Project aims to get volunteers to transform the Clyde and Forth waterway

Volunteers are being sought to join in a Love your Canal project on Glasgow’s historic Forth & Clyde waterway.

A similar project in 2016 saw volunteers contributing over 1,500 hours to keep the canal looking good, Love Your Canal will return and run between Friday and Monday each week from Saturday, 25 March until the end of October.

The project is based at Maryhill, running from Locks 21 to 27, and it is hoped, as the project progresses, it will move further afield.

Volunteers will be trained to open locks for passing boats whilst also helping to repair canal stonework and masonry, painting and litter-picking.

The charity aims to run a number of workshops for volunteers which could include learning about wild plants, bumblebees and an emergency first aid course.

Volunteer lock-keeper Bob Alston said: “I didn’t know what to expect. For me the best part was the lock-keeping, we were trained and out of all the boats we moved through the locks I was involved with almost all of them. I am a lock-keeper now! It’s a great project.”

After full training from Scottish Canals waterway staff, the volunteers will be able to help Scottish Waterways Trust and Scottish Canals to open the locks for boats travelling west to Bowling, east to Glasgow city centre or across country to The Kelpies at Grangemouth or Edinburgh via The Falkirk Wheel.

Volunteers will also be put forward for awards such as the John Muir Discovery Award and Heritage Hero Award as well as certificates of competency for training in areas such as water safety and lime mortaring.