MEET FRANK

Mr. HCB kindly said he would take me out this morning and suggested we went to Waitrose to do our shopping - not quite my idea of "out" but I guess his heart's in the right place.

Waitrose is built on the banks of the Wilts and Berks Canal at Wichelstowe, a new development on the outskirts of the town, and when we arrrived, we saw a group of men working at the edge of the canal - and it was obvious that they were making a new landing stage.  We know that the canal is used for boat trips, so obviously there will be a stop right outside the store, which will not only benefit them but will mean that customers can do their shopping as well as having a pleasant trip.  

They saw me taking a photograph and one them shouted "Smile" and when they all smiled, I asked them to wave - which they duly did - see my extra photograph.  

We then saw Frank (and yes, I did ask his name) and asked exactly what they were doing.  He told us about the Canal Trust, said that all the work done was by volunteers and that he had been involved in restoring the canal in this area for over 40 years.  He was so passionate about what they had done and what they would be doing, that I scrapped my original blip for Mono Monday and decided to blip Frank instead.

He told us that the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is fortunate to have a  trip boat, Dragonfly, which enables them to offer regular trips to the public so that they can see the restored sections of the Canal.  The volunteers are carrying out piling works before a local contractor completes the landing stage and lays the paths to the car park. Frank said that the design will allow full disabled access to the trip boat which has lift access.

He encouraged us to join the Trust and said that once they get 4,000 members, they would qualify for a grant to enable them to do more work - so once I have finished my Blip, I will be signing up.

You might like to look at the bridge over the canal that I blipped back in November 2014.

Tell everyone what you want to do 
     and someone will want to help you do it.
W. Clement Stone