Val is our resident historian and rescues items of interest, usually keeping dry. On this day she has already found a beer bottle from a brewery in Cranleigh, now long gone.

The embossed writing says: Bruford and Co Limited Trade Mark (either side of the 3 horseshoes) Cranleigh Val has now researched the background of the small but heavy bottle. It holds only ¼ of a pint and would have cost 9d (approx. 4p). The pinch point at the top marks the level when full. The brewery was next to The Three Horseshoes in Cranleigh High Street.

So the Wednesdays pass. In the lull between Christmas and New Year the frost coats the branches and the canal remains frozen all day.

This is a good day, an 8 fire day, perhaps people are keen to have a day out of doors to work off all that turkey.

Working off the turkey...

By 4pm the sky is red against the black skeleton trees.

Now there is a long cleared stretch but tree felling has had to be halted. The chain saw men say the trees are too close to the 11kV power lines. There is much discussion. Will the power company fell them? Could we borrow a cherry picker, use a ladder and top them, fell them into the canal for extraction later when the water level is lower? Restoring a canal is a series of engineering problems. Lack of funds and high tech kit means ingenuity is welcomed.

Ingenuity is welcomed - David uses a turfor.

The weeks will pass and by May the MWWP will move on to summer jobs. There will be fencing, strimming of the tow paths and work at the depot. It will be warmer and those picnic lunches under the pale blue winter skies will have passed into memory but the cleared waterway will be still be with us.

by Janet Phillips