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REFLECTIONS 13 August 2021

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REFLECTIONS 13 August 2021 REFLECTIONS 13 August 2021 We are pleased to welcome the staff and volunteers at Foxton Locks to our monthly newsletter which is currently distributed to all staff and volunteers at Anderton Boat Lift, National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port, National Waterways Museum Gloucester, Standedge Tunnel, Stoke Bruerne Museum and the Trevor Basin Visitor Centre & Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Please will all staff/Task Managers in consultation with Lead Volunteers ensure all volunteer teams receive this latest edition. We appear to be getting closer to being able to formulate a distribution list from Sugar but not quite there yet. Let’s Reconnect Programme The Let’s Reconnect programme continues to enable colleagues to meet each other face to face after months and months of virtual meetings and lockdowns, with a variety of activities taking place across the Trust. The attractions have seen an increase in colleagues visiting them as part of this programme, with many visiting for the first time. Activities have included volunteer picnics, Yoga at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Top of the World Tours at Anderton Boat Lift and Coffee and Cake at Gloucester Museum. You can see snippets of these in the video https://youtu.be/kDhHvJthE_U With thanks to all those across the Trust who contributed the clips and to Chris Kay for editing them into the final video. 'Bake offs' have also been taking place across the Trust in various locations and are a celebration of all those missed birthday cakes through lockdown. The next one will be on Friday 27th August at 11.30am at NWM Ellesmere Port. Bakers and Tasters needed to join in the fun! (Drinks provided by the Trust). Bring your homemade cakes and join in the 'testing' with our prestigious judges and find out who will be crowned the NW 'Bake off' Champion with newly commissioned prizes. To attend this event, whether a Baker and/or a Taster please register on Eventbrite via the following link. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-reconnect-birthday-bake-off-tickets-166797215963 Walk The Lift If you would like the opportunity to Walk The Anderton Lift there are spaces still available on Wednesday 18 and Thursday throughout the day. Please check on Trust Ed or check with the local team. Foxton Locks Life at Foxton is ever changing and 2021 has seen an increase in the number of visitors. As the country started to re-emerge at the beginning of the year, locals started to rediscover Foxton, which is a 34-acre countryside canal destination. It’s a fantastic place to walk around and to exercise and the site now sees more regular visitors than ever before. Many people are taking advantage of the free events that are offered on site such as guided walks, bug hunting, Let’s Paint, canoeing and pond dipping. Boat traffic also continues to increase and volunteers are on hand to supervise boaters through the staircase locks. There is a real summer buzz and the gongoozlers are back in business, helping to open gates and watch the boats pass by. Seven new volunteers have joined the team in a Welcome Host role which is a new volunteering opportunity for the Trust. They get involved with activities but are also on hand to assist visitors as necessary. There are 4 new volunteer lock keepers and 2 new maintenance volunteers. So, the team is a little bigger, but as always, they are enthusiastic and ready to help visitors experience a great day out. In July, Foxton hosted a trial camp-over for volunteers which proved successful; and then in August welcomed 20 young people for a Gold Duke of Edinburgh residential. This was a 5-day camp-over and the aim was to complete a number of projects. They helped to build a new gate for the nature pond field, a new orchard path and helped with clearing the Inclined Plane. The results have been amazing, as shown in the photographs below and the students’ work will enable the site to offer even more variety to visitors. The orchard has a collection of rare apple trees, but they were inaccessible as the path was so uneven. Now the site will be able to offer an idyllic place to relax amongst beautiful fruit trees. The Inclined Plane has had the tracks cleared and so it is easier for visitors to understand how the old boat lift worked. There is further work to be done, but it is hoped the Inclined Plane will reopen so that visitors can get a closer view of this wonderful feat of engineering. Carl Beaumont has joined the team as a seasonal and he will work alongside Alex Goode and Julie Nottingham. The team will stay busy as Foxton will be hosting TrustFest this coming weekend (14-15 August) and a trailer on tour event in September. This busy destination is open for business and expects to build on the success so far. Stoke Bruerne It has been all go at Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum since reopening with a whole host of different activities and delicious local treats in the café. A new volunteering role has been introduced, called Visitor Welcome which has proved a great success. They have been instrumental in helping deliver a fantastic customer service experience and looking forward to welcoming more into this role. The Explorer’s team welcomed back a number of school groups for the first time since reopening and post pandemic. Supported by the regional events team, the museum has been lucky enough to host several family activities this summer such as the Lego Big Build which as you can imagine went down a treat. The museum also welcomed 1940s dancers and is soon to host blacksmithing demonstrations which will surely be a hit. The Canal Museum has also hosted a number of the reconnection events giving lots of people the opportunity to experience the new offer for themselves. Trevor Basin Visitor Centre and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct What an amazing couple of months with lots of visitors returning and the glorious sunshine has certainly helped. Andy Peters was welcomed when he was presenting the ITV morning competitions. He was filming live along the Llangollen canal and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct all week. A Let's Reconnect session was hosted here for staff which included some relaxing yoga and a tour of the site. Michael Ball's Wonderful Wales has just finished airing on Channel 5, but it's still available to watch on catch-up and of course features the amazing Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. The Visitor Centre has had a few new volunteers lately, a wonderful warm welcome to Peter, Sarah, Gwyn, Catherine and Mike. Let's Fish is back every Saturday throughout August and the Let's Yoga events are continuing every Tuesday morning. Anderton Boat Lift and National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port Catch 22: Youth opportunities in the North West Anderton Boat Lift and National Waterways Museum are very excited to be working with Catch 22 to provide opportunities for young people aged 18-24 to work with the teams to develop core skills in customer service. The young people are employed by Catch 22 and seconded to the Trust for a nine- month period. Secondment applications are open from 9 - 24 August with interviews taking place week beginning 30 September. Hopefully there will be two secondees at NWM and 2 secondees at ABL with a work focus on customer service and the environment. Museum Estate and Development Fund Application The museum has been shortlisted to be one of the applicants to go forward with a full application to the Arts Council’s MEND (Museum Estate and Development Fund) programme for the Pump House and Island Warehouse. Asset Improvement Plan An Asset Improvement Plan will be undertaken at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port. This piece of work will involve an in-depth condition survey for each building on site, and subsequently what is needed for each building. This will be undertaken over the next few months and will inform the museum’s next business plan as well as support the MEND funding application as above. Initial Concepts for ABL & NWM Initial concepts for NWM & ABL have been shared with colleagues in the North West as work starts to explore the potential of each site for the future. Early stages and you can find out more through the video link: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/2da248a3-44ed-4548-a9d4-af4d9c9ba245 Learning & Skills at Anderton Boat Lift Throughout July and August, a Young Rangers youth volunteering pilot has been running with a group of home educated young people. They have been learning about habitats, biodiversity and ecology whilst taking part in volunteer activities in the grounds. As part of the programme, they have sown a wildflower meadow, conducted biodiversity surveys, constructed a pond, frog & toad abode, insect village and bee hotel as well as capturing some fantastic footage on the wildlife camera! Huge thanks to the staff at the boat lift for supporting this initiative, particularly to Elliot who has been indispensable. Moving forward, the team will be providing 12 weeks of youth volunteering for 32 students from Petty Pool College between September and December 2021. Learning & Skills at National Waterways Museum EP Each Thursday and Friday throughout the summer holidays, a family learning programme for Westminster Families Community Group has been running. There are 70 families taking part with 50 people per day booked onto activities. They have been creating art from reclaimed materials, building insect villages, doing canal & river inspired yoga, building balloon powered vehicles, taking part in sketch crawls, geocaching and much more! Working in partnership with the local council, funding has been secured to provide lunches for all the families taking part and also to provide all 70 families with annual passes to the museum.
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