News & Events

Cleaning Brent Feeder Canal
Saturday 13 October 2012

Volunteers from BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London and BAPS Charities teamed up with Thames21, one of the country’s leading waterway charities, to clean the local Brent Feeder Canal on Saturday 13 October 2012.

The Brent Feeder Canal began to channel water into The Grand Union Canal in 1811 to meet the increasing demand for water and runs from the River Brent, near where the Brent Reservoir is now, to the main canal in Park Royal at Waxlow Road. According to Thames21, some of London’s waterways are the most polluted in Britain.

Volunteers began by removing an array of litter from the canal, including chairs, waste timber, bottles, tins, tree branches, polythene bags, footballs, old shoes and plastic pipes. The banks of the canal were also cleaned; amongst various items found was an old television set.

Bhavik Shah, 17, one of the volunteers and a former pupil at the nearby Swaminarayan School, said, “It was a really great opportunity to do something I had been concerned about throughout my time at the school. It was great fun and I would be keen to help out in similar projects in the future.”

Vicky D’Souza, Brent Waterways Officer at Thames21, expressed, “It’s great to have the support of youths from the Mandir and BAPS Charities in helping us improve the Brent Feeder Canal for wildlife. We hope that by working together with local groups, we can encourage more people to look after their local river, and get the most out of this vital green space. The volunteers worked very hard at the event and the Canal looks so much better.”

This latest project is part of a series of on-going initiatives by the Mandir to serve the local environment and community.

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