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Putting the wych back into Droitwich

24th Oct 2005

A community project to enhance Vines Park in Droitwich Spa with a seating and information point has been selected to be featured on an exciting new TV programme, People’s Millions.

The Big Lottery Fund and ITV have teamed up to run a new programme that will give Lottery funding to projects that benefit local communities. On Tuesday 1 November it is the turn of Droitwich’s Wych Barge project to face the public vote.

Kim Chester, Development Manager with The Waterways Trust, said: "This is a tremendously exciting project. The idea is to create a replica Wych Barge in Vines Park to remind people of our industrial heritage in a way that is relevant to the needs of the community today.

"This type of barge is unique to Droitwich as it was made to suit the size of the canals in the town. There are none in existence today and this project is a fantastic way of capturing these memories before they disappear."

The static barge will provide a fully accessible recreation facility for everyone to use. It will also have an interpretation area to help explain the history of the barge and its importance to the town.

Wych Barges were used to transport Droitwich salt around England, helping to bring prosperity to our town, making it what it is today.

Kim said: "We want to encourage more people to visit their canals and when planning the restoration of the Droitwich canals we realised that there are very few places where people can sit and enjoy the environment and understand why the canals were built in the first place. The Wych Barge is a fantastic way of drawing these elements together, providing a place to relax, a place to learn and a place to play."

This venture is part of the Droitwich canals restoration plan which is managed by British Waterways in partnership with The Waterways Trust, Droitwich Canals Trust, Worcestershire County Council and Wychavon District Council.

Once built, the barge will be a focal point for school workshops and enhancing history classes. It will provide an opportunity for reminiscence workshops bringing the old and the young together. It will also be the centre piece for community theatre projects.

Last updated: 22/10/2008