Why can’t you donate to us online?

We’ve been asked recently about why it is that it isn’t currently possible to donate funds to us online.  Which is a really good question.

It’s certainly a situation we would love to change, and there is a little bit of the chicken and egg scenario going on.  We’ve previously allowed online donations but the take up was quite low and didn’t cover the monthly cost of having the facility, so it was in fact costing us money to allow online donations.

Admitedly this was a couple of years ago, and we all know that people are now more willing to pay for things online, so take up may now be a little better, especially as we’ve improved our website and our overall online presence.  So it’s definitely something we’re looking at bringing back with the next set of online improvements.

In the meantime, we’re afraid that you’ll need to continue with the old fashioned way of downloading our Donation Form and sending to the address highlighted within it.  You could also make a contribution to our Blockaid campaign, as donations for this campaign can be sent via FREEPOST, so you don’t even need a stamp.

However you donate, we thank you for doing so

Top tips for fundraising for the Wendover Arm Trust

We’ve been thinking recently in our fundraising committee meetings about how we can help people help us.  We know that people want to help, because when we speak to them they say they do (and people don’t lie!), so we thought “how can we make it easier for people to fundraise on our behalf?”

So we’ve come up with a guide to Top tips for fundraising for the Wendover Arm Trust which people can use to give them inspiration, or think through the steps to having a successful fundraising event.  It even includes a sponsorship form if you need one.

Please do download and use, or send on to your friends.  The more fundraisers we have, the more funds we receive, and the more work we can do on the restoration.

Of course, if you have any tops tips youself, then do let us know and we can share them with the world

Welcome to the brand new Wendover Arm Trust website!

This site is intended to give not only an insight into the activities of the trust, but also provide some background information into the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal and let you know about the canal’s important place within the local community.

Hopefully you’ll like what we’ve done and you have lots of opportunities around the site to tell us, as well as tell us about other things going on in relation to the canal and the trust.  So if you have some wonderful pictures you’re happy to share, please do.  Or if you have been raising funds for the restoration then do tell us and we’ll share the ideas.

Spring newsletter now available

The time for the latest Wendover Arm Trust newsletter to be published has come around (which happens all too quickly for Jon the newsletter editor!).

In this special commemorative version you can find a look back over the first 21 years of the trust’s activities.  Whether it be the involvement of the air training corps in 1993 or the bank lining in 2010 we take a look back.  You also get to see how some of the trust members looked all those years ago.

All trust members get sent a copy of the newsletter mailed to them, but if you’re happy to download it yourself and don’t need the posted copy do let us know.  It’ll save us some money on posting and allow more funds to get directed to the restoration.

Be part of Blockaid!

As a charity we need to find new and innovative ways to raise the necessary funds to continue with our restoration work.  And Blockaid is just that!

Now that our restoration team are busy rebuilding the canal from Little Tring through to Buckland – a length of about 2 miles, we needto help them out a little.

To give you an idea of the work involved, our volunteers first clear out scrub and undergrowth then dig out the proper profile of the canal before lining the sloping sides with the concrete blocks. The canal bed then gets lined with a special clay material which keeps the canal watertight.

Each block has to be brought to the canal and put in place, before being filled with concrete to stabilise it.

Each block costs us £2 to buy and fix in place. Your generous sponsorship will help us continue with the work, all done by our volunteers to professional standards.  Why not pay a visit to the Blockaid website for more information and to get involved.