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Volunteering on our canals and rivers

Volunteers painting lock on the Shropshire Union Canal

Your time volunteering on the waterways could be spent in many ways; helping different communities, conserving historic structures, protecting wildlife habitats, or simply tidying up the stretch of canal around the corner.

There are national and local events to be organised, there’s historic research to be carried out and of course, there are envelopes to be stuffed with the monthly newsletter. You could help out at a nearby community boat and enthuse young people about the waterways, or assist with the restoration of our waterway heritage. Canalside museums need people on the front desk to welcome visitors as well as people in the background to count the cash at the end of the day.

So you see, there are endless opportunities for volunteering on the waterways – and you can offer any amount of time from a couple of hours every now and then through to five days a week.

In this volunteering section on waterscape.com, you should be able to find out more about volunteering opportunities on the canals and rivers – and organisations close to you who need volunteers.

Are you part of a community group or canalside business who would be interested in adopting a stretch of waterway? Read about our waterway adoption schemes