Maidenhead Waterways
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Current Flow Newsletter

News Archive 2008 - 2009

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October 2009
The Group's AGM

The second MW AGM in 2009 The second Group AGM held in October 2009 saw a well attended and lively meeting receive presentations on the year's activities from Chair of the Trustees, Richard Davenport, and on the accounts from Treasurer David Snelgar. After retiring in rotation (required by the charity's Articles) Secretary and Trustee Jon Foster was re-elected and officiated at the meeting, whilst sponsor Peter Prior congratulated the Group on its progress. Patron Sir Nick Winton MBE made an impromptu speech calling to action "all in Maidenhead who sleep in their beds each night, leaving others to deliver community projects, to get actively involved with something that can be so positive for the town."

July 2009
Canoe Cavalcade

Canoe cavalcade 200935 boats with c50 people of all ages took part in MWRG's second canoe cavalcade in 2009 down the waterway from Green Lane to The Thames, nearly twice as many as the previous year, with participants joining us from canoe clubs at Marlow, Longridge and Windsor. We even had a rare 100 year old Canadian canoe take part and safely compete the journey. Afterwards 36 members and guests celebrated the navigation with a barbecue at Bray Lake water sports centre. The trip proved again that the lower waterway is already navigable by small boats, despite the fallen trees and other obstructions that make passage difficult in places.

November 2008
Bulb Planting

Bulb planting 2008 MW again joined in the RBWM sponsored community bulb planting scheme for 2008. 40 members and other volunteers spent a November morning planting 2,500 daffodils in swathes alongside the waterway just above Stafferton Way. We were delighted with the support and publicity received for the event, which included additional volunteers from Furze Platt Scouts and Rotaract.

September 2008
Updated 2010
Group walk along the Waterway

Group walk along Maidenhead Waterways All of 24 members and friends of the Waterways Group dodged the showers to "walk the route" one September morning in 2008. After a safety briefing, they set off from Town Moor to walk the 6 Km route along the waterway to The Thames.

The walk was an opportunity for members to see for themselves the neglected state of the waterway, to discuss with MW officers the emerging plans and to understand the potential for the project. As demonstrated by the earlier canoe survey trip there is already a substantial and viable waterway there which with only minor work could quite easily be brought back into use.

July 2008
Members BBQ at Maidenhead Sailing Club

2007 MW Members BBQ Around 30 members and friends enjoyed a social and fund raising barbecue in July 2008, raising a useful sum for the group's funds.

July 2008
Canoe Cavalcade

 Canoe Cavalcade on lower waterway The survey trip in July 2008 down the lower Waterway proved an enormous success, with 24 canoeists in 20 canoes setting off together from Green Lane to publicly exercise their navigation rights along the waterway and also to survey channel conditions, water depths and bridge headroom.

This last 3.5Km of the waterway connecting Maidenhead town centre to the river Thames is remarkably large in places and navigable for canoes and small boats, but for some minor obstructions.

February 2008
Updated 2010
Theresa May goes Borehole Dipping

Teresa May goes Borehole DippingLocal (now Home Secretary) MP Theresa May joined our regular bunch of volunteers to go borehole dipping in February 2008 down at the York Stream.

 Volunteers have to date (2010) been monitoring ground water and stream levels for over three years, to better understand the dynamics of the water flows - both under and over the ground. The resulting data is being shared with the Environment Agency and will feed into the final design for the waterways.

January 2008
Updated December 2009 and March 2012
Groundwater Levels Testing Programme Begins

BoreholesFollowing discussions with the Environment Agency, in 2008 we adopted a testing programme using piezometers (boreholes) to measure ground water levels and test the permeability of the ground adjacent to the stream.

The boreholes have been monitored by volunteer members for over 4 years now to capture and chart the movements in ground water and stream levels in the area over time. Rainfall data provided by Reading University also helps to interpret and correlate the changes measured.

In addition the Environment Agency is supplying us with data from its boreholes to the north of Maidenhead, plus information on pumping rates from the various licensed extractions in the area.

River bed samples were taken for analysis and a programme of Falling Head tests was undertaken for us by the Costain Group, to measure the actual permeability of the ground in the vicinity of each borehole as part of the overall water supply assessment. The results plus other geological data are helping our advisers assess to what extent we will need to line parts of the channel, to maintain water levels and avoid impacting on ground water levels below.