The successful reinstatement of Schoolhouse Bridge on the Montgomery Canal was marked on 28th June. Mrs Anna Turner, Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, unveiled a plaque to celebrate the culmination of years of planning and fund-raising by local canal charities working together as Restore the Montgomery Canal!
Guests joining Mrs Turner included Brian Welti, the High Sheriff of Shropshire, Lezley Picton (Leader of Shropshire Council) and other councillors, senior officers of the Canal & River Trust (which owns the canal), a Director of Shrewsbury contractors Beaver Bridges (constructors of the new bridge), Mike Wills, National Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association (which contributed a sizeable grant from a legacy fund), trustees of Shropshire charity The Walker Trust (another grant donor), and Charles Lillis and Sue Turner who when Sheriffs of Shropshire and Powys respectively launched the appeal for the bridge in April 2017.
Introducing Mrs Turner, John Dodwell, chairman of the Montgomery Canal Partnership, noted that the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire is the county representative of the King who when Prince of Wales took a keen interest in the Montgomery Canal and was much involved in promoting restoration in the Welshpool area.
Mr Dodwell noted too the Marches Forward Partnership recently established by Shropshire, Powys, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire councils focussing on cross border projects, where the Montgomery Canal is a classic example. Shropshire Council had recently supported the canal with a £177,000 grant from the Rural Prosperity Fund for re-watering works.
He continued, “I thank the public at large for donating the money we needed to rebuild this bridge – about £1.1m. Special thanks to The Inland Waterways Association for £70,000 from the Tony Harrison Memorial legacy. Thank you too to the Walker Trust and to the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund and to the Millichope Foundation. Thank you also to the Friends of the Montgomery Canal who have contributed over £30,000, largely from their renowned annual Triathlons – and the Shropshire Union Canal Society who started the fundraising off with £12,000. Thanks to all those who made individual donations – and continue to do. We have one person who donates £5,000 a year and another who donates £100 a month. One person donated £10,000 and others have given £5,000. On top of that, we had the enormous help from an anonymous donor who provided many thousands of pounds.
“Volunteers led by Chris Bushnell did a lot of the initial works, including building a temporary diversionary route for use during the main works. Volunteers supervised the diversion of a water main. And the volunteers have done a great deal of the tidying up works and will be installing steps from the towpath to the road.
“Another big thank you goes to three adjacent landowners whose land we needed during the works – all allowed us the use of their fields without a charge. And the owners of the adjacent cottage deserve a special mention for putting up with the disruption the works caused them.
“Before I go on to mention three special volunteers, let me talk a bit about how the rebuilding of the bridge came about. The original bridge was flattened in the 1950s/60s and an earth causeway put across the canal. Given there was no pressing highways problem and that the Canal & River Trust had other things on their plate, we decided to take on the project ourselves. Rather than wait for the famous “Them” to do something, we determined to do it “Ourselves”. This meant assembling a team of skilled and experienced volunteers – retired professionals with engineering, legal and project management skills. As a result, we were able to produce a bridge design which satisfied Shropshire Highways and the Canal & River Trust. It meant agreements with adjacent landowners and agreement with the Council whereby they took on ownership of the bridge. As is so often the case, the planning for the works took a lot longer than the bridge building itself. In all it has taken some eight years from start to finish during which time the key volunteers stayed with the project.
“So I want to single out three particular volunteers from among many. First, Michael Limbrey, a retired solicitor who used to practise in Shrewsbury, and his patience in dealing with all the legal paperwork – we finished up with some 12 agreements spanning over 150 pages. Second, Phil Parker, a retired civil engineer who was the project manager before and during the actual bridge building works – he kept a beady eye on what Beaver Bridges built. But I want to give special mention and thanks to Roger Bravey, a retired civil engineer and expert in bridge building. Roger has been involved since he first photographed the old causeway in 2015. I asked him to design a new bridge – a simple enough request to make but a darn sight harder to produce the answer. He dealt unperturbedly with all the challenges the project threw up – it is true to say that without him, we wouldn’t be here today. So thank you, Michael. Thank you, Phil. And thank you very much, Roger.
“Where next? We have only two miles left to restore in Shropshire – where 80% has been completed. It’s what we call the Shropshire Gap. Volunteers from the Shropshire Union Canal Society have been working away to put the water back into the canal from Crickheath Bridge (where we celebrated last year) to here and indeed towards Pant. All this costs money – even with volunteers. We need money for the equipment hire and materials they use. That’s why last year we launched a new Public Appeal for £250,000. I’m pleased to say that – excluding the Rural Prosperity Fund grant – we are more than half way there with the total now being about £130,000.”
John then invited the Lord Lieutenant to unveil the Commemorative Plaque newly fixed to the bridge. Before she did so, Mrs Turner said it was most appropriate that she should be there as the King’s representative because the King himself had been interested in the canal since the early days of restoration and she would be really pleased to report back about the event. She added one thing that John Dodwell had not mentioned, the work that he had done for the project as a co-ordinator who had galvanised the team for the project. “I also want to celebrate everyone that’s here,” she added. “You have done an incredible job. Our future generations are going to benefit from everything you have done. You must be very, very proud of yourselves.” After unveiling the plaque, Mrs Turner read the wording to the crowd of guests and supporters who had joined the celebration.
The final act was to christen the traditional canal bridge number plate on the arch, denoting the bridge as number 86 (historically, bridges on the Montgomery Canal are numbered from Hurleston Junction near Nantwich) a task by carried out by the two volunteer engineers of the project, Roger Bravey and Phil Parker.
After the formal proceeding, guests were provided with refreshments including beer from a barrel of Navigation Ale donated by Monty’s Brewery of Montgomery (who make a donation to restoration from every bottle sold) and were entertained by members of the Porthywaen Silver Band (– their band hall has on a number of occasions been a base for visiting teams of the Waterway Recovery Group of the Inland Waterways Association: their volunteers pay for the privilege of sleeping on the floor of halls across the country and labouring by day to restore their canals).
Michael Limbrey, Chairman of the Restore the Montgomery Canal! said, “This was another great day for the Montgomery Canal, a celebration of many years of effort. While the new bridge removes the last highway blockage in Shropshire, in Powys engineers are working on plans for new bridges as part of substantial investment under the UK Government Levelling-Up grant. Plans for the Welsh section also include new nature reserves to safeguard the canal’s valued flora and fauna to match the reserves in Shropshire. All this is part of a vision of a revived canal which values its built and natural heritage and offers amenity, well-being and business and employment opportunities to its local communities and visitors.”
Displays at the celebration were from the Shropshire Union Canal Society, the Friends of the Montgomery Canal and a flat-pack Cracker (a 3-D model of a boat horse used to tow the historic canal fly-boat Saturn) from the Shropshire Union Fly-boat Restoration Society.
Guests were given the opportunity to see works by Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers to rewater the next section of the canal south towards Schoolhouse Bridge, (part of the two-mile Shropshire Gap which has been dry and unusable since abandonment eighty years ago) where they clear and re-shape the channel, lay waterproof lining and finish with a protective layer of thousands of concrete blocks.
Restore the Montgomery Canal! is always glad to receive further donations through https://localgiving.org/charity/restorethemontgomerycanal/ and further volunteers to join work parties.
The plaque unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant reads:
This plaque was unveiled by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire Mrs Anna Turner JP on 28 June 2024 to mark the reconstruction of Schoolhouse Bridge
Project undertaken by Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust in partnership with the Friends of the Montgomery Canal, the Shropshire Union Canal Society and The Inland Waterways Association (Shrewsbury District and North Wales Branch) in collaboration with Shropshire Council and Canal & River Trust
The project was led by volunteers – Roger Bravey BSc (Hons) C Eng MICE MCQI CQP (design); Eur Ing Phil Parker CEng FICE (construction management); and Michael Limbrey MBE LLB (legal). Construction by Beaver Bridges Ltd with initial and final works undertaken by volunteers. Project funded by public donations legacies and charitable trusts.
The legacies included one from Tony Harrison (1935-2014), chartered engineer, hydrologist, boater, canoeist, walker and trustee of The Inland Waterways Association. The project was also supported by the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund.
Pictures: Grum.
