This is the incredible amount of rubbish dredged out of Milton Keynes canal in just two days

The Milton Keynes Branch of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) last week undertook its first Canal Clean-up event through Milton Keynes since October 2019.

Held over two days, the event resulted in tonnes of rubbish being collected from the water.

Volunteers from IWA, the Canal & River Trust and the Parks Trust concentrated upon ten miles of towpath through the city from Fenny Stratford to Wolverton. Others aboard a hopper hauled items from the water using grappling hooks and collected the rubbish gathered by the towpath volunteers.

A pan (shallow-draft workboat), was also used to collect rubbish from the non-towpath side of the canal.

Among the rubbish collected were two bikes, one high-chair, a pedal car, a freezer, a large tv aerial, and lots of pipe and scrap.

The hopper crew also took time to haul out some fallen branches.

Tim Armstrong, Chairman of IWA Milton Keynes Branch, said: “Our thanks go to Canal & River Trust, the Parks Trust and Wyvern Shipping for their support with

equipment, motive power or resources, to their volunteers, and to the branch members who took part.

“Everybody bought into the spirit of the event. All were kept occupied dealing with the rubbish, and nobody complained of boredom!

"It’s just a pity that we have to clear up after the small minority who don’t appreciate the waterway but use it as a rubbish dump.”

A total of 328.5 man hours was put in over the two days, and many passers-by applauded the volunteers’ efforts,