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Renishaw Canal Restoration on DVD

Compress Media have released a DVD entitled “The Reinstatement of Chesterfield Canal - Renishaw”

Compress Media are a Sheffield based company that are gaining a reputation as chroniclers of the ups and downs of local industry. They have followed the work being carried out at Renishaw (MAP) over a long period.

This was an area that had been dreadfully scarred by the pollution from an ironworks and a coal mine. The canal had been virtually untraceable for decades, much of it buried under spoil heaps. The industry closed down in the 1980s. However a remarkable clean up and restoration has seen a brand new housing estate built.

In the last couple of years, the line of the canal has been cleared of trees and undergrowth, dug out, consolidated and restored. A new bridge has been installed. A small playground has been built. There is a plan to build a super children’s play area with dipping and fishing ponds. This is currently the subject of several funding bids.

The DVD tells the story of this transformation and includes some remarkable aerial shots caught by a remote controlled helicopter. It includes interviews with the Chesterfield Canal Development Manager, Geraint Coles, and the Chair of Chesterfield Canal Trust, Robin Stonebridge. It also has general information about the canal system.

The DVD will be available from 15th December 2009 from the company’s website www.compressmedia.com or from Amazon, priced at £9.99. It will soon be available from the Chesterfield Canal Trust.

Following a number of failed attempts, the Renishaw section of the Chesterfield Canal has finally been reinstated, and Compress Media were there from day one of the project. This is the first step towards re-joining the local waterways to Tapton Lock, and with it comes the ebb and flow of relaxed canal life back to the Village.

The Chesterfield Canal runs from Chesterfield to the River Trent via Worksop and Retford. In 1989 it was in a sorry state with only 26 miles at the eastern end navigable. Since then 11 miles of canal and 36 locks have been restored. Besides the section at Renishaw, another half mile at Staveley was rebuilt in 2009. A new canal basin is the centrepiece of the £310 million Chesterfield Waterside development. There are detailed plans to restore the remaining nine miles which is the subject of the Chesterfield Canal Trust’s Closing the Gap campaign.