On Saturday 22 November, we held our first joint canal towpath clean with the wonderful people at the Canal & River Trust. While the cold and damp managed to keep a few volunteers away, a small yet dedicated crew made their way from Piccadilly Basin through to Castlefield along the Rochdale Canal.
Volunteer leader Mark shared fascinating insights into how, not just the Rochdale Canal, but over 2000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales are maintained and repaired by the charity and its 4000+ volunteers.
Our PR Lisa, who lives in the city centre, joined the day as a volunteer and shares her experience:
“I’ve lived in the city for 20 years and walk along our canal towpaths at least three or four times a week but I’ve never taken part in a clean-up day before.
While picking up cig ends and discarded vapes, broken bottles, sweet and crisp wrappers and all sorts of other litter is hardly glamorous, there’s something very satisfying about seeing a space clear and tidy and knowing you are doing a little bit to help support nature and wildlife along the canal.
Equally I found the slow wander along the canal pretty therapeutic – it took us four hours, including a coffee stop along the way, and I noticed lots of details, I never see when I rush along like I usually do.
Chatting with my fellow volunteers, watching canal boats move through the locks, saying hello to absolutely everyone who passed us (including all the dogs!) made it a lovely and social day too.
This is what CyanLines is all about! Bringing people closer to nature on their doorstep and understanding it better and if we can do that and help look after our historic waterways and help people better connect to each other then we’re surely getting it right!”
Canal & River Trust are always looking for volunteers and run drop-in days in Manchester city centre on the last Friday of every month (with the exception of December). Find out more here: https://volunteer.canalrivertrust.org.uk/opportunities/97489-drop-in-volunteer-clean-green-manchester-activity-day-last-friday-of-the-month-2025-09-17?cookieconsent=set
Our next CyanLines x Canal & River Trust towpath clean day will be Saturday 28 February 2026 and we’ll share more details in the new year.
