In early 1993 the IWA and John Baylis provided detailed drawings of an RYA trailboat slipway. John helped us plan out the site which had British Waterways approval. At the start of the project BW were dredging the canal in the Denton area so agreed to loan us the excavator at weekends. This meant that we only had to hire a dumper truck and water pump. Dave Smith was a very skilled operator of the excavator and, with guidance from John Baylis, soon had the profile dug. The bank entrance was piled to allow dry access to the site and a small pump installed to keep the water ingress acceptable. A 3 x 4 metre area of the middle slope was prepared with a crushed stone base and re-enforcing mesh cut to size on site. This was topped by concrete. The same procedure was followed on the bottom section followed by the top section. The side walls were difficult as making the re-enforcing mesh and shuttering was awkward but eventually a concrete pour was effected to just above water level. The sheet piles and remaining shuttering was then removed and the entrance dredged to remove the extra clay we had used to seal the piling. A society volunteer laid the brickwork and the area landscaped. Timber barriers and mooring bollards were installed together with a ground anchor, which was buried near the entrance hedge, to enable anyone stuck to winch them selves out. BW also required a lifting barrier to be installed at the entrance. The slipway was officially opened by the BW area manager and Mel Crosby (GCRS Chairman). Many local dignitaries attended and this set the seeds for the Casthorpe Road bridge being rebuilt and the 1994 Trailboat rally at Woolsthorpe. Roger Cook, the following chairman, had compiled a photo album of the build which was submitted to the RYA National awards at the International Boat Show in London and we won first prize, a Mirror sailing dingy and plaque. In 2007 the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) was persuaded by Kevin Mann, Grantham Canal Restoration Society (GCRS) Manager, to award a Derelict Land Grant to clear most of the canal between the A1 and Denton Winding Hole, in preparation for the IWA’s National Trailboat Festival to be held in Spring 2007 The principal contract was awarded by British Waterways to Land & Water, whose plant was delivered to Denton Wharf and included dredgers, tugs and pans, which shuttled up and down the Harlaxton Cutting between February and May, manned by some very capable operators, who lived in canal-side caravans. The ‘modus operandi’ was to commence at the A1 end of the canal and for a dredger to work its way west, filling pans, which were then pushed or pulled by tugs to one of two off-loading points. At these, a digger was used to swing the silt over the bank and into a giant sieve, which extracted any timber or other unwanted solids. The sieved silt was then spread over agreed adjacent fields, as a soil improver, using a bulldozer.