Friends of Lady Bay Canal AKA Grantham Canal West End AKA WebCan
Most canal-related activity is now co-ordinated by WebCan
Most of this page describes the events that led up to the establishment of WebCan and includes links to their Facebook group and Web pages, which include the latest updates.
The two links below describe the situation just after WebCan started its activities, which are very informative, but see the links provided above for the latest situation.
Friends of lady bay canal
We are locals who love our canal and do our bit to support and protect it and the life that it sustains. We organise regular working parties to carry out maintenance work on our stretch of the canal.
Keen volunteers can join our WhatsApp group and we also post activity on our Facebook page - 'Grantham Canal West End Group' - https://www.facebook.com/friendsofladybaycanal/, which we now share with residents of Gamston and Abbey Park.
On a more strategic level, regular meetings and work is co-ordinated via the West Bridgford Canal Group (WeBCan), described below.
Action re the Recent loss of water in the Canal - THe West Bridgford Canal Group
The West Bridgford Canal Group (WebCan) was set up to address the strategic needs of the canal and to work with the relevant agencies, e.g. the Grantham Canal Society, The Canal and River Trust, Servern Trent Water and the Environment Agency. It's latest activity, including up-coming working parties and status of activity, can be found on its Facebook Group 'WebCaN' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/924282821910150 and on this section of the Abbey Park Community website.
An informative map of our section of the canal can be downloaded by clicking here.
The recent history leading up to the creation of WeBCan is described below but the up-to-date picture can be found on this page, which is on the Abbey Park Community Website.
The first, well-attended meeting, was for Rutland Road & Ropsley Crescent residents and was held at the Poppy and Pint on 5th October 2022. You can download the minutes of that meeting by clicking here.
A second, broader, public meeting was held on the 3rd November 2022, download minutes here. Minutes from subsequent meetings are posted on the WeBCan Facebook Group.
At the November meeting they started to set up a diverse working group to take this forward in the future, maybe to join another existing organization or to set up its own group. They explored :-
- Technical explanation of the water flows in canals in general and our canal (from Morrisons to the Trent via Lady Bay) in particular
- Possible engineering solutions to refill the canal at times of low rainfall (eg pumping from the Trent at Lady Bay Bridge or Cotgrave. There is a community memory of this happening in 1973 and would like to hear about that). What would this require to be done, what would it cost
- What can residents do practically (working parties). Training, safety etc. support for wildlife
- Possible sources of funding.
A lot of progress was made up to May 2023 - see the two links at the top of this page - and the latest situation can be found on this link to the Abbey Park Community website, WebCan page.
It was obvious at the October meeting that there was a wealth of energy and technical expertise within the room. If you are interested in getting involved in any of the tasks listed above please contact Penny at [email protected] or Kathleen at [email protected].