday hire

13 December 2022 by jason

If you are new to boat and lock handling the thought of a first-time holiday on a canal can be daunting – so it’s well worthwhile to join one of our holiday hire training weekends. Costs include all meals and the weekends are designed to be an enjoyable introduction to safe boating. The cost is just £125 for an individual with discounts for two-four members of a group. We strongly recommend that the skipper and at least one other member of the group are trained to our standards.

For more information please go to https://bruceboats.katrust.org.uk/holiday-hire/training/.

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Crofton Rescue Exercise

26 November 2022 by jason

Crofton Rescue Exercise

In November Stratton Fire Station rescue team from Swindon came to Crofton Beam Engines to perform a rescue exercise of an injured or incapacitated person from a platform deep down in a Well.

Each rescuer descended down only using a harness suspended from ropes, the assumption being that the ladders were unusable. Once the stretcher was lowered down the casualty, which was a dummy, was wrapped in the stretcher and lifted to the top with ropes.

The exercise proved valuable for the rescue team in general techniques and to familiarise themselves with the Crofton well and the access restrictions it presented, should they need to attend a real emergency.

The post Crofton Rescue Exercise appeared first on Crofton Beam Engines.

Rescue of fish from the Kennet & Avon Canal at Crofton

11 November 2022 by jason

Kennet & Avon Canal Fish Rescue

The Canal & River Trust’s project to replace the pumping system at Crofton, which ensures the charity can keep the summit of the Kennet & Avon Canal topped-up with water for boats, will be completed this winter.

The works, started in September and will continue through to March 2023. Costing £1.8 million, the project will see the canal’s 40-year-old pumps, pipes and electrics at Crofton replaced with a modern, more efficient and reliable system.

Draining a stretch of canal is a rare event, and hundreds of pounds of fish, were collected including some very large and ecologically important specimens. The species rescued included roach, pike, bream, gudgeon and perch.

The fish rescue was carried out by specialist contractors who use electrofishing. This involves passing an electric current through the water to temporarily disengage the ability of the fish to swim.

They can then be easily netted, placed in large containers of water where they can recover for a few minutes, before being rehomed in a nearby section of canal that isn’t being drained.

The post Rescue of fish from the Kennet & Avon Canal at Crofton appeared first on Crofton Beam Engines.

Crofton Rescue Exercise

Kennet & Avon Canal Fish Rescue

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