By Ian Mitchell, Chair, West Vale Branch
For those who were unable to make our surprise event on Saturday 2nd March, here’s an update.
We planted a tree each for Alan and Graham, to thank them for over 30 years of volunteering for the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. It went off without a hitch.
Alan thought he was going for a nice drive out with the family, but ended up at the canal park - a few hundred metres from his house. Graham had come for the work party, but had to be dragged away from spreading wood chippings on the new path by the ditch crossing.
Mike Gibbin, WBCT COE, and Martin Holliss, the Chair of the board of Trustees, planted the saplings, after which Graham and Alan did a bit of ceremonial shovelling of soil around the trees.
Even Lt Col Richard Bartle, chair of Shrivenham Parish Council, attended - complete with his chain of office. Both he and his wife, Christine, were extremely complimentary about our work at the canal park. Following the planting, a plentiful supply of tea, coffee and cakes went down very well with the assembled crowd of 40 people who had arrived to join the celebrations.
I would like to say a really big thank you to everyone involved in making this such a successful event - particularly Kenn for buying the saplings and organising the whole thing - and to Mike and Martin for giving up their time at the weekend to make the presentations.
