The Wey & Arun Canal Trust is delighted to announce that David Jessop has been appointed their Maintenance Manager. This comes at a crucial time as more and more of the canal is restored and it is vital that the stretches that are cleared are not allowed to slide back into the undergrowth.

David says: 'I first heard about the restoration of the Wey & Arun Canal from one of our customers, Jack Pocock, who was a builder. He saw that we were about to throw away some old paint racks and asked if he could have them for the canal depot. He collected them the same day and, as a 'thank you', presented me with a copy of Paul Vine's book, London's Lost Route to the Sea. I was surprised to find that William Jessop was a famous engineer and canal builder and that his son, Josias, was involved with the Wey & Arun Canal.

'After retiring, I went to Loxwood one day last year. I have worked with conservation groups in the Horsham area during the last few years and enjoy being out of doors, so I joined the Mid-Week Working Party last October and got stuck into 'jungle busting'. As I share a surname with the man who surveyed and designed the canal in 1811, it seems apt to be helping to restore it, nearly 200 years later.

'In the new position of Maintenance Manager, I am looking forward to being more closely involved in the canal project of restoration and maintenance. It is essential that we prevent nature reclaiming all the areas cleared by hard work carried out in previous years. My job is to be responsible for the work of landscape maintenance on cleared stretches of the canal, drawing up an agreed programme and arranging for the work to be done.'