We soon set to work and patrolled both banks from Tesco upstream.

The final pennywort count was that both banks were cleared between Tesco and Chapman's bridge with just a few patches left on the north bank.

The session was very successful and demonstrated yet again how effective a dedicate band on volunteers can be.

Many, many thanks everyone for coming, and for not being fazed by the ice!

On Saturday the water level was still high and the top lock gates wouldn't open. Notwithstanding we opened all the paddles to try to improve the flow, which seemed to work after a while as the level dropped and the current increased. There was no need of a briefing on the day's plans because the task was staring us in the face - the mass of weed was so great it wasn't even possible to launch the canoes. Everybody was needed on the crome gangs. Working in pairs and threes is was possible to roll the matted weed over the shallow lock sill, and start piling it up. It was hard going nevertheless and the odd breather was essential. In just over half an hour we had the whole mass of weed on the bank and were ready to tackle stage two.

What was achieved by twelve experienced weeders in a couple of hour was indeed remarkable. You only have to compare the cleaned area, about a kilometre upstream of the lock, with the densely infested area above that, to find it hardly credible. Another magnificent achievement!

Many thanks to everyone for coming and working so hard.

Dudley

Following on our session, 'between the bridges', last month, where the weed was causing a blockage, we moved up to Tesco this time; mainly because we had been invited to breakfast by Tesco at 8- 30 pm and it made sense to be on the spot 'ready to go'straight afterwards! It was a wise move as the breakfast, although not prolonged, had to be done justice to, and we were a little late in starting. This caused a little confusion as the early birds (the non breakfasters) had grown restless and had decided to make a start downstream, whereas the breakfast party, when they arrived, wanted to work upstream!

It was another very good turn out of 12 volunteers on the bank, assisted by three canoes: John and Steve in a double, and Clive and Leslie in kayaks: with Russ, Vicky, Ryan and Andy in the Raider dory: not to forget Mick in his waders.

After the break another special tool was unveiled - I'm losing count of the innovations- this time by Philip Butt and young son, David. A heavy weight from a sash window and lots of cord was thrown across the rafts of pennywort on the far bank, from where they could be gradually pulled across. It looked a bit like throwing the hammer. Perhaps it will lead to a career in athletics for David? It will definitely have to be part of our risk assessment for next time!

At the end of the session we had reached the island opposite the golf club. That's where we will be starting next time on November 13th. Meet at Tesco- there might be another breakfast!

A big thank you to all those who came. Hope to see you on the Victoria trip

Dudley Courtman

The Saturday session was preceded by a Friday afternoon one when a small party took out the new weed boat to free up a few clumps below the Iron Pipe at Sugar Bakers. What a sight met them - a two to three metre wide band of pennywort down both banks as far as the eye could see! The job looked impossible. But leverage could be obtained by inserting the boat, and two canoes, between the weed and the bank, and slowly but surely the clumps could be levered out into mid stream. After overnight rain there was a good current and the rafts of pennywort sailed slowly off. They were so large that they effectively blocked the river and trapped a touring party of canoeists .The group was led by Clive Pretty, one of our members. Thus ensnared it was easy to sign him up for the Saturday!

This incident should have been a warning to us of what to expect - that the rafts were too big to float off freely all the way to Ricketts Lock for removal. This was our intention and with this in mind we constructed a boom across Ricketts weir to prevent any weed escaping.

The next day we had every reason to be hopeful because an early morning inspection revealed several clumps of weed trapped by the boom. (See photograph). These were easily manoeuvred into the lock cut where the current, created by opening a lock paddle, carried them towards the lock for removal.

At the 9-30am briefing at Hoe Mill it was decided that the canoeists would clean the banks downstream as far as Sugar Bakers; a bank party would drive down to Ricketts to begin work at the lock; the new Dory weed boat, plus one canoeist, would go down to Ricketts by water to join them; and the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation weed lifter would follow (Del and Eve, the usual operators, had kindly volunteered to use it on our behalf. Many thanks to them).The plan sounded simple but things began to unravel pretty fast.

The handpicking group of canoeists got off to a good start and were soon leapfrogging one another down both banks removing every tiny bit of pennywort, and some largish patches as well. However, the Dory got stuck halfway on its journey and the bank party who had driven to Ricketts arrived to find no weed waiting for them as promised. Disaster! All caused by the weed we had released on the previous afternoon: it had effectively blocked the river and upset our simple plan.

The crew of the Dory, helped by the canoeist, struggled manfully to release the weed. It wouldn't budge, and they were forced to send out a Mayday call for assistance. Luckily 'an AA water born breakdown/recovery vehicle'was not far away in the form of Del and Evie in the weed lifter. They were soon able to clear a path, much to the delight of the Ricketts bank party who had been patiently waiting for their morning's work to arrive. Having had time to rest up and flex their muscles they fell on the weed with a vengeance and soon had the recalcitrant clumps (and many others as well) under control on the lock side. In the end it all turned out well. Masses of pennywort were removed and both banks were cleaned by the canoeing group from the weir pool at Hoe Mill down to Sugar Bakers Iron Pipe.

So much was achieved. Many thanks for everyone's dedication (and patience!)

Dudley Courtman

It was painstaking work looking for weed and extricating it from the bankside vegetation. An added snag was that it was difficult to separate the pennywort from the blanket weed, but not impossible. All pennywort was thrown up on to the bank where it will dry out and die. The net result of the evening's work was to complete a thorough cleaning from the Hoe Mill lock nearly to the church- it's looking better than it has done for years! We have to keep a careful eye on it during the summer and a rota is being drawn up showing individual canoeists/boaters who have adopted their own stretch of the canal. This, when complete, will be posted on our website.

The next clearing working party will be on June 14^th when BTCV will be working below Ricketts lock as far as Beeleigh. Some work has already been done on this stretch and with luck we should be able to finish it off thereby getting rid of the final bit of red on our 'Weedometer'.

Progress was rather slow because of the preponderance of overhanging bushes and trees, which trapped the weed. The bank party was able to clear the towpath side with rakes and cromes while those afloat attempted to cut through some of the vegetation on the other bank. The gardening operation proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated, the bulky cuttings had to be removed and taken ashore which was quite a tricky operation; needless to say our Special Boat Squadron coped very well in the circumstances.

It was good to see the new faces of Carla Davis and Daniel Segui from Heybridge who joined our very loyal band of regulars.

There was some preparatory bank work beforehand: BTCV cleared the bulk from the lock cut on Tuesday - they loved our method of pushing the weed into the middle and opening the lock paddle to create a current. Also about a kilometre downstream from Hoe Mill was cleared in similar fashion, although there were one or two patches left clinging to over hanging bushes which could not be reached. On Saturday our three canoes were able to paddle down to release these and any others they could find on the way to Ricketts. Meanwhile the main party was able to drive down to the lock via a cross country track from Ulting Lane

The canoeists were especially useful as they not only cleared the weed but collected a lot of rubbish at the same time

Some time was spent on Friday "preparing the ground". The remaining patches above Rushes weir were released so that they could float off downstream to our waiting boom at Hoe Mill. It was not without problems however.

The blackberry bushes above Rushes were a pain in every sense, as they held the weed and shielded it from eager pulling hands. An accumulation of no bank side maintenance by the Company over the years means that some banks are hostile to weed pickers but friendly to the weed. It might be that we will have to return at a later date with more modern weaponry. As fate would have it we have been promised the use of the latest hedge cutting technology by Peter Forrest, a new member of the team from Southminster. We were also joined this time by two ecologists, Carlo Studinger and Mark Periam from Chelmsford. A warm welcome to all three.

On Friday Mike Lewis had managed to push a large weed raft over Rushes weir only to find that it went round in ever decreasing circles in the weir pool below, along with him in his canoe! Mike will be pleased to know that most of it did eventually drift down overnight to our waiting boom at Hoe Mill.

All the pockets of weed downstream of Rushes were freed by using our new invention, designed originally by Roger Edwards and subsequently modified: this is a wide broom attached to a long pole. With this it is possible to reach the most inaccessible places, and, most important of all, you can brush the pennywort out of the bank side vegetation and push it into the current. It worked a treat (see photo of Roland James de Jersey giving a demonstration).

The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers will be working at Ricketts Lock on Tuesday 29th March. If anyone fancies joining them, meet at 10-30am: you will be able to drive from Ulting Lane straight to the lock.

On Saturday April 2nd we will be back in action below Hoe Mill, working in the "red zone" to Ricketts lock.

The pennywort was reasonably thin from the golf course to the Langford flood gate, and in no time at all we had finished the whole stretch with plenty of time to spare. So, as to give us an excuse to eat the doughnuts, courtesy of Miriam and Dave, we went in search of more weed above Beeleigh lock- we were not to be disappointed! It was extremely abundant. Using our well tested method, the weed was released from the bank and floated into the lock for removal.

Everyone was pleased to hear from Miriam, who has acted as our chief negotiator with Tesco, that the store has agreed to support our efforts by giving us one hundred and twenty pound's worth of vouchers. From now on all our hardworking weed pickers will be well sustained at coffee breaks! We were also able to buy two new thermos flasks. Tesco will be helping to sponsor a litter pick in the area in April/May: details to be announced later.

The weed party worked upstream, although there isn't much of one on the Long Pond, and picked up from where we had left off last month. The weed was in small patches fringing the banks, and needed careful removal as it tended to break up. Our two boats were a godsend as they could sweep up any small pieces that were left behind from the rakers, and could carry cargoes of pennywort and sundry flotsam and jetsam - like a Tesco trolley and a large wooden cable spool.

It is clear that the time of year is critical for pennywort removal. This month it was possible to reach most of the weed easily from the bank because the edges were clear of summer reed growth- once this starts life gets complicated. A very thorough removal was possible as far as the island opposite Maldon Golf Course- a good half a mile of excellent progress.

Eventually the sun brightened the day and added to the team's feeling of satisfaction of another good job well done. Many thanks, everyone.

Dudley Courtman

On this session we started further down the canal, half way down in fact, at Paper Mill. Some of our team, whose arrival was slightly delayed, went upstream to look for us! They couldn't believe that so much progress could be made in one month. (Goss Ltd has been working below Stonham's lock, where we had left off last time.) Downstream from Paper Mill lock the weed is much less dense and matted, and is somewhat distressed by the frosts. On the previous evening, using canoes, some of us stretched a boom across the river about a mile downstream, and then loosened the weed from the banks. We encountered a new problem because lots of the weed was caught up amongst tree roots, bushes and brambles and was very difficult to extricate. Inevitably small particles were left behind which will have to be picked out later. The banks have not been maintained over the past few years and in order to get at all the weed the woody vegetation over hanging the water will probably have to be cut back.

Our volunteer group on Saturday were somewhat oblivious to all this as their first task was to clear the weed pile that had been caught up in the boom overnight, something which they accomplished in double quick time. From this point downstream the weed patches were infrequent, and mostly on the opposite bank, which meant that they had to be carefully loosened and guided across. We made excellent progress and in no time had arrived at the Nounsley white footbridge - this was handy as it meant we could work from both banks. Our morning's work resulted in another one and half miles "cleared", and left us in a good position to clear the remainder as far as Rushes lock, and possibly beyond, in a month's time.

Since October we have now cleared all the way from Sandford to Rushes (nearly) and are well on track to reach Hoe Mill by April. The "Long Ponders" also have an impressive record and their latest report will be with you after next Saturday's session.

Another very encouraging result from our dedicated team. Many thanks everyone!

Dudley Courtman